Erosion

I subscribe to several email services by which I receive daily doses of art and cultural history. Each day I learn new vocabulary, read a poem, look at (and learn about) a piece of art, enjoy snippets of literary and music history, etc. Many of these bits and bobs are connected to the date – “On this date in [fill in the year,] such-and-such happened.] Together these are a nice way to start the day.

Much of what I read is new to me, but of course, much of it is familiar, too. Sometimes I skip over the topics I already know about, but sometimes I read the familiar pieces with close attention if they are favorite topics. Such as Mozart.

Yesterday’s edition of The Writer’s Almanac included a feature about the premiere of Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro on May 1, 1786 in Vienna. The article included the usual stuff about Beaumarchais, political tensions, da Ponte, and Emperor Joseph’s famous edict about excessive encores. But two items caught my attention and made me wonder who had researched and written — and edited — this little essay.

The first item was a characterization of da Ponte’s adaptation of Beaumarchais’ play La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro as “a frothy drawing-room comedy about a servant girl named Susanna and her beau, Figaro.” That would be like referring to Shakespeare’s A Comedy of Errors as a play about two sets of twins. Yes, each statement is accurate as to fact, but only as to circumstance. Figaro is a profound exploration of the human condition; yes, it is very funny at times, but that’s not really the point of it. If you don’t know Figaro, go find a recording, or better yet, a video, and have the translation at hand. This opera is far more than a bedroom farce or even a drawing room comedy, as the final few minutes will reveal.

The second item was this extraordinary statement: “Mozart died in 1791. The last five years of his life were spent composing four operas that became standards in the opera repertoire, including Don Giovanni, which again included a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.”

The writer is either profoundly ignorant of Mozart’s life and works, or was the victim of an ignorant editor who, for the sake of focusing the essay on opera, chose to mention only Mozart’s final operas, giving the impression that he composed nothing else in the last five years of his life.

Shall we take a look at what Mozart actually composed in the last five years of his life? Let’s start with Figaro, and cascade on from there, as shown in the list below, which includes 152 items. Yes, here are the four last magnificent operas, but here too are the Requiem and several other sacred works, including the priceless Ave Verum Corpus; a large number of lieder, arias, and scenes; divertimenti, including Ein musikalischer Spaß and Eine kleine Nachtmusik; many dances; five concertos (three for piano, one for horn, and the exquisite clarinet concerto); seven keyboard sonatas, several sets of variations, and other single-movement keyboard works; a great deal of chamber music including the late quartets; and, of course, the four great final symphonies.

So, can we agree that the last five years of his life were not “spent composing four operas”?

Let’s edit that last sentence.

Before: “Mozart died in 1791. The last five years of his life were spent composing four operas that became standards in the opera repertoire, including Don Giovanni, which again included a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.”

After: “Mozart died five years later, in 1791. Among the dozens of major works he composed during this period are four more operas that have become standards in the opera repertoire, including Don Giovanni, which again included a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte.”

That’s better.

Is this a tempest in a teapot? Not really. My concern is not necessarily with the specifics of this error, though of course I am a stickler for accuracy.

My larger concern is with the constant erosion of knowledge and understanding of all sorts of things, whether it’s music or our relationship with the natural world, as I’ve written about most recently. A concurrent concern is that as we gleefully abandon precision in our use of language, we become inured to sloppy writing and careless (or nonexistent) editing.

For example, in the case of this throwaway essay on Mozart, the writer probably wanted to convey this simple fact: that Mozart wrote four operas after 1786, and that one of them, like Figaro, was based on a libretto by da Ponte. Then why not say that, and only that? As written (“The last five years of his life were spent composing four operas”), the statement conveys an entirely different – and incorrect – impression.

We are quick to abridge, to gloss over, to make everything tweet-able and post-able, to manipulate information in order to make a point, but in doing so, we create and perpetuate error. When we accept these casual processes for understanding and communicating, and cheer them on, and reinforce them by re-tweeting and reposting without comment or criticism, we only add, albeit incrementally, to our own collective ignorance.

So yes, it does matter.

K	COMPOSITION	DATE
492	Le nozze di Figaro	May 1, 1786
493	Quartet for Piano and Strings in E flat	June 3, 1786
507	Canon in F for 3 voices in 1	After June 3, 1786
508	Canon in F for 3 voices in 1	After June 3, 1786
508A	Canon in C for 3 voices in 1	After June 3, 1786
508a	2 Canons in F for 3 voices in 1, 14 Canons in F for 2 voices in 1	After June 3, 1786
494	Rondo in F for Keyboard	June 10, 1786
495	Concerto in E flat for Horn	June 26, 1786
496	Trio in G for Piano, Violin and Cello	July 8, 1786
496a	12 Duos for Basset Horns	July 27, 1786
497	Sonata in F for Keyboard Four-Hands	Aug. 1, 1786
498	Trio in E flat for Piano, Clarinet and Viola, "Kegelstatt"	Aug. 5, 1786
499	Quartet in D for Strings, "Hoffmeister"	Aug. 19, 1786
500	12 Variations in B flat	Sept. 12, 1786
501	5 Variations in G	Nov. 4, 1786
502	Trio in B flat for Piano, Violin and Cello	Nov. 18, 1786
503	Concerto in C for Piano, No. 25	Dec. 4, 1786
504	Symphony in D, No. 38, "Prague"	Dec. 6, 1786
505	Scena and Rondo for Soprano, "Ch'io mi scordi di te?"	Dec. 26, 1786
298	Quartet for Flute, Violin, Viola and Cello in A	1786-87
516f	Musikalisches Würfelspiel in C	1787
336c	2 German Hymns	?Early 1787
509	6 German Dances	Feb. 6, 1787
511	Rondo for Piano in A minor	March 11, 1787
512	Recitative and Aria for Bass, "Alcandro, lo confesso"	March 19, 1787
513	Aria for Bass, "Mentre ti lascio"	March 23, 1787
515	Quintet in C for Strings	April 19, 1787
515b	Double Canon in F for 4 voices in 2	April 24, 1787
516	Quintet for Strings in G minor	May 16, 1787
517	Song, Die Alte	May 18, 1787
518	Song, Die Verschweigung	May 20, 1787
519	Song, Das Lied der Trennung	May 23, 1787
520	Song, Als Luise die Briefe	May 26, 1787
521	Sonata in C for Keyboard Four-Hands	May 29, 1787
522	Ein musikalischer Spaß	June 14, 1787
523	Song, Abendempfindung	June 24, 1787
524	Song, An Chloe	June 24, 1787
509a	Canon in G for 4 voices in 1, "Lieber Freistadtler, lieber Gaulimauli"	After July 4, 1787
525	Eine kleine Nachtmusik	Aug. 10, 1787
526	Sonata in A for Violin and Keyboard	Aug. 24, 1787
527	Don Giovanni	Oct. 29, 1787
528	Scena for Soprano, "Bella mia fiamma"	Nov. 3, 1787
529	Song, Des kleinen Friedrichs Geburtstag	Nov. 6, 1787
530	Song, Das Traumbild	Nov. 6, 1787
531	Song, Die kleine Spinnerin	Dec. 11, 1787
516b	Quintet in C minor for Strings	1788
535a	3 Contredanses	?Early 1788
533	Allegro and Andante in F for Keyboard	Jan. 3, 1788
534	Contredanse, "Das Donnerwetter"	Jan. 14, 1788
535	Contredanse, "La Bataille"	Jan. 23, 1788
536	6 German Dances	Jan. 27, 1788
537d	Arrangement of Aria for Tenor by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach	February 1788
537	Concerto in D for Piano, No. 26	Feb. 24, 1788
538	Aria for Soprano, "Ah se in ciel"	March 4, 1788
539	Song, Ein deutsches Kriegslied	March 5, 1788
540	Adagio in B minor for Keyboard	Maarch 19, 1788
540a	Aria for Tenor, "Dalla sua pace"	April 24, 1788
540b	Duet for Soprano and Bass, "Per queste tue manine"	April 28, 1788
540c	Recitative and Aria for Soprano, "In quali eccesi"	April 30, 1788
541	Arietta for Bass, "Un bacio di mano"	May 1788
547a	Sonata in F for Keyboard	?Summer 1788
545	Sonata for Keyboard in C, "For Beginners"	June 16, 1788
542	Trio in E for Piano, Violin and Cello	June 22, 1788
543	Symphony in E flat, No. 39	June 26, 1788
546	Adagio and Fugue for Strings in C minor	June 26, 1788
547b	5 (6?) Variations in F for Piano	July 1788
547	Sonata in F for Violin and Keyboard	July 10, 1788
548	Trio in C for Piano, Violin and Cello	July 14, 1788
549	Canzonetta for two Sopranos and Bass, "Piu non si trovano"	July 16, 1788
550	Symphony in G minor, No. 40	July 25, 1788
551	Symphony in C, No. 41, "Jupiter"	Aug. 10, 1788
552	Song, Beim Auszug in das Feld	Aug. 11, 1788
553	Canon in C for 3 voices in 1, "Alleluia"	Sept. 2, 1788
554	Canon in F for 4 voices in 1, "Ave Maria"	Sept. 2, 1788
555	Canon in A minor for 4 voices in 1, "Lacrimoso"	Sept. 2, 1788
