The Letters of Mozart and his Family

1081 Pages·1966·107.437 MB·English

by  Emily Anderson (editor)

LEOPOLD MOZART WITH HIS SON AND DAUGHTER (1763)
From a water-colour painting by Carmontelle
(Musee Conde, Chantilly)
THE
LETTERS OF MOZART
AND HIS FAMILY
Chronologically a"anged, translated and edited
with an Introduction, Notes and Indexes
by
EMILY ANDERSON
Seco11d edltum (1966) mnsrd hy
ALEC HYATT KING ,md MONICA CAROLAN
Thtrd edtttoll (1985) revtsrd hy
STANLEY SADIE a11d FIONA SMART
Copyright © The Executors of the late Miss Emily Anderson, 1966
Revisions © Macmillan Reference Ltd, 1985, 1988, 1997
All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this
publication may be made without written permission.
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Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication
may be !table to crimtnal prosecution and c1vtl claims for damages.
Hardback edmon w1th rev1sions published 1985, 1988
ISBN 978-0-333-48545-3 ISBN 978-1-349-10654-7 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-10654-7
F1rst published tn paperback 1989 by
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This edition pubhshed with rev1s1ons in 1997 by
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Brttish Library Catalogumg tn Publtcation Data
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
The letters of Mozart and h1s fam1ly. - 3rd ed.
1. Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus 2. Composers -
Austria - B1ography
I. Title II. Anderson, Em1ly
780' .92' 4 ML410.M9
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE
TO THE THIRD EDITION
EMILY Anderson's translation of the Mozart family letters 1s one of the class1c~ of the
Mozart hterature, mdeed one of the class1cs of musiCal literature generally Under
taken m the I9JOS, It antedated any other complete versiOn, many language.
Half a century has now passed smce M1ss Anderson undertook the mam part of
her work. It has been an active time m Mozart scholarship, m sp1te of the poht!Cal
VICISSitudes that Europe has suffered and the consequent unava!lab1hty of much VItal
source matenal. A new edmon of the Kochel catalogue of Mozart's works appeared
m 1964, by wh1ch date Wolfgang Plath had already begun to pubhsh the first results
of h1s research on Mozart's handwntmg and Its chronology - research that con
tmued to produce Important results for 20 years, durmg the last ten ofwh1ch It has
been supplemented (and supported) by Alan Tyson's research on the papers that
Mozart used The new complete edltlon of Mozart\ works (the Neue Mozart
Ausgabe), whiCh was mstltuted m 1955, mcludes a number of publications not of
mus1c but of documentary matenal, among them the documentary bwgraphy
prepared by Otto Ench Deutsch (1961) and, mmated by Deutsch but ch1efiy earned
out by W A. Bauer andJ H E1bl, the seven-volume edltlon of the Mozart fam1ly
correspondence (1962-75, 111cludmg two volumes of detailed commentary and one
of111dex)
Lmlc ofth1s matenal was available to Alec Hyatt K111g and Momca Carolan when
they prepared the second edmon of Emily Anderson's translation. for pubhcatlon 111
1966 In th1s th1rd edmon, an attempt has been made to prov1de new or rev1sed
annotations wh1ch, as far as possible, br111g the 111format1on supplementary to the
text 111 hne with the most recent find111gs of scholarship The text here IS, of course,
based on that of 1966 rather than the 1938 ong111al
It ha~ from ttme to umc been pomtcd out that M1~s Anderson's text does not
always fully reflect the qmcks1lver changes of mood and of tempo 111 Mozart's own
hterary style and prov1des It w1th a fiuent hteracy that 1s wantmg m the ongmal
More to the pomt, as far a~ the present rev1s10n 1~ concerned, 1s the d1fferL·nce m
~cholarly approach between the 19 30s and the 1980~ In her translations, M1~s
Ander~on d1d not show where matenal wa~ omitted m those letters wh1ch arc
pnnted 111 extract form (these mdude none from Mozart h1mself, It should be
noted). we have md1cated with a margmal astensk the pomts at~ h!Ch thcrl' are such
