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Rondo Alla Turca

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

An upper-intermediate piece from the Classical period, in A minor, and about 3 minutes and 30 seconds to play.

About this edition

The finale of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 11, written to imitate the Ottoman janissary bands that fascinated 18th-century Vienna — hence the mock-percussive left hand and the "Turkish" nickname it's kept ever since. It's one of the few Mozart movements famous enough to be played on its own, outside the full sonata.

The "Turkish" episodes move fast — practice the broken-octave and scale runs hands separately at a slow, even tempo before bringing them up to speed. Keep the main theme light and crisp (this is Classical-era clarity, not Romantic weight) even as the episodes get louder.

Scores and source editions retain their credited public-domain or licensed provenance.