Subject: "The Genius of Mozart" Recent BBC Programme
From: Tony Hearne
To: All
Date Posted: 16:18:35 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: tonyjohnhearne@aol.com
 

Message:
I am a passionate and devout follower of Mozart, hence was utterly dismayed to have missed the first and third programmes in, judging by number
two which I have on video, the superlative series 'The Genius Of Mozart'on BBC I would be prepared to pay pretty much anything to get copies of, or at least to see, the two episodes I missed. Can anyone anywhere help?

Many thanks

Tony Hearne (in London)

Subject: Re: "The Genius of Mozart" Recent BBC Programme
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 13:27:38 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I tried several routes in vain to get copies of these shows. Look on the bright side, at least you got to see one show.

One of the routes I tried was to have a sister company location in London record tapes for me and send back to LA. They refused to help, but did indicate that the BBC often releases DVD's of shows such as this. Perhaps if you stay on top of them it will encourage such a release. If it does happen please post the info here, so we all can get a look at the show.

Regards

Steve in Los Angeles

Subject: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Joe Dorazio
To: All
Date Posted: 07:51:13 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: joedorazio@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes, et al:

Living near Philadelphia, PA., I enjoyed reading the bio on DaPonte, which tells us he lived for a while in Sunbury, PA., which is just north of Harrisburg.

Agnes: Do you know where in Sunbury the house he lived in is located (built in 1814)? I would love to drive up there and check it out.

Thinking about the recent post concerning Bethlehem, Pennsylvania and the Mozart connection there, and the fact that one of the first (if not the first) American performance of Don Giovanni took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania would seem to be the State most associated w/ Mozart. Very cool.
Joe

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 15:00:03 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Joe, considering the enormous musical interests of the Moravians, the fact that they influenced the culture of the area is not surprising. The Bethlehem Bach festival is still the earliest and oldest Bach festival in the U.S. And I believe that some of the earliest performances of Haydn's masses were done in Bethlehem by the Moravian choirs.

I do hope you will go up to Bethlehem and have dinner at the Hotel Bethlehem which has the mural in dining room showing Count Zinzendorf (and also a plaque on the outside of the hotel). I lived in Bethlehem for about a year in 1959. Played with the Allentown Band. Loved it. We once did the overture to Figaro with 4 baritone saxes. It was (ugh, barf) glorious.

With respect to another house of Da Ponte, I can point you to an interesting book about a General Sickels (or Sickles) who distinguished himself in the Civil War but who knew Da Ponte about 1830 and who, allegedly, impregnated both his daughter and his granddaughter. But Da Ponte was living in New York at the time.

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:17:52 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Joe,

A descendant of Da Ponte was at Haverford College when my daughter was at Bryn Mawr College. He hailed from New Orleans.

I thought it might interest you.

Kind regards,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 13:38:31 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Joe,

Nice to hear from you again. I have never been to Sunbury. However, if you live in Phili you may like to visit the Pennsylvania Historical Society. In the back of the Historical Society there used to be a "Da Ponte Produce" delivery carriage. There is also a Mozart letter there, kept under glass, donated by one of the wealthy families of Philadelphia.

How is the new concert venue shaping up? And what happened to the old Academy of Music? Are the Concerto Soloists still around and do they still perform in the church in Rittenhouse Square?

In any case, give my love to Philadelphia and to Haverford where we spent 12 happy years.

Kind Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Joe Dorazio
To: All
Date Posted: 19:07:16 04/30/04 ()
Email Address: joedorazio@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes:

The Academy of Music is still going strong! And yes, the concerts at the church on Rittenhouse Square still take place. We have a new performance hall now, just a block away from the venerable Academy called "The Kimmel Center". It is an amazingly modern concert hall. I went to an all Mozart concert there a couple of years ago. I also saw "Cosi" at the Academy last year. It was wonderful.

Hope this finds you well.

Cheers!

Joe Dorazio

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 08:45:29 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I visited Sunbury las year. The house Da Ponte lived in has been demolished.

ML

Subject: Re: DaPonte and Pennsylvania
From: Joe Dorazio
To: All
Date Posted: 19:08:26 04/30/04 ()
Email Address: joedorazio@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Oh, that's too bad. Thanks for letting me know, Michael.

Best regards,

Joe Dorazio

Subject: What appears to be a new play
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 12:03:35 04/28/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Does anyone know anything about this play?? This is a very long URL but it leads to a picture of a play put on in Ontario, Canada entitled, "Mozart Requiem."

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images/view?back=http%3a//images.search.yahoo.com/search/images%3fp=Mozart%2bRequiem&h=180&w=403&imgcurl=www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/Mozart%2520Requiem.JPG&imgurl=www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/Mozart%2520Requiem.JPG&name=%3cb%3eMozart%3c/b%3e+Requiem.JPG&p=Mozart+Requiem&rurl=http%3a//www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/requiem.html&rcurl=http%3a//www.ncf.carleton.ca/~ej691/requiem.html&type=jpeg&no=1&tt=465

Subject: Re: What appears to be a new play
From: Catherine
To: All
Date Posted: 15:42:25 04/28/04 ()
Email Address: ccarl@lacera.com
 

Message:
Dan,

(Not all that new--appears to have been written in 1995.) I tried a web search, and the link below is about all I could find. With words like "absurdist" and "ahistoricity" in the description, it doesn't sound like my cup of tea.

Looking at the synopsis, it sounds like the playwright is presenting "Anna" as an answer to "Amadeus", with Nannerl crying, "I coulda been a contender...(if it weren't for my stupid brother and the stupid sexism of my time)!" Was Nannerl's talent as a musician overlooked? Quite possibly--as were the talents of hundreds of other women of her time who did NOT have famous brothers, (which means Nannerl was not particularly special in this regard). What seems to be missing from this who-might-have-been-the-greater-success "examination", however, is the glaring fact that we remember Wolfgang far less as a musician than as an, um, COMPOSER. There may be some, but I've yet to come across any evidence that Nannerl ever wrote a bar of music in her life.

I think I'd rather spend the 45 minutes that this play lasts listening the Requeim itself than sitting throught the play. It would be interesting, however, to hear from anyone who has actually seen it.

My best regards to all,
Catherine

Subject: Re: What appears to be a new play
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:16:38 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I had a look, I have read it and Oh! Dear Me!

Agnes.

Subject: A Case for the Symphony K98
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 10:57:23 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Of the 49 symphonies and 4 individual symphony movements
printed in the AMA edition of Mozart's works from 1879 to 1910,
all have been recorded but one. In addition in the past 100 years
or so six originally believed lost symphonies have been found--all
recorded. In addition to this a few symphonies misattributed to
Mozart have been recorded. This posting attempts to make a case
for some record company to rectify this omission.

The Symphony in question is the F-major Symphony, listed by
Köchel in his Mozart Thematic Catalogue as K98. This is a 4-
movement symphony consisting of an Allegro, Andante, Menuetto
with Trio, Presto. Ludwig Köchel did not know the symphony in
orchestral form, only in an arrangement for 2-pianos made in
Vienna by Ludwig Gall. Köchel accepted the symphony as
authentic on the word of Aloys Fuchs and Gall, claiming the
symphony had "the instrumentation, the size and possibly also the
thought content of similar works of about 1770".

In Series 24 (Supplement) of the AMA issued in 1888 the
symphony was considered authentic and published from a set of
parts in the possession of the Steiermärk Musical Society in Graz.
It was instrumented for 2 Violins, Viola, Bass, 2 Oboes and 2
Horns. The editor, Paul Graf Waldersee, noted "the tuneful, catchy
shapes of the melodies are characteristic only of him [Mozart].
Rounded in form it is however not free of a few irregularities in the
part-writing, which shows then that this work belongs to a period
in which Wolfgang had not yet acquired the security which even
the most gifted attain only through practice. It is a youthful work,
but even as such it will be not unwelcome to the devoted admires
of the Mozartean muse."

In 1912 Wyzewa/St.Foix published the first volumes of their
monumental Mozart biography. The French scholars not only saw
Italian characteristics in the symphony, but also the influence of
Joseph Haydn--especially in the finale--and thought it was
sketched before the trip to Italy, thus before Aug 13, 1771, and
was completed in Milan in autumn 1771.

In 1919 Abert, in his revision of the Jahn-Mozart biography, stated
the symphony appeared doubtful. He was not convinced by the
theory of Wyzewa/St.Foix. Abert listed many things that did not
correspond to other Mozart works, and found too many
characteristics of the Mannheim composers. He even saw a
favorite phrase of Stamitz in the beginning of the Trio of the
Minuet.

in 1927 C.B.Oldman purchased an anonymous manuscript
catalogue of Mozart works which probably was made up in the
early to middle 19th Century. By our symphony in F-major is a
note "1771, Milan, Nov". [Neal Zaslaw in his 1989 book on
Mozart's Symphonies believes it possible the writer of this note
got the idea from Nissen's biography on Mozart in which a letter
of Leopold Mozart's was reproduced that tells of a concert on
November 22 or 23, 1771 in Milan in which Mozart participated,
and speculated Mozart composed a symphony for this occasion].

Einstein summarized all this in K3, and added that the type of the
theme used in the finale of the symphony could be compared to
the spurious String Quartet K.Anh 210. He decided not to put the
work in the main portion of his edition of the Köchel Catalogue,
placing it in the Anhang (223b) for Doubtful Works.

By the time of K6 in 1964 nothing new had been discovered on the
symphony, except a few more copies of the orchestral score in the
Berlin State Library and in Brünn. With the reorganization of the
Anhang C section of K6 our symphony landed under Anh C11.04.

In his 1982 book on Mozart's symphonies, Robert Dearling gave
us one paragraph describing K98. He wrote of a "superficial
similarity between the equally doubtful Neuer Lambacher
Symphony in the opening of the first movement". He further tells
of the untypical (for Mozart) reliance of triplets in the 1st and 4th
movements of the work. Also the Trio is in the tonic key of the
Menuet, an indication perhaps that the symphony is not a work of
Mozart. Dearling doubts "that Mozart would have been so
unimaginative" as the author of this symphony was.

Back in 1978 the Hoboken Catalogue of the works of F.J. Haydn
listed this symphony in the Addenda under the misattributed
symphonies as Group I:F16. In the Pfarrkirche in Weyarn a copy
was found headed "Symphonia del Signore Haydn". This score
lacks Oboes. Zaslaw in his book on Mozart's symphonies believed
it likely this attribution is to Michael Haydn, rather than Joseph.
But as Zaslaw points out, Michael Haydn's symphonic output is
about as well documented as his brother's, and it does not appear
to have originated directly from him or his circle. And Charles
Sherman, the Michael Haydn catalogue editor, communicated "it is
not even remotely possible that the work is by Michael Haydn"
because of the shaping of the themes and the regular rhythmic
structure of the symphony. Zaslaw states the work does not
resemble Mozart's symphonies of any period either.

In his 1986 dissertation on the Symphonies of Leopold Mozart.
Cliff Eisen gives an account of the manuscripts available of K98.
The copy in the Hochschule für Musik und darstellende Kunst und
Landesmusikschule in Graz (that which the AMA used as a model)
was once part of the collection of Heinrich Eduard Josef von
Lannoy. This copy derives from the Vienesse music dealer Johann
Traeg. It is possibly one of the "14 Sinfonias by Mozart" advertised
by Traeg in the Wiener Zeitung on April 21, 1792, or the "15
Sinfonias" advertised on August 11, 1792. Traeg had offered a
number of Mozart symphonies in 1784, but then none until 1792.
It is quite possible Traeg purchased some works by Mozart from
Constanze Mozart after her husband's death. When Leopold
Mozart died in 1787, Nannerl Mozart had sent her brother almost
all of Wolfgang's compositions still in Salzburg. Now in 1792
Constanze could send numerous symphonies to Traeg from
Mozart's Salzburg period, accounting for this high number of
symphonies offered. Unfortunately, even if K98 was one of the
works Traeg received from Constanze, it does not guarantee its
authenticity, as she was not sufficiently expert to distinguish
Mozart's works from others that she found in his library--we do
know a symphony in Bb by Leopold Mozart derived from Mozart's
estate, as did the autographs of some songs. As a matter of fact in
a 1989 article regarding the Symphonies K16a and K76 we find
the original attribution to the Symphony K98 in Graz was only to
"Mozart", and later changed to "W.A. Mozart". Eisen does not see
our Symphony in F being by Leopold Mozart though.

Admittedly there is no proof that the Symphony in F K98 is by
Mozart. However the source location for this symphony is no
worse, and probably even better than a number of symphonies
listed in the main part of the 6th edition of the Köchel
Catalogue--and more to the point of this posting, a number of
symphonies that have been recorded numerous times. K76/42a,
K81/73l, K97/73m, K75, K96/111b are all in main portion of K6
with only one source attributing them to Mozart. K74g, even
though it had a similar source situation, was banished to Anh C
status. K84/73q has two sources attributed to Wolfgang, but
others attributed to Leopold and one attributed to Dittersdorf. The
recently found K16a in a-minor has only one copy attributed to
Mozart, and not even Wolfgang--only Signor Mozart.. All these
symphonies have been recorded at least 2 to 5 times.

The Symphony in F K98 has two copies attributed to Mozart, and a
catalogue entry attributing the composition to him and even
giving a date and location. Even though all the copies and
catalogue entry are suspect, that should be enough for a least one
record company to see fit to record it. I imagine if it was in a
minor key, had some sort of nickname, or would be rediscovered
in some dusty attic by an aspiring conductor or musicologist of
this century it would get a chance. But as it was catalogued over
150 years ago and out of favor for almost 100, it stands little or
no chance. Too bad. Anyone out there with connections to the
recording industry willing to take up the gauntlet?

dennis

Subject: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 15:48:46 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
I just received an e-mail from an Austrian lady who read one of my Mozart and Weber family webpages.
Cooking, especially Austrian cooking, is a hobby of hers and she wanted to know what Mozart's favorite food (Lieblingsspeise) was, and whether Sophie Weber Haibl, Mozart's sister-in-law, knew what that was.
I can't help her here, as this is one facet of Mozart's life that I need to study further.
Does anyone know what Mozart's favorite food was?
I can imagine that Sophie certainly knew what that was, as she and her mother had frequent get-togethers with Mozart, and Sophie and her sister, Constanze, were very close.
Best regards,
Marti :-)

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Priya Werahera
To: All
Date Posted: 12:07:32 04/30/04 ()
Email Address: priya@aspen.uchsc.edu
 

Message:
I read this somewhere (not sure which book) that Mozart's favorite foods were Dumplings and Sauerkraut. The same article said Brahms favorite was Sardines (for breakfast).

Priya

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 17:27:22 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Marti,

I wish I could help. I read that it was paprika chicken. It was in an Austrian recipe book my mother
held dear as it belonged to my grandmother. I no longer have the recipe book as it was in pieces when my mother died. How true this is, I don't really know, nor do I know where the lady who wrote the book got the information.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 21:04:06 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
In late 1778 or possibly early 1779, when Leopold Mozart was trying, by a combination of browbeating and sweet talk, to lure his reluctant son back to Salzburg after the disasterous trip to Mannheim and Paris, he tried to tempt his son by saying that they would celebrate his return by cooking his favorite dish: uccellini. I'm quoting this from memory, so I hope I got it right.

Neal Zaslaw

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Donovan
To: All
Date Posted: 22:11:02 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: donovan@magmadesign.co.nz
 

Message:
I don't know about his adult tastes - but there is his letter from Dec 1770 - where after the Premiere of his opera (Mitridates, King of Pontus - I think) he says that he celebrated and their hostess made him his favourite dish - sauerkraut and liver dumplings - ummmmm :-)

He was also very fond of punch as attested to by the singer Michael Kelly and from a poem he wrote for his sisters birthday - which his gift for her was some lovely punch.

Cheers
Donovan

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 23:52:24 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
Thanks very much Agnes, Neal, and Donovan for your input!
This is very interesting!
And I can't resist thinking aloud on how Mozart himself might have enjoyed Mozartkugeln - and Konstanzekugeln!
I wonder what uccellini is.
It sounds like an Italian pasta dish.
Very best regards,
Marti :-)

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 06:38:46 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Not pasta, dear, but this marvelous dish:

Uccellini di Vitello alla Griglia
(Grilled Veal Birds)

Serves 4, 3 birds each

1 pound veal scaloppine, preferably cut from the leg, pounded thin (about 6 cutlets)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 large leaves fresh sage
1/4 pound prosciutto, sliced paper-thin
1/4 pound pancetta, sliced paper-thin
12 1/2-inch thick by about 2-inch wide or diameter slices Italian bread,
preferably day-old
2 small onions, each cut in sixths
Extra virgin olive oil

Cut the slices of veal in half or thirds, depending on their size. You should have 12 pieces of about 2 1/2 inches wide and 4 inches long. Arrange all the ingredients in front of you.

Sprinkle each slice of veal lightly with salt and a little more generously with pepper. Place a sage leaf on each slice of veal, then top with a piece of prosciutto, trimming or tucking in the sides of the prosciutto so it covers the veal without going over the edges.

Roll up the veal tightly tucking in the sides, to make a neat roll

And just to add a bit of interest, Uccelini (Marco) was also a composer of the time! Bon appetit!
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 14:03:22 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Gurn,

Once you have done all of the above and have your neatly rolled up veal birds ready for cooking, what do you do? Do you fry them in oil or cook them in the oven?

Many thanks,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 15:32:53 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Agnes,
Well, I don't know! That is the entire recipe as it was printed. My own instinct was to pop them in the oven, but the "fry them up" concept sounds very appealing now that you mention it. The only other recipes I could find were written in Italian, and since I barely have a grasp on English, I feared to venture into "foreign territory"! ;-)
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:20:00 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Gurn,

I will let my hair down and try frying the "birds". I will let you know how they turn out. The oven might just dry them out well and proper.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 19:00:43 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Agnes,
Please, yes, let me know how that works out! In carefully reading my original post, I suddenly realized that the title had the answer, it was "Grilled... etc.", so perhaps I will attempt to dine like Amadé by pulling out my grille and doing it outdoors. Mmmm... then, as Bill points out, some black coffee and a pipe! Life is really no worse now than it was then, and this proves it! ;-)
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 17:38:35 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Marti, Gurn, and Agnes,

I read your posts about the veal birds and I'm hungry! Actually, on the subject of what Mozart liked to eat, I think he was fond of veal - or at least meats like pork. In my copy of "Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life", by Robert Spaethling, Mozart mentions black coffee and cutlets. Specifically speaking, pages 439 and 440, in a letter dated October 7 and 8, 1791 he writes to Constanze in Baden: "after that I had Joseph get Primus to fetch me some black coffee, with that I smoked a glorious pipe of tobacco." Later, in the same letter he says, "At half past five in the afternoon I went through the Stubenthor - and took my favorite walk along the Glacis to the theater. But hold on, what do I see? - what do I smell? - it's Don Primus with the Cutlets! - che gusto! I am now eating to your health."

I would really like to see discovered, some book, diary, or letters between third parties shedding light on what Mozart and Constanze liked to eat. Especially pastries!

In "Kaffeehaus", Rick Rodgers speaks of how Constanze enjoyed Kipfli or Kipflern, a crescent-shaped cookie - or in some circles, bread. My wife and I made these from the book and they are "lights-out"!

They are making Constanzekuglen now?

Bill

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 22:52:58 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Bill and Gurn,

There are two types of kipfli. One could be a substitute for bread, like a bread roll the other is a cake with almond mixture filling. They are rather small and crescent shaped. I think I sent you the recipe, Bill. It is delicious, sprinkled lightly with icing sugar. It is a Hungarian recipe that my Mother often made. It is sinful. It is known in Vienna for when we were in Vienna we had coffee with cream and kipfli for afternoon tea.

I hope Steve Ralston reads this posting. I seem to have a vague recollection that in the Novellos' diaries "A Mozart Pilgrimage", there appears something about Mozart's food preference. I do not have the book anymore. I have returned it to the University of New South Wales once my book on Constanze was completed. But Steve Ralston does have the book.

Gurn I will try grilling the "birds". I will let you know.

Kind regards,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 20:30:31 04/29/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
The recipe for "little birds" of veal sounds great. My understanding, however, is that "Uccellini," which one will occasionally see on a menu in a restaurant of a rural sort in Italy, means "little birds" -- and that's what it is: small wild birds cooked whole and sauced or baked in a pie. As in the old nursery rhyme:

Sing a song of sixpence,
Pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty black birds
Baked in a pie

Etc.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 10:24:13 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dr. Z,
That may well be the case, I Googled the term and 99% of the hits were in Italian which is beyond me, but this one in English looked darn good whether right or wrong! ;-) What occurred to me is that they are rather "mock birds", a not uncommon idea in any cuisine. Well, if, after grilling them this weekend, they turn out to be as good as they appear, I shall declare them to be correct in any case. ;-))
Regards,
Gurn

PS - Did you ever receive an email from me with a question about "The Compleat Mozart"?

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 21:01:15 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Professor Zaslaw,

I have discussed this most important subject with my son-in-law, Simon Della Marta. He is an expert Italian cook, beside being a great lawyer. He also said that these are indeed little birds. However, for anyone interested, Simon suggested that the breast of chicken be used instead of veal. He is "surprising" me with this delicious Mozart meal on Mother's Day.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: What was Mozart's Favorite Food?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 12:08:22 04/28/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
In the Open Mozart list around Feb. 2001, I described a meeting of the Mozart Society held in Las Vegas and during which a professional cook gave an extensive seminar (including cooking things) that deal with Mozart's favorite dishes. Everyone present got a pancake (made with lard which was the only grease used then, so it was authentic) and there were discussions of other foods enjoyed by other composers. Beethoven, for example, loved an eintopf and several people posted recipes for eintopf that are probably still in the archvies.

I still have heartburn in remembrance of that event.

Subject: a few points
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 03:12:44 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Although all these topics have been discussed extensively last year on openmozart.net a number of recent postings show that there seems to be absolutely no chance to erase a few misunderstandings and errors. A few points that shouldn't go unchallenged:

1) Katarina, Charlotte and Therese von Auernhammer were daughters of Johann Peter von Auernhammer and were not related to the pianist Josepha Auernhammer.

2) The entry on Lichnowsky's lawsuit against Mozart was not discovered in a "Logbook of the Special Court of Aristocrats" (all of the indices of the Landrechte Faszikel 5 files burned in 1927) but in the Cameral-Index (vol. 96) of the Vienna Court Chamber. The correct date of the engrossment signed by Johann Peter von Bolza was November 14th, 1791 (the date as published by Brauneis is wrong).

3) The statement about Süssmayr "About a year before his death, he seems to have mentioned in a letter an intention to do so, but no name was ever forthcoming" is contradicted by primary sources all of which have been published about 60 years ago. Süssmayr definitely intended to marry because in a letter to his friend Glöggl in Linz dated October 27th 1802 he referred to his future wife: "Meiner zukünftigen Gattinn einer meinigen Landsmannin wird nicht - vergessen!!!" His fiancé was a relative of the Postmeister Gschaider who lived in Strengberg, and Süssmayer wanted Glöggl to pay the family a visit on his way home. Süssmayr's sister Anna died on 27 January 1840 at an age of 67.

I will not return to these topics because as it seems some facts will never be accepted and the fight against some fairy tales is futile.

Subject: Re: Fairy Tales
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 22:29:42 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
Dear Mr. Lorenz,

Just a couple of lines on your posting above.

First, I’m afraid that mistakes DO occur from time to time in other people’s postings. Apologies for this. One must realize that the great majority of us do not have full access to all the primary documents in existence concerning Mozart. We have to make do with good secondary sources, which may (or may not) have known about the primary sources, but in any event did not end up using them. It is to be welcomed that persons such as yourself are able to direct us to more correct sources, as it is in the best interests of all to see that the facts are made available to interested readers.

In the first example above, it was in fact I that made that mistake. Mea culpa. I shall try hard not to make errors again, though I regret that I cannot promise to be free of them in the future. However, I rest better at night knowing that such errors that do occur will have corrections posted on this site. Believe me, we all want to supply accurate information to everyone stopping in.

What I wanted to finally address was your gratuitous slap at folks at this site perpetrating “fairy tales” in the pursuit of providing information on Mozart. It’s always interesting to see people who ought to know better making silly comments in the belief that they are in fact attempting putdowns of others. The facts, sir, are always accepted here; however, the ability to always find them is the lacking point. To blithely condemn the enthusiasts at this site for failing to adhere to your standards simply yet directly shows that lack of “touch” some paid researchers have in dealing with enthusiasts who enjoy writing on a subject.

Forums and discussion sites are open to all and sundry, in the hopes that everyone will contribute ideas and information we can use, debate, examine or ignore as we choose. When they work right, they are a wonderful mix of researchers, enthusiasts, performers, amateurs and writers, all of whom feed off of each others postings, add their own information and spin, and so produce a greater whole out of the sum of the parts. The old openmozart site was that way once. The facts may get inadvertently omitted or mis-stated, but in the spirit of cooperative exploration on the subject, those problems get resolved. The good sports involved though, do not take gratuitous slaps to resolve them. For, if they did, they needlessly reduce the sum of the parts, not expand them for the betterment of all.

To close, I’m sorry you chose to take the swipe that you did. It’s unfair, needless, and petty. Anyone with an open mind reading this site would know whom existed in a fairy tale land by your comment, and I doubt they would conclude it was the rest of us here.

Nominal regards,

Gary Smith

Subject: Re: Fairy Tales
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 12:57:43 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I think by accusing me of a "gratuitous slap" and "taking a swipe" you broke your own board rules of etiquette. I do think that suppression of published(!) sources on Süssmayer's heterosexual private life leads to the propagation of fairy tales and I chose this term with good reason.

ML

Subject: Re: a few points
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 10:28:38 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
With respect to the third item in Michael's interesting posting, I may be the one to whom he is referring though I don't remember using those exact words. However, I suspect that Michael may be using the argument about Süssmayr's intention to marry as evidence against his being a homosexual. His sexual preference is one about which I have made an assertion in the past and one that will appear in the 2003 Jahrbuch paper under my name. The evidence in support of the assertion comes directly from Mozart's own mouth, though I agree that what he said is cryptic and can be interpreted many ways, as can any statement.

There is not the slightest doubt that Süssmayr stated his intentions to marry (and I may have even said "an unknown woman"), but this statement, even if it represents Süssmayr's real intentions, cannot be used to argue against what I believe to have been his exclusive homosexual interests. Gay men have been marrying and even fathering children for a long time in order to hide their real sexual preferences from the public. A very short list of these men would include Oscar Wilde, Leonard Bernstein, and even Rock Hudson who married early in his career to defuse accusations and rumors about his homosexuality. It was and still is a not uncommon practice among homosexual males who are ashamed about their interests or who want to disguise them to avoid the political issues that arise from a homosexual life style. In fact, Rock Hudson is suggested to have encouraged the rumor that he was quite a lothario in Hollywood with many seductions under his belt in order to turn attention away from his sexual preferences. Perhaps a more dramatic case was the alleged homosexuality of Adolf Hitler and the bizarre efforts he is alleged to have made to disguise his early life sexual preference.

As for Süssmayr, since he never married, his statement and its implications are moot.

Subject: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 22:45:27 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.

On 20th August 1838, while the trees in the Roman Catholic cemetery swayed gently in the breeze, a distinguished group of New York citizens gathered around an open grave bidding farewell to the scholarly old gentleman who had died peacefully in his ninetieth year. He had been the first Professor of Italian Literature at Columbia University and had endowed Columbia's library with a large collection of rare Italian books.

Exceedingly handsome even in his old age, he had looked patriarchal with a mane of glistening white hair and piercing eyes. He had been a popular citizen of New York, his children had married into the best American families, and his wife, who had died before him, was remembered as a gentle, ladylike creature of exquisite beauty.

The distinguished citizens did not mourn the old man too deeply. He had died of old age and had lived a long and fruitful life. Some even smiled to themselves as they remembered his little lies, boasting of writing librettos for the immortal Mozart, counting the Emperor Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire amongst his friends and knowing Casanova intimately. Oh, he could tell some stories... and added to his little fibs was the gossip that he had once been a practicing priest. This gossip, they believed, was spread by his Italian enemies. On top of all that, the gossips said he had been born a Jew.

A large laurel wreath, as befitted a poet, was placed on the freshly covered grave. The distinguished citizens departed the cemetery with the knowledge of having been blessed to meet such a remarkable man, a man whom they loved and whom they had known so well, and who had touched their lives with his own magical presence.

But they knew him not at all. Not even his name!

He was born in Ceneda, a solitary Venetian outpost, on 10th March 1749, in the Jewish ghetto. His name was Emanuele, the son of Geremia and Rachele Conegliano. He was the oldest child, soon to be followed by brothers Baruch and Anania. The family had a history of scholars and doctors amongst its members, notably a Dr. Israel Conegliano who was a physician and statesman involved in the Venetian and Turkish diplomatic sqabbles. He was rewarded for his services to the Venetian state by being exempted from their harsh anti-Semitic regulations. Emanuele's father, however, was a humble tanner by trade without any intellectual pretensions.

When Emanuele was five years old, his mother died. For the next nine years the child ran wild. He barely learned to read and write. He nonetheless became bar mitzvah (the Jewish rite of initiation into manhood); but soon thereafter, his father, now forty, fell in love with a sixteen-year-old gentile girl, Orsola Pasqua Paietta, and decided to marry her.

In order to get permission for the marriage, the father and his three sons were baptised into the Catholic faith on 29th August 1763. The ceremony was performed by Monsignor Lorenzo Da Ponte, and Geremia, according to the custom of the day, adopted the name of his sponsor and became Gaspare Da Ponte. His sons Buruch and Anania changed their names to Girolamo and Luigi respectively, while Emanuele took the bishop's name as well. From this moment on, he was known as Lorenzo Da Ponte. Despite his strong Jewish beliefs at this time, coming so soon after his bar mitzvah, he very seldom referred to his Jewish background. There were others, however, who were only too happy to remind him of it.

Lorenzo's father eventually sired ten more children with his new bride. He dedicated his three sons by his first wife to the Church in gratitude for the blessings brought to him by his conversion to Catholicism. Lorenzo never quite forgave his father for dedicating him to the Church. In his autobiography
he said, that this decision led him "to embrace a way of life entirely opposed to my temperament, character, principles and studies, thus opening the door to a thousand strange happenings and perils, in the course of which the envy, hypocrisy and malice of my enemies made me a pitiable victim for more than twenty years". Nevertheless, he financially supported
his father's ever-growing family until his move to the New World and his struggles in America distanced him from his family in Italy.

He was ordained a priest in the seminary of Portogruaro. Although the priesthood did not suit Lorenzo Da Ponte's temperament, he profited greatly
from his monastic education. Already in 1770 he was made instructor, in the following year professor of languages and in 1772 vice-rector of the seminary.

In 1773 he threw up his post and moved to Venice where he began a life of debauchery, fathering a number of children, gambling, and even running a dance hall which was merely a front for a brothel. Da Ponte was a man of conflicting personalities: on one hand he delighted in the life of pleasure which characterised Venice in her last years as a republic, on the other hand he loved poetry and literature and there is no doubt that he was a teacher of genius. His life of dissipation came to an end when the Venetian ruling Council of Ten finally expelled him.

During his sojourn in Venice he had met the great poet Caterino Mazzola, who was the official poet to the Dresden court. Mazzola promised Da Ponte to let him know if a similar position became available at the court, and when shortly thereafter Da Ponte received a letter from Mazzola inviting him to Dresden, Da Ponte arrived full of expectations at Mazzola's residence. To his astonishment, Mazzola denied ever having written a letter of invitation to him; Da Ponte then attributed the letter to the machinations of his enemies.

For a short time Da Ponte remained in Dresden, closely studying Mozzola's art of writing librettos for operas and even trying his hand at writing some librettos himself. Mazzola watched with growing trepidation Da Ponte's machinations at the Dresden court and made it clear to Da Ponte that his presence in Dresden was no longer welcome. Da Ponte decided to try his luck in Vienna. On the day of his departure from Dresden, Mozzola, perhaps feeling a little guilty, handed him a letter which was to change Da Ponte's life forever. It read: "Friend Salieri, my good friend Da Ponte will bring you these few lines. Do for him everything that you would do fo me. His heart and his talent merit whatever help you can give him..."

Da Ponte arrived in Vienna late in 1781. He could not have arrived at a better time nor chosen a better patron than Salieri. The Emperor, Joseph II, was personally involved with the daily running of the opera. An enlightened despot, Joseph II believed in intellectual freedom, religious tolerance and equal justice for all. Under the reign of his mother Maria Theresa, Da Ponte would not have had the chance to succeed in his chosen profession. Maria Theresa would not have tolerated a Jew as poet at her court, albeit a baptised one. Her Jewish advisers and financiers could speak with her only separated by a screen, for fear that she might be exposed to the evil in their eyes. Joseph II, however, considered all his citizens equal as long as their actions profited the state. Da Ponte's patron, Antonio Salieri, was influential at court, having been Joseph II's chamber music partner from the time he had come to Vienna at the age of forteen.

Through the good offices of Salieri, Da Ponte secured the position of poet to the Viennese Italian opera. Da Ponte's first interview with Joseph II was not to ask a favour but to thank him for the appointment. Da Ponte wrote: "He asked me how many plays I have written, and when I said frankly, 'None Sire', he replied with a smile, 'Good, good! We shall have a virgin muse'!"

When Da Ponte met the little man whose genius would inspire him to write his masterpieces is not known. They probably met at a dinner given by Baron Wetzlar von Pinkenstern, himself a baptised Jew. The young Mozarts when first married occupied an apartment in Baron Wetzlar's house and the family remained friends until Mozart's death and beyond.

Mozart and Da Ponte were two of the most unlikely collaborators in the history of music, yet together they created the most enduring and beautiful masterpieces of the operatic repertoire. History remains silent on the subject of their friendship and their artistic collaboration. In Da Ponte, Mozart found a poet whose mind was perfectly attuned to his own. Da Ponte responded to Mozart's music as he did to no other composer. Essentially, when it came to their collaboration they were kindred spirits. Mozart wrote to his father on 13th October 1781, well before his collaboration with Da Ponte had begun:
"The best thing of all is when a composer, who understands the stage and is able to make suggestions, meets an able poet, that true phoenix; in that case no fears need be entertained as to the applause even of the ignorant. In Da Ponte, Mozart found such an "able poet".

Their first collaboration was on "The Marriage of Figaro". Beaumarchais' comedy had been banned in Paris for three years, as it quite openly attacked the "ancien regime". In Vienna the staging of the play was prohibited, although the play was freely available in bookshops and Mozart himself owned a copy, listed among his possessions at the time of his death. Mozart suggested the play as a possible text and the composer and librettist completed the opera in six weeks. (Da Ponte claimed this short period for the writing of the opera but historians formerly dismissed his claim as pure fantasy. Most modern scholars now agree that Da Ponte's claim was correct.)

At first, Baron Wetzlar offered to finance the production at some place other than Vienna but Da Ponte approached the Emperor in his charming manner and recorded the following conversation:
The emperor: "I fobade the German Company to perform this 'Nozze di Figaro'".
Da Ponte: "Yes, but since I have written an opera and not a play, I have had to omit many scenes and shorten others, and I have omitted and shortened anything which might offend the delicacy and decency of spectacle at which Your Majesty would be present. As for the music, so far as I can judge it seems to me marvellosuly beautiful".

A carriage was sent for Mozart immediately so that the Emperor could hear the music. Soon after this the
libretto and the music were given to copyists. But the cabal within the theatre had just begun. According to Da Ponte, the Italians connected with the opera theatre did not want the opera to succeed.
Joseph II had recently forbidden ballets to be performed at the opera and when the Italians found that "The Marriage of Figaro" contained a ballet scene, they ran to the director of the Opera House, Count Rosenberg who summoned Da Ponte and tore the libretto and music to shreds.

Mozart was in despair. Da Ponte, however, instructed the rehearsal to go ahead in the presence of the Emperor. With no music being played during the dance scene, Count Almaviva's and Susanna's gesticulations made the scene appear like a puppet show. The Emperor was mystified by such bizarre goings on, and when the situation was explained to him by Da Ponte, the Emperor immediately send for the dancers and re-instated the ballet.

Mozart's collaboration with Da Ponte continued with "Don Giovanni". The opera was commissioned by the Prague Opera House, where Mozart's music enjoyed immense popularity. The first perfomance of the opera
was scheduled for mid-October 1787. Both Mozart and Da Ponte were in Prague for the rehearsals. Here Mozart met Casanova, Da Ponte's old gambling friend who no doubt offered advice on the persona of Don Giovanni as his handwriting appears on the original manuscript.

Da Ponte returned to Vienna before the premiere of "Don Giovanni". While writing the libretto for "Don Giovanni", he also wrote "Tarare" for Salieri and "L'Abore di Diana" for Martin y Soler.
When he informed Joseph II of his plan to work simultaneously on these three libretti, the Emperor exclaimed: "You won't succed!"

"Perhaps not," Da Ponte replied, "but I shall try all the same. I shall write for Mozart at night, which will be like reading Dante's "Inferno". In the morning I shall write for Martin, and that will be like studying Petrarch. In the evening I will write for Salieri, and he will be my Tasso."

The last opera Mozart and Da Ponte worked on was "Cosi Fan Tutte". It received its premiere on 26th January 1790. In "Cosi" Da Ponte's skill in the use of rhyme reaches new heights. His libretto is inspired. It is his original work, not based on any other opera or a text by another writer. Designed for a carnival, it is charming, witty and perceptive.

Emperor Joseph II died on 20th February 1790. Da Ponte was shattered by the Emperor's death and it seems he mourned him for the rest of his life. Da Ponte's magical life in Vienna was virtually at an end. During the short reign of Emperor Leopold II, Da Ponte completed three libretti but he sensed a change was coming. Da Ponte's application to the Emperor to join Martin y Soler in St. Petersburg was denied. In the end, however, intrigues in the theatre and his own unfortunate affair with a married opera singer resulted in his reputation being tarnished in the eye of the new Emperor. His Semitic background and his bad reputation in Venice did not help either.

It is not clear whether Da Ponte was dismissed from his post as court poet to the Italian Opera or resigned of his own volition. Da Ponte found himself at the end of 1791 in Trieste where he experienced the bitterest moments of his life. He had fallen on hard times, and it had been a fall from a great height. His beloved Emperor and Mozart were dead and a new era descended upon Europe.

