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

Maestro di Capella part for the offertory by “Kayser,” providing a good sample of the
copyist’s C and F clefs. Figure 4.5 shows a soprano part for Reutter’s hymn Veni creator
spiritus (Hofer Hymnen 4) in the hand of Albrechtsberger. 35 This source is particularly
significant, as all Cathedral manuscripts of the latter’s own music were destroyed in 1945,
leaving the hymn as one of the few musical records from St. Stephen’s of Albrechtsberger’s
sixteen-year tenure as Kapellmeister. Because most of the surviving manuscripts from St.
Stephen’s are on lower-quality “local” paper, it is difficult to date them with precision. At
present, the only manuscript that can be demonstrated to date from the 1780s, or perhaps a
little earlier, is an interesting book of music on eight-stave oblong paper, evidently intended
for the organ. 36 The watermark design is three moons over REAL countered by GF under a
canopy, probably equivalent to Tyson 53. In Vienna, Mozart used paper with this design in
autographs dating from 1781 to 1785. 37 The book consists primarily of chant melodies to
which a figured bass has been added, providing valuable evidence of how accompanied chant
was sung in the eighteenth century. Figure 4.6 shows a harmonisation of the Marian
antiphon Regina coeli. In addition, the book contains four anonymous Ave maria settings in a
more “modern” style, all set for soprano and obbligato organ.
Two further sources that may be associated with St. Stephen’s are now located
elsewhere. On Easter Sunday 1782, Pope Pius VI celebrated mass at the Cathedral in one of
the most important ceremonies of the church’s history. The setting was a Missa in E flat by
Reutter (Hofer Messen 62), as we know from a set of parts for the Kyrie and Gloria at Stift
Heiligenkreuz. 38 A note on the parts reads: “Inliegendes Kyrie u. Gloria ist produzieret
35 Veni creator spiritus enjoyed a remarkable popularity at the Cathedral. Performance dates on the wrapper
show that it was performed no fewer than 112 times between 1826 and 1896. Albrechtsberger’s authorship of
this part is not noted in the Jahn catalogue.
36 A-Wd, 181.
37 See MVC, 412, 422.
38 A-HE, II c. I have not yet had the opportunity to inspect this manuscript.
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