Mozart’s Sonata in A Major (K.331) - but not the movement you know

Most people are familiar with Mozart’s “Turkish March” - as it is popularly called - even if they don’t remember it by name. What they would not expect is that it is the last movement of this sonata. Skip to 18:50 and see for yourself - there it is. Even many musicians don’t realize that the “Turkish March” is not a solo piece, but a finale.

I’m not writing about that movement today, though, because I haven’t ever played it. My experience is with the first movement of the sonata. And it is a very strange first movement indeed.

It isn’t in sonata-allegro form.

To a classical musician like myself, those words are a pretty serious shock. Classical sonatas almost always use sonata-allegro form for the first movement, and if you’ve heard a few of them it becomes very recognizable. The Sonata in A Major, K. 331 is the only example I can think of off the top of my head that does not use this form - instead, it is a theme and variations. Those are quite common in the classical music world - especially during Mozart’s time - but they are not associated with sonatas. I’m still not sure why Mozart took this route, but it works surprisingly well. A theme and variations is a good way of presenting thematic material, and to set the tone for the rest of the sonata.

But I’ve been letting my feelings on the theory aspects of K. 331 get in the way of actually saying what I thought about the piece, haven’t I? Even here it’s hard to go off on another tangent about Mozart in general… I’ll just say that this movement is very fun. That’s Mozart’s personality, and it shows here just as well as it does in the “Turkish March,” even if the first movement is more gracile and stately than the boisterous finale. Different character, but similar undertones and construction - classic Mozart. That will never not be lovely.

(What a nightmare to play well, though! Which is also classic Mozart.)