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Mozart's Piano Sonatas: Contexts, Sources, Style
Mozart's piano sonatas form a richly diverse and significant part of his instrumental output and span much of his mature composing career, thereby representing a microcosm of the composer's changing style. Part I examines the contexts in which the sonatas were composed and performed, and reviews likely sources of influence. Part II concentrates on the genesis of the sonatas and the sources, which reveals important information about Mozart's compositional process. In Part III the musical style is studied from the standpoint of rhetoric--a discipline featured in numerous contemporary aesthetic and theoretical textbooks on music.
- GenresMusic
240 pages, Hardcover
First published April 17, 1997
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About the author
John Irving
34 books2 followersJohn is an internationally recognized Mozart scholar. He has published five books on Mozart, including an international best-selling biography, The Treasures of Mozart, and scholarly texts on Mozart’s Piano Sonatas and Concerti. He is also a performer, specialising in 18th-century historical performance practice as a fortepianist, clavichordist and harpsichordist. His recent performances include appearances at The Guildhall School of Music and Drama and King’s Place, London; a recital in the ‘Intimate Encounters’ series at Clare Hall, Cambridge; the North York Moors Music Festival; Petersham Festival; Tudeley Festival; and at the Greenwich Early Music Festival. His latest CD recording project is a Mozart programme on a historic clavichord dating from 1763 in the Russell Collection, University of Edinburgh and is supported by The British Academy.
Besides research and performance, John’s career has also included many management positions in national music organisations, including his present appointments as Vice President of The Royal Musical Association and Trustee of the Horniman Museum, as well as being a member on various advisory boards, such as the British Library Journal. He is an Associate Fellow of The Institute of Musical Research, a Fellow of The Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
He joined Canterbury Christ Church University on 1 August 2011 as Head of Music and Performing Arts, and Professor of Music History and Performance Practice, having previously held Chairs in Music at the University of Bristol and The University of London. Immediately prior to his arrival in Canterbury was Director of The Institute of Musical Research, at London’s School of Advanced Study – the UK’s national music research institution.
He has been awarded a Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorship at The University of Bristol for the autumn term 2012. He will be giving a series of lectures and recitals on his ongoing research, including the recently-completed British Academy-funded project, ‘Mozart on the Hass Clavichord’.
John was recently appointed to Associate Fellowship of The Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
Besides research and performance, John’s career has also included many management positions in national music organisations, including his present appointments as Vice President of The Royal Musical Association and Trustee of the Horniman Museum, as well as being a member on various advisory boards, such as the British Library Journal. He is an Associate Fellow of The Institute of Musical Research, a Fellow of The Royal Historical Society and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
He joined Canterbury Christ Church University on 1 August 2011 as Head of Music and Performing Arts, and Professor of Music History and Performance Practice, having previously held Chairs in Music at the University of Bristol and The University of London. Immediately prior to his arrival in Canterbury was Director of The Institute of Musical Research, at London’s School of Advanced Study – the UK’s national music research institution.
He has been awarded a Benjamin Meaker Visiting Professorship at The University of Bristol for the autumn term 2012. He will be giving a series of lectures and recitals on his ongoing research, including the recently-completed British Academy-funded project, ‘Mozart on the Hass Clavichord’.
John was recently appointed to Associate Fellowship of The Institute of Musical Research, School of Advanced Study, University of London.
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October 20, 2024
4 ⭐
I get a kind of conciliatory satisfaction out of imagining a very young Mozart performing in front of a salon full of his contemporaries, musical connoisseurs and wealthy aristocrats. Impressed, their eyes widening in disbelief as he begins playing, a string of perfectly improvised notes making sweet, tender love to their earholes. Then taking a deep breath in and exhaling, shoulders sagging, head drooping ever so slightly as they begin to come to terms with the treacherous, unnavigable ocean that separates their monkey-like key tapping from the virtuosic artistry on display. Conciliatory, because this very reaction echoes through the centuries and is perfectly reflected by my own, as I settle in for a procrastinatory YouTube session of watching both adults and child prodigies performing the piano sonatas of Mozart with an astonishing clarity and virtuosity that seem a mere pipe dream to an adult beginner like myself, decades too late to the party!
