I was sincerely sorry to hear about Frau Adlgasser’s accidents and hope she’ll soon be better.6 Best wishes to them both. Frau de Amicis 7 sends her best wishes to you and Nannerl, together with those of her mother, brother etc.
When we read the article on the Miserere, we couldn’t help laughing out loud.8 There’s not the slightest cause for anxiety. People are making far more of it elsewhere. The whole of Rome knows; even the pope knows that Wolfg. wrote down the Miserere. There’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of: quite the opposite, it’s done him great credit, as you’ll shortly be hearing. You must make absolutely certain that everyone reads the letter, so that we can be sure that His Grace gets to hear about it.
If the portraits have turned out to be a good likeness, you may pay whatever you like for them.9
I must close now as we’re off to see the imperial ambassador, Count Kaunitz.10 Farewell, we kiss you and Nannerl 1000 times and I am your old
Mzt
I hope you’ve recovered from your cold.
[ Note enclosed by Mozart to his sister written in a mixture of Italian and German ]
Cara sorella mia,
My dear sister, I really don’t know how to reply to your letter as you wrote almost nothing. I’ll send you Sgr Haydn’s11 minuets when I have more time. I’ve already sent you the first one. But I don’t understand. You say that they’ve been stolen, these minuets. Did you steal them? Or what? Please write soon, and write every post-day. Thanks for sending me the maths book, and if ever you want a headache, please send me more of the same. Forgive me for writing so badly, but the reason is that I too have a slight headache. I really like the twelfth minuet by Haydn that you sent me, and you’ve written a wonderful bass for it, without the slightest mistake. I’d like you to try your hand at such things more often: Mama mustn’t forget to have both the guns cleaned: write and tell me how Mr Canary is. Is he still singing? Is he still whistling? Do you know why I’m thinking of the canary? Because there’s one in our front room that makes a noise just like ours. By the way, I assume that Herr Johannes has received the letter of congratulation that we were going to write to him, but if he hasn’t received it, I’ll tell him in person what it would have contained when I get back to Salzburg. We wore our new suits for the first time yesterday and were as beautiful as the angels, but I’m afraid that we won’t be bringing any other beautiful things back home with us. Addio, farewell, best wishes to Nandl, tell her to be a good girl and pray for me. I am
Wolfgang Mozart
The opera12 that Jommelli is writing will open on the 30th, we saw the king and queen13 during Mass in the court chapel at Portici, and we also saw Vesuvius: Naples is beautiful, but it’s as crowded as Vienna and Paris. Of London and Naples, I’m not sure whether the people in Naples are not more impertinent than those in London, for here the common people, the lazzeroni, have their own general or chief who receives 25 silver ducats from the king every month, just to keep the lazzeroni in order. De Amicis is singing in the opera, we called on her and she recognized us at once. The second opera is being written by Cafaro, the 3rd by Cìcio de Majo, 14 it’s not yet known who’s writing the 4th. Be a good girl and go to Mirabell15 to hear the litanies and the Regina Coeli or Salve Regina, and sleep well and don’t have any bad dreams. Give Herr von Schiedenhofen my barbarous good wishes, tralaliera, tralaliera, and tell him to learn how to play the repeating minuet on the keyboard, so that he doesn’t forget it, he should do so soon so that he may do me the pleasure of letting me do the honours and accompany him. Do give my good wishes to all our other good friends, and do keep well and do not die but do me a favour and write me another letter, so that I can do the same, and we can then keep on doing so until we are done, for I’m someone who will keep on doing things until finally there’s nothing left to do, but for now I’ll have done.
Wolfgang Mozart
Mozart and his father set out from Naples on 25 June, arriving back at Rome the next day. On 5 July Mozart was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur by Pope Clement XIV, with whom they had an audience on 8 July. They left Rome on 10 July, arriving at Bologna on 20 July. From 10 August until 1 October, Leopold and Wolfgang lodged at the country home of Giovanni Luca, Count Pallavicini-Centurioni just outside Bologna, where Mozart received the libretto to Mitridate, re di Ponto (‘Mithridates, King of Pontus’). He started workon the opera on 29 September.
