Subject: Leopold Mozart - Paternal Pride and Prejudice
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 13:51:02 06/27/04 ()
Email Address: smithworld@earthlink.net
 

Message:
LEOPOLD MOZART - PATERNAL PRIDE and PREJUDICE.
By Agnes Selby.

[Agnes has graciously allowed us to post this article on Leopold Mozart here at the Forum. We encourage everyone to supply material you believe of interest. if you have questions, or projects you'd like us to consider, please contact us via our email address. GES)

The early Mozart biographers proclaim the pivotal role Leopold Mozart played in his son, Wolfgang Mozart’s life. His influence was claimed to have been beneficial as far as Wolfgang’s musical development was concerned, as well as in the formation of his character. More recent writers have recognized, however, the elements of destructiveness in Leopold’s upbringing of his gifted son, pointing out the father’s need to manipulate Wolfgang for his own advantage. When finally Wolfgang rebelled against his father’s will he had only ten years of life left to him. Yet these were the glorious years when Wolfgang’s genius blossomed, having burst free from the confines imposed by the will of his father.

Curiously enough, the veneration of Leopold as the father of a genius began with the woman he most resented, his daughter-in-law, Constanze. When Constanze and her second husband, Nikolaus von Nissen embarked on the writing of Wolfgang Mozart’s monumental documentary biography, Constanze placed her stamp of approval on Leopold Mozart’s role in his son’s life. The biography was based on letters between father and son handed over to Nissen and Constanze by Leopold’s daughter, Nannerl. The letters revealed Leopold’s strict and unforgiving nature, which failed to lessen Constanze’s admiration for him as the man who grounded Wolfgang in the principles and the framework of musical composition.

As a child of the eighteenth century, she did not question Leopold Mozart’s motives. She would have seen in his actions a demonstration of a father’s love for his son. In her praise of Leopold Mozart, Constanze may also have been motivated by her respect for Nannerl who, after all, entrusted her father’s letters to her second husband, Nissen. Any reservations she may have had were kept to herself for, after all, Constanze had nothing to gain from expressing private criticism in Mozart’s biography and thereby hurting Leopold Mozart’s descendants - her own sons.

As early Mozartean writers tended to copy from each other, Leopold Mozart has emerged unscathed and untouched by the vagaries of literary fate, which so often reinvent the lives of famous people. Constanze’s tendency to agree with Leopold’s treatment of his son is nevertheless somewhat surprising as she herself had been a victim of his prejudice and severe and unforgiving attitude to life.

Leopold Mozart was a man of many contradictions. He thought of himself as a devoted father who gave unstintingly to the two prodigies he was privileged to bring into the world. In return, however, he extracted a price the burden of which lay heavily upon his children’s shoulders. He was openly generous in his praise of other musicians yet his sarcastic asides annulled the praise he proffered. For instance, his colleague, Michael Haydn, the brother of Joseph Haydn, who often filled Leopold’s shoes during his long absences from his Court duties was most frequently the butt of his sarcastic remarks. Leopold was possibly the most famous impresario of a child prodigy in musical history and yet his efforts fell short of their objective. Had he survived his son, he might have marveled at Constanze’s ability to market his son’s genius, as she did not miss a single opportunity to enhance her late husband’s name during the fifty years of her life after her husband’s death.

Leopold traveled all over Europe remorselessly seeking recognition for his children, in the process exposing them to every imaginable contagion in the disease-riddled capitals of the continent resulting in a legacy of ill-health for both Nannerl and Wolfgang and perhaps in the end helping to cost Wolfgang his life. Leopold’s many travels suggest a desire for self-promotion, a passionate desire to flee the monotony of his life at the Salzburg Court and an urge to mingle on an equal footing with the nobility he despised because he wasn’t one of them.

Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was the son of Johann Georg Mozart, a bookbinder whose opportunity to become a Master of his trade came through marriage. He married Maria Banegger the widow of his late employer. The couple lived in the Frauentorstrasse in Augsburg and the house is preserved to this day as the Mozarthaus. When Maria Banegger died after only a few years of marriage, Johann Georg married the twenty-three-year-old daughter of a wealthy weaver. Leopold Mozart was the first of eight children born to Johann Georg Mozart and his young wife, Anna Maria Sulzer in 1719.

Anna Maria Mozart was a beautiful woman and Leopold inherited her Nordic good looks. His compulsive and obsessive nature may also have been inherited from his mother who in her old age dissipated the family fortune in lawsuits and divided her family with her continuous bickering. Near the end of her life she was restrained by the Augsburg authorities from creating further problems. Leopold Mozart fled from his mother and his siblings and severed his connections with all members of his family with the exception of his youngest brother, Alois, also a bookbinder and the father of Basle to whom Wolfgang’s “infamous” letters were later addressed. (These letters contain the kind of scatological humour, which was often expressed during those days, and it needs to be seen in the context of the period.)

As a youngster Leopold Mozart showed no scholastic ability. However, this all changed when he was enrolled at the Jesuit Grammar School in Augsburg, where he completed the formidable curriculum with distinction. This was an expensive school but Leopold’s school fees were discounted as his father bound the prayer books for the Augsburg Cathedral. When Leopold graduated he was proficient in Latin, Greek and French and had studied Logic, Physics, Mathematics and History.

As well, he was a gifted violinist who had often performed in school concerts and was also an outstanding organist. Leopold’s interest in music led him to correspond with the great J. S. Bach who was at the time a member of the Correspondence Society in Leipzig. Leopold studied music by correspondence with Meirand Spiess, the Music Director and Prior of the Benedictine Abbey at Irrsee.

After his father’s death Leopold moved to Salzburg and enrolled at the Benedictine University with the original intention of studying Theology. At the beginning of the first semester, however, he had enrolled to study Philosophy and Jurisprudence. He was an exemplary scholar during the first year but then his love of music and the application of all his time to the study of music earned him a dismissal from the University.

Leopold entered the service of Count Thurn-Valsassina und Taxis in Salzburg as a valet “with musical obligations”. Leopold seemed happy in the Count’s service and he dedicated his six trio sonatas, Opus I to the Count. Leopold’s words in his dedication liken the Count to a paternal sun (Paterno Sole). The wording is not much different from Wolfgang’s dedication of his six string quartets to “Papa” Haydn. He remained in the Count’s service for three years when in 1743 he was appointed fourth violinist to the court orchestra under Leopold Anton von Firmian, the last independently reigning archbishop of Salzburg. Archbishop Firmian is remembered for solving the centuries-old religious problems between Catholics and Protestants by expelling twenty-two thousand Protestants from his land. Leopold worked his way up to second violinist and Court Chamber Composer (1757). But the Archbishop who played the greatest role in Leopold Mozart’s life was Count Sigismund Christoph Schrattenbach. It was under his reign that Leopold attained the position of court composer and Vice-Kapellmeister in 1763.

Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo took office in 1772 and with his arrival the fulfillment of Leopold Mozart’s career aspirations at the Salzburg court vanished. In his desire to imitate the Viennese Court, the Archbishop appointed a Neapolitan composer, Domenico Fischietti as Kapellmeister of his orchestra thus by-passing Leopold Mozart. Leopold realized that his hopes of becoming Kapellmeister were forever blighted and the bitterness he felt at what he considered a betrayal never left him.

Wolfgang’s own disenchantment with Salzburg was influenced by his father, who never found in Salzburg the stimulus and professional satisfaction he craved for. It is, therefore, surprising to consider Leopold’s negative reaction to Wolfgang’s desire to escape from what he considered a professionally stagnant environment.

Leopold Mozart’s letters to his son after Wolfgang moved to Vienna are unfortunately not extant. Nissen, who with his wife Constanze stands accused by historians of having destroyed them, also decried their loss in his introduction to his Mozart biography. From Wolfgang’s replies, however, the picture of a bitter Leopold emerges. It is a forbidding portrait of a disappointed and frustrated man. A portrait of a man desperately trying to keep his son anchored in the very quagmire in which he considered himself to be captive.

At first his appointment to the Archbishop’s orchestra was a great blessing to Leopold. On November 21, 1747 he married Anna Maria Pertl who for some time had been his great love. He married above his station, as Anna Maria was the daughter of Nikolaus Pertl, a lawyer and the magistrate of the district of St. Gilgen. Nikolaus Pertl however died young and left his wife and daughter in poverty. Except for her good name, Anna Maria Pertl brought no material trappings to the marriage. There is no doubt that this was a marriage based on love and affection. Thus Wolfgang Mozart was born in 1756 into a loving family. He was the youngest of seven children of whom only two survived, Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl who had been born five years earlier on 30 July 1751.

In Salzburg the Mozarts lived in a small three-bedroom apartment on the top floor at No. 9 Getreidegasse. The house belonged to Lorenz Hagenauer, a rich merchant who became their true and trusted friend. Leopold earned extra money for his family by teaching the violin and piano. During the year of Wolfgang’s birth, Leopold published his Treatise on the Violin School, which, according to Goethe’s friend, Karl Friedrich Zelter was a book, which will be useful as long as the violin remains a violin, as indeed it has remained a book studied to this day by all serious interpreters of 18th century violin music. Leopold Mozart was a prolific composer and apart from church music, he composed orchestral suites and delightful pieces for toy instruments. The Toy Symphony earlier attributed to Joseph Haydn was in fact composed by Leopold Mozart. Some of Leopold’s music was also attributed to Wolfgang but it has now been established that the three songs Die Grossmutige Gelassenheit K. 149; Geheime Lied K. 150 and Die Zufriedenheit im Niedrigen Stande K. 151 are in fact all Leopold Mozart’s compositions. It is indeed a compliment to Leopold that these works were at first ascribed to his illustrious son.

