User:Brianboulton/Sandbox

This is my sandbox. I use it for tests.

Nansen projects

Photo of Fram first pub. 1897

Lithogaph by F Nansen, Fram with polar bear Site has useful text

Photo by Nansen of Fram Expedition 1894

[[Image:ColinArcher.jpg|thumb]]

Score

http://dme.mozarteum.at/DME/nma/start.php?

these

link to Project Gutenberg for Ring Cycle

harvard dictionary music

List of Mozart's symphonies

K1	K6	Year composed	Symphony Title	Movements	Place	Comments	Ref.
K. 16	K. 16	1764	No. 1 in E flat	Allegro molto; Andante; Presto	London
K. 19	K. 19	1765	No. 4 in D major	Allegro; Andante; Presto	London
Anh. 223	K. 19a	1765	Symphony in F major	Allegro Assai; Andante; Presto	London
K. 22	K. 22	1765	No. 5 in B flat	Allegro; Andante; Allegro molto	The Hague
K. 35	K. 35	1767	Symphonic overture in D major	One-movement sinfonia	Salzburg	Overture, Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes
K. 38	K. 38	1767	Symphonic overture in D major	One-movement sinfonia	Salzburg	Overture, Apollo et Hyacinthus
K. 43	K. 43	1767	No. 6 in F major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Vienna
Anh. 221	K. 45a	1767	Symphony in G major	Allegro maestoso; Andante; Presto	Lambach	Known as "Old Lambach"
K. 45	K. 45	1768	No. 7 in D major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Finale	Vienna	First version of K. 51 (K. 46a)
K. 51	K. 46a	1768	Symphonic overture in D major	Allegro; Andante; Molto allegro	Vienna	Overture, La finta semplice
K. 50	K. 46b	1768	Symphonic overture in G major	One-movement sinfonia	Vienna	Overture, Bastien und Bastienne
K. 48	K. 48	1768	No. 8 in D major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Vienna
K. 100	K. 62a	1769	Symphony in D major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Salzburg	Extracted from orchestral serenade
K. 73	K. 73	1770?	No. 9 in C major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro Molto	Unknown
K. 74	K. 74	1770	No. 10 in G major	Allegro; Andante; Allegro	Milan or Rome
K. 87	K. 74a	1770	Symphonic overture in D major	Allegro; Andante grazioso; Presto	Milan	Overture, Mitridate, re di Ponto
K. 118	K. 74c	1771	Symphonic overture in D minor	Allegro; Andante; Presto	Salzburg	Overture, La Betulia liberata, oratorio (text by Pietro Metastasio)
K. 110	K. 75b	1771	No. 12 in G major	Allegro; Andante: Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 120	K. 111a	1771	Symphonic overture in D major	Allegro assai; Andante; Presto	Milan	Overture, Ascanio in Alba, altered
K. 112	K. 112	1771	No. 13 in F major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Molto allegro	Milan
K. 114	K. 114	1771	No. 14 in A major	Allegro moderato; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Molto allegro	Salzburg	Alt. 3rd movement menuetto
K. 124	K. 124	1772	No. 15 in G major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Presto	Salzburg
K. 136	K. 125a	1772	Divertimento in D major	Allegro; Andante; Presto	Salzburg	First of the three "Salzburg symphonies"
K. 137	K. 125b	1772	Divertimento in B flat major	Andante; allegro di molto; Allegro assai	Salzburg	Second "Salzburg symphony"
K. 138	K. 125c	1772	Divertimento in F major	Allegro; Andante; Presto	Salzburg	Third "Salzburg symphony"
K. 128	K. 128	1772	No. 16 in C major	Allegro maestoso; Andante grazioso; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 129	K. 129	1772	No. 17 in G major	Allegro; Andante; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 130	K. 130	1772	No. 18 in F Major	Allegro; Andantino grazioso; Menuetto/Trio; Molto allegro	Salzburg
