Newly Digitized: 1805 Mozart Thematic Catalogue

Included in the bulk lot of autograph manuscripts Johan Anton André purchased from Mozart’s widow Constanze in 1799 was Mozart’s Verzeichnüss aller meiner Werke, a thematic catalogue of works composed between February of 1784 and November of 1791 (now held by the British Library, and published online with extensive notes in their Digitised Manuscripts collection).¹

Creating a published record of Mozart’s works was a priority for both Constanze and André; and soon after acquiring the manuscripts, André used the Verzeichnüss as the basis for a thematic catalogue published in two editions (1805 and 1828).

This 1805 first edition – the earliest surviving lithographed book – reproduces the format and order of Mozart’s catalogue, while paraphrasing Mozart’s descriptions in German and French. On the verso of each opening, the compositions (usually five per page) are listed by date, title, and instrumentation, while the corresponding musical incipits appear on the recto.

• Thematisches Verzeichniss sämmtlicher Kompositionen von W.A. Mozart, so wie er solches vom 9ten Februar 1784 an, bis zum 15ten November 1791 eigenhändig niedergeschrieben hat / nach dem Original-Manuscripte herausgegeben von A. André 1805. Offenbach a/M: Bey J. André, [1805]. Merritt Room ML134.M9 A23

The 1828 second edition, in German, transcribes Mozart’s descriptions of each piece. Both correct a mistake in the manuscript and number the works 1-145.

While the task of compiling a complete thematic catalogue occupied André for over 30 years, it remained unpublished at his death in 1842, although it survives in manuscript. Nonetheless, his work studying and publishing Mozart’s works remains important to later editors and scholars.

-Kerry Masteller

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1. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Verzeichnüss aller meiner Werke vom Monath febrario 1784 bis Monath [November] 1[791]. British Library, Zweig MS 63, http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Zweig_MS_63.

2. André, Johan Anton. W. A. Mozart’s thematischer Catalog: wie er solchen vom 9. Februar 1784 bis zum 15. November 1791 eigenhändig geschrieben hat nebst einem erläuternden Vorbericht (Offenbach: André, 1828), http://reader.digitale-sammlungen.de/en/fs1/object/display/bsb10598863_00001.html.