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Neal Zaslaw
Mozart's orchestras
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1 GiuseppeServolini,Secularconcert,engravingC.1785(Lisbon,MuseuNacionalde ArteAntiga)
In recent decades a great deal of research has been reproduced here as table 1.2To the statistics of table i may
carriedout on local orchestraltraditionsin a number of be added a new list, showing orchestras with which'
European cities.' Two outstanding examples of recent Mozart collaboratedas visiting conductor and soloist
work of this sort can be seen in Cliff Eisen'sand Dexter but for which he did not createany new music (table2).
Edge'sarticleson Salzburgand Vienna, respectively,in Anyone who has workedon historicallists of person-
the previousissue of EM (February1992). An attemptto nel knowswhat treacherousshoals must be navigatedin
summarize what was known a few years ago in this interpretingsuch data: sometimes lists are deceptively
realm, which might shed light on orchestrasfor which smallbecausethey do not include extraplayerswho may
Mozartcomposed his symphonies,appearedin the per- have been regularlycalled upon-for instance, appren-
formance-practicechapter of my Mozart'sSymphonies, tices, amateurs, servants who also acted as ripienists,
LONDON:Covent Garden
1757-8 (4) (3) (2) (2) (1) (0) (2) (0) (1) (2) (2) (1) (1) (0) 21 1
1760 (4) (3) (1) (1) (1) (0) (2) (0) (1) (2) (2) (1) (1) (0) 19 16,19,19a
AMSTERDAM:Schouwburg Theatre
1768 3 3 0-2 1 1 0 2 0-2 1 2 0 1 1 0 17
*THE HAGUE: Court of Orange
1766 6 5 4 3 2 0-2 2-4 0 2 4 (2) 1 1 0 34
*SALZBURG:
Court
1767-77 4-6 4-6 (2) 1-2 2-4 0 2 0 2-3 2-3 (2) (1) (1) 3 tbn 23-35 35, 38, 45a, 62a, 74c, 75b, 114,
124, 128, 129, 130, 132, 133,
134, 161a, 161b, 162, 162b,
167a, 173dA, 173dB, 183,
186a, 186b, 189b, 189k, 207a,
213a, 213c, 248b
VIENNA:Kirtnerthortheater
1773-5 6 6 3 3 3 1 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 29
VIENNA:Burgtheater 43, 45, 46a, 48, (45a)
1773-5 7 7 4 3 3 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 0 33
CREMONA: Municipal
1170s 5 5 2 1 3 0 2 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 21
MANTUA: Concert
1770 3 3 2 1 2 0 2 0 1 2 0 0 2 0 18
FLORENCE:Concert
c.1780 4 4 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 2 2 (1) 1 0 19-20 73, 74a, 74c, 111a, 112, 135,
*MILAN: Opera 141a
1770 14 14 6 2 6 0-2 0-4 0 2 4 2 (1) 2 0 57
NAPLES: Opera
1773 16 16 4 3 4 0 4 0 ? ? 4 ? 2 ? 53+
TURIN:Opera
1774 15 13 5 4 6 -6- 4 4 2 1 2 0 62
*PARIS: Concert Spirituel
1778 11 11 5 8 5 2 2 2 4 (4) (2) 1 0 0 57 300a, (385)
* SALZBURG:
Court
1779-81 6 6 2 2 4 0 5 0 3 2 (2) (1) (1) 0 34 318, 319, 320, 338, 385, (425)
*PRAGUE: Opera
1787 3 3 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 0 26 504
VIENNA:Burgtheater
1781-3 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 .4 2 1 1 0 38 385, (425), (504), 543, 550, 551
*Asterisksindicate orchestrasfor which Mozart composed. The other orchestrasare either those for which he may have
composed, or those believedto be similar in size and make-up to orchestrasfor which he composed.
Figuresin parenthesesinvolved some speculationor extrapolationon the part of the author.
Kochelnumbers in parenthesesare works that Mozartwrote for another place and then reused. Only those symphonies
about which no doubts exist concerninggenuinenesshave been included here.
