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

participation in the first performance of the mass. Did Mozart design the first soprano part
for Constanze from the outset? The writing for this soloist is of exceptional virtuosity,
requiring a range from a to c 3 if one includes the incomplete Et incarnatus. One might
wonder if Constanze was up to the task, or consider the possibility that Mozart maintained
an idealised picture of her vocal abilities.
As is well known, one of the Solfeggi K. 393 closely resembles the Christe in the C
minor Mass, and although the Solfeggio bears no title, two of its contemporaries are headed
“per la mia cara Costanza” and “per la mia cara consorte.” 92 According to Constanze, the
soprano aria In te spero K. 440 was headed “per la mia cara sposa”, 93 but since Mozart’s
heading has been heavily deleted in the autograph, it is no longer possible to verify her
transcription. The soprano part in the Bandl-Terzett K. 441 is marked “Konstanz” and the
lost autograph of Caro mio Schluck und Druck K. Anh. 5 had the soprano part marked “C.”,
undoubtedly a companion to Mozart’s “M.” Mary Novello recorded Constanze’s response to
a question about Mozart’s operas:
She told us that Mozart when he finished an opera brought it to her and begged she would study
it, after which he would play it over and sing with her, so that not only the songs but the words
she knew by heart, but one air in the ‘Idomeneo’ he preferred to hear her sing and on that
account she prefers it also, ‘se il Padre perdei’... 94
Constanze’s testimony is borne out by a Lausch keyboard arrangement of Susanna’s Al desio,
di chi t’adora K. 577 from the 1789 Figaro containing an autograph vocal cadenza by
Mozart. Vincent Novello, to whom Constanze gave the manuscript, recorded the
circumstances of the acquisition:
She also met with a Copy of the charming song ‘Al desio’, which she said Mozart wrote expressly
for Signora Morichelli (who was once in England) in addition to the other delightful song for
Susanna in ‘Figaro.’ The MS. copy she showed me was the identical one from which Mozart had
92 The variety of paper-types in the Solfeggi (Tyson 56, 58, 60, 62) suggests that they were not all written at
once; most are on Viennese paper but K. 393/3 is on paper-type Tyson 62-II, characteristic of Salzburg.
93 MBA, iv.229.
94 Novello, A Mozart Pilgrimage, 94.
95