A well-executed Mozart piano sonata is, to me, a breath of fresh air. Light on its feet, fun, cheeky and playful with moments of deep and alluring sensitivity and sentimentality. Occasionally saddened but never despairing, always maintaining an element of hope or optimism; a musical manifestation of Mozart’s own character!
There’s a sentiment, often repeated inside its own echo chamber, that the works of Mozart are easy, relative to the works of other greats: the three B’s (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms) just to name a few. But more and more, I’ve been coming across an alternate belief, perhaps the prevailing belief, shared by many notable Mozart interpreters, that, in actual fact, his piano works are one of the piano’s ultimate challenges. Dynamic contrast, expressive effect and correct articulation (Mozart was adamant that his works be played exactly as notated lest the effect be lost) being the main difficulties, however, on top of this, in the name of authenticity, the absolute necessity for the work to sound somewhat spontaneous and improvisational; Mozart would never have played them the same way twice. His compositional scores were often devoid of any specific embellishments which were only added later for publication. Mitsuko Uchida said, not in these exact words, that every time you play one of Mozart’s pieces, you must play it as though it’s the first time. As soon as you try to pre-empt something or establish a phrase before you get there, you have already failed, Mozart has left you in the dust.
In addition to this, a simple missed note or a miscalculated rest can bring the whole piece crumbling down. There's nowhere to hide.
John Irving’s ’Mozart’s Piano Sonatas' is an academic work and being the pleb that I am, it went over my head roughly 20-30% of the time but if you, like me, understand just 70-80% of this work, then you’re still going to gain a very worthwhile insight into these salacious sonatas.
Broken up into three main subjects, the book covers in Part 1, Contexts. That is, the solo sonata in context with late eighteenth century Vienna/Paris. Audience expectations, the role that the sonata played in the music scene, the typical setting of a sonata performance etc. As well as an assessment of Mozart’s stylistic models/influences, sensibly limited in this case, to piano sonatas (both accompanied and unaccompanied). I’ve covered some of these in other reviews of Mozart-related books but, unsurprisingly, Johann Christian Bach was a standout influence. Thankfully, Irving has given me a firmer understanding of the exact nature of the influence. Irving points out specific similarities between the 1st movement of JC Bachs op.5, no.2 in D Major and Mozarts K.284 (no.6) in the same key. He does the same with a number of Joseph Haydn sonatas, however, suggests that ”there is little of technical substance that unites [their] sonatas”. I was surprised to hear the author, in general, downplay Haydn's influence on Mozart's sonatas as, to me, purely from a listening standpoint, they seem to me, to have quite a bit in common.
Other stylistic models of varying degrees mentioned, but not limited to, include: Josef Mysliveček, CPE Bach and Georg Christoph Wagenseil. I feel like it’s important to note that any similarities are often referring to Mozart’s first collection of six sonatas K.279-284, a developmental stage for him within the sonata form and, in most cases, Mozart exhibits inspiration but also a much firmer grasp of musical structures than his contemporaries.
Part 2, Sources, is an exploration of the evidence that survives to say these are the authentic works of Wolfgang. A close examination of autographed manuscripts (Composing manuscripts/Fair copies etc.) including details as minute as differing styles of inking, offer an unexpected insight into Mozart’s composing habits. Sound a bit dry? Well, it does get that way a bit, but it’s all backed by historical evidence, and offers invaluable information regarding the materials and instruments Mozart had access to during the periods in which he was composing the sonatas, as well as when and where he was playing them, the reception they were getting etc.
The final Part, and the largest of the three, focuses on Style through a rhetorically-inspired lens which was the standard way of analysing music in the eighteenth century. Inspired predominantly by the works and discussions of Aristotle (’rhetoric’), Cicero (De Oratore) and Quintilian (Insitutio). To simplify it, almost criminally, the idea is, basically, to analyse a sonata in the same way one would an oration and the most applicable oratory form to apply to music is the Epideictic which "is a type of display which achieves its aims by means of rhetorical eloquence". In a musical context, this is broken down into inventio (pre-compositional choices), dispositio (arrangement and design – broken down again into Exordium [intro], Narratio [exposition] and Peroratio [Recapitulation]) and elocutio (the “syntax” or shaping of Mozart’s musical language). It’s an intellectually demanding but rewarding section of the book and presents a form of analysis I never would’ve thought to apply to music had I not read. Irving diplomatically clarifies that while we approach ”Mozart’s piano sonatas from a rhetorical point of view in order to illuminate facets of their style that otherwise escape notice… it is important to warn against too literal an application” and ”rhetoric is, of course, but one among many valid critical techniques, and no special claim is made for it superiority over rival methodologies."
