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Mozart’s youngest son was already named Amadé in 1793 by his mother Constanze who singled him out to become a musician at that early time. From 1804 onwards he was taught by two musicians well-known to his father and represented in this catalogue: Johann Nepomuk Hummel (piano), his father’s pupil, and Abbé Vogler (composition), who was so harshly criticised by his father in 1778 during his sojourn in Mannheim.
156. MOZART, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Amadé. Autograph letter signed, [probably Vienna] 6 December 1806, to a friend [Theuerster Freund], 2 pp. 8vo (22.5 × 18cm), with a reception note “d. 11ten February 1807 erhalten”. In very good condition. £ 4,400
The 15 year-old Mozart announces that he wishes to travel to Denmark within 5 or 6 months (but such a journey is not documented). “Neukomm is in Russia, very satisfied. I gave a great musical academy [concert] in 1805 with great applause. I am still studying and am going to take a public examination. Now I am studying poetry […]”; previously he quoted Telemach. The concert can be dated to 8 April 1805 in the Theater an der Wien [Vienna]. In this concert he performed one of his father’s piano concertos (K. 503?) and improvised variations on the celebrated minuet from Don Giovanni; he also performed a cantata for three voices and orchestra in honour of Joseph Haydn’s birthday, which he had composed with the help of Haydn’s early biographer G A Griesinger. The earnings are said to have amounted to 1700 Gulden (twice the yearly income of an average musician of that time). R. Angermüller’s 1994 edition of F. X. W. Mozart’s travel diaries (1819-1821) quotes only one phrase from this letter (referring to his studies): “Itzt bin ich in der Poesie.” Otherwise the text remains unpublished. Autographs from F. X. W. Mozart’s youth are exceptionally rare.
157. MOZART, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Amadé. Variations Pour le Pianoforte sur la Marche de l’Opéra Coriolan [...] Oeuvre 16. Leipzig, Breitkopf & Härtel, pl.-no. 1930 [1813]. 15 pp., lithographed, oblong folio. £ 200
In the travel diaries of Mozart junior these Variations are mentioned on p. 17. He was known to be living in Lemberg around 1813 working as a freelance artist and giving piano lessons to several families of the nobility.
158. MOZART, Franz XaverWolfgang Amadé. Quatre Polonaises Melancoliques Pour le Piano, dediées à Mademoiselle la Comtesse Alexandrine Rzewuska [...] OEuv. 22. Paris, Richault, pl.-no. 409 [1825 or later]. 1 f , 9 pp., engraved, folio. £ 160
This collection was previously published in 1820 with the same dedication by Peters in Leipzig (pl.-no. 1557); cf. the Travel Diaries p. 178. Mozart junior recounts that on 23 February 1820 he sold several of his compositions for 250 Gulden, among them these Polonaises.
159. MOZART, Franz XaverWolfgang Amadé. Fest-Chor zur Enthüllung des Mozart-Denkmals in Salzburg, aus Compositionen des Gefeierten zusammengestellt, instrumentiert und mit einem passenden Texte versehen von dessen Sohne [...] Clavier-Auszug. [...] Wien: Artaria [1842]. 31 pp. vocal score, engraved, oblong folio. From the library of the Carlsbader Musikverein (stamp on title). £ 280
On 29 August 1842 Mozart junior arrived in Salzburg to attend the festival for the inauguration of his father’s monument, which was held from 4 to 6 September. His elder brother Carl was present as well. On 4 September, Wolfgang Amadé (junior) played his father’s piano concerto in D minor (K. 466) in one of the Festival concerts and became an honorary member of the Dom-Musik-Verein and the Mozarteum. The Festival Choir offered here is a kind of quodlibet of themes from his father’s works.
Dedicated to Mozart junior by his mistress
160. BARONI-CAVALCABO, Julie (1813–1887). Fantaisie [G-minor] composée Pour le Pianoforte et dédiée à Monsieur W. A. Mozart fils par son éléve [...] Oeuv. 4. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, pl. no. 5046 [1830]. 13 pp. in lithography, oblong folio; repair to titlepage (not affecting text), on the last page of the score there is a repair with the completion of 4 bars of music in an old hand. £ 150
In his travel diaries 1819-21 Mozart junior mentions a mistress Josephine several times. This refers to Josephine von Baroni-Cavalcabo (1788–1860). Since the summer of 1811 Mozart junior lived in Lemberg and was soon well acquainted with the Baroni-Cavalcabo family. The daughter, Josephine, became Mozart’s pupil in 1822 in Vienna where the family lived. In the biography of Mozart junior by A. Schmidt (see next item) Josephine is described as “an excellent pianist and an intelligent and sensitive song composer” who has “a favourable fame in the music world”. His Fantaisie uses a well-developed chord technique and rich chromatic expressions. According to Pazdírek’s bibliography (1900) her compositions run to opus 28.
The first biography of Mozart’s son
161. SCHMIDT, August: Denksteine. Biographien von Ignaz Ritter v. Seyfried, Joseph Edlen v. Eybler, Ignaz Franz Edlen v. Mosel, W. A. Mozart (Sohn), Hieronymus Payer, Johann Gänsbacher, Joseph Weigl, Thaddäus Grafen Amadé v. Várkony. [...] Mit den von Joh. Stadlöer lithographirten Portraits der betreffenden Künstler. Vienna, Mechitharisten-Congregation, 1848. 6 ff. title, contents and dedication, 211 pp. quarto with additional portrait leaves for each composer; original green wrappers, in excellent condition. £ 120
This is the earliest biography of Franz Xaver Wolfgang Amadé Mozart, published only four years after his death. The other composers represented in this volume are all his contemporaries and give a highly informative picture of the musical world in Austria during the first half of the 19th century. Rare.
