Page 33 - April.indd

REVALUING POLITICAL CHORAL MUSIC FOR MODERN PERFORMANCE

from the diary of Beda Plank that at 7 p.m. on Christ- Landon continues:
mas Day he attended a performance: “The music is par-
ticularly beautiful: too bad that it did not, in view of the While Haydn was at Eisenstadt, war fever
37
present troubled times, make the expected eff ect.” The gripped Vienna…. The Viennese Volunteer
nameless reviewer for the Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung Corps (Wiener Freywilligen-Korps) was now
was more harsh: mobilized, and money for it raised by concerts
which included a new patriotic Cantata by Ra-
One can pay every respect to the really good utenstrauch entitled Der Retter in Gefahr, music
music, but what can be said about a text like this by Mozart’s pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayer [sic],
one? And what can one feel but disgust, if one and Haydn’s ‘Surprise’ Symphony (‘Symphonie
is not so fortunate as to be able to laugh at such mit dem Paukenschlag’). The Wiener Zeitung of 24
38
things? September informs us:

It seems that Rautenstrauch’s political rhetoric may On Wednesday the 21st inst., was repeated,
42
have worn thin with the Viennese public, at least those at the general request, the well-known Cantata,
who attended concerts, perhaps due to the “present trou- Der Retter in Gefahr, in the Imperial-Royal large
bled times” referenced by Plank. The primary issue was Redoutensaal, for the benefit of the Viennese

the constant threat posed by Napoleon: but a burgeon- Volunteers, and once again received with the
ing and incoherent Austrian governmental bureaucracy, unanimous and most fervent satisfaction. The
a proliferation of regulations and lawyers to interpret Symphony by Hr. Joseph Haiden [sic], with
39
them, and heavy taxes to fund the war eff ort contrib- which this Academy was opened on the 19th
43
uted to a populace on edge. While Joseph II’s reforms inst., also served to begin this time….
in the preceding decades brought increased tolerance
between Protestants and Catholics, most of his attempts Süßmayr’s cantata continued to be paired with
to streamline the operations of government failed, and Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony in subsequent perfor-
40
his successors, Leopold II (1790-1792) and Francis II mances, with the popular symphony serving as a prelude
(1792-1806), fared no better. to the featured cantata, a programming structure com-
It is interesting to note that in the midst of visceral at- mon at the time.
tacks on Rautenstrauch’s libretto for this later work, the Landon goes on to recount that Der Retter in Gefahr
reviews give high marks to Süßmayr’s music. was repeated on October 4 and November 15 and that
the performances spread by popular demand to Wiener

Neustadt, south of Vienna. The concert first held there
The Rescuer in Danger on October 15 was repeated on October 29 to celebrate
H. C. Robbins Landon, in his monumental work on the Empress’s name-day.
the life of Haydn, paints the political backdrop against Henry Hausner’s description of the premiere provides
which Süßmayr’s cantata, Der Retter in Gefahr, entered additional information:
the Viennese scene. Napoleon was on the march, hav-
ing been appointed commander-in-chief of the French Süßmayr achieved a sensational success in 1796
army in Italy on March 2, 1796. “Napoleon started his with his patriotic cantata, “Der Retter in Ge-
campaign on 12 April and won one smashing victory fahr,” which he composed on a text by Johann
after another: Montenotte, Dego, Millesimo, and Mon- Rautenstrauch. He really had success on suc-
dovi. He defeated the Austrian army, separated it from cess…. It was performed at the invitation of the
its allies, the Sardinian army, and started to march on Emperor Franz…by the German opera company
41
Turin.” [Deutschen Operngesellschaft] and orchestra of
the Court Theater [Orchester des Hoftheater].
44

CHORAL JOURNAL April 2021 Volume 61 Number 9 31