Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

comprising the opening forty-five bars of the first movement ['Allegro']; the Secondo part on the left-hand page of a bifolium, with the Primo part facing, reproduced from Mozart's composing manuscript, showing many deletions and alterations, especially to the Secondo part

2 pages, oblong 4to (c.24 x 30cm), versos blank, tipped into a later C19 edition of Mozart's "Variations pour piano", small tears and dust-marking to edges, affixed with translucent adhesive tape to verso

NMA, IX/24/2 (Critical Report, 1955-1957), pp.74-75 & 174-175; A. Hyatt King Mozart in Retrospect (1970), pp.120-130.

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."

VERY RARE. This is a good early lithograph of the opening of Mozart's autograph manuscript of K.381, most of which is lost.  We have so far been able to trace one other copy of this lithograph, in the British Library, which includes a lithographer's imprint not present here. Only leaves 5 & 6 (of 7) of Mozart's autograph manuscript survive (in New York and Berlin), although there are early facsimiles of two other pages, also exceedingly rare, so that eight of the original twelve pages of music can now be reconstructed.  Mozart's sonata K.381, composed in c.1773 to play with his sister Marianne ("Nannerl", 1751-1829), was published by Artaria in 1783. Nannerl gave most of Mozart's autograph manuscript to the German musician Joseph Mainzer (1801-1851), when he visited her in Salzburg in 1828 (she had already given away leaves 5 & 6 in 1801).  Fifteen years later, on 1 January 1843, before the manuscript was lost, Mainzer issued this "exact fac-simile of the original Sketch", comprising just the opening of the Secondo and Primo parts on facing pages, as a supplement to subscribers to his fortnightly journal Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular (1842-1844).  Mainzer's journal is itself rare; we have traced four copies in the UK and America, but none, apart from that in the British Library, appears to include the precious supplement. The lithograph was only given to subscribers, rather than included in the journal (for example there are no stitching-holes at the hinge). The present copy reproduces the first opening of the manuscript on a bifolium (as described by Mainzer), whereas in the British Library the two pages are divided and folded on mounts.

Mainzer's description of his visit to Mozart's blind seventy-seven-year-old sister is of particular interest (see King).  She had evidently "never seen the Nozze di Figaro, and Don Juan only once, and then heard [it] indifferently performed...'Perhaps', cried she...'you may find some piece of his that you never yet heard of, amongst papers in my possession'. She ordered some old portfolios to be brought to her, and begged us to examine them.  The first thing we lighted on was the sketch of his first sonata for four hands.  We discovered from this sketch that Mozart, when he composed for four hands, did not write the different parts in score, but on two distinct pages, which considerably enhances the difficulty of composition..." (Mainzer's Musical Times and Singing Circular, 14 January 1843, page 19). Indeed, in the second and third movements, the page-breaks do not even coincide.

For the autograph manuscript of Mozart's piano duet K.497a, please see lot 20 in the sale of Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and family.