history sideblog for @luckyricochet. primary source tidbits, research advice, and moments in time. late modernist in general, but an amrev girl at heart. banners and icons by @swainlake and @localbookshop.
I feel a gaieti de Coar to which before I was a stranger. I think the Sun looks brighter, the Birds sing more melodiously, and Nature puts on a more chearfull countanance. We feel a temporary peace, and the poor fugitives are returning to their deserted habitations.
Tho we felicitate ourselves, we sympathize with those who are trembling least the Lot of Boston should be theirs. But they cannot be in similar circumstances unless pusilanimity and cowardise should take possession of them. They have time and warning given them to see the Evil and shun it.—I long to hear that you have declared an independancy—and by the way in the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If perticuliar care and attention is not paid to the Laidies we are determined to foment a Rebelion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation.
Abigail Adams to John Adams, 31 March 1776, Correspondence, Founders Online, National Archives and Records Administration, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/04-01-02-0241.
[7-9 March 1776] George Washington to John Hancock, on the fortification of Dorchester Heights
On the 26 Ulto I had the honour of addressing you and then mentioned that we were making preparations for taking possession of Dorchester Heights. I now beg leave to Inform you, that a Council of General Officers having determined a previous Bombardment & Cannonade expedient and proper, in order to harrass the Enemy and divert their attention from that Quarter, on Saturday, Sunday and Monday nights last, we carried them on from our Posts at Cobble Hill, Letchmores Point & Lams Dam2—Whether they did the Enemy any considerable & what Injury, I have not yet heard, but have the pleasure to acquaint you, that they greatly facilitated our Schemes, and wou’d have been attended with success equal to our most sanguine expectations, had It not been for the unlucky bursting of Two Thirteen & three Ten Inch Mortars, among which was the Brass one taken in the Ordnance Brigg3—To what cause to attribute this misfortune I know not, whether to any defect in them, or to the Inexperience of the Bombardiers. But to return, on Monday Evening as soon as our firing commenced, a considerable detachment of our men under the command of Brigadier General Thomas crossed the Neck and took possession of the Two Hills without the least interruption or annoyance from the Enemy, and by their great activity and Industry before the morning advanced the Works so far, as to be secure against their Shot4—They are now going on with such expedition that in a little time I hope they will be compleat, and enable our Troops stationed there, to make a vigorous and Obstinate stand—during the whole Cannonade, which was Incessant the last two nights, we were fortunate enough to lose but two men, One a Lieutenant by a Cannon Ball’s taking off his thigh, the other a private by the explosion of a shell which also slightly wounded four or five more.
George Washington to John Hancock, 7-9 March 1776, Correspondence, Founders Online, National Archives and Records Administration. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0309.
[4 March 1776] Fortification of Dorchester Heights
The city of Boston had been under siege since April 19, 1775, since the opening shots of the American Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord. Less than a year into the war, the American troops were demoralized, underpaid, and sick. But over the winter, Colonel Henry Knox had pulled off the seemingly impossible military task of using sleds and oxen teams to haul 60 tons of artillery from Fort Ticonderoga in New York over frozen ground and waters to Boston. These critical reinforcements made possible the subsequent fortification of Dorchester Heights on the outskirts of the city. With an elevated strategic position now secured, the American forces could fire relentlessly down to harass British troops and their ships anchored in the port.
Major John Thomas described the herculean effort to his wife, writing March 9:
We have for Sum time bin preparing to Take Dorfester
Point & Last monday Nigh about Seven oclock I marched
with about Three Thousand Picked men besid 360 ox Teams
& Sum Peases of artilery & Two Companys of the Train the
Teams ware Laden with materials for our works
about 8 oclock we ascended The High Hill & by Day Light
we Got 2 Hill Defenceble about Sunrise the Enemy & others
in Boston appeared Numerious on the Tops of Houses & on
the wharfes vewing us with astonishment for the appearance
was unexpected to them. The Cannonading which had bin kept
up all Night from our Lines at Lambs Dam & from the Enemys
Enemys Lines Likewise at Leachmere Point now Seased in
These Quarters & the Enemy Turned there Fire Toward us an the
Hills but They Soon Found it was to Little effect about Ten oClock
we Discovered Large Bodys of Troops Imbarking in Boats with
There artilery & they made a fermidable appearance after Sum
Time They were Put on Board Transports & Several of The Ships
Came Down Near the Castle as we Supposed with a Design to Land
on our Shore [ & I?] People Seeming in Spirits to Receve Them for
we were now Got in a Good Poster of Defence & had Two Thousand
men added to our Number the Enemy vewed us very Criticaly
they Remained in that Situation that Night the Next Day
they Came to Sail & Returned to Town & Landed Their Troops
& Fryday about 2 oClock P.M. they Sent a flag of Truce to our
Lines with a paper the Copy of which I have Inclosed I have
had very Little Rest or Sleep this week being Closlly Imployed
Night & Day but Now I Think well Secured I write this in haist
Thinking you may be anctious herring as I Suppose much Firing
this way we Lost but Two men Killed with [Their fire?] in all
this affair how Thing are in Boston or what loss they have
met with from our Shot & Shell at present we are not Informed
but I am Sensible we Distress Them much from the appearance
I have wrote you
John Thomas to Hannah Thomas, 9 March 1776, Correspondence, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA. https://www.masshist.org/database/viewer.php?pid=21&ft=Siege%20of%20Boston&item_id=2051.
In honor of Women's History Month. Some of these titles are not necessarily focused on women's history but they were written by female authors so I wanted to include them. No particular theme other than focusing on or written by women.
Brown, Kate. Plutopia: Nuclear Families, Atomic Cities, and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters. Oxford University Press, 2013.
Crenshaw, Kimberle. "Demarginalizing the Intersection of Race and Sex: A Black Feminist Critique of Antidiscrimination Doctrine, Feminist Theory and Antiracist Politics." University of Chicago Legal Forum 1989, no. 1 (1989): 139-167.
Dunbar, Erica Armstrong. Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge. Atria Books, 2017.
Eustace, Nicole. Passion is the Gale: Emotion, Power, and the Coming of the American Revolution. University of North Carolina Press, 2008.
Farge, Arlette. The Allure of the Archives. Yale University Press, 2013.
Imada, Adria K. "Hawaiians on Tour: Hula Circuits Through the American Empire." American Quarterly 56, no. 1 (2004): 111-149.
Kerber, Linda. Women of the Republic: Intellect and Ideology in Revolutionary America. University of North Carolina Press, 1980.
Lewis, Reina, and Sara Mills, eds. Feminist Postcolonial Theory: A Reader. Edinburgh University Press, 2003.
Moore, Brenda L. Serving Our Country : Japanese American Women in the Military During World War II. Rutgers University Press, 2003.
Rubenhold, Hallie. The Five: The Untold Lives of the Women Killed by Jack the Ripper. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.
Semerdjian, Elyse. Remnants: Embodied Archives in the Armenian Genocide. Stanford University Press, 2023.
Pearsall, Sarah M.S. Atlantic Families: Lives and Letters in the Later Eighteenth Century. Oxford University Press, 2008.
Zabin, Serena. The Boston Massacre: A Family History. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.
Zagarri, Rosemarie. A Woman’s Dilemma: Mercy Otis Warren and the American Revolution. 2nd ed. John Wiley & Sons, 2015.
[26/27 January 1772] The Washington and Jefferson Snowstorm
In late January 1772, both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson took note of a heavy snowstorm across Virginia, recording three feet of snow fell.
Extract from George Washington's "Acct of the Weather in Jany [1772]"
27. A Snow which began in the Night and was about 5 or 6 Inches deep this Morning kept constantly at it the whole day with the Wind hard & Cold from the Northward.
