 The Performing Mozart Family |
"Leopold Mozart to Lorenz Hagenauer, Salzburg
[Extract]
BRUSSELS, 17 October 1763
In Coblenz we took a private boat and leaving on September 27th at ten in the morning we reached Bonn[Nissen, p. 44, adds: 'In Bonn the Elector [Maximilian Friedrich] was away] that same evening in good time. Thence we travelled by mail coach through Brühl to Cologne, where we arrived early in the evening of the 28th. We spent two days in that great old town. In the cathedral[In his Reiseaufzeichnungen, p. 26, Leopold Mozart mentions 'the dirty minster or cathedral'] there is a very ancient pulpit from which Martin Luther is supposed to have preached.
On September 30th we left Cologne by mail coach, travelling through Aachen. It was the most awful road. Now as Aachen was the most expensive place which I had so far struck during our journey, I had the honour of spending nolens volens over seventy-five gulden there. Princess Amalia[Princess Amlalia was a lover and connoisseur of music], sister of the King of Prussia, was there, it is true, but she herself has no money, and her whole equipage and court retinue resembles a physician's suite as closely as one drop of water another. If the kisses which she gave to my children, and to Wolfgang especially, had been all new louis d'or, we should be quite happy; but neither the innkeeper nor the postmaster are paid in kisses. The most ridiculous thing seemed to me that she tried by every means to persuade me to go not to Paris, but to Berlin, and what is more she made to me proposals which I shall not write down here, as nobody would believe them; for I did not believe them myself, especially the particular one which she made to me.
From Aachen we drove on October 2nd to Liege, where we only arrived at nine in the evening. We left early next morning--at about half past seven. It was the most lovely day. From Liege to Paris--just think of the amazing distance!--the post road is paved like the streets of a town and planted on either side with trees like a garden walk. We spent the night in Tirlemont. On the following day we reached Louvain early and spent the morning there in order to see the town a little. The principal church was the first building we visited. Here the valuable paintings of the famous Netherland painters begin. I stood transfixed before a 'Last Supper'[A famous triptych (c. 1464) by Dierick Bouts in the Eglise Saint-Pierre]. On October 4th we reached Brussels[The Mozarts arrived on 4 October in Brussels, where they remained until 15 November.]. We are staying at the 'Hotel D'Angleterre'. Quantities of white and black marble and brass and the paintings of the most famous artists are to be found here in the churches in great numbers. Day and night I have before my eyes that picture by Rubens, in the big church, in which Christ in the presence of the other apostles hands the keys to Peter. The figures are life-size. In Prince Karl's[Prince Charles of Lorraine, brother of Emperor Francis I and Governor of the Austrian Netherlands. He died in 1780.] rooms I found not only beautiful Dutch tapestries and paintings, but also a room with original Chinese statues, porcelain, figures and various rare pieces; above all there was a room filled with an indescribable quantity of all kinds of natural history specimen. I have seen many such collections; but it would be difficult to find such a quantity and so many species.
Price Karl's present recreations are to lacquer, paint, varnish, eat, drink and laugh heartily, so that he can be heard three or four rooms away. The rules of the church are still taken fairly seriously here. You can see at once that this is a country which belongs to Her Majesty the Empress. But rosaries are not usual and in the churches you never see anybody praying with one. They all pray out of books and at the elevation of the Host they never strike their breasts[refers to the practice which still prevails in certain Catholic countries.] In all the churches no chairs are to be seen, but seats can be hired for a liard, in our coinage two pfennigs.
For you alone.
BRUSSELS, 4 November 1763
We have now been kept in Brussels for nearly three weeks.[Leopold Mozart surely means 'five weeks', as the Mozarts arrived on 4 October.] Prince Karl has spoken to me himself and has said that he will hear my children in a few days; and yet nothing has happened. Yet, it looks as if nothing will come of it, for the Prince spends his time hunting, eating and drinking, and in the end it appears that he has no money. Meanwhile in decency I have neither been able to leave nor to give a concert, since, as the Prince himself has said, I must await his decision. You can imagine that I shall in addition have a pretty bill to pay at the hotel; and for the journey to Paris I must have at least two hundred gulden in my pocket.
We have now received here, it is true, various handsome presents, which, however, I don not want to sell.
Little Wolfgang has been given two magnificent swords, one from Count von Frankenberg. My little girl had received Dutch lace from the Archbishop, and from other courtiers cloaks, coats and so forth. With snuffboxes and etuis and such stuff we shall soon be able to rig out a stall. Indeed I hope that next Monday, when a big concert is being held, I shall haul in plenty of fat thalers and louis d'or. But as one must always be on the safe side, I beg you to be so good as to arrange through Herr Haffner or some other person that I receive another letter of credit for Paris.
If Salzburg has been surprised at my children, it will be completely amazed provided that God lets us return home. A propos, have you not yet received the portraits[probably the portraits of Mozart and his sister in the costumes presented to them by the Empress Maria Theresia]?" [LETTERS OF MOZART AND HIS FAMILY. Chronologically arranged, translated and edited by Emily Anderson. New York: 1966: St Martin's Press, p. 29-31].
[Background Image: The 'Grande Place' in Brussels]