Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as Revealed in his own Words

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(Vienna, May 12, 1781.)

135. "To please you, best of fathers, I would sacrifice my
happiness, my health and my life; but my honor is my own, and
ought to be above all else to you. Let Count Arco and all
Salzburg read this letter."

(Vienna, May 19, 1781. It was Count Arco who had dismissed Mozart
with a kick. The father was thrown into consternation at the
maltreatment of his son and sought to persuade Mozart to return
to Salzburg. Mozart replied: "Best, dearest father, ask of me
anything you please but not that; the very thought makes me
tremble with rage.")

136. "You did not think when you wrote this that such a back-step
would stamp me as one of the most contemptible fellows in the
world. All Vienna knows that I have left the Archbishop, knows
why, knows that it is because of my injured honor, of an injury
inflicted three times,--and I am to make a public denial,
proclaim myself a cur and the Archbishop a noble prince? No man
could do the former, least of all I, and the second can only be
done by God if He should choose to enlighten him."

(Vienna, May 19, 1781, to his father, who had asked him to return
to the service of the Archbishop.)

137. "If it be happiness to be rid of a prince who never pays
one, but torments him to death, then I am happy. For if I had to
work from morning till night I would do it gladly rather than
live off the bounty of such a,--I do not dare to call him by the
name he deserves,--I was forced to take the step I did and I can
not swerve a hair's breadth from it; impossible."

(Vienna, May 19, 1781.)

138. "Salzburg is nothing now to me except it offer an
opportunity to give the Count a kick ... even if it were in the
public street. I desire no satisfaction from the Archbishop, for
he is not in a position to offer me the kind that I want and must
have. Within a day or two I shall write to the Count telling him
what he can confidently expect to receive from me the first time
I meet him, be it where it may, except a place that commands my
respect."

(Vienna, June 13, 1781, to his father. Count Arco's offence has
been mentioned. On June 16 Mozart wrote: "The hungry ass shall
not escape my chastisement if I have to wait twenty years; for as
soon as I see him he shall come in contact with my foot, unless I
should be so unfortunate as to see him in the sanctuary." [The
reader will probably guess that the translator is resorting to
euphemisms in rendering Mozart's language. H.E.K.])

139. "It is the heart that confers the patent of nobility on man;
and although I am no count I probably have more honor within me
than many a count. Menial or count, whoever insults me is a cur.
I shall begin by representing to him, with complete gravity, how
badly he did his business, but at the end I shall have to assure
him in writing that he is to expect a kick ... and a box on the
ear from me; for if a man insults me I have got to be revenged,
and if I give him no more than he gave me, it is mere retaliation
and not punishment. Besides I should thus put myself on a level
with him, and I am too proud to compare myself with such a stupid
gelding."

(Vienna, June 20, 1781, to his father. These expressions, called
out by the insulting treatment received from the Archbishop and
Count Arco, are in striking contrast to Mozart's habitual
amiability.)

140. "I can easily believe that the court parasites will look
askance at you, but why need you disturb yourself about such a
miserable pack? The more inimical such persons are to you the
greater the pride and contempt with which you should look down
upon them."

(Vienna, June 20, 1778, to his father, who fears that some of the
consequences of his son's step may be visited upon him.)

141. "I do not ask of you that you make a disturbance or enter
the least complaint, but the Archbishop and the whole pack must
fear to speak to you about this matter, for you (if compelled)
can without the slightest alarm say frankly that you would be
ashamed to have reared a son who would have accepted abuse from
such an infamous cur as Arco; and you may assure all that if I
had the good luck to meet him today I should treat him as he
deserves, and that he would have occasion to remember me the rest
of his life. All that I want is that everybody shall see in your
bearing that you have nothing to fear. Keep quiet; but if
necessary, speak, and then to some purpose."

(Vienna, July 4, 1781, to his father.)

142. "I may say that because of Vogler, Winter was always my
greatest enemy. But because he is a beast in his mode of life,
and in all other matters a child, I would be ashamed to set down
a single word on his account; he deserves the contempt of all
honorable men. I will, therefore, not tell infamous truths rather
than infamous lies about him."

(Vienna, December 22, 1781, to his father, to whose ears Peter
Winter, a composer, had brought slanderous reports concerning
Mozart and his Constanze. Winter was a pupil of Abbe Vogler. See
No. 66.)

143. "He is a nice fellow and a good friend of mine; I might
often dine with him, but it is a custom with me never to take pay
for my favors; nor would a dish of soup pay them. Yet such people
have wonderful notions of what they accomplish with one....I am
fond of doing favors for people but they must not plague me. She
(the daughter) is not satisfied if I spend two hours every day
with her, but wants me to loll about the whole day; yet she tries
to play the well behaved one."

(Vienna, August 22, 1781, to his father. Mozart is writing about
a landlord and his daughter concerning whom favorable reports had
reached the ears of the father. Mozart explains matters and soon
thereafter announces a change of lodgings.)

144. "I beg of you that when you write to me about something in
my conduct which is displeasing to you, and I in turn give you my
views, let it always be a matter between father and son, and
therefore a secret not to be divulged to others. Let our letters
suffice and do not address yourself to others, for, by heaven, I
will not give a finger's length of accounting concerning my
doings or omissions to others, not even to the Emperor himself. I
have cares and anxieties of my own and have no use for petulant
letters."

(Vienna, September 5, 1781, to his father, who lent a willing ear
to gossips and was never chary of his reproaches. Mozart was
already twenty-five years old.)

145. "If I were Wiedmer I would demand the following satisfaction
from the Emperor: he should endure 50 strokes at the same place
in my presence and then he should pay me 6,000 ducats. If I could
not obtain this satisfaction I should take none, but thrust a
dagger through his heart at the first opportunity. N.B. He has
already had an offer of 3,000 ducats on condition that he does
not come to Vienna, but permits the matter to drop. The people of
Innsbruck say of Wiedmer: he who was scourged for our sake will
also redeem us."

(Vienna, August 8, 1781, to his father. Herr von Wiedmer was a
nobleman and theatre director, who, without cause, had been
sentenced to a whipping by the president, Count Wolkenstein, on
the complaint of another nobleman. [Mozart's bloodthirstiness was
probably due to memories of Arco's kick still rankling in his
heart. It was only after long solicitation from his father that
he abandoned his plan to send Arco the threatened letter.
H.E.K.])

146. "You perhaps already know that the musico Marquesi--
Marquesius di Milano--was poisoned in Naples; but how! He was in
love with a duchess and her real amant grew jealous and sent
three or four bravos to Marquesi and left him the choice of
drinking poison or being massacred. He chose the poison. Being a
timid Italian he died alone and left his gentlemen murderers to
live in rest and peace. Had they come into my room, I would have
taken a few of them with me into the other world, as long as some
one had to die. Pity for so excellent a singer!"

(Munich, December 30, 1780, to his father. Mozart, on the whole,
was one of the most peaceable men on earth, but he was not
wanting in personal courage, and he could fly into transports of
rage.)

147. "If you were to write also to Prince Zeil I should be glad.
But short and good. Do not by any means crawl! That I can not
endure."

(Mannheim, December 10, 1777, to his father. Count Ferdinand von
Zeil was Prince Bishop of Chimsee and favorably disposed towards
Mozart, who was hoping for an appointment in Munich. "If he wants
to do something he can; all Munich told me that." Nothing came of
it.)

148. "Whoever judges me by such bagatelles is also a scamp!"

(Mozart wrote many occasional pieces for his friends,--fitting
them to the players' capacities. Mozart said that the publisher
who bought some of these "bagatelles" and printed them without
applying to him was a scamp (Lump), but took no proceedings
against him.) 149. "Very well; then I shall earn nothing more, go
hungry and the devil a bit will I care!"

(Mozart's answer to Hofmeister, the Leipsic publisher, who had
said: "Write in a more popular style or I can neither print nor
pay for anything of yours.")

STRIVINGS AND LABORS

150. "We live in this world only that we may go onward without
ceasing, a peculiar help in this direction being that one
enlightens the other by communicating his ideas; in the sciences
and fine arts there is always more to learn."

(Salzburg, September 7, 1776, to Padre Martini of Bologna, whose
opinion he asks concerning a motet which the Archbishop of
Salzburg had faulted.)

151. "I am just now reading 'Telemachus;' I am in the second
part."

(Bologna, September 8, 1770, to his mother and sister.)

152. "Because you said yesterday that you could understand
anything, and that I might write what I please in Latin,
curiosity has led me to try you with some Latin lines. Have the
kindness when you have solved the problem to send the result to
me by the Hagenauer servant maid."

"Cuperem scire, de qua causa, a quam plurimis adolescentibus
ottium usque adeo aestimetur, ut ipsi se nec verbis, nec
verberibus ab hoc sinant abduci."

