Fantasy No. 1 with Fugue (Mozart)

Fantasy No. 1 with Fugue in C major (Fantasie in German), or: Prelude and Fugue, K. 394, is a 1782 composition for solo piano by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart which he wrote down at the insistence of his wife Constanze (Mozart usually improvised fugues; the title "Fantasia" is not Mozart's and is misleading in view of the obviously baroque structure of the piece). The work was written at a time in Mozart's life when his preoccupation with the polyphonic techniques of the Baroque era had triggered a lasting creative crisis, forcing him to come to terms individually with his great idols Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel.

Bars 1 and 2 Play^ⓘ

The fantasy begins with an adagio tempo indication. The opening bars feature strong dynamic contrasts. (Forte in bar 1 suddenly changes to piano in bar 2). The opening adagio changes to andante eight bars later; at this point the right hand starts playing triplet semiquavers, whilst the left hand moves above the right hand for rising quaver arpeggios and then back down to play a descending dotted semiquaver in its normal position alternately. The tempo marking changes again, this time to piu adagio before a final tempo primo eight bars later. The fantasy ends in G major, the dominant of C major.

The fugue's opening theme Play^ⓘ

The fugue is marked andante maestoso, which changes to adagio for the final two bars. It ends in the tonic key, C major.

External links

• Praludium (Fantasie) und Fuge in C: Score and critical report (in German) in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
• Prelude and Fugue in C major, K. 394/383a: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Animated score on YouTube, Walter Klien