Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331 — Variation No. 5

About this work

In the fifth variation, Mozart stretches the theme into an Adagio and concentrates the activity between its points of support. A sustained note may lead to an appoggiatura, a very short flourish or an irregular group. The line is therefore shaped less by the number of notes than by its harmonic arrivals.

Circle those arrivals in the score, then connect them by playing the ornaments without their final rhythm. Restore the triplets and groups of four and seven against the bass pulse. This prevents a flourish from rushing in the middle and slowing down immediately before its resolution.

Silences belong to the phrasing and should not be filled with pedal. Where the hands exchange figures, bring out the continuity of the tune rather than the change of register. The MIDI file locates the attacks; the PDF remains the reference for ornaments, slurs and repeats.

What the document containsScoring: solo piano. The 2-page PDF contains the complete variation, marked Adagio, with both sections and their repeats.Source and rights: Stelios Samelis’s engraving for the Mutopia Project is based on a Breitkopf & Härtel edition from Leipzig. The work and this edition are in the public domain. Every page links back to LesPartitions.info.