Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (17 page)

We arrived here safely at midday on the 11th. It would have been easier to persuade me to go to Salzb. than Rome as we spent 5 days travelling from Florence to Rome in the most appalling rain and cold wind. In Rome itself I heard that it’s been raining constantly for the last 4 months, and we certainly got a taste of it when we went to the Sistine Chapel to hear the
Miserere
¹
during Mass on the Wednesday and Thursday, setting off on both occasions in fine weather, only to be surprised by such a terrible downpour on our way home that our coats have never been as wet as they were on that occasion. But I won’t bore you with a long description of our appalling journey here. Imagine only a largely uncultivated country and the most appalling inns, filth everywhere, nothing to eat except – if we were lucky – the occasional meal of eggs and broccoli: and sometimes they even made a fuss about giving us eggs on fast days. Fortunately we got a decent supper and slept well in Viterbo. While there we saw St Rosa of Viterbo – like St Catherine of Bologna, she can be seen in a perfectly preserved state. From the former we took away an ague powder and some relics as a souvenir, while from the latter we brought with us a belt. After arriving here on the 11th, we went to St Peter’s after lunch and then to mass, on the 12th we attended the foot washing and found ourselves very close to the pope
²
while he was serving the poor at table, as we were standing beside him at the top of the table. This is all the more surprising in that we had to go through two doors guarded by Swiss Guards in armour and force our way through several 100 people – and remember that as yet we’d made no acquaintances. But our fine clothes, the German language, and my usual freedom in telling my servant to speak to the Swiss Guards in German and make way for us soon helped us through everywhere. They thought Wolfg. was a German gentleman, others even took him for
a prince, and our servant let them believe this; I was taken for his tutor. And so we made our way to the cardinals’ table. There it chanced that Wolfg. ended up between the chairs of two cardinals, one of whom was Cardinal Pallavicini.
³

The latter beckoned to Wolfg. and said to him:
Would you be good enough to tell me in confidence who you are?
Wolfg. told him everything. The cardinal replied with the greatest surprise and said:
Oh, so you’re the famous boy about whom so many things have been written?

To this, Wolfg. asked:
Aren’t you Cardinal Pallavicini?
– – The cardinal answered:
Yes, I am, why?
– –

Wolfg. then said to him
that we’d got letters for His Eminence and were going to pay him our respects
. The cardinal was very pleased by this and said that Wolfg. spoke very good Italian, saying, among other things:
ik kann auck ein benig deutsch sprecken
⁴
etc. etc.

As we were leaving, Wolfg. kissed his hand, and the cardinal removed his biretta and bowed very politely.

You’ll often have heard of the famous
Miserere
in Rome, which is held in such high regard that the musicians in the chapel are forbidden on pain of excommunication to remove even a single part, to copy it or to give it to anyone else. But
we already have it
. Wolfg. has already written it down, and we’d have sent it to Salzb. with this letter except that it would require our presence to perform it; the manner of its performance must play a greater role than the work itself, and so we’ll bring it home with us, and as it’s one of the secrets of Rome, we don’t want it to fall into the wrong hands,
ut non incurremus mediate vel immediate in Censuram Ecclesiæ
.
⁵

We’ve already explored St Peter’s thoroughly, and I’ve no doubt that of all the sights here, none will be overlooked. Tomorrow – God willing – we’ll see His Holiness preach. You simply can’t imagine how arrogant are the local clergy. Any individual who has the slightest contact with a cardinal thinks himself as good as the cardinal. And whenever he’s on papal business, every cardinal drives with a cortège
of 3 or 4 carriages, each of them crammed full of chaplains, secretaries and valets, each taking up as much space as he can, and so I’m looking forward to tomorrow when I shall walk past all these proud gentlemen and leave them guessing who we are, as we’ve not yet presented ourselves anywhere because of the foot washing. On Monday we’ll make a start on delivering our 20 letters of recommendation.

