Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus and Maria Anna ('Nannerl') Mozart.

Mozart's music for the cadenza, contained on the recto, comprising the two final left-hand chords and the preceding octave Cs with the first note in the right hand (c') above this, notated on a single stave in brown ink, Nannerl's music, on the verso, comprising figured bass with arpeggios, written in brown ink on three two-stave systems, the left hand of the third system being written on handwritten stavelines below the last rastrum-drawn stave, 2 pages, c.12 x 30cm, cut down from an oblong 4to leaf, 5 hand-drawn staves visible on each side [Tyson Watermark 1] autograph annotations by John Ella, no place or date [Salzburg, 1771-1772], trimmed on three sides, crudely repaired on the recto, tiny hole to lower margin, overall staining; together with Ella's profusely annotated, now separated, mount (35 x 44.5cm), containing a laid-down and cropped nineteenth-century engraving of Mozart as a child

NMA X/28/Abteilung 2, Kritische Berichte (prepared by Ulrich Leisinger), pp. 13-15, 128 and 145 (transcription); Alec Hyatt King, A Mozart Legacy. Aspects of the British Library Collections (London, 1984), p. 61.

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."

A remarkable manuscript containing keyboard music in the hands of both Mozart and his sister Maria Anna ('Nannerl') (1751-1829). Autograph musical manuscripts in Nannerl's handwriting are of the utmost rarity at auction.

This manuscript has not been offered for sale since the early nineteenth century.

Formerly regarded as a cadenza for Johann Samuel Schroeter's Piano Concerto in F, Op. III no. 1, K. 626a, II, H is now considered, on musical grounds (in particular, its lack of thematic correspondence with its supposed intended movement) to be for an as yet unidentified concerto. Its dating to Salzburg, 1771-1772, follows from Wolfgang Plath's assessment of the handwriting of the bulk of the cadenza contained on another half leaf sold in these rooms on 29 November 1985 (lot 170). Although compact in design, it contains all the features found typically in cadenzas written by Mozart for his own keyboard concertos, namely brilliant passage work and a simple yet compelling harmonic structure. It may well have been intended as teaching material, possibly even for Nannerl's use (Mozart was more than capable of improvising cadenzas in performance, for which he would have required no written prompt).

A distinguished former owner of the manuscript, the concert manager, conductor and critic John Ella (1802-1888) provides some details of the provenance (contained on the now separate, richly annotated, mount): "[Aloys] Fuchs Dec.r 1845, gave me this autograph of Mozart, written in Vienna, 1762, when only six years old...". Ella is referring here to the apparent arpeggio exercises: today, however, these can confidently be identified as being in Mozart's sister's hand: the determining factor, in addition to the somewhat naive appearance of the writing, being the the inward-facing bass clefs with their curled ends. Written on the verso of the leaf, and possibly exemplifying the type of - modulation or improvisation? - exercise that Nannerl wrote under her father's supervision, the exercises postdate Mozart's cadenza music on the recto: when exactly they were written is uncertain, although a date sometime in the 1770s is probable.

A copy by Leopold Mozart of the present cadenza survives together with cadenzas for Schroeter's Op. III no. 6 concerto, also in Leopold's hand (see K.⁶ 626a, II, F, G, H), on a leaf now in the Mozarteum, Salzburg. The music for the cadenza contained on the present leaf diverges significantly from the relevant part of the cadenza transcription in the New Mozart Edition.