Sonata for violin & piano No. 25 in F major, K. 377 (K. 374e)

This is the second of two sonatas for piano and violin in the same key composed during the summer of 1781. It was a period during which Mozart was settling to his new life in Vienna after his ignoble dismissal from the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus Colloredo on June 8. The two F major Sonatas are very different in character. The first to have been composed, K. 376, is a work of considerable brilliance, but the present work has an intense, agitated opening Allegro, a set dark-hued theme and set of variations in D minor (marked Andante) for its second movement. The final bars of the theme introduce some particularly felicitous interplay between the two instruments, a mark not only of the new equality Mozart had introduce to the medium, but also the greater motivic integration between them. The final movement, marked Tempo di Minuetto, is a rondo. Before the end of the year five sonatas were published along with the C Major Sonata, K. 296, by the firm of Artaria and Co., Mozart's first works published in Vienna. The set was issued with a dedication to Josepha Auernhammer, a pupil of Mozart's for whom he wrote the Sonata in D for two pianos, K. 448, and who later read proofs for the composer. The set was issued as "Op. 2," a meaningless appendage since it was the third of Mozart's to be so called. A subsequent review of the set recognized their great advance, remarking on their richness in new ideas and manner in which "the violin is so artfully combined with the clavier part." The fact that the set was also published in Paris (in 1785) and was still being advertised by Artaria in 1787 leads to the assumption that the sonatas attained considerable popularity.