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HI folks,

I absolutely love the ending of the second movement of the C major K.330 sonata, in which the F minor middle-section material reappears in a gentle, touching F major. It's one of those Mozart moments.

Except that maybe Mozart didn't write it: that coda is missing from the autograph. I looked around online, and some are saying that that ending only represents a "best guess" as to what Mozart would have done. But if the complete movement was published in his lifetime, can't we conclude the coda comes from Mozart himself?

Does anyone have any information on this?



-Jason

Ditto your sentiments on that coda, beet31425. No information to add, but my gut says it's just got to be Mozart. If it really turns out to be someone else's best guess, then they must have known Mozart's style incredibly well!

The well-known Fantasia in D minor, K397 (frequently played by children) has a coda which is definitely not by Mozart, but at least a few pianists (including Mitsuko Uchida) have played their own substitutions for the one printed in all scores - which does sound rather abrupt, and 'tacked on'.

However, the ending of K330's Andante sounds totally logical (i.e. Mozartian ).

I'm going to go with the following historical narrative from program notes written by one Steven Lowe for a 2006 Krystian Zimerman recital:

"The Andante—equally conservative in texture and technical demands—deepens the emotional landscape. Mozart begins with a graceful and gallant opening theme that is offset by a darker mid-section theme cast in the minor mode. For the published edition Mozart added a brief coda transforming this sad subsidiary tune into the major, a deft touch gently reminding us of the genius behind Mozart’s deceptively simple construct."


-J