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

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I. <strong>MUSIC</strong> IN <strong>THE</strong> COURT CHAPEL<br />

THREE<br />

The Hofkapelle<br />

127<br />

[Mozart]...kam oft zu Salieri mit den Worten: Lieber Papa, geben sie<br />

mir einige alte Partituren aus der Hofbibliothek; ich will sie bey Ihnen<br />

durchblättern; wobey er manchmal das Mittagsbrot versäumte.<br />

Anselm Hüttenbrenner 1<br />

Nun die Krone seiner Messen,<br />

Und so ist und bleibt sie doppelt:<br />

Unsres Mozarts Krönungsmesse.<br />

Franz Rieger, k. u. k. Feldmarschalleutnant 2<br />

The Hofkapelle, properly the Hofmusikkapelle, was the Emperor’s “own” ensemble, and as<br />

such offers an opportunity to observe Joseph II’s aspirations for sacred music in a particularly<br />

direct way. Times had certainly changed since the “golden age” of Charles VI, and the<br />

Kapelle faced various attempts to restrict its performances and reduce its membership even in<br />

Maria Theresia’s time, as we have seen in Chapter One. A few months into his sole reign,<br />

Joseph seems to have decided that the Kapelle as a salaried body of musicians should<br />

gradually disappear, presumably to be replaced with a group hired on a per-service basis. In<br />

December <strong>1781</strong>, the Hofkapelle’s violin-maker Joseph Stadlmann died, and his cousin<br />

Michael petitioned to succeed him. Although the petition was supported by the<br />

Obersthofmeister Prince Schwarzenberg, Joseph refused to appoint Stadlmann to a salaried<br />

position, “da die Eingehung der gesammten Hofkapelle bestimmt ist...” When it was<br />

suggested that Joseph might appoint Stadlmann to an unpaid position so that his family<br />

1 Eisen, Neue Dokumente, 89.<br />

2 Franz Rieger, Von W.A. Mozart und Josef Haydn zu dem k.u.k. Hofsängerknaben Roland Philipp (Vienna:<br />

Georg Eichinger, 1<strong>91</strong>3), 22.

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