Violin Sonata No. 32 (Mozart)

Last updated

Violin Sonata No. 32 in B-flat major (K. 454) is a composition by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It was completed in Vienna on April 21, 1784, and was published by Christoph Torricella in a group of three sonatas (together with the piano sonatas K. 284 and K. 333).

Contents

The sonata was written for a violin virtuoso Regina Strinasacchi of Mantua to be performed by them together at a concert in the Kärntnerthor Theater in Vienna on April 29, 1784. Although Mozart had the piano part securely in his head, he did not give himself enough time to write it out, and thus it was performed with a sheet of blank music paper in front of him in order to fool the audience. According to a story told by his widow Constanze Mozart, the Emperor Joseph II saw the empty sheet music through his opera glasses and sent for the composer with his manuscript, at which time Mozart had to confess the truth, although that is likely to have amazed the monarch rather than cause his irritation.

The work consists of three movements:

  1. Largo – Allegro
  2. Andante
  3. Allegretto

The sonata opens with an exceptionally slow introduction, in which emphasis is put on the equality of the two instruments, kept throughout the entire work. The opening theme was later echoed by Haydn Op. 50 No. 1 String Quartet and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 1. The second movement has a melodic feeling of adagio, which was the tempo written down by Mozart at first, but then crossed out and marked Andante. In the development section there are bold chromatic modulations. The final movement returns to the playful mood of the first, but even so happens to be a very sophisticated Rondo.

The autograph is located in the archive of Stiftelsen Musikkulturens Främjande (The Nydahl Collection) in Stockholm.

Recordings

Related Research Articles

<i>Eine kleine Nachtmusik</i> Composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Eine kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, is a 1787 composition for a chamber ensemble by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791). The German title means "a little night music". The work is written for an ensemble of two violins, viola, cello and double bass, but is often performed by string orchestras. The serenade is one of Mozart's most famous works.

The Sonata in A for Violin and Keyboard, K. 526, was written in Vienna in 1787 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It is placed in the Köchel catalogue between the string serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik and the opera Don Giovanni.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Symphony No. 38 (Mozart)</span> 1786 symphony in three movements by Mozart

The Symphony No. 38 in D major, K. 504, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in late 1786. It premiered in Prague on January 19, 1787, during Mozart's first visit to the city. Because it was first performed in Prague, it is popularly known as the Prague Symphony. Mozart's autograph thematic catalogue records December 6, 1786, as the date of completion for this composition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Violin Concerto No. 3 (Mozart)</span> Violin concerto by W. A. Mozart

The Violin Concerto No. 3 in G major, K. 216, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg in 1775 when he was 19 years old. In a letter to his father, Mozart called it the "Straßburg-Concert". Researchers believe this epithet comes from the motive in the third movement's Allegretto in the central section, a local dance that already had appeared as a musette-imitating tune in a symphony by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata No. 13 (Mozart)</span>

The Piano Sonata No. 13 in B-flat major, K. 333 (315c), also known as the "Linz Sonata", was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Linz at the end of 1783.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 12 (Mozart)</span>

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 12 in A major, K. 414 (385p), was written in the autumn of 1782 in Vienna. It is scored for solo piano, two oboes, two bassoons (optional), two horns, and strings. Like all three of the early Vienna concertos that Mozart wrote, it is a modest work that can be performed with only string quartet and keyboard. As per 18th century performance practice a string orchestra could also have served as a suitable option for the "quattro" accompaniment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 25 (Mozart)</span> Work by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Piano Concerto No. 25 in C major, K. 503, was completed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on December 4, 1786, alongside the Prague Symphony, K. 504. Although two more concertos would later follow, this work is the last of what are considered the twelve great piano concertos written in Vienna between 1784 and 1786. Chronologically the work is the 21st of Mozart's 23 original piano concertos.

The Divertimento in E major, K. 563, is a string trio, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1788, the year in which he completed his last three symphonies and his "Coronation" Piano Concerto. It is his last divertimento and different from his other divertimenti not only in its instrumentation but also in its compositorial ambition and scope.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Regina Strinasacchi</span> Italian musician (died 1839)

Regina Schlick née Strinasacchi was a violin virtuoso and guitarist in a time when women rarely performed on the violin in public. She knew Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart well enough that he composed the Sonata in B flat for Violin and Keyboard, "Strinasacchi," at her request.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 15 (Mozart)</span>

The Piano Concerto No. 15 in B major, KV. 450 is a concertante work for piano and orchestra by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The concerto is scored for solo piano, flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. A brief section of the third movement is heard in a transitional scene of the movie Amadeus.

Laszlo Varga was a Hungarian-born American cellist who had a worldwide status as a soloist, recording artist, and authoritative cello teacher.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata No. 10 (Mozart)</span> Piano sonata by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 10 in C major, K. 330 / 300h, is one of the three works in the cycle of piano sonatas K.330-331-332. The sonata was composed in 1783, when Mozart was 27 years old. It was published, with the other two sonatas by Artaria in 1784. A typical performance of this sonata lasts around twenty minutes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String Quartet No. 15 (Mozart)</span>

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421/417b is the second of the Quartets dedicated to Haydn and the only one of the set in a minor key. Though undated in the autograph, it is believed to have been completed in 1783, while his wife Constanze Mozart was in labour with her first child Raimund. Constanze stated that the rising string figures in the second movement corresponded to her cries from the other room.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's first four sonatas for keyboard and violin, K. 6–9 are among his earliest works, composed between 1762 and 1764. They encompass several of Mozart's firsts as a composer: for example, his first works incorporating the violin, his first works with more than a single instrument, his first works in more than one movement and his first works in sonata form. In fact, previous to this, all his works had been short solo-pieces for the harpsichord.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Sonata in F major, K. 547a</span>

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata in F major, K. 547a is a sonata in two movements. It was originally published as an original sonata by Breitkopf and Härtel in 1799 but was soon found to be an amalgam of movements culled from other compositions. It is sometimes called Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 19.

The Sonata in F for Violin and Keyboard, K. 547, was completed in Vienna on July 10, 1788 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The sonata is often nicknamed "For Beginners" and was completed two weeks after the similarly nicknamed piano sonata in C major, K. 545. Unlike the previous few keyboard sonatas, where the violin played an equal role, this sonata is dominated by the keyboard part. In that regard, only the violin part is easy and the keyboard part is not "for beginners".

Violin Sonata No. 33 in E-flat major was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna and listed in his personal catalogues of his works on December 12, 1785. It was published on its own by Franz Anton Hoffmeister, a German composer and music publisher to whom Mozart's String Quartet No. 20 is dedicated. The musicologist Marius Flothuis states that although much is unknown about the history of this sonata, it is certainly "one of the most mature works in Mozart's whole chamber output". Carl Friedrich Cramer in a 1783 review of this and Mozart's other mature piano and violin sonatas praised the style of composing for instruments in a democratic manner, fitting for the style, requiring skill and talent of both instrumentalists. Indeed, Manafu rates these sonatas as of crucial importance in the development of the genre.

Violin Sonata No. 27 in G major was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Vienna in 1781 and first published in the same year.

References