The Mozarts, Who They Were (Volume 1)

Wolfgang

Johannes Chrisostomus Wolfgang Theophilus was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756 at 8:00 p.m. and was baptized according to the Catholic rites on 28 January.

Physical appearance

He was of a small stature with a slight frame and a rather large head and his left ear was slightly deformed (wigs were the fashion in that epoch, which served to hide this defect). Wolfgang was certainly not blessed with a physique that the collective imagination would immediately define as a genius. Small, as we said, thin with fair skin and visible scars left from smallpox from which he was infected as a child. He had blue, protruding eyes (typical of nearsightedness) and a pointed nose "with a beautiful head of blonde hair, of which he seemed proud". He constantly moved his feet and hands, which were rather thick and chubby (far from the romantic, eighteenth century pianist Listz' hands, to use an example), so much so, that today he would probably be subjected to tests of hyperactivity and hyperkineticism.

His delicate build favored the enthusiasm of an audience that was amazed by the "child prodigy", so his father would usually subtract one or two years in order to increase the effect. The fact that he was not gifted with a particularly muscular build raises some question as to the reason possibly being exposure to numerous diseases. And of his precocious death, it may have been due to the considerable stress and strain imposed upon him by his father during the course of his childhood and adolescent musical formation, combined with the fatigue of his travels and frequent exhibitions.

In truth, both Wolfgang and his sister, Nannerl never make mention of anything found in writing to have suffered any such commitments, which were anyway very common in that epoch of all musicians who desired to create a future by developing their talents. All of the great musicians throughout history, from Bach to Haydn, were subjected to considerable stress in order to reach the heights that would consent them to emerge in the world of music. This was not the rule only in Germany and Austria. All one needs to do is think of the many hundreds of hours of work that the Italian conservatories required; Neapolitan or Venetian, it was likewise for all young students. Rather, if we want to highlight a negative aspect of the young Wolfgang's formation, it should be noted that the most important part of his life under the relational aspect that was almost completely missing were his peers. He had no friends with which to play with the exception of his sister who was 5 years older; no friends with which to quarrel and make up, no one with which to explore human sentiment and build a mature personality in the proper phases of development and with the necessary composure.

Music and study, keyboard and violin, singing and improvisation; these were the "games" of the young Mozart children. How can we understand Mozart as a man without keeping in mind these fundamental aspects? In fact, since his childhood, Wolfgang was a small adult, both in his behavior and dress, ready to properly face aristocratic surroundings as his father's dream would represent the destiny of his son. This is how a young fourteen year old Goethe saw him during an exhibition in Frankfurt in 1763: "a little man with his wig and his sword". Much literary hagiography shows us an image of Wolfgang as a little genius innately gifted with a creativity that led him to compose a mass production of masterpieces, without fatigue or error.

A few years ago, a study was done by the Cambridge University (Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, published by the Cambridge Press), and based on the accurate analysis of 120 gifted personalities in various fields of expertise, this simplified method of identifying a genius was contested. From the study emerges a formula of genius which, in its synthetic and bare truth, is composed as follows: 1% innate ability and inspiration, 29% qualified instruction and formation, 70% hard work (prolonged, since on average the genius personalities that were analyzed had to apply themselves with consistency for at least ten years, if not more, in order to obtain the first great results).

In any case, another more concise saying, and not without humor (which could be attributed to Hemingway, as well as Edison or even Mozart himself) states that "genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration". Or rather: sweat and fatigue.

From the tender young age of 3 years old, Mozart showed signs of the 1% genius inspiration, but the subsequent years (many more than what the Cambridge study indicates) were applied to his formation (thanks to the outstanding teachings of his father and his musical studies from other significant composers) and for the rest of his life, he honored that 70% of hard work as we see in the formula. Regarding young Wolfgang's quality of studies, aside from the musical preparation of which his father was sufficiently prepared, some would disagree as defining it as world-class. While it is true that Leopold had a high level of cultural upbringing, having attended the Jesuit school in Augsburg and at least one year of university in Salzburg, can we truly consider Wolfgang's general cultural education equal to his musical genius?

