CHAPTER XXIX. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.
FIRST among the group of friends in intercourse with whom Mozart found entertainment and refreshment of the highest kind, must be named the Countess Thun, née Uhlefeld. She was one of the musical ladies who took him under their protection from the first, and it was she more especially who introduced him in Vienna, and furthered his advancement by every means in her power. The prominent position which was hers more in virtue of her cultivation and amiability than of her rank and wealth, pointed her out as COUNTESS THUN. a fitting protectress for genius. She was one of the few ladies with whom the Emperor Joseph continued in later years on a footing of intimacy, and he took leave of her in a touching letter from his death-bed.[ 1 ] Music had the place of honour in her entertainments. She played the pianoforte herself with "that grace, lightness, and délicatesse to which no fingers but a woman's can aspire," as Burney says;[ 2 ] he was delighted with her gay, natural manners, her witty sallies, and her pleasant irony, as well as with her taste, knowledge, and serious interest in all things musical.[ 3 ] Her favourite composer at that time (1772) was Beecké (Vol. I., p. 367), who mentions to Dalberg having composed in 1785 a sonata for three pianofortes for the Countess Thun and her daughters.
Reichardt also, whom she took under her protection on his arrival in Vienna in 1783, extols her as the most intellectual and most charming woman in Vienna, and adds that her musical receptions were frequented both by the Emperor and the Archduke Maximilian.[ 4 ] Georg Forster became her enthusiastic admirer during his stay in Vienna in, 1784. He enumerates in a letter to Heyne[ 5 ] the distinguished men whose favour and patronage he enjoyed, and we recognise among them many of Mozart's friends and patrons. Such were the good old Counsellor von Born, Baron Otto von Gemmingen—the intimate friend of Van Swieten, who had come to Vienna in the summer of 1782[ 6 ]—the old Councillor von Spielmann[ 7 ]—a man of learning and at the same time SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. more deeply versed in the affairs of the department of Prince Kaunitz than any other statesman—the great minister Kaunitz himself (Vol. II., p. 212), good, simple Count Cobenzl (Vol. II., p. 173), Field-Marshal Haddik, "a splendid old soldier, plain and plump,"[ 8 ] and to this list Forster adds the name of the Countess Thun, "the most virtuous and enlightened woman of Vienna." He gives a more particular account of his intercourse with her to Thérèse Heyne:—
You cannot imagine how condescending and friendly every one is. One scarcely remembers that one is among persons of high rank, and one feels quite on the footing of an intimate friend. This is especially my case with the Countess Thun, the most charming woman in the world, and her three graces of daughters, each of them an angel in her own way. The Countess is the best mother that I know; the children are all innocence, joyful as the morning light, and full of natural sense and wit, at which I wonder in silence, just as I wonder at the sense and wit of a certain maid on the Leine. This charming family combine the most refined discourse, and the most extensive reading and liberal knowledge, with a pure, heartfelt religion, free from all superstition, the religion of gentle and innocent hearts familiar with the secrets of nature and creation. Almost every evening between nine and ten, these [above-named] people assemble at the Countess Thun's, and enjoy brilliant conversation or music, either clavier-playing, or German or Italian singing; sometimes, when the humour seizes them, they dance.
We can well imagine how completely Mozart felt himself at home in this circle; Prince Karl Lichnowsky, his friend and pupil, was the Countess Thun's son-in-law.
Greiner's house was another in which learning was honoured and cherished, and which formed a meeting-point for all celebrities. Greiner's daughter, Caroline Pichler, an admirable pianiste,[ 9 ] thus describes it:[ 10 ]—
Besides the poets Denis, Leon, Haschka, Alxinger, Blumauer, &c., whose names were then famous, our house was frequented by men of severer science. No foreign scholar or artist visited Vienna without bringing introductions to Haschka or to my parents themselves. Thus we entertained the celebrated traveller Georg Forster, Professors Meiners and Spittler, Becker, Gögking, the actor Schroder, and many MARIANNE MARTINEZ. musicians and composers such as Paesiello and Cimarosa; I need not say that our native artists, Mozart, Haydn, Salieri, the brothers Hickl, Füger, and others were frequent guests.
The house of the Martinez brother and sister, which has become by association a true temple of the muses for the Viennese, was another rendezvous for musicians, Metastasio, on his arrival at Vienna in 1730, took up his residence with Nicolai Martinez, Master of the Ceremonies to the Apostolic Nuncio, and remained with him until his death in 1782. He became the intimate friend of the family, and carefully superintended the education of the children. One of the daughters, Marianne (born about 1740), by reason of her talent, and her lively, pleasant manners, attracted his special attention.[ 11 ] Through his instruction she became well versed in the Italian, French, and English languages and literature, and in all the branches of a liberal education. Nor was this all; Metastasio perceived that she possessed considerable musical talent, and took care that she should receive a thorough musical education. Joseph Haydn, who, on being dismissed from the Kapellhaus a penniless young man, had taken a miserable garret in the same house, was engaged to give Marianne lessons in playing and singing, for which he was boarded free for three years by way of payment,[ 12 ] a more important result for him being that he thus became acquainted with Porpora, who interested himself in Marianne's education out of friendship for Metastasio. Afterwards, under the careful guidance of Bono and of Metastasio himself, she developed gifts as a singer, player, and composer which excited general admiration,[ 13 ] and won applause from Hasse.[ 14 ] In 1773 she was made a member of the Philharmonic Academy at Bologna,[ 15 ] and afterwards received a "Dictor-diplom" both from Bologna and Pavia; in 1782 her oratorio "Isaaco" was performed at the "Societätsconcert."[ 16 ] She SOCIAL INTERCOURSE. lived with her brother (Imperial librarian) after the death of Metastasio, whose property she inherited;[ 17 ] she gave receptions, which were frequented by all the intellectual and musical celebrities of the day.[ 18 ] Kelly, who brought an introduction to her, declared that, in spite of her advanced age, she retained all the animation and cheerfulness of youth, and was pleasant and talkative. He says that Mozart (who had been warmly received by Metastasio on his early visits to Vienna) was very intimate with her, and that he had heard them play duets of her composition at her musical parties.[ 19 ]
One of the most distinguished musical dilettanti of the day at Vienna was the Geheimrath Bernh. von Keess (d. 1795). This "well-known lover of music and patron of musicians" took the amateur concerts in the Augarten (Vol. II., p. 284, note 47) under his protection, and possessed a rare and costly collection of musical objects.[ 20 ] He gave private concerts twice a week in his own house, as Gyrowetz relates:[ 21 ]—
The best virtuosi in Vienna, and the first composers, such as Jos. Haydn, Mozart, Dittersdorf, Hoffmeister, Albrechtsberger, Giamovichi, Ac., assembled at these concerts. Haydn's symphonies were performed there, Mozart used generally to play the pianoforte, and Giamovichi, the most celebrated violin virtuoso of the day,[ 22 ] usually played a concerto; the lady of the house sang. It happened one evening that Mozart was late in arriving, and they waited for him to begin, because he had promised to bring with him a song for the lady of the house. One servant after another was sent to find him, and at last he was discovered in a tavern; the messenger begged him to come at once, as all the company was waiting to hear the new song. Mozart thereupon recollected that he had not written a note of it. He sent the messenger for a sheet of music paper, and set to work in the tavern to compose the song. When it was finished he went his way to the concert, where the company were waiting for him with great impatience. After a little gentle reproach for his delay he was most affectionately received; the lady of the house sang the new song, a little nervously, it is true, but it was enthusiastically received and applauded.