556	Canon in G for 4 voices in 1, "G'rechtelt's enk"	Sept. 2, 1788
557	Canon in F minor or 4 voices in 1, "Nascoso e il mio sol"	Sept. 2, 1788
558	Canon in B flat for 4 voices in 1, "Gehen wir im Prater"	Sept. 2, 1788
559	Canon in F for 3 voices in 1, "Difficile lectu mihi Mars"	Sept. 2, 1788
559a	Canon in F for 4 voices in 1, "O du eselhafter Peierl"	Sept. 2, 1788
560	Canon in F for 4 voices in 1, "O du eselhafter Martin"	Sept. 2, 1788
561	Canon in A for 4 voices in 1, "Bona nox, bist a rechta Ox"	Sept. 2, 1788
562	Canon in A for 3 voices in 1, "Caro bell'idol mio"	Sept. 2, 1788
563	Divertimento in E flat	Sept. 27, 1788
564	Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello in G	Oct. 27, 1788
566	Arrangement of Handel's Acis und Galathea	November 1788
567	6 German Dances	Dec. 6, 1788
568	12 Minuets	Dec. 24, 1788
571a	Quartet for Soprano, two Tenors and Bass, "Caro mio Druck und Schluck"	?1789
570	Sonata in B flat for Keyboard	February 1789
571	6 German Dances for Orchestra	Feb. 21, 1789
572	Arrangement of Handel's Messiah	March 1789
573	9 Variations in D	April 29, 1789
574	Kleine Gigue in G for Keyboard	May 16, 1789
575	Quartet in D for Strings, "Prussian"	June 1789
576	Sonata in D for Keyboard	July 1789
577	Rondo for Soprano, "Al desio, di chi t'adora"	July 1789
578	Aria for Soprano, "Alma grande e nobil core"	Aug. 1789
579	Aria for Soprano, "Un moto di gioia mi sento"	Aug. 1789
580	Aria for Soprano, "Schon lacht der holde Frühling"	Sept. 17, 1789
581	Quintet for Clarinet and Strings in A	Sept. 29, 1789
582	Aria for Soprano, "Chi sà, chi sà, qual sia"	Oct. 1789
583	Aria for Soprano, "Vado, ma dove? -- oh Dei!"	Oct. 1789
584	Aria for Bass, "Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo"	Dec. 1789
585	12 Minuets	December 1789
586	12 German Dances	December 1789
587	Contredanse in C, "Der Sieg vom Helden Koburg"	December 1789
588b	Andantino in E flat for Keyboard	?c1790
588a	Overture and 3 Contredanses	January 1790
588	Così fan tutte	Jan. 26, 1790
589	Quartet in B flat for Strings, "Prussian"	May 1790
590	Quartet in F for Strings, "Prussian"	June 1790
591	Arrangement of Handel's Alexander's Feast	July 1790
592	Arrangement of Handel's Ode to Saint Cæcelia	July 1790
592a	Comical Duet for Soprano and Bass, "Nun, liebes Weibchen"	August 1790
593	Quintet in D for Strings	December 1790
594	Adagio and Allegro in F minor for a Mechanical Organ	Oct.-Dec. 1790
386b	Concerto for Horn in D	1791
609	5 Contredanses	1791
595	Concerto in B flat for Piano, No. 27	?1788-91, Jan. 5, 1791
596	Song, Sehnsucht nach dem Frühling	Jan. 14, 1791
597	Song, Im Frülingsanfang	Jan. 14, 1791
598	Song, Das Kinderspiel	Jan. 14, 1791
599	6 Minuets	Jan. 23, 1791
600	6 German Dances	Jan. 29, 1791
601	4 Minuets	Feb. 5, 1791
602	4 German Dances	Feb. 5, 1791
603	2 Contredanses	Feb. 5, 1791
604	2 Minuets	Feb. 12, 1791
605	3 German Dances	Feb. 12, 1791
605a	Contredanse, "Il Triofo delle Donne"	Feb. 28, 1791
606	6 "Landler"	Feb. 28, 1791
613	8 Variations in F on "Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding"	March 1791
608	Fantasia in F minor for a Mechanical Organ	March 3, 1791
610	Contredanse, "Les filles malicieuses"	March 6, 1791
611	German Dance	March 6, 1791
612	Aria for Bass, "Per questa bella mano"	March 8, 1791
614	Quintet in E flat for Strings	April 12, 1791
616	Andante in F for a Small Mechanical Organ	May 4, 1791
617	Adagio and Rondo for Glass Harmonica, Flute, Oboe, Viola and Cello	May 23, 1791
617a	Adagio in C for Glass Harmonica	1791
618	Motet in D, "Ave verum Corpus"	June 17, 1791
619	Cantata, "Die ihr des unermeßlichen Weltalls"	July 1791
620b	Contrapuntal Study	?September 1791
621a	Aria for Bass, "Io ti lascio, o cara, addio"	?Sept. 1791
621	La clemenza di Tito	Sept. 6, 1791
620	Die Zauberflöte	Sept. 30, 1791
622	Concerto in A for Clarinet	October 1791
623	Freimaurerkantate	Nov. 15, 1791
626a	Cadenzas for Piano Concertos
626	Requiem in D minor	Late 1791

Source for Köchel list: The Mozart Project