A leaf from Mozart’s sketch for the Sinfonia Concertante in E flat sold today (Dec. 4) for a record price of $228,484 for a single page in the master’s hand.
Maggs Bros. Ltd. of London bought the manuscript for an unidentified private client, auctioneer Sotheby’s said. The previous record was $184,000 for a sheet bearing the notes for the opening Rondo K.386 in A major, sold at Sotheby’s in 1998.
One page of the leaf contains a 27-bar sketch for the cadenza for the first movement, notated in brown ink on four two-stave systems. The other contains two autograph horn parts for unidentified instrument works.
Sotheby’s said that only two other leaves of the manuscript of the Concertante survive. It was composed in 1779.
“The Sinfonia Concertante was Mozart’s first truly great masterpiece,” said Simon Maguire, senior specialist in Sotheby’s Music department. “It is one of Mozart’s greatest works, and we are thrilled to have handled a manuscript that takes us so close to its original inception.”
Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
