Piano Sonata No. 8 (Mozart)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310/300d, written in 1778 is a sonata in three movements:

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

A typical performance takes about 22 minutes.

The A minor sonata is the first of only two Mozart piano sonatas to have been composed in a minor key (the other being the No. 14 in C minor, K. 457). Written around the time of the death of Mozart's mother, it is one of the darkest of his sonatas. The last movement in particular has an obsessive, haunted quality about it, heightened near the end by the interruption of the relentless drive to the conclusion by repeated and chilling quiet falling passages.

External links

• Sonate in a KV 310 (300^d): Score and critical report (German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Piano Sonata No. 8: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project