One last note; given the structure of the book it is not possible to simply go to the table of contents and find a particular sonata that you would like to know about and go to “its” page, nor is their an index to assist you in doing so. Many sonatas are, instead, often analysed simultaneously regarding a particular point of interest. This can make it quite difficult to reference each example as you go if you don’t own the sheet music so I would almost say it is an essential prerequisite to own the piano scores of Mozart’s sonatas before beginning this work. I speak from experience as I only own from no.12 (k.332) onwards and trying to count bars in the first 11 in order to find the area in question became a very tedious and time-consuming task indeed. One, I quickly gave up on.
So, was I out of my depth with this one? Occasionally, yes, but it was still a worthwhile read that presents itself as very re-readable as one’s knowledge of musical theory develops. For the learned Mozart connoisseurs and lesser-educated Mozart enthusiasts alike, an absolute must read!
I get a kind of conciliatory satisfaction out of imagining a very young Mozart performing in front of a salon full of his contemporaries, musical connoisseurs and wealthy aristocrats. Impressed, their eyes widening in disbelief as he begins playing, a string of perfectly improvised notes making sweet, tender love to their earholes. Then taking a deep breath in and exhaling, shoulders sagging, head drooping ever so slightly as they begin to come to terms with the treacherous, unnavigable ocean that separates their monkey-like key tapping from the virtuosic artistry on display. Conciliatory, because this very reaction echoes through the centuries and is perfectly reflected by my own, as I settle in for a procrastinatory YouTube session of watching both adults and child prodigies performing the piano sonatas of Mozart with an astonishing clarity and virtuosity that seem a mere pipe dream to an adult beginner like myself, decades too late to the party!
A well-executed Mozart piano sonata is, to me, a breath of fresh air. Light on its feet, fun, cheeky and playful with moments of deep and alluring sensitivity and sentimentality. Occasionally saddened but never despairing, always maintaining an element of hope or optimism; a musical manifestation of Mozart’s own character!
There’s a sentiment, often repeated inside its own echo chamber, that the works of Mozart are easy, relative to the works of other greats: the three B’s (Bach, Beethoven, Brahms) just to name a few. But more and more, I’ve been coming across an alternate belief, perhaps the prevailing belief, shared by many notable Mozart interpreters, that, in actual fact, his piano works are one of the piano’s ultimate challenges. Dynamic contrast, expressive effect and correct articulation (Mozart was adamant that his works be played exactly as notated lest the effect be lost) being the main difficulties, however, on top of this, in the name of authenticity, the absolute necessity for the work to sound somewhat spontaneous and improvisational; Mozart would never have played them the same way twice. His compositional scores were often devoid of any specific embellishments which were only added later for publication. Mitsuko Uchida said, not in these exact words, that every time you play one of Mozart’s pieces, you must play it as though it’s the first time. As soon as you try to pre-empt something or establish a phrase before you get there, you have already failed, Mozart has left you in the dust.
In addition to this, a simple missed note or a miscalculated rest can bring the whole piece crumbling down. There's nowhere to hide.
John Irving’s ’Mozart’s Piano Sonatas' is an academic work and being the pleb that I am, it went over my head roughly 20-30% of the time but if you, like me, understand just 70-80% of this work, then you’re still going to gain a very worthwhile insight into these salacious sonatas.
Broken up into three main subjects, the book covers in Part 1, Contexts. That is, the solo sonata in context with late eighteenth century Vienna/Paris. Audience expectations, the role that the sonata played in the music scene, the typical setting of a sonata performance etc. As well as an assessment of Mozart’s stylistic models/influences, sensibly limited in this case, to piano sonatas (both accompanied and unaccompanied). I’ve covered some of these in other reviews of Mozart-related books but, unsurprisingly, Johann Christian Bach was a standout influence. Thankfully, Irving has given me a firmer understanding of the exact nature of the influence. Irving points out specific similarities between the 1st movement of JC Bachs op.5, no.2 in D Major and Mozarts K.284 (no.6) in the same key. He does the same with a number of Joseph Haydn sonatas, however, suggests that ”there is little of technical substance that unites [their] sonatas”. I was surprised to hear the author, in general, downplay Haydn's influence on Mozart's sonatas as, to me, purely from a listening standpoint, they seem to me, to have quite a bit in common.
