Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (58 page)

I must close now, otherwise I’ll miss the post. I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace my dear sister with all my heart. I am ever your most obedient son

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart

P. S. Best wishes to young Marchand, also to Katherl and all our good friends.

Mon très cher Père
,

The portrait and ribbons for my sister will set sail tomorrow. I don’t know if the ribbons will be to her liking. – But I can assure her that they’re the latest fashion. If she wants any more or some that aren’t painted, she should let me know; and if there’s anything else that she’d like and that she thinks will be more attractive in Vienna, she should just write. I hope she didn’t have to pay for the apron, as it was already paid for; I kept forgetting to say this as I always had to tell you about that other wretched affair.
¹
– I’ll send the money as you indicated. –

But I can now tell you more about Vienna; until now I’ve had to fill all my letters with an account of that other blasted business. – Thank God it’s all over. – The present season is the worst for anyone wanting to earn any money; but you know this already; the foremost
families are in the country, and so there’s nothing else to do but prepare for the winter, when one has less time. – As soon as the sonatas
²
are finished, I’ll see if I can find a short Italian cantata
³
to set to music; it will then be given at the theatre during Advent – for my benefit, of course; – I’m being slightly devious here, because in this way I can perform the piece twice and make the same profit each time as I’ll play something on the pianoforte when I give it the second time. – At present I’ve only one pupil, Countess Rumbeke, Cobenzl’s cousin; I could have more, of course, if I lowered my price. – But as soon as you do that, you lose your reputation – I charge 6 ducats for 12 lessons, while letting people know that I’m doing them a favour. – I’d rather have 3 pupils who pay well than 6 who pay badly. – I can just about manage to
get by
with this one pupil, and for the present that’s enough; – I’m telling you this only so that you don’t think I’m being selfish in sending you only 30 ducats – rest assured that I’d leave myself entirely destitute if I could! – But it’ll come. One must never let people see how things stand.

As for the theatre, I think I told you recently that when he left, Count Rosenberg commissioned Schröder
⁴
to hunt down a libretto for me. It’s now been found, and Stephanie – the younger – has it in his capacity as manager of the opera; Bergopzoomer,
⁵
who’s a very good friend of Schröder and me, tipped me off about it. – So I went to see him at once,
en forme de visite
. – We thought that he might play me false because of his support for
Umlauf
;
⁶
but our suspicions were unfounded, for I later heard that he’d commissioned someone to tell me to come and see him as there was something he wanted to talk to me about; and as soon as I came in, he said: Oh, you’re right
on cue. – The opera is in 4 acts, the first of which he says is unbeatable; but it gets a lot worse after that. If Schröder agrees to our changing it as we like, we could end up with a good libretto. – He doesn’t want to give it to the management in its present state but first wants to discuss it with him,
⁷
as he knows in advance that it would otherwise be rejected. So these two can sort it out between them. – After what Stephanie had told me about it, I saw no point in asking to read it, because if I don’t like it, I’d have to say as much and would look foolish. And I don’t want to lose Schröder’s favour as he has the greatest respect for me. – In this way I can always excuse myself by saying that I’ve not read it.

I must explain why we had our suspicions about Stephanie. It grieves me to say that this person has the worst possible reputation in Vienna; he’s said to be rude, false and much given to slandering others as well as treating them with the greatest unfairness. – But I don’t want to get involved. It may be true, as everyone says rude things about him – but at the same time he’s highly regarded by the emperor; and he was very friendly to me when we first met and said: we’re already old friends and I very much hope that I shall be in a position to be able to help you. – I believe and hope that he will write an opera for me. Whether he’s written his plays by himself or with the help of others, and whether he’s stolen their ideas or created them himself, he understands the theatre and his plays are always popular. – I’ve seen only 2 new pieces by him and there’s no doubt that they’re both very good; one,
Das Loch in der Thüre
; and the second,
Der Oberamtmann und die Soldaten
. – Meanwhile I plan to write the cantata, because even if I did already have a libretto, I’d still not put pen to paper as Count Rosenberg isn’t here – if, in the end, he didn’t like the libretto, I’d have had the honour of writing it all for nothing. And I can do without that. – I’m not at all worried about the work’s reception, as long as it’s a good libretto. – Do you really think I’d write an
opéra comique
as though it were an
opera seria
? In an
opera seria
there should be as little frivolity and as much as that is learned and rational as there should be little
that’s learned in an
opera buffa
and all the more that is frivolous and funny.

