Mozart: Violin Sonata in E-flat major, K.380/374f

Introduction

The Sonata in E flat is the last of a group of four, possibly five sonatas for piano and violin composed by Mozart during 1781, the year in which he commenced a new life as a freelance musician in Vienna. By the end of the year, all five, along with the earlier Sonata in C, K. 296, were published by the Viennese house of Artaria, the start of a long association with Artaria, who would publish more of his works than any other house. The set was issued with a dedication to Josepha Auernhammer, a pupil of Mozart's with whom his name was romantically linked during his early days in Vienna. She was a fine keyboard player, although apparently not very attractive looking. Mozart defended himself from gossip by painting a very unflattering picture of the young lady in a letter to his father. Mozart was no doubt being ingenuous (he initially did much the same when writing home about his future wife Constanze), since he certainly continued to see Josepha. Like all this group of sonatas, the E flat is in three movements, thus abandoning the galant two-movement structure of the previous group (K. 301 - K. 306, composed in Mannheim and Paris in 1778). Here it is the central Andante con moto in G minor that particularly takes the attention, its chromatic inflections giving the movement a feel of restless agitation. It is framed by an opening Allegro with much brilliant passage work and a concluding Rondeau with a hunting horn theme announced by the piano and subsequently taken up by the violin.

Parts/Movements

1. Allegro
2. Andante con moto
3. Rondeau. Allegro