This article discusses the Harmoniemusik attributed to Mozart but cannot be clearly said to be composed by him. The works definitively written by Mozart for Harmonie: the Serenade 'Gran Partitta' K.V.361/370a, the Serenade in E flat,K.V. 375, the Serenade in c minor, K.V. 388/384a and his arrangement for Harmonie of Die Entführung aus dem Serail are currently not discussed in this article.


Harmoniemusik (Wind octets) attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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In the mid-18th century, wind ensembles (wind bands) were referred to in a number of ways: blasende Instrumente, Türkishe-Musik, Militär-Musik, Blasorchester, Tafelmuisk, Harmonie. The Harmonie ensemble had five to nine players, generally built around a pair of horns. However, by establishing in his court in 1781 an ensemble consisting of 2 oboes, 2 english horns (later 2 clarinets), 2 bassoons and 2 horns, the Emperor (Kaiser) Joseph II gave rise to a new and specific definition of Harmonie It became generally understood that when referring to Harmonie, one was referring to this particular combination of pairs of instruments.[1]

The bulk of Harmoniemusik consisted of arrangements of operas, in whole or in part, for this combination. The ensemble was very popular with the nobility. During a 1783 visit to Vienna, Prince Lobkowitz told an employee that "at any hour of the day one could find a 'proper' octet rehearsal in progress.[2]Under the influence of Joseph II (and later his brother Maximillian Franz), the music served as a bridge between nobility and those born to a lower class.[3] For more on Harmonie and Harmoniemusik, see the Wikipedia article Harmoniemusik.

The Harmoniemusik of K.V. Anhang C: C17.01-C17.05, C17.07

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In the Eighth Edition (K8, K.V.8) of Köchel Verzeichnis (a reprint of K6 and K7), Anhang, or Appendix C 17.xx contains Harmoniemusik attributed to Mozart. This Harmoniemusik has been catalogued in Anhang C by the editors of K 6 for one of two reasons: a) its authenticity is deemed to be of a spurious nature, possibly counterfeit; b) the works may thought to be by Mozart, but are unable to be confirmed as such. There are arguments both for and against their authenticity as compositions by Mozart, though the evidence is weighted against the likelihood that they are authentic Mozart.

The Breitkopf and Härtel Sept Pièces de Harmonie

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The first three entries in Anhang C17.xx (C17.01, C17.02 and C17.03) were first published in l80l in a collection by Breitkopf & Härtel (B&H), Sept Pièces de Harmonie. The source for the B&H edition was manuscript copies, and as such may have had errors in notation, phrasing and dynamics or other errors. [4] This publication also contained an arrangement for eight players (2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns) of the complete (though disordered) Gran Partita K.361 (K.370a). Also, there was a sextet version ( 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns) of the Serenade in E Flat K.V. 375 and a sextet arrangement by Joseph Heidenreich[5] of K. 407, the Quintet for Horn and Strings in E-flat.

In the first edition (K.V.1) of Verzeichnis der Werke W.A. Mozart's, Ludwig Ritter von Köchel decided that the works were not by Mozart. [6]Alfred Einstein,[1] editor of K3, believed that C17.01, C17.02 and C17.03 were authentic Mozart and cataloged them in the main body of Köchel. The editors of K 6 found them spurious in nature and placed them in Anhang C.

The printing plates for the original 1801 B&H publication were destroyed in Leipzig as a result of the Allied bombing campaign in 1943.

The Traeg (Prague) Partitas: Authentic or Counterfeit?

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Daniel N. Leeson states that "the source for the partitas (partittas, parthien) K. Anhang C 17.04, C 17.05 and C 17.07 was, until 1972, thought to be a manuscript copy made by the early eighteenth century Mozart aficionado, Alois Fuchs, however, an earlier and much more important source was found in the Klementinum library at the University of Prague." [7] These works have become known to scholars as the Prague or Traeg Partitas.

