# Why is the rhythm in the finale of K. 466 so weird?



## Wolfgangus the Great (Jan 4, 2022)

In the rondo of K. 466, the opening piano solo has such a bizarre rhythm and I just can't put my finger on what makes it so. I tried analyzing the score, but it really didn't help. A response would be really appreciated!


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## RICK RIEKERT (Oct 9, 2017)

I don't know if this helps, but the opening asymmetrical piano phrase structure is 4 measures + 9 measures, and the high D in mm. 8 and 11 occurs on the offbeat, giving the 9 measure phrase a syncopated quality. Were the opening phrase symmetrical, it would resemble a contradanse with cut time meter and pickup. The combination of the contradanse rhythm, the asymmetry of the phrasing, minor mode, and emphasis on the diminished 7th chord give it an exciting, almost demonic quality.


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## pianozach (May 21, 2018)

I pulled up a score vid of K466. The Rondo starts at 24:01.

It's just off-kilter. It's in cut time (actually in 2/2), and the opening phrase starts with with a 5-eighth note pickup. It's difficult to find a rhythmic center as the first downbeat has no "bottom", and the motion is almost constant, only pausing where it's unexpected, then quickly moves on.

Mozart starts with an arpeggio in the tonic of D minor, but he otherwise avoids emphasizing the tonic, instead, the opening phrase constantly keeps jumping to the dominant, and avoiding any true cadence. Clever. Harmonically, it's building tension, as it stresses the dominant (A major).

He's in little 4-measure phrases, but the downbeat is on the high solo A5, which, although part of D minor, is also the root of the dominant, giving the impression that we're in A, not Dm.

If you look at it as though it's in the time signature of 4/1 (4 measures = 1 long measure; each downbeat is a count), then the beginning pickup measure (measure 0) is "a-tika-tocka", the first full measure is One-ee-and-a, the second [where the motion stops] is a "Two - - tocka", the third is a "Three-a-tock-a, and-a-tock-a", while the fourth is "Four - a-tika-tocka", and finally landing on a ONE again in measure 5, where it repeats. Meanwhile, the left hand does not play on ONE. It goes "ee-and-a Two____ Three - and - Four."

THIS is the major reason it feels off-kilter: Mozart is placing the accent on TWO (and deliberately leaving ONE unaccented).


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