Pleased though I am that the two of you didn’t come on this trip with us, I’m sorry that you’re not able to see all the towns and cities of Italy, but especially Rome. It’s useless, indeed impossible, to describe it in only a few words. Once again I advise you to read
Keyssler’s account of his travels
. I wrote to you from Bologna and Florence. 2 hours after our arrival we called in at the German College and found Herr von Mölk in excellent health, as were all our other acquaintances there. Out of regard for Herr von Mölk I intend to get Wolfg. to perform for the whole college as they’d very much like to hear him. Abbate Marcabruni
⁶
had already sorted out our lodgings in a private house and we were able to move in straightaway: but since there’s only one room here and we must have 2 rooms to receive people who call on us, we’ll be moving this evening to more spacious accommodation. Today and yesterday I’ve been something of an invalid, as I took 3 digestive powders, but I now feel well, thank God. Wolfg. also feels well and is sending you a contredanse.
⁷
He’d like Herr Cyrill Hofmann
⁸
to compose the steps for it; when the 2 violins play as leaders, he wants only 2 people to lead the dance, but each time that the full orchestra comes in with all the instruments, the whole company should then dance together. It would be best if it were danced by 5 couples. The first couple starts the first solo, the 2nd dances the 2nd and so on, as there are 5 solos and 5 tuttis.

The season is fast approaching that causes me the greatest anxiety, as it will soon be getting hot; but everyone tells me that Naples has incomparably more air and that it’s much healthier than Rome. And so I’ll need to take all possible precautions to ensure that we can set
off on our return journey with no risk to our lives, especially from the bad air and malaria. But since everything depends on the weather and especially on heavy rain and wind, I can neither decide nor write. Herr Meissner is in Naples, we hope to see him there in 3 or 4 weeks. Pray to dear God for our health: we’ll be all right, for I can assure you that we are taking every possible care and that Wolfg. pays as much attention to his health as if he were the most grown up of people. May God keep you, too, in good health. Remember us to all our good friends, I am your old

Mzt

Wolfg. and I kiss you and Nannerl 1000 times.

[
Mozart’s postscript
]

Praise and thanks be to God, I and my wretched pen are well, and I kiss Mama and Nannerl a thousand or 1000 times. I only wish my sister were in Rome, she’d certainly like the city, as St Peter’s is regular, and many other things in Rome are regular, too. The most beautiful flowers are just being carried past in the street, Papa has just this moment told me. I’m a fool, as everyone knows. Oh, I’m having a hard time, there’s only one bed in our lodgings, Mama can easily imagine that I get no sleep with Papa, I’m looking forward to our new lodgings: I’ve just drawn a picture of St Peter with his keys, St Paul with his sword and St Luke with my sister etc. etc., I had the honour of kissing St Peter’s foot in St Peter’s, and as I’m unlucky enough to be so small, it was necessary for me, that same old fool

Wolfgang Mozart,

to be lifted up

Madame,

Since the beginning of this year, this City of ours has admired in
the most highly prized Person of Sgr Amadeo Volfango Mozart, Your Son, a prodigy, it may be said, of nature in Music, inasmuch as Art could not yet have performed her Office if she had not taken account of his tender age.

I have certainly been among his admirers, even though, however much pleasure Music may invariably have afforded me and however much I may have heard on my travels, I cannot hope to be an infallible judge of it; but I am certainly not mistaken in the case of so rare and prodigious a Youth, and I have conceived such a regard for him that I have had him painted from life with the inscription copied from the end of the cantata
²
– which he will be pleased to read.

This sweet likeness is a comfort to me, and it also serves as a stimulus to take up his Music from time to time, so far as my public and private preoccupations allow me, although I have not lost track of Sgr Amadeo and Sgr Leopoldo, his most amiable Father, having with pleasure received news of them from Mantua, Milan and most recently from Florence, reporting universal applause, as we shall soon hear from Rome, where I have already directed them to the most illustrious people.

I cannot but recall, Madame, the pleasure you felt on taking him at an even more tender age to the leading Cities in Europe, together with your astonishing Daughter, who was the object of universal admiration, as he himself is at present.

I can only repeat the esteem that I feel for the one as for the other and, in consequence, how much I prize their Parents who with such careful education have cultivated such rare talents, talents which, having given you such lively pleasure, shall yet offer the world cause for universal admiration.

Please accept these sentiments, which are born of good intentions and true esteem, since while expressing them I take this opportunity to fulfil a commitment to let your Son have two pieces of Music which he saw while he was staying with me and which I have had copied in order to please him,
³
so that he may make full use of them. You will
receive these from the merchant Sgr Soldini, who assures me that he will deliver them safely to you. I shall be grateful if you will acknowledge them at your convenience.

