David F.

Llandino
Violin Literature
Listening Report (Classical Period)

Sonata for Violin and Piano in E Minor K.304 By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
This sonata is the fourth of the seven sonatas for piano and violin composed by Mozart in
Mannheim and Paris during 1778, the E minor Sonata is the only one in a minor key. Recent
paper dating has shown that while the opening Allegro was composed in Mannheim, the
following Tempo di Menuetto was composed in Paris, where Mozart and his mother finally
arrived on March 23. Like all but the last of its companions, K. 304 has only two movements, but
it departs from the distinctly domestic feel of the first three works in finding a new profundity of
dramatic expression fully in keeping with its minor mode. In this it bears a strong resemblance to
another minor-key work composed in Paris at much the same time the Piano Sonata in A minor,
K. 310.
It may not be too fanciful to see in both works some reflection of the emotional upheaval
Mozart must have experienced on leaving Aloysia Weber, the first love of his youthful life,
behind in Mannheim. And few commentators have been able to resist associating it with the
death of Mozart’s mother, though there is no way to know whether it was written before or after
her final illness. It was an event he had striven to delay as long as possible, much to the
annoyance of his father Leopold back at home in Salzburg. Mozart's attempts to give greater
equality to the violin in a genre traditionally dominated by the keyboard (not for nothing are all
Mozart's sonatas designated as being for piano and violin, rather than the reverse) here takes a
further step forward in the opening theme of the Allegro, which is dramatically announced
complete by both instruments in unison, after which it is taken up not by the piano, but the
violin. The Tempo di Menuetto movement that follows is less intense and includes a section in
the major.
Like most of the other sonatas from this set, it is in only two movements. The Allegro
takes its character from the somber opening theme, played in unison by violin and piano. The
jaunty second subject, first announced by the piano, does little to change the mood, and the
opening theme dominates the movement. Mozart marks the second movement Tempo di
Minuetto, but this music is far more serious than most minuets. Solo piano plays the gravely
graceful opening melody, and soon the two instruments take turns with it this melody returns
continually. At the center of the movement, though, Mozart shifts to E major, and this measured,
calm section (Mozart marks it dolce) is the true glory of a glorious sonata.
This sonata helps all the musician to develop their musicality on playing with their pianist
especially in the first part of the 1st movement on playing together with the same color and attack
in unison. I also choose this recording because the pianist and the violinist are very together
especially on the unison parts and their ensemble playing are very good the violinist tone down
when the pianist are playing the melody.
Link: https://youtu.be/bFpaS9XHav8