The Allegretto that closes Mozart’s Sonata No. 10 in C major, K. 330, is built around a buoyant dotted melody and short, clearly articulated phrases. The opening right-hand tune includes small double-note gestures, while the left hand answers with light broken chords. The movement grows more active through triplet figures, trills, running passages, and changing registers. Both large halves are repeated, giving its themes and their later transformation a substantial place in the sonata’s finale.

At the opening, rests in the bass leave space before the left hand’s eighth-note figures enter. The upper melody alternates a dotted shape with a brief ornamental answer. When the theme returns more strongly, the accompaniment becomes a continuous sixteenth-note pattern, and the right hand’s double notes make the melody more emphatic. Triplet runs then lift the upper line into a higher register before it falls back toward the next phrase.

The following episode places a more extended upper melody over steady broken chords. Small-note decorations appear within the line, and crescendos connect its rising figures. The secondary material includes appoggiaturas and trills in the high register, supported by the left hand’s regular sixteenths. Longer chromatic runs alternate with passages in which the bass holds a chord or supplies separated notes. The exposition closes with decorated upper gestures over the familiar accompaniment, followed by a repeat.

The middle section breaks the theme into shorter pieces. Initially, the lower part has its own melodic movement beneath upper fragments and trills. Continuous left-hand sixteenths then return, while the right hand alternates accented notes, short slurs, and rests. Quieter phrases lead toward a statement of the principal melody marked sotto voce. Its dotted rhythm remains recognizable even as the surrounding material changes.

The later pages bring back the stronger theme, triplet passages, and the episode’s moving accompaniment. The secondary ideas again reach into the upper register, with trills set above steady lower figures. Toward the end, rising activity builds to fortissimo chromatic descents before the closing melody returns. Short triplet responses and a final group of emphatic chords finish the movement. The last repeat sign returns to the beginning of the second large half.

Interesting fact: This edition marks the main theme’s return sotto voce, asking for a subdued sound. That written dynamic character contrasts with the stronger version of the same dotted idea heard earlier in the movement.