Only about a tenth of Mozart's works were printed during his lifetime, the rest having been published without the benefit of his supervision. This long-awaited edition of the autograph score offers a rare opportunity to see Mozart's violin concertos according to the composer's intentions. Thanks to the well-preserved condition of the original manuscripts and Mozart's legible handwriting, these reproductions of his scores can be used for study, reference, and performance. In addition to the five works ― Concerto No. 1 in B Flat, K. 207; Concerto No. 2 in D, K. 211; Concerto No. 3 in G, K. 216; Concerto No. 4 in D, K. 218; and Concerto No. 5 in A, K. 219 ― the volume includes two additional pieces, the Adagio in E, K. 261, and the Rondo in B Flat, K. 261a.
The first edition of this volume was published in a limited edition in 1986 and has been virtually unobtainable for many years. Two informative introductory essays by violinist Gabriel Banat, who located the manuscripts, missing since World War II, supplement the collection: the first one traces Mozart's relationship with the violin, and the other examines the history and importance of these manuscripts, thought to have been forever lost. This outstanding edition offers teachers, violinists, conductors, musicologists, and Mozart enthusiasts an extraordinary chance to possess a score reproduced from the master's own hand.
A child prodigy who blossomed into the Classical era's most influential composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) wrote more than 600 works in his brief life. His oeuvre encompasses a wide variety of genres, including symphonic, chamber, operatic, and choral music. Mozart's genius as a composer tends to overshadow his image as a performer, just as his reputation as a pianist eclipses his identity as a violist, but these works attest to his close and enduring relationship with the violin.
Born in Romania and educated in Budapest, Hungary, as a concert violinist, Gabriel Banat came to the United States after World War II. Performing since the age of twelve in recital and as soloist with orchestras, he taught violin at Smith College, Hartt School of Music at Hartford University, and was head of the department and conducted the orchestra at the Westchester Conservatory. He also gave master classes on Mozart in Japan, Argentina, and Spain. After a quarter of a century touring the United States, Europe, and Japan, he joined the New York Philharmonic for 23 years. He published Masters of the Violin, a six-volume facsimile collection of 17th- and 18th-century violinist-composers, and his 2006 biography of the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, the first composer of African origin, earned unanimous critical acclaim. In 1986, Banat published the autographs of Mozart'sviolin concertos, missing from Berlin since 1941. He rediscovered them in Poland, and performed them the following year from the manuscript in Tokyo, Japan. Isaac Stern described Banat's edition of the concertos as "of enormous interest and inestimable value."
