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

Unfortunately, the account books for the years 1788 to 1791 have been lost,
precisely the years in which such sources would be of the greatest interest, not least for
information on the St. Stephen’s Kapelle as Mozart knew it. 73 A copy of the account book for
1792 does however survive in the Stadt- und Landesarchiv, recording Hofmann’s last
complete year as Kapellmeister. 74 Given this gap of four years, I present first a summary of all
the musicians paid at the Cathedral from 1781-87, followed by a more detailed account of
the 1792 accounts; see Tables 4.1 and 4.2. 75 Even in comparison to other Viennese church
ensembles, the composition of the St. Stephen’s Kapelle is very little known to music
scholarship, since the Cathedral was not included in the 1783 census. 76 Many of the
musicians are however well attested through their membership of the Hofkapelle or the opera
orchestras, and I have indicated such individuals when they are known to have participated
in the court ensembles at any time from 1781-91.
A few aspects of the accounts should be mentioned. The six choirboys are not listed
because a payment for their upkeep was given to Hofmann directly, and Hofmann also
provided two of the three altos. One of the tenors, first Michael Assmann then the Hofkapelle
73 Some information on the trombone players in these years is recoverable from applications made to the
Council in 1788-89 by Leopold Sengner, Clemens Messerer and Joseph Hoffmann, to which the Kapellmeister
added a letter of support; A-Wsa, HR A 17/4, 1/1789 (not in Prohászka.) On the violinists in 1791, see below.
74 The equivalent in the Diözesanarchiv is lost. A receipt signed by Hofmann for the provision of music at the
“Managetische Quartalrequiem,” dated 31 December 1792, is described in 850 Jahre St. Stephan: Symbol und
Mitte in Wien 1147-1997, 281-82.
75 According to the St. Stephen’s catalogue, Georg Summer served as adjunct organist at the Cathedral from
1782; Jahn, Die Musikhandschriften, 50. As Summer’s name does not appear in the accounts, his service was
presumably unpaid. A number of clergy at St. Stephen’s were responsible for the singing of chant, including the
cantor Karl Graf Henkel, Freiherr v. Donnersmark and the Vorsanger Valentin Messesenu; Irmbert Fried, “Das
Metropolitankapitel zu St. Stephan in Wien in seiner Personellen Zusammensetzung in der Zeit von 1722-
1900” (PhD diss., Universität Wien, 1952), 77, Schneider, Der Niedere Klerus, 138.
76 “Das daselbst angestellte Musick Personale wird von dem allhiesigen Löblichen Stadts Magistrat bestritten,
dahero kömmt hierorts auszuweisen Nichts.” Biba1783, 24. No distinction is made in Table 6.1 between
musicians belonging to the Essential- and Gnadenbildkapelle before the latter’s closure in 1784. For a
transcription of the Gnadenbild accounts in 1783, see Hochradner and Vörösmarty, “Maria Pötsch,” 154-55.
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