(The Archiepiscopal concertmaster, aged 13, writes thus to a girl
friend.)

153. "Since then I have exercised myself daily in the French
language, and already taken three lessons in English. In three
months I hope to be able to read and understand the English books
fairly well."

(Vienna, August 17, 1782, to his father. Mozart had given it out
that he intended to go to Paris or London. Prince Kaunitz had
said to Archduke Maximilian that men like Mozart lived but once
in a hundred years, and should not be driven out of Germany.
Mozart, however, writes to his father: "But I do not want to wait
on charity; I find that, even if it were the Emperor, I am not
dependent on his bounty.")

154. "I place my confidence in three friends, and they are strong
and invincible friends, viz: God, your head and my head. True our
heads differ, but each is very good, serviceable, and useful in
its genre, and in time I hope that my head will be as good as
yours in the field in which now yours is superior."

(Mannheim, February 28, 1778, to his father.)

155. "Believe me, I do not love idleness, but work. True it was
difficult in Salzburg and cost me an effort and I could scarcely
persuade myself. Why? Because I was not happy there. You must
admit that, for me at least, there was not a pennyworth of
entertainment in Salzburg. I do not want to associate with many
and of the majority of the rest I am not fond. There is no
encouragement for my talent! If I play, or one of my compositions
is performed, the audience might as well consist of tables and
chairs....In Salzburg I sigh for a hundred amusements, and here
for not one; to live in Vienna is amusement enough."

(Vienna, May 26, 1781, to his father, who was concerned as to the
progress making in Vienna.) 156. "I beg of you, best and dearest
of fathers, do not write me any more letters of this kind,--I
conjure you, for they serve no other purpose than to heat my head
and disturb my heart and mood. And I, who must compose
continually, need a clear head and quiet mood."

(Vienna, June 9, 1781, to his father, who had reproached him
because of his rupture with the Archbishop.)

157. "If there ever was a time when I was not thinking about
marriage it is now. I wish for nothing less than a rich wife, and
if I could make my fortune by marriage now I should perforce have
to wait, because I have very different things in my head. God did
not give me my talent to put it a-dangle on a wife, and spend my
young life in inactivity. I am just beginning life, and shall I
embitter it myself? I have nothing against matrimony, but for me
it would be an evil just now."

(Vienna, July 25, 1781, to his father, who was solicitous lest he
fall in love with one of the daughters in the Weber family with
whom he was living. All manner of rumors had been carried to him.
The father persuaded his son to seek other lodgings; but
Constanze Weber eventually became Mozart's wife nevertheless.)

158. "This sort of composer can do nothing in this genre. He has
no conception of what is wanted. Lord! if God had only given me
such a place in the church and before such an orchestra!"

(A remark made in Leipsic, in 1789, in reference to a composer
who was suited to comic opera work, but had received an
appointment as Church composer. Mozart examined a mass of his and
said: "It sounds all very well, but not in church." He then
played it through with new words improvised by himself, such as
(in the Cum sancto spiritu) "Stolen property, gentlemen, but no
offence.")

159. "You see my intentions are good; but if you can't, you
can't! I do not want to scribble, and therefore can not send you
the whole symphony before next post day."

(Vienna, July 31, 1782, to his father, who had asked for a
symphony for the Hafner family in Salzburg.)

160. "I do not beg pardon; no! But I beg of Herr Bullinger that
he himself apply to himself for pardon in my behalf, with the
assurance that as soon as I can do so in quiet I shall write to
him. Until now no such occasion has offered itself, for as soon
as I know that in all likelihood I must leave a place I have no
restful hour. And although I still have a modicum of hope, I am
not at ease and shall not be until I know my status."

(Mannheim, November 22, 1777, to his father. Abbe Bullinger was
the most intimate friend that the Mozart family had in Salzburg.
Mozart had been negligent in his correspondence.)

161. "To live well and to live happily are different things, and
the latter would be impossible for me without witchcraft; it
would have to be supernatural; and that is impossible for there
are no witches now-a-days."

(Paris, August 7, 1778, to his friend Bullinger, who had sought
to persuade him to return to Salzburg.)

162. "The Duke de Chabot sat himself down beside me and listened
attentively; and I--I forgot the cold, and the headache and
played regardless of the wretched clavier as I play when I am in
the mood. Give me the best clavier in Europe and at the same time
hearers who understand nothing or want to understand nothing, and
who do not feel what I play with me, and all my joy is gone."