I can’t help it if people want comic music in an
opera seria
; – but here people make a proper distinction between them.

I find that the Viennese buffoon
⁸
hasn’t yet been eradicated from music; and in this case the French are right. –

I hope that my clothes arrive safely with the next mail coach. I don’t know when the coach leaves, but I think you’ll receive this letter first, so I would ask you to keep my stick for me. – People carry sticks here, but what’s the point? If you want one only for walking, then any stick will do; so you may as well use the stick instead of me, and always take it with you if you can – who knows whether it may avenge its former master on Arco. – I mean, of course,
accidentaliter
or by chance; – that greedy ass will certainly get a taste of it, even if we have to wait twenty years. – For me to see him and give him a kick up the arse will undoubtedly be one and the same, unless I have the misfortune to meet him first on hallowed ground. – Well, adieu; farewell; I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace my sister with all my heart. I am ever your most obedient son

W. A. Mzt

Best wishes to everyone.

Mon très cher Père
,

I haven’t written to Count Arco and shan’t be doing so, as you ask me not to for the sake of your own peace of mind; – it’s just as I thought; you’re too afraid; and yet there’s nothing to be afraid of, as you yourself have been insulted as much as I have. – I’m not asking you to cause a scene or to make even the slightest complaint! – But
the archbishop and the rest of his rabble must be afraid of discussing the matter with you as you, my father, need have no fear at all of saying quite openly – if you are put to it – that you’d be ashamed to have brought up a son who allowed himself to be called names by as infamous a scoundrel as Arco – and you can assure them all that if I had the good fortune to meet him today, he’d get his just deserts and would certainly remember me as long as he lived; – all I ask for, and nothing more, is that everyone can see that you’re not afraid. – Remain silent, but speak if necessary – and speak in such a way that you actually say something; the archbishop has secretly offered
Koželuch
¹
1000 florins – – but the latter has declined, adding that he’s better off where he is and that unless he could improve his position, he’ll never leave. But to his friends he said: it’s the affair with Mozart that puts me off most of all – if he lets a man like that leave, what might he not do to me? – So you see how well he knows me and values my talents! – The chest with the clothes has arrived safely.

If Monsieur Marchal or the syndic of the chapter comes to Vienna, you’d be doing me a great favour if you could send me my favourite watch; I’ll return yours if you’ll send me the small one, too; that would be very kind of you. – I wrote to you recently about the masses.
²
– I need the 3 cassations as a matter of urgency – it would be enough for the present for me to have the ones in F and B flat – the one in D
³
you might arrange to have copied and sent on to me later, as copying costs a lot here; and their work is appalling.

I must say a few words about Marchand,
⁴
at least as far as I can; – when his father corrected the younger boy at table, he took up a knife and said: look here, papa; if you say another word, I’ll cut off my finger at the root and I’ll then be a cripple and you’ll have to feed
me. – Both of them have often spoken ill of their father to others. You’ll no doubt remember Mlle Boudet,
⁵
who lives in their house. – Well, the old man is very fond of her. – And the 2 lads have been making the most infamous comments about them. – When Hennerle
⁶
was 8 he said to a certain girl – I’d far rather sleep in your arms than wake up with a pillow. – He even made her a formal declaration of love and an offer of marriage, adding: I can’t marry you now, of course, but when my father’s dead, I’ll come into some money as he’s by no means destitute, and we can then live together very comfortably. In the meantime we can be lovers and enjoy our love to the full; what you allow me to do now you won’t be able to allow me to do later. – I also know that in Mannheim no one ever allowed their boys to go near Marchand’s – they were caught – – – indulging in a spot of mutual relief. It’s a great shame about the boy – but I’m sure that you, my father, will bring about a complete transformation in him. As his father and mother are actors, they hear nothing all day but tales of love, despair, murder and death, and that’s all they ever read; also, their father is rather feeble for his age – so they’re not being set a good example.

