W. and C. Mozart
P. S.: Please give Varesco a good talking to and tell him to hurry up.– Please also send the music soon. – We kiss Gretl, Heinrich and Hanni.6 – I’ll shortly be writing to Gretl. Tell Heinrich that both here and in Linz I’ve already been singing his praises; – he should move on to staccato. – Only on this point can the Viennese not forget Lamotte.7 – Adieu.
On 22 and 23 December, Mozart performed an unidentified piano concerto at the concert mounted by the Vienna Tonkünstler-Sozietät; in addition, Adamberger sang a newly composed scena, probably Misero! o sogno – Aura che intorno spiri K431. In January, Mozart and Constanze moved to the Trattnerhof, Am Graben 591–596. Shortly afterwards, on 9 February, Mozart began to keep a catalogue of his newly composed works; the firstentry in the catalogue is the piano concerto K449, composed for his pupil Barbara von Ployer (1765– c. 1811).
139. Mozart to his father, 20 February 1784, Vienna
Mon très cher Père,–
Your last letter has arrived safely; – yesterday I was lucky enough to hear Herr Freyhold1 play a concerto of his own decomposition. – I found very little in his playing and missed a great deal; – double-tonguing is his only claim to virtuosity – otherwise there’s absolutely nothing to hear – I was glad that the adagio was at least short – he played it at your house – to start off with, the musicians accompanying him couldn’t make head nor tail of it because it’s written in four-four time but he played it alla breve – and when I added alla breve in my own hand, he admitted that Papa had also complained about it in Salzburg. – The rondo was supposed to be lively but was the stupidest thing in the world, – during the opening allegro I thought that if Herr Freyhold were to learn how to compose properly, he’d not be a bad composer. – I was very sorry to hear that Herr Hafeneder had died so suddenly, especially because you’ll now be burdened with all the seccatura:2 but I can’t say that the prince was in the wrong; in his place I’d have done exactly the same; – but I’d have accompanied my instructions with an increase in salary and arranged for the boys to go to you – or I’d have given you free board and lodging in the chapel-house. – 2 gentlemen are coming to Salzburg in a day or so, a vice- controôleur and a cook; – I’ll probably ask them to take with them a sonata, a symphony and a new concerto.3 – The symphony is in full score, and I’d be grateful if you could have it copied some time and sent back to me; but you could also give it away or have it performed wherever you like. – The concerto is also in full score and should be copied and returned to me, but as quickly as possible – please ensure that you don’t show it to a single soul as I’ve written it for Fräulein Ployer, who has paid a lot for it. – As for the sonata, you can hang on to it. – There’s something I must ask and that I know absolutely nothing about and don’t understand either. – If you have something printed or engraved at your own expense, how can you be sure that you’re not cheated by the engraver? – After all, he can run off as many copies as he wants to and in that way swindle you. – You’d have to keep these people under constant supervision
– which wasn’t possible when you had your book printed because you were in Salzburg and the book was printed in Augsburg. – I’m inclined not to sell any more of my things to any of the engravers here but to have them printed or engraved by subscription at my own expense, as most people do and have a good profit to show for it; I’m not worried about finding subscribers – I’ve already received offers from Paris and Warsaw. – Could you let me have some information on this? – And I’ve another favour to ask of you. Would it be possible for me to have at least a copy of my certificate of baptism? – They’re all claiming here that I must have been at least 10 years old when I first came here. – The emperor himself contradicted me to my face last year in the Augarten. – Herr von Strack now believes me at my word. – If I could show them my certificate of baptism, I could shut them all up once and for all. – Farewell for now. – My wife and I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. We are ever your most obedient children
W. and C. Mozart
140. Mozart to his father, 3 March 1784, Vienna
Mon très cher Père,–
Your letter of 24 Feb. has arrived safely; – it’s better if you always use the post – I received this letter on Monday, whereas I wouldn’t have received it till Tuesday or even Wednesday if you’d sent it via Peisser. – I haven’t received the concertos1 but shall go at once and make enquiries at Artaria’s. – You must forgive me for writing so little but I simply don’t have time as I’m giving 3 subscription concerts in Trattner’s Room2 on the last 3 Wednesdays in Lent, starting on the 17th of this month,3 for which I already have 100 subscribers and expect to get another 30 by then. – I’m charging 6 florins for all 3 concerts. – I’ll probably give 2 concerts in the theatre this year4 – well, you can easily imagine that I’ll have to play some new works – so I’ll have to write some. – The whole morning is taken up with pupils. – And I have to play nearly every evening. – Below you’ll see a list of all the concerts at which I definitely have to play. – But I must tell you very quickly how it’s come about that I’m suddenly giving private concerts. – The piano virtuoso Herr Richter 5 is giving 6 Saturday concerts in the above-mentioned hall. – The nobility subscribed but said that they’d no great wish to attend if I didn’t play. Herr Richter asked me to do so – I promised to play for him 3 times – and arranged a subscription for 3 concerts of my own, to which everyone signed up. –
Thursday the 26th of Feb. at Galitzin’s.
Monday the 1st of March at Johann Esterházy’s.
Thursday the 4th at Galitzin’s.
Friday the 5th at Esterházy’s.
Monday the 8th Esterházy.
Thursday the 11th Galitzin.
Friday the 12th Esterházy.
Monday the 15th Esterházy.
Wednesday the 17th my first private concert.
Thursday the 18th Galitzin.
Friday the 19th Esterházy.
Saturday the 20th at Richter’s.
Sunday the 21st my first concert in the theatre6
Monday the 22nd Esterházy.
Wednesday the 24th my 2nd private concert
Thursday the 25th Galitzin.
Friday the 26th Esterhaázy
Saturday the 27th Richter
Monday the 29th Esterházy
Wednesday the 31st my 3rd private concert.
Thursday the 1st of April. My 2nd concert in the theatre.
Saturday the 3rd Richter.
Don’t I have enough to do? – I don’t think I’ll get out of practice at this rate. –
Adieu. – We kiss both your hands and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. We are ever your most obedient children
W. A. Mozart
141. Mozart to his father, 10 April 1784, Vienna
Mon très cher Père,
Please don’t be angry with me for not having written to you for so long; – but you know how much I’ve had to do during that time! – With my 3 subscription concerts I’ve covered myself in glory. – My concert at the theatre also turned out very well. – I wrote 2 grand concertos and also a quintet1 that was extraordinarily well received; – I myself think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. – It’s scored for 1 oboe, 1 clarinet, 1 horn, 1 bassoon and pianoforte; – I wish you could have heard it! – And how well it was performed! – To tell the truth, I was quite tired by the end – from all that playing – and it does me no little credit that my listeners were never tired.2 – I now have an errand for you; old Baron du Beyne de Malechamp – who has all kinds of music, good and bad – would very much like to have Gatti’s rondè and duetto. – Recit. ‘Ah! Non sdegnarti o cara’. – Rondè. ‘Nel lasciarti in questo istante’. – Duetto. ‘Ne’ giorni tuoi felici’ etc.3 I’d be most obliged to you if you could procure these 2 pieces for me as soon as possible. – I’ll transfer the money for copying them via Herr Peisser. Today I finished
another new concerto for Fräulein Ployer;4–and I’m now half dressed in readiness for a visit to Prince Kaunitz.–Yesterday I played at Leopold Pálffy’s.5 – Tomorrow at the concert that Mlle Bayer is giving.6 – Something else – as Hafeneder has died, Herr von Ployer7 has been commissioned to look for a violinist. – I secretly recommended a certain Menzel8 – a handsome and clever young man. – But I told him not to mention my name, otherwise it may not work out. – He’s now awaiting the decision. – I think he’ll be getting 400 florins – and a suit– I told him off about the suit – it’s like begging. – If anything comes of it, I’ll give Menzel a letter for you, together with the music; – and you’ll find that he’s a delightful violin player who’s also good at sight-reading; – in Vienna no one has sight-read my quartets9 as well as he has. – And he’s the nicest person in the world, someone who will be only too pleased to make music with you whenever you like. – I also included him in the orchestra at my concerts. – I must close now; my wife and I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. We are ever your obed. children
Mozart
142. Mozart to his father, 24 April 1784, Vienna
We now have the famous Strinasacchi1 from Mantua here, a very good violinist; she brings a lot of taste and feeling to her playing. – I’m currently working on a sonata that we’ll be playing together at her concert at the theatre on Thursday.2 Also, some quartets have just appeared by a certain Pleyel; he’s a pupil of Joseph Haydn.3 If you don’t know them, try to get hold of them; they’re worth it. They’re very well written, and very enjoyable; you’ll also recognize his teacher in them. It’ll be good – and fortunate for music if in due course Pleyel is able to replace Haydn for us!
143. Mozart to his father, 26 May 1784, Vienna
Mon très cher Père,–
I see from your last letter that my letter and the music have arrived safely. – Many thanks to my sister for her letter, I’ll certainly be writing to her as soon as time permits: – meanwhile please tell her that Herr Richter is wrong about the key of the concerto, or else I’ve misread her letter. – The concerto that Herr Richter praised to her so highly is the one in B flat 1 – this is the first one that I wrote and that he also praised to me at the time. – I can’t choose between them – they’re both concertos that make you sweat. – But the one in B flat is more difficult than the one in D. 2 – I should add that I’m very curious to know which of the 3 in B flat, D and G 3 you and my sister like best; – the one in E flat 4 doesn’t belong in this group. – This is a concerto of a very special kind and written more for a small orchestra than a large one – so we’re really only talking about the 3 grand concertos. – I’m curious to know whether your opinion coincides with the general opinion here and also with my own opinion – of course, you need to hear all 3 of them well performed and with all the parts. – I don’t mind waiting for their return – as long as no one else gets hold of them. – Only today I could have got 24 ducats for one of them; – but I think it’ll be more useful if I hold on to them for a couple of years and only then have them engraved.5 – I must tell you something about Liserl Schwemmer.6 She wrote to her mother, but she addressed it in such a way that the post office was most unlikely to have accepted it, as it read:
This letter to be deli
vered to my very dear
mother in Salzburg
Barbarüschbemer7
to be handed in at the
Jüdengasse in mer
chant Eberl’s house
on the third floor.
So I told her that I’d readdress it for her. – Out of curiosity and in order to read more of this prize document rather than to discover any secrets, I broke open the letter. – In it she complains that she gets to bed too late and has to get up too early, though I’d have thought one can get enough sleep from 11 till 6. That’s 7 hours, after all. – We don’t go to bed till around 12 and get up at half past 5 or even 5 as we go to the Augarten nearly every morning. She goes on to complain about the food, which she does in the most insolent language: – she herself has to go hungry, she says, and the four of us – my wife and I, the cook and she herself – don’t have as much to eat as she and her mother used to have between them… you know that I took on this girl purely out of pity, so that as a stranger in Vienna she’d have some kind of support. – We agreed to give her 12 florins a year, and she was entirely satisfied with this, though she now complains about it in her letter. – And what does she have to do? – To clear the table, carry the food in and out and help my wife to dress and undress. – And, apart from her sewing, she’s the clumsiest and stupidest person in the world. – She can’t even light a fire, let alone make coffee. – These are things that anyone claiming to be a parlourmaid should be able to do. – We gave her a florin; by the next day she was demanding more money. – I got her to give me an account of how she’d spent the money, and it turned out that most of it had gone on beer. – It was a certain Herr Johannes who travelled here with her, but who’d better not show his face here again. – Twice when we were out, he came here, ordered wine, and the girl, who’s not used to drinking wine, drank so much that she couldn’t walk but had to be supported and on the last occasion was sick all over her bed. – What sort of people would keep on a person who carries on in this way? – I’d have been content with the lecture I gave her and wouldn’t have mentioned it to you, but the impertinence of her letter to her mother has persuaded me to write to you. – Could I ask you, therefore, to send for her mother and tell her that I’ll put up with her a little while longer but that she should try and find a job elsewhere – if I wanted to make people unhappy, I’d get rid of her on the spot. – There’s something in her letter about a certain Herr Antoni – perhaps he’s a future husband. –
I must close now. – My wife thanks you both for your good wishes on her pregnancy and coming confinement, which will probably be in early October. – We both kiss your hands and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts and are ever your most obedient children
W. and C. Mozart
P. S.: We’ve not been able to do anything about the apron, whether in fine linen, crêpe or muslin as my wife doesn’t know whether you want one untrimmed. – These cost about a ducat but aren’t worn. – Those with a trimming that’s at all attractive cost at least 7 florins in local currency. – And so we await your next letter, and her needs will then be attended to at once. Addio.
Could I ask you to send the buckles by the next mail coach – I’m dying to see them. –
144. Mozart to his sister, 18 August 1784, Vienna
Ma très chère sœur,–
Good grief! – It’s high time that I wrote if I want my letter to find you still a vestal virgin! – A few days more and – it’ll be gone!1 –
My wife and I wish you every joy and happiness in your change of state and are only sorry that we shan’t have the pleasure of attending your wedding; but we hope to embrace you as Frau von Sonnenburg and your husband next spring both in Salzburg and St Gilgen; – there’s no one we feel more sorry for than our dear father, who’s now to be left entirely on his own! – Of course, you’re not far away and he can often drive out to see you2 – but he’s now tied to that damned Chapel House again! – If I were in my father’s place, I’d do as follows: – as someone who’s already served him for so long, I’d ask the archbishop to allow me to retire – and on receipt of my pension, I’d go and live quietly with my daughter in St Gilgen;
– if the archbishop turned down my request, I’d demand my dismissal and go and live with my son in Vienna; – and it’s this that I’d most like to ask you to do, namely, that you try to persuade him to do this; – I’ve said the same in my letter to him today. – And now I send you 1000 good wishes from Vienna to Salzburg and in particular hope that the two of you may live together as well as we do; – so please accept a small piece of advice from my poetical brainbox; listen:
In wedlock you’ll learn things, by God,<
br />
That once seemed really rather odd;
You’ll soon discover – yes, you too –
What Eve herself was forced to do
Before she could give birth to Cain.
