Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (16 page)

Misero Tu non sei:
Tu spieghi il Tuo Dolore;
e se non desti amore;
Ritrovi almen pietà.

Misera ben son io
che nel segretto laccio
amo, non spero e taccio
e l’idol mio nol sà
.
³

The opera at Mantua was nice, they gave
Demetrio
, the
prima donna
sings well, but quietly, and if you don’t see her acting but only singing, you’d think she wasn’t singing at all as she can’t open her mouth but just whines – not that that’s anything new to us. The
seconda donna
looks like a grenadier guardsman and has a powerful voice too and she doesn’t sing at all badly, considering it’s the first time she’s acted.
Il primo uomo il musico
sings beautifully, though his
voice is uneven, he’s called Caselli.
Il secondo uomo
is already old, and I don’t like him. He’s called […]
⁴
Tenors: the one called Uttini doesn’t sing badly but as with all Italian tenors it’s a heavy sound, also he’s a very good friend of ours. I don’t know what the other one’s called, he’s still young, but nothing special.
Primo ballerino
: good.
Prima ballerina
: good, and people say that she’s not bad-looking, but I haven’t seen her close up, the rest are very ordinary: there was also a
grottesco
⁵
who jumps well but who can’t write like me, like sows pissing.

The orchestra wasn’t bad. In Cremona the orchestra was good, and the first violin is called Spagnoletto.
⁶
Prima donna
not bad, already old, I think, not good-looking, acts better than she sings, and is the wife of a violinist who plays in the opera and who’s called Masi. The opera is called
La clemenza di Tito
.
⁷
Second
donna
not bad-looking on stage, young, but nothing special.
Primo uomo musico
Cicognani.
⁸
An attractive voice, and a beautiful
cantabile
. The other two castratos, young and passable. Tenor: calls himself
non lo sò.
⁹
Has a pleasant manner and looks just like Leroy, who was in Vienna but who’s now with Lehmann.
Ballerino primo
: good;
ballerina prima
good but extremely unattractive. There was a female dancer there who didn’t dance badly and who – what a
chef-d’œuvre
– isn’t bad-looking off stage and on. The others very ordinary. There was a
grottesco
there, too, who farted each time he jumped. I really can’t tell you much about Milan as we haven’t been to the opera yet, though we’ve heard that it wasn’t a success. Aprile, the
primo uomo
, sings well, he has a beautiful even voice, we heard him in church, where a great festival was taking place: Madame Piccinelli from Paris, who
sang at our concert, is appearing at the opera: Monsieur de Picq, who used to dance in Vienna, is dancing here in Milan.
¹⁰
The opera is called
Didone abbandonata
.
¹¹
This opera will soon be finishing, and Sig. Piccinni, who’s writing the next opera, is here in Milan: I’ve heard that his opera is called
Cesare in Egitto
: there are also
feste di ballo
here: as soon as the opera’s over, the
festo di ballo
begins: the wife of Count Firmian’s steward is from Vienna, we dined there last Friday, and next Sunday we’ll be dining there again. Farewell, and kiss Mama’s hands a thousand times for me, I remain, true till death, your brother

Wolfgang de Mozart

Baron Hochenthal

Friend of the Counting-House.
¹²

It was impossible for me to write last Saturday as Wolfg. had to compose
3 arias
and
1 recit. with violins
for the concert that was held yesterday at Count Firmian’s,
¹
and I was obliged to copy the violin parts myself and then have them duplicated so that they wouldn’t be stolen. There were over 150 members of the leading nobility present, foremost among whom were the duke, princess and
cardinal.
²
It has now been decided that, with God’s help, we’ll leave Milan next Thursday, in other words, the day after tomorrow, but as we’re travelling with a coachman and not leaving until midday, we shan’t be in Parma until Saturday morning; you can easily imagine that I’ve an amazing amount of things to do, not least because the whole trunk has been unpacked on account of our long stay here. Another matter also has to be resolved between this evening and tomorrow: they want Wolfg. to write the first opera for next Christmas.
³
If this goes ahead, you can be glad because we shall then certainly be home sooner than would otherwise appear to be the case: we have enough on our hands trying to get to Rome by Holy Week. You know that
Rome
is the one place where you absolutely have to stay. We’ll then move on to Naples, a place so important that even if a contract doesn’t take us back to Milan to write an opera there, some other occasion may well present itself that will detain us there throughout the coming winter.

