MOZART: THE MAGIC FLUTE

MS 5481
MS Short Title MOZART: DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE
Text WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART: DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE, COPYIST MS OF THE VOCAL SCORE OF THE OVERTURE AND ACT 1
Description MS in German on paper, Austria or Germany, 28 May 1794, 109 pp., 24x32 cm, single column, (20x28 cm), ruled with 10 staves, music notation on 2 to 5 staves with some performance corrections, vocal text in Gothic cursive script, title-page with watercolour of Papageno with large birdcage on his back playing his magic flute, and decorative border with images of flutes and pan-pipes around.
Binding Germany, 1794, marbled boards, sewn of 3 thongs.
Context The Magic Flute was premiered in Wien on 30 September 1791. At the same date the libretto was published with a copper print similar to the present watercolour. The complete vocal score was published by Simrock and Hummel in 1793, and the full orchestral score by Simrock not until 1814. The autograph is in Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin.
Provenance 1. Albrecht, Germany (1974-); 2. Quaritch, London, Febr. 2011.
Place of origin Austria or Germany
Dates 28 May 1794