Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (15 page)

In Verona there is an opera every day and so it took the nobility a week to organize a concert or academy, to which we were invited. The
cavalieri
to whom we were given letters of recommendation are
il Marchese Carlotti
,
il Conte Carlo Emilei
,
il Marchese Spolverini
,
il Marchese Donisi dei SS Fermo e Rustico al Ponte
,
Il Sigr. Conte Giusti del Giardino
and
il Sig. Conte Allegri
. We have a standing invitation to visit Marchese Carlotti, also from Herr Locatelli. We’ve dined twice with Marchese Carlotti, and also with Conte Carlo Emilei. On 2 occasions we were with Conte Giusti, who has a beautiful garden and an art gallery. You’ll perhaps find them in Keyssler’s accounts of his travels.
⁵
Then, yesterday, we dined with Herr Locatelli, while today there was utter confusion, which I must tell you about in more detail. We were invited to visit a certain honest individual by the
name of Herr Ragazzoni.
⁶
The receiver general of Venice, Signor Lugiati had asked the
cavalieri
to obtain my permission for Wolfg. to have his portrait painted;
⁷
this took place yesterday morning, and he was to have a second sitting today after church. We were also intended to dine there. Signor Lugiati went in person to see Herr Ragazzoni to ask him to leave us to him, and the latter had to agree to this, albeit most reluctantly, as Lugiati is very powerful in Venice. And so we were to go to Herr Lugiati’s house this morning after church and sit for the painter again before lunch. But then an even more powerful or greater man appeared, namely the Bishop of Verona, from the house of Giustiniani, who sent word through Herr Locatelli that he not only wanted us to call on him after church but also to have lunch with him. But when he heard that Wolfg.’s portrait was currently being painted and that we wanted to leave, he agreed to our having lunch with Herr Lugiati but still kept us until after 1 o’clock. The painter then got on with Wolfg.’s portrait and it wasn’t until 3 o’clock that we sat down to eat. After lunch we drove to St Thomas’s in order to play on the church’s 2 organs; and although we decided to do this only over lunch and only a few tickets had been sent to Marchese Carlotti and Count Pindemonte, there was such a crowd inside the church when we arrived that there was hardly enough room for us to get out of the coach. The crush was so great that we were forced to go through the monastery, where so many people rushed up to us that we wouldn’t have found any space at all if the fathers who were waiting for us at the monastery gates hadn’t taken us into their midst. Once it was over, the noise was even greater as everyone wanted to see the little organist. As soon as we were in the carriage, I asked to be driven home, where I locked the door and began to write this letter: I had to tear myself away, otherwise we wouldn’t have been left in peace long enough to write a letter. Tomorrow
we’re going to see the amphitheatre and other rare sights with Herr Locatelli, we’ll then dine with him and afterwards pay our farewell visits, the day after tomorrow we’ll pack and on Wednesday evening, with God’s help, we’ll travel on to Mantua, which, although it’s near, is a short winter day’s journey away on account of the muddy road.
Have you received no letters from Herr Lotter reporting the safe arrival of the money? – – Has Herr Breitkopf not written from Leipzig to say that he’s received the 100 books? – – Have the books been sent to Vienna, and has Herr Gräffer reported their arrival?
⁸
– – You must drop me a couple of lines to report on all these matters. – Did you have nice weather – not too cold – in Salzb. during the Christmas holidays? – – It’s been very cold here for nearly a week. And just imagine, everywhere we dined, there were neither hearths nor stoves in the dining rooms. Your hands get terribly black and blue and red. I’d rather eat in a cellar. More on this – the greatest cross we have to bear – another time. Perhaps you could write and let me know
how to make the hand paste
, perhaps we’ll be needing it. In the meantime, bundle up
12 copies of the Violinschule
and send them to
Joseph Wolff’s
bookshop in Innsbruck. Unless I’m much mistaken, the man who runs the shop in Innsbruck is called Felicius or Felicianus Fischer. They’ll tell you at Mayr’s bookshop.
⁹
You don’t need to enclose anything more than a brief note, perhaps along the lines of:
Here are 12 copies of the
Violinschule
that my husband has instructed me to send you from Verona. As agreed, you may retain them on commission and sell them at 2 f 15 kr (Tirolean currency) each, crediting my husband with 1 f 45 kr (in the same currency) for each copy sold: please would you advertise them in the newspaper and charge the cost to my husband
. I’ve no more paper. Farewell. I’m your old

