Life of Mozart

parts of the firstsüssmayr's share in the work. 387movements, has, on the contrary, assignedto him a distinct share in the last movements.^'^ Marxemphatically expressed his conviction that the principal subjectsthroughout showed traces of Mozart's handiwork.^^This view is founded on the assumption that the movementsare worthy of Mozart, and are such as Siissmayr himselfcould not have produced ; but the critic must be careful notto bring forward on aesthetic grounds alone accusationswhich involve so much of grave moral delinquency.Seyfried's assertion that,^^ according to the generallyaccepted opinion in Vienna, Siissmayr found note-bookscontaining sketches of these movements, and showingMozart's intention of elaborating the Osanna fugue afterthe Benedictus, as well as the new theme for the concludingfugue. Cum Sanctis, has scarcely been investigated with thecare which it demands. One circumstance has, as far asI know, been left altogether out of account. If the lastthree movements had been altogether wanting at Mozart'sdeath, it would have appeared, one would think, both easierand simpler to supply them from one of his manuscriptMasses, which were entirely unknown, than to commissionSiissmayr to write them afresh ; and such a proceedingwould doubtless have been far more capable of justificationto the owner of the work. But the confusion and embarrassmentin which Mozart's death threw his widow and heraifairs may have occasioned many things to be done whichwould not otherwise have taken place.Frz. Xav. Siissmayr, who, as a young man of twentyseven,enjoyed the friendship of Salieri'^° and Mozart, becameso intimate with the latter ^^ that he was, as Seyfried ex-^^ Cäcilia, III., p. 226 ; IV., p. 27g.68 Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1825, p. 378.59 Cäcilia, IV., p. 307.^oThe Wiener Zeitung announces that the music of the opera " L' IncantoSuperato," first performed July 8, 1793,13 arranged by Herr Franz Siessmayr," pupil of Herr Salieri."^1 Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 61 :" It is no small recommendation to him thathe was a pupil of Mozart, and very highly thought of by him. He has alsocompleted some works left unfinished by this great genius " —which can onlyrefer to the Requiem.2 C 3