Klarinet Archive - Posting 000579.txt from 2003/05

From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Basset Clarinet
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 09:48:59 -0400

It is very unlikely that Mozart wrote K. 622 as anything other than a
commission given to him (but not paid for) by Stadler. And that
conclusion derives from a little known piece of information about
Mozart's finances at the time of his death.

He, of course, owed money to everybody and was dead broke. But one
person owed him money and that person was Stadler. It was a large enough
sum (in excess of 1,000 florins if memory serves me correctly) that it
could have represented the commission of a number of works, within which
the concerto would certainly have been one of them. Mozart generally got
paid 450 florins for writing an entire opera for the Imperial court.
And he was advanced about 200 florins (or 50% of the fee) on accepting
the contract to write the Requiem. So a debt of 1000 or so florins
could have been for a pile of works going back to as far as the Gran
Partitta which I have hypothesized was comissioned by Stadler ca. 1783
but not composed until the end of that year and premiered on Mar. 23, 1784.

Dan

R. Williams wrote:
> I'm in the process of reading Maynard Solomon's book "Mozart: A Life"
> which discusses this from the perspective of letters between Leopold and
> W.A.. Leopold in letters to his daughter mentions occasions where W.A.
> is supervising the copying of manuscripts by a publisher. According to
> the author, Mozart prior to leaving Salzburg and for a time in Vienna
> used regular publishers, but there was a period in Vienna where Mozart
> in an effort to retain more money did his own publishing. An expensive
> and risky venture. He also became his own promoter for a time in
> Vienna, putting on concerts for both himself and other artists, cutting
> out all the middlemen. I think in todays terms we would call him Mozart,
> Inc.
>
> What fascinated me was that evidently a normal first printing was around
> 20 copies. There is mention that a hugely successful piece by Mozart
> went into 5-6 printings or some 70 copies. There is very little mention
> of K622 in the book, but evidently it wasn't at all unusual for Mozart
> to write compositions as gifts and give the original manuscripts to
> friends and musicians, particularly folks who needed a boost in their
> careers. So in those cases it was from Mozart, to performer to
> publisher and what happened in between, who is to say. It is also
> mentioned that on a few occasions he would write a piece and give author
> credits to others. The cases mentioned involved women of whom Mozart was
> fond.
> Best
> Rick
>
>> From: Dan Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
>> Subject: Re: [kl] Basset Clarinet
>>
>> It is interesting that you mention this. Mozart most frequently hired a
>> copyist who worked in his home, and for two reasons. One, he wanted to
>> supervise his work, and two, he wanted to avoid the man making a second
>> copy that he might sell to an unscrupulous music publisher and which
>> nullified Mozart's efforts to make money on the piece.
--
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**Dan Leeson **
**leeson0@-----.net **
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