CHAPTER XXVIII. MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
MOZART'S relations to his father, which had hitherto, one may say, filled his whole mental life to a most uncommon degree, MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS. had been seriously affected by his marriage. It was not till after long opposition that Leopold Mozart voluntarily, although most unwillingly, gave his consent, and how deeply he was wounded will appear from the answer he made to a conciliatory letter addressed to him by the Baroness Waldstädten (August 23, 1783):—
I thank your ladyship most heartily for the interest you are pleased to take in my affairs, and more especially for your ladyship's extraordinary kindness in celebrating so handsomely my son's wedding-day.[ 1 ] When I was a young fellow I imagined that those were philosophers who spoke little, laughed seldom, and maintained a surly demeanour towards all the rest of mankind. But my own experience has now fully convinced me that I am myself a philosopher without knowing it; I have done my duty as a father—have made the clearest and most comprehensible statements in many letters—and I am convinced that he knows my painful circumstances, made doubly so by my advanced age and unworthy position in Salzburg—he knows that I am sacrificed L. MOZART'S DISAPPOINTED HOPES. morally and physically by his behaviour—and there now remains no resource to me but to leave him (as he has so willed it) to himself, and to pray the Almighty to bestow my paternal blessing on him, and not to withdraw His Divine mercy. As to myself, I will endeavour to preserve what remains of my native cheerfulness, and still to hope for the best.[ 2 ]
Putting ourselves in the place of Leopold Mozart, we must acknowledge that his reproaches and misgivings were in some respects well founded; but, nevertheless, he went too far in that he could not make up his mind to recognise his son's independence, and gave way to a bitterness of feeling which made him hard and unjust, and which, unhappily, was never altogether effaced from his heart. Wolfgang, on the contrary, betrayed no shadow of resentment—his love and reverence for his father remained the same to the end, unabated by unsparing and often unjust fault-finding. If his letters were less frequent or shorter than formerly he had ample excuses to offer, either of illness or the numerous occupations and distractions which were unavoidable in his position.[ 3 ] When, for any of these reasons, customary congratulations were neglected, an apology was sure to follow—for instance (January 4, 1783): "We both thank you heartily for your New Year's wishes, and willingly acknowledge ourselves stupid blockheads for having forgotten our duty in this respect; being so far behindhand, we will dispense altogether with a New Year's wish, only offering you our general every-day wish, and so let it pass." Being quite convinced that his Constanze could not fail to impress his father and sister favourably, and that personal acquaintance would efface all unpleasant feeling, he was very anxious to MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS. take her to Salzburg as soon as possible. But many difficulties came in the way, for which his father did not always make due allowance. Mozart was particularly desirous of passing his father's fête-day in Salzburg (November 15,1782), but the time was too short for him. He had promised to play at a concert for Fraulein Aurnhammer on November 3, and he must be in Vienna again at the beginning of December, that being the best season for lessons and concerts; to these objections might be added the impassable state of the roads, and such severe cold as rendered it undesirable to travel with his wife. In short, the journey must be postponed until the spring; in spring, however, the approaching confinement of his wife again put it out of the question. At the last moment Mozart invited his father to stand godfather (June 7, 1783):—
I had no idea that the joke would so soon turn into earnest, and therefore postponed falling on my knees, clasping my hands and humbly begging you, my dearest father, to stand godfather to my child. But as there may still be time for it, I do so now. Nevertheless, in sure hope that you will not refuse my request, I have taken care that in case of need somebody shall stand at the font in your name. Whether the child shall be generis masculini or feminini! it is to be called Leopold or Leopoldine.
Soon after the birth of the child,[ 4 ] however, at the end of July, 1783, they actually set out. Mozart and some of his friends had misgivings lest the Archbishop should seek to detain him in Salzburg, because he had never received any formal dismissal from service—"for a priest is capable of anything." With this idea, he proposed a meeting in Munich, but his father appears to have reassured him.[ 5 ]
Before Mozart was married, he had "made a vow in his heart" that, if he succeeded in bringing Constanze to Salzburg, he would compose a mass to be performed there. "A proof of the sincerity of this vow," he wrote to his father (January 4, 1783), "is afforded by the score of the half of VISIT TO SALZBURG, 1783. my mass, which is laying before me in full hope of completion." He took with him to Salzburg only the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus, and Benedictus, composed on a scale of great splendour (427 K.). The missing movements were probably supplied from an older mass, and the whole was rehearsed at the Kapellhaus on August 23, and performed at St. Peter's church (the Archbishop having apparently refused the cathedral) on August 25, Mozart's wife taking the soprano part.[ 6 ]
Mozart was not by any means idle during this visit to Salzburg. The revival of Italian opera had suggested to him to look about for a libretto for an opera buffa, and even before he came to Salzburg he had entered into negotiations with Varesco through his father. Varesco declaring himself quite ready, it only needed the visit to Salzburg to concert the plan of the opera, "L'Oca del Cairo." Varesco prepared a detailed account of the plot, and carried out the first act in full; Mozart set himself with equal zeal to its composition, and took back to Vienna a sketch of part of the act. We shall have to do later with the fate of this opera.
At the same time he found leisure for a service of love to Michael Haydn. Hadyn had been ordered by the Archbishop to compose some duets for violin and tenor, perhaps for his special use, but owing to a violent illness, which incapacitated him for work during a lengthened period, he was unable to finish them at the time appointed; the Archbishop thereupon threatened to deprive him of his salary. When Mozart heard of the difficulty he at once undertook the work, and, visiting Haydn daily, wrote by his bedside to such good purpose that the duets were soon completed and handed over to the Archbishop in Hadyn's name.[ 7 ]