Leopold’s early desire to see his son established as Court Composer at a German Court such as Mannheim or Munich, inspired Wolfgang’s and his mother’s ill-fated journey to Paris in 1777. Although Wolfgang was by now twenty-one years old, Leopold would not allow him to travel on his own and this restriction resulted in his mother’s death in Paris. The letters Leopold wrote to his son during the eighteen months Wolfgang was away from Salzburg are a study in musical politics and paternal commands. Any emotional needs Wolfgang may have had are dealt with swiftly by the father and without a single thought given to the effect such letters would have on his son. Mercilessly, Leopold was quick to blame the death of his wife in Paris on his son.

While in Mannheim, Wolfgang found his way along the cobblestone streets to the lottery office opposite, which resided the music copyist, Fridolin Weber. There he was welcomed by Weber’s four daughters who would influence the remainder of his life. Starved for love and suddenly free of the strictures imposed by his father, Wolfgang promptly fell in love with Aloysia, the second oldest and the most beautiful of the Weber girls. Barely seventeen years old, she was an accomplished pianist and linguist. When Wolfgang heard her perform his compositions, he found in them a new meaning that he himself had not been aware of. Most of all, this future prima donna of the Viennese Opera impressed Wolfgang with her voice. For the first time in his life Wolfgang no longer cared about his own career but wanted to dedicate his life to furthering Aloysia’s. Wolfgang planned to travel to Italy where Aloysia’s voice would be appreciated. He was going to take with him Fridolin Weber as chaperon and the eldest sister, Josepha, the future star of the Schikaneder Company, as cook so that he could continue to enjoy her culinary delicacies. In a letter to Leopold he likened his own family to the Weber’s, a faux pas his father would never forgive.

Needless to say, Leopold’s reaction was swift in his condemnation of his son’s plan. With an anger surely comparable to that of the Commandatore in Mozart’s later opera, Don Giovanni K.527, Leopold wrote to his son on 11 February, 1778: “As for your proposal (I can hardly write when I think of it), your proposal to travel about with Herr Weber and, be it noted, his two daughters - it has nearly made me lose my reason! My dearest son! How could you have allowed yourself to be bewitched even for an hour by such a horrible idea!” Wolfgang was so upset that he became sick but he had to accede to his father’s wishes and continue on his journey to Paris. After his mother’s death, he found his only solace in the hope that he would see his beloved Aloysia on his return journey. During all this drama Wolfgang barely noticed the little girl with the pretty eyes, the fourteen-year-old Constanze Weber who was to become his wife and the guardian of his posthumous fame. Wolfgang was loath to return to Salzburg and the suspicion arises that his plans to travel with Aloysia were also plans to liberate himself from his father. He drove his father to almost demented fury with his procrastination about his return journey.

Family problems were always resolved by Leopold alone, never allowing room for discussion. This may also have been due to parental attitudes to children during the 18th Century but Leopold sought and indeed continued to rule his children’s will well into their adulthood.

Leopold’s letters to his son during his Paris journey contain long litanies of his own financial woes. He always made sure that Wolfgang was aware of his obligation to support his family and repay the debt that his father had allegedly incurred on his behalf. In a letter to his son in February 1778 Leopold complained that he was as poor as Lazarus, his clothing as shabby and torn, and that he had to wear old socks and shoes to church, all this to impress upon Wolfgang his responsibility towards his father who was making so many sacrifices for him!!

As a result Wolfgang was torn between the desire to flee his father or return to the tyranny of Salzburg in order to help him. Wolfgang was bound to his family by ties stronger than blood; by his sense of guilt at having let his mother die in Paris and his responsibility for the debts incurred by his father to finance the ceaseless journeys undertaken by the whole family for Wolfgang’s benefit. It is a wonder that his talent survived the burdens lay upon him and did not shrivel up under his father’s severe and critical eye. Leopold convinced his son to return to Salzburg but when Wolfgang was commissioned to compose the opera Idomeneo for the Munich opera an opportunity presented itself for him to travel to Vienna. In early 1781 Archbishop Colloredo was visiting his ailing father in Vienna and required all his servants, cooks and musicians to accompany him. Wolfgang traveled to Vienna from Munich with only the clothes he was wearing but once there, he soon contrived to be dismissed from Colloredo’s service. Wolfgang remained in Vienna when all the other servants returned to Salzburg. Wolfgang’s act of insubordination against his employer finally ended the control his father had exercised over him.

Nannerl did not fare so well. She had been in love with a cavalry officer and when Leopold finally broke this liaison, Nannerl spent a year in total depression. Seemingly unconcerned, Leopold wedded her to an elderly nobleman, Baron Johann Baptist Berchtold von Sonnenburg, whose third wife she became, having to care for the children from her husband’s previous marriages. She gave birth to her first child, named after Leopold, on 27 July 1785 in her father’s home in Salzburg and returned to her husband in St. Gilgen without her baby, leaving him thereafter in Leopold’s care. Many Mozartean writers have applauded this deed as her supreme expression of love for her father. It is an unfathomable act of a totally oppressed woman unable to withstand her father’s entreaties. So convinced was Leopold that Wolfgang’s genius was due to his own efforts that he believed that another such genius was not entirely out of the question. His letters to Nannerl at St. Gilgen describe in detail the musical progress her baby was making. Little Leopold, however, had no apparent talent whatsoever, a fact that Leopold Mozart did not live to see. Little Leopold grew up to be a cavalry officer and later in life became a bureaucrat in the Austrian Taxation Department.

In 1786 Wolfgang made plans to travel to London. He did not like to be parted from Constanze for lengthy periods and so he turned to his father with the request that his two sons be placed in his father’s care. Leopold had at least two servants looking after Nannerl’s little boy; hence Wolfgang did not feel that his own two children would be an imposition.

Leopold promptly rejected his son’s request. He dashed off a letter to Nannerl, the tone of which reveals the coldness of his reply (not extant) to his son.

“You can easily imagine that I had to express myself very emphatically, as your brother actually suggested that I should take charge of his two children because he was proposing to undertake a journey through Germany to England in the middle of Carnival. I wrote therefore very fully and added that I would send him the continuation of my letter by the next post. Her Muller, the good and honest maker of silhouettes, had said a lot of nice things about little Leopold to your brother, who heard in this way that the child is living with me. I had never told your brother. So that is how the brilliant idea occurred to him or perhaps to his wife. Not at all a bad arrangement! They could go off and travel - they might even die - or remain in England - and I would have to run off after them with the children. As for payment he offers me for the children and for the maids to look after them - Basta! If he cares to do so, he will find my excuse very clear and instructive.”

One might wonder how Leopold’s letter affected Wolfgang and Constanze and whether the continuation of Leopold’s sermon was even read by them. The Mozarts’ little boy, also called Leopold, died of suffocation on 15 November, 1786 and was buried in St. Marx cemetery on the very day, 17 November, when Leopold penned his acrimonious letter to Nannerl.

Leopold Mozart’s relationship with Wolfgang deteriorated because of his inability to grant his son the freedom of an adult existence. Leopold’s blind hatred of Mozart’s wife, Constanze finally broke Wolfgang’s trust in his father. It is difficult to assess if this hatred of Constanze and her family stemmed from Leopold’s disappointment that his son did not marry into the nobility or that Wolfgang’s transference of his dependency from his father to Constanze deprived Leopold of his most vital link with his son. Leopold’s hatred of Constanze and her family had a continuing influence on Mozartean scholars. We find even so distinguished a scholar as Alfred Einstein hurling insults at Mozart’s beloved wife and her accomplished family of musicians and singers.

Yet it is interesting to note that Leopold’s letters to Nannerl, when in January 1785 he visited his son in Vienna, actually express his approbation of his daughter-in-law whom he praised for running an economical household and her mother and sisters for entertaining him regally. These comments were ignored by writers who preferred his earlier reference to Constanze when he called his son’s new bride a slut. This slur inspired writers to pick up pencil and paper to recount the apocryphal stories of Constanze’s sisters parading in front of the army barracks in Vienna with a view to picking up prospective husbands.

Where this scurrilous information came from is not known. All the while Constanze’s sister, Aloysia was married to Joseph Lange, a celebrated Shakespearean actor and painter and was herself the highest paid prima donna of the German Opera. Constanze’s eldest sister, Josepha was studying singing in Graz on an Imperial scholarship. On her return from Graz, Josepha joined the Schikaneder company and was the first Queen of the Night in Mozart’s opera, The Magic Flute. Constanze’s youngest sister, Sophie, fourteen years old at the time of Constanze’s marriage to Mozart, is well known in Mozartean history as the young maiden who suffered Leopold Mozart’s company while he lay sick during his visit to his son’s home in Vienna. Later she witnessed Wolfgang’s death and according to her report to Nissen, her brother-in-law expired in her arms.

After Nannerl gave birth to her first child, she returned to her husband’s household in St. Gilgen, letting Leopold dedicate the rest of his life to his grandson. He occasionally attended Archbishop Colloredo’s court and looked forward to the occasional theatre productions that took place in Salzburg. He became ill and died of heart failure on 28 May 1787 and had the final say even in death.

Leopold voiced his displeasure with his son by leaving his whole estate to his daughter with the exception of his personal items. These were to be auctioned and the proceeds were to be divided between his two children. There were 579 items to be auctioned but only 314 were sold, Nannerl retaining the most valuable objects. All the valuable gifts given to the young Wolfgang during his many travels were retained by Nannerl. Wolfgang’s scores which had remained in Salzburg when he so swiftly departed to Vienna from Munich took until December 1787 to be returned to him.