It was in Trieste that Da Ponte met his beautiful Nancy, who remained his great love until her death in America. He describes her in his autobiography:

I was introduced to a young English girl,the daughter of a rich merchand who had lately arrived in Trieste. She was said by everyone to be extremely beautiful, and to unite gentle manners with all the graces of a cultivated mind. Her face was covered with a black veil, which prevented me from seeing her, so, wanting to find out if the reality matched her reputation I said, as if in jest, 'Mademoiselle, the style in which you are wearing your veil is not a la mode'". Not realising what was in my mind, she enquired: 'What is the present fashion?' 'This signorina' and taking her veil by the edge I drew it over her head".

The face he saw beneath the veil must have pleased him immensely, and although Nancy left the room offended by his boldness, she too was impressed by the still handsome man. It seems it was love at first sight.

Nancy's father, John Grahl, was born in Dresden and his wife was French. Grahl had converted from Judaism to Anglicanism and Nancy was born in England where she spent her first sixteen years. It is surprising that her family would have given her hand in marriage
to an ageing, unemployed poet, who by his own admission possessed no more than five piastres in the whole world.

There are no records in Trieste to prove that a marriage actually took place between the former Roman Catholic priest and his "beautiful, fresh and loving companion", only Da Ponte's statement that she became his after "social ceremonies and formalities". From the verses that Da Ponte addressed to her after her death and from the trials and tribulations they faced together throughout their marriage, it seems that the love that bound them remained strong to the end. There is no evidence that Da Ponte was ever defrocked or gave up his priesthood. It is my personal belief that his priestly episode was one he remembered with distaste and it receded in his mind just as one life's experience amongst many.

For a short while they settled in London. After a period of financial difficulties, Da Ponte finally became poet to the King's Theatre in Haymarket. Here again he became embroiled in the theatre's many cabals. Nancy, however, ran the "coffee room" at the theatre so succefully that she amassed a small fortune. A bookselling business Da Ponte established while working at the theatre went bankrupt. The catalogue of his books is today in the British Library. It shows what a remarkable collection he had, with almost every author in the Italian language being represented.

Nancy's family emigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania. On 20th Septmber 1804 Nancy also departed for America with their four children. Da Ponte accompanied them as far as Gravesend. As he looked at his wife and children (he writes): "I seemed to feel a hand of ice seize my heart and tear it from my breast". He had given Nancy permission to stay in America for one year. She carried with her a considerable amount of money; it is just possible that Da Ponte wished this money to be kept in a safe place and not fall victim to his own bankruptcy.

Despite Da Ponte's entreaties to his wife to return to London, Nancy remained in America. Da Ponte's situation in London became intolerable and on 4th June
1805 he arrived in Philadelphia having lost all his money gambling with a fellow passenger on the journey.

Da Ponte found his family settled in New York. With the help of Nancy's money, he invested in a grocery shop, at first in New York and later in Elizabethtown in New Jersey, where he and his wife with their four children remained until 1807, by which time he had lost all his money.

Da Ponte returned to New York hoping to make a living for his family. In a bookshop he met Clement Clarke Moore, then a young man, who was later to become America's most distinguished Hebrew scholar and lexicographer, the founder of the General Theological Seminary and the Trustee of Columbia College. He is better remembered today as the author of the classic children's poem, "The Night Before Christmas". At Moore's suggestion, Da Ponte opened the "Manhattan Academy for Young Gentlemen". The school became immensely popular and soon Nacy opened "the Manhattan Academy for Young Ladies". Nancy taught French and Italian as well as the art of artificial flower making and engaged teachers to give lessons in drawing and music.

All in all the academies were a great success. Da ponte, full of intellectual enthusiasm, instructed his students in such an unforgettable way that they remembered his lectures for the rest of their lives.

Arthur Livingston, the American editor of Da Ponte's "Memoirs", wrote:
"There is no doubt that this was an important moment
for the American mind. Da Ponte made Europe, poetry, painting, music the artistic spirit, classical lore, a creative classical education, live for many important Americans as no-one, I venture, had done before".

In 1811, Lorenzo Da Ponte became an American citizen and gave up his lucrative teaching career and the life he so thoroughly enjoyed and moved to Sunbury, Pennsylvania where he again opened a grocery shop. Nancy's aged parents lived in Sunbury, which was then a charming town set in a beautiful countryside. But Da Ponte hated every moment of the seven years he spent in Sunbury, longing for the bookshops and stimulation of New York.

Surprisingly, Da Ponte succeeded in business the second time around. He opened a millinery store, ran a carrier service between Sunbury and Philadelphia, established a distillery in Sunbury and in 1814 built there a thre-storey residence. He became the second highest taxpayer in the county.

By 1818 Da Ponte had wearied of the countryside and moved back to New York where he spent the rest of his life, selling and buying Italian books. In his teaching he had found he was hindered by the lack of good Italian books and imported them from Italy.

In 1825 he received a signal honour by being appointed Professor of Italian at Columbia University.
He retained this title until his death.

On 29th November 1825 the first season of Italian opera in America opened at the Park Theatre. The Garcia family, a Spanish operatic company had just come from a successful opera season in London. On 23rd May 1826 Da Ponte was overjoyed when the Garcia company premiered Mozart's "Don Giovanni".

Following the success of the Garcia company's tour, Da Ponte undertook to provide a permanent home for Italian opera in New York. Da Ponte was able to raise a large amount of money which enabled the city to build its first Opera House. It was opened under Da Ponte's management on 18th November 1833. It was a magnificent theatre. The dome was painted with a represenation of the nine Muses by Italian artists especially brought to New York to execute it. It was a huge success. In 1836 the Italian Opera House was renamed the National Theatre and Da Ponte was replaced as manager. The National Theatre burned to the ground in 1839, but the idea of going to the opera had become so popular in New York that soon the Astor Place Opera House and later the Academy of Music staged many successful opera performances. Finally, the Metropolitan Opera House opened in 1883, in no small measure the result of the enthusiasm generated by Da Ponte's original vision of an opera house in New York.

In August 1838 the old man died. A priest was summoned and Da Ponte made peace with the church. Like Mozart, he was buried in an unmarked grave; in 1912 the coffins from the cemetery where he was laid to rest was removed to Calvary Cemetery to make room for 11th Street in New York.

Copyright Agnes Selby.
By courtesy of "Quadrant". This article was first published by "Quadrant" in January 1997.

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 17:30:16 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@ol.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,
You write so beautifully.
What a fantastic and informative article!
And what a Renaissance Man de Ponte was. He had at least nine lives to boot.
Da Ponte's life read like romanatic fiction - amazing but true.
His life story would certainly make an enlightening and very entertaining movie or mini-series.
And Agnes, I dont believe that there is a webpage devoted to Lorenzo da Ponte.
May I suggest that you create one?
Your wonderful biography of him could be the cornerstone - with hyperlinked chapters (the parts of your article) devoted to each stage of his life, and portraits - plus the Mozart connection, of course.
Just a thought.
A very enlightening article, Agnes!
Very best regards,
Marti :-)

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 18:55:15 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Marti,

Thank you for your nice comments. I find Da Ponte most interesting. I don't think I would open a web-site for him. Daisy has been urging me to open a web-site on Constanze but I just can't see how I could find time to do all that. I am in much "demand" by my four grandkids and I would not take time away from them - ever.

By the way, you owe me a letter.

Love, Agnes.

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 17:36:08 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
Oops!
I hit the wrong button!
I meant to hit the URL function, as I included no photo........

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 15:03:10 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Excellent posting...
Thank you very much...
Kind regards,
Emmanuelle

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 06:22:02 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,

Splendid! Would you believe, I'm devoid of any question to ask. Thanks VERY much for sharing your superb information and saving some of us time from endless research about Da Ponte. Bravo!!!

Best regards,
TEL

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 23:24:05 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
That was a fantastic posting, Agnes! I have several books lined up to read and a book on Da Ponte is on my "wish list". I saw parallels between what you wrote and the movie, "Amadeus". The movie, it appears, took facts and creatively crammed them into a story.

Thanks for taking the time to post this posting. I have learned a lot. Even with his "little lies", he was quite an amazing man.

Bill

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 14:21:53 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Fabulous!!! Thanks so much, Agnes!

Teresa

Subject: Re: LORENZO DA PONTE - MOZART'S LIBRETTIST.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:22:48 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Emmanuelle, Tellern, Teresa, Bill,

Thank you so much for your lovely words. I am supposed to be picking up Nicholas from rugby today but how on earth can I drive with such a "swallen head". Many thanks again.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Handel
From: DonW
To: All
Date Posted: 21:54:02 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
Message:
There is a lot of evidence that both Mozart and Beethoven held Handel in high regard. I know only a few pieces, the Messiah, Water Music, etc. I know he is famous for his operas but I don't know them. Now ArkivMusic.com announced a Naxos sale so I am tempted to try some Handel. I would love to hear what the Forum folks think of Handel and their favorite Handel pieces. Thanks in advance.

Subject: Re: Handel operas
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 15:02:13 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Subject: Re: Handel operas (erratum)
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 04:56:46 04/28/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I should have written :

¤ Teseo
Also less known… (taken from a French libretto by Quinault (Lully's main librettist)
There is an only recording conducted by Minkowski with E James ; D Jones ; J Gooding D Lee Ragin ... (CD Erato ? from memory)

I forgot
¤Tamerlano : very strong libretto (one of the only case of suicide "almost" on stage)
The only reference performance for me is an aired concert by C Rousset and his Talens lyriques in Paris (I was still shaking thinking of this evening, weeks later !) but there is a DVD of a 2001 stage production of J Miller, with T. Pinnock cond., that I saw in Paris, wich is fairly classical and quite enjoyable (however there is some uniformity in the singers), even if it doesn't reach the depths of Rousset's performance. Also, it has subtitles...

But in general, try the VHS or DVDs first, and READ the librettos. Handel, as all opera seria composers wrote DRAMA and the action in the recitatives is very important...

Good discoveries,
Emmanuelle (end of lunch break !)

Subject: Re: Handel operas (erratum)
From: DonW
To: All
Date Posted: 17:39:10 04/29/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Emmanuelle. I have read your messages in detail and I have searched ArkivMusic and Amazon (USA) in the hopes of picking up some of your suggestions. I could only find (DVD) Xerxes and Julius Caesar with MacKerras conducting, which you do not mention. I could not find Rodelinda except on CD and that was not the version you suggested. I read the piece on Opera Seria. It gives a very different impression of the form than that of Charles Rosen. Wish me luck.

Subject: Re: Handel operas (erratum)
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 01:57:48 04/30/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Don,
Try to mail me, it the email cooperates (LOTS of trouble with it lately...)

emmanuelle (dot) sayag (at) ifrance (dot) com

Best regards,
Emmanuelle Sayag-Pesqué

PS : The Rodelinda was aired at the radio -same cast- and I taped it. It is a marvel...

PPs : i mentionned Mackerras, to say that is is quite shortened and most of the da capos are left out...

Subject: Re: Handel operas
From: DonW
To: All
Date Posted: 15:26:24 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Emmanuelle! How wonderful to have inspired such a wonderful response. I was beginning to think that there was no one really interested in Handel - quite surprising considering the praise heaped on him by Beethoven and Mozart. I will study you message and make some decisions. Thanks so much.

Subject: Re: Handel
From: Michael Mallon
To: All
Date Posted: 13:50:46 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Don,

Handel's "Israel in Egypt" oratorio is also a must buy. I especially enjoy his musical depictions of the plagues.

You may also want to buy the Naxos recordings of his harpsichord suites. They are very clever works and are worth buying for the fugues alone.

While some of Handel's pieces are less than stellar, he did compose many gems. (I want to become familiar with more of his operatic works.)

Enjoy your exploration!

Regards,
Michael

Subject: Re: Handel
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 12:37:35 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I have a DVD of Handels opera Xerses which I greatly
enjoy, although just listening to a CD of it I'm not sure would hold my interest. While I can appreciate the beauty of Handels music, it's lack of variety often loses my interest quickly. When the thought enters my mind to turn on the stereo and listen to music, it's never Handel that triggers it. There is only one piece of Handel's music that I have over the years thought enough of to grab the CD and play it often, "Dixit Domini".

Steve

Subject: Re: Handel
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 06:12:13 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:
Hi Don,

Glad to hear from you again. I'm beating a work deadline and didn't intend to post, but your query tempted me. I'll list down Handel's compositions which I think should be a "must" in the build up of Handel's music.

Sorry that I have no time to discuss further. Some people in the group might be able to provide comments, including my selections.

I hope it helps, here's the list, according to my categories:

Vocal Music:
Oratorio "Messiah"
Oratorio "Judas Maccabaeus"

Orchestral Music:
Water Music and Royal Fireworks Music
Concerti Crossi, No. 6 in G Minor

Concertos - Organ
16 Organ Concertos

Concerto - Harp:
Harp Concerto in B Flat Major, Op.4

Chamber Music:
Trio Sonatas

This has been my suggestions to any 'beginner' trying to build his/her own Handel classical music collection.

Hope it helps.

Best regards to all!

TEL

Subject: Re: Handel
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:09:47 04/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I am sure others can help you more on Händel's music, but I can
make a few suggestions:

Messiah -- I must state that Messiah is my favorite piece of music
in the entire catalogue of music. Of the recordings I have (not in
Mozart's arrangement) I think two are different from the crowded
field. The Gardiner version on Philips is simply the best Messiah
recorded (in my opinion), Beware he uses a rather small orchestra
if that bothers you. The McGegan-Messiah on Harmonia mundi is
no where as good, but it records all the versions of the individual
numbers in Messiah, so in that way it is a very interesting
recording.

As much as I love Messiah, strangely I have never heard another
Oratorio I liked by him. I find most not to my liking at all. The only
one I found even remotely interesting is Julius Ceasar. (Or is that
an opera?) But I say right up front I have not heard many of the
many operas and oratorios he wrote, and those I have heard I only
listened to once.

I enjoy Händel's instrumental music a little more. But outside of
the Water Music and Royal Fireworks I find them rather ordinary
and many sound the same to me. (Händel lovers bring the hate
mail on!!) One set I find very good though are the Concerti Grossi
Op.3. These 6 Concerti grossi are "more different" (to quote my
granddaughter) than most of his other works. I also have
recordings of a few Oboe Concertos I find enjoyable to listen to,
but certainly not great or even memorable music. One in
particular I enjoy is in g-minor, but can't give you a Händel
catalogue number.

Beware if you run across a Viola Concerto in b-minor, it is actually
a forgery by Marius Casadesus--the same man who wrote the
"Adeläide" Violin Concerto and passed it off as Mozart.

Sorry, I could not be more help.

dennis

Subject: ebay auction of Da Ponte signature
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 09:21:21 04/26/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
I am happy to announce that I won the auction of the check that Da Ponte received (second hand) in payment of some sort of debt. After proper framing to assure an acid-free environment, it will hang proudly next to my signatures of Richard Strauss, Giusseppe Verdi (on a bill for wood that he sold from his estate in Saint Agatha), Giacommo Puccini (on a scrap of Mimi's music he wrote from Boheme), Enrico Caruso (below a caricature he did of the baritone Antonio Scotti when both were in London in 1906), and Percy Grainger who signed a copy of the John Singer Sargeant portrait of himself and then gave it to me personally in 1960. All these things are surrounded by a fragment of the curtain from the old Metropolitan Opera House, demolished around 1970.

Shortly after I was married, I was offered a Mozart letter which, as a newlywed, I could not afford. I have cursed the day that I was unable to buy that, and as long as I am capable, a treasure like that will never get away from me again.

Subject: Re: ebay auction of Da Ponte signature
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 10:45:28 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Congratulations. I wonder why it is that so few Mozart
signatures come up for sale ? I watch pretty close at several auction houses and have yet to see a single one. I'm not talking about manuscripts or letters, which do appeal at least annually. I'm talking about items he may have signed in day to day life. fan autographs, checks, rent receipts, agreements for work. Did Mozart
sign so little, or is it all lost/destroyed, or is it all in the hands of museums/collectors who are not putting items on the market.

I would assume at the peak of his career students and fans would have asked him to sign programs or concert tickets or published music for them. Maybe I assume incorrectly.

Steve

Subject: Re: ebay auction of Da Ponte signature
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 13:03:20 04/26/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
I can't speculate as to why so few examples of his signature exists, but if one ever came up for sale, it would go for 5 figures. There are very few examples of his genuine signature, and by that I mean with all three names. The most impressive one was used by the NMA on each of the volumes and printed in gold.

Subject: Re: ebay auction of Da Ponte signature
From: Brendan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 08:05:16 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:

Nice one, Dan.
Brendan

Subject: Re: ebay auction of Da Ponte signature
From: Brendan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 03:48:00 04/27/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:

Nice one, Dan.
Brendan

Subject: Why So Many False Piano Variations?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 03:50:30 04/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
In no genre of instrumental music were more works falsely
published under Mozart's name than those in the Piano Variations.
No less than 22 are listed in K6, and there are probably many
more than listed there.

Why was this? Surely Mozart's name was the reason, but why this
type of music, more than all others.

The popularity of piano variations was extremely high in the late
18th and early 19th century. As Alton Duane White wrote in his
1971 dissertation on the piano music of Anton Eberl, some
composers were given the term "Variationschmied" (Variation-
smith), "as they could turn out sets of variations almost as fast--
and with as little originality--as a blacksmith or shoemaker could
turn out their wares". Josef Gelinek (1758-1825) composed more
than 600 variation cycles.

Another factor was that almost all variation cycles of this period
were "ornamental" variations. This means the basic structure of
the theme remains essentially the same through out the
variations. The theme is intensified, but its character does not
change. Another type of variation--the "character" variation--can
be heard in Beethoven's "Diabelli Variations" and Schumann's
"Symphonic Etudes". This type of variation became more popular
later in the 19th century. Abert's description of Mozart's
variations could fit most variation pieces of the period: "[The cycle]
serves as a channel for the release of his pianistic technique, and
the individual variations, for the most part, serve to deal with a
definite technical problem....The variations bring a colorful series
of scale passages, passages in broken octaves and various other
figures, such as etudes in octaves, thirds, and staccato, crossing
of the hands, chains of trills, etc, most of them divided between
the hands; even the regularly appearing Adagio variations seem to
be there for the sole purpose of pointing up the virtuosic art of
the ornamentation".

In his book "The Technique of Variations", Robert U. Nelson stated
the new ornamental variation was constructed upon a relatively set
and conventionalized plan. Also making all cycles homogeneous is
the fact that almost all themes used by composers are notable for
their simplicity and clarity. Most are fairly short, their structure
balanced and symmetrical. Almost all variation cycles were based
on themes in major keys (all of Mozart's for solo piano are) and
most written on well-known melodies---popular opera tunes or
folk songs.

For these reasons publishers could pass off as Mozart most piano
variations. Even an admirer of Mozart's music would be hard
pressed to tell the difference.

In the Anh C section of the Köchel Listings at this web site, you
will find the piano variations attributed to Mozart under K.Anh
C26.01- C26.22.

dennis

Subject: Re: Why So Many False Piano Variations?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 13:06:36 04/26/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Wonderful contribution, but another form has far more false works published under his name. It is "the waltz" which is most peculiar because he never wrote so much as even one waltz. I attended a seminar in which one of topics was "Mozart, America's Waltz King," and it suggested that there were over 100 waltzes attributed to him and published in America for 1900. People would dig up waltzes, marches, schottisches, etc., and publish them as waltzes under Mozart's name.

Subject: Contemporaries of Mozart: Carl Friedrich Abel
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 06:48:17 04/25/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspired.4t.com
 

Message:

CONTEMPORARIES OF MOZART:

Carl Friedrich Abel (1723-1787)

This is another posting in an irregular series on the various contemporary composers from Mozart's lifetime. The material is mostly derivative from general sources as noted. These are the people that Mozart:

Competed for work with.
Considered as friends, colleagues or mentors.
Knew from reputation.
Taught/nurtured as pupils and students.

Abel was born 22 December 1723 in Koethen, Germany into a large German family that produced many musicians and, it seems, landscape gardeners. While both career paths proved of good use to the nobility of Europe, our Abel became the best-known and most respected family member to come down to us. His father, Christian Ferdinand, was violin and viola da gamba (a forerunner to the cello) player for the court orchestra at Koethen, where he was a colleague and became friends with J. S. Bach. His elder brother, Leopold August, was a violinist at north German courts and composed instrumental works.

Carl Friedrich took after his father musically, and thus took up both instruments as well, he became the premier viola da gamba player of all times, and was held in high esteem for this, almost on an equal plain as for his compositions. His father taught him musical theory, and it is quite possible (though not proven) that J. S. Bach in Leipzig supervised his further studies along these lines. Carl Friedrich's life and that of the Bach's remained intertwined practically his whole life. W. F. Bach was organist at Dresden when Abel received an appointment there as court gamba player in 1743. Both were on station there for 15 years. J. C. Bach (the "London" Bach) became a very close associate of Abel when they were both in London later on.

The Seven Years War happened in that part of Europe, where the armies of Frederick the Great practically destroyed Dresden in 1757-58. With no court nor orchestra to sustain him, Abel took his talent on the gamba out on tour, via Frankfurt, Mannheim and Paris. He eventually arrived in London, home to many expatriate Germans of the times. By then, he had added harpsichord playing to his performing skills and was composing his own works.

Fourteen days prior to Handel's death, Abel announced his arrival in London with his first concert on 27 March 1759. This was a success as were so many others that followed. As well, he began selling his compositions to increase his income. His gamba playing with its adagio melody and his increasing symphonic and chamber styles from the start received high praise. In a short period of time, he was admitted to English society, then received the royal privilege to print his own music in London, and finally was named to the post of Royal Chamber Musician to Queen Charlotte. His works were usually published in sets of six (standard for the time) and covered the field of instrumental music: chamber music (trios, solo sonatas, string quartets), concerti for flute, piano and gamba, and symphonies.

Linking up with Johann Christian Bach, who had, as well, made the move to London, they planned to produce a series of concerts, featuring both of them as performers playing (mostly) their own works, which of course could be bought from the main music purveyors in England. In 1764 he directed his first joined concert with J.C. Bach. Originally planned as just a series of concerts for the year 1765, these public subscription concerts (the Bach-Abel Concerts) gained great renown and became a yearly musical event from 1765 to 1782. At the start, they hired halls, but from 1775 on, they used their own premises in Hanover Square, acquired out of the profits they acquired from the concert series. Apart from these public concerts, Bach and Abel organized regular private court music events and also concerts for the benefit of other musicians. Abel directed alternate concerts, including many of his own works, often playing himself and also introducing performers from Germany and Paris. Certainly things were going well enough that by the 1770's he was able to spend considerable time in Paris every year doing business, as well as relaxing. While it has always been noted that Mozart was one of the first independent entrepreneurs in music, it can be seen that Abel was likely amongst THE first, and more successful, to boot.

As displaced Germans, Bach and Abel offered opportunities to other foreign musicians coming to London to get established, either as performers at the concerts, or as published composers via Abel's publishing set-up. So, when the Mozart family arrived on tour in London, it may have been Bach that the young Mozart bonded to, but Abel was the one instrumental in providing contacts and helping Leopold with the business of setting up concerts and musical displays. As well, it should be noted that Wolfgang copied out Abel's Symphony Opus 7 No. 6 for closer study. Hence, for decades this work was believed to be by Mozart, so well did it accord with the young Wolfgang's style. Or, of course, did young Mozart's style derive from the older Abel, who was really a direct contemporary of Leopold rather than that of Wolfgang? It is worth noting that symphonies of Abel and J.C. Bach, provided models for Mozart's first symphonies K.16 and K.19.

This is a more important point than one might suspect, for Abel was not just a successful musical businessman selling tasteful and "pretty" music. While the music did have these traits, there was also much critical praise for it. By 1770, Abel was being described as a composer who "…has created quite a sensation with his music." His music was further described as being composed with remarkable ease and skill. Finally, it was said that "…Abel sets the tone in the musical world" in that musicians and critics across Europe spoke of "Abelian music." This latter quote basically meaning that Abel was one of the main composers pulling music out of the Baroque/Rococo eras into the more "modern" Classical era. Dr. Charles Burney, in his General History of Music (1789) reported "…the knowledge Abel had acquired…of every part of musical science rendered him the umpire of all musical controversies, and caused him to be consulted on many difficult points." It may then be no wonder that the young Mozart was attracted to this stylistic "movement" and thus picked it up so well. Well enough so that a comparison of both composers' works of the time shows very little difference in display. Again, another reason why the musical personages of the time were so amazed with the young Mozart, who was able to keep pace with a trend-setting musical master such as Abel.

Abel's later years were a warm glow of semi-retirement. The Bach-Abel concerts ended in 1782 (J. C. Bach died that year), and Abel left England for Potsdam, at the invitation of Prince Wilhelm, heir to the throne of Prussia. He worked some in France and for various German courts on his journey to Potsdam, where he stayed from 1784-86, composing several concerti and four last symphonies. These last four, while as good as any he had penned in the past, were regretfully equal to those of the past, as Mozart, Haydn, Vanhal and Stamitz (to name a few) had advanced the science of music beyond where he could or would go. Also, Abel had apparently developed a drinking problem along with some health issues, and so his musical vitality appears to have waned. Returning to London, he once again turned to organizing concerts, both public and benefit ones, still performing at them on the viola da gamba; the last performance occurring less than one month before his death in 1787.

He was the last great gamba player in Europe at his death; his expressive Adagios were particularly praised. By this time, the instrument, played for 300 years, was fast losing its importance in the musical world. As a composer, Abel was most prolific in symphonies and overtures, sonatas for two and three instruments, and gamba pieces. One of his obituaries in London strongly regretted the loss of a much-appreciated artist, and predicted the death of his chosen instrument as well, which of course came to pass. Abel left behind over two hundred compositions, including 16 various concerti, eighteen string quartets, twenty-four trios for various instruments and forty-six symphonies, nearly all of which were published across Europe.

Music Suggestions:

CPO CD 999207 Symphonies Opus 10 No. 1-6
CPO CD 999208 Flute Concerti Opus 6 No. 1-6
CPO CD 999214 Symphonies Opus 17 No. 1-6

Denon CO 75659 Viola da Gamba Solo Recital

Glossa GCD920403 Viol/va da Gamba A Solo

Hyperion CDA66780 String Quartet in A, Op.8 No. 5

Sources:

Gutman, Robert W. Mozart: A Cultural Biography Harcourt Brace & Co. New York 1999

Landon, H.C. Robbins: The Mozart Compendium Thames and Hudson. London 1990

Sadie, Stanley (Ed.) The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd Edition Groves Dictionaries, New York 2000

Liner Notes to the CD’s as noted above

-- Gary Smith and Tel Asiado

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Carl Friedrich Abel
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 14:29:00 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Tellern,

Thank's for the interesting posting. See, I just told you yesterday that I am forever learning from you.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 05:23:52 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi everyone,

My Sunday reading includes the funnies as top priority, and today the comic strip "Pickles" features the Adagio from Mozart's Piano Sonata K570. (The way it's featured is a little unusual, but hey, any Mozart is good Mozart!)

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 14:25:52 04/25/04 ()
Email Address: ralstens@earthlink.net
 

Message:
Good catch Teresa. You must have been playing that recently. I have been also.

Steve

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Zevy
To: All
Date Posted: 09:56:15 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Very cute.

Here's the URL (available at least for today):

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 06:54:11 04/25/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Dear Teresa,

That's very sweet indeed. Have a great weekend. Wolfie would have been happy. ;-)

Best regards,
Tel

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 05:59:08 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Teresa,

You must shake hands with my hubby. Also with Winston Churchill. The comics were always his morning priority. You are in good company.
Love, Agnes.

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 15:07:54 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Everyone,

Hey, thanks for putting the link up, Zevy--I didn't think of that! And yep, Steve, I have played through this pretty sonata a number of times--Glad to hear you're persisting in tickling the ivories (OK, plastics).

And Agnes, there's nothing I'd like better than the chance to shake hands with your hubby (Winston Churchill seems a bit further out of reach)--that would mean I would be in Sydney visiting you! (Tel, I understand you live in Australia, too.)

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 15:25:34 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Teresa,

Hey, don't forget to stop in here at LAX on your trip to Australia, we still plan to offer a musicale when you get out here!

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: A Sweet Note for Pickles
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 17:21:46 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Thanks, Gary! On my way to Australia, I would not dream of skipping LAX and that musicale!

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Anh C Added to Köchel Section
From: MozartForum
To: All
Date Posted: 20:31:44 04/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
The MozartForum is proud to announce a new addition to our
Köchel listings: the Anhang C section of the 6th edition of the
Köchel Catalogue. Click on the Köchel button on the left and find
Parts Seven and Eight. This Anhang section lists works
misattributed to W.A. Mozart over the years in one form or
another. As this section is rather large, it is split into two sections:
Part 7 contains the Anh C 1 through 10 sections, which is for the
most part vocal works. Part 8 of the Köchel section contains
instrumental works. (Again on some computers you may have to
empty cache to view these new parts immediately)

We believe that you will not find this amount of information on
these misattributed works in any one place anywhere else--on the
web or in reference books. We have tried to identify the oldest
source attributing each work to Mozart, and when possible
identify the true composer. You are invited to browse these new
sections and find a new world of Mozart. You will see how the
Mozart name was used (and mis-used) in almost every field of
composition he worked in. For English readers especially, we are
sure much of this information will be new to you.

Enjoy.

MozartForum

Subject: Re: Anh C Added to Köchel Section
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 20:33:42 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi everyone!

Just a quick private note to mention that the Anhang sections we've added here were initially one of the reasons we all wanted to get our site up. I'm very happy that the MozartForum clan has been able to provide you with this information. It's tough enough to find this information outside of a Koechel (in German); so to be able to give this to you in English is a first on the Internet. In fact, the Koechel information at this site is more extensive and "user friendly" than anywhere else. This is all information you can look through and use. How? Initially, of course, you now have a highly complete report IN ENGLISH concerning the works of Mozart, both his and the qustionable/spurious opnes. Second, you can now look to collect more works for your "Mozart" collection, as while most of these (in say the C section) are spurious, there are a good number that might NOT be, or are actually in Leopold's hand, which may mean they as well could be Wolfgang's. Could, not probably, but even if they aren't, why not add to your "Mozart" collection by adding in Leopold's material as well?

Further, some of these works are excellent "guessing" works, in that they sure sound like Mozart, or Beethoven, or Kozeluch, or even Joseph Haydn. Part of the fun of collecting is acquiring these "maybe" works, as you never know what you might discover. Right now, I'm listening to a Bassoon Concerto in Bb once attributed to Mozart. It's not, but it's a nice work nevertheless, and you might never know that unless you go hunt down recordings.

A hint to all; I've had these listings printed out for years, and have been collecting to them for as long. Sure, most of these works in the A and C Anhang aren't on CD, but many are, and a few more show up every year or so. Don't discount the collecting value of these works, you will do yourself a dis-service if you believe there's nothing to learn or gain here.

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Anh C Added to Köchel Section
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 20:59:15 04/24/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
A real benefit that many will enjoy using. However, I caution you on your use of "misattributed." The section is devoted to two classes of works, namely doubtful (unlikely to be by Mozart but could be) and spurious (asserted not to be by Mozart).

For example, the sinfonie concertante, K. 297b is now in Anhang C and there are those who suggest that, while the work in that form is not by Mozart, the music could very well be by him.

Subject: Re: Anh C Added to Köchel Section
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 20:15:29 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Dan,

Point well taken. I agree that K.297b has Mozart in there, but that someone else has overlaid an incorrect "frame" around the authentic music. I think that 2nd movement shows Mozart more clearly than any other, simply because there's more individual wind lines in there, and so less likely to have been altered.

Regards,

Gary

Subject: For Gary and Teresa,
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 14:33:26 04/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Teresa and Gary,

Thank you both for your lovely comments. Gary, as always, a well researched and well constructed article.

In my original article for "Quadrant" I used 9th November 1791 as the date when the papers were filed against Mozart. This is the date used in Mr. Baruneis' article. Following the publication of my essay in "Quadrant", I had a number of letters, including one from a well-known Austrian Mozart scholar, advising me this date to be incorrect. Thank you Gary for pointing out to me that the 12th was a Sunday. I am now reversing back to Brauneis' date of 9th November.

With Mozart it is thus: "The more I read about him, the less I know him".

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Lichnowsky versus Mozart.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 23:28:43 04/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

INTRODUCTION:

Lichnowsky applied for and received permission from Emperor Leopold II to sue Mozart for money owed to him. A judgment was handed down on November 12, 1791 and delivered to Mozart on that day. Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftun Mozarteum June 1993, contains quotes about Mozart by his contemporaries [Roderich Fuhrmann p.16]. Lichnowsky's statement is included. He states that now Mozart's "dishonourable behaviour has come to light -"he was unworthy to be a Lodge Brother".
*[Erna Schwerin, Summer 1993, Supplement to Newsletter No.30]

--------

THE LAWSUIT:

Walther Brauneis came across significant information in a Logbook of the Special Court of Aristocrats in Vienna. *[Mr. Lorenz contends that the discovery was made by Hofrat Mraz who had no time to write the article and gave the information to Mr. Walther Brauneis. The article appeared under Walther Brauneis' name in the 1991 issue of the Mitteilungen.
Walther Brauneis makes no mention of Hofrat Mraz. Be it as it may, the purpose of this article is not the establishment of the rightful discoverer of the law suit].

The entry in the Logbook reminded the Imperial Court Chamber of Vienna to enforce an Order of Attachment of Mozart's possessions and half his salary as court composer to the amount of 1,435 gulden and 32 kreutzer.Included also were court costs of 24 gulden.
In today's money it would ammount to
approximately $US65,000 [Thank you Gary].

The debt was owed to Prince Karl Lichnowsky and was found uncollectable.

Nothing of this debt is mentioned in any other Mozart literature nor do Constanze Mozart and her second husband, Georg Nikolaus Nissen make any reference to it in Nissen's Mozart biography. It does not appear in the list of debts left by Mozart and it is not known whether Lichnowsky waived the debt after Mozart's death. However, this does not seem likely.
Sophie Haibl, Mozart's sister-in-law, who witnessed his death and gave a vivid description of Mozart's last days to Georg Nissen does not mention Mozart's concern over any such debt, nor do other witnesses who surrounded him during his last hours. Mozart is certainly the written about composer and among the many scholarly works written about him, there appeared not a single article even suggesting such a possibility. the scandal that this lawsuit would have caused was obviously supressed by the event of Mozart's death less than a months after the filing of papers against him. It is possible that the Freemasons suppressed the information and settled the debt quietly to enable Constanze to apply for a widow's pension. It is also possible that Constanze settled the debt from the proceeds of the benefit concerts she organised and were organised for her after her husband's death. All these questions will remain unanswered until new data is discovered.

What motivated this litigation is not known and neither is the origin of such a debt. So far we have no information when the debt was incurred. Lichnowsky was Mozart's pupil in composition and a fellow Mason.
He was the same age as Mozart and his obsession with music is well documented. For a short period, Beethoven lived with the Lichnowskys in an apartment made available to him in their palace. Lichnowsky also organised for Beethoven to receive a stipend of 600 gulden a year. Years later, after they quarrelled,
Lichnowsky would sit in Beethoven's hallway for hours waiting to catch a glimpse of the master. It is difficult therefore to understand why a wealthy prince would go to such lengths to recover a sum of money he could easily have lost in one night's gambling, unless it was a debt of honour incurred by gambling. Mozart's income for the year 1791, according to Volkmar Braunbehrens, was between 3,725 and 4,00 gulden. Why was this debt not settled.

The disorder in Mozart's financial affairs is well documented but the time when he was considered a pauper is long gone given the evidence of his income.
During the last five years of his life his total recorded earnings (not counting the monies received at private concerts) amounted to 12,366 gulden, averaging 2,473 gulden annually. Added to this were sums of money earned through recitals and publications bringing his income between 1782 and 1791 to a healthy 4,000 gulden annually. An orchestral player and his family could live in Vienna on an income of 400 gulden annually. A school teacher received between 150 and 200 gulden and a physician at a major viennese hospital received the princely sum of 600 gulden. Leopold Mozart received 400 gulden annually and managed to live in comfort although living expenses were lower in Salzburg.

How did Mozart spend his earnings? According to Leopold Mozart, the household was run very frugally by Constanze and he was not often given to complimenting her. Although Mozart coveted expensive clothes and liked to live in luxury, household expenses did not eat up his earnings. Constanze's illnesses and pregnancies during the last three years of Mozart's life were costly but the expenses incurred during Constanze's visits to Baden, where she was seeking a cure for her ulcerated varicose veins were small. Mozart's letter to Choirmaster Stoll in Baden dated early June 1791 reveals the economy of her stay there: "Will you please find a small apartment for my wife? The rooms I should prefer are those Goldhahn used to occupy on the ground floor at the butchers."

Mozart's famous letters to his fellow Mason Michael Puchberg began in June 1788. The begging nature of the letters makes distressing reading. Again and again he begs for loans. In March 1789 Mozart turned to Franz Hofdemel, the husband of his pupil Magdalena Hofdemel, for a loan of 100 gulden. Shortly thereafter, Prince Lichnowsky and Mozart departed for Germany. At first many writers believed that this unplanned journey was undertaken by Lichnowsky in order to help Mozart and make his works better known in Prussia. Some writers have lately suggested that the journey was undertaken with the express purpose for Mozart to earn sufficient money to repay his debt to the Prince. It seems, however, that the purpose of the journey was defeated by the Prince's lavish lifestyle and the unplanned nature of the concert tour. The concerts were badly attended and the cost of staging them exceeded box office takings. In addition, Mozart and Lichnowsky stayed in expensive lodgings. When they parted in mid-May in Liepzig, Mozart supposedly "loaned" Lichnowsky 100 gulden, so depleted was Lichnowky financially.

It is difficult to imagine that a man of Lichnowsky's wealth would need to "borrow" 100 gulden from Mozart unless it was part payment of Mozart's debt. Mozart's letter to Constanze on 23rd May 1789 takes on a different meaning when viewed with this debt in mind: "Lichnowsky left me here and so I had to pay for my keep in Potsdam, which is an expensive place. I had to lend him a hundred gulden, as his purse was getting empty. I could not well refuse him; you will know why". Gambling debts were not discussed openly but were regarded as family secrets. The proverbial "skeleton in the cupboard" often referred to gambling debts.

The debt remained unpaid and Mozart's begging letters to Puchberg continued. In April 1790 he writes
to Puchberg: "Now, however - once more, but for the last time - I call upon you to stand by me to the utmost of your power in this most urgent matter which is going to determine my whole happiness. You know how my present circumstances, were they to become known, would damage the chances of my application to the court and how necessary it is that they should remain a secret". Puchberg noted on this letter "sent 150 gulden". On May 17 1790 it appears that Puchberg was "not at home" when Mozart called on him to ask for another loan. In 1790 before his departure for Frankfurt, Mozart pawned all the family valuables, including household furniture.

