Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (19 page)

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 Prinsechi
¹
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? –

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 storm
³
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 Kreusser
⁴
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.

I’ve just this minute received your letter of 2 Nov. If you haven’t already sent off the 2 violin tutors,
hang on to them and don’t send them off
. Dr Bridi of Rovereto is himself a good keyboard player. I know Count Castelbarco very well. I’m writing this in the steward’s rooms at Count Firmian’s.

A Happy New Year!

Although, with God’s help, I shall be writing to you again this year, my letter will arrive a few days too late. The first stage rehearsal was on the 19th, having been preceded by one in the
Sala di Ridotto
¹
on the 17th. It went very well, thank God; yesterday evening there was a rehearsal for the recitatives, and today, after
Ave Maria
, there’ll be a second rehearsal on stage, with the dress rehearsal on Monday. Now you know from my previous letters and also from this one that we’ve had 5 rehearsals in all, namely, one with only a few violins, a full rehearsal in the
Sala di Ridotto
and 3 on stage. I’ll tell you at
once how the performance goes on the 26th. My one consolation is that I can see that the performers and the orchestra are all pleased; and, thank God, I too still have ears. During the rehearsal I went to stand at the very back, beneath the main entrance, in order to be able to hear it properly at a distance. But perhaps my ears were too partial! Meanwhile we see and hear that our good friends are happy and contented and delighted to be able to congratulate my son, those who are ill disposed, by contrast, are now silent. The greatest and most distinguished conductors in the city, namely, Sgr
Fioroni
and Sgr
Sammartini
, have complete trust in us and are our true friends, as are Lampugnani, Piazza, Colombo etc.
²
As a result, the envy or rather disbelief and prejudice that some people previously felt towards our son’s composition will do him little harm. At least I hope he won’t have the same bad luck as Sgr Jommelli, whose second opera in Naples has been such a flop that there are even plans to replace it. He’s such a famous composer, and the Italians make a terrible fuss about him. But it was a little foolish of him to undertake to write 2 operas for the same theatre within the space of a year, not least because he must have noticed that his first opera – which we saw – wasn’t a great success.
³
At least you now know that, starting on the 26th, we’ll be at the opera every evening from an hour after
Ave Maria
until around 11 or almost 12 o’clock, the only exception being Fridays. In 2 weeks at the most I’ll be able to report on my journey to Turin. After that, things will move quickly, so that we can spend the last few days of the Carnival in Venice. Just arrange for Herr Haffner’s letters to be sent on to a friend in Venice and let me know who has them. In the meantime I hope to hear something about a secure private apartment,
NB a secure apartment
, as I’ve no great love of staying at inns unless I absolutely have to. Farewell to you both, we kiss you many 100, 000 times and I am, as always, your old

Mozart

Best wishes and a Happy New Year to all our friends.

Can you imagine Wolfg. in a scarlet suit with gold braid and sky-blue satin lining? The tailor is starting work on it today. He’ll be wearing this suit on the first 3 days, when he sits at the keyboard.
⁴
The one that was made for him in Salzb. is too short by a standing hand, and certainly too tight and small.

[
Wolfgang’s postscript to his sister
]

Sinfonia

Ask whether or not they’ve got this symphony by Myslivecek
⁵
in Salzburg, for if they haven’t, we’ll bring it with us.

Praise be to God, the first performance of the opera passed off to general acclaim on the 26th: and two things that have never before happened in Milan took place; namely, that – contrary to first-night custom – one of the
prima donna
’s arias was encored, although usually at the first performance no one ever calls out
fuora
; and, second, there was extraordinary applause and cries of
Viva il Maestro, viva il Maestrino
after nearly all the arias, except for a few
delle ultime Parti
.
¹

On the 27th 2 of the
prima donna
’s arias were encored: as it was Thursday, with Friday to follow, they had to try to cut back, otherwise
the duet,
²
too, would have been encored, as the noise was already starting. But most people still wanted to eat at home, and the opera, plus 3 ballets, lasts a good 6 hours: but they’ll now be shortening the ballets, which last a good 2 hours. How we wished that you and Nannerl could have had the pleasure of seeing the opera! – –

Never within living memory has there been such a desire to see the first opera in Milan as there was this time, as there had previously been such a terrible controversy: for every two people who said that the opera would be good, there were 10 who knew in advance that it was foolish nonsense, others that it was a muddle, and yet others that the music was German and barbarous. Here not even patronage helps to ensure that an opera is a success as everyone who attends is determined to talk, shout and criticize it in return for his money. Patronage was useful to us and, indeed, was necessary to ensure that the work was not prevented from going ahead and that a spoke wasn’t put in the maestro’s wheels while he was writing it and, later, during the rehearsals, so that he wasn’t prevented from appearing and so that the handful of spiteful individuals in the orchestra and among the performers were unable to play any tricks on him. I am writing this in haste as today is the 3rd performance. You know that in Italy people are always given other names, so that Hasse, for example, is called
il Sassone
, Galuppi
il Buranello
etc. etc. They are calling our son
il Sgr Cavaliere Filarmonico
.
³

We kiss you both 100, 000 times and send our good wishes to all our friends. I am your old

Mozart

You’ll be paid
60 ducats
in the name of Madame d’Asti náe Marianne Troger. I’ll tell you more next time.

Milan
, 5 January in the year that’s the same at the back as at the front and double in the middle (1771)

I can hardly find time to write to you as we’re at the opera every day and as a result don’t get to bed until half past 1 or even 2 o’clock as we also want to have a bite to eat after the opera; and so we get up late in the morning, and the days, which are in any case very short now, become even shorter in consequence. We’ve so many visits to make that we don’t know how we’ll manage. On Thursday we had lunch with Madame von Asteburg, formerly Mariandl Troger, who treated us to
liver dumplings and sauerkraut, which Wolfg. had particularly asked for
, as well as other fine dishes, including a splendid capon and a pheasant. Yesterday there was a small concert at His Excellency Count Firmian’s, at which Dr Bridi sang a cantata and gave Wolfg. a new, beautiful and difficult concerto to play. He gave us your good wishes, told us all that had happened and had nothing but praise for Nannerl. Today we’re again having lunch with His Excellency; and on the 11th or 12th we’ll be going to Turin but will be staying there for only about a week, after which we’ll return to Milan, pack everything properly together and move on to Venice. But we shan’t be staying more than 4 days in Milan – just enough time to see the second opera.
¹
Our son’s opera continues to enjoy universal acclaim and, as the Italians say, is
alle Stelle!
²
Since the 3rd performance we’ve been listeners and spectators, now in the stalls, now in the boxes, or
palchi
, where everyone is eager to speak to the Sgr Maestro and see him at close quarters: throughout the performance we wander around, wherever we like, for the maestro is obliged to conduct the opera from the orchestra on only 3 evenings, when Maestro Lampugnani accompanied at the 2nd keyboard, but as Wolfg. is no longer
playing the first one, Maestro Melchiorre Chiesa
³
is now playing the second one. If anyone had told me some 15 or 18 years ago, when Lampugnani had written so much in England and Melchiorre Chiesa so much in Italy and I had seen their operatic arias and symphonies, that these men would be instrumental in performing my son’s music and that, when he left the keyboard, they would have to sit down and accompany that music, I’d have said that he was a fool fit only for an asylum. And so we see what Almighty God does with us humans if we do not bury the talents that He has most graciously given us.