Mozart, Pergolesi, Handel?: A Study of Three Forgeries

Abstract

Forgeries of musical manuscripts are little discussed in the musicological literature, but their serious study can be valuable. This thesis outlines a method for the comprehensive study of music forgeries and shows how that method might be used by examining three autograph forgeries in depth. These forgeries are of Pergolesi's "Non mi negar signora" and Mozart's "Baci amorosi e cari," both at The Library of Congress, and Handel's "Rejoice greatly" from Messiah, in the University of Maryland's Special Collections in the Performing Arts. Tobia Nicotra, a prolific forger from the 1920s and 1930s created the two Library of Congress manuscripts and elements of his forging style are identified. Finally, though J. M. Coopersmith claimed the "Rejoice greatly" forgery was Nicotra's, this study shows that it is not Nicotra's due to differences in the forging methods used.