Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters (65 page)

P. S.: Please give Varesco a good talking to and tell him to hurry up.– Please also send the music soon. – We kiss Gretl, Heinrich and Hanni.
⁶
– I’ll shortly be writing to Gretl. Tell Heinrich that both here and in Linz I’ve already been singing his praises; – he should move on to
staccato
. – Only on this point can the Viennese not forget Lamotte.
⁷
–
Adieu
.

On 22 and 23 December, Mozart performed an unidentified piano concerto at the concert mounted by the Vienna Tonkünstler-Sozietät; in addition, Adamberger sang a newly composed scena, probably
Misero! o sogno – Aura che intorno spiri
K431. In January, Mozart and Constanze moved to the Trattnerhof, Am Graben 591–596. Shortly afterwards, on 9 February, Mozart began to keep a catalogue of his newly composed works; the first
entry in the catalogue is the piano concerto K449, composed for his pupil Barbara von Ployer (1765–
c.
1811).

Your last letter has arrived safely; – yesterday I was lucky enough to hear Herr Freyhold
¹
play a concerto of his own decomposition. – I found very little in his playing and missed a great deal; – double-tonguing is his only claim to virtuosity – otherwise there’s absolutely nothing to hear – I was glad that the adagio was at least short – he played it at your house – to start off with, the musicians accompanying him couldn’t make head nor tail of it because it’s written in four-four time but he played it alla breve – and when I added alla breve in my own hand, he admitted that Papa had also complained about it in Salzburg. – The rondo was supposed to be lively but was the stupidest thing in the world, – during the opening allegro I thought that if Herr Freyhold were to learn how to compose properly, he’d not be a bad composer. – I was very sorry to hear that Herr Hafeneder had died so suddenly, especially because you’ll now be burdened with all the
seccatura
:
²
but I can’t say that the prince was in the wrong; in his place I’d have done exactly the same; – but I’d have accompanied my instructions with an increase in salary and arranged for the boys to go to you – or I’d have given you free board and lodging in the chapel-house. – 2 gentlemen are coming to Salzburg in a day or so, a vice-
controôleur
and a cook; – I’ll probably ask them to take with them a sonata, a symphony and a new concerto.
³
– The symphony is in full score, and I’d be grateful if you could have it copied some time and sent back to me; but you could also give it away or have it
performed wherever you like. – The concerto is also in full score and should be copied and returned to me, but as quickly as possible – please ensure that you don’t show it
to a single soul
as I’ve written it for Fräulein Ployer, who has paid a lot for it. – As for the sonata, you can hang on to it. – There’s something I must ask and that I know absolutely nothing about and don’t understand either. – If you have something printed or engraved at your own expense, how can you be sure that you’re not cheated by the engraver? – After all, he can run off as many copies as he wants to and in that way swindle you. – You’d have to keep these people under constant supervision

– which wasn’t possible when you had your book printed because you were in Salzburg and the book was printed in Augsburg. – I’m inclined not to sell any more of my things to any of the engravers here but to have them printed or engraved by subscription at my own expense, as most people do and have a good profit to show for it; I’m not worried about finding subscribers – I’ve already received offers from Paris and Warsaw. – Could you let me have some information on this? – And I’ve another favour to ask of you. Would it be possible for me to have at least a copy of my certificate of baptism? – They’re all claiming here that I must have been at least 10 years old when I first came here. – The emperor himself contradicted me to my face last year in the Augarten. – Herr von Strack now believes me
at my word
. – If I could show them my certificate of baptism, I could shut them all up once and for all. – Farewell for now. – My wife and I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. We are ever your most obedient children

