Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart’s autograph manuscript of the Kyrie in C K. Anh. 18 (166F) will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in London tomorrow, May 20. It is a working manuscript, left unfinished by the composer, comprising 49 bars, notated in brown ink on one 12-stave system per page, scored for four-part chorus, 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani, strings, including violas, and organ, with autograph tempo indications at b.1 (Adagio) and at b. 15 (Allegro), and containing a number of deletions, corrections and smudgings-out. According to Sotheby’s it is the most substantial and important autograph music manuscript by Mozart to have been offered at auction for ten years. The manuscript has been unavailable for consultation since the 1930s. Its re-emergence now represents a significant Mozart discovery. It is expected to fetch between €350,000 and €600,000.