2. Editions of Mozart’s autograph Verzeichnis and of his (spurious) Generalbaßschule
The earliest lithographically produced book first edition
of Mozart’s thematic catalogue
162. [MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus]. André, [Johann] A[nton]. Thematisches Verzeichniss sämmtlicher Kompositionen von W.A. Mozart, so wie er solches vom 9ten Februar 1784 an, bis zum 15ten November 1791 eigenhändig niedergeschrieben hat. Nach dem Original-Manuscripte herausgegeben. Offenbach, Joh. André, pl. no. 1889 [1805]. 4to. 3 ff., 63 pp. Text on even-numbered pages facing musical incipits on odd-numbered pages. German and French titles, prefaces, text and music lithographically printed. Contemporary morocco-backed marbled boards; rubbing to spine and extremities. £ 1,800
This is the first book completely produced lithographically. Before this only sheet music and pictorial material were published in this manner. André was the second commercial lithographer after acquiring Senefelder’s patent in 1799 and lithographed various musical compositions between that year and 1805 before producing this book. This is also the first independently published fully-fledged thematic index for any composer. (The only preceding ones are the 9-page Hoffmeister index of 1800 restricted to his compositions for flute and a similar one for Pleyel’s chamber music.) This first edition of Mozart’s list of compositions is based on his autograph manuscript (now at the British Library) which André had acquired with Mozart’s musical Nachlass. It lists 145 works composed in the last eight years of his life, from the E flat major piano concerto (K.449) to the Freimaurer-Kantate (K.623), entered less than three weeks before his death, giving on the left page date, title and instrumentation (sometimes also first-performance artists), and on the right page, the thematic incipit on double staves. Lit.: Köchel-Einstein (1947), p.XXX; Brook 856a; Schneider: André cat. 135; Hirsch IV, 1062; Besterman 4037; Twyman pp. 40-41; Rosenthal & Tyson: British Library Facsimile (1991); Rosenthal Obiter Scripta (2000) p. 227.
163. [MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus]. André, [Johann] A[nton]. W.A Mozart’s thematischer Catalog, so wie er solchen 9. Februar 1784 bis zum 15. November 1791 eigenhändig geschrieben hat, nebst einem erläuternden Vorbericht von A. André. Neue mit dem Original-Manuscript nochmals verglichene Ausgabe. Offenbach, bei Johann André, 1828. 4to. 1f. portrait frontispiece of Mozart, 63pp. Original printed wrappers (foxing to prelims.), inscriptions on inside upper cover. £ 800
Second edition. Now called the thematic catalogue, André writes a more extensive preface and expresses his regret that he is still unable to publish a chronological catalogue of the pre-1784 manuscripts, promised to Mozart’s widow, Constanze, as early as 15 February 1800.
164. [MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus]. [Henkel, Heinrich] Thematisches Verzeichniss derjenigen Originalhandschriften von W. A. Mozart, ….welche Hofrath André in Offenbach a.M. besitzt. Offenbach a.M. 1841. 4to. Pp. 75, lacking original upper printed wrapper, hole to title affecting blank margin. £ 450
Third Edition. Prepared by André’s assistant, Heinrich Henkel, and published a year before the former’s death, this edition features a new arrangement by categories rather than chronological, as part of André’s attempts to interest Berlin, London and Viennese libraries in the possible acquisition of the entire archive. As this proved unsuccessful, the Verzeichniss came to be offered for sale at a Leo Liepmannsohn auction in Berlin on 12th October 1929 and remained unsold, having failed to reach the estimate of 36,000 Marks. Acquired by Stefan Zweig in 1935, it was deposited by his heirs in the British Library, and finally presented in 1986. (British Library Stefan Zweig MS 63). The 1990 British Library Facsimile edition faithfully reproduces the 14 leaves rubricated by Mozart in advance, already remarked on by André in the preface to the 1828 edition, which poignantly remain blank due to his untimely death. [See next entries].
165. [MOZART, W. A]. Verzeichnis aller meiner Werke. Hrsg. v. E. H. Müller von Asow. Wien-Leipzig, 1943. 8vo, 4 ff., 103 pp., original wrappers. Apparently the first facsimile edition of Mozart’s own thematic catalogue, without the blank leaves. £ 25
166. [MOZART, W.A.] Mozart’s Thematic Catalogue. A Facsimile. British Library Stefan Zweig MS 63. Introduction and transcription by Albi Rosenthal & Alan Tyson. London, the British Library, 1990. 4to. 2ff., 58pp., 46ff. facsimile, + colour frontispiece of the cover of the Thematic Catalogue and also reproducing the Doris Stock silverpoint portrait of Mozart with 4 other illustrations. Publisher’s clothbacked decorative floral boards in the style of the original binding; inscription on front free endpaper with a card of the Verzeichnüss loo- Mozart writing up his Verzeichnis by Albi Rosenthal sely inserted. £ 35
Chapters preceding the facsimile comprise the history of the Catalogue, a description of the manuscript and a transcription of Mozart’s entries. Folios 30-43, pre-rubricated by the composer, tellingly remain blank.
