Sonata for Two Pianos (Mozart)


The Sonata for Two Pianos in D major, K. 448, is a work composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1781, when he was 25. It is written in sonata-allegro form, with three movements. The sonata was composed for a performance he would give with fellow pianist Josepha Auernhammer. Mozart composed this in the galant style, with interlocking melodies and simultaneous cadences. This is one of his few compositions written for two pianos.
The autograph manuscript of the sonata is preserved in Veste Coburg.

Description

The sonata is written in three movements:
;Allegro con spirito
;Andante
;Molto allegro

Effects on the brain

Mozart's K. 448 was the composition used in the original study that led to the theory of the so-called Mozart effect, which posited that listening to the piano sonata improved spatial reasoning skills, later widened in pop-science to an increase in IQ in general.
A 2025 research discovered, using Quantitative electroencephalography, that listening to K. 448 enhances verbal working memory performance.

Recordings

Recordings on historical keyboards include: