A Collection of Autograph Manuscripts by Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner and other Great Composers

F. Liszt, Three autograph manuscripts, of A la Chapelle Sixtine and Alleluia, (Evocation of the Sistine Chapel in Rome).
Estimate: £40,000–60,000.

This is a complete major piano work by Liszt, typically flamboyant and virtuosic. Liszt evokes the spirit of the Sistine Chapel by reference to two famous vocal works performed there, Allegri’s Miserere and Mozart’s Ave verum. The first loud section evokes the effect of the famous Miserere which was supposed to be an ethereal sacred piece exclusive to the chapel, but c.3 ½ mins into it, it already sounds more like Rachmaninov’s Third Concerto. The calmer sections include transcriptions of Mozart’s famous motet Ave verum corpus K.618.

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, autograph manuscript of the Scherzo in E minor for piano, Op.16 no. 2, 1830.
Estimate: £20,000–30,000.

There has not been a Mendelssohn piano work at Sotheby’s since 1990. Moreover, this manuscript shows Mendelssohn at his most imaginative: his special talent for “magical” scherzos in minor keys (compare the Scherzo from the A Midsummer’s Night’s Dream music and the Scherzo from the Octet)

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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Igor Stravinsky, autograph manuscript of part of L'Oiseau de feu (The Firebird), an early draft [1909].
Estimate: £30,000–40,000.

This manuscript is only six pages, but it is an extremely rare manuscript of one of Stravinksy's most famous works. Firebird (1910) was the first ballet he composed for Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes; next he wrote Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913). We have never seen a composing manuscript of any part of the original Firebird ballet at auction. It is a rather colourful and attractive score highlighted with blue and red crayon.

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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W.A. Mozart, autograph manuscript of the Sonata in G for piano four hands, K.357 (497a), 1787-1789.
Estimate: £300,000–400,000.

This manuscript contains all that Mozart composed of this duet for himself to play with some female pupil(s). The players have to perform this piece with the player at the left-hand (bass) end of the keyboard crossing his right hand over the left hand of the right-hand (treble) player throughout. So Mozart labels the top two staves as both right hands and the bottom two staves as both left hands (not 'Primo' and 'Secondo' as usual). You can see Mozart performing in this intimate manner in a famous painting of him playing duets with his sister Nannerl (by Della Croce, after 1778).

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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Ludwig v. Beethoven, Remarkable autograph sketchleaf for the String Quartet in C, op.59 no.3, the second movement, [1806].
Estimate: £150,000–200,000.

This is a remarkable and spectacular manuscript. It shows Beethoven working intensively on one of the most significant chamber works from his celebrated "middle" period. The Third "Razumovsky" quartet, op.59 no.3, appears amidst the epoch-making series of works represented by Beethoven's opus numbers from op.55 to op.61, comprising the Eroica Symphony, the Triple Concerto, the Appassionata Sonata, the Fourth Piano Concerto, the three "Razumovsky" Quartets, the Fourth Symphony and the Violin Concerto. Few sketches survive for this lengthy slow movement and this one has been little studied.

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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R. Strauss, autograph manuscript of Strauss's arrangement for piano four hands of Aus Italien.
Estimate: £80,000–120,000.

Aus Italien, the first of Strauss's famous symphonic poems, was begun on a visit to Italy in the summer of 1886 and completed after he returned to Munich to take up the post of conductor at the Court Opera in August of that year. It is his first major purely symphonic work (apart from a few concertante pieces).

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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R. Wagner, autograph working manuscript of the first poetical draft of the libretto of Tannhäuser, 1843.
Estimate: £200,000–300,000.

This is a complete manuscript by Wagner and, at 20 large folio pages, it's the most important to have appeared at auction for many years. Titled "Der Venusberg Romantische Oper in 3 Acten", and signed at the end ("Richard Wagner Dresden 22 März 1843"), it contains deletions, alterations and revisions, including to the texts of some of the most famous scenes and an additional section of sixteen lines, marked "Gesang der älteren Pilger" (written after the end of the third act).

Fine Autograph Music: the Property of Helmut Nanz and Family
22 May 2018 | London

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