- Köchel Number
- K9 375h | K6
- Genre
- Piano Music
- Form
- Piano Pieces
- Key
- F Major
- Date
- 1783
- Place
- Vienna
- Age
- 27
Mozart’s Fugue for Piano in F major (K. 375h) is a short, little-known contrapuntal study from his Vienna years, generally dated to 1782/83.[1] Written when he was about 27, it shows him testing fugal technique at the keyboard in miniature, rather than for a public occasion.[1]
Background and Context
In 1783 Mozart was living in Vienna, newly established as a freelance composer-pianist and still absorbing the city’s taste for learned counterpoint alongside brilliant keyboard display. The F-major fugue K. 375h belongs to this private strand of his keyboard writing: a compact fugue for solo piano, often described in catalogues as fragmentary.[1][2] Its scale and apparent incompleteness suggest an exercise or sketch—music that fits naturally beside Mozart’s other early-1780s contrapuntal explorations rather than his larger, publication-minded sonatas.
Musical Character
On the page, K. 375h presents a straightforward fugal texture in F major for a single keyboard player, with the subject stated clearly and then answered as the voices accumulate.[1] The writing favors clarity over virtuoso flourish: tight entries, close imitation, and a generally “workshop” atmosphere in which voice-leading and contrapuntal balance take priority. Several reference listings label the work a fragment, and the musical argument correspondingly feels abbreviated—more a glimpse of method than a fully rounded concert piece.[2]