He was right, certainly, in saying that the Archbishop stood in the way of his preferment, for he had very few opportunities for winning fame or success. He renewed his old acquaintance with the Messmer family (pp. 86, 145), with Herr von Auerhammer and his fat daughter, and with the old kapellmeister, Bono. Bono allowed a symphony by Mozart to be rehearsed in his house, which, as he reports (April 11, 1781), went splendidly and was a great success.
"Forty violins played; the wind instruments were all doubled."
He had no difficulty, either, in gaining admission to the most distinguished musical circles:—
I go this evening (March 24) with Herr von Kleinmayem to one of his friends—the Councillor Braun—who, every one tells me, is a great amateur of the clavier.[ 6 ] I have already dined twice with the Countess Thun, and go there almost every day. She is the most charming and amiable woman that I have ever seen, and she thinks a great deal of me. I have also dined with Count Cobenzl (court and state vice-chancellor). My principal object now is to make myself favourably known to the Emperor, for I am determined that he shall know me.
I should like to play through my opera to him, and then some good fugues—that is what he has most taste for. Oh! if I had only known that I was to be in Vienna during Lent, I would have written a little oratorio, and performed it for my own benefit, as is the custom here.
I could easily have written it beforehand, for I know all the voices here. How I should like to give a public concert! but it would not be allowed,
I know for certain; for, just imagine! you know that there is a Society here which gives concerts for the benefit of the widows of musicians, and every one at all connected with music plays there gratis. The orchestra is 180 strong.[ 7 ] No one who pretends to any philanthropy refuses to play when the Society calls upon him to do so; it is a sure way also to the favour of the Emperor and of the public. Starzer was RELEASE. commissioned to request me to play, and I willingly agreed, subject to the consent of my Prince, of which I had little doubt, seeing that it was a religious kind of performance, and gratuitous. He refused his permission, however, and all the nobility have taken it ill of him. I am only sorry on this account: the Emperor is to be in the proscenium box, and I should have preluded quite alone, and then played a fugue and the variations, "Je suis Lindor." The Countess Thun would have lent me her beautiful pianoforte by Stein for the purpose. Whenever I have played the variations in public they have been greatly applauded. They are easily understood, and every one finds something to his taste.
In this instance, however, the Archbishop was obliged to give way. The institution for the widows and orphans of Vienna musicians, founded by the kapellmeister Florian Gassmann, in 1771, enjoyed the highest patronage; and the four concerts given annually for its benefit—two during Advent, and two in Passion week—were as well supported by celebrated composers and performers as by the public. Starzer went to the concert at Prince Gallitzin's, and he and all the nobility teased the Archbishop so long for his consent that he could not withhold it. "I am so glad!" exclaims Mozart, when he informs his father of this.[ 8 ] The programme of the thirty-fourth concert for the benefit of the Society of Musicians at Vienna, on April 3, 1781, contained the following:[ 9 ]—
The Herr Ritter W. A. Mozart will then perform alone on the pianoforte. He visited Vienna as a child of seven years old, and then excited the universal admiration of the public by his compositions, his insight into the art of music, and his extraordinary facility of touch and execution.
His success was all that could be desired. "After yesterday," he writes (April 4), "I may well say that I am satisfied with the Vienna public. I played at the concert for the widows' institution, and was obliged to begin twice over, because there was no end to the applause." He refers to it again in his next letter (April 8): "That which most pleased and surprised me was the total silence, and then in ORDER TO RETURN TO SALZBURG. the middle of my playing bursts of applause and bravos. For Vienna, where there are so many and such good clavier-players; it has been really a wonderful success."