167. MOZART, W. A. (attributed). Kurzgefasste Generalbass-Schule. Vienna, S. A. Steiner und Comp. [1817]. 8vo. Pp. 55. Contemporary boards (spine defective) with the original publisher’s blue printed wrappers bound in; foxing to covers. From the library of Alfred Cortot with his bookplate. £ 380
Köchel C 30.04 (Anh. 109d). A Joseph Haydenreich first offered the manuscript of this tutor in the Wiener Zeitung of 13 April 1796 as ‘a still unknown written primer for learning the figured bass’. Köchel says that this manuscript may have been the source for this first edition. Mozart certainly did not write this work but it is possible that it was based on composition studies by his pupils. The Vienna National Library owns such a manuscript deriving from a relative of Abbé Stadler, giving an idea of Mozart’s teaching methods and his pertinent annotations. Even if the authenticity is not definitive this work is interesting and typical of Mozart’s time.
168. MOZART, W.A. Fundament des General-Basses…herausgegeben und mit Anmerkungen begleitet von J. G. Siegmeyer. Berlin, in der Schuppelschen Buchhandlung, 1822. 4to. 3ff., 50 pp. Original cloth-backed marbled boards, spine and extremities worn; foxing. £ 280
In the preface, the editor explains the doubts over the work’s authorship as one of the reasons for its limited distribution outside Vienna, championing its authenticity, having had access to the manuscript 20 years before through Kapellmeister Hoffmeister, a friend of Mozart. Siegmeyer claims that the unique quality of the musical examples can only derive directly from the composer. The original Viennese dialect has now been purified and the musical examples transcribed from the piano version to a violin one.
169. [MOZART, W. A.]. GODBÉ, Samuel. Mozart’s Practical Elements of Thorough Bass: with many Observations & Examples on Harmony & Counterpoint, exceedingly well calculated to establish a Pure Classical Style of Musical Composition. Translated from the Vienna Edition and by Permission very respectfully inscribed to Thomas Attwood Esqre, organist to His Majesty; St. Paul’s Cathedral, &c.&c. Pupil of Mozart. London, Preston, n.d. (circa 1825). 4to. 1f., 32 pp., 1f. index. Contemporary half-morocco with marbled boards. A presentation copy from the translator to John Ella, the violinist, conductor and critic. £ 220
In his preface, Godbé characterises Mozart as ‘this rare child of sensibility and genius’ and states that he is ‘proud of being the first to clothe in an english dress this delightful production which for so many years has been the admiration of Germany and Italy, I feel that I am thereby advancing the beautiful art of which I am a professor; & hope that, as in the fable the Mouse assisted the Lion I may by this very humble means, add a few to the millions who already do homage to the immortal memory of MOZART.’
3. The editions of Leopold Mozart’s Violinschule
As a tribute to Leopold’s unrivalled Violin treatise we are offering all known editions up to 1850 of this theoretical masterpiece as follows [see item no. 5 for the first edition]:
170. MOZART, Leopold. Grondig Onderwys in het behandelen der Viool, ontworpen door Leopold Mozart, Hoogvorstelyk Salzburgschen Kamer-Musicus, met 4 Konst-Plaaten en een Tafel van de Regelen der Strykmanier enz.voorzien. Haerlem, Johannes Enschede, 1766. Large 4to, xi ff., 259 pp. + etched portrait frontispiece of Leopold Mozart and 4 horstexte plates, 1 folding. Contemporary full mottled calf, gilt borders on covers, spine in compartments with gilt vignettes; head of spine worn. The dedication to William V, Prince of Orange, is preceded by an etched vignette, dated 8 March 1766, depicting the symbolic presentation of the work by a kneeling muse, a violin at her feet. £ 1,900
Eitner VII, 91; Cat. Scheurleer 1, 345. Not in Wolffheim. – After the first edition of 1756 (see no. 5 in this catalogue) this is the earliest re-edition. In a letter to his family Leopold expresses his satisfaction with this Dutch translation which he claimed was an even better production than the original German edition of 1756.
171. MOZART, Leopold. Méthode raisonnée Pour apprendre à Jouer du Violon [...] Traduite de l’Allemand en Français par Valentin Roeser, Musicien de S. A. S. Monseigneur le Duc d’Orleans. Prix 9tt. On trouve à la fin de cette Méthode XII Petits Duo et un Caprice faciles et a la portée des Commançants. [...] Gravé par Ribart. Imprimé par Richomme. Paris, Le Menu [1769]. 1 f. (title), 89 engraved pp., folio, a few spots. Fine parchment binding using a leaf from an antiphonal. £ 750
Not in RISM; not in MGG/2. The very rare first French edition. Valentin Roeser (c. 1735 – c. 1782) was a clarinettist of German birth; he lived in Paris from c. 1754 and was appointed to the services of the Prince of Monaco before 1762. In 1769 he became a musician to the Duke of Orléans. He was a prolific composer and arranger and translated, in addition to Leopold’s method, other works by German theorists such as Marpurg into French and thus contributed to the spread of works by his compatriots. Barry S. Brook, who dates our edition to 1770, must be corrected on the basis of Devriès-Lesure, who note that the engraver quoted on the title-page, Ribart, worked only in 1769.
