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Sonata in C Major, K. 330
 Mozart
was on a concert tour in Paris during the months of March through September
of 1778 when his mother, who was accompanying him, died there on July
3. It is known that the tragic A minor sonata K. 310 was written in Paris
during the summer of that year. The three sonatas K. 330-332 were also
considered among the 'Paris' sonatas for a long time, but recent research
suggests that they were probably written much later, most likely in 1781-83
in Vienna or Salzburg. Published as a group by Artaria in Vienna, 1784,
the sonatas K. 330-332 are among Mozart's most popular works for piano.
The C major sonata K. 330 is characterized by its pure and peaceful mood,
the beauty of its themes, and the economy of its musical language. It
was described succinctly by Alfred Einstein as "...a masterpiece,
in which every note belongs - one of the most lovable works Mozart ever
wrote." Indeed, the first movement Allegro moderato is a tight and
perfectly Mozartean construction. The second movement is a sparingly written
and emotionally-charged Andante cantabile, to which, for the first edition
of the work, Mozart added a four-bar coda. The last movement, Allegretto,
returns to the positive mood of the first, and interestingly, Mozart uses
a simple song-like tune in place of the standard development in the second
part of the finale.
Variations on a Minuet by Duport, K. 573
Movements in the form of variations can be found in many of Mozart's
works. His sixteen published sets of variations for solo piano probably
reflect only a fraction of his output in this form, as he would have undoubtedly
improvised these on demand in his concerts. Many sets of variations as
well as fantasies, another improvisatory form, were probably not written
down at all.
Jean-Pierre Duport (1741-1818) and his younger brother, Jean-Louis (1749-1819)
were both cellists and composers of some note. In 1773 Jean-Pierre was
appointed the first cellist of the Royal Opera, and a chamber musician
of the Royal Chapel in Berlin, by Frederick the Great of Prussia (1712-1786).
He remained in Berlin until 1811 as the music director to Frederick and
was, at the same time, music teacher and music director to Frederick's
nephew and immediate successor Frederic William 11 who ruled Prussia until
1797. Jean-Louis studied cello with his older brother and went on to become
one of France's foremost cellists at the end of the eighteenth century.
In April of 1789 Mozart had traveled to Berlin with his former piano
student Prince Lichnowsky in search of a full time position at the Prussian
court of Frederick William 11, and it was during this trip that he made
the acquaintance of Jean-Pierre Duport. The variations K. 573 were written
in Potsdam in 1789 and based on the theme from the Sonata no. 6 in D major
for Violoncello and Bass by Jean-Pierre Duport, published in 1787.
Mozart had kept a catalog of his works since early 1784, however his
holograph catalog entry dated April 29, 1789, lists only six variations
for K. 573. Three more were subsequently added, and the work was published
with nine variations by Hummel in 1789. Mozart's autographed manuscript
of the piece is lost.
Fantasia in D minor, K. 397
The Fantasia in D minor, presumably written in Vienna in 1782, is organized
in three sections: Andante, Adagio, and Allegretto. Mozart completed the
first two sections of the Fantasia, and only a part of the third, the
last ten bars of which are missing in the first edition published in Vienna
in 1804. The ending as it now exists was probably supplied by his Leipzig
admirer August Eberhard Müller for the later Breitkopf and Hartet
Edition.
For such a short work, Mozart has created a rich variety of mood and
drama surrounding the central Adagio section. This is achieved, in part,
with the extremely effective use of rests, dynamic and rhythmic contrasts,
free cadenzas, and a certain degree of harmonic vagueness.
The initial Andante serves as an introduction to the somber and melancholic
Adagio. The first eleven bars establish the melodic outline of the whole
section with arpeggiated chords in D minor. The Allegretto is based on
two themes consisting of eight-bar phrases of child-like Mozartean melody.
Here the ambiguities are resolved and the melancholy gives way to a bright
statement in the tonic major.
Fantasia in C minor, K. 475; Sonata in C minor, K. 457
In 1781 Mozart left the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg and settled
in Vienna with the intent of making his living as a concert pianist playing
his own works, composing opera, and private teaching. Even though he was
in constant financial difficulty, here he spent the most fruitful and
productive ten years of his life, and composed a significant portion of
his most enduring works. Among his piano sonatas conceived during the
period from 1766 to 1791, a significant number of mature sonatas were
written during these last years in Vienna including both the Fantasia
in C minor, K. 475 and the Sonata in C minor, K. 457.
The Sonata in C minor, K. 457 was entered into Mozart's work catalog
on October 14, 1784, in Vienna. It was later published in December of
1785, together with the Fantasia K. 475 which had been completed some
months earlier in the same year. K. 457 bears the dedication: "Sonata.
For Piano Solo. Composed for Mrs. Theresa von Trattner by her most humble
servant Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Vienna, 14 October, 1784." Mozart's
talented pupil Therese von Trattner was the second wife of Johan Thomas
von Trattner, a Viennese publisher and printer.
Mozart uses the key of C minor to reflect a tragic and troubled mood.
Both the somber Sonata and the introductory Fantasia are unprecedented
in scope and depth of feeling. Even though Mozart published them together,
each work is complete unto itself and independent of the other for contrast
and intensity. The Fantasia is somewhat Schubertian in its modulations,
and provides a glimpse of Mozart's improvisational powers. The Sonata
is probably the most impassioned of all Mozart sonatas, and a clear model
for Beethoven's Op. 13 Pathétique Sonata of 1799, also in C minor.
The Sonata opens with a Mannheim-rocket figure which propels it forward.
This is the figure Mozart uses with abandon in his great G minor symphony.
The first and the third movements are both dark and dramatic. The beautiful
Adagio movement in E flat major provides the requisite contrast between
the troubled outer movements.
"Grim seriousness reigns in K. 457" writes Alfred Einstein,
"it is clear that it represents a moment of great agitation, agitation
that could no longer be expressed in the fatalistic A minor key of the
Paris sonata, but requires the pathetic C minor that was to be Beethoven's
favorite key for the expression of similar emotions. It has rightly been
said that this work contains a 'Beethovenisme d'avant la lettre.' Indeed
it must be stated that this very Sonata contributed a great deal towards
making 'Beethovenisme' possible.
Contrasting with the concentrated first and last movements, there is
a broad concerto-like Adagio in the tranquil key of E-flat major, which,
in accordance with the true nature of its creator, who could not seek
any easy way out, does not lead to a finale in major, on the contrary,
the Finale is just as pathetic as the first movement, and even darker.
There is a disproportion in this work. The sonata form of 1784 is too
small for the expansion of feeling, although we must admit that one of
the most powerful reasons for the effectiveness of the work is precisely
the explosive compression and brevity of the first and last movements.
Mozart himself must have felt the necessity of providing a basis for
the explosive quality of the sonata, and justifying it as the product
of a particular spiritual state; accordingly, he preceded it with the
Fantasy, K. 475 (written on 20 May 1785), and published the two together.
This fantasy, which gives us the truest picture of Mozart's mighty power
of improvisation - his ability to indulge in the greatest freedom and
boldness of imagination, the most extreme contrast of ideas, the most
uninhibited variety of lyrical and virtuoso elements, while yet preserving
structural Logic - this work is so rich that it threatens to eclipse the
sonata, without actually doing so. It is the key to understanding of Mozart's
other fantasies."
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