Violin Sonata in E minor (K. Anh.C 23.06) — spurious (composer unknown)
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Violin Sonata in E minor (K. Anh.C 23.06; also transmitted as K. 60) is a short keyboard-and-violin sonata attributed to Mozart in early 19th-century print but now regarded as spurious (composer unknown). It is usually dated, with caution, to 1784, though neither place of origin nor circumstances of composition are securely documented.
Background and Context
K. Anh.C 23.06 survives without a known Mozart autograph and is treated in modern cataloguing as a falsely assigned work: its composer is unknown, and the usual date “1784” should be understood as approximate rather than documentary fact. The work’s earliest secure footprint is in the orbit of early 19th-century Mozart “complete works” publishing: the Köchel-Verzeichnis Online lists an Erstdruck (first edition) by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig in 1804, with a later early print in Paris (1825). In this transmission the sonata is scored for clavier and violin—a medium strongly associated with Mozart’s Viennese years, even if this particular piece cannot be firmly tied to his biography. 12
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Musical Character
On the page, K. Anh.C 23.06 presents a compact, three-movement plan:
- I. Adagio 1
- II. Allegro con spirito 1
- III. Rondeau: Tempo di Minuetto 1
The sonata’s layout aligns with late-18th-century domestic duo practice, in which a keyboard part carries much of the musical argument while the violin participates as partner and coloristic foil. Yet the surviving sources and their late publication history make it prudent to hear the piece less as a securely “Mozartian” utterance than as an attractive period sonata whose authorship remains unresolved.
[1] Köchel-Verzeichnis Online (Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum), work entry for KV Anh. C 23.06: key (E minor), scoring (vl, clav), authenticity status (falsely attributed), dating (1784), and links to movements.
[2] New Mozart Edition (NMA) X/29/2 — Works of Doubtful Authenticity, vol. 2 (English preface): discussion of the six sonatas KV 55–60 / KV6 Appendix C 23.01–23.06 and their early publication and authenticity debate.