Földvári Books

Contemporary Manuscript Wind Octet Transcription of Mozart’s Così fan tutte

[Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus]; [Went, Johann Nepomuk (?)]; [Vogel, Kajetan (?)]

[Cover title:] Partitura di Così fan tutte, ossia La Scuola degli Amanti. La musica del Sign. W. A. Mozart. Atto I [–II]. Partitura di Così fan tutte. A due oboi, due clarinetti, due fagotti et due corni. Di Wolfg. Amad. Mozart. Atto I [–II].

[Vienna or Prague?], [after 1790]. Manuscript score in two volumes. Oblong folio (ca. 145 × 295 mm). Each volume with separate title page. Manuscript in brown ink, dark and legible throughout. Eight staves per page—one per instrument (2 oboes, 2 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 2 horns)—with six or more bars per line. Contemporary boards covered in brown paste paper, with manuscript title labels to the front covers. ff. 144 (last 3 pages blank); 112 (last 3 pages blank). Bindings structurally sound but visibly worn, with surface abrasion, edge and corner wear, spine chipping, and partial fraying to the labels. Paper shows general age toning, with occasional foxing and minor browning, but remains clean and legible throughout. A complete and well-preserved manuscript score.

A Harmoniemusik transcription of Mozart’s Così fan tutte, preserved in full score for wind octet. The anonymous arrangement is musically continuous and unusually extensive for its genre—currently the longest known version of the opera arranged for Harmonie. Tentative attributions to Johann Went and Kajetan Vogel—based on structural and titular parallels—remain unconfirmed. Unrecorded in RISM or standard bibliographies at this level of completeness, the manuscript offers valuable insight into late 18th-century Viennese wind performance and Mozart reception.

This appears to be the most complete surviving Harmoniemusik transcription of Così fan tutte. Uniquely, it is written in full score format (partitura), with all eight instrumental lines—two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, and two horns—notated together. The transcription omits Nos. 5, 8, 9, 11, 16, and 30. Other surviving wind arrangements of the opera are typically limited to overtures, finales, or selected movements, and are preserved only in partbooks—except for an anonymous 12-movement transcription of Act II, attributed to Kajetan Vogel.

Like the example mentioned above, this transcription is anonymous. However, a note preserved with the manuscript—dated 2007 and written by Carlos Leresche, the Swiss flutist, conductor, and founder of the Flûte d’Or competition—was addressed to a previous owner who had consulted him, likely due to his expertise in historical wind repertoire. In this note, Leresche attributed the arrangement to Johann Nepomuk Went. The attribution remains unsubstantiated, with no supporting evidence beyond Went’s prominence as one of the most prolific and widely known arrangers in this genre.

Johann Nepomuk Went (also Wendt, Vent; 1745–1810?) was a Bohemian oboist, composer, and arranger active in Vienna’s imperial music scene. As second oboist in Emperor Joseph II’s Kaiserlich-Königliche Harmonie from 1782, he performed in the premières of Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Le nozze di Figaro, and Così fan tutte. He later replaced Georg Triebensee as leader of the Kaiser’s octet and eventually became a minor official in the court musical hierarchy (Whitwell 1969, p. 34). Went arranged all three operas for Harmonie, along with Don Giovanni and Die Zauberflöte, producing some of the earliest known wind transcriptions of Mozart’s stage works. His adaptations reflect firsthand familiarity, practical transpositions, and idiomatic scoring for wind ensemble (Hellyer, “Went”).

The RISM database lists 32 manuscript wind arrangements of Così fan tutte by composers such as Flögel, Sartorius, and Schneider, but this figure overstates the actual number, as many entries represent individual movements from larger collections, such as those by Legrand (RISM 450062416) or Stumpff (RISM 455002643). A closer analysis suggests ten or fewer distinct arrangements, accounting also for repeated composers (as in RISM 450062416 and 450010142, both by Legrand). Among these, only two bear titles closely resembling that of the present manuscript: one held in Wolfenbüttel (D-W Cod. Guelf. 169 Mus.; RISM 451506525) and another in Brno (CZ-K 41 K I; RISM 550032840), both attributed to Johann Went, which lends some support to the earlier attribution. Both are partial or fragmentary transcriptions. The Wolfenbüttel copy, scored for the same instrumentation as the present manuscript, is titled Opera Cosi fan Tutti a Due Oboe, Due Clarinetti, Due Corni, Due Fagotti. Del Sigre. Mozart. Accomodata di Went—near identical in wording and sequence to the present title, apart from the attribution and the addition of “Partitura.” The Brno copy, titled Opera Cosi fan Tutti a 2 Oboe, 2 Corni Inglese, 2 Corni di Caccia, 2 Fagotti. Del Sig. W. A. Mozart. Accomodata Del Sig Giovanni Went, differs in instrumentation but retains a closely parallel structure and title.

