The new Köchel directory
After 60 years, Mozart's oeuvre has once again been catalogued according to the current state of research. The publishing house Breitkopf & Härtel and the International Mozarteum Foundation have presented the newly compiled edition of the works catalog.
For more than 160 years, the Köchel catalog has provided a precise insight into the works of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. The first edition of this catalog of works was published by Ludwig Ritter von Köchel at Breitkopf & Härtel in 1862. In order to reflect the rapidly growing knowledge of Mozart's oeuvre, several new editions were subsequently published.
Originally, the Köchel catalog contained 626 chronologically arranged works. From the beginning, the catalog was supplemented and expanded by various appendices. New insights into the chronology of the authentic works were reflected in new work numbers in the later editions of 1905, 1937 and 1964. The resulting number construct with countless cross-references became increasingly complicated.
626 "old" and more than 90 "new" numbers
A fundamental decision in the new edition was to simplify the numbering. The confusing multiple numbering has been reversed. 95 compositions, which had not received their own entry in any of the previous editions, are now numbered from KV 627 onwards. A thematic overview by work group, a concordance and a chronological overview facilitate access. Newly structured appendices provide an overview of Mozart's arrangements of other works, cadenzas to his own and other works as well as studies, teaching material and all other musical notes.
New Mozart pieces discovered
New works were also discovered during the work on the new edition. Since the Mozart Year 2006, several piano pieces by the young Mozart have been found for the first time or identified as works by the young composer, including Mozart's first concerto movement, which is in the so-called Nannerl-Notenbuch, the piano book of his sister Maria Anna, without an author's name and is now listed as K. 636. In addition, a Serenade ex C from the music library of the Leipzig Municipal Libraries can be verified as a youthful work by Mozart.
Quiver directory online
The Mozarteum Foundation is presenting the first stage of a new digital service to coincide with the launch of Breitkopf & Härtel's printed catalog, providing easy and free access to Mozart's works and the new Köchel catalog: Köchel digital
Ludwig Ritter von Köchel: Köchel-Verzeichnis (KV). Thematic catalog of the musical works of W. A. Mozart, edited by Neal Zaslaw, commissioned by the International Mozarteum Foundation, presented by Ulrich Leisinger, BV 300, 1,392 pages; introductory price until 31.12.2024: € 459.00, thereafter € 499.00, Breitkopf & Härtel, Wiesbaden 2024, ISBN 978-3-7651-0300-1
