Loeb Music Library

After, I confess, a somewhat longer pause than anticipated, we return with the first of a series of posts on recently-digitized items from the collection. As always, these and many other scores are available in our collection of Digital Scores and Libretti.

To begin, I’ve selected a set of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: published editions, as well as copyist’s manuscripts, likely made from first or early editions. They’re assembled in a volume of music that may have been prepared for Count Anton Georg Apponyi, a member of the Gesellschaft der Associierten, the Viennese musical society founded in 1786 by Baron Gottfried van Swieten. It includes:

Title page, Sonatas K. 533 and 494

[Sonatas, piano, K. 533/494, F major]. Sonate pour le clavecin ou piano-forte, oeuvre 44 composé par W.A. Mozart. Vienne: Artaria, [1798].

RISM A/I, M/MM 6849

Artaria’s reissue of K. 533 and K. 494, from Hoffmeister’s first edition of 1788.

XIV. différentes pieces pour le piano forte

XIV. différentes pieces pour le piano forte par W.A. Mozart. A Paris: Chez Pleyel, [1805?].

RISM A/I, M/MM 7458

Volume 5 of Pleyel’s Collection complette des œuvres de piano par W.A. Mozart, containing 14 pieces for piano.

[Rondos, piano, K. 511, A minor]. No. 2o Rondeau pour le forte piano, ou clavicembalo composé par Mr. W.A. Mozart; J. Gyenis [copyist?]. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

Rondo, K. 511, Andante (mss.)

Manuscript music notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark of 3 crescent moons and the letters “FA.” Originally composed in 1787; this manuscript probably derives from the 1st or a very early edition: the notation in measure 161 in the left hand corresponds to the autograph. Includes early (possibly contemporary) manuscript fingering to the bass line of measures 122-124. Some notation to measure 40 is lacking, and added in pencil in an early hand.

The last 2 pages of music are in a different hand, with the initials “MA.” This unidentified piece – arpeggiated passages over a chordal progression – consists of a simple tune, possibly for violin with piano accompaniment, with a correction and one measure crossed out, indicating that it may have been composed as a teaching piece.

Song, notated on verso of final page, Sonata, K. 454 (mss.)

[Sonatas, violin, piano, K. 454, B♭ major]. Sonata pour le clavecin ou piano forte avec un violon, no 21 par Mr. W.A. Mozart. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

A manuscript of the keyboard part only, notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark of 3 crescent moons and the letters “BAC.” K. 454 was composed in 1784 and published by Christoph Torricella in July; this copy was probably made from the first or an early edition.

On the verso of a the final leaf is a 1 page song notated in both ink and pencil, in a different hand.

Title page, Piano trio K. 496 (mss.)

[Trios, piano, strings, K. 496, G major]. Trio in G per il cembalo ò fortepiano, violino e violoncello del sig: W:A: Mozart. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

A manuscript of the keyboard part of the Piano Trio in G major, K. 496, notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark incorporating a canopy over the letter “A” countered by “GF” over “C.” At the bottom of the title page, in different ink, is written “Graf Anton Nr. 21 [crossed out, with "19" substituted] Sonate uman.”

This trio was composed in 1786 and published in Vienna by Hoffmeister in the same year; this copy was likely made from the 1st or an early edition.

Quartet in G minor, K. 478 (mss.)

[Quartets, piano, strings, K. 478, G minor]. Quartetto per il clavicembalo o forte piano accompagnement violino, viola, e violoncello del sig: W:A: Mozart. Manuscript, ca. 1795-1800.

A manuscript of the keyboard part of the String Quartet in G minor, K. 478, notated in ink on 8-stave paper with a watermark of 3 crescent moons over “Real,” a canopy, and the letters “GL,” similar to the watermark on paper Mozart used in 1791 for sketches of Die Zauberflöte. The quartet, composed in 1785, was published by Hoffmeister in December of that year; this copy was probably prepared from the 1st or an early edition.

