Besides the concerts, he played publicly on the two best of Silbermann's
organs in the Neue Kirche and the Thomas Kirche, and the roads being
flooded and his departure for the present impossible, he resolved to
give another concert on his fête-day, October 31. This he did at the
solicitation and for the gratification of his friends Frank, De Beyer,
&c., and the result was--_one_ louis-d'or. No wonder that he was
obliged to raise money in order to continue his journey, a fact which he
remembered years after with indignation.
By the advice of friends who had made the journey he continued his
way by diligence via Mannheim; the better roads and more comfortable
carriage amply compensating for the _détour_. At Mannheim he alighted
on November 6, and was welcomed with acclamations by his friends.
The journey viä Mannheim seemed to Leopold Mozart a most senseless
proceeding on Wolfgang's part; the Weber family and all his best friends
had migrated to Munich, and there was nothing to be gained by the visit.
{MANNHEIM, 1778.}
(73)
He stayed with Madame Cannabich, who had not yet left, and who was never
tired of hearing about himself; all his acquaintance tore him in pieces,
for "as I love Mannheim, so Mannheim loves me." The old associations
woke in him the old hopes and wishes. The Mannheim people were anxious
to believe that the Elector could not stand the coarse manners of the
Bavarians, and would soon be tired of Munich. It was reported that
Madame Toscani and Madame Urban had been so hissed that the Elector had
leant over his box and cried "Hush!" As this had no effect, Count Seeau
had begged some officers not to make so much noise, since it displeased
the Elector; but they answered, that they had paid for their admission
to the theatre, and no one had any right to give them orders there.
Every one was convinced that the Elector would soon bring the court back
to Mannheim, and Wolfgang was only too ready to believe the assurances
of his friends that when this took place, a fixed appointment would
certainly be offered to him. Between Mannheim and Salzburg--what a
difference! "The Archbishop," he wrote to his father (November 12,
1778), "cannot give me an equivalent for the slavery in Salzburg. I
should feel nothing but delight were I only going to pay you a visit:
but the idea of settling myself for good within that beggarly court
is pain and grief to me." At Mannheim there were already prospects
of immediate employment, besides--and what did he want more?--the
opportunity for dramatic composition. Amid the universal desolation
which was spread over Mannheim by the removal of the electoral court
to Munich, patriotic men were not wanting who strove to resuscitate the
intellectual and material prosperity of the town. Heribert von Dalberg
failed indeed in his project for removing Heidelberg University to
Mannheim, but he gained the express support of the Elector to the
establishment of a theatre for carrying out the idea of an established
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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