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

eproduce it. Figure 3.18 shows the document in question, which does indeed show a
resemblance in its handwriting to the text handwriting in musical scores copied by VMC-
3. 228 The difficulty here is that Hoffmann wrote almost entirely in Kurrentschrift, which
tends to be quite personally distinctive, whereas the known samples of VMC-3’s vocal music
are in the more generic italic script employed for Latin or Italian. There are however a few
italics in Hoffmann’s petition: the words “Chor Director” (twice) and “operist.” A
comparison between these words and similar words written by VMC-3, probably within a
year or two or each other, shows an apparent inconsistency in the form of the capital “D”:
Hoffmann’s tail terminates outside the main body of the letter, while VMC-3’s tail
consistently curves and re-enters, regardless of whether it is connected to the following letter
or not; see Figure 3.19.
Figure 3.19. Comparison of the writing of Joseph Hoffmann and Viennese Mozart-Copyist 3.
Hoffmann’s “D” also appears to begin with a pronounced hook before the downward stroke,
while VMC-3’s letter opens with a gentler curve to the left. Obviously, a single instance like
the above figure is not sufficient to disprove a relationship between the two hands, and more
samples of both are required, particularly examples of VMC-3’s Kurrentschrift.
228 A further sample of Hoffmann’s hand appear his marriage contract in A-Wsa, Mag. ZG 2-4399/1805. A
trombonist called Joseph Hoffmann was active at St. Stephen’s Cathedral at this time, and his hand appears
similar to the choir director Hoffmann; see A-Wsa, Haydn-Verein, A 3/1 and A-Wsa, HR A 17/4, 1/1789.
Hoffmann was a popular name among Viennese musicians of the late eighteenth-century, and it remains to be
seen if the choir director and trombonist were the same individual.
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