Köchel directory

Mozarteum Foundation unveils unknown treasures

The Köchel-Verzeichis.

(Bild: Intern. Stiftung Mozarteum)

After 60 years, the new edition of the Köchel-Verzeichnis is published with new discoveries in Salzburg.

Experts say that knowledge about Mozart and his music doubles every 30 years. Accordingly, this knowledge has already doubled twice since the last edition of Mozart's catalog of works was published in 1964, which has always been known colloquially as the Köchel-Verzeichnis and is now being officially published for the first time under this name as a new edition by the Mozarteum Foundation. The first edition was published in 1862 and goes back to Ludwig von Köchel, who was the first to use a systematic scientific approach to catalog Mozart's complete works.

The current new edition was compiled by Neal Zaslaw from Cornell University and supervised by the scientific department of the Mozarteum Foundation. It was led by Dr. Ulrich Leisinger, who, supported by a team of experts, reorganized and evaluated 25,000 original pages by Mozart and was still able to discover new things in the process. "Mozart started many pieces on the assumption that he would be able to finish them at a much later date. There are an alarming number of pieces from the last years of Mozart's life that were left unfinished. If he had not died too early, we would have a whole series of additional string works today. It is very moving to see this," says Leisinger.

However, the Köchel catalog is more than just a comprehensive list of works. It tells stories, as it also contains commentaries, information on the composition and references to lost works. "Experience has shown that pieces that were thought to be lost can certainly reappear. At the moment, we have a statistic of 10 to 15 years," says Leisinger and explains that this is why there are also something like placeholders in the Köchel directory, i.e. works are also listed of which there is no fragment, but which are mentioned in a letter, for example. Thanks to individual rediscoveries, a few such places have been filled in the new edition.

"One example is Mozart's very first concerto movement, which was identified a few years ago. And now, in connection with the work on the Köchel-Verzeichnis, a string trio by Mozart fell into our hands in Leipzig, which at first glance was quite modest, but at second glance suspicious for the scholar, because there were mentions of it in an exchange of letters between Mozart's sister Nannerl and the publisher. She wrote that she had a trio from her brother. However, she did not dare to send it because it was very youthful and she had the feeling that it was one of his smaller works," reports Leisinger.

Like the first edition, the book will be published in printed form by Breitkopf & Härtel. The Mozarteum Foundation is also presenting the first stage of a new digital offering, "Köchel digital", which is intended to give people all over the world access to Mozart. Larissa Schütz