Piano Sonata No. 1 (Mozart)
| Piano Sonata in C major | |
|---|---|
| No. 1 | |
| by W. A. Mozart | |
The beginning
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| Key | C major |
| Catalogue | K. 279 / 189d |
| Style | Classical period |
| Composed | 1774 |
| Movements | Three (Allegro, Andante, Allegro) |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, K. 279 / 189d (1774), is a piano sonata in three movements. It was composed when Mozart was only 18 years old and is the first of a set of his 18 piano sonata. All but 2 of the sonatas, No. 8 in A minor and No. 14 in C minor are in a major key. Also, the first several sonatas seem to follow the cycle of fifths, to the flat side first (No. 1 in C major, No. 2 in F major, No. 3 in B-flat major, No. 4 in E-flat major) and then to the sharp side (No. 5 in G major, No. 6 in D major).
1. Allegro
The first movement, marked Allegro, is structured in sonata form; the exposition opens with a turning figure for the left hand, which forms the basis for much of this movement. After a repeat of the opening 2 bars, an Alberti bass is introduced for the left hand, whilst the right hand plays the melody based on the opening turning figure. The opening section uses chromatic appogiaturas for colour. An imperfect cadence leads towards the dominant (G major) in preparation for the 2nd subject, as expected. The second subject focuses on rapid scales and leads to a perfect cadence in G major, ready for the development section. The exposition is repeated, which is standard for sonata form. The development begins in G minor uses the opening theme to follow a series of ascending arpeggios in several keys before moving towards G major and then back to the tonic, C major, for the recapitulation. The recapitulation follows a similar structure to the exposition, although the imperfect cadence that led to the dominant previously now leads to the final 10 bars of the exposition, this time in the tonic key. The first movement ends with a perfect cadence and a three bar elaboration on the tonic.
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