Mzt

From Verona, Leopold and Wolfgang travelled to Mantua, where Mozart gave a concert At the RoyalAcademofScience, LettersandArts on16 January and they attended a performance of Hasse’s opera
Demetrio
(1732). They also stopped at Cremona, where on 20 January they heard Valentini’s opera
, La clemenza di Tito
(1753). They reached Milan on 23 January.

Herr Troger
¹
has safely delivered your letter of the 12th. We arrived in Milan at midday on the 23rd, and your letter arrived on the 24th and with it your first note which, at my request, Herr Anton von Gummer had gone to fetch from the post office in Bozen and sent on to me. You complain that you’ve not received any letters from me for 3 weeks, but I wrote to you from Verona and Mantua. You ought to have received my first letter from
Verona
by now as I posted it there on
7 January
. The 2nd can’t have reached Salzb. yet as it wasn’t posted
in Mantua
until the
15th
. We left Verona at noon on the 10th and reached Mantua that evening, but I think I’ve already told you this. I wish you could have seen the place where the concert was held, namely, what’s called the
Teatrino della Accademia Filarmonica
. Never in my whole life have I seen anything more beautiful of its kind; and as I hope
that you are assiduously keeping all my letters
, I shall describe it to you in due course. It’s not a theatre but a hall with boxes, built like an opera house; where the stage should be there is a raised section for the orchestra, and behind the orchestra is another gallery, like boxes, for the audience. The crowd of people – – the calling, clapping, shouting and the
bravo
upon
bravo
– in short, the general shouting and the admiration shown by the listeners is something I cannot adequately describe to you.

I don’t doubt that in the meantime reports both from Rovereto and from Verona and Mantua will have reached you in Salzb. Give my most humble good wishes to Their Excellencies Count and Countess Arco
and tell them that we were received with all manner of kindnesses and courtesies at the home of Count Eugenio Arco
²
in Mantua. Conversely we did not have the good fortune to obtain an audience with Prince von Taxis. I already wrote to you from Mantua to say that his wife had letters to write. We returned there the next morning, but they’d both gone to church: we went to the church in turn and followed them home in their carriage at a distance of some 50 paces, so that the coachman would have no choice but to see us when he turned round in the courtyard. But when we announced our visit, we were told that the prince now had important business to attend to – – and he was unable to speak to us, we’d have to return on another occasion. The servant’s expression, his trembling voice and half-broken words showed me at once that the prince had no wish to see us; God preserve me from ever disturbing anyone from going about his business, especially when it also means walking great distances or having to hire a carriage. Fortunately we both lost nothing by not seeing each other at close hand (for we saw each other in the distance at the opera), in addition to which I saved myself money going there and saved His Excellency from the fear of being in our debt and having to extend to us any small courtesies for the honours shown to him at the Salzb. court and by the Salz. nobility. I’m writing this simply for your information, not because it grieves me, for I wouldn’t want anyone in Salzb. to think that I had lacked the good manners to visit the prince.

I am again enclosing a poem, this one by a lady by the name of Sigra Sartoretti, who entertained us in Mantua.
³
Her servant came the next day and brought us an uncommonly beautiful bouquet of flowers on a beautiful plate, with red ribbons beneath it and 4 ducats entwined in the middle of the ribbons; on top was the poem, a copy of which I am appending.

