ORSINI-ROSENBERG, FRANZ XAVER WOLF, PRINCE (1723–96) Imperial chamberlain and manager of the Vienna court theatres from 1776 to 1791 and from 1792 to 1794. As chief steward to GrandDuke Leopold of Tuscany (later Emperor LeopoldII) in Florence in 1770, Rosenberg helped Mozart and his father gain entry to the grand-ducal court, and after Wolfgang’s move to Vienna in 1781 he commissioned Die Entführung aus dem Serail. Relations between them cooled later, and Da Ponte, in his memoirs, recorded the details of a controversy that arose when, during rehearsals for Le nozze di Figaro, Rosenberg ordered that dancers be omitted from the wedding scene at the end of act three.
PUCHBERG, JOHANN MICHAEL VON (1741–1822) Viennese textile merchant and Masonic brother of Mozart’s, who wrote for him either the piano trio K542 (1788) or the string trio K563 (1788). Puchberg loaned Mozart about 1400 gulden during the final years of the composer’s life. Between 1788 and 1791, Wolfgang wrote him at least 19 begging letters, some of which are included here.
SALIERI, ANTONIO (1750–1825) Italian composer, active at Vienna from 1766, court Kapellmeister from 1788. He came to personify for Mozart the obstacles he perceived to be blocking the advancement of his own career, and particularly his dismay at the preferential treatment that was commonly given to Italian musicians in the Austrian musical establishments of the day. There is no evidence, however, to support the idea that Salieri conspired against Mozart in a systematic, long-term way.
SCHIKANEDER, EMANUEL (1751–1812) Actor-manager of a touring theatrical company, Schikaneder became friendly with the Mozart family when the troupe played a season in Salzburg in autumn 1780; it was then that Wolfgang composed for him the aria K365a. Schikaneder was active in Vienna on and off between 1783 and 1789, when he became director of the suburban Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden. His most successful production there was Mozart’s German opera Die Zauberftote (1791), for which Schikaneder wrote the text and sang the role of Papageno.
SCHRATTENBACH, SIEGMUND CHRISTOPH VON (1698 –1771), Prince-archbishop of Salzburg 1753–71. He was a great supporter of the Mozarts, awarding them with presents for compositions and partly subsidizing their early tours; in 1763 he appointed Leopold Mozart his deputy Kapellmeister, and in November 1769 he gave Mozart his first (unpaid) position at court, as third concertmaster. Schrattenbach is often called Salzburg’s ‘pious’ archbishop: he is reported to have attended up to five church services daily and he kept all the traditional church feast days. He was no intellectual and was said to be not only bigoted, but also incapable of recognizing true virtue. Although there was a small nucleus of would-be reformers in Salzburg during his reign, the Enlightenment did not systematically penetrate institutions there until after his death.
STALER, ANTON PAUL (1753–1812) Mozart became a good friend of clarinet virtuoso and composer Anton Staler soon after his arrival in Vienna; it is likely that they first met at the home of Countess Wilhelmina Thune in 1781; four years later Staler became a Freemason and frequently participated in Mozart’s Masonic music. Staler had created the basset clarinet in collaboration with Theodor Lotz; it included four keys beyond those found on normal clarinets of the time and extended the instrument’s range down to include a full four octaves. Mozart probably composed the quintet for clarinet and strings K581 (1789) and his concerto for clarinet K622 (1791) for Staler on this instrument.
STORACE, STEPHEN (1762–96) and NANCY (1765–1817) Brother and sister from a musical English family of Italian extraction, they became friendly with Mozart in the early 1780s. Stephen was a composer of operas, including Gli sposi malcontenti (Vienna, 1785) and No Song, No Supper (London, 1790), that often show cased his sister in leading soprano roles. Nancy was a prominent member of the Viennese Italian company from 1783–87 and sang the first Susanna in Le nozze di Figaro (1786). The Storages returned to England in the spring of 1787, and at a farewell concert at the Kärntnertortheater on 23 February Nancy sang the scena Ch’io mi scordi di te?… Non temer, amato bene K505 for soprano andpiano that Mozart had composed for them to perform together specially for the occasion.
