Mozart’s A major piano sonata K331 manuscript found in Hungary
They always say that you never quite know what you’ll find when you go digging around (have you taken a look at that attic of yours lately, by the way), and that’s sort of what happened at Budapest’s National Szechenyi Library, as the manuscript for Mozart’s famous A major piano sonata K331 was recently discovered.
In fact, A major piano sonata K331 is so popular, many piano teachers will tell you that the opening movement is often taught as a lesson to students across the globe As an aside, Mozart’s “Turkish March,” or “Alla Turca” movement may be the most easily recognizable piece he’s done.
Originally composed around 1783, Mozart’s final page of the original manuscript for A major piano sonata K331 had been known for quite some time to scholar’s of the great composer. But, the rest of the original manuscript was never known until now.
It’s not known how the original manuscript made its way to Hungary—let alone buried amongst other items inside the National Szechenyi Library–but its discovery reveals some pretty notable differences from the known published edition of the sonata.
Notably, phrasing, some notes, and dynamics all have subtle differences when looking at the newly unearthed manuscript.
Unfortunately, as of now at least, the Library has only teased us music fans with brief images of their newfound treasure. We’ll no doubt get the whole thing fully released (at least, we hope), but “when” is a different story entirely.
Still, what a brilliant find for modern day pianists and piano teachers alike to actually see what Mozart wrote in his time!
To see how wonderful this sonata can sound, please watch (and more importantly listen) a very talented pianist play the sonata in the video below:
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