I get back after two weeks and have a huge mailbox full of site suggestions and an even fuller RSS feed reader. Where to start — where to start — oh, what the heck, let’s start with Mozart. Mozart’s works are now available in an online catalog at http://dme.mozarteum.at/mambo/index.php .

There’s not much to the front page except a couple of news bits and a terms of service that you must agree to in order to search the catalog. Once done, you’ll be taken to a German search form — look for the “english” link to find the English version. You can search through ten catalogs of work, searching by category, musical key, editor, or keyword.

A keyword search for Apollo found three results, one from theatre music and two from orchestral works. Results include both music and commentary; bear and mind that a lot of the information is in German. Looking at Apollo and Hyacinthos, I found two information links. One, an i icon, provided information on the music. The other icon, a musical note, provided what appeared to be background an commentary on the musical pieces (my German is pretty limited) and then the written out — handwritten — music. I must say that the music looks more appealing to me scribbled out in someone’s handwriting than printing.

If I had more background in music I would probably appreciate this more. If I remembered more of my high school German I’d probably appreciate it more as well.