‘Meine liebe! ich werde zweifelsohne gewis etwas hier machen’ (My dear! I will certainly achieve something here).Footnote 1 Mozart wrote these confident words to his wife Constanze two days after arriving in Frankfurt am Main on 28 September 1790. That autumn Frankfurt swelled to accommodate the thousands of visitors who were eager to take part in an event that might occur only once in their lifetimes: an imperial coronation. In his memoir, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe recalled that upon the occasion of the coronation of Joseph II as King of the Romans, in 1764, many had ‘hofften wohl auch noch einmal eine Krönung mit Augen zu erleben’ (indeed hoped to experience another coronation with their own eyes).Footnote 2 That time had arrived. The election and coronation that would unfold over a two-week period were the latest in a long line stretching back almost one thousand years to Charlemagne in 800. Indeed, Mozart, who made the arduous journey from across the Holy Roman Empire (or Reich), must have fostered great expectations for success in the coronation city, for he intended to perform at and profit from the Reich's greatest spectacle of power.Footnote 3
In his study of the composer's final years, Christoph Wolff examines Mozart's investment in his Frankfurt sojourn. Wolff acknowledges that although he travelled independently of court business, the composer willingly embarked on the costly journey, going as far as pawning the family's furniture and other possessions to raise the necessary funds.Footnote 4 Autumn 1790 was a bleak time in both Mozart's professional and his private life. When he left for Frankfurt his finances were in a shambles, and he was unaware of his wife's whereabouts.Footnote 5 Yet not only did Mozart undertake this expensive trip, but he did so in style, as he journeyed in his own coach and brought along a servant.Footnote 6 Wolff asserts that
the principal reason for Mozart's attending the Frankfurt ceremonies consisted of the unique opportunity, by way of running his own sideshow, to renew old acquaintances and make new connections among the many members of the assembled European royalty, princes and high aristocracy, in the hope that those with musical interests might hear about his presence and would want to approach him.
He also suggests that Mozart ‘met with a number of old acquaintances on the way to and from Frankfurt and, in general, intended to further his business prospects’.Footnote 7 Clearly, Wolff takes the coronation journey as evidence that Mozart remained committed to improving his situation, perhaps by exchanging his life as a freelance musician for that of a court composer. Yet Mozart's involvement in the imperial coronation, the penultimate journey of a life marked by extended periods of travel, plays only a limited role in a study dedicated to exploring what Wolff has deemed the composer's ‘imperial style’.Footnote 8
Other narratives of Mozart's life inform us that the composer frequented the theatre while in Frankfurt, where he socialized and allegedly saw a production of his Die Entführung aus dem Serail (k384).Footnote 9 Mozart also found musicians to perform alongside him at his concert of 15 October 1790, his only documented Frankfurt performance. Given the abundance of affluent music lovers, his reputation and his new title of Kompositor der Kaiserlich-Königlichen Kammermusik (composer of the imperial [and] royal chamber music), Mozart had every right to anticipate a lucrative return on his investment. However, after the concert he admitted defeat, claiming that his performance was financially a failure and blaming the poor turnout on a luncheon and military parade honouring the new emperor.Footnote 10 If this concert and the profits he envisaged as a result were Mozart's motivations for embarking on the costly journey at this uncertain point of his life, then he was justified in considering the gamble a flop.
Not much more is known about Mozart's involvement in Leopold II's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. In fact, very little is known about the music of the coronation in general. Of the two coronations in which Mozart participated, Leopold's later accession as King of Bohemia in Prague in September 1791 has attracted the most scholarly attention. It was on this occasion that Pasquale Bondini's troupe premiered La clemenza di Tito (k621). The circumstances surrounding the commission, composition, performance and reception of Tito account for nearly all the musical scholarship investigating coronations in Central Europe during the late eighteenth century.Footnote 11 That the more politically significant Frankfurt coronation is often mentioned but never fully investigated – certainly not beyond Mozart's concert – is understandable when one considers that the composer had no formal responsibility there. This event's relative marginalization in musical terms is also due to the complexity of the Reich and the misunderstanding of its political structure, evident even in specialist studies of eighteenth-century music.Footnote 12 Furthermore, the Frankfurt coronation did not include any operatic premieres, and reconstructions of Mozart's concert programme suggest that he performed only older works. Yet this does not mean that Leopold II's imperial accession was an insignificant context for music, for it was permeated by diverse musical works from artistic centres across the Reich. Given the cultural and political importance of this occasion, it is surprising that its music has not attracted more scholarly inquiry.Footnote 13
A study exploring the music of Leopold II's imperial coronation is indeed long overdue, for the last significant contribution was made by Otto Erich Deutsch in the early 1960s.Footnote 14 By investigating archival documents and primary accounts often overlooked by music scholars, I offer a new understanding of the musical events surrounding Leopold II's coronation as Holy Roman Emperor. Set within the framework of the Reich, the Frankfurt coronation provides an opportunity to view Mozart's music in a highly concentrated atmosphere of musical competition and cooperation outside Vienna. An eclectic group of musicians from multiple Imperial Estates (the territories that constituted the Empire) travelled to Frankfurt from distant corners of the extensive Reich for the same reasons that Wolff suggests inspired Mozart. An examination of the participation of these musicians challenges previous assumptions regarding the performance of Mozart's operas at the event and offers new insight into his concert. It also clarifies the identity of the composer of the coronation mass. Although Mozart was justified in attributing the poor attendance at his concert to a banquet held by a prince, additional factors contributed to the concert's failure. By tracing the events of the coronation as Mozart and his contemporaries would have witnessed them, I demonstrate why the performance intended to reverse his fortunes at a trying period in his life ultimately failed.
