Violin Sonata in A major (K. Anh.C 23.07) — a spurious “Mozart” work by Hermann Friedrich Raupach
de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Violin Sonata in A major (K. Anh.C 23.07) survives under Mozart’s name in later tradition, but is now regarded as spurious and attributed instead to Hermann Friedrich Raupach [1] [2]. Its date and place of composition are not securely known, and it is best heard as a mid-18th-century keyboard-and-violin sonata that happens to intersect with the Mozart circle through copying and reception history.
Background and Context
K. Anh.C 23.07 has long circulated in catalogues and editions as a “Mozart” sonata (earlier numbered K. 61), yet modern reference lists describe it as spurious and assign it to Hermann Friedrich Raupach [1] [2]. The surviving attribution trail does not allow a firm placement within Mozart’s life at a specific age or location; instead, the work belongs to the broader 18th-century market for domestic duo sonatas—music designed to be playable in the home, with the keyboard taking a leading role and the violin contributing colour, dialogue, and brilliance.
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Musical Character
In instrumentation the piece follows the standard late-baroque/early-classical pairing of violin and keyboard (often issued as “violin sonatas,” though the keyboard commonly carries the main thematic and harmonic argument). Raupach’s Op. 1 set of violin sonatas—available in modern facsimile and parts—places this A-major sonata among works that favour clear periodic melody, simple accompanimental figuration, and straightforward tonal plans suited to competent amateurs [3]. Heard beside Mozart’s authenticated violin-and-keyboard sonatas, K. Anh.C 23.07 lacks the distinctive conversational equality and harmonic quicksilver that characterize Mozart at his best; its interest lies rather in elegant surface craft and idiomatic writing that illuminates the kind of repertory Mozart encountered, copied, arranged, and—at times—strategically absorbed into his own early instrumental language [2].
[1] IMSLP — List of Mozart compositions by genre (entry lists K. 61 = Anh.C 23.07 as spurious, by Hermann Friedrich Raupach)
[2] Wikipedia — Hermann Friedrich Raupach (notes the A-major piano-and-violin sonata misattributed to Mozart as K.61/Anh.C 23.07, and its attribution to Raupach)
[3] IMSLP — Raupach: 6 Violin Sonatas, Op. 1 (source for the Op.1 set context and availability)