W. and C. Mozart

Mon très cher Père
,–

Your letter of 24 Feb. has arrived safely; – it’s better if you always use the post – I received this letter on Monday, whereas I wouldn’t have received it till Tuesday or even Wednesday if you’d sent it via
Peisser. – I haven’t received the concertos
¹
but shall go at once and make enquiries at Artaria’s. – You must forgive me for writing so little but I simply don’t have time as I’m giving 3 subscription concerts in Trattner’s Room
²
on the last 3 Wednesdays in Lent, starting on the 17th of this month,
³
for which I already have 100 subscribers and expect to get another 30 by then. – I’m charging 6 florins for all 3 concerts. – I’ll probably give 2 concerts in the theatre this year
⁴
– well, you can easily imagine that I’ll have to play some new works – so I’ll have to write some. – The whole morning is taken up with pupils. – And I have to play nearly every evening. – Below you’ll see a list of all the concerts at which I
definitely
have to play. – But I must tell you very quickly how it’s come about that I’m suddenly giving private concerts. – The piano virtuoso Herr
Richter
⁵
is giving 6 Saturday concerts in the above-mentioned hall. – The nobility subscribed but said that they’d no great wish to attend if I didn’t play. Herr Richter asked me to do so – I promised to play for him 3 times – and arranged a subscription for 3 concerts of my own, to which everyone signed up. –

Thursday
the 26th of Feb. at Galitzin’s.

Monday
the 1st of March at Johann Esterházy’s.

Thursday
the 4th at Galitzin’s.

Friday
the 5th at Esterházy’s.

Monday
the 8th Esterházy.

Thursday
the 11th Galitzin.

Friday
the 12th Esterházy.

Monday
the 15th Esterházy.

Wednesday
the 17th my first
private
concert.

Thursday
the 18th Galitzin.

Friday
the 19th Esterházy.

Saturday
the 20th at Richter’s.

Sunday
the 21st my first concert in the
theatre
⁶

Monday
the 22nd Esterházy.

Wednesday
the 24th my 2nd private concert

Thursday
the 25th Galitzin.

Friday
the 26th Esterhaázy

Saturday
the 27th Richter

Monday
the 29th Esterházy

Wednesday
the 31st my 3rd
private
concert.

Thursday
the 1st of April. My 2nd concert in the theatre.

Saturday
the 3rd Richter.

Don’t I have enough to do? – I don’t think I’ll get out of practice at this rate. –

Adieu
. – We kiss both your hands and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. We are ever your most obedient children

W. A. Mozart

Mon très cher Père
,

Please don’t be angry with me for not having written to you for so long; – but you know how much I’ve had to do during that time! – With my 3 subscription concerts I’ve covered myself in glory. – My concert at the theatre also turned out very well. – I wrote 2 grand concertos and also a quintet
¹
that was extraordinarily well received; – I myself think it’s the best thing I’ve ever written. – It’s scored for
1 oboe
,
1 clarinet
,
1 horn
,
1 bassoon
and
pianoforte
; – I wish you could have heard it! – And how well it was performed! – To tell the truth, I was quite tired by the end – from all that playing – and it does me no little credit that my listeners were
never
tired.
²
– I now have an errand for you; old Baron du Beyne de Malechamp – who has all
kinds of music, good and bad – would very much like to have
Gatti’s
rondè and duetto. –
Recit. ‘Ah! Non sdegnarti o cara’. – Rondè. ‘Nel lasciarti in questo istante’. – Duetto
.
‘Ne’ giorni tuoi felici’
etc.
³
I’d be most obliged to you if you could procure these 2 pieces for me as soon as possible. – I’ll transfer the money for copying them via Herr Peisser. Today I finished another new concerto for Fräulein Ployer;
⁴
–and I’m now half dressed in readiness for a visit to Prince Kaunitz.–Yesterday I played at Leopold Pálffy’s.
⁵
– Tomorrow at the concert that Mlle Bayer is giving.
⁶
– Something else – as Hafeneder has died, Herr von Ployer
⁷
has been commissioned to look for a violinist. – I secretly recommended a certain
Menzel
⁸
– a handsome and clever young man. – But I told him not to mention my name, otherwise it may not work out. – He’s now awaiting the decision. – I think he’ll be getting 400 florins – and a
suit
– I told him off about the suit – it’s like begging. – If anything comes of it, I’ll give Menzel a letter for you, together with the music; – and you’ll find that he’s a delightful violin player who’s also good at sight-reading; – in
Vienna
no one has sight-read my quartets
⁹
as well as he has. – And he’s the nicest person in the world, someone who will be only too pleased to make music with you whenever you like. – I also included him in the orchestra at my concerts. – I must close now; my wife and I kiss your hands 1000 times and embrace our dear sister with all our hearts. We are ever your obed. children

