Mozart the Patriot

     Happy Independence Day! Although Mozart was not American, he was very much devoted to his own country and people. I thought that today would be a fitting day to share a bit of his patriotism.
     In a letter to his father, written on November 24, 1781, Mozart speaks of a concert he had recently given:

The two of us played a sonata [K. 381] that I had composed for the occasion, and which had a success. This sonata I shall send you by Herr von Daubrawaick, who said that he would feel proud to have it in his trunk; his son, who is a Salzburger, told me this. When the father went he said, quite loud, "I am proud to be your countryman. You are doing great honor to Salzburg; I hope that times will so change that we can have you amongst us, and then do not forget me." I answered: "My fatherland has always the first claim on me."

     Although German culture was not dominant during his time, Mozart nevertheless felt such a great sense of duty to and pride for his country, which he honored through his music. In a letter to his father, written on May 29, 1778 in Paris, he said:

Frequently I fall into a mood of complete listlessness and indifference; nothing gives me great pleasure. The most stimulating and encouraging thought is that you, dearest father, and my dear sister, are well, that I am an honest German, and that if I am not always permitted to talk I can think what I please; but that is all.

     No doubt Mozart's intense love for his country inspired some of his finest works and helped him to always strive to be the best musician he possibly could.

Happy Birthday, Salieri!

Today, Antonio Salieri would have been 261 years old!
He was 6 years older than Mozart.

       Antonio Salieri was an Italian composer who lived during the same time as Mozart. He was a great teacher, most notably in voice. In performance and composition, he trained some very famous people: Franz Liszt, Ludwig van Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart.

       While the play and 1984 film Amadeus fictionalizes almost every aspect of the real composer's life, one humorous fact that was kept as part of Salieri's character was his great love of sugar. Once as a child, Salieri ran away from home to hear his older brother play the violin at a church. His father told them that if he ran away again, he would lock him in his room for a whole day with nothing to eat but bread and water. This didn't scare Salieri; planning to run away yet again, he hid a sack of sugar in his room. As long as he had sugar, he was fine with being locked in his room! The plan didn't work out too well however, since before he left, he told his sister of his secret. His sister then told his mother, who told his father, who took the sugar out of his room before he came back. Poor Salieri found himself locked in his room for the day, with nothing but bread and water!

       When he was 24 years old, Salieri began to work as the imperial royal chamber composer for Emporer Joseph II of Austria. He was also appointed Kapellmeister to the Italian opera.

       In 1775, when he was 25 years old, Salieri met his future wife, Therese von Helfersdorfer. Before he could marry her, Salieri had to prove to her guardian (whom her deceased father had appointed) that he was able to care for her finacially. When Therese's guardian found that Salieri could only count on 100 ducats annually, he turned him down. Emporer Joseph II heard of Salieri's problem, and raised his salary to 300 ducats a year! Salieri returned to Therese's guardian, who then consented to the marriage, which eventually produced 8 children.

       In his lifetime, Salieri composed 37 operas; his most famous probably being Axur, re d'Ormus, which in its time was performed more times than Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro or Don Giovanni. He also composed concertos, Masses, and several other Sacred works.

       Contrary to what most people have been led to believe, Salieri was not a poor composer, nor was he jealous of Mozart's gifts (at least not jealous enough to plot murder!).

       It has been said that as an old man, Salieri confessed to the murder of Mozart and tried to commit suicide. If he ever did confess to such a crime, let it be noted that during this time, Salieri suffered dimentia and was admitted to a mental hospital.

       Salieri died on May 7, 1825.

Antonio Salieri - Axur re d'Ormus - Finale

(1788)

What would Mozart say about MY playing?

I often tell people that as much as I wish I could find a time machine and meet Mozart face-to-face, I would not want to be his student. I have read that Mozart was a very good and loyal friend, but as a teacher, he was very critical.
Here, on October 23, 1777 (age 21), he writes to his father about Nannette Stein,  the daughter of his friend Herr Stein,  who played for him.

