Every musical genre in which he composed, Mozart brought to perfection. Haydn and Beethoven – the former, who is most often called the originator of the sonata and the latter, who is perhaps its most significant creator -
They may have left more in the field of sonata than Mozart, but Mozart left behind a vital foundation on which Beethoven would later continue to develop this musical genre. Mozart's sonatas are a disposition of beautiful melodies, which - as he said - should "flow like oil" one after the other. Controlled dynamics, clarity, expressiveness, a soft hand and fingers on the keys - all these are expressions we encounter when talking about Mozart's piano sonatas. They were interesting instruments, at the end of the 18th century, which also bore witness to the then ubiquitous fashion that had taken hold in Europe - the fashion of Janissary music. Sonata in A major, K. 331 belongs to that fashion, with its famous last movement Alla turca.
The composition of this sonata dates back to Mozart's stay in Munich in 1880-81, when he composed two other of his frequently performed sonatas, K. 330 and K. 332. The French charm in them is attributed to his previous stay in Paris, which was admittedly anything but pleasant (his mother had died in Paris in 1778, and circumstances had also changed – he was no longer seen as a child prodigy, but faced competition from numerous composers seeking engagements). At the same time that Mozart and Gluck were in Paris, and both composers noticed an interesting melody that might have been a popular item in some fashionable "janissary" orchestra – the same main theme of Mozart's Alla turca can be heard in the Gluck's Skit Choir Iphigenia in Tauris. Drums, cymbals, triangles, various percussion instruments sounded effective, and pianos of that time often had a series of pedals, which could produce sounds like a snare drum, cymbals, bells and similar effects.
The Sonata in A major, K. 331 is not typical – its first movement walking graceful is not in sonata form, but in the form of a theme with variations. Many consider this movement to be one of Mozart's most beautiful themes with variations. The melody is recognized by some as typically French, full of charm and grace, and the series of 6 variations takes it through various transformations, with numerous characteristic technical demands and decorations, showing it also in a minor key atmosphere in the third variation. As the second movement, Mozart decides to introduce, instead of the standard slow tempo, a Minuet s Trio, another favorite French dance, in which it brings a range of subtle nuances of mood, as well as intriguing technical elements, such as the crossing of the left and right hands. The famous Alla turca brings excitement and humor, Mozart's witty play with the fashion of Turkism, stringing together virtuoso sections in which one can easily hear the dazzling sounds of the Janissary orchestra, finely tuned in a refreshing sequence of rondo sections - in which the main theme of a lively character, although in a minor key, is decorated and energetic, alternating with light, fluttering, but equally finely decorated and dazzling major episodes.
Six pieces for piano op. 118 The penultimate cycle of compositions was published during Brahms's lifetime. In it, Brahms leaves behind some of his favorite piano pieces, bringing to them, as in other late works, a different kind of passion and introspection from that of his earlier works, which were filled primarily with virtuoso exploration. In the Six Pieces, through a series of gentle Intermezzos, Ballades, and Romances, Brahms immerses himself in an atmosphere of exuberant sensitivity, reverie, and mature reflection.
First Intermezzo in A minor, Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato, is broad-swept, sumptuous, like a long sigh that calms down in the second of the Six Pieces, a gentle Intermezzo in A major, which is one of the most beloved compositions in Brahms's entire oeuvre. This Andante tenderly It is exactly what the description says, a composition filled with gentle, dreamy, nostalgic themes, which are woven through a sophisticated network of typically Brahmsian inner voices. Ballad in G minor, the third piece of the cycle, is another beautiful example of the exceptionally rich piano writing of Brahms's later years. A short piece which, however, as Clara Schumann observed when Brahms sent her a part of the cycle in manuscript, "contains in its smallest dimensions a great wealth of feeling". The fourth Intermezzo in F minor brings counterpoint writing to the tempo Allegretto, a little agitated, slightly agitated, whose passion mostly burns kept under the surface of the untroubled movement of fast triplets. Romance in F major brings a feeling of pleasant warmth, calmness and optimism, while the final Intermezzo in E flat minor, Andante, largo e mesto, full of color, density, weight, as if contemplating a long journey at the end of which comes the inevitable end - with a dark motif This irae from Gregorian chant.
The cycle of these Six Pieces was written in the summer of 1893, during the composer's stay in Bad Ischl, and is dedicated to Clara Schumann, who was still an excellent pianist in her seventies.
Composition 2005. Marin Limić is based on a motif that was created in 2005, during the first months of the composer's studies in Cologne, reflecting, according to him, the feelings that arise in a new environment, but also the experience of falling in love. The rhapsodic composition leads to an exploration of these feelings, through variations on a simple motif built of four tones, which develops in a series of soft figurations and dissolutions. They themselves become thematic material, branching, overlapping, contrasting, leaving various solutions open, in a constant continuation of new variations and sections. The initial melancholic coloring at the peak of the composition is filled with energetic, optimistic strong chords, with a final simple reminiscence of the initial motif.
Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) embodied the ideal of the Romantic artist, as a virtuoso of his instrument and a composer of strong individuality, whose music is permeated with the ideals of Romanticism. The piano was the focus of all his interests, on which he found various previously unknown solutions, a new sound, which was born in the counterpoint of lyrical melodies and inexhaustibly innovative figurations, through which he poured low coloratura passages and spells of intriguing rhythms. His innovation in piano textures, the layering, transparency, the brilliance of his piano style, filled with polyphony of melody and complex accompaniment, came from his virtuoso approach to playing and improvisation. Despite the impression of freedom that Chopin's compositions exude, their form is very balanced and relies on classical models, such as Bach, Mozart and Beethoven. The sonatas show this preference for form, although some would disagree - Schumann will four movements of his Second Piano Sonata in B flat minor, Op. 35 described as "four disobedient children smuggled where they did not belong". However, Chopin did not want to write the sonata entirely in the footsteps of classical models. His aim was to use the sonata framework in which to write in his own way, using the figurations of his etudes, the cantilenas of the nocturnes, or the dance motifs of mazurkas and polonaises. It is true that the thematic material of the movements of the Second Sonata cannot be explained by a common motivic source, but nevertheless the four movements form a dramatic logical sequence. The first movement was created Marche funèbre, 1837, and only later, in the summer of 1839 in Nohant (where he spent a number of summers at the estate of Geogres Sand), did the entire sonata appear. The second sonata is Chopin's first mature sonata (he wrote the first during his studies in 1828). It is not clear what prompted him to add the other movements to the Funeral March and create a sonata, but a parallel can be drawn with Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 12, in which the third movement is also a Funeral March. One of the motives for composing may have been a letter from his father informing him that his First (student) Sonata had been published.
The second sonata begins with a four-bar slow introduction, of which the motif of two descending tones will be one of the building blocks in the development part of the movement. A fast galloping theme introduces a scene of extreme unrest, which suddenly calms down in the lyrical second theme. The development part rests mainly on the first theme. The recapitulation is inverse – it begins with a slow lyrical theme, and then the main theme appears, ending the movement in B flat major. The second movement, the Scherzo, brings a series of dark, technically challenging elements, which create a harsh, aggressive atmosphere, in which Chopin's powerful octaves, jumps, and double-note sequences shine. A lyrical cantilena resembling a nocturne is in the middle of the movement, and returns once more after the rapture of the main theme. The funeral march, the third movement, brings a powerful melody, which gains significance with the ascent in the middle part, which is harmonically colored in major and enriched with baroque ornaments, and the central melody of the movement brings comfort and calm. The whirling Presto finale seems to spend through the abyss of limbo, in a wild free fall, like a leaf in the wind, through the ups and downs of chromatic sequences, to the fast final exclamatory fortissimo chord.
Marin Limic, pianist, composer and teacher from Klis (Croatia), currently residing in Berlin (Germany).
He completed his primary and secondary music education at the Josip Hatze Music School in Split, in the class of pedagogue and concert pianist Jadranka Garin. He won first prize at the Croatian State Music Competition for Pupils and Students in 2003. In early 2010, he graduated in the class of Prof. Arbo Valdma at College of Music (College of Music) in Cologne.
Limić's repertoire ranges from classical works to his own compositions and piano arrangements. In 2016, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia awarded him for his own piano composition Tokata, Op. 33. He held numerous solo concerts and performed accompanied by an orchestra under the direction of conductors P. Dešpalj, M. Tarbuk and I. Lipanović. He performed several concerts at the Croatian Music Institute that were recorded by Croatian Radio. He also performed in the Duke's Palace in Dubrovnik accompanied by the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra. Among the international performances, it is worth noting the recitals at the Mostar Spring in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2012, Don Branko's Days of Music in Montenegro in 2013, and in Brandys nad Labem Castle in the Czech Republic in 2014.
In 2015, his sheet music album with accompanying CD was published. Piano compositions (Library of Kačić & Sidra music anthologies), whose promotions were held in Croatian cities. The following year he held several solo recitals under the title Concert of forgotten melodies where he presented rarely or never performed works by various composers. In 2018, his second self-titled album was released Clara's film (Cantus) on which several fellow musicians and artists collaborated.
In 2020, he received the Artist Scholarship of the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, with which he recorded classical and his own works. In early 2022, he performed at the French Cathedral in Berlin. In 2023, he received a scholarship NeuStart Kultur Deutscher Musikrat, during which he performed three concerts focusing on his own compositions. In 2024, he visited the People's Republic of China on a twenty-day tour during which he performed 11 concerts in different cities.
In August 2024, he held his first solo concert as part of the Split Summer Festival. In 2025, he won support from the Steglitz-Zehlendorf District Office in Berlin for his project. Rachmaninoff with a computer, in which he plays S. Rachmaninoff's Second Concerto for Piano and Orchestra accompanied by a computer.
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WA Mozart: Sonata in A major KV 331:
I. Andante grazioso
II. menuetto
III. Alla turca – Allegretto
J. Brahms: 6 pieces for piano op. 118:
I. Intermezzo ua molu - Allegro non assai, ma molto appassionato
II. Intermezzo in A major - Andante teneramente
III. Ballad in G minor - Allegro energico
IV. Intermezzo in A minor - Allegretto un poco agitato
V. Romance in F major – Andante
YOU. Intermezzo in E minor - Andante, largo e mesto
Pause
M. Limić: 2005.
F. Chopin: Sonata in B minor op. 35:
I. Grave – Double movement
II. Scherzo
III. Funeral March: Lento
IV. Finale: Throne






