Synopses & Reviews
Mozart's piano sonatas form a richly diverse and significant part of his instrumental output and span much of his mature composing career, thereby representing a microcosm of the composer's changing style. Part I examines the contexts in which the sonatas were composed and performed, and reviews likely sources of influence. Part II concentrates on the genesis of the sonatas and the sources, which reveals important information about Mozart's compositional process. In Part III the musical style is studied from the standpoint of rhetoric--a discipline featured in numerous contemporary aesthetic and theoretical textbooks on music.
Review
"Performers and scholars who have spent years in the companionship of these sonatas will find Irving's study a useful entry point into their sources and recent critical literature." Michelle Fillion, Notes
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 201-211) and index.
Table of Contents
Preface; Acknowledgements; Abbreviations; Part I. Contexts: 1. The solo sonata in context; 2. Stylistic models for Mozartâs sonatas; Part II. Sources: 3 Six sonatas, K.279 84; 4. Three sonatas, K.309 11; 5. Four sonatas, K.330 2, K.333; 6. Fantasia and Sonata in C minor, K.475 and 457; 7. Later Viennese sonatas: K.533 and 494, K.545, K.570, K.576; 8. Fragments: Part III. Style: 9. Eighteenth-century views of sonata form; 10. Pre-compositional choices - the rhetorical inventio; 11. Dispositio: rhetoric and design; 12. The rhetorical elocutio; Notes, Select bibliography; Index.