Fugue for Piano (Fragment) in E♭ major, K. 153
by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Fugue for solo keyboard in E♭ major (K. 153; also catalogued as K. 375f) is a brief surviving fragment from 1782, written in Vienna. It offers a rare glimpse of the 26-year-old composer testing strict contrapuntal writing at the keyboard, without any evidence that he completed—or even meant to complete—the piece.
What Is Known
Only a short Fugue in E♭ major survives, not a finished keyboard work in the usual sense: the source breaks off mid-thought, and there is no authenticated continuation. It is generally dated to 1782, when Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was newly established in Vienna—an especially formative year that also saw major public-facing piano works and experiments in learned style. The fragment is transmitted as a solo keyboard piece and is commonly printed and recorded in that form today.[1]
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Musical Content
What survives is a compact, idiomatic keyboard fugue exposition (and the beginning of a continuation), built on a clear subject stated in one voice and answered in another, with the expected increase in textural density as additional entries accumulate. Even in its incomplete state, the writing suggests Mozart’s practical, “playable” approach to counterpoint at the piano: rather than a purely abstract exercise, it aims for clarity of line within a resonant E♭-major sonority, letting the listener hear the subject’s profile as it migrates through the texture. In this respect it sits naturally alongside Mozart’s better-documented Viennese fascination with fugue and stile antico procedures, which would soon surface in more fully realized keyboard and ensemble works.[2]
[1] IMSLP work page: Fugue in E-flat major, K.153/375f — basic catalog data (key, date), fragment status, and sources/editions.
[2] Wikipedia: Fantasy No. 1 with Fugue, K. 394 — contextual reference to Mozart’s Viennese-period engagement with fugue at the keyboard (1782).