Mozart | Piano Sonata No. 16 in C major, K. 545 "Sonata Semplice" I. Allegro | Dan Alexander

Completed in 1788, K.545 was a relatively late work for the 32-year-old Mozart, who died only three years later. Mozart himself described the piece as "for beginners," owing to its relative brevity and simplicity, but the three-movement work is not without its challenges for even experienced pianists.

Most piano students will encounter this piece at some point early on in their studies. I myself somehow eluded the Sonata Semplice until adulthood, but was always fond of it (to which I can imagine the composer responding "well, of course").



By far the most well-known of the three, the first movement begins immediately with THE go-to textbook example of the motor-rhythm figuration known as "Alberti bass". Alberti bass is an arpeggiated harmony in which the notes are heard in a low-high-middle-high repeating sequence. It is used extensively in the sonata's first and second movements. The finale of Beethoven's 14th "Moonlight" piano sonata is another famous example of alberti bass.

Atop this bass figuration the composer writes an extremely simple and lyrical melody that leads to a passage of melodic scales, and then to a secondary theme which includes some call and response arpeggios. The development section pulls material mostly from this second section, moving almost in reverse in terms of form, until the recapitulation in F is reached.

The whole movement is in sonata-allegro form (that is: exposition of themes, repeat, development, recapitulation).