Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

the composing manuscript of bb.1-22, notated in blackish brown ink on one ten-stave system per page, scored for an orchestra of two oboes, two horns, keyboard, and strings with obbligato violoncello, with an autograph title ("// Rondeaux //"), also containing on the recto various annotations by Constanze Mozart's second husband, Georg Nikolaus von Nissen ("zu ergänzen [to complete]...[cancelled:] Unpaginierte Bruchstükke [unpaginated fragments]...Eigne / Handschrift. [his own handwriting]"), by Johann Anton André, the purchaser of Mozart's musical estate ("W. A. Mozarts / eigne Handschrift / André"), and by an unidentified hand ("N^o 26. das Ende fehlt. [lacking the end]")

2 pages, oblong 4to (c.21.5 x 31.5cm), Vienna, 19 October 1782, excision to outer margin (c.14.4 x 3.5cm), lower edge and remainder of outer edge trimmed, original diagonal crease (as manufactured) to lower outer part of leaf, traces of mount to inner edge of verso, light spotting; together with a note by the composer William Sterndale Bennett, a former owner of the autograph: "The first page of a Rondeau (in Score) in Mozarts [sic] own handwriting, recently published by Hollier and purchased of André in Offenbach, near Frankfurt who possesses the greater part of Mozarts [sic] M.S.S. including Don Juan, Zauberflöte &c - The Title as written by the author above is as follows - "Rondeaux" di Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart - Vienna October 19.^th 1782."

Constanze Mozart (1762-1842); Johann Anton André (1775-1842), from 1799/1800, Offenbach am Main; William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875); Thomas Case (1844-1925, son-in-law of William Sterndale Bennett), Oxford; T.G. Odling (great-grandson of William Sterndale Bennett), Gloucestershire; Sotheby's, London, 21 May 1998 (lot 283)

Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, V/15/8 (Kassel etc., 1960), pp. 173-187; Alan Tyson, Mozart. Studies of the Autograph Scores (Cambridge, MA, 1987), pp. 262-289; John Arthur, 'Some Chronological Problems in Mozart: the Contribution of Ink-Studies', Wolfgang Amadè Mozart. Essays on His Life and His Music (Oxford, 1996), pp. 41-2 n.12; Neue Mozart-Ausgabe, X/31/3 (Kassel etc., 1998), pp. 19-35

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, where appropriate
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

THE FIRST LEAF OF ONE OF THE LOVELIEST ORCHESTRAL WORKS OF MOZART'S MATURITY.

BEARING A RARE AND SUPERB AUTOGRAPH SIGNATURE AND DATE, THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL THE CURRENTLY KNOWN LEAVES OF THE DISRUPTED AND FRAGMENTARILY SURVIVING AUTOGRAPH SCORE OF K. 386. 

The Rondo in A for Piano and Orchestra, K. 386, is one of Mozart's most attractive and well-loved works. The circumstances of this probably independent piece - no doubt not, as once thought, either the original finale for the A-major piano concerto K. 414, or a replacement for the Allegretto movement found in the concerto's autograph score - are unknown, although, to judge from some later correspondence of Constanze Mozart, a connection of some kind is likely with Mozart's star pupil Barbara Ployer (1765-before 1811), for whom the composer also wrote two of his finest piano concertos, K. 449, in E flat, and K. 453, in G. An unusual feature of the score, which helps create the work's especially warm sonority, is the highly independent violoncello part, which may have been intended for the musician for whom Mozart began writing around the same time a little-known Andantino in B flat, with piano accompaniment, K. Anh. 46 (374g).  

The history of the survival of the work's autograph can fairly be described as unfortunate. Already at the time of Johann Anton André's acquisition of Mozart's musical estate (1799-1800) the score was lacking its ending - hence the inscription "zu ergänzen [to complete]" on the present leaf by Constanze Mozart's second husband Georg Nikolaus von Nissen. A later owner of the truncated score, the composer William Sterndale Bennett (1816-1875), proceeded to break it up, giving away most of the leaves, and in some cases parts of leaves, to his friends. Today, of the once sixteen-leaf-strong manuscript there are currently still four whole leaves missing as well as four fragments of two further leaves. Fortunately for the textual history of the work, a reduction of the rondo for piano solo was published by Cipriani Potter, Bennett's old teacher, in 1838, although he had to invent a new ending, as the concluding four leaves, with bb. 225-269, were then still missing (they were in fact only finally discovered by Alan Tyson in the British Library in March 1980). 

The currently-known whole leaves, excluding the present leaf, are located as follows: fols. 2-3 (bb. 23-62): Germany, private collection; fol. 4 (bb. 63-78): Royal College of Surgeons of England, London; fol. 8 (bb. 136-154): Sibley Library, Eastman School of Music, Rochester, U.S.A.; fol. 9 (bb. 155-171): Private collection, Tokyo; fols. 13-16 [fol. 16 is blank] (bb. 225-269): British Library, London. In addition to these leaves two quarter-leaves of fol. 6 also survive - in the Music Library of The University of Western Ontario, London (Canada) and in The Juilliard School, New York, as well as two quarter-leaves of fol. 7 - one of which is also preserved in The Juilliard School, New York.

In addition to the present leaf (Sotheby's sale of 21 May 1998, lot 283), the following fragments of the score have also been sold in these rooms: fols. 2-3 (14 June 1976, lot 142); fol. 6, two quarter-leaves (17 November 1983, lot 142, and 20 May 2005, lot 113); fol. 7, one quarter-leaf (20 May 2005, lot 112); and fol. 9 (27 February 1973, lot 362).