Pantomime, arr. V. Mendelssohn

We don’t usually think of Mozart as a composer of ballet and dance music. And even though he wrote over 200 individual pieces in that genre (mostly minuets, contradanses, and German folk dances), these are easily overshadowed by larger, more ambitious compositions in the orchestral and vocal arenas. That is certainly the case with Mozart’s music for a commedia dell’arte Pantomime written in the early months of 1783 alongside the piano concertos K. 413-415 and the great Mass in C Minor. But like Midas, everything Wolfgang touches turns to gold. Thus even the incomplete sketches for his Pantomime tantalize modern composers, who, like Vladimir Mendelssohn, take up the remains and strive for a little alchemy of their own.
To be precise, Pantomime was complete during Mozart’s lifetime, for it was performed by Mozart and a few choice friends (more on that in a minute) during Vienna’s carnival week in early spring 1783. Today only a complete violin part and a few fragments are left—not a lot to go on. In addition, however, there is circumstantial evidence in two letters that Mozart wrote on 15 February and 12 March 1783, the latter just a week after Pantomime’s first and only performance. The letters tell us something about the piece’s compositional process, its structure (originally and Introduction and 15 Dances) and instrumentation, as well as the players who took on the lead roles. Interestingly, Mozart cast himself as Harlequin. He assigned the role of the love interest, Colombine, to Aloysia Weber, his first deep love but now the sister of his wife, Constanze. Further, Aloysia’s real-life husband played Harlequin’s rival, Pierrot. Talk about life imitating art and vice versa!
Mozart seems to have taken it all in good humor, but we know enough about his ribald and devious nature to know that a few of the musical jokes and sight gags must have bordered on the rude and raucous. That may have been in keeping with the festival season, of course, and Mozart seems to have relished his one and only on-stage role as the comic Harlequin. He strategically delayed his own entrance until the seventh number, then peeped out of a wardrobe in classic buffa fashion. Later, disguised in Turkish garb, he fought a duel with Pierrot for the love of Colombine, was killed, and resurrected (apparently a highlight in the music) to live another day. As for the music itself, it did not entirely die with the passing of the 1783 carnival season: more than a year later Mozart recycled a few motives and rhythms for the comic finale of his Piano Concerto, K. 459. Apart from that, my guess is that most of us here have never heard any of Mozart’s Pantomime before tonight. For that privilege, we owe Vladimir Mendelssohn special thanks.

(c) Jason Stell