Ending to Fantasia in D minor

[Shagdac]

Every copy of music I have for Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, KV 397 does not include repeating 7 or 8 measures from the beginning (at the end). However on the recordings I have (i.e. Mitsuko Uchida) as well as the others, it has the opening 2 lines played at the end as well. Nothing on the end of this piece in the sheet music indicates to do this, (at least not that I'm seeing).
Does anyone know, does the end of this piece include going back and repeating some of the beginning? Thanks for any knowledge you can pass on.

Shag

[rachlisztchopin]

Hey, I recently played this piece. The Fantasia in D minor is really an unfinished peice. The last 10 measures were added by an unknown composer...possibly A. E. Muller.  Because the last 10 measures aren't Mozart's, professional pianists (like Mitsuko) add their own endings. I've heard Mitsuko's ending and I really didn't like the idea of all the sudden going back to the beginning of the piece.  Therefore I wrote my own ending to the piece. Though, I have been only playing piano a year, not knowing that in Mozart's time the keyboard range was limited  (my ending breaks that limited range). My teacher got upset because of that. But now i know more about pianos in the classical Era!

[bernhard]

Rachlisztchopin is right. Mozart never finished this piece. But it gets worse.  There is some pretty heavy evidence that the piece may not be by Mozart at all. Consider this:

1.      There are no references to it in Mozart’s copious letters.

2.      The original manuscript has disappeared.

3.      It is not included in Mozart’s thematic catalogue (but this may be because it was never finished).

Here is the full story:

1.      It was published in 1804 and ended in bar 97.

2.      In the Breitkopf & Hartel edition of 1806 an anonymous composer added 10 bars after bar 97. This is the version available now.

3.      The anonymous composer is suspected to have been August Eberhard Muller (1767 – 1817) one of the editors at Breitkofh & Hartel (as Rachlisztchopin said).

4.      Mind bogglingly there is a little sign by these last ten bars pointing to a footnote, but there is no footnote.

5.      Some say that the last ten bars were actually written by Mozart,but few people believe this nowadays.

6.      Paul Hirsch was the first to figure out all this in the 1940s. In fact most pianists are unaware that this piece was never completed.

7.      The conventional ending – it is now argued – should be dropped. It is at odds with Mozart’s style and it is only accepted because we became used to it.

8.      Mitsuko Uchida was the first to provide an alternative ending.

9.      Most of the dissatisfaction with the last ten bars centres on the fact that after a dark piece all in a minor key, it suddenly goes major. This applies to Mitsuko’s ending as well. Now there is a current of thought amongst Mozart scholars that it should end in minor.

10.      Michael Davidson (“Mozart and the Pianist” – Kahn & Averill) suggests that a convincing ending should proceed thus: Go back to the opening after bar 97 – make the rest there quite a long one - Repeat bars 1-4 but skip bars 5-6. Move on to bars 7-8 and after bar 8 play the tonic harmony (second inversion) making the bass note the second A below middle C. Follow with a bar of the dominant harmony in the same figuration (broken triads) as the opening. Play the final tonic beginning at the D – same D as in the opening – and do an ascending arpeggio all the way to the second A above middle C, then following the same pattern of bar 10 descend to the final D just above middle C.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[Shagdac]

Thank you Bernhard and Rach. I appreciate your help.

Shag

[Chitch]

Every copy of music I have for Mozart's Fantasia in D minor, KV 397 does not include repeating 7 or 8 measures from the beginning (at the end). However on the recordings I have (i.e. Mitsuko Uchida) as well as the others, it has the opening 2 lines played at the end as well. Nothing on the end of this piece in the sheet music indicates to do this, (at least not that I'm seeing).
Does anyone know, does the end of this piece include going back and repeating some of the beginning? Thanks for any knowledge you can pass on.

Shag

Mitsuko Argerich, actually.

[lunacrius]

Hi,

A completion of Mozart's Fantasy K 397 is available on those links. In this version, Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach's and W-A Mozart's styles are brought closer to each other.

1) Mozart's score

2) Ending to Mozart's Fantasia

[crusader13]

I was always under the impression that the ending to the Fantasy in D Minor Mozart intended was to have it end in D Major actually.

That's how it looked on my copy of the piece anyway when I was trying to master it (I mastered it in late 2013; time flies @_@)

[irrational]

I am by no means a music scholar, especially not Mozart.
I play this piece though and its very clear from the flow of music that the last section just does not fit.
As my teacher says, Mozart will not repeat things that way.
I am starting to think it should be a bit like Schubert's beautiful unfinished Sonata D.571.
A pity its unfinished, but not much you can do about it. So maybe the end is the end and you can decide whether to stop or continue. Either with existing music or your own. As Bernhard's point 7 says.

[irrational]

I found this interesting and informative article with some alternate ideas.

https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/14414/Hackmey_Ephraim_2012.pdf?sequence=1