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

tenor and composer Joseph Krottendorfer received an extra payment for their work as
subcantor. Perhaps the most notable feature of the instrumental makeup is the lack of
oboists, although this was entirely typical of Viennese church orchestras. 77 Only one
trumpet-player is listed through much of the 1780s, but the account books make clear that
Neuhold was expected to provide a second player and a timpanist from the money provided
to him. No violists appear in the accounts, but that was not a particular issue as much of the
repertoire was still for the “church trio” texture without viola. Given the Cathedral’s
employment of up to twelve violinists, presumably some of them took the larger instrument
as necessary. In addition to the salaries of the singers and instrumentalists, a number of
auxiliary payments appear for the instruction of the choirboys in singing, violin and
keyboard. The organ-builder Johann Wimola received compensation in 1792, and possibly
earlier, for overhaul of the Cathedral’s main organ. 78 Payments to Jakob Nurscher for music
copying appear in all the surviving account books, suggesting that Kapellmeister Hofmann
was continuing to procure new music for the Cathedral throughout the 1780s. 79 Table 4.3
below shows the total expenditure each year for music at the Cathedral, together with the
payment or payments to Nurscher that year. 80
77 See Biba1783, 73.
78 Planned as early as 1789; see A-Wsa, HR A 17/4, 4/1789. In 1784-85, the “burgl. Orglmacher” Franz Xaver
Christoph was paid 600 fl. for the “Reparierung der vorderen Orgl,” while Andreas Geiger, a “burgl. Vergolter”
received 181fl. for the “Herstellung der Orglfassung auf den vorderen Chor.” Brunner, Kantorei, 59.
79 Nurscher’s predecessor as the Cathedral’s copyist was Franz Xaver Riesch, or Riersch (c. 1727-80.) See MVC,
81 and Stephen Fisher, “Haydn's Overtures and Their Adaptations as Concert Orchestral Works” (PhD diss.,
University of Pennsylvania, 1985), 445-53. Riesch also worked for the Hofkapelle (A-Whh, SR 371/14, note
dated 1 June 1780.)
80 The one-off payment of 1400fl to Wimola is omitted from the total for 1792.
279