28. The Same Snow continued all last Night and all this day with equal violence the Wind being very cold and hard from the Northward—drifting the Snow into high banks.
29. Fine pleasant Morning without any Wind—but before 11 Oclock it clouded up & threatned Snow all the remaining part of the day—being full 3 feet deep every where already.
30. Snowd all Night, with a brisk Wind from the Northward. The day cloudy and Misty—now & then Raining till the Afternoon when it grew clear, wind Westerly.
George Washington, “Acct. of the Weather in Jany. [1772],” Founders Online, National Archives. https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/01-03-02-0002-0002.
Extract from Thomas Jefferson's Garden Book:
Jan. 26. the deepest snow we have ever seen. in Albemarle it was about 3. f. deep.
Thomas Jefferson, Garden Book, 1766-1824, Thomas Jefferson Papers: An Electronic Archive, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston, MA. https://www.masshist.org/thomasjeffersonpapers/doc?id=garden_8.
The story of the modern suit begins with tight pants, as men’s legs became markers of class, civility, and sexuality.
Curious about the LEG-acy of the early modern suit? You've stumbled on the right post. 🦵
This new article in JSTOR Daily explains how fitted breeches and visible calves played an important role in shaping ideas about masculinity, class, and social belonging. The early modern suit developed alongside seventeenth- and eighteenth-century expectations about how men should appear in public, including how much of the body could be seen and how that body should be read by others.
Visible legs were closely tied to ideals of strength and grace. Well-shaped calves suggested physical capability and skill in dancing, both of which carried social implications. Pale, smooth silhouettes echoed classical art and reinforced ideas about refinement that were deeply shaped by race and empire.
If you’d like to see where the argument gets its legs, the article links directly to scholarly material on JSTOR.
Had some time over the holidays to write down some thoughts I had on the new docuseries on the American Revolution from Ken Burns/PBS. For context, I wrote my MA thesis this year on women's usage of sentimental language to engage in politics during the Revolution, so I do consider the American Revolution to be my area of historical expertise and I had high expectations for the series. Needless to say, they were largely met!
Overall: 8.5/10
I really liked the docuseries. Where it succeeds the most, in my opinion, is in its framing the Revolution, which has also been a very common historiographical theme in recent scholarship; most of the historians featured are those who have focused more on underrepresented areas of the Revolution. Elite white men are undoubtedly the characters who are featured the most (and yet a number of familiar people, namely Jefferson and Hamilton, are barely mentioned at all, which I assume was also a conscious decision). However, I think this series is one of the most rigorous efforts to portray the Revolution from as many perspectives as possible: women, enslaved and free Africans/African Americans, young people, Native Americans, and Loyalists, are all represented in one way or another. In particular, I was very pleasantly surprised at how prominent the Native American experience was. This aspect of the Revolution is probably one of the most understudied so I was glad to see it get a lot of focus in the series. The film was rightly critical of the Sullivan Expedition in New York and dedicated a long sequence to it, more than I thought it would.
The series additionally does a really good job at demonstrating how as much as the revolution was an imperial conflict between colonies and monarch, it was very much a civil war as well (again, another often-discussed historiographic argument). I don't mean just in regards to British Americans in the colonies and the British British in Britain; I mean it also in terms of the colonists exacting violence against each other. In classic Ken Burns fashion, some of the individual narratives the film analyzes are very localized in detailing the intense violence that happened between neighbors and communities, whether they were civilians, Loyalists, or Patriots. The overarching narrative of the Revolution is often boiled down to USA vs. Britain, but there was a lot of complexity in reality that muddled national identities and alliances and the series does examine this idea a lot.
Certainly, there are things that I wish the film had touched on more. The section on the Declaration of Independence left me surprisingly wanting and I had hoped there would be more on the actual drafting and debate of the document. As it was, it sort of seemed like the Declaration zipped through Congress easily but the process was so much more than that and wasn't really covered. In general too, the series could have been more balanced in terms of social, political, and cultural changes. It is biased quite heavily towards the war. I do understand why this subject was chosen for its focus, since it has probably the most mass appeal, but even then, there were some missed opportunities as well: the series was very kind to Charles Lee in not showing how much he messed up at the Battle of Monmouth, for example. And finally, although I really do appreciate and value the underrepresented voices that are highlighted through the series, I somehow feel like they were still not entirely integrated into the narrative. A lot of the times they felt a bit like a "detour" from the overall story of the war, almost like they were being tacked on instead of fully built into the account. Honestly, I don't have any suggestions on what could be done to rectify this, but I do wonder if the focus on the war so much may have contributed to it.
That all said, I thoroughly enjoyed watching the series. I think any average person who doesn't know much beyond what their high school or university taught them about the American Revolution would end up learning a lot from it. It was honest, reflective, unvarnished, and extremely informative. As someone who is despairing a lot about how the 250th anniversary is going to be celebrated by certain people, I know I will be turning to the series when the Fourth of July approaches this year.
Putting together a non-comprehensive, completely personal list of my recommendations for essential Mozart music, along with what I think are the best recording/performances of each piece. There are a number that I've included that are grossly cliche at this point (denoted with an asterisk), but I include them nevertheless largely for the sake of their other movements, which are just as listenable and yet ignored to the point that I feel people don't realize they exist.
Concertos
Piano Concertos
No. 10 in E-flat, K. 365, performed by the Academy of St Martin in the Fields for Amadeus (3rd movement only), or (2) Lucas and Arthur Jussen [The third movement is my favorite piece of music of all time. When it's played cleanly, it's just transcendent.]
No. 15 in B-flat, K. 450, performed by Daniel Barenboim [Besides the writing for the piano, the winds are lovely in this one.]
No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, performed by Mitsuko Uchida
No. 21 in C, K. 467, performed by Alfred Brendel
No. 22 in E-flat, K. 482, performed by Ivan Moravec for Amadeus (3rd movement only) [Pearlescent.]
No. 23 in E, K. 488, performed by Murray Perahia or Maurizio Pollini (score)
No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, performed by Mitsuko Uchida
No. 27 in B-flat, K. 595, performed by Mitsuko Uchida
Horn Concertos
No. 4 in E flat, K. 495, performed by the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra
Flute Concertos
No. 2 in D, K. 314, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic
Opera
The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, La Scala (2006) [My favorite Mozart opera. The best mix of music and humor, in my opinion.]
Don Giovani, K. 527, Royal Opera of the Château de Versailles (2023)
The Magic Flute, K. 620: Paris Opera (2001)
Symphonies
No. 25 in G minor, K. 183, performed by Academy of St. Martin in the Fields
No. 36 in C, K. 425, performed by the Vienna Philharmonic or Boston Symphony Orchestra [A 2025 obsession for me. Mozart wrote this in four days, possibly fewer.]
No. 39 in E-flat, K. 543, performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra
No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic
No. 41, K. 551, performed by the Scottish Chamber Orchestra [THE FINAL CODA. FUGAL PASSAGES.]
Chamber Music
Piano Quartet No. 1 in G minor, K. 478, performed by the Beaux Arts Trio [One of the first pieces I loved. I don't know what it is, but 13-year old me loved every movement.]
String Quartet No. 14 in G, K. 387, performed by the Quatuor Mosaïques
Five Contredanses for Orchestra, K. 609, performed by the Camerata Salzburg
Serenade No. 13 for Strings in G, K. 525*, performed by the Slovak Chamber Orchestra [Yes, it's Eine Kleine Nauchtmusik but please also listen to the rest of the piece because the other movements are actually lovely.]
Serenade No. 10 for Winds in B-flat, K. 361, performed by the Orchestra of St. Luke's
Piano Sonatas
No, 10 in C, K. 330, performed by Mitsuko Uchida
No. 11 in A, K. 331*, performed by Mitsuko Uchida [Yeah yeah the Turkish march, we've all heard it, but the first movement of theme and variations is wonderful.]
No. 12 in F, K. 332, performed by Mitsuko Uchida [Circle of fifths!]
No. 16 in C, K. 545*, performed by Daniel Barenboim
Sonata for Two Pianos in D, K. 448, performed by Lucas & Arthur Jussen or Anderson & Roe
Choral/Sacred Music
Mass in C minor, K. 427, performed by the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra [Imagine someone wrote this for you as your wedding present. Because that's what Mozart did for Costanze.]
Alleluia from Exsultate, Jubilante, K. 165, performed by Nola Richardson
Requiem in D minor, K. 626*, performed by the Polish Sinfonia Iuventus Orchestra
Early Works
Various, K. 1 [These are just so cute. I love imagining little Mozart just whipping these out day after day like it's a game to him.]
Sonata for Keyboard and Violin in C, K. 6, performed by Gary Cooper and Rachel Podger [I legit listen to this normally just when I'm out and about. It just blows my mind a seven-year-old wrote it and it's actually so good.]
[24 April 1792] Johann Andreas Schachtner to Maria Anna Mozart, on her brother’s (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) childhood
English
Gracious Madam! You will remember that I have a very good violin which Wolfgangerl always used to call the butter-violin because of its gentle and full tone. Once, soon after they came back from Vienna, he was playing on it and could not praise my violin enough. One or two days later I came to visit him again and encountered him just as he was entertaining himself with his own violin. This is what he immediately said: How is your butter-violin doing? Then he continued playing according to his fantasy; finally he reflected a little and said to me, Herr Schachtner, your violin is tuned half a quarter tone lower than mine here, if you have indeed left it tuned the way it was when I played on it the last time. I laughed about it, but Papa, who knew the extraordinary feeling for notes and the memory this child possessed, asked me to fetch my violin and see whether he was right. I did so, and he was right.
German
Gnädige Frau! sie wissen sich zu erinnern, daß ich eine sehr gute Geige habe, die weiland. Wolfgangerl, wegen seinem sanften und vollem Ton immer Buttergeige nannte. Einsmals, bald nachdem sie von Wien zurückkammen geigte er darauf, und konnte meine Geige nicht genug loben, nach ein oder zween Tagen kam ich wieder ihn zu besuchen, und traf ihn, als er sich eben mit seiner eigenen Geige unterhielt an, so gleich sprach er: Was macht ihre Buttergeige? geigte dann wieder in seiner phantasie fort, endlich dacht er ein bischen nach, und sagte zu mir: h. Schachtner, ihre Geige ist um einen halben 4tel ton tieffer gestimmt als meine da, wenn Sie sie doch so gestimmt liessen, wie sie war, als ich das letzte mal drauf spielte. ich lachte darüber, aber Papa, der das ausserordentliche Tönegefühl und Gedächtniß dieses Kinds kannte, bath mich meine Geige zu hohlen, und zu sehen, ob er recht hätte, ich thats, und richtig wars.
Johann Andreas Schachtner to Maria Anna Mozart, 24 April 1792, Correspondence, Digital Mozart Edition, International Mozarteum Foundation, Salzburg, Austria. https://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/briefe/letter.php?mid=1781&cat=3.
Mozart Resources, Part II: Primary Source Research
Part I, Reading and Lecture List
General
Digital Mozart Edition - Hosted by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation, the DME is the best online resource I've found for Mozart to date for comprehensive consultation. In addition to information on Mozart himself, it also has a plethora of treasures regarding his music, family, and world.
Letter Collections
Mozart and his family maintained an extensive and supremely interesting correspondence over his life; his letters are among my favorite primary sources to read. While my academic specialty was in 18th century American epistolary writings and I thus hold a special flame for that category of record, I'm simultaneously utterly taken with Wolfgang's letters in particular, which, in comparison, are much more fun and not married at all to any notions of propriety. Anyone interested in his life should start here.
Anderson, Emily, ed. The Letters of Mozart & His Family. 3 vols. MacMillan & Co., 1938. [The most complete compilation of letters that I've come across, but also to be read with some nuance, see Eisen.]
Eisen, Cliff, ed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Life In Letters. Penguin Classics, 2007. [Sort of a "greatest hits" of the family's letters so the book only has a fraction of them, but worth picking up for the excellent footnotes.]
Digital Mozart Edition: Letters & Documents - An extensive digitization of the Mozart's family letters. Toggle functions between the original German, transcriptions, translations. Many letters have scans of the original manuscript.
Lettere della famiglia Mozart - Digitization of letters Mozart's family exchanged during his Italian travels, 1770-1773. Letters are currently only in Italian, but the site itself is nice and has some good functions. See also the accompanying blog, Mozartiana, linked in Part I.
For discussion and criticism on the various compendiums of letters, see Eisen, Cliff, "'In Mozart's Words: Perspectives on a New, Online Edition of the Mozart Family Letters From Italy, 1770-1773," Fontes Artis Musicae 58, no. 1 (January-March 2011): 1-7.
Scores
Bibliotheca Mozartiana - Database of digital scans of Mozart's autograph scores. Not complete but it does have a number of good collections related to Mozart.
Digital Mozart Edition: Digital Mozart Score Viewer - A clean and easy way to view scores. Unfortunately has only a selection of his oeuvre.
International Music Score Library Project - The go-to source for any score, any composer, so they of course have Mozart's whole catalogue. Has entire scores and individual parts. Sometimes they have autograph scores.
YouTube - Obvious, but play around with different search terms to find different versions of scores. Sometimes a the manuscript version will be uploaded, or ones with accompanying analysis and notes.
Early Biographies
Jahn, Otto. The Life Of Mozart, trans. Pauline D. Townsend. 3 vols. London, 1882.
Niemetschek, Franz Xaver. Lebensbeschreibung des K. K. Kapellmeisters Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Prague, 1808. [The first full-length biography on Mozart. German only.]
Nissen, Georg N. von. Biographie WA Mozart's. Leipzig, 1828. [Written by Costanze Mozart's second husband. German only.]
Miscellany
Counterpoint lesson - A modern transcription of a counterpoint lesson Mozart set for his student, Thomas Attwood. Jump to page 44 for a fun correction when Attwood switched the clefs.
Account of a Very Remarkable Young Musician - A report by the Royal Society confirming, that after setting the eight-year-old Mozart several musical tests, was indeed a child and not an adult with. Another of my most beloved primary sources about his childhood, as it once against demonstrates his extraordinary skill and personality at a young age.
Treatise on the Fundamentals of Violin Playing - A famous violin textbook Mozart's father Leopold published in 1756, the same year as Mozart's birth. It was a great success, reprinted and translated multiple times.
Mozart Resources, Part I: Reading and Lecture List
Books and Articles
Braunbehrens, Volkmar. Mozart in Vienna: 1781–1791. Grove Weidenfeld, 1990.
Cairns, David. Mozart and His Operas. Allen Lane, 2006.
Glover, Jane. Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera. Picador, 2023. [Not groundbreaking, but a nice read on young Mozart's early and influential travels.]
Keefe, Simon P. "'We hardly knew what we should pay attention to first': Mozart the Performer-Composer at Work on the Viennese Piano Concertos." Journal of the Royal Musical Association 134, no. 2 (2009): 185-242. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40783214.
Sadie, Stanley. Mozart: The Early Years, 1756-1781. Oxford University Press, 2006.
Soloman, Maynard. Mozart: A Life. Harper Perennial, 1995. [In my mind seems to stand as the Mozart biography for a lot of people.]
Swafford, Jan. Mozart: Reign of Love. Harper Perennial, 2021. [Really enjoyed this one. The best book on Mozart I've read in the past few years.]
Tyson, Alan. Mozart: Studies of the Autograph Scores. Harvard University Press, 1990. [How niche do you want to get? He's using paper types to determine date of composition.]
Analysis and Lectures (YouTube)
Richard Atkinson
Inside the Score
Robert Levin, Composing and Improvising Mozart
The Music Professor
Bruce Adolphe, various lectures
Amadeus film analysis
Miscellany
Mozartiana - A blog run, as far as I can tell, by Mozart scholar Cliff Eisen. Seems defunct now and there isn't too much, but there are a some interesting articles on Mozart's life and times, such as one on the importance of roast beef.
Selected Wikipedia pages - Compositional Method, Appearance and Character, Name
[24 April 1792] Johann Andreas Schachtner to Maria Anna Mozart, on her brother’s (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) childhood
English
Some especially remarkable particulars from when he was aged between 4 and 5 for whose veracity I would be able to swear.
On one occasion I went home with your esteemed Papa after Thursday Mass, we found the four-year-old little Wolfgängerl busy with a pen.
Papa: What are you writing?
Wolfg: A concerto for keyboard, the first part is almost finished.
Papa: Let’s see it.
Wolfg: It’s not finished yet.
Papa: Let’s see it, something like that has to be done properly.
Your Papa took it away from him and showed me a mess of notes, most of the written on top of smeared ink blots. |: N.B. little Wolfgangerl always dipped the pen, not understanding it, down to the bottom of the inkpot, so an inkblot was bound to fall as soon as he touched the paper with it, but he was immediately resolute, wiped over it with the flat of his hand, smearing and spreading it, and immediately continued writing. :| Initially, we laughed at this apparent double-Dutch, but afterwards your Papa started his examination of the main thing, of the notes, of the composition. His eyes remained fixed on the page, examining it; in the end to tears fell from his eyes, tears of astonishment and joy. You see, Herr Schachtner, he said, how everything is set correctly and regularly, only it cannot be used because it is so extraordinarily difficult that no-one would be capable of playing it. At that point Wolfgangerl interrupted: That is why it is a concerto, because one has to practice so long before one can hit the notes; you see, this is how it must go. He played, but could force out just enough so that we could recognise what he wanted to achieve. At that time his understanding was that playing concertos and working miracles must be one and the same.
German
Einige sonderbare Wunderwürdigkeiten von seinem 4 bis 5 Jährigen Alter, auf deren Wahrhaftigkeit ich schwören könnte. Einsmals gieng ich mit h.
Papa nach dem DonnerstagAmte zu ihnen nach hauß, wir
45 traffen den 4 jährigen Wolfgängerl in der Beschäftigung mit der Feder an:
Papa: was machst du?
Wolfg: ein Concert fürs Clawier, der erste theil ist bald fertig.
Papa. laß sehen. Wolfg: ist noch nicht fertig.
Papa laß sehen, daß muß was saubers seÿn.
Der Papa nahm ihms weg, und zeigte mir ein Geschmier von Noten, die meistentheils über ausgewischte dintendolken geschrieben waren |: NB: der kleine Wolfgangerl tauchte die Feder, aus Unverstand, allemal bis auf den Grund des Dintenfasses ein, daher musste ihm, so bald er damit aufs Papier kamm, ein Dintendolken entfallen, aber er war gleich entschlossen, fuhr mit der flachen Hand drüberhin, und wischte es auseinander und schrieb wieder drauf fort :| wir lachten anfänglich über dieses scheinbare galimathias, aber der Papa fieng hernach seine Betrachtungen über die Hauptsache, über die Noten, über die Composition an, er hieng lange zeit steif mit seiner Betrachtung an dem Blate, endlich fielen seine Thränen, Thränen der Bewunderung und Freude aus seinen Augen. sehen sie, h. Schachtner, sagte, wie alles richtig und regelmässig gesetzt ist, nur ists nicht zu brauchen, weil es so ausserordentlich schwer ist, daß es kein Mensch zu spielen im Stande ware. der Wolfgangerl fiel ein: drum ists ein Concert, man muß so lang exercieren, bis man es treffen kann, sehen Sie, so muß es gehen. er spielte, konnte aber auch just so viel herauswirgen, daß wir kennen konnten, wo er aus wollte. Er hatte damals den Begrief, das, Concert spielen und Mirakel wirken einerleÿ seÿn müsse.
