NOTICE: All material in this document is ©1995 by the author, David W. Fenton. This text may not be re-distributed or re-used in any form without the express permission of the author.
In 1799, Constanze Mozart signed a contract for the sale of her dead husband's manuscripts to the music publishing firm of Johann André in Offenbach. This included all the autographs yet in her possession, as well as a number of authentic copies of Mozart's works.
Upon receipt of the manuscripts in January, 1800, André embarked upon an extensive series of editions with texts derived from the readings in Mozart's own autographs. These were not critical editions, but in many respects reflect better readings than any other available sources of the period. André capitalized on this source advantage by indicating his use of Mozart's autographs on his title pages with one of these three expressions:
and, later, he used both of these (the German had several other variants, as well):
Since many of the works of which André had acquired the autograph had already been published, claiming the authority of the composer's manuscript was apparently the best way to increase sales and recoup his investment.
There is a lot more that I would like to say, but I haven't the time yet. . .sorry it's incomplete!
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More to come. . .
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How the organization of the catalogs reflect contemporary concepts of genre
More to come. . .
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