172. MOZART, Leopold. Gründliche Violinschule, mit vier Kupfertafeln und einer Tabelle. Zweyte vermehrte Auflage. Auf Kosten des Verfassers, Augsburg, Johann Jakob Lotter, 1770. 4to. 8 ff., 268 pp., 4ff. + portrait frontispiece and 4 plates, 1 folding. Contemporary boards. £ 1,200
In the preface to this second edition, dated 24 September 1769 (variants of this edition are dated 1769 on the title-page but with integral text), Leopold excuses himself for the long delay in publishing a new edition due to his journeys through Germany and his lengthy sojourns in France, Holland and England with his extraordinarily talented children. ‘I could describe the wonderful genius of my son, and talk at length about his unimaginably swift progress in the entire orbit of the musical sciences between the ages of five and thirteen and call as witnesses many of the greatest courts of Europe, the judgment of the greatest masters of music, indeed of envy itself…’
173. MOZART, Leopold. Gründliche Violinschule, mit vier Kupfertafeln und einer Tabelle. Dritte vermehrte Auflage. Augsburg, Johann Jakob Lotter und Sohn, 1787. 4to, 3ff., 268 pp., 4ff. + portrait frontispiece and 4 plates, 1 folding. With a six-line contemporary ownership inscription by Jose Perez in Spanish, describing the author as the father of ‘Juan Crisostomo Wolfgang Teofilo Mozart el divino’. Contemporary tree calf, rubbed. £ 1,400
Eitner VII, 91; Wolffheim I, 862. Last edition of the elder Mozart’s greatest work to be published in his lifetime: He died on 28 May 1787. This edition contains further additions and corrections and is therefore regarded as the best of all recorded editions of this work for teaching purposes.
174. MOZART, Leopold. Leopold Mozarts Hochfürstl. Salzburgischen Vice=Capellmeisters gründliche Violinschule, mit vier Kupfertafeln und einer Tabelle. Vierte Auflage. Frankfurt und Leipzig 1791. 1 f. portrait, 3 ff. , 268 pp., 4 ff. index; the folding plate has been supplied in facsimile. 4to., paper-backed boards, rubbed, a few stains. £ 650
This is an unauthorised edition whose printer is not known; the imprint reads only Frankfurt and Leipzig 1791. This edition is, however, an important document showing the lasting success of Leopold’s definitive work.
175. MOZART, Leopold. Gründliche Violinschule, mit vier Kupfertafeln und einer Tabelle. Vierte [recte: fünfte] vermehrte Auflage. Augsburg, Johann Jakob Lotter und Sohn, 1800. 4to. 1f. portrait, 3ff., 268 pp., 4ff. index + large folding plate mounted on linen and 3 plates hors-texte; repairs to a number of margins, including 2 plates between pp. 31 and 56. Original leather-backed boards. £ 850
This is in fact the fifth edition; an unauthorised ‘fourth’ edition had been published in Frankfurt in 1791 (see previous item).
176. MOZART, Leopold. Violinschule oder Anweisung die Violine zu spielen. Neue umgearbeitete Ausgabe. [...] Pr. 2 Rthl. Leipzig, Hoffmeister & Kühnel (without pl.-no.) [1804]. 2 ff., title-page with instruments and a fine engraved floral border within an oval frame; 69 pp., engraved, folio, water-stains; half-leather binding, rubbed. – Only one plate with a representation of the bow survives in this edition (Leopold’s plates with wrong posture are no longer valid after 1800). £ 85
177. MOZART, Leopold. Violin Schule, oder Anweisung die Violine zu spielen [...] Neue umgearbeitete und vermehrte Ausgabe. [...] f. 6. Wien, Cappi, pl.-no. 1176 [1806]. 75 pp. engraved, folio. Fine half-leather binding. Not in RISM; Weinmann, p. 59. – This is a shortened version of Leopold’s text. £ 120
178. MOZART, Leopold. Violinschule oder Anweisung die Violine zu spielen. Neue umgearbeitete Ausgabe. [...] Pr. 2 Rthl. Leipzig, Peters (Bureau de Musique), without pl.-no. [1817]. 2 ff., title-page with instruments and a fine engraved floral border within an oval frame; 69 pp., engraved, folio, wrappers. With one plate. This copy is a later issue (Titelauflage) of the previous Hoffmeister & Kühnel edition. £ 120
This is the latest edition of Leopold’s Violinschule we can trace. After c. 1820 it is replaced by more modern works, e. g. Baillot and Spohr. In the early 20th century the historical movement begins in musicology as well as other disciplines seeking out original texts. One of the first facsimile editions to appear will be Leopold’s work:
179. MOZART, Leopold. Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule [Augsburg, Lotter, 1756]. Faksimiledruck. Wien, Stephenson, 1922. 4to, 8 pp. (preface by Bernhard Paumgartner), 14 pp. (Mozart’s preface), 264 pp., 8 pp. index, 2 pp. Errata, 4 plates, original boards. £ 35
This is apparently the first facsimile edition which has become scarce; nowadays it has been superseded by many similar editions issued by famous scholars and musicians, among them David Oistrakh (1968, 1991) who thus pays tribute to his great predecessor.
