The Mozarts, Who They Were (Volume 1). Diego Minoia
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the servants. Father and son obviously had frequent interactions with Michael Haydn, who represented a model for some of the compositions of Wolfgang's youth, since as a composer, he had a considerably vast production in all types of music utilized in that epoch (symphonies, concerts, serenades, trios, quartets, sonatas, sacred and profane vocal music). Some of Michael Haydn's works were cited in the Mozartian epistolary as transcribed (however, not always authorized) and were utilized for educational purposes as well as something to display to his two children. Even though they worked together on an almost daily basis, Leopold Mozart held a grudge against Michael Haydn which we see in letters to Wolfgang, denigrating his higher-ranking superior with accusations of him being lazy (which was later retracted by his immense catalogue of compositions) and a drunkard. Similar opinions were surely expressed as gossip among the circle of friends of the family and was quite likely that these rumors reached the ears of the Archbishop, which certainly did not serve to favor his opinion of the envious Leopold.
Domenico Fischietti (Naples 1725 -- Salzburg 1810)
Son of Kapellmeister and composer Giovanni Fischietti, after his musical studies in Naples under the tutelage of his father and then Francesco Durante (just to name a few), he made his debut in the same city with his first opera "Armindo" in 1742. In 1755, he moved to Venice where the first thing he did was stage the opere buffe on the texts of Carlo Goldoni with enormous success. After experience in Prague as the impresario of the theatrical Bustelli Company in 1764, he was appointed Kapellmeister in Dresden in 1766 after Johann Adolf Hasse, with an annual salary of 600 florins. Having lost his position at Dresden, he went to Vienna in 1772 where he met the Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg who, appreciating his musical talents, engaged him as composer for the cathedral choir and assistant to the Kapellmeister Lolli and to vice Leopold Mozart. From 1776 to 1783 he was Kapellmeister to the Salzburg Court and cathedral with an annual salary of 800 florins. Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti succeeded him as Kapellmeister.
Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti (1740 -- 1817)
The musical formation of the abbot Gatti took place in Verona and Mantua, where he began his career as a tenor at the Chapel of St. Barbara at Mantua, but soon became successful as a composer thanks to his opera "Alessandro nelle Indie". In 1769, he was Vice-Kapellmeister in the newly established Accademia Reale di Mantova (Virgilian Academy of Science and Arts) with a salary of 6 gold coins of 45 lire. On the occasion of his first trip to the Mozart's Italy in 1770, he was able to listen to the young Wolfgang in Mantua at the highly acclaimed exhibition at the Teatro scientifico (known today as Teatro Bibiena, named after its designer) and met the two Salzburg men. In 1778, he was engaged as Vice-Kapellmeister to the Court in Salzburg and was on good terms with the Mozarts at least until February of 1783 when he was hired as Kapellmeister in Salzburg to the detriment of Leopold Mozart, who had coveted the position for years. In Nannerl's journal, Leopold vented his anger venomously upon one of Gatti's serenades exhibited in the theater, defining it as "charming Italian music, more appropriate for the ears than the heart, since the harmonization with the expression of the lyrics and the true passion is less than satisfactory". In any case, Gatti was an abbot...and he would have had to imagine passion. Gatti was the last Kapellmeister of Salzburg due to the abolishment of the Princedom and the territory was integrated into the borders of the Habsburg Empire.
Here is a summary pertaining to the musicians of the Court of Salzburg during the period involving the Mozart family and the musical activity of the Princedom.
- Prince Archbishop: Leopold Antonio Eleuterio Firmian (from 1727 to 1744)
- Kapellmeister: Matthias Sigismund Biechteler (until 1743) Karl Heinrich von Bibern (from 1743 to 1749)
- Court Organist: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1727)
- Leopold Mozart: 1737; arrival in Salzburg 1740; assistant to the Chamber and Music for the Count Johann Baptist von Thurn-Valsassina and Taxis. Early compositions; 1743 engaged as 4th violinist in the Court Orchestra
- Prince Archbishop: Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn (from 1745 to 1747)
- Kapellmeister: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1749 to 1762)
- Court Organist: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1727)
- Leopold Mozart: 1744; added to his role of violinist, he was hired to teach violin and keyboard to the children in the Cathedral Choir; he married in 1747
- Archbishop Prince: Andreas Jakob von Dietrichstein (from 1747 to 1753)
The Mozart family: 1751, Nannerl Mozart is born
- Archbishop Prince: Sigismund III Christoph von Schrattenbach (from 1753 to 1771)
- Kapellmeister: Giuseppe Francesco Lolli and Johann Michael Haydn (from 1762)
- Court Organist: Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (from 1762)
- Leopold Mozart:
1756: published the Violin School, Wolfgang is born
1757: appointed Court Composer
1758: promoted to 2nd violin in the Court Orchestra
1763: appointed Vice-Kapellmeister
Wolfgang Mozart:
1769, appointed 3rd Master Concert Performer to the Court, without a salary
- Archbishop Prince: Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Colloredo von Wallsee und Mels (from 1772 to 1803)
- Kapellmeister: Domenico Fischietti (from 1772); Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti (from 1783)
- Court Organist: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (from 1777)
- Leopold Mozart: Court Composer (with Caspar Cristelli and Ferdinand Seidl)
- Wolfgang Mozart:
From 1772, he was violinist at the Court Orchestra without a salary, followed by Concert Master with a very low salary of 150 florins annually. In September of 1777, he left the position in order to travel to Munich and Paris. Upon his return in January 1779, he was appointed the position of Court Organist and Concert Master. In Vienna, April 1781, he resigned permanently from the services of Archbishop Colloredo.
The Mozart family
We can begin with a "snap-shot" of the epoch with the celebrated painting by Johann Nepomuk della Croce that represents the Mozart family in 1780/81. It depicts Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl at the keyboard during the performance of a piece with four hands while their father, Leopold, poses nearby listening with his violin, ready to intervene. The oval-shaped portrait hanging on the wall portrays their mother who had passed away in Paris four years earlier. And hanging on the right is Apollo, the Greek God of the arts, displayed with the instrument devoted to him: the cithara. The Mozart family was formed 21 November 1747 when the 28 year-old Leopold Mozart married the 27 year-old Anna Maria Pertl at the Salzburg Cathedral after a rather long courtship. They were reputedly a handsome couple and enjoyed a solid marriage over the years, as we learn from the family correspondence available to us. In one letter sent to his wife, Leopold Mozart who was traveling with their son, Wolfgang, writes: "Today is our wedding anniversary. If I'm not mistaken, twenty-five years have passed since we had the joyful idea to marry: the fact of the matter is that we had this idea many years prior. The best things in life come to those who wait!".
In that era, roles were well-defined and customs and traditions were highly respected. The husband took care of all things related to finances and society (Leopold was extremely meticulous to the point of fanaticism as we will see in his letters), while the wife looked after the household and children, maintaining relations with their circle of friends or people who were in some way useful to reach certain purposes. The Mozart couple had seven children, but only two survived, the fourth-born Maria Anna (Nannerl) in 1751 and the seventh-born Wolfgang (Wolferl for family members) who came into the world in 1756. The mortality rate for childbirth in that epoch was a situation that was painfully accepted by parents who, for this reason, gave birth to many children. Wolfgang, himself, had six children of which only two survived.
In Nannerl's Diary which was written from 1775 to 1783, we learn that the Mozart family