Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters
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28. Unidentified; Briefe v. 527 suggests the caprices may be K395 but these are almost certainly earlier works, described by Mozart as ‘preambele’ and sent by him from Munich to Salzburg in October 1777.
29. Georg Joseph Vogler, Gründe der kurpfälzischen Tonschule (Mannheim, 1778).
30. Here Leopold refers to Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Berlin, 1757); Pier Francesco Tosi, Opinioni de’ cantori antichi, e moderni o sieno osservazioni sopra il canto figurato (Bologna, 1723); Johann Friedrich Agricola, Anleitung zur Singkunst (Berlin, 1757); Johann Joseph Fux, Gradus ad Parnassum (Vienna, 1725); Joseph Riepel, Anfangsgründe zur musicalischen Setzkunst (Regensburg and Vienna, 1752); Meinrad Spiess, Tractatus musicus compositoriopracticus (Augsburg, 1745); Johann Adolph Scheibe, Der critische Musikus (Hamburg, 1738–40); Jean d’Alembert, Elémens de musique théorique et pratique (Paris, 1752, but presumably the German translation published Leipzig, 1757); and Jean-Philippe Rameau, Traité de l’harmonie réduite à ses principes naturels (Paris, 1722). Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg and Johann MAt theson both published several important works; Marpurg’s include Der critische Musicus an der Spree (Berlin, 1749–50), Abhandlung von der Fuge (Berlin, 1753–4), Anleitung zum Clavierspielen (Berlin, 1755), Handbuch bey dem Generalbasse (Berlin, 1755–8) and Critische Briefe über die Tonkunst (Berlin, 1760– 64); MAt theson’s are Grosse General-Bass-Schule (Hamburg, 1731), Kern melodischer Wissenschafft (Hamburg, 1737) and Der vollkommene Capellmeister (Hamburg, 1739).
31. It was the custom to serenade Antonia Maria, Countess Lodron, on her name day.
32. The music for the German translation of Les deux chasseurs et la laitière (1763), to which this presumably refers, is by Egidio Duni (1708–75) not André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry (1741–1813).
1. Il Parnasso confuso by Giacomo Rust, performed at Salzburg on 17 May 1778.
2. See previous letter, n. 22.
3. Leopold had shown an earlier interest in lightning conductors when he was in England, see letter 10.
4. The tunnel through the MÖnchsberg in Salzburg.
5. Günther von Schwarzburg.
6. The tenor Anton Raaff had been taught by the Bolognese castrato Antonio Bernacchi (1685–1756), known in particular for his performance of ornaments and cadenzas.
7. From Johann Christian Bach’s Alessandro nell’Indie (1762). The aria was included in the pasticcio Ezio, which Mozart heard in London in 1764.
8. These songs are lost.
8. These songs are lost.
9. K297, ‘Paris’.
10. 18 June.
11. A common orchestral gesture in which all the instruments started together with a unison or chord.
12. Evaristo Felice dall’Abaco (1657–1742), violoncellist.
13. ‘Monsieur, were you in Paris? – Yes. – Were you at the Concert Spirituel? – Yes. – What do you say about the premier coup d’archet ? Did you hear the premier coup d’archet ? – Yes. I heard the first and the last. – What do you mean, “the last”? What does that mean? – Yes, the first and the last – and I liked the last even more than the first.’
1. Heinrich Wilhelm von Heffner had died in 1774.
2. K297, ‘Paris’.
3. For 26 June 1778: ‘The Concert Spirituel on the feast of Corpus Christi began with a symphony by M. Mozart. This artist, who from the tenderest age made a name for himself among harpsichord players, may today be ranked among the most able composers.’ See Deutsch, Documentary Biography, 176.
4. Pierre La Houssaye (1735–1818), violinist.
5 On 31 May, in Paris.
6. Mozart had already set four arias from Demofoonte :K71 (Ah, piu111 tremar non voglio), 77 (Misero me – Misero pargoletto), 82 (Se ardire, e speranza) and 83 (Se tutti i mali miei).
7. Johann Samuel Schroeter (1752–88), music master to Queen Charlotte of Great Britain. Mozart refers here to Schroeter’s concertos for keyboard, two violins and bass, op. 3, for several of which he composed cadenzas (for op. 3 no. 1, K626a/II, H and N; for op. 3 no. 2, K626a/II/O; for op. 3 no. 6, K626a/II, F and G).
8. Nicolas-Joseph Hüllmandel (1756–1823); his published sonatas include six for keyboard and violin, op. 1 (1774); three for keyboard and violin, op. 3 (1777); and three for keyboard solo, op. 4 (1778).
1. Not included here.
2. Leopold had reported that Michael Haydn played the organ so badly on Holy Trinity Sunday that he was worried that Haydn was about to die as Adlgasser had, during a service the previous December (see letter 69); it turned out, however, that Haydn was merely tipsy.
3. In the same letter Leopold had also reported the gist of an oblique conversation he had had with Starhemberg concerning Wolfgang’s possible return to Salzburg as court organist.
4. Countess Wallis.
5. Unidentified.
6. Alexandre et Roxane.
7. In fact, the ballet had been given six times, on 11, 20 and 25 June and 2, 5 and 7 July.
8. Karl Ernst, Baron Bagge (1722–91), a well-known amateur musician.
9. Johann Christian Bach; the opera was Amadis des Gaules, first performed on 14 December 1779.
10. The Italian composer Niccoloò Piccinni was active in Paris from 1777.
11. This project never materialized.
12. Of the two surviving slow movements for the ‘Paris’ symphony, it is likely that the andante in 6/8 is the original, and the andante in 3/4 the replacement movement composed by Mozart. The first edition of the work, published in Paris in 1788, includes only the 3/4 andante.
13. The French translation of Leopold’s Gründliche Violinschule referred to earlier.
14. Georg Joseph Vogler’s Tonwissenschaft und Tonsezkunst (Mannheim, 1776) was a method for determining chord roots and chord functions.
15. Joseph Beer (1744–1812), court trumpeter in Paris from 1777–82 and clarinettist to the Duc d’Orléans. In his letter of 29 June, Leopold reported that he had received a letter of recommendation for Beer (possibly from Josepha Duschek).
16. Carl Stamitz and his brother Anton Thaddäus Stamitz (1754–before 1809).
17. Mozart had met the violinist Paul Rothfischer on his visit to Kirchheimbolanden in February (see letter 71).
1. 26 July.
2. King Frederick II (the Great) (1712–86).
3. Joseph II.
4. Of Prussia (1726–1802), brother of Frederick II.
5. In fact the war was largely bloodless.
6. Mozart’s mother was buried on 4 July at one of the burial grounds associated with the parish church of St Eustache, Paris.
1. Vital Gschwendtner, who was presumably in Paris on business.
2. K299.
3. The arias cannot be identified with certainty.
4. K395, sent by Mozart to Nannerl in a letter of 20 July 1778.
5. For these works by Schroeter and Hüllmandel see letter 85, nn. 7 and 8; according to Briefe v. 540, the sonatas may be K330-332, traditionally dated 1788, but recent research shows that Mozart did not compose them until the early Vienna years; here he probably refers to some of his recently composed accompanied sonatas K296 and K307-306, or perhaps even the solo sonatas K309-311.
6. Josepha Hellmuth, formerly a member of Seyler’s troupe, was engaged as court chamber singer in Mainz from 1778.
1. Vital Gschwendtner, who was presumably in Paris on business.
2. K299.
3. The arias cannot be identified with certainty.
4. K395, sent by Mozart to Nannerl in a letter of 20 July 1778.
5. For these works by Schroeter and Hüllmandel see letter 85, nn. 7 and 8; according to Briefe v. 540, the sonatas may be K330-332, traditionally dated 1788, but recent research shows that Mozart did not compose them until the early Vienna years; here he probably refers to some of his recently composed accompanied sonatas K296 and K307-306, or perhaps even the solo sonatas K309-311.
1. Bullinger’s letter is lost; of Mozart’s three letters, only that of 3July
survives.
