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

Zeichen.” 154 Mozart’s petition, if it was indeed sent, does not survive, and the only indication
of its contents comes from the undated draft of a letter that Mozart addressed to “Euere
königliche Ho[heit].” The letter, which is not known to have progressed to fair copy, has
been associated plausibly but not indisputably with Archduke Franz, and dated to May
1790, the same month as the Puchberg letter. 155 In the draft, Mozart asked Franz to use his
influence with his father Leopold II to obtain the non-existent position of second
Kapellmeister for the composer. 156 To strengthen his argument, Mozart stated that “der sehr
geschickte kapellm Salieri sich nie dem kirchen Styl gewidmet [hat], ich [habe] aber vonn
Jugend auf mit diesen Styl ganz eigen gemacht habe.” 157 It is significant that Mozart believed
his experience in “kirchen Styl” to be a point in his favour – a point with which Leopold’s
predecessor would likely have disagreed. In comparison to Mozart, Salieri had indeed written
few sacred works by this point, but the Hofkapellmeister had been directing the court’s
church music for the past two years, sometimes in the presence of Franz himself. Perhaps
Mozart expected Leopold to reorganise the court music yet again, 158 or perhaps the idea of a
second Kapellmeister was wishful thinking on the composer’s part as he coped with evident
financial difficulties. As far as we know, Mozart’s mild undermining of his professional
colleague did not result in any further action, and no second Kapellmeister was appointed.
Further evidence of Mozart’s attempts to increase his prominence at court may
possibly be found in the Adagio and Fugue K. 546, written a few months after Mozart’s
appointment as Kammerkompositor. In its two-movement form, it is reminiscent of the
154 MBA, iv.108.
155 On the problems of this attribution see Otto Biba, “Mozarts Wiener Kirchenmusikkompositionen,” in
Internationaler Musikwissenschaftlicher Kongress zum Mozartjahr 1991, ed. Ingrid Fuchs (Tutzing: Schneider,
1993), i.51.
156 Although there was no second Kapellmeister, Ignaz Umlauf was Salieri’s Substitut and custodian of the
Hofkapelle’s music collection.
157 MBA, iv.107.
158 Link, “Mozart's Appointment,” 167.
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