Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (51 page)

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart

[On the inside of the cover]

By the way: you’ll know from my last letter that I was at St Germain, where I was asked to run an errand. Madame de Folard, the wife of the former French ambassador in Munich
¹³
and a close friend of the bishop of Chiemsee, would like to know if he’s received the letters she wrote to him as she’s had no reply. Could I ask you to look into this, as she was very insistent about it –
adieu
;

I await your answer and shan’t leave till it arrives – don’t let on that you know what I’ve told you about this gentleman – I prefer to repay people like this with courtesy – this hurts them more as there’s nothing they can say to it.
Adieu.

My Dear Son,

It was with immense pleasure that I read your letter of the 11st inst.
I’m not really surprised by what you write about a particular person
¹
as his letters always struckme as suspect
: you’d have done well to have told me all this before now.
I’m not writing to him today as I wrote to him on the last post day but one
. You’ll also have received my letter
of the 17th
. I should tell you that Baron Grimm wrote to say that he’d see to your journey to Strasbourg for you. I realized from his letter that he must have advanced you some money – and so I told him that I intended to repay it all and asked him only to send instructions to Augsburg. In the name of God! I had to write it, how could I have left you in the lurch? But he replied: –
je ne veux pas entendre parler de remboursement dans ce moment ci, quand vouz serez plus à votre aise, nous solderons nos comptes. Je vous l’ai dit, je voudrais être en état de faire une pension à votre fils etc
.
²
My dear son, this is really most civil
of him, and you can see that he has complete faith in us. He goes on –
ne vous inquiétez pas de m’envoyer de l’argent, mais tracez à votre fils tout ce qu’il doit faire pendant sa route. Je vous le livrerai jusqu’à Strasbourg; si vous lui faites trouver là de l’argent pour continuer sa route par Augsb. et Salzbourg etc
.
³
This shows that, far from having no faith in me, he has complete confidence in me. I found this very reassuring as he’s travelled a great deal and must know better than us the safest and most convenient way from Paris to Strasbourg, without incurring any great expense, as he knows the way, whereas I don’t, and he’ll pay your travelling expenses. Doesn’t that suggest a lot of confidence? – Think it over! Isn’t this the greatest weight off my mind that I could wish for? – Where else would I find the money? – – He wants to help me, especially because we’re so far apart and in addition he knows how many debts I already have to pay off as I wrote to tell him this a long time ago – and yet he’s still willing to advance me this amount of credit? He ends his letter with the words:
Employez donc l’argent, que vous voulez m’envoyer, à son Voyage depuis Strasbourg à Salzburg etc
.,
⁴
so you may judge from this whether you were not over-suspicious on this point. This was also the reason why I felt confident in making arrangements through
Herr Haffner
and was able to enclose a note to Herr
Johann Scherz
⁵
in Strasbourg, who’ll give you the money you need to get to Augsburg and help you in every way in word and deed. Why only as far as Augsburg? –
Because one has to pay an agio
⁶
to the businessmen involved
, and in Augsburg I can obtain money for you without paying an
agio
: I’ll send instructions to my brother to this effect. As for your journey to Strasbourg,
you must of course rely on the sensible advice of those who have more experience than yourself
. There are often hired carriages from Strasbourg there,
ritorni
, that stop at certain inns, allowing you to get to Strasbourg conveniently and for relatively little money. You just need to ask. That’s how Dr Prex
⁷
travelled from Paris to Strasbourg. And Baron Grimm must already have had some idea how he plans to get you there. One mustn’t reject everything out of hand on the strength of a mere preconception. You say that you could get someone to give you a nice cabriolet. My dear Wolfgang, this will remain a wish; it also seems to me to
run counter to the need to save money
; for no one readily gives away something that’s still in good condition. And if the cabriolet is
dilapidated
or if its
wheels
and
axle
, for example, are in a poor condition, then it could break down at any moment and you’ll be left
sitting in the road, wasting time and money
, you’ll have to
have it repaired
and the delay and repairs will cost more than the whole pile of junk is worth, quite apart from which there’s probably no one in Paris or very few people who operate as hired coachmen. If you’ve got your own carriage and if they only have to provide the horses, you have to pay them a lot as they’re not allowed
to bring people back
and can’t earn anything for the return journey but have to come back with just the horses and no carriage. Also, such a driver would have to be someone you could trust as you’d be entirely alone with him. The mail coach would cost an astonishing amount of money as there are
55 and a half stages
from Paris to Strasbourg: it’s
25 sous
for each horse, so
50 sous
for 2 horses, which makes 2 livres and 10 sous –
without the tip
. In short, I can’t advise you on this, I’m too far away, and it depends on circumstances and calculations and above all on the good advice of people with knowledge and experience. I think that Herr Gschwendtner travelled from Strasbourg to Paris.

