Collecting Music: An Introduction

"Do not think that the old music is outmoded. Just as a beautiful true word can never be outmoded, so a beautiful piece of true music." --Schumann



Collectors of landmark musical scores cross into the worlds of Mozart, Haydn, Bach, Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Gershwin and other brilliant composers whose works continue to thrill us and to enrich our lives. Music collecting is not confined to musicologists or academics; it is neither difficult nor arcane but an area with intrinsic appeal to all music enthusiasts.



Many musical scores in period bindings are beautiful productions. During the eighteenth century, skilled artisans produced the leaves of the score from engraved plates rather than type. These engraved scores bear a slight ridge around the outer edge of the page left by the impression of the plate. Flat processes such as lithography became more common around 1825, but did not replace engraving until later in the century. Visual interest is also part of the appeal of scores in Art Nouveau and Art Deco styles. A first edition of Strauss's 1905 opera Salomé wrapped in an embroidered orange, gold, and red silk binding, vividly evokes the "decadence" of the fin-de-siecle era as well as the scandalous play by Oscar Wilde.



As in other branches of collecting, "firsts" of various kinds are prized. Many collectors gravitate toward full scores which give instrumental parts for the whole ensemble. Others prefer to collect arrangements for fewer instruments, most frequently those for piano and voice. "Piano-vocal" scores of operas were simpler to print than orchestral scores, and in the pre-phonograph age had a ready market among recreational music-makers, therefore they were often published years before the full score. The piano-vocal score of Mozart's Don Giovanni, for example, was printed in 1791, while the full score was not printed for another ten years.



"Lifetime editions," (published while the composer was still alive) are among the most desirable scores. This is especially the case when collecting Mozart since many of his full scores were printed only after his death. For example, The Magic Flute was composed in 1791, the last year of Mozart's life, but the full score was not published until 1814.



One wonderful piece of "lifetime" Mozart is his set of six string quartets dedicated to Haydn. Published in 1785, the quartets moved Haydn to declare to Mozart's father, "I tell you before God as an honest man that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by reputation." The first edition has Mozart's dedication, entrusting the quartets "to the…famous man who fortunately happened to be his best friend as well." Such "lifetime" scores bring us closer to the world in which the composer lived.



Lifetime Bach scores are also very rare since most were not printed until after his death, but the influence of his scores on later composers is well documented. Mozart became acquainted with Bach's work around 1782. "Deeply impressed with the grandeur of that music, he had arranged some of Bach's music for string groups, had written other works in the style of that master, and finally … had made elements of that style his own" (Biancolli, Mozart Handbook, 503). Nonetheless, Bach's compositions were neglected for many years, until in 1829 Felix Mendelssohn conducted the first performance in a century of the St. Matthew Passion. Employing a chorus of 400 and an orchestra of fifty musicians, Mendelssohn triumphantly restored Bach's large-scale vocal work to musical prominence. The first edition of the score was issued shortly after Mendelssohn's performances and lists his name among the subscribers.



Often collectors seek more than one kind of "first." Collectors of Beethoven's symphonies, for example, may choose between unauthorized and authorized "firsts." The earliest full scores of Beethoven's First, Second, and Third Symphonies were published by the London firm of Cianchettini & Sperati in 1808-1809 as part of A Compleat Collection of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven's Symphonies in Score; however, these editions, now quite scarce, were "bootleg" printings, unauthorized by Beethoven. A collector might instead opt for the authorized first editions, published in Germany in 1822.



Even in the twentieth century "firsts" can vary. Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue was not published in full score until 1942, five years after the composer's death. The earlier, "lifetime" first edition of the work, published in 1924, which includes the seldom-heard arrangement for "Jazz Band and Piano" and sports a red, purple, white, and blue Roaring Twenties cover, therefore becomes of special interest.



Scores of musical works are as diverse as the vast world of music. From baroque composers of the seventeenth century to impressionistic composers of the twentieth century, from sacred chorales to scandalous operas, from symphonies to sonatas, from Broadway musicals to contemporary atonal experiments, collectible music captures and rewards the collector.