Page 34 - April.indd

MOZART, SÜβMAYR, AND MUSICAL PROPOGANDA

He continues, quoting from Joseph Richter’s Eipeldauer schor, composed in 1794 as a birthday song for Francis
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Briefen, “If the composer [Süßmayr] were my mortal en- II. Süßmayr reused this same music yet again as the
emy, I would still have to admit that I’ve never in my life Schlusschor for a one-act political opera, Die Freiwilligen:
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heard more beautiful music.” Ein Gemälde der Zeit [The Volunteers: A Portrait of the
Richter next turns to a description of the cantata’s Time], that premiered in the Kuarntnertheater at Vien-
overture: na on September 27, 1796, a mere eight days after Der
Retter in Gefahr. Süßmayr used the catchy tune repeatedly
When the overture finally began, the room came in his compositional output during 1794 and 1796. After

alive! The overture gave a representation of a its rewarding advent as a birthday song he reissued it al-
terrible siege. One could hear canons booming, most immediately that same year in form of a “National
guns cracking, shells whistling through the air; Song of Bohemia.” In all, he utilized it five more times

all represented so naturally by the music that with both secular and sacred texts (Table 1).
you’d think the French were standing before the Süßmayr’s recycling was not limited to the Schlus-
city gates! 45 schor. All three of the soprano recitatives and arias
were interpolated from an earlier cantata, dating from
The impact on the Viennese audience is perhaps best December 1795. The “Carolina” Cantata, SmWV301,
summed up by another quote from the Eipeldauer Breifen. was written to celebrate the birth of the Archduchess

“In the final chorus, with which all sang along, the en- Carolina and some recent Austrian military victories. 50
thusiasm grew so powerful that some climbed on their It was performed again in 1796 at the monastery in
seats, waving their hats, crying, ‘Long live the Emper- Kremsmünster, with another new text to celebrate the
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or!’” Abbott’s eightieth birthday.
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SmWV301 calls for three soprano soloists, each of
whom sings a recitative and aria, and the work concludes
Some Assembly Required with the soloists combined in a recitative and trio. Table
Der Retter in Gefahr was not composed in a rush of cre- 2 on page 33 illustrates how the music of the “Carolina”

ativity. In fact, only six of the fifteen movements were Cantata was assimilated into the new whole.
newly composed for the 1796 premiere. The rest of the The Recitative and Trio that are inserted as Nos. 8
work was hastily adapted from previously composed and 9 in Der Retter in Gefahr served as the fi nale in the
material, all of which can be traced from earlier extant earlier “Carolina” Cantata. The trio recitative allows
scores and performance materials. each of the sopranos to contribute a statement leading
To place the assembly of the cantata into chronolog- into the rousing finale involving all three sopranos. A

ical order, we must begin at the end, with the Schlus- rarity in the genre, it compares favorably to the trio for

Table 1. Iterations of SmWV 321, Schlusschor
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1794 Prague Feyer-Lied zum Geburtstag seiner Majestät SmWV 321

1794 Prague Nationallied der Böhmen SmWV 322
1794 Prague Tantum Ergo SmWV 120

1794 Prague Fronleichnams-Stationen SmWV 126

1794 Prague Schlusschor, Der Retter in Gefahr SmWV 302

1794 Prague Schlusschor, Die Freiwilligen SmWV 310

32 CHORAL JOURNAL April 2021 Volume 61 Number 9