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

e Alma Dei creatoris MH 221, a copy of which survives in a set of parts bearing the
annotation “In der Singerstrasse bei Joh: Träg.” 247
We do not know exactly when Traeg acquired his nine masses, but he advertised
some of them in the years immediately following Mozart’s death. On 9 May 1792, he
offered “Eine [Missa] in C. mit oblig. Stimmen von Mozart” at a price of 13fl 30kr. The
“oblig. Stimmen” is very likely a reference to the obbligato parts in the Agnus dei of K. 337,
and the instrumentation matches the first mass listed in Traeg’s printed catalogue of 1799.
On 30 June, Traeg advertised three more Mozart masses: one that he called “Missa Nr. 2” at
the same price as the one from May, one “etwas kleinere” at a price of 9fl, and another “in
B” at 9fl, probably K. 275. By 11 August 1792, Traeg could offer “6 Messen von W. A.
Mozart,” presumably the total number of Mozart masses he then possessed. Finally, on 3
April 1793, Traeg advertised “Eine Missa a 4 Voci 2 Viol. 2 Ob. 2 Cor. 2. Clar. Tymp.
Violone. e Organo von Mozart. Diese Missa ist die letzte und beste von Mozart, geschrieben
18 fl.” As Edge notes, the tone of the advertisement suggest that this mass had been recently
acquired, 248 bringing the total to seven. If Traeg is right about this mass being Mozart’s
“last,” then it can only be K. 427. With the exception of the trombones, the instrumentation
does match the scoring of the C minor Mass as it appears at the beginning of the piece, and
the high price Traeg demanded relative to the other masses – 18fl – is conceivably a
reflection of the work’s length and complexity. Some time between April 1793 and February
1796, Traeg added two more Mozart masses to the seven he already possessed, bringing the
total to the nine listed in the manuscript inventory. It is probable that these nine are the
same nine masses listed in more detail in Traeg’s 1799 printed catalogue. 249
247 A-Wn, Mus. Hs. 5042. This “Offertorium” is listed in the 1799 catalogue; see Weinmann, ed., Johann
Traeg: die Musikalienverzeichnisse von 1799 und 1804, 281.
248 MVC, 834.
249 For a discussion see Ibid, 830-31.
220