Mozart's Sonata in A major - I

Mozart Avenue, in Paris

In 1778, Wolfgang Amadeus, no longer a child prodigy, was in Paris trying to build a future as a mature musician and composer. On that year he wrote three new sonatas for piano, which a perceptive musicologist and historian called "Paris sonatas". Of these, the Sonata in A major is the most frequently heard, no doubt thanks to its third movement or "Turkish March" which over the years became one of Mozart's best known piano pieces.
Mozart´s stay in Paris was the natural consequence of the composer’s unhappiness with his situation in Salzburg as a court musician, a post he had resigned the previous year by means of a sarcastic letter to his employer Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. Unfortunately, after eighteen months of unsuccessful attempts to secure a position in the court of any city with bursting musical life (such as Munich, Paris or Vienna) Amadeus had no other option but to return to Salzburg his tail between his legs. But he carried three published piano sonatas tucked under his arm.

Sonata No 11 in A major - K 331
The sonata in A major consists of three movements: Andante grazioso, Menuetto and Rondo alla turca.
The first movement, unlike the traditional A-B-A structure, consists of a theme and six variations.
Here you can enjoy it, performed by the Latvian pianist Olga Jegunova.

In January 1779, Wolfgang was back in Salzburg to take charge of a position his father had secured for him:

organist at the court. Mozart would be again under Colloredo. His duties included playing for the court and the cathedral, assisting with the instruction of the children's choir and composing when necessary.

Eventually, during the tedious Salzburg summer of 1780, what Mozart had expected for a long time finally happened; he was asked to write an opera for the Munich court. The composer had to go there as he needed to be acquainted with the singers in order to compose arias suitable for their voices. The Prince-Archbishop granted an authorization for Mozart to travel because, in some ways, the Munich court's request benefited Colloredo. Thus, Wolfgang was able to embark on the journey with a curious mixture of being on secondment and moonlighting the same time.

The opera –Idomeneo– was succesfully premiered in January 1871. Leopold and Nannerl went to the premiere and on their return, accompanied by Amadeus, they took a well deserved vacation in Ausgburg. Unfortunately the fun was stopped short by Prince-Archbishop who commanded Mozart to immediately report in Vienna since Colloredo had been invited to the coronation of Joseph II and he would assist along with his small personal court, which of course should include his keyboardist Mozart.

Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Hieronymus von Colloredo,
as characterized in Milos Forman's film Amadeus