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MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791)
Autograph music manuscript, the opening 15 bars of the second movement ('Andante') of the Serenade in D major for orchestra ('Antretter'), K.185 (167a), n.p., n.d. [probably Salzburg, 1773].
In brown ink on a single 8-stave system per page. Including the autograph tempo marking, 'Andante', and autograph directions for instrumentation indicating 'Violino Principale' (solo violin), first and second violins, violas, two oboes, two horns, and 'Bassi'. Two pages on a single leaf, 162 x 217mm, on 10-stave paper, paginated '39' and foliated '14' (perhaps in the hand of Leopold Mozart). NMA IV/12/2, Kritischer Bericht, p. b/25. Tyson watermark 31.
The opening of the second movement of one of the most charming works of Mozart's Salzburg years. The Serenade, with its accompanying Processional March (K. 189 (167b)), was written in summer 1773, when Mozart was 17 years old, apparently for the graduation from Salzburg University of Judas Thaddäus von Antretter (b.1753), the son of a family well known to the Mozarts in Salzburg. By the time of the performance Mozart had left for a visit to Vienna with his father, but a letter of Leopold Mozart on 12 August 1773 reports their satisfaction at a report of a successful performance. The present leaf is the opening of the second of eight movements, marked 'Andante', which introduces an other-worldly, aria-like atmosphere after the pomp of the opening Allegro assai: this movement and the following Allegro are notable for their solo violin part, giving them something of the style of a concerto.
Provenance:
1. The complete autograph of the Serenade was originally bound with its sister composition, the Processional March K. 189 (167b), in a volume assembled by Mozart's father, Leopold Mozart, and titled in his hand.
2. Collection of Leopold von Sonnleithner (1797-1873, friend of Beethoven and Schubert).
3. August Cranz Verlag, music publishers, Hamburg; thence to an unidentified private collection.
4. The Processional March was detached and sold by Stargardt (Marburg) in 1966 (now in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek).
5. The Serenade was sold by Stargardt (Marburg), 25-26 February 1975, catalogue 605, lot 808, where it was acquired by an unidentified buyer. The manuscript was dismembered soon after the sale and its 58 leaves were widely dispersed: only 11 (not including this leaf) were included by Alan Tyson in his 1992 catalogue of Mozart's watermarks (NMA X/33, 1-2); a further six leaves are discussed by John Arthur in 'The watermark catalogue of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe: some addenda and corrigenda', Musical Times, vol.159, no.1945, 91-93.
6. The present leaf was acquired by the Scriptorium, Beverly Hills, California, and sold by them at Charles Hamilton Galleries, New York, 4 March 1976, lot 174, where it was acquired by the present owner.
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