Piano Hands [Billy Reed /Flickr]
Several blogs, including New Yorker music critic Alex Ross’s the blog On An Overgrown Path, are pointing to an exciting bit of Mozart online. Today the British library made a rare Mozart manuscript available to classical music fans via the web, as part of an exhibition of rare manuscripts celebrating the composer’s 250th birthday. The digitized document is a 30 page handwritten journal which users can flip through and sample as if it were an actual book. Verzeichnüss aller meiner Werke (Catalogue of all my Works), details 145 compositions written between February of 1784 until Mozart’s death in 1791, and contains introductions to his famous compositions as well as the opening bars of a number of lost works. There are also audio samples accompanying the journal, which users can listen to as they peruse the document.
CORRECTION: Alex Ross’s blog is actually The Rest is Noise, and the very excellent blog On An Overgrown Path is written by Pliable, i.e. Bob Shingleton. Sincere apologies to both gentlemen!
Robin, no need at all to apologise for the confusion between On An Overgrown Path and the Rest is Noise.
These things happen – I found it quite amusing. You should see some of the mistakes I’ve made On An Overgrown Path, including converting pounds sterling to dollars the wrong way round (i.e. $1 US = £1.8 pounds sterling!)
Let’s just blame it on deadlines …
Keep up the great work,
Regards,
Pliable