Turkish March piano sheet music: the opening theme with letters

Turkish March: questions people ask

What are the letter notes of Turkish March?

The first notes, with their octave numbers, are B4 A4 G♯4 A4 C5 D5 C5 B4 C5 E5 F5 E5. Every note of the opening theme is in the table above, one bar per row (middle C is C4, the C nearest the middle of the keyboard; the next C up is C5).

What key and time signature is Turkish March in?

On this page it is in A minor (no sharps or flats), in 2/4: two beats to the bar, each a quarter note. A minor has no sharps or flats in its key signature, but this theme uses G♯ (the leading note of A minor), D♯ and F♯ as accidentals. Wikipedia says every movement of the sonata is in A major or A minor, and the A section of the Rondo alla Turca is in A minor.

Why are there sharps, flats or naturals that are not in the key signature?

The key signature of A minor gives no sharps or flats. In this tune the notes are written with an accidental sign (D♯, F♯ and G♯): the pick-up: G♯4; bar 2: D♯5; bar 3: G♯5; bar 7: F♯5. A sharp, flat or natural sign before a note applies to that note for the rest of the bar.

Which hand plays what, and how high and low does it go?

The range is G♯4 to C6, 16 semitones. The tune spans 11 letter names, from G♯4 to C6, more than an octave, so the hand has to travel along the keyboard.

Is this the whole of Turkish March?

No. It is the first 8 bars of the third movement, which Wikipedia calls a rondo with several contrasting sections and a coda. The movement, the Turkish March, is only the last of the three movements of the sonata.

Is Turkish March free to print and share?

Mozart’s sonata was published by Artaria in 1784, according to Wikipedia, so the music is far out of copyright. The edition used here is the Mutopia Project typesetting made from the IMSLP score, marked Public Domain by its typesetters. The sheets are made by this site and may be printed and shared. Modern arrangements and recordings have their own rights.

How do I know the notes are right?

The melody is read by a program from Mutopia Project, "Sonate Opus KV 331 - Rondo Alla Turca", right hand (Rune Zedeler and Chris Sawer), never typed in. A second program then compares it, note by note and in order, with 4 other sources: Wikipedia's score (87% of its notes); MIDI file “Mozart - Turkish March” (100% of its notes); MIDI file “Mozart K331 Sonate piano 11 3emvt debut mainD” (100% of its notes, the pick-up and bars 1 to 3 and the first beat of bar 4); MIDI file “Mozart KV-331 III start” (100% of its notes, the pick-up and bars 1 to 3 and the first beat of bar 4). 3 of the 4 agree with this page on every pitch. Where they differ, the page lists every note and bar, so you can see the difference.

What is the Turkish March?

It is the third movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331, called the Rondo alla Turca or “Turkish Rondo”. Wikipedia says it is often heard on its own and regarded as one of Mozart’s best-known piano pieces.

Why is it called “alla turca”?

Mozart himself titled the rondo “Alla turca”. Wikipedia says it imitates the sound of Turkish Janissary bands, whose music was much in vogue at the time.

Why does the Wikipedia score not match every note?

Five of this page’s 38 notes, the B of the pick-up, the D of bar 1, the F of bar 2 and the two B notes of bar 3, are written in the score in the Wikipedia article as small grace notes, which the check does not count. The other 33 notes agree.

How do the first notes go?

The four-note pick-up is B4 A4 G♯4 A4, four sixteenth notes that circle around A. Then comes C5, a rest, and a second group D5 C5 B4 C5. Wikipedia describes this as a rising sixteenth-note melody followed by a falling eighth-note melody.