28. Leopold Mozart to his wife, 11 August 1770, Bologna
You’ll have received my letter of the 28th on the 4th, in other words, on the day after you wrote to me, and in the meantime you’ll also have received my letter of the 4th inst.
We arrived here on this estate at around midday yesterday after hearing Mass in Bologna, it’s about as far from the city as Maria Plain is from Salzb.1 We were finally able to get a good night’s sleep, and I don’t need to describe the excellent service here. You can imagine the rooms and the beds, the sheets are of finer linen than many an aristocrat’s shirt etc., everything is made of silver, even the chamber utensils and nightlight, etc. etc. In the evening we went for a drive in 2 sedias – Wolfg. with Her Excellency the Countess and the young Count, and I and His Excellency the Field Marshal, 2 we have a footman and a servant to wait on us, in other words, 2 people, and the footman sleeps in our anteroom so that he’s always on call, while the servant has to dress Wolfg.’s hair. His Excellency has put us in the first rooms – in Salzb. they’d be on the ground floor – as these are the best rooms in summer, when the upper rooms get very hot, so that we don’t feel the slightest heat during the day and especially at night. Apart from our rooms, there’s the Sala Terrena where we eat and everything is fresh, cool and pleasant. The young count, who is Wolfg.’s age and the only heir, is very talented, plays the keyboard, speaks German, Italian and French and has 5 or 6 tutors a day for lessons in various branches of knowledge and other exercises. He’s already an imperial chamberlain. As you can imagine, this young gentleman and Wolfg. are the best of friends.
We’ll be remaining here for a while – how long I don’t know. Perhaps for the whole of the month, until the worst of the heat is over. And my foot?3 – – Thank God, it’s better. The wound has healed completely and the skin is gradually falling off. But however much I try to avoid doing so, I have to use it during the daytime, with the result that by evening I have a slight swelling near my ankle, but this always goes away again during the night, and each day it grows less. Their lordships never make me stand but insist on my remaining seated, with my leg resting on a second chair. They even arranged 2 chairs for me for mass in the chapel today. We have Mass every day before noon, when the young count serves; after Mass the Rosary, Litany, Salve Regina and De Profundis are said.
You’re invited to enjoy the finest figs, melons and peaches! And I’m extremely pleased to be able to tell you that we are well, thank God. If I’d not removed the ointments and plasters, I’d have had a lot more trouble, as these drew all the salts and pus and water to them, and since the body is provided with enough of these liquids through its daily intake of food and drink, I’d have had to wait a long time for the end. If nature itself had made this opening, it would, of course, have been very bad to prevent such a discharge, but since it resulted from an unforeseen incident, it was enough and more than enough to have an open wound on my foot for 6 whole weeks. It should be a warning to everyone not to apply a plaster but to use nothing but paper and urine, in order to prevent pus from collecting.
Give my good wishes to Kapellmeister Lolli and tell him that I shall, of course, deliver his messages and that I’ve already spoken to a number of his old acquaintances. We forgot to congratulate Nannerl on her name day.4 My foot brought back all my old melancholy thoughts. It’s very sad to hear that things are getting more and more expensive in Salzb. Is no thought being given to ways of combating this increase? – – Give my very best wishes to Herr von Schiedenhofen and his dear Mama. I’ll be replying to Herr von Schiedenhofen’s letter shortly. I received all 3 letters at
once today. I must close. His Excellency’s letters are being sent to town, and this one has to go with them. We kiss you and Nannerl 1000 times. Wolfg. has just gone for a drive with the countess. We send our good wishes to all – to all etc. and I am your old
Mzt
29. Mozart to Thomas Linley, 1 10 September 1770, Bologna
[ In Italian ]
Dear Friend,
Here at last is my letter! I have only just got round to replying to the one that you most kindly sent to me in Naples but which I did not receive until two months after you’d written it. My father’s plan was to take the road from Loreto to Bologna; from there to travel to Florence, Livorno, Genoa and Milan and in consequence give you a surprise by turning up in Florence unexpectedly. But, my father having had the misfortune to injure his shin quite badly when the shaft horse of our mail coach fell and as this not only forced him to remain in bed for three weeks but kept him in Bologna for 7, this nasty accident meant that we had to change our plans and travel to Milan via Parma.