Maynard Solomon in his Mozart - A Life has estimated that Nannerl received from her father somewhere between 6,000 and 10,000 florins. In her old age, when out of pity Constanze organized a collection for “Mozart’s impoverished sister” among London’s music lovers, Nannerl was actually in possession of more than 6,000 florins, left at the time of her death to her only remaining child, Leopold. When his father died, Wolfgang only received a settlement of 1,000 florins.

Nannerl may have been gratified by her father’s will, considering it a final proof that she was, after all, her father’s most beloved child. There is no doubt that her early youth was spent in the shadow of her brother and that she harbored a hidden resentment against him for the rest of her life.

Interestingly, the grandson Leopold Mozart never knew, Wolfgang’s youngest child, Franz Xaver Wolfgang, bore the closest resemblance to his grandfather. He had more than an average musical talent and became a music teacher in Lemberg, Poland. Like his grandfather, he was a man of romantic and lofty ideas but could never quite bring them to fruition. In his portrait he looks like Leopold. In appearance and bearing the two men are so similar that they could be mistaken for the portrait of the same man painted at different stages of life.

It is an irony that Leopold Mozart was destined to share his final resting place with his detested daughter-in-law, Constanze and her second husband Nikolaus von Nissen. The grave also houses the final remains of Constanze’s aunt, Genevieva Weber, the mother of Carl Maria von Weber, the father of the German Romantic Movement.

The musical heritage of the Mozart family ended with the death of Franz Xaver Mozart (Wolfgang Mozart’s son) on July 19, 1844 at Karlovy Vary
(Karlsbad) at the age of 53. Neither of Mozart’s sons married and there were no descendants. Nannerl’s great- granddaughter, Bertha Forschter, died in 1917 and Leopold Mozart’s great-great grandniece, Karoline Grau, died in 1965. I have not been able to confirm the story of a descendant of “Basle” Mozart, a milliner who was taken from a mental asylum in Germany with the rest of the asylum’s inmates to the ovens of a concentration camp in Hitler’s Germany.

Copyright: Agnes Selby (Courtesy “Quadrant”).

Subject: Some Circumstances for Replacement Arias K577 and K579
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 22:04:44 06/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
The Köchel Catalogue lists the Rondo "Al desio di chi t'adora" as
K577, as it was listed in Mozart's Work Catalogue under the date
"July 1789". Under K579 is listed the Aria "Un moto di gioia"--
which is not entered in Mozart's Work Catalogue--and dated by
Köchel presumably in August 1789. We have autographs of "Un
moto di gioia" both for the full score and a vocal score. No
autograph is known for "Al desio di chi t'adora", but a copyist's
vocal score with a cadenza entry by Mozart is known. Both these
Arias were composed as replacement Arias for Adriana Gabrieli del
Bene in a Vienna revival of "Le nozze di Figaro" which began in
August 1789. ["Al desio di chi t' adora" for the Act IV Aria "Deh
vieni non tardar ", and "Un moto di gioia" to replace the Act II Aria
"Venite, inginocchiatevi".]

Were both these numbers actually written for the premiere of the
1789 Figaro, which took place on August 29, 1789 (and was
performed a further 28 times, until February 9, 1791) at the Burg
Theater? In the November 2001 Cambridge Opera Journal, Dexter
Edge stated there was no persuasive documentary grounds for
placing the Aria "Un moto di gioio" in 1789. Basis for dating the
Aria in August 1789 has always been a comment in a letter of
Mozart to his wife of August [15?-18] 1789 in which he comments
"I have some alterations to make and my presence will be required
at the rehearsals"; and another in a letter later in the month in
which he writes "The little aria, which I composed for Madame
Ferrarsei, ought, I think, to be a success, provided she is able to
sing it in an artless manner, which however I very much doubt".
Edge states the paper type [Tyson NMA Watermark Nr.99] strongly
suggests a date in 1790 or even early 1791. As there is a
significant gap in Mozart's Work Catalogue between June and
December 1790, Edge suggests it quite possible "Un moto di
gioia" falls within this gap.

Then in the May 21, 2004, Sotheby's Catalogue I found a copy of
"Le nozze di Figaro" listed. The manuscript score was apparently
made by the copying house of Wenzel Sukowaty in Vienna; and
apparently has been unknown to Mozart scholarship up to now
according to the Sotheby Catalogue. Sukowaty was the chief music
copyist of the Vienna Court Theater until about 1796 and had the
advantage of preparing his copies directly from the primary
performing score of the Vienna Court Theater. Although this copy
can not be dated exactly, the catalogue description states it
appears to at least predate the publication of the vocal score of
the opera in 1796.

What is interesting in this score is that "Al desio di chi t'adore"
(K577) has replaced the original "Deh vieni non tardar"; but "Un
moto di gioio" (K579) is not included, and the original "Venite
inginocchiatevi" is retained.

Thus if Edge is correct and "Un moto di gioio" was composed a
year later or so, could this copy be from around August 1789--
before del Bene requested another substitute Aria? This Sukowaty
copy would tend to strengthen Edge's suggestion.

At any rate whatever the case, it appears Figaro was not always
performed after August 1789 with both new Arias for del Bene;
either one was composed later, or perhaps "Un moto di gioio" did
not go over well with the audience--or del Bene--and was not
used all the time.

There is, however, a bit of confusion that I am unable to untangle
at this time. Alan Tyson stated in his "Eight Variants to Le Nozze di
Figaro" that both "Al desio di chi t'adora" and "Un moto di gioio"
are found in many copyist's score from 1789 onwards. In the 1973
NMA volume of Figaro, Ludwig Finscher reported the texts of both
Arias were printed in the Vienna Libretto of 1789. These would
surely suggest the two Arias were included in the August 1789
performance. The NMA Critical Report of Figaro--which will give
detailed information on all sources-- has not been issued yet.

dennis

Subject: Re: Some Circumstances for Replacement Arias K577 and K579
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 13:31:25 06/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear dennis,

"At any rate whatever the case, it appears Figaro was not always performed after August 1789 with both new Arias for del Bene; either one was composed later, or perhaps "Un moto di gioio" did not go over well with the audience--or del Bene--and was not used all the time."

Is it not possible that, since this newly turned up copy of Figaro doesn't show it, that "Un moto di gioio" never DID get into the opera at? While I may have missed it, I've never seen or heard of any copy of the opera with this aria actually placed within it. The autograph has written on it (not by Mozart):

"Le Nozze di Figaro n. 12 Atto 2do" followed by what suspects is the linking recitative "e pur n'ho paura" ("and yet, I am afraid.")

This recitative isn't to be found in Figaro, nor in any copy I have heard of. What we could have is a trial work that didn't make it at all into the opera proper. Perhaps del Bene, presented with the choice between the new "Un moto di gioia" and the older, better "Venite inginocchiatevi" took umbrage that this change was the "best" Mozart could do for her, and stuck with the original.

Regards,

Gary

Subject: K.Anh. C 26.04
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 18:54:21 06/26/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Wilhelm Kempff wrote a piece based on this Mozart piece so I was just wondering what the history of this piece is as well as if there is a recording of it?
thanks in advance! (dennis? haha)

Subject: Re: K.Anh. C 26.04
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 09:14:30 06/27/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Marcus,
I found this in the Koechel Anhang Section 8 on this site;
"First issued in Musikal Magazin in Vienna in 1794, then Artaria, André and others including B & H Oeuvres complettes in 1799; work is Anton Eberl's Op.6; on July 15, 1798 Eberl gave notice in Hamburg paper he was author of 3 works printed as Mozart's (also see C25.01 and C 26.05)"
I looked around in my usual places for a recording but couldn't find one. Not even under "Eberl".
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Mozart's grandmother
From: Jan-Willem Besuijen
To: All
Date Posted: 18:44:23 06/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
The other day I came across a family tree of the Mozart's family, somewhere on the internet. It stated Mozart's grandmother died in 1766. If this is correct Mozart had a grandmother in the first ten years of his life. However, I never read/heard anything about a meeting between the two. My question: did Mozart ever knew his grandmother, did he ever meet her?

Regards,
Jan-Willem Besuijen

Subject: Re: Mozart's grandmother
From: Robby Bonkowski
To: All
Date Posted: 20:21:18 06/25/04 ()
Email Address: ageokid@aol.com
 

Message:
Leopold Mozart was the eldest of five surviving children. Leopold attended a university in Salzburg with no intentions of continuing his family's bookbinding profession. However, he was eventually expelled for lack of interest in his studies. He chose to be a musician in a foreign city, Salzburg, which was no doubt a shock to his family back in Augsburg. He met Anna Maria Pertl, daughter of an impoverished Salzburg couple, and requested his mother's blessing to marry. (His father had since died shortly after his expulsion.) She clearly did not approve of her eldest's marriage. She finally consented to their marriage, not knowing that the two had already married.

What hurt Leopold especially was his exclusion from a gift of 300 florins that each of his siblings received upon their marriages. He was the only child not to receive the money. It seemed that mother and son would never resolve.

Wolfgang and Nannerl probably never saw or knew their grandmother. She is not mentioned in any correspondence. Leopold took his children to Augsburg, where they gave three public performances. Their Augsburg family members did not attend any of these concerts. Leopold was already deeply hurt by his mother’s actions and most likely saw no use in mending their relationship.

Robby Bonkowski

Subject: Re: Mozart's grandmother
From: CBarb
To: All
Date Posted: 02:41:22 06/26/04 ()
Email Address: cbarbieri1@comcast.net
 

Message:
So, if I understand this correctly, Leopold -- though the eldest of five surviving children -- was born to his father's 2nd wife?

