The Viennese certainly love change--_but only at the theatre_, and
my line is too popular not to be supported. This is, in truth,
_Clavierland!_ and, even supposing they were to tire of me, it would not
be for several years, and in the meantime I should have made both money
and reputation.
In this expectation he was not disappointed; the applause which greeted
him on his first appearance was repeated as often as he appeared in
Vienna.
{CONCERTS IN THE AUGARTEN, 1782.}
(283)
The proper season for concerts, and also for private musical parties,
was Lent, when the theatres were closed; the concerts were generally
given in the theatre.[41] Mozart invariably gave a concert in Lent.
After the success of the first (1782) he used to make a common
undertaking every spring with a certain Phil. Jac. Martin. He was a
native of Regensburg, who had studied with good old Bullinger at the
Jesuit College in Munich, and supported himself with difficulty: "quite
a young man, who tries hard to get on in the world by his music, his
beautiful handwriting, and especially by his clever head and strong
intellect" (May 29, 1782). Martin had established an amateur musical
society, which gave concerts every Friday during the winter.[42] Mozart
writes to his father (May 8, 1782):--
You know that there are a number of amateurs here, and very good ones,
both male and female; hitherto there has been no organisation among
them. This Martin has now received permission from the Emperor, with
expressions of the highest approbation, to give twelve concerts in the
Augarten and four grand evening concerts on the finest open spaces in
the city.[43] The subscription for the whole summer is two ducats. You
can well imagine that we shall get subscribers enough, all the more
for my being associated with him. Even supposing that we only get one
hundred subscribers, and that the expenses amount to two hundred florins
(an outside sum), that means three hundred florins profit for each of
us. Baron van Swieten and the Countess Thun are taking it up warmly.
The orchestra is entirely amateur, with the exception of the bassoons,
trumpets, and drums.
{MARRIED LIFE.}
(284)
The Imperial Augarten replaced the old "Favorite" established by Joseph
I. in the Leopold Vorstadt of Vienna. It was laid out by Joseph II.,
and opened to the public for their free use in 1775, with the well-known
inscription over the entrance: "Public place of recreation dedicated to
all men, by one who esteems them."[44] The principal building was used
as an hotel, and the Emperor built for himself a simple little house,
surrounded by wooden palings, where he sometimes spent several days, and
amused himself by walking freely among his people. On Sunday afternoons
in especial, all the fashionable population of Vienna strolled
there,[45] so that the speculation promised to be a successful one.
It provided plenty of occupation for its promoters. Mozart writes (May
25, 1782):--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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