“Graf Anton Apponyi” is written in light pencil at the right hand corner of the title page; at the bottom of the title page, in ink, is “Graf Anton” is scratched out, and “angefangen den 2. December N17 (corrected from 19) Anton” written below. In the score, early penciled annotations include fingering, accidentals, and dynamics.

The Loeb Music Library holds multiple copies of the other two pieces in this volume, and had already digitized these copies:

Title page, Six sonates pour le clavecin

[Sonatas, violin, piano. Selections]. Six sonates pour le clavecin, ou pianoforte avec l’accompagnoment [sic] d’un violon, oeuvre II par Wolf. Amadee Mozart. Vienne: Artaria, [1781].

First edition, 1st issue, RISM A/I, M 6492

Mozart’s first works to be printed in Vienna, after his arrival in the city in March of 1781.

This copy is part of the Biblioteca Mozartiana Eric Offenbach (BMEO); digitized along with the score are a photocopy of a letter from Alexander Weinmann to Eric Offenbacher regarding the edition and Weinmann’s speculations about a possible earlier publication by Torricella, and a typewritten note containing information on this work.

Title page, Symphony K. 543, arranged for piano. Merritt Room Mus 745.1.54.39.5

[Symphonies, K. 543, E♭ major; arr.]. Wolfg. Ama. Mozarts grosse Sinfonie ins Claviergesetzt und dem verdienstvollen Tonküstler und Verehrer dieses unvergesslichen Meisters … von Johann Wenzel. Prag: Zu haben beÿm Verfasser; Leipzig: In der Breitkopfischen Buchhandlung, [ca. 1794].

First edition, RISM A/I, M 5540

- Kerry Masteller

New Finnish CDs

Jukka Tienssu. nemo – Puro – Spiriti. CD 37559

We recently acquired a group of Finnish titles on the Alba label including two recordings with music by composer Jukka Tiensuu (CD 37559 and CD 37560). Complementing our collection of his scores, these recordings include a piano concerto entitled Mind, selections from Alma for orchestra and electronics, and a piece for accordion and orchestra called Spiriti. And on the subject of accordions, the instrument figures prominently in the musical activity of Finland from its love of Tango to its International Accordion Festival held each year in Ikaalinen.

Explore further: recordings of Finnish tango from our collection.

Tom Jobim

Tom Jobim. Waters of march. DVD 1706

Originally from Brazilian label Biscoito Fino, this rich three-part DVD program (DVD 1704, 1705 & 1706) chronicles Jobim’s life and music through a mix of documentary material, interviews and live performances. Taken primarily from a 1990 show, performances feature Jobim on vocals and piano, with a band that includes cellist Jaques Morelenbaum and the occasional special guest: see Chico Buarque in Part 3/She’s a Carioca/Ela è Carioca doing “Ela Desatinou”. Part 1 (No More Blues/Chega de Saudade) also contains material from a 1995 performance with Buarque, Milton Nascimento, Caetano Veloso, Gal Costa, Gilberto Gil and Paulinho da Viola, and Part 2 (Waters of March/Águas de Março) presents beautiful footage of a place dear to Jobim, Rio’s Botanical Gardens.

Royal Swedish Opera Archives

Die Walküre. Royal Swedish Opera Archives. CD 36758

We’ve just received several CDs on the Caprice label featuring unpublished house and live recordings from the Royal Swedish Opera. A series highlight so far is a complete performance of Die Walküre (CD 37658) taken from 1955 and 1956 in which Birgit Nilsson sings her first Brünnhilde. Another issue offers Mozart opera arias and excerpts (CD 37659) recorded between 1952 and 1967 with performances by Nilsson, Elisabeth Söderström and others. More titles in this series — Strauss, Berlioz and Verdi (including Björling in Trovatore from 1957) — are on the way.

- Peter Laurence

A few recent acquisitions in the recordings collection:

Anita O’Day: The Life of a Jazz Singer

Loeb Music: AC 36770

We recently received this deluxe bound edition of Anita O’Day’s complete scrapbooks that includes a documentary film about the singer and a bonus DVD of outtake interviews and musical performances. The set also includes tributes by jazz writers James Gavin and Will Friedwald, as well as excerpts from Anita O’Day’s autobiography High Times, Hard Times. Many will know of her performance from Jazz on a Summer’s Day, a documentary about the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, but this edition provides a wealth of new material about her fascinating life.

