Born in Salzburg, Mozart toured Europe as a child with his father Leopold and his sister Nannerl, then settled in Vienna in 1781, where he lived as a freelance pianist, teacher and composer. He left sonatas, variations and more than twenty piano concertos. The Minuet in F major, K. 2, dates from 1762 and is among his very first pieces. The Sonata K. 545, from 1788, is the one he entered in his own catalogue as a little sonata for beginners.
Start with the Minuet K. 2 and the easy version of the Turkish March, which keeps the refrain in the right hand: short phrases, a light left hand. The Sonata K. 545 then asks for an even Alberti bass in the left hand, smooth scales in the right and about a dozen trills. The original Rondo alla turca comes last: more than a hundred grace notes, right-hand octaves and rolled chords, over nearly four minutes.