Photo: "B" Dry Goods
Now you can add a rare piece of classical music history to your treasure trove, thanks to this latest offering.
Gallery "B" Dry Goods in Brooklyn - known for collecting rare music, manuscripts and books - offers you the opportunity to purchase an autographed music manuscript by the legendary Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The sheet from the Serenade in D major for orchestra by the famous composer is believed to have been written in Salzburg, Austria, around 1773, although there is no definite date anywhere on it. The collector's item shows part of the third movement, known as the Allegro, with scores for solo violin, 1st violin, 2nd violin and viola written in brown ink.
Experts believe that the extraordinary work was intended for Judas Thaddaus van Antretter, a friend of the Mozart family, after he graduated from the University of Salzburg. The document itself is in perfect condition; it even has a visible "55" written in pencil, marking it as page 55 of the 58 total sheets of the score, believed to have been placed there by Mozart's father, Leopold.
It would also be Leopold who composed the Serenade in D major in its entirety; he combined the entire musical manuscript with other works by Wolfgang to create a compendium known as Cranz volume no. 1, named after August Cranz of the publishing house in Hamburg, the former owner of the work. The complete manuscript was later auctioned in 1975 and subsequently distributed - the whereabouts of many of its leaves is still unknown.
Violinist and "B" Dry Goods founder Gabe Boyers described the sale as "an extraordinary opportunity to own a significant manuscript of not only one of the greatest musical geniuses of all time, but indeed one of the greatest geniuses of any kind in the history of mankind."
Crown Heights Gallery mainly deals in the primary and secondary art markets, including a wide variety of clients, from household names to those yet to come to our attention. Boyers previously worked with Schubertiade Music & Arts, one of the country's most respected rare book and manuscript dealers.
Priced at $250,000, the Mozart manuscript is now for sale through the gallery's website. Other items in the "B" Dry Goods inventory include Beethoven manuscripts and a signed exhibition poster by Jean-Michel Basquiat.
