06.10.2013 Views

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

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

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

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

fidelium animi ad spiritualium rerum contemplationem, & erga Deum, Divinarumque rerum<br />

amorem incitentur... 10<br />

A few paragraphs later, the Pope singles out brass instruments for special condemnation with<br />

a quotation from the sixteenth-century Bishop Lindanus: “The blare of trumpets, the<br />

buzzing of horns and other noises make us tremble; nothing is omitted that can render the<br />

words incomprehensible. Bury their sense and duly cover them with earth.” 11 It is important<br />

to note that Benedict’s strictures do not represent direct orders to the relevant church<br />

musicians, but rather guidelines to be locally introduced and enforced by the clergy, in<br />

keeping with the exhortatory nature of papal encyclicals. The Pope even cited the legendary<br />

request of Charlemagne for Roman singers in order to increase the musical legitimacy,<br />

almost a millennium later, of Benedict’s own request in the eyes of his bishops. Although the<br />

document provided an unprecedented specificity in the expectations of the Holy See towards<br />

church music, its interpretation proved rather variable throughout the Catholic world, even<br />

at the heart of the Holy Roman Empire.<br />

When Annus qui arrived in Vienna in early 1749, Empress Maria Theresia had seen<br />

almost a decade in power, and during that time she had already initiated a series of reforms<br />

designed to bring the Empire to terms with changing political realities. Under her father,<br />

Charles VI, the imperial court had conducted itself according to an elaborate ceremonial<br />

code derived from the now-extinct Spanish line of the Hapsburg dynasty, and foreign visitors<br />

often remarked upon the backward-looking nature of social interactions in the Hofburg. In<br />

both the sacred and secular realm, the aural experience of court participants played an<br />

essential part in the construction of this conservative self-image, and a number of surviving<br />

rubrics testify to the elaborate nature of vocal and instrumental music employed during<br />

10 Magnum bullarium romanum. Benedicti Papae XIV. Bullarium (Rome: Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda<br />

Fide, 1753, repr. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1966), iii.36-7.<br />

11 “Tubarum clangore, cornutorum stridore, alioque strepitu vario, ne quid praetermittere videantur, quod<br />

cantici verba semel obscuret, sensumque sepeliat, & adobruat.” Bullarium, 37.<br />

6

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!