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

cryptic attributions are a common feature of Frauenberger’s autographs. Süssmayr’s Deutsches
Requiem SmWV 104, written at Kremsmünster, survives in a score in the hand of
Fraunberger with an attribution to “H. Franz Süßmayr und Manthaler in Musik gesetzt.” 86
“Giuoceo Manthaler”, like “P. Arnusto Donnemontano” and “Niedereder” was a
pseudonym for Frauenberger. 87
The idea that Süssmayr was Mozart’s pupil or a least a close associate began to
establish itself soon after Mozart’s death. The libretto of the opera Moses SmWV 209,
premiered at the Theater auf der Wieden on 4 May 1792, bears the remark: “In Musik
gesezt von Franz Xav. Sießmayr, Schüler der königl. Hofkapellmeister Salieri und weil[and]
Mozart.” 88 Niemetschek, writing in 1794, concluded a long article on the state of theatre in
the German-speaking world with the following:
In Grunde hat keine Oper, seit Mozartische existiren, im eigentlichsten Sinn des Wortes, ihr
Glück gemacht; selbst die zwei von dem Wiener Kompositeur Hrn. Sießmeyer nicht
ausgenommen, der auf seinen wahren Lehrer Mozart schimpft, ihn aber doch abschreibt. 89
Niemetschek produced the text for a choral piece by Süssmayr, Tag der Wonne SmWV 321,
written for the birthday of Emperor Franz and first performed at Prague’s Tyn Church on 12
February 1794. 90 Süssmayr received a golden bowl for his efforts and was honoured by the
rector of the university as a “würdiger Scholar eines grossen Salieri, und des unvergesslichen
Mozarts!” Viennese reviews of Die Spiegel von Arkadien SmWV 213 in 1794 drew
86 A-KR, H 133/43; SmWV, 32.
87 Several other works by Frauenberger in A-KR have attributions to Manthaler. “Donnemontano” is, of course,
the Italian form of Frauenberger.
88 SmWV, 79. The formulation on the playbill was slightly different: “Zögling der beiden Kapellmeister Herrn
Salieri und weiland Herrn Mozart.” This statement is the only source for the allegation that Süssmayr boarded
with Mozart.
89 Franz Xaver Niemetschek, “Uibersicht der Vorzüglichsten Deutschen Bühnen,” in Allgemeines Europäisches
Journal (Brno: Joseph Georg Traßler, 1794), ii.570. Niemetschek signs himself “***k.” The two Süssmayr
operas to which he refers are probably L’incanto superato SmWV 210 and Il turco in Italia SmWV 211, both of
which had received performances in Prague.
90 Angermüller incorrectly gives the date as 12 December; Rudolph Angermüller, “Süßmayr, Ein Schüler und
Freund Salieris,” Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum 21, no. 1-2 (1973): 20.
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