Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (11 page)

Has Herr Otto
⁹
in Frankfurt not paid anything through Herr Wallner? I must now try gradually to recover all that I’m owed from Frankfurt, Nuremberg, Augsburg, London, Paris etc., so that I can sort everything out. By the way, has Godfather P.
¹⁰
not yet handed over the half-dozen silver knives, spoons and forks? No? No! Well,
I expect he’s preparing to present them to us on our return: he cannot help but be deeply moved to have held up for their holy baptism two children who have caused such a stir in the world. I’ve bought various things for our own use, but in the case of the above, I’ve relied on our godfather’s promise. Give him our good wishes! You’re surprised, aren’t you, at this request of mine, which is so completely out of character? But, remember, I’m coming straight from Holland! People take something with them from every country: and in Holland you learn to be selfish. Now I expect you’d like to know when we plan to arrive in Salzburg. Had it been left to us, we’d have been home long ago; and now that we’re in Paris, it seems to us that, judging by the distance we’ve covered so far, we’re already halfway home. That we’re staying here for a short time is correct; and that’s why I’d be grateful if you could write to me soon, so that the letter arrives while I’m still here. But if, at all events, I’ve already left, our friend Monsieur Grimm will send on the letter. But you’ll understand that we’re not about to mount our horses and drive straight back to Salzburg. It would be too much of a strain on my children and my purse. There are many people who will still contribute to our journey, even though they do not yet know it. Enough! We’ll do all in our power to return home soon. In the meantime please commend us to His Grace etc. etc. Give our good wishes to our friends, and rest assured that we await with impatience the moment when I may say to you in person that I remain yours etc.

Let me say in haste that Herr Kulman is a man of means; the rest when we see each other.

Let’s see how things will turn out for us in Salzburg.

I’ll let you know more once we get closer.

At the beginning of July 1766, the family left Paris for Dijon, at the invitation of Louis-Joseph de Bourbon, Prince de Condé; from there they travelled to Lyons, and then to Switzerland, stopping in Geneva and Lausanne, where Mozart composed the flute solos K33a, now lost, for Ludwig Eugen of Württemberg. They continued to Donaueschingen, the seat of the princes of Fürstenberg, finally arriving at Munich on 8 November.

Monsieur!