4. Lorenzo Da Ponte and his circle
Lorenzo Da Ponte’s celebrated ‘Memoirs’
180. DA PONTE, Lorenzo. Memorie di Lorenzo da Ponte, da Ceneda. In tre volumi [in six parts]. Scritte da essa. Seconda edizione corretta, ampliata e accresciuta d’un intero volume e di alcune note… Nuova-Jorca [New York], pubblicate dall’ autore…, 1829-30. 8vo. Pp. 86, 159 pp; 148 pp., 108 pp; Pp. 117, pp. vii, 8-132, the last part being Da Ponte’s free Italian translation of Dante’s Profezia by Byron, Gil Blas and other prose and poetry. With pencil notes in English by a contemporary reader with references to Count Waldstein, Gluck, Metastasio et al. underlined, including comments such as ‘buys a roomful of Italian books for 30 guineas’. Contemporary morocco-backed marbled boards; spines with vignettes; slightly rubbed, in modern box. £ 1,500
The first complete edition of Da Ponte’s memoirs. Although he thought that the greatest achievement of his life was to have introduced the Italian language to the United States where he became Professor of Italian at Columbia University, the memoirs contain illuminating and entertaining passages about the Viennese years. ‘Mozart whom I had occasion to meet at the house of Baron Wetzlar at that time, although gifted with talents perhaps superior to those of any other composer of the past, present, or future, had never been able, thanks to the cabals of his enemies, to exercise his divine genius in Vienna… it was due in large part to my perseverance and firmness to which Europe and the whole world owes the exquisite vocal works of this admirable genius.’ He relates in detail his collaboration and incidents during the joint work on writing three libretti simultaneously for three composers: Don Giovanni for Mozart, L’arbore di Diana for Martin y Soler, and for Salieri a translation of Tarare suitable for Italian opera. ‘I will write at night for Mozart and will think of Dante’s Inferno, I will write in the morning for Martin and it will feel like studying Petrach. In the evening for Salieri which will be my Tasso. I sat down at the table and worked twelve hours: a bottle of Tokay on my right, the inkpot in the middle, and a box of tobacco on my left. A lovely 16 year-old girl was staying with her mother in my house… On the first day assisted by Tokay, tobacco, coffee, a bell, and my young Muse, I wrote the first two scenes of Don Giovanni, two of the Arbore de Diana, and half of Act I of Tarare, which I renamed Azur… in 63 days the first two operas were completed, and two-thirds of the last one…’ Although Da Ponte almost probably exaggerates the ‘cabals’ against Mozart in order to put his own merits in a more favourable light, these memoirs are among the most exciting documents on late 18th / early 19th century cultural life and may only be rivalled by Casanova’s.
A fine collection of libretti by Lorenzo Da Ponte
181. [DA PONTE, Lorenzo – MARTIN Y SOLER, Vincenzo]. Una Cosa Rara o sia Bellezza, ed Onestà. Dramma giocoso per Musica da rappresentarsi in Bologna nel Teatro Zagnoni l’autunno dell’Anno 1788… Bologna, Sassi, 1788. 8vo. Pp. 80. Original decorative wrappers. In modern box. £ 450
The text by Lorenzo Da Ponte [not named in the libretto] and music by V. Martín y Soler. According to Loewenberg: ‘Martín y Soler’s most popular work and one of the great operatic successes of that period.’ The first performance took place in Vienna in November 1786. Loewenberg does not list a Bologna performance, nor does Sonneck list a Bologna libretto. A contemporary reviewer wrote that the present work almost drove the Viennese into a frenzy. ‘By autumn 1787 Salieri, Mozart and Martín y Soler all asked Da Ponte for librettos. For Salieri he reworked Beaumarchais’ Tarare as Axur, Re d’Ormus [see entry in this catalogue], for Mozart he wrote Don Giovanni and for Martín y Soler L’arbore di Diana. His last work for Mozart was Cosi fan tutte’. See New Grove 5, 237.
182. DA PONTE, Lorenzo – BIANCHI, Francesco. La Semiramide. A Musical Drama in two acts. Performed at the King’s Theatre in the Haymarket. The Music by BIANCHI. The Subject and Incidents of Drama are taken from Voltair’s [sic] Tragedy of SEMIRAMIS. London, Printed by Da Ponte, No.5 Pall Mall [1794]. 8vo. 45pp. Contemporary wrappers, in modern box. £ 450
Da Ponte became librettist at the King’s Theatre, London, in late 1793, founded an Italian bookshop there and becoming a partner in a printing works.
183. DA PONTE, Lorenzo – BIANCHI, Francesco. Merope, A Tragedy, in two acts, (In Imitation of the famous Merope of Voltaire) as represented at the King’s Theatre in the Hay-Market. The Poetry by Da Ponte. The MUSIC entirely NEW, Composed here by BIANCHI. London; Printed by L. Da Ponte, 134 Pall Mall [1797]. 8vo. 1f., 42pp., titlepage detached and margins foreshortened; corners and edges curled. £ 400
184. DA PONTE, Lorenzo – SALIERI, Antonio. Angelina; A Comic Opera, In two acts. As Performed at the King’s Theatre, in the Hay Market. The Music by Signor Antonio Salieri. The Poetry By N. N. With many Alterations, by L. Da Ponte, Poet to the Opera House. Printed by Lorenzo Da Ponte, 5, Pall Mall, 1801. 8vo. Pp. 84. Disbound, in modern box. £ 400
The work, a comic opera, is after C. P. De Franceschi
185. DA PONTE, Lorenzo. Il Trionfo dell’ amor Fraterno; or, The Triumph of Fraternal Love: a now Serious Opera… in three acts, as represented at the King’s Theatre, in the Haymarket. The music by M. Winter. London, Nardini and Da Ponte, Poland –Steet [sic]; sold at No. 19, Jermyn-st., 1804. 8vo. Pp. 56; disbound, in modern cloth box. £ 250
By 1804, Da Ponte’s financial difficulties were growing and by June 1805 he had emigrated to the USA.