The more I learn about Leopold the more I think that he must have been a complex and strong willed fellow. Eschewing his father's business, and choosing to be a musician in a "foreign" city, must have taken some guts. Yet, if I remember correctly (I haven't read a Mozart biography in years), he always seemed to argue for the more conservative course in dispensing advice re the career path of his son.

On second thought, that sounds typical of the advice dispensed by most fathers, in any century.

CBarb

Subject: Re: Mozart's grandmother
From: Robby Bonkowski
To: All
Date Posted: 19:03:19 06/26/04 ()
Email Address: ageokid@aol.com
 

Message:
"Eschewing his father's business" must have been a very gutsy and difficult move, indeed. When Leopold's treatise on violin playing was published (in 1756 I think), he asked a friend to write to his mother to let her know that 300 florins would be needed to cover for the cost of printing and binding. So tense were his relations, that he could not communicate directly with her or his brothers, who were running the family's bookbinding business. (I presume he wanted to stay away from this business when he published his book.) The "insanity", as Agnes put it, probably didn't help either.

Leopold tried to "control" Wolfgang as much as he could. One can say that he loved his son "too much." Of course, Wolfie didn't take it that way. Leopold was no doubt alarmed at his son's rebellious behavior and at the striking similarities between his own path and Wolfgang's. Experiencing firsthand what could happen to the relationship between a disputing parent and child, he tried to use consertavism to control and tame the fire that burned between them. Instead of drawing Wolfgang closer, it pushed him farther away. Quite sad...

I've been listening to some L.Mozart lately, nothing profound or notable. Just 'pleasant' music.

Today is Kozeluch's birthday (b.1747)
Also, Mozart completed the Symphony in Eb, K.543, on this day 1788.

Robby

Subject: Re: Mozart's grandmother
From: Robby Bonkowski
To: All
Date Posted: 20:28:34 06/25/04 ()
Email Address: ageokid@aol.com
 

Message:
Agnes, sorry for having posted a message where you had already done so. It appears that I was typing my posting the same time you were. Two is better than one i guess...

Robby

Subject: Re: Mozart's grandmother
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 21:54:31 06/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Robby,

Yes, two are better than one. One reinforces the other.

While we are still on the subject, Robby, I strongly suspect that Leopold inherited his mother's obssessive nature and the destructiveness associated with it. His behavior towards his son, particularly during Mozart's years in Vienna, his Will in which he left Nannerl the greater share of the inheritance, his obssissive hatred of Mozart's wife, his unwillingness to look after his grandchildren, so that Mozart could travel to London, indicate that the apple does not fall far from the tree. This streak of insanity, if one should call it that for want of a better word, even appeared in a Mozart family decendant, namely Basel's great-great- granddaughter who was picked up by the Nazis in an Insane Asylum and transported with the rest of the inmates to a concentration camp.

Kind regards,
Agnes.

Subject: Re: Mozart's grandmother
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 19:58:37 06/25/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear Jan-Willem,

It is most unlikely that Mozart met his Augsburg grandmother. Born in 1696 as Anna Maria Sulzer, she was the daughter of a weaver and Leopold Mozart's father's second wife.

Leopold's disagreement with his family, particularly with his mother, would have precluded a meeting between Wolfgang and his paternal grandmother.

Anna Maria's obssessions with her neighbours in a mostly Protestant Augsburg resulted in many lawsuits
and dissipated the small family fortune. In the end, she was placed by the Augsburg city authorities in a mental institution where she died in 1766.

Kind regards,
Agnes Selby.

Subject: Why did Mozart compose the Symphony K551?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 05:17:56 06/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Why did Mozart compose the Symphony K551 and why was it not
performed?

There have been many hypothesis to these two questions, some
very good, others not so. In a recently published article A. Peter
Brown gives an analysis of the Symphony and gives a plausible
answer to these questions.

Putting the composition in focus with what was occurring in
Vienna, Brown reminds us that during the summer of 1788 Vienna
was a deserted city. The wealthier residents of the city would have
been out of town at their summer palaces. Thus not only the
wealthy themselves, but their servants (including musicians) were
out of the city. Forgotten nowadays, but certainly not then, is that
Austria was involved in the Turkish War at the time. Thus many of
the male nobility were in the battlefield. The newspapers of the
day (like today) were filled with war news and gave the progress of
the war. As Brown records: "Christian Austrians were portrayed as
humanitarian and brave, pagan Turks as brutal and cowardly. In
toto, only one conclusion could be drawn from these reports: An
Austrian/Russian victory was at hand".

What has this to do with the "Jupiter" Symphony? Remember the
"Jupiter" was added later, in 1788, this was only a Symphony in C-
major. As Brown shows in his article it is a "Trumpet Fanfare
Symphony", and certainly much different than most symphonies of
the period--by Mozart or others. With its many 1st and 4th
movement fanfares, the sarabande of the Andante, the serious
mood of the Minuet and the concluding contrapuntal fantasy on
Alleluia or Gloria (or Credo) chants, this symphony was a work for
a solemn celebration.

With Mozart's presumed knowledge of former Imperial
celebrations, Brown believes it possible this symphony harks back
to the ceremonies that took place after the previous campaign
against the Turks of 1697 to 1707. In other words was the
"Jupiter" symphony meant to be the "Victory" symphony? [My
nickname, not Brown's.] As it turned out the war did not go well
and the costly peace was not finally achieved until August 1791.
Thus it is likely Mozart's Symphony was never performed in his
lifetime.

For the full analysis and reasoning of Brown find the article
"Eighteenth-Century Traditions and Mozart's 'Jupiter' Symphony
K.551" in The Journal of Musicology 2003 (vol. 20/2).

dennis

Subject: Re: Why did Mozart compose the Symphony K551?
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 14:13:21 06/23/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
Dear Dennis,

With all due respect to the late A. Peter Brown, who was a good scholar, I believe that K. 551 WAS performed by Mozart. I give my arguments in an article, "Mozart as a Working Stiff," which is in a collection entitled On Mozart, ed. by James Morris.

Neal

Subject: Re: Why did Mozart compose the Symphony K551?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 08:43:07 06/24/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Professor Zaslaw as stated he disagrees with A. Peter Brown on the
circumstances of performance of the "Jupiter" symphony. To be
fair to all, and give a more complete picture, here is a summary of
his stance on the subject, which he published in the 1994 book
"On Mozart".

Mozart usually composed for some practical purpose. It might
have been a commission, an upcoming concert given by himself or
another musician, a work on speculation that it would be
performed, or even for social entertainment. Thus the last 3
symphonies would not have been written for inner necessity.

On the last 3 symphonies Zaslaw tells this story. In the mid
-1780's Mozart was popular and very busy with new compositions
for various venues, private and public. As would be expected, he
made a good amount of money and lived well. However as the
decade went on Austria became involved in a war with Turkey and
the economy went into depression Noble patrons of music were
out of Vienna, theaters closed, there were less concerts, thus
musician were let go as Vienna's musical life declined. Of course
Mozart's income suffered and he began to borrow money.

In the summer of 1788 Mozart began to make plans to deal with
his financial problems. He hoped to put on subscription concerts
in the autumn and thought of traveling to London where more
money could be made than in Vienna. For these plans he would
need new symphonies. And we see 3 symphonies were entered in
his work catalogue in the summer of 1788.

In late August a Danish visitor to Vienna tells of an afternoon at
the Mozart home where Wolfgang improvised for him on the piano
and Constanze cut quill-pens for the copyist. Then in a letter that
perhaps was written a few weeks after this visit, Mozart asks
Michael Puchberg for another loan to carry him for a week until his
concerts in the Tratterhof Casino begin. Mozart also sent him
tickets for the concert. Zaslaw reminds use concerts were not
advertised or reviewed in the newspaper so it is not unusual we
have no record of them occurring, unless mentioned in a letter or
a diary of a person that has survived. However if Mozart had
tickets printed already it is likely the concerts were put on.

We can be sure the g-minor symphony was performed from a
revision in the Andante and addition of Clarinets in a new version,
which would have been for a specific performance. Mozart did tour
Germany late in the decade and gave public orchestral concerts in
Dresden and Leipzig in 1789 and in Frankfurt and Mainz in 1790.
Each of these concerts contained at least two symphonies. Then in
Vienna on April 16 and 17, 1791, a symphony of Mozart's was
performed.

As Zaslaw states "the very idea that Mozart would have written
three such symphonies unprecedented in length, complexity, and
seriousness, merely to please himself or because he was "inspired"
flies in the face of his known attitudes to music and life and the
financial straits in which he then found himself.".

I highly recommend this article (for a short review of the book--
see Book Reviews in the Library section of this MozartForum) for
logical reasons on why Mozart composed. It also brings to light
something I have found to be the case in many Mozart
compositions as I researched them backward. What is now a
"Mozart did this" statement, began 100 or more years ago as
"Mozart could have done this" statement and evolved into a for
certain statement. Again the book is "On Mozart", edited by James
M. Morris, Cambridge University Press, 1994).

dennis

Subject: does anyone know the history of this ?
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 01:42:38 06/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
Fantasia for Piano in c, K 475 (w added 2nd piano part by Grieg)

help dennis? =)

Subject: Re: does anyone know the history of this ?
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 05:42:44 06/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Marcus:

I am afraid I can't help you on this one. Searching a few local
libraries for scores I have found that Grieg added a 2nd piano part
not only to K475, but also K545 and K283/189h. Perhaps there
are more. I also found one recording: ABC Classics 454 224-2,
performed by Julie Adam and Daniel Herscovitch.

