Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (47 page)

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart

Some more random thoughts!

You told me that Count Seeau has been confirmed as intendant in both Munich and Mannheim – this seemed to me so incredible that I still wouldn’t have believed it if a letter from Mannheim hadn’t convinced me that it’s true –

Two days ago my dear friend Weber wrote to report, among other things, that the day after the elector’s arrival it was announced that he’d be moving to Munich, an announcement that came as a thunderbolt to Mannheim, completely extinguishing the joy that its inhabitants had shown the previous day when the whole town had been lit up. – The court musicians were likewise informed of this development and additionally told that each was at liberty to follow the court to Munich or to remain behind in Mannheim on the same salary – each was to hand the intendant his written decision in a sealed envelope within 4 days. Weber, who, as you know, is undoubtedly in the worst possible situation, sent in the following: ‘However much I desire to do so, my circumstances are in such disarray that I am not in a position to follow my gracious lord to Munich.’ Before all this took place, there was a big concert at court, and poor Fräulein Weber was made to feel the long arm of her enemies; – on this occasion she didn’t sing – no one knows who was the cause of this – but immediately afterwards there was a concert at Herr von Gemmingen’s – Count Seeau was also there: she sang 2 of my arias
³
– and she was
fortunate enough to find favour in spite of those Italian curs. These infamous
cuioni
are still putting it about that she’s going downhill with her singing – but when the arias were over, Cannabich said to her: ‘Mademoiselle, I hope you’ll continue to go downhill in this way; I shall be writing to Herr Mozart tomorrow in order to praise you.’ Well, the main thing is that if war had not already broken out, the court would have moved to Munich by now – Count Seeau, who’s absolutely determined to have Fräulein Weber, would have done everything in his power to take her with him – and so there would have been some hope that the whole family’s situation might have improved – but everything’s now gone very quiet again about the journey to Munich – and these poor people may have to wait a long time, while their debts grow worse by the day. – If only I could help them! – My dearest father! – I commend them to you with all my heart – if only they could enjoy 1000 florins for even a few years! –

As for the war, well, what’s new? – Since I wrote to you in my last letter, I’ve heard only that the king of Prussia had to retreat for 7 hours – it’s even said that General Wunsch has been taken prisoner with 15,000 of his men – but I don’t believe it – although I wish it with all my heart if only the Prussians get a sound beating! – I daren’t say this here where I’m staying;
Adieu
.

Best wishes to the whole of Salzburg, especially Herr Bullinger, and to the whole distinguished company of marksmen –

[
Mozart’s postscript to Nannerl
]
Ma très chère sœur
,

I hope you’ll be pleased with the little prelude
⁴
– true, it’s not what you wanted, I mean, it doesn’t go from one key to the next and you can’t stop when you like – but I didn’t have time to write a prelude like that – something like that takes longer to write out – as soon as I have time, I’ll present you with one – when I send things home, I’ll use the opportunity to include this new prelude with Schroeter’s concertos, Hüllmandel’s sonatas, the violin method and a few other
sonatas of my own.
⁵
Adieu, farewell – I don’t want to start reminiscing – submit to God’s will, trust in Him – remember that you have a brother who loves you with all his heart and who will always see to your welfare and happiness – adieu, love me, I kiss you most tenderly and am ever your faithful and true brother

Wolfgang Mozart

Best wishes to all and sundry – especially Cornet Antretter if he’s still in Salzburg – Salzburg is better than Bohemia, at least your head’s safe there –

Dearest Friend,

Allow me above all to thank you most emphatically for this new token of your friendship, which you’ve given me by taking such care of my dearest father, preparing him and consoling him in so friendly a manner; – you played your part admirably – these are my father’s own words; best of friends! – How can I thank you enough! – You’ve saved my dearest father for me! – It’s you I have to thank for the fact that I still have him; – allow me, therefore, to say no more about this and not even begin to thank you, as I feel too weak, too inadequate – too indolent – best of friends! – I shall always be in your debt; – but patience! – On my honour I’m not yet in a position to repay you

– but do not doubt me; God will be merciful and allow me to show you by my deeds what I cannot express in words – indeed, I hope so! – But until that happy time comes, allow me to ask you to continue your precious and most invaluable friendship towards me – and at the same time to accept mine anew, now and hereafter; and I pledge
this to you with a wholly sincere and good heart; – it will, of course, be of little use to you! – But it will be all the more sincere and lasting

