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

Two works by Salieri himself, a Mass in D (Nützlader 2) and the Coronation Te
Deum (Nützlader 64), are alleged to date from the composer’s early years as Kapellmeister. 55
They have traditionally been identified with the mass and Te Deum mentioned in Mosel’s
1827 biography of Salieri:
Oesterreich zog, mit Rußland verbunden, gegen die Türken zu Felde. Joseph II. begab sich, trotz
seiner wankenden Gesundheit, zu dem Heere. Zur Feier seiner Zurückkunft bereitete sich Salieri
mit einer neuen Messe und einem Te Deum vor; doch der Monarch war nach seiner Wiederkehr
durch die lange und schmerzliche Krankheit die seinem, Millionen von Menschen theuerem
Leben so zeitig ein Ende zu machen bestimmt war, fast unausgesetzt an sein Bett gefesselt, und
das Te Deum fand nicht Statt. 56
If Mosel is to be believed, Salieri wrote both works sometime between February 1788, when
he was appointed Kapellmeister, and November of the same year, when Joseph II returned to
Vienna, seriously ill. Unfortunately, Mosel’s account does not quite square with the available
evidence, and Salieri’s alterations to the scores also leave room for doubt. The autograph of
the mass is undated in its present form, but the autograph of the Te Deum was dated by
Salieri “di Ant Salieri l’anno 1790”, apparently over an erasure. Both scores bear annotations
in the hand of Salieri, but they have been “diplomatically” erased to the point of near-
illegibility. 57
The autograph score of the Te Deum is written on paper-type Tyson 96-I and at least
two further types, 58 while the original parts are written on paper with the watermarks Tyson
82, 100 and 102. The sources are thus consistent with a date between 1788 and the early
1790s. The wrapper, which is not contemporary with the parts, reads on its spine “Te deum
dell’ Incoronazione,” and one of the last letters in the deleted note at the top of the score is
55 Rudolf Nützlader, “Salieri als Kirchenmusiker” (PhD diss., Universität Wien, 1924), 112ff.
56 Rudolph Angermüller, ed., Ignaz von Mosel: Über das Leben und die Werke des Anton Salieri (Bad Honnef: K.
H. Bock, 1999), 109-10.
57 For a facsimile of the deletions in the mass, see Jane Schatkin Hettrick, ed., Antonio Salieri: Mass in D Major,
vol. 39, Recent Researches in the Music of the Classical Era (Madison, WI: A-R Editions, 1994), Plate 1. One
deleted word on the right-hand side of the autograph (A-Wn, HK 484) is probably “eseguir...”
58 The other watermarks are difficult to make out, but include three moons over M and an unidentified canopy.
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