Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Adult Beginners Forum First Mozart piece

Hello,

After some Bach minuets, I would like to choose a piece of Mozart or Chopin. What are the common first pieces I can try? I have almost 2 years of learning behind., is that a help for suggestions?

Sonata C major KV 545 or Eb major KV 282 by Mozart are a good start.

For Chopin you can try some preludes - E minor, B minor, A major or C minor.

I think the jump from Bach minuets to KV 545 is going to be pretty steep. there are the Sonatine Viennesi, not much easier, but quite shorter.

I learned the Mozart Klavierstück in F major after some Bach Minuets - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hij7C-IQhLc

The most important part of this first piece is to learn the alternating staccato and legato phrasing and good control of dynamics while managing jumps for the left hand. The jumps are unpredictable and hard for a beginner, so best approach is to memorize the right hand while reading for the left hand. If you do it right, this would be an appropriate and challenging piece for you.

The London Sketchbook is like the Anna Magdalena book but maybe slightly harder and a good starting point for Mozart. Viennese sonatinas are a step above that. K545 is even higher.

I'm currently working on K15d from the sketchbook which is about grade 4.

People generally start with k545, as that is his easiest sonata. It's still not something for a beginner to jump head first into. You need to be competent with scales, broken chords and Alberti figurations at a fairly high tempo. Maybe you could try Clementi's sonatina no.1 as a stepping stone. That is another common piece for beginners to play, which is in a similar style but a bit easier.

I think it is known as the Sonata Facile, or 'easy' sonata and noted by Mozart himself as something suitable for beginners, beginner to Mozart, that is. Everyone's a beginner compared to Mozart.

You can also read Mozart's Menuetts which will expose you to his exacting notations.

Glen

The slow movement of K545 is an ideal introduction to perfecting your Alberti bass (and perfecting the balance between RH melody and LH accompaniment).

One can always leave the outer movements for later, if broken chords, ornaments and and non-standard scales are a problem.