2. Presumably Mozart was thinking of proposing marriage to Aloysia Weber and sought Leopold’s approval.
3. A wordplay on Hexen(‘witches’) and Fexen(‘fools’).
4. This passage is ironic, a reference to the ducal hospital in Munich where the Czech composer Joseph Mysliveček was being treated for venereal disease. What follows is meant ironically as well.
5. A play on Haydn’s wife’s name, Maria Magdalena.
6. That is, volti subito, an instruction to turn the page quickly, frequently found in music manuscripts of the time.
7. Mozart refers here to the American Revolution.
8. Sigmund, Count Lodron, who was Bullinger’s pupil.
9. Arco.
1. Presumably Gilowsky; the valet is unidentified.
2. Cardinal von Firmian, born in 1708, was in fact approaching his seventieth birthday. Leopold seems to have been attached to him; earlier, in Milan in December 1772, he and Wolfgang had participated in the festivities marking his elevation to cardinal.
3. Franz Lactanz von Firmian.
4. Johann Baptist Adam, whose wife had died the previous year.
5. Letter 90.
6. Postscript to Mozart’s letter of 4 February 1778 (letter 71).
7. Kreusser, see letter 63 n. 5; Gottfried Dominikus Jacobi (?–1773).
8. Kapellmeister Lolli had died earlier on 11 August.
9. Countess Wallis.
10. Leopold is suggesting that Mozart should have the position of organist, unfilled since Adlgasser’s death.
11. Lodron.
12. Rosamunde; Christoph Martin Wieland (1733–1813), poet, dramatist, journalist and tutor to the dukes of Weimar, was considered one of the most prominent writers in Germany; Anton Schweitzer (1735–87), composer, was attached to Abel Seyler’s travelling troupe from 1769.
13. Field Marshal Gideon, Baron Laudon (1717–90), famous for his capture of Belgrade during the Austrian-Turkish War of 1788–90.
1. Johann Christian Bach.
2. K301–306. In the eighteenth century, works for keyboard with violin were not considered violin sonatas but accompanied keyboard sonatas, hence Leopold’s description. They had been bought for publication by Jean-Georges Sieber.
3. K299, for flute and harp.
4. Here Leopold refers to a performance in Vienna on 14 October 1762 at the home of Count Ulfeld, the court chief steward.
5. Anton Ferdinand Paris (1744–1809), court organist.
1. In a letter of 31 August, Leopold reported to Wolfgang that he had finalized arrangements with Colloredo for Mozart’s return to Salzburg, with greater responsibilities and a pay rise – in short, everything Leopold had demanded of the archbishop.
2. The first of these is K297, ‘Paris’; the second was for some time thought to be K311A, but this work is unlikely to be by Mozart. Although he gives his father the impression that he has composed two new symphonies in Paris, it is probable that an earlier work was performed on 8 September.
3. ‘slow and steady wins the race’.
4. Here Mozart refers to the ongoing dispute between the partisans of Italian and French opera in Paris, waged on stage and through pamphlets. Piccinni was the leader of the Italian faction, Gluck of the French.
5. These works do not survive and were probably never written.
6. K301–306.
7. K271, K246 and K238.
8. K279–284. However, the sonatas were first published posthumously, by Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig in 1799.
9. Mozart’s five violin concertos date from 1773 (K207) and 1775 (K211, 216, 218 and 219); there is no evidence that he arranged them to suit Parisian taste.
10. Grimm had been made a baron on his appointment as minister plenipotentiary at the French court in 1776.
11. than Aloysia Weber.
12. ‘silent role’.
13. Hubert, Chevalier de Folard, French ambassador at Munich 1756–76.
1. Baron Grimm.
2. ‘I don’t want to hear any talk of reimbursement at present, when you’re better off, we’ll settle our accounts. I’ve already said that I’d like to be in a position to provide your son with an allowance.’
3. ‘Don’t worry about sending me any money, but explain to your son everything he has to do on his journey. I’ll deliver him as far as Strasbourg if you can arrange for him to receive some money there so that he can continue his journey to Augsburg and Salzburg etc.’
