• Bio
  • Contact Ian

Ian Sidden

Subscribe

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Craft
  • My News
  • About the Music
  • The Rest of Life

Mozart Month: Day 8 with the “Sonata Facile”

September 30, 2016 By Ian Sidden

I’m getting a late start on this, so I figured I’d listen to something a little shorter. “Sonata Facile” would be Italian for “easy sonata”, though when playing Mozart, the idea of “easy” is relative.

The Recording

Again, I’ll be listening to Mitsuko Uchida. I’ve been very impressed with her other recordings so far, so I’ll stick with what I know.

Apple Music Again, if you open this on your computer, it will take you to iTunes to buy the album. If you open it on your phone, it takes you to Apple Music. Weird system.

Spotify The exact same album isn’t available on both platforms, but it may well be the same recording

YouTube works, but it probably pays the artist less, so if possible, try to use one of the streaming services

Sonata 16 “Sonata Facile”

1. Allegro

  • Ah, again, one of the most instantly recognizable melodies.
  • It’s easy to take for granted, but the ability to write a memorable melody, one that has remained in the public’s consciousness for literally centuries, is a major skill. What composer before Mozart wrote melodies that have persisted in this way? Perhaps the “Hallelujah” chorus from Handel?
  • I so appreciate Mozart’s sense of musical humor. There’s no joke here or anything like that, but there’s a sense of levity that I miss from a lot of art music. Mozart is an oasis of humor.
  • “Facile”. Yea, right. Listen to the phrasing here.

2. Andante

  • Alberti bass ruled in so much of Mozart’s piano music.
  • I’m appreciating listening to piano music that isn’t full of giant thick walloping chords. This piece is very song-like in its own way. A simple melody and a simple accompaniment, but it’s expressive and lovely.
  • One interesting technique here is the use of three voices. There’s the Alberti bass line and the melody, but occasionally there’s a simple moving line in between the two pitch range poles. There are also the occasional gentle chords, which are so light one might miss them.

3. Rondo (Allegro)

  • Absent virtuosity in a finale, what to listen to? In this piece, there’s a lot of humor and charm. With Mozart, I’m always drawn into the use of dynamics and how they’re manipulated to make something simple accomplish a lot more musically.
  • And it’s over. As, I said, this is a relatively short piece.

Takeaways?

I think the main takeaway about a piece like this is that a composer like Mozart and a player like Mitsuko Uchida can do a lot with relatively little. That and Mozart was a master of melodies.

Until next time.

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 27 with his “Alla Turca” Piano Sonata Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 9 with his First String Quartet Mozart Month: Day 7 with 17th Piano Concerto Default ThumbnailMozart Month: Day 3 with Piano Concertos 5 and 6

Filed Under: About the Music Tagged With: Listening, Mitsuko Uchida, Mozart, Mozart Month, Piano Sonata

« Mozart Month: Day 7 with 17th Piano Concerto
Mozart Month: Day 9 with his First String Quartet »

About Ian

Ian Sidden is currently a bass member of the Theater Dortmund Opera chorus. Read More…

Latest Posts

Training Singing, Practicing Strength

In the past few years, I’ve begun viewing my singing work in a similar manner to my weight training. And vice versa. The two share obvious similarities. We use time and effort to get better: We want more power. We want more endurance. We want more agility. We want to be more durable. We want […]

Premiere: Fernand Cortez

Tonight we premiere our production of Gaspare Spontini’s Fernand Cortez, ou La conquête du Mexique at Opernhaus Dortmund. This is after a two year delay; originally we were to have premiered this in 2020, but history intervened. There are many versions of this opera floating around, and we are doing a version that has – […]

Premiere: Frédégonde

Here’s one I’ve been looking forward to for awhile. Tonight at Opernhaus Dortmund, we’re premiering Frédegonde for the first time in Germany. It’s a work inspired from the early history of the Merovingians in what is now France and the ongoing feud between two of the queens, Brunhild and Frédegonde. The work was composed by […]

“Ständchen” by Schubert, Guitar and Voice Arrangement

Here is a performance of my self accompanied guitar arrangement of Franz Schubert’s “Ständchen”.

PREMIERE: Tosca

Tonight at Opernhaus Dortmund, we’re premiering our “Tosca”, which is the first premiere including the chorus since March 13, 2020.

Copyright © 2023 · WordPress