Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (75 page)

I’m now going out to the Rechbergs
⁵
and the great
banquet they’re giving for their friends
– if I’d not given them my solemn word and if it hadn’t been so discourteous to stay away, I’d not be going there now – but what good would that do me? – Well, I’ll be driving out to see you tomorrow! – If only my affairs were in order! – Who’ll keep prodding N. N. if I don’t? – If he’s not prodded, he loses interest. I’ve called on him every morning, otherwise he wouldn’t even have done as much as he
has
done, – please don’t go to the Casino today, even if Frau Schwingenschuh drives out to see you. – Save it up till I’m with you. – If only I had news of you! – It’s now half past 10, and lunch is at 12! It’s now striking 11! I can’t wait any longer! Adieu, dear little wife, love me as I love you, I kiss you 2000 times in my thoughts.

Ever your

Mozart

Ma très chère Epouse
,–

I hope you’re well; – it occurs to me that you’ve
rarely
been unwell
¹
during any of your pregnancies! – Do you think the baths are making you too loose? – I wouldn’t like to wait for
proof
, that would be too depressing; – my advice would be for you to stop now! – I’d then feel reassured. – Today is the day you should have stopped the treatment, but I bet my little wife has been to the baths as usual? –
Seriously
– I’d rather you delayed it till the autumn! – I hope you received my first brief note.

Please tell that dimwitted knave Süssmayr
²
to send me my score
of the first act
³
from the introduction to the
finale
, so that I can instrument it. It would be good if he could put it together today so that it can come with the first coach tomorrow, in that way I’ll get it by midday. – A couple of Englishmen have just been here, they refused to leave Vienna without meeting me – no, that’s not true – it was that Great Man Süssmayr whom they wanted to meet, and they came here only to ask where he’s living as they’d heard that I had the good fortune to count for something in his eyes. – I told them they should go to the Crown of Hungary and wait for him there till he gets back from Baden!
⁴
– Snai! – They want to employ him as a lamp cleaner.

I’m longing for news of you; it’s now half past 12 and I’ve still not received anything; – I’ll wait a bit longer before sealing this. – Nothing’s come, I must close now! – Farewell, dearest, most beloved little wife! – Look after yourself, for even if everything else goes awry, I don’t care as long as you’re well – and good to
me
. – Follow the advice I gave you at the beginning of this letter, and farewell. – Adieu. A thousand kisses, and a thousand boxes on the ear for Lacci Bacci.
⁵
Ever your

Mozart

Dearest, most beloved little wife, –

I can’t tell you how pleased I was to receive the news that the money has arrived safely;
¹
– I don’t remember telling you to settle up
everything
! As a sensible creature, how could I ever have said that? – If I did, I must have been completely bound up in my own thoughts – which is quite possible as I’ve so many important things on my mind at present. – My intention was that you should pay
only
for the
baths
. – The rest is for your own use – – Everything else that still has to be paid for and that I’ve already worked out for myself I’ll sort out when I get back. – Even as I write these lines, Blanchard will either
go up
– or else he’ll fool the Viennese for a 3rd time!
²
–

All this to-do with Blanchard is most unwelcome to me today – it’s preventing me from finishing off my business. – N. N. promised to come and see me before driving out there – but he didn’t come – perhaps he’ll come when the fun is over – I’ll wait till 2 – then I’ll throw some food down inside me – and then set off in search of him. – How unpleasant life can be! – Patience! Things will get better – I’ll then rest in your arms! –

I’m grateful to you for your advice not to rely entirely on N. N. – But in such cases one
has
to deal with just
one
person – if you turn to 2 or 3 and if the deal getsout – others, withwhom you can’t then negotiate, take you for a fool or at least someone who can’t be relied on.

– But for now you can give me no greater pleasure than to be contented and cheerful – for if I
know for certain
that you want for
nothing
– all my labours are welcome and acceptable; – for even the most disastrous and complicated situation in which I might find myself becomes a mere trifle if only I know that you’re
well
and
cheerful
.– And now farewell – make good use of your table fool – think of me and talk about me often – love me for ever as I love you and always be my Stanzi Marini, just as I shall always be your

Stu! – Knaller Paller –
Schnip – Schnap – Schnur –
Schnepeperl
.
Snai! –

Give N. N.
³
a box on the ears and say you had to swat a fly that

I’d seen! – Adieu. Catch them – catch them––bi–bi–bi 3 kisses, as sweet as sugar, are flying your way! –
In mid-July Mozart was commissioned by Domenico Guardasoni to write the opera
La clemenza di Tito
(‘The clemency of Titus’) to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II as king of Bohemia and Hungary in Prague; the commission had first been offered to Salieri, who had refused it. Mozart appears to have taken about six weeks to compose the score, to a libretto adapted from Metastasio’s. At about the same time he was anonymously commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach (1763–1827) to compose a Requiem in memory of his wife, Anna, who had died on 14 February 1791. The Mozarts’ sixth, and second surviving, child, Franz Xaver Wolfgang (1791–1844), was born on 26 July. A month later, Mozart, Constanze and Süssmayr travelled to Prague, arriving on 28 August.
Don Giovanni
was performed on 2 September and
La clemenza di Tito
on 6 September. Mozart returned to Vienna about mid-September and completed
Die Zauberflöte,
which was premiered on 30 September at Schikaneder’s Freihaus Theater auf der Wieden. Constanze was once again in Baden.

Friday at half past 10 at night.

Dearest, most beloved little Wife,–

I’ve just got back from the opera;
¹
– it was as full as ever. – The duet
Mann und Weib
etc. and the glockenspiel
²
in the first act were encored at usual – also the boys’ trio in the 2nd act
³
– but what I like most of all is the
silent approval
! – You can really see how much this opera continues to rise in people’s estimation. Now for an account of what I’ve been doing; – as soon as you’d sailed off, I played 2 games of billiards with Herr von Mozart, who wrote the opera for Schikaneder. – I then sold my nag for 14 ducats. – I then got Joseph
⁴
to call
Primus
and fetch me some black coffee, over which I smoked a splendid pipe of tobacco; then I instrumented almost the whole of Stadler’s rondo.
⁵
Meanwhile I’ve received a letter from Stadler in Prague; – the Duscheks are all well; – I don’t think she can have received any of your letters, hard though it is to believe! – Enough – they’ve all heard of the wonderful reception of my German opera. –

The strangest thing is that on the very evening that my new opera was being performed for the first time to such acclaim, Tito was being performed for the last time in Prague, also to extraordinary acclaim. – All the numbers were applauded. – Bedini
⁶
sang better than ever. -The little duet in A
⁷
that the 2 girls sing was repeated – and if they hadn’t spared Marchetti,
⁸
they’d also have repeated the rondo.
⁹
– People called out bravo to
Stodla
¹⁰
from the stalls and even from the orchestra – O Bohemian miracle! he writes – but I really made an
effort
, he writes; –
Stodla
also wrote that […]
¹¹
and I can now see that he’s an ass – […] you understand, not Stodla – – who’s only a bit of an ass – whereas […] well, he’s a
real
ass. –

I went out by the
Stubenthor
at half past 5 and took my favourite walk to the theatre – what do I see? – What do I smell?––Don Primus with the pork cutlets! –
Che gusto
– I’m now eating to your health – it’s just gone 11; – perhaps you’re still asleep? – Sh! Sh! Sh! – I shan’t wake you! –

