Rondo in D major, K. 485

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Rondo in D major was written in January 1786 and, like several of his shorter piano works, may have been written for a student; in this case, Fräulein von Würm. It was a particularly busy time for the composer, who was hard at work on The Marriage of Figaro and regularly performing at the homes of wealthy patrons, an important source of income in those years.

A rondo is a musical form based on the frequent reappearance of an opening theme, which alternates with sections that offer contrasts in melodic content, key, mood, or texture. Though this Rondo superficially meets the criteria for such a work, its structure more closely resembles that of a sonata-form movement, with an exposition, development, and recapitulation, but one that is based on a single theme instead of two contrasting themes. Such monothematic sonata movements are fairly common in the works of Haydn, but rare in Mozart’s music.

The bouncy initial theme is taken directly from a quintet by J.C. Bach, whom Mozart had met in London as a child. The exposition opens with two statements of the theme followed by an extended modulatory passage, leading eventually to a reappearance of the theme in the dominant key of A major. The development embarks on a delightful journey during which we hear the theme in various keys and modes. After an extended running passage, it appears again in its original key of D major, announcing the recapitulation. But even then, Mozart has not exhausted all of his tricks, fragmenting the theme, setting us up for a statement in one key before abruptly moving to another (undoubtedly with a smile on his face), and alternating between major and minor modes. The work finally concludes with the theme returning once more to D major and a perfect little bow of an ending.

— Michael Strasser 

Michael Strasser is professor emeritus of musicology at Baldwin Wallace University. He has published numerous articles and reviews and presented papers at international conferences on fin-de-siècle France, Arnold Schoenberg, and colonial music in British North America and Mexico.