Piano Sonata No. 16 (Mozart)

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The Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is possibly his most famous piano sonata. It was described by Mozart himself in his own thematic catalogue as "for beginners"^{[citation needed]}, and it is sometimes known by the nickname Sonata facile or Sonata semplice.

Mozart added the work to his catalogue on June 26, 1788, the same date as his Symphony No. 39. The exact circumstances of the work's composition are not known, however.

As a rough guide, using the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music grading system, (In which grade one music can be played by a grade one musician, etc; with grades ranging from one to eight) the first movement is approximately grade 5, the middle, slower piece falling just over the requirements for grade 6; with the final rondo being rather challenging, and therefore approximately seven.

[edit] The Music

The work has three movements:

1. Allegro
2. Andante
3. Rondo

The first movement begins with one of the best known examples of Alberti bass. It is in Sonata form and is in the key of C major. In the exposition, the first theme is a short and familiar theme with most audiences. A bridge follows and slowly modulates in G major, preparing for the second theme. The second theme is more lyrical than the first. A coda follows to finish the exposition and the exposition is repeated. In the development, the theme is in G minor. It modulates through several different keys before settling in F Major. Here, Mozart did an interesting thing. In the recapitulation, the first theme is present but is in the subdominant key, F Major. The second theme is played in C major. The movement ends in the C major.

The second movement is in the key of G major, the dominant key of C major. The movement is a lot slower than the first - ironically indicated in the notes by the presence of more of them; in Mozarts' day tempo and dynamics were left up to the performer, so any further additions are "probably" those of the publisher. The music modulates in the middle of this movement to the parallel minor (G minor) and its relative major (Bb major), which is common in musical terms. The movement then modulates to the tonic, and, after the main theme and development is heard again, ends.

The third movement is in Sonata rondo form and is in the tonic key, C major. It is probably the most difficult to play out the three. The first theme is lively and sets the mood to the piece. The second theme is in G major and contains an Alberti bass in the left hand. The first theme appears again and is followed by a third theme. The third theme is in a minor key and modulates through many different keys before modulating into C major. The first theme appears again followed by a coda and finally ends in C major.

Although the piece is very well known today, it was not published in Mozart's lifetime, first appearing in print in 1805. In Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes animation, the opening bars of the sonata are associated with the character Granny from Tweety and Sylvester cartoons. Raymond Scott's pop-music adaptation of the opening theme, entitled In an Eighteenth-Century Drawing Room, was a hit in 1939.

[edit] Recordings

• Link to download music - Sonata No. 16 In C Major, K.545 'Sonata Facile' recording from Musopen.
• K 545 in Interactive Hypermedia (Shockwave required) at the BinAural Collaborative Hypertext

[edit] Media

• The score to K545, (697 kilobytes, JPEG file)

Piano Sonatas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
C Major K. 279 | C Major K. 280 | B flat Major K. 281 | E flat Major K. 282 | G Major K. 283 | D Major K. 284 | C Major K. 309 | A Minor K. 310 | D Major K. 311 | C Major K. 330 | A Major K. 331 | F Major K. 332 | B flat Major K. 333 | C Minor K. 457 | F Major K. 533/494 | C Major K. 545 | F Major K. 547a | B flat Major K. 570 | D Major K. 576