Sonata for piano four-hands, K. 497

Mozart composed the sonata for piano four-hands in F major in Vienna in August 1786, between composing his operas Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. He may have written it to play it with a student, Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin' daughter Franziska von Jacquin. == Movements ==

The sonata is structured in three movements: • Adagio – Allegro di molto • Andante • Allegro It is Mozart's only sonata for piano four-hand with a slow introduction to the first movement. II. Andante (F major) This slow and melancholic second movement takes a ternary form of A–B–A. The outer sections (A sections) bear a lyrical and gentle quality, while the middle section (B section) has difficult triplets runs that give a rather tense feeling. III. Allegretto (C major) The third movement is a rondo. Its main theme begins with a relaxed "music-box naivety" full of glamour and humor. == Notable performances ==

Notable performances include those of Martha Argerich and Evgeny Kissin, The Latsos Piano Duo, Ingrid Haebler and --> Recordings on fortepianos include: • George Malcolm, András Schiff. Mozart. Piano Music for 4 Hands. Label: London, 1993. Fortepiano by Anton Walter (Mozart's own). • Rolf Junghanns, Bradford Tracey. Mozart, Beethoven, Weber. Vierhändige Klaviermusik von Mozart, Beethoven und Weber. Label: FSM. Fortepiano by Adlam & Burnett (Goudhurst) after Matthäus Heilmann (Mainz, c. 1780). • Bart van Oort, Ursula Dütschler. Mozart. Label: Brilliant Classics, 2001. Fortepiano by Chris Maene (Ruiselede, 2000) after Walter (c. 1795). • Yoshio Watanabe, Akiko Sakikawa. Mozart. Label: ALM Records, 2004. Fortepiano by Ferdinand Hofmann (Vienna, c. 1790-1795). • Marie Kuijken, Veronica Kuijken. Mozart. Sonatas for Four Hands. Label: Challenge Classics, 2009. Fortepiano by Claude Kelecom after Johann Andreas Stein. • Julian Perkins, Emma Abbate. Mozart. Piano Duets, Volume 2. Label: Resonus Classics, 2017. Fortepiano by Michael Rosenberger (Vienna, c. 1800). == References ==