Newly-Digitized Mozart First Editions

In this week’s showcase of newly-digitized scores, I’ve selected three first editions of Mozart works:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Title page, Divertimenti, K. 563, E♭ major; arr. Merritt Room Mus 745.1.230.15

Grande sonate : arrangée pour le clavecin ou piano forte avec accompagnement d’un violon obligé : oeuvre 21 tiré d’un trio de W.A. Mozart (À Vienne: Artaria, [1792]), RISM M and MM 6299.

The first edition of the earliest arrangement, for piano with violin obligato, of the Divertimento for violin, viola and violoncello in E-flat major, K. 563. The autograph manuscript of K. 563, composed in September, 1788, is lost, giving first editions of the piece particular value for research.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Detail, Variationen über das Lied Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding. Merritt Room Mus 745.1.429.50

Ariette: [Ein Weib ist das herlichste Ding]: avec variations pour le clavecin ou piano forte. no. [10] par W.A. Mozart (Vienne: Artaria, [1791]), RISM M7096.

The first edition, first issue of K. 613, Variationen über das Lied Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding. Between 1789 and 1795, Benedikt Schack and Franz Xaver Gerl set seven libretti by Emanuel Schickaneder for performance at the Theater auf der Weiden in Vienna. Mozart took the theme for this set of variations from Die verdeckten Sachen (September, 1789), the second of these seven Singspiels featuring the comic character Anton.¹

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Detail, Sonata, K. 481. Merritt Mus 745.1.369.50

Sonate pour le forte-piano, ou clavecin avec accompagnement d’un violon composé par Mr. Wolf. Amad. Mozart (Vienne: Hoffmeister, [1786]), RISM M6543.

The first edition, first issue of the Sonata for violin and piano in E-flat major, K. 481; the piano part is printed, while the violin part is manuscript, in an 18th-century copyist’s hand.

These scores join almost sixty other Mozart manuscripts and early editions already in the library’s collection of Digital Scores and Libretti. Later this month, we’ll be returning to opera, with vocal scores by J.C. Bach, Busoni, Cherubini, Verdi, and Zemlinksy.

-Kerry Masteller

1. Peter Branscombe. Dumme Gärtner aus dem Gebirge, Der. The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. Ed. Stanley Sadie. Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online. 2 Nov. 2010. (Access restricted to Harvard affiliates)