Mozart - Violin Sonata No. 33, E-flat Major, K. 481 [Szeryng/Haebler]

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was one of the most influential, popular and prolific composers of the classical period. A child prodigy, from an early age he began composing over 600 works, including some of the most famous pieces of symphonic, chamber, operatic, and choral music.

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Sonata for violin & piano No. 33 in E flat major, K. 481

I. Allegro molto (0:00)
II. Adagio (7:24)
III. Allegretto (14:40)

Henryk Szeryng, violin and Ingrid Haebler, piano

Description by Brian Robins [-]
Unlike the well-documented circumstances surrounding its immediate predecessor, the Sonata in B flat, K. 454, we know very little about the background to the composition of the E flat Sonata. Mozart entered it in his thematic catalog on December 12, 1785, describing it, as was his custom, as, "A piano sonata with accompaniment for a violin." It was composed at a time when Mozart was at the height of his popularity with the Viennese public, a busy period during which he not only completed several major works (the great Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat, K. 482 was entered in his catalog just four days after the sonata), but also arranged three subscription concerts at short notice for the important Advent season. It was also a time during which he was at work on Le nozze di Figaro, and some commentators have drawn attention to the operatic characteristics of the E flat Sonata, particularly in the strongly contrasted set of variations that form the final movement. For Alfred Einstein it is one of Mozart's most Beethovenian movements. It is preceded by a passionate opening movement marked Molto allegro, and a central Adagio in A flat remarkable for its surprising modulations.

The sonata was published in Vienna by Hoffmeister the following year. A review of the publication in the German paper Musikalische Realzeitung makes the surprising criticism that the work might have been of "more durable value" had its composer not allowed himself "to be captivated so much by the modish taste of our time"--rather the opposite of the kind of criticism Mozart was used to receiving at the hands of those who found his music too difficult. The reviewer does however concede that the Adagio "is full of gentle emotions, the true expression of languishing love. ... " The sonata is probably that referred to in an announcement made in 1800 by Mozart's widow Constanze regarding the Breitkopf and Hertel edition of his collected works.