om1~s10ns, and have marked any substantially paraphra'>cd passage~ With a bracket
alongs1de the text. M1~~ Andcr~on's om1~~1ons rarely tf ever concern any pa~sage
refernng to mus1c, mu~!Ciam, performances or mdced Mozart htmself; the omitted
matenal generally treats of practical or tnv1al matters '>Uch as deta1b of JOurnq s,
weather, atlments and new' of or greettng'> from acqu.untance~ Where an a~tcn-.k
appears alongs1de a letter wntten by Mozart himself. It mdiCates that a note added by
someone else has been omitted Mtss Ander~on generally ~tandardtzed, and ~ome­
time~ .mghnzed, name form~ and spelhngs Often '>he filled out dates and place
names mentioned or tmphed 111 the text (thus 'the Ilth' m1ght be changed to '12
October', or 'here' might be altered to 'Mumch') Occaswnally ~he made mmor
adjustments to spelhngo; of words 111 those passage~ not 111 the German language, and
also m hst> of names, though It was her general mtentlon to leave these 111 their
ongmal forms A few of her mdiCatlOm of whll'h word<; arc cyphcred Ill letters
v
between members of the family are not strictly accurate. Very occasionally, Miss
Anderson drew on material from Leopold Mozart's travel notes to help elucidate a
passage; and sometimes she transferred sentences from one letter to another, usually
also for that purpose. In the present edition, such passages have been adjusted,
except those of a wholly trivial nature; anything that could be regarded as mislead
ing or inaccurate in the light of recent findings has been corrected.
Mozart scholars have from time to time drawn attention to minor inaccuracies in
the translations themselves. We are particularly grateful to Peter Branscombe for
drawing attention to some of these, which have duly been corrected. A number of
corrections have also been made to the dates of letters and to the identities of
recipients (e.g. Letter 536*, which now seems likely to have been addressed to
Count Wenzel Paar). A large number of footnotes have been revised to take into
account the findings of recent research, both on the chronology of Mozart's works
and on his contemporaries. For this we have drawn on a variety of sources,
especially the documentary biography and, of course, the commentary volumes to
the letters in the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe text. Some source locations have changed,
and these are duly noted. Where an autograph source not used by Miss Anderson is
now known, this is detailed in a footnote. It has, of course, been necessary to revise
substantially the indexes of works and, in particular, persons: many figures referred
to only casually in the text are now more exactly identified, and mistaken identifi
cations are corrected. The process of editorial correction was planned by Stanley
Sadie wah Fiona Smart and carried out by Ms Smart.
The following abbreviations are used throughout the book. For full biblio
graphical details see Bibliography, P·979·
AMZ = Allgemeine musika/ische Zeitung (1798/9)
MBA = Mozart: Briefe und A!ifzeichnungen (1962-75)
MDB = Mozart: a Documentary Biography (2/1966)
MM = Mozarteums-Mitteilungen (1918-21)
MMB = Mitteilungen fur die Mozartgemeinde in Berlin (1895-1925)
WSF = Wolfgang Amedee Mozart: sa vie musicale et son oeuvre (1912-46)
ZMW = Zeitschriftfor Musikwissenschaft (19I8/r9-1935)
VI
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE TO THE
SECOND EDITION
THE first edition of Emily Anderson's Letters of Mozart and his Family was
published in three volumes in 193 8. Volume one went out of print in 1954
and volumes two and three in 1956. A selection of these letters, edited
and introduced by the late Dr. Eric Blom with Miss Anderson's assistance,
was first published by Penguin Books in 1956 under the title of Mozart's
Letters. This was, of course, never intended to serve as more than a stop
gap. Miss Anderson had long hoped to undertake the revision of the
larger work and after her translation of The Letters of Beethoven was pub
lished in October 1961, she returned to Mozart, but her work was cut
short by her sudden and much regretted death in October 1962.
