Fantasy in c for Clavier
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Mozart entered the Fantasia in C minor for clavier, KV 475 on Mai 20, 1785 into his own handwritten catalog of works. In the first edition, it served as an introduction to the Piano sonata in C minor, KV 457, composed the previous year. The fantasia is the most impressive document for the improvisational skill for which Mozart was famous in his time. The work consists of several sections of different character, some of which allude to motifs from the sonata. Only the opening and concluding section are in C minor, the key of the sonata.
Did you know that the Fantasia in C minor for clavier, KV 475 should rightly be called a chromatic fantasia? The beginning of the fantasia may best be understood as a bass line that moves predominantly in half tone steps; on this melody, Mozart built keen harmonies which change from measure to measure. After just 16 measures, Mozart reached the key of F-sharp major, as distant as possible from the home key of C minor. At that point Mozart scratched out the key signature of three flats which he had entered in his autograph, indicating the accidentals instead wherever they were needed.
Most editions of Mozart’s piano sonatas include the same 18 three-movement sonatas. However, at least three early sonatas have been lost; only their incipits are known. The Sonata in F major, K. 547a, which is closely related to the Violin Sonata in F major, K. 547, consists of only two movements. The sonatas composed in 1774/75—K. 279–284—were known within the family as the “difficult sonatas” and form a set modeled on Joseph Haydn’s so-called Esterházy Sonatas Hob. XVI:21–26. The next series of sonatas was published in groups of three (K. 309–311 and K. 330–332), while those composed from late 1783 onward were published as individual works.
Autograph, 1785
Phantasia
Partitur: 9 Bl. (14 beschr. S.)
Erstdruck, 1785
FANTAISIE et SONATE/ Pour le Forte – Piano/ composées pour/ MADAME THERESE de TRATTNERN/ par le Maitre de Chapelle/ W. A. MOZART./ Oeuvre XI./ [links:] C. P. S. C. M. [rechts:] Prix fl. 1. 30./ Publieé a Vienne chez Artaria Comp./ 70.
Partitur: 22 S.
Erstdruck, 1785
FANTAISIE et SONATE/ Pour le Forte – Piano/ composées pour/ MADAME THERESE de TRATTNERN/ par le Maitre de Chapelle/ W. A. MOZART./ Oeuvre XI./ [links:] C. P. S. C. M. [rechts:] Prix fl. 1. 30./ Publieé a Vienne chez Artaria Comp./ 70.
Partitur: 22 S.