4 Contredanses for Count Czernin (K. 269b)
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s 4 Contredanses for Count Czernin (K. 269b; also catalogued as K. Anh. C 29.01) are modest keyboard dance miniatures associated with Salzburg in 1777, when the composer was 21. Surviving sources suggest they circulated as clavier versions of contredanses linked with Johann Rudolf, Count Czernin, although modern cataloguing also records questions of authorship.
Background and Context
In 1777, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) was still employed in Salzburg under Archbishop Colloredo, supplying the city’s court and aristocratic circles with functional music alongside more ambitious projects. Within that domestic sphere, short dance sets—minuets, German dances, and contredanses—served practical needs for social dancing and music-making at the keyboard.
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For K. 269b, the International Mozarteum Foundation’s Köchel catalogue entry identifies the work as Contredances for Johann Rudolf Graf Czernin in clavier form, dated to 1777, and transmitted in sources described as fragmentary; the same entry also flags the attribution as “incorrectly assigned,” associating the item with Michael Haydn in its person metadata. [1]
Musical Character
On the page, these pieces behave like straightforward contredanses: concise, squarely phrased numbers designed to set a steady pulse and clear cadences rather than to develop motives at length. The surviving movements listed in the Mozarteum entry include two complete dances marked Allegro and Andantino, followed by an Allegro that survives only as a fragment (with additional dances reported as lost). [1]
As keyboard writing, the texture is primarily chordal and melody-led—well within the reach of capable amateur players—suggesting use as a practical clavier stand-in for an ensemble dance repertory rather than a virtuoso concert piece. A readily available modern score (from the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe volume of dances, as mirrored on IMSLP) presents the set as “Country Dances…for piano,” reinforcing this salon-functional profile. [2]
[1] International Mozarteum Foundation (Köchel Catalogue): KV Anh. C 29.01 / K. 269b, Contredances for Johann Rudolf Graf Czernin (clavier version) — dating, status notes, and movement incipits.
[2] IMSLP: Country Dances for Johann Rudolf Graf Czernin, K.Anh.C 29.01 — access to score scans and general work metadata reflecting the keyboard format.