K.V. Anh C17.04, C17.05, C17.07: the argument for "authentic Mozart"

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  • Mozart had a fondness and skill in writing for Harmonie. There was a market for the music in that the Viennese of the day had a taste for aristocratic and popular table music and, under Joseph II, the nobility became particularly fond of Harmoniemusik. In his series of six articles in The Instrumentalist: The Incredible Viennese Octet School, [8] David Whitwell writes of the remarkable proliferation of Harmoniemusik after 1782, just around the time Mozart wrote the Gran Partitta K.V. 361/370a and the two Serenades: E Flat, K.V. 375 and C minor, K.V.388/K.V 384a.The demand for Harmoniemusik in the 1780s and 1790s and the apparent lack of it composed by Mozart has astonished scholars. [9]
  • In a letter to B&H, Constanze speaks of wind octets in her possesion in the plural: "other property you can obtain from me: Partitas (emphasis added) for wind instruments such as clarinet and horn". At the time of the writing of her letter, there was only one octet that was still unknown, K.V. 388/K.V 384a.[10]
  • The Partitas of Anh. C are closely connected to Mozart through his wife, Constanze Mozart, and through Johann Traeg, a favorite copyist of Mozart and family friend. Constanze wrote in her correspondence about a number of “works for Harmonie, some incomplete”. It is possible that she was referring to what beacme the Prague Partitas. Constanze distinguished "fragments" from works "incomplete", i.e., the incomplete works may not have the standard number of movements etc. [11]
  • Constanze was protective of Mozart’s unfinished works and it would be unlikely that she would have allowed just anyone to complete them. As such, it would difficult to believe that any of Mozart’s works were finished by anyone in Vienna without her knowledge. [12]
  • It is possible that Anton Stadler, the clarinetist for whom Mozart wrote the Concerto K 622 and the Quintet, K. 581, commissioned one or more of the Anhang octets. It was well known that Stadler had in his possession a number of autograph manuscripts. Furthermore, Stadler owed a considerable debt to Mozart, almost twice Mozart's annual court stipend, a debt owed possibly for some of those manuscripts and commissioning fees.[13]


  • In their 1972 article in Music and Letters, Daniel N. Leeson and David Whitwell state that they believe the four Parthien in Prague are identical with those advertised in August of 1792 by Johann Traeg.[14]
  • Leeson and Whitwell state that the much later Fuchs 1837 materials of the Anhang C Harmoniemusik were copied from the Prague scores. Until the discovery of the Prague Partitas in 1972, the Fuchs materials were thought to be the earliest source material for these works.[15]As the Prague materials can be traced to 1792, they pre-date the Fuchs copies by 45 years.
  • Leeson and Whitwell also stated that they believe "the octets K.V. Anh. C 17.01, C 17,02. C17.03. C. 17.07 and the reordered forms of C17.04 and C17.05, as (they) have described them, have every appearance of being genuine Mozart". [16]

The advertisement in the Weiner Zeitung

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On August 11,1792, seven months since the death of Mozart, there appeared in the Weiner Zeitung an advertisement:


From Johann Trag [sic] ... the following works by Mozart are to be had:

6 Masses by W.A. Mozart
2 Pianoforte concertos à 2 Clavicemb
2 Concerti à Corno Princ
1 Concerto à Violino Princ.
15 Sinfon.
1 Cassation à 2 Viol. 2 Cor. Viola é Basso
4 Parthien à 2 Obe 2 Clarinetti 2 Cor. 2 Fag. [emphasis added]
Quintetto à Corno 2 Viol. Viola b Basso
2 Duetti à Violino é Viola
24 Contredanses with all Parts
7 ____with an Overture
Sonata in D à 2 Clavicemb.
3 Sonates per il Clav.
Various Arias with ltalian text in Partitura
3 Sinfon. Arranged as Quintets for 2 Viol. 2 Viole é Basso
1 Quintetto in G min. arranged for Clar. Viol. Viola é Basso
In addition to the above various further Quart. And Trios arranged for violin and Flute

The significant volume of works advertised by Traeg as composed by Mozart was put up for sale with the knowledge and blessing of Constanze, Mozart's widow. In this release there are the four Partitas, the works that Leeson had photographed in Prague.

