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Starting price far exceeded Letter by Mozart auctioned - references to Haydn quartet

dpa

7.12.2024 - 23:30

The great interest in the Mozart letter drove up the auction price.
The great interest in the Mozart letter drove up the auction price.
dpa

The manuscript by the great Austrian composer fetches considerably more than expected. However, a letter from John Lennon to a well-known musician colleague from 1971 remains a shelf warmer.

DPA

07.12.2024, 23:30

No time? blue News summarizes for you

  • A handwritten letter by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from 1783 has been auctioned off for 440,000 euros.
  • A letter from John Lennon to Eric Clapton from 1971, which was also auctioned, did not find a buyer despite interest.
  • Mozart's letter offers insights into his thoughts and the first hints of the Haydn string quartet.
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A handwritten letter by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) from 1783 has been auctioned online to a private bidder from Europe for 440,000 euros (around 408,000 Swiss francs). The starting price of 100,000 euros for the manuscript by the great Austrian composer was thus significantly exceeded.

This was announced on Friday by the auction house International Autograph Auctions Europa, based in Málaga in southern Spain. Interest from the USA and Asia was also very high.

However, an eight-page handwritten letter from John Lennon to his musician colleague Eric Clapton from 1971 with the proposal to form a new "super band" did not find a buyer: there was interest, but ultimately there was not enough for a bid, said a spokesperson for the auction house. An initial price of between 80,000 and 100,000 euros had been set for the letter.

Letter to publisher was considered lost

According to the auction house, it was founded in 2011 and is Europe's leading auctioneer of manuscripts, autograph letters, signed photographs and other historical documents. Mozart's letter to the German-born French publisher Jean-Georges Sieber in German was actually thought to be lost, according to the auction house.

But then it was found again in a family archive. In it, Mozart provides insights into his thoughts - and, according to scholars, also the first clues to his famous Haydn string quartet. He also offers Sieber compositions for sale.