Mozart and sheet music

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with two students in a row about choosing Mozart sheet music, so I would like to write a little about it.

In conclusion, it is better to use the original edition. The original edition is a score that reproduces the composer's intention as faithfully as possible. One of the reasons why it is better to use the original edition is the issue of slurs. Let me explain a little.

When playing Mozart's music, it is necessary to cut the notes at the breaks in the slurs. (We often talk about the specific cutting methods in our daily lessons.)

However, some scores have slurs that differ significantly from the original version, and studying using such scores can result in musically incorrect performances.

The breaks in slurs are similar to punctuation marks in a sentence. When we read a sentence aloud, we separate it with punctuation marks. By doing so, it becomes easier for the listener to understand the meaning. However, what if the punctuation marks are placed in the wrong places?

For example, if there was a picture book that said, "Once upon a time, there lived an old man and an old woman...", and you read it to a child exactly like that, the child would probably say, "That's strange!"

The same goes for music. If you divide it in the wrong place and play it, it will sound very strange. Slurs are as important as punctuation, so we recommend using the correct original edition (such as the Henle edition or Bärenreiter edition for Mozart).