Mozart Violin Sonata K481 in Eb: Transcribed For Cello

This Mozart Violin Sonata is presented here in its original key of Eb major so any standard piano part can be used (see imslp.org).

In the original autograph manuscript, Mozart wrote absolutely no dynamics or expressive indications for the violin but he did write plenty of them for the piano. Those shown here are taken from the first edition and seem to have been simply taken from the piano part. The “Easier Version” stays always in the Neck Region and the only notes that are changed in that version (with respect to the concert version) are either simple transpositions down an octave or the removal of some tricky ornaments. No notes at all have been changed in the “Performance Version” of the first movement.

FIRST MOVEMENT

Here is an audio play-along accompaniment file. The piano accompaniment audio files that are offered for this sonata come from the paying site of piano-accompaniments.com and are therefore not available for download. For approximately 10€ the entire sonata accompaniment (almost 30 minutes of playing time) can be purchased from their website which makes learning the sonata incomparably easier and more enjoyable than if we try and do it alone. This is good value and is highly recommended.:

SECOND MOVEMENT

The beautiful second movement has an unremarkable start but once the cello starts singing in F minor (bar 16) it suddenly transforms itself into a gorgeous romantic opera aria in which the piano and cello alternate between melodic protagonism and harmonic accompaniment. In the version offered here, some of the cello’s low register accompaniment passages have been transposed up an octave. This brings these passages into exactly the same register as in the original violin version. There is no added difficulty associated with this octave transposition, but there is the great advantage that it brings the cello out of the “hippopotamus register” of the lower strings into a more lyrical, melodic register. This is especially beneficial for the recurring double-stopped passage with which the movement starts: in the low register these low doublestops just don’t sound good, but up an octave they can now sound clearly and beautifully (see Transcribing Violin Music for Cello).

Apart from these octave transpositions, no notes at all have been changed in the “Performance Version” of the second movement.

Here is an audio play-along accompaniment file:

THIRD MOVEMENT: THEME AND VARIATIONS

In the last movement, each short section of the Theme and the first four variations is repeated. This is a perfect opportunity for us to be inventive and imaginative. We can – and probably should – make the repeats more interesting by adding ornamentation, new dynamics etc. Perhaps it was to allow us this possibility of invention that Mozart wrote so few dynamics here: even in the first edition, the theme and first three variations have absolutely none in either the violin or piano part.

The only note changes that have been made for the “Concert Version” of the last movement are found in the revoicing of the chords in bars 81, 85 and 226-228 (the last three bars).

Here is an audio play-along accompaniment file, courtesy of the YouTube channel Piano Accompaniment Concerts. A two-bar piano introduction (starting with a quarter-note rest) has been added so that we can know when to start: