Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (90 page)

3.
Friederike of Prussia (1751-1805).

4.
The summer residence of the kings of Prussia, southwest of Berlin.

5.
Mozart’s meaning is unclear here.

6.
A German mile in the eighteenth century varied between 7 and 9 km; the distance from Leipzig to Berlin and back is about 290 km, so Mozart is approximately correct.

1.
It is unclear whether these works were commissioned or whether Mozart merely intended to dedicate them to the king of Prussia and his daughter, Princess Friederike (1767-1820) – and thereby receive a royal gift. In the event, Mozart only wrote three more quartets (see letter 174, n. 1).

1.
Constanze was then at Baden.

2.
Medicaments of various kinds; ants’ eggs may refer to a preparation made from the dried pupae of red ants, though they may have been intended as food for a pet bird.

3.
Le nozze di Figaro
was revived at the Burgtheater on 29 August. For this production Mozart replaced Susanna’s aria ‘Deh vieni non tardar’ with the rondo ‘Al desio di chi t’adora’ K577 and additionally composed for her the aria ‘Un moto di gioia’ K579.

4.
Unidentified. Names have been obliterated from several of the letters Mozart wrote at this time and made anonymous with the letters ‘N. N.’ It is unclear who made these changes, or when.

1.
Presumably Johann Mattheson,
Georg Friedrich Händels Lebensbeschreibung
(Hamburg, 1761).

2.
Mozart was hoping for a position as court Kapellmeister under the new emperor; see next letter.

1.
.
This is a draft. It is not known if Mozart sent such a letter to Archduke Franz (the future Emperor Francis II), or petitioned Leopold II directly for a position; if he did, it was to no avail.

2.
.
The draft breaks off here.

1.
.
Der Fallist noch weit seltener
by Emanuel Schikaneder and Benedikt Schack (1758– 1826), tenor and composer, was a sequel to
Una cosa rara
by Vicente Martín y Soler (1754–1806), premiered at Vienna in 1786.
Der Fall
was first performed at the Freihaus-Theater on 10 May 1790.

2.
.
Der dumme Gärtner aus dem Gebirge oder Die zween Anton
, a comic opera by Schikaneder, Schack and the bass singer and composer Franz Xaver Gerl. Mozart wrote variations on a song from
Der dumme Gärtner
, ‘Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding’ (K613) in March or April 1791.

3.
.
An eastern suburb of Vienna.

1.
.
Anton Stadler.

2.
.
Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812), composer and publisher; among other works, he published the first editions of Mozart’s piano quartet K478, the piano trio K496, the so-called ‘Hoffmeister ‘quartet K499, and the sonatas for keyboard with violin accompaniment K481 and K526. The draft referred to here is almost certainly a promissory note that Hoffmeister may have endorsed. The note, pre-signed by Mozart, was dated in Vienna on 1 October. It suggests that Mozart had pawned his furniture to pay for his journey to Frankfurt.

1.
. Presumably these are the quartets Mozart had originally intended for Frederick William II of Prussia; see letter 168. Mozart had, in the meantime, written the quartets K575 (June 1789), 589 (May 1790) and 590 (June 1790); they were published by Artaria in 1791 without a dedication.

2.
. Hoffmeister.

3.
. Probably Sophie, Countess Hatzfeld, later Coudenhoven; Franz Maria Schweitzer, a dealer in silks and fashionable goods, and his wife Paula Maria.

4.
. Unidentified.

1.
. The programme for this concert included a symphony, two concertos (usually assumed to be K459 and K537), a scena sung by Ceccarelli, a duet and an improvisation. Owing to the length of the concert, the concluding symphony was not given. See Deutsch,
Documentary Biography
, 375.

2.
. Nothing came of this plan.

1.
The address on this letter reads: ‘Municipal Council! Humble request from Wolfgang Amadè Mozart Imperial and Royal Court Composer to be appointed assistant to the Kapellmeister of St Stephen’s Cathedral.’

2.
Leopold Hofmann (1738–93), Kapellmeister at St Stephen’s, Vienna; the post was an important and remunerative one.

3.
Mozart’s petition was granted, but Hofmann outlived him by fifteen months, until 17 March 1793.

1.
‘Curse my bad luck! – Mlle Kirchgässner is not giving her concert on Monday and so I could have possessed you all day Sunday – I’ll definitely be coming on Wednesday.’ Maria Anna (Marianne) Antonia Kirchgässner (1769–1808) was a blind virtuosa on the glass harmonica. The programme of her first concert in Vienna, on 10 June, is not known. At her second concert, on 19 August, she performed Mozart’s adagio and rondo K617 for glass harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and violoncello.

2.
Mozart was on his way to hear the opera
Kaspar der Fagottist oder Die Zauberzither
(‘Kaspar the Bassoonist or the Magic Zither’) by Wenzel Müller (1759–1835). The text, by Joachim Perinet, was based on Christoph Martin Wieland’s
Dschinnistan oder auserlesene Feen-und Geistermährchen
, published between 1786 and 1789, which also served, in part, as the basis for Mozart and Schikaneder’s
Die Zauberflöte.

3.
Die Zauberflöte
.

1.
‘on his word of honour’.

2.
The nature of this affair is unknown.

3.
Kaspar.

4.
Franz Ludwig, Margrave Montecuculi had earlier been a subscriber to Mozart’s concerts.

5.
See letter 146, n. 13.

1.
Mozart probably means Constanze had not had morning sickness.

2.
Mozart’s student and amanuensis, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, see List.

3.
Of
Die Zauberflöte.

4.
Süssmayr had accompanied Constanze to Baden.

5.
Presumably a joking reference to Süssmayr.

1.
Mozart had sent Constanze 25 florins the previous day.

2.
The French balloonist François Blanchard (1753–1809) had made two unsuccessful attempts, on 9 March and 29 April 1791, to ascend over Vienna in a hot air balloon; he was successful at his third attempt on 6 July. Mozart parodied his exploits in
Die Zauberflöte
, in the scene where the three boys descend in a balloon.

3.
In this instance, probably Süssmayr.

1.
Die Zauberflöte

2.
‘Das klinget so herrlich’

3.
‘Seid uns zum zweitenmal willkommen’

4.
Presumably Joseph Deiner, a waiter at the inn ‘Zur silbernen Schlange’. He is thought to be the author of a memoir of Mozart’s last days, published in the Viennese
Morgen-Post
in 1856; see Deutsch,
Documentary Biography
, 563–6.

5.
The finale of the clarinet concerto K622, composed for Anton Stadler.

6.
Domenico Bedini, who sang the role of Sesto.

7.
‘Ah perdona al primo affetto’.

8.
Maria Marchetti-Fantozzi (1767–1807) sang the role of Vitellia.

9.
‘Deh per questo istante solo’.

10.
Anton Stadler, who played the demanding first clarinet part in the opera.

11.
A number of deletions have been made in this and the following letter, possibly by Constanze Mozart’s second husband, Georg Nikolaus Nissen, when he prepared the correspondence for publication in the 1820s. The deletions are indicated by ellipses.

12.
Possibly Süssmayr

1.
Anton Stoll (1747–1805), music director at Baden; Mozart composed the motet
Ave verum corpus
K618 (17 June 1791) for him.

2.
Mozart’s brother-in-law Franz Hofer.

3.
His mother-in-law, Maria Cäcilia Weber.

4.
The former Salzburg horn player Joseph Leutgeb; after moving to Vienna in 1777 he became a cheesemonger.

5.
Franz Xaver Flamm (1739–1811), later an agent in connection with the taxes attached to Mozart’s estate

6.
He was singing the role of Papageno

7.
Mozart was making arrangements for his son Carl to attend the school run by the Piarist Fathers in the Josefstadt suburb of Vienna

8.
Constanze’s younger sister

9.
‘farewell! – We’ll meet again’, sung by Tamino, Papageno and the Three Ladies in act 1, scene 8 of
Die Zauberflöte.

1.
Carl, then aged seven, was at a boarding school in Perchtoldsdorf bei Wien run by Wenzel Bernhard Heeger.

2.
That is, Salieri and Cavalieri.

3.
Deutsch, Documentary Biography, 524–5.

1.
Sophie and her mother.

2.
Albrechtsberger succeeded Mozart as assistant Kapellmeister at St Stephen’s, Vienna.

1      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Vienna, 16 October 1762 3

2       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Vienna, 29 December 1762 8

3       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Munich, 21 1une 1763 10

4       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Ludwigsburg, 11 1uly 1763 13

5       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Mainz, 3 August 1763 17

6       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Versailles, December 1763 19

7       Leopold Mozart to Maria Theresia Hagenauer, Paris, 1 February 1764 21

8       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Paris, 22 February 1764 29

9       Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, London, 28 May 1764 33

10      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, London, 28 1une 1764 39

11      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, The Hague, 19 September 1765 46

12      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Paris, 16 May 1766 52

13      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Munich, 10 November 1766 57

14      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Olmütz, 10 November 1767 60

15      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Vienna, 30 January 1768 66

16      Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Vienna, 30 1uly 1768 71

17      Leopold Mozart’s petition to Emperor 1oseph II, Vienna, 21 September 1768 76

18      Mozart to an unknown girl, Salzburg, 1769(?) 81

19      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Wörgl, 14 December 1769 82 Mozart’s postscript to his mother 83 Mozart’s postscript to his sister 83

20      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Verona, 7 January 1770 84

21      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Milan, 26 January 1770 89

22      Mozart to his sister, Milan, 26 January 1770 93

23      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Milan, 13 March 1770 96 Mozart’s postscript 98

24      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Bologna, 27 March 1770 99

25      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Rome, 14 April 1770 103 Mozart’s postscript 106

26      Pietro Lugiati to Maria Anna Mozart, Verona, 22 April 1770 106

27      Leopold Mozart to his wife, Naples, 19 May 1770 108 Enclosed note from Mozart to his sister in