Country Dances (9) (“Quadrilles”), K. Anh.C 13.02

What Is Known

The work is transmitted as a set of nine short dances for orchestra, variously titled Contretänze / Contredanses / “Quadrilles,” and it appears in later cataloguing as K. Anh.C 13.02 (also associated with K. 510) [1]. An orchestral score was published in the 19th century in the Breitkopf & Härtel complete edition (Mozarts Werke, Serie XI: Tänze für Orchester) edited by Gustav Nottebohm [1].

IMSLP’s source notes point to a manuscript score dated 1837–40 (A-Sm, M.N. 62,1), i.e., long after Mozart’s death—one reason attribution remains uncertain in modern reference practice [1]. The surviving score calls for a relatively festive dance-orchestra with winds and percussion—an ensemble that suits public Redoute-style entertainment, but does not by itself confirm authorship [1].

Musical Content

The set comprises nine compact numbers in straightforward major keys, with individual titles and nicknames given for several dances [1]:

• Quadrille in D major
• Contretanz in D major
• Quadrille in D major
• Contretanz in B♭ major
• Quadrille in D major
• Contretanz in D major
• Contretanz in F major (“La favorite”)
• Contretanz in B♭ major (“La fenite”)
• Quadrille in C major (“La pirimide”)

The instrumentation is notably colorful for dances, including winds (2 flutes/piccolos, 2 oboes, 2 clarinets), brass (2 horns, 2 trumpets), percussion (timpani, cymbals, bass drum), and strings—with the unusual specification of no violas [1]. In effect, whatever their precise origin, these are utilitarian, high-contrast dance movements designed to project clearly in a social space, aligning more with functional contredanse practice than with Mozart’s tightly personalized concert style.