I also did not see it listed in the Köchel Catalogue in Anhang B
(section for arrangements) to K475, among the many arrangments
for orchestra, 4-hand piano, Piano and Violin, and String Trio.

dennis

Subject: Re: does anyone know the history of this ?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 10:31:25 06/23/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
This whole discussion is not clear to me, mostly because I am uncertain as to the nature of the 2nd piano part added by Grieg.

Is this 2nd part simply an arrangement of the orchestral music, which permits a pianist to perform the concerto with another pianist playing the orchestral accompaniment?? Or, is the 2nd part an entirely different animal, and if so, it needs some description.

I think that almost every piano concerto can be purchased with a 2nd piano part duplicating the orchestral music. There is nothing special about such publications and it is not surprising that they are not listed in the traditional literature dealing with that particular concerto. It is the same thing in buying arias normally done with an orchestral accompaniment but are sold with a piano reduction of that accompaniment. That's business as usual and it really doesn't matter how famous the person was who produced the piano reduction. It's not going to be dealt with in the literature unless there is some very special aspect to that particular reduction. For example, Mozart himself made a piano reduction of Voi che sapete. Now that's special.

So what kind of a thing is the Grieg 2nd piano part?

Subject: Re: does anyone know the history of this ?
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 11:54:20 06/23/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I believe you have misread the previous post. K.475 is a Fantasia for solo piano in c-minor not a concerto by any means. There would be no orchestral reduction for such a piece because there was never music written to accompany this piece. It is a solo piece. Therefore the fact that Grieg has written a second piano part to it is quite startling. That would be like C.M.Weber adding a second clarinet to Mozart's Clarinet concerto or Liszt adding a second piano to a Mozart sonata.

I listened to the piece on the radio and Grieg has bascially taken Mozart's fantasy note for note and written a brand new second piano part in addition, Creating a duet of sorts, or more like decorating the original piece with some new accompaniments, call and response, harmonizations, and thicker textures and many new notes.

For example the opening is quite bare, outlining a harmony for a few bars, than sequencing it up, but it doesnt quite get to the theme till a few bars later. Here Grieg has add tremolos for the second piano, sustaining one harmony, which combined with Mozart's original becomes quite different.

Everyone should listen to the piece, although it becomes quite romantic and daring at times, it is also quite beautiful and unique, and Grieg defintely adds some nice effects.

I merely wanted to know if any one knew more backgroud about the piece, thats all.

Subject: Re: does anyone know the history of this ?
From: Dan Leeson
To: All
Date Posted: 14:23:59 06/23/04 ()
Email Address: dnleeson@sbcglobal.net
 

Message:
Clearly I misunderstood the question as you suggested.

Subject: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 05:54:54 06/20/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

The "Adelaide" Concerto was published in 1933, edited by Marius
Casadesus. Its first performance was in London by Jelly d'Aranyi.
The work was called the "Adelaide" Concerto by Casadesus,
claiming the short score he worked from consisted of an
autograph in two staves--the upper carrying the solo part,
including tuttis, in D, the lower the Bass in E--with a dedication
accompanying the score addressed to Madame Adelaide de
France, the eldest daughter of Louis XV, and dated Versailles May
26, 1766.

This so-called autograph was mysterious from the beginning. It
was claimed it was in a private collection in France, but was
unknown to experts of the time. One must remember one of the
foremost Mozart experts of the time was Georges St.Foix, a
Frenchman. The other foremost expert, Alfred Einstein, was not
allowed to see the autograph. Even the publishing house, Schott,
could not claim to have seen the "autograph".

Einstein in 1934 was the first to dissect the origins of the work. He
questioned why the Concerto was not in Leopold Mozart's 1768
catalogue of his son's works. Einstein further showed the Mozarts
had arrived in Versailles on May 28, 1766--2 days after the
supposed dedication--and were back in Paris by June 1. And why
would Mozart write out a dedication to an unfinished work.
Einstein further stated if Wolfgang "wished to write a Concerto,
then he would have written the work as a Concerto and not on two
staves. He was familiar with the handling of full score". He also
questioned the style of the work, believing it "projected backward
from the later concertos". Facing all this evidence Einstein doubted
the work was an authentic Mozart Concerto, however left the door
ajar by asking if it could be a leaf of the lost "Capricci" sketched in
Holland, and later finding its way to Paris.

10 years later Einstein was not even giving Casadesus that much,
stating in his Mozart book "to put it mildly [the Concerto] is a
piece of mystification a la Kreisler".

Friedrich Blume in 1956 came up with a solution to the dedication
problem. The manuscript and dedication had nothing to do with
one another and came together only by chance; then made the
incredible statement "as long as the source remains inaccessible it
is surely better to work on such an hypothesis than reject the work
altogether". Thus Blume gives us the idea the dedication, which is
similar to those of the Violin Sonatas Op.1 and 2 of 1764, is to
another--unknown and lost work of Wolfgang. Rather than answer
the question of that work and what happened to it, he simply
states "however the question is no longer of interest". !!!! Blume
saw the Adelaide Concerto similar to K207 and K211 in its
structure, adding these two Concertos do not surpass the Adelaide
in their invention. He believed it was "not entirely excluded" that
here was a sketch written between April and July 1775.

To my knowledge the only other person in the world who bought
this was Yehudi Menuhin, who recorded the Concerto (along with
K271i). K6 placed it firmly in the Anh C section, and the New
Grove calls it plainly a forgery.

Beside the recording by Menuhin, I have a recording on CD of this
Concerto by Mela Tenenbaum on Ess.ay records.

============================

This concludes the short series on Mozart's Violin Concertos, and
those somehow connected or attributed to him. I hope you
enjoyed, learned, and listened to some of these Concertos.

dennis

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: Robby Bonkowski
To: All
Date Posted: 17:46:22 06/21/04 ()
Email Address: ageokid@aol.com
 

Message:
Dear Dennis, thanks for your recent articles on the violin concertos. They are wonderful!

Robby

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 17:54:19 06/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Dennis, I would like to echo Robby's thanks to you.

Can I ask you for a special favour? Could you please discuss Mozart's Trios?

Kind regards,
Agnes.

P.S. Kathy is most grateful for the one you have already sent her.

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: Maurizio Tomasi
To: All
Date Posted: 02:26:06 06/21/04 ()
Email Address: zio_tom78@hotmail.com
 

Message:
Thanks for the interesting posting. In an italian book ("I Concerti di Mozart", by Luigi della Croce) I read that at the end of his life Casadesus brought suit against a recording label which produced a recording of Anh. 294a omitting to cite him as the author of the harmonization and orchestration. During the trial, he admitted he was the only author of the concerto. Actually, the book by Della Croce clearly states this concerto is a forgery.

If I remember well, Casadesus deliberately composed this concerto in a mozartean style in order to play it for some friends. After the concerto, they believed it to be a newly discovered concerto by Mozart himself. Casadesus did not correct such an idea, and the myth began.

Maurizio Tomasi

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: DonW
To: All
Date Posted: 14:44:08 06/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
How very interesting! My son has claimed that he could write a mozartian piece. Are there other ezamples of such efforts?

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: Hansen
To: All
Date Posted: 01:54:53 06/22/04 ()
Email Address: ueckert@uni-hamburg.de
 

Message:
Have a look at the Library/Articles and Essays page of this forum and
read the article "Sonatine in C für Klavier (with midi files)".

Tell your son to go to SibeliusMusic.com and look for "Fr1771a" (see
URL below). This is an example where he can try his abilities in writing
a Mozartean piece.

Hansen

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: DonW
To: All
Date Posted: 15:49:54 06/22/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Many thanks!

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 22:25:47 06/20/04 ()
Email Address:
Message:
Dear dennis,

Again, great work.

And again, a work worth knowing, if only for how easy it is for some folks to come up with forgeries that can get close (enough) to make one wonder, if you didn't know the facts.

I like this work, even knowing what it is. If you are collecting Mozart, it ought to be in your collection, if only as a novelty item to amuse yourself with.

As dennis has noted in other postings, you can get both the Adelaide and K.271a (the other good "maybe" work)on one CD, and that's ESS.A.Y CD1072. K.271a I think is a better work than #6 K.268. I mean, if you're going to listen to music that may be false Mozart, at least listen to the best sounding stuff!

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: "Adelaide" Violin Concerto in D K.Anh 294a
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 00:49:55 06/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I must say tho, k.268 performed by Dieter Klocker sounds quite nice (at least the first movement) and it is def. a piece I would like to perform on clarinet if Mr.Klocker ever released more of his work!

Subject: Violin Concerto In C K271a
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 05:03:32 06/19/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

The Violin Concerto in D K271a is handed down in two copies that
apparently originated independent of each other:
1) as a full score copy from the collection of Aloys Fuchs (now in
Prussian State Library, Berlin); and
2) in a set of parts in Paris that Eugene Sauzay (a Paris Violinist)
made in 1837 for his teacher and father-in-law Pierre Baillot, from
the autograph that must have been found in the possession of
Francois Antonie Habeneck (a famous Paris conductor and Violinist
in the 19th Century and also a student of Baillot).

It is unclear from what model Fuchs prepared his copy. Fuchs
remarked in one of his catalogues "Violin Concerto--with
orchestra which in Salzburg in autograph score shall be found?
The authenticity is first of all yet to establish". The most unusual
aspect of the Fuchs copy is that its layout does not correspond to
any other copy of a Mozart work. The solo Violin is not entered on
the topmost, but lowest staff of the score.

