Violin Sonata in C major (K. Anh.C 23.03)
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
The Violin Sonata in C major (K. Anh.C 23.03, sometimes also circulated as K. 57) is a three-movement sonata for violin and keyboard, traditionally dated to around 1784 but now generally regarded as spurious—its composer unknown. Preserved and disseminated chiefly through later prints, it survives as a compact, classically-proportioned work whose musical language only intermittently resembles Mozart’s authenticated violin-and-keyboard sonatas.
Background and Context
The Violin Sonata in C major (K. Anh.C 23.03) is usually placed around 1784, though neither its place of origin nor an autograph source is securely established in the standard public reference trail. It entered the repertory through later publication, notably in Breitkopf & Härtel’s 19th-century collected edition (Mozarts Werke, Serie XVIII), where it appears among “sonatas and variations for pianoforte and violin.”[1]
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If the date c.1784 is accepted as a point of orientation, it would place the piece alongside Mozart’s early Viennese maturity, when his authenticated violin sonatas increasingly treat the violin as a true partner rather than a mere obbligato line over keyboard texture. By contrast, K. Anh.C 23.03 often reads more like a modest, publishable salon sonata in late-18th-century style—competent, clear-grained, and geared toward domestic performance—without the unmistakable dramatic pacing and motivic tightness typical of Mozart’s best works in the genre.[1][2]
Musical Character
Instrumentation: piano (or harpsichord) and violin.[1]
IMSLP lists three movements:[1]
- I. Largo
- II. Menuetto
- III. Allegro
The opening Largo suggests an introduction-like breadth rather than an expansive slow-movement canvas: the violin tends to sing in relatively plain periods while the keyboard supplies harmonic scaffolding and gentle figuration. A Menuetto as the second movement reinforces the work’s social, dance-derived character—music designed to be readily grasped and played—while the concluding Allegro turns to brighter, more regularized motion, favoring symmetrical phrases and uncomplicated tonal trajectories in C major.
Taken as a whole, K. Anh.C 23.03 is best approached as an attractive, classically idiomatic sonata from Mozart’s orbit rather than from Mozart’s pen: its three-movement plan (Largo–Menuetto–Allegro) is perfectly plausible for the period, yet its prevailing restraint and the relative interchangeability of its textures sit at some distance from the bold conversational give-and-take found in Mozart’s securely attributed Viennese violin sonatas.[1]
[1] IMSLP work page: movement listing, instrumentation, publication information, and authorship note (“no longer believed to be the work of Mozart”).
[2] IMSLP: List of compositions by Mozart (entry for Anh.C 23.03 marked “spurious (composer unknown)”).