Mozart Piano Sonata Nº 15 in F Major K533: For Cello and Simple Accompaniment
Here you will find the sheet music and audio files for a cello transcription of Mozart‘s Piano Sonata No. 15 in F major K533. The entire sonata has been transposed down by a perfect fourth, bringing the outer movements down into C major and the middle (slow) movement down into F major. The simple accompaniments are offered in two versions: one for piano (or guitar/harp) and another for a second cello.
The first two movements of this sonata were composed in 1788, but Mozart, instead of writing a new original third movement, chose to use a revised version of a previously composed stand-alone Rondo (K494 composed in 1786) as the final movement.
FIRST MOVEMENT: Allegro
This is quite a monster and requires four pages of music for the cello part. Fortunately, we do have rests in which to do the necessary page turns. The complex counterpoint, the nature of the first theme, and the constant, uninterrupted flow of notes can remind us of a Bach Fugue, but Mozart cannot stop singing for long, and the movement has no trace of intellectual aridity.
In many long sections, there are no indications of dynamics, so we can use our imagination to give a little more variety to this intensely contrapuntal movement.
- Cello Part: EDITED
- Cello Part: CLEAN
- Cello Part: EASIER VERSION
- Accompaniment Score (Piano/Harp/Guitar)
SECOND MOVEMENT: Andante
In Mozart’s original autograph manuscript, there is not one dynamic marking ! Rather than meaning that the entire movement is to be played without any dynamic contrasts, this lack of indications probably means simply that Mozart did not have time to write them in, or that there were so many different possibilities that he preferred to leave the choices open to the player.
It is quite difficult to make an “Easier Version” of this movement because the difficulties are so often not from having to play in the high register. Therefore, transposing the high passages down still doesn’t make this movement “easy” because of the many other difficulties: tricky, chromatic intervals and harmonies etc.
- Cello Part: EDITED
- Cello Part: CLEAN
- Cello Part: EASIER VERSION
- Accompaniment Score (Piano/Harp/Guitar)
THIRD MOVEMENT: Rondo. Allegretto
This movement is, like the first movement, a “monster”. But unlike the first movement there are no rests for the cellist so it all has to be squeezed onto three pages. Once again, Mozart leaves us only a very few dynamic indications in this movement.