Les petits Riens, K. 299b (Pantomime, Passepied)

Les petits Riens was written in Paris in 1778 for the ballet-master Jean-Georges Noverre, who had known the Mozart family since Vienna and was then reforming dance at the Académie Royale de Musique. It was given in June that year as an interlude to Piccinni's Le finte gemelle and repeated several times; Mozart's name appeared nowhere on the bills, and he was not paid for it. He wrote the overture and about half the numbers, the rest coming from existing music. The score was believed lost until it turned up in the library of the Paris Opéra in 1872.