If the contract is signed, the libretto will then be sent to us, Wolfg. can think the matter over a little, we can take the Loreto
⁴
road and be back in Milan by Advent; and inasmuch as the composer isn’t obliged to stay on after the opera has been staged, we can then return home via Venice and be back within a year. I leave it all to Providence and God’s decree. Could I ask you to offer my apologies to all and sundry and congratulate everyone called Joseph, as this is my most tiring week: you know how difficult, sad and tiring every departure is. In particular I would ask you to give my most humble good wishes and apologies to our Father Confessor.

Please continue as before to address your letters to Herr Troger, who can be relied upon to forward them.

As soon as I’m in Bologna or Florence, I’ll write to you, perhaps also from Parma.

Tomorrow, to mark our departure, we’re dining with His Excel
lency, who is providing us with letters of recommendation for Parma, Florence, Rome and Naples.
⁵
I can’t tell you how kind His Excellency has been to us throughout our stay. I’d already have written to His Excellency the Chief Steward
⁶
if I’d not had to wait until tomorrow to do so in greater detail. Give my best wishes to all our good friends. Farewell, I kiss you and Nannerl 1000 times and am your old

Mzt

In particular give all conceivable good wishes to Monsieur Selzam from us both.

[
Wolfgang’s postscript
]

Best wishes from me too, I kiss Mama and my sister millions of times and am well, thank God,
addio
.

Mozart and his father left Milan on 15 March, travelling by way of Lodi (where Mozart composed his first quartet, K80) to Piacenza, Parma, Modena and Bologna, where they arrived on 24 March.

I wrote to His Excellency the Chief Steward from Parma, and from here I wrote to His Grace and to you on the 24th inst. I await your reply as to whether all these letters have arrived safely. There was a concert yesterday at the home of His Excellency Field Marshal Count Pallavicini, to which His Eminence the Cardinal and leading members of the nobility were invited.
¹
You know His Excellency Count Karl von Firmian; I’d now like you to get to know Count Pallavicini, too. They are 2 gentlemen who in every respect share the same outlook, the same friendliness, generosity, placidity and particular love and insight into all kinds of knowledge. On Sunday I was privileged to pay my respects to His Excellency Count Pallavicini and to give him His Excellency Count Firmian’s letter; and scarcely had he heard that I was planning to be in Rome by Holy Week when he said at once that he would try to arrange to have the pleasure not just of hearing this extraordinary young virtuoso tomorrow but of affording the same pleasure to the city’s leading aristocrats. I shall not touch on all the circumstances and tell you how we were collected in His Excellency’s carriage and how we were waited upon, but shall say only that about 150 members of the leading aristocracy were present: the famous Padre Martini
²
was also invited, and although he normally never goes to concerts, he did come to this one: it began at around half past seven and went on until half past eleven, because the nobility showed no sign of leaving. Sgr Aprile and Sgr Cicognani sang. We’re leaving the day after tomorrow, Thursday the 29th, and shall be in Florence by Friday evening, remaining there until the 5th, before continuing our journey to Rome, so that, if God places no obstacle in our way, we could be there by midday on the 11th. What pleases me most of
all is that we are uncommonly popular here and Wolfg. is admired here even more than in all the other towns in Italy, because many composers, artists and scholars live and work here. He has also been most comprehensively tested here, and this increases his fame throughout the whole of Italy, because Padre Martini is the idol of the Italians and speaks of Wolfg. with such admiration and has done all the tests with him.

We’ve visited Padre Martini on 2 occasions: and on each occasion Wolfg. worked out a fugue for which Padre Martini had written only a few notes of the
ducem
or
guida
. We’ve also visited Cavaliere Don Broschi – also known as Sgr Farinelli – on his estates outside the town.
³
And we also met La Spagnoletta here as she’ll be the
prima donna
in the opera that’ll be given in May, replacing Gabrielli,
⁴
who’s still in Palermo and who has left the people of Bologna in the lurch. Presumably she’ll also leave the people of Milan in the lurch.