Mozart's inability to visit Constanze in Baden during 1791 and his constant worry about a "business venture" for which so far there has been no explanation take on a new significance. Equally his letters to her appear in a new light. Constanze now in her last stages of pregnancy was apparently distressed, as shown in Mozart's letter to her dated 9th July, 1791: "Your letter of yesterday made me feel so depressed that I almost made up my mind to let the business slide and drive out to you. But what good would it have done? I should only had had to drive in again at once or, instead of being happy, I should have been most dreadfully worried. The affair must be concluded in a few days, for "Z's" promises were really serious and solemn". Were these Lichnowsky's threats?

We have no tangible evidence that Mozart gambled but it is remarkable that his friends during the last years of his life were all well-known gamblers. Schikaneder died in poverty due to excessive gambling.
Hofdemel apparently gambled heavily, requesting a payment of 4,400 gulden from Count Gottfried von Walldorf in Brun in March 1791. Hofdemel's shocking suicide may well have been caused by gambling debts. Lichnowsky spent money beyond even his own generous means and faced financial ruin during the Napoleonic wars. This in itself provides no evidence that Mozart gambled. The haunting question of what happened to all his earnings, however, remains unanswered. After his death, Constanze carefully recorded the unpaid bills amounting to a total of 918 gulden and 16 kreutzer. 282 gulden, the largest bill on the list was owed to Georg Dummer, tailor. There were no debts incurred on behalf of Constanze who obviously continued to make her own clothes with the help of her maid. On the other hand, 800 gulden was owed Mozart, monies Constanze was never able to recover.

Lichnowsky continued to live a dissipated life. In the memoirs of the Countess Lulu Thurheim he is described as a "cynical lecher" and a "shameless coward". Be that as it may, his life was embittered due to his rejection by his wife, the Countess Christina Thun-Hohenstein, an excellent pianist and a pupil of Haydn. They continued living together but the Countess made no secret of her utter dislike of her husband and of her revulsion to his sexual advances. It is no wonder that Lichnowsky was described as "the enlightened patron of music and patron saint of the bordellos".

Constanze inherited Mozart's debts but by 1797 her financial situation was in such fine order that she was able to lend 3,500 gulden morgage money at six per cent interest to her husband's old friends, the Duseks on their Villa Bertranka in Prague. Long before her marriage to Nissen, this able woman was not only surviving but was living in comfort. If Mozart's disastrous finances were caused by gambling, Constanze took this secret to her grave 50 years
after Mozart's death.

Agnes Selby. (Courteasy of "Quadrant" February 1992.

Subject: Re: Lichnowsky versus Mozart.
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 01:21:52 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Agnes,

Finally you've posted it. Fantastic article... and a lot to digest from. Thanks for your generous and kind heart sharing it.

Best regards,
Tel

Subject: Re: Lichnowsky versus Mozart.
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 12:21:42 04/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi everyone!

Very good article! Good to see this little-known chapter in Mozart's life laid out for view.

A couple of points. The judgement was handed down on November 12th, which was a Saturday. Mozart was probably finsihing up his Masonic cantata K.623 that weekend, as he completed it on the 15th for the initial performance on the 18th, which was the following Friday. That Sunday the 20th, he took sick and stayed in bed, which he never left. The general theory is that whatever triggered the final illness, he contracted it at the Masonic meeting on Friday.

I would think that any collection order would have a stipulated time period of compliance, meaning that Mozart probably had between 2 weeks and 30 days to make payment before any seizures would be made. One might suspect that he talked with Puchberg at this meeting in order to secure a loan. Or, he could have gone to Schikaneder to borrow money, perhaps pitching it as an "advance" on a sequel to Die Zauberflote. After all, Schikaneder would be flush with money at this point. Mozart thus had some time to deal with the problem.

I wasn't aware that Schikaneder was a heavy gambler, though it makes some sense. My information (that I can recall)was that his slide was caused by changing tastes in the theater that he couldn't adapt to, coupled with mental problems (whether Alzheimer's or a pyschological based one) causing him to lose his touch, money and mind.

Mozart's averaged income in Vienna, as you note, was (very) roughly 4000 gulden, or say $180,000 US per year. The questions that run through the decades has always been:

Where did it all go? ($180,000 X 10 years = $1,800,000)
With that amount of income, why did he have so little to show for it at the end?

The concept of gambling losses is one answer, but not the sole one. Please remember a couple of points. The highest rent I know of that Mozart paid in Vienna came out to 450 gulden/year, or $20,000. Running a household roughly costs twice the rent (or mortgage), which is another 900 gulden/year, or $40,000. Small emergencies and doctor bills might average 3/4 of the rent, which is another $16,000. And, let's toss in frivol money for enterainment at $1000 per month. So, we have a base total of:

$20,000
40,000
16,000
12,000

Equalling $78,000

Leaving: $102,000 per year unaccounted for. This is the crux of the matter.

Did Mozart gamble it ALL away? We know he had no property or investments at the time of his death. Did he in fact send some money home to Leopold, information of which is lost in the missing letters? Did he spend a fortune on clothing/shoes that was "used up" over time? Throw wild parties? Give to charities?

This is the boon and curse of the letters we have. We know more about him than practically any other composer (or indeed any personality) of the time, and yet we have so many major questions that can't be truly answered.

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Lichnowsky versus Mozart.
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 08:48:51 04/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,

Great article! I wonder if Lichnowsky had a lawyer, and, after finding the debt "uncollectable," the lawyer cleaned out ol' Lichnowsky to the extent that he had to get Wolfie to bail him out with that 100 gulden! (Just kidding)

Thanks for your wonderful posting--so enjoyable to read!

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Contemporaries of Mozart: Sussmayr
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 19:34:15 04/23/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
CONTEMPORARIES OF MOZART:

The Forgotten Süssmayr:

Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803)

Foreword: This paper is primarily drawn from the Gartner book noted in the Sources section, with other biographical information taken from various sources. The information on the Die Zauberflote material comes primarily from the Michael Freyhan articles listed. Note that I have speculated a bit further than Freyhan does in his works. Any disagreements should then properly be directed at myself to start, and not necessarily at his work.

This is another posting in an irregular series on the various contemporary composers from Mozart's lifetime. The material is mostly derivative from general sources as noted. These are the people that Mozart:

Competed for work with.
Considered as friends and colleagues.
Knew from reputation.
Taught/nurtured as pupils and students.

Franz Xaver Süssmayr was born in 1766 (the exact date is lost) in Schwanenstadt in upper Austria. His father was the local sacristan and teacher, with an addiction to the bottle. His mother died of tuberculosis when he was six, and so an older sister cared for Franz. He left home at 13 to be a choirboy at Kremsmunster, well known for its devotion to the faith, arts and sciences. As a choirboy, he would be housed, fed and schooled, so this was a great opportunity for any child of the times with talent.

At Kremsmunster, he was immersed in music beyond the choir, as the abbey had a well-deserved reputation for the excellence of its teaching in religious, instrumental and operatic styled works. He excelled in his classes and was active in music as a singer, violinist and organist. These stood him in good stead as his interests moved into the abbey's theater, which staged operas and singspiels on site. Once his voice changed, he became a member of the orchestra.
Pater Georg Pasterwitz was his mentor at Kremsmunster, being the director of the abbey's musical life. Having written more than 300 sacred works, as well as having an excellent grasp of "the Italian style" from repeated trips to Vienna, he passed on much of his knowledge to Süssmayr. As well, he later used his contacts in Vienna to smooth Franz's entrance into that city. They remained lifelong friends, both dying in the same year of 1803.

In the abbey's theater, Franz had an opportunity to study operas by both Gluck and Salieri, however he seems to have preferred the call of singspiels, as they form his early efforts for theater music. All these early stage works were well received. However, his last one for the abbey, Nicht mehr als sechs Schusseln (No More than Six Bowls) included an attached 90 minute ballet (all male; it's an abbey, remember), so one can see that some effects of his operatic studies were rubbing off. Certainly he had more than enough experience beyond simply being at hand to help Mozart with the details of both La Clemenza di Tito K.621and Die Zauberflote K.620 as he did in 1791.

Being an abbey, Kremsmunster offered Süssmayr many opportunities to compose church music. His list of sacred works includes two Masses and two Requiems (in German), seven Offertories, a Gradual, Psalms, a Magnificat and Hymns. In fact, Franz is one of the first composers to actually compose a formal Requiem in German. Again, these would stand him in good stead when having to deal with the daunting challenge of completing Mozart's Requiem.

All in all, his efforts showed him to be a very industrious young man. His talent, coupled with the above compositional experience, equipped him about as well as could be hoped for a career beyond the abbey. He chose to make the leap to Vienna in 1788, where he would have to compete with the many composers vying for a living and fame, all operating in the shadows of Salieri and Mozart. Franz's mentor Pasterwitz was in Vienna at the time, representing the abbey at court. With his connections and influence, he was most likely the intermediary that allowed Süssmayr to apprentice with Salieri and Mozart, possibly with both at the same time.

We first learn of Süssmayr from Mozart in a letter dated 7 June 1791, although the text would indicate that both people knew one another for some time previous. It is not known when they met; in any case with 1790 not being a good year for Mozart, the general opinion (based on thin evidence) is that it was probably in this year, and that Franz probably began as a pupil soon afterwards. Since Barbara Ployer appears to have performed Mozart's last piano concerto in January of 1791, it may be that Mozart was concerned enough again with money to take on pupils for that winter. Certainly the letters do not reveal details, but then, they seldom do about any of the known pupils, at least on a purely teaching level.

What the letters do reveal is that roughly playful side of Mozart, reserved for people he was close to and cared for. Calling him a "dumb boob," "ox," and "court jester" may seem a bit strong for the "classic" Mozart, but he used these same sorts of terms for Constanze, Nannerl, his cousin the Basle, and his friend the horn player Leutgeb. Perhaps in the spirit of even truer "affection," one can imagine Mozart writing this excerpt from a letter to Constanze: "Please give [Süssmayr] a few good kicks in my name. I also ask that [Sophie, Mozart's sister-in-law] treat him to a few; be sure that he is not suffering from a lack of kicks. I would never want to be accused by him that you hadn't taken care of him properly-better to beat him too much than too little." One reads these sorts of comments only about those people Mozart cared much for, and Franz appears not to be the only pupil so "anointed."

Once Mozart began to get busy that year with operas and the Requiem, he seems to have needed extra hands in order to work on all these projects so as to finish them on time. It seems odd, but few comments have apparently been made on this point. Mozart never, so far as we know, required help to process (as opposed to composing) his compositions. Leopold appears to have helped in this manner when Wolfgang was young, but as an adult Mozart handled it all by himself. Süssmayr helped with the recitatives for La Clemenza and seems to have acted as a copyist as well for these operas. Legend has it that he turned the pages of the score for Mozart as he conducted at one of the premiere showings of Die Zauberflöte as well.

He certainly had Mozart's score of Die Zauberflöte with him at Baden, which Mozart wrote for sending back to Vienna so that Wolfgang could orchestrate it. This means that Süssmayr had the unfinished score with him, but for what purpose? Study, additions, copyist work, practice of scoring himself on separate paper; what? It should be noted that in one letter to Constanze, Mozart notes, "I hope that Süssmayr will not forget what I laid out for him…" Rearrangements, perhaps? He could not be copying the score out totally as a clean printer's copy as it wasn't finished. Most likely as the main reason, there were finished sections that he was copying out, and Mozart was really requesting that unfinished portions be sent back so that he could complete the orchestration. Making a clean printer's copy in parallel with Mozart's composing would save time, in a time constrained period, when the premiere of Die Zauberflöte was coming closer and parts were required for orchestral use. Therefore, material in Süssmayr's hand would necessarily be in existence.

It is worth noting here, that several early productions and copies of Die Zauberflöte have slight differences in the text of some of the arias. Much has been made of some spots in the opera where the text and music seem too awkward for Mozart, where the emphasis on the syllables doesn't match the emphasis of the scoring. These rough spots come from the original autograph manuscript of Mozart. However, several early copies have different words so as to make the music and words flow much more smoothly, in fact much more as one would expect Mozart to have originally conceived them to flow. How can this have happened?

The standard explanation has been that Mozart, in hurrying, being ill and taking the work a bit too lightly, simply did not pay his usual attention to the details and these rough areas slipped by. However, considering the number of changes in detail that are to be found in Mozart's manuscript, one would think that Mozart did pay attention. As well, most of the observed changes are in fact associated with the text. So, how does a great composer catch those, but not catch any awkwardness with the matching of text to music, one of his specialties?

An article by Michael Freyhan entitled "Towards the Original Text of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte," attempts to address this issue. Briefly summarizing the facts, the publisher Simrock published in 1814 a complete edition of Die Zauberflöte, claiming it came from an original manuscript score in possession of the Elector of Cologne, obtained from Mozart himself. He thus rejected the autograph version in common use in favor of another text. This claim can't be substantiated, but it is known that 23 days after Mozart's death, Constanze was offering the Elector a copy of the opera for 100 ducats, "…as soon, that is, as the copyist can complete the score." Süssmayr as copyist perhaps, in his script is so similar to Mozart's? The quality of the text-music relationship stands comparison with any work of Mozart and is arguably superior to the autograph. This text by Simrock was used for nearly 50 years, until it was replaced as non-authentic without investigating the source manuscript. Otto Jahn the first great Mozart scholar apparently viewed this copy early in the 1860's, as he directs remarks about it in the preface to his 1862 edition on Mozart. That copy is now lost.

Sentence by sentence, the autograph and Simrock's edition parallel each other. One is but a variant of the other. One would have to assume that the autograph came first, but as well, the Simrock version could have been a cleaned up, finalized version that was completed after the deadline passed for sending material to the printer for the score and libretto so as to meet the premiere deadlines. In any event, what may have cemented both Simrock and Jahn into an acceptance of this score might well have been its similarity of script to that of Mozart's. And, only Süssmayr's script would fit that equation. Remember that Süssmayr was working under Mozart's direction in some manner in regards to the autograph. Finally, could the reason that Constanze did not turn to Süssmayr immediately upon Mozart's death to work on the Requiem was that he was already producing a cleaned up copy of Die Zauberflòte for immediate cash, while the Requiem, being paid for already, could wait a bit for attention? A new sale first, requiring only copying, then an older, prepaid commission requiring real finishing, to follow?

However it worked out, Franz ended up completing the Requiem in Mozart's name and turned it over to Constanze, most likely within 100 or so days after Mozart's death. All accounts appear to have him on the scene in the last days; most have him taking instructions from the dying Mozart as to how to complete this last work. Whether these are based on fact or anecdote really can’t be verified at this point in time. One story has it that it was Süssmayr who went to a performance of Die Zauberflòte to fetch the doctor on the night that Mozart died. The doctor was at this performance as part of the payment for his treatment of Mozart, due to the shortage of money Mozart had to pay him. This shortfall would make the need to finish the Requiem more acute. Most likely, as a grateful pupil, Süssmayr completed this great work as a last gift to both Mozart and his distressed widow. As investigation would later show, he completed one last horn concerto as well, probably for bringing in more money quickly to the family. Certainly, he appears to have ended any other work with Constanze shortly thereafter, as he had his own career to work about as well.

Schikaneder commissioned Süssmayr to compose an opera Moses oder der Auszug aus Agypten, for premiere on 4 May 1792. It did not succeed as an opera, but it did achieve some success rearranged as a cantata. This did not stop Süssmayr from continuing to pursue theater work. His musical output in these years appears to be mostly singspiels and comic operas, culminating in Der Spiegel von Arkadian, which premiered in 1794, again as a Schikaneder production. Modeled on the successful formula of Die Zauberflöte, and set with the same generic background, it was an immediate and long-lasting success. Praised as "…an able follower of Mozart." Süssmayr was at the apex of his career. The Spiegel played across Europe, five publishers offered various arrangements, and other offers came to his door. This all culminated in his appointment as Kapellmeister at the National Theater, in charge of German opera production.

In this post, he now devoted himself to composing and seeking out German stage works for "his" house. Patriotic works were composed to take advantage of the current wave of enthusiasm for Austria's efforts in the early Napoleonic wars. Cantata's for nobles were produced. Dance music for royal balls came forth. Composers such as Beethoven and Paganini based variation works of theirs off of his themes. From 1794 up until 1800, Franz was considered a successful, popular composer in the Viennese theater.

After this point, however, the scene began to change very rapidly. Süssmayr's works were seemingly becoming more and more formula-driven, and the audience taste changed sufficiently so that his newer works enjoyed less and less success. Schikaneder as well suffered in this regard as time went on. The controversy over the Requiem suddenly came out as to who owned the rights and, as well, the details of its completion. Süssmayr wrote the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel a letter on 8 February 1800 detailing his claims as to what he had completed, and what Mozart had composed. While he, to all intents and purposes, was truthful in this letter, there appears to have been left a lingering feeling that he had deliberately worked to pass off his work as that of Mozart's. However, once the facts became known and published, the general commentary in musical circles moved towards the complaints of awkwardness of some of the material, poor workmanship, and the idea of him as a second-rate composer, intruding in on Mozart's coattails. Whether these charges can be leveled or not, no one directly connected with the controversy ever intimated any such claims against him. Critics and scholars were leading that chorus.

At this point as well, Süssmayr began an illness that eventually developed into tuberculosis, the same disease that killed his mother. With this death sentence (no cure) now hanging over him, his works appear to lose even more of their inventiveness. One of his last works is noted only for the famous woman dancer Vignano appearing in it clothed in a flesh-colored body stocking, which raised a few eyebrows (at least). With about his last work, List und Zufall (Cunning and Chance), Süssmayr had to implore the theater director where it was to be staged, to accept it despite reservations on the part of management. With alcoholism running in his family as well, he unfortunately turned to the bottle as some sort of relief from the slide his career had dropped into. The combination of disease and drink only served to accelerate his withdrawal from music and the theater.

His older sister Maria Anna kept house for him during this time, as Franz never married. About a year before his death, he seems to have mentioned in a letter an intention to do so, but no name was ever forthcoming. Confined for the most part to a single room, Süssmayr's horizons dwindled down into more or less surviving until the following day. His mentor Pasterwitz, an anchor in his life, died on 26 January 1803, and Süssmayr's sister Therese as well (of tuberculosis) on 10 May 1803. Finally, on 17 September 1803, Franz Xaver Süssmayr died from the complications of tuberculosis himself.

A Chronicle of the Year 1803 remarked that "…his death was hardly noted; only one journal devoted but a line to it." The writer then asked, "Would this have been possible anywhere but in Austria?" Out of money (despite income from his compositions and his secured post at the National theater), he was buried in a pauper's grave in the cemetery at St. Marx, the same location as his beloved teacher Mozart. And, as with his master's, Süssmayr's gravesite is lost to us as well. Slighted, ignored and then forgotten, Franz Xaver Süssmayr is as close to a non-entity as a composer can come. Only the flare of his work on the Requiem saves his name from disappearing almost completely.

Final Note: Being a Kapellmeister of the National Theater, his portrait had been painted for display and hence posterity. However, it was lost early on, and in tracing it down, the sad fact was revealed that it appears to have been destroyed during WWII. Thus, not a single image of Süssmayr is known to exist today, rendering him faceless to us as well.

Afterword:
It has always been talk a lot about Süssmayr’s completion of Mozart’s Requiem, and in lesser amounts about his completion of the Rondo for Horn K.514, which makes up the second half of Mozart’s Horn Concerto #1 K.412/514. There has been further speculation here and there as to what other, if any, Mozart works Süssmayr may have had a hand in completing, but nothing of any substance has been brought forth. (Interestingly, Süssmayr claimed in a letter that his stage farce “Der rauschige Hans,” composed in 1791, “…had been composed under the supervision of the late, immortal Mozart.” True or not, it IS a claim for collaboration of sorts, as I doubt Mozart would have merely offered verbal help. The Attwood study fragments show a Mozart very active with corrections, for one example.) So, while doing some checking on Süssmayr in general, it was somewhat of a surprise to read in the latest issue of Grove's this line in the section about him: “Süssmayr may also have had some share (along with Johan Anton Andre’ and Friedrich Johann Eck) in the work known as Mozart’s Violin Concerto in Eb (K.268/Anh C14.04), whose authenticity has long been questioned.”

I broached this in a query to dennis, who researched this subject and came up with the following material. It’s all too good to keep locked away, so here’s the background, as such, to this statement in Grove’s.

The first mention found of Süssmayr in regard to K.268 is in the Abert biography of Mozart (1919). What Abert actually did was expand on a hypothesis of Ernst Rudorff (AMA-Rev. Report of 1888), in which Rudorff expressed the opinion many passages in the Concerto were conclusively against Mozart's authorship. But Rudorff believed there might be some Mozart material in the Concerto, and hypothesized perhaps Mozart left incomplete the 1st and 3rd movements and these were filled out and supplemented by some unskilled hand. Rudorff mentioned no names. Abert suggested that Süssmayr or Andre (of course the publisher) himself might have been responsible for completing this work. Wyzewa/St.Foix also mention Süssmayr and Andre in their 1922 piece on the Concerto.

In 1931 Eulenburg issued a miniature score edition of the Concerto. A Forward by Rudolf Gerber was supplied. Gerber went a little further, stating Mozart finished the opening tutti and the whole of the solo Violin part of the 1st movement. In the two other movements Mozart would have sketched out the thematic ideas. These sketches were then handed over to Andre or Süssmayr for completion "…a task which was undertaken in a half-hearted and somewhat inartistic fashion". However, in that same year of 1931 C.B. Oldman published on article in Music and Letters on the Concerto K.268. Reviewing what others had written about this Concerto, Oldman calls the suggestion Süssmayr or Andre might have anything to do with the completion of the Concerto "…surely quite improbable". Einstein in K3 only summarized what everyone said of the Concerto and makes no clear stand.

Surely since Oldman, the Süssmayr claims have not been repeated in any serious scholarship. So I am surprised Grove's mentions his name. But, it is another alternate theory on how this particular violin work can in places sound very Mozartean, yet in others be somewhat clueless. It should be pointed out that Süssmayr apparently has no concerti accredited to him, although it appears that he started both a clarinet and piano concerto, finishing neither (although the piano concerto does contain two movements, apparently complete).

Sources:
Gartner, Heinz Constanze Mozart After the Requiem Amadeus Press, Portland, Oregon USA 1986
Gutman, Robert Mozart: A Cultural Biography Harcourt Brace & Co. New York 1999

Articles:
Freyhan, Michael "Towards the Original Text of Mozart's Die Zauberflote" in The Journal of the American Musicological Society Summer 1986 #2, pgs 355-380
Freyhan, Michael "Rediscovery of the 18th Century Scores and Parts of 'Die Zauberflote' showing the Text Used at the Hamburg Premiere in 1793" in the Mozart Jahrbuch 1997, pgs 109-149

CDs:

Archiv 474 193-2 Sinfonia turchesa in C
Hungaroton CLD 4042 Nas Namenfest (cantata for children)
Novalis 150 061-2 Clarinet Concerto in D (one movement only, fragment)
Concilium musicum Wien CHR 77136 Divertimento in C
Concilium musicum Wien CCD 422 Sinfonia in C

Website of Note:

http://www.suessmayr.at/suessmayr.html

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Sussmayr
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 08:58:52 04/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Gary,

For once I've had a little time to read TWO great postings in a row! Great work--And if poor Sussmayr sank into obscurity, he has you to thank for keeping him in the minds of us lovers of Mozart.

Thanks!--Teresa

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Sussmayr
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 01:13:00 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Gary,

Congratulations! Superb contribution and I agree with Teresa - Sussmayr has to thank you greatly for your efforts.

Best regards,
Tel

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Sussmayr
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 03:54:54 04/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hello Gary,

Thanks for the wonderful and most informative posting.

Bill

Subject: any advice...?
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 16:36:46 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I am going to be writing a paper and giving an oral report at my college on Mozart and some modern aspects that appear in his music... I was wondering if people on this board can point me to some good pieces to use as examples of modern/advanced harmonies, instrumentation, meter, etc...

So far I will be mentioning the two orchestras used in DG in the dance scene (i.e. different meters) as well as the oboe quartet last movement.

I also plan to mention the Adagio+Allegro for glass haromnica as a rather modern (for its time) instrument being used as well as the works for mechanical organ..

any other suggestions?
thanks all!

Subject: Re: any advice...?
From: CBarb
To: All
Date Posted: 00:40:50 04/26/04 ()
Email Address: cbarbieri1@comcast.net
 

Message:
I lack any formal music education so I would not presume to give you any "advice," but I cannot resist remarking how the 3rd movement of the C minor piano concerto (k491) to my ear seems to presage elements of modern music such as jazz. The rythyms seem to shift a lot, and for the lead piano passages, the rythym seems as important as the inventiveness of the notes. I also seem to hear syncopation, but that might not be true because I'm not sure I know what that is.

It's an astounding end to what must rank as one of his greatest works among the great. The whole piece sounds modern to me, and I find it incomprehensible that it was written almost 230 years ago.

CBarb

Subject: Re: any advice...?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 19:41:49 04/22/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
If you would like to consider something genuinely startling, take a look at the first movement of the C major piano concerto, K. 503, m. 208-210, and the parallel passage at m. 393-395. It's not very much music. After all, how brilliant can one be in three measures. But it is very much a surprising passage.

The first thing I suggest you do is listen to the work beginning a half dozen or so measures before the critical ones identified above, and be sure to go a half dozen measures after the critical ones.

See if you find anything strange about the three critical measures. If you do find them strange, why are they strange? Be specific. If something is unsual about these three measures, state exactly what is happeneing to make the passage so bizarre. And why should a discussion of this be of interest to your teacher or to anyone else, for that matter?

I don't want to say any more now. It would be best if you described what is so remarkable about these measures without being told. It's not that hard, but it is without precedent in Mozart's music. And should you speak about this matter in an oral presentation, you will knock your teacher dead.

If you get stuck, come on back and I'll tell you what you should have found astonishing about these measures, and it's best if you found it without hints. But if the subject doesn't interest you, that's OK, too. However, it would be hard to find a passage in Mozart's music that is more modern than this.

Subject: Re: any advice...?
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 00:04:21 04/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Thank you Mr. Leeson for the suggestion... I remember an indept talk about this section on the old mozart board and I will definetely discus this occurence with great wonder ! if there is anything else you can think of I would be greatful! here is what I have so far

1.DG 3 orchestras/ meters
2.Oboe quartet last movement
3.use of odd/new instrumentations (i.e. glass harmonica, mechanical organ, piano and wind quintet etc.)
4. K.503 and 7/8 meter
5. K.465 intro
6. K.453a harmonies + humor
7. COnfutatis modulation

Subject: Re: any advice...?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 09:07:48 04/23/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
I see you have found the idea of the 7/8 meter at the places I mentioned. More important than how he got into 7/8 meter is how he gets out of it.

It is easy to get into any complex meter, but getting out of it requires some careful management.

Subject: Re: any advice...?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 19:39:03 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Have your thought of the String Quartet K465, the Piano Sonata
K332, String Trio K563? Could be something differnt in these you
could look into.

Perhaps the Symphony in g-minor K550 and how he added
Clarinets to the instrumenation to add texture.

Piano concerto in c-minor K491 uses very large orchestra (in
terms of different instruments used) compared to most other
Piano Concertos of the time.

First movements of Piano Concertos have a more structured form
than other composer's Concertos, you could find one of the books
on how this worked for Mozart (Check library section of this site
for some books to find ideas)

The late Piano/Violin Sonata and Piano Trios--giving all
instruments a more equal treatment as opposed to the older Piano
sonata with accompaniment of instrument(s).

His multi-sectional finales of Figaro.

How he added instruments to Handel Oratorios to "update" them
for Vienna of the late 1780's.

Some thoughts, I am sure there are many others.

dennis

Subject: New Items in News Room
From: MozartForum
To: All
Date Posted: 12:53:20 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Just added is our most recent News Room listings of various
items. I think all will be happy to see a few of the newly released
CDs.

(I had to empty my cache to see it--or the old News Room
appeared-- other computers may work different--or more than
likely others know more about this sort of thing than I do).

If anyone has purchased a recent CD release, DVD, or book that
they believe would be of interest in a review, please feel free to
send it to one of the MozartForum owner/operators (or the
Webmaster listed below) and it will be placed in the News Room as
an addition or in the next complete new version (in about a
month).

Enjoy.

MozartForum

Subject: New items in NewsRoom
From: MozartForum
To: All
Date Posted: 12:14:49 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Just added is our most recent NewsRoom listings of various items.
I think all will be happy to see a few of the newly released CDs.

(I had to empty my cache to see it--or the old NewsRoom
appeared--, other computers work be different--or more than
likely others know more about this sort of this than I do).

If anyone has purchased a recent CD release, DVD, or book that
they believe would be of interest in a review, please feel free to
send it to one of the MozartForum owner/operators (or the
Webmaster listed below) and it will be placed in the NewsRoom as
an addition or in the next complete new version (in about a
month).

Enjoy.

MozartForum

Subject: Reminder of Forum Rules
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 07:02:49 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Just a reminder that this Forum is moderated and has rules,
which everyone should read from time to time. "We expect that
you will treat each other here with respect and civility".

MozartForum

Subject: Re: Reminder of Forum Rules
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 09:37:36 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
??? This is the most civil forum I have ever seen! Guess I missed something.
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: Reminder of Forum Rules
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 10:52:40 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I agree with Dennis. Outside of my books, this board is my only source for Mozart information, in part because my time is limited.

I appreciate this board and I am learning so much. Thanks for all of your great postings! PLEASE, PLEASE, leave the rubbish in the bin!

Gurn, how's the cd's?

Bill

Subject: Re: Reminder of Forum Rules
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 11:06:25 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Bill,
They are just splendid! I have so very little Mozart that is HIP, other than these only the symphonies by the AAM. I only hope that I can acquire other works of this quality, always taking such a chance when pursuing this particular grail.
Thanks,
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: Reminder of... CD's
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 07:35:36 04/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hello Gurn,

I'm glad you like them! I feel the same way. Some things have to happen for me and then I am going to purchase the entire Brilliant Classics collection we posted about earlier. I will keep the cd's I have because I chose them for special reasons.

This set we have is favorite, as well as my Jeno Jando Naxos piano set. My Naxos sting quartet/quintet sets are special too. They are by the Eder String Quartet. I like Mozart music performed by musicians from the area (old Austro-Hungarian Empire), because they seem to have a special feel for the music. To me, anyway. It is the same for me with Haydn and the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra. They are great! I began to feel this way after attending a Mozart concert in the Archbishop's hall in Vienna. The concert was performed by a Hungarian trio and it was absolutely Nagy Szeru! (Great!).

Incidentally, this board was born out of problems with nasty postings on the other board. As I said before, I learn so much from this group, I'd hate to see this forum tarnished.

Have a good day!
Bill

Subject: Local Musicians
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 07:56:47 04/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Bill,
I was unaware of any of the history which preceeded this board. I am only thinking that so far I have seen nothing at all that would be out of line, a most urbane group of people, even my friend Steve who attracted me here from the Beethoven board that I frequent! ;-))
I also have the Eder Quartet / Fehervari Quintets on Naxos, I think they are very special. I have some Eder Quartet other works too, but not their Mozart Quartets. However, I share you belief that local artists are the best. It would be hard to describe, I love the French phrase "je ne c'est quoi", it says so much while saying so little (!), but anyway it adequately describes the phenomenon, I think. Where this really shows off is in the music of Dvorak, local groups seem to be playing their own "soul music", yes? In any case, I am pleased to find one with shared tastes. BTW, I am purchasing today that Haydn Symphony set with the Austro-Hungarian Orchestra, so once again I shall be able to put you to the test! ;-)
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: Local Musicians
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 19:50:23 04/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hello Gurn,

You won't be dissapointed with the Haydn. There are nice notes on it as well. The set is packaged in cardboard sleeves, so it won't take up a lot of space.

Enjoy!
Bill

Subject: Re: Local Musicians
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 09:10:15 04/23/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
What is the URL of the Beethoven board you mention in your note?

Subject: Beethoven site
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 09:51:35 04/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dan...

It's listed on our search page under "Useful Links"

Subject: Lorenzo Da Ponte on E-Bay!
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 15:41:58 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hello all,

I just thought this might be interesting. I bid on it, but I have my limit! I tried to post this yesterday, but was not able to.

Sorry for not providing a direct link, but you could probably copy the following info and do a search on E-Bay.

Mozart Librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte/RARE Signed Doc.! NR
Librettist for Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte! Item number: 3810798440

Any takers?
Bill

Subject: Re: Lorenzo Da Ponte on E-Bay!
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 15:54:26 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
To give a little more detail to what I posted...

This is a check from 1829 that was written to a man, who turned it over to Da Ponte. Da Ponte would have been about 80 yrs old at this time?

Very interesting to see his signature!
Bill

Subject: Re: Lorenzo Da Ponte on E-Bay!
From: Zevy
To: All
Date Posted: 20:52:12 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Cool!

Subject: Back to Mozart---His Symphony Nr.37
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 08:45:26 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Many times the question comes up that someone has a recording
of the complete Mozart Symphonies, or the later Mozart
Symphonies and #37 is missing. Here is an explanation for the
omission.

Michael Haydn's Symphony in G-major P.16 is dated May 23,
1783. It was put together and composed for festivities
accompanying the consecration of Nikolaus II Hofmann as Abbot
of Michelbeurn in May. The first movement served as the Sinfonia
of the Applausus-Cantata for this occasion, the second movement
originally was an Aria that was sung at the Abbot's confirmation.
Charles Sherman believes the Finale also somehow figured in the
celebrations because of its mood of boisterous good cheer. The
autograph of Michael's Haydn's P.16 is in the Esterhazy Archive,
National Museum, Budapest. It was edited and published in 1968
by Charles Sherman.

Mozart copied out the Allegro and half of the Andante and a
copyist completed the Andante and Finale. [Zaslaw incorrectly
includes a Menuet & Trio, but there are only 3 movements to the
symphony. K6 states Mozart's autograph breaks off in the middle
of the first allegro. The work is not printed yet in NMA.] This copy
was among Mozart's possessions after his death [this autograph is
now in Jagillonska Library, Krakow], and listed by Köchel as K444
and printed in the AMA as Symphony Nr.37. In 1907 Luther Perger
and Georges de Saint Foix published the symphony and an article
showing the Symphony was by Michael Haydn [without the
introduction].

The best article on K444/425a is in Zaslaw's Mozart Symphony
book (page 392). Condensed it states Johann Andre believed K444
was the symphony Mozart wrote "at break neck speed" in Linz. By
the time the true Linz Symphony was identified (K425) the myth
was born that K444 was also written at this time. Alan Tyson's'
paper studies show the paper was that used in Vienna in February
to April 1784. Zaslaw shows how Mozart was in need of
symphonies for his concerts in Vienna. In a letter of May 15, 1784,
Mozart states he actually possessed 3 of Haydn's newest
symphonies. It has always been thought Mozart was referring to
the 3 jottings of incipits of Joseph Haydn's symphonies #75, 47
and 62 (Anh A59). However Zaslaw feels they are more probably 3
MICHAEL Haydn symphonies, and the 3 newest would have been
P.16 in G, P.17 in Eb and P.18 in Bb. Thus Mozart would have had
a copy of P.16 from a dishonest Salzburg copyist. Zaslaw does not
try to explain if Mozart had a copy from a dishonest copyist, why
he would copy out the first movement and half of the second.
St. Foix believed Mozart received the symphony from Michael
Haydn "as a souvenir of past times", as either Mozart needed it for
one of his Vienna concerts or for the Linz concert.

The question of why Mozart added the slow introduction is not
addressed by Zaslaw. St. Foix felt Mozart regarded a slow
introduction "as almost indispensable" for the opening of a "grand
symphony". However a paragraph later he calls the symphony
"infinitely simpler and more archaic" than what Mozart was
composing at the time; and the Adagio maetoso was "by no means
entirely in key with the movement it is intended to prepare". [I
have a feeling this sentence is somehow a bad translation of the
original French.] Robert Dearling hypothesized perhaps Count
Thun expressed a liking for slow introductions. Dearling believes
Mozart's Adagio maestoso tends to outweigh Haydn's Allegro con
spirito because orchestras take Haydn's movement much too fast.

Marius Flothuis, also believing the symphony was used in Linz,
questioned why Mozart--being rushed for time--would take the
time to add a slow introduction. He believes the reason may have
been that in Mozart's view the symphony was still not ready, it
started too much "ex abrupto". Thus the introduction is not solely
an ornament, but rather a composition correction.

Mozart's autograph comprises 4 pages with 7 1/2 written sides.
Michael Haydn's symphony is scored for 2 Violins, Viola, Bass,
Flute (in the second movement), 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons and 2
Horns; while the AMA scores it for Violins, Viola, 2 Oboes, 2
Horns, Cello, Bass and Flute (in the 2nd movement).

The AMA Mozart Symphony #37 reduces the colla parte writing in
the winds overall and eliminates altogether the important Bassoon
solo that is the heart of the second movement (along with some
other wind passages). Lesser changes of dynamics and phrasing
are found throughout the symphony.

Christopher Hogwood's recording of K444/425a in his Complete
Symphonies on L'Oiseau Lyre (also the recording on Naxos)
includes the Michael Haydn Bassoon solo, so does not actually
reflect what was considered to be Mozart's Symphony Nr.37. I
have an old recording by Leslie Jones conducting the Little
Orchestra of London that plays the movement without the Bassoon
solo.

dennis

Subject: Test
From: HWForums
To: All
Date Posted: 18:59:29 04/20/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@hwforums.com
 

Message:
test

Subject: Re: Test followup
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 20:19:11 04/20/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
test

Subject: Mozart's pupils
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 14:36:54 04/18/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
In Gary's interesting posting, at least two men are mentioned as having been Mozart's pupils; i.e., Eibl and Eybler. Interestingly, Süssmayr is not indicated as having been Mozart's pupil, which says that the information, even if true, was not known by the author in 1795.

My point here is that a number of musicians are listed as having been pupils of Mozart even though there is scant evidence that they really were. Does anyone know a reliable source that establishes any of the three men above as being real pupils; i.e., some formal program of study with Mozart?

Süssmayr is the most problematic case. Some very important books speak of him as having been Mozart's pupil, yet Mozart's occasionally disrespectful attitude towards him (he once said that he was like a "duck in the winter") are not the kinds of words that a teacher would be likely to use when referring to a pupil.

