Joseph Leopold, Edler von Eybler (1765-1846)

 Gary Smith

                     Joseph Leopold, Edler von Eybler was born in Schwechat near Vienna on February 8th 1765.  His first music lessons were from his father who was a choirmaster and schoolteacher there.  His piano playing attracted serious attention, and he was recommended for musical training at the Stephansdom in Vienna.  From 1776 to 1779, he studied composition with the noted composer Albrechtsberger.  The choir school was dissolved in 1782, and he then took up the study of law, but the home he was living in burned down in a fire in 1782.  Without financial support, Eybler was forced to make a living with music.  Joseph Haydn (a distant cousin) helped him and gave him further lessons as well.  Through Haydn he met Mozart, who also gave him lessons, and utilized Eybler’s choral skills to help coach the singers in (and conduct performances of) Cosi fan tutte K.588.  Eybler later reported that the intrigues of the theater he encountered during this part of his life made him determine not to become a theater composer.  However, he did become closer to Mozart, who appears to have valued Eybler's honesty, modesty and devotion.  As Eybler put it: “I had the good fortune to keep his friendship without reservation until he died, and carried him, put him to bed and helped to nurse him during his last painful illness.”  Certainly we know Mozart helped to pay back the loyalty Eybler gave him, for on 30 May 1790 he penned a testimonial for the young man which read:

 “I, the undersigned, attest herewith that I have found the bearer of this, Herr Joseph Eybler, to be a worthy pupil of his famous master Albrechtsberger, a well-grounded composer, equally skilled at chamber music and the church style, fully experienced in the art of the song, also an accomplished organ and clavier player; in short a young musician such, one can only regret, as so seldom has his equal.”

                                    Wolfgang Amade’ Mozart
                                    Kapellmeister in Imperial Service

 Just after Mozart’s death, Constanze asked Eybler to take on completing the unfinished Requiem K.626 for his friend and master.  He signed a receipt accepting a copy, which reads as follows:

 “The undersigned hereby imparts that Frau Constanze Mozart, widow, has entrusted him with the completion of the Requiem Mass begun by her late husband; the same undertakes to complete it by the middle of the coming Lent, and at the same time guarantees that it shall neither be copied, nor given into other hands than those of the aforementioned widow.”

                                    Joseph Eybler, Vienna, 21 December 1791

 He commenced to work, but having progressed only a short time, felt that he was unable to finish this task and returned the work.  Constanze later turned to Süssmayr for the completion. While it is supposed that Eybler in fact did very little towards completing this work, there are surmises based upon H. C. Robbins Landon's and other Mozart musicologists' recent research that would indicate otherwise.  Close examination of the manuscript of the Requiem shows that Eybler and Franz Jakob Freystéädtler worked on the instrumentation of several different movements of the Requiem. Eybler's completions, in fact, are written on the same manuscript paper as Mozart's own efforts. Landon feels strongly that the work of Eybler, in particular, is superior to that of Süssmayr. When completions of Mozart's score exist in versions by both Eybler and Süssmayr, Landon feels that Eybler should prevail in performance because of his more careful and Mozartean craftsmanship and clearer, less cumbersome orchestration. Eybler later gave the Court Library in Vienna what material he still had of the Requiem for safekeeping. 

Eybler was appointed in 1792 director of the choir at the Carmelite Church and in 1794 advanced to the same post at the more prestigious Vienna Schottenkloster. He held the last post for 30 years, until he succeeded Salieri officially as Court Kapellmeister in 1824. In 1801 Eybler became court music teacher, possibly with the recommendation of Haydn.  On the request of the Empress Maria Theresa in 1803, he composed a Requiem in c minor.  Although the compositional style of Eybler's requiem is clearly oriented toward Albrechtsberger, Haydn, and, of course, Mozart, its rich orchestration (double choir and lavish wind instrumentation) and highly original formal design attest to an individual expressive style clearly distinguishing it from the run-of-the-mill sacred works littering those times. The regard in which this work was held no doubt helped Eybler receive his appointment as deputy Hofkapellmeister under Salieri in 1804.  In 1833 he suffered a stroke, ironically, while conducting Mozart’s Requiem and from then on could no longer fulfill his duties at court. For service to the Court, Eybler was raised to the nobility in 1835.  He died on 24 July 1846.

Eybler’s output includes a Requiem, three cantatas, two oratorios, around 34 masses and numerous other religious works.  Instrumental music comprises one opera (Das Zauberschwert), 2 symphonies, a good clarinet concerto, numerous chamber works, piano variations and dances. He was well esteemed in his time, though very little is recorded today.  But more appears to be on the horizon, as there are some good offerings as noted below.

Recordings of interest:

 Requiem mit Libera from 1825  CPO 99234

Clarinet Concerto (Also Mozart’s and one by Süssmayr) Novalis 150061

Clarinet Concerto (Also a symphony by Pleyel) Cavalli 414

Oratorio Die Hirten bei der Krippe (“Christmas” Oratorio, 1794) CPO 999667

Sources:

Clive, Peter  Mozart and His Circle: A Biographical Dictionary  Yale University Press, New Haven  1993

Sadie, Stanley (Ed.)  The New Groves Dictionary of Music and Musicians 2^nd Edition   Groves Dictionaries, New York  2000

Liner notes from the CDs noted above.

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