J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

music’ beyond a general sense of propriety—his attitude was a long way from the
reforming zeal of the nineteenth-century Caecilians. It has been suggested that the
mass was written in connection with the visit of Pope Pius VI to Vienna in April-May
1782, but no music appears to have been commissioned for this occasion (which was a
fruitless attempt to persuade Joseph II to moderate his ecclesiastical policies). 64 1782
was, after all, the year of Joseph’s edict reforming the liturgy—and this, at least, may
be one of the reasons the mass remained unfinished.
The enigma is compounded rather than illuminated by a letter to his father of 4
January 1783: ‘It is quite true about my moral obligation and indeed I let the word
flow from my pen on purpose. I made the promise in my heart of hearts and hope to be
able to keep it. When I made it, my wife was not yet married; yet, as I was absolutely
determined to marry her after her recovery, it was easy for me to make it—but, as you
yourself are aware, time and other circumstances made our journey impossible. The
score of half a mass, which is still lying here waiting to be finished, is the best proof
that I really made the promise...’ 65 Of what ‘moral obligation’, which ‘promise’, is
Mozart speaking? Dennis Pajot has explored the different possibilities with admirable
thoroughness and logic in an article on the Mozart Forum website. 66 The least unlikely
scenario that he can extrapolate from this letter (no other surviving documents cast any
light on the matter) is that Mozart had promised (to Leopold? to Constanze?) that he
would visit Salzburg with his new bride, and write a mass in which she would sing and
impress the family. 67 We know from Nannerl’s diary that this is indeed what
64 See M. Schmid, ‘Bildintentionen in Mozarts c-Moll-Messe’, Acta Mozartiana 42/1 (Mar 1995) 2-12,
and V. Braunbehrens Mozart in Vienna, 1781-1791, tr. T. Bell (New York: Grove Weidenfeld,
1990), p.178.
65 Anderson, Mozart letters, vol. III, pp.1243-44.
66 ‘K.427: Mozart’s promise and the C minor mass’
http://www.mozartforum.com/Lore/article.php?id=026 (accessed 30 September 06). Illuminating
comments upon this article by Agnes Selby can be found here:
http://www.mozartforum.com/Discussion%20Archive/2004April.htm#562 (accessed 30 September
06).
67 One is tempted to say: ‘in which she would take a starring role’; and to be sure, the Mozarts’ attitude
to the music they heard in church differed very little from that to any other concerts or operas.
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