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

there seems to be no watermark present. 81 Possibly the bifolium was cut from a sheet in
which the watermarks were located entirely on the other half, as with Tyson 99 and 105. In
the absence of useful information of this sort, we must rely on handwriting analysis to
determine an approximate date. The form of the treble clef, including the wide “hip,”
together with several other features suggests an origin sometime before 1792, and the likely
unavailability of this paper at Kremsmünster implies a date no earlier than 1788. 82 At the
beginning of the manuscript, Süssmayr wrote simply “Siessmayr,” but a later hand added
“Alleluia” and “pour Mons. Benucci” in pencil. Francesco Benucci (c. 1745-1824), who sang
in the premieres of Figaro, the Viennese Don Giovanni and Cosi, is not known to have had a
regular association with any Viennese church, and there is no guarantee that the pencil
marking is contemporaneous with the writing down of the score. If, however, this
“dedication” dates from before the singer’s departure from Vienna in 1795, we may have
here a second instance of Benucci’s association with sacred music, following his performance
at the inauguration of the Italian National Church in April 1786. 83 In 1793, Süssmayr would
write two replacement numbers for Benucci in Paisiello’s La Serva Padrona. 84
While at Kremsmünster, Süssmayr befriended a fellow student and composer, Ernst
Fraunberger (1769-1840). Their friendship continued when Fraunberger moved to Vienna
to study for the priesthood, and was maintained even after Fraunberger left the city in
1793. 85 In 1791, Fraunberger wrote a small-scale mass in Vienna for two soprano voices and
bass, attributed on the title-page to “Sig re Niemand”; see Figure 5.8. Such whimsical or
81 Unusually, the paper is ruled with 16 staves, divided by Süssmayr into two systems of eight staves. The
autograph bears a number of pencilled corrections.
82 SmWV, 54.
83 Walther Brauneis, “Die Italienische Congregation in Wien: Geschichte und Zielsetzungen Einer Nationalen
Interessensvertretung im Wien der Mozart-Zeit,” Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum 47, no.
3/4 (1999): 38.
84 SmWV, 160-62.
85 See Kellner, Musikgeschichte des Stiftes Kremsmünster, 600-02.
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