First, we have missed the opportunity to undertake such a journey and, second, it is no longer a suitable time to do so as everyone is in the country and we’d be unable to recover the cost of our journey. You may be assured that this accident is a source of infinite annoyance to us. I would do everything in my power to have the pleasure of embracing my dear friend and, like me, my father would very much like to see Signor Gavard again, to say nothing of his most dear and kind family, as well as Signora Corilla2 and Signor Nardini, and then to return to Bologna; we’d do this if we had any hope of recovering the cost of our journey.
As for the lost engravings, my father thought of an expedient and your note arrived just in time to allow him to keep back two. Could I ask you, therefore, to let me know as soon as possible how I should send them to you?
Keep me in your dear friendship and believe me when I say that, with undying affection, I am and shall always remain
Your most devoted servant and loving friend
Amadeo Wolfgango Mozart
[ Leopold’s postscript, also in Italian ]
Could I ask you to give our good wishes to all our friends? Leopoldo Mozart
On 9 October Mozart was admitted to the Philharmonic Academy of Bologna, and four days later Leopold and Wolfgang left Bologna for Milan, arriving there on 18 October for the rehearsals of Mitridate, re di Ponto, to be performed at the Teatro Regio Ducal, Milan.
30. Leopold Mozart to his wife, 20 October 1770, Milan
We arrived in Milan safe and sound, thank God, at 5 in the evening on the 18th. We had to spend a whole day in Parma as the rivers were so swollen by the amazingly heavy rain that no one could cross them. All afternoon on the 14th we drove through an amazing thunderstorm and terribly heavy rain, but my luggage didn’t get wet, as I’d protected it in a double thickness of oilcloth. I’ve had very painful rheumatism in my right arm for 3 weeks now, and I suffered from it on the journey, too. But at least it hasn’t got any worse and is in fact noticeably better, even if it’s not gone away completely. NB: I don’t need anything for it and haven’t needed anything. I expect it to leave as it came. The movement of the sedia wasn’t at all good for me, but I kept thinking: evil must be banished by evil. So it was a somewhat tiresome journey on account of the thunderstorm and heavy rain, and a somewhat painful one on account of my arm.
We left Bologna a few days later than planned because the Philharmonic Academy unanimously elected Wolfg. a member of their society and presented him with the diploma of accademico philarmonico. But this happened only after all the necessary preliminaries and after he had been duly examined. He was required to appear at the Hall of the Academy at 4 in the afternoon on 9Oct.; in the presence of all the members, the director of the academy and the 2 invigilators – who are all old Kapellmeisters – gave him an antiphon taken from an antiphoner, of which he had to write a 4-part setting in an adjoining room, where he was taken by the beadle, who locked the door after him. Once he’d finished it, it was examined by the invigilators and all the Kapellmeisters and composers, and a vote was then taken, which was done by means of black and white balls.
As all the balls were white, he was called in, and everyone clapped their hands at his appearance and congratulated him, after the director had previously told him in the name of the society that he had been accepted as a member. He thanked them, and with that it was over. Herr Prinsechi1 and I were meanwhile locked in the Academy’s library on the other side of the hall. Everyone was amazed that he completed it so quickly, as many people had spent 3 hours on a 3-line antiphon. NB: You must know that it’s no easy task, as this type of composition excludes many things that aren’t allowed and that he had been told about previously.2 He completed it in a good half hour. The beadle then brought the certificate to our house. It’s in Latin and includes the following words: – – – testamur Dominum Wolfgangum Amadeum etc: – – Sub die 9 Mensis octobris anni 1770 inter Accademiæ nostrae Magistros Compositores adscriptum fuisse etc.3 This does him all the more credit in that the academy is already more than 100 years old and apart from Padre Martini and other distinguished Italians, the most distinguished men of other nations are members of this Accademi a Bonnoniensis.4
I was handed your letter of 5 Octob. at the gate as we were driving into Milan, as it was enclosed with Herr Troger’s letters, which he had left there. As you’ll see from my earlier replies, I’ve received all your letters. I’m glad that Herr Breitkopf has paid. Make a note of all the books that you sell or for which you’re paid or that you give away, in short, everything, so that when I get back I shall know where I stand with all these people. Farewell, both of you, we kiss you 100, 000 times, and I am your old
Mozart
All manner of good wishes to all our friends.
