FOR THE CURIOUS CELLIST

Mozart Violin Sonata K306

All of Mozart’s preceding violin sonatas have been two-movement affairs. With this K306 sonata however we seem to be entering into a somewhat different world. Not only is this sonata made up of three movements, these movements are all quite “grand” in every sense: length, energy, expressiveness and virtuosity.

The only note changes made in this entire sonata are the revoicing of the final chords of the first and third movement to give the resonance of the open D string.

FIRST MOVEMENT

Marked “Allegro con Spirito” this movement really lives up to its high-spirited name: the cellist (violinist) has only one bar of rest in the entire movement and the dramatic development section is – for Mozart – extraordinarily athletic. Leaping maniacally all over the fingerboard, the music goes flying off the staves no matter how frenetically we change clefs to try and keep up with it! The lack of rests poses a problem for page turns: do we squash the music onto two pages, or do we spread three pages out on our music stand and hope they don’t fall off?

The “Easier Version” is the same as the “Concert Version” except  that the high register passages have been transposed down an octave to keep it almost always in the Neck Region. Some chords have been revoiced for the same reason.

Edited Concert Version    Clean Concert Version    Easier Version     Literal Transcription

SECOND MOVEMENT

This movement is an outpouring of Mozartian lyrical melody such as we cellists often get to accompany, but seldom get to play.

Edited Concert Version     Clean Concert Version     Easier Version      Literal Transcription

THIRD MOVEMENT

This sparkling Rondo-type movement is of a depth and variety that we haven’t seen in Mozart’s previous violin sonatas. Bars 253-256 are transposed down an octave even in the “Concert Version”.

Edited Concert Version    Clean Concert Version  Easier Version  Literal Transcription