Piano Sonata No. 8 (Mozart)

Piano Sonata in A minor
No. 8
by W. A. Mozart
The young composer, a 1777 copy of a lost painting
Key A minor
Catalogue K. 310 / 300d
Style Classical period
Composed 1778 (1778)
Movements Three (Allegro maestoso, Andante cantabile con espressione, Presto)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 / 300d, was written in 1778. The A minor sonata is the first of only two Mozart piano sonatas in a minor key (the other being No. 14 in C minor, K. 457). It was composed in the summer of 1778 around the time of his mother's death, one of the most tragic times of his life.[1]

Background

Little is known about the precise circumstances surrounding the composition of the sonata; unlike the earlier Sonata in C major, K. 309/284b it was little mentioned in his correspondence.[2] The surviving manuscript was written using the same type of paper that was used for the Symphony in D major, K. 297/300a, which Mozart purchased while in Paris.[3]

Structure

The composition, which typically takes around 22 minutes to perform, is in three movements:

  1. Allegro maestoso, common time
  2. Andante cantabile con espressione, F major, 3/4
  3. Presto, 2/4

References

Notes

    1. ↑ Anderson 1990, p. 2
    2. ↑ Irving 1997, p. 62
    3. ↑ Irving 1997, p. 64

    Sources

    • Anderson, Keith (1990). Mozart: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 (CD). Naxos Records. 8.550445.
    • Irving, John (1997). Mozart's Piano Sonatas: Contexts, Sources, Style. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49631-4.
    • Jaffe, Jane Vial (2015). "Program Notes: Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 300d (K. 310)". Parlance Chamber Concerts.
    • Media related to Piano Sonata No. 8 (Mozart) at Wikimedia Commons
    • Sonate in a KV 310 (300d): Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
    • Piano Sonata No. 8: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)
    • "Mozart - Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K.310/300d performed by Emil Gilels". Berlinzerberus (YouTube). 2012-10-09.
    • Irving, John (2010). Understanding Mozart's Piano Sonatas. Ashgate Publishing Ltd. ISBN 978-0-7546-6769-8.
    • Keefe, Simon P., ed. (2015). Mozart Studies 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-04423-4.
    • Levin, Robert D. "Mozart and the Keyboard Culture of his time" (PDF). Bar-Ilan University.
    • Moylan, Andrew L. (2014). Venerable Style, Form, and Avant-Garde in Mozart's Minor Key Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K. 457: Topic and Structure (M.Mus). University of Massachusetts Amherst.
    • Thomas, Derek (2015). "The Formal Structure and Biographical Significance of Mozart's Sonata No. 8 K.310 Movement I Allegro Maestoso" (PDF). Belmont University.
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