Mozart: 5 Country Dances, K.609

Introduction

On December 7 1787 Mozart finally achieved the Viennese court appointment he had long sought when he was confirmed in the post of Kammermusicus (chamber musician). The only duty required of the incumbent was the composition of dances for the balls held in the large and small halls of the Redoutensaal during Carnival season, which ran from Epiphany to Ash Wednesday. Mozart had hoped for a salary that would ease the financial problems he increasingly experienced at the end of the 1780s. In the event he was offered only 800 gulden, 1200 gulden less then Gluck, the previous holder of the position. During the remaining four winters of his life Mozart composed around one hundred dances for the Redoutensaal balls. These dances, which include the aristocratic minuet along with more bourgeois German dances and contradanses, reflect the liberal regime of the Emperor Joseph II, who permitted all ranks of society to attend in the knowledge that their rank would be protected by masks and Carnival costumes. The five contradanses (country dances) that make up K609 were not entered in Mozart's thematic catalog, it appearing likely that they belie their late Köchel number by having been among the first dances Mozart composed after his appointment as Kammermusicus. Unlike many of the late sets of dances, which are scored for the large Redoutensaal orchestra and evince evidence of Mozart experimenting with new orchestral coloration, this set is scored for more modest forces - flute, side drum in addition to two violin parts and bass, the string parts the normal trio which formed the dance band of the period.

Parts/Movements

1. Contredanse in C major
2. Contredanse in E flat major
3. Contredanse in D major
4. Contredanse in C major
5. Contredanse in G major