MOZART AND THE PRACTICE OF SACRED MUSIC, 1781-91 a ...

erhielt ich in Partitur-Abschrift; sie scheint, ihrer Auffassung nach, in die ersten Jahre des
Decennii 1770 zu fallen. Die Paginierung scheint von Mozart’s Hand zu seyn.” Coverage of
these sources in the NMA is mixed: the score of K. 140 was mentioned by the work’s editor,
Walter Senn, but the extant parts for K. 222 and the parts for K. 337 were unknown to the
respective editors, Hellmut Federhofer and Monika Holl. 81
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of Mozart’s request for music from Salzburg is
the attempt to address the controversial topic of “wahre kirchenMusic.” 82 Mozart appears to
be saying that there is a particular style of sacred music regarded as uniquely appropriate for
the liturgy and of eternal aesthetic value, but now neglected due to changing tastes. Just what
musical characteristics constitute this style is not explained, although it is a fair assumption
that the familiar tropes of contrapuntal learning and an avoidance of “theatrical” display were
part of the picture. Leopold’s sacred music, sharing the attic with other worm-eaten scores,
was apparently considered “true,” although Leopold was of course the recipient of this letter.
The timing of Mozart’s thoughts on the matter is potentially significant, for the new
Gottesdienstordnung had only been announced a few weeks before, and was to take effect
about a month later. No less significant of a coincidence was the fact that Mozart himself
had been engaged on a sacred work for the past few months, one cast on a nearly
unprecedented scale: the Mass in C minor, K. 427. In its utter rejection of contemporary
liturgical expectations, and in its prominent juxtaposition of contrapuntal learning and
81 NBA KB, I/1/1/1, 100.
82 On this topic, see Winfried Kirsch, ed., Das Palestrina-Bild und die Idee der "Wahren Kirchenmusik" im
Schrifttum von ca. 1750 bis um 1900: eine Kommentierte Dokumentation, vol. 2, Palestrina und die Kirchenmusik
im 19. Jahrhundert (Kassel: G. Bosse, 1999), Jen-Yen Chen, “The Tradition and Ideal of the Stile Antico in
Viennese Sacred Music, 1740-1800” (PhD diss., Harvard University, 2000). For an excellent study of the
concept in contemporary protestant debates on sacred music, see Jürgen Heidrich, Protestantische
Kirchenmusikanschauung in der Zweiten Hälfte des 18. Jahrhunderts: Studien zur Ideengeschichte "Wahrer"
Kirchenmusik (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001).
90