Three German Dances, K. 605, is a set of three dance pieces composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in February of 1791 in Vienna.
Three German Dances, K. 605, is a set of three dance pieces composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in February of 1791 in Vienna.
Most of Mozart's German Dances were written whilst he held the position of Kammermusicus (Imperial Chamber Composer) in Vienna. Mozart had been appointed to this position on 1 December 1787 by Emperor Joseph II. [2] The position was offered following the death of the former Kammermusicus, Christoph Willibald Gluck [3] on 15 November 1787. [4] In the position Mozart earned 800 florins a year. [2] One of the main obligations of his position was to write music for the court dances and balls that were held in the Redoutensaal (Public Ballrooms) of the Imperial Palace in Vienna. [1]
Mozart was an enthusiastic dancer [3] and produced many dance works, including ten sets of German dances. [1] The first set was written in February 1787, before Mozart's appointment to Kammermusicus. [1] The other sets, excluding K. 611, were written between December 1787 and 1791, [1] during which Mozart also wrote well known pieces such as Symphonies 40 and 41, and his opera Così fan tutte . These were mostly written in sets of six, with one set of four and one of twelve. Mozart composed this set of three Teutsche (German Dances) in the early months of 1791. The three dances of K. 605 are usually listed with the six dances of K. 600 and the four of K. 602 as Dreizehn deutsche Tänze (Thirteen German Dances). The pieces first appear on 12 February 1791 on Mozart's List of all my Works, [1] and are the penultimate set of German Dances that Mozart composed before his death on 5 December 1791. [2]
The dances are scored for piccolo, two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, violins I and II, violoncellos, and double basses. The middle section and coda, titled Die Schlittenfahrt (The sleigh ride), of the third dance adds two posthorns and five sleigh bells tuned to C, E, F, G, and A (in ascending order). [5]
As the name "Three German Dances" suggests, this set of dances includes three individual dances. Each dance changes in instrumentation; only the violins play in all three dances. Each dance varies in character because of this, and each includes various features:
| Orchestra | Conductor | Record label | Recording date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boston Pops Orchestra | Arthur Fiedler | RCA Victor | 1959 |
| Berlin Philharmonic | Herbert von Karajan | EMI | 1961 |
| Wiener Mozart-Ensemble | Willi Boskovsky | Decca | 1966 |
| Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields | Sir Neville Marriner | Philips Digital Classics | 1981 |
| Philharmonia Orchestra | Sir Charles Groves | Denon | 1988 |
| Cappella Istropolitana | Johannes Wildner | Naxos | 1989 |
| Orpheus Chamber Orchestra | n/a | Deutsche Grammophon | 1997 |
| Ulm Philharmonic | James Allen Gähres | SCM | 1998 |
| Slovak Sinfonietta | Taras Krysa | Brilliant Classics | 2002 |
| Orchestra of Saint John's | John Lubbock | Resonance | 2006 |
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