Bonn Music Archives 1784-1794
Bonn Music Archives 1784-1794
1/3
Preliminary Information
I offer this section first because it puts the subject of Catalogue C.53.1 in to some sort of context and because it makes it possible for general readers to have some idea of Bonn's music archives during the last 10 years of its existence - years just prior to the departure of Beethoven for Vienna.
It is not principally intended to be controversial but as a general guide. If points are made on which there is disagreement or on which clarification is required, I will do my best to resolve these to the best of my ability. Most of all, it is an attempt to share information, to have it discussed, and for all readers to profit by respectful dialogue about the history of the music archives at Bonn during this vital time. Some of this preliminary material will already be available in posts on this forum but it is here brought together in a more concise form.
1. 12 days after the death of the death of the Elector Max Friedrich (27th April 1784) the new Elector, Max Franz, made his entry in to the Cologne Principality.
2. One of Max Franz's first instructions (he being an avid lover of music) was to give instructions to a board of officials at the Bonn Kapelle, presided over by Fries, acting as Court Notary and checked in his work by the then court organist, CG Neefe (who also directed the court orchestra at this time as a substitute for Kapellmeister Luchesi, then on leave in Italy) to conduct an Inventory of the musical assets of the Bonn Kapelle.
3. The return from Italy of Luchesi (together with his Konzertmeister Gaetano Mattioli (1st violin) was expected in time for solemn service for the late Max Friedrich (30 days afer his death) on 15th May that same year of 1784.
4. Max Franz did not wish to wait for Luchesi's return and instructed that the Inventory would begin in his absence.
5. The work of the Inventory was completed on 8th May 1784 and its results were submitted in written form to Max Franz by the Court Notary, Fries.
6. In terms of music, the inventory covers that for the chapel (Kapelle), for the Court (Hofmusik) as well as theatrical and orchestral music. It does NOT include a listing of chamber works (Kabinett).
7. There are good reasons for believing that almost the whole of the instrumental music and of the sacred music that was inventoried by Neefe was either purchased or composed after 1771, most of it at Bonn. The notable exceptions being for the most part acquisitions made in Bologna by Gaetaneo Mattioli in 1775. (A letter still exists from Mattioli in Bolgona at the time informing the Prime Minister Belderbusch of these Italian acquisitions).
8. Many comic works (more than 20) of those inventoried at that time had arrived in Bonn with Luchesi himself in 1771, these intended as teaching aids.
Note - One obvious fact that emerges from the 1784 is of course that all works contained within the Neefe/Freis inventory were composed before that date.
9. The Neefe/Fries inventory of that May 1784 records not a single work of any kind in the Bonn archives by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Nor any theatrical works by Haydn. But of church music there were 6 Masses of 'Haydn' (n.24-9), and of symphonies 8 (n.21-28) to 'Haydn', while another 11 symphonies are listed under the slightly different spelling of 'Heyde'.
10. In addition to the above symphonies there were two groupings of un-named symphonies, one of these listed as being by 'differents auteurs' (28 in number) and another described separately later in the same inventory also as by 'different auteurs' (10 in number) which, of course, were not there attributed to any specific composer.
After this Inventory of May 1784 Max Franz oversaw the creation of not one but two simulataneous music catalogues, one of these intended for Sacred Music (but now lost) and the other for Instrumental Music (still surviving minus its title page) and today found at Modena with some of the still surviving manuscripts from Bonn.
The first person to study the Bonn material at Modena was the Modenese librarian Angelo Catelani, in 1851.
That this Bonn material was in Modena long before 1851 is stated by S.Brandenburg in 'Die Kurfuerstliche Musikbibliothek in Bonn - Beethoven Yearbook - 1978 - p.43', who says it was certainly there by 1831, 20 years before.
The librarian Catelani was able to determine by close study that red ink was used to list works at Bonn entered after 1784. He was also able to compile (though not completely) an 'Index of Ecclesiastical Music of the Royal Court of Modena' that same year of 1851, adding that till that time 'these archives were never touched here by any regulatory hand'
So these two catalogues (one of them still missing) are known to have been used at Bonn during the last decade of its musical life. They abandoned the previous classification system into genres used during the Neefe/Fries inventory (masses, motets, symphonies etc) and used instead an alphabetical index by composer's names with a number next to each piece, starting, obviously, with the number 1.
The Catalogue C.53.1 was begun, therefore, after May of 1784 by the Kapellmeister and it can be shown to have been in used up to at least 1791 (perhaps even as late as early 1793). Various works noted within it show such dates are entirely reasonable.
Almost all covers and title pages from surviving Bonn material at Modena have disappeared, having been torn off and in many cases with the title page destroyed or mutilated.
