Sketch of a Ballet, *Le gelosie del Seraglio* (K. Anh.A 35)
de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s Sketch of a Ballet “Le gelosie del Seraglio” (K. Anh.A 35; also encountered as K. 135a) is a fragmentary set of sketch-leaves from around 1772, surviving from his Salzburg–Milan period. The material is largely an arrangement (or pasticcio) based on music by Josef Starzer and François Granier, and its attribution to Mozart is consequently doubtful.
What Is Known
The Köchel-Verzeichnis entry describes K. Anh.A 35 as a pasticcio fragment connected with a ballet titled Le gelosie del Seraglio ("Jealousy in the Harem"), dated to around 1772 (Salzburg and Milan), when Mozart was sixteen.[1] In the Digital Mozart Edition’s commentary to Leopold Mozart’s correspondence from Milan (late 1772), the ballet is linked to the Lucio Silla milieu; the note adds that the surviving pieces are “most likely” by Joseph Starzer and that it is doubtful Mozart wrote any of it, despite Mozart’s handwriting playing a role in its transmission.[2]
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Modern reference summaries likewise treat the surviving pages chiefly as an arrangement of Starzer/Granier, with a single trio identified separately as K. 665.[3]
Musical Content
What survives appears not as a continuous, fully orchestrated ballet score, but as a group of short cues and sketches assembled for theatrical use—music meant to be immediately functional (entrances, dances, transitions) rather than developed in the manner of Mozart’s concert works.[1] Even so, the sheets are suggestive for Mozart’s development in 1772: they place him in direct contact with current stage idioms and with the practical craft of adapting pre-existing numbers—skills that would soon become central to his work in opera and other theater-related genres.[2]
[1] Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, Köchel-Verzeichnis entry: KV Anh. A 35 – Le gelosie del serraglio (Pasticcio, Fragment).
[2] Digital Mozart Edition: Leopold Mozart to his wife (Milan), with editorial note discussing *Le gelosie del seraglio* and probable authorship (Starzer; doubtful Mozart contribution).
[3] Wikipedia: Köchel catalogue table entry noting *Le gelosie del Seraglio* sketch/arrangement (Starzer/Granier) and the identification of one trio as K. 665.