Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (29 page)

Wolfgang Amadè Rosary

A thousand good wishes from us two travellers to my uncle and aunt.

To all my good friends blends

my best wishes fishes! addio loony moony.

333 unto the grave as long as I live.
⁵

Miehnnam eht ht5 rebotco 7771.
⁶

My Dearest,

We’ve received your latest letter of the 29th, together with all the others, but we can’t possibly answer all your questions as precisely as we should like to because we have to seize what opportunities we can and generally write at night, when we don’t get to bed till one o’clock and then get up late the next day, just in time for lunch, after which we go to see Director Cannabich and from there come home for supper at 9. The galas
¹
are now over, on the first day there was a service at 11 o’clock and during it there were cannons and rockets, after the service Wolfgang had to go and see the electress, to whom he was introduced by the intendant, Count Savioli, she remembered him from his last visit 14 years ago, even though she no longer recognized him. Afterwards there was a great banquet, followed by a great reception in the evening. On the second day the German grand opera
Gunther von Schwarzburg
was given, it’s very beautiful, with incomparable music and a wonderful ballet.
²
On the 3rd day
³
there
was a big concert at which Wolfgang played a concerto, then, before the final symphony, he improvised something and played a sonata.
⁴
The elector and electress and all who heard him were extremely appreciative. On the 4th day – Friday – there was a gala performance of a play that we saw with Monsieur and Madame Cannabich. We both lunched with Herr Cannabich on the day of the concert, and today my son has had lunch with him on his own, as he’s going to see the elector’s children
⁵
immediately after the meal, he was also there yesterday and the elector was present throughout, there are 4, of whom 2 play the keyboard, the elector loves his children above all else and told the intendant to take Wolfgang to see them. Wolfgang will be playing for the electress again, just on his own, as she’s promised him that he will, but for the present we must await her instructions. In the meantime, my dear husband, I wish you many 1000 happinesses on your forthcoming name day,
⁶
all good things for your body and soul, including lasting health, but above all I wish I could be with you to congratulate you in person, but since this is not possible, we’ll drink your health with a good Rhine wine – with all our hearts we wish you had one like it – and we’ll always think of you in the fondest hope of seeing you again, if that is God’s will, and of remaining together. Best wishes to Nannerl, and ask her whether her cousin has already sent her the silks as she promised to do so at once. Baron Schaffmann and Herr Döll were here yesterday morning and called on us, they left for Wetzlar today.

[
Mozart’s postscript
]

This morning at Herr Cannabich’s I wrote out the rondeau of the sonata
⁷
for his daughter and as a result they wouldn’t let me go. The elector, together with his wife and the whole court, is very pleased with me. On both the occasions that I played at the concert, the elector and his wife came right up to the instrument. After the concert
Cannabich arranged for me to speak to the court. I kissed the elector’s hand. He said I think it’s 15 years since you were last here. Yes, Your Highness, 15 years since I had the honour – – You play incomparably well. When I kissed the princess’s hand, she said to me:
Monsieur, je vous assure, on ne peut pas jouer mieux.
⁸

Yesterday I went with Cannabich to the place that Mama’s already told you about. I spoke to the elector as though to a good friend. He’s a most kind and good-natured person. He said to me: I hear that you wrote an opera in Munich.
⁹
Yes, Your Highness. I commend myself to Your Highness’s good graces, my greatest wish would be to write an opera here; please don’t forget me altogether. Praise and thanks be to God, I also know German,
and I smiled
. That’s easily done. He has a son
¹⁰
and three daughters, the eldest and the young count play the keyboard. The elector asked me in all confidence to tell him about his children. I told him what I thought, but without criticizing their teacher. Cannabich agreed with me. As he was leaving, the elector thanked me most politely. At 2 o’clock today, immediately after lunch, I went with Cannabich to see the flautist, Wendling. They were all politeness itself. His daughter,
¹¹
who was once the elector’s mistress, plays the keyboard very well. I then played myself. I was in such a good mood today, I can’t describe it. I played nothing but improvisations; and three duets with violin that I’d never seen in my life and whose author I’d never heard of. They were all so pleased that I– – simply had to kiss the women. In the daughter’s case this wasn’t so hard as she’s not bad-looking. After that we returned to the elector’s natural children. There I again poured my whole heart into my playing. I played 3 times. Each time the elector himself asked me to do so. He sat down beside me each time and didn’t move. I also asked a certain professor to give me a subject for a fugue, which I then developed. Now for my congratulations:

Dearest Papa,

I can’t write poetry, as I’m no poet. I can’t arrange figures of speech with the artistry needed to produce light and shade; I’m no painter. I can’t even express my thoughts and ideas by mime and gesture as I’m no dancer. But I can do so through sounds; I’m a musician. Tomorrow at Cannabich’s I’ll play a whole piece at the keyboard congratulating you on your name day and your birthday. For today I can do no more than wish you,
Mon très cher Père
, from the bottom of my heart all that I wish you every day, morning and night: health, a long life and a cheerful disposition. I also hope that you now have less reason to be annoyed than you did when I was still in Salzburg; for I must admit that I was the sole cause of it. They treated me badly; I didn’t deserve it. You naturally took my part – – but too much. So, you see, that was the biggest and most important reason why I left Salzburg in such a hurry. I hope too that my wishes come true. I must end now with a musical congratulation. I hope that you live for as many years as it needs for nothing new to be produced any more in music. Now farewell; I beg you most humbly to go on loving me just a little and to make do with these poor congratulations until I get some new drawers made for my small and narrow brainbox in which I can keep the brains that I still intend to acquire. I kiss my father’s hands 1000 times and remain until death

Mon très cher Père

your most obedient son

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

Mon très cher Fils
,

As much as your letter of the 8th gave us a certain hope and delighted us all, especially Herr Bullinger, so much were we dismayed to read your letter of the 13th, which to our great surprise we received on the evening of the 18th, i.e., on the 5th day, as all the others took 6 days at the very least. It would have been much better, of course,
if you’d received 15 louis d’or instead of a watch,
¹
even if it has been valued at 20 louis d’or, as money is more useful, not to say vital, when travelling. Where will you be reading this letter? – – Presumably in Mainz. In heaven’s name –
you must try to get hold of some money
. You won’t have received my letter of the 13th, as I sent it to Mannheim, and you’d presumably already left by then.
²
I’d planned it all – – and as for Frankfurt I told you in some detail what Herr
Leopold Heinrich Pfeil
³
had written. – – But what was the point of my telling you all this, what’s done can’t be changed; and I never had the pleasure of hearing why you had to go straight to Mannheim in such a tearing hurry. Presumably on the advice of various people who thought they understood the situation and in order not to miss the beautiful German opera. But your journey wasn’t direct, of course, as Herr Beecke sent you off on a wild goose chase with his malicious itinerary
because, as Herr Bullinger says, everyone knows that the way to Mannheim is by
Cannstatt
and
Bruchsal
, not by the
other road
, even if Herr Beecke claims it is
better
. And has Herr Beecke never been to Mannheim? – The wearisome journey to Ellwangen was a waste of time, and you have Herr Beecke’s kindness to thank for this needless expenditure. – – And had Prince Taxis already returned to Regensburg? – – Enough! It’s all in the past! – But now you must ensure not only that the
Elector of Mainz
⁴
hears you but that you receive some money by way of a present and, if at all possible, you should also give a concert in the town as there are lots of aristocrats there, as well as the whole of the government, which is not the case with Mannheim, where the government and most of the aristocracy are in Düsseldorf. The concertmaster Herr Kreusser
⁵
is the best person
to help you to achieve all this and to arrange matters for you. As for the first point, he himself knows, as someone who has travelled, that there’s nothing one needs more than ready cash, and once you’ve played for the elector you can tell him the entirely natural cause without any reservations, because in Mannheim you received only a trifle. He can also do a lot for your concert as he’s well liked throughout Mainz. If he’s not there, then the leading soprano
Franziska Urspringer
, to whom I send my very best wishes, will instruct you and tell you to whom to apply. Perhaps to the cellist, Herr Schwachhofer’s son, to whom I send my good wishes and who could also introduce you to the
Prince of Biberach
, who lives nearby and who is his pupil. I’m very much in the dark in talking about Mainz, but I assume that you’re there, although you’ve not given me the slightest indication as to where you’re going, but this is the nearest court: it will have cost you some 10 or 11 florins to get there in respect of the mail coach and tip. In Mainz you’ll not miss the opportunity to give the choirmaster, Herr
Starck
⁶
–
to whom I extend my very best wishes
– some of your keyboard pieces which he can simplify for his pupils by altering the difficult passages. – Why didn’t you think of giving some of your compositions to the elector in Mannheim? After all, I advised you to do so for your
own good
and also to make your
works better known
, as there’s an excellent orchestra there. – No, you’d no time to think about it. Where are you planning to go now? – – To Paris? – Which route do you plan to take? – Do you intend to go to Paris without any letters of recommendation? – – Which route do you plan to take in order to be able to earn something on the way? – – Even without assuming this, do you realize how much money is necessary for this extraordinary journey? – – And once you’re there, to whom do you intend to turn? – Don’t you need enough money in your purse to enable you to survive until you’ve made the necessary contacts in order to be able to earn something? – – In Paris you can achieve a lot by giving lessons! That’s certain: but do you think that pupils can be found overnight and that people will dismiss their own teachers and take on the first passing stranger? – One can earn a lot
from works by having them engraved. Indeed! But doesn’t all this need some form of patronage, a friend or two, a subscription, and doesn’t it all presuppose that you’ve already made some acquaintances? – – Leaving aside all this, it remains certain that your journey and the initial period of your stay demand a well-filled purse. You know that we owe Herr Bullinger three hundred florins and Herr Weiser over a hundred florins, I don’t know how much we owe Herr Kerschbaumer, but it must come to around forty florins. The tailor’s and dressmaker’s bills will be arriving in the New Year. Not to mention other trifles
amounting to only a few florins
and our unavoidable day-to-day expenses. Food costs very little: but these expenses still exist, especially now
in winter, what with wood and candles
and so many other trifles that I have enough trouble keeping track of them all.

