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

Evidently the completion did not progress far, but it may possibly be identified with a Mass
in C minor by Mozart performed “zum ersten Mal” by the Hofkapelle on 30 September
1883. 178
Although Drechsler’s completion is thought to be lost, part of it may be preserved in
a previously unnoticed set of parts deriving from the “Exner-Sammlung” in Zittau, a
collection we shall meet again in the following chapter. 179 The parts, which seem to date
from the nineteenth century, transmit only the Laudamus te and Et incarnatus. The
Laudamus, of course, was already completed by Mozart, but the Et incarnatus appears in an
otherwise unknown completion scored for soprano, flute, oboe, bassoon, two horns and
strings; see Figure 2.10. The title page to the parts reads “Missa von Mozart / in C moll. /
op. postum”, and gives no indication of any author except Mozart. According to the review
of the Dreschler completion, the Et incarnatus was a movement “das Herr Drechsler nur
instrumentierte und um einige Stellen kürtzte,” and which “für die Singstimmen fast
unausführbare Schwierigkeiten bieten und für die Kirche nicht ganz passen.” 180 The Dresden
parts show no sign of cuts, which would seem to argue against their identification with the
Drechsler completion. If these parts are not the work of Drechsler, they retain significance as
a very early example in the reception of K. 427.
On their way back to Vienna, Mozart and Constanze visited the monastery of
Lambach, where, as Mozart reported, “ich kam eben recht um bey dem amt das Agnus Dei
mit der orgel zu begleiten...wir blieben den ganzen tag alda, alwo ich auf der orgel und auf
178 Richard Steurer, Das Repertoire der Wiener Hofmusikkapelle im Neunzehnten Jahrhundert, vol. 22,
Publikationen des Instituts für Österreichische Musikdokumentation (Tutzing: H. Schneider, 1998), 545.
179 D-Dl, Mus. 3972-D-525. On the Exner-Sammlung, see Ortrun Landmann, “Die Dresdener Haydn-
Quellen im Hinblick auf Ihre Provenienzen,” in Joseph Haydn. Bericht über den Internationalen Joseph Haydn
Kongress, ed. Eva Badura-Skoda (Munich: G. Henle, 1986), 521-23. The title wrapper appears originally to
have been an envelope of some kind, for its reverse is addressed to “Das Königl. Sächs. Zoll Amt / Zittau...”.
180 Weinmann, “Ein Ins Leere Gehender Fundbericht,” 31.
121