Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

  – I’ve written it in D as I know you prefer it. – My opera was given for the third time yesterday in honour of all Nannerls and was loudly applauded – and the theatre was again packed to the rafters in spite of the appalling heat. – It’s to be given again next Friday – but I’ve protested at this as I don’t want it to be flogged to death in this way. – I can truthfully say that people have gone quite mad over this opera. – But it does one good to receive such acclaim. – I hope you’ll have received the original. Dearest, most beloved father! – I must ask you – ask you by all you hold dear in the world – to give your consent to my marriage to my dear Constanze. – Don’t think that it’s just to get married – if that were all, I’d gladly wait. – But I see that it’s now unavoidably necessary for my own honour and the honour of my girl as well as for my health and state of mind. – My heart is restless, my head confused – how, then, can I think straight and work? – What’s the reason for this? – Most people think we’re already married – her mother is very worked up about it – and the poor girl and I are both tormented to death. – And this can so easily be put right. – Believe me that it’s just as easy to live in an expensive city like Vienna as it is elsewhere, it’s just a question of economy and of being properly organized. – And this is something you never find with a young man, especially one who’s in love. – Anyone who gets a wife like the one I’m getting will certainly be happy. – We’ll live very quiet, uneventful lives – and yet be happy. – And don’t worry – for if – God forbid – I were to fall ill today, especially when married, I’ll wager that the leading members of the nobility would offer me their protection. – I can say that with confidence. – I know what Prince Kaunitz has said about me to the emperor and Archduke Maximilian. – I eagerly await your consent, my most beloved father – I feel sure I can count on it – my honour and peace of mind are bound up with it. – Don’t put off for too long the pleasure of embracing your son and his wife. I kiss your hands 1000 times and am ever your most obed. son

  W. A. Mozart

  P. S.: I embrace my dear sister with all my heart. My Constanze sends her best wishes to you both. – Adieu.

  128. Mozart to his father, 7 August 1782, Vienna

  Mon très cher Père,

  You’re very much mistaken if you think your son capable of acting wrongly; –

  My dear Constanze – now, praise God, my actual wife1 – has long known my circumstances and all that I can expect to receive from you. – But her friendship and love for me were so great that she willingly – and with the greatest pleasure – sacrificed her entire future to me and my destiny. – I kiss your hands and thank you with all the tenderness that a son has ever felt for his father and for your most kind consent and father’s blessing. – But I knew I could rely on them! – After all, you knew that I myself could see everything only too clearly – yes, everything that could be said against such a step – but also that I couldn’t have acted otherwise without offending my conscience and my honour – and so I was able to rely entirely on this, too! – And so it was that, having waiting 2 post days in vain for a reply and having arranged the ceremony for the day by which I would most certainly have known the answer, I – already assured of your consent and feeling suitably consoled – was married in God’s name to the woman I love. The very next day your 2 letters arrived together; – it’s all over now! – I only ask you to forgive me for trusting prematurely in your paternal love; – in this sincere confession of mine you have further proof of my love of the truth and my loathing of lies. – My dear wife will be writing by the next post to ask her dearest, most beloved father-in-law for his paternal blessing and her dear sister-in-law for the continuation of her most valued friendship. – The only people present at the wedding were her mother and youngest sister, Herr von Thorwart as guardian and witness for both of us; – Herr von Cetto (the district councillor), who gave away the bride; and Gilowsky as my best man. – As soon as we were pronounced man and wife, both my wife and I began to cry; – everyone, even the priest, was moved by this. – And all of them wept on witnessing how much our hearts were moved. – Our wedding feast consisted of a supper given for us by Baroness Waldstätten that was in fact more princely than baronial – my dear Constanze is now looking forward a hundred times more to travelling to Salzburg! – And I wager – I wager – that you’ll delight in my own good fortune when you get to know her! – I’m sure that in your eyes as in mine a right-thinking, honest, virtuous and obliging woman is a source of happiness for her husband! –