Further, there is no documentation from Mozart that speaks of Süssmayr having been a pupil. Generally the strongest case offered is that he went along with Mozart to Prague where he wrote the recitativi for Titus. But I'm not so sure about the "went along with." I think he was there and perhaps for some other reasons. And the only evidence that establishes him as the author of the recitativi of Titus is that they are in his hand. There is no documentation that establishes him as the author of those recitatvi. But Süssmayr made money as a copyist (he did work for Salieri in this respect) so his copying the Titus music might have been more mechanical than creative.

In effect, the whole Prague business about both Mozart and Süssmayr being there really cannot be used as evidence that their was a pupil/teacher relationship.

Is it possible that people like Eibl and Eybler asserted that they were Mozart's pupils in order to give themselves more authority?? Certainly there is nothing from Süssmayr that says he was Mozart's pupil.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 21:44:25 04/18/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
Dear Dan,

I'm not sure at all that Sussmayr WAS a pupil of Mozart's; only that of all the choices really open to us, what evidence can be brought forth to place him solidly within any one of these choices?

Our choices appear to be:

1) Partner/collaborator: Of which I’ve seen nothing offered to support any such claim. Mozart cannot be shown to have taken this route ever, with the exception being (perhaps) the opera Der Stein der Weisen. One would suspect that if he did seriously plan to collaborate with another composer, it wouldn’t be with a newcomer/unknown who could bring little to the table.

2) Paid assistant/copyist: Perhaps the most likely alternative to his being a pupil. The problem here is, with Mozart having such a struggle with money, would he choose to pay Sussmayr to perform a task he (Mozart) could do himself? As well, we have a fair number of Mozart’s scores in the hands of copyists; none of them are by Sussmayr, except perhaps those noted in the letters (Die Zauberflote and Tito).

3) Friend helping out another friend: Another good theory, but then how did Sussmayr support himself, if he’s working for Mozart there in Vienna and also in Baden? The letters show that he’s out in Baden helping out Constanze and working on Die Zauberflote. On his own nickel? Out of the goodness of his heart? Perhaps, but wouldn’t you suspect that Mozart would mention such goodness at some point in the letters?

4) Pu-pil n. 1. A person, esp. a young person, who is being taught under the supervision of a teacher or tutor. In this case, as with others, Sussmayr would be taking compositional study with Mozart in exchange for doing some copying and other such tasks. With Hummel, he apparently took him in at no charge (though I tend to doubt this; some sort of payment must have been arranged), but that was back in the “flush” days of the mid-1780’s. By 1790, Mozart would have either traded lessons for work, or someone paid. With no evidence at hand, I would suggest that Pater Georg Pasterwitz, music director of the Kremsmunster Abbey and its representative at court in Vienna be considered. He is reported to have considered Sussmayr his favorite pupil, so perhaps he was funding Sussmayr’s studies in Vienna. Certainly they remained friends until they both died in 1803.

While I don't have a lot of information on Sussmayr, it appears he showed up in Vienna in 1788 from Kremsmunster Abbey. I know of NO job or compositions that he sold to support himself at this time. I do know he apparently played in various orchestras, as there is a remaining receipt showing him being paid for playing in some performance. He also appears to have dealt with Salieri as well, and my information says specifically that he had an "apprenticeship" at first with Salieri, then Mozart. No sources cited. And, unlike other skilled pupils (say Attwood and Ployer), we have no remaining paperwork to show examples or the extent of any such study.

Given that background, where can we place him? We have no mention at all that he was in any way Mozart's partner in anything. He did help work on Tito and Die Zauberflotte, primarily making copies and creating simple recitatives. These do seem like apprenticeship chores. These types of remarks appear in various letters from 1791.

A paid assistant could do those things; did Mozart ever pay anyone to perform such tasks? No evidence I know of. He did pay copyists, but he ever put other copyists up at inns or spas? A friend could as well help out with these things. But, what was Sussmayr doing to feed himself so as to allow him the time to help out Mozart?

This is why, I think, the concept of pupil has won out. We have NOTHING in writing from any primary source anywhere that states their specific relationship. The letters show Mozart kidding him nearly unmercifully; this is always good evidence of at least a friendly rapport. We only have Mozart's remarks to Constanze at Baden on Sussmayr needing to get work on various projects.

I make no solid claim that he was a pupil. Only that what scant evidence we have gives pupil or paid assistant the higher odds of being the true case. We do have secondary and tertiary sources that call him a pupil, but in any case he could have called himself that, and others naturally believed it. Certainly what I have seen on that shows that he was called a pupil after Mozart's death, not before. On the other hand, no one ever called him a partner, or referred to him as a paid assistant at any point, or at least disputed the term pupil at the time.

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 17:46:31 04/19/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
It may be that Constanze referred to Süssmayr as a pupil (though not early on, only after his involvement with the Requiem was made known) as a ploy designed to minimize his and strengthen her late husband's contribution to the Requiem's completion. That is, if he were stated to be a pupil of Mozart then it might be asserted that he would not have produced anything other than that which Mozart taught him. Perhaps in her eyes the student is perceived as capable of producing only what the teacher would produce.

This would minimize Süssmayr's involvement as a creative artist and make him only a clerk, a vessel through whom Mozart's talents would pass. It would act as support for her argument that Süssmary really did nothing very important in completing her late husband's unfinished work.

Insofar as Mozart's view of Süssmayr was concerned, he seems to have been more than unimpressed with his talent. Some of his thoughts on Süssmayr as a person were expressed cryptically and they were brutally critical and accusatory of his lifestyle. I've got a paper coming out in the 2003 Jahrbuch dealing with that subject and will present it publicly in Oberlin, Ohio during the Feb. 2005 MSA affair.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 21:45:02 04/19/04 ()
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Message:
May all very well be true.

However, a master need not be impressed with a pupil's talent, as long as the benefits of the payment for teaching (whatever they might be) outweigh the deficits of talent. Mozart wasn't too thrilled with the daughter of the Duc de Guines either, when he was in Paris in 1778, saying that she had no ideas on composition, whatsoever. But it was all fine as long as the promise of pay exceeded the talent lack. When he didn't get paid enough, he quit.

As to Mozart being unimpressed with Sussmayr's talents as a composer, the letters do paint a somewhat less than flattering tale. I would suspect that Sussmayr must have showed Mozart some of his works, as by 1790 he had apparently composed a good amount of church music along with some theater works. Sussmayr somewhere mentions that Mozart had looked over a theater piece of his and made some corrections/additions to it. Since we don't really know the dynamics of their relationship, it may be that Mozart enjoyed poking at Sussmayr in order to get a reaction. Since letters back then were often written with the intent of public reading, Mozart's written comments to Constanze might have been put in there for his "hearing" as well. Certainly Leutgeb and Freystadler were never spared the barbed remarks either.

The point still remains; if he wasn't a pupil, why was he performing all these tasks for Mozart? If he was a paid assistant, where's all the work he copied over? We have material from several Mozart copyists, none of which are Sussmayr. If he wasn't a pupil, why was he working on Mozart's projects in Baden while Constanze was there? This implies he was staying there as well; who paid for that?

Sussmayr apparently spent time being taught by Salieri as well, before he ended up with Mozart. I doubt Salieri would do such a thing for free either, though I believe he did help several people gratis, so that may be a case here as well. I don't think anything has come up in Sussmayr's handwriting in connection with Salieri, especially any copyist work.

Again, without any proof, I suspect that Sussmayr was getting his lessons covered by the Kremsmunster Abbey via Pater Pasterwitz. Except for one invoice involving pay for one playing, I don't know of any work, job or position Sussmayr held/performed in Vienna from his arrival in 1788-89 until after Mozart's death, when he had an opera staged by Schikaneder. There may be something someone knows that I don't; if so please let us all know here! But, given that there appears to be naught, how did he survive? The simple answer is that someone funded him, and since he was the favorite pupil of Pasterwitz, who was living in Vienna as the court representative of the abbey, it would seem that the funding must have come from this source.

In any event, I look forward to the Mozart Jahrbuch article!

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 23:10:31 04/19/04 ()
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Message:

Please, may I point out that Constanze NEVER mentioned Sussmayr as being Mozart's pupil. It leads nowhere to read into her actions things that she did not do or say which are but a figment of a writer's imagination.

However, she did inform Breitkopf & Hartel that they should contact Sussmayr to find out where Mozart's work ended and his began. She also mentioned that no two handwritings are the same.(This she did in two of her letters to B&H). Whereupon Sussmayr was contacted. In his reply to Breitkopf & Hartel he seems to have claimed to have composed more of the Requiem than he actually did.

Please refer to the Baden Police archives where both Pater Pasterwitz and Sussmayr arrived on the same day and resided at the same hotel. The name of the hotel escapes me but I did supply it to Mr. Leeson some time ago. (In the meantime, many of my papers, which do not pertain to Constanze Mozart's life, have been tossed out due to lack of space since we left our huge house and moved to smaller quarters.)

In Baden, Constanze stayed in a room above a butcher shop. This is supported by Mozart's letter to Choir Master Stoll at Baden. (letter No. 595. Emily Anderson. Vol. II). I simply bring this up just in case her co-habitting with Sussmayr should somehow sneak into this correspondence. It would, after all, be nothing new. Francis Carr has made a nice pot of money out of besmirching Mozart's wife's name, even buying a country estate out of the proceeds of his book and a subsequent BBC "documentary".

Kind Regards,

Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 19:26:50 04/20/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
It is incorrect to state as if it were fact that Süssmayr and Pasterwitz arrived together in Baden and stayed at the same hotel (Die Kröne). The assertion that this information exists in Baden police records cannot be corroborated despite extensive searching to find it. Examination of the Musiksammlung of the Austrian National Library and the Austrian State Archives failed to turn up any such information.

A professional familiar with the ONB was hired to look for these and other records that were claimed to have been seen. But nothing was found, even with the assistance of the ONB staff who were very cooperative with the researcher hired to find this material. Had it been found, it would have been extremely important information. But it cannot be found and it is questionable if, after such a search, it exists at this time, if it ever existed at all.

While this information could be true, there is no evidence that can be put forward at this time to sustain this position. As such, the entire hypothesis must rejected since it has no evidentiary support.

Thus the assertion that the two men arrived in Baden and stayed at the same hotel must be relegated to the status of an unconfirmable assertion. It can be presented, of course, as can any hypothesis, but without evidence it has no standing and is, therefore, not believable.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 23:48:37 04/20/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Unless you do the search yourself, you may never find it. Delegating such work is always lacking in substance. Asking personnel if there is such and such in the archives, is of no use at all. One has to have "zitzfleisch" and study the records, bit by bit. It is indeed time consuming.

Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Margaret Mikulska
To: All
Date Posted: 04:55:20 04/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
: One has to have "zitzfleisch" and study the records, bit : by bit.

====

Und wie viele Zitzen braucht man um genug "zitzfleisch" für Musikforschung zu haben ?

-MM

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 02:22:28 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I did the search myself and I couldn't locate these records either. They don't exist. Let me quote an old posting of mine from openmozart.net:

"As a scholar let me say something final on the mysterious Police records that (like UFOs) have been spotted but once in the year 1991 in a place of uncertain topographic identity. Any document that is supposed to be part of a completely catalogued library (with the entire catalogue of the Austrian National Library available on-line), a document that furthermore lacks any recorded shelf mark and therefore cannot be located again must from a scholarly point of view be considered as non-existent."

Subject: For Mr. Lorenz - Law Suit
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 03:48:34 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Mr. Lorenz,

In one of your postings on Open Mozart you have mentioned the discoverer of the papers regarding the Lichnowsky law suit versus Mozart. As the find was described in the 1991 issue of Mitteilungen of the International Stiftung Mozarteum by Walter Brauneis, WITHOUT mentioning the name of the person who discovered the lawsuit, I assumed that it was made by Dr. Brauneis. This same mistake was also made by Mrs. Erna Schwerin in her article in the Newsletter of "Friends of Mozart" No. 30.

As I wish to post further information regarding the law suit, could you please let me know the name of the person WHO actually discovered this information.

Thank you.
Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: For Mr. Lorenz - Law Suit - P.S.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 06:20:59 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Mr. Lorenz,
I have just remembered. It was Hofrat Mraz.
Sorry to have troubled you.

Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: Mozart's pupils
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 03:42:10 04/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Mr. Lorenz, In one of your postings on Open Mozart you have mentioned the discoverer of the papers regarding the Lichnowsky suit versus Mozart. As the find was described in the 1991 issue of Mitteilungen of the International Stiftung Mozarteum by Walter Brauneis, without mentioning the name of the person who discovered the lawsuit, I assumed that it was Dr. Brauneis who had discovered it. This mistake was also shared by Mrs. Erna Schwerin in her article in the Newsletter of "Friends of Mozart" No. 30.

As I wish to post further information regarding the law suit, could you please let me know the name of the person who actually discovered this information.

Thank you.
Agnes Selby.

Subject: Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 12:56:56 04/18/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook

MOZART'S VIENNA
YEARBOOK OF THE MUSIC OF VIENNA AND PRAGUE 1796
By Johann Ferdinand Ritter von Schönfeld

Preface: I recently acquired a book off of Ebay entitled Haydn and His World, a series of essays edited by Elaine Sisman. I've only just started this book, which looks very good. What caught my eye in an initial skimming was the Yearbook document at the end of the book. It is an attempt to list the various notable patrons, composers and musicians (amateur and professional) of both cities circa 1795/96. Only the first three or so chapters are translated here and deal with Vienna, the balance deals with Prague and the professionals, court and noble orchestras, publishers and so forth of both cities. While this is some five years past Mozart's death, there are many people in here familiar to most of us. As well, music was beginning its transition into the Romantic style, and some comments appear on this trend as well. The introduction to this work states that the intent is not to criticize anyone, but instead to note his or her contributions to the scene. So, for the most part, entries operate under the guise of "if you can't say anything nice, don't say much at all." However, there are SOME entries where this practice slips a bit.

The entries on people is set up alphabetically, with the spelling of the time (and it's useful to note that a LOT of mistakes are made with names) left intact. I've selected a few entries I thought were interesting for display here. My editorial comments will be set within brackets [such as this] and deletions from the text by me as…. Finally, throughout the text it is mentioned that people play or compose for keyboard. It looks at this time as the actual terms are in flux, as pianoforte, fortepiano and piano are all used in here. This may, however, be a translation point, not something inherent within the original text.

And so, on to the selections.

Selected Entries

Albrechtsberger, Johann George: Director of music at St. Stephen's [he followed Leopold Hofmann when the latter died, for whom Mozart was an unpaid assistant], he has written a well-known music textbook. His teaching is robust, through, and classical. Every musician who has studied under him has felt this to be an advantage. His main subject is church music and his fugues are exceptional. He is no friend of modish music in the galant style [meaning he didn't care for Mozart?]. He is an exceptional organist.

Auernhammer, Katarina/Charlotte/Theres: [All three sisters are mentioned as excellent singers and Charlotte plays the pianoforte "with a great deal of taste and fluency." Their older sister Josepha, is not listed here or under her married name of Bessenig. She was Mozart's piano pupil in 1781 and had many works dedicated to her. The sonata four hand K.488 was probably composed for her. I just wanted to show the breadth of musical depth in various families listed in this work. The Auernhammers are by no means any sort of exception.]

Bethofen, Ludwig van [got the name wrong here, as you can see!]: A musical genius who has chosen to live in Vienna for the last two years. He is generally admired for his extraordinary speed and the ease with which he plays extremely difficult music. He seems recently to have entered deeper into the inner sanctum of music, and one notices this particularly in the precision, feeling and taste of his work. It has heightened his fame considerably. His true love of art is revealed by the fact that he has become a student of our immortal Haiden [botched that name as well!], to be initiated into the sacred mysteries of composition. During the absence of Haiden, this great master…has transferred his student to the great Albrechtsberger. Much can be expected when such a genius entrusts himself to the most excellent masters. We have already several beautiful sonatas from him; the most recent are particularly outstanding. [Portentous notice for the years 1795-96, one would think].

Eberl, Anton: [pupil of Mozart] A skillful pianist and composer who mostly sets literary works. [That's the entire entry. Later, he was considered a rival to Beethoven, but obviously not in 1795!]

Eibler, Joseph: [Eybler, actually] Choirmaster at the Schottenkirche [pupil of Mozart and did some finishing on the Requiem as well], is very talented on the organ and pianoforte. He plays quickly and pleasantly and improvises quite well. He does not seem to like teaching however, for he has neglected some of his lectures and given others up. He has written some fine quartets for the violin, also some quintets for an oboe principale, but they are not in general use, since they were especially written for Herr Däumer and therefore teem with difficulties. One would hope, for the sake of music, that he does not allow himself to be blinded by the current madness, which looks for beauty in bombast, extreme speed, and in superabundance of notes [Romantics; what did I tell you?]. It would be a pity if such a man, with his talent, were to forget that music, as a fine art, must follow nature's principles and that nature, far from overloading her works, uses rules of the strictest economy and, in her simple way, reaches that grace which moves us so deeply. [That's a lot of editorial place here, so one wonders if the author senses Eybler "straying" and is attempting publicly to bring him back into the fold. From what I've heard of his music, he didn't stray far. That last sentence "It would be a pity…" would appear to make the Ritter von Schönfeld a Haydn man, more than a Mozartean].

Gyrowetz, Adalbert: [friend of Mozart and Haydn] A young artist who does not yet seem to have found his direction. He reads music and plays the piano with skill, and also plays the violin very well. The compositions he has written, quartets, sonatas and Italian ariettas, are generally popular, especially abroad [meaning not popular in Vienna? Or is "popular" meant here as not learned enough for connoisseurs?] The latter have very pleasant themes and good form and aesthetic. We can probably [Probably? Is there a lack of confidence here?] expect much of this genius. [No mention of his symphonies appears, which I think were published by Artaria in Vienna. Either they were neglected or forgotten. Mozart, supposedly, praised them in public and used at least one at one of his own concerts. Certainly one was issued under Mozart's name later.]

Haiden, Joseph: [Haydn, obviously. The entry for Haydn is the longest in this Yearbook, so I won't give all of it. Von Schönfeld's feeling for him is best displayed in this passage:] His works "…are full of bewitching harmonies, and they have this special quality of immediately attracting one's attention, holding it and moving on, as if in a labyrinth, through flowering meadows, past babbling brooks, alongside roaring streams. His themes often fall into two seemingly contradictory parts, which, in their very opposition, come to a wonderful agreement and, unnoticed, weave themselves into perfect accord." [Given the comments under Eybler about Nature, I think you can see who the model of musical perfection is for the good Ritter.]

Hoffmeister, Franz Anton: [Published many of Mozart's works] A composer who seems to be better known and liked abroad than in his hometown. Nobody but Haydn has written so much and for so many instruments. There are symphonies, sonatas, duets, trios, quartets, quintets, for violin, viola, flute, piano, etc. [Helps when you are a composer to own your own publishing firm! Hoffmeister's specialty was composing pleasant, relatively easy works for the amateur market. Hence, his problems with some of Mozart's works, especially the Piano Quartets in g and Eb.]

Hummel, Johann Nepomuk: [Pupil of Mozart] A pleasant youth of 15. A born genius on whom the Muse already smiled in his childhood. He is already a skillful pianist whom everybody who hears has to admire since he is, at this moment, such an artist that his equal can only be sought, not found [not even with Beethoven? This is a strong statement, given what was said about Beethoven, and the fact that Hummel is only 15!] It is generally believed that he may well claim a talent like Mozart's. [No pressure here!]. Yet sensitive listeners miss the light and shade as well as the soul in his playing, and since these are an integral part of music they much prefer the young Clement [another prodigy in the Mozart mold of the time]. But nobody can dispute his manly fire. He has written some sonatas which have been received with approval. Nobody is more able to produce variations on a given theme on the spot. [Which, if you recall, was always considered Beethoven's and Mozart's strong suits. This analysis makes for some very interesting food for thought, as Mozart was only five years dead and so could be remembered fairly well, and of course Beethoven was right there for daily comparison.]

Kozeluch, Leopold: Imperial Director of Music…known as a distinguished musician all over Europe for the last ten years. [Also had a nasty tongue: see my posting on him under Mozart's Contemporaries.] Few composers have written as much for the fortepiano. [Do you know of any now, though?] He has composed some very fine symphonies [the ones issued in 1787-88 were considered his best]. His concertos have the advantage of following a definite system and being written with the greatest clarity. [Not-Romantic leading, in other words]…His subjects are pleasing and sweetly caressing in the adagio. He has written many cantatas and arias, which prove he has a great capacity for handling vocal music, and they reveal his ability to write operas. [It might be remembered here that his cantata for the coronation of Leopold II in 1790 brought him much renown, and contributed greatly to his appointment as a court composer to the Vienna court after Mozart's death.] …Unfortunately, he is accused of being too pleased with himself and that he repeats himself or dwells too long in one place. There is less justice in the opinion that he plagiarizes parts of his own work though some passages may resemble one another. This can, after all, be seen as a characteristic of his style, and which classical composer may not be recognized by his style? [Not a sterling review here. Also, this is one of the earliest places where the term "classical composer" crops up. It again may mean here just older composers such as Bach or Handel, though].

Lange, Aloysia [nee Weber, Constanze's sister]: Woe the good reputation of our taste and knowledge that such a great virtuoso should live among us as an amateur! And woe if she has finally to seek her bread abroad! …Vienna searches all of Italy for singers and keeps such a paragon idle within its walls. Any composer whose work she performs will gain immeasurably…[And the review continues on in a like vein. A couple points here would be that her marriage was stormy and ultimately fell apart, contributing to a depression of sorts. She seems to have suffered from stomach cramps a lot, which have been noted as probably psychosomatic in scope. These items led to her being considered difficult at times to work with.]

Mozart, Madam [Constanze]: Plays the piano and sings quite nicely. [That's the entire entry. Nothing on the concerts or publishing of music. And, nothing on the two sons either. Frankly, I expected more here. Did the bad press start already by 1795?]

Paradis, Marie Theres [The blind pianist and composer. Mozart composed K.456 for her] Her touch is that of a master rather than a student, for she makes demands on herself which are neither sleight of hand nor bursts of noisy speed but are nourishment for the spirit and the heart. What is most praiseworthy is the way she plays is the feeling, taste, nuance, clarity and precision she shows. She is especially strong in the so-called pearly style, in which all the notes in a run stand in the same relationship to each other in power, clarity and tempo…
Her greatest works are the best known: the opera Der Schulkandidat, a melodrama Ariadne and Bacchus, and a cantata on the death of the King of France…. [Any works of hers recorded anywhere?]

Salieri, Antonio: Imperial Director of Music, is a student of the great Gassmann, his predecessor, and is a great admirer of the immortal Gluck on whose style he models his work. When one adds this to his own genius, one understands the source of his greatness. While we have a few piano and organ concertos, and he has written some church music, the Italian Opera is his chief field, and all of Europe is grateful for his output. Whatever differences of opinion and obsessions with innovation there may be, there is no doubt that his operas stand out among all others with their wit, tone-painting, humor, gracefulness, fire and good unartificial instrumental writing…

Sussmayr, Franz Xaver: The second director of the Hoftheater. He has recently become popular by writing several German operas. His opera Moses is written in an elevated style and perhaps not very suitable for the Theater auf der Wieden [Schkaneder's theater] for that very reason. But he has had a great deal more luck with his Spiegel von Arkadien (The Mirror of Arcadia) which, apart from some very well thought out pieces, including several trifling and well-known arias which he has inserted in suitable places, so that the whole thing has caused a sensation. [That whole sentence is oddly constructed, which implies that the "very well thought out pieces" are detraction from the work as a whole. In other words, it's a popular, not elevated work, that the critics don't care for?] what serves to recommend him is that he is a student of Mozart [someone obviously thinks so at this time], who valued him greatly. Indeed, he worked on some of the unfinished pieces of that great genius. [Very interesting note there! I don't believe Sussmayr's contribution to the Requiem was officially known officially in 1795, but does this indicate it was UNOFFICALLY known? Also note it says "pieces." For certain we know Sussmayr finished a Horn Concerto in 1792 as well as the Requiem, so those two works qualify the word "pieces." But, if the Requiem work is unknown, what might then be at least the other piece? Is there the possibility that Sussmayr completed other works, perhaps with no remaining manuscripts (say KAnh 498a, for example?). Any ideas or comments?]

Vanhal, Johann, Baptist [Contemporary of Mozart, played in a celebrated reading of one of the "Haydn" quartets along with Haydn, Mozart and Dittersdorf] One of our oldest composers who, it seems, has fallen out of fashion. But this is not so abroad, where his work is still much appreciated. He has written a great deal for most instruments, but nothing new has appeared for some time, and it may be thought that he himself has wished to be forgotten. [By this time, Vanhal was teaching and mostly composing religious works. Perhaps Herr von Schönfeld didn't attend those churches.]

Wranitzky, Paul: Director of the opera orchestra at the Imperial National Theater…Also a splendid violinist who gas written quartets, symphonies and operas. [Such as Oberon, a precursor to The Magic Flute, staged by Schkaneder in 1790. Note that Chandos will release shortly four symphonies by him on their Contemporaries of Mozart label. There's not much of his out there, so this is a good chance to add to your collection.]

This is only a skimming of all the entries noted in the Haydn book. Generally speaking, most of the amateur musicians listed are women, who play piano or violins, or just sing.

Regards,
Gary

Subject: Re: Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 17:15:20 04/19/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Thanks for posting that. I look forward to browsing your book. My favorite pieces to read are always the oldest ones I can find.

Steve

Subject: Re: Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 17:25:11 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Gary, Thanks for this interesting and amusing posting. It is a "snap-shot" of how these people were perceived. Very interesting indeed! Who could deny Hummel's "manly fire"?

Bill

Subject: Re: Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:41:14 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Gary,

The so-called "bad press" as far as Constanze Mozart is concerned began in the early 20th century. No matter how I tried to find anything derogatory prior to the 20th century while researching her life for my book, there was nothing.

Constanze did not pretend to be a singer or a pianist of great stature. She knew her limitations well. The fact that she is at all mentioned in 1795 is most probably due to the fact that she had taken part in a play presented by amateur actors and singers drawn from the nobility, in a private theatre maintained by Countess Maria Theresia Stockhammer. Mention of this most successful event is made by Count Zinzendorf in his diary on April 9, 1795. She was asked to appear due to the fact that the Mozart name spelled magic but Zinzendorf describes her as a charming woman "with a pleasant" voice.

Shortly thereafter Constanze left Vienna on her publicity tour of Mozart's music. Negotiations with publishers took place in earnest after her return to Vienna and continued through most of her life.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 18:34:59 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
P.S. Aloysia Weber:

Gary, The more things change the more they remain the same. Last night we heard an interview with Kiri Tekanowa who said that she has not been asked to perform at Covent Garden for THREE YEARS. A sort of an echo of Aloysia's fate.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Mozart's Vienna III: The 1795 Music Yearbook
From: Michael Lorenz
To: All
Date Posted: 13:38:45 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Gary Smith wrote:

"Auernhammer, Katarina/Charlotte/Theres: [All three sisters are mentioned as excellent singers and Charlotte plays the pianoforte "with a great deal of taste and fluency." Their older sister Josepha, is not listed here or under her married name of Bessenig."

Katarina (recte: Caroline) Auernhammer was not Josepha's sister. She was the daughter of Johann Peter von Auernhammer while Josepha was the daughter of Johann Michael (no "von") Auernhammer. I have not been able hitherto to prove that their were cousins. Caroline Auernhammer's second husband was Barbara Ployer's widower Cornelius Bujanovics von Agg-Telek.

Cheers,
ML

Subject: Mozart's Busy Schedule
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 09:08:34 04/18/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Dear Agnes, Dennis, Andrea, and everyone,

Greetings! I've enjoyed reading your very interesting posts. I'm sorry that I've been busy to participate during the past week.

Over the weekend while trying to clean-up one of my Mozart folders, I got hold of this one: "Mozart's Busy Schedule." Would anyone of you have anything to comment on this? Sorry, I can't even find my own source. ;-((

Would appreciate any enlightenment (!) on this one. Thanks.

My best regards,
Tel

*****************************************************
Composers in Mozart's time lacked an executive secretariat to make their lives easier. When one gave a concert, he was responsible for organizing it, selling tickets, composing the music, and performing. Mozart at one point wrote from Vienna:

"These are the academies at which I have to play:
Thursday, Feb. 26th, at the Galitzins
Monday, March 1st, at Joh. Esterhazys
Thursday, March 4th, at the Galitzins
Friday, March 5th, at the Esterhazys
Monday, March 8th, idem.
Thurdsay, March 11th, at the Galitzins
Wednesday, March 17th, my first private concert."

******************************************************

Subject: Re: Mozart's Busy Schedule
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 18:19:15 04/18/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
Hi Tel!

Your source here is a letter from Wolfgang to his father, dated 3 Mar 1784. It's number 505 in Emily Anderson's Letters of Mozart and His Family. It continues on as:

"Thursday 18th, at Galitzin's
Friday 19th, at Esterhazy's
Saturday 20th, at Richter's
Sunday 21st, my first concert in the theater
Monday 22nd, at Esterhazy's
Wednesday 24th, my second private concert
Thursday 25th, at Galitzin's
Friday 26th, at Esterhazy's
Saturday 27th, at Richter's
Monday 29th, at Esterhazy's
Wednesday 31st, my third private concert
Thursday April 1st, my second concert in the theater
Saturday 3rd, at Richter's

Well, haven't I enough to do? I don't think that in this way I can possibly get out of practice. Adieu."

A couple of points. First, you can see that salon concerts occur at least twice a week in the major households. Thus Mozart's need for a lot of new piano concerti during the time he was "hot" in Vienna.

Second, the theater is probably the Burgtheater, an interior picture of which we have in our picture section. (Anyone know for sure?) Not counting the box seating along the sidewalls, the Burg appears to be maybe 25-30 seats wide. Not your huge concert venue!

Third, the private concerts are (as mentioned earlier in this letter) "...subscription concerts in the Trattner's rooms..." (the cassino, I think), entrance fee being 6 gulden for the three, or say $240-260 US or again, roughly $80 a concert. Quite in line with modern costs, it seems!

Mozart's following letter of 20 March lists all the subscribers who paid this fee. Unfortunately, the first page is lost, so the remaining names total around 170 individuals, meaning Mozart's income here comes to just over $40,000 US (1020 gulden). Considering that he had to receive something for appearing at all those other salon concerts, plus get money for the theater concerts; it's not inconceivable that Wolfgang made some $50,000 profit for his 37 or so days of work. One can also see that Mozart was extremely proud of his financial success and wanted Leopold to know he could now stand on his own two feet.

Very busy schedule indeed!

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Mozart's Busy Schedule
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 19:03:54 04/18/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Hi Gary,

You're simply wonderful with all these excellent information. THANKS! I've printed it for my file. But actually, my source comes from another book Gary, which I just can't remember. I know it's not Anderson. But it doesn't matter now. I love your post much better anyway. ;-)

And yes, I thought you're just as flat out with work like me. My business writing deadline is killing me a bit. Hmmm. Btw, have you ever perused that piece of info I sent you about the Aussie chronological history related to WAM's years? Not much, but the best I could give from my research.

Back to work. Have a pleasant day!
-- TEL

Subject: Missa brevis in G KV 49/47d
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 06:16:03 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
This posting is dedicated to the memory of Sister Mary Perpetua--
who passed away on March 27, 2004, at St. Vincent's Hospice in
Sydney, Australia and loved Mozart--and all the Nuns of this
world, especially those who answered the calling to teach our
youth. Anyone who does not believe in Angels has never met one
of these wonderful women.
============================

Other than "Vienna 1768" no other determination is made in K6,
NMA, Mozart Compendium, etc. for the occasion of the Mass in G
K49/47d. While studying the church music of Christoph
Sonnleithner (1734 - 1786) Karl Pfannhauser found some clues
that led to a hypothesis that to my knowledge has not been
refuted. Pfannhauser found a 4-part Motett by Sonnleithner for
Alto solo "Caelites gaudete", of which sets of parts were found
among other places in the former music archive of the St. Ursula
Convent church in Vienna (dating from mid 1768). The Soprano
Aria "Quonian tu solus Sanctus" in Mozart's Mass K49/47d used a
theme from Sonnleithner's Motett. Also the Jesuit Father Ignaz
Parhamer was director of the Orphanage on the Rennweg [where
K139/47a the "Orphanage Mass" was first performed] and was
also youth organizer and spiritual advisor to the women in the St.
Ursula convent.

Obviously the question arises whether K49/47d was not intended
for St. Ursula. At first glance it appeared out of the question as the
"Et in Spiritum" of K49/47d contained a Bass solo. But Pfannhauer
found an obituary from the Nun Monastery of Mother Maria
Johanna Nepomucena, who died April 6, 1774. In this obituary is
the following sentence "She had an incomparable Bass voice".
Pfannhauser ruled out any confusion with a low Alto voice, as
another entry in the same register emphasized and admired the
Alto voice of another Nun. Pfannhauer even got advice from a
doctor at the University of Vienna who wrote the described case
was "entirely likely...The phenomenon of the female Bass is a
rarity, it is observed in the clinics approximately once a decade".

Pfannhauser then found two accounts in Vienna from 1781 that
described (rather sarcastically) the singing of a "Young maiden's
Bass voice", and a Nun who "Sang as deep as an aged Violon", in a
church. Through a description later in one of these reports of
Croatian Deacons Pfannhauser identified this church as St. Ursula.
As Mother Maria Johanna Nepomucena had already died in 1774,
Pfannhauser believed there was perhaps a feminine Bass tradition
in Theresian Vienna. Wolfgang Mozart could not escape the
musical impressions and realities of Vienna and would compose
for this voice at St.Ursula. This is the only Mass of Mozart's to
contain a Bass solo according to Pfannhauser (and I cannot think
of another).

Pfannhauser then reported on a recent discovery (1948) from the
former Orphanage on the Rennweg of a Motett in G-major for
Alto, 2 Violins with Organ and Basso by Christoph Sonnleithner.
The main theme of the Aria "O! Celate! O! Velate!" of this Motett
was used by Mozart (transposed to F-major) in the Offertory K117
in the solo part "Introibo comum tuam". Pfannhauser believed
Wolfgang used this theme as a "Homage" to Sonnleithner. Years
later Nannerl would write to Sonnleithner's son "It delights me
really very much that you knew my brother personally, Sir, and
that he accorded you pleasant hours" [this must have been later as
Joseph Sonnleithner was only 2 years old in 1768; there is no
record by Leopold or Wolfgang of their meeting with the
Sonnleithner's.]

This Sonnleithner Motett was performed at St. Ursula church on
December 3, 1768, according to its cover page. Pfannhauser
theorized K49/47d was also heard this day. Reading Leopold's
letter of November 12, 1768, to Salzburg, Leopold writes "For the
Feast (of the Immaculate Conception, December 7] Wolfgang HAS
composed a solemn Mass, an Offertorium and a Trumpet
Concerto...". Therefore the Orphanage Mass (K139) was already
composed by November 12. The next sentence of Leopold's letter
reads "PRESUMABLY Wolfgang himself will conduct this music".
Pfannhauser sees Leopold's using the word Presumably instead of
Positively as a sign there was to be a preparatory exercise at the
small St. Ursula church as a test piece for December 7, when the
Royal family would be present. Thus Mozart's Mass K49/47d and
the Sonnleithner Motett were performed on December 3, 1768,
under Wolfgang's direction at St.Ursula convent church. Both
pieces are in G-major, and have the same setting.

This all could be; but the big problem for me is that no where in
the Mozart correspondence is the St. Ursula convent mentioned.
One would think Leopold would not miss the chance to write home
Wolfgang's praise at a St. Ursula performance.

Pfannhauser continues. He thinks it most likely K49/47d was
performed at St. Ursula on December 3, 1768, but that it actually
might have been intended for the Tridentine to honor a Sister
Angela von Merici, celebrated on May 31 and June 1, 2, 1769. On
each of these 3 days a Mass was performed at St. Ursula. On May
31 a large Motett "Specie tua" in G-major for Soprano solo, 4-part
mixed chorus, 2 Violins, Viola, Bass and Organ by Giovanni
Valentini was performed for the first time. Setting, key and voices
of this Motett suggest a link to K49/47d. Assuming Father
Parhamer was in attendance, a likelihood as the June 2 Mass was
celebrated by his friend, Bishop Franz Anton Marxer, he would
bring the Nuns--otherwise living in strict confinement--to
perform the Mozart Mass.

As I stated at the opening, I do not know if any or all of
Pfannhauser's theories have been disproved. Just by the lack of
any later authorities taking it up, I have to believe his supposition
is in disfavor. However it makes for fascinating reading I thought.
And it makes listening to the Credo sequence of K49/47d a little
more interesting.

dennis

Subject: Re: Missa brevis in G KV 49/47d
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 11:34:58 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Dennis,

Thank you so very, very much. Sister Mary Perpetua was one of the most remarkable women I have ever met. She was not only my teacher and best friend but my inspiration, just as she was to the hundreds of girls
who had been her students. Sister Mary Perpetua loved Mozart and loved "Mr. Dennis'" postings. Every Tuesday, I would print out your postings, bake a "sponge" cake and spend a couple of hours with her.

When she was still a youngish nun, her humour was infectious. She would have the whole class in stitches
and it would take the "Miss Prim and Proper" nun a good 10 minutes to bring us back to normal. Sister Mary Perpetua was a lawyer and before joining the order of St. Vincents' was perhaps one of the first women in Australia to run a busy law practice.

That you, Dennis.

Kind Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Leopold Mozart and his music...
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 00:48:47 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I am a huge Church music fan as some (dennnis!) would know from previous postings so naturally I was interested when I found an old cd of Leopold Mozart's Litany de loreto in E flat (the cd also included Leonardo Leo's Salve Regina in F)

I must say that I found the Litany more appealing than then Salve, but in general I wasnt too impressed with Leopold's work. I think even Mozart's earliest Litany would beat this work, not to mention the late ones.

Ive had my reservations about buying Leopold's works because of fear of a let down (i.e. wasting money) so I wanted to ask the board if there is any piece(s) that are worth getting by papa mozart?
thanks in advance!

Subject: Re: Leopold Mozart and his music...
From: Andrea Hubrich
To: All
Date Posted: 02:30:36 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
My favorite Leopold Mozart work is his "Toy Smyphony in G major, 'Cassatio ex G'". I first heard this symphony back in the 1960s and at this time this work was said to have been from Franz Joseph Haydn. It was later claimed to have been composed by Leoplod Mozart instead.

I have this symphony performed by the Hannover Band, This version has seven movements and is scored for Drum, Rattle, Wind Machine, Nightingale, Pfeiffe, Corno Postiglione, Cuckoo, Toy Trumpet, Quail, 2 Horns, Strings and Harpsichord. I really enjoy this symphony. Unfortunately this is the only work by Leopold Mozart that I have heard so I am unable to recommend any others to you.

