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

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Cathedral preserves two sets of parts for works allegedly by Salieri. One, for an offertory<br />

Timete Dominum, “pro octava Omnium Sanctorum vel De Apostolis, et Martyribus,” is<br />

signed “Auth re Del Sig re Salieri / den 9 tn Majï 1789. / 25 kr:” 82 This is a contrafactum of the<br />

trio Venite, o Donne from Salieri’s 1785 opera La grotta di Trofonio. The other set, for an<br />

offertory Mater Jesu in hora mortis, “pro Festis Septum Dolorum,” is signed “Auth re Del Sig re<br />

Salieri / den 19 7br: 1790. / 20 kr:”. 83 This work, a duet for soprano and alto, is currently<br />

unknown from any other source. As it happens, the feast of the seven sorrows of the Virgin<br />

was one of the rituals performed by the Italian congregation, and it was celebrated in<br />

September, a few days after the date given on the parts. 84 Both sets are, however, not<br />

autograph, and the precise significance of the dates is not clear. The presence of prices<br />

suggests these are commercial copies, but the general appearance of the parts is not at all<br />

professional: in the soprano part, the copyist wrote the incorrect text “dulcedo mentis”<br />

before crossing out the first attempt entirely and starting again on the other side; see Figure<br />

3.6. 85 The paper is non-Italian, so it is not easily dated, and the peripheral transmission does<br />

not inspire confidence. Nevertheless, the possibility cannot be excluded that this is a genuine<br />

motet written by Salieri for the Italian congregation in 1790. 86<br />

II. ‘ER PRODUZIERT JETZT KIRCHEN-MUSIK’<br />

Following the partial performance of the C minor Mass, Mozart appears to have ceased<br />

composing liturgical church music for approximately four years. A number of works from<br />

82 D-Po, Salieri 2.<br />

83 D-Po, Salieri 1.<br />

84 Brauneis, “Die Italienische Congregation in Wien,” 38.<br />

85 The parts are all in the same hand with the exception of the viola.<br />

86 The Hofkapelle celebrated the Seven Sorrows (see, for example, Bonno’s O Virgo Tristissima from 1775), but<br />

there is no sign of Mater Jesu in the chapel archives.<br />

154

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