1. K.332 finale: a scale becomes a gesture
The opening of Mozart’s Sonata in F major, K.332, third movement, measures 1–3, is a useful bridge between scales and repertoire. Its fast RH line includes descending motion, chromatic neighbors, and changes of direction. It is not simply an F-major scale placed in a sonata.
Read before running
The 6/8 meter has two dotted-quarter beats. The RH begins with a sixteenth rest while the LH chord sounds. Count that initial silence accurately; do not start the hands’ first notes together.
Follow the chromatic details: B♮ and B♭ both occur in bar 1, as does G♯. Bar 2 restores G♮ and later introduces B♮ in the lower register; bar 3 restores B♭ and uses G♯ again. Read the actual notes instead of applying an automatic F-major pattern.
The source marks f legato at the opening. Practice that strong, connected intention slowly from the outset, without hardening every sixteenth. The LH’s later staccatos require a separate release character.
Source: Mozarts Werke, Serie XX, Breitkopf & Härtel, 1878, plate W.A.M.332, printed page 138. This is an excerpt from that historical edition, not a claim to reproduce every detail of a modern Urtext.
2. Keep direction inside the even notes
Play the RH alone slowly and hear where each group is going. In bar 1, the upper F is a turning point; the following notes work down through chromatic neighbors. Bar 2 continues into a lower register. Bar 3 changes the texture into repeated upper notes over moving lower notes within the RH.
Build the passage in small units
- Count the opening rest and play the first dotted-quarter beat. Include the preceding LH attack when combining hands.
- Practice each six-note beat separately, then join two neighboring beats. Carry the pulse through the seam rather than inserting a new accent at each practice boundary.
- Isolate the chromatic turns and choose a fingering that prepares the next notes. Mark it before increasing speed; the unmarked source excerpt deliberately leaves fingering decisions to this work.
- Restore the LH exactly as written. Its rests matter as much as its attacks, and its staccatos should not shorten the RH’s legato line.
Begin with little or no pedal
On a modern piano, first make this opening clear without damper pedal. Hear the LH release and the RH’s changing pitches. If a brief pedal touch improves the opening chord’s sonority, test whether it obscures the subsequent line or the written rests. Do not sustain a whole bar merely because the hand is moving quickly.
This is a passage-specific starting point, not a prohibition on pedal throughout Mozart. The pedaling chapters explain how instrument, texture, and phrase affect the choice.
Checkpoint: two broad beats remain audible, the chromatic notes are accurate, and the phrase has direction at a controlled tempo. Return to a complete edition to continue the movement beyond the excerpt.