Undoubtedly, the foundation of his musical formation imparted by his father, combined with the experiences of a life full of many European journeys, gave him passage into a world that very few of his peers could have only dreamed about. From his letters and from what other sources tell us, however, Wolfgang never developed a passion for anything that was not musical. Of the monuments and artistic masterpieces that he had seen in the various cities visited, he never left a written comment. Likewise for any literature that he may have read.

He writes to his mother from Milan about a hanging that he witnessed (he had also seen one in Lyon) without mentioning, for example, the Duomo, Leonardo da Vinci's "The Last Supper" or any work of art housed in the city. Neither was Wolfgang a great reader. We know that he read "One Thousand and One Nights", some stories, a few comedies by Molière and Goldoni, and of course, many librettos of opera which were useful for his favorite diversion: creating the melodramma.

Hence, a human being deprived of educational experiences typical of the various developmental phases that he never found in the culture (or in literature, a wealth of potential inspiration toward education, discussion and debate) that would have rivaled the excessive power of his interior musical world. We could compare Wolfgang to the custom used in Paris in his epoch which speaks of the cultural preparation of the ladies-in-waiting for their entry into society from the convents and boarding schools reserved for nobility, who "knew everything without having learned anything". But, in contrast to the above-mentioned ladies, he never learned to truly "be a member of society", to understand human nature (on an individual level or publicly) or to conform to that which was considered appropriate for a person of his social station.

Artistically speaking, he was honest and sincere, even to a self-destructive fault...and this led him to the solitude of the last years of his life. We could cite "The Solitude of Prime Numbers", alluding him to the famous Italian novel...and he was certainly a prime number, undividable if not to himself and the nature of individualism. The first number, whose dividing relationship with the prime number only served to put him in front of his own image. The prime number contains all numbers (attainable through multiplication) and so this is how we are able to discern all of the principle composers of his epoch and every single developmental phase of form and expressive innovations of which they are characterized. In my opinion, all of the aspects of his formation explain that quality of the inability to live and integrate positive relations with other humans that would characterize the brief adult life of Mozart. We will take a closer look at these aspects in due time, based on the correspondence with his father and sister.

Personality

Witnesses to his childhood describe him as physically and mentally active. Even as an adult, he had the habit of doing more than one thing simultaneously: tapping his fingers while speaking, playing with billiard balls while he composed...

Many claim that in reality, Wolfgang was never a child. Others maintain that he was a child for his entire life. There is truth in both affirmations. Growing up without a normal childhood and completely devoted to his musical studies (he began playing the harpsichord at 4 years old, composing small pieces at 5, undertaking a series of journeys throughout Europe as a child prodigy at 6, between the ages of 14 to 17 he had traveled to Italy three times, while composing ever more complex and distinct operas) he found himself as an adult lacking those human experiences that made him unable to deeply understand people and their social circles.

Being vain and convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt of his own superiority compared to any other musician often put him in a negative light, seen as difficult and envious of others' success; above all by the Italian musicians who at that time, occupied many of the most prestigious positions in the European Courts (this was influenced by similar ideas often expressed by his father, who considered "the Italians" a gang of finaglers to the detriment of the German musicians). If since childhood, Wolfgang showed respect to his father and to adults in general, it became more and more difficult as he was growing up to accept paternal orders and the rules of the society of his era, all while showing no particular interest in the revolutionary ideas that were circulating around Europe.

His father's mentality (typical of all musicians born in the first half of the 1700s), anchored in the resigned belief that the life of a musician was inextricably tied to being in good standing with a prince, was assimilated without trauma by the young prodigy. He displayed himself as a respectful and obedient child and adolescent, following his father's advice in his musical studies as well as his behavior in society. He believed himself to be, or was made to think of himself (as we see in the letters to his father) as an obedient and remissive person, devoted to his work, respectful of rules and a God fearing individual.

The time spent at the European Courts and the praise received, combined with all of the economic advantages probably reinforced the ideas that his father had passed down to him. All went well as long as reality was cohesive with his expectations and desires, but as soon as things began to delineate any deviation, his ideas also changed course and the first signs of intolerance and then rebellion appeared. Intolerance toward the nobility who showed no ability in comprehending his qualities and progressive awareness of the fact that he was not always "free" to make his own musical and lifestyle choices. His father had a strong impact on his orientation toward a production of music that would be appreciated, based on genre and the styles that were in fashion, and once at the service of the Archbishop of Salzburg, he was obliged to bow down to the musical requests of which the young composer was not always in agreement.

But we should not imagine a young Mozart inspired with Enlightenment ideals and revolutionary passions which were running rampant throughout France and in Europe. Beethoven, 14 years younger than Wolfgang, experienced a more modern cultural formation, and had somehow succumbed to the new ideals (to the point that he dedicated his "Heroic Symphony" to Napoleon Bonaparte, angrily withdrawing the dedication when the tyrant took power), unlike Mozart.

Wolfgang, at least as a child, had assimilated and accepted the social formalities of his epoch without trauma and was not affected by the fact that his social class was inferior to the aristocrats and subject to their whims. He would have taken offense, in the event that with the passing years, abandoning his role of child prodigy for the much more demanding role of composer, of a lack of recognition of his abilities and quality as a musician. He was not a revolutionary, but a rebel produced by the incidental circumstances that did not allow him to follow his instincts and creativity, subject to the approval of an aristocratic public who, even if unable to follow his moments of peak genius, was still always able to proclaim one's success or artistic and economic failure.

The adult Wolfgang wanted recognition, over and above his place in the middle class as an accomplished and valid artist (and as such held in regard as an inferior merit to any nobleman in social and economic terms, as well as the capacity to judge that which was culturally worthy), perfectly aware of the technical and sentimental elements of his compositions. Respect for his art and for his work led him to obstinately defend his own artistic ideas in the face of the critique of a nobility that was not considered to be capable of comprehending them, but was instead not in the habit of being contradicted. Wolfgang was proud and, as he wrote in a letter to his father, did not want to "grovel" at the feet of nobility. The continual challenge that he had to engage in with the aristocratic world, with which he was obliged to coexist, caused him to accumulate a hidden aggression that emerged in his letters and in his work: Figaro who threatens Signor Contino to "do backflips", or the performance in "Don Giovanni" of the selfish and overbearing nobleman to all those of whom he held as inferior.

Mozart was more of a maverick than Beethoven; he did not aspire to change the world for the good of humanity, it was enough to change it to better himself (here, we must say that from a very young age, his father influenced his spirit of observation and the way he acted and thought). His extraordinary musical gift was enough to earn his respect and friendship, and at times the support, of many musicians who had come before him (such as the elder Franz Joseph Haydn), already appointed to prestigious positions and who, therefore, were not concerned with competition. His conviction, rightly so, even if often expressed without diplomacy, of being superior in comparison to any other European musician did lead him to have enemies and opponents who did not appreciate that their mediocrity were expressed so arrogantly to the public.

Wolfgang's habit of saying what he thought, without filter or diplomacy, generated a negative "man of the world" image and he maintained a remote distance to courtly surroundings where "attitude" meant everything. One of the modus operandi used by our man to highlight his superiority consisted of executing by memory and impeccably (on public occasions), pieces by composers present in which he followed with improvisations and variations that revealed his extraordinary abilities. He did this, for example, with Giovanni Giuseppe Cambini (1746 -- 1818), a student of the famous Padre Martini, composer, violinist, conductor and musical critic.

After the "treatment" of which he underwent in public, Wolfgang described the evening with Cambini in a letter to his father, adding: "Well, he won't have been able to stomach it". He knew then, that what he had done and that his irritating behavior made enemies of certain people who would have benefited him in society if he had had their support...but he did it anyway. This behavior, combined with his inability to take into consideration the position of the interlocutors with whom he was dealing (whether it were women he was infatuated of whom did not reciprocate his feelings or men who he frequented outside of friendship), we see a Mozart who was emotionally and socially immature, if not unsophisticated. The description of Wolfgang's personality lay outside of the realm of his music, however. So we have the perception of a Mozart split into two halves and possibly, in his last years, internally tormented by the duality between the musician and the man.