As far as I recall, my last letter was from Lyons, which we left after a 4-week stay in order to go to Geneva. There we found the civil war
¹
still raging, though this did not prevent us from staying 3 weeks there, and after seeing some of the sights and making the acquaintance of persons famed for their skill and special talents, we continued our journey to Berne. You perhaps know that just outside Geneva the famous Monsieur Voltaire has his castle, where he lives and which is called Ferney.
²
If you want to go to Berne, you have to travel through Lausanne; and although we had intended to stay there only until after lunch, the servants of Prince Ludwig of Württemberg,
³
Madame d’Aubonne, Madame d’Hermenches and Monsieur de Sévery etc. came up just as we were alighting from our carriage, and I could not but allow these distinguished people to talk me into staying 5 days in Lausanne. I must wait until I see you in person to tell you the sort of man that His Serene Highness Prince Ludwig is. It will be enough to say that Württemberg could think itself fortunate to have this worthy man as its regent. He was still with us when we got back into the carriage and, even after we’d already taken our seats and I was shaking his hand, I had to promise that I’d write to him often and let him know how we are faring. – – I am saying nothing here about most of our journey. – – I know how differently people judge things, depending on the differences in their often feeble understanding. From Lausanne we went to Berne and thence to Zurich. In the former place we stayed only 8 days, in the latter 14. In both places we had a chance to meet men of learning: in the latter place the two Gessners,
both men of learning, made our stay most agreeable and were very sad when we left.
⁴
We took away with us tokens of their friendship. From there we drove via Winterthur to Schaffhausen, where our 4-day stay was again very pleasant, and when we arrived in Donaueschingen, Herr Meissner came into our carriage to welcome us and helped us and our luggage out! He stayed with us in Donaueschingen for a further 4 days. I was the first person to tell him about his wife’s indisposition. I was as astonished at his ignorance as he was by my account. But within days he had received a letter from his wife. I gave him a letter of recommendation to my friends in Switzerland and hope that things will work out for him, especially in Berne. His Serene Highness
⁵
welcomed us with extraordinary kindness; we didn’t have to announce our arrival but were already eagerly awaited, as Herr Meissner can testify, and the director of music, Councillor Martelli, came at once to pay his respects and invite us to call on him. In short, we were there for 12 days. On 9 of them there was music from 5 in the evening till 9; on each occasion we did something special. If the season had not been so advanced, we would still be there. The prince gave me 24 louis d’or and to each of my children a diamond ring; he was in tears when we took our leave, and in fact we all wept on saying goodbye; he asked me to write to him often, and, indeed, our stay was as agreeable as our departure was sad. We then travelled at breakneck speed via Messkirch to Ulm, Günzburg and Dillingen, where we stayed only 2 days, picked up 2 rings from the prince
⁶
and, after spending a day in Augsburg, arrived in Munich.
Herr Provino will be sending you a small packet or safebox for me
. Haha, you’ll say. You’re now in Munich. That’s good. I promised not to come until I could drive in through the Neutor; but I now hear that no one is yet being allowed to enter by the Siegmund Gate: that would be most unwelcome news. I await your reply, we’re staying
at Stürzer’s
and I foresee that we shan’t get away from here for some time. We arrived the evening before last; yesterday
– Sunday – we visited His Highness the Elector at table and were most graciously received. Even while we were still at table, Wolfgangl had to compose a piece while standing beside the elector, who sang the beginning or, rather, a few bars of the theme, and he then had to play it for His Highness after dinner in the music room.
⁷
You can easily guess how astonished everyone was to see and hear this. During the night, however, I noticed that he was not at all well. He had a very disturbed night. And so I’ve had to keep him in bed today and may have to keep him at home for a few days. But I hope it will soon be over, as indeed it shows every sign of doing. With this weather, it’s no wonder that so delicate a frame should have to suffer a little, especially as we’ve had to get used to having the room heated by a stove: it’s just a nuisance that it has held us up. Every good wish to your wife, your whole family, our good friends. I am your old friend.

[
Enclosed with letter
]
Something just for you!

Could we ask you or, rather, your wife, to see to a good housemaid? Moreover, it’s now the time of year when the stove needs stoking with wood. Both are indispensable, a necessary evil. Could I ask you to see to this? Or perhaps you’ve already done so? – As far as room for a servant is concerned, I think it more important to think of room for ourselves. And I’ve made up my mind to continue what little is left of our journey – albeit not without difficulty – without a servant, as I got rid of him a short time ago. I’m concerned about the necessary arrangements for our rooms, something that you yourself will understand to some extent and that you will see for yourself on our – may God grant it so! – safe arrival. God – who has been far too good to the wretched sinner that I am – has given my children such talent that, irrespective of all thought of my obligation as a father, this alone would spur me on to sacrifice everything to their decent education. Every moment I lose is lost for ever. And if I ever knew how valuable time is for young people, I know it now. You know that my children
are used to work: if – on the excuse that one thing prevents another – they were to get used to hours of idleness, my entire edifice would collapse; custom is an iron shirt. And you yourself know how much my children, especially Wolfgangerl, have to learn. – – – But who knows what’s being planned for us on our return to Salzburg? Perhaps we’ll be received in such a way that we’ll be only too pleased to shoulder our bundles and go on our way. But, God willing, I shall at least be bringing my children back to their fatherland; if they are not wanted, it won’t be my fault: but people won’t get them for nothing. – – Enough, I rely entirely on your rational understanding and true friendship; conversation in person will give us more pleasure. Farewell.

NB: If your wife finds a good maid, a few florins more or less don’t matter for her wages. She has complete control.

