Mozart &
Material Culture

Souvenirs

Court singer (tenor and bass) in Salzburg, well-known for his broad vocal range. Meissner married Maria Cäcilia Barbara Eberlin, daughter of the Salzburg Kapellmeister Johann Ernst Eberlin, in 1751.

Mozart Relevance

Meissner was the original Fracasso in Mozart's La finta semplice (1769) and toured Italy in 1770, performing with Mozart at the Collegium Germanicum in Rome on 2 May of that year. In 1757, Leopold Mozart described his voice as having a `quite exceptionally pleasing quality` but in a letter of 12 June 1778 to his father, Mozart said of Meissner that `has the bad habit of making his voice tremble at times, turning a note that should be sustained into distinct crotchets, or even quavers—and this I could never endure in him'.

Category/Role
Performer
Date 1
1725, Salzburg
Date 2
1795-02-12, Salzburg
Date (Mozart)
1756-1791
Location (Mozart)
Salzburg, Rome
Bibliographic Reference
Angermüller, `Die vorgesehenen Sänger`; Klein, `Unbekannte Mozartiana von 1766/67`; Clive, Mozart and his Circle, 101; Basso, I Mozart in Italia, 608