The musician: precise and attentive in every detail, with every aspect under control and the ability to seek perfection and to expect it from the orchestra. The man: unstable and even disoriented in expressing his feelings and sentimental plans, as his sister's thoughts convey, believing him to be naive in everything practical in life. However, upon the death of their father and the division of the inheritance, Wolfgang proved to be anything but naive, asking to be paid in Viennese florins rather than Salzburg florins which would give him the advantage in the rate of exchange (but here, Constanze, Wolfgang's cunning wife may have interfered, as there were interests involved).

In any case, the fact that his father, until he was able (as well as his mother, regarding her duties) organized and managed every aspect of Wolfgang's life, from his dress to the food he ate, from the organization of their journeys and concerts to the supervision of the earning and spending of money, all managed to create a man who never developed those preparatory experiences to become an independent adult. Wolfgang as an adult, for example, never cut the meat on his own plate, but had someone else do it; first by his family members and later by his wife. It is possible that it was simply a precaution to safeguard his precious hands from injury which would have caused him to cancel concerts and exhibitions or even traumatically suspend his career as a musician. In any case, the exaggeration of such a habit tells us a lot in favor of his inability to manage small daily tasks.

The completely failed results of the journey to Munich and Paris, where he was accompanied alone by his mother (who died in Paris) blatantly display the inability of Wolfgang to manage his existence, personal and work relations, as well as his sentimental and amorous life (as we see in his totally one-sided infatuation with Aloysia Weber, who he abandoned without a second thought when he was unable to derive any advantage). It is obvious that the incapacity to manage Wolfgang's own life created tension that his belief in the sheer ability to resolve his problems in any way were thanks to his artistic talent.

More anxiety in Wolfgang's life was gradually created in regard to his artistic and personal freedom and were exalted, with the exception of some outbursts in his correspondences, quite simply in his music: first in the creation of some of the most beautiful compositions in spite of the "boundaries" set by trends and commissioned work. Only one time, sarcastically and maybe inconsiderately for those times, he let his vision emerge. In the "The Marriage of Figaro", when the Count was exposed for his bullying, the aria "If you want to dance, Sir Count", directly incites something unheard of in that epoch: thoughts of revenge, even physical, on the part of Figaro, a servant! And yet the libretto, after the early difficulties related to the Imperial ban of the performance of Beaumarchais' opera, was approved by Joseph II in person, who shrewdly wanted to strike out at the power of the feudal aristocracy (depicted by the arrogant and womanizing Conte in Figaro) in favor of a new relationship between monarchy and subjects where the nobility's mediation would be reduced.

In fact, Mozart paid dearly for that moment of provocation (possibly even underestimated by him as his "political" terms were misunderstood), having passed the Imperial censorship but not the Viennese aristocratic public's perception of which, from that moment on, gradually abandoned him. In addition to the nobility's cold shoulder, irritated by Figaro, we look to the final years of his life and the incomprehension of the public toward the Mozartian artistic path; after the years of his great success where he knew how to best interpret for the tastes of an audience in compliance with appropriate style and method, the artist went over and above those limits with an innovative music that his public was not yet ready to comprehend or appreciate.

It was a courageous choice and rich in extraordinary results, artistically speaking, but a financial and socially prestigious disaster. One can imagine the effects of the loss of public approval, but like his father (at least outwardly), he accepted his hardships with fatalistic resignation: "As God wishes". A similar phrase was written to the Abbot Bulliger of Salzburg while conveying the news of his mother's death in Paris: "The Lord's will has been done" echoing the final phrase of a previous letter sent to Paris by his father who was aware of his wife's illness, prophesizing the worst, wrote: "Lord! Let your will be done".

