It is possible that Prince Archbishop Sigismund Christoph Graf Schrattenbach commissioned the composition, dividing it between the Salzburg masters W. A. Mozart (1st part), Michael Haydn (2nd part) and Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (3rd part) – the manuscripts of the last two are missing.
In the form of the “Obligation of the First Commandment”, Mozart closely follows the Salzburg tradition of church and conventional music: his role models could have been Johann Ernst Eberlin and his father Leopold.
The première of Mozart’s “Obligation” was held on 12 March 1767 in the great hall of the prince’s residence in Salzburg. The text for the singspiel was the work of Ignaz Anton Weiser (1701-1785), councillor and mayor of Salzburg.
The piece is a parable, set in a picturesque garden and in a small wood. The powers of the world and of eternity, “Weltgeist and the spirit of Christianity” court the human soul. The spirit of Christianity vividly describes the horror of death and an eternal damnation in order to make people previously pursuing the Weltgeist in the joys of life, repent and give up their former lives.
Ultimately, Mercy and Justice leave man free to choose how he wishes to live. Guided by Weltgeist, he heads out into a “free” world in order (in the second part) to fail and (in the third part), to return repentant.
These two missing parts were written into a new final scene by Peter WesenAuer, using fragments from the composer Johann Michael Haydn – the 200th anniversary of whose death will be this year – and Anton Cajetan-Adlgasser, based on the text by Siegwulf Turek.
