JAVS Summer 2026

first movement of Stamitz’s concerto with passages from Mozart’s cadenza to Piano Concerto No. 5. Although the specific musical contexts differ, the underlying vocabulary is remarkably similar. Both examples rely primarily on stepwise motion, passing tones, neighbor-note figures, arpeggiated patterns, and octave-based gestures. 29 The significance of these similarities extends beyond mere stylistic resemblance. Because Mozart’s cadenzas survive in written form, they provide valuable evidence of how a late eighteenth-century musician could transform familiar melodic figures into extended improvisatory passages. The comparable figuration found in Stamitz’s concerto suggests that these same materials can serve as the foundation for a historically informed viola cadenza. The prevalence of sixteenth-note figuration is particularly relevant to the first movement of Stamitz’s concerto. Like the first movements of the viola concertos by Hoffmeister and Zelter, it is written in common time, a meter Quantz associates with a serious and elevated character. 30 The rhythmic patterns and figuration employed in the cadenza should therefore remain consistent with the movement’s established musical language, allowing the cadenza to emerge as a natural extension of the concerto rather than as an unrelated virtuoso display.

Melodic Figuration and Stylistic Vocabulary A historically informed cadenza should not introduce an entirely new musical language. Rather, it should develop the rhythmic and melodic vocabulary already present in the concerto itself. Quantz repeatedly emphasizes the importance of preserving the character of the movement, and surviving Classical cadenzas likewise demonstrate a close relationship between the cadenza and the surrounding musical material. 28 One of the most striking features of Classical cadenzas is their reliance on familiar figuration patterns. Rapid sixteenth-note passages occur frequently, particularly in first-movement cadenzas, where they serve both expressive and technical functions. These figures provide opportunities for virtuoso display while simultaneously maintaining stylistic continuity with the concerto. Rather than presenting new thematic material, they typically elaborate existing motives through scales, arpeggios, passing tones, neighbor-note figures, and octave displacement. This relationship can be observed in both Stamitz’s Viola Concerto and Mozart’s concerto cadenzas. Figure 3 compares characteristic sixteenth-note patterns from the

Figure 3. Comparable sixteenth-note figuration in the first movement of Stamitz's Viola Concerto in D Major and Mozart's cadenza to Piano Concerto No. 5, K. 175. 31

16

Journal of the American Viola Society / Vol. 42, Summer 2026 Online Issue