As we will see, the accumulation of tension related to Wolfgang's freedom led to their traumatic break that marked the final part of his life: the dismissal of service from the Salzburg Court and the gradual detachment from his father and sister following his move to Vienna and marriage to Constanze. Breaking the chains that bound him became, in a certain period in the life of Wolfgang, an obsession that he clearly expressed in his opinion of the Archbishop Colloredo, who he defined as "the enemy of all men" and "a presumptuous and arrogant priest". We should not exclude the possibility that at times, even if at a subliminal or impulsive level, unkind thoughts surfaced in regard to his own father, with that authoritarian paternalism and his vision of a world anchored in values that were ever changing, holding him back (possibly because he knew him for the dreamer that he was) from leaping into adventures without a safety net.

Regarding Wolfgang's dismissal, preceded by the famous kick in the seat of his pants that sealed the matter, we should to give credit to Count Arco, "Gran maestro cuciniere" (the Royal Cook) for the Salzburg Court (he was actually a courtier himself who held a higher position than the Mozarts, but was a subordinate to the very conditions of minority in relation to the Archbishop) who had attempted many times to advise the young Wolfgang in behaving in a more appropriate way in relation to his position. Before administering the historic kick in the seat of his pants that went down in history, he actually revealed himself prophetic when he attempted to disenchant Wolfgang, speaking to him in the formal third person, with his Viennese yearnings: "... believe me, you have here (in Vienna, A/N) let yourself become dazzled; here, a person's fame is short-lived, at the beginning full of praise, and well-paid, it is all true, but for how long? After just a few months, the Viennese already want something new". And how right the Count was, as our golden boy experienced first-hand, flying toward his dreams and coming so close to the Imperial sun, that he burned his wings and his life.

Some authors describe Wolfgang as a stranger to servility and indifferent to honors and nobility. His personality and his vision of music compelled him to harshly admonish whoever continued to chatter, disturbing his exhibition, as happened on more than one occasion during his performances in the Viennese parlors. He wanted to be heard in complete silence and with the necessary concentration. In this, he was a precursor to all of the musicians who followed him (beginning with Beethoven) to the point that he would stand up in the middle of a performance and leave the room full of a distracted audience, creating discontent among the rude aristocrats who were not in the habit of being told how to behave.

On the other hand, he would spare no effort when he had an attentive and competent public, giving depth to all of his abilities, dispensing his most precious musical gems to the aficionados. Servility, in its less derogatory sense, could not have been unknown to a class of people like musicians, who depended almost completely upon the aristocracy. Permanent paid employment, commissions for new compositions (which were often dedicated to commissioned works or to princes or those who reigned of which some economical or career advantage was expected), assignments as a private tutor and the approved entrance to academies and concerts, all depended upon the benevolence of the nobility. The search for a permanent position with a regnant occupied his entire life, first by will of his father (who believed in the security of working for the Court) and later, by his own personal choice (after experiencing the inconsistencies of the public and of what he earned as a "freelance professional").

His attempts at finding a position, aside from that at the Salzburg Court, were many and varied. He tried with Karl Theodor von Wittelsbach (Prince-elector of the Palatinate and later, with Charles IV, Duke of Bavaria), with Charles Eugene (Duke of Württemberg), with Louis XV (King of France and Navarre), with the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, with Leopold II of Augsburg-Lorraine (Granduke of Tuscany and subsequently Emperor of Austria as successor to Joseph II), with Princes Thurn and Taxis, with the Prince Ernst Oettingen-Wallerstein, with the Princes Furstenberg, etc. The only position that he was able to obtain in 1787, was as a Chamber Composer for the Emperor Joseph II with a salary of 800 florins annually. As far as his indifference for honors and medals of honor, it is true that Wolfgang rarely showed off his Knighthood to the Order of the Golden Spur that he had received in Rome (after his Italian journeys, he would sign some of his compositions as Knight or Chevalier preceding his name), but we should note that such honors at that time had declined in general esteem, so much so that they were easily conceded (often in exchange for money) to those who had contacts in the Vatican. He, himself, signed some of his family letters with self-desecrating mockery, Rotter von Sauschwanz (Knight Porktail).