This is a fun symphony and very entertaining.

Subject: Re: Leopold Mozart and his music...
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:02:05 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
While I will agree that the Litanei on the disc you heard is not up
to Wolfgang's music, there is some fine music by Leopold to
be heard. One piece you will be interested in is his Missa Solemnis
in C-major. Recorded in 1981 it was reissued on CD by Koch-
Schwann in the 1990's. This Mass will be much more to your
liking. In instrumental music I recommend trying to find his
Serenade in D-major, which includes a solo Trumpet (on Koch-
Schwann). A recording on Archiv Produktion-Galleria includes his
Peasant Wedding and Musical Sleigh-ride. Both entertaining
pieces, but only very occassionally. A double CD on the cpo label
has 7 Leopold Mozart symphonies, but unless you are into being a
completist of Mozart material, this is not essential listening. Other
CD's include some of his Horn Concertos and stray pieces, but I
don't think most would be of a lot of interest to you.

Marcus, there is a bit of curiosa for your Litanie recording
enjoyment. In the Agnus Dei Leopold originally used a solo
Trombome, then rearranged it for a solo Viola. Later, Wolfgang
arranged this movement, using a solo Oboe as accompaniment
instrument.

dennis

Subject: Re: Leopold Mozart and his music...
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 06:39:07 04/19/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I can add to the list a quite nice trumpet concerto that is likely still available. It is on a CBS CD by Wynton Marsalis of Haydn's Trumpet Concerto (Absolutely the best of the 4 versions I have!!) and also includes trumpet concertos by Leopold and Hummel (!). The disk is worth having just for the Haydn, but the other two pieces are a bonus, and not a bad one at that.
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: The Magic Flute Ingmar Bergman
From: Tony Hearne
To: All
Date Posted: 15:17:27 04/17/04 ()
Email Address: tonyjohnhearne@aol.com
 

Message:
Living in London, it is a source of great frustration to me that the marvellous Bergman film (circa 1968) of Die Zauberflote cannot seemingly be purchased anywhere.

Do any musical colleagues out there have any idea how I can (reliably) purchase a copy of this on either video or DVD?

Many thanks

Subject: Re: The Magic Flute Ingmar Bergman
From: Andrea Hubrich
To: All
Date Posted: 03:16:48 04/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Tony,

Is this what you are looking for? Hope this helps.

Subject: Re: The Magic Flute Ingmar Bergman
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 16:28:25 04/17/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Keep an eye on eBay. There are usually several available at any time. I've bought many things via eBay
and not had problems.

Regards

Steve

Subject: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 09:23:34 04/15/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

In 1799 Constanze Mozart sent Breitkopf & Härtel several
manuscripts including a list of "songs". Among this list of songs
Item 21 reads "Three Canons Lek mich im Arsch". Constanze
included a note saying she would be sending the Canons later and
that their texts would have to be altered because they were
"unruly". It is uncertain which canons she referred to but two were
most likely--K231/382c, known by its incipit "Leck mich im
Arsch" (Kiss my Ass) and K233/382e "Leck mir den Arsch fein
recht schon sauber" (Kiss my ever so nice clean ass). The third was
probably K234/384e "Bei der Hitz im Sommer ess ich" (In the heat
of summer I eat). B & H published the 3 Canons with new texts:
"Lasst froh uns seyn" (Lets be joyous), "Nichts labt mich mehr als
Wien" (Nothing pleases me more than wine) and "Essen, Trinken,
das erhalt den Leib" (Eating, drinking support love), only citing the
first line of Mozart's original text. Not only these three, but six
other canons were published by B & H with new suitable texts.
However the other six texts are known to us from Mozart
autographs, these first 3 canon texts have been lost to us.
However a recently found set of the "Oeuvres Complettes" of
Mozart's from ca. 1804 gives all 9 original canon texts that B & H
suppressed. The original texts are entered just below B & H's
printed words.

The authenticity of these 3 "Leck mich im Arsch" canons has been
questioned by Albert Dunning in the Mozart-Jahrbuch and again in
his NMA volume. Then in 1988 Wolfgang Plath established the
music of K233 and K234 is most likely to be attributed to Wenzel
Trnka (1739-1791), having been published before 1800 in "XII
Canons for 3 Voices Composer Sig. Wenceslao Trnka", and again
later by Aloys Fuchs under Trnka's name. Michael Ochs in a 1991
Mozart-Jahrbuch article hypothesized that Breitkopf & Härtel
received the Mozart canon autographs from Constanze Mozart
and made in-house copies of them; then on these copies were
written the substitute texts, with a few modifications in the music
to accommodate B & H's new words. Even though this is very
plausible, unfortunately there is no evidence of any in-house
copies and no clue where the autographs went to. Ochs
reproduces the original text of Mozart's for the canons as follows:

K233 "Leck mire den A..recht schon, fein sauber lecke ihn, fein
sauber lecke, leck mire den A...Das ist ein fettigs Begehren, nur
gut mit Butter geschmiert, den das Lecken der Braten mein
tagliches Thun. Drei lecken mehr als Zweie, nur her, machet die
Prob' und leckt, leckt, leckt. Jeder leckt sein A...fur sich".

K234: "Beider Hitz im Sommer ess ich gerne Wurzl und Krauter
auch Butter und Rettig; treibt furtreflich Wind und kuhlet mich ab,
und kuhlet mich ab. Ich nehm Limonade, Mandelmilch, auch zu
Zeiten Horner bier, auch zu Zeiten Horner Bier; das im heissen
Somer nur, im Sommer nur. Ich fur mich in Eis gekuhlts Glas Wein,
fur mich in Eis gekuhlts Glas Wein in Eis. Auch mein Glas
gefrohrnes".

Remember Plath established most likely the music is by Trnka, but
according to Ochs "we must nevertheless admit that the words
have a definite Mozarteun ring. Their appearance...leads one to
speculate that Mozart fitted his own text to someone else's music,
unlikely as that may seem. According to Plath, Trnka's canons
originally had an Italian text (from Metastasio), and had been
changed to the coarse German by someone else, and then later
attributed to Mozart.

K231: Leck mich im A...g'schwindi, g'schwindi!Leck im A...mich
g'schwindi. Leck mich, leck mich, g'schwindi/etc. etc. etc."

A further possible "Leck mir Arsch" canon maybe K559. the text
"Difficile lectu mihi Mars" apparently makes fun of Johann
Nepomuk Peyerl (a Bavarian tenor in Mozart's circle). According to
an account by Gottfried Weber in 1824 one evening Mozart wrote
out the nonsense Latin sounding words in the hope that Peyerl's
accent would pronounce the words "Lectu mihi mars" as "leck du
mich im Arse". When this happened the party would turn the page
over and find the mocking canon K560a "O du eselhafter Peirel",
which is indeed written on the back of the K559 autograph.
However Dunning in NMA shows there is reason to doubt this
account. This canon also has Mozart versions using the names
"Martin" and "Jakob". The Breitkopf & Härtel set spoken of earlier
uses the word Reitknecht, perhaps used by B & H to make a text
more presentable.

Another of Mozart's humorous canons is K232/509a "Lieber
Freistaedtler, Lieber Gaulimauli" written most likely in summer of
1787, where Mozart pokes fun at a student, Franz Jakob
Freystadtler, whom he nicknamed "Gaulimauli" (horse-mouth)
"Stachelschwein" (porcupine) and "Herr Lilienfeld (Mr. Lilyfield) in
letters and a comedy sketched by himself.

In my favorite Canon K561, Mozart says good night with an insult
in five languages, then ends by saying "Sleep tight, and stick your
ass in your mouth". Again B & H made a complete re-texting for
the canon.

Köchel had placed the "Leck mir Arsch" canons K231, 233 ,234
with the 1775 compositions, believing they fit well with Mozart's
letters from his Salzburg years that used toilet language. In K3
Einstein moved them to Mozart's early Vienna years because of the
"humorous social intercourse" which the texts reflect,
renumbering them K382c,d and e. William Cowdery (1991)
believes they might fit well with the similar obscene lyrics of the
1788 Canons. However Dunning pointed out that the earlier dated
canons differ in their melodic flow from the "Vienna Canons" of
1787 and 1788, even placing a slight doubt on their authenticity.
Regarding the Canons K559 and K560a Dunn believes they may
have been written as early as 1786, as Peyerl was still in Salzburg
to at least mid December 1785; so the earliest Mozart could have
met him in Vienna was at the very end of December 1785 and
most likely 1786. Mozart then batch entered the 9 canons at one
time in his work catalogue on September 2, 1788. However Alan
Tyson's NMA volume of watermarks places the Peyerl canon on a
type of paper Mozart purchased after his return from Prague in
December 1787 and predominately used in 1788, including all
pages of K550 and K551, Symphonies #40 and #41.

All the Canons discussed here are available (in the Breitkopf &
Härtel re-texting) on the Philips Complete Mozart Edition, volume
23.

dennis

Subject: Re: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:42:50 04/15/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dennis, many thanks. As shocking as Mozart's humour can at times be, I believe it was quite acceptable during his life-time. Echos of this kind of a humour still exist in Hungary. The 19th century humour reflected the times of Queen Victoria and only school-boys now use such vulgarities. Yours is a very interesting posting.

Regards Agnes.

Subject: Re: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 16:56:37 04/17/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
Dennis, many thanks. As shocking as Mozart's humour can at times be, I believe it was quite acceptable during his life-time. Echos of this kind of a humour still exist in Hungary. The 19th century humour reflected the times of Queen Victoria and only school-boys now use such vulgarities. Yours is a very interesting posting.
Regards Agnes.

Dear Agnes,
I agree completely with you, and I'm glad that you pointed out that Mozart's humor was quite acceptable during his lifetime.
You speak German, but for others who might not, can I mention the fact that "Kiss my ass" gives the approximate meaning in English but, as you know, is not the literal translation of Mozart's words - which would seem even more shocking to us modern readers - but not to Mozart's contemporaries.
The quote is "Leck mich im Arsch" and another very similar quote, which I'd feel compelled, were I to include it here, to substitute "xxxxxx" instead.
"Lecken", as you know, is the German verb for "to lick" - but "kiss" is a good modern equivalent.
Yours sincerely,
Marti :-)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - A BIOGRAPHY BY HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, SOPHIE WEBER HAIBL:

http://www.geocities.com/martibur/Wolfgang_Mozart.html

Subject: Re: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 16:56:10 04/17/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
Dennis, many thanks. As shocking as Mozart's humour can at times be, I believe it was quite acceptable during his life-time. Echos of this kind of a humour still exist in Hungary. The 19th century humour reflected the times of Queen Victoria and only school-boys now use such vulgarities. Yours is a very interesting posting.
Regards Agnes.

Dear Agnes,
I agree completely with you, and I'm glad that you pointed out that Mozart's humor was quite acceptable during his lifetime.
You speak German, but for others who might not, can I mention the fact that "Kiss my ass" gives the approximate meaning in English but, as you know, is not the literal translation of Mozart's words - which would seem even more shocking to us modern readers - but not to Mozart's contemporaries.
The quote is "Leck mich im Arsch" and another very similar quote, which I'd feel compelled, were I to include it here, to substitute "xxxxxx" instead.
"Lecken", as you know, is the German verb for "to lick" - but "kiss" is a good modern equivalent.
Yours sincerely,
Marti :-)
WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - A BIOGRAPHY BY HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, SOPHIE WEBER HAIBL:

http://www.geocities.com/martibur/Wolfgang_Mozart.html

Subject: Re: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 06:44:20 04/16/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
As you say, quite acceptable at the time. Mozart's joking with his mother over various bathroom issues is actually quite hilarious. Yes, the Victorian's were the ones who put an end to all that, the price we had to pay for the British Empire's dominance of the world in the 19th century was the total loss of acceptable scatological humor. More's the pity, I'm afraid. I personally empathize with those schoolboys! ;-))
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Re: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:30:01 04/16/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Gurn,

Ha, Ha! As a student of all of "Victorianna" I must say I agree with you. Just how one little lady managed to change HUMOUR into non-humour is quite remarkable. As a lady, however, I am not much given to school-boy humour but I suppose it has its place in the world. I well remember my husband's fellow medical students enjoying such humour, but alas, they are all old men now, and would deny all I have just said about them. At their recent re-union they all behaved like thorough British gentlemen.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Mozart's "Kiss My XXX" Canons
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 06:59:48 04/19/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Agnes,
Well, I thank god I am no gentleman! ;-)) But seriously, we only find these things in bad taste because we have told ourselves as a society that they are. I just see it as a dubious advancement. I love words and wordplay, and I really think all of them should be in play. Also something I note; since there is no prohibition in the use of such language, he doesn't use these phrases in what we would think of as a hurtful way, but really in an amusing sort of way as though it is big fun. I am speaking here not so much of the canons, which I had only heard of but not heard before this, but rather of the letters to his family and friends. It is good-natured and one can nearly see them laughing about it, as I certainly did and do!
Best Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Beethoven, Dussek and Josef Wolffl.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:13:01 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Three artists of note attempted to follow Mozart's greatness but only Beethoven succeeded.

After Mozart's death, Joseph Haydn became Beethoven
teacher. The old gentleman, now back in Vienna, never did quite see Mozart's "spirit" in Beethoven's large artisan hands.

Among the many artists who flocked to Vienna and attracted their share of interest was Jan Ladislav Dussek. Dussek was a heart-throb who, in order to exhibit his perfect profile, was the first virtuoso pianist to sit with his right side to the audience. By doing so, the raised lid of the piano acted as a sounding board producing a marvellous resonance. He was young, only twenty years old when he took Europe by storm. He produced a beautiful singing tone on the piano and earned the approbation not only from his audiences but also from fellow musicians. Women swooned at his concerts as do young women today swoon at rock concets. As time went on, he settled in London and married an English woman. He became obese and could no longer sit comfortably at the piano because of his girth.***

{His descendant is a pianist in London married to an Australian dual artist, the pianist and cello virtuoso, Margaret Powell.}

Then there was Josef Wolffl. A tall, elegant gentleman and a much loved human being. Wolffl was a native of Salzburg where he had studied with Leopold
Mozart and Michael Haydn. He performed with much bravura and clarity and his adagios were most pleasing.

Josef Wolffl was a rival of Beethoven and connoisseurs of music arrayed themselves into two parties. Prince Lichnowsky became the avid supporter of Beethoven and Baron Wetzlar the supported Wolffl.
Competitions were held at Baron Wetzlar's delightful villa on the Grunberg. Grand suppers followed the concerts and the noble guests were asked to decide the winner.***

One must not forget Sussmayr who in 1796 was presented
by the Bohemians with a gold watch with the inscription< "Perhaps one day you may equal your Master, the immortal Mozart."

*** Harold Shonberg: "The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present" (Simon & Schuster, 1963).

Regards, Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: Beethoven, Dussek and Josef Wolffl.
From: Andrea Hubrich
To: All
Date Posted: 15:58:50 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Very interesting. I must admit that I haven't heard much about this guy until I read this post. Here is a bit more on him:

JAN LADISLAV DUSSEK : Bohemian Romantic (1760-1812)

"... the most honest, politest and most excellent man among all composers ..."
- Haydn, 1792

Apprenticeship:

Enlightenist and Revolutionary, Jan Ladislav Dussek (more properly Vaclav Jan Dusik) was one of the most celebrated composers and pianists of his age, a quintessential Classico-Romantic who travelled the civilised stage of Europe at its time, arguably, of greatest modern historical moment. Born in Bohemia, his early years were spent in the Netherlands and Germany (where he met, and may have taken lessons from, Bach's second eldest son, Carl Philip Emannuel); in St Petersburg (where, in 1783, he became implicated in a plot against Catherine II); and in Berlin (where, in 1784, he formally presented himself as a pianist).

Goes to London:

1786 witnessed his first appearance in Paris: here he attracted the notice of Marie Antoinette, becoming one of her favourite musicians. He didn't stay long. Sensing revolution and the demise of his old world, he looked to England, making his way across the Channel in the late spring of 1789. In London, following a debut at one of Salomon's subscription concerts (Hanover Square Rooms, June 1st 1789), he befriended Clementi and Haydn; encouraged John Broadwood to expand the compass of the piano to six octaves (playing such an instrument in 1794); married a singer and harpist (the daughter of an Italian singing-master); gave lessons (publishing a volume of Instructions on the Art of Playing the Piano-Forte or Harpsichord in 1796); and, together with his father-in-law, Domenico, founded a music business - Corri & Dussek Comp, Purveyor of Music 'to their Majesties, their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of York', with premises eventually at 67/68 Dean Street, Soho. In late 1799 this speculation collapsed. Facing bankruptcy and the debtor's jail, he headed back for Europe, his flight kept secret. Behind, he left a partner in prison and a wife and infant daughter he was not to see again.

"The ideal for every artistic performance":
The final chapter of his life was one of triumph occluded by tragedy. Noteworthy were concerts in Hamburg (where he made the acquaintance of Spohr, Steibelt and Nancy Storace - Mozart's original Susanna); and his starry return to Prague in 1802 - remembered over forty years later by Tomasek in his Autobiography:

"There was ... something magical about the way in which Dussek with all his charming grace of manner, through his wonderful touch, extorted from the instrument delicious and at the same time emphatic tones. His fingers were like a company of ten singers, endowed with equal executive powers and able to produce with the utmost perfection whatever their director could require. I never saw the Prague public so enchanted as they were on this occasion by Dussek's splendid playing. His fine declamatory style, especially in cantabile phrases, stands as the ideal for every artistic performance - something which no other pianist since has reached..."

Significantly, Tomasek confirms, it was he (and not Liszt) who 'was the first [to place] his instrument sideways upon the platform, in which our pianoforte heroes now all follow ... though they may have no very interesting profile [or hands] to exhibit'.

Swansong:

Dussek's association with Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (the dedicatee of Beethoven's Third Piano Concerto), whose service he entered in 1803, was joyous. Not so his time in Paris. He'd returned there in 1807 to take up (despite his previous employment by the enemy) an appointment as pianist and music director to Talleyrand. It was in Paris he bid his leave of the concert platform - in 1808 with a series of concerts at the Odeon partnering the violinists Baillot and Rode, and the cellist Lamare. 'The broad and noble style of this artist,' Fetis wrote, 'his method of singing on an instrument which possessed no sustained sounds, the neatness, delicacy and brilliance of his playing in short, procured him a triumph of which there had been no previous example'. And it was near Paris, in the castle of St Germain-en-Laye - mentally disordered, gout-stricken, alchoholic, abnormally obese, bed-ridden, without family, a caricature of his former handsome self - that he was to die.

-Ates Orga

Subject: Re: Beethoven, Dussek and Josef Wolffl.
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 15:28:49 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,

Interesting! I remember playing something by Dussek when I was a kid--probably a sonatina. I don't recall liking it all that well, and I could definitely understand why he did not become another Mozart!

Thanks for the neat profiles (literally for Dussek at the keyboard).

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: Beethoven, Dussek and Josef Wolffl.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 17:44:33 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Thank you both dear Teresa and Andrea. Teresa, Kathy too has a little work by Dussek from times gone by. I am sorry to say, now not even Nicholas likes it.

Andrea, for expanding my few words into a very good essay which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Beethoven, Dussek and Josef Wolffl.
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 18:53:38 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Thanks Agnes and Andrea, for the interesting profiles on these composers/pianists!

Agnes, I got your snail-mail!
Bill

Subject: Mozart's catalog two steps earlier
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 10:24:59 04/12/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
In looking over the postings about Mozart and his own thoughts about his place in history, it appears to me that the discussions having to do with his catalog are two steps away from where they might be. In any discussion about Mozart's own catalog of his compositions, the first question is "Why is this document of importance?" The second question is "What about the catalog raises issues concerning its accuracy?

To jump into the middle of the discussion by noting what Alan Tyson said and then my rebuttal to that issue (as invited by Dennis), I think we need some information about the first two points.

Mozart's estate at the time of this death was in disarray, and I restrict myself here only to the matter of his music. What he wrote and when he wrote it was a significant problem at the time of his death and, to a considerable extent, remains so to this day. So any documentation that is useful in establishing the dates and order of his compositions is a precious thing. Among those items are, of course, his letters which speak about this or that composition.

Playing a very critical role in this whole problem is his own catalog, allegedly begun on Feb. 9, 1784, and continuing sporadically on and off until his death. No one maintains that the catalog is without error, but most accept the obvious conclusion about its beginning. The catalog's cover speaks of February 9 and this has always been interpreted as representing the day that he actually made the first entry, which happened to be the Ployer piano concerto, K. 449 and which she played for the first time at her home on Mar. 23, 1784.

To be precise, there is nothing explicit by which one can conclude that Mozart began the catalog on that date. On the contrary, his remarks can very well be interpreted as being a list of compositions made at a later time but which include only those compositions completed on or after Feb. 9. But despite this point, it is generally assumed that he began the catalog on that date.

So that is a brief comment about why the document is of importance; that is, it gives us material from Mozart's hand about the order and dating of a number of compositions. And it is an enormously impotant document. No Mozart authority can ignore it, and it's contents have always been assumed to be sacrosanct. Certainly, Koechel relied very heavily on it during his creation of K1.

The problems with the catalog begin to arise with the second question, namely why are there issues of accuracy at all? If Mozart said that he completed the Ployer concerto on Feb. 9, why would anyone question that?

There are three fundamental problems with the catalog. First the K listing of a number of works are impacted by the fact that they are in the catalog, and second, a number of works are impacted by the fact that they are NOT in the catalog. That has led to a variety of compositions being dated before Feb. 9 simply because they are not in the catalog. The most critical one from my point of view was the Gran Partitta because I believe it to have been composed very much around the period Jan. 1, 1784 to Mar. 23, 1784 (when it was first performed and on the very same night that Ployer played K. 449). But it is not in Mozart's catalog allowing some to state that it must have been written suffiently earlier which is why it is not in the catalog.

In Tyson's case, he said it was written in 1781 based on several issues, including watermarks, the influence of the C Major flute quartet, and the mistaken identity of a sketch found in K. 375 a 6. As far as I know he made no public statements based on the non-appearance of the Gran Partitta in Mozart's catalog, nor did he make any public statement on the issue of the work's alleged performance during Mozart's wedding in 1782. Though we never spoke of that matter, I suspect he like I and like most Mozart experts considered that possibility as unworthy of serious further discussion.

The third problem has to do with a number of the first 10 entries of the catalog, namely the ones that don't make sense. Perhaps the most obvious such case is the piano concerto written for the blind pianist, Maria Paradis who performed the work in Paris only two days after the alleged date of completion of the piece as recorded in Mozart's catalog.

The problem is, of course, that Mozart could not have finished that piece on the date indicated because in the two days following that date the manuscript would have had to be transported to Paris, copied into performance parts, perhaps rehearsed, and played by a blind woman who would have had no time at all to learn the solo part.

I think that, of the first 10 entries in the catalog, 8 or 9 have the problem of a date of composition being two days before the first performance, and even under the best circumstances, that is not likely to have happened. I know that the overture to Don Giovanni is said to have been written the night before the first performance of the opera. It was copied and then played without rehearsal at the premiere. That was possible only because it is short. It is also reported that when the orchestra played the overture at the performance, the ink was still wet on some of the pages.

Now that is the background for the article mentioned by Whitwell and me. We offered an explanation for the anomalies of the first 10 or so entries, pointing out that the anomalies stopped around the 10th entry which I think occurred in November or December 1784. That led to our hypothesis that the catalog was NOT begun on Feb. 9, 1784 but some nine months later. I'm not going to give those arguments here because you can get and read the piece we did for the Musical Times.

I believe the arguments we gave were very strong, absolutely objective, and with hard evidence supporting them. Those arguments convinced Alan Tyson and he said so, as I have indicated. It was when, at a later time, he stated that he was not convinced by the arguments that the hypothesis went down the tubes, not because it was flawed, but because Tyson wrote in the introduction to the facsimile of the catalog, that he did not accept it, though he was unclear about why he was taking that position and said nothing about having contradicted his earlier endorsement of the idea.

It is always difficult to created a technical paper that contradicts previously accepted knowledge on any Mozartean subject. So when Whitwell and I received positive reactions to our hypothesis about the real beginning date of the catalog from Zaslaw, Stanley Sadie, Tyson, Christoph Wolff, Bob Levin, and many others, we were very pleased to have made that kind of contribution to the Mozart literature. But then Tyson effectively killed the idea, and his reputation was sufficiently strong for him to do so with a wave of his hand. That his reaction to our hypothesis at that stage of his life might have been influenced by the pathology of his final illness is something that will never be know.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Mozart's catalog two steps earlier
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 16:50:02 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I have read the Leeson/Whitwell article in the Musical Times, and
took the time to read it again. I also re-read the Tyson article in
his Facsimile of Mozart's Verzeichnüß. Not knowing Alan Tyson at
all, I can not even begin to discuss his mental health. But I can say
a few things on the Musical Times article and the Tyson Forward.

The Musical Times article gives numerous reasons why the
Verzeichnüß was started later than February 1784. Some are more
compelling (in my opinion) than others. But put together they
make a very strong case. As Dan Leeson wrote, you have to read
the article to put them all together.

However in his Forward Tyson does not just change his direction
on the Leeson/Whitwell theory with absolutely no reason.
Although he does not address every point of the Leeson/Whitwell
theory, he does address enough issues to show reasons for his
reversal on the matter. The claim by Leeson/Whitwell that the first
10 entries in the Verzechnüß were numbered by Mozart is stated
as "unsound"--Tyson states they may have been inserted by
Nissen. Tyson states the date for Nr.5 is in a somewhat lighter
ink, only implying it could have been written as a break between 4
and 6. Tyson also states the next 10 entries (i.e. 11-20) and even
all entries up to Nr. 35 also look as if they have been made with
the same ink and same writing instrument. He also points out
several other works throughout the Verzeichnüß are dated not
correspondingly with autograph dates. He concludes this portion
with the sentence "So it is indeed quite possible that he really
started his Catalogue in February 1784".

It is quite possible Leeson/Whitwell are correct in their theory the
catalogue was started 9 months later, but Tyson's Forward DOES
give some reasons for his change of heart. As the Forward was not
a review or rebuttal of the Leeson/Whitwell article, perhaps he did
not feel he had to address each issue they brought up. Or maybe
he could not refute the other issues, so did not. I don't know, but
there was some logic behind his reasoning. And as his last
sentence cited above reads, he did not say positively Leeson/
Whitwell were wrong, only it is "quite possible" the Verzeichnüß
was started in February.

Regarding the Piano Concerto K456 that Dan refers to, but Tyson
did not. Mozart dated this work September 30, 1784, in his
Verzeichnüß. On February 16, 1785, Leopold Mozart wrote to
Nannerl that Wolfgang played "a magnificent concerto, which he
had written for Paradis in Paris". As Paradis had given her final
concert in Paris on Oct 2, 1784, Leeson/Whitwell found it
impossible it could have been copied, sent to Paris, learned by a
blind pianist, and rehearsed in two days. True enough. But The
Journal de Paris of Oct 2, 1784, gives the full program for the
concert, and she played a "nouveau Concerto de M. Kozeluch". The
Journal does not say anything of a Concerto by Mozart being
performed. Certainly Paradis could have performed it earlier, but
all commentators (including Leeson/Whitwell) had chose this Oct 2
date, so I believe they would have to find another date it could
possibly have been played.

Richard Maunder in a 1991 article provided a possible answer to
this Leopold riddle. He believes it likely that Leopold's "in Paris"
("nach Paris") meant that the score of K456 was posted to that city,
and arrived after Paradis left. It was then forwarded to London,
where she played it as a "new imported composition" on March 3,
1785. This would give the blind pianist the required time to learn
the piece. However we have no proof she played a Mozart
Concerto in London on this date, and as stated in an earlier
posting on the subject, it appears she played a Kozeluch Concerto;
probably the same one she played on October 2 in Paris?

dennis

Subject: Re: Mozart's catalog two steps earlier
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 23:17:34 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

The idea that Nissen inserted the 10 first entries does not read convincingly. Nissen would not have been able to judge these works for he had absolutely no musical training. He first came across Mozart when he arrived in Vienna and stated so in his letter to his cousin in Italy. He had never heard Mozart's works performed in Copenhagen. In fact the first performance of Mozart's works in Copenhagen came about at the instigation of Constanze when she and Nissen lived in Denmark.

Information about Nissen's life can be read in "Twice Perfectly Happy" by V. Sjoqvist. This book has been translated into English by his brother,Mr. Sigur Sjoqvist. Nissen dabbled in writing poetry which had been published in Denmark. It received unfavourable criticism and hence he never attempted to write poetry again. As far as music is concerned he simply had no idea and said so in his letters to his cousin V. Zoega on a number of occasions.

Regards, Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: Mozart's catalog two steps earlier
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 23:52:14 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
It is not claimed that Nissen entered the first 10 compositions in
the Verzeichüß, only placed the numbers "1" to "10" before the
entered compositions.

dennis

Subject: Re: Mozart's catalog two steps earlier
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 02:51:15 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I see.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Original Finale to d-minor Piano Concerto K466
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 03:48:35 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Playing with a Finale Notepad music program I received from my
son for Christmas, I have been inputing many Mozart fragments
and sketches to hear what they sound like. Many are interesting.

But one I transcribed and played the other day, set me back. It is
Mozart's first (abandoned) draft for the 3rd movement of the d-
minor Piano Concerto K466. Written into the autograph of the
work, it consists of 39 measures (66 with repeats) for the Violin
and Cello/ Basso lines. Certainly I can not say it is as good or
better than the version Mozart used for this Concerto. However it
is a great tour de force, and I immediately thought what a pity
Mozart never used it for another work.

Information is very sparse on this abandon draft. The NMA
transcribes the 39 measures, but makes not comment. K6 only
gives the incipit. The only description I could find is in David
Grayson's "Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 20 and 21", in the
Cambridge Music Handbook series.

Grayson obviously agrees with me on the high quality of this draft.
He writes "Only the outer string parts are notated--enough,
however to indicate that this version was to have begun with a
substantial orchestral tutti. The opening rondo theme is a closed,
24 bar ternary structure, dominated by obsessive repetitions of its
lurching opening motive. No doubt Mozart could have done
wonders with this material, but he set it aside, presumably for
some future occasion---another d-minor Piano Concerto, about
which we can only dream".

You are absolutely correct, Mr. Grayson. After hearing the music--
if only on a computer music program--I can dream Mozart would
have made a spectacular movement that we would marvel at
today.

If you can get your hands on the Neue Mozart Ausgabe--Series V,
volume 15, part 6--it is transcribed on page 269. If you play the
piano or violin--or a computer music program, make a copy and
play it. You will be amazed.

dennis

Subject: Re: Original Finale to d-minor Piano Concerto K466
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 15:24:14 04/13/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Dennis,

I would love to hear that--Perhaps the Neue Mozart Ausgabe is available in our university library. Thanks for the info!

Teresa

Subject: Re: Original Finale to d-minor Piano Concerto K466
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 20:06:50 04/15/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Pity that no one has decided to put this one on a CD somewhere. Certainly I should think that some future issuance of Piano Concerto #20 would want to differentiate itself from the mass of them out there and include this as a "coda."

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Original Finale to d-minor Piano Concerto K466
From: Hansen
To: All
Date Posted: 02:59:57 04/17/04 ()
Email Address: ueckert@uni-hamburg.de
 

Message:
If it would be so easy to include the "original finale" as a "coda"! But
this "coda" is only a draft of about 39 measures, stopping in the midst
of a cadence on the subdominant. So you would have to complete the
whole thing to a rondo or the like.

Hansen

Subject: Contemporaries of Mozart: Johann Christian Cannabich
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 10:30:18 04/11/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
CONTEMPORARIES OF MOZART:

Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich (1731-1798)

This is another posting in an irregular series on the various contemporary composers from Mozart's lifetime. The material is mostly derivative from general sources as noted. These are the people that Mozart:

Competed for work with.
Considered as friends and colleagues.
Knew from reputation.
Taught/nurtured as pupils and students.

Johann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich, was born in Mannheim in 1731. He received his early training from his father Martin Friedrich Cannabich. Christian Cannabich entered the Mannheim court orchestra as a prodigy at the age of 12 in 1744, due to his great promise in the study of the violin. He eventually became a pupil of Johann Stamitz, the noted composer and leader of the orchestra. In 1746 or 1747 he was formerly appointed as a violinist to the orchestra at 125 gulden per year (around $5000 US). The Elector Carl Theodor sent him to study in Italy and in the autumn of 1750 he began to take composition lessons from Jommelli in Rome, where he remained until 1753. Cannabich is known to have accompanied Jommelli to Stuttgart but he returned to Italy in 1754. He stayed there until his appointment as leader of the Mannheim court orchestra, which occurred following the death of Stamitz in 1757. By 1759 he advanced to the post of Konzertmeister where he was lauded for his conducting technique and violin playing.

Cannabich accompanied Duke Christian IV to Paris in 1764 to help encourage the spread of compositions by the Mannheim school of composers. In 1766 he was in Paris again where he was able to publish six symphonies and six trios. There as well he met Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart on their first major tour across Europe. With the success of his first publishing efforts, Parisian publishers issued most of Cannabich’s works after 1766. In a later visit (1772) he appeared as a soloist at the Concert Spirituel and won a medal in a prestigious composition competition for a symphonie concertante, believed to be No. 42 in e flat. Also in 1772, Dr. Charles Burney visited Mannheim and was very impressed by the abilities of the orchestra under Cannabich. His famous, oft-quoted remark that the orchestra appeared to him like “…an army of generals, equally competent to plan a campaign and fight in it” shows that while many creative composers were orchestra members, Cannabich was able to weld them into a formidable ensemble by use of his personality and an effective orchestral discipline. The Mannheim orchestra practiced weekly, strove for clarity and brilliance, and was considered by all who heard it as the finest orchestra in Europe.

In 1774 Cannabich formally succeeded to the position as director of instrumental music, thereby becoming sole conductor and trainer of the most celebrated orchestra in Europe. His pay rose to the astounding level of 1500 gulden, or about $60,000 US, well above the normal for the time. The next four years, until the court moved to Munich in 1778, was a time of great success and renown for the composer. His house was always open to visiting artists and he had contact with numerous musicians across Europe. Mozart, who with his mother was on another tour in 1777-79, reported in a letter to his father "I cannot tell you what a good friend Cannabich is to me". Cannabich worked to assist Mozart in acquiring a post and commissions while he stayed over the winter of 1777-78 in Mannheim. Mozart lived for a time in the Cannabich household and gave almost daily keyboard lessons to the Cannabich's daughter, Rosina, for whom he composed the Sonata in C, K.309.

In 1778, Elector Carl Theodor became the ruler of the combined Palatinate and Bavaria. To secure his rule over Bavaria, he moved the court and its orchestra to Munich. Cannabich became the director of the combined orchestras, still at 1500 gulden per year. He acquired additional responsibilities, which included conducting opera performance, subscription series concerts and weekly musical academies. He may have had an influence at the Munich court in Mozart receiving the commission to Idomeneo K.366 for the 1780-81 Carnival season. Of course, the fact that Mozart had scored a success back in the 1774-75 Carnival season with the opera La finta giardiniera K.196 obviously was a plus in gaining a new commission as well. Certainly Cannabich conducted Idomeneo in Munich and assisted Mozart in getting his vision of the work achieved on-stage.

Though well compensated in Munich, Cannabich began having troubles keeping solvent, making several requests of the Elector for additional amounts of money. In the 1790s musical activity overall at the electoral court was curtailed and Cannabich, like his colleagues Toeschi and Fraenzl, was forced to complain about these cutbacks in the musical establishment, and, more seriously, about cuts in his salary. In the last year of his life, Cannabich took a one third cut in pay and found it necessary to undertake concert tours to make his ends meet. He died on 20 January 1798 in Frankfurt while on a visit to his son Carl.

Although Cannabich's fame today lies principally in his role as director of the famous Mannheim court orchestra, he was a prolific and successful composer whose works were admired equally in both Mannheim and Paris. From around 1758, when he returned from Milan, he began collaboration with the newly appointed court ballet-master Etienne Lauchery that brought about a flowering of dramatic ballet in Mannheim. Dr Charles Burney gave the highest praise to Cannabich's ballet "La foire de village hessoise" that he saw at Schwetzingen in 1772 and it has been asserted by scholars that ballet was probably the best medium for Cannabich's compositional style. His symphonies, however, have attracted less than enthusiastic praise. They have been regarded as guilty of falling into what Leopold Mozart considered “…the affected Mannheim taste”. Wolfgang also criticized the fact that they all begin alike: in unison with long note values and large leaps (letter of 20 November 1777) although he also drew attention to the elegant instrumentation heard in the more recent works. Cannabich’s last symphonies, though not published at the time and apparently little circulated, are very good representations of the mature Classical style. One may suspect that Mozart influenced him as well.

In spite of his professional qualms about Cannabich's style, Mozart appears to have deliberately employed a fair number of Cannabich’s stock compositional devices around this time. Most notably, it appears, in the Paris Symphony K.297, probably the Sinfonia Concertante K.297b and the later Sinfonia Concertante, K.364. The first two were geared for Paris where, as noted earlier, Cannabich’s compositions had been very successful. On December 6, 1777, from Mannheim Mozart wrote his father he has already transcribed a contredance for piano for Cannabich. Wolfgang also wrote that Cannabich found him useful to transcribe selections of his ballet music, as Cannabich cannot do so. However Mozart does not specifically write that he actually did this, or for what work. Mozart liked and admired him immensely, writing to Leopold that: “Cannabich, who is the best director that I have ever seen, has the love and awe of those under him” (letter of 9 July 1778).

Cannabich is credited with:

23 or more ballets, circa 70 symphonies, 2 symphonie concertantes, 4 violin concerti, 7 concerti with organ and other solo instruments, a keyboard concerto, and much chamber music. Naxos has two CD’s of symphonies available, and at about $8.00 each, are very worth obtaining to discover this gifted composer.

Sources:

Sadie, Stanley (Ed.) The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd Edition Groves Dictionaries, New York 2000

Artaria Composers page
Liner notes to the Naxos CDs of Cannabich’s symphonies; 8.553960 and 8.554340

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Johann Christian Cannabich
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 21:55:34 04/11/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Gary,

Another excellent article. I have been looking for all the articles on Mozart's contemporaries but cannot find them on the Forum. Perhaps you could make a special sections for these articles written by yourself, Dennis and Tellern Asiado. As long as students don't copy them verbatim, they could be of great help.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Johann Christian Cannabich
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 20:52:24 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,

Of course, students SHOULDN'T copy them (or anything) and attempt to pass such material off as there own work. This is ethically wrong; in fact it's just plain wrong.

