Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 02/22/2017, uploaded on 10/18/2017

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Piano Sonata No. 15 in F Major, K. 533/494          

In June 1786, Mozart wrote a Rondo in F Major for piano. A year and a half later, he composed an Allegro in F and an Andante in B-flat; he eventually combined these movements and published them as a sonata. The first-movement Allegro opens with a melody played by the right hand without accompaniment.  The movement is full of virtuoso passagework and many contrasting melodic and rhythmic ideas. The Andante’s richly ornamented melodies are taken through a series of uncommon key changes that enhance their highly expressive quality. The Rondo has a cheerful and easy-going opening theme, followed by several episodes that explore darker emotional realms through minor keys. As he was preparing the sonata for publication, Mozart thoroughly revised the movement, adding an extensive, concerto-like cadenza with some surprising harmonies and a contrapuntal section that matched a corresponding passage in the first movement. He evidently wanted to bring the Rondo closer in style to the newly-composed movements, and thereby unify a work whose parts had originally been conceived separately.

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The sonata in F major - oddly labeled K. 533/494 - was written in two parts. The Rondo was composed as a stand-alone piece around 1786. The Allegro and Andante were written in 1787 and were subsequently joined with the Rondo at the request of Mozart's publisher. For this reason, the authoritative Köchel-Verzeichnis uses two different catalog numbers to identify this work.

Although this sonata was completed by a relatively young composer (age 32), the piece is actually a late work for Mozart and offers an especially advanced treatment of the traditional sonata architecture.

The first movement begins with a monophonic statement of the first theme which is more reminiscent of a fugue subject than a formal opening for a sonata.  Throughout the movement, there is a considerable contrapuntal interplay which separates this work from most of its forbearers. Substantial chromaticism and unexpected tonal excursions mask the underlying sonata-form structure, putting this sonata in a category of special beauty.

The second and third movements are equally unusual. The second is exceptionally emotional and, on the surface, has a fantasy-like quality. The third is anything but the typical, jovial and driving Rondo.  Like the first movement, it has its moments of contrapuntal interplay and struggle between major and minor modalities. Unlike the previous two movements, the concluding measures contain unusually low notes.       Notes by George F. Litterst

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.