By that date, she had finished a preliminary revision of the Mozart
letters, in the course of which she had noted many passages which required
checking for re-translation and footnotes which were to be emended or
amplified. She had also marked various points in her text at which cor
rections and suggestions, sent to her over the years by Mozart scholars,
were to be incorporated. It was likewise her intention to translate certain
passages from the original German which she had omitted from the earlier
edition. The only substantial change which she envisaged was that the
letters of Constanze Mozart to Johann Anton Andre, translated and anno
tated by Dr. C. B. Oldman, were to be omitted, with his consent.
In the spring of 1963, the publishers engaged Miss Monica Carolan and
Mr. A. Hyatt King to complete Miss Anderson's limited revision, to
prepare the copy for the printer, read the proofs, compile new indexes and
see the volumes through the press. Miss Carolan, who had assisted Miss
Anderson throughout her work on the Beethoven letters, had also shared
the preliminary revision of the Mozart letters. She was thus familiar with
her system of annotation and knew how her accumulated papers could
best be used. Mr. King had been a close friend of Miss Anderson for many
years and had himself specialised in Mozart.
The revised edition includes seven Letters not in the 1938 edition,
namely 273,1 425**, 476*, 536*, 547*, 549*, 609*. Letters 96a and 273a
are now published in a substantially expanded form from rediscovered
autographs. (Letters 96a, 273a and 547* had previously been published in
the Penguin edition.)
The following points may also be noted:
In a few Letters, passages formerly ascribed to Mozart himself have been
1 The letter numbered 1.73 m the 1938 edition has proved to be a postscript and is now
numbered :Z7Ja.
Vll
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
shown by Dr. Wilhelm Bauer and Professor Otto Erich Deutsch to be
postscripts written by other members of his family. Here the necessary
adjustment has been made. Certain changes have been made in the spelling
of names in the text. The signatures of all Letters, whether abbreviated or
not, are given exactly as in the originals.
The location ofa utographs or other sources has been brought up to date
where possible.
Letters and passages in French have been kept in the original ortho
graphy.
The names of churches have been translated throughout.
In many autographs, the date is given with the writer's signature at the
end. In these cases, the date has been repeated in square brackets at the
head. Square brackets have also been used
(a) to enclose words or figures supplied in an incomplete original date,
(b) to enclose a conjectural date supplied to an undated letter.
Page-references to Kochel's Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis
siimtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amade Mozarts are to the sixth edition
(1964). Traditional Kochel numbering has been retained with the
numbers of the sixth edition added in square brackets.
With few exceptions, other references have been left as given in the
1938 edition, although the source referred to may now be available in a
more comprehensive and easily accessible publication.
I
We are confident that Miss Anderson would have wished us to express
cordial thanks to Professor Otto Erich Deutsch. As an assiduous corre
spondent for two decades, he sent her a large quantity of corrections and
suggestions, affecting both text and footnotes, which have been most
gratefully incorporated.
Among Miss Anderson's regular correspondents during a long period
were also the late Dr. Alfred Einstein and the late Professor Erich Hertz
mann. The information which they gave her has likewise been gladly
used. Much valuable advice and information has also been given by Dr.
C. B. Oldman, who knew Miss Anderson well for nearly thirty years. Dr.
Oldman has also kindly read the proofs and made various suggestions.
Valuable assistance with proof-reading has also been given by Mr.
H. C. Robbins Landon.
For permission to translate three previously unknown autograph letters
our thanks are due to: the late Mr. S. L. Courtauld {Letter 425**),
1 For instance, the entries relevant to Mozart in Count Zinzendorf's diary, mentioned on
p. s. n. I, partially printed in the Mozarteums Mitteilungtn for 19I9, have now been included by
0. E. Deutsch in Mozart. Die Dokumentt seines Lebens; and Leopold Mozart's Reiseaufzeich
s.
nungen (see p. n. 4, and elsewhere), edited by Schutig in 1920 and now out of print,
are given throughout volumes I and II of Mozart. Briefe und Aufzeichnungen. For general
information, it may be noted that a list of important works on Mozart issued since 1938
is given on pp. xxxv, xxxvi [third edition: see Bibliography, pp. 97lr-8o).
