Words about Mozart: Essays in Honor of Stanley Sadie.(Book review)

Words about Mozart: Essays in Honor of Stanley Sadie. Edited by Dorothea Link with Judith Nagley. Rochester, NY: The Boydell Press, 2005. [xvi, 252 p. ISBN 0851157947. $110.] Music examples, indexes.

The official publication date of this Festschrift was 23 February 2005. so technically it would have been possible for the honoree to have held the book in his hands, to have read and enjoyed what thirteen distinguished scholars and friends dedicated to him. But Stanley Sadie died on 21 March 2005 at the age of seventy-four, and this reviewer does not know whether a copy reached him in time to at least touch it. Festschriften are usually kept a secret until the very end, but one may hope that he learned in time what was in the works for him. He could hardly anticipate, however, that the projected Festschrift would turn into a memorial tribute.

It is an impressive volume, expertly edited by Dorothea Link, with Judith Nagley, and assisted by a number of Sadie's former associates and staff from the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians project that had preoccupied its editor-in-chief for over thirty years. The restless music critic and lexicographer always found time to devote to his favorite subject, the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the New Grove he had reserved the Mozart entry for himself and the last few years saw him deeply involved in a new and comprehensive Mozart biography. When he died the first volume covering the composer's Salzburg years was completed. Less than a year later, W. W. Norton published his magisterial Mozart: The Early Years, 1756-1781, surely one of the most important and lasting contributions to the Mozart anniversary in 2006.

The deliberate focus on Mozart in Stanley Sadie's memorial-turned Festschrift was, therefore, a most appropriate and indeed natural choice. The nineteen-page list of Stanley's writings, editions, and broadcasts at the end of the book demonstrate how significantly Mozart figured in his professional activities. Hence, the contributors to the volume, realizing the expectations and expertise of the dedicatee, gave their very best.

The thirteen essays are not grouped systematically, but at the beginning is Peter Branscombe's admirable and critical survey of the principal trends in Mozart scholarship since the most recent anniversary, the 1991 bicentenary. Then, in the area of archival and source-related studies, important biographical observations are made by Dorothea Link, who reviews Mozart's appointment to the Viennese imperial court and defines his position within the membership of the Hofkapelle more clearly. Neal Zaslaw provides an entertaining piece by musing on the spurious work "Venerabilis bara ...