W.A. Mozart as reflected in music criticism up to 1830

In this project general periodicals and musical journals up to 1830 will be seen through for information about and opinions on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The goal of the project is to establish a critical edition of the articles (work, concert and opera reviews aside from biographical notes) in chronological order; short comments correspond to the historical context and to the Mozart biographies, indices for the persons mentioned and for the analyzed periodicals are added. Musical journalism, which originated towards the end of the 18th century in its modern form, was very influential, especially in this early period; it made a substantially contribution to the formation of a canon of musical works and to the understanding of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven as constituents of a "Wiener Klassik" (Viennese Classical Era). In this period we examine adoration and genius worship developed, while the characteristics criticized at first were often those which were admired later on. To develop an understanding of this development is what this edition is essentially concerned with. There has not been a comparable edition for Mozart yet. Substantial new impetus for the research on Mozart and new insight into the beginnings of the musical periodical literature are expected.

This project`s object is to collect and edit texts which are relevant for the early Mozart reception and are mainly published in music periodicals, but also in theatre periodicals, other specialized periodicals and "journals". Most of these texts, which concentrate on Mozart or refer to him, will be published in an edition in printed form with consistent guidelines for transcription, comments referring to Mozart and indexes; an online edition with a much more extensive selection of texts is being prepared. This corpus of texts bridges a gap in the Mozart literature: while many texts are known from single quotations in articles and books, an integrative, quotable edition is still missing. Such an edition will give a synopsis of the early information and opinions about Mozart, that shaped the image of this composer - particularly in the critical years after his death - and that take effect still today. Therefore, an indirect issue of the project is to critically question the present image of the early Mozart reception and to redraw it, using numerous sources that have been unknown or at least not been taken into account before. Furthermore, the edition is intended not only to satisfy specialized Mozart scholars but also to inform non-professionals or scholars from other disciplines. In the course of the work, almost all periodicals which have been taken into account have been completely reviewed in order not to rely upon testimonies in secondary literature; in consequence, many references to Mozart which have been unknown hitherto could have been discovered. Approximately 680 texts have been transcribed, digitally reproduced (if possible), described and commented. In order not to depend on (sometimes biased) opinions of a small group of music journalists, several periodicals from other areas (literature, theatre) and some "journals" have been included. Thus, a more `popular` image of Mozart arises, for it turns out that, already during his lifetime, Mozart was more famous amongst "Liebhaber" resp. amateur admirers than amongst composing colleagues and musical literati of the Enlightenment. Furthermore, the scope of analyzed genres of texts has been enhanced in comparison to the original plan: except for reviews of concerts and music prints, reports from correspondents are now also included, as well as anecdotes, poems and odes, aesthetical essays, publishers` advertisements which are `judgemental` etc. However, the period of the printed edition has been reduced due to the huge amount of findings and the very large extent of many of the single texts; the first volume (nearly completed) will cover the period from 1782 to 1801, a second volume (ca. 1801 to 1806) and the online edition of later texts is being prepared in the course of a new research project. The project was presented at different symposia and in the "Mozart Jahrbuch" 2003/2004. With regard to public relations, reports of the project have been published in the daily newspaper "Die Presse" (Febr. 9th , 2004), in "Universum Magazin" (June 2006) and in the online newspaper of the University of Vienna twice.