Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
born:Saltzburg January 27, 1756 died:Vienna December 5, 1791
Sonata for piano & violin
Kochel Verzeichniss, No.301
I declare to you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is
the greatest composer I know, either personally or by name.
~Joseph Haydn to Leopold Mozart |
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 1756-1791 was born in Saltzburg in western Austria,the seat of an archbishopric and lively provincial center of music. His father, Leopold Mozart, was assistant director of the archbishop's chapel, a composer of some ability, and reputation, and the author of a celebrated treaties on violin playing. From earliest childhood Wolfgang showed such prodigious talent for music that his father dropped al other ambitions and devoted himself to educating the boy and exhibiting his accomplishments. By 1762 young Mozart was a virtuoso on the clavier, and soon became a good organist and violinist as well. He produced his first minuets at the age of six, his first symphony before his ninth birthday, his first oratorio at eleven and his first operas at age twelve.
His more than 600 compositions are listed and numbered in the thematic catalog first compiled by L, von Kochel in 1862 and since brought up to date in the light of recent scholarship by Alfred Einstein; the Kochel or "K" numbers are universally used to identify a Mozart composition.The first six Violin and piano Sonatas including K301 were dedicated to Electress of Mannheim Marie Elizabeth, consort of the Elector Palatine. He presented the set to her in Munich. They are titled the Kurfurstin Sonatas. and were published by Sieber in Paris in 1778. They were all written in 1778. Some were written at Mannheim and some in Paris. Mozart designated them his Euvre premier. From 1774 to 1781 Mozart lived chiefly in Salzburg, where he became more and more impatient with the narrowness of provincial life and the lack of musical opportunities.September 1777 , with his mother, he journeyed to Munich Augsburg, Mannheim, and Paris. His mother died in Paris in July 1778.Mozart's piano sonatas are closely related to his violin and piano sonatas. In his early years these had been in accordance with the eighteenth century custom really no more than piano pieces with violin accompaniment ad libitum. The first of Mozart's works in which the two instruments begin to be treated on a basis of equality are the sonatas written at Mannheim and Paris in 1777 and 1778. (K.296, 301-306).Written in 1778 the K301/293a in G Major has the main melody stated by the violin and then it is taken over by the piano. There is a lot of interchange. This sonata is in the two movement form. The Allegro has a minor mode middle section. This kind of work was the prime musical genre in 1778 for domestic music making.
  = 138 It begins with an Allegro con spirito
 = 60 followed by a 3/8 Allegro
Allegro con spirito
This theme is played first by the violin.
While the violin is playing the theme
the piano is playing these broken chords
The violin is now playing these broken chords
while the piano plays the theme.
These are more difficult than they look.
The piano has the theme,
while the violin plays the broken chords.
Both parts are shown here, you can see how they trade off.
This, for me, is the hardest measure in the Sonata.
I just cannot seem to keep these notes in tune.
I am using this fingering(third position with a reach back for C#,
or playing the C# in second and walking my hand to 3rd,
or thinking of it as D flat and being in third)
It is my Achilles' heel in this Sonata.
A fatal weakness, a vulnerable area.
The term alludes to the Greek legend about the heroic warrior Achilles
whose mother tried to make him immortal by holding the infant by his heel and dipping him
into the River Styx. Eventually he was killed by an arrow shot into his undipped heel. [c. 1800]
Allegro
The Piano begins the theme in the Allegro movement
The violin enters with the theme.
The theme returns with embellishment in the violin part.
The violin enters in the minor mode in the Allegro.
Both parts are shown here, you can see how they trade off.
This section of the Allegro is played together.
 Who said Mozart is sweet sunshine? ANSWER |
 Available Editions
G. Henle Verlag
Schirmer's Library *** International Music |
 I have always enjoyed playing Mozart's music. I have collected three editions in the process.The first time I learned the Mozart Six Sonatas I used the G. Schirmer Edition. The second time I worked on them I used the International Edition. I presently have and use the G. Henle Edition. The hard part is finding a pianist who can be a co-performer. The first CD I bought of the sonatas was a 4 CD collection by Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim, Deutsche Grammophon. I found it in a small shop in Oberlin, where I had gone with one of my young students who had an audition. I almost wore out the CD. |
Recordings
 Philips - Mozart: Great Violin Sonatas, Vol. 1 - Ingrid Haebler, Henryk Szeryng
Sony - Mozart: Sonatas for Piano and Violin - Yefim Bronfman, Isaac Stern
Polygram Records - Sonatas for Violin & Piano - Grumiaux, Jaccottet, Mermoud
Artemis Classics - W.A. Mozart: The Complete Sonatas for Violin & Piano, Vol. 1 - Mieczyslaw Horszowski, Joseph Szigeti
Deutsche Grammophon - The Sonatas for Piano and Violin - Itzhak Perlman and Daniel Barenboim |
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