Variations in A (lost), K. 21a (A major)
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Variations in A for clavier (K. 21a) is a lost juvenilium from the family’s London stay, datable broadly to 1764–1765. Listed as a completed set of keyboard variations in A major, it belongs to the nine-year-old composer’s earliest experiments in a genre closely tied to improvisation and keyboard display.
Mozart's Life at the Time
In 1764–1765, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was in London as part of the Mozart family’s grand tour, appearing publicly and absorbing the city’s exceptionally rich musical life. K. 21a is assigned to this London period and is generally placed among the keyboard pieces associated with his earliest professional formation as a touring child virtuoso [1].
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Musical Character
Only the most basic musical facts can be stated with confidence: K. 21a was a set of keyboard variations (clavier) in A major, and it is now lost [1]. With no surviving score to consult, details such as the theme, number of variations, texture, and technical level cannot be described reliably; still, the very choice of variation form is consistent with the mid-18th-century keyboard culture in which variation sets functioned both as compositional exercises and as vehicles for ornamentation and brilliance at the клавир [1].
[1] International Mozarteum Foundation (Köchel-Verzeichnis): KV 21a – Variations in A for Clavier (status, dating, key, instrumentation, and brief genre context).