Menuet KV 2
Written at age five - Mozart's second surviving composition.
KV 2, a Menuet in F major, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in January 1762, when he was five years old. His father Leopold - himself a composer and the leading violin pedagogue of his day - recorded it in a Notenbuch (notebook) kept as both a teaching record and a document of his son's astonishing early development. The piece is simple by any adult standard, but the voice-leading is clean and the phrasing balanced: a five-year-old writing competent two-part counterpoint.
Leopold Mozart began teaching Wolfgang alongside his elder sister Nannerl, and the notebook shows Wolfgang copying, then composing alongside pieces set for practice. KV 2 follows KV 1 (an Andante in C major) by just a few weeks. Within a year the family would begin the first of their European tours, presenting the boy to the courts of Munich, Vienna, Paris, and London.
Play each hand separately before combining them.
The minuet form is simple - two repeated sections, each eight bars - which makes it ideal for slow, careful hands-separate practice. Right hand first, left hand second, then together; this three-step process, which Leopold used with Wolfgang himself, remains the most reliable way to learn a new piece.
Before you practice.
01 How old was Mozart when he wrote KV 2?
Mozart was five years old when his father Leopold notated this Menuet in January 1762, making it one of the earliest documented compositions by the child prodigy.
02 How difficult is Mozart KV 2 for piano?
It is a true beginner piece - just 24 bars in F major with a simple melody and basic left-hand support, ideal for students who have learned basic hand coordination.
Listen for the two voices as if they were two instruments.
At 60% tempo, play the right hand alone and sing the phrase shape - where does it rise, where does it fall? At 80%, add the left hand and use wait-for-note mode to ensure both hands land together on downbeats. The minuet should feel like a small, tidy conversation between two equal voices rather than a melody with an accompaniment.