[ Wolfgang’s postscript ]
My Dear Mama,
I can’t write much as my fingers are hurting a lot from writing so many recitatives:5 please pray for me, Mama, that the opera goes well and that we can all be happy together again. I kiss Mama’s hand a thousand times, and I’d have many things to say to my sister, but what? That’s something that only God and I know, if it’s God’s will I hope I’ll soon be able to tell her so in person, but for now I kiss her 1000 times. Best wishes to all our good friends. We’ve lost good little Martha, 6 but with God’s help we’ll meet her in a better place.
[ Leopold Mozart’s postscript ]
Wasn’t it a good idea about the diary? – I can now receive 2 diaries in 4 or 5 letters, and even if they contain only 2 or 3 months each, I’ll still get them soon enough, I’ve already got the main part. I won’t open Herr and Frau Hagenauer’s wound by writing a letter of condolence. What can’t be changed must be left to God’s discretion. What else can be done? –
31. Leopold Mozart to his wife, 10 November 1770, Milan
The miscellany from our good friends has arrived safely, and we’re very pleased that you enjoyed yourselves in Triebenbach. Do give our very best wishes to Frau von Schiedenhofen and her worthy son, and thank them once again, just as the two of us thank all our friends in optima forma and send them our sincere good wishes for the entertainment that they have given us with the letters they’ve sent us and for the poetry that far surpasses that of all German poets. We wish Herr Spitzeder every happiness and a whole parlour full of children, as it’s now getting more and more expensive in Salzb. What’s his new wife called?– –Do I know her?– –I think I do! I’m only afraid that he’ll have worn himself out dancing at his wedding and got over-excited.
If our good friends add the occasional joke to your letters, they’ll be doing us a good turn, as Wolfg. is now busy with serious matters and as a result has become very serious; I’m glad if he occasionally gets his hands on something amusing. Please ask my friends to forgive me for not writing to anyone. I’m now less in the mood to do so than ever, and in time to come you’ll be surprised to discover what kind of a storm we’ve had to weather, something that requires presence
of mind and constant thought. We’ve won the first battle, thank God, and defeated an enemy who brought to the prima donna’s house all the arias that she has to sing in our opera and tried to persuade her not to sing any of Wolfg.’s.1 We’ve seen them all, they’re all new arias, but neither she nor the rest of us know who wrote them. But she said no to this evil man and is now beside herself with delight at the arias that Wolfg. has written according to her wishes and desires, as is her maestro, Sgr Lampugnani, 2 who is rehearsing her part with her and who can’t praise Wolfg.’s arias enough. When we were with her today, she was just rehearsing her first aria with the maestro. But a second storm3 is gathering in the theatrical sky and we can already see it in the distance. But I expect that with God’s help and if we remain good-natured we shall win through. But you mustn’t be surprised, these are unavoidable matters that even the greatest composers have to deal with. As long as we keep well and our bowels remain open, the rest is unimportant, we just mustn’t take things too much to heart. You’ll hear about it all in due course. It continues to rain here most of the time and then there are dense mists which, even if we have one good day, return the following day. We kiss you both 1, 000, 000 times and send our good wishes to our friends inside and outside the house. I remain your old
Leop. Mozart
I don’t know if I told you that young Herr Kreusser4 called on us in Bologna. Young Kreusser from Amsterdam, whose brother is the first violin there – he called on us constantly and wanted to travel with us. He asked after us in Rome and Naples, but on each occasion we’d already left. He’s now returning to Holland via Turin and Paris; he sends you both his best wishes.
Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters Page 15