However, this is the internet age, and many ethics-challenged people borrow liberally all the time. Dennis and I had a discussion years ago on this, and generally decided that the value of posting such information as we provide outways the pitfalls of poaching.

I have though, been contacted over the years by a few people who have asked to use some of my material, and were gladly allowed to do so. Always willing to spread the word on Mozart and his world, hopefully with proper credit.

Regards,

Gary

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Johann Christian Cannabich
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 22:36:44 04/11/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Agnes...

The pieces are written mostly by Gary. They are included in the Who's Who section. Several of the mini bios in Who's Who are followed by the words *Contemporary of Mozart* in red. Clicking on that red link will take you to the larger bio on that person.

Regards

Steve

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Johann Christian Cannabich
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 01:30:49 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Thank you!

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Musicale XXVII
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 21:26:19 04/10/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Mozart Musicale XXVII “Spring”

This past Saturday, April 2nd, some members of this Board met for another musicale featuring Mozart’s music. We met at my home here in Cypress, California. It was a nice spring day, with the rose bushes coming into bloom and the temperature about 74F. Things started a bit late (unfortunately), finally commencing just at a quarter after 1:00 P.M.

First off, we discussed some Forum business regarding the Anhang sections of the Köchel we’re finishing off. After that, we discussed some other items in the workshop, such as the timeline and links. Some discussion as well was given to handling details for placing items into the Library.

Then, of course, the musicale proper began.

Play List:

Mozart: Piano Concerto #1 in F K.37
Mozart: Piano Concerto #2 in Bb K.39
Mozart: Piano Concerto #6 in Bb K.238
Hummel: Transcriptions of K.503 (1st mvmt) and K.466 (2nd mvmt)
Mozart?: La Tartine de Beurre C.27.09
Mozart: Two small fugues for organ K.154a
Mozart: Menuet K.61gII

Who’s This Then? K.511a

Beethoven: Piano Concerto #2 in Bb; soloist Glenn Gould

Dinner at Coco’s to harass Mark the waiter

Videos by Steve of:

Schubert: Rosamund Overture
Mozart: Concert Arias for Bass
K.432 Cosi dunque tradisci
K.612 Per questa bella mano
K.584 Rivolgete a lui lo squardo

Mozart: Violin Sonata in e K.304
Mozart: Violin Sonata in C K.403
Eberl: Piano Concerto in C (1st mvmt), Op.32
Eberl: Symphony in C (1st mvmt) W.O.N. 7
Mozart: Piano Concerto #9 in Eb “Genomai”

Mozart: Requiem Fragment on Opus 111 (catalogue # OP30307)

Called it a night at 10:00 PM

General Notes:

As you can see, this musicale mostly focused on piano works, which I like to do on a yearly basis. The first couple are early Mozart works one rarely hears (well, at least most people) and so it’s fun to start there and see where things go.

The Hummel transcriptions were very interesting, though each in their different ways. The one of K.503 was very nicely and tastefully done, except that the cadenza was large, extensive and too large for the movement. The other transcription of Mozart’s wonderful 2nd movement to Piano Concerto #20 was disappointing, in that Hummel obviously didn’t “get” it. He throws whole handfuls of grace notes everywhere, in fact putting so many in certain phrases that the measured effect of Mozart’s pacing and architecture is spoiled.

C27.09 was mentioned at the Forum recently, so it got trotted out for review. No one voted “for” Mozart as composer here.

Who’s This Then was sort of a trick piece, in that no one is really sure who composed it. However, you could see the smiles crossing the faces of folks as they got into the work and figured it “had” to be either really early Beethoven or “maybe” Mozart. In fact, these are the two major candidates (Kozeluch is the other). The best way to explain things is that it has stylistic fingerprints of both composers, though one leans towards Beethoven as opposed to Mozart, in the end.

The Beethoven Piano Concerto #2 played by Glenn Gould is a “classic” recording every music lover should listen to, once. It’s late 1950’s mono recording; the orchestra is the Academic Symphonic Orchestra of Leningrad (which, since they only recently took up playing Western composers as opposed to Soviets at this time, had only an indistinct idea of how to approach this work), and the soloist is Gould, who really didn’t care for music post Baroque anyway. So, we have an orchestra that takes the work a bit on the quick side and plays it technically correct but with no real life. But, when Gould comes in, he feels that the tempo is a bit slow, so he plays his material a tad faster than the orchestra (!).

Of course, this means he leads the orchestra along, and when they play with him, they speed up, and then slow down for the purely orchestral material. Gould then picks the pace up whenever he comes in. This produces a mild herky-jerky effect that continues all through the first movement. The icing on this cake is that Gould attempts Beethoven’s “Hammerklavier” cadenza for this movement. The history here is that the concerto dates from 1795 (touched up some around 1800 or so though), so it’s early First Period Beethoven. The cadenza, however, was composed no earlier than 20 years later, maybe even 25 years later, which is obviously Late Period style. Beethoven’s cadenza has all the dissonance and crankiness of his Hammerklavier Sonata, which is why the cadenza has acquired this nickname. With Gould not caring for music post Baroque, one wonders why he would tackle Beethoven, but even more why he’d try late Beethoven. So, he proceeds into the cadenza, too slow here, too fast there, until he manages to ruin the effective “abyss” ending Beethoven crafts, and then blithely speeds into the end.

After dinner, we listened to the works Steve brought. The bass concert arias were excellently sung by a newcomer, whose name I did not get. After the two excellent violin sonatas, we heard two works by a pupil of Mozart’s, Anton Eberl. The Piano Concerto is an early Romantic type, strong on bravura and a bit weak on invention, but good. The first movement of the symphony freely borrows ideas from Mozart’s Haffner Symphony, which might make one think that as Mozart’s pupil, Eberl was around when it was composed, or came on the scene shortly thereafter. However, his symphony sounds more like a 1790’s era work; certainly not a mid-1780’s.

To close, we heard the newly rechristened Piano Concerto #9, which, as Alfred Brendel says, is an early miracle of Mozart’s. Mlle. Genomai must have been one heck of a player to inspire Mozart for this work.

Finally, we heard the Requiem fragment mentioned earlier at the Forum. This is a wonderful concept, as the controversy has always swirled around who was responsible for what. However, when you hear only what Mozart actually put down on paper, you can immediately hear the genius of this work, and hence know that, in the end, any additional material added did not add to that genius. I might say that that there are no apparent “gaps” where Mozart failed to links bars together. I say apparent, because the work as performed here utilizes an organ continuo, which would cover readily noticeable gaps. So, as listeners, you won’t hear empty bars. Except for the Lacrimosa, the “Mozart” movements are quite complete, only more austere, in an already austere work. As an added benefit, this recording contains the “Amen” fragment that turned up in the early 1960’s. It is presented here on it’s own, not attached to any particular movement. So, that makes this CD recording that much more of necessary work for your collection.

The next musicale should be in 4-6 weeks.

Subject: Recently Discovered Missa Solemnis wth connections to Mozart
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 07:55:30 04/10/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

A year or so ago I purchased a CD containing a "Missa Solemnis"
by Joseph Haydn (Hanssler Classic 94.432). The cover proclaims a
first time recording of a newly discovered Mass by Haydn.
Nowhere on the outside cover does it state there could be
anything questionable about this authorship. One must read the
inside notes to find this out, and to find a connection with
Wolfgang Mozart.

In 2000 Friedrich Hägele, the chorus director for the last 40 years
in the Württembergischen Aalen, found parts of a "Missa Solenis"
in the musical archives of the Benedictine Abbey in Ottobeuren.
These parts carried on the title page the author indication "Jos.
Haiden". The entire title page reads:

"Missa solenis / à / Canto, Alto, /Tenore, Basso, / II. Violinis / II.
Hautbois / II. Clarinis /Alto Viola oblig. / Organo & Basso / ad
Chorum Ottoburensem / Auth. Jos. Haiden."

Hägele hypothesized that as Franz Joseph Haydn's great-
grandfather was Caspar Haiden--a wheelwright in Hainburg in
Lower Austria--it was possible this "Haiden" on the title page was
Franz Joseph Haydn.

Hägele brought the Mass to the attention of Mario Schwarz,
director of the Collegium Cantorum in St. Gallen. Schwarz realized
this was an important composition, (and not doubt dating from
the 1790's and written in the musical style of Haydn we will learn
later). Schwarz helped create a score and restore the Mass for
performance.

However reading the title page it became apparent that a Mass
with 2 Trumpets, Oboes and Strings--but without Timpani--is not
typical for Haydn. Further research discovered that this same Mass
was found in Statni oblasi library in Litomerice. Here this Mass has
two Timpani parts. These Timpani parts were added to the score
in Ottobeuren and Schwarz recorded the Mass.

Also in the CD notes Schwarz tells us "in Hungary the mass is
ascribed to W.A. Mozart. The interesting thing is that the note is to
be found only in the organ score in tiny writing on the bottom
margin of the first page. In the Prague library it is stored and
questionably attributed to Vaclav Pichl. As Schwarz refers to the
second set of parts discovered in Litomerice earlier in this same
paragraph it is easy to assume the parts in Litomerice are
attributed to Mozart. This is exactly what the reviewer in the
March/April 2003 issue of Fanfare magazine believed.

However Litomerice is in the Czech Republic, not Hungary.

Finding the web site of Ottobeuren with information on the first
performances of May 16 and 24, 2002, I found information that
helped clear up some of this confusion; but adds a few more
questions about the Mass. Here we are told Hägele also found the
work in a few other locations after Ottobeuren . Two places in
Czechoslovakia (St. Jacub in Prague and the library of the Countess
Lobkowicz in Litomerice), and a further time in Veszprem in
Hungary. The Ottobeuren site states "There the music is not
provided with an author indication". If this means only the
composition in Veszprem in Hungary, or all three locations is not
clear. The site goes on to state "it is however clear that
compositionally it resembles Joseph Haydn, W.A. Mozart and
Vaclav Pichl. A conclusive proof that here is a Solemn Mass of
Haydn's however can not be given at this time".

So we have one source telling us the Veszprem, Hungary source is
anonymous, and other telling us there is a "note in tiny writing on
the bottom margin" attributing the parts to W.A. Mozart. As the
web site was obviously written up before May 16, 2002, and the
notes in the CD are dated summer 2002 perhaps this discovery of
the note on the Organ part was found later. However Schwarz in
the CD notes states he "had no access to other sources up to the
date of recording". I can find nothing about this Mass in
Veszprem. (Perhaps someone with access to the updated RISM--
now that it is no longer available online--could find more
information on this).

A few other things the CD notes do not tell us. This Missa
Solemnis is in D-major--for some reason the key of the Mass is
never given. As the Abbey in Ottobeuren was secularized in 1803,
the parts for the Mass were no doubt obtained there prior to that
date. Also the "Quoniam tu solus Sanctus" portion of the Gloria is
identical to the corresponding Quoniam in Joseph Haydn's 'Missa
Sanctae Caecliae' (Hoboken XXII:5). This 'Missa Sanctae Caecliae'
does not have a firm date, but according to HCR Landon it appears
to date from between 1769 and 1773.

Schwarz tells us that the Mass closely follows the pattern of
Joseph Haydn. And listening to it I agree with him to a point.
However I would never guess at Mozart in a blind listening. I do
enjoy this Mass, whoever wrote it.

dennis

Subject: Unknown Composer site
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 09:18:23 04/09/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
This morning I was browsing around and stumbled on a site devoted to unknown composers. One of said composers being Franz Xaver Mozart. He had several CD's listed that were unknown to me, and would perhaps be of interest to you. Several of the CD's contained the previously mentioned Diabelli variations from the Mozart Sons thread.

Steve

Subject: Re: Unknown Composer site
From: Marti Burger
To: All
Date Posted: 16:22:22 04/14/04 ()
Email Address: MartiBur@aol.com
 

Message:
I found this site about two years ago as a Mozart link on my friend's, Susi Scholze's, "A Visit With Mozart's Baesle" website.
I was delighted with the comprehensive biography in German and English of Franz Xaver, and of the added plus of the midi files of some of his compositions.
At last, we internet users would be able to listen to Franz Xaver's own music!
And you can buy his CDs!
If you're not expecting the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, or to compare the music to his fathers', then I think you'll find listening to Franz Xaver's music enjoyable. He knew that he wasn't his father, but he was a talented composer in his own right. :-)
Cheers,
Marti :-)
SOPHIE WEBER HAIBL: MY BELOVED NEPHEW, FRANZ XAVER MOZART

http://www.geocities.com/martibur/My_page.html

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART - A BIOGRAPHY BY HIS SISTER-IN-LAW, SOPHIE WEBER HAIBL:

http://www.geocities.com/martibur/Wolfgang_Mozart.html

Subject: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 16:07:18 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
There are numerous instances in his letters that indicate that he was very aware of his abilities and talent. One might even use the words arrogance or conceit in some cases. He only made one self depricating remark that I can recall, that being when he said to Kozeluch "you and I combined only equal half a Haydn" When comparing his work to his contemporaries in retrospect, his view of his own superiority seems reasonable.

I don’t recall him ever committing to paper the opinion that “they’ll remember me” or
That “future generations will appreciate me and play my music.” Was it a feeling of long term importance that caused him to start his thematic catalogue or was that for a different reason ? Was Mozart just a working stiff, or was he aware of a bigger picture ?

Can anyone offer evidence of a feeling on his part that he would be historically significant ? If there is no evidence of such, what is your opinion ?

Regards

Steve

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 20:02:57 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Steve,

I liked your posting very much. I have always felt that Mozart was aware of his greatness and confident in what he was doing. I have never ever seen him in the light of an idiot savant or a strange being unaware of what he was about. As you know many writers, particularly those of the early 20th century saw Mozart as a 'put upon' person, mainly by the Viennese "who did not understand him". I believe that the only time his spirit was not free was under the roof of his father in Salzburg. But he had a fire in his belly to get out of that confinement and he succeded.

I don't know if the idea of being historically significant ever crossed his mind. He was a practical man, composing when he was commissioned to do so. My answer would be NO but then I could be wrong. One cannot read the heart or the mind of another person.

The only people concerned with historical significance would be politicians. Definitely Presidents and Prime Ministers and Leaders of the Opposition. And the assassins who kill such leaders, searching for their own place in history.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 17:43:35 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi all,

Interesting question, Steve. I tend to agree with you, Agnes, that Mozart did not seem to express a sentiment about the historical significance of his own works, how they would live on in the future, etc. And of course, we can't read his mind, but what we know of his personality would suggest that he tended to be "in the moment" rather than projecting into the future.

Now I would submit Beethoven was the opposite--there are many quotes of his expounding on the universal and future significance of his music. I recall a quote in which, regarding some works of his (unfortunately I've forgotten which works), and told the listeners "They are not for you, but for another time..." (I don't guess ol'LVB felt it necessary to feign humility!)

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Mark Gilley
To: All
Date Posted: 14:27:48 04/15/04 ()
Email Address: dgood46@hotmail.com
 

Message:
J. S. Bach did not, to my knowledge, articulate his own place in music history either, but I personally find it difficult to imagine operating the vast intellectual machinery necessary to compose the "Saint Matthew's Passion" or,for that matter, the two immortal books of preludes and fugues that comprise the "Well-Tempered Clavichord," without an awareness of what he accomplished. So too Mozart, who achieved in his smallest trifles an elegance and perfection that every generation of musicians since has wept over in envy. It is interesting indeed that three such different men, with three such different articulated attitudes towards the world and their place in it, should crowd for pre-eminence as the greatest composers of all time. Yes, I do freely welcome Ludwig van Beethoven to that elect group. However, due to his own pugnacious nature and the eager acclaim he usually receives without kudos from me, I don't spend as much time championing Beethoven as I do his two immortal predecessors.
Regards,
Mark Gilley

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 05:30:40 04/09/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Why Mozart started his thematic catalogue is not known for sure.
In 1973 Dan Leeson and David Whitwell (believing the catalogue
was started perhaps 9 months or so later than February 1784)
believed "realization of his mortality came home to him", having
contracted a serious illness in August 1784 and his son Raimund
having died a year earlier. As Dan Leeson posts here, I will give
him the courtesy of elaborating on this if he wishes.

Alan Tyson in the Forward to the 1990 facsimile of the Thematic
Catalogue, states the catalogue was started in February 1784 and
believes Leopold Mozart may have been the impetus for keeping a
catalogue with incipits. Leopold had made a catalogue of young
Wolfgang's composition up to his 12th year, and a list of
Wolfgang's works--with incipits-- was offered to Padre Martini in
1777; however this list is lost, if indeed ever finished. A third
example is a wrapper for a bundle of nine early Mozart
symphonies on which Leopold wrote out the instrumentation and
followed each with a incipit. The look of this wrapper is very
similar to Mozart's layout in his thematic catalogue. As Mozart
began his catalogue in February 1784, this would be only 3 and 1/
2 months after visiting Salzburg and perhaps consulting with his
father on it.

Another point to take into consideration is that about the same
time, in March 1784, Wolfgang began keeping exact accounts of
his income and expenditure. He only kept this up for a year, then
Constanze took over for a while, before it was discontinued. But
the point is at this time Mozart apparently was in a mind set of
keeping track of his life.

Was Mozart writing for posterity? I would say definitely no. At the
time the greats of the musical world had been church composers
and opera composers. Most of Mozart's completed church
compositions were far in the past. His operas, great as they are
today, were played less frequently than others--especially
Paisellio, Salieri, Martin y Soler etc. Mozart's other great
compositions (as we call them great today) are in the field of
symphony and Piano Concerto. Neither were to make the average
composer a "name for all time" in that time; that would come later
with the symphonies of Beethoven. For the next 100 years or so,
Piano Concertos were more of a composer/performer affair. And
remember in Mozart's time the name "Bach" meant either J.C., or
to a less degree in the north C.P.E. Bach. Van Swieten was trying to
bring Handel's music back in vogue. Certaiinly Mozart knew he
was very talented--better than most of the others--but I don't
think he was thinking much past his next payday.

dennis

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 20:09:09 04/09/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Concerning Mozart's reasons behind beginning a catalog, Dennis wrote:

"Why Mozart started his thematic catalogue is not known for sure. In 1973 Dan Leeson and David Whitwell (believing the catalogue was started perhaps 9 months or so later than February 1784) believed "realization of his mortality came home to him", having contracted a serious illness in August 1784 and his son Raimund having died a year earlier. As Dan Leeson posts here, I will give him the courtesy of elaborating on this if he wishes."

Thanks for the invitation to comment, Dennis. I will do so.

At the time I wrote those words (with David Whitwell), I was unaware of another factor that had considerable influence on Mozart's perspective of life and death. Prior to his mother's death in Paris in 1778, he had bought and read the 4th edition of Moses Mendelssohn's, "Phaedon or the Immortality of the Soul." After he died, the book was found in his personal library. And Mendelssohn's book was a great influence on him personally as is shown by the letter he wrote to his father on the death of his mother. It is very much taken from Phaedon, both in its ideas and in many of the very words Mozart used in his letter of consolation to his father. I mention this only to point out my hypothesis about him realizing his mortality may have been an additional influence beyond his serious illness around that time and the death of his son Raimund.

As for the date of the catalog, Whitwell and I said in 1973 that the catalog was not begun in early 1784 as was generally belived but about 9 months later, and we presented the evidence in the paper Dennis referenced. I still belive that the argument we gave is unassailable, and so did Tyson because he stated in print that he "agreed with the arguments presented by Leeson and Whitwell."

But now I must continue into a less pleasant arena, one that I would prefer to avoid. When, years later, Alan and Albi Rosenthal were involved in the printing of a beautiful facsimile of Mozart's catalog, Alan's powerful mind was diminished in its capacity to remember what he had said or thought in the past. In effect, Alan had become intellectually muddled. This is because, on the matter of the catalog, Alan contradicted himself (in writing) stating that he did "not accept the arguements of Leeson and Whitwell" that that catalog was begun 9 months after the generally accepted date.

When I saw that remark I was flabbergasted because Alan had been a champion of the argument that Whitwell and I had proposed. It was Zaslaw who had brought it to his attention and with, I think, his opinion that he believed it to be a convincing case. In fact Alan told me of his acceptance of the view that the catalog was begun 9 months after the traditional date in a meeting we had in Salzburg in 1991. So for him to completely reverse himself without any indication of why he had so dramatically changed his opinion left me quite distressed. While there may have been some rational reason why he changed his position, he never stated it and his later writing (the one quoted by Dennis) appears to me as if he no longer remembered what he had said originally on the matter.

But by that time, it was not possible to have meaningful communications with Alan. His intellectual deterioration was very rapid and all of my letters to him were not written to solicit information but to try and cheer him up, as well as remind him of what great contributions he had made in his lifetime.

Letters to him were emotionally very difficult at that time. One could almost measure his deterioration from letter to letter.

When Maynard Solomon wrote his Mozart biography, he quoted Alan's second statement and was unaware that he had made an earlier and quite contradictory one. What I said to Maynard was that it was my opinion that Alan's pathology was further advanced than anyone knew at the time that he did the work for the facsimile of the catalog.

And this possibility has caused me to be concerned about work done by Alan after 1991 when I believe that his deterioration was beginning. I commented on this in a lengthy article I did on the Gran Partitta in the Mozart Jahrbuch arguing that Alan's reasons for dating the work to 1781 contained several serious flaws.

If anyone is interested, I can give precise citations for Alan's two contradictory remarks as well as the Jahrbuch article in which I discussed Alan's dating conclusions concerning the Gran Partitta.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:13:46 04/11/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Mozart's letter to his father, following the death of his mother in Paris, is not at odds with Moses Mendelssohn's philosophy modelled on Plato's "Phaedon". Mozart's beliefs based on Catholic Christiany and Moses Mendelssohn's beliefs in the
"Immortality of the Soul" have a common meeting ground in Greek philosophy. Mozart's letter to his father reflects more his Catholic upbringing than the discourse in "Phaedon".

Although Moses Mendelssohn's "Phaedon" was very popular in Berlin and among the highly cultured people of Europe during Mozart's journey to Paris, I doubt that Mozart would have entertained at this particular time an interest in Moses Mendelssohn's writings. Mozart was still a provincial boy from parochial Salzburg despite his many travels. Moses Mendelssohn's philosophy would hardly have attracted readers in Salzburg where it was still believed that Jews ate Christian babies during their religious feasts. One must also remember Leopold Mozart's anti-Semitic tendencies, although a Jew was acceptable to him when he had undergone baptism.

There is no doubt, however, that Mozart was influenced by Moses Mendelssohn's commentary in "Phaedon" at a later date. When in Vienna Mozart moved away from the Weber home, he found furnished rooms at No. 1175 Graben. This was also the residence of the Arnsteins. Fanny Arnstein was Moses Mendelssohn's niece and the great aunt of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy.

A gifted pianist and an exceptionally cultured woman, Fanny Arnstein held popular soirees where the emerging affluent Viennese intelligentsia listened to music and discussed Moses Mendelssohn's "Phaedon". Fanny had brought a number of copies of her uncle's famous book from her native Berlin and presented them as gifts to her new-found friends.

It will be noted that the Arnsteins appear on the list of Mozart's concert subscribers.

The idea of Mozart coming to terms with his mortality through the Greek inspired philosophy of Moses
Mendelssohn is a wonderfully romantic idea. Yet, I believe that the catalogue of his works, irrespective of when it was begun, came about through the sheer necessity of keeping track of his compositions rather than any philosophical concepts.

Kind Regards,
Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 22:20:09 04/09/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
>>If anyone is interested, I can give precise citations for Alan's two contradictory remarks as well as the Jahrbuch article in which I discussed Alan's dating conclusions concerning the Gran Partitta.<<<

I'd like to see that article Dan.

Thanks

Steve

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:02:38 04/10/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dan:

I would be interested in the citation for the first Tyson statement,
so I can put it in the Forward of the Facsimilie with your article (in
the Musical Times by the way, I don't believe either of us actually
stated what Journal it was in) and some reviews of the Facsimlie I
have collected.

dennis

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 09:54:26 04/10/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
In response to Dennis and Steve Ralston's inquiries, here is the material they requested.

See the Mozart Jahrbuch, 1997, "Mozart's Serenade K. 361 (370a), A Revisit," pp. 181-223. The specific item that makes reference to Tyson's contradictory public statements is found in footnote 5, p. 182 which I repeat hear in its entirety.

"See Daniel N. Leeson and David Whitwell, 'Mozart's Thematic Catalog,' in: The Musical Times 1566, volume 114 (August 1973), pp. 781-783. This study suggests that Mozart did not begin his catalog on Feb. 9, 1784 despite that date on the document's cover. Instead, it is suggested that he began the catalog about nine months later with the first entries made retrospectively. Alan Tyson made two contradictory public statements with respect to this hypothesis. In his book (Mozart, Studies of the Autograph Scores, Cambridge 1987, p. 335, footnote 9), Tyson states: 'I accept the arguments of Daniel N. Leeson and David Whitwell [...] that the Verzeichnüss was not in fact begun by Mozart until some months later.' Subsequently, and in his introduction to the NMA edition of the facsimile of the catalog (Mozart, Eigenhändiges Werkverzeichnis, Faksimile, Einführung und Übertragung von Albi Rosenthal und Alan Tyson, Kassel 1991), Tyson contradicts himself (see pp. 13 ff) by rejecting the assertion that the first works were entered retrospectively. While any scholar can reverse an earlier position based on new information, Tyson's more recent statement reads as if he no longer remembered his earlier remarks. (It was my intention to visit with Tyson, with whom I have had a long-standing friendship, and discuss these contradictory statements. Sadly, he is ill, and this may prevent any clarification from ever taking place.)" [Note, 4/10/04: Tyson died after this note was written and communication with him of any kind became more and more difficult up to the point of his death.]

Later in this same Jahubuch article, strong issue is taken with Tyson's assertion about the dating of K. 361 based (among other things) on his incorrect understanding of a sketch found in the manuscript of K. 375 à 6 (and also his belief that the variations of the C major flute quartet was really by Mozart, a belief that I could never understand). It was his erroneous assertion that this sketch represented a rejected variation from K. 361 (6th movement) that guided him towards 1781 rather than what I have stated on multiple occasions to be the correct date, namely 1784. Tyson once visited me in California and we had dinner together at my home. On that night we discussed the dating of K. 361. His strong views at that time (and he was in full control of his intellect then) were based entirely on watermark issues. My comments on the matter of watermarks and what are, in my opinion, his flawed reasoning, are also covered in my 1997 Jahrbuch article on the Gran Partitta.

Tyson was a magnificent thinker and scholar, but not everything he said, even when he was at the height of his considerable intellectual powers, was unassailable. And more to the point, he judgement based on musical issues was not strong, possibly because his musical skills were not strong. The dating of K. 361 is such an example, and it is only because that dating has some relationship to Mozart's catalog of his own works, that I addressed it in my Jahrbuch piece in 1997.

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Hansen
To: All
Date Posted: 04:33:57 04/09/04 ()
Email Address: ueckert@uni-hamburg.de
 

Message:
«I don't know if the idea of being historically significant ever crossed
his mind. He was a practical man, composing when he was
commissioned to do so.»

In a letter to his father from Paris on July 31, 1778 (after his mother's
death), Mozart wrote very self-confidently to compose an opera, and if
at all, it should be a "great opera" just to show to "the French to learn
to esteem and to fear the Germans". Only with a great work he would
earn more honor (and money) than with a little one which would be to
earn nothing at all (because he wouldn't like "to tussle with dwarves").
Mozart was fairly aware of his abilities, which he learned and practised
from his childhood on, to do any job in composing when
commissioned to do so.

Kind regards
Hansen

Subject: Re: Mozart's view of his place in history ?
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 06:40:12 04/09/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

All excellent points.

There is another little point I would like to mention.

We have records of Constanze's meticulous entries of her expenses. Even the tip she gave a waiter in Baden is intered in her diary. The diaries reveal that she kept records of all her income and expenses. It has occured to me that she may have influenced Mozart to keep a record of his own. Wives do have an influence on their men just as husbands have influence on their wives.

Both Dennis and Hans are probably correct with their conclusions but I do not think it was Leopold who would have had any influence on Mozart at the time of his son's visit to Salzburg. I do not think the atmosphere was the right one for Mozart's to take suggestions from his father when he even refused to accompany his father to visit the blind pianist, Paradis whom he much admired. The relationship had undergone a change and would never return to the days of Mozart's youth when his father's suggestions would have to be obeyed.

Kind regards, Agnes.

Subject: The "Pick" Minuet
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:44:41 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

In a letter to his sister, Nannerl, from Bologna on March 24, 1770,
Mozart writes home to Salzburg: "I shall soon send you a minuet
which Mr. Pick danced in the theatre and which everyone danced
to afterwards at the feste di ballo in Milan, solely in order that you
may see how slowly people dance here. The minuet itself is very
beautiful. It comes, of course, from Vienna, and was most certainly
composed by Deller or Starzer. It has plenty of notes. Why?
Because it is a stage minuet which is danced slowly. The minuets
in Milan, in fact the Italian minuets generally, have plenty of notes,
are played slowly and have several bars, e.g., the first part has
sixteen, the second twenty or twenty-four".

In a postscript to the letter on March 27/28, 1770, Leopold
Mozart writes: "Here he [Wolfgang] sends the Minuet that M. Pick
in the theater in Milan had danced".

And finally on April 21, 1770 from Rome, Wolfgang writes his
sister: "I am delighted that you liked the minuet I sent you from
Bologna, I mean, the one which Signor Pick danced at Milan".

What Minuet are Wolfgang and Leopold referring to here?

The first to place an identification on the Pick-Minuet was Alfred
Einstein in K3. He moved the Minuet for Piano KV 94 up to the
time of the Contradance K123/73g, which was composed in Rome
on April 13 or 14, 1770. With this dating Einstein believed it was
not unlikely KV94/73h was the Pick-Minuet. He saw this as a
piano reduction of an orchestral Minuet, but admitted it did not
fully fit the description Mozart gave in the March 24 letter.

Only a few years later E.H. Müller von Asow found a different
candidate for the Pick-Minuet. He found in the up to then
unpublished Minuet KV 64 a better candidate. This Minuet of 28
measures, only known to previous researchers from its incipit,
(except Köchel, who had seen the autograph--which lacked a
designation of the piece, instrumentation and tempo and placed it
from the writing in 1768) was published by Asow from a copy in
the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, with commentary in
1941. St.Foix/Wyzewa only knew the incipit and had placed it in
the vicinity of the Symphony KV 48, because the Minuet in the
Symphony and the Minuet KV 64 both had wide leaps in the
violins; but Asow stated there was no style criteria to compellingly
point to Mozart, and on the contrary some passages spoke against
his authorship. However this Minuet KV 64 could be considered as
the Pick-Minuet. It is slow and does not seem to have originated
from Mozart; against it Asow admitted it does not have enough
notes (remember Mozart spoke of 36 to 40 measures, while KV 64
has only 28). But to Asow KV 94 sounded too much like Mozart,
and the large leaps in KV 64 could be traced back to the Vienna
ballets of Florian Deller or Joseph Starzer that Wolfgang would
have had occasion to hear in Vienna and copy out, and which had
influenced his Minuet in the Symphony KV 48. Asow felt of all the
known Minuets attributed to Mozart, KV 64 fit the bill the best to
be the Pick-Minuet. [In the 1960/61 Mozart Jahrbuch Wolfgang
Plath showed the supposed autograph (by then in the possession
of Bruno Walter in Beverly Hills) was actually in Leopold Mozart's
hand, and was probably a composition of his.]

In the 1949 'Briefwechsel und Aufzeichnungen' Asow supposed
the Minuet that Leopold wrote Wolfgang was sending in the March
28 letter was KV 122/73t , on the reverse of which Leopold wrote
a note about Padre Martini asking for his Violin School book. The
folds in the music sheet show the page with music by Wolfgang
and note by Leopold were send in a letter and the mention of
Padre Martini places it in the spring or summer of 1770. (Einstein
in K3 had re-dated this Minuet to the beginning of August 1770 in
Bologna). Asow placed the musical notation in March 1770 and
connected it to the Pick-Minuet.

Then in 1961 Walter Senn re-examined the sources and agreed
the Minuet in the March 28 letter had to be KV 122. As Mozart
indicated in his letter he did not know the actually composer of
the Minuet, Senn concluded it could not have been copied from a
score (which would have indicated the composer) but written down
from memory, first as a sketch, and then a fair copy sent to
Nannerl. This explains why Mozart informed Nannerl he was going
to send her the Minuet on March 24 and then (after making a fair
copy) sent it to her 4 days later.

The editors of K6 retained K3's dating of beginning of August
1770 for KV 122/73t and mentioned Senn considered possibility
a noting down by Mozart of a work of Deller or Starzer. Under KV
94/73h the editors of K6 stated as the autograph of the piano
reduction was in Leopold Mozart's hand, and expressed Ernst
Hess's opinion it was not out of the question Leopold had jotted
down a composition of another composer that interested him.

Matters stood this way until Andrea Lindmayr-Brandl took up
Mozart's early dances in the 1995 Mozart Jahrbuch. She compared
KV 122 to Mozart's description of the Pick-Minuet. It certainly
could represent the motions of a dancer and one can play the
music slowly as there is no tempo indication, but it does not have
"plenty of notes." As a matter of fact in the first section the
melody with many quartet notes proceeds exactly like many
Mozart Minuets; in the second section there is an increase in 8th
notes and some 16th notes. She also stated that to find the style
of KV 122 is not Mozart's is hard to prove, as there is little
material to compare it with from this time. Lindmayr-Brandl also
questions a note by Mozart regarding the Minuet. In a note to
Johann Baptist Schiedenhofen on April 25, 1770 (thus 4 days after
he wrote he was delighted Nannerl enjoyed the Pick-Minuet)
Mozart wrote "Please forgive me for never writing to you, but as I
had no time, I could not do my duty. Here is a minuet which
Signor Pick danced at Milan." As Schiedenhofen lived in Salzburg
and was a friend of Nannerl's, why would Mozart send the Minuet
home twice in such a short time?

To sum up, Lindmayr-Brandl states that until a source appears
attributing the Minuet KV 122/73t to Deller or Starzer (or a third
musician), its identification as the Pick Minuet must be seen as
doubtful. As to the previously discussed possibility that KV94
could be the Pick-Minuet, Lindmayr-Brandl pointed out that Plath
had shown contrary to K6's statement the autograph is indeed in
Wolfgang's hand. His handwriting studies place the piece in 1769,
too early for the Pick Minuet, and paper studies show the paper to
be used by Mozart in Salzburg, not Italy.

So we have come full circle, not knowing which (if any of the
known Minuets) is the Pick-Minuet.

dennis

Subject: Re: Additions to MozartForum Kochel Listings
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 13:35:50 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
But we can only work with what we have to work with right now, and I, for one, am grateful for any information I can find on these particularly hard to indentify works. Most of the K6 listings I have found on the 'Net have omitted all fragmentary and dubious works, which leaves a lot open. I share your confusion over K6 numbers, even though I totally understand the constraints etc., this hasn't made it any easier to remember the "new" numbers, and where will we be when those new numbers become newer numbers? I don't envy Dr. Zaslaw's task of coming up with a comprehensible system, but I hope whatever it is will be available soon. I am all a'twitter!
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Additions to MozartForum Kochel Listings
From: MozartForum
To: All
Date Posted: 11:19:18 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
The MozartForum is pleased to announce we have added two new
sections to our Köchel Listings (of part 6 Divers). Under K626aI in
K6 are listed 64 Cadenzas by Mozart to his Piano Concertos. Here
you can find which Concertos Mozart wrote Cadenzas for, and
information as to dating of the Cadenzas--not always written
contemporary with the Concerto they belong to.

Also added is the Anh A section from the Köchel Catalogue ,
complete with updated information since K6.

We tend to associate anything from the Anhang section of the
Köchel Catalogue as not being authentic Mozart. However this is
not, and has never been, the case. The Anhang section of the first
edition of the Köchel Catalogue consisted of 5 sections:

I: Lost authentic works (1-11a)
II. Fragmentary Works (12-109)
III. Transcriptions of Mozart's works (110-184)
IV. Doubtful Works (185-231)
V. Spurious Works (232-294)

Einstein in K3 placed the fragments and lost works in the main
portion of the Catalogue, keeping various sketches, Mozart's own
copies, transcriptions, doubtful and spurious works in the Anhang.
Then K6 redesigned the entire Anhang into different sections.
Anhang A is Mozart's copies of other composer's works; Anhang B
are transcriptioins of Mozart's works, Anhang C are both doubtful
and spurious works (D through F mostly deal with editions and so
forth and we will not get into them here). Thus a work carrying an
Anh A label is still a Mozart work in some way, being Mozart's
copy of some other composer's work. However as the Anh A
section just added to our list shows, many of these are actually
either not in his hand or are not really a copy, but an original
composition.

So we suggest you look over our new additions to the
MozartForum Köchel listings for information regarding the works
copied out by Mozart--or his father, as many turn out to be; and
the Cadenzas Mozart wrote for his Piano Concertos.

MozartForum

Subject: Re: Additions to MozartForum Kochel Listings
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 12:01:23 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
A word of caution here. While what you are suggesting is very worthwhile, Neal Zaslaw's work on the NK will, it is hoped, be out by the time of the quarter millenium celebration, and that will have an unknown influence on the numbering of Mozart's works. I remember discussing with him the now very troublesome numbering method of K6 what with some works having 2 and even 3 K listings, to say nothing of the works that bear listings such as K number bA, or even K. 297b and K. 297B. It's a mess and Zaslaw's efforts to straighten things out by going back to the numbering system of K1 (undoubtedly with some exceptions) will have an unknown impact on all of us. At a minimum, there may be a need for a concordance of sorts to connect NK with K6, though I do not yet know the new system well enough even to conclude on this.

All of this is by way of saying that a lot of work to make additions to the Mozart Forum Koechel listings may eventually have to be undone or modified to some degree. I wish that I knew more on the matter. From my perspective, I wouldn't touch anything until the NK is out.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Additions to MozartForum Kochel Listings
From: The MozartForum
To: All
Date Posted: 12:16:47 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dan,

We appreciate your concern, but please bear in mind that you are dealing with one or more obsessive-compulsive fanatics at this website.

Yes, we are aware the Neue Köchel is coming, but that's nearly two years away. In the interim, there are still many English-speaking Mozart lovers who don't own a K or couldn't read it if they had one. So for the present we are happy to offer what we can in the way of current K listings, as well as annotations of newer information where available. We also have plans for improving the listings we have now, both by expanding the content and by creating an improved interface. A lot of work? Yeah--so? We're talking Labors of Love here! (...and that's to say nothing of the self-education and enrichment such tasks result in for the doers!)

