A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Thematic Catalogue
THEMATIC CATALOGUE. A catalogue of musical works, in which, in addition to the title and other particulars of each, the first few bars—the theme—either of the whole work or of each movement are given in musical notation.
1. The earliest published list of this description was in six parts, issued between 1762 and 1765, and 16 supplements extending from 1766 to 1787, the whole forming a thick 8vo. volume of 792 pages. Part I is signed by Johann Gottlob Immanuel Breitkopf, the virtual founder of the great firm. [See vol. i. p. 272.] It is mentioned by Burney in his Musical Tour (ii. 74).
2. Haydn, towards the end of his life (1797), made a thematic catalogue of a large number of his works. This has not been printed, but copies have been made by Dehn, Otto Jahn, and others. It is now superseded by the complete thematic list which forms so valuable a part of Mr. C. F. Pohl's 'Life of Haydn' (i. 284, etc.; 317, etc.; 334; 345; ii. Anhang).
3. A thematic catalogue has been preserved, in which Mozart entered his works as he composed them, from Feb. 9, 1784, to Nov. 15, 1791. This interesting document was published by Andre in Nov. 1828. The title, in Mozart's hand, runs as follows:—
aller meiner Werke
vom Monath Febraio 1784 bis Monath1.
Wolfgang Amade Mozart.
It contains 145 works, begins with the PF. concerto in E♭ (K. 449), '9te Hornung,'[1] 1784, and ends with the 'kleine Freymaurer Kantate,' Nov. 15, 1791—nineteen days before his death.
4. A thematic catalogue of the MSS. by Mozart then in the hands of Andre—an octavo pamphlet of 79 closely printed pages—was published by him at Offenbach on May 1, 1841; one of 172 important symphonies and overtures was issued by Hofmeister in 1831; and one of Mozart's PF. sonatas, prepared by Edward Holmes, by Messrs. Novello & Co. in 1849.
5. In 1851, Breitkopf & Härtel published their first thematic catalogue of Beethoven's works. This was a thick volume of 167 pages, large 8vo, and a great advance on anything before it. It is arranged in order of opus-numbers, with names of dedicatees and publishers, arrangements, etc. The 2nd edition, 1868, is much enlarged (220 pages) by the addition of many interesting particulars, dedications, dates of composition, etc. It is in fact a new work, and is a model of accuracy, as may be inferred from the name of its compiler, Gustav Nottebohm. So is the Catalogue of Schubert by the same indefatigable explorer and critic—288 pages, published by Schreiber, Vienna, 1874, dealing both with the published and the unpublished works, and extraordinarily accurate considering the immense difficulties involved. Catalogues of Mendelssohn, Schumann, Chopin, and Liszt have been published by Breitkopf; of Moscheles by Kistner; and of Bach's instrumental works in Peters's collected edition (by A. Dörffel, Aug. 1867).
Two Catalogues stand apart from the rest owing to the vast amount of information that they contain, and still more to the important fact that they are arranged in the chronological order of the composition of the works—the only real method of contemplating the productions of a composer. These are Von Köchel's 'Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss' of all Mozart's works (Breitkopfs, 1862, 551 pages), and Jähns's 'Carl Maria von Weber in seinen Werken. Chron. Them. Verzeichniss,' etc. (Schlesinger, 1871—480 pages, and 8 pages more of facsimiles of handwriting). These two works (the latter perhaps a trifle overdone) are indispensable to all students.
- ↑ The old German term for February.