Musica Rara published Went’s wind arrangements of excerpts from the opera in 1977 (plate numbers 1876–7), though the source of that edition remains unclear. Both this published version and the Brno manuscript (RISM 550032840), for which incipits are available, differ in musical content from the present transcription. While the shared title formulations suggest a common model or tradition, the differences in scoring and arrangement indicate that the present partitura is independent of both sources. The attribution to Went therefore remains unconfirmed.

Another important source, The Wind Ensemble Catalog (pp. 403–4), records twenty known wind arrangements of Così fan tutte, including versions by Fendt, Gebauer, Legrand, Sartorius, Schneider, Stumpf, Vojacek, Went, Widder, and Vogel. (The two sources only partially overlap.) Although this bibliography does not always clearly indicate which arrangements are complete, most Mozart operas are represented only by selected numbers. For Così fan tutte, the Catalog lists no fully documented complete version; the most extensive entry is a 21-movement setting (A-357a), whose structure, like its authorship, remains unclear.

The Catalog and its companion Sourcebook also list and attribute a 12-movement arrangement of Act II (KXV-4a), held in Prague, to Kajetan (Cajetan) Vogel (1750–1794), who is known for thorough and formally complete transcriptions. Vogel produced extensive Harmoniemusik settings of Le nozze di Figaro and Don Giovanni. The Prague manuscript—which we have not been able to locate in RISM or elsewhere—may once have formed the second volume of a now-incomplete set. It shares key features with the present copy, including identical instrumentation and the same movement structure for Act II. Given these similarities, it is also plausible to attribute this score to Vogel.

As neither the RISM database nor the Wind Ensemble Catalog records a Harmoniemusik transcription of Così fan tutte of comparable scope, the present manuscript—musically continuous and in full score format—stands out as a rare and, as far as sources show, unique example of a substantially complete arrangement.

Its form and content suggest that it was not intended for casual performance, but for a connoisseurial circle of wind players and listeners. As noted by Whitwell, such large-scale transcriptions—often technically demanding and extending over 20 movements—served as alternate performances of the operas themselves, valued not merely for their novelty of instrumentation but as ways to experience the full dramatic content in a chamber context (Whitwell 1969, p. 34). Its presentation in partitura format further suggests it was intended for study, reference, or possibly for conducting, rather than ordinary ensemble playing from parts. The use of clarinets rather than English horns reflects the growing prominence of the instrument in Vienna after the arrival of the Stadler brothers, whom Went had promoted in 1784 (ibid., p. 34).

Harmoniemusik refers to repertoire composed or arranged for small wind ensembles—typically pairs of oboes, clarinets, horns, and bassoons—that flourished in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, especially in Vienna. Emerging from aristocratic and military traditions, these ensembles provided music for courtly events, public ceremonies, and private gatherings. As Whitwell observes, the early repertoire focused on divertimenti and partitas, but by the 1780s the genre evolved to include more substantial opera transcriptions (Whitwell 1969). These were not mere reductions but musically sophisticated reinterpretations, often intended to replace staged performances in settings lacking theatrical resources. The Wind Ensemble Catalog and Sourcebook document thousands of such arrangements—many anonymous or of uncertain attribution—ranging from isolated excerpts to full-length adaptations. They reflect a refined musical culture in which wind ensembles functioned not just for entertainment, but as serious vehicles for engaging with the operatic and symphonic repertoire in alternative formats.

This manuscript offers rare insight into that refined performance culture and represents a significant contribution to the musical and bibliographic history of Mozart’s operatic reception.

References: Gillaspie, J. A., Stoneham, A. M., & Clark, D. L. (1998). The Wind Ensemble Catalog. Greenwood Press; Gillaspie, J. A., Stoneham, A. M., & Clark, D. L. (1997). Wind Ensemble Sourcebook and Biographical Guide. Greenwood Press; Hellyer, R. (2001). Went [Vent, Wend, Wendt], Johann [Jan]. In S. Sadie & J. Tyrrell (Eds.), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2nd ed., Vol. 27, p. 284). New York: Grove; Whitwell, D. (1969). The incredible Vienna octet school—Part I. The Instrumentalist, 24(3), 31–35.

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Price: €140,000.00