Fantasy Fragment in F minor, K6 383C

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

During his lifetime, Mozart began—but didn’t finish—nearly one hundred works, including fantasies, sonatas, minuets, concertos, and songs. In some of these fragments, we see Mozart working out compositional ideas before moving on to more fruitful plans, while others are striking, near-complete masterpieces that Mozart abandoned for reasons unknown.

Of course, Mozart’s untimely death in 1791 prevented him from completing many of his compositions, such as the Requiem, K. 626. The Fantasy Fragment in F minor, K6 383C, was likely among these. Originally attributed to an earlier period in Mozart’s life, scientific analysis of the fragment’s manuscript paper suggests it was composed in 1789 or 1790, just before his death at only 36 years old.

Mozart composed very little music for solo piano near the end of his life (the bulk of his piano sonatas were composed during his early 20s), which gives this fragment particular significance. Written during the height of Mozart’s compositional abilities, the fragment contains two minutes of wondrous, intoxicating music lost in its own perfume, foreshadowing the piano writing of Chopin 40 years later. Its harmonic twists and pianistic fillagree are so experimental that its authorship would be in doubt if not for the music’s sheer genius and the composer’s unmistakable handwriting.

Did Mozart push his boundaries too far? Did he lose the single page of manuscript paper in an apartment full of them? Did his other projects and commissions take priority? We’ll never know why Mozart didn’t complete the fragment, but we’re supremely fortunate it exists at all.

— Greg Anderson