Nannerl Mozart? - Sonata in C for piano 4 hands (K.19d) (1765)

The Sonata in C major, K. 19d, is a work for piano four-hands once thought to be composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1765 when he was nine years old in England. Composed in the traditional sonata form, it is one of the very few works thought to be written by Mozart for four-handed play. To me, it is obviously not a work by Wolfgang as there is almost zero creativity in the accompaniments with the primo player having pretty much non stop the melody and lead, something Mozart would have never done. His typical sense of direction and flow is missing. All in all a nice work to give an idea of the kind of works played in the drawing rooms of the day, as such it is of historical interest.

Sonata in C major for piano 4-hands (K.19d) London, Spring/Summer 1765

1. Allegro moderato (0:00)
2. Menuetto and Trio (4:58)
3. Rondo: Allegretto (8:49)

Ingrid Haebler & Ludwig Hoffmann, piano

Discovered in 1921, the two printed versions of the work that have been found were found in Paris and London, both of them being dated to sometime in 1789. It was possibly composed during the Mozarts' London tour in 1765. On 13 May 1765, Mozart and his sister, Nannerl, reportedly played an authentic original Mozart composition on a two-manual harpsichord in Hickford's Great Room, Brewer Street, with reports such as "the two children will play together on the same harpsichord, and put upon it a handkerchief, without seeing the keys". It is possible that Nannerl was once in possession of this and another four-hand sonata, but both are now lost.

Since there is no other known clavier four-hand work dated to this time, this work, K. 19d, was generally accepted as authentic and put into the catalogue for Mozart's works. Recently the authenticity of the work has been disputed, with the general consensus of most scholars being that the work was, in fact, not written by Mozart. Since 1993, the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe has removed the piece for the authentic section of "Keyboard music" to "Works of Spurious or Doubtful Authenticity". Theories amongst scholars suggest that the work is one possibly by another of the Mozarts during their London tour, such as Leopold or even Nannerl. An interesting point toward the work's possible authenticity is the fact that the writings for both the right and left hand in the score occasionally collide with one another. This strongly suggests that the original work was composed specifically for the aforementioned two-manual harpsichord. However, it is likely that the Mozarts did not play four-hand sonatas at this time, but rather, they performed four-hand concertos for keyboard instead.