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

performance has been exaggerated. In seeking to reform the content of Viennese church
services, Joseph II was setting himself against a tradition of musical splendour that stretched
back to the Counter-Reformation, and universal compliance with the new order was not
guaranteed. Observance of the Gottesdienstordnung, after all, required the cooperation and
self-regulation of clergy, musicians and congregations, for Joseph and the Hofkomission were
not in a position to “police” services across the city. Given the prominence of music in
Viennese cultural life, it is not surprising that the new order was sometimes disobeyed to the
benefit of musicians and listeners. The simultaneous reverence and dismissal of authority
that this conduct entails was well-characterised in Joachim Perinet’s satirical essay on the
Viennese character, published in 1787:
...mit den Alten unzufrieden, trachtet er immer nach Neuerungen, und verachtet doch jede
Verbesserung, beobachtet die weisesten Verordnungen höchstens ein Vierteljahr, und wünschte
dann wieder hervorzuwühlen, was er einst zu vergraben, selbst mit Hand anlegte. Stündlich
spricht er von Religion, aber im Grunde hat er keine, er ist der Priester jeder Gottheit, und jeder
Priester ist sein Gott. 62
II. THE C MINOR MASS, K. 427
Mozart continued to take an interest in his Salzburg sacred music after the move to Vienna,
although his initial requests for the scores were not marked by a particular sense of urgency
or specificity. On 27 June 1781, Mozart wrote to Leopold, “mir ist ganz lieb wenn ich nach
und nach meine Messen bekomme,” and a week later reminded his father, “wegen den
Messen habe ihnen schon letzthin geschrieben.” 63 In March 1782, Mozart concluded a list of
required music from Salzburg with a request for “etwelche sparten von meinen Messen.” 64 At
62 Joachim Perinet, Annehmlichkeiten in Wien (Vienna: n.p., 1787-8), i.8.
63 MBA, iii.135-36.
64 Ibid., iii.199.
84