186. DA PONTE, Lorenzo – SALIERI, Antonio. Assur, Re d’Ormus; Dramma,…imitato da Tarar di Beaumarchais. Messo in musica da A. Salieri. Pel Teatro imperiale di Vienna. New-York: Giovanni Gray e Co. 1826. 8vo. Pp. 47. Contemporary wrappers, foxing to last leaves, in modern box. £ 350
By June 1805, Da Ponte, had emigrated to the USA. There he became a grocer in New York and later a teacher of Italian language and literature in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and in New York (at Columbia College from 1825). [See other entries for this work in this catalogue].
5. Early Mozart literature
187. FORKEL, F. N. (Editor). Musikalischer Almanach für Deutschland auf das Jahr 1789. Leipzig, im Schwickertschen Verlag, 1789. 8vo. Pp. xii, 163pp. Later marbled boards; recased. £ 650
Includes a notice from London of a publication by Charles Burney in commemoration of Handel (p.15) and a long review of his General History of Music (pp.126-7), biographies of C. P. E. & J. M. Bach (p. 38), Leopold Mozart (p. 55) listing his Violinschule , J. C. F. Bach (p. 68), J. Haydn (pp 77-8), W.A. Mozart (pp. 84-5 & p.121). A report from Vienna (1786) gives a lengthy account of a concert, in which Dittersdorf attempted to reproduce the croak of frogs on the violin.
188. GERBER, Ernst Ludwig. Neues Historisch - Biographisches Lexicon der Tonkünstler, welches Nachrichten von dem Leben und den Werken musikalischer Schriftsteller, berühmter Componisten, Sänger, Meister auf Instrumenten, Dilettanten, Orgel-und Instrumentenmacher, älterer und neuerer Zeit, aus allen Nationen. Erster Theil …Vierter Theil. Leipzig, A. Kühnel 1812-1814. 4 vols. 4to. Pp. xxxii, 1f. with text following printed in 974 columns; Pp. vi, 824 columns; Pp. vi, 942 columns; 3ff., 844 columns. Contemporary half-calf with marbled boards; re-cased. With the bookplates of Alfred Cortot. £ 1,200
The entry for W. A. Mozart, which had only 2 columns in the 1790 edition, now extends to 24 columns (column 475 ff.) and includes a full transcription from Mozart’s own manuscript Verzeichniss of his compositions from 1784 – 1791 (cf. André entries in this catalogue), amongst the earliest to be included in a reference work, the last of which dates from 1990. Gerber’s opinion on Mozart had meanwhile completely changed. His works are, Gerber says now, “most magnificent monuments […] of one of the first geniuses to be found in history of art”. In comparision with his severe criticism of 1790 it would be unfair to think that Gerber was an opportunist – his changing view corresponds exactly to the main opinions on Mozart.
An early assessment of Mozart’s works
189. [ARNOLD, Georg Ferdinand]. Mozarts Geist. Seine kurze Biografie und ästhetische Darstellung seiner Werke. Ein Bilddungsbuch für junge Tonkünstler. Mit dessen Portrait. Erfurt, in der Henningsschen Buchhandlung, 1803. 8vo. Pp. xii, 452pp., 1f. + portrait frontispiece by Nettling – a fine stipple engraved bust of Mozart in a roundel. With the ownership inscription of Johann Paul Schulthesius, dated Livorno, 14th July 1804. Contemporary marbled boards. £ 350
Eitner VII, 95. – The first biography giving critical and aesthetic evaluations of Mozart’s works. It is dedicated to Goethe, ‘the darling of the Muses, the father of purest artistic taste, the worthiest poet’.
190. [CARPANI, G.] The Lives of Haydn and Mozart with Observations on Metastasio, and on the Present State of Music in France and Italy. Translated from the French of L.A.C. Bombet [= Henri Beyle=Stendhal] With notes by the Author of the Sacred Melodies. London, John Murray, 1818. 4to. Pp. xiv, 1f., 496pp. Original cloth, rebacked; with spine laid down. £ 280
191. [HAYDN J.]. CARPANI, Giuseppe. Le Haydine ovvero Lettere sulla Vita e le Opere del Celebre Maestro Giuseppe Haydn. Edizione seconda, riveduta ed accresciuta dall’ Autore. Padova, Tipografia della Minerva, 1823. 4to. Pp. xii, 230 + portrait frontispiece of Haydn. Contemporary half-calf, spine very worn with some loss. With an engraving of Haydn by J. Newton, after a painting by J. E. Mansfeld, published in London by J. Sewell, Cornhill, on September 1st 1784, loosely inserted. £ 190
Second edition. The letters cover the period from the spring of 1808 to the summer of 1823, ending with a reply to an article by Rossini on Zoraide.