The argument for "not authentic Mozart"

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  • There exists no score in Mozart's hand (i.e. no autograph).
  • In his extensive correspondence with his father Leopold, Mozart often mentioned pieces on which he was working. The works known as K.V. Anh. C17.04, C17.05 and C17.07 were not mentioned in this correspondence.
  • The Partitas were released with an unusually large number of works attributed to Mozart. The traditional notice in the Zeitung was one advertising two to three works, but never more than five. The notice of some 72+ works after Mozart's death seems incongruous with the advertisements placed while Mozart was alive.[17] Why were these works not made available during Mozart's lifetime, especially after 1788 when Mozart's finances were wanting?
  • The Prague souce of K.V. Anh. C 17.04 and C17.05 were found ordered in a manner that belies their identity as authentic Mozart.
  • There are some stylistic concerns. Leeson and Whitwell state that there are some “wholly un-Mozartean dynamics...the second clarinet suddenly and irrationally dominate the first clarinet...” [18]
  • Mozart asked students to do arrangements for him. For example, he asked Karl Andreas Göpfert to arrange a stack of Mozart's operas for Harmonie. [19] It is reasonable to infer that Mozart also gave his students composition exercises, possibly including arrangements and compositions for Harmonie.
  • Harmoniemusik scholar Roger Hellyer states that C17.01, C17.02 (possibly by Giuseppe Puschmann) and C17.03 (possibly by Ignaz Pleyel) are "not Mozart".[20]
  • James Campbell and David Bourque played on the first recording of the complete Anhang C Harmoniemusik made by the Festival Winds [2]. [21]. On performing and recording these works, Campbell states "Music (generally)speaks to the performer - it is easy to find a tempo, to hear the phrases. For the lesser composers, the music needs the help of the perforner to search for the correct tempo, balance. We struggled alot (with some of this music)." Bourque stated "we had to work very hard to make (the music) go". Some of the music was “very difficult to perform convincingly”.[22] While these observations are to be considered subjective, they offer expert opinion based on performance experience.

Earliest Source Materials of K.V. Anh. C 17.04, C17.05, C17.07

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Neal Zaslaw of Columbia University and Daniel N. Leeson are the co-editors of the Harmoniemusik of Mozart for the Barenreiter Neue Mozart Ausgabe edition of Mozart's complete works. During Leeson's research in the early 1970s, he had come across manuscripts in the Klementinum University Library in Prague. In 1972, there were no photocopy machines in Prague, so Leeson hired a photographer to take photographs of each page of his discoveries which Leeson printed on 8 ½ x 11 photo paper.

These works photographed by Leeson were K. Anh. C 17.04, C17.05 and C17.07. Two are full-length partitas (five movements in C17.04 and four movements in C17.05 -- C17.07 is a single movement work).

It is also believed that the Prague Score was copied from a set of parts, not from an earlier score.[23] This precludes the existence of an autograph score or, indeed a score of any kind. The parts that Constanze gave to Traeg were at least one generation from the manuscript, the Traeg score is yet another generation away. With each iteration, copying errors were likely accrue as “eighteenth century copyists were not noted for their accuracy or editorial capabilities”. [24]

First Editions of K.V. Anh C 17.04, C17.05 and C17.07

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The first editions of K.V. Anh. C 17.04, C17.05 and C17.07 were published in 1997 by Northdale International [ http://www.northdalemusic.com/mozart ]. These editions used the Leeson photographs of the Prague Parthien as source materials. The works were edited as critical editions and all changes from the source materials are extesnively documented in the score. Hundreds of changes were required in order to produce a viable performance edition. [25]

First recordings of the wind octets of K.V. Anh. C

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A recording of the K.V. Anhang C17.03, C17.04,C17.05 and C17.07 octets was made by Dieter Klöcker and the Consortium Classicum in 1995. It is believed that the Fuchs 1837 materials were used in part for this recording. [26]

The first sound recording using the Northdale International editions (the first edition of the Prague Partitas) was made by The Festival Winds on CBC Records in 2006. [27]This recording by the Festival Winds [[3]] uses the B&H Sept Pièces de Harmonie materials for C17.01, C17.02 and C17.03.

