Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (31 page)

Nannerl and I wish you the best of health and with all our hearts kiss you a million times. I am your old husband and father but NB not your son

Mozart

I hope you’ll have received my letter of the 20th in which I told you to write to
Monsieur Grimm
in Paris, also what you should write to the Prince of Chiemsee in Munich. By the next post I’ll send you a list of all the stages to Paris and my opinion etc., also a list of all our former acquaintances in Paris.
Addio
.

Mon très cher Père
,

I received your letter of the 24th this morning and see from it that you’re unable to reconcile yourself to fate, be it good or bad, when it takes us by surprise; until now, and as things stand, the four of us have never been happy or unhappy, and for that I thank God. You reproach us both for many things, without our deserving it. We are not incurring any expenses that are not necessary; and what is necessary when travelling you know as well as we do, if not better. That we stayed so long in Munich was the fault of no one but
myself
; and if I’d been alone, I’d certainly have stayed in Munich. Why did we spend 2 weeks in Augsburg? –– I’m tempted to think that you didn’t receive my letters from Augsburg. –– I wanted to give a concert – I was let down; meanwhile a whole week went by. I was absolutely determined to leave. They wouldn’t let me. They wanted me to give a concert; I wanted them to beg me. And so they did. I gave a concert. There are your 2 weeks. Why did we go straight to Mannheim? –– I answered this question in my last letter. Why are we still here? –– Yes –– can you really think that I’d remain somewhere for no reason? –– But I could have told my father –– all right, you shall know the reason and indeed the whole course of events. But God knows that I had no wish to speak about it because I was unable to go into detail – any more than I can today – and I know you well enough to appreciate that a
vague
account would have caused you worry and distress, something I’ve always tried to avoid; but if you ascribe the cause to my negligence, thoughtlessness and indolence, I can only thank you for your high opinion of me and sincerely regret that you don’t know your own son.

I’m not thoughtless but am prepared for anything and as a result can wait patiently for whatever the future holds in store, and I’ll be able to endure it –– as long as my honour and the good name of Mozart don’t suffer in consequence. Well, if it must be so, then let it be so. But I must ask you at the outset not to rejoice or grieve prematurely; for whatever happens, all is well as long as we remain
healthy; for happiness consists –– simply in our imagination. Last Tuesday week, the 18th, the day before St Elisabeth’s Day, I saw Count Savioli in the morning and asked him if there was any chance that the elector would keep me here this winter? –– I wanted to teach the young princes. He said yes, I’ll suggest it to the elector; and if it’s up to me, it will certainly happen. That afternoon I saw Cannabich and as it was at his suggestion that I’d been to see the count, he asked me at once if I’d been there. – I told him all that had happened, he said to me I’d very much like you to spend the winter here with us, but I’d like it even more if you had a proper, permanent appointment. I said that there was nothing I’d like more than to be always near them but that I really didn’t know how it would be possible for me to stay permanently. You’ve already got two Kapellmeisters,
¹
so I don’t know what I could do, as I wouldn’t like to be under
Vogler
! Nor shall you, he said. None of the members of the orchestra here is under the Kapellmeister or even under the intendant.
²
The elector could make you his chamber composer. Wait, I’ll speak to the count about it. There was a big concert on Thursday. When the count saw me, he apologized for not having said anything, but the galas were still going on; but as soon as the galas were over, namely, on Monday, he would certainly speak to the elector. I left it for 3 days, and as I’d heard nothing, I went to see him in order to make enquiries. He said: My dear Monsieur Mozart (this was Friday, namely, yesterday), there was a hunt today so I’ve been unable to
ask
the elector; but by this time tomorrow I shall certainly be able to give you an answer: I begged him not to forget. To tell the truth, I was rather angry when I left him and decided to take the young count
³
my six easiest variations on Fischer’s minuet
⁴
– which I’d already had copied out here for this very purpose – in order to have an opportunity to speak to the elector in person. When I arrived, you can’t imagine how pleased the governess was to see me. I received a most courteous welcome. When I took out the variations and said
that they were for the count, she said Oh, that’s good of you; but have you also got something for the countess?
⁵
–– Not yet, I said, but if I were to stay here long enough to write something, I’l l––By the way, she said, I’m glad that you’ll be staying here all winter. Me? –– I didn’t know that! –– That surprises me. It’s curious. The elector himself told me so recently. By the way, he said, Mozart is staying here this winter. Well, if he did indeed say that, then he’s the one person who
can
say it, for without the elector I certainly can’t remain here. I told her the whole story. We agreed that I’d return the next day – namely,
today
– after 4 o’clock and bring something for the countess. You’ll speak to the elector – before I arrive – and he’ll still be with you when I get there. I went back there today, but he didn’t come. But I’ll go again tomorrow. I’ve written a rondeau
⁶
for the countess. Don’t I have reason enough to remain here and await the outcome? –– Should I leave now that the greatest step has been taken? –– I now have a chance to speak to the elector himself. I think I shall probably remain here all winter as the elector is fond of me, he thinks highly of me and knows what I can do. I hope to be able to give you some good news in my next letter. I beg you once again not to rejoice or worry too soon and to confide this story in no one except Herr Bullinger and my sister. I’m sending my sister the allegro and andante from the sonata for Mlle Cannabich.
⁷
The rondeau will follow shortly. It would have been too much to send them all together. You’ll have to make do with the original; you can have it copied more easily at 6 kreuzers a page than I can at 24 kreuzers.
⁸
Don’t you find that expensive? –– Adieu. I kiss your hands 100, 000 times and embrace my sister with all my heart. I am your obedient son

