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Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) · sheet music

  • Key C major
  • Time 2/4
  • Levels 10
  • Passages 1

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical (1756–1791). The reading release has 1 passage from this piece at level 10; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 5–8 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 5–8 at level 10.

Your practice path

Learn it the way teachers do: each hand on its own, then together, then the hard bars. Each step is a real graded passage of Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto.

  1. Hands together · bars 5–8 level 10

How to play Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto

  1. Tempo:Start at a relaxed Allegretto, slow enough that the fastest notes, the 32nd-note pairs, come out evenly; speed up only once those are effortless.
  2. Right hand:The pair of quick 32nd notes after each dotted eighth is a decoration leading to the next note, not an extra beat, so rehearse that figure alone and land the following eighth note exactly on time.
  3. Left hand:The left hand mostly plays broken chords that alternate a low note with a higher one; keep it much quieter than the melody and stay close to the keys.
  4. Hands together:Join the hands only after each is steady, and check the spots where the left hand rests on a beat while the right hand keeps moving.
  5. Fingering:For the descending sixteenth-note scale that closes a phrase, choose one fingering with a clear thumb crossing and use it every time.
  6. Dynamics:Phrases arrive in short question-and-answer pairs, so shape each two-bar idea with a small swell and a relaxed ending rather than an accent on every beat.
  7. Practice:Practice in two-bar chunks, working backward from the end of the passage so the last chunk you play is always the one you know best.
  8. Reading:Scan ahead for the C-sharp that passes through the descending run, since it breaks the scale pattern your eyes expect.

Common mistakes

  • Squeezing the quick 32nd-note pairs so they swallow the following eighth note. Fix: Count the eighth-note pulse aloud and fit the dotted figure inside the beat, finishing before the next pulse.
  • Playing the left-hand chords on the beat when the notation places them after an eighth rest. Fix: Say "rest, and" for the rest and let the chord enter on the off-beat.
  • Letting the left hand match the right hand's volume. Fix: Practice the left hand alone at a soft level, then keep that same touch when the melody joins.
  • Rushing the scale run at the end of a phrase. Fix: Practice it as grouped notes, four at a time, with a tiny pause between groups, then remove the pauses.

Structure: three-movement sonata (fast-slow-fast)

The first movement is a sonata form with the main theme in C major and the second theme in the dominant, G major. The Andante cantabile is in the subdominant, F major, and its middle section visits F minor and A-flat major before returning to the opening material and a short coda. The finale is lighter and quicker, built largely from arpeggio patterns.

I · Allegro moderato (C major)
Both main themes are decorated with ornaments, so the melody sings but has small fast notes to read cleanly.
II · Andante cantabile (F major)
A slow, song-like movement in the subdominant that darkens briefly in the middle before the opening returns.
III · Allegretto (C major)
The liveliest movement, with arpeggios running through it; the excerpt on this page comes from its opening theme.

About Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto

Mozart wrote this sonata in 1783, when he was 27. Artaria printed it in 1784 together with the two sonatas that follow it in the Koechel catalogue, K. 331 and K. 332.

It has three movements: a sonata-form Allegro moderato in C major, an Andante cantabile in F major, and an Allegretto finale. The autograph is in the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow, and it is not complete: the F major coda of the slow movement is missing from it and comes down to us through the 1784 print, and the last few bars of the finale are lost from the manuscript.

The excerpt engraved on this page comes from the opening theme of the finale, the most energetic of the three movements and one that leans on arpeggio figures. That makes it a good place to practice Mozart's decorated, singing right hand over a light accompaniment.

  • The autograph manuscript survives in the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow, but the final bars of the finale did not survive with it.
  • The slow movement's F major coda is not in the autograph and survives through the first printed edition of 1784.
  • Later revisions of the Koechel catalogue also list the sonata as K. 300h, which is why you will see both numbers.

Why the first passage is level 10

That passage is level 10 rather than 9 because it moves in 32nd notes, it runs fast figuration.

This is a single level 10 excerpt with quick 32nd-note decorations, dotted figures and a descending run, so it is a late-stage read; take the right-hand ornaments slowly and keep the left hand light.

Questions about Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto

How hard is Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto to play?
Its passages grade from level 10 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 5–8 at level 10.
Is there an easy part of Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 10, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 5–8 for both hands together, the level-10 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 10 because it moves in 32nd notes and it runs fast figuration.
What key and time signature is Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto in?
Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto is in C major, no sharps or flats. The engraving on this page is in 2/4 time.
Who composed Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical (1756–1791). Mozart wrote this sonata in 1783, when he was 27.
Can I practice Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the one graded passage from Piano Sonata No. 10, K. 330: III. Allegretto in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
What are the three movements of Mozart K. 330?
Allegro moderato in C major, Andante cantabile in F major, and an Allegretto finale. A typical performance takes about 20 minutes, and the finale is the shortest at roughly three to five minutes.
Where is Mozart's manuscript of K. 330?
The autograph is in the Jagiellonian Library in Krakow. It lacks the slow movement's coda and the last few bars of the finale.
Was K. 330 published as a set?
Yes. Artaria published it in 1784 together with the other two sonatas in the K. 330-332 group.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades one passage of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 10
bars 5–8 both hands

More pieces to sight-read

Score: public-domain engraving from the corpus (pdmx), graded by the piano-reading-v2-20261023-identity-audit reading release.

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