The Festival Winds recording is the first complete recording of K.V. Anh. C17.01, C17.02, C17.03, C17.04, C17.05 and C17.07 that was made using the earliest known material, that of 1792 (the Prague Parthien) and 1801 (the B&H Sept Piéces de Harmonie).

References

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  1. ^ Leeson, Daniel N., Whitwell,David (Oct. 1972). "Mozart's 'Spurious' Wind Octets". Music and Letters. 53 (4): 379. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ^ Whitwell, David. "The Incredible Viennese Octet School". The Instrumentalist. xxiv (Oct, 1969): pp. 33. {{cite journal}}: |pages= has extra text (help)
  3. ^ Geraldi, Kevin M. (2008). "Two Serenades by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – K.361/370a and K. 375 Collating and Clarifying a Context for Performance". Journal of the World Association for Symphonic Bands and Ensembles. 15. Druck und Verlag Obermayer GmbH: 8–9.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  4. ^ Hellyer, Roger (July, 1981). "Mozart's Harmoniemusik and Its Publishers". The Musical Times. 122 (1661). The Musical Times Ltd: 469. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ Hellyer, Roger. "ibid". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  6. ^ Leeson Daniel N., Whitwell David. : 377. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "op.cit." ignored (help)
  7. ^ Mozart, (attr.), Wolfgang Amadeus (1997). David Bourque (ed.). Partita in E flat K. Anh C 17.04. Toronto: Northdale Music International. ISBN ISMN M-706012-09-4. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  8. ^ Whitwell, David. "op.cit". {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ de St. Foix, Georges (1925). Mozart et les instruments à vent. Bulletin de la Societé Union Musicologique. pp. 207–222.
  10. ^ Mozart, Constanze (27 Oct 1798, 1 May 1800). Letter to Breitkopf & Härtel (Mozart-Breife und Aufzeichnungen ed.). Cassel, 1933. pp. lines 108-110. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  11. ^ Leeson, Daniel N., Whitwell,David. "op.cit": 381. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ^ "ibid": 381. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  13. ^ "ibid": 378. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  14. ^ "ibid": 398. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  15. ^ "ibid": 398. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ "ibid": 399. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  17. ^ "ibid": 398. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. ^ "ibid": 398. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  19. ^ Deutsch, Otto Erich (1965). "Mozart: A Documentary Biography". TV Documentary. London.
  20. ^ Hellyer, Roger. "op cit": 469. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  21. ^ The Festival Winds (2006). Mozart?. (sound recording). Toronto: CBC Records. ISBN CBC 1173-2. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  22. ^ Campbell James, Bourque David (Jan. 2006). "op.cit". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio 1. Toronto. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  23. ^ Hellyer, Roger. : 468–472. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help); Missing or empty |title= (help); Text "op.cit." ignored (help)
  24. ^ Leeson, Daniel N., Whitwell David. "op.cit": 398. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  25. ^ Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (attr.). Partita K. Anh. C17.04, David Bourque (ed.). op.cit.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: editors list (link)
  26. ^ Consortium Classicum (1995). ?Mozart!. Vol. Vol. 1 & 2. (sound recording). Germany: MDG Musikproduktion. ISBN MDG 301 0494-2, MDG 301 0495-2. {{cite book}}: |volume= has extra text (help); Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help)
  27. ^ The Festival Winds. op.cit. (sound recording).

External links

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