The Peterskirche [St Peter's church] has a wonderful 18th Century white and gold Rococo interior – the nave decorated by huge paintings – created on the watch of the art-loving abbot, Beda Seeauer. The building itself dates back to the 12th Century, with several later additions including the Romanesque portal of about 1240 and the St Veits Chapel from 1319. My particular interest was to seek out Michael Haydn's memorial, which I located eventually in a rather dark place about halfway down the right hand aisle. The memorial itself is dark, and there's a plain window right next to it which somehow manages not to light it – I spent a long time trying to get some photos, including bracketing and other clever stuff.
In the second half of the 18th century Michael Haydn was as highly regarded as both his older brother Joseph, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Born in 1737 in the family home in Rohrau, to the east of Vienna, he had a similar musical upbringing to Joseph, and is said to have had a particularly good treble voice with a range of three octaves. He was appointed court musician and concertmaster to Archbishop Count Sigismund Schrattenbach in Salzburg in 1763, remaining in Salzburg until his death in 1806.
When Archbishop Sigismund died in 1771, Michael Haydn wrote his Mass in C minor [Missa pro defuncto Archiepiscopo Sigismundo, MH154], which was also performed at his own funeral, and at the funeral of Joseph Haydn in Vienna three years later. In 1769 the 13-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed the Dominicus Mass for Abbot Hagenauer at St Peter's church, and in 1783 he directed here his famous Mass in C minor.
While I was walking round, someone suddenly started playing the organ, very well, which was absolutely wonderful. Some tour groups were coming through, but the advantage of people being in a group is that they all go away at the same time, so there's usually a break before the next one. Outside, I had a quick look in the small Michael Haydn museum in a part of the monastery building round the square – all the printed captions in German, but a good AV presentation in English – and booked for a 'Concert at Five' at the end of the afternoon: details in the Music Trail. |
