Life of Mozart

364 THE REQUIEM.Süssmayr's appointed task, therefore, was the composition"from his own head" (ganz neu) of the concluding part ofthe Lacrimosa, the Sanctus, Benedictus, and Agnus Dei;only "in order to give the work more unity" he repeated thefugue of the Kyrie with the words " cum Sanctis." The Requiemthus completed—the two first movements in Mozart'shandwriting, the remainder in Süssmayr's—was deliveredover to the owner.'' If it was intended that the latter shouldaccept the whole composition as by Mozart, appearanceswere certainly not calculated to undeceive him. The scorein question passed in 1838 into the possession of the ImperialLibrary.^ The first impression of every one who sees it, andwho is familiar with Mozart's handwriting, must be that thewhole of it was written by him, and that the autograph ofMozart's Requiem in its entirety is before him.^ Closerexamination and comparison raise suspicion, many discrepanciesare discovered, although perhaps only triflingones, and the fact must be borne in mind that, to a questionaddressed to her on the subject, Mozart's widow answered(February 10, 1839) ^^^-^ ^ ^'^^^ score of the Requiem inMozart's handwriting could not exist, since it was finishednot by him but by Süssmayr.A comparison of the manuscript with several scores undoubtedlywritten by Süssmayr—a terzet and bass air, composedby him in 1793 for insertion in the "Serva Padrona"— solved the riddle. It was the same handwriting, closelyresembling that of Mozart, with the same deviations from itwhich had been pointed out in the Requiem. There couldeinstimmung mit dem Mozartschen Original copirt hat, nebst Vorschrift undAnhang." The "Anhang" is a similar sketch of the Requiem and Kyrie,evolved by Andre himself— a curious idea and a very useless labour.''Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 13.8 The sister and heiress of Count Walsegg, the Countess Sternberg, sold hiscollection of music to his steward, Leitner, from whom the score of the Requiemwas obtained by his clerk, Karl Haag; it was bequeathed by the latter toKatharina Adelpoller. Commissary Novak, of Schottwien, who had formerlybeen steward to Count Walsegg, drew the attention of Count Moritz von Dietrichstein,Imperial Librarian, to the existence of the treasure, and it was purchasedfor fifty ducats and placed in the Library.9 A. M. Z., XLL, p. 81. N. Ztschr. f. Mus., X., p. 10. Cäcilia, XX., p. 279.