Obviously, when the NK comes out, we expect that it will be a whole new ball game, but that's half the fun! We are prepared to do whatever work is necessary, (assuming we have all proper permissions to do so), to update, add to, modify, undo, revamp, tear down or rebuild our listings and/or our interface to conform with what will be the new standards. A lot of work? Yeah....So?

The MozartForum

Subject: Re: Additions to MozartForum Kochel Listings
From: Bill Szep
To: All
Date Posted: 13:28:15 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
To the Mozart Forum guys,

Thanks for your labors! As I have mentioned, I am building my collection and I really like your Kochel section. It fleshes out the music. Hopefully, in the near future, I will buy the Brilliant Classics complete collection and I look forward to comparing what I will have to your listings.

Thanks again from an appreciative Mozart fan!
Bill

Subject: Oboe quartet
From: Doug
To: All
Date Posted: 02:55:25 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: dbedg@wave.co.nz
 

Message:
I have a friend who is a superb oboe player and today
we got together with a violinist and cellist and enjoyed playing Mozarts Oboe quartet. I feel that 'enjoyed' is not the right word - it was more than that. I was so moved by the sound of the oboe during the finish of the last movement that I was near to tears from the sheer joy of it all. Not a good thing for a player to have happen, unless they have a good memory.

I have "complained" before that every time I take part in the playing of a Mozart chamber work I exclaim "This is the best thing he ever wrote"
and at the time I think I believe it.

Oh wonderful Mozart I do love your music so much.

Subject: Re: Oboe quartet
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 10:12:46 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
There are several pieces that I use when speaking about Mozart's practice of simultaneous multiple rhythms. There are several cases of his use of 2/4 and 6/8 simultaneously, but none are as dramatic as the example in the final movement of the oboe quartet. Despite the fact that it is simple in principle, it is a very unnerving thing for the audience to suddenly find such conflicting rhythms where the beat keeps going in and out of phase. It is as if the four players have suddenly gone mad. While three orchestras playing in three different rhythms during the dance scene of Don Giovanni is an awesome example of his ability to handle multiple meters, the oboe quartet still strikes me as an astonishing accomplishment of how to write for two meters at the same time. It is dizzyingly brilliant.

Despite 200 years of practice, it remains a difficult task for even a contemporary musician to make that section of the oboe quartet work.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: Oboe quartet
From: Steve Ralsten
To: All
Date Posted: 08:53:57 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I used to feel the same about the wind serenades when I played them. This was 30 years ago, and in those days
I wasn't much interested in Mozart, but was terribly disappointed that he didn't write more for wind octet.

Steve

Subject: Re: Oboe quartet
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:15:55 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Doug:

Wonderful to hear from a player who loves what he plays this
much.

You are certainly not the first person I have heard "complain" the
last Mozart piece he heard was his favorite. Seems to be a
commom complaint of Mozart lovers.

dennis

Subject: Re: Oboe quartet
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 09:44:54 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Good to hear from a fellow musician that he shares my malady of the ever-changing favorite Mozart piece! I am one of those that Dennis mentions--I seem to fall in love with whichever wonderful work I'm involved in--And isn't that what makes Mozart so amazing?!

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Mozart as a "Jacobin"
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 22:02:46 04/06/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Mozart Considered as a "Jacobin"

Foreword

I came across this article back in 1978, just after I discovered Mozart. It opened many avenues of exploration for me, some of which are still being pursued. I thought that I would scan my old 26-year-old photocopy in and post it for everyone. I also thought that this would be a LOT easier than typing it in. However, my old photocopy and my new scanner were not really compatible, as sentences would come out looking something like this: "Aften MOz~rt amived in Yienne, ha wruta his fatner t0 tall him.." Optical Character Recognition indeed! It should be Optional Character Recognition! I believe that I caught all the word customizations, but some of the more clever ones may have slipped past.

I have also added a couple of comments, noted in ( ) with Ed. attached.
=========================================================================
Mozart Considered as a "Jacobin"

(Jacobin n. An extreme political radical, from the Jacobins, a society of radical democrats in France during the Revolution of 1789.)

By James Stevens Curl
From the Musical Review, Vol 35 #2, Aug. 1974 pgs 131-141

JOANNES CHRYSOSTOMUS WOLFGANGUS THEOPHILUS MOZART was born in Salzburg on 21 January 1756, the seventh child of Johann Georg Leopold Mozart and his wife, Anna Maria Walburga, nee Pertl. The "Theophilus" part of young Mozart's forenames became "Gottlieb" in German" and later was changed to "Amadeus" or "Amade" by Mozart himself from about 1777. Mozart, composer of Elysian harmonies, the man and artist who made the eighteenth century forever sing in our ears, was, in his later years, a Mason and a sympathizer with many of the ideas that broke through to the surface in the French Revolution. As such, he must be classed among the people whom later generations, especially the Metternichs, Castlereaghs, and Wellingtons of the world were accustomed to call Jacobins, by which they meant liberals, progressives, and believers in ideas of nationality.

The young Mozart, aged twelve, and by that time widely traveled, composed a one-act Singspiel with German words derived from Rousseau's Le Devin du Village of 1752. It was called Bastien and Bastienne K.50 and was first performed in Vienna in the garden of the famous Dr. Anton Mesmer, the discoverer of "animal magnetism". Curiously, the opening bars of the overture are very similar to those of the first movement of the Eroica symphony by Beethoven, a work that was fraught with Jacobinian overtones. (Though to imply any such thoughts in the young Mozart’s mind seems to me to be asking too much here. This is almost certainly a case of sheer coincidence, as Beethoven could not have heard this work before the time of his “Eroica” Symphony. Ed.)

On 10th March 1749, Emanuele Conegliano, the man who was to be Mozart's most successful librettist, was born at Ceneda. By 1776, this young man had ceased to be a Jew by religion and had been baptized Lorenzo da Ponte. He became Professor of Rhetoric at Treviso. He caused great scandal at the Accademia by reciting a poem whose subject was "Whether man is happier in an organized society or in a simple state of nature." According to da Ponte, no laws served any useful purpose; states should have no rights over citizens, or parents over children. He had made a concerted attack on privilege, and since Treviso was in the Republic of Venice (such as it could be) and was overflowing with privilege, da Ponte was dismissed from his post and forbidden to teach in the Republic. (Though one suspects that da Ponte was really posing rhetorical questions here in order to stimulate the debate, not stating his own position. Yet, this is also a method for airing your opinions and beliefs by using a “cover” to do so. Ed.) Still, he was a priest, and after a scandalous career as a cleric in Venice, a profession he seemingly pursued with the minimum of conviction and the maximum of lechery, he eventually fled north, as did his fellow-rake and countryman, Casanova.

In the same year as da Ponte scandalized Treviso, Emperor Joseph ll, by lowering the prices for admission to the theaters and discouraging private patronage, began a policy of creating a democratic tradition in opera. Italian opera until then had been an aristocratic luxury but Joseph, by encouraging a "National" opera in the vernacular, hoped to create opera for the masses. Mozart in fact composed a "German" opera (actually a Singspiel) for the National-Opera in Vienna called Die Entführung aus dem Serail K.384. It was his best-known work throughout his lifetime.

In 1782 Giovanni Paisiello's Il Barbiere di Siviglia was performed in St. Petersburg and in the following year in Vienna. In 1784 da Ponte collaborated with Salieri in Il Ricco d'un Giorno, but it was a flop. Da Ponte probably met Mozart in 1783, and it was very likely Mozart who had the idea of writing a sequel to Paisiello's successful opera based on Beaumarchais. The play itself was banned in Vienna, and Napoleon said of it "c'etait la Revolution deja en action". In 1780, Mozart heard Le Barbier de Seville with music by Benda and was very familiar with the earlier part of the story. The Emperor Joseph II, a man of distinct liberal inclination, agreed after persuasion by da Ponte (apparently, as we only have da Ponte’s word on this. Ed.) to have the score handed to the copyists when Mozart's Figaro was completed. Joseph sent for Mozart, heard passages from it, and was suitably impressed. Possibly without Joseph's support, Casti and Rosenberg among others could have wrecked this opera's chances, and Salieri may have been against it too, for da Ponte's efforts for him (Il Ricco d'un Giorno) had been disastrous.

It was not until I786, however, in Prague, that Le Nozze di Figaro K.492 had its first really popular success, both with the aristocracy and with the masses. At a ball in 1787 in Prague, which Mozart attended, Figaro’s music was arranged for quadrilles and waltzes. Even street musicians (it was said) had to play "Non piu andrai" if they wanted a tip.

Mozart’s Figaro shows up all the shortcomings of the aristocratic system, and his lack of awe for kings, princes, and priests. In 1763, 1764, and 1766, the young Mozart was frequently received at the French Court, probably due to the introduction of Baron Friedrich Melchior Grimm. Leopold Mozart complained in a letter, however, that arrangements at Versailles proceeded even slower than at other courts, although they met the Pompadour whom Leopold described as one of the chief sights of France. Little Wolfgang, however, compared her audibly and unfavorably with his own Empress. Dinner on New Year's Day, 1764, found the Mozarts in the privileged position of being allowed to stand behind the royal chairs. Queen Marie Leszcynska talked to Wolfgang and fed him scraps (Which is one view; another might be “samples” or “tidbits.” Ed.). The Mozarts were very much respecters of self, and the treatment of the boy, as a kind of pet must have rankled, especially since their concerts were merely treated as aristocratic diversions, soon to be forgotten. (Maybe, though Leopold never seemed to have complained, once he got paid. After all, this was the way of things at the time, and Leopold Mozart was, if anything, quite able to adapt himself to those ways.) To the proud Wolfgang, such experiences in courtly circles must have made a deep impression, for many years later, in a letter of 14th May, 1778, he turned down a job because he would had to have spent six months per year at Versailles, demonstrating that the condescension he had received there before had wounded him deeply. (Perhaps, though the simpler explanation might be that he didn’t want to get tied down in Paris too quickly. That would for sure bring his whole family out to stay with him, thus ruining his illusion of “being on his own.” As well, such a post would likely keep him away from Aloysia Weber back in Mannheim, whom he had fallen in love with. Ed.)

While in Paris, Mozart was introduced by the Baron Grimm to the Duc de Guines who engaged him to teach his daughter composition. He also met a certain Duchess who (according to a letter by Mozart) kept him waiting in a cold anteroom before giving a recital. Mozart requested that he should warm himself first, but was ignored, and when he played, he had no response. The Duc de Guines, apparently, had too high an opinion of his daughter's talents, and when the lessons ceased on her betrothal, Mozart regarded the Ioss of his pupil as no loss to his reputation. The Duc went off to the country without telling Mozart, and omitted to pay him, behavior that Mozart described as "noble treatment", demonstrating that M. le Duc had not "a spark of honor". It is possible that the deplorable and cavalier behavior of the Duc became a model for some of the least attractive features of Count Almaviva, by preparing the ground in the composer’s soul for the image of a nobleman of the ancient regime. Mozart had no high opinion of clerics either, for he said that the Archbishop (of Salzburg, Ed.) had no confidence in the experience of intelligent people, who had seen the world. From Vienna, on I7th March, 1781, we learn that he stayed in a room in "the same house where (the Archbishop) is staying," and he added sarcastically, "Che distinzione!" We also find him questioning his earnings. (Well, doesn’t everyone? Ed.)

On 9th May, 1781, he denounced the impertinences with which he had to contend, and reported a row he had had with the Archbishop, Later, he described him as "this fine servant of God," and as a "presumptuous conceited ecclesiastic." Making his own position clear in a letter of 2nd June 1781 he stated, "I treat people as they treat me." On 13th June he reported being kicked by Count Arco, the Archbishop's aide, and expressed a desire to kick Count Arco in the street if necessary to avenge his honor.

On 19 October 1782, he rejoiced over the relief of Gibraltar by (the English admirals) Howe and Hughes, and stated that he was "an out and out Englishman." He started to set an ode celebrating, this victory over the French, but declared it was "too exaggerated and pompous" for his fastidious ears, On 29th March 1783, Mozart was pleased to write of the presence of Joseph II at a concert of his in Vienna, and, echoing Joseph's revolutionary acts against the Orders, stated that "a priest is capable of anything" referring to the Archbishop. Possibly though he had already met Lorenzo da Ponte!

About this time (1783), Mozart's interest in Freemasonry became outwardly active and in December 1784, he joined the Lodge "Zur Wohltatigkeit." His correspondence with fellow Masons is a distressing catalogue of begging letters and there is no doubt that after Le Nozze at Figaro K.492 Mozart's financial position got steadily worse, probably due as much to his own bohemian habits as to the indifference of his contemporaries to his material condition. There seems to have been a lot of ill-will towards him for in a letter from Prague dated October, 1787, he reported a performance of Figaro which was subjected to attempted sabotage by a "few of the leading ladies" (of the nobility, Ed.), and "in particular one very high and mighty one". However, Joseph II stepped in and reversed the decision to replace Figaro with a less controversial work and Mozart crowed over the effect his victory had on the "handsome, magnificent nose" of the lady in question.

Joseph II appointed him to the post of "I & R Chamber Composer" and not "Kapelmeister in actual service of His I & R Majesty" as he has been often mistakenly called, at a salary of 800 gulden per annum (say $40,000 US dollars, Ed.), whereas Gluck, who preceded him, had received 2000 gulden (say $100,000 US dollars) for exactly the same duties (actually, the post and duties were different, Ed.). Possibly this may have been due to Gluck's superior self-advertising techniques, for he always was known as "Chevalier" Gluck, although he shared with Mozart the same knighthood, that of the Golden Spur. Gluck and Dittersdorf had received their knighthoods earlier, but Mozart was granted the higher rank of "Knight of the Golden Order" in a Papal Patent, dated 4th July 1770 signed by Cardinal Negroni. The fact that Mozart did not use the title in his mature years would seem to be significant. (He had been made fun of while wearing it in Augsburg in 1777; it does not appear that he wore it again for “effect”. Ed.)

To return to Le Nozze di Figaro, it was first produced in Vienna on 1 May 1786. As William Mann has pointed out, this was an appropriate date "for this left-wing opera". Susanna’s sets the mood right away:

“Cosi se il mattino Il caro Contino. ... ...a mia porta il diavol lo porta.”

and later by Figaro's

“Se vuol ballare, signor Contino, il chitarrino Ie suonero, si,... “

Figaro centers on the witty ways in which Figaro and Susanna (the servants) outwit the Count over the question of the feudal rights of the Lord of the Manor. At certain periods it was required by the Church that newly married couples should not consummate their marriage until a time had elapsed after the ceremony, so that they were required to abstain for perhaps several days. Permission to consummate was obtained on payment of a sum of money to the Church, and it was claimed by the priest in an ecclesiastical court. This was the jus primae noctis, which has been confused with the subject of Beaumarchais' plot, namely, the Maritagium. This originated in the Middle Ages, or perhaps somewhat earlier. If a daughter of a serf married a serf belonging to another seigneur she had to pay her own seigneur compensation since he was to lose her services and those of her children. In many cases this compensation was paid in kind, and Beaumarchais sought to create in Almaviva the idea of a "liberally" inclined lord who, while abolishing his "right", sought, nevertheless, to obtain it by goodwill in the case of the seductive Susanna.

However, compared with Don Giovanni, Count Almaviva is a philanthropist. Lorenzo da Ponte was an accomplished blasphemer and seducer. Caught in the act with a girl in Venice he bluffed his way out asking God to strike him down with a thunderbolt while celebrating Mass, so obviously the theme of the dissolute Don appealed to the scandalous priest. (He’s rough on da Ponte, isn’t he ? Ed.) Goldoni had produced Don Giovanni Tenorio in Venice in 1736, incorporating the idea of the profligate nobleman committing murder and blasphemy. Moliere had written on the subject, and Shadwell's Libertine had been produced in 1676. Purcell, Gluck, Righini and Gazzaniga had all composed music for the same subject. The latter had set a libretto by Bertati and da Ponte borrowed heavily from this work for his own Don Giovanni. It is interesting to note that Casanova may have added one or two small sections to the libretto. Drafts remain of some of his work.

However, Don Giovanni K.527 was not a success in Vienna, as the Don Juan idea had been portrayed as farce in all previous productions, although Joseph II thought the music divine. It was successful in Prague, however (where it was commissioned and premiered), and the opera is particularly interesting for its social commentary. In Masetto there is more than a touch of the indignation and revolutionary feeling, which permeates Figaro. Mozart and da Ponte were men of their own time, and Don Giovanni has no less social significance than Figaro. According to Dent, the sole purpose of Masetto and Zerlina in the dramatic scheme is to comment on the social background. Don Giovanni is an opera, which shows unmistakably the fate of heedless pleasure loving aristocrats "dancing on the crest of a volcano."

In Act I Leporello expresses his displeasure at having to slave night and day for one who cannot be pleased. (Notte e giorno faticar. ...) he continues then to:

“Voglio far il gentiluomo
e non voglio piu servir,”

Commenting on the murder of the Commendatore he says:-

“Due imprese leggiadre
sforzar la figlia, ed ammazzar il padre.”

At the pre-nuptial celebrations of Masetto and Zerlina, Don Giovanni asks, "Who is the groom?" and Masetto replies: -- "At your service." Don Giovanni sneers back:--" At my service-spoken like a gentleman!". Masetto's "Ho capito, Signor si!" is a comment on how a nobleman would "make a lady" out of Zerlina by seducing her. The arrogance of the Don and his insults, followed by his attempted seduction of the girl are commented on by Zerlina’s doubts and her lack of weapons with which to defend herself. Her hesitation and lack of sureness are called "a slander of low minds" by the Don who insists, "a nobleman's honor is written in his face". Later, Leporello mentions the fact that he has picked up much technique of flattery and deceit while in Don Giovanni's service. The Don also thinks it would be a splendid idea, in the event of Leporello being married, to seduce his wife. In the graveyard, Don Giovanni forces Leporello to invite the Statue to supper saying that it amuses him to make Leporello tremble. The same apparent cruelty is demonstrated in the final scene when the Don feasts and enjoys watching Leporello’s hunger.

Act I, however, has the most immediate social commentary, for during the dance scene three dances are played simultaneously--a waltz, a contredanse and a minuet, played by three orchestras and representing the three social strata of the times. The minuet is, of course, the aristocratic dance; the contredanse is the bourgeois dance; and the waltz is the dance of the proletariat When the masked nobles arrive, the most astonishing outburst of revolutionary fervor is heard on the cue: -

“Venite pur avanti, vezzose mascherette. E aperto a tutti quanti” for all exclaim, to the accompaniment of unmistakably catchy martial music:

“Viva La liberta!”

Contemporary accounts of the opera tell of the eye "being feasted" and the "ear enchanted”, but "reason is offended and morality insulted, while Vice is allowed to trample on virtue and sensibility", for Don Giovanni goes to Hell unrepentant unlike Tirso's Don Juan who asked for a priest at the end.

In 1789, Mozart traveled to Berlin and may have been offered a post by King Frederick William II. This may have been due to his unwillingness to abandon Joseph II, although the latter certainly was not recognizing Mozart's abilities in a realistic manner. (That point can be debated. He did give Mozart a position with pay, one that could see raises in the future, as Mozart was only 31 at the time. On the other hand, Joseph and his court never requested symphonies or concerti or operas or divertimenti or indeed any kind of “official” music for any occasion. They did require dance music for various events, which Mozart dutifully supplied. As did Haydn, Beethoven and other composers as well. So, Mozart was honored by the assignment of this post, but was not challenged by it. Ed.) The two main reasons for his refusal may have been due to his devotion to the liberal character of the Emperor, and of his dislike of militarism. Some of this dislike he may have acquired from his father who wrote from Ludwigsburg in 1763 of the "laughable" qualities of the grenadiers there, and Wolfgang seems to echo this in a letter from Kaisersheim of 18th December, 1778 when he told of the "formidable military organization" present and he as well questioned the reasons for its very existence. At night the perpetual shouts of "Who goes there?" by the troops provoked Mozart’s reply of "Guess!"

In 1790 Mozart collaborated with da Ponte for the last time on the opera Cosi fan Tutte K.588. As it appeared In January 1790 it must have appeared to some almost a last jest at the end of an era. Cosi fan Tutte was viewed as the apotheosis of the Rococo at its most frivolous. This is not so, on close examination, for the work is full of exquisite humor, charm, grace and a desperate gaiety. In the opera, it is again the servant who is the social commentator although this is a role she (Despina) shares with the cynic Don Alfonso. She complains of her lot as ladies' maid, yet, with the Don, is the element of penetrating intelligence among the vapid lovers. Like Leporello, she says (Act I) that although her tongue is hanging out, she is only allowed to smell the ladies' chocolate, and like Leporello and the pheasant at the Supper scene, she takes a surreptitious helping here as well.

“O garbate signore, Che a voi dessi l'essenza e a me l'odore ! “

The two ladies, however, Fiordiligi and Dorabella, are shown as utterly fickle, melodramatic, idiotic and useless--mere social parasites. Despina has her head well screwed on, and when the sisters express fears that their soldier-lovers will be killed, Despina says that would be all to the good;

“Le povere buffone
Stanno nel giardinetto
A lagnarsi coll'aria e colle mosche
D'aver perso gli amanti.”

A curious feature of Cosi fan Tutte (or La Sculoa degli Amanti) is the styling of Fiordiligi and Dorabella as "two ladies from Ferrara". This was a Mozart-da Ponte joke, because Dorabella was sung by Louise Villeneuve, and Fiordiligi was sung by the celebrated La Ferrarese, who happened at the time to be da Ponte’s mistress. Both ladies were sisters in real life.

Mesmer crops up again in connection with Cosi, for Despina revives the poison-taking gentlemen with a magnet proclaiming: -

“Pietra mesmerica
ch'ebbe l' origine
Nell' Allemagna
Che poi si celebre
La in Francia fu”

This is a reference to Mesmer's having been driven out of Austria to France because of orthodox opposition to his methods of treating the ill. Despina also comments in Act II, in the garden scene:

“Rompasi omai quel laccio
Segno di servitu”

It must be remembered that when Cosi was first produced, it was a modern opera, and therefore very much of the moment in such commentaries of the world.

The Emperor Joseph II died in February 1790, and was succeeded by Leopold II who disliked his brother's reform efforts, practically all of them. Leopold, however, reinstated church orchestras, which Joseph had abolished, and so the Requiem K.626 was possible. (Except that the commissioner of the Requiem was going to give private performances of this work utilizing his own musicians. Therefore the revival of church orchestras played no part in the background of the Requiem) Ed.) Apart from La Clemenza di Tito K.621, with a libretto by Mazzola after Metastasio, which was commissioned as a coronation opera to celebrate the crowning of Leopold as King of Bohemia, the chamber composer had been insultingly neglected. Tito was Mozart's last opera, but prior to the hurried writing of this rather arid work; he had set a libretto for Schikaneder's theater company. (Actually, he hadn’t finished Die Zauberflöte before hurrying off for La Clemenza. Ed.) His connections with them were both family (Josefa Hofer was a singer and Mozart's sister- in-law) and Masonic oriented, for Freemasonry was strong in Schikaneder's theatre.

It is curious that Mozart, the I & R chamber composer, should have written for a suburban theatre, but the work he wrote with Schikaneder and Giesecke, Die Zauberflote K.620, must: be seen as an opera of rebellion, of consolation and of hope under the reactionary Leopold II. Giesecke, who many have credited with the libretto, was really a certain J. G. Metzler, from Augsburg. He was a Mason, and became a Professor at Trinity College, Dublin. A Raeburn portrait of him exist and he turns up in Charles Lever’s Harry work Lorrequer. Schikaneder was responsible for much of the humor, notably the Papageno scenes, and many claim that Giesecke and Mozart himself wrote much of the libretto, which borrows heavily from many sources. (Actually, the claims here go in all different directions. Schikaneder had a theater poet on staff other than Giesecke, for one thing, and for another, we do know that Schikaneder previously wrote many other plays and singspiels. But, he never wrote anything this good before or after Die Zauberflöte. Finally, he was by 1791 managing a large major theater in Vienna. The odds are that he delegated others to draft a libretto, which he then reviewed and had alterations made to. Mozart then most assuredly requested further changes to it. Whether he himself wrote any sections of it is completely unverifiable at this point in time. Ed.)

Sarastro and his priests represent hope in the victory of light and humanity and the brotherhood of man. Mozart made the significance of this extraordinary work overpowering clear. The opera begins and ends in E flat major, the Masonic key, and even in the overture the three chords, symbols of the three knocks on the gates of the temples, occur throughout. In Act I there are three temples, those of Wisdom, Reason and Nature, and three doors are knocked. There are three chords before Sarastro begins his ceremonies, and in the hymn "O Isis und Osiris" the rhythm is of three beats to the bar. Throughout Die Zauberflote, the woodwinds, instruments of the Vienna Lodges, play prominent parts. Some have seen the Queen of the Night as Louis XVI, Pamina as Liberty, and Tamino as the People, but others suggest, more likely, that the Queen represents Maria Theresia, or even better, superstition.

Die Zauberflote is undoubtedly Mozart’s most revolutionary work. The symbolic number three we have already discussed above, but it permeates the whole work: the Three Ladies, for example, who appear almost at the beginning. Assuming the Queen to be Maria Theresia, then there is food for thought in Papageno’s:

“Welcher Sterbliche kana sich rühmen,
Sie je gesehen zu haben?”

a reference to the Empress's inaccessibility. The Three Ladies, Papageno and Tamino make other significant remarks: -

“Statt Hass, Verleumdung, schwarzer Galle,
Bestünde Lieb' und Bruderbund”

The number three appears in the Three Boys, genii of the Temple and in the three Temples before whose doors Tamino's anguished: -

“0 ew'ge Nacht ! Wann wirst du schwinden?
Wann wird das Licht mein Auge flnden?”

is answered by the mysterious invisible chorus:-

“Bald, bald, Jüngling, oder nie !”

At the end of Act I, the huge chorus:-

“Wenn Tugend und Gerechtigkeit
Der Grossen Pfad mit Ruhm bestreut,
Dann ist die Erd' ein Himmelreich,
Und Sterbliche den Göttern gleich.”

expresses much of significance and hope, when Arcady would return.

During the wonderful second act of the opera, the mood is set, dominated, in fact, by Sarastro, who is of course Zoroaster or Zarathustra. When a priest asks of Tamino-

“Ist wohltatig?”

Sarastro replies:

“Wohltatig! Haltet ihr ihn fur wurdig,
so folgt meinem Beispiel,”

Perhaps this is a reference to Mozart's first Lodge, Sarastro then refers to the Queen as a woman who tried to destroy "this our temple", and who was also liable to fool her people by trickery and superstition. The first priest then says of Tamino: "Consider well. He is a Prince"', Sarastro's reply is shattering, even now, and must have been more so in I791:-

“Mehr! Er ist ein Mensch!”

We have noted that the beautiful "0 Isis und Osiris" is set to three beats to the bar. Throughout the scene, the three chords are repeated three times, later, the phrase occurs which might have been Mozart's own epitaph, and which he himself quotes in a letter of 11th June, 1791:-

“Tod und Verzweiflung war sein Lohn.”

The dialogue of warnings which the Three Ladies share with Tamino and Papageno would indicate that the Ladies are the agents of superstition which attempt to destroy the initiates' faith in Freemasonry, Tamino answers:

“Ein Weiser prüft und achtet nicht,
was der gemeine Pöbel spricht,

The Ladies reply:-

“Man sagt, wer ihrem Bund schwürt,
Der fährt zur Höll mit Haut und Haar”

which must have echoed many popular and official sentiments of the day and is a spiteful outburst when contrasted with Sarastro’s:-

“Dann wandelt er an Freundes Hand Vergnügt und froh ins bess're Land”

The Moon is the symbol of the Queen as the Sun is the symbol of Sarastro. Yet Sarastro’s realm is a cosmos, for it embraces everything. That there are powers of darkness in Sarastro’s realm (Monostatos and the slaves, for example) and good coming out of the Queen of the Night's Kingdom (the Three Ladies, Pamina herself, and the flute and Papageno’s bells) is indisputable, and emphasizes that ambivalence was understood by the creators of this work. The concept of gods and men being reunited occurs in it, and Goethe understood the inner meanings of Die Zauberflöte, where the whole spectrum of mood changes from farce to high moralizing; from Night to Day; from Hate to Love.

But all these must be seen as part of the whole. I do not believe that the plot was changed half way through. The change of understanding comes as we move from the Kingdom of the Moon (Act I) to the blinding revelation through fire and water of the Temple of the Sun. It is interesting to note that in the scene with the Two Armed Men, Mozart uses the Protestant chorale: “Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein” as the basis for this most moving of all scenes. Fire and water as elements of sexual and mental awareness are emphasized by Pamina's sudden stature as she enters the annealing fire and cooling water with her lover.

Apparently there had been Masonic interpretations of Die Zauberflote as early as 1794. In a pamphlet produced by M. A. Zille in 1866, Tamino is said to represent Joseph II; Pamina the People, Sarastro was Ignaz von Born, Monostatos the Clergy, especially the Orders. Monostatos has also been seen as a traitor, who denounced Freemasonry in 1792, but his intentions may not have been known in 1791. "Whether it was true or not that the Viennese Lodges were organizing a revolution, it is plain that the writer of this libretto was saturated with the ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity"

Maria Theresia had ordered a raid in 1743 on a lodge of which her own husband was a member, and the closing scene where the Queen of the Night, Monostatos, the Three Ladies and the Slaves attempt to destroy file Temple may be seen as an allegory. Lord Chesterfield had in fact initiated Francis I in The Hague, but the Empress suppressed the Order in 1764. Frederick the Great had been a Freemason, and so were Frederick William II, Goethe and Joseph Haydn.

The last three symphonies of Mozart may be seen as a whole. I788 was a bad year for Mozart, and there was no reason for him to write them other than for deeply personal motives. (However, see my series on the last three symphonies for an alternate reading on this point. Ed.) Apart from the symbolic three, there are other reasons for thinking that this cycle was Masonic in character. The electrifying opening of the first Symphony (#39), in the Masonic key of E flat major, has a shattering dissonance just before the faster section, where the basic rhythm is three. Dent quoted Ellingford as saying that the last movement of #41 in C is Masonic. I see all three symphonies as a whole, with the Masonic Key beginning the cycle; dark despair and passions (the Night Kingdom) in # 40 in G minor, and finally the Jupiter with its miraculous last movement when all those ideas are welded together in the glorious sun-like key of radiant C Major. Again, the centrepiece of the cycle is the slow movement of the G minor Symphony, with its dominant, insistent rhythm in six-eight, which, of course, is significant in relation to the number Three. (Of course, let’s not forget that each minuet is in 3 beat time, which is “significant” in relation to the number Three. Of course, every minuet in every symphony by every Classical composer is, as well. Should we conclude that all of them are Masons? Or back Masonic beliefs? There may be Masonic leanings in this last set of symphonies, but I don’t believe that they are drenched in the symbolism as is Die Zauberflöte. Ed.)

Beethoven, like Goethe, was influenced by Die Zauberflote, and his Fidelio, so much admired by left-wing circles of the times, has much in it reminiscent of Die Zauberflote. In a sense, Mozart's work is the first Romantic opera, with its dialogues foreshadowing Weber, and its symbolism heralding Wagner. Die Zauberflote is a working-class opera deliberately written for the masses, and first performed in a suburban theater, that of theTheater im Starhembergishen Freihause auf der Wieden.

There was a judicial enquiry against the Austrian Jacobins leading to a prohibition of Freemasonry. This began in 1794. On the death of Leopold II, Francis II introduced stern measures against all secret societies. Even Casti, who was appointed Caesarian Poet, a post that da Ponte had wanted, had to leave Vienna in 1796 as he was suspected of Jacobinism. Certainly da Ponte had left hurriedly, made for London, but finally settled in America where he died (in New York) in 1838. (Professor of Italian Studies at Columbia College no less! Ed.)

Giesecke himself went to Copenhagen, then Greenland and finally Dublin, while da Ponte, Casanova, Casti and others had fled. Schikaneder had been expelled from his lodge cum infamia, went insane and died in 1812. Mozart, with his transparent honesty, quick temper and intolerance of injustice would not have escaped the anti-Jacobin purges, especially since the Caesarian Poet himself had fallen from favor.

Mozart's death, however, at 12:55 A.M. on 5th December, 1791, and his burial in a common grave the following day in St. Marx Freidhof which was never accurately marked, the graves being opened and cleared every seven years, spare us such interesting speculations. Suffice it to say that His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty's Chamber Composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Knight of the Golden Order, had been an active Freemason. Many Masons had been active revolutionists: Washington, Garibaldi, Bolivar and Jefferson, for example, and Masonic influence had been active in the French Revolution. Masonry in Protestant countries, however, tended to support the state, while in Roman Catholic countries, being proscribed, it always was anti-royal and anti-clerical. In fact, in Catholic countries Masonry became anti-religious, so that a schism developed in 1877 between the Masons in R.C. countries and those in Protestant ones for this very reason. Masons were persecuted as suspected Jacobins, and no doubt many of them had strong Jacobin sympathies although not necessarily for the French.

Of such, almost certainly, was W. A. Mozart.

Subject: "Typos"
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 14:39:12 04/06/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Please forgive the typos in the article below. I should have checked it before I posted it and NOT AFTER.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 01:49:47 04/06/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

The information we have about the Requiem's Commissioner, Count Walsegg comes from an essay by Anton Herzog, schoolmaster and second violin in Count Walsegg's orchestra. Count Walsegg died on November 11, 1827. Anton Herzog submitted his essay about the Requiem for publication but it was rejected by the Censor in 1839. Herzog, by his own admission never managed to get the exact information about the Requiem from Count Walsegg although he attempted to talk to him about it even when the Count was on his deathbed. Herzog's information about the Requiem was written about the time when the Imperial Library had purchased the Requiem, as completed by Sussmayr, from Katharina Adelpoller.

Herzog's was discovered by Dr. Otto Schneider in the Municipal Archives of Wiener Neustadt and was published by Otto Erich Deutcsh in the Osterreichische
Musikzeitschrift in February 1964. So sensitive was this essay at the time Herzog wrote it that it bears the inscription: "Not Authorised for Publication -
by order of the Inmperial Royal Ministry" dated in Vienna 8th February 1839

Why was Herzog's essay not published? After all, in 1839 the provenance of the Requiem was a newsworthy story. Most people believed that Mozart's Requiem, written in his own hand, had finally been found. Ignaz von Mosel, the Curator of the Court Library, was himself preparing to write a treatise about the Requiem. By 1839 the Requiem was accepted as Mozart's ultimate work. It had enjoyed a number of performances, one in particular had touched the Viennese hearts when the Requiem was performed at the Memorial Service at the Schottenkirche for Haydn on 15 June, 1809.

Had Herzog's essay been published in 1839, it would have been damaging to the ruling aristocracy. The Censro could see the potential ridicule that could be aimed at the aristocracy when news that "one of their own" had claimed the intellectual ownership of a work composed by the great Mozart. The Censro could well imagine the sniggering of the rising bourgeoisie as they sipped their coffe and drank their schnapps in the many coffee-houses in Vienna. In addition, by 1839 Walsegg's claim of having composed the Requiem represented an infringement of Copyright Law.

The story of the provenance of the Requiem is a drama
worthy of Shakespeare's pen. A story without an end for the drama still continues to plague historians with its mystery. Homeric insults are directed by musical historians at each other and accusing fingers are being pointed at both live and dead players in the drama of the Requiem.

The story begins with young Count Franz Walsegg von Stuppach who had married a beautiful young aristocrat named Anna. An inoccuous eccentric, Count Walsegg lived with his beloved wife at Stuppach Castle at the foot Mount Semmering. Like many of the nobility at the time, he maitained a private orchestra and was himself an accomplished cellist and flautist. The orchestra gave performances twice a week in which the Count and his wife often participated.

This was an idyllic existence, enhanced by the Count's great love for his wife, unusual at a time when most aristocratic marriages were based on financial arrangements. The Count also took great interest in his subjects and was patron of a school attended by his servants' children. As a result, he was much loved by his people. At least once a year the Emperor would arrive at Stuppach Castle and a hunting expedition would take place followed by ellegant suppers and a performance by the Count's orchestra.

Count Walsegg had, however, one great weakness. He believed himself to be a good composer and yearned to have been a great one. At times he composed little pieces and gave them to his orchestra to perform. At other times, he purchased works from poor Viennese composers, copied the manuscripts and signed them as though these compositions were his very own. He did not see this as plagiarism but as a good deed performed in aid of poverty-stricken composers. Copyright laws did not exist at the time but a man's honour was at stake where the stealing of another person's intellectual property was concerned. Count Walsegg did all his purchases on the quiet, sending his emissary in quest of compositions. Occasionally the purveyor was Franz Anton Hoffmeister who was also Mozart's principal publisher.

On 14 February, 1791 Walsegg's great love, his twenty year old wife died. Walsegg, only eight years her senior, remained a widower for the rest of his life.
He commissioned the renowned Viennese sculptor, Johann Martin Fischer to create a magnificent tomb in memory of his wife. The Countess Anna's remains were taken out of the family crypt in interred in her favourite meadow near a stream at Stuppach. No doubt, this particular spot had a special meaning for the loving couple. (Sadly, during the Napoleonic Wars the tomb was ransacked for valuables and the Countess' remains had to be returned to the family vault at Schottwien). The Count intended to commemorate his wife's passing with the performance of a Requiem. He sent his emissary to commission the Mass from Mozart, who accepted and agreed to obey the Count's conditions for secrecy.

The romantic story of a ghost-like stranger, the messenger of the mysterious Commissioner of the Requiem, gained credence soon after Mozart's death as a result of a piece of sensational journalism. On
7 January, 1792 the "Salzburger Intelligenzblatt" described the commissioning of the Requiem as the delivery of an unsigned letter to Mozart by a servant who brought with him 30 ducats as a deposit and a promise of a further payment upon completion of the work. "Now Mozart had to write, which he did, often with tears in his eyes, always saying 'I am writing a Requiem for myself'." This particular piece of romantic invention had caught the public's imagination and prevails to this day. (vide the film Amadeus).

It is hard to believe that Mozart and Constanze did not know the man who arrived at their home with the commission from Count Walsegg. Franz Anton Leitgeb was well known to both of them. He was the administrator of Count Walsegg's estates and in Vienna, he worked from an office situated on the ground floor of a building owned by the Count. Mozart's friend and fellow Freemason, Michael Puchberg, lived in an apartment above Leitgeb's office.