A striking correlation was noted early in terms of the results of the Neefe/Fries inventory and those symphonies today found at Modena in the following respect -
At Modena in 1784 a total of 58 symphonies feature in the Inventory -
8 'Heyde'
11 'Haydn'
28 'de differents auteurs'
10 'de differents auteurs'
1 '7 Last Words'
Total 58
and at Modena we find the following symphonies -
34 'Haydn'
4 anon (either attributed today to Haydn or Mozart elsewhere)
6 'Haydn'
9 'Mozart'
1 '7 Last Words'
Total 58
Also curious is the fact that despite Mozart not being named in the 1784 Inventory we have at Modena manuscripts of the following 'Mozart' works. Given first is the normal Koechel number followed by its current Modena library reference, the 'traditional' date when Mozart is said to have composed them and the type of paper on which these works are each written -
KV320 (E-55) date 1779 Swabian paper
KV203 (E-158)date 1774 NicHeisler paper
KV200 (E-154)date 1774 Swabian paper
KV385 (E-159)date 1782 Italian paper
KV319 (E-161)date 1779 NicHeisler paper
KV201 (E-157)date 1774 Italian paper
KV297 (E-160)date 1778 NicHeisler paper
KV504 (E-162)date 1786 NicHeisler paper
KV551 (D-640)date 1788 Dutch/Swabian paper
KV182 (E-156)date 1775 Swabian paper
Bear in mind too that, as at May 1784 not a single Mozart work was recorded at Bonn.
Of 'Haydn' works from Bonn at Modena, I will provide a list of symphonies attributed to him in Part 2. And of church works (Masses), these attributed also to Haydn and now at Modena from Bonn, I will provide a list of these in Part 3.
A final note - the Koechel Catalogue of Mozart's works (6th edition of 1964) recognises 8 of the above symphonies now existing at Modena. But, very strangely, they seem to have overlooked KV504 ('The Prague' Symphony) shown above and also the anonymous copy of KV551 'The Jupiter'). One must whether they are conscious that the presence of these 2 symphonies at Modena was the consequence of them being in Bonn in May of 1784 with all the implications that has for their attribution to Mozart. In addition, KV551 comes from Bonn -the Dutch/Swabian watermarks show this. It is already clear that the symphonies and other works we find inscribed to Mozart in the Catalogue C.53.1 presuppose a series of Mozart/Bonn relationships and Bonn/Mozart relationships of which almost every trace has been purposely erased. And, of course, it is precisely from the time of the Bonn Inventory of 1784 that we note a qualitative jump in Mozart's works - the very same time, in fact, when Mozart, remarkably and finally, begins to keep a thematic catalogue of his compositions.
(The total list of works entered in to the Catalogue C.53.1 under the heading of 'Mozart' at Bonn are 14 symphonies, 2 cassations, 5 piano concertos, 4 sonatas for piano and violin, 9 string quartets, 3 string quintets and a string trio).
RN
[This message has been edited by robert newman (edited 09-12-2006).]
1/3
Preliminary Information
I offer this section first because it puts the subject of Catalogue C.53.1 in to some sort of context and because it makes it possible for general readers to have some idea of Bonn's music archives during the last 10 years of its existence - years just prior to the departure of Beethoven for Vienna.
It is not principally intended to be controversial but as a general guide. If points are made on which there is disagreement or on which clarification is required, I will do my best to resolve these to the best of my ability. Most of all, it is an attempt to share information, to have it discussed, and for all readers to profit by respectful dialogue about the history of the music archives at Bonn during this vital time. Some of this preliminary material will already be available in posts on this forum but it is here brought together in a more concise form.
1. 12 days after the death of the death of the Elector Max Friedrich (27th April 1784) the new Elector, Max Franz, made his entry in to the Cologne Principality.
2. One of Max Franz's first instructions (he being an avid lover of music) was to give instructions to a board of officials at the Bonn Kapelle, presided over by Fries, acting as Court Notary and checked in his work by the then court organist, CG Neefe (who also directed the court orchestra at this time as a substitute for Kapellmeister Luchesi, then on leave in Italy) to conduct an Inventory of the musical assets of the Bonn Kapelle.
3. The return from Italy of Luchesi (together with his Konzertmeister Gaetano Mattioli (1st violin) was expected in time for solemn service for the late Max Friedrich (30 days afer his death) on 15th May that same year of 1784.
4. Max Franz did not wish to wait for Luchesi's return and instructed that the Inventory would begin in his absence.
5. The work of the Inventory was completed on 8th May 1784 and its results were submitted in written form to Max Franz by the Court Notary, Fries.
6. In terms of music, the inventory covers that for the chapel (Kapelle), for the Court (Hofmusik) as well as theatrical and orchestral music. It does NOT include a listing of chamber works (Kabinett).
7. There are good reasons for believing that almost the whole of the instrumental music and of the sacred music that was inventoried by Neefe was either purchased or composed after 1771, most of it at Bonn. The notable exceptions being for the most part acquisitions made in Bologna by Gaetaneo Mattioli in 1775. (A letter still exists from Mattioli in Bolgona at the time informing the Prime Minister Belderbusch of these Italian acquisitions).
8. Many comic works (more than 20) of those inventoried at that time had arrived in Bonn with Luchesi himself in 1771, these intended as teaching aids.
Note - One obvious fact that emerges from the 1784 is of course that all works contained within the Neefe/Freis inventory were composed before that date.