In the Paris set of parts Baillot wrote on the finale page "Concerto
for Violin, Composed by Wolfgang Amadee Mozart, in Salzburg, on
July 16, 1777. Copied by Euguene Sauzay from the full score
manuscript of this author belonging to Mr. Habeneck in 1837".
Robert Levin pointed out that contrary to Fuchs' layout, a scrap of
paper pasted in this source lists the instruments in the exact order
used by Mozart and with the horn solmisation found, e.g., in
Mozart's other Violin Concertos. Since none of Mozart's other
Violin Concertos were published at this time, this coincidence
cannot be explained away easily. The Concerto was first published
in 1907 by Albert Kopfermann, after Fuchs' copy.

How and why did Sauzay obtain and copy Mozart's autograph (if it
was the autograph)? In his "Memoires" Sauzay wrote of reviving
Mozart Concertos with his wife in their apartments. As Augustine
Sauzay was a distinguished pianist, these were probably Piano
Concertos, but it seems likely the copy of this Violin Concerto in D
was made for these occasions, perhaps in chamber form. How the
Violin Concerto manuscript would have got to Paris is unclear. One
thought is that Mozart sold the autograph directly to someone in
Paris; a second is the connection of the pianist Marie Bigot de
Moragues' (a friend of Sauzay) husband to music publishers in
Vienna. Sauzay or Baillot perhaps played the solo part in Paris. As
a matter of fact 2 Cadenzas are found pasted to the Paris music
pages that might originate from Baillot. A third Cadenza pasted
inside could originate from Sauzay. According to the French
custom of the time the wind parts are transcribed on separate
sheets for the piano, probably by the composer/violinist
Alexander Boëly. The Sauzay and Fuchs copies have small
deviations in addition to a 37 measure longer closing section of
the 3rd movement in the Fuchs copy. Fuchs' copy also contained
cadenzas to all movements, certainly not Mozart's according to
Kopfermann, who did not print them. That Mozart himself revised
these 37 measures with another of 7 measures is seen by some as
being authentic, according to his September 11, 1778, letter in
which he writes "If I have time, I shall rearrange some of my Violin
Concertos, and shorten them".

Köchel did not know the Concerto, so it was not listed in K1. In K2
(1905) Walderese listed the Concerto as K271a, dating it July 16,
1777, and stating the lost autograph had been in the possession
of Habeneck in Paris in 1837. After its publication in 1907 (and
first performance on November 4, 1907, in Dresden) scholars
lined up for and against its authenticity. St. Foix, for one, did not
doubt its authenticity, but believed this version was a later
revision by Mozart himself around 1779 or 1780. Still others took
the course that Mozart supplied the "rough and kernel" of the
work and someone else finished it. Rudolf Gerber published
another edition in April 1934, placing no doubts on his
authenticity and briefly discussed the Finale's epilogue theme
similarity to the Gavotte in Les Petits Riens (first reported A. Heuss
in 1907) as well as the first movement's thematic relation to K211.
In 1932 Yehudi Menuhin recorded the Concerto with Cadenzas by
George Enesco.

Einstein kept the Concerto in the main part of K3 (renumbering it
K271i--not because the date changed but because he had
renumbered other works from 271b to 271h), believing Mozart
wrote out a hasty sketch of a Violin Concerto, but stating the
original form of the work of 1777 could not be clearly
reconstructed. Many scholars felt the Violin required too much
playing in the high register. Others remained uncomfortable with
the pizzicato playing in the slow movement, and double stopping
in tenths of the Violin. Einstein maintained these were
embellishments added in the 19th Century. Friedrich Blume came
out strongly in favor of authenticity, writing "not one passage
allows of any room for doubt in regard to themes, harmony,
rhythm, construction and orchestration". He stated there were
analogies in the Violin movements of Mozart's Divertimenti and
Serenades, and the entire Concerto should not be questioned
because of some peculiarities of Violin technique. Blume attached
Einstein's hasty sketch theory and criticized Einstein on other
ideas on the Concerto.

In 1963 Carl Bär published a paper that firmly believed in Mozart's
authorship of the piece. Citing the quotation in Joachim von
Schiedenhofen's diary of July 25, 1777, that at Gusset's Mozart
works were rehearsed consisting of a Symphony, a Violin
Concerto--played by young Mozart--and a Flute Concerto, Bär
believed K271a was composed for this occasion. Bär also believed
the Violin Concerto Leopold Mozart referred to in a letter of
September 18, 1777, that "Herr Kolb" played was also K271a.
Leopold again refers to "the Concerto you wrote for Kolb" on
August 3, 1778, and identifies this as referring to K271a. As
Leopold stated in a letter of April 13, 1778, that Count Czernin--
who had been in Salzburg since April 1775--had never heard Kolb
play the Violin, Bär rules out any of the 5 Violin Concertos of 1775
as being the "Kolb Concerto".

It is not all that sure who Kolb was. Franz Xavier Kolb (1731-1782)
was first thought to be the Violinist. However Bär believes it is
more likely to be one of his sons--Joachim (born 1752) or Johann
Andreas Kolb, 5 years older. Bär leans toward Johann Andreas.
"Herr Kolb", being an amateur, could not have had a large
repertoire and played Mozart's Concerto (which Bär hypothesizes
Mozart gave him just prior to leaving Salzburg). Bär believed the
Concerto was thus composed between June 16--the performance
of the second Lodron Nachtmusik K287/271H--and Nannerl's
Name Day, July 26, 1777. Bär also believed the dating on the
manuscript helped show its authenticity. The Italian heading
"Salisburgo li 16 di Luglio 1777" is similar to numerous
autographs of the time, and in a time period that whoever placed
the heading there could not know a Violin Concerto had probably
been written.

However Ernest Hess believed the large number of compositional
errors, unMozartian phrases, instrumentation weaknesses,
meaningless sequences, such as Mozart had parodied in his
"Musical Joke", certainly spoke against Mozart's authorship.

K6 kept the Concerto in the main part of the catalogue, mostly
copying the K3 remarks section, but eluded to Hess' doubts on its
authenticity.

Christoph-Hellmut Mahling in 1978 briefly raised the question if
the Concerto could not be the work of another master that Mozart
copied for his own use. He concludes that after all considerations
are in, that there are more questions open than answered. "One
thing is however rather clear: The riddle of the Violin Concerto
K271i is yet to be solved". In 1980 the NMA (edited by Mahling)
placed the Concerto in Works of Doubtful Authenticity. All the
Cadenzas mentioned above are printed in the Appendix of NMA.

Manfred Hermann Schmid [Mozart Studien 1999] on basic of
formal and technical aspects of the Concerto expressed more
than doubt on the Concerto: "I find in the entire Concerto K271i
no music which I in earnest would put in a claim for Mozart".
Schmid thought the composition appears to belong to the 1780's,
but with different techniques and forms than Mozart used.

Mahling in the 2001 Mozart-Jahrbuch again published some
considerations on the Violin Concerto K271a. In reviewing much of
what had been published earlier he gave updated information and
opinions. In considering if the work was an arrangement, who
could it be? Comparing the Concerto with Concertos of Baillot,
Mahling found the violin solos are structured entirely different.
Mahling found the Violin Concerto K271a to be much closer in
style to the Violin Concertos of Rodolphe Kreutzer (1766 - 1831),
and gives an example of his Violon Concerto Nr. 1 in G-major
from 1783-84. [Kreutzer was a French composer and violinist. He
was professor of Violin at the Paris Conservatory from its founding
in 1795 until 1826 and was one of the authors of the violin
method taught there. Between 1783 and 1810 he wrote 19 Violin
Concertos. Beethoven's "Kreutzer Sonata" for Violin and Piano
Op.47 is dedicated to him.] Mahling believes the frequent high
postions of the solo violin in K271a show the French influence of
the Concertos of Baillot and Kreutzer and correspond to the
exercises of the teachings at the Paris Conservatoire. However
these high notes were frequently "unmotivted" with nothing
leading to their appearance and seemed disconnected and
unnecessary to the piece. Mahling found much in the Concerto
that was very unMozartian, but more customary to the French
composition school a little later. The noted unusual use of
pizzicato in the second movement is found in the beginning of a
Symphonie Concertante for 2 Violins in d-minor (Op.38 from
1816) of Baillot. Also the tempo indication "Allegro Maestoso" for
the 1st movement--found later in Mozart's Piano Concertos, but
in none of this Violin Concertos--is frequently found in Concertos
from the French region. And the "majestic beginning" of the
Concerto, with its punctuated notes, according to Mahling is
characteristic of the French Overture form. If this Concerto is an
"arrangement", Mahling thinks the best possibilites would be
Baillot or Kruetzer, and the probable origin time about 1830.

So Mahling concludes that we have many questions on the
Concerto:

---From the form of the solo Violin part could we accept a Mozart
Concerto of a later dating?
---Or had Mozart arranged a Violin concerto of another
composer?
---Or just the opposite, could another have arranged an
autograph model of Mozart's? Thus Mozart provided the
"substance" and it is now presented in a different garment?
---Or did the Concerto originate from a later time from an
unknown author and was only thought to be by Mozart, or falsely
attributed to him?
---Or in the end is it simply a matter of a "forgery'?

Kevin Bazzana in his CD notes to the Richard Kapp recording of
this Concerto believes he has a clue for the provenance of the
Concerto. Kapp stated that during the recording sessions the
members of the Czech Philharmonie Chamber Orchestra laughed
when they began playing the piece, for the theme of the Rondo
quotes a Bohemian Christmas carol. Thus the Concerto could have
been the work of a Czech composer. Perhaps someone familiar
with Bohemian music of that period can nail down this tune, and
we can add this to the puzzle of the Violin Concerto K271a.

