Then I got a personal guided tour of the museum. When we got to Mozart’s own fortepiano I begged her to unlock it. She said, “Of course you may play it” and she unlocked the transparent shield surrounding the piano. I played the andante con moto from Mozart String Quartet in E flat major K.428. The tone of the piano was bright, clear, bell like but resonant. It was kept perfectly in tune. “Now I have something special to show you but you must come upstairs.” Violinist and friend Bill Henry was then walking through the museum with the two Ciesinski sisters- mezzo soprano Katherine and soprano Kristine (1952-2018). Both were very accomplished singers. Bill asked if his group could join me and I said, “of course!”
Kristine Ciesinski, soprano.
Catherine Ciesinski
The three of us walked upstairs to a little room and waited a bit. Dr. Haupt-Stummer then brought in a very thick stack of large individual pages of manuscript paper with very neat ink writing on them. She told us that these were all just fragments of Mozart pieces that were never finished.
We shared the pile of Mozart sketches and went through them ravenously. We found four part choral fragments- no words and written down in soprano, alto, tenor and bass clefs. We were all well trained in solfege so we read that choral music straight off the Mozart manuscripts. Then we found something unexpected- page after page of unfinished duets for two basset horns. Those were more challenging but Bill and I read through many of those as well. We were in that room for about a half an hour but it was an experience I never forgot.
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