THE POLITICS OF CORONATION
Leopold II (1747–1792) governed a number of territories, and his monarchical responsibilities were reflected in a collection of titles. During the reign of his older brother, Emperor Joseph II (1741–1790), Leopold ruled as Grand Duke of Tuscany (1765–1790).Footnote 15 Upon Joseph II's death, Leopold departed Florence for Vienna, the Habsburg Residenz city, and between 1790 and 1791 he was crowned on three separate occasions as the leader of three territories. Now the hereditary Archduke of Austria, Leopold was elected Holy Roman Emperor in Frankfurt am Main on 30 September 1790, and he was crowned there on 9 October. As emperor of the Reich, Leopold II ruled directly over his own hereditary lands and was the supreme leader of a constellation of roughly 320 Imperial Estates. Leopold next became the King of Hungary and Croatia, territories outside the formal boundaries of the Holy Roman Empire, at a ceremony in Pressburg (now Bratislava) on 15 November 1790. Finally, he was crowned the de facto King of Bohemia in Prague on 6 September 1791. It was for this Habsburg installation that Mozart set Caterino Mazzolà’s adaptation of Metastasio's politically resonant La clemenza di Tito. Footnote 16 Leopold II ruled over these realms until his sudden death on 1 March 1792.
Leopold's election and coronation as Holy Roman Emperor were the most politically significant of these events for the lands that constituted Central Europe.Footnote 17 Whereas the coronations in Pressburg and Prague were Habsburg hereditary events, the imperial accession in Frankfurt was dependent on the collective vote of leading princes.Footnote 18 The constitution of the Holy Roman Empire reserved this right for an elite group of princes called Kurfürsten (electors), who convened to choose a successor upon the death of a reigning emperor (if one had not already been elected). The emperor did not rule over every Imperial Estate, however. Magistrates presided over Reichsstädte (imperial cities), a group of nobles labelled generally as Fürsten (princes) reigned over Fürstentümer (princedoms) and electors governed their Kurfürstentümer (electorates). Nevertheless, the emperor played a key political role, as he was a crucial part of the Empire's Reichstag (legislature) and the Reichskammergericht and Reichshofrat (the imperial supreme courts). His position was also highly symbolic, as he embodied the solidarity and – especially at coronations – the continuation of the Reich.Footnote 19
The political unrest in the years immediately preceding Leopold II's imperial coronation intensified the need for a spectacle that asserted and celebrated traditional monarchical authority. Within the Reich, Joseph II's obsession with annexing portions of the Bavarian Electorate into the Habsburg hereditary lands had caused such alarm that, in 1785, Catholic and Protestant princes established the Fürstenbund (League of Princes) to protect their interests.Footnote 20 By the time Joseph died, in 1790, the Empire was flanked by conflict abroad. The Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791) and the feudal revolt in Hungary (1790) raged on in the east, while the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789) and the Brabant Revolution in the Austrian Netherlands (1789–1790) threatened the European status quo in the west. But although internal disputes and foreign insurrections challenged the Holy Roman Empire's political constitution, the Reich proved remarkably durable.Footnote 21 The Empire's fragmented political system acted to quarantine rebellion, helping to localize any outbreak of civil disturbance that could then be quickly contained and suppressed by regional princes and the Reichskammergericht.Footnote 22 Yet despite the ability of these potentates to maintain peace in their realms during the turbulent years of revolution, the Holy Roman Empire required an emperor capable of restoring order within and without the Reich, now that Joseph II had died. Indeed, this new emperor would need to protect the Empire's rich political and cultural networks, ones that supported a complex web of musical cultivation. And just as Leopold II's coronation was an affirmation of the Reich's staying power, so too was this imperial celebration a display of the Empire's musical culture.
THE CORONATION THEATRES
The Frankfurt election and coronation formed the nucleus of a continuous series of public, private and national celebrations. Musical performances began long before any of the official ceremonies. Although the state rituals had yet to take place when Mozart arrived on 28 September, the party had already begun. Three companies, the Mainzer Nationaltheater, the Böhmische und Koberweinische Schauspielergesellschaft and the so-called Französische Komödie, provided the principal diversions during the coronation weeks. Mozart frequented and enjoyed his time spent at these theatres, as he informed his wife: ‘meine ganze Unterhaltung ist das Theater, wo ich dann Bekannte genug antreffe, von Wien, München, Mannheim und sogar Salzburg’ (my complete entertainment is the theatre, where I meet plenty of acquaintances from Vienna, Munich, Mannheim and even Salzburg).Footnote 23
The Mainzer Nationaltheater was the only company of the three that performed in Frankfurt regularly, taking up residence there between July and October from 1789 until 1792.Footnote 24 Under the direction of Siegfried Gotthelf Koch (1754–1831) and Carl David Stegmann (1751–1826), this ensemble was considered the finest of the three, and it enjoyed a reputation of excellence throughout the Reich, so much so that the actor and playwright August Wilhelm Iffland (1759–1814) considered the company ‘das beste Theater Deutschlands, das unsere ausgenommen’ (the best theatre in Germany, apart from ours [in Berlin]).Footnote 25 The Mainz company was recognized for its excellent adaptions of foreign-language operas, and it was the first to perform Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro (k492), Don Giovanni (k527) and Così fan tutte (k588) in German translation.Footnote 26 The Böhm and Koberwein troupe was in Frankfurt from August until the middle of October 1790. Johann(es) Heinrich Böhm (1740–1792) had performed in the Rhineland for years, and in this period he was engaged as theatre director in Koblenz by the Elector of Trier, whom Böhm represented during the coronation.Footnote 27 The third theatre company was a French troupe composed of actors from Strasbourg and Nancy. Francophile theatregoers must have taken advantage of this company's temporary residence, for at the time it was, as the critic, poet and musician Christian Friedrich Daniel Schubart (1739–1791) claimed, the only French theatre in the Reich.Footnote 28
The most striking repertory difference between the companies is that the Mainz troupe programmed operas by Mozart and Antonio Salieri (1750–1825), whereas the others did not.Footnote 29 Having served as theatre Intendant in Salzburg and Vienna, Böhm would have known the works of both composers. Furthermore, Mozart and Salieri were present in the city for the coronation. That Böhm did not programme any of their works is all the more curious considering that Mozart lodged with the director while in Frankfurt.Footnote 30 However, Mozart reported home that the Mainzer Nationaltheater was planning a production of Don Giovanni (1787) in his honour.Footnote 31 Either he was mistaken or the ensemble was unable to perform the opera for some reason; instead they staged Die Liebe im Narrenhause (1787) by Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf (1739–1799).Footnote 32 Wolff claims this substitution was because Dittersdorf's opera was ‘less challenging for the performers’.Footnote 33 Yet Don Giovanni was by no means too difficult for the Mainz ensemble, as the company had by this point already staged no fewer than eight productions of the opera since March 1789 (including its German-language premiere).Footnote 34 According to Daniel Heartz, ‘Mozart was represented on the stage in Frankfurt only by a performance of Die Entführung on 12 October’.Footnote 35 Although the evidence suggests that none of the companies performed Mozart's Die Entführung during the festivities, surviving playbills do indicate that the Mainz troupe staged Die Hochzeit des Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) before the composer's arrival on 25 September and a day after the coronation, on 10 October.Footnote 36 It is reasonable to assume Mozart made every effort to see his opera performed while in Frankfurt.
Salieri was the most well-represented opera composer during the coronation festivities. The Mainzer Nationaltheater staged no fewer than three of his works, and he attended a production of his most popular and frequently staged opera, Axur, König von Ormus (Axur, re d'Ormus; 1788). The Privilegirte Mainzer Zeitung reported: ‘in keiner Oper ist wohl mehr gutgeordnetes Theaterspiel, besseres Sujet, schönerer Text und angestande hinreißende Musik’ (perhaps no opera has a better-ordered drama, better subject, more beautiful text and captivatingly written music).Footnote 37 This German-language production of Axur, and indeed the overall quality of the Mainzer Nationaltheater, also captivated the Saxon electoral ambassador's secretary, Rudolph Hommel. According to this eyewitness:
[Das] Mainzische Hoftheater unter den Direktion des bekannten Kochs [ist] gewiß eines der besten Deutschen Theater . . . . Die besten Italiänischen Opern werden hier Deutsch und so gut gegeben, daß gewiß manche Italiänische Aufführung zurücksteht. So sahe ich z.B. Salieri's Axur hier besser als zu Wien in der Ursprache.Footnote 38
The Mainz Hoftheater under the direction of the well-known Koch [is] certainly one of the best German theatres . . . . The best Italian operas are given here [in] German, and so well that certainly many Italian performances fall short of them. I saw, for instance, Salieri's Axur better [performed] here than in Vienna in the original language.
The Journal des Luxus und der Moden reported that Salieri himself was so impressed with Stegmann's adaptation of the German text for the Mainz company that he took a few pieces from the arrangement back with him to Vienna for use in his Italian version.Footnote 39
The Mainzer Nationaltheater, the Böhmische und Koberweinische Schauspielergesellschaft and the Französische Komödie offered to their guests in Frankfurt the opportunity to attend spoken and sung French- and German-language theatre. While all three performed regularly between September and October 1790, there were still other options for those who wanted to hear music during the coronation. At the centre of the celebrations were the musical-political theatrics of the national ceremonies.
THE ‘GRAND NATIONAL DRAMA’
While public theatre was available to anyone able to pay the entrance fee, the election and coronation constituted the more exclusive, core festivities. Schubart likened these state spectacles to that of a drama for the Holy Roman Empire:
Unser grosses Nazionaldrama besteht eigentlich aus drei Akten; der erste enthält Leopolds Wahl, der zweite seinen Einzug und feierliche Beschwörung der Wahlkapitulazion, der dritte und lezte sein Krönung.Footnote 40
In effect our grand national drama consists of three acts: the first entails Leopold's election, the second his arrival and celebratory invocation of the electoral capitulation and the third, and last, his coronation.
In the first act of this imperial drama the electors convened in Frankfurt to choose their next imperial leader. The Wahltag (election day) was set for Thursday, 30 September 1790 in the Cathedral of St Bartholomew.Footnote 41 Archbishop-Elector Friedrich Carl Joseph von Erthal of Mainz (1719–1802) summoned to the city the remaining ecclesiastical electors, the Archbishops Clemens Wenceslaus of Trier (1739–1812) and Maximilian Franz of Cologne (1756–1801). The latter, a patron of the young Beethoven, was also acquainted with Mozart, as the two had met in Vienna prior to Maximilian Franz's election as elector in the early 1780s.Footnote 42 Ambassadors represented the five secular electors who were not present at the Frankfurt election.Footnote 43
Mozart arrived at the national drama just before the curtain was raised. In what way, if any, he was involved in these ceremonies remains unknown. Yet although he had no official responsibilities, one may assume that Mozart made an effort to witness the pageantry of the emperor's election, arrival and coronation if for no other reason than to be amongst the well-to-do. When Mozart first arrived in Frankfurt he reported that he was busy with work, but this soon changed, for within a few days he wrote: ‘fängt ein unruhiges Leben an – man will mich nun schon überall haben’ (a hectic life begins – now I am wanted everywhere).Footnote 44 If he took part in the celebrations, he would have heard bells ringing and the citizen militia performing music in the streets at 6 a. m. on 30 September to mark the beginning of the Wahltag.Footnote 45 Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical electors met the election ambassadors at Frankfurt's main square, known as the ‘Römer’, and from there they processed to the cathedral.
Like productions at the public theatres, the official ceremonies were ticketed events. According to Hommel, there were three types of tickets. The first allowed the bearer to be in the cathedral, the second provided entrance to the choir and the third (and most coveted) allowed entry to the conclave itself.Footnote 46 It would have been difficult for Mozart to secure a ticket, as there was a limited number of them.Footnote 47 Those fortunate enough to obtain entry into the cathedral were among the few to witness first-hand this highly anticipated event.
