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

than 1795, and in a score of Don Giovanni for the Burgtheater’s 1798 production in
German. 176 It appears also in three sources from the Hofkapelle for Mozart’s Credo mass K.
257, the Krönungsmesse by Righini and a Requiem by Winter, all copied around 1800. 177
Watermarks resembling this design are found in Beethoven sources as late as 1807, in the
autograph of the Coriolan overture and the sketchbook Landsberg 6. Designs featuring a
man-in-the-moon instead of the usual three moons are indicative in general of a date around
1800 or later. 178 It is very unlikely, then, that paper with this watermark was available to
Süssmayr in December 1791, and therefore these manuscripts were not used as performance
material at Mozart’s memorial service. They are instead interesting examples of Süssmayr’s
continued occupation with the Requiem after the delivery of the score to Count Wallsegg. 179
It is a widespread conjecture that at least some of the instrumental parts in the Kyrie
were entered prior to 21 December, when Eybler assumed responsibility for completing the
score. 180 As the only known possible use of the Requiem prior to this date was at Mozart’s
obsequies, the non-autograph entries in the Kyrie have been used in support of a Requiem
performance on 10 December. The underlying assumption is that Eybler proceeded
systematically and began his work with the first unfinished movement he encountered. As
the first sign of Eybler’s hand is in the Dies irae, not the Kyrie, so the theory goes, the
instrumental parts in the Kyrie must have been complete when Eybler inherited the score. It
is certainly plausible that Eybler worked in this way, but we cannot know for certain.
176 On these manuscripts, see MVC, 934, 1416 and 1754-55 n464. In Edge’s opinion, the presence of this
watermark suggests a date around 1800.
177 A-Wn, HK 2239, HK 2281 and HK 326. On the dating of the Righini score, see the Hofkapelle chapter.
178 Cf. Duda AM-4, GA/F-2, GA/F-3 and VB, found in Süssmayr autographs from 1800-02.
179 Concrete evidence of Süssmayr’s engagement with Mozart’s music after 1792 is rare. As Kapellmeister of the
National-Singspiel he was certainly involved with the German-language production of Don Giovanni in 1798;
see MVC, 1752.
180 Deutsch, Dokumente, 375. See also Brauneis, “Dies Irae,” 43.
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