A concerto is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The typical three-movement structure, a slow movement preceded and followed by fast movements, became a standard from the early 18th century.
Sonata, in music, literally means a piece played as opposed to a cantata, a piece sung. The term evolved through the history of music, designating a variety of forms until the Classical era, when it took on increasing importance. Sonata is a vague term, with varying meanings depending on the context and time period. By the early 19th century, it came to represent a principle of composing large-scale works. It was applied to most instrumental genres and regarded—alongside the fugue—as one of two fundamental methods of organizing, interpreting and analyzing concert music. Though the musical style of sonatas has changed since the Classical era, most 20th- and 21st-century sonatas still maintain the same structure.
The Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545, by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was described by Mozart in his own thematic catalogue as "for beginners", and it is very commonly known by the nickname Sonata facile or Sonata semplice.
Robert David Levin is an American classical pianist, musicologist, and composer. He was a professor of music at Harvard University from 1994 to 2014 and the artistic director of the Sarasota Music Festival from 2007 to 2017.
D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F♯, G, A, B, and C♯. Its key signature has two sharps. The D major scale is:
D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B♭, and C. Its key signature has one flat. Its relative major is F major and its parallel major is D major.
Giuseppe Sarti was an Italian opera composer.
The Kegelstatt Trio, K. 498, is a piano trio for clarinet, viola and piano in E-flat major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 / 300d, was written in 1778. The sonata is the first of only two Mozart piano sonatas in a minor key. It was composed in the summer of 1778 around the time of his mother's death, one of the most tragic times of his life.
The Adélaïde Concerto is the nickname of a violin concerto in D major attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and given the catalogue number K. Anh. 294a in the third edition of the standard Köchel catalogue of Mozart's works. Unknown until the 20th century, this concerto was later discovered to be a spurious work by Marius Casadesus. It was given a new number in the sixth edition of the Köchel catalogue, K. Anh.C 14.05, as part of the Anhang C designated for spurious or doubtful works which have been attributed to Mozart at some time.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's concertos for piano and orchestra are numbered from 1 to 27. The first four numbered concertos and three unnumbered concertos are early works that are arrangements of keyboard sonatas by various contemporary composers. Concertos 7 and 10 are compositions for three and two pianos respectively. The remaining twenty-one are original compositions for solo piano and orchestra. These works, many of which Mozart composed for himself to play in the Vienna concert series of 1784–86, held special importance for him.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart began his series of preserved piano concertos with four that he wrote in Salzburg at the age of 11 : K. 37 and 39–41. The autographs, all held by the Jagiellonian Library, Kraków, are dated by his father as having been completed in April and July of 1767. Although these works were long considered to be original, they are now known to be pasticcios of sonatas by various German composers. The works on which the concertos are based were largely published in Paris, and presumably Mozart and his family became acquainted with them or their composers during their visit to Paris in 1763–64.
Piano four hands is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is generally referred to as a piano duo.
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.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed six sonatas for keyboard with accompaniment of violin and cello, K. 10–15, in late 1764 in London during the Mozart family's grand tour of Europe. Britain's Queen Charlotte commissioned them on 25 October, and the works were dedicated to her on 18 January 1765. They were published as Mozart's "Opus III" by his father Leopold at 20 Frith Street, Soho, London, where the Mozarts lived from September 1764 until after May 1765.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's set of six sonatas for keyboard and violin, K. 26–31 were composed in early 1766 in The Hague during the Mozart family's grand tour of Europe. They were dedicated to Princess Caroline of Nassau-Weilburg on the occasion of the eighteenth birthday of her brother, William V, Prince of Orange. They were published as Mozart's Opus 4.
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 Symphony in D major, K. 135+61h, was probably composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1772. The first, second, and fourth movements are from the overture to the opera Lucio Silla, K. 135, and the third movement, the minuet K. 61h No. 3, was composed separately.
