Piano Sonata No. 9 (Mozart)

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The Sonata No. 9 in A minor KV 310 (300d) (from the counting method of the Köchel catalog No. 8) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a piano sonata in three movements . It belongs to a cycle of three sonatas that were composed between 1777 and 1778 during a long tour leading from Mannheim to Paris and that have a quieter character than the first six sonatas.

The A minor sonata is the first of only two piano sonatas that Mozart wrote in minor. It is the darkest of his piano sonatas and was composed in Paris in 1778 after his mother Anna Maria Mozart , who accompanied him on the trip, died there.

An average performance of the sonata is around 22 minutes. Dinu Lipatti's recording from 1950 is still the benchmark today .

sentences

1st movement: Allegro maestoso

The first movement in an allegro maestoso is characterized by a constant alternation between rebellion and resignation and despair. The multiple dotted rhythm embodies a demonic, dark majesty. The movement consists of just one theme, which turns into a sixteenth-note movement, followed by a polyphonic two-part voice in the left hand. At the end of the exposition , the dotted rhythm of the main theme appears again. In the course of carrying out with a clear bottom case sequence in each of the bars 58-61, 62-65, 66-69 and 70-73 Mozart changes in the dynamics between fortissimo and pianissimo and also sets in bar 126 and 127 two diminished seventh chords, which for him is completely unusual and an expression of the greatest tragedy and shock.

2nd movement: Andante cantabile con espressione

The second movement conveys passion and dignity with its lyrical and expressive andante tempo. From bar 15 Mozart sets a second theme and in the development from bars 43 to 49 reminds of the turbulence of the first movement, before returning to the main theme and the recapitulation of the second movement.

3rd movement: Presto

The last movement is characterized by an obsessive and seemingly chased mood with its climax almost at the end of the movement, where the unstoppable development is only interrupted at the end by repeated, calmer passages. This Presto movement is one of the few depressing works by Mozart and shows - as in the first movement - his conflict between rebellion and despair. In contrast to Beethoven , for example , Mozart does not return to a lightening major at the end, but only once builds a short passage similar to a mirage in a bright A major , before he almost defiantly closes the sonata in the given A minor.

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