| Unit name | Mozart Sonatas and Quartets (Optional split-level history unit) |
|---|---|
| Unit code | MUSI30138 |
| Credit points | 20 |
| Level of study | H/6 |
| Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12) |
| Unit director | Professor. Irving |
| Open unit status | Not open |
| Pre-requisites |
None |
| Co-requisites |
None |
| School/department | Department of Music |
| Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
Mozart&�s Piano Sonatas are eclipsed by his more famous and popular concertos. Also by Beethoven&�s sonatas. Acknowledging that fact is a silent admission of our complicity in a historical process that privileges the public concert over the private domestic one. Mozart&�s sonatas contain some of his greatest music; why, then, are they so neglected? His string quartets have fared better, perhaps because our Western concert traditions have admitted these pieces into an environment that conveys enduring value. But why these pieces, and not the piano sonatas? Mozart&�s quartets were no more intended for public performance than were his sonatas, after all. This course will look at these two repertoires in both a historical context and in especially in terms of relevant performance issues, hopefully illuminating ways in which performance considerations engage with analytical perspectives.
