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

and intrigue of Salieri and the singers. He wept bitterly: “Now that I am appointed to a situation
where I could please myself in my writings, and feel I could do something worthy, I must
die...” 247
Niemetschek had given a similar account more than two decades earlier:
Mozart blieb während seiner Krankheit bey vollkommenem Bewußtseyn bis an sein Ende, und
starb zwar gelassen, aber doch sehr ungern. Jedermann wird dieß begreiflich finden, wenn er
bedenkt, daß Mozart kurz zuvor das Anstellungsdekret als Kapellmeister in der St. Stephanskirche
mit allen Emolumenten, die von Alters her damit verbunden waren, bekam, und nun erst die
frohe Aussicht hatte, bei hinlänglichen Einkünften ruhig, ohne Nahrungssorgen leben zu
können. 248
If Sophie Haibel’s famous account of Mozart’s last hours is to be believed, the composer had
by then given thought to a successor: “ferner Trug er seiner Frau auf seinen Todt geheim zu
halten, bis sie nicht Vor Tag Albregtsberger davon benachrichtig hätte, den diesem gehörte
der Dienst vor Gott u der Weldt.” 249 Albrechtsberger’s petition to the Council seems to be
lost, but a draft of the appointment letter dated 12 December 1791 survives, similar in
content to the one sent to Mozart. 250 Albrechtsberger’s haste in securing the position may
have been motivated by a desire to fend off competitors, but he may have also been
responding to a genuine void that was left after the “absterben des Hr: Mozart.” The fact
that the Magistrat was willing to appoint a new adjunct Kapellmeister just a week after
Mozart’s death suggests that the authorities recognised the importance of that post, and,
consequently, the work Mozart had been doing in his half-year of service. Albrechtsberger
eventually became full Kapellmeister when Leopold Hofmann finally died in March 1793. 251
247 Rosemary Hughes (ed.), A Mozart Pilgrimage: Being the Travel Diaries of Vincent and Mary Novello in the
Year 1829 (London: Novello, 1955), 125-6.
248 Niemetschek, Lebensbeschreibung des K. K. Kapellmeisters Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 53. At the end of the
book, Niemetschek writes, “Mozart würde in diesem Sache der Kunst [d.h. Kirchenmusik] seine ganze Stärke
erst gezeigt haben, wenn er die Stelle bey St. Stephan wirklich angetreten hätte; er freute sich auch sehr darauf.”
(117)
249 MBA, iv.464. It is possible that this “Dienst” was the responsibility of informing Vienna’s musical
community of Mozart’s death.
250 A-Wsa, Hauptarchivakten 18/1791; Deutsch, Dokumente, 373. I am unaware of any documentary evidence
to suggest what Albrechtsberger’s activities were during his time as adjunct Kapellmeister.
251 A-Wsa, Hauptarchivakten 11/1793.
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