The Mozarts arrived backin Salzburg on 29 November 1766. In less than eight months Wolfgang composed the first part of the oratorio
Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots
K35 and a passion cantata, the
Grabmusik
K42. His Latin school drama
Apollo et Hyacinthus
K38 was given on 13 May 1767. On 11 September he left with his sister and parents for Vienna, ostensibly to help celebrate the wedding of Archduchess Josepha to Ferdinand IV of Naples; Leopold may also have hoped for an appointment at court, or at least some significant commissions. His plans were waylaid by a smallpox epidemic.

Te Deum Laudamus!

Wolfgangerl has recovered from smallpox!

And where?–––in Olmütz!

And where?–––At the residence

of His Excellency Count Podstatsky.
¹

You’ll have gathered from my previous letters
²
that everything turned out a mess in Vienna. I must now add a few details that concern us alone and from which you’ll see how divine providence holds everything together, so that, if we trust in it completely, we cannot fail to accomplish our destiny. You already know how badly things went at the Viennese court at the very time that they could have turned out best for us.
³

At that very time we were affected by a different occurrence that caused us no little anxiety. The elder son of the goldsmith with whom we were staying went down with smallpox immediately after we arrived, but we discovered this only after he had almost got over it and the 2 younger children had caught it, too. I tried in vain to find alternative lodgings for us all. I was obliged to leave my wife and daughter there and to flee with Wolfgang to my good friend, where we remained. Our servant remained with my wife: we were as far from each other as it is
from the Hospital to St Cajetan’s
.
⁴
Throughout Vienna people were talking about nothing but smallpox. Of 10 children on the death register, 9 had died of smallpox. You can easily imagine how I felt; whole nights were spent without sleep, and during the day there was no rest either. I was resolved to leave for Moravia immediately after the young princess’s death and not return until the initial period of mourning was over; but it was impossible to get away as His Majesty the Emperor
⁵
spoke of us so often that we could never be certain when it might occur to him to send for us; but as soon as
the Archduchess Elisabeth fell ill,
⁶
I refused to be detained any longer and could scarcely wait for the moment when I got my Wolfgang out of Vienna, which was completely infected with smallpox, and provided him with a change of air.

We were planning to leave on the morning of 23 October, but as it is the delightful custom in Vienna that the post horses generally arrive half a day late, it wasn’t until the afternoon that we got away. We were in Brünn by the Saturday. Together with Wolfgang I called on His Excellency Count Schrattenbach and Countess Herberstein.
⁷
They spoke of a concert that would allow them to hear my children, and, indeed, everything was arranged. But I had a certain inner feeling that I couldn’t get out of my head and that persuaded me to continue my journey to Olmütz and delay the concert in Brünn until my return, so that on the Sunday evening I told His Excellency of my plans, which he felt were all the more sensible in that the members of the nobility who were still in the country would have returned to town by then. And so we quickly packed our things together and on Monday the 26th drove to Olmütz, where we arrived slightly later than planned because some work had to be done on our carriage over lunch at Wischkau and the blacksmith held us up for 3 hours. We had the annoyance of having to take a bad, damp room at the Black Eagle where we put up, as all the better ones were already taken. So we were obliged to have a fire lit and – another source of annoyance – the stove gave off so much smoke that we were almost blinded. At ten o’clock Wolfgang complained about his eyes; but I noticed that his head was warm, his cheeks hot and very red, whereas his hands were as cold as ice. His pulse wasn’t right either, and so we gave him some black powder and put him to bed. He had a fairly restless night, and his dry fever continued throughout the next morning. We were then given 2 better rooms; we wrapped Wolfgang in furs and took him to the other rooms. His fever increased; we gave him some
margrave powder and black powder.
⁸
By the evening he had started to become delirious, and this continued all night and the morning of the 28th. After church I went to see His Excellency Count Podstatsky, who received me with great kindness; and when I told him that my little boy was ill and thought he might have smallpox, he told me that he would take us in as he was not at all afraid of smallpox. He sent at once for his housekeeper, told him to prepare 2 rooms, and immediately sent instructions for his doctor to call on us at the Black Eagle.