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart

You’ll probably already have heard a little of the sonata, as it’s sung, banged out, fiddled and whistled at least 3 times a day at Cannabich’s. – Only
sotto voce
, of course.

[
Maria Anna Mozart’s postscript
]

My dear husband, I kiss you and Nannerl many 1000 times and ask you to give our best wishes to all our acquaintances, I’ll write more next time, but it’s turned midnight,
addio
, I remain your faithful wife

Maria Anna Mozart

My Dear Wife and Dear Son,

I’ve no objection to your having to wait for what you told me about in your last letter, and there’s nothing more that can be said about all that has happened on your journey and that has turned out differently from what I’d expected and worked out to our disadvantage and even caused us obvious harm, as it is all over and done with and can no longer be changed. – But the fact that you, my son, write
that all speculation is superfluous and of no avail as we cannot know what is to happen
– this is indeed ill considered and was undoubtedly written unthinkingly. No sensible person – I shall not say no Christian – will deny that
everything will and must happen according to God’s will
. But does it follow from this that we should act blindly, live carefree lives, make no provisions for the future and simply wait for things to befall us of their own accord? – – Does God himself and, indeed, do all rational people not demand that in all our actions we consider their consequences and outcome, at least as far as our human powers of reason enable us to, and that we make every effort to see as far ahead as we can? – – If this is necessary in all our actions, how much more so is it in the present circumstances, on a journey? Or have you not already suffered the consequences of this? – – Is it enough for you to have taken the step
with the elector in order to remain there throughout
the winter?
– – Should you not – shouldn’t you long ago have thought of a plan that can be implemented if things don’t work out: and shouldn’t you have told me about it long ago and learnt my views on it? – – And now you write – what? If we were after all to leave here we’ll go straight to Weilburg to the Princess of Nassau-Weilburg – for whom you wrote the sonatas in Holland
¹
– etc. – There we’ll stay as long as
the officers’ table
is to our liking – what sort of a tale is that? Like everything else you wrote, this is the language of a
desperate man
who is trying to console both himself and me. – – But there’s still a
hope
that you’ll receive 6 louis d’or, and that will make everything all right. – But my question to you now is whether you’re certain that the princess is there: she won’t be there without good reason as her husband
²
is based in The Hague on account of his military office. Shouldn’t you have told me about this long ago? – Another question: wouldn’t you do better to go to Mainz – and from there to Weilburg via Frankfurt? After all, if you go from Mannheim to Weilburg, you’ll cross the Frankfurt road: and as you’re not staying in Weilburg for ever, the Mainz road will take you back through Frankfurt. If you first go to Mainz and then to Weilburg, you’ll have only a short distance from Weilburg to Koblenz, which will presumably take you via
Nassau
. Or do you intend to avoid Mainz, where we’ve so many good friends and where we earned 200
florins from 3 concerts
, even without playing for the elector, M
³
who was ill. Tell me, my dear son, are these useless speculations? – – Your dear good Mama told me she’d keep a careful note of your expenses. Good! I’ve never asked for a detailed account and never thought of demanding one: but when you arrived in Augsburg you should have written to say: We paid such and such at Albert’s in Munich, and such and such was spent on travelling expenses, so that we still have
such and such