  Enclosed is a short march!2 – I only hope that everything arrives in good time – and that it’s to your liking. – The first allegro3 must be very fiery. – The last – as fast as possible. – My opera was given again yesterday – at Gluck’s insistence; – he’s been very complimentary about it. I’m having lunch with him tomorrow. – As you can see, I’m in a hurry. Adieu. My dear wife and I kiss your hands 1000 times and we both embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. I am ever your most obed. son

  W. A. Mozart

  129. Leopold Mozart to Martha Elisabeth, Baroness von Waldstätten, 23 August 1782, Salzburg

  My Lady,

  I am most obliged to your Ladyship for the particular interest that you have taken in my circumstances and above all I should like to say how obliged and grateful I am for the extraordinary kindness that your Ladyship showed in celebrating my son’s wedding day in so lavish a manner. When I was a young lad, I always thought that philosophers were people who said little, seldom laughed and adopted a sullen attitude to the world in general. My own experiences have now convinced me that without knowing it I too am one: I have done my duty as a true father, making the clearest and most intelligible representations to him in so many letters and convincing myself that he knows my tiresome circumstances, which are highly distressing to a man of my age, and is also aware of the way in which I have been passed over in Salzburg, since he knows that both morally and physically I am the victim of his behaviour, – and yet there is nothing I can now do except leave him to his own devices – which is what he wanted – and pray to God that He grants him my paternal blessing and does not take away His divine grace. But I shall not abandon my innate cheerfulness, which I still retain in spite of my years, and shall continue to hope for the best. – Indeed, I would be wholly reassured were it not that I have detected in my son a serious failing, which is that he is far too patient or sleepy, too easy-going, perhaps sometimes too proud and whatever else you want to call all those qualities that render a person inactive: or else he is too impatient, too hot-headed, and can’t wait. Two opposing principles rule in him – too much or too little, and no golden mean. If he’s not short of something, he’s immediately satisfied and becomes lazy and inactive. If he has to act, he feels his own worth and immediately wants to make his fortune. Nothing is then allowed to stand in his way: and yet it is unfortunately the cleverest people and those who possess real genius who find the greatest obstacles placed in their way. Who will prevent him from making his way in Vienna if only he shows a little patience? – – Kapellmeister Bonno is extremely old,1 – on his death, Salieri will be promoted and make room for someone else, and isn’t Gluck an old man too!? – My Lady! Persuade him to be patient, and permit me to ask you to be so kind as to give me your Ladyship’s opinion on this point. – My daughter commends herself to your Ladyship and like me wishes that she had the good fortune to be able to kiss your Ladyship’s hands. She is very moved at being honoured, quite undeservedly, with a remembrance from your Ladyship. Oh, if only we were not so far away! I have a whole host of things that I’d like to talk to your Ladyship about – and if only we could immerse ourselves in music! – May my mind be calmed by hope, the unique consolation of our wishes! – Perhaps I may yet be fortunate enough to be able to assure your Ladyship in person not only of my friendship, which is of little worth but none the less genuine, but also of my most heartfelt esteem and reverence as I am indeed

  Your Ladysh
ip’s

  most humble and obed. servant

  Leopold Mozart

  My son once wrote to say that as soon as he was married he would not wish to live with his wife’s mother. I hope that he has indeed left the house. If not, it is his own and his wife’s misfortune.

  130. Mozart to Baroness von Waldstätten, 28 September 1782, Vienna

  Dearest Baroness,

  When your Grace was so gracious yesterday as to invite me to lunch tomorrow, Sunday, it did not occur to me that a week ago I had already agreed to have lunch that same day in the Augarten.1–