(Paris, May 1, 1778, to his father. The Duchess had behaved very
haughtily and kept Mozart sitting in a cold room for a long time
before the Duke came.)

AT HOME AND ABROAD

163. "I assure you that without travel we (at least men of the
arts and sciences) are miserable creatures. A man of mediocre
talent will remain mediocre whether he travel or not; but a man
of superior talent (which I can not deny I am, without doing
wrong) deteriorates if he remains continually in one place."

(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father, who had secured an
appointment for him at Salzburg which he was loath to accept. He
asked that the Archbishop permit him to travel once in two years.
He feared that he "would find no congenial society" in Salzburg,
where, moreover, music did not stand in large appreciation.
Mozart's subsequent experiences were of the most pitiable
character.)

164. "Write me, how is Mr. Canary? Does he still sing? Does he
still pipe? Do you know why I am thinking of the canary? Because
there is one in our anteroom that makes the same little sounds as
ours."

(Naples, May 19, 1770, to his sister. Mozart was very fond of
animals. In a letter from Vienna to his sister on August 21,
1773, he writes: "How is Miss Bimbes? Please present all manner
of compliments to her." "Miss Bimbes" was a dog. At another time
he wrote a pathetic little poem on the death of a starling. While
in the midst of the composition and rehearsal of "Idomeneo" he
wrote to his father: "Give Pimperl (a dog) a pinch of Spanish
snuff, a good wine-biscuit and three busses.")

165. "Because of my disposition which leans towards a quiet,
domestic life rather than to boisterousness, and the fact that
since my youth I have never given a thought to my linen, clothing
or such things, I can think of nothing more necessary than a
wife. I assure you that I frequently spend money unnecessarily
because I am negligent of these things. I am convinced that I
could get along better than I do now on the same income if I had
a wife. How many unnecessary expenditures would be saved? Others
are added, it is true, but you know in advance what they are and
can adjust them;--in a word you lead a regulated life. In my
opinion an unmarried man lives only half a life; that is my
conviction and I can not help it. I have resolved the matter over
and over in my mind and am of the same opinion still."

(Vienna, December 15, 1781, to his father.)

166. "At present I have only one pupil....I could have several if
I were to lower my fee; but as soon as one does that one loses
credit. My price is twelve lessons for six ducats, and I make it
understood besides that I give the lessons as a favor. I would
rather have three pupils who pay well than six who pay ill. I am
writing this to you to prevent you from thinking that it is
selfishness which prevents me from sending you more than thirty
ducats."

(Vienna, June 16, 1781, to his father. [In American money
Mozart's fee is represented by $1.20 per lesson. H.E.K.])

167. "I could not go about Vienna looking like a tramp,
particularly just at this time. My linen was pitiable; no servant
here has shirts of such coarse stuff as mine,--and that certainly
is a frightful thing for a man. Consequently there were again
expenditures. I had only one pupil; she suspended her lessons for
three weeks, and I was again the loser. One must not throw one's
self away here,--that is a first principle,--or one is ruined
forever. The most audacious man wins the day."

(Vienna, September 5, 1781, to his father, excusing himself for
not having made remittances.)

168. "Resent anything and at once you receive smaller pay.
Besides all this the Emperor is a skinflint. If the Emperor wants
me he ought to pay for me; the mere honor of being in his employ
is not enough. If the Emperor were to offer me 1,000 florins and
a count 2,000, I should present my compliments to the Emperor and
go to the count,--assuming a guarantee, of course."

(Vienna, April 10, 1782, to his father. Mozart was not too
industrious in the pursuit of a court appointment, yet had reason
to be hopeful. Near the end of his short life the appointment
came from Joseph II, to whom Mozart had been too faithful.)

169. "I described my manner of life to my father only recently,
and I will now repeat it to you. At six o'clock in the morning I
am already done with my friseur, and at seven I am fully dressed.
Thereupon I compose until nine o'clock. From nine to one I give
lessons; then I eat unless I am a guest at places where they dine
at two or even three o'clock,--as, for instance, today and
tomorrow with Countess Zichy and Countess Thun. I can not work
before five or six o'clock in the evening and I am often
prevented even then by a concert; if not I write till nine. Then
I go to my dear Constanze, where the delight of our meeting is
generally embittered by the words of her mother;--hence my desire
to free and save her as soon as possible. At half after ten or
eleven I am again at home. Since (owing to the occasional
concerts and the uncertainty as to whether or not I may be called
out) I can not depend on having time for composition in the
evening, I am in the habit (particularly when I come home early)
of writing something before I go to bed. Frequently I forget
myself and write till one o'clock,--then up again at six."