CITY: Orchestra
DIJON: Municipal
1766 3 2 1 1 1 0-2 0-2 0 1 (2) 0 0 1 14 1766
1753 -8- 4 0 0-2 0-2 0 0 2 0 0 2 18 1766
DONAUESCHINGEN:
Court 1766-7
1790 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 (1) 16 1786
MANNHEIM: Church
1777 10-11 10-11 4 4 4 2 2 2 4 2 2 1 (1) 43-45 1777-8
MUNICH:Theatre 1774-5
1780-81 6 6 2 2 2 3 2 2 2 4 2 1 1 35 1780-1
STRASSBURG:Church
1702 4 4 2 2 2 -2- 2 2 4 1 (1) 26
STRASSBURG:
Theatre/Municipal 1778
1785 4 4 2 2 2 2 2 0 2 2 2 1 (1) 26J
LONDON: Concert
1784 6 6 4 3 2 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 30
1786 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 31
1788 6 6 4 3 3 2 2 0 2 2 0 0 1 31
1791 6-8 6-8 4 3 4 2 2 0 2 2 2 1 1 35-39]
DRESDEN: Court
1789 10 10 6 4 5 2 4 0 4 4 (2) 1 1 53 1789
LEIPZIG: Concert
1781 6 6 2-3 2 2 2 2 0 3 2 2 0-1 (1) 31
1786 4 4 2 1 1 2 2 0 2 2 (2) (1) (1) 24 1789
1794 3 2 2 1 1-2 2 2 0 2 2 2 1 (1) 20-21
FRANKFURT: Concert
1788 3 3 2 1 1 1 2 0 2 2 2 1 (1) 21 1790
MAINZ: Concert
1782 5 5 2 2 1 2 3 2 1 2 0 0 (1) 26
1783 7 6 2 2 3 2 0 1 2 0 0 28 1790
1790
2/ (1)
Information still sought: Bologna, Brno, Lambach, Linz, Lyons, Rome, Utrecht, Venice, Verona.
musicians on other payrolls (for instance, the cavalry or Academy of Ancient Music's complete recordings of
the town waits) and so on. On the other hand, some- Mozart'ssymphonies.Forthatprojectwe organizedthe
times the lists are deceptively large because they fail to symphonies geographically,replicatinga Viennese
distinguish active musicians from pensioners, to indi- theatreorchestra,the Salzburgcourt orchestra,the
cate musicians away on tour, or to reveal the system of Pragueorchestra,a largeItalianorchestraand a small
rotation by which orchestra members served. But for the one, the orchestraof the ParisianConcertSpirituel,a
sake of argument, let us assume that the statistics in Londonorchestraanda Dutchorchestra.I believethis
tables 1 and 2 are essentially correct, and then let us pose wasa worthwhile experiment,whichjustifieditselfboth
the question, 'Of what use might such statistics be to by the musicalresultsandbywhatI andotherslearned
present-day conductors and orchestras?' from it aboutMozart'sevolvingorchestralstylein its
The most straightforward use, and (upon reflection) historicalcontexts.
perhaps also the most troubling, is in simply replicating ButeventhoughI will defendthe basicconceptand
Mozart's orchestral forces for a given performance of a resultsof these recordings,I find it worryingto hear
given work. This was the use to which I put these statis- from enthusiasticperformers thatthey no longerper-
tics when providing musicological supervision of the forma Mozartsymphonywithoutconsultingmytable1,
EARLY MUSIC MAY 1992 199
in orderto adjusttheir forcesaccordingly.Herewe have clothes.'And after a work was completed, if there were
the nub of so many argumentsabout the value of his- subsequentchangesof venue or cast, Mozartmade revi-
torically informed performance: once we have dis- sions, as with the Vienneseversionsof Don Giovanniand
covered something about how music was originally Idomeneo.This way of dealing with arias also explains
performed,whatshould we do with thatknowledge;and the motivation behind many insertionand substitution
how do we decide, or even distinguish,betweenobserv- arias. Modern musicians, on the other hand, expect
ing the letterand observingthe spiritof our discoveries? singers to take pre-existentariasconceived with voices
I can defend the symphony recordings not only other than theirs in mind, and to practise for weeks,
becausethey provedto be fruitfulexperimentsand lively months or even yearsuntil they have masteredthem.
