Tibor SZÁSZ Lament over the Lost Thread, or Retracing the “Thread of Ariadne” – il filo – in three works for piano solo: W. A. Mozart’s Fantaisie et Sonate, Opus XI (K.475 / K.457), F. Chopin’s Fantaisie, op. 49 in A-flat (!), and F. Chopin’s Sonate No.
Abstract
Pianists and fortepianists err in interpreting the opening melody of W. A. Mozart’s Fantaisie K.475 as though made up of the highest pitches heard in mm. 1–4. Mozart’s Fantaisie begins, not with the habitually emphasized melody, but with a three-part polyphonic structure with voice crossings which can be identified using the “reverse il filo threading” demonstrated in this essay. Urtext editors of Mozart’s Fantaisie et Sonate, K.475 / K.457, aggravate the polyphonic issue by assuming that the final cadence of the Fantaisie K.475 was incorrectly recorded in both the composer’s autograph manuscript (recovered in 1990) and in the first edition (1785). However, Mozart’s final cadence is flawless in its dual role as closure for the Fantaisie K.475 and as initiator for the Sonate K.475, thus linking the two works as one inseparable unit – his Opus XI. The structural cohesion of Mozart’s Fantaisie et Sonate is probably an intended consequence of his having been inducted in the Masonic Order in 1784 (when he composed the Sonate K.457) and of his becoming a Master Mason in 1785 (when he composed the Fantaisie K.475). The opening measures of the Fantaisie and of the Sonate are shown to be musical representations of compasses – a prominent symbol of Freemasonry included also in the Sign of the Macrocosm. Mozart’s use of musical symbolism anticipates the “transformation of themes” technique of Franz Liszt. This essay continues with a parallel between Mozart’s Fantaisie K.475 and Chopin’s Fantaisie op. 49, the latter seen as an Hommage à Mozart in A-flat Major (erroneously tagged as being in F minor). Finally, Mozart’s procedure of prefacing an earlier composition (the Sonate K.457) with a later one (the Fantaisie K.475) is shown to have a structural parallel in Frédéric Chopin’s earlier “Funeral March” which generates the melodic cells of his later Sonate No. 2 in B-flat minor.
Keywords
polyphony, il filo, Hauptstimme, voice crossings, fantasia, sonata, C. P. E. Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Liszt, fortepiano, Goethe, Faust, Urtext, Freemasonry, Sign of the Macrocosm.