Ballet Intermezzo (fragment) in C major, K. 299c
von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Ballet Intermezzo (fragment), K. 299c, is a small surviving set of ballet sketches from his Paris stay in 1778, written when he was 22. Though only fragmentary material remains, it offers a glimpse of how readily Mozart could turn to the fashionable French theatre idiom—compact dance rhythms, clear phrases, and practical stage momentum—alongside his more celebrated Paris works.
Background and Context
Mozart drafted K. 299c in Paris in 1778, at a moment when he was actively testing himself against French taste—public concert life, the prestige of the Opéra, and the city’s well-established culture of ballets inserted into theatrical evenings.[1] In the same season he produced the complete ballet Les petits riens, K. 299b, for Parisian performance, while also leaving behind several smaller drafts and occasional pieces connected with the stage.[1]
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The Ballet Intermezzo is not transmitted as a finished, performable score but as autograph sketch material dated simply to 1778.[1] The title “intermezzo” points to its likely function as entr’acte or divertissement-style music—inserted dance numbers intended to animate a change of scene or provide spectacle—rather than a self-contained ballet in the later nineteenth-century sense.
What Survives
What survives is a short group of sketches in C major, preserved as autograph material and edited in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe volume devoted to pantomimes and ballets.[1][2] The edition identifies two distinct sketch sheets (one in Berlin and one in Paris), reproduced and transcribed rather than presented as a continuous, complete “number.”[2]
Because the material is sketch-like, details that a listener expects—full orchestration, consistent phrase lengths, and clear beginnings and endings—are only intermittently present. Still, the notated music suggests Mozart thinking in ballet units: regularized meters, straightforward tonal goals, and the kind of rhythmic profile suited to onstage movement rather than vocal declamation.
Scholarly Context
Modern reference sources treat K. 299c as a Paris fragment from summer 1778, distinct from (but closely adjacent to) the fully realized Les petits riens.[1][3] Its preservation as sketches is typical of Mozart’s working habits in this period: he could draft dance movements quickly as needed, and only later—if a commission solidified—prepare fair copies and orchestral parts.
In developmental terms, K. 299c sits at an instructive crossroads. Paris pushed Mozart toward brilliance of surface, clean orchestral punctuation, and an instinct for immediate effect—qualities that would soon feed into both his concert works and his mature theatrical style. Even as a fragment, this small intermezzo points to Mozart’s ease in writing music that is functional, physical, and theatrically timed, without sacrificing his characteristic clarity of design.
[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel-Verzeichnis entry for KV 299c/12 ([Ballet-Intermezzo] {12.}): dating (1778), key (C major), autograph status, and NMA references.
[2] IMSLP overview page for the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe: lists NMA II/6/2 appendices including “Sketches for a ballet (facsimile and transcription), K.299c,” with details of two sketch sheets (Berlin and Paris).
[3] Wikipedia: Köchel catalogue table entry including “299c — Ballet Intermezzo (fragment) — Summer 1778 — Paris.”