Rondo in A minor, K.511

One of the longest and most inspired of all Mozart’s single-movement pieces is the Rondo in A minor, K.511. The second of two equally fascinating piano Rondos, it is so sadly expressive in the chromatic inflections and the limping not-quite siciliano rhythms of its main theme that there has long been a temptation to associate it with the death of the composer’s father in May 1787. In fact, it was written more than two months before that event. Even so, the choice of the key of A minor (shared by the Sonata, K.310, speculatively associated with the death of Mozart’s mother in Paris in 1778), the serious development of the episodes in F major and A major and the extraordinary last recall of the rondo theme which, dropping its original accompaniment to cast its shadow on figuration from the two episodes, drags its feet in syncopated distortions of its characteristic rhythm… all this seems to suggest a sense of deeply regretted loss.