Modulating Prelude (F–e), K. 671 (F major)
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
Mozart’s Modulating Prelude (F–e) (K. 671) is a compact keyboard piece from 1776–77, designed to carry the listener from F major into the distant region of E minor. Though slight in scale, it offers a revealing glimpse of Mozart (then about 20) thinking in practical, improvisatory terms at the keyboard.
Background and Context
In 1776 Mozart was twenty and still employed at the Salzburg court under Archbishop Colloredo, producing a steady stream of church music, serenades, and occasional instrumental works while also cultivating his life as a keyboard player and improviser.[1] The Modulating Prelude (F–e) (K. 671) is generally dated to 1776–77, but its place of origin and specific occasion are not securely documented.[2]
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Musical Character
As its title implies, the prelude’s chief purpose is harmonic motion rather than thematic development. It begins in F major and proceeds by swift, idiomatic keyboard figuration toward an arrival in E minor—an unusually remote destination that gives the short piece its piquant, exploratory flavor.[2] The writing sits comfortably under the hands (broken-chord textures and connective passagework), suggesting a bridge-like function: a notated stand-in for what an 18th-century pianist might otherwise have improvised to link keys or tonal areas in performance.[3]
[1] Encyclopedic biography and chronology: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (for 1776 Salzburg context and employment).
[2] IMSLP work page: Modulierendes Präludium (F–e), K. 671 — key relation and dating (1776/77).
[3] PianoLibrary overview: description of the prelude’s modulating design and editorial notes.