The episode that led Wolfgang to stop wearing the medal (having pinned it visibly to his chest, he was teased by two young aristocrats while in Augsburg) confirms that on one hand, how underestimated he was, and on the other, the importance that the young musician attributed (at that time, at least) to others' opinion of him. The total disinterest for anything that might be necessary to professionally present oneself, was confirmed by some by example of his forgetfulness; during the journey that he was to take to Mannheim and then Paris (1777 -- 1779), the academic diplomas received during the course of his travels in Italy were forgotten in Salzburg ... but then, evidently, he thought they might be useful and had them sent to him. We will follow the events of Wolfgang's life and of his family in the upcoming chapters of this book, following the rich epistolary that was left to us.

Amusing passions, games, entertainment ...

Wolfgang loved a good play on words and distorting phrases (at times with vulgarity), as is well-known; in the letters we find various examples. For a long time, the parts of the letters containing "inappropriate" language referring to sex or intestinal function were censured with the intention to protect the "angelic" image of the divine eternal child. Later, those literary passages were justified by some prudish exegetes as intellectual posture, a bit snob and a bit rebel. The fact is that the coprolalia and a certain level of vulgarity made up a large part of the Mozart family, not to mention the entire German culture if we take into consideration how much Wolfgang wrote about the evenings passed at the Cannabich household during his stay in Mannheim, in which "we talk about shit, crapping and licking asses". In any case, Wolfgang never held back, as we see in the correspondence with his mother as well, in writing vulgar phrases in the letters to his father: "Last night, your Herr son vomited, pissed and shit in his bed". (letter dated 13 December 1780 from Munich).

The most famous testimony of the language used in the family, we find in a letter in which Anna Maria Pertl (the mother) writes to Leopold from Munich in 1777: "Goobye, my lov (sic), be well, into your mouth your arse you'll shove. I hope you sleep well, but first shit in the bed until it explodes, it's already past one o'clock, now you can make a rhyme.".

If this language was commonly used in the family and had been inherited by Wolfgang, it can be deduced by the lyrics of some of the canons composed by him, such as the following catalog K561: Bona nox, bist a rechta Ox!

The translation:

"Good night! You are quite an ox; Good night, dear Lotte; good night, phooey, phooey; good night, good night, we still have long to go today; good night, good night, shit in your bed and make it burst; good night, sleep tight and stick your ass to your mouth.".

If we need more testimony, here are the lyrics from the canon K231.

"Lick my ass. Let us be glad! Grumbling is in vain! Growling, droning is in vain, is the true bane of life, Droning is in vain, Growling, droning is in vain! Thus let us be cheerful and merry, be glad!".

In an attempt to hide this aspect of the Mozartian personality, the publishers Breitkopf and Hartel intervened, eliminating the obscene parts and substituting the lyrics with a totally different meaning. Moreover, the widow Constanze, did her best to destroy the parts of the correspondence that would have damaged her reputation and the memory of her husband, bringing on financial hardship.

Distorting words, twisting their meaning and generally treating them the same way a composer often treats notes and melodies (retrograde and contrary motion, augmentation and diminution, etc.) was the make up of his natural character. Here we have a fun example about a piece written by a twenty-three year old Wolfgang (1779) that he included in his sister, Nannerl's diary: "The 26^th at 7 I massed (I went to mass A/N), then I was impatiented by the councilor and by the Mayr family (friends of the family A/N), in the afternoon I was lodronated and at 3 dislodronated (lesson by Conti Lodron, whose children Wolfgang and Nannerl gave piano lessons, and were later dismissed A/N), after 4 we were feigelated (visited the home of Karl von Feigele, a suitor of Nannerl but unaccepted by Leopold Mozart - Feigele later became a priest A/N), we then coined in tarocchi (we played a card game called tarocchi with money A/N), the sky watered almost all day (it rained) and we were heavily aired (it was very windy).