192. GROSSER, J.E. (editor). II. Lebensbeschreibung des k.k. Kapellmeisters Wolfg. Amadeus Mozart. Nebst einer Sammlung interessanter Anekdoten und Erzählungen…Breslau, in Commission bei J.D. Grüson et Comp. [1826]. 8vo. Pp. xx, 144pp. Original marbled boards + lithographed frontispiece of the portrait of the composer. £ 450
The ‘Anhang’ (pp. 97-143) contains general musical anecdotes. With a lengthy subscribers’ list of 14 pages, mostly of people from around the Breslau region.
193. [MOZART. W. A.] SCHLOSSER, Joh. Aloys. Wolfgang Amad. Mozart. Eine begründete und ausführliche Biographie desselben. Herausgegeben zur Gründung und Errichtung eines Monuments fur den Verewigten. Prague, Buchler, Stephani und Schlosser, 1828. (Preface dated Vienna 21 March 1827). 8vo. Pp. viii, 2ff., ‘Auf Mozarts Tod’ (by Freiherr von Gerning), pp. 192 + 1 folding plate of music. Contemporary cloth, spine slightly split, foxing. – Vincent Novello’s copy, with his Bayswater address and his reference to the work ‘Mozart’s Gheist’ [Georg Ferdinand Arnold – Erfurt 1803] on title-page and a further inscription with his Soho Square address on inside upper cover. £ 750
The work is dedicated by the editor to Frau von Nyssen [sic], Mozart’s widow. Novello helped to organise a subscription on behalf of Mozart’s sister, Nannerl, when news reached London in 1829 that she was ill and in need. He travelled with his wife to Salzburg in order to collect material for his projected biography of Mozart, according to him, ‘the Shakespeare of music’. The book was never written, although Novello’s pupil, Edward Holmes used the material in his ‘Life of Mozart’ (1845) [see item 195]; cf. New Grove 13 p. 438. The proceeds of this work were designated for a monument to Mozart, who was, in the editor’s eyes, a ‘Raphael of his Art’.
From the library of Empress Marie-Louise
194. NISSEN, Georg Nikolaus von. Biographie W.A. Mozart’s. Nach Originalbriefen, Sammlungen alles über ihn Geschriebenen, mit vielen neuen Beylagen, Steindrücken, Musikblättern und einem Fac-simile… Nach dessen Tode herausgegeben von Constanze, Wittwe von Nissen, früher Wittwe Mozart. Mit einem Vorworte von Dr. Feuerstein in Pirna. Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel, 1828. 4to. Pp. xliv, 702pp., 1f. 220pp., + portrait frontispiece of Nissen, 12pp. (folding) plates and 9 lithographed illustrations. Large paper copy on wove paper; uncut, bound in the original red morocco-backed and -tipped boards with the gilt initials M L (Marie Louise) surmounted by the imperial crown on upper and lower covers; spine ruled in compartments with neo-classical pattern (seven repeats). The Martin Breslauer - Alfred Cortot copy. £ 2,500
The plates contain musical examples of early compositions by Mozart to the age of 7; the volume includes furthermore two lithographed portrait of Mozart one of Constanze, and a large folding lithograph reproducing the painting by Johann Nepomuk Della Croce of 1780/81. This shows Mozart and his sister at the piano with Leopold holding his violin and a portrait of his late wife, who had died in 1778, behind them. Further plates include one of Mozart’s two sons, Mozart’s ear compared to a normal one, the family home, the compositions of his Antiphona (KV86) and Wiegenlied with one other facsimile of a manuscript. The subscribers’ list extends to 20 pages and the supplement lists Mozart’s compositions and includes a bibliography of secondary literature. The first full-length biography of Mozart, a principal source for all later ones, written by G. N. von Nissen and his wife Constanze, (Mozart’s widow) and finalised by her after her husband’s death in 1826.
195. HOLMES, Edward. The Life of Mozart, including his Correspondence. London, Chapman and Hall, 1845. 8vo. Pp. iv, 364 pp. + two folding plates, 16pp. publishers’ adverts. Original cloth; upper cover strengthened, spine and corners worn. With the inscription of the Whittlesea Book Society, dated 1846.£ 250
First edition of the first comprehensive English biography of Mozart distinguished by its thorough research and intelligent interpretation of the contemporary, accessible material. The first plate shows specimens of Mozart’s composition at six years of age (KV2 and KV3). The second folding plate, a copy of the ‘Antiphona given to Mozart, for treatment by the Princeps and the censors of the Philharmonic Academy’. This [KV86 (=73V)] was the famous ‘test piece’, which Mozart had to compose as his examination for acceptance into the Academy. Leopold Mozart reported that his son fulfilled the task in a mere half hour, (letter of 20th October 1770). Leopold, however, did not reveal that Wolfgang’s setting of the antiphonal text in no way corresponded to the rules of the Academy and that Padre Martini secretly amended it before passing it over to the examiners as the work of Mozart alone.
