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

The makeup of the ensemble is generally well-attested from the annual Hof- und
Staats-Schematismus and the court account books, 8 although a great deal of documentation to
do with the daily administration of the Hofkapelle is now lost. 9 The choir numbered between
15 and 20, placing it among the largest groups of its kind in Vienna, with the soprano and
alto parts each sung by one adult and three or four choirboys. The names of the latter are not
listed in the Schematismus, but are recoverable primarily from the pension applications to
which the Sängerknaben were entitled when their voices changed. 10 From 1774 to 1788, the
Kapellmeister was Giuseppe Bonno, a former Hofkompositor who had beaten Leopold
Hofmann, Joseph Starzer and Tobias Gsur to the post primarily on the grounds that he
would be the least expensive to appoint. 11 In a letter to Leopold of 11 April 1781, Mozart
described Bonno as an “alte ehrliche brave Mann.” 12
The primary venue for the Hofkapelle’s performances was the Hofburgkapelle, with
grander events taking place in the Augustinerkirche and St. Stephen’s Cathedral. 13 Church
8 Hof- und Staats-Schematismus der röm. kais. auch kais. königlich- und erzherzoglichen Haupt- und Residenzstadt
Wien... (Vienna: Joseph Gerold, 1776-1804); Vienna, Hofkammerarchiv (hereafter HKA), Hofzahlamtsbücher
174-87.
9 The personnel lists in Link, “Mozart’s Appointment,” 157-58 and 168-69 are not entirely reliable. The most
serious error concerns the head trumpeter Peter Neuhold, whose name is given incorrectly as “Geubold.” Link
further claims that this musician “disappears from the account books after 1784.” (158) In fact, Neuhold’s
name continues to appear in the post-1784 account books; see for example HKA, HZB 182, f. 142, HZB 183,
f. 95, HZB 185, f. 84, HZB 186, f. 93, HZB 187, f. 267. On Neuhold, see also Andreas Lindner, Die
Kaiserlichen Hoftrompeter und Hofpauker im 18. und 19. Jahrhundert, vol. 36, Wiener Veröffentlichungen zur
Musikwissenschaft (Tutzing: Schneider, 1999), 378-87. The location of the 1788 Besoldungsstand is given
incorrectly in Link’s article as A-Whh, OKäA Karton 19 (169); it is actually in Karton 10B.
10 Choirboys active in the 1780s included Thomas Schmidt, Georg Kreuzmayer, Joseph Waldschütz, Franz
Sales Mayer, Franz de Paula Mayer, Karl Niedermayer, Franz Kirschbaumer, Franz Vogelsberger, Leopold
Gräzmayer, Ferdinand Witzig, Johann Müchsl, Josef Ferstl, Heinrich Nurscher, Josef Kaufmann, Josef Pauer,
Johann Maurer, Johann Swoboda and Leopold Zellner. See Grobauer, Die Nachtigallen, 208-12, de Groat,
"Ignaz Umlauf", Anhang G. A number are also mentioned in HKA, HKZ 182, f. 13 and HKZ 183, f. 13.
11 See Egon Wellesz, "Giuseppe Bonno (1710-1788). Sein Leben und seine Dramatischen Werke,"
Sammelbände der Internationalen Musikgesellschaft 11 (1910): 439-40.
12 MBA, iii.106.
13 See Daniel Heartz, Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School, 1740-1780 (New York: W.W. Norton, 1995), 3-
15.
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