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

form, but K. 427 itself seems to have remained obscure. 173 The Viennese music dealer
Johann Traeg had however acquired a copy of it by 1799, most likely through Constanze. 174
A set of parts based on Andre’s first edition of 1840 survives at Stift Kremsmünster, although
it is not known at present if the parts were used in liturgical context. 175 The first completion
of K. 427 was prepared by Joseph Drechsler (1782-1852) in 1847, three years after he
became Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral. The completion was performed at the
Cathedral on 15 November 1847, and a detailed review in the Wiener allgemeine Musik-
Zeitung allows us to gain some idea of its content. 176 Although the completion is listed in the
St. Stephen’s music catalogue, it was already unknown to Köchel, and the sole source at the
Cathedral may have been destroyed in 1945; see Figure 2.9. 177
Figure 2.9. Entry for Drechsler’s completion of K. 427 in the St. Stephen’s music catalogue. A-Wda, s.s., 26.
173 Artaria published vocal scores of the solo numbers from Davide in 1797. Edge has shown that one of the two
principal surviving sources for Davide, D-FUl, M 291, dates from around 1800, contrary to the assertion of
Monika Holl in the NMA that it dates from c. 1785 and derives from Mozart’s Nachlass; MVC, 536, 1093.
Holl’s other principal source, A-Wn, Mus. Hs. 19903, described as “zeitgenössische,” likewise dates from
around 1800. This score, which is partly in the hand of Peter Rampl, has a watermark consisting of a single
man-in-the-moon countered by GA over F in a heart-shaped crest; this design does not appear in Viennese
papers during Mozart’s lifetime. For reasons unknown, Nissen wrote “Davide penitente” at the top of the piano
concerto fragment Fr 1785g.
174 See the following chapter.
175 A-KR, C 32/899.
176 Reprinted in Alexander Weinmann, “Ein Ins Leere Gehender Fundbericht,” Wiener Figaro 46 (December
1979): 30-31.
177 See Eva Kitzler, “Joseph Drechsler und seine Kirchenmusik” (PhD diss., Universität Wien, 1983), ii.142-44.
Note that the copyist of the incipit in Figure 2.9 skipped a bar in the violin part, and that the inventory makes
no mention of flute, trumpet or timpani parts.
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