In 1747 Leopold Mozart married Anna Maria Pertlin (or Bertlin), by whom he had seven children, only two of whom survived infancy. The elder of these two was a daughter, Maria Anna, born July 30, 1751; the younger was the subject of the present volume.
MOZART AT THE AGE OF SEVEN.
(From a scarce French print.)
Like her illustrious brother, Maria Anna (generally spoken of in the family by the pet name of "Nannerl") very early showed great aptitude for music. At the age of seven her father began to give her lessons on the clavier, on which she made remarkable progress. It was during these lessons that Wolfgang's wonderful musical genius first showed itself. Though the child was then only between three and four years of age, he took the greatest interest in what his sister was doing, and would amuse himself with picking out thirds on the clavier. When he was four his father, more in joke than otherwise, began to teach him little pieces, which he learned with astonishing ease. For a short piece he required only half an hour, for longer pieces an hour, after which he could play them with perfect correctness. What is even more astonishing is that before he was five years of age he began to compose and play little pieces which his father wrote down. Some of these juvenile efforts have been preserved, and show that while the young musician had not at that time acquired any individuality of style, he had an instinctive feeling for clearness of form, while his harmony shows a correctness which is absolutely amazing in so young a child.
J. A. Schachtner, Court trumpeter at Salzburg, an intimate friend of the family, has preserved some reminiscences of the child's early years in a letter which he wrote to the composer's sister soon after Mozart's death. In this letter Schachtner relates how, on returning from church one day with Leopold Mozart, they found little Wolfgang, then four years old, hard at work writing:
"Papa. What are you writing?
"Wolfgang. A piano concerto; the first part is nearly finished.
"Papa. Let me see it.
"Wolfgang. It is not ready yet.