I have numerous recordings of the Concerto, and all use the
longer version found in the Fuchs Berlin copy of the Concerto.
Jean-Jacques Kantorow uses the Cadenzas found in this copy,
while all others use either their own or Cadenzas of recent
composers.

dennis

Subject: Re: Violin Concerto In C K271a
From: Gary Smith
To: All
Date Posted: 22:15:36 06/20/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dear dennis,

Again, a great posting! I like this concerto better than the dubious one, though whether it's more or less dubious I can't say! Just on hearing alone, it doesn't sound "french" which may simply mean that if it were to be a forgery it ought not to sound that way so as to fool people.

Deter Klocker came up with a clarinet version in someone's archives somewhere, and issued a recording a few years back. It actually sounds better (at least to me) as a clarinet concerto, which may tell you something (either about the work, or me, or both).

Anyway, again folks out there ought to get a copy and decide for yourself, or at least lean one way or another. It's actually a good work, worth knowing, and while it won't knock your socks off, it is one to add to your (not)Mozart collection. And, who knows......

Regards,

Gary

Subject: Re: Violin Concerto In C K271a
From: Matt Dubin
To: All
Date Posted: 12:31:28 06/21/04 ()
Email Address: captnvideo@webtv.net
 

Message:
I own the recording of the clarinet version of K.268 in E Flat Major.

I do not believe there is a clarinet version of the D Major concerto K.271a.

Subject: Re: Violin Concerto In C K271a
From: Gurn Blanston
To: All
Date Posted: 19:58:49 06/19/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Dennis,
Greatly enjoyed your informative posts. Since violin concertos as a genre were my introduction to CM, their history and context has always been particularly interesting to me. BTW, I have a few Viotti Concertos, and while they are not of Amade's caliber, they are nonetheless very listenable.
Thanks again,
Regards,
Gurn

Subject: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 05:49:44 06/18/04 ()
Email Address: webmaster@inspiredpen.4t.com
 

Message:

Dear fellow Mozart lovers,

[Note:I'm sharing this article which I've primarily written for RITRO.com (Health and Living Section) dated June 15, 2004. Agnes and Daisy think that some people here might be interested. Best regards, Tel]

Music for Expectant Mothers
(June 15, 2004 9:00 AM) By Tel Asiado

One of the most important sounds to a foetus is that of its mother's voice, according to Dr. Alfred Tomatis, French physician and psychologist, who pioneered groundwork for the multidisciplinary science called Audio-Psycho-Phonology (APP). He revolutionized our understanding of the role our ears play and explained ‘why the way we listen’ has a profound impact on almost all aspects of our day-to-day lives. Tomatis documented the sounds most beneficial to the foetuses and revealed what music would ease kicking within the mother’s womb.

The Tomatis listening method has been shown to be especially successful for expectant mothers. It explains that the foetus reacts strongly to its mother’s emotions and the music that she sings or listens to. A study was done at the Vesoul Hospital in France where researchers reported that pregnant women who participated in four weeks during the eight month of pregnancy spent less time in the hospital and had fewer complications. Further result showed that 60 percent of the Tomatis patients needed no medication, as against 46 percent of the conventionally prepared and 50 percent of the unprepared mothers. Women using the Tomatis method expressed less worry about giving birth.

It has been well researched and documented that the initial purpose of the ear is to grow the brain of the unborn child. After birth, the function of the ear is to charge the neo cortex of the brain and the entire nervous system. The food digested by the body provides its nourishment and fuel. Sound waves “digested” by the ear are what fuel the brain, and therefore, sound is literally a nutrient.

The ears of a growing baby in the womb begin to function when it is 18 to 24 weeks old. After the 26th week of pregnancy, a foetus can hear a mother’s heartbeat, circulation, and a range of low frequency sounds, such as her rhythmic breathing and the gurgling of her stomach. The unborn baby can also hear the mother’s voice. The higher frequencies of the mother’s voice is said to literally nourish the foetus. A uterine dialogue is established where the foetus waits for the sound of its mother’s voice, content when the unborn child hears it, and listens for the sound of her voice once again. This is how the listening process begins that is carried into childhood. It is also the start of the emotional and psychological bond between mother and infant.

The low and repetitive sounds tend to ‘discharge’ the brain, causing weakness and fatigue, while the higher sounds such as the mother’s voice that the baby hears in the womb, tend to stimulate and charge the brain. They are soothing and feel nurturing to the foetus.

If she is continually distressed or is subjected to loud discordant sounds, her rhythmic breathing becomes harmful to the development of her child, physically, mentally and spiritually. Such disharmony can affect her baby's hormonal responses and the neurological impulses of the nervous system. In reaction, the foetus will have a raised heart rate and will start kicking against her womb in a violent fashion.

It has been found that the music of Wolfgang Mozart in particular has helped lower a baby's heart rate and have alleviated the force of the baby's kicks. Some research has also shown that foetuses in the last trimester of pregnancy can hear and understand simple syllables. Why Mozart in particular? Tomatis himself posed the same question. So have I, and a lot of other Mozart and classical music lovers. Well, although Mozart shares affinities with other composers of his period, Tomatis asserts: “Wolfgang Mozart has an effect, an impact, which the others do not have … he has a liberating, curative, and I would even say, healing power. His efficacy exceeds by far what we observe among his predecessors, his contemporaries, or his successors.”

Moms-to-be, consider also making up simple lullabies or rhymes which you can hum to welcome the embryo growing within you. To paraphrase Dr. Tomatis, let your unborn baby draw a feeling of security from this permanent dialogue through the music that guarantees a harmonious blossoming.

Key References:

Cynthia Blanche/Antonia Beattie The Power of Music Lansdowne Sydney, 2000
Don Campbell The Mozart Effect Hodder & Stoughton A/NZ, 1997
Featured article by Irene H. Zundel Sound as a Nutrient in Utero

http://www.tomatis.com
http://www.tomatis.com.au
http://www.greenepa.net

Suggested CDs:

Mozart for Mothers-To-Be
More Mozart for Mothers-To-Be
Ultrasound-Music for the Unborn Child
Tune your Brain: Pregnancy and Childbirth

(Note: The use of music during pregnancy, delivery, infancy, and even for young children constitutes one of the fastest growing fields of music therapy. As a result of studies in relation to the Tomatis Method, hospitals and maternity clinics have started to make music therapy available. This article focuses on the effect of music for the expectant mother. Tel Asiado, RITRO Staff writer.)

Subject: Re: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Tony Clements
To: All
Date Posted: 00:52:19 06/19/04 ()
Email Address: tonyfrclements@hotmail.com
 

Message:
If you listen to Internet Radio, you might be interested in:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

Look under Mozart, The effect of

It goes a little wider than just expectant mothers.

Tony Clements

Subject: Re: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Zevy
To: All
Date Posted: 10:42:32 06/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi

This reminds me of a true story:

When my wife was in the 9th month with my daughter, Shoshana, we went to "Barge Music" where chamber music is performed on an actual floating barge. One of the pieces performed was the D minor quartet where it is said that Constance was in heavy labor as he was writing those ascending arpeggios. The barge was rocking from side to side and my wife was not comfortable at all. That was the last time my wife accompanied me to a musical performance....

Subject: Re: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Agnes Selby
To: All
Date Posted: 06:14:00 06/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

I have already told Tellern that I can absolutely vouch for her observation.

My daughter, Kathryn was preparing for a recital which included a very contemporary piece. She was in her last stages of pregnancy and Nicholas hated that piece. He was terribly restless in utera when she practiced the work but on the evening of the recital, he outdid himself. His little feet were flying about under her smock. The audience was histerical with laughter and while Kathy continued playing the work, she almost died from embarassment.

As an infant, he liked playing under the piano and thoroughly enjoyed listening to Mozart and Beethoven.
But he screemed blue murder when she again had to prepare the piece he so hated before he was actually born. With a non-stop crying baby, while she practiced, Kathy had to drop that particular work from her repertoire, not that she regretted it very much.

Regards, Agnes.

Subject: Re: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 06:11:18 06/19/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Ha ha ha! Love it.

Teresa

Subject: Re: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Tel Asiado
To: All
Date Posted: 06:42:22 06/20/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:

Dear Teresa,

Thanks! Agnes told me you might be interested, one of the reasons I posted it here. ;-)

Best regards,
Tel

Subject: Re: Music for Expectant Mothers
From: Teresa
To: All
Date Posted: 05:39:05 06/21/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
Hi Tel,

I did indeed enjoy your post--In fact, I played Mozart frequently while pregnant (my son is now 18). And while he listens to a lot of junk, the other day he had a Mozart CD in his car player. (Triumph!)

All the best, Teresa

Subject: Mozart's Viotti Additions K470a and Lost Andante K470
From: dennis
To: All
Date Posted: 04:08:49 06/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
MOZART'S ADDITIONS TO VIOTTI'S VIIOLIN CONCERTO #16
K470a AND LOST ANDANTE K470

Mozart's additions to Viotti's Violin Concerto #16 in e-minor are
on a single autograph sheet (written on both sides), with the
heading "Concerto" and "2 Horns in E/Timpani in E".

J.A. André in the introductory remarks of his manuscript
catalogue of 1833 noted the following next to the incipit of the
1st movement parts: "For lack of space or lack of music paper
Mozart had for many accessory parts and by Opera full scores
often also for the entirely not essential wind instruments wrote
out an 'accessory full score'. Thus was found among his
manuscripts also such a one of 2 Trumpets and Timpani to a
Concerto in E, which begins with an 'Adagio non troppo'. As this
Concerto is entirely unknown to me, I place for its possible re-
discovery the beginning measures of the Trumpets and Timpani-
full score here".

