MHO Essay
It would be incorrect to say that the classical composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived a particularly long life, but in the short span of 35 years, he made an enormous impact on music, both classical and non-classical and has left his mark, not only on music but on history. In his lifetime, Mozart composed over 600 works, which included string quartets, concert arias, piano sonatas and operas. Mozart also composed many piano concertos, and many of them were, and still is extremely popular today. One such piece that is still so popular today is his Rondo Alla Turca from Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K 331, which is one of Mozart’s most famous pieces ever. In this essay, I will be discussing 3 musical features of the Alla Turca style that can be found in Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca.
The first musical feature of the Alla Turca style, which is also present in Mozart’s own Rondo Alla Turca is the similar rhythms and rhythmic patterns found in both. Firstly, Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca is phrased irregularly (with a pattern of long, long, long, short, long). This style of phrasing imitates the marching style of the Turkish Janissary bands. Also, Janissary music is most commonly in duple time, which Rondo Alla Turca fulfills, as it is in 2/4. The time signature of 2/4 also …show more content…
Both Janissary music and the Rondo Alla Turca is fast, has a bright timbre and is meant to be loud. Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca has a very full texture, just like the Turkish Janissary bands. Most Turkish band music were also in Rondo form with various repeated sections, which Mozart also imitated, by repeating Section A and B several times throughout the piece. Lastly, Rondo Alla Turca and Turkish Janissary music were homophonic, which not only shows similarities between Alla Turca and Rondo Alla, and both and its relevance to classical
It would be incorrect to say that the classical composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart lived a particularly long life, but in the short span of 35 years, he made an enormous impact on music, both classical and non-classical and has left his mark, not only on music but on history. In his lifetime, Mozart composed over 600 works, which included string quartets, concert arias, piano sonatas and operas. Mozart also composed many piano concertos, and many of them were, and still is extremely popular today. One such piece that is still so popular today is his Rondo Alla Turca from Piano Sonata No. 11 in A Major, K 331, which is one of Mozart’s most famous pieces ever. In this essay, I will be discussing 3 musical features of the Alla Turca style that can be found in Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca.
The first musical feature of the Alla Turca style, which is also present in Mozart’s own Rondo Alla Turca is the similar rhythms and rhythmic patterns found in both. Firstly, Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca is phrased irregularly (with a pattern of long, long, long, short, long). This style of phrasing imitates the marching style of the Turkish Janissary bands. Also, Janissary music is most commonly in duple time, which Rondo Alla Turca fulfills, as it is in 2/4. The time signature of 2/4 also …show more content…
Both Janissary music and the Rondo Alla Turca is fast, has a bright timbre and is meant to be loud. Mozart’s Rondo Alla Turca has a very full texture, just like the Turkish Janissary bands. Most Turkish band music were also in Rondo form with various repeated sections, which Mozart also imitated, by repeating Section A and B several times throughout the piece. Lastly, Rondo Alla Turca and Turkish Janissary music were homophonic, which not only shows similarities between Alla Turca and Rondo Alla, and both and its relevance to classical