SÜSSMAYR, FRANZ XAVER (1766–1803) Studied with Mozart in 1791 and quickly became a trusted friend. He may have composed the recitatives for La clemenza di Tito and in December took over the completion of the unfinished Requiem; according to Constanze’s sister, Sophie Haibel (née Weber), Mozart issued instructions to Sussmayr the night before he died on how he wanted the work completed. Mozart frequently poked fun at him, describing him as ‘that idiotic fellow’, ‘a full-blown ass’ and calling him ‘Sauermayr’, a pun on süss (sweet) and sauer (sour). Süssmayr studied with Antonio Salieri soon after Mozart’s death, and wrote popular sacred and secular works in Vienna in the 1790s.
SWEETEN, GOTTFRIED (BERNHARD), BARON VAN (1733 –1803) A former diplomat and occasional composer, from 1777 van Swieten was director of the court library and president of the education and censorship commission in Vienna. He was an ardent supporter of Mozart and his music, subscribing to his Trattnerhof concerts (1784) and to a series that never materialized in 1789; in the later 1780s he commissioned from him arrangements of some of Handel’s works. After Mozart’s death, van Swieten organized a Viennese benefit concert for Constanze and contributed to Carl Thomas Mozart’s education in Prague.
TEYBER FAMILY Matthäus Teyber (c. 1711–85) was a member of the Vienna court orchestra. His son Anton (1756–1822), a keyboard player and composer active in Vienna during the early 1780s, was court organist at Dresden from 1787; in 1793 he succeeded Mozart as court chamber composer in Vienna. Another son, Franz (1758– 1810), also a keyboard player and composer, was associated with the actor and impresario Emanuel Schikaneder from c 1786. Their sister Therese (1760–1830) sang the role of Blonde at the first performance of Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782).
WALDSTÄTTEN, MARTHA ELISABETH, BARONESS (1744–l8ll) An aristocrat andamateur pianist who may have studied with Mozart, Waldstätten accommodated Constanze Mozart three times at her residence in 1781 and 1782, and at Mozart’s request housed his student Josepha Auernhammer free of charge in late 1782. She also provided Constanze and Mozart with an extravagant, ‘princely’ meal on their wedding day, 4 August 1782, and corresponded with Leopold Mozart in an effort to convince him of Constanze’s suitability as a wife. A year later she honoureda debt incurred by Mozart, eliciting sincere gratitude in return.
WEBER FAMILY Mozart got to know the Weber family in Mannheim in 1777—8. Fridolin Weber (1733—79) had been a bass singer and music copyist at Mannheim from 1763; he was married to Maria Cacilia (née Stamm, 1727—93). They later moved to Munich, and then Vienna, and Mozart lodged with Maria Cacilia, by now a widow, on first quitting his position with the Salzburg court in 1781. The Webers’ daughters included the singer Josepha (1758— 1819), who later created the role of the Queen of the Night in Die Zauberftöte(1791) and in 1788 married the violinist Franz Hofer; Aloysia (see under LANGE); Constanze (see under MOZART); and Sophie (1763—1846), who was present at Mozart’s death, and married the choir director Jakob Haibel in 1807.
Map
NOTES
1. Amadeus was the Latin form of Theophilus (Gottlieb in German), one of his baptismal names. Wolfgang himself usually spelled it Amadè, and occasionally Amadé.
2. See C. Eisen, New Mozart Documents (London, 1991), p. 74.
3. H. C. Robbins Landon, Mozart and Vienna (London, 1991), p. 74.
A Life in Letters
The works below are cited in the footnotes by the abbreviations:
Briefe : Wilhelm A. Bauer, Otto Erich Deutsch and Joseph Heinz Eibl, eds., Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen (eight volumes, Kassel, 1962–2005)
Deutsch, Bildern : Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart und seine Welt in zeitgenössischen Bildern (Kassel, 1961)
Deutsch, Documentary Biography : Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart: A Documentary Biography (second edition, London, 1966)
Mozart’s works are identified by the numbers assigned to them in the standard catalogue of the composer’s
works, Ludwig Ritter von Köchel, Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts (Leipzig, 1862; sixth edition, ed. Franz Giegling, Alexander Weinmann and Gerd Sievers, Wiesbaden, 1964).
Little is known about Mozart’s early childhood in Salzburg. His first documented public performance was in September 1761, when he appeared as a dancer in the Latin school comedy Sigismundus Hungariae Rex. In December his father Leopold Mozart notated his first compositions, Kic and 1d, in the so-called ‘Nannerl Notebook’, a collection of short keyboard pieces used for study purposes by Wolfgang and his elder sister, Maria Anna, also known as Nannerl. By January 1762 Leopold was ready to take the children, aged six and eleven, on tour: they spent three weeks in Munich and played for Elector Maximilian III Joseph of Bavaria. Later that spring Wolfgang composed the short piano pieces K2-K5 and in September the family set out for Vienna by way of Passau and Linz (where they gave a public concert on 1 October). They arrived at Vienna on 6 October.
1. Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, 1 16 October 1762, Vienna
Monsieur mon très cher ami
We left Linz by slow boat at half past 4 in the afternoon on the Feast of St Francis2 and arrived at Mauthausen in pitch darkness at half past 7 the same day. By noon the next day, Tuesday, we were in Ybbs, where 2 Minorites and a Benedictine who had been with us on the boat said Mass, in the course of which our Woferl3 had a whale of a time on the organ, playing so well that the Franciscans, who were just having lunch, left the meal with their visitors and rushed across to the choir, where they were almost struck dumb with amazement. We reached Stein after dark and by 3 o’clock on Wednesday were in Vienna, where we had a combined lunch and supper at 5. It rained throughout the journey and was very windy. Wolfgangl caught a cold in Linz, but in spite of all the upheavals of the last few days, including getting up early, eating and drinking at all hours and contending with the wind and rain, he has remained healthy, thank God. People make more of the rapids than the matter warrants. More on this when we speak in person. On landing we were met by Herr Gilowsky’s4 servant, who came on board and then took me to our rooms. But we soon hurried off to an inn to appease our hunger, having first stowed away our luggage and sorted things out at our lodgings. Herr Gilowsky then came to welcome us. We’ve now been here for a week and still don’t know where the sun rises in Vienna: until now it hasn’t stopped raining, and with a constant wind it has snowed a little, too, so that we’ve even seen snow on the roofs. Moreover, it continues to be, if not very cold, at least very frosty. One thing I must make a point of telling you: we got through customs very quickly – both the customs at the place where we landed, where we were dealt with very swiftly, and the main customs, where we were completely exempted. For this we had to thank our Herr Woferl, for he immediately made friends with the customs official, showing him his keyboard, inviting him to visit us and playing him a minuet on his little violin, and with that we were waved through. The customs official asked very politely if he could visit us and to that end made a note of our address. In spite of the absolutely atrocious weather we have already attended a concert at Count Collalto’s, 5 also Countess Sinzendorf introduced us to Count Wilczek and on the 11th to His Excellency the imperial vice-chancellor Count Colloredo, where we had the privilege of seeing and speaking to the leading ministers and ladies of the imperial court, namely, the Hungarian chancellor, Count Pálffy, and the Bohemian chancellor, Count Chotek, together with Bishop Esterházy and a whole host of people whose names I was unable to note down.6 All of them, especially the ladies, were very kind to us. Count Leopold Kuenburg’s fiancée spoke to my wife in person and told her she is going to be married in Salzburg.7 She’s a pretty, friendly lady, of medium height. She is expecting her fiancé any day now in Vienna. Countess Sinzendorf is doing all she can for us, and all the ladies have fallen in love with my boy. Everyone is already talking about us, and when I went on my own to the opera on the 10th, I heard Archduke Leopold talking to someone in another box and saying lots of things, including the fact that there was a boy in Vienna who plays the keyboard so well etc. etc.8 At 11 o’clock that same evening I received orders to go to Schönbrunn9 on the 12th. But the next day I received fresh instructions to go there on the 13th as the 12th is the Feast of Maximilian and, therefore, a busy gala, and, as I hear, they want to hear the children at their convenience. The main thing is that everyone is amazed at the boy, and I have yet to hear anyone who is not saying that it’s unbelievable. Baron Schell, who used to be known as Loulou, is doing all he can for me and gratefully acknowledges the grace and favour he enjoyed in Salzburg. If you have a chance to do so, please say as much to Herr Chiusole and give him my good wishes. Count Daun also gave me a letter for Baron Schell.10 I have high hopes that I shall leave Vienna well satisfied. And so it seems, for the court is asking to hear us even before we have announced ourselves. Young Count Pálffy was passing through Linz just as our concert was starting, he was calling on Countess Schlick11 and she told him about the boy and persuaded him to stop the mail coach in front of the town hall and go to the concert with her. He listened with astonishment, and with a great deal of to-do he told Archduke Joseph, who told the empress.12 As soon as it was known that we were in Vienna, the command came for us to go to court. That, you see, is the cause.