performances,but preciselybecausethey are recordings Although it is a little more difficult to demonstrate
and not live performances.First-ratemusicians, pro- that Mozart'sinstrumentalworks were also tailored to
ducersand engineerscan and do find waysof recording their intended venues and executants,I believe that it
that maximizethe best characteristicsand minimize the can be done. The best known caseof this sort is probably
weaknesses of any voices, instruments, repertoryand the Andanteof the Piano Sonatain C, K309,written for
venue; in live performances,on the contrary,one is RosaCannabich,aboutwhich Mozartclaimedin a letter
generallystuck with the inflexible acoustics of a given of 6 December'1777that 'it fit closely the characterof
venue. The thinkingbehind this apparentlyparadoxical Mlle Rosa'.And I believe that symphonies too, even
assertionis not as circularas it mayappearon firstexam- though they are in a pan-Europeanstyle that permitted
ination. True,it might seem impossiblefor us, with our them to be performedanywhere,were composed with
modern ears, to know how any given instrument or particularaudiences,occasions,acousticsand orchestras
piece of music was once meantto sound in orderto be in in mind. To suggestlines of inquirythat might serveto
a position to seek to 'maximizeits best characteristics'. confirmthis hypothesis,let us brieflyexaminethe ques-
Yetthose who havespent a long time masteringa fine old tions of Italian orchestrasvs. German orchestrasand
instrumentcan tell you that it graduallybecomes clear theatreorchestrasvs. orchestrasfor 'halls'(i.e. salons or
why the instrument is built the way it is, wherein its music rooms).
glories lie, what musical truths it may permit and what The aspect of the famous Italianopera orchestrasof
its limitationsmay be. And those who examinedeeply a Mozart'stime that is most strikingto both modern and
fine piece of music make similardiscoveries.The act of 18th-centuryeyes and ears is the preponderance of
revealingthose half-hidden glories and musical truths stringsoverwindsand, among the strings,the enormous
must be the only possible justificationfor revivingold number of violins comparedto the lower strings.(Note
instruments (or, in the case of orchestras, groups of the orchestrasof Milan, Naples and Turin in table i.)
them), and those glories and truths must be audible in Another strikingfeatureof largeorchestrasin Italy and
any recordedor live performanceworthy of notice. Italianateorchestraselsewhereis the tiny numberof vio-
If this approachis accepted,then the problems with las, often only one or two. Finally,many Italianorches-
replicatingin modern performancesthe orchestrasof tras and some north of the Alps preferredto have more
tablesI and 2 begin to emerge.Mozart,like his contem- double basses than cellos, a string balance disliked by
poraries,believedin tailoringthe music to the occasion; many modern conductors,which sounds as if a 16' stop
in contrast, we believe in tailoring the occasion to the had been pulled.
music. For example,when Mozartcomposed an opera, Anyone familiar with the orchestralwriting in the
he was willing to work on the instrumental music, operasof Jomelli,Cimarosaor Paisiellowill understand
chorusesand recitativesbefore he was familiarwith the why this balancewould haveworkedbrilliantlyin Italian
voices of his leadingsingers,but not the ariasbecausehe operahouses. An operaovertureor symphonyof any of
wanted to calculatethem for the individualvoices. This these threecomposers(or their contemporaries)may be
way of working, this philosophy,can be clearlyread in compared with Mozart'sSymphony in F major, K112,
many passages from the Mozart family's correspon- composed in Milan in 1771,which seems to call on
dence concerningthe creation,rehearsalsand revisions similarorchestraltexturesand balances.
of Lucio Silla, Idomeneoand Die Entfihrung aus dem Unlike in Italy, where concert orchestrasoften ori-
Serail.3Perhaps Mozart's best known remark on this ginatedin opera orchestras,opera orchestrasin Central
subjectis from a letterof 27 December1780,'I like an aria Europewere often secondaryto and outgrowthsof con-
to fit a singer as perfectly as a well-made suit of cert orchestras.Mannheim is the prototype here, but
9Ibid., pp.287,293-4
'oGesammelte BriefeJosephHaydns, ed. D. Bartha (Kassel, 1965), Sponsored by: