Instances of borrowing in two works by Mozart raise the question whether he failed to acknowledge the sources from which he borrowed. The melody in the second minuet in Mozart's Divertimento in D Major, K. 251 is similar to the Provençal melody of a minuet for piano by Angela Diller and Elizabeth Quaile (published in 1919 by G. Schirmer, New York: Second Solo Book for the Piano). Did Mozart borrow from a Provençal source also tapped by Diller and Quaile? Tracing the source and establishing its date of origin can resolve that question. Another case: the ending of the quintet in the first act of Mozart's Die Zauberflöte (No. 5) is reminiscent of a song by Johann Baptist Henneberg. The latter was published in a book of songs called Frühlingslieder (1791) that also contains three songs by Mozart. Did Mozart borrow that melody from Henneberg (say, to please Schikaneder's Kapellmeister) or did both composers use a popular Viennese tune?

Works: Mozart: Divertimento in D Major, K. 251 (126-27), Die Zauberflöte (127).

Index Classifications: 1700s

Contributed by: Tamara Balter