a sum. From Augsb. you wrote to say that after taking account of the concert receipts you were about 20 florins out of pocket. In your 2nd letter from Mannheim you should at least have
said that the journey cost us such and such an amount and we’re
now
left with – –, so that I could have made arrangements in good time – – was my arrangement to send you a letter of credit in Augsburg a useless speculation? – – Do you really think that Herr Herzog –
who’s a good old friend of mine
– would have provided you with money in response to all your letters from Mannheim if you’d not already given him a letter of credit? – – Certainly not! The most that he would have done would have been to make enquiries with me first. – – Why did I have to discover that you needed money only when you were in trouble?
You wanted to wait to see what the elector gave you
. Isn’t that so? Perhaps in order to spare me the worry – – but it would have caused me less worry if I’d been told everything honestly and in good time, as I know better than either of you how one must be prepared for all eventualities on such a journey in order not to be placed in some terrible predicament at the very moment when one least expects it. – At such times all your
friends
disappear!
One must be cheerful; one must enjoy oneself!
But one must also find time
to give serious thought to these matters
, and this must be your main concern when travelling and when not a single day should be allowed to pass to your disadvantage – – the days slip past – days which are in any case very short at present and which all cost money at an inn. Merciful heavens! You ask me not to speculate now that
I’m 450 florins in debt entirely thanks to you two
. – And you think that you may be able to put me in a good mood by telling me a hundred foolish jokes. I’m pleased that you’re in good spirits: but instead of the good wishes set out in the form of the alphabet, I’d have felt happier if you’d told me the reasons for, and the circumstances of, your journey to
Weilburg
and what you planned to do afterwards and, most of all, if you’d listened to my opinion; and this could have been done before a post day, as you can’t only just have hit on the idea, nor can you know independently that the princess is there, unless someone had already suggested the idea to you. In a word, it is no idle speculation when one has something in mind and formulates 2 or 3 plans and makes all the necessary arrangements in advance so that if one plan doesn’t work out, one can easily turn to another. Anyone who acts otherwise is an unintelligent or thoughtless person
who, especially
in today’s world
, will always be left behind, no matter how clever he is, and who will even be unhappy as he will always be duped by flatterers, false friends and those who envy him. My son, to find
one man in a 1000
who is your true friend for reasons other than self-interest
is one of the greatest wonders of this world
. Examine all who call themselves your friends or who make a show of friendship and you’ll find the reason why this is so. If they’re not motivated by self-interest on their own account, then they’ll be acting in the interests of some other friend whom they need; or they are your friends so that by singling you out they can annoy some third party. If nothing comes of
Mannheim
, you still have your plan to go to
Mainz, Frankfurt, Weilburg, Koblenz
etc.; one should always look for places as close to each other as possible so that, if you can, the journeys should be kept short and you can soon get to a place where you’ll find a source of income. If this letter doesn’t reach you in
Mannheim
and you’re already in
Weilburg
, I can’t help you. But if you’re still in Mannheim and have to leave, then Mama will see from the map that your best plan is to go to
Mainz
first, otherwise you’ll either have to forgo Mainz or retrace your steps a little. In Weilburg you need to bear in mind that you’ll not find a
Catholic church
there as everyone is
Lutheran
or
Calvinist
. So I’d prefer you
not to spend too long
there.