Ballet for *Ascanio in Alba* (fragment, doubtful), K. 658 (E♭ major)
ヴォルフガング・アマデウス・モーツァルト作
Mozart’s putative Ballet for Ascanio in Alba—surviving only as a short set of keyboard pieces and regarded as doubtful or possibly spurious—is usually associated with his Milanese festa teatrale Ascanio in Alba, K. 111 (1771). Catalogued as K. 658, it is linked to the composer’s extraordinarily busy 15th year, when he was producing large-scale stage music for an imperial celebration.
What Is Known
A small group of nine brief, untitled pieces survives in a keyboard reduction and has been proposed as ballet music intended to connect scenes in Ascanio in Alba (premiered in Milan on 17 October 1771) [1]. In modern catalogues this material appears as a fragmentary appendix, and its authorship is treated with caution—best described as doubtful rather than securely autograph Mozart [2]. The connection to Milan in 1771 is plausible on contextual grounds (Mozart was in the city for the opera’s commission and first performances), but the surviving source does not allow a fully confident attribution.
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Musical Content
What survives reads like practical dance music in miniature: short, square-cut phrases and clear cadential points suitable for choreographic cues, preserved as playable clavier pieces rather than as an orchestral score [1]. One number is explicitly labelled “Gavotte” in the NMA listing, suggesting a French-style court dance imported into Italian festive theatre [2]. In E♭ major, the music’s agreeable brightness and straightforward periodic construction fit the world of Mozart’s early stage works—though, given the doubtful status, it is safest to hear these pages as possibly Mozartian rather than definitively his.
[1] Wikipedia: Ascanio in Alba (includes the note about a manuscript of nine untitled keyboard pieces proposed as ballet music; premiere date and place)
[2] Digital Mozart Edition (Mozarteum): NMA IX/27/2 table of contents listing “Ballet music ‘Ascanio in Alba’ … K. 658” as nine clavier pieces, including a “Gavotte”