In spite of all this, I’m prepared to make you
an advance of 20 or 30 louis d’or
in the event of your deciding to go to Paris in the hope that it will be doubled or trebled there: but is our friend
Grimm
⁷
there? – – Why ever did ill fate arrange for you to be so close to each other in Augsburg without knowing it? – – Perhaps he’s in Paris? Perhaps he was just on the point of leaving for Paris?– –But who knows the answers to these questions? – – How would it be if Wolfgang were to write to Paris and address his letter aà Monsieur Grimm Envoyé de S. A. Sereniss
^me
Le Duc de Saxe-Gotha aà Paris. In this letter he could announce his visit and express his regret that they were so close to each other in Augsb., where the concert or academy took place on the very evening that Herr Grimm booked into rooms at the 3 Moors etc. etc. The address for his reply should be Koblenz or wherever you’re going: and as a note left at the post office on your departure is the safest way of ensuring that you receive letters, you’ll certainly get an answer from him if he’s in Paris. If he’s not in Paris, then it doesn’t matter if the letter is lost as it contains nothing compromising, but in such letters you mustn’t place your signature too low down on the page and thereby leave a blank space above it, otherwise some rogue – if such a letter were to fall into the wrong
hands – might cut out the name and add some small demand for several louis d’or in the blank space above it. I’ve twice reminded you that if you leave behind you a note indicating your address, you’re most likely to receive letters as the post office is anxious to ensure that
letters that have not been paid for
reach their destination. Good friends who are entrusted with such a commission may forget. On arriving in a place you need to ask repeatedly and insistently at the post office. What I said about a cash advance in Paris
is something that I wouldn’t be able to arrange if you were now to draw money in Frankfurt
, which is why you should now
try to obtain a gift of money
or at any rate see to it that a lady undertakes to
cash in
your
watch
with the aristocracy, as Lamotte
⁸
did in Prague with all the trinkets he received there. Herr von Dalberg’s beautiful wife could do that. Herr Kreusser knows best how to do this. – – But this is by no means everything! If I ask Mama about the route to Paris, she will say: How shall we travel? – –
We’ll simply take the same old road as before
. Mama will recall that there are 34 post stages: but you must remember that you can’t use the
chaise
any longer, they’ll give you
4 horses equipped with 2 postilions
; there’s no alternative, and in Brabant the posts from Brussels to Valenciennes cost 44 florins for 4 horses. At Valenciennes I had to take 6 horses. So you’ll have to sell the
chaise
and take the diligence.
Remember also that I don’t think the diligence travels by night on these French roads, you must make enquiries on this point at the post offices on the way
: you can’t just sell the
chaise
willy-nilly at the last stage and possibly allow yourselves to be taken advantage of: you must think of all this in advance. You’ll see from this that one must be prepared and write to me well in advance to tell me what you plan to do as letters have a long distance to cover if you want a reply. I’ll wait till the next post day before describing to you the post stages between Brussels and Paris. But please let me know how you plan to continue your journey.