Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

the working manuscript of the last 13 bars (bb. 103-115) of the fifth movement ('Andante grazioso'), scored for an orchestra of two flutes, two horns and strings, notated in brown ink on a single eight-stave system per page, with a few autograph deletions and alterations

2 pages, small oblong 4to (c.16 x 22cm), 10-stave ('Klein-Querformat') paper (Tyson, Wasserzeichen-Katalog, no.31), foliation number '38' and pagination number '87' in pencil, BOTH POSSIBLY IN THE HAND OF LEOPOLD MOZART, at the upper right-hand corner of the recto, no place or date [probably Salzburg, 1773], slight browning to edges

Neue Mozart-Ausgabe IV/1/2, Kritischer Bericht, p. b/25; Neue Mozart-Ausgabe X/33/2, 'Wasserzeichen 31' (Kassel, etc., 1992), p. 13; H.C. Robbins Landon (ed.), The Mozart Companion (London, 1990), p. 271

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."

This is a fine leaf from an orchestral score entirely in the fluent hand of the seventeen-year-old composer.

The Serenade in D major, K. 185, one of Mozart's most attractive teenage compositions, was probably written in Salzburg shortly before the composer's journey to Vienna on 14 July 1773. Confusion over the dating of the work has arisen due to Leopold Mozart's partially cancelled inscription on the autograph, which has been read as 'à Vienne nell' Agosto 1773', but it is likely that the only part of the serenade composed in Vienna was the accompanying introductory march K. 189 (q.v. below). It is generally assumed that the work was intended as a summer Finalmusik - a characteristic Salzburg musical form - for the graduation from Salzburg University of the Mozart family's friend Judas Thaddäus von Antretter (born 28 October 1753). Preceded by its processional march, the seven-movement serenade - whose second and third movements contain a concertante solo violin part - would have been performed twice, once in front of the Mirabell Palace, the Archbishop's summer residence in Salzburg, and again on the other side of the river, on the former Kollegienplatz in front of the assembled professors and students.

The present leaf contains the closing 13 bars of the 115-bar 'Andante grazioso' fifth movement. This slow movement is the emotional heart of the serenade, and is written in the expressive key of A major, a tonality favoured by Mozart for the rendering of amorous emotions. It is constructed by means of a succession of exquisite, rhythmically-varied, short phrases, one of the most captivating of these being the delicate staccato triplet-semiquaver figure which is not only found at the end of the exposition and recapitulation sections of the movement, but also forms the basis of the movement's coda (contained here and designated as such in the manuscript). Such musical envois are by no means common in Mozart's instrumental works, and their presence in K.185 reinforces the impression of a more expansive style of writing, typical of comparable movements in other of Mozart's Salzburg serenades, but unlike those of his symphonies of the same period.

Mozart's score of the complete serenade contained 58 leaves, of which the present manuscript is leaf 38. The work was originally bound together with the introductory march K.189 (167b) in one volume assembled by Leopold Mozart - the so-called Cranz volume no.1, at one time in the possession of Franz Schubert's friend Leopold von Sonnleithner. (The third Cranz volume, containing nine symphonies by Mozart from 1773-1774, was sold in these rooms on 22 May 1987, lot 457.) In 1966, K.189 was sold separately at auction in Germany, K.185 being similarly offered for sale nine years later. The serenade manuscript was subsequently dismembered and the exact whereabouts of much of it are currently unknown. The distinguished British Mozart scholar Alan Tyson, WHO DID NOT EXAMINE THE PRESENT LEAF, lists only 11 leaves of K.185 in his catalogue of Mozart's watermarks (1992), these being scattered all over the world, in America, Belgium, Austria and Japan. Just two leaves of the fifth movement were known to Tyson, the single leaves preserved in the Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, Salzburg, and in Japan (Makoto Nakamura), containing, respectively, bb. 9-24 and bb. 25-38. The other leaves of the serenade offered for sale in these rooms are as follows: fol. 16, containing bb. 29-39 of the second movement, (19 May 2006, lot 115); fol. 17, containing bb. 40-53 of the second movement (1 December 2010, lot 52); and fol. 19, containing bb. 66-77 (27 November 2013, lot 197).