Picture Mozart in your mind and you probably come up with images of a prissy and proper young man, kind to his sister, father, and small animals, accompanied to the sounds of his dainty Sonata in C major, K. 545. Of course, the real Mozart had many more sides than that, and in the same key of C, he reveals a much darker aspect of his nature through his ominous Fantasie in C minor, K. 475/457. You can get into a lot of trouble with a piece like this, wandering through dangerous chord progressions, finding yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time! It’s easy to see how Mozart’s dark and troubled side deeply influenced the likes of Beethoven in his own Pathetique Sonata No. 8, Op. 13.
