News from the North American Scene: November 19, 1990

MOZART MANUSCRIPT

Serendipitous Search

For 75 years, the whereabouts of the original manuscript of two of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s greatest piano works was unknown to the world. But in July, Judy DiBona, accounting manager at Eastern College in St. David’s, Pennsylvania, was searching for some historical records at nearby Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Before she found what she was looking for, DiBona, herself a pianist, stumbled on the manuscript of Mozart’s Fantasia in C Minor and Sonata in C Minor.

The last known owner of the 14-page, brown-ink manuscript had been philanthropist and hymn writer William H. Doane, who acquired the manuscript in 1889. At his death in 1915, Doane left it and other manuscripts to his widow, who passed them on to a daughter, who in turn donated them to Eastern Seminary in 1950. From that point, the manuscript spent most of its time in a safe.

Though unsigned and undated, scholars are certain the manuscript was penned in 1784–85 in Mozart’s hand. Stephen Roe, music manuscript expert at Sotheby’s, an auction house specializing in arts and antiques, has examined the manuscript. According to Roe, early alterations to the key signature on the first page of the Fantasia make it clear it was Mozart’s first draft of the piece. The manuscript, he said, lends credence to Mozart’s reputation for being able to compose rapidly and fluently straight onto the paper.

DiBona’s discovery is expected to net Eastern Seminary between $930,000 and $1,400,000 when it is auctioned at Sotheby’s in London on November 21.

GALLUP SURVEY

Americans Say “Yes”

“Would you say you have made a commitment to Jesus Christ, or not?” That was the question posed earlier this year to 1,236 randomly selected adults by the Princeton, New Jersey-based Gallup organization. And a record 74 percent said yes.

That percentage is up from 66 percent in 1988 and 60 percent in 1978. In releasing the results of the latest poll, the organization noted that “the findings are based on what people say about themselves and do not necessarily indicate a deep and lived-out commitment.”

NEW MEMBERS

Two Additions To NAE Ranks

The board of administration of the National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) has voted to approve membership applications from two denominations: the Conservative Baptist Association of America and the Salvation Army.

The Conservative Baptist Association is made up of 1,124 self-governing congregations with a combined membership of about 205,000. The association was formed in 1947 by ministers and churches who, citing concerns with theological liberalism, withdrew from the Northern Baptist Convention (now American Baptist Churches, U.S.A.).

The Salvation Army, begun in London in 1865, has 1,122 local congregations and almost 109,000 members, known in denominational parlance as “soldiers.” The church is known for its strong commitments to evangelism and charitable work.

With the addition of the two groups, the NAE has increased the number of its member denominations to 48.

RESCUE MOVEMENT

Court Says No To Rico

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) was passed by Congress in 1970 to combat organized crime. But recently, abortion clinics have invoked the law in an effort to curtail prolife activities, particularly those activities favored by advocates of rescue.

Last year, West Hartford, Connecticut, was first to use RICO in its suit against protesters who blocked the entrance to the town’s Summit Women’s Center. Last month, a three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled two to one that West Hartford’s “bizarre construction” of the RICO law “affronts common sense.”

Attorneys for the Charlottesville, Virginia-based Rutherford Institute had appealed on behalf of the antiabortion protesters after a U.S. district judge issued an injunction against them. The case has been returned to the lower court with instructions that it be dismissed. Rutherford Institute attorney Joseph Secola said the ruling “carries significant ramifications for the numerous other racketeering lawsuits facing prolifers across the country.”

PEOPLE AND EVENTS

Briefly Noted

Issued: By self-described leaders of renewal organizations in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), a three-paragraph statement deploring “the illegitimacy under God’s Law of the recent uniting ‘as a couple’ of two self-affirmed lesbians at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.”

Blasted: By top communicators for the United States Catholic Conference and the National Council of Churches, the recent move of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to drop its X rating in favor of an NC-17 (no children under 17) rating. In a joint appeal to the MPAA, the groups alleged the association “has caved in to the commercial interests of those who are attempting to get sexually exploitative material into general theatrical release.”

Acquitted: By a jury in Cincinnati, Dennis Barrie, curator of that city’s Contemporary Arts Center. Barrie was cleared of obscenity charges springing from the arts center’s controversial exhibit of photos taken by the late Robert Mapplethorpe.

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