You shouldn’t leave anything behind, that’s not my opinion and never has been, but, if you can, you should sell some music straightaway. It’s better if works that do you no credit are not made known, which is why I’ve not released any of your symphonies, as I knew in advance that, with maturity and greater insight, you’d be pleased that no one’s got hold of them, even though you were pleased with them
when you wrote them. One becomes increasingly discriminating. There’s no point in thinking of going to Mannheim because at the end of this month everyone who’s not already in Munich will be going there. Your wish that the Weber family should have 1000 florins a year has been realized, as I received news from Munich on 15 September that Seeau has engaged Mlle Weber for the German theatre on a salary of 600 florins. With her father’s 400 florins, that makes 1000 florins. However kind your concerns for our Salzburg orchestra, I must ask you to set them aside as they are too high-flown for us. You think I should have demanded a written assurance that you’d be offered the post of Kapellmeister? – – Do you think that I attach such importance to this post? – By no means! – Isn’t one always perfectly free to leave such a small court? – – You also say:
I don’t mean to play the violin any more
. – Previously you were nothing but a
violinist
, namely, as
concertmaster
; you’re now concertmaster and court organist, and your main task is to
accompany at the keyboard. As a music lover
you’ll not consider it shaming to play the violin in the first symphony, for example, just as the archbishop himself does, as do all the courtiers who perform with us. Herr Haydn, after all, is not someone whose musical achievements you’d deny. Has he, as concertmaster, become a
court viola player
because he plays the viola at chamber concerts? – – People do this for their own entertainment; and I can assure you that as the concerts are now so short and consist of only 4 pieces, they serve as an entertainment, as people otherwise don’t know what to do with their evenings. If something else turns up,
eh bien
, one stays away – just as others have done. And I bet that you’ll join in rather than let your own works be bungled. But it doesn’t follow from this that you’d be officiating as a violinist, while leaving the others to enjoy a night off and performing their trios and quartets. Far from it! My chief source of satisfaction consists in the fact that thanks to your own salary and my improved one
our situation will be more secure
and we shall definitely be able to pay off our
debts
and live comfortably. You’re returning with your reputation unimpaired
because
everyone knows
that you’ve been asked back
, and the whole town praises your resolve in coming back to help your father following the loss of his wife and to provide him with the
support that he needs in his old age. May God keep you well and grant you a safe journey! It is a long one! Look after yourself! Don’t make any close friends on the journey, trust no one! Keep your medicines in your night bag, in case you need them. Keep an eye on your luggage when getting in and out of the coach. Don’t show anyone your money. And
give some thought
to whether you stay with the Prince of Fürstenberg in Donaueschingen
⁸
or go on ahead from Strasbourg and wait for the diligence there. – Or whether you give the place a miss. In Augsburg go straight to the Holy Cross, the abbot has already written to me 3 times to say that you can stay there. Give my best wishes to Baron Grimm
and don’t play any impudent tricks on him
. I’ll write to him once I’ve heard that you’ve left. We’re counting the days until we can embrace you. That fool of a wench, Tresel, has bought another 6 capons, and Nannerl bought a beautiful pair of
lace cuffs
for you yesterday. Madame de Folard will soon be receiving a reply from the prince of Chiemsee and will see from it that I’ve run the errand that was asked of me. Herr Bullinger, Herr Deibl, Mistress Mitzerl and a thousand others send their best wishes, Nannerl and I kiss you a million times. Hoping to see you again soon,

Mzt

Mozart left Paris on 26 September, ostensibly to return to Salzburg. Although it is often claimed that he composed little in the French capital, his output during the spring and summer of 1778 was considerable, including the ‘Paris’ symphony K297, ballet movements for
Les petits riens
K299b, the concerto for flute and harp K299, the accompanied sonatas K304 and 306 as well as part of K305, the solo keyboard sonata K310 and the variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ K354. He also probably wrote several lost works, among them the sinfonia concertante for winds K297B and a scena K315b.