Other stylistic models of varying degrees mentioned, but not limited to, include: Josef Mysliveček, CPE Bach and Georg Christoph Wagenseil. I feel like it’s important to note that any similarities are often referring to Mozart’s first collection of six sonatas K.279-284, a developmental stage for him within the sonata form and, in most cases, Mozart exhibits inspiration but also a much firmer grasp of musical structures than his contemporaries.
Part 2, Sources, is an exploration of the evidence that survives to say these are the authentic works of Wolfgang. A close examination of autographed manuscripts (Composing manuscripts/Fair copies etc.) including details as minute as differing styles of inking, offer an unexpected insight into Mozart’s composing habits. Sound a bit dry? Well, it does get that way a bit, but it’s all backed by historical evidence, and offers invaluable information regarding the materials and instruments Mozart had access to during the periods in which he was composing the sonatas, as well as when and where he was playing them, the reception they were getting etc.
The final Part, and the largest of the three, focuses on Style through a rhetorically-inspired lens which was the standard way of analysing music in the eighteenth century. Inspired predominantly by the works and discussions of Aristotle (’rhetoric’), Cicero (De Oratore) and Quintilian (Insitutio). To simplify it, almost criminally, the idea is, basically, to analyse a sonata in the same way one would an oration and the most applicable oratory form to apply to music is the Epideictic which "is a type of display which achieves its aims by means of rhetorical eloquence". In a musical context, this is broken down into inventio (pre-compositional choices), dispositio (arrangement and design – broken down again into Exordium [intro], Narratio [exposition] and Peroratio [Recapitulation]) and elocutio (the “syntax” or shaping of Mozart’s musical language). It’s an intellectually demanding but rewarding section of the book and presents a form of analysis I never would’ve thought to apply to music had I not read. Irving diplomatically clarifies that while we approach ”Mozart’s piano sonatas from a rhetorical point of view in order to illuminate facets of their style that otherwise escape notice… it is important to warn against too literal an application” and ”rhetoric is, of course, but one among many valid critical techniques, and no special claim is made for it superiority over rival methodologies."
One last note; given the structure of the book it is not possible to simply go to the table of contents and find a particular sonata that you would like to know about and go to “its” page, nor is their an index to assist you in doing so. Many sonatas are, instead, often analysed simultaneously regarding a particular point of interest. This can make it quite difficult to reference each example as you go if you don’t own the sheet music so I would almost say it is an essential prerequisite to own the piano scores of Mozart’s sonatas before beginning this work. I speak from experience as I only own from no.12 (k.332) onwards and trying to count bars in the first 11 in order to find the area in question became a very tedious and time-consuming task indeed. One, I quickly gave up on.
So, was I out of my depth with this one? Occasionally, yes, but it was still a worthwhile read that presents itself as very re-readable as one’s knowledge of musical theory develops. For the learned Mozart connoisseurs and lesser-educated Mozart enthusiasts alike, an absolute must read!
April 6, 2011
I have always approached a Sonata from the perspective of LEARNING and PERFORMING. Reading this book gave me more of a glimpse into the composition of a sonata. Irving does a great job of introducing the Sonata historically and then specifically addressing the piano Sonatas that Mozart wrote.
Interesting to read were the accounts of how scholars figured out how he went about composing based on the types of inking that his pen made on the original score. Mozart used his Sonatas for teaching piano and for teaching composition and he traveled and performed with them as well. One can see what a sonata was primarily used for when looking at it in this way, as Irving does.
Well written. Well organized. A great read if you are already familiar or are in the process of familiarizing yourself with Mozart's Piano Sonatas.
Interesting to read were the accounts of how scholars figured out how he went about composing based on the types of inking that his pen made on the original score. Mozart used his Sonatas for teaching piano and for teaching composition and he traveled and performed with them as well. One can see what a sonata was primarily used for when looking at it in this way, as Irving does.
Well written. Well organized. A great read if you are already familiar or are in the process of familiarizing yourself with Mozart's Piano Sonatas.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews