Franz Xaver Süssmayr

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Franz Xaver Süßmayr (English: Franz Xaver Suessmayr; b. 1766 in Schwanenstadt, d. September 17, 1803 in Vienna) was an Austrian composer.

He was born in Schwanenstadt, Austria, the son of a sacristan and teacher. His mother died when he was 6, and he left home at 13. He was a student and cantor in a Benedictine monastery (1779-1787) in Kremsmünster. When his voice changed, he became a member of the orchestra as a violinist.

The abbey performed operas and Singspiele, so he had the opportunity to study the operas of Gluck and Antonio Salieri. He composed a number of stage works and a good deal of church music for the abbey.

He became (after 1787) a student of Salieri in Vienna. In 1792 he also became the vice-director and composer at the Kärntnertortheater.

He assisted Mozart as a copyist with La clemenza di Tito and Die Zauberflöte in 1791, as well as completing Mozart's Requiem. Their relationship seems to have been close and playful.

For many years he was also thought to have been a student of Mozart, but there is reason to think that the notion of such a relationship was concocted by Mozart's wife Konstanze in order to legitimise his completion of Mozart's Requiem. During Mozart's last days, it is possible that they discussed his Requiem, and Süßmayr took on the task of completing the piece upon his death and did so, turning it over to Konstanze within 100 days of Mozart's death. Though criticised by some as un-Mozartian, Süßmayr's version of the score is most often played, although several alternative versions have been written.

Süßmayr also composed a rondo for Horn based on a draft composed in 1791 by Mozart. A comparison between Mozart's draft and Süßmayr's version reveals that Süßmayr used very little of Mozart's material. Süßmayr's rondo also makes use of a plainchant melody, and one explanation of this is that the melody was copied out by Mozart whilst he was composing the Requiem, which Süßmayr later mistook as material for the rondo. It was included in a piece assembled as Mozart's Horn Concerto No. 1.

On commission for Schikaneder, he composed an unsuccessful opera, Moses oder der Auszug aus Ägypten, which premiered May 4, 1792. He was more successful with Der Spiegel von Arkadien, which played across Europe in 1794, also in a Schikaneder production. This success led to his appointment as Kapellmeister at the National Theater in charge of German opera production.

From this time until 1800, he was very successful and popular on the Viennese music scene. However, after that time, his declining health due to tuberculosis led to decline in his career. He had to beg the theater director to stage his last work, List und Zufall.

His marriage plans came to nil because of his premature death. He is remembered now mostly for his completion of the Mozart Requiem.

[edit] Works

His works include the following:

Two masses
Two requiems
Seven offertories
A gradual
Psalms
A magnificat
Hymns
Nicht mehr als sechs Schüsseln
Moses oder der Auszug aus Ägypten
Der Spiegel von Arkadien
List und Zufall

[edit] Sources

Books:

H. H. Hausner: Franz Xayer Süßmayr, Wien 1964
W. Wlcek: Franz Xaver Süßmayr als Kirchenkomponist, Dissertation, Wien 1953, printed 1978
C. Wolff: Mozarts Requiem, 1991
E. Duda: Das musikalische Werk F. X. Süßmayers, 2000

Articles:

Freyhan, Michael "Towards the Original Text of Mozart's Die Zauberflote" in The Journal of the American Musicological Society Summer 1986 #2, pgs 355-380
Freyhan, Michael "Rediscovery of the 18th Century Scores and Parts of 'Die Zauberflote' showing the Text Used at the Hamburg Premiere in 1793" in the Mozart Jahrbuch 1997, pgs 109-149

Web site: