Piano Sonata No. 12 (Mozart)

The Piano Sonata No. 12 in F major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, K. 332/300k, was written at the same time as the Piano Sonata, K. 330 and Piano Sonata, K. 331 (Alla turca), Mozart numbering them as a set from one to three. They were once believed to have been written in the late 1770s in Paris, but it is now thought more likely that they date from 1783. Vienna is where Mozart composed this sonata, with others believing the sonatas were written during a visit to Salzburg where Mozart introduced his wife, Constanze, to his father, Leopold. All three sonatas were published in Vienna in 1784.

Form

The sonata is in three movements and has a conventional structure:

1. Allegro - The first movement is in a classical sonata form.
2. Adagio - The second movement is a slow movement in the key of B flat major with two halves repeated. In the autograph, the second half is essentially a repeat of its initial presentation with some minor tonal adjustments. In the earliest printed editions, however, it is considerably elaborated.
3. Allegro assai - The rapid finale is in sonata form with a 6/8 time. While it starts out with a forte chord and passage work, it concludes with a pianissimo cadence.

Gallery

A typical performance takes about 18 minutes (25 minutes with repeats).

Sonata kv332   Sonata kv332   Sonata kv332   Sonata kv332   Sonata kv332   Sonata kv332   Sonata kv332

1st movement structure

The 1st movement structure is a typical sonata structure. The right hand first has a melody, consisting of a brief subdominant tonality change, then back to the original F major key. The left hand has a broken chord accompaniment. Next there is a short melody with the left hand echoing it, whilst the right plays a two-part phrase that includes a mordent. After, there are bouncy chords played quietly. A sudden change follows, with the F major key changing into the relative minor key, D minor. Then are lots of dramatic changes of key, with the right hand playing accompaniment and the left hand playing melody. The key changes several times, until at the end the key settles to the dominant, C major. Following are relaxing phrases, and then a strong, happy ending.

Afterwards, there is the development section, where the right repeats most of the middle-beginning part, with some changes that alter the key at the end. At the end we have the original F major key dancing around the music. There are a lot of repetitions in the 1st movement.

2nd movement structure

The 2nd movement structure is in a sonatina form. The tempo of this movement is quite slow. At the beginning, there is a beautiful melody, accompanied by a broken chord accompaniment. The next phrase is the same, except the key immediately changes to the tonic minor, Bb minor. A strong lyrical note with a minor decending scale ends with the dominant key. The music then turns happy and joyful, until the end, when the phrases end with a Bb major dominant 7th chord, the music then turns back to the original key, Bb major. The next parts all repeat the same in the first page, just in the tonic key, and ends in the tonic.

References

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Sonatas and Three Fantasias, Urtext edition, for piano, Kalmus Classic Edition. ISBN 0-7692-4089-5

External links

• Sonate in F KV 332: Score and critical report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Piano Sonata No. 12: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Performance by Paavali Jumppanen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in MP3 format