Paper and Copyists in Viennese Opera Scores

Current Period: 1760–1775

Selenometry

Developed by Alan Tyson, selenometry is a method of measuring the three crescents in (northern Italian) watermarks and, by doing so, identifying them. Imagine the three crescents in a horizontal row, one next to the other. x, y, and z represent three points on the axis of symmetry: x, where the axis cuts the outer line of the big crescent; y, where it cuts its inner line; and z, where it cuts the inner line of the small crescent.


Selenometry. Figure drawn from Alan Tyson: Wasserzeichen-Katalog. Textband, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke X/33/2 (Kassel etc., 1992), p. XVI. © 1992 Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle GmbH & Co. KG, Kassel

Because of varying sizes of the crescents, the two twins of a watermark normally show different distances between x, y, and z; they have to be treated separately.
In the scores of the Imperial collection, paper is normally cut along the described axis of symmetry, making it difficult to measure the exact distance between the three points. Therefore, numbers may vary from 1 to 2 mm.

xy xzpapermotif
10   79  P2A3 crescents / A
12   71  P17B3 crescents / REAL
12   73  P17A3 crescents / REAL
12   76  P84B3 crescents / F (mirrored)
12   79  P79B3 crescents / M
12   80  P46A3 crescents / REAL
13   73  P63A3 crescents
13   74  P35A3 crescents / R
13   76  P79A3 crescents / M
13   77  P29A3 crescents / A
13   77  P41A3 crescents / A
13   78  P52B3 crescents
13   80  P10B3 crescents / C
13   80  P88B3 crescents / F
13   83  P92A3 crescents
13   84  P2B3 crescents / A
13   84  P46B3 crescents / REAL
14   71  P45A3 crescents / REAL
14   73  P90A3 crescents
14   75  P1A3 crescents
14   75  P45B3 crescents / REAL
14   80  P96Acrescents / P (mirrored)
14   83  P72A3 crescents / M
15   71  P63B3 crescents
15   72  P38B3 crescents
15   75  P1B3 crescents
15   75  P40A3 crescents / crossbow
15   75  P7A3 crescents / crossbow
15   76  P38A3 crescents
15   77  P35B3 crescents / R
15   79  P14A3 crescents / REAL
15   79  P41B3 crescents / A
15   79  P89B3 crescents / M
15   80  P52A3 crescents
15   80  P84A3 crescents / F (mirrored)
15   82  P11A3 crescents
15   84  P11B3 crescents
15   85  P5A3 crescents / M
15   94  P94A3 crescents
16   77  P80B3 crescents
16   78  P89A3 crescents / M
16   81  P73A_var13 crescents / A
16   83  P73A3 crescents / A
16   84  P14B3 crescents / REAL
16   84  P44A3 crescents
16   84  P5B3 crescents / M
16   85  P39B3 crescents
16   88  P95A3 crescents
16   90  P88A3 crescents / F
16   94  P94B3 crescents
17   74  P37A3 crescents
17   76  P81B3 crescents
17   77  P80A3 crescents
17   79  P55A3 crescents
17   83  P96Bcrescents / P (mirrored)
17   84  P39A3 crescents
17   89  P92B3 crescents
17   89  P95B3 crescents
17   93  P86A3 crescents
18   68  P21B3 crescents
18   69  P54B3 crescents
18   72  P71A_var13 crescents / M
18   72  P71B3 crescents / M
18   73  P20A3 crescents
18   73  P48B3 crescents / crossbow
18   77  P55B3 crescents
18   80  P60B3 crescents
18   85  P44B3 crescents
18   90  P56A3 crescents
18   91  P87B3 crescents
18   93  P56B3 crescents
18   93  P86B3 crescents
18   93  P91B3 crescents
18   95  P10A3 crescents / C
18   96  P68B3 crescents
18   100  P82A3 crescents
19   65  P21A3 crescents
19   73  P71A3 crescents / M
19   73  P71A_var23 crescents / M
19   75  P49B3 crescents
19   76  P25A3 crescents / P
19   78  P59A3 crescents
19   80  P61B3 crescents
19   81  P33B3 crescents
19   82  P81A_var13 crescents
19   83  P81A3 crescents
19   86  P58A3 crescents
19   89  P56A_var13 crescents
19   89  P91A3 crescents
19   93  P37B3 crescents
19   94  P56B_var13 crescents
19   95  P68A3 crescents
19   99  P72B3 crescents / M
19   102  P82B3 crescents
19   106  P27B3 crescents / REAL
20   66  P54A3 crescents
20   75  P71B3 crescents / M
20   78  P22B3 crescents
20   80  P90B3 crescents
20   81  P51B3 crescents
20   81  P7B3 crescents / crossbow
20   82  P59B3 crescents
20   83  P66A3 crescents
20   86  P58B3 crescents
20   86  P69B3 crescents
20   89  P69A3 crescents
20   89  P73B3 crescents / A
20   92  P87A3 crescents
20   101  P42A3 crescents
20   101  P42B3 crescents
21   72  P71A_var32 crescents / M
21   76  P49A3 crescents
21   81  P51A3 crescents
21   83  P40B3 crescents / crossbow
21   83  P60A3 crescents
21   90  P61A3 crescents
22   71  P48A3 crescents / crossbow
22   72  P20B3 crescents
22   80  P25B3 crescents / P
22   81  P66B3 crescents
22   86  P33A3 crescents
23   81  P22A3 crescents
23   82  P76B3 crescents
23   85  P93B3 crescents / F
24   90  P27A3 crescents / REAL
25   95  P76A3 crescents
25   105  P65A3 crescents
26   100  P65B3 crescents
27   85  P93A3 crescents / F






Literature: 

Alan Tyson, Mozart: Studies of the autograph scores (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1987) 

Alan Tyson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke. Serie 10, Supplement, Werkgruppe 33, Dokumentation der autographen Überlieferung: Wasserzeichen-Katalog (Kassel: Bärenreiter, 1992)