German Dances (3), K 605 (ends with “Sleigh Ride”)

Composer: MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus
  • Mozart composed this set of German dances in 1791.1
  • In 1787, Mozart was appointed Kammermusicus (Chamber Music Composer) at the imperial court of Habsburg Emperor Joseph II. One of his main duties was to compose dance music for court balls.2
    • Christoph Willibald von Gluck had held this position before Mozart. When Gluck died, the emperor offered the position to Mozart at an annual salary of 800 gulden. Gluck’s annual salary had been 2000 gulden.3
  • These dances would have been performed (and danced) at the Grosse Redoutensaal, Empress Maria Theresa’s grand ballroom.4  Here’s what it looked like!
  • Listen for: the final dance, which includes a musical “Sleigh Ride” (Schlittenfahrt), includes parts for sleigh bells and post horns.
    • The post horn was a valveless instrument used by the guards of mail carriages.
    • Sleigh rides were a popular Habsburg court activity in the winter.5

Sources

  1.  Cliff Eisen, and Stanley Sadie, “Mozart, (Johann Chrysostom) Wolfgang Amadeus,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed November 19, 2019,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278233. 
  2. Ibid.
  3.  Liner notes to Mozart: German Dances, Capella Istropolitana, Johannes Wildner, Naxos 8.550412, CD, 1990.
  4.  Maynard Solomon, Mozart: A Life (New York: Harper Collins, 1995), 474. 
  5.  Neal Zaslaw, ed., and William Cowdery. The Compleat Mozart: A Guide to the Musical Works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (New York: W.W. Norton, 1990), 225. 

Cut IDs

40567, 41969