How can we understand the stylistic variety that defines many of Mozart's compositions, compared to the organic unity found in the music of Beethoven and Brahms? One helpful solution has been "topic theory," which emerged in the 1980s to define and explain the many alternating characters in Mozart and other operatically inspired music of the classical period. One of the leading authorities on 18th-century keyboard music, Derek Remeš guides you through the first movement of Mozart's F major Sonata, K. 332, labeling each "topic" Mozart employs along the way. Remeš uses the work to demonstrate how topic theory can inform your own interpretations of Mozart, treating sonatas as "forums for action" and encouraging you to wear different "masks" to portray the different characters embodied in each topic.

Why is it that so many composers of the classical period wrote sonatas? What was the expressive purpose of writing in this form? Part of a new generation of music theorists dedicated to reconstructing the compositional and performance goals of 18th-century musicians, Derek Remeš understands sonata form in terms of the "tasks" performed by the different sections of the music. In opposition to the tendency of music theorists to apply the abstract labels "exposition, "development," and "recapitulation" to a sonata, Remeš uses the first movement of Mozart's K. 332 sonata to demonstrate the unfolding musical and narrative purpose of each section of the form.

Mozart and his music have long been regarded with sacred associations by musicians, critics, and audiences alike. Considering the transcendent purity of Mozart's compositions, this is understandable. Yet, it has inspired a false narrative about Mozart's creative process: far from some kind of semidivine musical oracle whose music stands apart from history and culture, Mozart was very much a product of his time. As Derek Remeš shows in this lesson, Mozart was a "master of convention" – specifically, of the voice leading conventions of 18th-century composition. Remeš reveals the harmonic blueprint underlying the first movement of Mozart's Sonata K. 332, and identifies the "schemas," or stock voice-leading patterns, Mozart is utilizing for his own creative purposes.