Piano Sonata in A minor, K.310 (1778)

There are all kinds of theories as to what inspired Mozart to compose such a seriously beautiful piano sonata, his first in a minor key, in Paris in 1778. From a career point of view, as he knew, he should have been charming the public rather than challenging it. One idea is that the work was inspired by a personal tragedy: his mother, who had accompanied him to Paris, died there at about the same time as it was written. Since the exact date of composition is not known, it is difficult to discard the notion, romantic though it is.

The emotional pressure applied to the opening bars of the Allegro maestoso is sustained, though subtly varied in intensity, throughout a dramatically motivated construction. Although there are glimpses of serenity in major key here and although they are taken up and expanded in the slow movement, the middle section of the Andante cantabile con espressione is as passionate as that of the Allegro maestoso and its anxieties spill over, though discreetly, into the recapitulation. As the A minor Presto finale confirms, those anxieties were well founded. The central section in A major offers harmonic variety but, since it does nothing to relax the insistent quaver pulse, it has little significant effect in mitigating the unhappy message of the work.

Written in Paris in 1778, the Sonata in A minor is just the sort of work that, from a career point of view, Mozart should not have been writing in Paris in 1778. He had been quick to learn that the French “are and always will be asses” and that they “do not understand music.” If he was to establish himself in Paris - which is why his father had sent him there, with his mother as his companion - he had no choice but to take the Parisian taste into account and, in this particular context, the Sonata in A minor was a severe challenge.

So what inspired Mozart to produce such a seriously beautiful sonata, his first in a minor key, in such unfavourable circumstances? Historians suggest the influence of the German “Sturm und Drang,” the brief but unstoppable romantic revolution that spread through the arts in the late 1760s, setting fire to classical conventions and emotional inhibitions until it burned itself out in the early 1770s. But the Sonata in A minor is surely a little late for that. Musicologists point to Mozart’s admiration for Johann Schobert, whom he had met on his first visit to Paris in 1764 and whose fierily expressive keyboard sonatas he now used as teaching pieces. Bearing in mind that there is an almost literal quotation from Schobert’s Sonata Op.17, No.1, in the slow movement of the Sonata in A minor, no one could reasonably exclude Schobert from these speculations. Romantics like to think that the work was inspired by the death of Mozart’s mother in Paris in July 1778. The exact date of the composition of the Sonata in A minor is not known but, since authorities tend to agree on the summer of 1778, the romantic interpretation of events is difficult to discard, uncharacteristic of Mozart though such a direct reaction would be.

The emotional pressure applied to the opening bars of the Allegro maestoso is sustained, though subtly varied in intensity, throughout the movement. It is true that the insistent quavers in the left hand and the A minor harmonies are soon dropped in favour of more relaxed material, while the fluently mobile C major second subject is almost playful in comparison. The development section is ruthlessly dramatic, however, and in the recapitulation the second subject is recalled not in A major, as it might have been, but in an uncompromising A minor.

The Andante cantabile con espressione is one of the most melodious and most expressive of Mozart’s slow movements. Its two main themes, introduced in F major and C major respectively, represent the serenity which was briefly glimpsed in those keys in the Allegro maestoso and which is secured in the opening section here with scarcely a hint of misgiving. The middle section, on the other hand, is as passionate as that of the first movement and its anxieties spill over, though discreetly, into the recapitulation. As the A minor Presto finale confirms, those anxieties were well founded. The central section in A major offers harmonic variety but, since it is based on a variant of the urgent main theme and does nothing to relax the insistent quaver pulse, it has little significant effect in mitigating the unhappy message of the work.

The Sonata in A minor was first published in Paris in 1782, long after Mozart had left in disillusionment, by his friend François-Joseph Heina who had helped the composer through his mother’s death four years earlier.