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

Mozart’s involvement and is dated “Vienna li 6 Marzo [1]788” 97 – well before Süssmayr and
Mozart are known to have been in contact. The earliest known collaboration of the two
composers, and perhaps their first meeting, occurred in 1790, when they both apparently
contributed accompanied recitatives (K. deest/SmWV 285) to the unsuccessful pasticcio La
Quacquera spirituosa, which premiered at the Burgtheater on 13 August. 98 Süssmayr does not
appear in Mozart’s surviving correspondence until 7 June 1791. 99
Several references in Mozart’s letters to and from Baden appear to show that the
composer employed Süssmayr as a copyist in the preparations for Die Zauberflöte. 100 The
copying-out of exemplary works was of course a time-honoured method of pedagogy, and
there is little doubt that Süssmayr had the opportunity to learn much from the experience.
There is no evidence, however, that Mozart engaged Süssmayr for any reason other than the
need to satisfy the practical requirements of the upcoming premiere, and Süssmayr appears
to have been paid for his services. 101 No workbook survives recording exercises by Süssmayr
completed under Mozart’s supervision, unlike the examples of Attwood, Ployer and
Freystädtler, and indeed Mozart’s hand does not appear in any surviving autograph by
Süssmayr outside the Requiem. It seems doubtful that Süssmayr was Mozart’s “student” in
the way the term is commonly understood.
97 SmWV, 77. This autograph is the earliest known evidence of Süssmayr’s presence in Vienna. Winterberger
surmised that Süssmayr arrived in July 1788, but this was based on the unsupported idea that Süssmayr
travelled from Kremsmünster with Johann Michael Vogl; Franz Xaver Süssmayr, 84-85. Süssmayr could have
arrived in Vienna at any time from July 1787, the month he completed his studies.
98 Duda (SmWV, 174) inaccurately gives the title as “spiritosa,” and incorrectly states that the performance took
place at the Kärntnertortheater. On Mozart’s recitative, see Dexter Edge, “Attributing Mozart (I): Three
Accompanied Recitatives,” Cambridge Opera Journal 13 (2001): 230-37.
99 “Gestern speißte ich mit Süßmaiern bey der ungarischen Krone zu Mittag weil ich noch um 1 Uhr in der
Stadt zu thun hatte...” MBA, iv.135.
100 See MVC, 27-9.
101 “gieb ihm [Süssmayr] nur die 3 Floren, damit er nicht weint – “ MBA, iv.150.
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