W. A. Mozart---E. A. Förster. Scribal copy of the Variations on a Theme by Sarti, K. Anh.289 (Anh.C 26.06), late C18th?

[MOZART, WOLFGANG AMADEUS]---EMANUEL ALOYS FÖRSTER (1748-1823)

Manuscript of the Ten Variations on a Theme by Sarti, K.Anh.289 (Anh.C 26.06)

notated by a single scribe in brown ink on five two-stave systems per page, the title in another hand ("Thême varié pour le Pianoforte par W. A. Mozart")

10 pages, plus title and one blank, oblong 4to (25 x 33cm), 10-stave paper, D & C Blauw paper, ruled with a single-headed rastrum, disbound, no place or date, [late C18th?]

Published by Breitkopf & Härtel in 1799 under Mozart's name (Oeuvres Complettes, Cahier 6, 9), these attractive variations were actually written by the German-born Emanuel Aloys Förster. A longtime resident of Vienna, he protested strongly to Breitkopf against the ascription to Mozart in a letter of 11 March 1800, referred to by Constanze Mozart in hers to the publisher J.A. André on 29 March 1800. According to Förster's letter, the variations were first published in 1788.

For the autograph manuscript of Mozart's Minuets K.164, please see our sale in Paris, 18 November 2019, and the advertisement at the back of this catalogue.