Mozart Sonata K545
Mozart Sonata K.545
3/25/2014
Piano Sonata No.16 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1788. Mozart himself catalogued this Sonata as “for beginners” and it is also known by its nickname Sonata Facile or Sonata Semplice(Froment, 2010). This Sonata however was not published in Mozart’s lifetime but only later on in 1805. It is a typical Classical eraSonata piece written in C major and consists of three movements: I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Rondo. In the following essay I will be looking at the first movement, which is written in Sonata-Allegro form. The well known opening theme is accompanied by anAlberti bass, played with the left hand (Froment, 2010). “The Alberti bass is named after Domenico Alberti and it’s the bass part in keyboard music that consists of broken chords in close position (Merriam-Webster, 2014).”
The exposition stretches from bar 1-28. Overall two themes are present in the exposition. The first theme starts in bar 1-12 in C-major. The primary idea is identified in bar 1-4. The first note in bar one starts on the tonic which is C (I) and then in bar two the second measure starts on the tonic note again but is followed by a rest. The idea is repeated again in bar 3-4, the tonic key in bar three and then the tonic key again in bar four followed by a rest. What is catching about this composition is the eight note sixteen patterns, which is present from bar five and then later on expands in bar 46-48. In bar five a scale is seen going from A-A, up and then down again. A similar pattern follows in bar 6-8 (Kemper, 2013). In bar six there’s a scale from G-G. In bar seven a scale from F-F and in bar eight a scale from E-E. This is a sequence, each time the scale starts in a new bar it moves one step lower (Piano World, 2005). Between bar ten and eleven a half-cadence is seen. In bar thirteen the transition takes place. Before the transition takes place we note that in bar twelve on the third beat the dominant chord is
3/25/2014
Piano Sonata No.16 was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1788. Mozart himself catalogued this Sonata as “for beginners” and it is also known by its nickname Sonata Facile or Sonata Semplice(Froment, 2010). This Sonata however was not published in Mozart’s lifetime but only later on in 1805. It is a typical Classical eraSonata piece written in C major and consists of three movements: I. Allegro, II. Andante, III. Rondo. In the following essay I will be looking at the first movement, which is written in Sonata-Allegro form. The well known opening theme is accompanied by anAlberti bass, played with the left hand (Froment, 2010). “The Alberti bass is named after Domenico Alberti and it’s the bass part in keyboard music that consists of broken chords in close position (Merriam-Webster, 2014).”
The exposition stretches from bar 1-28. Overall two themes are present in the exposition. The first theme starts in bar 1-12 in C-major. The primary idea is identified in bar 1-4. The first note in bar one starts on the tonic which is C (I) and then in bar two the second measure starts on the tonic note again but is followed by a rest. The idea is repeated again in bar 3-4, the tonic key in bar three and then the tonic key again in bar four followed by a rest. What is catching about this composition is the eight note sixteen patterns, which is present from bar five and then later on expands in bar 46-48. In bar five a scale is seen going from A-A, up and then down again. A similar pattern follows in bar 6-8 (Kemper, 2013). In bar six there’s a scale from G-G. In bar seven a scale from F-F and in bar eight a scale from E-E. This is a sequence, each time the scale starts in a new bar it moves one step lower (Piano World, 2005). Between bar ten and eleven a half-cadence is seen. In bar thirteen the transition takes place. Before the transition takes place we note that in bar twelve on the third beat the dominant chord is
Bibliography: Andrew Schartmann. 2013. Mozart Analysis - Piano Sonata in C (Sonata Facile), K. 545, I. [Online Video]. 23 November. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-_RX8ZFrqU. [Accessed: 24 March 2014]. Keenan Kemper. 2013. .Analysis of sonata form of Mozart 's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major KV 545 - 1. Allegro .[Online Video]. 13 March. Available from: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUWPJp5vDMA. [Accessed: 24 March 2014]. Nicolas Froment. 2010. Mozart - Piano Sonata No. 16 - Allegro. [ONLINE] Available at: http://musescore.com/nicolas/scores/539. [Accessed 22 March 14]. Mirriam Webster. 2014. Alberti bass. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/alberti%20bass. [Accessed 24 March 14]. Piano World. 2005. Mozart C major sonata K.545. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.pianoworld.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/500456/Please%20help%20me%20analyze%20Mozart%20.html. [Accessed 23 March 14].