Mozart was extremely busy in 1791. It was during this period that he first employed Franz Sussmayr to help him with his work. According to Constanze, Mozart received the commission for the Requiem shortly before he was asked to compose the opera "La Clemenza di Tito" for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II in Prague which took place in September 1791. Mozart's busy schedule also included the composing of "The Magic Flute" commissioned by Schikaneder. He seems to have had little time for the Requiem which was not needed until February 1792 for the commemoration of Countess Walsegg's death. The watermarks of the paper Mozart used suggest that he did not begin composing the Requiem until after his return from Prague. Even then he gave priority to the glorious Clarinet concerto K622 for his friend Anton Stadler, as well as the Small Masonic Cantata K623.

According to Robbins Landon's "Mozart's Last Year",
Mozart began composing the Requiem sometime between 8th October and 20th November, when he became ill and took to his bed. It is possible that he contin ued to compose for a while longer, yet the appearance of the autograph is very tidy, as though written at a desk.
The myth that Mozart worked on the Requiem to the very end of his life is contradicted by Dr. Peter J. Davies' theory that Mozart died as a result of renal failure which would have precluded his using his hands because of the swelling and stiffness of his limbs.

Mozart's terminal illness lasted only 15 days. He died at 12.55 am on December 5, 1791. Sophie Haibl, Constanze's sister, wrote a description of Mozart's death and her account of his last days appears in Nissen's Mozart biography. Subsequently every Mozart biographer has repeated her story, thus paving Sophie's path to immortality. When Mozart died, Constanze fell to her knees and begged God to take her too. She was hysterical with grief. Baron van Swieten arrived in the middle of the night to mourn with the widow. As the news of Mozart's death spread, people gathered in front of the house and stood vigil in silence. Schikaneder, however, moved about in a daze seeing Mozart's ghost everywhere and cried like a child.

Constanze was taken with her two children to the home of a friend, Joseph Bauernfeld and later to Joseph Goldham. As was the custom of the day, the house was sealed and the Requiem remained inside.

Or did it?

A few days after Mozart's death a service was held at St. Thomas'Church and a Requiem was performed. I wrote to St. thomas' Church and received a polite reply informing me that the singers were listed in the church records as well as their payment from Schikaneder who had organised this Commemorative Service. Although it has often been stated that parts of Mozart's Requiem were performed, I was told that there is no record as to the music performed.

Soon after Mozart's death, Franz Leitgeb appeared at Constanze's door requesting the Requiem. But the Requiem was unfinished and an agreement was reached that it would be completed in a professional way. Although we do not possess evidence of a communication
from Leigeb to Count Walsegg, the Count would have been appropriately informed. Constanze tried to find Sussmayr but without success. She then turned to Joseph Eibler who undertook to complete the Requiem. However, he was unable to do so and Constanze finally found Sussmayr who completed the Requiem which was then delivered to Count Walsegg. There is no written documentation of an agreement between Walsegg and Constanze apart from her statement to Breitkopf&Hartel
that she was permitted by the Commissioner to sell the Requiem to "Princes as long as they did not publish it."

Finally, Count Walsegg had the Requiem in his possession. He then proceeded forthwith to copy the autograph in his own hand and sign it, as was his normal practice, in order to give it to his musicians as his own work. There is no doubt that he knew the Requiem was completed by a hand other than Mozart's, for he stated to his musicians that he had completed the Requiem himself. According to Herzog, he claimed to have been Mozart's pupil and had submitted to Mozart parts of the manuscript for comment. He continued to say that when Mozart died it was found that so similar were Mozart's and his own handwritings that people thought the Requiem was Mozart's work.

With Mozart dead, the Count began to have different plans for the performance of the Requiem. No longer were the four walls of his castle enough to satisfy his ego. The Count did not expect Mozart's widow to claim the Requiem for her husband. In a semi-feudal Austria, such effrontery would not have been tolerated. There was a vast chasm between a female citizen without rights and an aristocrat who was Lord of a domain and a personal friend of the Emperor.

Preparations for the performance of the Requiem now began in earnest. Count Walsegg planned to commemorate his wife's death with a public performance of the Requiem. The news that the Count was searching in Vienna for outstanding singers and musicians to perform the Requiem reached Constanze who was well placed to hear of this and it would not be difficult to imagine her consternation when she heard that her husband's ultimate composition would receive a performance as a work "composed" by Count Walsegg. It is mind-boggling to imagine that Count Walsegg though he could get away with such a lie. Was it just his own personal conceit or was it indeed a sign of the power the aristocracy exercised over the humble citizens of Austria?

As a result of the intelligence received by Constanze from many quarters - one must not forget that her own two sisters were opera singers - she began planning the rescue of the Requiem from the Count's clutches.
She judged her adversary well. She used Count Walsegg's need for secrecy as her main weapon. Not to her dying day did she reveal the name of the Requiem's Commissioner. Count Walsegg could do nothing as long as she did not reveal his name. Had he himself come forward publicly to deny Constanze's right to her husband's work, the Count knew he would have created an unprecedented scandal in Vienna. Equally, Herzog's naivete in naming Count Walsegg as a man who commissioned the Requiem and then performed it as his own composition, sealed his essay's fate. It sat for over one hundred years in a vault, bearing silent witness to one man's folly.

With the help of Baron van Swieten, Constanze made her own preparations for the performance of the Requiem. This took place at the establishment of Ignaz Jahn on 2 January 1793. It was given by Baron van Swieten in honour of Mozart, his long-time friend and was attended by many dignitaries including Salieri. The proceeds of the concert was given to Mozart's impoverished widow and her children. Thus Constanze quietly reclaimed the Requiem from Walsegg and established it as Mozart's work.

Many scholars have claimed that Constanze stole Walsegg's property as though intellectual property could be given away or sold. These historians claim that there was in existence a contract by which Mozart signed his Requiem over to the Count. However, no such contract has even been discovered nor did Walsegg's lawyer ever come forward with a claim against Constance for breaching a legal contract.

Count Walsegg did not give up his by now total convictions that he was the composer of the Requiem.
He first performed the Requiem in public as his own composition in December 1793, almost a year after
Constanze had it performed in Mozart's memory. Walsegg performed the Requiem again on 14 February 1794 on the anniversary of his wife's death. Thereafter, with the exception of arranging a part of the Requiem as a string quintet, the Count made no further use of Mozart's work.

Constanze freely used the Requiem during her promotional tour of Mozart's music. In 1796 Sussmayr had it performed at Kremsmunster Abbey, where it was hailed as one of Mozart's greatest works completed by the Abbey's illustrious student, Franz Sussmayr.

In 1838 the Imperial Library employed a judicial officer by the name of Nowack to search for six Mozart string quartets which were touted to have been in the possession of Count Walsegg. Instead, Nowack found the Requiem - by then owned by Katarina Adelpoller who had inherited it from her father, Walsegg's court usher. The Imperial Library purchased the Requiem for 50 gulden believing it to be entirely
in Mozart's hand.

In reply to Ignaz Mosel's inquiry regarding the authenticity of the Requiem, Constanze replied on 10 February 1839:

"If the score is complete then it is not Mozart's because he did not finish it. It should be possible to distinguish where Sussmayr continued the score because I feel that nobody can exactly immitate another person's handwriting. And I must assure you that no one else but Sussmayr has completed the Requiem, which was not hard, as the main themes were already written out."

In 1799 Breitkopf & Hartel announced the publication of the Requiem without notifying Constanze. The protracted correspondence between the Publishers and Constanze would take up an equally long article. The threats against the Publishing House were written by Nicolaus Nissen, later to become Constanze's second husband. Nissen was also present at a meeting with Count Walsegg and his lawyer when the problem of the Requiem was finally resolved. Count Walsegg compared his own copy with the one about to be published by Breitkopf % Hartel. All he asked for was the payment of 50 ducats and a number of printed copies of the Requiem.

No charges were ever laid against either Constanze or Breitkopf & Hartel and no contract assigning Mozart's intellectual property to Count Walsegg was ever produced.

Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 05:00:15 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Agnes,

Well said! Thank you for your "provenance" --It is a remarkable story.

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 06:35:48 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Teresa,

Thank you. I find the story of the Requiem one the most fascinating of dramas. I wonder what it would have been like if a great dramatist had taken in hand rather than a hack like Rochlitz who perpetuated the
frightening figure of the faceless "Man in Grey". There is so much emotion hidden in that story but then one realizes that it is not a story at all but all very true.

All the very best, Agnes.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 07:58:51 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

My dear Agnes,

What a fascinating story you've shared with us once again. You're such a gem in providing us all these, and wrapped in your giving efforts.

Thank you so much.

Best regards,
Tel Asiado

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 18:46:10 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Dear Brendan,

Thanks very much for your scholarly information in response to Agnes's. Much appreciated. I have copied all these 'provenance' posts to my personal file, a great reading in retrospect for holy week.

And yes, I'll be listening to my Requiem CD, in particular, with Elly Ameling as the soloist.

Best regards,
Tel Asiado

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:44:09 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Tellern, Many thanks! We are a mutual admiration society. Again, thank you for the birthday lunch and the wonderful conversation we always manage to have.

Love, Agnes.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Brenan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 08:32:15 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:
1. The edited version of Anton Herzog's report first appeared in the Viennese newspaper, the Reichspost, in 1923 - I have a copy of the front page in our archives.

2.Th report did not lie in a vault - it was given to Dr Franz Lorenz, a medical doctor and keen student of church music who settled in Wiener Neustadt. On his death in 1883 it passed to the Wiener Neustadt music society. It was hidden away with much else for safe keeping during the World War II years and one of the Abbots who cared for it was executed by firing squad towards the end of hostilities. In 1950 the music society donated it to the Wiener Neustadt archives and it was again published in 1964.

3. The published version is edited. During one of our discussions with Dr Gertrud Butkar, Archivist at Wiener Neustadt (since retired) when we had the opportunity to study the original (as well as the document signed by Eybler promising to complete the Requiem) we noticed that parts had not appeared in print before. The full text is now on the little embryo web site that I initiated.

4. It is difficult to imagine that Constanze and her two infants would be put out on the street to facilite an estate duty inventory- besides the Suspense Order (we have seen the original in the Vienna City Archives) dated the 7th December 1791 states that they are living at home.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 15:48:52 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Mr. Cormican,
It would be most helpful if you could copy the edited version from 1923 onto this Forum. I for one, would be very interested in reading it and I am sure, so would many others.

Many thanks in anticipation,
Regards, Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Brendan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 09:25:09 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:
1. Count Walsegg's grandfather, Josef Leopold Julius, wrote a religious treatise which was approved by then Emperor, Charles VI and Pope Pius VI was a guest of the Count's father at Stuppach in 1782 (I have a copy of the handwritten details from then including the allocation of rooms for the Papal delegation) to visit Joseph II but I have discovered nothing to suggest that Joseph was a frequent visitor to Stuppach himself.

2. The work of Peter Davies (Musical Times Aug/Nov 1984 and "Mozart in Person - Greenwood Press 1989) makes for fascinating reading but he does draw on some dubious sources such as quoting Holmes ("frequent swoons") and Jahn ("fainting fits which exhausted his strength and increased his depression"). But neither biographer had even been born at the time of Mozart's death and they repeated some of what was popular belief without knowing whether it was true or not. We now know that there many fancy legends.

He mentions the walk in the Prater and Mozart claiming he had been poisoned fable and mentions Leitgeb, the grey messenger who so terrified Mozart. The grey messenger story came from Franz Grillparzer who was born in 1791 and could not have known much about it.

When he writes on P.165 that

"Towards midnight, Mozart attempted to raise himself up, opened his eyes wide, and then lay down with his face to the wall"

could this have come from anywhere else except the account in the 1856 Morgen-Post story when the "man of the people", Joseph Deiner allegedly stated

"At 12 o'clock in he night Mozart raised himsel in his bed, his eyes staring, then he sank back with his head towards the wall, and seemed to fall asleep again".

We now know that Deiner had already died in 1823 and was survived by a widow and five daughters (we have a copy of his estate papers) and that the whole story of the storm was a hoax.

Wrong systoms can lead to an incorrect diagnosis.

3. While the locations of most of the paper mills in the former Austro-Hungarian Empire and the water marks are known, not all the water marks on the Requiem scores (I have been honoured to inspect the originals in the Music Sammlung of the Austrian National Library) are known so we do not know where some of the paper came from.

4. It might be non-productive to enquire about music being played in St Thomas Church as a tribute to Mozart since the obsequies were held in St Michael's.
A commemorative plaque was erected in the porch in 1991.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 16:57:53 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
My apologies for mixing up the names of the churches.
I should have checked the correspondence. It is not always a good idea to bake a chicken in the kitchen and run back and forth between the study and the kitchen. I would not recommend it.
Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Brendan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 05:33:25 04/08/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:
It is appreciated that St Thomas could only have been a slip of the pen but I did mention the tablet in the porch since a earlier enquirer wondered if it had been erected shortly after the December 1791 obsequies or if it was of more recent vintage.

Another character rarely mentioned in the Mozart Requiem story is that of Dr Josef Krutchen of Pest (Budapest) who knew both Count Walsegg and Anton Herzog, in fact he had asked Herzog early in the 19th century to tell what he knew about the Requiem. He also recounted that -

"A dear young lady, Hungarian on her mother's side, and married to a nobleman died in January 1791 and was buried on a copse on her husband's estate. A respected artist received the commission to prepare a monument for the grave which I visited in Easter Week of 1791".

We also know (from a written source and conversations with Pater Alfons Mansdorfer, the Musical Director at Kremsmunster in his study at the Abbey) that Sussmayr visited Kresmunster with Pasterwitz in 1794 and again in 1797 with Anton Stadler. The Mozart Requiem was performed there in the church in 1796 and was so well received that it was repeated four days later in the refractory. Mozart's Requiem replaced Eyberling's Requiem which had traditionally been performed each year on 11th December to mark the feast day of the founder, Count Tassilo III.

We also know from Vincent and Mary Novello (I traced the original diaries to Leeds in England where I had the opportunity to study them - there is a short section therein which does not appear in "The Mozart Pilgrimage") that they knew of he existence of Count Walsegg but were unaware that the Count was already dead by 1829.

That ends these random jottings for now but it is possible, just possible, that I may have stumbled quite some time ago (almost 16 years if the truth be known) on a previously unpublished document concerning the Requiem and it is a matter of ongoing investigation which may come to a conclusion soon.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 06:05:14 04/08/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Mr. Cormican,

Thank you for the wonderful information. So the Countess Anna had a Hungarian mother. Indeed, this is rare information. I have never come across it. Thank you for sharing it. Somehow it brings this lady, who so charmed Count Walsegg, to life. I wonder how the Novellos knew about Count Walsegg. It is possible that during their second trip to Vienna they learned more about the Requiem from people they interviewed. You will remember that this second trip brought to them much of the gossip about Mozart then making its rounds in Vienna. There is no mention in the Novellos diaries of having heard Walsegg's name mentioned by Constanze while visiting her in Salzburg.

Kind Regards,
Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Brendan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 05:38:14 04/09/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:
Vincent Novello wrote on 24th July 1829:

"I can only add my earnest hope that the Baron Walsegg
....will have the good feeling ... to leave it at his death ...to the Imperial Library".

Krutchen metioned the Hungarian parentage of Countess Walsegg in a report in 1826 and I may be able to turn up a copy of the family tree of the Prenner von Flammbergs. It will be recalled that the Countess died on 14 February 1791, was interred in the family crypt in Schottwien parish church and then transferred back to the specially constructed tomb near Stuppach on 27
March 1791.

Krutchen states that he visited it during Holy Week of 1791 which would seem possible since Good Friday of Holy Week in 1791 fell on 26th April 1791.

I hope to get my technial assistant to arrange for the Reichspost to be posted on a web fairly soon although I had originally planned to post it on a major new site
weare working on.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 01:38:51 04/12/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Mr. Cormican,

I look forward to reading your posting of the Reichspost. Also please advise when your new site is completed.

Regards, Agnes Selby.

Subject: Re: THE PROVENANCE OF THE REQUIEM.
From: Brendan Cormican
To: All
Date Posted: 05:33:24 04/08/04 ()
Email Address: brendancormican@aol.com
 

Message:
It is appreciated that St Thomas could only have been a slip of the pen but I did mention the tablet in the porch since a earlier enquirer wondered if it had been erected shortly after the December 1791 obsequies or if it was of more recent vintage.

Another character rarely mentioned in the Mozart Requiem story is that of Dr Josef Krutchen of Pest (Budapest) who knew both Count Walsegg and Anton Herzog, in fact he had asked Herzog early in the 19th century to tell what he knew about the Requiem. He also recounted that -

"A dear young lady, Hungarian on her mother's side, and married to a nobleman died in January 1791 and was buried on a copse on her husband's estate. A respected artist received the commission to prepare a monument for the grave which I visited in Easter Week of 1791".

We also know (from a written source and conversations with Pater Alfons Mansdorfer, the Musical Director at Kremsmunster in his study at the Abbey) that Sussmayr visited Kresmunster with Pasterwitz in 1794 and again in 1797 with Anton Stadler. The Mozart Requiem was performed there in the church in 1796 and was so well received that it was repeated four days later in the refractory. Mozart's Requiem replaced Eyberling's Requiem which had traditionally been performed each year on 11th December to mark the feast day of the founder, Count Tassilo III.

We also know from Vincent and Mary Novello (I traced the original diaries to Leeds in England where I had the opportunity to study them - there is a short section therein which does not appear in "The Mozart Pilgrimage") that they knew of he existence of Count Walsegg but were unaware that the Count was already dead by 1829.

That ends these random jottings for now but it is possible, just possible, that I may have stumbled quite some time ago (almost 16 years if the truth be known) on a previously unpublished document concerning the Requiem and it is a matter of ongoing investigation which may come to a conclusion soon.

Subject: Nicknames that should have been
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 19:43:37 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Tel's posting on the Seasons got me to thinking of nicknames for
Mozart compositions that I see in my mind's eye. Like star gazing
or cloud watching it takes some imagination, and what I see will
be different from what you see. I had a longer list, but pared it
down to my favorites:

Piano Concerto in C K503-----"Emperor"

Sinfonia Concertante for Violin & Viola in Eb K364-----"Eroica"
Concerto

String Quartet in g-minor K516-----"Pathétique"

Concerto for 3 pianos in F K242-----"Lady's Concerto"

Rondo for Piano K511-----"Lonely"

Piano Concerto in G K453-----The "Opera buffa Concerto"

The Concertone in C K190-----"The Salzburg Concerto"

Organ Fantasy in f-minor K608-----"Gothic"

Fantasy for Piano in d-minor-----"The Moonlight Fantasy"

Divertimento K251-----"French"

Concerto for Flute and Harp K.299-----The "Drawing Room
Concerto"

Divertimento in D K334----"Divertimento with the Porcelain
Minuet"

Symphony in D #20 K133-----"Mars"

Gigue for Piano K574----"The Wine Drinker"

Anyone else have a tag you would like registered in my non-
existant "Non-Official Nickname Office"?

dennis

Subject: Re: Nicknames that should have been
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 04:07:07 04/06/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Hi Dennis,

Just had my dinner, and your posting becoming a terrific 'dessert.' I'm glad I incited the 'Season,' making you come up with this 'nickname' idea. Now, you've challenged my mind further down to this thread. True, we'll have various interpretations from individual tastes, but very interesting how we might be able to consolidate our similarities, as well as differences, and perhaps come up with something. Ok, I'll try to make my own list, independent from yours and other Mozart lovers ... see how it goes.

Meantime, admittedly, I'm excited to have a peep at your longer list. Will you let me?!!

Best regards,
Tel

Subject: Re: Nicknames that should have been
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 06:06:09 04/07/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Unfortunately my delete finger was working overtime clearing my
desktop. I remember these, but there were not that many more.

String Quartet movement in c-minor K546----"Academic
Quartet"

Adagio in C for Glass harmonica K356----- "Down from Heaven"

Piano Concerto in C K467-----"Military"

Piano Concerto in d-minor K466----- "Demonic"

Serenade in G K525-----"The "Classical Serenade"

Dances K509-----"Bohemian Rhapsody"

dennis

Subject: Re: Nicknames that should have been
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 08:11:09 04/07/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Thanks just the same Dennis.

I marvel at your creativity at these nicknames.

Cheers,
Tel

Subject: My library is getting weeded out
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 12:21:33 04/05/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Please take a look at ebay item 4201927022 for some books I am weeding out of my library. My shelves are bursting at the seams and some of the duplicates have to go.

Dan Leeson

Subject: Re: My library is getting weeded out
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 13:39:42 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I either have in my library, or have read or paged through, nearly
all the books Dan has up for auction at e-Bay. All can be
recommended.

But getting rid of the Girdlestone book, Dan, "say it ain't so".

The Cuthbert Girdlestone book "Mozart and His Piano
Concertos" is a great book to have. Yes, it is outdated, and yes it
does not conform to what we know (or think we know) about
Mozart performance practice, etc. today; but it is a wonderful
book to go through.

I hope someone in our Forum picks this one up.

By the way check out our Library section for a brief description on
many of these books, and what the MozartForum has to say about
them. Hopefully it will help you bid on them.

dennis

Subject: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Michael Mallon
To: All
Date Posted: 00:41:14 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi all,

Well, I just got back from hearing Marcus perform the Crusell clarinet concerto no. 2 in F minor. All I can say is that he was AMAZING. He chose a great piece and truly did justice to it. The gentlemen quoted in the subject line spoke volumes: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss.'" I'm sure that everyone in the hall will remember his name with delight!

Please forgive me if this post is lacking in elegance as I'm running on 2 1/2 hours of sleep. I will just close with this: It was an honor and pleasure to meet Marcus; I look forward to listening to many more concerts with "Marcus Forss" listed as soloist.

Kind regards,
Michael Mallon

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 01:09:17 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Marcus, let me be the first (well the second, as Michael as beaten
me to it obviously) to congradulate you.

dennis

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 01:31:48 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

...And may I be the third person to congratulate you, after Michael and Dennis.

Kind regards,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 03:08:23 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
And here are mine, from France.
Only distance prevented me to come and hear you...
Félicitations !
Kind regards,
Emmanuelle

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 05:24:34 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Marcus,

CONGRATULATIONS! You are a force (Forss?) to be reckoned with. Wish I could have been there. Well, when you make your national tour, don't skip Florida!

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 18:03:48 04/05/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Dear Marcus,

Last (so far) but not least in this thread of wonderful posters, MY HEARTFELT CONGRATULATIONS!!! I only wish I was right there to cheer you BRAVO playing B.H. Crusell's Concerto. I featured him in our "Contemporary of Mozart series" here, well, I originally published in the Dennis's Mozart Newsletter. I just love Crusell's concertos.

One day I'll hear you play, who knows?! How about coming to Sydney, huh?!! Agnes and I are here.

Best regards,
Tel Asiado

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Stephanie Cowell
To: All
Date Posted: 18:55:40 04/05/04 ()
Email Address: StephanieCowell@nyc.rr.com
 

Message:
Dear Marcus,

And I am the seventh or eighth or whatever to say: congratulations! It is ridiculous I couldn't be there, living in NYC...but there will be other times. And you are building an international following!

Warmest regards,

Stephanie

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 17:23:55 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
THANK YOU ALL! I am so flattered and honored! you are all my Mozart friends! and I hope to visit all of you all over the world! haha
kind regards
Marcus

Subject: Re: "Remember the name 'Marcus Forss'"
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 00:56:18 04/05/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Marcus, let me be the first (well, darn it the second as Michael
beat me to it obviously) to congradulate you.

dennis

Subject: test
From: Test 2
To: All
Date Posted: 00:45:36 04/03/04 ()
Email Address: test@test.com
 

Message:
test

Subject: Re: test
From: Test Reply
To: All
Date Posted: 00:45:55 04/03/04 ()
Email Address: test@test.com
 

Message:
Test reply.

Subject: test
From: Test
To: All
Date Posted: 00:45:17 04/03/04 ()
Email Address: test@test.com
 

Message:
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Subject: Fugues K401, K153, K154
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 11:16:09 04/02/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
To better understand and enjoy the Fugues that Maurizio provided
for everyone at the Mutopia Project, I provide a little background
history on the pieces.

Fugue in g-minor for Organ (Fragment) KV 401/375e:
This concentrated Fugue, showing an unmistakable archaic
character, since J.A.André has been placed in 1782--the year later
called by Einstein "the Vienna Fugue year". No-one disputed this
dating until the mid-1970s when Wolfgang Plath showed the
handwriting dates back to 1773 in Salzburg. Plath warned that
from this example a lesson should be learned how difficult and
problematic dating this type of music can be on stylistic grounds;
and how cautious we need to be in hearing the alleged influence
of Johann Sebastian Bach in Mozart's music.
Mozart's autograph shows he wrote down 95 measures of music
before stopping. Maximilian Stadler completed the piece with 8
further measures. Why Mozart did not take the little time it would
have required to finish the piece can not be answered. Plath found
Stadler's completion lacks a taste and feel for the style of the
piece. That these last 8 measures conjure up Bach's "Kunst der
Fuge" is no doubt to be contributed to the Fugue being brought
into connection with Mozart's Bach-experiences in the house of
Baron Gottfried van Swieten.

Fugue in Eb for Piano (Fragment) KV 153/375f
Mozart's 27 measure fragment is on the same page as two other
Contrupunctual studies (in Eb and c; a related 6 measure piece to
K153/375f was found later on another sheet in a different
location). Simon Sechter added 39 measures to complete the piece
(and it was published in this completion in AMA in 1877). Köchel
orginally placed the piece with the works of 1772, commenting it
probably was from sometime in the beginning of the 1770's.
Wyzewa/St.Foix believed the fragment originated from the
Bologna time of 1770 or earlier. From the handwriting and
character of the theme Einstein placed it in the Vienna Fugue year
of 1782, and Plath's handwriting studies found this conceivable,
dating it in the beginning of the 1780's. However Tyson's paper
studies indicate the paper was purchased in Salzburg during his
trip in 1783 and used there or later back in Vienna.

Fugue in g-minor (Fragment) KV 154/385k
Mozart's 30 measure fragment is preserved in the bundled
together appendix section of the Barbara Ployer instruction book,
and no doubt dates from 1782 in Vienna, as Einstein had believed.
(Köchel and Wyzewa/St.Foix used the same reasoning as in K153
to date this fragment earlier). The Fugue was published in AMA in
1887 with Sechter's completion, totaling 54 measures.

dennis

Subject: Re: Fugues K401, K153, K154
From: Maurizio Tomasi
To: All
Date Posted: 03:10:58 04/04/04 ()
Email Address: zio_tom78@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Dear Dennis,

Thank you very much for the additional information. I asked the Mutopia maintainers to insert a link to your text in the three Mutopia pages referring to these fugues. I hope you will not disagree.

Regards,
Maurizio.

Subject: Re: Fugues K401, K153, K154
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 01:10:16 04/04/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Hi Dennis,

Very enlightening piece of info. Thanks!

Somehow I tend to always assume (consciously or not) that Mozart's fugue compositions were all influenced by Bach. Is there any danger in this assumption?

Best regards,
Tel

Subject: Re: Fugues K401, K153, K154
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:42:12 04/04/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Yes, I would have to believe there is some danger in this
assumption. This earlier dating for a Fugue would tend to knock
Bach out of the picture. Some of the Fugues have been re-dated,
so it is questionable how many had a Bach influence. Also
Professor Zaslaw a few weeks ago wrote this on the piece K402:

"Einstein and others who came after him were so in love with the
story about Swieten conveying Bach and Handel's counterpoint to
Mozart that it blinded them to many clues they might otherwise
have noticed. In the case of K.402, Wyzewa & Saint-Foix had long
ago pointed out that the style of the piece was more congruent
with, say, K.546 and 547 than with works of c.1782".

So you can see the same danger exists in the thought all the
Fugues were written for Constanze in a bunch, as the Köchel
datings make us think. We must keep in mind the art of Fugue
writing had many purposes, and many influences, many
intermingled.

Another factor, I believe, is that many of the Fugues were hear
are completions by another composer. Thus we are influenced to
a degree by this composer's style--even if he is trying to copy
Mozart's style. Also if this composer thought Mozart was
influenced by Bach, his completion will tend to be more Bach-like.

dennis

Subject: Re: Fugues K401, K153, K154
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 19:15:47 04/04/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
Now that Dennis has quoted my remarks about K. 402, I should perhaps add something of which not everyone will be aware -- namely, why one must be suspicious of the assignment of undated works to 1782 or 1783 in the Köchel Catalogue. Köchel and Einstein both knew perfectly well that the catalogue Mozart kept of his compositions from February 9, 1784, until a couple of weeks before his death was not absolutely complete, although nearly so. Nonetheless, when the two great scholars had to deal with works or fragments that were neither dated on their manuscripts nor listed in Mozart's catalogue but which (by handwriting and type of paper) clearly came from the Vienna years, they tended to slot those works into the period before Mozart began his catalogue.

NZ

Subject: Contemporaries of Mozart: Maria Theresia von Paradis
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 05:27:05 04/02/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:
[Note to Steve: This is being submitted by Gary Smith and Tel Asiado. Thanks!]

CONTEMPORARIES OF MOZART:

Maria Theresia von Paradis (or Paradies): (1759-1824)

This is another posting in an irregular series on the various contemporary composers/personalities from Mozart's lifetime. The material is mostly derivative from general sources as noted. These are the people that Mozart:

Competed for work with.
Considered as friends and colleagues.
Knew from reputation.
Taught/nurtured as pupils and students.

She was the daughter of the Imperial Secretary of Commerce and Court Councilor (Joseph Anton von Paradis) to the Empress Maria Theresa, for whom she was named. The Empress, however, was not her godmother, as was often believed. Between the ages of 2 and 5 she lost her eyesight. Paradis was treated by the famous Anton Mesmer from late 1776 until the middle of 1777, who was able to improve her condition temporarily until she was removed from his care, amid concerns on the one hand of possible scandal, on the other hand at the potential loss of her disability pension. In either case, at this departure from Dr. Mesmer the blindness came back for good.

She received a broad education in the musical arts from:

Karl Friberth (music theory and composition)
Leopold Kozeluch (piano)
Vincenzo Righini (singing)
Antonio Salieri (singing and composition)
Abbe Vogler (music theory and composition)

By the year 1775 she was performing as a singer and pianist in various Viennese salons and concerts. She commissioned various works for her use, most notably an organ concerto by Salieri in 1773 (which is missing its second movement), a piano concerto (probably K.456) by Mozart in 1784, and another by Haydn (HXVIII: 4), which was possibly premiered in Paris in 1784, but appears to have been composed in the 1770’s, the original manuscript now lost. On K.456, it should be noted that while this concerto is believed to be the one intended for Paradis, there are continuing questions concerning this. From Ruth Halliwell’s The Mozart Family: Four Lives in a Social Context, we read:

“It is not certain which concerto this was. Leopold [in a letter from Vienna] simply described it to Nannerl as a ‘glorious concerto’ and said it had been written for Maria Theresia von Paradis ‘for Paris.’ His description suggests that neither he nor Nannerl knew it already; if this is so, it must have been a later one than K.456, which seems to have been the newest they had in Salzburg at this date.”

In any event, Paradis had an excellent memory and exceptionally accurate hearing, as she was widely reported to have learned over 60 concertos by heart, as well as a large repertoire of solo and religious works.

She did not stay confined to Vienna, though. In 1783, she set out on an extended tour towards Paris and London, accompanied by her mother and librettist Johann Riedinger who invented a composition board for her. In August they visited the Mozarts in Salzburg of that year (perhaps getting advise and tips on Paris from father and son?), though Nannerl’s diary seems to place this meeting in September. She played in Frankfurt and other German cities, then Switzerland. Paradis finally reached Paris in March of 1784. Her first concert there was given in April at the Concert Spirituel (again one suspects that Wolfgang may have written ahead to help her here), the review in the Journal de Paris for it remarked: “…one must have heard her to form an idea of the touch, the precision, the fluency and vividness of her playing.” In all she made a total of 14 appearances in Paris, to excellent reviews and acclaim. She also assisted in helping Valentin Hauy ("the father and apostle of the blind”) establish the first school for the blind, which opened in 1785.

She traveled to London in late 1784, and performed over the next few months at court, Carlton Hall (the home of the Prince of Wales), and in the Professional Concerts at Hanover Square, among other places. She played Handel fugues to George III and later accompanied the Prince of Wales, a cellist. However, her concerts lost ground, being less well received and attended here than in Paris. She continued to tour in Western Europe, (including Hamburg where she met C.P.E. Bach), and after passing through Berlin and Prague, ended up back in Vienna in 1786. Further plans were made to give concerts in the Italian states and Russia, but nothing came of these. She returned to Prague in 1797 for the production of her opera "Rinaldo und Alcina."

During her tour, Paradis began composing solo music for piano as well as pieces for voice and keyboard. The earliest music attributed to her is often cited as a set of four piano sonatas from circa 1777, but these are really by Pietro Domenico Paradies, for whom much of her music is often misattributed. Her earliest major work in existence is the collection Zwolf Lieder auf ihrer Reise in Musik gesetzt, composed between 1784-86. Her most famous work, the Sicilienne in E flat major for piano quartet, is unfortunately spurious, as it is derived from a Weber violin sonata (Op. 10 No. 1) and is believed to have been concocted by its purported discoverer, Samuel Dushkin.

By the year 1789, Paradis was spending more time with composition than performance, as shown by the fact that from 1789 to 1797 she composed five operas and three cantatas. After the failure of the opera Rinaldo und Aleina from 1797, she shifted her energy over more and more to teaching. In 1808, she founded her own music school in Vienna where she taught singing, piano and theory to young girls. A Sunday concert series at this school featured the work of her outstanding pupils. She continued to teach up until her death in 1824.

When composing, she used a composition board invented by Riedinger, her librettist, and for correspondence a hand-printing machine invented by Wolfgang von Kempelen. Her songs are mostly representative of the operatic style, which displays coloratura and trills. Salieri’s influence may be seen in the dramatically composed scenes. Much of the stage work is modeled on the Viennese singspiel style, while her piano works show a great influence by her teacher Kozeluch.

Works by Maria Theresia Paradis:

Stage Works:
Ariadne und Bacchus, melodrama, 20 June 1791, lost
Der Schulkandidat, landliches, 5 Dec. 1792, pt of Act 2 and all of Act 3, lost
Rinaldo und Alcina, zauberoper, 30 June, 1797, lost
Grosse militarische oper 1805, lost
Zwer landliche Opern oper, lost

Cantatas:
Trauerkantata auf den Tod Leopold II 1792, lost
Deutsches Monument Ludwigs des Unglucklichen 1793
Kantata auf Wiedergenesung meines Vaters lost

Instrumental Works:
Pianoforte Concerto in g lost
Pianoforte Concerto in C lost
12 Piano Sonatas 1792, lost
Pianoforte Trio 1800, lost
Fantasie in G, pf 1807
Fantasie in C, pf 1811
Kbd Variations lost
An meine entfernten Lieben, pf lost

Various songs and lieder totaling at least 18 works, of which two are lost.

Sources:

Sadie, J.A and Rhian Samuel (Editors) The Norton/Grove Dicitonary of Women Composers The Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1995

Sadie, Stanley (Ed.) The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2nd Edition Groves Dictionaries, New York, 2000

Clive, Peter Mozart and His Circle Yale University Press, 1993

Halliwell, Ruth The Mozart Family: Four Lives in a Social Context Claredon Press, Oxford, 1998

O'Doherty, Brian The Strange Case of Mademoiselle P. The Migdal Press, NSW Australia, 2000

- Gary Smith and Tel Asiado -

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Maria Theresia von Paradis
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 07:22:17 04/02/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Tel and Gary:

Excellent job on a woman many times referred to in Mozart
literature, but hardly ever given more notice than brief sentence a
Mozart Concerto was written for her.

Regarding her time in London, I can add two small items of
interest. She found the English grand piano very different from the
Viennese instrument more familiar to her. Foir this reason she
opted to play her concerts at Hanover Square and Pantheon on a
harpsichord. A London paper reported "it were to be wished that
her instrument had been the PianoForte".

The same paper reported the music she played "was German, a
new imported composition from her master". This possibly means
the Concerto she played was by her teacher, Leopold Kozeluh.
However it is possible that Mozart's Concerto K456 was forwarded
to her in London, and she played it in March 1785--on the
harpsichord.

dennis

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Maria Theresia von Paradis
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 18:34:54 04/02/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi everyone,

Tel and Gary--excellent piece about this interesting woman, and thanks Dennis for the additonal tidbits!

Intriguing to me is the history of her being treated by Mesmer and improving, only to lapse back into blindness. I assume he treated her with "mesmerism," which would be completely ineffective unless the blindness were due to "hysterical" disorder rather than actual damage to her eyes or brain.

I wonder if hysterical blindness has been reported to occur in a child as young as 5 years old, and if so, whether that was her affliction. Certainly that would go along with the dismissing of Mesmer because a "cure" would cause the loss of a disability pension. But was her titled daddy not wealthy, and was she in danger of poverty at the time?

In any case, she was a fascinating and accompished person. Thanks again for the insights.

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Re: Contemporaries of Mozart: Maria Theresia von Paradis
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 19:07:16 04/02/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspired.4t.com
 

Message:

Dear Teresa,

Happy that you like our article on M.T. Paradis. Thanks! I suppose the case of Dr. Mesmer's treatment of Paradis, as well as their relationship, is altogether another story. We should also bear in mind that during that time, in the Hapsburg court, even medicine was subject to the whims of power - and including the imperial secretary, Maria Theresia's father, have a stake in suppressing Dr. Mesmer. Who knows?

Like you, I feel a lot of intrigue in Mesmer's treatment of her. I've read that there is this 1779 French treatise written by Dr. Mesmer, "Memoire sur la decouverte du magnetisme animal" (not sure if this has an English translation). Perhaps anyone who have read it can share some insights with us.

I think it's unlikely that Paradis encountered Mozart during her treatment with Dr. Mesmer.

Have a g'day Teresa, and everyone!

My best wishes,
Tel

Subject: Re: "Mémoire sur la découverte du magnétisme animal"
From: Emmanuelle
To: All
Date Posted: 12:37:58 04/03/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Great article, Tel ! Bravo !!!

The facsimilé of this 1779 text is online on Gallica (see link below)
Of course, it is written in French...

I tried to read it, but frankly I was bored senseless ; not being a medical nor psychological expert I have no real insight to criticize this.

I also found online a site that analyses Paradies' case.
The author writes : "As another and classic example from the annals of Hypnosis we may consider the famous case of Mesmer's treatment of the young woman Maria Theresa Paradies, who had been blind from an early age. She was also a gifted pianist and musician. There are various accounts of this case in circulation, but the main features are the following. Mesmer had some good initial success. But then, to his amazement, the parents objected very strongly and removed her from treatment. [...]