Classical Music | Music for Fortepiano

Recorded on 10/21/1988, uploaded on 03/21/2011

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Though it begins with one of the best-known melodies to flow from Mozart's pen, the Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major was not published until 1805, fourteen years after the composer's death. Mozart entered the sonata, along with the Symphony No. 39, into his own thematic catalogue on June 26, 1788 with the description "for beginners." It has since come to have the nickname "Sonata facile" or "Sonata semplice."

Written in a concise sonata form, the first movement opens unannounced with the first theme. The second theme, a snippet of a melodic idea in G major, follows a mere twelve measures later. When the two themes are heard again in the recapitulation, quite exceptionally, the first theme makes its appearance in F major, the subdominant key. Though the commencement of the recapitulation in a key other than the tonic would become a somewhat common practice of 19^th century, it was quite foreign from the sonata tradition of Mozart's time.

The second movement, an Andante in G major, begins with a long arching melody that itself nearly takes up half the movement. The middle portion, a sort of development on the theme, passes through the keys of G minor and B-flat major. Finally, the movement concludes with an abridged restatement of the opening melody. The principal melody of the rondo Finale features a call-and-response between the right and left hands. For the most part laidback and easy-going, the final measures of the last movement awaken in a flourish of sixteenth notes that end the sonata on an exciting note.    Joseph DuBose