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MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus, 1756-1791
Idomeneo. K.366, with Ballet K.367.
Facsimile of the Autograph Score.
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin—Preußischer Kulturbesitz, Biblioteka
Jagiellońska Kraków (Mus. ms. autogr. W.A. Mozart 366, 367, 489
and 490).
Introductory Essay by
Hans Joachim Kreutzer. Musicological
Introduction by Bruce Alan Brown.
[Mozart Operas
in Facsimile, I]
 beginning of
the overture
Mozart
Operas in Facsimile, 1. Palo Alto, 2006.
Oblong, 4°, 3 vols, 888 pp. A beautiful and
exacting full-color reproduction of the autograph score composed
between September of 1780
and January of 1781, with additions and corrections as late as 1786.
The facsimile reunites
Acts I & II preserved today in the Biblioteka Jagiellońska
Kraków, and the Act III and the ballet music (K.367) held by the
Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin. Mozart's score, written in a clear and neat
handwriting, served as the source for a copyist's score used for the
premiere, from which instrumental parts were created. Yet by no means
is Mozart’s autograph score a fair copy, as it represents a fascinating
mixture of completely stable portions with ones that show clear signs
of fluidity and development, with numerous crossouts, multiple
versions, even versions that appear as rehearsal trials. The
autograph also bears witness to frequent rewrites of scene endings:
cadences are cleverly adjusted and provided with transitions that
enable the music to move seamlessly to the next number, a technique
practically not seen again until Don Giovanni. Another feature
of the opera is Mozart's use of cyclic devices, for example,
composing arias based on motivic material taken from the preceding
number.
The nature of the commission and the relatively strict time frame
imposed on
the composer must have turned the Palatine Elector Carl Theodor's
residence into a noisy production studio, with various rehearsals going
on
simultaneously, copyists preparing parts, Mozart coaching and cajoling
singers, all the while he was still composing the work; as was common
the arias came first (often being rejected by problematic singers),
while the overture was composed last. The opera saw, in addition
to its Munich performance, a concert version in Vienna in 1786 with
orchestra and tenor, portions of which are also documented in the
facsimile. This beautiful bibliophile edition, in three volumes, bound
in dark brown quarter leather with beige linen boards, inagurates the
series "Mozart Operas in Facsimiles". $200
(view
other
volumes from this series)
ISBN 1-933280-07-7
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