But wedlock’s duties are so light
That you’ll perform them with delight
And easily ignore the pain.
But wedlock’s joys are also mixed.
So if your husband’s scowl is fixed
And if he acts in ways that you,
Dear sister, feel you don’t deserve
And if he proves bad-tempered too,
Remember he’s a man and say
‘Thy will be done, O Lord, by day,
But then by night my own I’ll do!’
Your honest brother
W. A. Mozart
Although Leopold Mozart’s letters to Wolfgang are lost, Leopold corresponded regularly with Nannerl between 1784 and early 1787. This rich correspondence includes numerous details of Mozart’s life in Vienna, including information from some otherwise lost letters from Wolfgang to his father.
145. Leopold Mozart to his daughter, 9 September 1784, Salzburg
I’ve not had a moment to myself till now as I was fully occupied arranging for the piano to be sent to Munich: and I’ll be heartily glad when I’ve sorted out the business with the maidservants. I hope to receive a reply from you tomorrow. In the meantime I’ll tell you about the seccatura I’ve had. Lieutenant Hofler’s wife came to see me, hoping that I’d recommend their daughter as a parlourmaid – presumably part chambermaid, part parlourmaid. She can do everything! She’s learnt to make mob caps and trim clothes etc. etc. from Herberstein’s chambermaid, and Countess Lützow’s valet has taught her how to dress hair; – – all according to the latest fashion. If need be, she can also cook. She’d even be willing to lay aside her white cap, if it were found displeasing, and wear the black cap of a parlourmaid etc. etc. – I told her that I’d already written to tell you about 2 other parlourmaids and that it may now be too late as a decision would probably come with the next postman, but that I couldn’t pass on the information as the postman comes only once a week. She even had the idea of taking her daughter out to see you and presenting her to you, but I talked her out of that. She told me that her daughter had been with Countess Sinzendorf: but of course no one could survive for long there. She then worked as a chambermaid in Fribourg, where she ate with her employers, – but both she and the baroness were under the thumb of the parlourmaid, who ruled the roost and ran the whole household in Fribourg as she was the master of the house’s mistress – and it’s even said that a couple of parlourmaids or chambermaids had already been brought to bed before her. She also told me that she’d heard with some surprise that a certain soldier’s daughter was to come out to you as 3rd maid. She asks me not to burden my daughter with this cross because the wench is not used to working, is lazy, can only knit and would be useful only for running errands. – I fobbed Madame off as best I could by promising to tell you all this at the first opportunity. I then made enquiries about the soldier’s daughter and discovered that she’s called Franziska Hapfinger. I thought of going up to see Frau von Hermes1 on the Kapuzinerberg in order to find out more, but fortunately she herself came down to see me in her negligee at 8 in the evening, just as I was having supper: and I discovered that this wench is the daughter of that Mönchsberg Babette who was held in such ill repute; and that was enough for me! – I also – and unnecessarily – went in secret to see the grenadier captain and demanded that he and his wife be honest with me and tell me the truth. They confirmed everything and said this woman was quite incapable of working. – She’d been in Austria – or perhaps in Vienna – for a very short time, but her mother had soon sent a hired coachman to look for her: but she asked me to keep this to myself and not admit that I’d made enquiries with them as these people were the devil himself, but they owed it to me to tell me the truth. My dear daughter has not, of course, got to know the girl’s mother and has not been taken in by her daughter’s eloquence and powerful appearance: if I’d seen the mother, none of this would have happened, for I know her. The florin that I gave her is therefore a form of alms, and we need to turn our thoughts to another maid. On the other hand, I’ve saved my son24 florins in another context. His brother, the head clerk, told the postmaster that my son would pay the money for the 4 days on his arrival. I wanted to pay him, but he refused to accept it as he wanted to be paid 3 florins a day – in other words, 12 florins in all. But he had to make do with 2 florins a day: so I paid him 8 florins. – My son can now console himself for the florin that the wench received, as he’s saved 3 florins and been spared a lot of bother.
Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters Page 52
