Sonata Facile: Andante (K. 545, second movement)

Background

In a Classical sonata the slow middle movement is the place for song. After a quick first movement full of scales, Mozart's Sonata in C major, K. 545, turns to this Andante, an unhurried melody in G major over a gently moving accompaniment. G major, the key a fifth above the sonata's home key of C, was a natural choice for a slow movement in Mozart's day: close enough to feel related, different enough to feel fresh. (The history of the sonata itself is on the page for its first movement.)

Andante means "walking", so the pulse should move steadily rather than drag. The texture is the classic one of the time: a singing right-hand line, and a left hand that breaks chords into a continuous ripple of sixteenth notes, the same low-high-middle-high pattern as the first movement's Alberti bass, now in sixteenth notes and much softer.

The movement is built like a rondo. Its opening tune comes back several times, and Mozart decorates it when it repeats, writing the ornaments out in full instead of leaving them to the player. Between the returns he places a section in D major and a darker one in G minor, which brings the movement's most intense moments before the calm of the final return.

How to practise it

This arrangement has 74 bars in 3/4: the tune and its decorated repeat (bars 1 to 16), a D major section that leads back to the tune (bars 17 to 32), the G minor section (bars 33 to 48), the tune again (bars 49 to 64) and a closing passage (bars 65 to 74).

Sing this line before you play it, and shape it like a singer would: a slight swell through the long B, a lighter turn, and a gentle landing on G.

Then take the left hand alone:

Play each group of four first as a blocked chord, so the hand learns the shape, then break it with a small rocking of the wrist rather than separate finger strokes. It should be smooth, even and quieter than the melody throughout. The top D, played by the thumb, is the note most likely to stick out.

The decorated repeat (bars 9 to 16) and the G minor section are the hardest parts to coordinate, because the right hand has quick turns and sixteenths against the left hand's sixteenths. Practise these bars hands together very slowly, checking that each right-hand note lines up exactly with its partner in the left hand.

Tempo ladder: 40, 50, 58, then the full 66. Use little or no pedal, so the accompaniment stays clear. Listen for long phrases that rise and fall, a melody that always sings above the ripple, and a sense of calm even in the minor-key section.

The toward the sonatina unit prepares the skills this movement needs.