Classical Music | Violin Music

Recorded on 11/27/2013, uploaded on 06/19/2014

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Having resigned his post in Salzburg, Mozart, accompanied by his mother, set out in search of new employment. His journey, which started in September 1777 and lasted until January 1789, took him to Mannheim, Paris and Munich. During this time, he composed six sonatas for piano and violin that were later published in Paris in 1778. The set was likely inspired by a set of six sonatas for harpsichord and violin by the Dresden Kapellmeister Joseph Schuster that Mozart performed while in Mannheim. He described them as "not bad" and sent a copy of them home to his father and sister, as well as describing his intention to compose his own set of six sonatas in a similar style.

Opening with a stately descent through an E-flat major triad, the Violin Sonata in E-flat major, K. 302 (the second sonata of Mozart's set of six) immediately takes on the nobleness befitting of its key. One has only to think of Beethoven's Eroica (which, incidentally also adopts a triple meter for its first movement) or Mozart's own Sinfonia Concertante, K. 320 to recognize the sense of heroism in the Violin Sonata, K. 302. Following two statements of the movement's first theme, violin and piano together dramatically build through the E-flat major scale until the piano finally descends quickly back down in a brilliant run, releasing the climb's potential energy. A second theme follows in the dominant key, accompanied nearly throughout with a flourish of sixteenth notes in the piano. The development section initially takes its material from the closing measures of the first theme but soon the opening triadic descent comes to dominate—first in its original form and then in a rising inversion that leads to the recapitulation.

Following the heroic first movement, the Rondo finale adopts a graceful Andante tempo. Its principal melody is stately, beginning with a march-like dactylic rhythm and harmonized quite simply. Most of the movement passes by with a dignified and refined air. In its final bars, at the last statement of its principal melody, the heroism of the first movement returns. The theme, given by the violin, is doubled in the lower octave by the piano with full chords over a lively but stately bass. A brief coda, derived from the principal melody and accompanied by tremolandi in the violin, returns to the earlier dignified restraint and brings the sonata to a solemn close.   Joseph DuBose

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Violin Sonata in E-Flat Major, K. 302   Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart came across a set of six sonatas for harpsichord and violin by the Dresden Kapellmeister, Joseph Schuster. In letters to his father and sister, he described them as “not bad” so decided to compose his own set of sonatas in similar fashion. Mozart’s six sonatas, K.301-K. 306 were composed in Mannheim and Paris, published in November 1778 with the manuscript being dedicated to Maria Elisabeth, Electress of the Palatinate. K.302 is set in the heroic key of E-flat Major. The first movement, Allegro, is brilliant, enhanced with rhythmic energy and running scale passages. The second movement, Andante Grazioso, is stately and graceful in character.      Nikki Chooi

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.