Gustav Mahler’s personal score of his Third Symphony is to go on sale on 8 June as part of Sotheby’s Music, Continental and Russian Books and Manuscripts sale in London.
The full score, published in 1902 by Weinberger of Vienna, was recently discovered in a private collection and features alterations and performance markings in the composer’s own hand. Amended by the composer after the first performance of the piece in June 1902, the score shows the addition of over 20 bars of new parts and deletions made liberally with coloured crayon.
'This is a magnificent new source for Mahler’s Third' said Sotheby’s Worldwide Head of Books and Manuscripts, Stephen Roe. 'It is a spectacular and beautiful score revealing the passion of Mahler’s creation and the exuberance of his musical thinking.'
Sotheby’s London estimates that the score, donated by an anonymous source, will fetch £100,000-£150,000. Other items in the auction will include letters by Chopin, Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
Annie Reece