4. ‘Use the money that you were going to send me to pay for his journey from Strasbourg to Salzburg etc.’
5. Johann Georg Scherz, Haffner’s corresponding agent in Strasbourg.
6. ‘premium’.
7. He seems to have been a Salzburg doctor whom the Mozarts had met in Paris in 1766.
8. Prince Johann Wenzeslaus of Fürstenberg; the Mozarts had played at the Fürstenberg court at Donaueschingen in late October 1766.
1. K301–306; they were not published until late November 1778.
1. This letter is addressed to Mozart in Mannheim.
2. 31 October.
3. In fact, the 15th.
4. This letter is lost.
5. 4 November.
6. Karl II August, Duke of Zweibrücken (reigned 1775–93) was Elector Karl Theodor’s heir.
7. In a letter of 12 November 1778 Mozart wrote to his father that he intended to offer to write a melodrama for Baron von Dalberg (1749–1806), director of the Mannheim theatre, and Abel Seyler for 40 louis d’or.
8. Joseph Fiala was a composer, cellist and viol player as well as an oboist.
9. He was the personal physician to the bishop of Passau.
1. The flautist, Johann Baptist Becke.
2. K301–306.
3. In a letter of 29 December, Mozart had told Leopold of his intention to compose a mass for the Munich court. This plan remained unrealized although it is usually thought that the fragmentary Kyrie K322 may be what Mozart had in mind.
4. Mozart had stayed in the abbey of Kaisheim from 13 to 24 December.
1. K301–306.
2. Maria Anna Thekla Mozart.
3. Mozart added the word ‘cousin’ above ‘son‘.
4. ‘I am with all my heart‘.
5. ‘Sir, your invariable pig‘.
1. The Salzburg high steward Joachim Rupert Mayr von Mayrn (1732–96), his wife Anna (1744–96) and their three daughters.
2. Karl Bernhard von Feigele, Joseph Finck (c. 1762–84).
3. Maria Josepha Johanna Gilowsky von Urazowa.
4. Albert von Mölk.
5. Possibly Anton Ferdinand Paris.
6. Gottlieb von Weyrother.
7. Johann Ulrich Angerbauer, chamber valet to Archbishop Colloredo.
8. Antonio Ferrari, court violoncellist.
9. Joseph Anton Brindl, court tenor.
10. Johann Peter Mezger (1723–95), mayor of Salzburg from 1775–95.
11. Presumably one of the two marches K335, written about August 1779 to accompany the serenade K320 (3 August 1779), composed for the annual graduation ceremonies at Salzburg University.
12. Swabian folksong, ‘Merry are the Swabian maids’.
13. K250, composed in 1776 for the wedding of Maria Elisabeth Haffner.
14. Joseph Feiner, court oboist.
15. Maria Anna Braunhofer (1748–1819), daughter of the organist and singer Franz Joseph Braunhofer.
16. The last five sentences of this entry are written in Salzburg dialect.
1. Giambattista Varesco (1735–1805), court chaplain in Salzburg, had written the libretto to Idomeneo.
2. ‘Se il padre perdei’.
3. Vincenzo dal Prato (1756–1828), castrato, sang the role of Idamante, Anton Raaff that of Idomeneo.
4. Dorothea Wendling (1736–1811), wife of Johann Baptist Wendling, sang the role of Ilia; the scena is probably ‘Solitudini amiche – Zeffiretti lusinghieri’.
5. Archduke Maximilian Franz.
6. Essex oder Die Gunst des Fürsten by
Christian Heinrich Schmid (1746–1800), a translation of John Banks’s play The Unhappy Favourite or the Earl of Essex(1682).
7. Gertrud Elisabeth Mara (1749–1833), singer.
8. Emanuel Schikaneder, see List; the aria, which survives only as an incomplete fragment, is K365a, ‘Die neugeborne Ros’ entzückt’, performed on 1 December 1780 as a musical number in Schikaneder’s production of J. G. Dyk’s Wie man sich die Sache denkt! oder Die zwey schlaflosen Nächte.