I may conclude by wishing you and your most esteemed Family every happiness, while signing myself, with sincere and devoted esteem, Madame,

Your Most Devoted and Humble Servant

Pietro Lugiati

From Rome, Mozart and his father travelled on to Naples, arriving there on 14 May, after a journey of a week
.
During their stay in the city, they met the distinguished English ambassador Sir William Hamilton, gave a concert on 28 May, and on 18 and 19 June visited Vesuvius and Pompeii.

You’ll have received my last letter from Rome by now – the one dated 2 May. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to write for so long – you must have been very anxious in the meantime. We left Rome at 10 in the morning on 8 May in the company of three other
sedias
– 2-seater carriages – and had a light lunch at 1 o’clock at the Augustinian monastery at
Marino
. On the evening of the 11th we were again well looked after at another Augustinian monastery at Sessa, calling in on the Augustinian friars in Capua at midday on the 12th in the belief that we’d be in Naples that same evening. But on the 13th, as fate would have it, a woman was to take the veil at a convent where one of my travelling companions, Padre Segarelli, was Father Confessor some years ago. He was to attend the ceremony and asked us to remain there, too, and so we attended the ceremony, which was a splendid occasion and for which a Kapellmeister with 3 or 4 carriages of virtuosos arrived on the evening of the 12th, opening the proceedings with some symphonies and a
Salve Regina
.

All these virtuosos stayed at the monastery, so you can easily imagine that we got to bed very late that evening. The veiling or, rather, the service did not take place until noon on the Sunday, and the whole affair went on until around 3. Apart from those ladies and gentlemen who were close friends of the woman, nobody apart from us 2 was invited to dine at the convent. It would be impossible to describe it all. On the Monday we slept until 10 and after lunch drove to Naples, where we arrived in good time that same evening. We spent 2 nights in a house belonging to the Augustinian monastery of San Giovanni a Carbonara, but we’re now in rooms for which we’re having to pay 10 silver ducats a month, or 4 ducats in our own money. We drove out to Portici yesterday to call on the minister, Marchese Tanucci.
¹
We’ll be driving out there again tomorrow. We had terrible rain yesterday and a very cool breeze. We left our fine cloth suits in Rome and have had to wear our beautifully braided summer suits. Wolfg.’s is made of pink moiré, but the colour is so unusual that in Italy it’s called
colore di fuoco
, or flame-coloured: with silver lace and lined with a light sky-blue material. My suit is a kind of cinnamon colour, piquéd Florentine cloth, with silver lace and lined in apple-green. Both suits are very beautiful, but we’ll look like a couple of old maids by the time we get home. Yesterday evening we called on the English ambassador, Sir William Hamilton (our acquaintance from London), whose wife plays the keyboard with exceptional feeling and who is a most pleasant person.
²
She trembled at having to play for Wolfg. She has a valuable instrument made in England by Tschudi,
³
with 2 manuals and pedal stops that can be uncoupled by means of the foot. Also present were Mr Beckford and Monsieur Vyse, 2 other acquaintances from England. On the 16th we lunched
with Baron Tschudi, who had been in Salzb. He asked me to convey his good wishes to His Excellency Count Spaur
⁴
and all our good friends, especially you and Nannerl. He kissed us countless times, especially when we arrived and as we were leaving, and offered us his services, no matter what the occasion. The day before yesterday we bumped into Monsieur Meuricoffre
⁵
from Lyons, who had been looking everywhere for us. He’d left a card for us, with his address, at the Augustinian monastery and had finally run into us by chance. He came back with us to our rooms and then took us to his own house. We were supposed to have lunch with him tomorrow, but as we have to go to Portici tomorrow, we can’t make it. He sends you his cordial best wishes. He’s set up a company here with another person: both of them have offered me their services in all eventualities. I expect you still remember him: a young man with brown hair, who often had to sing the Italian song to Wolfg. with his glasses on his nose. I still can’t tell you how long we’ll be staying here. It could be 5 weeks or 5 months. I think it’ll be 5 weeks, but it all depends on the circumstances.