Contredanse in B♭ major (fragment), K. 535b
av Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Contredanse in B♭ major (K. 535b) is a brief, uncompleted ballroom-dance fragment from Vienna, dating to the late 1780s (with sources placing it within 1788–February 1791). Only a short autograph score leaf survives, preserving just enough to suggest the kind of bright, functional festive music Mozart was producing for Vienna’s public ball season.
What Is Known
Contredanse in B♭ major (fragment), K. 535b, survives as a tiny, unfinished remnant from Mozart’s Vienna years, when he was 32 and regularly supplying dances for court and public festivities. The Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum’s catalogue lists it as an authentic but uncompleted work, with dating given broadly as Vienna, 1788–February 1791, and notes an autograph source from 1790 consisting of a single sheet (two written pages) without an original title.[1]
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The same entry provides the intended ensemble as flute, oboes, bassoons, horns, and strings (violins I–II, cello and bass), i.e., the kind of modest orchestral band suitable for Redoutensaal-style dance music rather than concert display.[1]
Musical Content
What remains appears to be a short score sketch for a contredanse in B♭ major, implying a crisp, extrovert tone typical of Mozart’s late-1780s dance output in Vienna. Since the work is explicitly catalogued as a fragment and survives only on one leaf, any full sense of its sectional plan (normally a chain of repeated strains in contredanse practice) can only be partial; the manuscript suggests the opening idea and instrumentation rather than a complete, performable dance.[1]
[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Köchel-Verzeichnis entry for KV 535b: status (fragment), dating (Vienna, 1788–02.1791), surviving source description (autograph 1790; 1 sheet/2 written pages), key, and instrumentation list.