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Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) · sheet music

  • Key E minor
  • Time 4/4
  • Levels 3–9
  • Passages 34

Your turn · both hands

 

 

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical (1756–1791). The reading release has 34 passages from this piece at levels 3–9; the reader above opens on the easiest, bars 5–8 for the left hand alone.

Practice the hard bars →

The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 9.

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 Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304.

  1. Left hand alone · bars 5–8 level 3
  2. Hands together · bars 109–112 level 5
  3. The hardest bars · bars 1–12 level 9

How to play Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304

  1. Tempo:Choose an Allegro tempo that leaves room for the movement's nervous energy without blurring the notes. The Tempo di Menuetto should feel like a dance in three, not a slow lament.
  2. Right hand:Treat the right hand like a singer, with a connected line and small lifts at the ends of phrases. Mozart's slurs and dots mark where the line breathes.
  3. Left hand:In the opening the left hand doubles the theme an octave lower; match the two hands exactly in rhythm and weight so the unison sounds like one bleak voice.
  4. Hands together:In this sonata the piano part also contains melody that answers the violin. Practice the hands together at half tempo and listen for where the melody passes between the hands.
  5. Dynamics:Mozart uses sudden changes between loud and soft to express agitation. Practice the extremes slightly exaggerated.
  6. Reading:E minor has one sharp, but Mozart adds raised notes for the harmony. Read ahead for these accidentals and for the minuet's turn to E major, where G-sharp and other raised notes become the norm.
  7. Practice:Listen to a recording with violin to hear how the two instruments share the music. That helps you decide where the piano should lead and where it should support.

Common mistakes

  • Playing the piano part as a plain accompaniment. Fix: Look for the places where the piano has the tune and bring those out.
  • Smoothing over the sudden dynamic contrasts. Fix: Mark them in the score and practice them at the extremes.
  • Missing accidentals that signal the harmony changes. Fix: Circle each accidental and play that bar slowly.
  • Rushing the minuet because it feels easy. Fix: Dance the three beats with your body, then play at that speed.

Structure: two-movement sonata (Allegro and minuet)

Instead of the usual three movements, the sonata has two, both in E minor. A somber Allegro, dominated by its opening theme, is followed by a Tempo di Menuetto whose central section turns to E major before the minor-key melody returns.

I · Allegro (E minor)
The opening theme is stated in bare octaves and colors the whole movement; a lighter second theme, first heard in the piano, barely lifts the mood. Expect accidentals and sudden contrasts.
II · Tempo di Menuetto (E minor (middle section in E major))
A graceful minuet tune, first played by the piano alone, keeps returning; a gentle middle section in the major brings the work's warmest music.

About Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304

Mozart wrote this sonata in 1778, at 22, during a long tour that took him from Salzburg to Mannheim and Paris; he had left in September 1777 and did not get home until January 1779. It belongs to a group of seven violin sonatas written on that trip, six of which he published in Paris.

His mother, Anna Maria, who traveled with him, fell ill and died in Paris in July 1778. Many writers hear that loss in the sonata's dark mood, though no one knows whether it was written before or after her final illness. It is the only one of Mozart's violin sonatas in a minor key.

The piano is far more than an accompanist here. Both instruments state the stark opening theme together in octaves, the piano introduces the second theme of the Allegro, and it is the piano alone that first plays the minuet's melody before the two instruments trade it.

  • It is the only minor-key work among Mozart's violin sonatas.
  • The Allegro opens with violin and piano playing the same bleak theme in unison.
  • The minuet's middle section turns to E major and is marked dolce, a brief warm light in an otherwise somber work.
  • Martin-Joseph Mengal arranged both movements for wind quintet.

Why the first passage is level 3

That passage is level 3 rather than 2 because it leaps a tritone.

This is part of a violin and piano sonata. Expect melody in both hands and in both instruments, so read for the line that has the tune and the line that supports it.

Questions about Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304

How hard is Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304 to play?
Its passages grade from level 3 to level 9 on Real Sight Reader's ten-level reading scale, so the full piece is intermediate to advanced reading. The hardest stretch is bars 1–12 at level 9.
Is there an easy part of Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304 for beginners?
Yes. Start with bars 5–8 for the left hand alone, the level-3 passage in the reader at the top of this page; it is level 3 because it leaps a tritone.
What key and time signature is Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304 in?
Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304 is in E minor, 1 sharp. The engraving on this page is in 4/4 time.
Who composed Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304?
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Austrian classical (1756–1791). Mozart wrote this sonata in 1778, at 22, during a long tour that took him from Salzburg to Mannheim and Paris; he had left in September 1777 and did not get home until January 1779.
Can I practice Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304 online for free?
Yes. The reader on this page plays any of the 34 graded passages from Violin Sonata in E Minor, K. 304 in your browser, with an on-screen keyboard or a MIDI keyboard, and marks every note as you play. No signup.
Why is Mozart's Sonata K. 304 so sad?
It is in E minor, the only minor key among his violin sonatas. Many writers link the mood to his mother's death in Paris in July 1778, but there is no way to know whether it was written before or after her illness.
How long is Mozart's Violin Sonata in E minor?
A typical performance lasts about 12 minutes.
Does the piano have real melody in this sonata?
Yes. The piano shares the opening theme in octaves with the violin, introduces the Allegro's second theme, and plays the minuet tune alone before the violin answers.

Every passage, easiest first

The reading release grades 34 distinct passages of this piece. Open any of them in the reader:

Level 3
bars 5–8 left hand · bars 24–27 left hand · bars 25–28 left hand
Level 5
bars 109–112 both hands · bars 141–144 both hands
Level 7
bars 53–56 both hands · bars 57–60 both hands · bars 85–88 both hands · bars 101–104 both hands · bars 145–152 both hands · bars 153–156 both hands · bars 161–164 both hands · bars 181–184 both hands
Level 8
bars 77–80 both hands · bars 81–84 both hands
Level 9
bars 1–12 both hands · bars 1–8 both hands · bars 1–4 both hands · bars 13–16 both hands · bars 37–40 both hands · bars 41–44 both hands · bars 73–80 both hands · bars 73–76 both hands · bars 81–88 both hands · bars 137–140 both hands · bars 137–144 both hands · bars 139–150 both hands · bars 153–160 both hands · bars 157–160 both hands · bars 161–168 both hands · bars 165–168 both hands · bars 177–180 both hands · bars 177–184 both hands · bars 185–188 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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