Shortly after 10 a. m. the election officials entered the cathedral to the accompaniment of trumpets and drums. Eyewitnesses noted that the Auxiliary Bishop of Mainz sang an antiphon once the officials reached the choir and ‘nach dessen Beendigung hielt er das hohe Amt, wozu die Mainzische Kapelle eine trefliche Musik von Riggini [sic] treflich aufführte’ (after its conclusion he celebrated high mass, for which the Mainz Kapelle splendidly performed well-suited music by Righini).Footnote 48 Vincenzo Righini (1756–1812), whom Mozart is likely to have known from the Italian's time in Vienna and tenure as substitute Kapellmeister during Salieri's absence in 1787, served as the Mainz Kapellmeister from 1787 until 1793, when he took a position in Berlin.Footnote 49 Righini's Missa solemnis in D minor (1790) is today known by the misnomer ‘Krönungsmesse’ (coronation mass), which has led some scholars too hastily to accept it as such.Footnote 50 In fact, it was without doubt composed as the election mass of 30 September, over a week before the coronation.Footnote 51
At the conclusion of the mass, the antiphon Veni Creator Spiritus was sung, and the electors and representatives swore an oath to elect the man who would ensure Germany's salvation.Footnote 52 This was followed by a performance of the antiphon Veni Sancte Spiritus.Footnote 53 Election officials and those bearing the appropriate ticket then made their way into the conclave and the doors were locked behind them. When the Mainz cathedral provost eventually emerged and proclaimed Leopold's election, people cheered, cannons fired from the city walls and bells rang throughout the city.Footnote 54 In accompaniment to this happy commotion, the Mainz Kapelle performed a Te Deum.Footnote 55 The conclusion of this opening act was a festive procession back to the Römer. That evening the Mainzer Nationaltheater performed Dittersdorf's Doktor und Apotheker (1786), which was followed by a ball hosted by Prince Anton Theodor von Colloredo (1729–1811).Footnote 56
According to Schubart, Leopold's arrival formed the second act of the Empire's national drama. This interval between the election and coronation was a period of celebration and increasing anticipation for the finale, as the coronation day had yet to be decided.Footnote 57 On 2 October 1790 ringing bells and cannon fire announced the arrival of the imperial relics from the Reichsstädte Aachen and Nuremberg for use in the coronation.Footnote 58 On the following day, a Sunday, those in Frankfurt attended services in the city's churches, one of which included a mass by Ferdinando Mazzanti (c1725–?1805) and a Te Deum by Niccolò Jommelli (1714–1774).Footnote 59
Onlookers waited a significant amount of time before they could behold the emperor-to-be, even after the cavalcade entered the city walls. Frankfurt's Stallmeister (masters of the horse) opened the procession and were followed by secular electoral officials, sacred electors and finally Leopold himself.Footnote 60 Many in attendance were impressed by this visual representation of imperial power; a Saxon Swiss Guard described Leopold's arrival as ‘der schönste und beste Tag’ (the most beautiful and best day).Footnote 61 From his vantage point, the soldier claimed that it took one and a half hours from the onset of the cavalcade until the point at which he saw the emperor, whose section lasted equally as long.Footnote 62 When Leopold eventually did reach the cathedral, in the afternoon, music, trumpets and drums continued to play without end.Footnote 63
A local newspaper indicates that a Te Deum was among the music heard upon Leopold's arrival.Footnote 64 Although not mentioned in such reports, an additional piece was probably performed to mark the future emperor's presence in Frankfurt. The famous bass singer Ludwig Fischer (1745–1825) recalled that during the coronation procession he ‘sang dem Kaiser den Glückwunsch’ (sang congratulations to the emperor).Footnote 65 Fischer, for whom Mozart composed the part of Osmin in Die Entführung aus dem Serail, performed the second-act aria ‘Wenn das Silber deiner Haare’ from the patriotic opera Günther von Schwarzburg (1777) by Ignaz Holzbauer (1711–1783).Footnote 66 Holzbauer composed this aria for Fischer, who performed the role of Rudolf at the opera's premiere in Mannheim. Mozart was familiar with the piece, and, although unimpressed with the opera's libretto, he considered Holzbauer's music ‘sehr schön’ (very beautiful) upon hearing it reprised in Schwetzingen.Footnote 67 The text of the aria, which is heard during the opera's fictional coronation scene set in fourteenth-century Frankfurt, reflects well the idyllic mood of the city in October 1790; it praises the emperor, proclaims Teutonic greatness and instructs the masses to behold their new ruler upon his throne. The emperor's arrival was a magnificent display of imperial prestige and sovereignty, one that must have greatly increased anticipation for the coronation.
The finale of the Reich's great national drama was the coronation itself. By this time personnel representing the Empire's courts had ventured from their Residenzen to Frankfurt. So many had left Vienna that the British ambassador there, Robert Murray Keith (1730–1795), informed London of the consequences:
It is impossible that any capital can be more barren of interesting intelligence than Vienna is, at this moment. It would appear that the ceremonies of the election & coronation at Francfort [sic] had, during the last week, so much engrossed the time of the Sovereigns there, and of their ministers, that all correspondence in relation to government affairs had been suspended.Footnote 68
As on the election day, these sovereigns heard bells tolling in the early hours of 9 October to signal the beginning of the Krönungstag (coronation day). While Leopold was led to St Bartholomew's Cathedral, ticket holders like Hommel made their way into the crowded church and vied for a spot in the vicinity of the imperial throne.Footnote 69
Trumpeters and drummers accompanied Leopold's entrance from the organ loft above the choir. Hommel noted ‘während [Leopold] so durch die Kirche ging . . . stimmte die kaiserliche Kapelle, angeführt und beseelt von Salieri, ein trefliches: Ecce mittam Angelum meum an’ (as [Leopold] went through the church, the imperial Kapelle sang an excellent Ecce mittam Angelum meum that was directed and animated by Salieri).Footnote 70 When the antiphon was completed, the Electors of Trier and Cologne led Leopold to the altar. Here, the Reich's symbolic relics surrounded the archduke at his kneeler and the Elector of Mainz began the mass.
The identity of Leopold's Frankfurt coronation mass has long been in question. Although it was once believed that Mozart's Mass in C major, ‘Krönungsmesse’ (k317), was performed at the various coronations of Leopold II and Franz II between 1790 and 1792, David Black has demonstrated that this work was used only for later Habsburg installations.Footnote 71 As noted above, some have identified Righini's Mass in D minor, composed for the imperial election, as the coronation mass, while others have suggested masses by Ignaz Walter (1755–1822) and Peter von Winter (1754–1825), based purely on inscriptions used for marketing purposes.Footnote 72 Indeed, no known musical source identifies definitively the composer of the mass performed at Leopold II's coronation.
Only one of the many descriptions, memoirs and official documents related to the coronation provides a clue as to the mass's composer. According to Hommel, when the mass began ‘die Musik dabei war schön: man hörte Salieri'n ohne ihn zu sehn’ (the music was beautiful: one heard Salieri without seeing him).Footnote 73 A book examining Salieri's life and works published by Ignaz Franz Edlen von Mosel (1772–1844) soon after the composer's death adds credence to the implication that the Viennese Kapellmeister composed the coronation music:
Seine Trauer über solchen Verlust ward bald durch die Ausführung jener Geschäfte unterbrochen, welche ihn als kaiserl. Hofkapellmeister oblagen. In dieser Eigenschaft mußte er mit der Hofmusikkapelle zu den Krönungen seines neuen, nicht minder huldvollen Gebieters, des Kaisers Leopold II., nach Frankfurt, Prag und Preßburg, wo er, nebst anderen seiner Compositionen, ein eigens für diese Feierlichkeiten geschriebenes, großes Te Deum aufführen ließ.Footnote 74
His grief for such a loss [the death of Joseph II] was soon interrupted by the execution of his responsibilities as imperial Kapellmeister. In this capacity he was obliged to travel with the court Kapelle for the coronation of his new, equally gracious ruler, the Emperor Leopold II, to Frankfurt, Prague and Pressburg, where he performed, alongside other compositions of his, a great Te Deum especially written for these festivities.
Although Hommel does not explicitly mention a mass, it is entirely possible that one was included among Salieri's ‘other compositions’ heard at the coronation. If Hommel and Mosel are to be believed and Salieri had composed the coronation mass, then a likely candidate is his Mass in D major (later dubbed the ‘Hofkapellmesse’ or ‘Kaisermesse’).Footnote 75 Although this work has been traditionally dated to 1788, it is possible that it was written somewhat later.Footnote 76 In any case, it remains the only known orchestral mass setting Salieri composed in the years surrounding the coronation.Footnote 77 And if Salieri composed the mass in 1788, as Mosel suggests, then using an already composed piece for the coronation would have had its advantages.Footnote 78 Although chroniclers were careful to point out which sections were performed with orchestral accompaniment, there are no reports of the musicians taking part in either the Sanctus or Agnus Dei.Footnote 79 Using an earlier setting would have therefore allowed Salieri to appropriate only the necessary sections and would thus save him the trouble of composing a new Missa brevis. Moreover, the Mainz and Viennese Kapellen collaborated in the performance of the liturgical music, with the former making up the majority of the instrumental and vocal ensemble. An artist's impression of the coronation gives an idea of how this orchestra appeared (Figures 1a–c).Footnote 80 Employing a previously composed mass for this collaboration had the added benefit of requiring less preparation time, which would have been minimal in any case.
Leopold II's coronation in the Cathedral of St Bartholomew, 9 October 1790. Musicians located in the centre and right lofts. Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Grafische Sammlung, C19709. Used by permission
Centre loft, showing musicians (detail). Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Grafische Sammlung, C19709.
Right loft, showing musicians (detail). Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Grafische Sammlung, C19709.
Following the Gloria, Leopold knelt at the altar and the Elector of Mainz executed the anointment.Footnote 81 As Leopold was anointed with oil in the sign of the cross, the Kapellen sang the antiphons Unxerunt Salomonen Sadock and Unxit te Deus tuus, oleo laetitiae.Footnote 82 Together the three electors placed the crown upon Leopold's head and the archduke then swore an oath on the Aachen Bible. At this moment Leopold became emperor. The sound of trumpets and drums accompanied the Electors of Trier and Cologne as they escorted the new emperor back to his kneeler. The Kapellen next performed the Credo and Offertory, and the Secret was said. After the Agnus Dei the emperor's guides brought him to the consecrator to receive the Eucharist. The electors directed Leopold II to the throne of Charlemagne during a performance of the responsory Desiderium animae ejus.Footnote 83 Church bells rang, large and small weapons were fired and trumpets and drums sounded as Leopold reached the throne.Footnote 84 The Kapellen then performed Salieri's Te Deum laudamus de Incoronazione, composed specifically for this moment.Footnote 85 During its performance the new emperor was handed the sword of Charlemagne and conferred an accolade on nobles from each electoral court.Footnote 86 At the end of the ceremony the dean and singers of the monastery of Aachen were presented to the emperor, who then swore an oath upon the Bible.Footnote 87 The electors and Leopold then left the church for the Römer via a wooden bridge draped in cloth of the imperial colours gold, black and white. Many onlookers, perhaps including Mozart, observed the procession from the surrounding buildings (Figure 2). Once at the Römer, the emperor and coronation officials enjoyed a banquet, where members of the Mainz and Viennese Hofkapellen performed Tafelmusik.Footnote 88 Given Mozart's duties at court, it is possible that a portion of the music heard during this Tafel included some by the Kompositor der Kammermusik.
Leopold's procession to the Römer, 9 October 1790. Georg Vogel, Abbildung des Rückzugs Ihro Römisch-Kaÿserlichen Maÿestät Leopold II. (Nuremberg, 1790). Historisches Museum Frankfurt, Grafische Sammlung, C14645. Used by permission
If Mozart was unable to procure a ticket to see the coronation with his own eyes, he could still have witnessed its brilliance by walking the streets and admiring music sounding from the richly illuminated electoral palaces.Footnote 89 The illuminations of the Elector of the Palatinate's palace, together with his Kapelle, impressed upon Hommel ‘die Idee eines Feenpallasts’ (the idea of a fairy palace).Footnote 90 Although the displays were not equally pleasing, the music captivated Hommel nevertheless: ‘Das Kurmainzische Palais war zwar sehr einfach verziert, aber unnachahmlich erleuchtet, und die Musik der Kapelle vom Balkon herab brachte Leben in die todte Schönheit’ (The electoral Mainz palace was indeed very simply adorned, but inimitably illuminated. The music of the Kapelle, coming down from the balcony, gave life to the dead elegance).Footnote 91 Mozart would have been acquainted with many of the musicians who performed at these residences. And even if he did not hear music emanating from the city's palaces on the evening of the coronation day, there remained an abundance of musical diversions in addition to opera and the official ceremonies.
THE CORONATION CONCERTS
Like Mozart, many other composers journeyed with or without their courts to profit from the atmosphere and circumstances surrounding the coronation, some producing their own benefit concerts. Leopold's accession to the imperial throne inspired musicians from all corners of the Reich to compose works honouring their new emperor. Taking full advantage of the situation, such pieces featured topics drawn from imperial history, whether recent or remote in time. Those unable to make the journey took part in the celebrations by composing vocal and instrumental works representing the apotheosis of Leopold.
By far the most common pieces composed to celebrate the occasion were coronation cantatas. The best known is certainly the young Ludwig van Beethoven's Cantate auf die Erhebung Leopold des Zweiten zur Kaiserwürde (WoO 88), composed while he was in the employ of the Elector of Cologne. The organist of the Reichsstadt Nördlingen, Christoph Friedrich Wilhelm Nopitsch (1758–1824), contributed to this genre with his cantata Ihr Völker frohlocket mit Jubel.Footnote 92 Although it is not known whether the Duke of Württemberg's Kapellmeister, Johann Rudolph Zumsteeg (1760–1802), was present in Frankfurt, his coronation cantata was performed there during the celebrations.Footnote 93 The Mainz tenor Ignaz Walter also composed a Krönungskantate.Footnote 94 Additionally, the Milanese Kapellmeister Václav Pichl (1741–1805) composed Leopolds Krönungs-Ouverture, a symphonic piece dedicated to the emperor and electors and sold by J. J. Hummel in Berlin.Footnote 95 As the Journal von und für Deutschland made clear, composers produced these works in such quantities so that the Reichsstädte could use them in their own celebrations.Footnote 96
Musicians who had the means to travel to Frankfurt also contributed music to the coronation festivities. The Journal von und für Deutschland included musical performances within a list of coronation events.Footnote 97 In addition to concerts by Johann Hässler and Abbé Vogler (discussed below), the journal mentions three performances. First was that of Carl Franz (1738–1802), who played before the emperor on the baryton, despite being best known today as Haydn's principal horn player at the Esterházy court.Footnote 98 Audiences also heard two unnamed horn virtuosos, possibly a reference to the brothers Ignaz Böck (1754–after 1815) and Anton Böck (1757–after 1815), who were active in the Rhineland during this period.Footnote 99 The final concert included on the journal's list was by the blind flute virtuoso Friedrich Ludwig Dülon (1768–1826).Footnote 100 All these musicians were masters of their respective instruments and had undertaken tours throughout the Reich and Europe. It is little wonder that they invested in concerts during the Frankfurt coronation: they recognized the rarity of the gathering and the opportunity for fame and fortune that accompanied it.
The Frankfurter Staats-Ristretto, an important periodical that reported on various aspects of European news, announced the Frankfurt concerts of two of Mozart's rivals. The Erfurt organist Johann Wilhelm Hässler (1747–1822), a former pupil of Johann Christian Kittel (1732–1809), advertised two such concerts to take place in Frankfurt's St Katharinen-Kirche.Footnote 101 Mozart and Hässler were well acquainted, as the two had competed in a musical contest in Dresden as recently as 1789.Footnote 102 Hässler's first coronation performance was publicized as an organ concert to be held on Saturday, 2 October, though there is no information about the programme.Footnote 103 The second announcement, printed on 15 October, promoted a vocal piece with full instrumental accompaniment, Leopold II. Liebling Seines Volks.Footnote 104 The organist Georg Joseph ‘Abbé’ Vogler (1749–1814) also presented two concerts to the Frankfurt public. As with Hässler, Mozart had a competitive relationship with Vogler, albeit a less public one.Footnote 105 It was announced on 4 October that the organist would play his Die Geschichte Sauls und Davids along with other pieces.Footnote 106 Indeed, the first of Vogler's coronation concerts took place two days later in the Dreikönigskirche located in Sachsenhausen – at that time a suburb of Frankfurt – where Mozart's accommodation was located. Vogler performed a second concert on the evening of 8 October in the Katharinen-Kirche, which was advertised as his final performance before departing the city. To entice audiences, Vogler programmed three ‘new’ works: Wiens Befreyung unter Leopold I., Den Tod des Menschenretters Herzog Leopold von Braunschweig and Die Hirtenwonne vom Donnerwetter unterbrochen.Footnote 107
Mozart's own concert in Frankfurt was designed to earn a substantial profit from an affluent audience, and possibly even to secure a favourable court position. But he was not after merely any court appointment. In the final years of Joseph II's reign, Mozart had become second only to Salieri in the hierarchy of the Viennese Hofkapelle. However, Mozart's position and the generous salary that accompanied it were placed in jeopardy when Joseph died in February 1790. In an attempt to ensure his continued employment at court, he petitioned Leopold only months later to appoint him second Kapellmeister.Footnote 108 In this request Mozart offered to Leopold his expertise as a composer of sacred music, claiming that, although a capable musician, Salieri ‘sich nie dem kirchen Styl gewidmet [hat]’ (never devoted himself to church music).Footnote 109 Dorothea Link suggests the petition indicates that Mozart was expecting the new Habsburg ruler to reorganize his Hofkapelle so that, as first Kapellmeister, Salieri would be responsible for opera, while Mozart would direct the church music as the newly created second Kapellmeister.Footnote 110 Mozart's hopes were only wishful thinking. The petition remained unanswered at the time of the coronation, where Mozart was unable to display his skills as a composer of church music to the Habsburg court. It is possible that Mozart's Frankfurt concert was in part conceived as a last-ditch effort to impress the new emperor, so as to ensure he retained his court appointment.Footnote 111