Mozart

We now have the famous Strinasacchi
¹
from Mantua here, a very good violinist; she brings a lot of taste and feeling to her playing. – I’m currently working on a sonata that we’ll be playing together at her concert at the theatre on Thursday.
²
Also, some quartets have just appeared by a certain Pleyel; he’s a pupil of Joseph Haydn.
³
If you don’t know them, try to get hold of them; they’re worth it. They’re very well written, and very enjoyable; you’ll also recognize his teacher in them. It’ll be good – and fortunate for music if in due course Pleyel is able to replace Haydn for us!

Mon très cher Père,–

I see from your last letter that my letter and the music have arrived safely. – Many thanks to my sister for her letter, I’ll certainly be writing to her as soon as time permits: – meanwhile please tell her that Herr Richter is wrong about the key of the concerto, or else I’ve misread her letter. – The concerto that Herr Richter praised to her so highly is the one in
B flat
¹
– this is the first one that I wrote and that he also praised to me at the time. – I can’t choose between them – they’re both concertos that make you sweat. – But the one in B flat is more difficult than the one in D.
²
– I should add that I’m very curious to know which of the 3 in B flat, D and G
³
you and my sister like best; – the one in E flat
⁴
doesn’t belong in this group. – This is
a concerto of a very special kind and written more for a small orchestra than a large one – so we’re really only talking about the 3 grand concertos. – I’m curious to know whether your opinion coincides with the
general
opinion here and also with my
own
opinion – of course, you need to hear all 3 of them well performed and with all the parts. – I don’t mind waiting for their return – as long as no one else gets hold of them. – Only today I could have got 24 ducats for one of them; – but I think it’ll be more useful if I hold on to them for a couple of years and only then have them engraved.
⁵
– I must tell you something about Liserl Schwemmer.
⁶
She wrote to her mother, but she addressed it in such a way that the post office was most unlikely to have accepted it, as it read:

This letter to be deli

vered to my very dear

mother in Salzburg

Barbarüschbemer
⁷

to be handed in at the

Jüdengasse in mer

chant Eberl’s house

on the third floor.

So I told her that I’d readdress it for her. – Out of curiosity and in order to read more of this prize document rather than to discover any secrets, I broke open the letter. – In it she complains that she gets to bed too late and has to get up too early, though I’d have thought one can get enough sleep from 11 till 6. That’s 7 hours, after all. – We don’t go to bed till around 12 and get up at half past 5 or even 5 as we go to the Augarten nearly every morning. She goes on to complain about the food, which she does in the most insolent language: – she herself has to go hungry, she says, and the four of us – my wife and I, the cook and she herself – don’t have as much to eat as she and
her mother used to have between them… you know that I took on this girl purely out of pity, so that as a stranger in Vienna she’d have some kind of support. – We agreed to give her 12 florins a year, and she was entirely satisfied with this, though she now complains about it in her letter. – And what does she have to do? – To clear the table, carry the food in and out and help my wife to dress and undress. – And, apart from her sewing, she’s the clumsiest and stupidest person in the world. – She can’t even light a fire, let alone make coffee. – These are things that anyone claiming to be a parlourmaid should be able to do. – We gave her a florin; by the next day she was demanding more money. – I got her to give me an account of how she’d spent the money, and it turned out that most of it had gone on beer. – It was a certain Herr Johannes who travelled here with her, but who’d better not show his face here again. –
Twice
when we were out, he came here, ordered
wine
, and the girl, who’s not used to drinking wine, drank so much that she couldn’t walk but had to be supported and on the last occasion was sick all over her bed. – What sort of people would keep on a person who carries on in this way? – I’d have been content with the lecture I gave her and wouldn’t have mentioned it to you, but the impertinence of her letter to her mother has persuaded me to write to you. – Could I ask you, therefore, to send for her mother and tell her that I’ll put up with her a little while longer but that she should try and find a job elsewhere – if I wanted to make people unhappy, I’d get rid of her on the spot. – There’s something in her letter about a certain Herr Antoni – perhaps he’s a future husband. –