K. 449

Piano Concerto in E-flat major
No. 14
by W. A. Mozart
Pianoforte by Johann Andreas Stein (Augsburg, 1775) – Berlin, Musikinstrumenten-Museum
Key	E-flat major
Catalogue	K. 449
Composed	1784 (1784)
Movements	Three (Allegro vivace, Andantino, Allegro ma non troppo)
Scoring	Piano orchestra

The Piano Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, written in 1784, is a piano concerto, catalogued as K. 449.

It is the first composition he entered into a notebook of his music he then kept for the next seven years, marking down main themes, dates of completion, and other important information. From this notebook we have the information that he finished the concerto on February 9.

In the same year in succession he wrote several concertos, and in a letter to his father that May, wrote of the 15th and 16th concertos (in B flat and in D, KV. 450 and 451) that he "could not choose between them" but that "the one in E flat [No. 14] does not belong at all to the same category. It is one of a quite peculiar kind...". The 14th is regarded as being the first of the mature series of concertos Mozart wrote, and indeed, commentators such as Girdlestone and Hutchings valued it as one of the best, particularly as all three movements are of the highest standard.

This concerto has three movements:

Works written in 1784 include besides this concerto the six piano concertos 14-19, the Quintet in E flat for Piano and Winds, along with several piano works - the Sonata in C Minor noteworthy, one string quartet (the "Hunt"), and several sets of orchestral dances also. Works by other composers known to Mozart from just around this time include the 80th symphony (in D minor) and 2nd cello concerto of Joseph Haydn; Michael Haydn had published two sets of quartets the year before (also the year of the two Mozart violin-viola duos which legend has it were produced to help that composer fulfil a commission, which Alfred Einstein regards as a dubious tale), and Carl Stamitz and Ignaz Pleyel each another set of six (Pleyel released a further set in 1784.) A Pleyel cello concerto (in C) was also released at some point between 1782-4 (Pleyel being a composer whose quartets, at least, Mozart rated highly.)