Beschreibung:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Autograph manuscript of part of the Serenade in D major for orchestra ('Antretter'), K.185 (167a)
THE WORKING MANUSCRIPT OF BB.37-54 OF THE THIRD MOVEMENT ('ALLEGRO'), scored for an orchestra of two oboes, two horns and strings, including solo violin, notated in brown ink on a single 8-stave system per page
2 pages, small oblong 4to (16.2 x 21.8cm), 10-stave ('Klein-Querformat') paper, Tyson watermark 31 (quadrant 2a), pencil numbering of the bars ("21"-"38") between staves 7 and 8 of the system and pencil pagination number '55' and foliation number '22' in the upper right-hand corner of the first page, ALL POSSIBLY IN THE HAND OF LEOPOLD MOZART, central fold, no place or date [probably Salzburg, 1773], some very light browning to edges
THIS IS A FINE LEAF FROM AN ORCHESTRAL SCORE IN THE FLUENT HAND OF THE SEVENTEEN-YEAR-OLD COMPOSER.
The seven-movement Serenade in D for orchestra, K.185, is one of Mozart's most attractive Salzburg works. Although its exact date of composition, as well as the purpose for which it was written, has not been established beyond doubt, it is generally assumed that the work was intended as a summer Finalmusik for the graduation from Salzburg University of Judas Thaddäus von Antretter (born 28 October 1753), a friend of the Mozart family. Preceded by the processional march K.189, the serenade would have been performed twice, once in front of the Mirabell Palace, the Archbishop's summer residence in Salzburg, and again on the other side of the river, on the former Kollegienplatz in front of the assembled professors and students. The view expressed in the sixth edition of Köchel's catalogue of Mozart's works (published 1964), that the work was presumably written in Vienna between July and the beginning of August 1773 (Mozart visited the Austrian capital with his father Leopold between July and September of that year), is based, it seems, on a misinterpretation of a reference to the work in a letter of 21 July 1773 by Leopold Mozart. In his letter Leopold writes: "Ich muß schlüssen, dann es ist zeit noch ein paar Zeihlen an den jungen H: v Andretter zu schreiben und den Anfang der Final Musik zu schicken [I must close, for there is still time for me to write a few lines to young Herr von Andretter and to send him the beginning of the Finalmusik]". This reference to the 'beginning' of the serenade undoubtedly means however the March K.189, and not the beginning of the serenade proper, for already in a letter of 12 August 1773 we find Leopold commenting on news of a successful performance of the work in Salzburg, expressing his and Wolfgang's satisfaction ("...wir sind froh, daß die finalmusik gut von statten gegangen...[...We are glad that the Final Musik went off well...]"). Clearly, given these time constraints, only the march K.189 could have been composed in Vienna, and not the 116-page-long serenade itself, comprising as it does of a lengthy opening sonata-allegro, two slow movements (nos.2 and 5), two minuets (nos.4 and 6), an interpolated concerto rondo movement (no.3) and a closing Allegro assai, preceded by an Adagio introduction.
The 18 bars of music contained on this leaf are from the first solo section of the rondo-style Allegro third movement, one of two concerto-like movements embedded in the serenade which are in a key (F major) somewhat remote from the work's home key of D - a tonal off-setting as it were that lends a particular enchantment to these movements, accentuated in the present movement by the alternation of more lightly-score solo passages and those for the full orchestra.
Mozart's autograph score of the Serenade K.185 was made up of 58 leaves, of which the present manuscript is leaf 22. The serenade was originally bound together with the March K.189 (167b) in one volume assembled by the composer's father, Leopold Mozart, and provided by him with a manuscript title on the original red marbled wrapper ("Serenata / Del Sig:re Cavaliere Amadeo / Wolfgango Mozart / Accademico di Bologna / e di / Verona / 1773"). This is the so-called Cranz volume no. 1, named after a former owner, the Hamburg publishing house of August Cranz; an earlier owner was Schubert's friend Leopold von Sonnleithner. Another volume owned by Cranz contained nine symphonies by Mozart, from the years 1773-1774: this is the famous "Cranz volume no.3", which was sold in these rooms on 22 May 1987, lot 457. In 1966, the Processional March (introducing the Serenade) was sold separately at auction in Germany, and is now preserved in the Berlin Staatsbibliothek. K.185 was offered at auction in 1975, and subsequently dismembered; the exact whereabouts of much of the autograph being currently unknown.
The present leaf was recorded by the great Mozart scholar Alan Tyson (1926-2000) in connection with the preparation of his magnum opus, a catalogue of all Mozart's watermarks (published in 1992 as a supplement volume to the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe). This lists the whereabouts of only 11 of K.185's 58 leaves, including three from the third movement. In the intervening years a number of the serenade's errant leaves have resurfaced, including at least one from that movement. 
LITERATURE:NMA IV/1/2, Kritischer Bericht, pp.b/26ff.; NMA X/33/2, 'Wasserzeichen 31' (Kassel. etc., 1992), p.13; H.C. Robbins Landon (ed.), The Mozart Companion, (London, 1990), p.271; John Arthur, 'The watermark catalogue of the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe: some addenda and corrigenda, The Musical Times, clix (2018), pp.91-93.
PROVENANCE:Leopold von Sonnleithner; Verlag August Cranz; US private collection