Monsieur
mon très cher Père,

Your 3 letters of 17
September
, 24
September
and 1
October
have all arrived safely, but it was impossible for me to reply to them before now; – I hope you’ll have received my last letter from Nancy; – I can’t tell you how happy I am that you’re both well, all thanks and praise be to God; I too am well, thank God, and, indeed, very well; – as far as possible, I’ll now reply to the most important points in your 3 letters –

What you wrote about Monsieur Grimm I know better than you, of course; – he’s always very polite and good-natured – I know that very well – if he’d not been, I’d certainly not have stood on such ceremony with him; – I owe Monsieur Grimm no more than 15 louis d’or, and it’s his own fault that he’s not been repaid – I told him so myself; – but what’s the point of all this tittle-tattle? – We’ll speak about it in Salzburg – I’m very grateful to you for having recommended me so warmly to Padre Martini – and also for writing to Monsieur Raaff in a similar vein – nor did I ever doubt that you would – for I know how much you like to see your son happy and contented – and that you know that there is nowhere I’d rather be than Munich – it’s so close to Salzburg that I can visit you often; – that Mlle Weber or, rather, my dear Fräulein Weber is now being paid a salary and that justice has finally been done to her gave me great pleasure, as may be expected from someone who takes such an interest in her; – I continue to commend her to you most warmly; – but unfortunately I may no longer hope for what I’d wanted so much, namely, to get her a post in Salzburg, for the archbishop won’t give her what she’s getting there – the only possibility is that she may come for a while to Salzburg to sing in an opera; I’ve received a letter from her father, written in great haste on the eve of his departure for Munich and informing me about this particular piece of news – these poor people had all been immensely worried about me – they thought I was dead as they’d not heard from me for a whole month, my last
letter but one having gone missing – and they were further confirmed in their belief by the fact that they were told in Mannheim that my dearly departed mother had died of an hereditary illness; they’d already prayed for my soul; – the poor girl went every day to the Capuchin church; – do you find this funny? – I don’t; I’m touched by it, I can’t help it; – but, to proceed; –

I think I’ll definitely go to Augsburg by way of Stuttgart as I can see from your letters that there’s nothing, or, at most, very little, to do in Donaueschingen – but you’ll discover all this from a letter that I’ll send you before I leave Strasbourg; –

Dearest father! – I assure you that if it weren’t for the pleasure of embracing you soon, I’d certainly not be returning to Salzburg! – Apart from this praiseworthy and genuinely beautiful urge, I am in fact committing the greatest folly in the world; – believe me when I say that these are my own private thoughts and are not borrowed from other people; – when they knew of my decision to leave, people opposed it, of course, with truths that I was incapable of resisting and defeating with any other weapons save my true and tender love for my beloved father, for which people could naturally do nothing but praise me, while adding that if my father knew of my present circumstances and excellent prospects – and if he hadn’t been differently and, indeed, falsely informed by a certain good friend – he would most certainly not have written to me in such terms that I was utterly incapable of resisting; – and I thought to myself that if I’d not had to put up with so much annoyance at the house where I was lodging and if one thing hadn’t led to another like a series of thunderclaps, with the result that I’d no time to consider the matter in cold blood, I’d definitely have asked you to be patient for a little while longer and let me stay in Paris, where, I assure you, I’d have gained honour, reputation and money – and would certainly have got you out of debt; – but now the thing is done; don’t for a minute think that I regret it; – for only you, dearest father, only you can sweeten for me the bitter pill that is Salzburg; and you’ll do so; I’m convinced of that; but I freely admit that I’d arrive in Salzburg with a lighter heart if I didn’t know that I’ll be in the service of the court; – this thought alone is intolerable to me! – Consider it yourself – put
yourself in my position; – in Salzburg I don’t know who I am – I’m everything – and sometimes nothing at all – I’m not asking for
a lot
– but nor am I asking for
very little
– I just want something – as long as I’m
something
– everywhere else I know what I am – everyone else, if he’s placed with the violins, sticks to it; – it’s the same with the keyboard
etc
. – But we’ll sort something out, – I just hope it all works out to my own good fortune and contentment; – I rely on you entirely; –