Vlll
PUBLISHER'S PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION
Mr. Albi Rosenthal (Letter 273) and Mr. G. M. Schnitzler (Letter
549*). Mr. Rosenthal also kindly made available another autograph in
his possession, Letter 273a, which was formerly known only in the
extract quoted by Nissen. Thanks are also due to the late Mr. Richard
Border, who owned the autograph of Letter 425* (previously known
only from Nohl and thought to be a postscript) and brought it to Miss
Anderson's attention.
We would fmally express our gratitude to Barenreiter Verlag, Kassel,
for permission to make the above-mentioned adjustments of some post
scripts and for permission to publish translations ofLctters 235a and 536*
from the text given in:
Mozart. Briefe und Aufzeichnungen-Gesamtausgabe, herausgegeben
von der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, gesammelt und
erlautert von Wilhelm A. Bauerund Otto Erich Deutsch. Vier Textbande,
ein Kommentar-, ein Register-Band (Barenreitcr-Verlag Kassel, Basel,
Paris, London, New York 1962 ff.).
The editors of the second edition would like to express their thanks to
Mr. H. Cowdell and Mr. T. M. Farmiloe, who have lavished much pains
on these volumes at all stages of their production.
IX
PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION [1938]
IT is impossible to acknowledge all the obligations I have incurred in the
course of preparing this work, but I wish to thank in particular: Professor
Ludwig Schiedermair of Bonn University, for allowing me to use his
German edition of the Mozart family letters, for assisting me during the
early stages of my undertaking and for supplying me from time to time
with additional material; Mr. C. B. Oldman of the British Museum, for
generously consenting to the inclusion in my edition of large portions of
the unpublished letters from Mozart's widow to Johann Anton Andre,
which are in his possession and which he has translated and edited for this
purpose, and for constantly contributing from his wealth of information
upon all matters relating to Mozart; Dr. Alfred Einstein, for most un
selfishly placing at my disposal his immense knowledge of eighteenth
century music and the results of his research work on Mozart's musical
MSS., which have now been embodied in the third edition (1937) of
Kochel's catalogue of Mozart's works; Dr. Bernhard Paurngartner,
Director of the Mozarteurn, Salzburg, for granting me free access to its
collection of autographs; Dr. Georg Schiinemann, Director of the Music
Department of the Prussian State Library, Berlin, for permission to consult
its large collection of transcripts; the Public Library of Boston (Massa
chusetts), Herr Draus-Riggenbach (Basel), Dr. A. Einstein, Herr H.
Eisemann (London), Dr. Elmer of the Library of Prague University,
Frau Floersheim-Koch {Florence), Herr Karl Geigy-Hagenbach (Basel),
Dr. Karl Geiringer of the Bibliothek der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
(Vienna), Herr Paul Gottschalk (Berlin), Herr Otto Haas (London), Dr.
Robert Haas of the Vienna National Library, Herr V. A. Heck {Vienna),
Herr D. N. Heineman (Brussels), Herr Henri Hinrichsen {Leipzig), Mrs.
Enid Lambart, Herr RudolfNydahl {Stockholm), Mr. C. B. Oldman, the
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, the Pierpont Morgan Library {New
York City), Dr. A. Rosenthal {London), Herr Scheurleer of the Gemeente
museum {The Hague), Dr. Richard Strauss, Mr. W. Oliver Strunk of the
Library of Congress {Washington), Herr Paul Wittgenstein (Vienna), for
photostats or transcripts of autographs in their possession. I wish also to
express my gratitude to Herr Ernst Boucke of the Prussian State Library
(Berlin), Miss Muriel Clayton of the Victoria and Albert Museum, Herr
Otto Erich Deutsch (Vienna), Herr Alfred Heidi of the Mozarteum
(Salzburg), Mr. R. N. Carew Hunt, Dr. Georg Kinsky {Cologne), Mr.
T. 0. Mabbott {New York City), Mrs. H. S.M. Stuart, Frau Eva Thurner
(Salzburg), Herr Stefan Zweig, for valuable information and assistance
most generously given; to Professor Ludwig Schiedermair and Dr. Henry
XI