Piano Sonata No. 8 (Mozart)

Piano Sonata in A minor
No. 8
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
First page of the autograph
Key	A minor
Catalogue	K. 310 / 300d
Style	Classical period
Composed	1778 (1778)
Movements	Three (Allegro maestoso, Andante cantabile con espressione, Presto)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 8 in A minor, K. 310 / 300d, was written in 1778. The sonata is the first of only two Mozart piano sonatas in a minor key (the other being No. 14 in C minor, K. 457). It was composed in the summer of 1778 around the time of his mother's death, one of the most tragic times of his life.

The autograph manuscript of the sonata is preserved in the Morgan Library & Museum.

Background

Little is known about the precise circumstances surrounding the composition of the sonata; unlike the earlier Sonata in C major, K. 309/284b, it was little mentioned in his correspondence. The surviving manuscript was written using the same type of paper used for the Symphony No. 31 in D major, K. 297/300a, which Mozart purchased while in Paris.

The sonata is a rare minor key composition in Mozart's catalogue. Composed alongside the Violin Sonata No. 21 in E minor, K. 304/300c, it has been suggested that the sudden death of Mozart's mother may have led to the more sombre mood found in these pieces.

Structure

The composition, which typically takes around 22 minutes to perform, is in three movements:

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

Bibliography

• Anderson, Keith (1990). Mozart: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 (CD). Naxos Records. 8.550445.
• Irving, John (1997). Mozart's Piano Sonatas: Contexts, Sources, Style. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-49631-4.
• Zaslaw, Neal; Cowdery, William, eds. (1990). The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. New York and London: W. W. Norton & Company. ISBN 978-0-393-02886-7.

Further reading

• Irving, John (2010). Understanding Mozart's Piano Sonatas. Ashgate Publishing. ISBN 978-0-7546-6769-8.
• Jaffe, Jane Vial (2015). "Program Notes: Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 300d (K. 310)". Parlance Chamber Concerts.
• Keefe, Simon P., ed. (2015). Mozart Studies 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-107-04423-4.
• Levin, Robert D. "Mozart and the Keyboard Culture of His Time" (PDF). Bar-Ilan University.
• Moylan, Andrew L. (2014). Venerable Style, Form, and Avant-Garde in Mozart's Minor Key Piano Sonatas K. 310 and K. 457: Topic and Structure (M.Mus). University of Massachusetts Amherst.
• Thomas, Derek (2015). "The Formal Structure and Biographical Significance of Mozart's Sonata No. 8 K. 310 Movement I Allegro Maestoso" (PDF). Belmont University.

External links

• Media related to Piano Sonata No. 8 (Mozart) at Wikimedia Commons
•  Sonate in a KV 310 (300^d): Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 310 (300d) (interactive score) on Verovio Humdrum Viewer (Alte Mozart-Ausgabe version)
• Piano Sonata in A minor, K. 310 (300d): Artaria edition (ca. 1792) at the Harvard Library
•  Piano Sonata No. 8 (Mozart): Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Piano Sonata No. 8: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project