Interpretation of Musical Topos in W. A. Mozart’s Sonata Cycles

Abstract

The article represents an important problem of modern musicology and aims to reveal the specifics of the functioning of musical topos in the piano sonatas of W. A. Mozart. The concept of topos is interpreted as a field of abstract ideas and concrete images embodied by certain musical means. It is argued that the model of the functioning of musical topos in the sonata cycles of W. A. Mozart consists of the following main topos: gallant, heroic, pastoral, pathetic, comic, which include lesser, similar modifications. The main role in the sonatas is played by the topos of gallantry, which focuses on communicative forms of secular interchange. Therefore, revealing the semantic depth of the musical topos of Mozart’s sonatas will allow us to discover the musical cosmos of the composer’s artistic imagery.

Keywords

• sonata cycle
• topos
• semantics
• style
• principles of thinking
• classicism