ABSTRACT
Cadenzas are much longer and more elaborate than lead-ins, and Leopold Mozart’s own cadenzas almost always develop themes and motives from the concerto movement in which they occur. Mozart—going somewhat against the prevailing custom of his time—liked to write down the cadenzas and sometimes also the lead-ins for his concertos. Some of the cadenzas were obviously written for his pupils, but others may well have been notated for his own use. For a performance of concertos it is, of course, possible that such a creative improviser as Mozart invented ad hoc not only short lead-ins but also long cadenzas. To write stylistically suitable cadenzas, one must be absolutely familiar with the whole respective scheme of the concerto in question and especially with the harmonic progressions. Mozart’s diatonic passages are much easier to imitate than his often very complicated chromatic progressions and enharmonic changes.