–

you know very well that the best and truest of friends are the poor

–

the well-to-do know nothing about friendship! – especially those who are born to riches; – but even those whom fate makes wealthy often become absorbed in their own good fortune! – But when a man is placed in advantageous circumstances not by blind fate but by equitable good fortune and merit and if he did not lose heart at an earlier date, when his circumstances were less fortunate, but remained devout and continued to trust in God and was a good Christian and an honest individual and knew how to value his true friends – in a word, if he really deserved better luck, – no evil should be feared from such a man! – I’ll now answer your letter; I don’t suppose that you’ll need to worry about my health any more as you must in the meantime have received 3letters from me – the first of them, containing the sad news of my late mother’s death, was addressed to you, my dearest friend;
¹
– I know that you too will forgive me for saying no more about this whole affair, even though I can’t stop thinking about it. – In your letter you say that I should now think only of my father and that I should be quite frank in telling him what I think and place my trust in him – how unhappy I should be if I needed that reminder! – It is very useful for me to be reminded of this; – but I am pleased to say – and you, too, will be glad to hear it – that I do not need it; – in my last letter to my dear father I told him as much as I know at present – and I assured him that I’d always report everything in detail and tell him quite candidly what I thought because I trust in him completely and have total confidence in his fatherly care and love and in his true goodness, knowing very well that
one day
he will not deny me a request on which the entire happiness and contentment of the whole of the rest of my life depend, a request which – as he cannot expect otherwise – is most certainly fair and reasonable.
²
Dearest friend – don’t let my dear father read this; –
you know him; it would only give him pause for thought, – and
needlessly
; – now for our Salzburg story! You know, my dearest friend, how much I loathe Salzburg! – not just because of the injustices that my dear father and I endured there, although this in itself would be enough to make us want to forget such a place and erase it from our thoughts for ever! – But let’s forget all this and ensure that we can lead
respectable
lives; – to lead respectable lives and to lead contented lives are two very different things – and I couldn’t do the latter without recourse to witchcraft; it really wouldn’t be in the natural course of things! – And in any case it’s not possible as there are no longer any witches; – but I have an idea; there are certain people in Salzburg – people who were born there, indeed the town swarms with them – you have only to change the first letter of their true name
³
and they might then be of use to me; – well, whatever happens, it will always give me the greatest pleasure to embrace my dearest father and dearest sister, and the sooner the better; but I can’t deny that my joy and contentment would be doubled if I could do so elsewhere – – for I have
more
hope of being able to lead a happy and contented life anywhere but there! – You may perhaps not understand me correctly but think that Salzburg is too small for me? – If so, you’d be greatly mistaken; – I’ve already told my father some of the reasons; for the present you may content yourself with this, namely, that Salzburg is no place for a man of my talent! – In the first place, the people associated with the orchestra are not respected, and secondly one hears nothing – there’s no theatre there, no opera! – And even if they wanted to perform an opera, who’d sing in it? – For 5 or 6 years the Salzburg orchestra has been rich in all that is useless and unnecessary but very poor when it comes to what’s necessary and entirely lacking in what’s most indispensable of all; and such is the case at present! – The ruthless French are the reason why the orchestra has no Kapellmeister! – The orchestra, I’m sure, will now be leading a peaceful, orderly existence! – Well, that’s what happens if you don’t take precautionary measures! – You must always have half a dozen Kapellmeisters ready and waiting so that, if one
falls by the wayside, he can immediately be replaced – where can they find one now? – – Yet the danger is pressing! – Order, calm and harmonious understanding can’t be allowed to gain the upper hand in the orchestra! – – Otherwise the evil will spread and in the end be impossible to deal with; are there really no more periwigs with asses’ ears, no scurvy knaves capable of restoring things to their former halting progress? – I’ll certainly do my best to help; – tomorrow I’ll hire a cab for the day and drive round to all the hospitals and infirmaries and see if I can find someone for them; why were they so incautious as to let Mysliveček escape? – And he was so near; he’d have been a real catch; it won’t be so easy to find anyone else like him – and he was fresh from the Duke Clemens’
Conservatorio
!
⁴
– He would have been the very person to terrify the whole of the court orchestra with his presence; well, I don’t need to worry; where there’s money, you’ll always find plenty of people! – I just think that they shouldn’t delay for too long – not because of any foolish fear on my part that they won’t find anyone, as I know only too well that all these gentlemen are waiting for a Kapellmeister as eagerly and optimistically as the Jews are awaiting their Messiah – but simply because the present situation is intolerable – and so it would be more important and useful to look round for a Kapellmeister, as they really don’t have one at present, rather than writing to all and sundry (as I’ve been told is the case) in the hope of finding a good female singer; I really can’t believe it! – A singer! – When we have so many already! – And all of them outstanding; a tenor would be more understandable, though we don’t need one of these either; but a female singer, a
prima donna
! – When we now have a castrato; – it’s true that Frau Haydn isn’t well; – she has overdone her austere lifestyle; but there are few like her! – I’m amazed that with her perpetual scourgings and flagellations, her wearing of a hair shirt and her unnatural fastings and night-time prayers she didn’t lose her voice long ago! – – But she’ll keep it for a long time to come – and instead
of getting worse, it’ll keep getting better; – but when God finally numbers her among His saints, we’ll still have 5 left, each of whom can contest the others’ claims to pre-eminence! – So you see how unnecessary this is! – But let me posit an extreme case! – Let’s assume that, apart from our weeping Magdalene,
⁵
we had no other singer, although this isn’t, of course, the case; but suppose that one suddenly went into labour, another was thrown into prison, the 3rd was whipped to death, the 4th beheaded and the fifth was perhaps carried off by the devil – what would happen? – Nothing! – After all, we’ve got a castrato: – do you know what sort of a beast that is? – He can sing high parts and can thus play women’s parts quite admirably; – the chapter would interfere, of course; but interference is always better than doing nothing – and he wouldn’t have much to do; meanwhile let’s leave Herr Ceccarelli to be sometimes a woman, sometimes a man; finally, because I know that, with us, people like change, variety and novelty, I see before me a wide field of epoch-making potential; even as children, my sister and I tilled this field a little, what couldn’t grown-ups achieve? – Oh, if one’s generous, one can have everything;