Whoever can see and hear her play without laughing must be a stone (Stein) like her father. She sits opposite the treble instead of in the middle of the instrument, so that there may be greater opportunities for swaying about and making grimaces. Then she rolls up her eyes and smirks. If a passage occurs twice it is played slower the second time; if three times, still slower. When a passage comes, up goes the arm, and if there is to be an emphasis it must come from the arm, heavily and clumsily, not from the fingers. But the best of all is that when there comes a passage (which  ought to flow like oil) in which there necessarily occurs a change of fingers, there is no need of taking care; when the time comes you stop, lift the hand and nonchalantly begin again. This helps one the better to catch a false note, and the effect is frequently curious.


Oh, did I forget to mention that the girl he criticizes is only eight years old?!

Amadeus: Fact and Fiction



Sir Peter Shaffer said of his play Amadeus (and the screenplay for the 1984 motion picture), "[Amadeus is] a fantasia based on fact. It is not a screen biography of Mozart, and was never intended to be." In this post, I recall some scenes from the film and compare them to facts of the composer's life. Fact means, "the movie had this in it", Fiction means, "the movie either made this up, or changed it slightly".

Fiction - After the premier of Die Entführung aus dem Serial, Mozart refers to his future mother-in-law, Frau Weber, as "my landlady". In reality, Mozart had been asked to leave the Weber boarding house 9 months before the opera's premier. (See Life.)

Fact - Mozart did not get along with the Archbishop of Salzburg. The Archbishop mistreated him and eventually dismissed him.

Fact/Fiction - Mozart married Constanze before his father's consent letter arrived in the mail. However, the movie makes it appear as if Leopold never consented to the marriage. Leopold was always somewhat cool toward Constanze, but he did consent to the marriage.

Fiction - Although it would be foolish to say that a proud Austrian such as Mozart didn't enjoy alcoholic beverages, he certainly wasn't an alcoholic, as the movie portrays him to be near the end of his life. His favorite drink was punch, which his friends said he drank in large quantities.

Fiction - Shortly before his death, Mozart slipped into unconsciousness and never awoke. This means that he probably died with his eyes closed, not open.

Fact - Salieri and his co-workers did work secretly to make Le Nozze di Figaro a failure. They asked the performers to request impossible alterations on their parts, infuriating Mozart to the point of threatening to withdraw the entire opera. The Emporer Joseph II stepped in, then, and ordered that everything return to how it was. The performers ended up liking their parts and the opera was a success until a new Salieri opera overshadowed it. As the movie mentions, the opera was withdrawn after only nine performances.

Fiction - Salieri did not kill Mozart, and it was not he who came to Mozart's door commissioning a Requiem Mass. In reality, the mysterious visitor was a messenger of the young Count Walsegg, who liked to commission pieces and pass them off as his own.

Fact - Mozart loved billiards. In the movie there are many instances where he is playing or writing music at his billiards table. Mozart's good friend, tenor Michael Kelly, mentioned in his memoirs that he enjoyed countless games of billiards with him, and never won.

Fiction - Mozart had not one child, but six. Unfortunately, only two survived to adulthood, Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang.

Fiction - Salieri was not with Mozart when he died. Present during Mozart's last hours on earth were his wife Constanze, her sister Sophie and his doctor.

Fiction - Constanze did not attend Mozart's funeral, which was held two days after his death, as she was too distraught.

Fiction - Mozart did not call Constanze "Stanzi", but "Stanzerl".

Fiction - As funny as it was in the movie, the Queen of Night aria in Die Zauberflöte was not inspired by Mozart's mother-in-law!

The Seven Last Words of Christ

Today this show was being played on television in remembrance of Christ's Passion and death. I didn't catch the opening credits and therefore didn't know exactly who the composer was. As I listened, I thought, "This is either Händel or Haydn (a very good friend of Mozart's, who inspired him in many ways). Händel, because it is a religious theme, or Haydn, because it sounds like Mozart, but it isn't quite him." Soon I decided that it wasn't Händel because it didn't sound Baroque in the least. So, it must be Haydn...and it was!

This is Haydn's "The Seven Last Words of Christ".
I didn't upload these videos, but I gathered them into a playlist on YouTube for you to enjoy and meditate on.

May God bless you this Good Friday!

April Fools Day

Mozart loved to play pracitcal jokes on his friends. Here are a couple of instances.