Saturday the 8th
. – You should have seen me at supper yesterday! – I couldn’t find the old tableware, so I got out a white one decorated with snowdrops – and placed the double candlestick with wax candles in front of me! – According to the letter from […] the Italians are
said to be finished here – also, Frau Duschek must have received at least
one
letter from you as he writes: The […] was very pleased with Mathies’ postscript, she said she likes the ASS –or ASS – just as he is. – Do encourage […] to write for […] as he’s been on at me to see to this. – Even as I write this, I expect you’re having a good swim. – The hairdresser came at six on the dot – Primus had already lit the fire at half past 5 and woke me at a ½14; to. – Why does it have to be raining? – I was so hoping that you’d have good weather! – Just keep nice and warm so that you don’t catch a cold; I hope the baths will keep you well throughout the winter – it was only this wish to see you well again that persuaded me to pack you off to Baden. – How I miss you – I predicted that this would happen. – If I hadn’t been so busy, I’d have set off at once to spend the week with you; – but
out there
it’s simply not
convenient
to work; and as far as possible I’d prefer to avoid getting into
difficulties
; there’s nothing more agreeable than to live in relative peace and quiet, and for that one has to work hard, which I like doing. –

Give […]
¹²
a good box on the ears in my name, and also get […], whom I kiss 1000 times, to give him a couple – for heaven’s sake don’t let him go short! – The last thing I want is for him to reproach you, today or tomorrow, for not having treated him properly and looked after him – – give him too many blows rather than too few –

It would also be good if you could tweak his nose and knock out one of his eyes or cause him some other visible injury, so that the fellow can’t deny having received something from you; – adieu, my dear little wife! – The coach is about to leave. – I hope to receive something from you today, and in this sweet hope I kiss you 1000 times. I am ever your loving husband

W. A. Mozart

Saturday evening at ½ past 10.–

Dearest, most beloved little wife, –

It was with immense pleasure and feelings of joy that I found your letter on my return from the opera; – even though Saturday is post day and therefore a bad day, the opera was again performed to a full house, with the usual applause and encores; – it’s being given again tomorrow, but there’ll be no performance on Monday – as a result Süssmayr will have to bring Stoll
¹
in on
Tuesday
, when it will be given again
for the first time
– I say
for the first time
as it will probably then be given several times in succession; – I’ve just eaten a delicious piece of sturgeon that my faithful valet Don Primus brought – and as I’m feeling fairly hungry today, I’ve sent him out for some more, if he can find it. – Meanwhile I’ll continue writing to you. – This morning I worked so hard that I didn’t notice what time it was until ½ past 1 – so I then ran as fast as I could to Hofer’s
²
– simply so that I wouldn’t have to eat on my own – and found Mama
³
there too. Straight after lunch I returned home and wrote till it was time to go to the opera. Leutgeb
⁴
asked me to take him again, so I did. – Tomorrow I’ll be taking
Mama
; – Hofer has already given her the wordbook to read. – In Mama’s case it’s no doubt a question of her
watching
the opera rather than
hearing
it. – […] had a box today. – […] applauded
everything
, but he, the know-all, revealed himself to be such a thoroughgoing
Bavarian
that I couldn’t stay, otherwise I’d have ended up calling him an ass; – unfortunately I was there at the start of the 2nd act, in other words, during a solemn scene. – He laughed at everything; to begin with I was patient enough to draw his attention to some of the speeches, but – he just laughed at
everything as before; – it got too much for me – I called him
Papageno
and left – but I don’t think the fool understood me. – So I went into another box where
Flamm
⁵
and his wife were sitting; I was happy to be there and stayed to the end. – But I went onstage during Papageno’s aria with the glockenspiel as I felt such an urge to play it myself today. – As a joke I played an arpeggio at a point where Schikaneder
⁶
has a rest – he was startled – he looked into the wings and saw me – the 2nd time round I didn’t play anything – this time he stopped and refused to go on – I guessed what he was thinking and again played a chord – he then hit the glockenspiel and said
shut up
– everyone laughed then – it was because of this joke, I think, that many people discovered for the first time that he wasn’t playing the instrument himself. – Incidentally, you’ve no idea how delightful the music sounds from a box close to the orchestra – much better than from the gallery; – as soon as you’re back, you must try this for yourself. –