  Martin,2 the little angel, thinks he’s under an obligation to me for several things and absolutely insists on treating me to a collation; – I thought yesterday that it might still be possible to bring about an accommodation and that by dint of some reorganization I might still be able to rearrange the matter in accordance with my own wishes; but this wasn’t possible as the little angel had already ordered and arranged everything and would therefore have been put to great expense for nothing; – as a result and in consequence of this, I beg your Ladyship’s dispensation on this occasion, and with your Ladyship’s approbation we shall both have the honour of offering you our salutations and congratulations next Tuesday and giving Fräulein von Auernhammer an enema if she insists on one of her presentations.3 – But, joking apart, I don’t want the concerto that I played at the theatre4 to go for less than 6 ducats, conversely I don’t mind paying for the copying. – As for the beautiful red coat that tickles my fancy so dreadfully, I’d be grateful if you could let me know where I can get it and how much it costs, as I’ve forgotten – I was so taken by its beauty that I didn’t notice the price. – I really have to have a coat like that, as it’s worth it just for the buttons that I’ve been hankering after for some time; – I saw them once, when I was choosing some buttons for a suit at Brandau’s button factory opposite the Café Milani on the Kohlmarkt. – They’re mother-of-pearl with some white stones round the edge and a beautiful yellow stone in the centre. – I’d like to have everything that’s good, genuine and beautiful! – But why is it that those who are not in a position to do so want to spend all their money on such things, whereas those who are in a position to do so do not do so? – Well, I think it’s long past the time when I should have put an end to this scribbling, – I kiss your hands, and hoping to see you in good health the Tuesday I am your most humble servant5

  Mozart

  Constanze, my other half, kisses your Ladyship’s hands 1000 times and gives Fräulein Auernhammer a kiss, but I’m not supposed to know about this, otherwise it’ll give me the creeps.

  For the next six months, Mozart worked hard to establish himself as a

  composer and performer in Vienna. Die Entführung aus dem Serail was

  performed on 8 October in the presence of Grand Duke Paul of Russia and on 3 November Mozart played at a concert given by Josepha von Auernhammer. In December Wolfgang and Constanze moved from her mother’s house to the Hohen Brücke 412 (now Wipplingerstrasse 14) and that same month he played twice for Countess Thun. At the end of the year he completed the first of the quartets eventually dedicated to Joseph Haydn, K387.

  131. Mozart to Baroness von Waldstätten, 15 February 1783, Vienna

  Most Esteemed Baroness,

  I find myself in a pretty pickle!

  Herr von Trattner1 and I recently agreed that we needed a 2-week extension; – as every businessman does this, assuming he’s not the most disobliging man in the world, I was completely relaxed about the matter and hoped that by then, even if I wasn’t in a position to repay the sum myself, I’d have been able to borrow it! – – Well, Herr von Trattner now tells me that the man in question absolutely refuses to wait and that if I don’t pay him between today and tomorrow, he’ll institute legal proceedings against me; – your Ladyship can well imagine what an unpleasant blow this would be for me! – I can’t pay at present – not even half! – If I could have foreseen that I’d make such slow progress with the subscription of my concertos,2

  your Ladyship’s

  most obedient children

  W. A. & C. Mozart

  132. Mozart to his father, 12 March 1783, Vienna

  Mon très cher Pè;re,

  I hope you haven’t been worried but that you guessed the reason for my silence, which is that I couldn’t be sure how long you’d remain in Munich, with the result that I didn’t know where to write to and therefore waited until now, when I could be certain that my letter would find you in Salzburg. – My sister-in-law, Fräulein Lange, gave a concert yesterday at the theatre and I played a concerto.1 – The theatre was very full; and I was again received by the local public in so gratifying a manner that I have every reason to feel pleased. – I’d already left but they wouldn’t stop clapping – so I had to repeat the rondo; – there was a veritable torrent of applause. – This is a good advertisement for my own concert, which I’m giving on Sunday 23 March.2 – I’ve also included my symphony from the Concert Spirituel.3– My sister-in-law sang the aria ‘Non so d’onde viene’4– Gluck had the box next to the Langes, where my wife was sitting. – He couldn’t find words enough to praise both the symphony and the aria and has invited all four of us to lunch next Sunday. – It may well be that the German opera will continue, but no one knows about it:5 –