It seems Mozart was indeed ‘living a hectic life’ during the festivities, for as late as 8 October he was still unaware of when his concert would take place, informing Constanze that it would probably be Wednesday (13 October) or Thursday (14 October), and that he would leave Frankfurt on Friday (15 October).Footnote 112 Frequenting the theatre and socializing with friends and fellow musicians may have afforded Mozart an opportunity to arrange for members of the Mainzer Nationaltheater to perform at his benefit concert. Countess Maria Anna Hortensia von Hatzfeld (1760–1813) had close connections to the Mainz court and played an integral part in organizing Mozart's concert.Footnote 113 Indeed, Mozart wrote to Constanze that ‘wenn die Academie ein bischen gut ausfällt, so habe ich es meinem Namen – der gräfin Hatzfeld, und dem Schweitzerischen Hause, welche sich sehr für mich intereßiren, zu danken’ (if my concert is at all successful, it will be thanks to my name, and to Countess Hatzfeldt and the Schweitzer family, who are working hard on my behalf).Footnote 114 By 13 October preparations were finalized, as that day Mozart applied for permission from the city magistrate to hold his concert the following morning in Frankfurt's Schauspielhaus, where the Mainzer Nationaltheater performed.Footnote 115
Yet despite the planned concert date of 14 October, a broadside announced that ‘Kapellmeister’ Mozart would give a performance for his benefit on Friday, 15 October (Figure 3).Footnote 116 The concert began at 11 a. m. and consisted of two parts. According to the broadside, the first half began with ‘a new grand symphony’ by Mozart and was followed by a soprano aria, a piano concerto and another aria. The concert's second half consisted of a concerto by Mozart, a duet, an impromptu fantasia and a symphony. Mozart himself played the piano during at least the concertos and fantasia. Although it is unknown which musicians accompanied him, they might have come from the Mainz court, since the soprano Margarete Luise Schick (1773–1809) and the castrato Francesco Ceccarelli (1752–1814) sang the arias and were both members of the Hofkapelle.Footnote 117 Perhaps Countess Hatzfeld, together with Ceccarelli, a friend of the Mozart family since his tenure at the Salzburg court (1777–1788), helped Mozart secure an orchestra for his concert, which may have included the Mainz musicians Johann Philipp Freyhold, the brothers Heinrich Anton and Philipp Carl Hoffmann, Georg Anton Kreusser (1746–1810) and Righini, among others.Footnote 118
Broadside announcing Mozart's Frankfurt concert, 15 October 1790. Undated photograph by Carl Friedrich Fay (Frankfurt am Main), D-F, Mus. S31/1790-10-15. Used by permission
Count Ludwig von Bentheim-Steinfurt (1756–1817) wrote an account of Mozart's performance in his journal. He noted that the concert began with a symphony by Mozart which he had ‘long possessed’, despite it being advertised as ‘new’.Footnote 119 The count's comment has led scholars to believe that this was one of the printed symphonies: the Symphony in D major (k297), the Symphony in B flat major (k319) or the ‘Haffner Symphony’ in D major (k385).Footnote 120 However, Neal Zaslaw has argued convincingly that this work may have been one of Mozart's last three symphonies: those in E flat major (k543), G minor (k550) or C major (k551).Footnote 121 According to the count, Schick then sang a ‘superb Italian aria, “Non so di chi”’, which some suggest may have been Mozart's ‘Al desio di chi t'adora’ (k577).Footnote 122 It was later reported that Mozart and his old friend, the musician-Intendant Ignaz von Beecke (1733–1803), had performed a four-hand piano concerto during the coronation festivities.Footnote 123 If so, this collaboration very well could have taken place at Mozart's concert, most likely as the second concerto. Therefore the strongest candidates for the piano concertos at the end of the concert's first half and beginning of the second include those in F major (k459), in D major, ‘Krönungs-Konzert’ (k537), and the Concerto for Two Pianos in E flat major (k365).Footnote 124 Although unlikely, Ceccarelli's scene and rondeau may have been ‘A questo seno deh vieni . . .. Or che il cielo’ (k374), which Mozart had composed for him years earlier.Footnote 125 Bentheim-Steinfurt noted that he recognized the duet as one he owned, which he ‘identified by the passage “Per te, per te”, with ascending notes’. He further reported that Mozart improvised a fantasy and that the ‘last symphony was not given, for it was almost 2:00 p.m. and everybody was sighing for dinner’.Footnote 126 In total the concert lasted approximately three hours (Table 1).
Mozart's Frankfurt benefit concert, 15 October 1790
Although reconstructions of the concert frequently propose an all-Mozart programme, a number of works, particularly the vocal pieces, were probably by other composers. The broadside distinguishes clearly which works Mozart composed and performed. Because concert preparations were rushed, it is possible that those pieces not specifically naming Mozart (the arias, duet and final symphony) were taken from the Mainzer Nationaltheater's repertory. Indeed, it seems likely that the soloists and orchestra from Mainz would have performed at least a few pieces from their current repertories given the time constraints. While Bentheim-Steinfurt does not identify any of the orchestra's musicians by name, he does report that it included five or six violinists, who played with precision. The nobleman concluded his account by declaring that ‘there was only one accursed thing that displeased me very much: there were not many people’.Footnote 127
Mozart shared Bentheim-Steinfurt's displeasure with the turnout. The venture was not nearly as lucrative as he certainly had hoped. In a letter to his wife on the day of the performance, Mozart wrote that, regarding his honour, the concert was magnificent; however, financially it ‘mager ausgefallen ist’ (failed poorly), and he attributed his bad luck to ‘ein groß Dejeuné bei einem Fürsten und großes Manoever von den Hessischen Truppen’ (a large déjeuner of a prince and a grand manoeuvre by the Hessian troops).Footnote 128 The affluent audience that Mozart had hoped would fill his auditorium – indeed the very motivation behind his costly trip to Frankfurt – was at a very different type of theatre that day. Instead of spending their morning consuming music, Leopold II and the elite of the Holy Roman Empire were preoccupied first with a representational act of homage organized by (among others) Count Georg Adam von Starhemberg (1724–1807) and Baron von Franz von Albini (1748–1816), and then with Landgrave Wilhelm IX of Hesse-Cassel's (1743–1821) military parade.Footnote 129 The social ramifications of not taking part in or at least being seen at such public displays of reverence to the emperor and Reich would have been far-reaching to a person of rank. Mozart and Countess Hatzfeld had chosen a bad day for the concert.
