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

SmWV 226. Both operas are undated, but the handwriting makes clear that these are works
from Süssmayr’s early years in Vienna, probably between 1788 and 1791. 156 Although one
would wish for a wider sample of manuscripts with this watermark, paper bearing this design
was very likely available when Mozart’s “motet” was copied in May 1791. It may be objected
that Misericordias is not a motet but an offertory, and thus cannot correspond to the account
book entry. The term “motet,” however, was open to a wide variety of interpretations,
especially one with as a general as text as Misericordias. 157
In its original state, the set consisted of two copies each of Canto, Alto, Tenore and
Basso, three copies of Violino Primo, two copies of Violino Secondo, and single copies of
Violoncello, Violone and Organo. Parts for alto and tenor trombone may be contemporary
or a little later, and there are additional vocal, string and horn parts dating from the
nineteenth century. 158 Where did Spangler obtain these parts? As we have seen in Chapter
Three, Misericordias was performed at Frankfurt in 1792 and was in the possession of Traeg
by the mid-1790s, so it may have been circulating by 1791. However, we also know that
Mozart had a set of parts for the motet in his possession, and the possibility cannot be
excluded that he had some role in Spangler’s acquisition of the motet. Even if he did not, it
is now evident that Mozart’s music was already known at the church when in December
1791 a requiem mass was performed for him. Given the similarities of key and motivic
construction between Misericordias and the Introit of the Requiem, it is somehow
appropriate that this motet could have been heard at St. Michael’s in the second half of
1791.
156 SmWV, 129-33, 347.
157 It is possible that the work was copied for the Feast of St. Johann Nepomuk on 16 May. The account book
for May 1791 shows a payment of 6fl 48xr for the hiring of extra musicians at this feast.
158 The watermark of the trombone parts is three moons | the letters VF joined together. One of the horn parts
is signed “Eduard König/[1]845/den 19ten Februar.”
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