– I have no doubt (and I’ll undertake to arrange it myself) that Metastasio could be persuaded to come from Vienna or at the very least he could be invited to write a few dozen operas in which the
primo uomo
and
prima donna
never meet. In this way the castrato could play the parts of both the lover and his mistress, and the piece would be all the more interesting for the fact that audiences could admire the virtue of the two lovers, a virtue that goes so far that they do everything in their power to avoid speaking to each other in public; – there you have the opinion of a true patriot! – Do your utmost to find an arsehole for the orchestra – that’s what’s needed most of all; it now has a head – and that is its misfortune! – Until a change has been made in this department, I’ll not come back to Salzburg; but I’ll then come and turn over the page each time I see V.S.;
⁶
– now for the war; from what I hear, we’ll soon have peace in
Germany; the king of Prussia is somewhat afraid. I read in the papers that the Prussians attacked an imperial detachment but that the Croats and 2 regiments of cuirassiers were nearby and heard the noise, coming to their rescue, attacking the Prussians, placing them between 2 fires and capturing 5 cannon; the route that the Prussians took to Bohemia is now completely cut up and hacked to pieces so that they can’t return along it; the Bohemian peasants are also causing the Prussians tremendous harm; and the Prussians are plagued by constant desertions – but these are matters that you’ve known about for a long time and about which you’re better informed than we are here; but I now want to let you know what’s been happening here. The French have forced the English to retreat;
⁷
but it wasn’t a particularly lively encounter – the most remarkable thing about it is that, of friend and foe alike, only 100 men were killed; in spite of this, there’s tremendous jubilation here, and people are talking about nothing else; it’s even being said that we’ll soon be at peace again; – it’s all the same to me as far as the situation here is concerned; but for various reasons I’d be very pleased if peace were to come soon to Germany; – farewell now, my dearest friend! I’m sorry my writing’s so bad, but this pen is useless; best wishes to the whole of Salzburg, especially to your count,
⁸
regards to Count Leopold
⁹
and a long, long compliment in verse to dear Sallerl – and to my dear father and dear sister say all that a son and brother would say if he were fortunate enough to be able to speak to them himself; adieu; I beg you to continue your invaluable friendship and I assure you that I shall always be your true friend and most grateful servant