Emanuel Schikaneder wrote the libretto to The Magic Flute, K. 620. He also played the original Papageno (the birdwatcher). In the opera, Papageno sings with his magic chimes, and when he would pretend to strike the chimes, Mozart would play the chords on a keyboard glockenspiel offstage. During one performance, Mozart suddenly decided to play a short arpeggio on the glockenspiel where one wasn't written. Schikaneder figured that when the part would be repeated, Mozart would play the arpeggio again. However, when he went to strike the chimes, no noise came out. Mozart writes,

This time [Schikaneder] stopped and refused to go on. I guessed what he was thinking and again played a chord. He then struck the glockenspiel and said, "Shut up!" Whereupon everyone laughed. I am inclined to think that this joke taught many of the audience for the first time that Papageno does not play the instrument himself.

Another time, the theatre in Prague was practicing the premier of Don Giovanni, K. 527, with Mozart conducting. One singer, Teresa Bondini, was supposed to scream at one point in the opera. Mozart didn't think the shriek was realistic enough. So, while the orchestra played and the singers rehearsed the scene, he snuck around backstage. When it came time for Bondini to scream, Mozart reached out and grabbed her. The frightened Bondini let out a good, loud scream. Mozart, satisfied, told her, "Right! That's the way to shriek."

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

As I promised in the previous post, I'm writing a day early about Mozart's Irish friend and fellow musician, Michael Kelly, in honor of Saint Patrick's Day.

Kelly was born in Ireland on Christmas Day in the year 1762, six years after Mozart was born. His father, Thomas, was a Roman Catholic and felt that music was extremely important. So, when he was very young, Kelly was taught voice and piano. He proved to be a great singer.

For the Kellys, a great musician coming over as a guest was a regular occurance. In 1778, one particular guest, Venanzio Rauzzini, a great musician and friend of composer Joseph Haydn, recognized Kelly's talent and began to give him voice lessons. Kelly proved to have such great talent that Rauzzini suggested he be sent to a conservatory in Italy to study. Knowing how important music was (especially to his son), Thomas Kelly made plans immediately to send his son to Italy.

Before leaving, Kelly made his debut in Dublin, singing soprano as the Count in the opera, La buona figliuola.

In 1779, Kelly left for Italy and was enrolled at the 1537 Conservatorio Santa Maria di Loreto. In Italy, Kelly became known as both O'Kelly and Ochelli. Soon, he was performing for noblemen and women and even sang for the King and Queen of Naples.

In 1780, Kelly's voice matured and dropped to tenor, which gave him leading roles as tenor in operas. He travelled by boat to Livorno, where he met Nancy Storace, a 15-year-old soprano who would later play Susanna in the premier of Mozart's opera buffa, Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).

In 1783, Kelly accepted an invitation to begin working with an Italian company who worked for the Emporer Joseph II of the Holy Roman Empire in Vienna.

In Vienna, Kelly met court composer Antonio Salieri and starred in his opera Le scuola dei gelosi. He then went to visit Haydn in Eisenstadt. During his stay in Eisenstadt, Kelly met Mozart and his wife Constanze at a dinner--a friendship that would last until Mozart died.

Kelly wrote in his Reminicenses about Mozart; in fact, it is from him we get an idea of what Mozart looked like. He wrote,

"[Mozart was] a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain."

He went on to say that he often enjoyed playing billiards with Mozart (a favorite pastime of the Austrian composer) and never won.

In 1786, Kelly played Don Curzio in the premier of Mozart's Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro).

In 1787, Kelly left for England to perform on Drury Lane (the street in the famous children's song, "Do You Know the Muffin Man?"). In 1788, he performed in Handel's Messiah.

In 1793, Kelly became acting manager of the Kings Theatre in London, after having already been principal English tenor at Drury Lane theatre from 1787 to 1789 (in 1789 the theatre had been closed and demolished).

Kelly later began composing, but as a career, it was not as successful for him as singing. He also opened up a music and wine shop, but the business unfortunately failed finacially. A friend once made him a humorous sign to hang above the shop that read, "Michael Kelly, Composer of Wines and Importer of Music".

Kelly died at the age of 64 in Margate. Most of what is known about him is found in his Reminicenses, which was published in 1826, although it is said that much of what Kelly wrote is in question. We do know, however, that he was friends with Mozart because of surviving letters from the composer to the singer.

Michael Kelly.