Köchel's Catalogue of 1865 did not place, or mention, André's
"unknown Concerto", nor did K2 of 1905. In 1936 Alfred Einstein
solved the riddle of these parts, reporting they were additions to
the outer movements of Giovanni Battista Viotti's Violin Concerto
in e-minor that Mozart presumably made in the beginning of
1785 for a performer in one of his concerts. Mozart wished to
"glitter up" the outer movements; the middle movement was
already "Romantic" sounding. [Rather ironically, even though
Einstein did not bring up the fact, André had published Viotti's
Violin Concerto #16 in parts in 1821, and in 1833 did not
recognize the additions to a Concerto he had already published.]
Einstein believed--confirmed by St. Foix--the work was reworked
for the same concert event in the Mehlrube for which he had
written the Andante K470. [Also at the end of the autograph--not
identified in any edition of Köchel--is the remark "You can write in
directly the Trumpets and Drums", thus showing a copyist must
have brought about the parts very quickly for a performance from
Mozart's written copy.]

K470 is a (lost) Andante to a Violin Concerto. Mozart entered the
incipit in his work catalogue under April 1, 1785. Nothing else is
known of the work. Otto Jahn and Köchel believed it was perhaps
written for the virtuoso Janiewicz [Anton Janitsch 1753 - 1812],
who at that time was in Vienna. Hermann Abert had thought
Janiewicz could also mean Jarnovich [?Giovanni Giornovichi 1735 -
1804]. Einstein added Leopold Mozart's Salzburg student, Heinrich
Marchard [1769 - after 1812], who was in Vienna at the time with
his teacher.

Einstein in K3 thought K470 was most likely written to replace the
original slow movement of the Violin Concerto K218, probably
performed in Vienna, as in his work catalogue Mozart wrote "An
Andante for the Violin to a Concerto", thus the piece was not
intended to be a free standing piece. By the time of K3a (1947)
Einstein eliminated Jarnovich from consideration as K470's
performer, as he had arrived in Vienna in 1786. Einstein also
followed St. Foix in now expressing the opinion K470 was meant
as a replacement for the middle movement of Viotti's Violin
Concerto in e-minor #16 (K470a).

K6 kept Mozart's additions to Viotti's Violin Concerto at K470a,
but placed doubts that K470 could be intended for this Concerto
from tonal grounds. K6 thought Einstein's original opinion it was a
replacement for K218 was correct. Unfortunately this does not
solve much of the problem why or for who K470 was written.
Heinrich Marchard's only documented appearances in Vienna are
in March of 1785 (March 2 and 14). Easter Sunday in 1785 was on
March 27.

In 1973 the Viotti side of the picture finally came to be heard.
Chapell White in his article "Toward a more accurate Chronology of
Viotti's Violin Concertos" wrote the Concerto was probably written
for the Theatre de Monsieur in Paris in 1789-90, but possibly for
Versailles around 1784-86. Its first edition was in Paris 1789-90.
White points out that to accept the 1785 dating of Mozart's
additions it would have to be assumed Violin Concerto #16
travelled from Paris to Vienna in manuscript, an assumption
difficult to support. White stated Viotti would not risk the chance
of piracy of such an important work, and certainly the young
Marchard (16 years old at the time) would have been an unlikely
candidate for such a favor. There is also no evidence Viotti was
well known in Vienna in the mid 1780's.

Once the connection between the Mozart additions for the Viotti
Violin Concerto and K470 is removed, a much later dating comes
into consideration. As White pointed out Mozart might have
prepared them for any one of a variety of occasions as late as
1790 or 1791. White concluded the Violin Concerto #16 was
written by Viotti in 1789 or 1790, for Viotti or one of his star
pupils to perform in Viotti's own theater which opened in January
1789. Viotti's Concertos were also played during intermissions at
the opera house in Paris.

Boris Schwarz was however of the opinion the Violin Concerto #16
came to Mozart from Johann Friedrich Eck (1766 - 1810). The 20
year old violinist was in Vienna in March 1786 and Schwarz
believed Eck may have brought the Concerto with him from Paris.
Eck had become a student of Viotti in 1785. Mozart then reworked
the Violin Concerto for a planned concert by Eck and Mozart,
which never materialized.

In 1995 Manfred Hermann Schmid took up the Mozart additions to
the Violin Concerto #16. He stated the handwriting of the
autograph belonged to the time of 1787-1791. The paper type
can not be determined with final certainty, but one used from the
end of 1789 until 1791 comes into question.

From all the above I think it safe to say Mozart's additions to the
Violin Concerto in e-minor of Viotti date from 1789 to 1791, or as
Schmid writes "around 1790".

Musically Mozart placed no high demands on his new players. The
additions are restricted to doubling; the Trumpets strengthening
the Horns in the forte. However Schmid believes Mozart's
encounter with Viotti's Violin Concerto #16 had an influence on his
composition style. Mozart used slow introductions prior to 1789,
but not as Viotti did in this Violin Concerto. All three slow
introductions Mozart used after his presumed work on Violin
Concerto #16 have slow introductions that return again toward the
finish of the work--String Quintet K593, Overtures to Cosi and
Zauberflöte--exactly as Viotti's introduction returns later in the
movement.

Unfortunately I do not know of a CD recording of Viotti's Concerto
in e-minor that uses Mozart's additions. Two old LPs used these
additions, but have not been transfered to CD, as far as I know.

dennis

Subject: Re: Mozart's Viotti Additions K470a and Lost Andante K470
From: Margaret Mikulska
To: All
Date Posted: 08:36:26 06/19/04 ()
Email Address: mikulska@silvertone.princeton.edu
 

Message:
> K470 is a (lost) Andante to a Violin Concerto. Mozart entered the
> incipit in his work catalogue under April 1, 1785. Nothing else is
> known of the work. Otto Jahn and Köchel believed it was perhaps
> written for the virtuoso Janiewicz [Anton Janitsch 1753 - 1812],
> who at that time was in Vienna.

====

I'm afraid there is a confusion about a confusion here. Jahn (but only in the first edition, 1856-1859, in a later suppressed footnote) suggested off-handedly that the Andante was written for Janiewicz; Köchel in 1862 (not 1865!) repeated that. Both knew better than to confuse two different musicians, Janiewicz and Janitsch (neither mentioned Janitsch in this context). It was Einstein in K3 who got confused by the two slightly similar Slavic names and mistakenly thought that the two musicians were one person, and therefore wrote rather absurdly "Janiewicz [Anton Janitsch 1753 - 1812]". Neal Zaslaw kindly informed me some years ago that this confusion of Janiewicz and Janitsch disappeared from Einstein's K3a.

(The existence of a third artist, Ivan Jarnovic aka Giovanni Giornovicchi, another Slavic [specifically Croatian, or at least of Croatian origins] violinist, didn't make life easier for non-Slavic scholars; the more so that when Jarnovic/Giornovicchi concertized in Warsaw, his name was sometimes spelled Jarnowicz, which is closer in pronunciation to the original Croatian variant of his name and justified by the name's etymology.)

For basic information on both violinists, see my entries "Feliks Janiewicz [Felix Yaniewicz]" and "Anton Janitsch [Antonin Janic]" in the New Grove II.

========

> Hermann Abert had thought
> Janiewicz could also mean Jarnovich
> [?Giovanni Giornovichi 1735 - 1804].

====

Not in his Mozart biography. He makes no connection there between the Andante and Giornovicchi; I think that this was another of Einstein's suggestions in K3.

As regards the parts for Viotti, the dating based on handwriting comes from Plath, and the one based on paper type, from Tyson (not surprisingly). Schmid reported these results in his paper in "Mozart-Studien", but the results are Plath's and Tyson's, resp., which is clearly spelled out by Schmid. Credit where credit is due.

Of minor interest may be the fact that when the manuscript of the Mozart/Viotti parts was put on auction at Liepmanssohn in Berlin (1929, one of two auctions of the manuscript collection belonging to André's heirs), Kinsky's description in the auction catalogue stated that the parts came from a _piano_ concerto in E major. Giving the wrong key is not a major (no pun intended) mistake, as trumpet & timpani parts were based mostly on the tonic and dominant and in general it's difficult to figure out the concerto to which they might belong, but giving the wrong instrument was probably a case of mental inertia: of associating Mozart with piano rather than violin concertos without investigating the matter sufficiently.

-Margaret Mikulska

Subject: Re: Mozart's Viotti Additions K470a and Lost Andante K470
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 14:04:42 06/18/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
There's a recording of Viotti/Mozart's Violin Concerto in E minor, K. 470a, at the following URL:

http://www.ppmusic.com/music/cdc010.htm

NZ

Subject: mistake?
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 16:15:31 06/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
The cd says it is a recording of the a-minor violin concerto no.22 not the e-minor concerto that dennis talked about... and they claim that K.271a is authetic which is a little odd considering i thought it was a doubtful work.
~Marcus

Subject: Re: mistake?
From: Neal Zaslaw
To: All
Date Posted: 13:57:50 06/20/04 ()
Email Address: naz2@cornell.edu
 

Message:
You're absolutely right, Marcus--I made a mistake. My apologies.

NZ

Subject: F.X. Mozart....
From: Marcus
To: All
Date Posted: 00:13:21 06/18/04 ()
Email Address:
 

Message:
I know we have discussed his life and other matters a few times recently so I thought I would just mention, after a lot