Johann Andreas Schachtner to Maria Anna Mozart, 24 April 1792, Correspondence, Digital Mozart Edition, International Mozarteum Foundation, Salzburg, Austria. https://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/briefe/letter.php?mid=1781&cat=3.
[24 April 1792] Johann Andreas Schachtner to Maria Anna Mozart, on her brother's (Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) childhood
Schachtner was a skilled court violinist and trumpet player who had known the Mozart family in Salzburg when Mozart was a child. This letter, written to Mozart's older sister shortly after Mozart's Decmeber 1791 death, recounts a number of charming anecdotes about the young Mozart around 1763, when Mozart was about six or seven years old.
English
To your first question: What your esteemed brother of blessed memory had in the way of favourite games in his childhood N.B. leaving aside his musical activities. No answer can be given to this question, for as soon as he began to involve himself in music, all his senses for all other pastimes were as good as dead, and even children’s diversions and inconsequential games had to be accompanied by music if they were to be interesting for him: when we – he and I – carried playthings from one room to another, whichever one of us was carrying nothing always had to sing or fiddle a march to it. But before this time, before he began with music, he was so receptive for any children’s amusement which was spiced with a little wit that he could forget food and drink, and everything else, over it. Because, as you know, I took an active interest in him, I became so extremely dear to him and he often asked me ten times in one day if I was fond of him, and if I occasionally said no, even simply as a joke, clear, bright tears appeared in his eyes, so tender and so benevolent was his good little heart.
German
auf ihre erste Frage: was Ihr seel. Herr Bruder in seiner Kindheit, NB: ausser der Beschäfti gung in der Musik für Lieblingsspiele hatte: Auf diese Frage ist nichts zu beantworten: denn so bald er mit der Musik sich abzugeben anfieng, waren alle seine Sinne für alle übrige Geschäfte, so viel als todt, und selbst die Kindereÿen und Tändelspiele mussten, wenn sie für ihn interessant seÿn sollten, von der Musik begleitet werden. wenn wir, Er und Ich, Spielzeuge zum Tän deln von einem Zimmer ins andere trugen, musste allemal derjenige aus uns, so leer gieng, einen Marsch dazu singen, oder geigen. Vor dieser Zeit aber, eh er die Musik anfieng, war er für jede Kindereÿ, die mit ein bischen Witz gewürzt war, so empfänglich, daß er darüber Essen und Trincken, und alles andere vergessen konnte. Ich ward ihm daher, weil ich, wie Sie wissen, mich mit ihm abgab, so äusserst lieb, daß er mich oft zehnmal an einem Tage fragte, ob ich ihn lieb hätte, und wenn ich es zuweilen, auch nur zum Spasse verneinte, stunden ihm gleich die hellichten zähren im Auge, so zärtlich und so wohlwollend war sein gutes Herzchen.
Johann Andreas Schachtner to Maria Anna Mozart, 24 April 1792, Correspondence, Digital Mozart Edition, International Mozarteum Foundation, Salzburg, Austria. https://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/briefe/letter.php?mid=1781&cat=3.
🍯🪶 HBH: It's pretty clear from reports from the time that Mozart by all accounts was an adorable child who loved to make friends, chat people up, and amuse them. My impression of him as a child has always been that he was just extremely endearing and sweet. These stories of him when he was this age, five, six, and seven, are my favorite, especially with how his childhood innocence contrasts with his musical prodigiousness.