9. The Neefe/Fries inventory of that May 1784 records not a single work of any kind in the Bonn archives by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Nor any theatrical works by Haydn. But of church music there were 6 Masses of 'Haydn' (n.24-9), and of symphonies 8 (n.21-28) to 'Haydn', while another 11 symphonies are listed under the slightly different spelling of 'Heyde'.
10. In addition to the above symphonies there were two groupings of un-named symphonies, one of these listed as being by 'differents auteurs' (28 in number) and another described separately later in the same inventory also as by 'different auteurs' (10 in number) which, of course, were not there attributed to any specific composer.
After this Inventory of May 1784 Max Franz oversaw the creation of not one but two simulataneous music catalogues, one of these intended for Sacred Music (but now lost) and the other for Instrumental Music (still surviving minus its title page) and today found at Modena with some of the still surviving manuscripts from Bonn.
The first person to study the Bonn material at Modena was the Modenese librarian Angelo Catelani, in 1851.
That this Bonn material was in Modena long before 1851 is stated by S.Brandenburg in 'Die Kurfuerstliche Musikbibliothek in Bonn - Beethoven Yearbook - 1978 - p.43', who says it was certainly there by 1831, 20 years before.
The librarian Catelani was able to determine by close study that red ink was used to list works at Bonn entered after 1784. He was also able to compile (though not completely) an 'Index of Ecclesiastical Music of the Royal Court of Modena' that same year of 1851, adding that till that time 'these archives were never touched here by any regulatory hand'
So these two catalogues (one of them still missing) are known to have been used at Bonn during the last decade of its musical life. They abandoned the previous classification system into genres used during the Neefe/Fries inventory (masses, motets, symphonies etc) and used instead an alphabetical index by composer's names with a number next to each piece, starting, obviously, with the number 1.
The Catalogue C.53.1 was begun, therefore, after May of 1784 by the Kapellmeister and it can be shown to have been in used up to at least 1791 (perhaps even as late as early 1793). Various works noted within it show such dates are entirely reasonable.
Almost all covers and title pages from surviving Bonn material at Modena have disappeared, having been torn off and in many cases with the title page destroyed or mutilated.
A striking correlation was noted early in terms of the results of the Neefe/Fries inventory and those symphonies today found at Modena in the following respect -
At Modena in 1784 a total of 58 symphonies feature in the Inventory -
8 'Heyde'
11 'Haydn'
28 'de differents auteurs'
10 'de differents auteurs'
1 '7 Last Words'
Total 58
and at Modena we find the following symphonies -
34 'Haydn'
4 anon (either attributed today to Haydn or Mozart elsewhere)
6 'Haydn'
9 'Mozart'
1 '7 Last Words'
Total 58
Also curious is the fact that despite Mozart not being named in the 1784 Inventory we have at Modena manuscripts of the following 'Mozart' works. Given first is the normal Koechel number followed by its current Modena library reference, the 'traditional' date when Mozart is said to have composed them and the type of paper on which these works are each written -
KV320 (E-55) date 1779 Swabian paper
KV203 (E-158)date 1774 NicHeisler paper
KV200 (E-154)date 1774 Swabian paper
KV385 (E-159)date 1782 Italian paper
KV319 (E-161)date 1779 NicHeisler paper
KV201 (E-157)date 1774 Italian paper
KV297 (E-160)date 1778 NicHeisler paper
KV504 (E-162)date 1786 NicHeisler paper
KV551 (D-640)date 1788 Dutch/Swabian paper
KV182 (E-156)date 1775 Swabian paper
Bear in mind too that, as at May 1784 not a single Mozart work was recorded at Bonn.
Of 'Haydn' works from Bonn at Modena, I will provide a list of symphonies attributed to him in Part 2. And of church works (Masses), these attributed also to Haydn and now at Modena from Bonn, I will provide a list of these in Part 3.
A final note - the Koechel Catalogue of Mozart's works (6th edition of 1964) recognises 8 of the above symphonies now existing at Modena. But, very strangely, they seem to have overlooked KV504 ('The Prague' Symphony) shown above and also the anonymous copy of KV551 'The Jupiter'). One must whether they are conscious that the presence of these 2 symphonies at Modena was the consequence of them being in Bonn in May of 1784 with all the implications that has for their attribution to Mozart. In addition, KV551 comes from Bonn -the Dutch/Swabian watermarks show this. It is already clear that the symphonies and other works we find inscribed to Mozart in the Catalogue C.53.1 presuppose a series of Mozart/Bonn relationships and Bonn/Mozart relationships of which almost every trace has been purposely erased. And, of course, it is precisely from the time of the Bonn Inventory of 1784 that we note a qualitative jump in Mozart's works - the very same time, in fact, when Mozart, remarkably and finally, begins to keep a thematic catalogue of his compositions.
(The total list of works entered in to the Catalogue C.53.1 under the heading of 'Mozart' at Bonn are 14 symphonies, 2 cassations, 5 piano concertos, 4 sonatas for piano and violin, 9 string quartets, 3 string quintets and a string trio).
RN
[This message has been edited by robert newman (edited 09-12-2006).]
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