Life of Mozart

. anno:366 THE REQUIEM.custom and natural aptitude. There is no doubt that CountWalsegg accepted the score as having been completed andwritten by Mozart at least as far as the Sanctus.^-*- Whetherthis was expressly stated, or merely taken for granted byhim, does not appear, and the fact that the composition hadbeen ordered by him with a view to a deception of anotherkind is a curious coincidence, but does not make the caseany the better.Under these circumstances it was to the interest of thewidow to maintain that the Requiem had been completed byMozart. This explains the assertion of Rochlitz-^^ (whoaccording to his own account had questioned Mozart'swidow at Leipzig in 1796 concerning the whole story of theRequiem) that Mozart had completed the Requiem beforehis death. But ^'"^ a secret known to so many could hardlybe long kept. The widow had retained a copy of the work,and a performance of it took place soon after in Jahn's Hallat Vienna, the hall being densely crowded. It was prettywell known to the performers what portions were by Mozartand what by Siissmayr,^^ and the knowledge was not slow tospread. It reached Munich ^^ and Prague, where at the firstperformance of the Requiem no secret was made of the factthat the Sanctus was composed by Siissmayr.^^ The widowsold manuscript copies of the Requiem to various noblemen,-^''and allowed others to make copies of it i^^ Hiller copied the11Niemetschek, who had his information from the widow, says that directlyafter Mozart's death the messenger demanded and received the work, " incompleteas it was " (p. 52). The Count himself signified that the Requiem wasonly Mozart's as far as the Sanctus.12 Cäcilia, IV., p. 288.13A. M. Z., I., p. 178." Stadler, Nachtr., p. 6.15A. M. Z., XXIX., p. 520.16 Cäcilia, IV., p. 308. The singer, Mariottini, of Dresden, made a copy ofthe Requiem, Kyrie, and Dies iras, and appended the following observation" L' Offertorio, il Sanctus e 1' Agnus Dei non gl' ho transcritti, perche non miparso essere del valore del precedente, ne credo ingannarmi nel crederliopera di un' altra penna " (Cäcilia, VI., pp. 303, 310).1' Frederick William II. paid her 100 ducats for one (Cäcilia, VI., p. 211).18 Hafer relates that a " Thomaner " Jost, who wrote music very well, copiedthe score twice for the widow during her stay in Leipzig (Cäcilia, IV., p. 297).