Review by Choice Review
One of the most powerful of all written personal records is Mozart's thematic index of his compositions, begun in 1784 and continued until three weeks before his death. This facsimile further includes Albi Rosenthal's brief history of the document, which traces its movement from Mozart's widow, Constanze, to the publisher Andr'e (who published lithographed facsimiles beginning in 1805), eventually to the bibliophilic collection of the author Stefan Zweig and thence by bequest of his heirs to the British Library. Equally fascinating is Alan Tyson's description of the manuscript and transcript of its entries, with footnotes that identify the work and give the K"ochel catalog number. With clear authority he summarizes the importance of the evidence, suggesting what it tells about Mozart's conception of his music as seen in the incipits, the context for some of his revisions, and the significance of the evidence of the dates. Published jointly with the British Library, the facsimile matches the scrupulous scholarship with handsome design, so as, for instance, to include the blank staves at the end, on which the composer expected to add later works a "poignant comment on the tragedy of Mozart's early death," as Rosenthal notes. Reasonably priced and obviously timed to the 1991 bicentenary, the facsimile is warmly recommended to all libraries as a moving and continuing evocation of one of the high points of Western civilization.-D. W. Krummel, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
