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

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eceived a letter from her, “welches mir ausserordentliches vergnügen gemacht hat.” Then,<br />

evidently in response to a report from her, Mozart writes:<br />

ich bedauere auch daß ich gestern nicht bej eurer schönen Musique war, aber nicht der Musique<br />

wegen, sondern weil ich dann so glücklich gewesen seyn würde bey dir zu seyn. 241<br />

At the end of the letter, he mentions, “den Augenblick erhalte dein zweytes.” 242 What was<br />

this “schöne Musique” that Constanze mentioned to her husband? It is tempting to speculate<br />

that it might have had something to do with Mozart’s new motet, but “gestern” was 24 June,<br />

the day after Corpus Christi. If indeed either of Constanze’s letters contained a report about<br />

the postulated first performance of Ave, verum corpus, it did not provoke Mozart to<br />

comment.<br />

The Baden Pfarrkirche is certainly one potential venue for a performance of the<br />

motet in 17<strong>91</strong>. But is it the only one? Given Mozart’s recent appointment as adjunct<br />

Kapellmeister at St. Stephen’s and his known association with the Piaristenkirche, both<br />

churches should be taken into consideration as possible locations where the composer<br />

directed Ave, verum corpus himself. A major procession took place from the Cathedral on<br />

Corpus Christi, taking in all the parishes of the Stadt, and this would have been a high-<br />

profile opportunity for Mozart to premiere his new work. 243 As we have seen, Andre seems to<br />

have possessed an otherwise unknown source for the motet – a manuscript that originated<br />

with Constanze – and perhaps this source was associated with a Viennese performance of<br />

Ave, verum corpus under Mozart’s direction. 244<br />

241 MBA, iv.141.<br />

242 In MBA, these two references are taken to mean that Constanze sent letters on both 23 and 24 June, a<br />

reasonable if not provable assumption.<br />

243 The 1783 Gottesdienstordnung reads: “Fronleichnams Prozession wird in der Stadt nur eine am Feste selbst<br />

von der Metropolitankirche ausgehen...und...durch alle Bezirke der übrigen Pfarren ziehen.” RGZJ, 553.<br />

244 As of 1837, according to the St. Stephen’s Musicalien Catalog (A-Wda, s.s.) the Cathedral did not possess<br />

performance material for K. 618. Otto Biba reports that the Piaristenkirche holds an early set of parts for the<br />

Missa K. 337 in the hand of a “well-known Viennese professional copyist.” According to Biba, the parts are on<br />

paper with watermark Tyson <strong>91</strong>, used by Mozart in his last years and by other composers into the 1790s. Otto<br />

Biba, “The Beginnings of Mozart's Presence in the Viennese Church-Music Repertory: Sources, Performance<br />

336

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