Words about Mozart: Essays in Honor of Stanley Sadie (review)

The official publication date of this Festschrift was 23 February 2005, so technically it would have been possible for the honoree to have held the book in his hands, to have read and enjoyed what thirteen distinguished scholars and friends dedicated to him. But Stanley Sadie died on 21 March 2005 at the age of seventy-four, and this reviewer does not know whether a copy reached him in time to at least touch it. Festschriften are usually kept a secret until the very end, but one may hope that he learned in time what was in the works for him. He could hardly anticipate, however, that the projected Festschrift would turn into a memorial tribute.

It is an impressive volume, expertly edited by Dorothea Link, with Judith Nagley, and assisted by a number of Sadie's former associates and staff from the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians project that had preoccupied its editor-in-chief for over thirty years. The restless music critic and lexicographer always found time to devote to his favorite subject, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the New Grove he had reserved the Mozart entry for himself and the last few years saw him deeply involved in a new and comprehensive Mozart biography. When he died the first volume covering the composer's Salzburg years was completed. Less than a year later, W. W. Norton published his magisterial Mozart: The Early Years, 1756– 1781, surely one of the most important and lasting contributions to the Mozart anniversary in 2006.

The deliberate focus on Mozart in Stanley Sadie's memorial-turned Festschrift was, therefore, a most appropriate and indeed natural choice. The nineteen-page list of Stanley's writings, editions, and broadcasts at the end of the book demonstrate how significantly Mozart figured in his professional activities. Hence, the contributors to the volume, realizing the expectations and expertise of the dedicatee, gave their very best.

The thirteen essays are not grouped systematically, but at the beginning is Peter Branscombe's admirable and critical survey of the principal trends in Mozart scholarship since the most recent anniversary, the 1991 bicentenary. Then, in the area of archival and source-related studies, important biographical observations are made by Dorothea Link, who reviews Mozart's appointment to the Viennese imperial court and defines his position within the membership of the Hofkapelle more clearly. Neal Zaslaw provides an entertaining piece by musing on the spurious work "Venerabilis bara capucinorum," K. Anh. C 9.07.

Three contributors present operatic topics. Julian Rushton discusses motivic designs in Idomeneo and singles out a reconciliation motive. Felicity Baker draws connections between Dante's Inferno and the hell scene in the libretto of Lorenzo DaPonte's Don Giovanni. Theodore Albrecht makes a good case for the musician Anton Dreyssig (ca. 1753–1820) as Tamino in Die Zauberflöte because he was both a tenor and a flutist, even though no proof exists that Mozart had planned the role for him (Benedict Schack actually created the original Tamino without being able to play the flute.)

Mozart's instrumental works figure prominently in the essays by Elaine Sisman, who analyses the first phase of the quartets dedicated to Haydn, and by Simon Keefe, who draws parallels between the late piano sonatas beginning with K. 457 and the piano concertos. In addition, Cliff Eisen discusses textural details in the keyboard concertos that are relevant for performance.

Two very different explorations of reception history are presented by Christina Bashford and Robert Philipp. The former examines some fascinating literary and iconographic material and develops a Victorian Mozart image. The latter addresses the issue of balancing historical awareness and expressive purpose by making illuminating comparisons of old and modern Mozart recordings, from Rachmaninoff and Paderewski to Bilson and Levin, from the Berlin Staatskapelle under Strauss to the Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra under Koopman, and from the Capet Quartet to the Quatuor Mosaïques...