  What’s certain is that Fischer6 is going to Paris in 8 days’ time. As for Ramm’s oboe concerto,7 I’d very much like to have it, and very soon; – at the same time you could send me some other things, such as my masses in full score – my 2 Vespers8 in full score – this is just so that Baron van Swieten can hear them. – He sings treble, I sing alto – and play at the same time – Starzer tenor – and young Teyber9 from Italy bass. – In the meantime, I’d like Haydn’s Tres sunt until such time as you can send me something else of his; – I’d very much like them to hear his ‘Lauda Sion’. – The Tres sunt must exist in full score in a copy in my own hand. – The fugue ‘In te Domine speravi’ has been universally applauded, as have the Ave Maria and Tenebrae10 etc. – Please enliven our Sunday music practices with something soon.11 – On Carnival Monday our company of masqueraders performed at the ball – It consisted of a pantomime that filled the half hour when there was no dancing. – My sister-in-law was Columbine, I was Harlequin, my brother-in-law Pierrot, an old dancing master – Merk– Pantaloon. A painter (Grassi)12 the Dottore. –

  The plot of the pantomime and the music were both mine.13 – The dancing master Merk was kind enough to direct us, and although I say it myself, we gave a really fine performance. – Enclosed is a copy of the programme, which a masquerader, dressed as a local postman, handed out to the other masqueraders. – The verses, though only doggerel, could have been better; they weren’t by me. – Müller the actor14 cobbled them together. – I must close now as I have to go to a concert at Count Esterha´zy’s.15 Farewell for now – please don’t forget the music. – My wife and I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. I am ever your most obedient son

  W. A. and C. Mozart

  Mozart’s grand academy at the Burgtheater on 23 March consisted entirely of his own compositions: he performed the concertante movements from the serenade K320, a revised version of the ‘Haffner’ symphony K385, the piano concerto K175 with the newly composed finale K382, the piano concerto K415, and an improvisation on themes by Paisiello and Gluck (K398 and 455) as well as a fugue; Anton Teyber’s sister Therese sang Giunia’s aria ‘Parto, m’affretto’ from Lucio Silla, Aloysia Lange sang Ilia’s aria ‘Se il padre perdei’ from Idomeneo as well as the recitative and rondo Mia speranza adorata – Ah, non sai qual pena K416, and Valentin Adamberger sang the scena Misera, dove son! – Ah! Non son io che parlo K369. In April, Mozart and Constanze, who was pregnant with their first child, took rooms on the Judenplatz 244.

  1 33. Mozart to his father, 12 April 1783, Vienna

  Mon très cher Père,

  I received your latest letter of the 8th ins
t. this morning and see you’ve received everything from Herr von Daubrawaick. – I’m sorry to say that the mail coach doesn’t leave again for another week so I can’t send you the 2 copies of my sonatas1 until then. –

  At the same time I’ll send you the ornamented voice part for the aria ‘Non sò d’onde viene’ etc. – If you’re planning to send me anything, please include the rondeau for alto voice that I wrote for the castrato with the Italian troupe in Salzburg and the rondeau that I wrote for Ceccarelli in Vienna;2 – when it gets warmer, please look in the attic and send us some of your church music; – you really have no need to be ashamed of it. – Baron van Swieten and Starzer know as well as you and I that taste is continually changing and that this unfortunately extends even to church music, although it shouldn’t do – but that’s why true church music is now found in attics and virtually eaten by worms. – If, as I hope, I come to Salzburg in July with my wife, I’d like to discuss this point with you in greater detail. – When Herr von Daubrawaick left, my wife could hardly be held back, so insistent was she on following me. – She thought we could get to Salzburg before Daubrawaick; – and if it hadn’t been for the very short time that we could have stayed – what am I saying? – she might even have had to be confined in Salzburg! – And so – because it was impossible, our most ardent wish to embrace you, my beloved father, and my sister would already have come true; – as far as my wife is concerned, I’d have had no misgivings about such a short trip. – She’s in such good health and has put on so much weight that all women should thank God if they are so fortunate during their pregnancy. And so, as soon as my wife is able to travel after her confinement, there’ll be no keeping us from coming to Salzburg at once. –