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

Constanze’s association. Particularly interesting is the quasi-biblical language Mozart
adopted for the final sentence in the August letter, of the God who orders all things never
forsaking the devout betrothed couple. This statement of belief may be seen as an attempt by
Mozart to portray his marriage as a divinely ordained and sanctioned event, ultimately
outside the control of Leopold. Given the vicissitudes leading up to the marriage, Mozart
himself may have found it congenial to view the occasion in a similar light.
What role did Constanze really play in the religious life of her husband? In view of
the central importance Mozart evidently attached to her in the composition of C minor
Mass, this is an important but almost unanswerable question. The nature of Constanze’s
religious background is entirely unknown, although her probable upbringing at the Notre
Dame College in Mannheim would have provided a standard Catholic education. 97 Much
later in life, she was to request a Catholic funeral for her Protestant second husband and later
masses for his soul, but by then the circumstances of her life were radically different. 98 One of
the very few insights we have into Constanze’s religious life in the early 1780s is an entry that
Mozart made in her prayerbook:
Derjenige, welcher in diesem Büchel all die Bildchen umgewandt und auf jedes was darauf
geschrieben hat, ist ein – – – – – – nicht wahr Constanz? – Nur ein einziges hat er verschont, weil
er gesehen, daß sie es doppelt hat – und er sich daher Hoffnung macht, dasselbe zum Andenken
zu bekommen; wer schmeichelt sich dieses? – – – –
Der Trazom – und von wem hofft er es zu erhalten?
Von der Znatsnoc.
97 See Erich Valentin, “Das Testament der Constanze Nissen: mit biographischen Notizen über Constanze und
Georg Nikolaus Nissen”, Neues Mozart-Jahrbuch 2 (1942): 138. Constanze’s father, Fridolin Weber, copied out
the text of a Latin hymn that may have been of his own composition. Still extant in A-Sm, the autograph leaf
with a note of authenticity by Constanze is discussed in Rudolf Lewicki, “Aus dem Mozarteums-Archiv”,
Mozarteums Mitteilungen 2 (1920): 124-25.
98 See Peter Unkelbach, “Constanze Nissen Und Salzburgs Fürsterzbischof Augustin Gruber: Eine Kontroverse
Aus Dem Jahre 1826 Zu Katholischen Begrabnisfeierlichkeiten Fur Den Evangelischen Danischen Legationsrat
Georg Nikolaus Nissen,” Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum 43, no. 3-4 (1995): 78-80; Franz
Martin, “Beiträge über Mozarts Witwe”, Neue Mozart-Jahrbuch 3 (1943): 113-16; Rudolph Angermüller, “Eine
(kleine) Stiftung von Constanze Nissen (1836)”, Mitteilungen der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum 44, no. 3-
4 (1996): 69-76. Angermüller was apparently unaware of Martin’s earlier publication of the relevant
documents.
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