I must close now, otherwise Peisser
⁷
won’t get my letter in time. Farewell, I kiss your hands 1000 times and am ever your most obedient son

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart

P.S.: Best wishes to all our good friends. Do let me know the story about my sister’s mob cap. You mentioned it once in one of your letters.
Adieu.

Mon très cher Père
,

May I say once again that I’ve long been thinking of finding some other rooms – and all because people have been gossiping; – I’m only sorry that I’m forced to do this on account of some stupid tittle-tattle, not one word of which is true. I’d just like to know what sort of pleasure certain people can take in spreading entirely groundless rumours. – Because I’m living with them, it’s said that I’m marrying the daughter;
¹
there was never any talk of our being in love, they’ve omitted that stage; no, I’m in lodgings in the house and so I’m getting
married
. – If there was ever a time in my life when I’ve thought less of marriage, it’s now! – for – although the last thing I want is a wealthy wife – even if I could now make my fortune by getting married, I couldn’t possibly go courting, as I’ve other things on my mind. – God hasn’t given me my talent simply for me to get hitched to a wife and fritter away my young life in inactivity. – I’m only now beginning to live, and people expect me to ruin it all? – I’ve nothing against marriage, of course, but at present it would be a disaster for me. – Well, there’s nothing else for it; even though it’s untrue, I must avoid giving the appearance that it is – and even though this appearance rests solely on the fact that I’m living here – unless people come to the house, they can’t even say whether I have as much contact with her as with all God’s other creatures; for the children rarely go out – they never go anywhere except to the theatre, but I never go with them as I’m generally not at home at curtain-up. – We went to the Prater
²
a couple of times, but her mother came too; and as I was in the house at the time, I could hardly refuse to go with them. – And at that time I’d not yet heard any of these foolish remarks. I should add that I was allowed to pay only
for myself
. – And when her mother heard these remarks herself and also heard about them from me, I have to say
that from then on she wouldn’t countenance the idea of our going anywhere together and advised me to move in order to avoid any further unpleasantness; she says that she wouldn’t like to be responsible for my misfortune through no fault of her own. – This, then, is the only reason why I have for some time – since people started to gossip – been thinking of moving – the truth of the matter is that I’ve no reason to move, but these rumours are reason enough. – If it weren’t for these remarks, I’d certainly not move because, although I could easily get a more attractive room, I wouldn’t find such comfort or such friendly and obliging people; – I don’t mean that, living in the same house as the mademoiselle to whom I’ve already been married off, I’m sullen and don’t speak to her – but nor am I in love with her; – I fool around and joke with her when I have time – which is only in the evening when I dine at home – during the morning I write in my room and during the afternoon I’m rarely at home – and that’s all; if I had to marry everyone with whom I’ve shared a joke, I’d have at least 200 wives. – But now for the money.

My pupil
³
was out of town for 3 weeks – as a result I had no income, although my outgoings continued as before. – This meant that I couldn’t send you 30 ducats, but only 20 – but as I was hopeful about the subscriptions,
⁴
I wanted to wait until I could send you the sum I’d promised. – But Countess Thun has now told me that a subscription is out of the question before the autumn – because everyone who has any money is out of town – so far she has found only 10 people and my pupil only seven – meanwhile I’m having 6 sonatas engraved, Artaria,
⁵
the music engraver, has already discussed the matter with me; as soon as they are sold and I get some money, I’ll send it to you.