The Mozart Family: Four Lives in a Social ContextThe family into which Mozart was born has never received a rigorous contextual study which does justice to the complexity of its relationships or to its interactions with colleagues, friends, and neighbours in Mozarts native city, Salzburg. Most biographies of Mozart have undervalued the manypassages in the rich family correspondence which do not bear directly on him. This book draws on the neglected material, most of which has never been translated into English. At the heart of the work is a detailed examination of the letters, supplemented by little-known archival material from thepapers of the Berchtold family, into which Mozarts sister Nannerl married. Additional information concerning Salzburg's local history, especially the working conditions at court and the provision for dependants of court employees, enables the hopes, expectations, and fears of the Mozarts to belocated in the context of the social conditions there. As well as providing a sympathetic account of the other members of the family, all of whom were profoundly affected by the experience of sharing their lives with Mozart, this approach gives new significance to the events of Mozart's life; notonly are they set against the background of his familys expectations of him, but the ways in which the source material has to be used for this purpose necessarily involves fundamental improvements in its interpretation. Ruth Halliwell challenges most previous views of the characters in Mozart's family (especially of his father, Leopold), and of the relationships within it. She also introduces a wealth of characters from the Mozarts's circle in Salzburg, from chambermaids to princes, and demonstrates the relevanceof the gossip stories the Mozarts told about them to the larger outlook of the members of the family. In an important final section, Halliwell traces the roles of Nannerl and Mozart's wife Constanze in using, controlling, and handing on the biographical source material after Mozarts death. She discusses their dealings with publishers such as Breitkopf and Hartel, and with the authors of theearliest biographies of Mozart. This complex topic here receives an account which not only illuminates the characters of both women and the relations between them, but also addresses the question of how myths were able to creep into the Mozartian biography at so early a stage and take tenacioushold. |
Contents
LIST OF PLATES | xiv |
The Marriage | 1 |
Building a Career | 20 |
The Visit to Vienna in 1762 | 35 |
Petty Setbacks on | 48 |
Triumphs in Paris 61 5 | 61 |
Triumphs in London? | 77 |
NearDisaster on | 96 |
Wolfgangs Marriage | 371 |
The Bridal Visit to Salzburg in 1783 | 389 |
Nannerls Marriage | 424 |
LEOPOLD AND NANNERL 17841787 | 439 |
St Gilgen and the Abersee | 442 |
Nannerls First Months in St Gilgen | 457 |
Leopolds Visit to Vienna in 1785 | 471 |
Leopoldl | 486 |
The Visit | 119 |
Wolfgangs First | 141 |
Wolfgangs Third Visit | 177 |
Wolfgangs Viennese Sojourn in 1773 | 191 |
La finta giardiniera in Munich | 202 |
Escalating Grievances in Salzburg | 215 |
THE FRACTURED FAMILY 17771780 | 229 |
Hopes of a Mozartian Exodus | 231 |
The Journey to Mannheim | 239 |
In Mannheim | 260 |
Maria Annas Death | 291 |
Returning to Serfdom | 318 |
WOLFGANGS INDEPENDENCE 17801784 | 335 |
Idomeneo in Munich | 337 |
The Final Break with Salzburg | 351 |
The Return of Heinrich Marchand | 507 |
Leopolds Declining Months | 524 |
The Settlement of Leopolds Estate | 545 |
THE BIOGRAPHICAL LEGACY 17871858 | 565 |
The Mozarts and the Berchtolds | 567 |
Schlichtegrolls Nekrolog | 581 |
The Breitkopf Härtel Affair | 590 |
Nissens Biography | 613 |
Handing on the Source Material | 629 |
The Date of the MozartBöhm Schlackademie in Lent 1780 | 643 |
List of Surviving and Missing Letters between Wolfgang | 649 |
GLOSSARY | 661 |
55 | 667 |
| 677 | |
Common terms and phrases
Abersee Adlgasser Aloysia appear appointment arranged arrived asked Augsburg Berchtold Berchtold Family biography Bologna Breitkopf & Härtel Brno claimed Colloredo composer concert Constanze Constanze's correspondence Countess d'Ippold death Deutsch diary Documents ducats earn elector fact Firmian Franz given Gretl Haydn Heinrich Herr hoped Idomeneo illness Johann Joseph journey July Kapellmeister keyboard keyboard instrument leave Leopold and Nannerl Leopold and Wolfgang Leopold Mozart Leopold to Hagenauer Leopold to Maria Leopold to Nannerl Leopold to Wolfgang Leopold wrote Leopold's letter living Lodron louis d'or Mannheim Marchand Maria Anna Maria Anna Mozart marriage mentioned Michael Haydn Milan Mölk Munich musicians name-day Nissen opera Paris performance Pfleger played possible reported salary Salzburg Schiedenhofen seems sent Sept singers sonatas St Gilgen stay suggests theatre tion Vienna Viennese violin wanted Wolfgang and Maria Wolfgang to Leopold Wolfgang's letter write