I can assure you that everywhere I have found the most delightful people and that everywhere we have had our particular favourites who have remained with us until the very last moment of our departure and done everything in their power to make our stay agreeable. Thus it was, for example, with Count Spaur’s household in
Innsbruck
, Baron Pizzini, Counts Lodron, Cristani, Cosmi etc in
Rovereto
and Count Carlo Emilei, Marchese Carlotti, Count Giusti, the Lugiati household and especially Herr Locatelli in
Verona
. Then in
Mantua
Count Arco’s household and especially a Sigr. Bettinelli
⁴
who, together with his brother and his brother’s wife, was entirely at our service. The wife was really just like a mother to Wolfgangl and we left each other with tears in our eyes. I’m also enclosing the newspaper from Mantua, which we received only when we arrived here in Milan. Among other things you’ll find in it the printed programme of the music performed at the concert, but you must know that neither the concert in Mantua nor the one in Verona was given for money, for everyone is admitted free.
⁵
In Verona only the nobility can attend as it’s they who run it, but
in Mantua it’s the nobility, the armed forces and the most prominent members of the community as it’s a foundation set up by Her Majesty the Empress.
⁶
You’ll easily conclude from this that we shan’t grow rich in Italy and that we’ll do well to recover our travelling expenses. These I’ve always recovered: and you can be assured that although there are only 2 of us, our travelling expenses are not small, as we’ve already spent about
70 ducats
. But, as I write this, we’ve already been away from Salzb. for 6 weeks, and even if you live
à pasto
⁷
and, moreover, even if you often, nay mostly, don’t lunch at home, then supper, rooms, wood etc. are all so expensive that after 9 to 11 days at an inn you rarely get away with paying less than 6 ducats. I often thank God that I left you at home. First, you’d not have been able to stand the cold. Secondly, it would have cost an astonishing amount of money, and we’d not have been free to live as we do, as we’re now staying
at the Augustinian monastery of San Marco
; not that it’s free here, no! but we can live here comfortably and safely and in close proximity to His Excellency Count Firmian.
⁸
We have 3 large guest rooms. In the first room we have lit a fire and dine and receive visitors here; in the second I sleep and we’ve put our trunk there; and in the third Wolfg. sleeps and there we keep the rest of our smaller items of luggage etc.

We each sleep on 4 good mattresses, and every night the bed is warmed, so that Wolfg. always goes to bed happy. We have our own brother, Frater Alphonso, to wait on us and are being very well looked after. How long we’ll remain here, I can’t say. His Excellency the Count has a cold and was very keen to give a concert in his house and invite the Duke of Modena,
⁹
so I’ve not yet been able to hand over the other letters, as this has to take place first. I think the concert will be next Tuesday or Wednesday as His Excellency is already feeling a little better. I told you that Wolfg. has got red hands and a
red face from the cold and fire, but all is now well again. Madame Sartoretti in Mantua gave him a pomade to rub on his hands every evening and in 3 days he was better: he now looks just as he did before.
Otherwise we’ve kept well, thank God
, and the change of air gave Wolfg. only a cold which he got over long ago. I very much doubt whether we’ll hear Herr Meissner performing in Florence for not only shall we be staying here for some time, but because Turin is so close, we’ll undoubtedly be popping over there.
¹⁰
We’ll also be staying briefly in Parma and Bologna, and so I don’t think we’ll be in Florence before the start of Lent.

As for the horse, you can sell it or raffle it or give it away, for all I care, I just want it out of His Grace’s stables. The old saddle etc. is in the stables, the
court stabler
must know where it is.

If it can be sold with the new saddle and bridle, it may be possible to get a better price for it. You can also sell
my carriage
. It’s not getting any better; and we shan’t be going on any more long journeys. Sell it as best you can, it’s done good service. The harness is still in good condition – when I bought it, it cost only
23 ducats
. Talk to people who understand these things. I don’t mind what you do: but before you sell it, it needs cleaning. All the letters that you write in future should be
addressed to Monsieur Troger
, as you did last time.

Every good wish to all our friends at home and abroad. I am your old honest

L Mzt

We kiss you both 100, 000 times.

I’m heartily glad to hear that you enjoyed yourself so much when you went sledging and hope you find a thousand opportunities to enjoy yourself, so that you may have fun all your life. But one thing
annoys me, that you made Herr von Mölk
¹
sigh and suffer so much and didn’t go sledging with him, so that he could have knocked you over: how many handkerchiefs will he have got through that day, crying because of you? I expect he’d earlier taken an ounce of tartar to empty his hideously unclean body. I’ve no news except that the Leipzig poet, Herr Learned,
²
has died and hasn’t written any more poems since then. Just before starting this letter I set an aria from
Demetrio
that begins: