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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Rondo in D Major, K. 485 Play Play

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Recorded on 06/28/2005, uploaded on 01/16/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Though so titled, Mozart's Rondo in D major actually has nothing in common with the form. It is, in fact, a quite regularly structured sonata form. The principal melody is lively with a characteristic "Scottish snap" in its opening and third bar. Repeated again and given a more definitive close, the principal melody is followed by a short melodic figure bearing a strong resemblance to a passage in the first movement of Eine kleine Nachtmusik. The motif of this short passage then becomes the building block of the second theme. Concise and routed in the dominant minor key, the second theme, after only nine measures, gives way to a varied form of the principal melody in the dominant of A major. Shortly thereafter, a brief melodic idea closes the exposition in the dominant key.

The development section, beginning with statement of the principal melody's first two bars in octaves, focuses entirely on the melodic material connected with that theme. After passing through the related keys of B minor and G major, the main theme returns in the tonic key of D major, thus beginning the recapitulation. The outline of the exposition is mainly followed in the course of the recapitulation with the exception that the brief second theme is omitted. In its place, instead, is a statement of the principal melody in the key of F major. The same melodic idea that closed the exposition closes the recapitulation (in the tonic key, of course) and a brief coda based on the first measures of the principal melody bring the piece to an end. Joseph DuBose

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Rondo in D Major, K. 485 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

This charming work was composed in 1786, while Mozart was working on The Impresario and The Marriage of Figaro. The main rondo theme is based on a melody by J.C. Bach, Johann Sebastian's youngest son. This theme is heard in various keys and registers, but even when stated in the minor key, the mood is prevailingly sunny and optimistic.