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

knew of Colloredo’s Hirtenbrief not only through his father’s reports but through Franz
Anton’s advocacy.
As we know very little about Mozart’s church-going, it is difficult to determine how
often the composer observed the effects of liturgical reform in person. Many of Mozart and
Constanze’s attested visits to Viennese churches involved no music at all, as the purpose was
the baptism of their children. Thus the couple attended the Kirche am Hof for the baptism
of Raimund Leopold in June 1783, St. Peter’s for the baptisms of Karl Thomas in September
1784 and Theresia in December 1787, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral for the baptisms of
Johann Thomas Leopold in October 1786 and Franz Xaver in July 1791. 118 Further evidence
of church visits in Vienna only begins to accumulate around 1790, as Mozart’s friendship
with Anton Stoll became established and the composer applied for a position at St. Stephen’s
Cathedral.
Mozart was in Salzburg from late July through late October 1783, and so would have
had the opportunity to observe the effects of Colloredo’s reforms first hand. As with Vienna,
however, the evidence is sparse. Apart from the mass at St. Peter’s that included the
performance of K. 427, the only liturgical event Mozart is known to have attended was early
morning mass with Nannerl and Constanze on 29 July. Nannerl noted in her diary that
Constanze accompanied her to mass at the Mirabel chapel on the following two days, but
after this there is no further mention of Mozart or Constanze in the context of Nannerl’s
regular church-going. 119 Mozart did continue to work on the C minor Mass while in
Salzburg: the particelle with the wind and brass parts for the Gloria in excelsis, Qui tollis, Jesu
Christe – Cum sancto, Sanctus and Osanna are all on Tyson paper-type 62-II, characteristic of
118 See Emil Karl Blümml, “Mozarts Kinder: Eine Matrikenstudie,” in Aus Mozarts Freundes und Familien Kreis
(Vienna: E. Strache, 1923), 1-8. The couple’s fifth child, Anna, received an emergency bedside baptism due to
her precarious condition, and died within an hour of her birth.
119 MBA, iii.282-83.
105