Find it here: Loeb Music Library AC 36770.

Eddy Brown (Symposium)

Loeb Music: CD 37296

Recently the Marston label featured early recordings (Dec. 1914) by violinist Eddy Brown in its set The Dawn of Recording: The Julius Block Cylinders. Born in Chicago in 1895, Brown studied violin with Jenö Hubay in Budapest and Leopold Auer in St. Petersburg and he made his debut in Germany in 1910. On this new Symposium disc, he can be heard playing Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky from Berlin in the mid-1920s and the Sonata Virginianesque by American composer John Powell around 1940 (with Powell himself accompanying). In the 1930s Brown became active in radio, and he served as director of WQXR for almost twenty years.

Find it here: Loeb Music Library CD 37296.

Karl Amadeus Hartmann and the String Quartet (Cybele)

Loeb Music: CD 37004

This 3-CD set inaugurates a new series (Künstler im Gespräch) on the Cybele label that will combine a featured composer’s music with spoken word recordings that help to illuminate that composer’s work. Here the focus is on Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s complete works with string quartet – two quartets, the Little Concerto for String Quartet and Percussion, and the Chamber Concerto for Clarinet, String Quartet and String Orchestra. The spoken word material includes Hartmann himself from 1962, an interview with his wife in 1994, and a conversation with his son from 2009. Notes in German and English are also rich with biographical detail and illustrations.

Find it here: Loeb Music CD 37004.

- Peter Laurence

The Music Library receives boxes of new CDs and DVDs every week; Peter Laurence, the library’s Acquisitions Assistant for Recordings, shares a few of the latest offerings to catch his eye:

Stockhausen Text-CDs

Loeb Music: CD 36779.

A new group of Stockhausen Text-CDs (vols. 16 – 22) that feature the composer lecturing on his own works, including Momente (1963), Telemusik (1966) and Hymnen (1967). Also included here are interviews from 1970-72 and a private recording of Kurzwellen from Osaka, Japan.

Find them here: Loeb Music Library CD 36773 – CD 36779.

Jelly Roll Morton: The Complete Library of Congress Recordings By Alan Lomax

Loeb Music: AC 36768.

An 8-CD box set of stories and songs by Jelly Roll Morton recorded at the Library of Congress in 1938. In addition to solo piano versions of his songs, this collection also provides Jelly Roll’s lively and earthy recollections of the early years of jazz… earthy enough to earn the set a Parental Advisory “Explicit Lyrics” sticker.

Find it here: Loeb Music Library AC 36768

Medieval Jazz Quartet plus three

Loeb Music: CD 36513.

Early Music meets jazz! Composer, pianist and vocalist Bob Dorough conceived and arranged this unique and surprisingly swinging collaboration (originally released in 1961) that features recorders, crumhorns and a jazz rhythm section. Dorough sings and plays tenor recorder, accompanied by LaNoue Davenport and other members of the Manhattan Recorder Consort, and by guitarist Al Schackman, bassist George Duvivier and Paul Motian on drums. Dorough went on to work with Miles Davis and to compose most of the music for the educational animated TV series Schoolhouse Rock.

Find it here: Loeb Music Library CD 36513

Riccardo Chailly: Live, The Radio Recordings from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Loeb Music: CD 36092.

Sparked by Chailly’s amazing performance with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra at Symphony Hall on February 25th, I’m including this recently acquired 13-CD set of live recordings made in Amsterdam between 1985 and 2003. Included are works from Beethoven to Berg to Berio, as well as music by Dutch composers such as Peter Schat, Alphons Diepenbrock and Tristan Keuris. Rounding out the set is a bonus DVD of Chailly and the orchestra performing the Rite of Spring, The Firebird and Pulcinella.

Find it here: Loeb Music Library CD 36092