(Vienna, February 13, 1782, to his sister Marianne--Nannerl, as
he called her.)

170. "We do not go to bed before 12 o'clock and get up half after
five or five, because nearly every day we take an early walk in
the Augarten."

(Vienna, May 26, 1784, to his father, to whom he complains of his
maid-servant who came from Salzburg and who had written to the
father that she was not permitted to sleep except between 11 and
6 o'clock.)

171. "Now as to my mode of life: As soon as you were gone I
played two games of billiards with Herr von Mozart who wrote the
opera for Schickaneder's theatre; then I sold my nag for fourteen
ducats; then I had Joseph call my primus and bring a black
coffee, to which I smoked a glorious pipe of tobacco....At 5:30 I
went out of the door and took my favorite promenade through the
Glacis to the theatre. What do I see? What do I smell? It is the
primus with the cutlet Gusto! I eat to your health. It has just
struck 11 o'clock. Perhaps you are already asleep. Sh! sh! sh! I
do not want to wake you."

"Saturday, the 8th. You ought to have seen me yesterday at
supper! I could not find the old dishes and therefore produced a
set as white as snow-flowers and had the wax candelabra in front
of me."

(Vienna, October 7, 1791, to his wife, who was taking the waters
at Baden. Mozart was fond of billiards and often played alone as
on this occasion. He was careful of his health and had been
advised by his physician to ride; but he could not acquire a
taste for the exercise--Hence the sale of his horse. The primus
was his valet, a servant found in every Viennese household at the
time. Out of the door through which he stepped on beginning his
walk to the theatre his funeral procession passed two months
later.)

172. "I have done more work during the ten days that I have lived
here than in two months in any other lodgings; and if it were not
that I am too often harassed by gloomy thoughts which I can
dispel only by force, I could do still more, for I live
pleasantly, comfortably and cheaply."

(Vienna, June 27, 1788, to his friend Puchberg.)

173. "I have no conveniences for writing there (i.e. at Baden),
and I want to avoid embarrassments as much as possible. Nothing
is more enjoyable than a quiet life and to obtain that one must
be industrious. I am glad to be that."

(Vienna, October 8, 1791, to his wife at Baden. Mozart probably
refers to work on his "Requiem." He says further: "If I had had
nothing to do I would have gone with you to spend the week.")

174. "Now the babe against my will, yet with my consent, has been
provided with a wet nurse. It was always my determination that,
whether she was able to do so or not, my wife was not to suckle
her child; but neither was the child to guzzle the milk of
another woman. I want it brought up on water as I and my sister
were, but..."

(Vienna, June 8, 1783, to his father, the day after his first
child was born. The "Dear, thick, fat little fellow" died soon
after.)

175. "Young as I am, I never go to bed without thinking that
possibly I may not be alive on the morrow; yet not one of the
many persons who know me can say that I am morose or melancholy.
For this happy disposition I thank my Creator daily, and wish
with all my heart that it were shared by all my fellows."

(Vienna, April 4, 1787, to his father, shortly before the
latter's death. Mozart himself died when, he was not quite
thirty-six years old.)

176. "If it chances to be convenient I shall call on the Fischers
for a moment; longer than that I could not endure their warm room
and the wine at table. I know very well that people of their
class think they are bestowing the highest honors when they offer
these things, but I am not fond of such things,--still less of
such people."

(Vienna, December 22, 1781, to his sister. Mozart was acquainted
with the Fischer family from the time of his first journeys as a
child. The contrast which he draws between the artist and the
comfort-loving, commonplace citizen is diverting.)

177. "The Viennese are a people who soon grow weary and
listless,--but only of the theatre. My forte is too popular to be
neglected. This, surely, is Clavierland!"

(Spoken to Count Arco who had warned him against removing to
Vienna because of the fickleness of the Viennese public. He
wanted him to return to Salzburg.)

178. "I am writing at a place called Reisenberg which is an
hour's distance from Vienna. I once stayed here over night; now I
shall remain a few days. The house is insignificant, but the
surroundings, the woods in which a grotto has been built as
natural as can be, are splendid and very pleasant."

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