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

medical care, the housing of orphans and other secular endeavours. 54 Among the most active
providers of these services were the various monastic orders of the city, yet their great wealth
and exclusive membership made them easy targets for criticism. In one of the boldest moves
of his rule, the Emperor ordered the suppression in on 29 November 1781 of all monasteries
of a purely contemplative nature, since they were “dem Nächsten ganz und gar unnütz” and
“nicht gottgefällig sein können.” 55 Those monasteries that were not members of
contemplative orders were required to maintain a presence in public education, health or
pastoral care, or they would face closure as well. The proceeds from the sales of their
property and effects were used to create a Religious Fund, still extant in Austria today, for the
support of public churches. Garampi, the Papal Nuncio, reported these developments to
Rome, and stated that he could not, in good conscience, administer the Easter sacrament to
Joseph, since the Emperor was a “Jansenist heretic,” and even suggested the possibility of
excommunication. 56 These reports prompted the Pope, Pius VI, to make the journey to
Vienna himself, the first papal excursion beyond Italy since 1533. Pius arrived in the city on
22 March 1782, and during his month-long residence at the Hofburg he presided at services,
held private discussions with Vienna’s senior clergy, and bestowed public blessings. 57 The
primary reason for his visit, however, was to assess Joseph for himself and attempt to rein in
the Emperor’s more ambitious plans for religious reform. Joseph, for his part, received the
Pope courteously, but refused to back down on his reform program. Pius eventually departed
the city with a more favourable impression of Joseph than the papal nuncio had provided,
54 On the closure of monasteries in Vienna, see Derek Beales, Prosperity and Plunder: European Catholic
Monasteries in the Age of Revolution, 1650-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), 192-204.
55 Ibid., 192-3.
56 Ibid., 201.
57 Among these activities was a mass at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, at which Reutter’s Missa in E flat (Hofer 62)
was performed; for a discussion of this occasion see Chapter Four. Lorenzo da Ponte, newly arrived in Vienna,
produced a number of sonnets in honour of the Pope’s visit; Alla Santita di Pio VI. Pontefice Massimo nella sua
venuta a Vienna. Sonetti dell’ Abate Lorenzo da Ponte, Veneziano (Vienna: Schönfeld, 1782).
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