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Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) · sheet music

  • Key B-flat major
  • Time 3/4
  • Levels 5–10
  • Passages 10

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical (1756–1791). The reading release has 10 passages from this piece at levels 5–10; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 109–112 for both hands together.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 79–90 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. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro.

  1. Right hand alone · bars 14–17 level 6
  2. Hands together · bars 109–112 level 5
  3. The hardest bars · bars 79–90 level 10

How to play Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro

  1. Tempo:Feel one gentle pulse per bar in the easier passages, but count three clear beats whenever sixteenth notes appear so the runs do not rush.
  2. Right hand:A recurring right-hand idea is a quarter note and a short rest followed by a quick sixteenth-note turn around one note; practice the turn alone until every note is even and light.
  3. Left hand:The left hand often repeats one note in steady eighths before stepping down, so keep those repeated notes soft and let them support the melody.
  4. Hands together:Put hands together by first playing the right hand and tapping the left hand rhythm on your knee, then combine slowly at the points where the left hand begins to move.
  5. Fingering:Settle fingerings for the longer scale runs early and mark the thumb crossings in pencil; changing fingers between repetitions is a common source of stumbles.
  6. Dynamics:Keep the long runs soft and singing, and shape the repeated left-hand notes so they lead toward the next harmony instead of thumping on every eighth.
  7. Practice:Take the sixteenth-note runs one beat, four notes, at a time, then link two beats together before playing the whole bar.
  8. Reading:Mark the accidentals in the harder middle-section passages before you play, since they depart from the two-flat key signature.

Common mistakes

  • Rushing the sixteenth-note runs because the surrounding material is slower. Fix: Practice with a metronome clicking on each beat of the 3/4 bar and match the run to it.
  • Playing the repeated left-hand notes with a stiff accent on every one. Fix: Keep the wrist loose and play them as a quiet murmur that follows the melody's shape.
  • Forgetting the flats from the key signature when the music wanders. Fix: Say the note names of each run aloud before playing, naming the flats.
  • Pausing before each new phrase in the right-hand-only passages. Fix: Keep counting through rests so the next entrance arrives on time.

Structure: sonata form

The movement is in sonata form built from very little material. A plain arpeggio theme opens it, a singing transition theme visits the subdominant, and the second theme in the dominant turns out to be the opening idea again, now in the bass. The development begins with the transition theme and passes through several flat minor keys before the themes return in B-flat major.

Theme 1 · Main theme (B-flat major)
An arpeggiated idea in half and quarter notes, first heard in unison, so the reading is mostly about steady counting and clean chord shapes.
Transition · Transition theme (E-flat major)
The movement's one truly singing tune, in the subdominant, over a gentler accompaniment.
Theme 2 · Second theme (F major)
The opening theme returns in the bass, with repeated notes and a stepwise descent, while the right hand adds chattering counterpoint above.
Development · Development
Opens with the transition theme and moves through flat minor keys, so expect more accidentals and plenty of the contrapuntal chatter.
Recap · Recapitulation (B-flat major)
The main theme and then the second theme come back in the home key, followed by a closing passage much like the end of the exposition.

About Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro

Mozart entered this sonata in his own catalogue of works in February 1789, noting only that it was a sonata for piano alone and writing out its first few bars. Only part of his manuscript survives, so editors depend on the early print for much of the music.

It was not printed until 1796, five years after his death, when Artaria in Vienna issued it as a sonata with violin accompaniment. Modern scholars doubt the violin part is Mozart's, and the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe credits it to either Johann Anton Andre or Johann Mederitsch.

The sonata has three movements: Allegro in 3/4, an Adagio in E-flat major, and an Allegretto in 2/4. This page covers the first movement, and its passages range from gentle two-hand reading to a right-hand part with long sixteenth-note runs.

  • The only surviving piece of Mozart's manuscript is a single leaf from the first movement, held by the British Library in London.
  • The 1796 first edition presented the work as a violin sonata, although Mozart's catalogue lists it as a sonata for piano alone.
  • The Neue Mozart-Ausgabe attributes the added violin part to either Johann Anton Andre or Johann Mederitsch, not to Mozart.
  • Mozart reuses his opening theme as the second theme, moving it into the bass in a new key with busy counterpoint above it.

Why the first passage is level 5

That passage is level 5 rather than 4 because a hand covers more than one position.

This page offers ten graded excerpts from easy two-hand reading up to a right-hand-only passage with long sixteenth runs; start with the level 5 excerpts and work upward.

Questions about Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro

How hard is Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro to play?
Its passages grade from level 5 to 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 79–90 at level 10.
Is there an easy part of Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro for beginners?
Its easiest passage is level 5, so it suits a reader past the beginner stage. Start with bars 109–112 for both hands together, the level-5 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 5 because a hand covers more than one position.
What key and time signature is Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro in?
Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro is in B-flat major, 2 flats. The engraving on this page is in 3/4 time.
Who composed Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical (1756–1791). Mozart entered this sonata in his own catalogue of works in February 1789, noting only that it was a sonata for piano alone and writing out its first few bars.
Can I practice Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 10 graded passages from Piano Sonata No. 17 in B-flat major, K. 570: I. Allegro in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why do some editions of K. 570 include a violin part?
The first edition, printed by Artaria in 1796 after Mozart's death, presented it with a violin part that modern scholars do not believe is his. The piano part is the same as the solo version.
How long is Mozart's K. 570?
A typical performance of all three movements takes about 18 minutes.
What are the movements of K. 570?
An Allegro in 3/4, an Adagio in E-flat major, and an Allegretto in 2/4.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 10 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 5
bars 109–112 both hands · bars 113–116 both hands
Level 6
bars 14–17 right hand
Level 7
bars 101–104 both hands
Level 9
bars 129–132 both hands · bars 129–136 both hands · bars 177–180 both hands · bars 189–192 both hands · bars 205–208 both hands
Level 10
bars 79–90 right hand

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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