We met Sgr Manfredini here – the castrato who called on us in Salzburg while on his way from Russia with Herr Panter of Vienna etc. etc.

A certain
old Sigr Abbate Zanardi
joins me in sending his good wishes to Herr Andrino. A number of people have been asking about Kapellmeister Lolli. Herr Prinsechi and many other people have enquired about the court
statuarius
, all send their good wishes along with mine.
⁵
We were at the
Instituto
and saw the beautiful statues of our court
statuarius
. What I’ve seen here surpasses the British Museum, for here there are not only unusual objects from the world of nature
but everything that comes under the name of science
, preserved like a lexicon in beautiful rooms and neatly arranged in an orderly manner: in a word, you’d be amazed etc. I’ll say nothing about the
churches, paintings, beautiful architecture and the furnishings of the various palazzos as I’m so tired that I can hardly write any more, it’s past 1 o’clock, Wolfg. has long been snoring and I’m falling asleep as I write.

You don’t need to submit a report on the horse, for anyone who gives away my things without my knowledge and against my wishes will replace them with something better: if he’s a gentleman who has only noble thoughts– – – –

It’s good that you’ve arranged for someone to write to Leipzig.
⁶
Get them also to write to Herr Gräffer or
Heufeld
. Farewell! Farewell, all of you, I kiss you and Nannerl 1000 times. Best wishes to the whole of Salzb. I am your faithful and sleepy husband

Mzt

It wasn’t a bad idea to send us the ball minuet
⁷
in Bologna so that it could be arranged for the keyboard, as there’s no one in Salzb. who could have done it. Wolfg, I may add, couldn’t have been more pleased and thanks Herr von Schiedenhofen and Nannerl. He’ll be writing himself very soon. I wrote this yesterday when he was already in bed and I’m adding this now while he’s still asleep, as the post leaves in a moment. He’s now sending you the minuet that Monsieur Picq danced in the theatre in Milan. Best wishes to all our good friends. Please ask Herr von Schiedenhofen, Herr von Mölk and others who’ve written to me not to take it amiss that I’ve not replied. I hope that on reflection they’ll realize what a traveller has to do, especially as I’m on my own.
Kommabit aliquando Zeitus bequemmus schreibendi. nunc Kopfus meus semper vollus est multis gedankibus.
⁸

Wolfg. kisses you and Nannerl 1000 times.

Keep sending your letters to Herr Troger in Milan. They’re arriving safely and don’t cost me very much. Once we’re in Rome, I’ll write more on this matter.

Among the medical prescriptions you’ll find one for a coltsfoot electuary
⁹
– I think it’s on a long piece of paper – as you know, it’s one I’ve often had made up for myself. Please copy it out clearly in your next letter. Thank God, there’s nothing wrong with me, but I suddenly thought of this coltsfoot electuary as one never knows what might happen. So far, we’ve opened the medicine bag only once, thank God – it was to give Wolfg. a spoonful of tartar.

[
Postscript, written on one of Mozart’s manuscripts
]

Padre Martini has asked me for a copy of the
Violinschule
, so you’ll have to speak to the consignee, Herr Haffner.
¹⁰
Would he be kind enough to take one with him to Bozen and include one with a bale of linen for Herr Prinsechi? But you’ll have to have it bound first. But only in half-calf, very light: but it has to be bound because the Italians wouldn’t understand the instructions to the binder.

From Bologna Leopold and Wolfgang travelled to Florence, where they took the chance to hear again the violinist Pietro Nardini, met the famous contrapuntist Eugenio, Marquis de Ligniville (1730–88) and renewed their acquaintance with the castrato Giovanni Manzuoli (
c
. 1720–82), whom they had first met during their visit to London in 1764–5. Mozart also struck up a friendship with the fourteen-year-old English prodigy, Thomas Linley (1756–78), who was a violin pupil of Nardini’s. Almost of the same age and height, they performed together several times, playing ‘not like boys, but like men!’, according to Leopold. On the last occasion ‘Little Tommaso accompanied us home and wept bitter tears, because we were leaving the following day.’ Mozart later wrote to Linley (see letter 29), but they did not meet again. The Mozarts set out from Florence on 6 April, arriving at Rome on 11 April.