Century of Bach and Mozart

Through Dec. 23. The Century of Bach and Mozart: Perspectives on Historiography, Composition, Theory, and Performance. Houghton Library and Loeb Music Library.



For anyone intrigued by 250 year-old manuscripts of musical geniuses, “The Century of Bach and Mozart,” an exhibit presented by the Houghton Library and the Eda Kuhn Loeb Music Library, in conjunction with members of the Music Department, is not to be missed.

The two part exhibit, which is running concurrently at the two libraries, features excerpts of original manuscripts and early editions of works written by and about these two seminal figures of 18th century classical music. At Loeb, you can view Johan Forkel’s earliest biography on Bach, or try to decipher Mozart’s handwriting on the dedication of his first string quartets to Haydn. There is also an entire section dedicated to four sons of Bach: Carl Philipp Emanuel, Wilhelm Friedmann, Johann Christian, and Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst. Bach’s sons are largely responsible for preserving a lot of their father’s musical work and making sure it eventually was published.

Houghton’s displays meanwhile explore performance manuals and composition treatises written by some of the most respected historiographers of the time.

“The Century of Bach and Mozart” exhibits were created to open in conjunction with a conference by the same name, dedicated to Adams University Professor and arguably the most well-respected Bach scholar, Christoph Wolff. The conference took place Sep. 23-25, the same weekend that the exhibit opened. It featured papers by musicologists as well as live performances by the Harvard Baroque Chamber Orchestra, the Handel and Haydn Society Orchestra, and pianist and Harvard Professor Robert Levin and his wife, pianist Ya-Fei Chuang (both of whom played harpsichord).