196. [MOZART, W.A.] OULIBICHEFF, Alexandre. Nouvelle Biographie de Mozart suivie d’un Aperçu sur l’Histoire Generale de la Musique et de l’Analyse des Principales Œuvres de Mozart. Moscow, Auguste Semen, 1842-3. 3 vols. Tall 4to. 2ff., xxi pp., 1f., 318 pp,; 2ff., 378 pp., 1f; 2ff., 457 pp., 2ff. Publisher’s yellow printed wrappers; partially unopened, pp. 225-240, 257-272 & 289-304 in volume 2 printed on a variant paper stock. £ 1,200
With a four-page autograph letter in French, signed by the author, dated 13 May 1843 to an unnamed correspondent presenting this work, the fruit of ten years study and reflection, devoid of any vanity or idea of financial gain. Oulibicheff, a former diplomat and honorary member of the Philharmonic Society of St. Petersburg living in retirement in Nizni-Novgorod, is seeking an objective review of the work in the Revue et Gazette musicale de Paris, of which a German translation is already underway and a Russian version mooted. The dearth of local journalists and musical journals to promote the biography effectively, is the cause of this request for a review by a foreign music professor. Oulibicheff gives Glinka as an example of outstanding contemporary musical talent and is proud of having had the honour of introducing Palestrina, Handel, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven to a Tartar, Armenian, Turkish, Persian and even Chinese population! In the introduction, Oulibicheff refers to Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven as the ‘trois Papas’.
197. [MOZART.W.A.] OULIBICHEFF, A. Mozart’s Leben und Werke. Zweite Auflage…neu bearbeitet und wesentlich erweitert von Ludwig Gantter. Erster Band…Vierter Band. Stuttgart, Becher, 1859. 4 vols. 8vo. Pp. xx, 332;1f., 328 pp. (Appendix 2 [pp. 310- 325] being the 145-item listing of Mozart’s own Verzeichniss - now ‘eigenhändiger Katalog’); pp. 392; pp.348, 2ff., 11pp., music, including a bibliography of works on Mozart. Contemporary half-morocco with crimson marbled boards; a very good set. £ 160
198. [ROCHLITZ, Johann Friedrich]. Anecdotes sur W.G. Mozart. Traduites de l’Allemand par Ch. Fr. Cramer. Paris, chez l’Editeur… et les Marchands de Nouveautés. An IX - 1801. 4to. 2ff., 68pp. + 2 folding plates of a Bach Gigue. Contemporary vellumbacked marbled boards. £ 220
The first biographical account of Mozart published in France, a translation of Rochlitz’s text published previously in Leipzig in the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung of 1799.
199. KÖCHEL, Dr. Ludwig, Ritter von. Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämmtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amade Mozart’s. Nebst Angabe der verloren gegangenen, unvollendeten, übertragenen, zweifelhaften und unterschobenen Compositionen desselben. Leipzig, Breitkopf und Härtel. 1862. Small folio, Pp. xviii, 1f., 551 pp. Publisher’s cloth-backed boards, extremities rubbed. £ 320
First edition of the first thematic catalogue in musicology. In 23 sections totalling 626 works and with 5 appendices comprising lost, incomplete, transcribed, doubtful and misattributed compositions and an index of those for voice. This monumental work remains the cornerstone of Mozart bibliography, the last edition of which, (the sixth), was published in 1964.
6. Curiosa and Memorabilia
200. CANNABICH, Carl (1771-1806). Mozarts Gedaechtnis Feyer / Seinen Manen gewidmet von seinem Verehrer Carl Cannabich. Munich 1797 [imprint on last page: München in der Falterischen Musikhandlung], no pl.-no. Title leaf, 41 pp. engraved full score, folio, in marbled wrappers; a very good copy, formerly in the collection of Alfred Cortot with his stamp “AC”. £ 550
RISM C 848. Schneider (Falter), S. 78f., 228. – The title-page has a fine oval vignette (Mittenleiter Sc.) showing a funeral monument in a romantic landscape. The inscription EWIG EWIG GLAENZT / DEIN RUHM / IN HARMONIENS / HEILIGTHUM is taken from the composition itself which is an important cantata for four solo voices, chorus and orchestra including several short quotes from Mozart’s operas: p. 16 Mann und Weib, Weib, und Mann etc. (Zauberflöte); p. 21 Ah, loèdo, quest’ anima bella (Cosi fan tutte); p. 27 Altre cure, piu grave di queste (Don Giovan[n]i); p. 40f. Dann ist die Erd’ ein Himmelreich, und Sterbliche den Göttern gleich (Zauberflöte). Carl Cannabich, a son of Mozart’s close Mannheim friend Christian Cannabich, trained with his father and Peter von Winter. In 1788 he was appointed as a violinist to the Munich court orchestra and became Hofkapellmeister in 1800. His compositions combine the influences of the Mannheim School and of Mozart’s work with early forms of romanticism. He knew Mozart in 1777-78 as a child when Mozart travelled to Paris and had a lifelong admiration for him expressed particularly in the cantata offered here.
201. ANNIVERSARY CONCERT. VII. Philharmonisches Concert – Dirigent: Arthur Nikisch. …Programm zur Erinnerung an den 150 jährigen Geburtstag von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. [Berlin]: Montag, den 29, Januar 1906, Abends 7 ½ Uhr pünktlich. 8vo. Pp. 26, 3ff. adverts. + two plates. £ 50
The all Mozart evening included performances of the overture to the Magic Flute, The Symphonie Concertante for violin and viola, Lieder and the Jupiter symphony. There are extensive programme notes and reproductions of three portraits of Mozart. Original printed wrappers, tear to one leaf with minimal loss.
202. ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. - BEER-HOFMANN, Richard. Gedenkrede auf Wolfgang Amade Mozart. Berlin, S. Fischer, 1906. 4to. Pp. 16, with publisher's device on half-title. Original printed wrappers; slightly stained. A presentation copy from the author to Hermann Struck, the celebrated Jewish artist. Vienna, 13 February 1920. £ 275
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