Mozart's hitherto unexplained decision to postpone his concert and departure may in part have been influenced by misleading news that circulated throughout Frankfurt. The Journal von und für Deutschland reported: ‘Eine eigne Art von Speculation war das Ausstreuen falscher Gerüchte. So wurden viele Menschen verleitet, um einen Tag zu früh nach dem Manoeuvre im Hessischen Lager zu fahren’ (A particular type of speculation was the spread of false rumours. Thus many people were misled into travelling a day too early to the manoeuvre in the Hessian camp).Footnote 130 Perhaps Mozart and Hatzfeld had also heard that these spectacles were to take place on 14 October only after requesting permission to perform the day before. Under the impression that the parade would conflict with the concert as planned, they considered delaying the performance until 15 October, which – although this was Mozart's intended date of departure from Frankfurt – they believed would be free from such acts of reverence. Furthermore, a morning concert had the added benefit of avoiding competition with that evening's opera. Mozart would likely have been especially sensitive to such scheduling conflicts, for his concert in Leipzig on 12 May 1789 had coincided with a theatre performance and resulted in an equally meagre audience.Footnote 131 Believing the rumour and determined not to make the same mistake twice, Mozart and Hatzfeld unwittingly postponed the concert to the very moment the displays of homage actually took place. By the time they realized what had happened, it was too late. The paltry turnout at Mozart's concert, a performance conceived to showcase his musical prowess to the Reich's elite and change his fortunes once and for all, was the consequence of hearsay.
That Mozart's performance was poorly attended is not surprising, given that his was but one of many ‘sideshows’ during the celebrations. Some who attended multiple concerts, like Hommel and Schubart, made clear which they preferred. Not only did Schubart describe Vogler as ‘der erste Orgelspieler in Europa’ (Europe's premier organist), but he also claimed that no one understood the organ so deeply as Vogler – that only J. S. Bach and Handel were his equals.Footnote 132 Schubart's comments on Vogler's second concert are comparably positive, and he even wrote a poem ‘An Vogler’.Footnote 133 Hommel, who heard Hässler, Mozart and Vogler perform, also preferred Vogler.Footnote 134 He confided that ‘vor allen hat Voglers Orgelkoncert tiefen Eindruck auf mich gemacht’ (above all, Vogler's organ concert made a deep impression on me).Footnote 135 Schubart and Hommel make no further mention of Hässler or Mozart. Similarly, the Journal von und für Deutschland, which advertised printed music and listed performances by Franz, Dülon, the two horn virtuosos, Hässler and Vogler, did not acknowledge Mozart's concert.Footnote 136
The music of Leopold II's election and coronation celebrations culminated in the Mainzer Nationaltheater's production of the opera Oberon, König der Elfen (1789) by Paul Wranitzky (1756–1808) hours after Mozart's concert on the evening of 15 October.Footnote 137 Although the company continued to perform in Frankfurt in accordance with its normal schedule, this event was the last major performance associated with the imperial coronation of 1790. Mozart departed Frankfurt the following day.Footnote 138
Leopold II's Frankfurt coronation was a fruitful context for music. The city temporarily hosted the ensembles of three resident theatres in addition to musicians such as Beecke, the brothers Böck, Ceccarelli, Dülon, Fischer, Franz, Hässler, Mozart, Righini, Salieri, Schick and Vogler. In making the costly journey to Frankfurt, musicians travelling with and independently of their courts hoped to improve their fortunes by performing before the Empire's elite. When choosing to pawn personal items to finance his journey, Mozart must have calculated that if he failed to appear in Frankfurt, he would miss out on the profits that others were sure to reap. Although he had no official responsibilities at the imperial coronation, Mozart recognized the ceremony as a rare opportunity to promote himself and his music, and perhaps to gain the support of potential patrons, including even the new emperor himself. But the coronation was about more than a performance or even future employment. It was also a rare opportunity to meet with musicians in faraway imperial centres and hear and discuss their music. Considering the variety of musical performances – aside from the imperial election, arrival and coronation – Mozart's concert was only a minor contribution to the events of this two-week period.
The performance that had the potential to change Mozart's fortunes – and as a consequence even the history of music – was poorly attended because of a mere rumour. But hearsay was not the only reason why the concert failed to yield Mozart's desired results. Whereas Hässler and Vogler advertised their concerts in the Frankfurter Staats-Ristretto, Mozart did not. Perhaps he spent too much time at the theatre or was otherwise distracted by official ceremonies and celebrations, causing his concert preparations with the Countess Hatzfeld to be rushed. Or Mozart may have been so confident in his reputation, in his ability to ‘certainly achieve something’, that he deemed a newspaper advertisement superfluous. Yet the few who wrote about the coronation concerts preferred Vogler above all others and saved their praise for the Abbé. It is indeed telling that Hässler, Vogler and others are praised in memoirs and reports from the coronation, whereas Mozart is not. In the end, Mozart's investment in performing in Frankfurt at the imperial coronation of Leopold II did not pay off. His concert was just one of many, was scarcely mentioned in contemporary accounts, and had to be ended prematurely because it went on for too long.
