Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/08/2006, uploaded on 02/12/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Composed in 1789, a year in which Mozart made several trips throughout Germany attempting to ease his financial sufferings, the Sonata in B-flat major, K. 570 has a somewhat curious origin. Mozart’s own entry in his catalogue of works describes the sonata as “for piano alone” (“auf Klavier allein”). However, the work has long been known in its version with violin, originating with the first published edition in 1796. Since this edition appeared five years after Mozart’s death, the addition of a violin part to a work Mozart specifically indicated as being “for piano alone” can only be the work of another hand. This is also evident in the violin part itself, being almost throughout an unimaginative doubling of the melodies already present in the piano or a mere harmonic filler.

Despite the deficiencies of the violin part, the work itself is a supreme example of Mozart’s proficiency in handling the multi-movement sonata design. At every point, it is well balanced and displays a tautness of form. The first movement opens with a melodic line that first outlines the tonic B-flat triad and then runs through its scale. The following second theme, hardly separable both in character and in material from the first, begins with the same triadic outline as before but introduces a new, but similar, melodic motif. The development is concise, focusing mainly on the material of the triadic outline and melodic idea of the second theme.

The central Adagio movement in E-flat major opens with a charming melody beginning with a slightly embellished version of the triadic outline from the first movement. Cast in a rondo form, two episodes, the first in C minor and the second in A-flat, alternate with the principal theme. Also in rondo form, the Allegretto finale is full of good humor and excitement. With the financial woes that Mozart struggled to remedy during 1789, the finale must have been written during a rare moment of happiness, or perhaps was his own attempt to lift his heavy spirit.       Joseph DuBose