I wrote the foregoing on the 11th, with the firm intention of telling you on the 12th, when we got back from Schönbrunn, how it had gone. But we had to drive straight from Schönbrunn to Prince Hildburghausen, 13 and 6 ducats were more important than sending you this letter. I have confidence in Frau Hagenauer and trust that she will be kind enough to accept my best wishes on her name day now, rather than later, and in the present brief form of saying merely that we shall pray to God to keep her and all her loved ones well for many years to come and that when the time comes He may invite us all to play cards with Him in Heaven. There is now time only to say in great haste that we were received with such extraordinary kindness by their majesties that if ever I tell them about it, people will say I have made it all up. Suffice it to say that Wolferl jumped up into the empress’s lap, grabbed her round the neck and kissed her right and proper. In short, we were with her from 3 till 6, and the emperor himself came in from the next room and took me to hear the infanta play the violin.14 On the 15th the empress sent 2 dresses, one for the boy and one for the girl.15 They were delivered by the privy paymaster, who drove up to our house in full regalia. As soon as the order arrives, they are to appear at court, and the privy paymaster will collect them. At ½ past 2 today they have to go to the two youngest archdukes, 16 at 4 o’clock to the Hungarian chancellor, Count Pálffy. Yesterday we were with Count Kaunitz17 and the day before with Countess Kinsky and later with Count Ulfeld.18 We’re already booked up for the next two days. Please tell everyone that we are well and happy, thank God. Every good wish from your old friend
Mozart
Please inform Frau Niderl19 that we are well. NB: Don’t forward any more letters to me, but just open them and read them, otherwise I have to spend a lot of money on postage on needless letters: you’ll see what’s necessary. Compliments to everyone.
2. Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, 29 December 1762, Vienna
Homo proponit, Deus disponit.1 I’d planned to leave Pressburg2 on the 20th and to pass through Vienna on the 26th in order to be back in Salzburg on New Year’s Eve. But on the 19th I had unusually bad toothache, I repeat, for me unusually bad toothache : it was the whole upper set of front teeth, which are otherwise healthy and in good condition. My whole face swelled up during the night, so that the next day I looked just like the Passau simpleton, so much so that Lieutenant Winckler (the brother of the court timpanist), who’d come to visit us, didn’t recognize me when he came into the room and thought he’d got lost. In this unfortunate situation I had to console myself with the thought that we were in any case detained by the unusual cold snap; for the pontoon bridge had been removed, and even ferrying the postbags across the Danube in
small boats has been a risky business, leaving the postilion to continue the journey on an old nag. As a result I had to wait for news that the March3 (not a very wide river) was frozen. And so I left Pressburg at half past 8 in the morning on Christmas Eve and, travelling by a special route, arrived back at our lodgings in Vienna at half past 8 at night. It was not a particularly comfortable journey, because although the ground was frozen, it was indescribably bumpy and full of deep holes and ruts, for the Hungarians don’t build roads. If I had not had to buy a carriage with good suspension in Pressburg, we’d undoubtedly have arrived home missing a few ribs. I had to buy the carriage as I wanted to get back safely to Vienna. None of the country coachmen in Pressburg had a 4-seater closed carriage. A town coachman had such a carriage, but town coachmen aren’t allowed to travel across country, except for a few hours and with only 2 horses.
We’d only just got back to Vienna when our landlady told me that Countess Leopold Kinsky had sent someone round every day to ask whether we’d returned.– – I went to see her on Christmas Day, and she said that she had been anxiously awaiting us and had postponed a dinner that she wanted to give for Field Marshal Daun, 4 who would like to meet us. And so she held her dinner on Monday. I shall now definitely be leaving here on Friday morning and with God’s help will reach Linz on Sunday; and on the eve of Epiphany, 5th Jan. 1763, I hope to be standing in your front room with you.5 In the evening, of course! Otherwise you might think I meant first thing in the morning, although that wouldn’t strike you as all that strange as you’re used to getting up for Matins during Advent. You will now add the following to the pile of favours that you’ve already done for me, namely, wish our Father Confessor6 the healthiest and happiest New Year in my name and ask him to continue to be merciful towards me; I would write to him myself if I were not so hesitant to torment him so often with a succession of my letters. And give my New Year greetings to Madame Robinig7 and Fräulein Josepha in optima forma and to all our excellent friends, including, of course, yourself, your good wife and your whole household. And please give my best wishes to Herr Reifenstuel and ask him if I may leave my carriage at his house for a few days until I’ve found somewhere to keep it. In the mean time I hope we’ll all be well when we see each other on the 5th – I’m burning with desire to tell you a whole host of things and to be able to say to you that I continue to be your true friend
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