Publishing Mozart, 1781-1820: chamber music and keyboard music

In this thesis, a number of late eighteenth and early nineteenth-century publications of Mozart’s works are studied. I examine editorial interpretations and deviations by different publishers from the last ten years of Mozart’s life to up to two decades after his death in the light of the changing printing and publishing environment and evolving keyboard instruments. It is important to study and understand the editorial processes that relate to the publication of these editions and there is a gap in the study of the editorial processes that are associated with the publications of Mozart’s works, especially in the case of first and early editions. This thesis intends at least partially to close this gap since there remains scope for further investigation and interpretative work, as my thesis will show. This thesis consists of five chapters. The introduction summarises the chapters and provides a context for undertaking this research and also gives an indication of the conclusions that are arrived at from each chapter. In Chapter 1, Artaria first editions of three of Mozart’s works from different genres, namely the String Quartet in G, K. 387, Sonata in C minor, K. 457, and Fantasia in C minor, K. 475, are discussed and contains four case-study comparisons of the autograph and the Artaria edition and performance practices arising therein in the light of treatises by different early writers. In Chapter 2, there is a comparative study on the autograph, the Artaria first edition, and the André and Breitkopf & Härtel editions of three of Mozart’s ‘Haydn’ quartets – the first movements of K. 387 in G, K. 421 in D minor, and K. 458 in B flat. Chapter 3 focuses on nine different editions of the Keyboard Sonata in F, K. 533 (namely the Hoffmeister first edition and the Artaria, Breitkopf & Härtel, C. F. Peters, Magasin de Musique à la Höhe, Broderip & Wilkinson, Magasin de l’Imprimerie chimique, Simrock, and S. A. Steiner und Comp. editions). This chapter also contains an investigation of the autograph and six editions of the Keyboard Sonata in C, K. 330 (namely the Artaria first edition and the Au magasin de musique à la Höhe, Hoffmeister, Hoffmeister & Kühnel, Broderip & Wilkinson, and S. A. Steiner und Comp. editions). Chapter 4 examines the evolution of keyboard instruments, focussing on the period from the 1780s to the 1820s and their influence on composition, performance, and editorial interpretations. Chapter 5 contains a commentary on my recorded performance with explanations of my interpretations of the selected pieces. In the epilogue, I briefly discuss what present day and future performers and musicologists should continue to do in light of changing technologies influencing publication processes and instruments.