K. 132	K. 132	1772	No. 19 in E flat major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Salzburg	Alt. 2nd: movement Andantino grazioso
K. 133	K. 133	1772	No. 20 in D major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 134	K. 134	1772	No. 21 in A major	Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 135	K. 135	1772	Symphonic overture in D major	Molto allegro; Andante; Molto allegro	Milan	Overture, Lucio Silla
K. 161/3	K. 141a	1772	Symphonic overture in D major	Allegro moderato; Andante; Presto	Salzburg	Overture, Il sogno di Scipione. Presto movement added later, 1773 or 1774
K. 184	K. 161a	1773	No. 26 in E flat major	Molto presto; Andante; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 199	K. 161b	1773	No. 27 in G major	Allegro; Andantino grazioso; Presto	Salzburg
K. 162	K. 162	1773	No. 22 in C major	Allegro assai; Andantino grazioso; Presto assai	Salzburg
K. 181	K. 162b	1773	No. 23 in D major	Allegro spiritoso; Andantino grazioso; Presto assai	Salzburg
K. 185	K. 167a	1773	Symphony in D major	Allegro assai; Andante grazioso; Menuetto/Trio; Adagio/Allegro assai	Salzburg or Vienna	Extracted from orchestral serenade
K. 182	K. 173dA	1773	No. 24 in B flat major	Allegro spiritoso;andantino grazioso; Allegro	Salzburg
K. 183	K. 173dB	1773	No. 25 in G minor	Allegro con brio; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Salzburg	Known as "Little G minor"
K. 201	K. 186a	1774	No. 29 in A major	Allegro moderato; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro con spirito	Salzburg
K. 202	K. 186b	1774	No. 30 in D major	Molto allegro; Andantino con moto; Menuetto/Trio; Presto	Salzburg
K. 203	K. 189b	1774	Symphony in D major	Andante maestoso; Allegro assai; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Prestissimo	Salzburg	Extracted from orchestral serenade
K. 200	K. 189k	1774	No. 28 in C major	Allegro spiritoso; Andante; Menuetto Allegretto/Trio; Presto	Salzburg
K. 121	K. 207a	1775	Symphonic overture in D major	Allegro molto; Andante grazioso; Allegro	Munich	Overture, La finta giardiniera
K. 204	K. 213a	1775	Symphony in D major	Allegro assai; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Andantino grazioso; allegro	Salzburg	Extracted from orchestral serenade
K. 102	K. 213c	1775	Symphonic overture in C major	Molto allegro; Andantino; Presto assai	Salzburg	Overture, Il re pastore
K. 250	K. 248b	1776	Symphony in D major	Allegro; Menuetto/Trio; Andante; Menuetto/Trio Iⅈ Adagio/Allegro assai	Salzburg	Extracted from serenade: "Haffner"
K. 297	K. 300a	1778	No. 31 in D major: "Paris"	Allegro assai; Andante; Allegro	Paris	Alt. 2nd movement Andante
K. 318	K. 318	1779	No. 32 in G major	Allegro spiritoso; Andante; Tempo primo	Salzburg	Sometimes called "Overture in Italian style"
K. 319	K. 319	1779	No. 33 in B flat major	Allegro assai; Andante moderato; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro assai	Salzburg
K. 320	K. 320	1779	Symphony in D major	Adagio maestoso; Allegro con spirito; Andantino; Presto	Salzburg	Extracted from orchestral serenade
K. 338	K. 338	1780	No. 34 in C major	Allegro vivace; Andante di molto; Allegro vivace	Salzburg	14 bars exists of a discarded Menuetto
K. 409	K. 383f	1782?	Symphonic Minuet in C		Vienna?
K. 385	K. 385	1782	No. 35 in D major: "Haffner"	Allegro con spirito; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Presto	Vienna
K. 425	K. 425	1783	No. 36 in C major: "Linz"	Adagio/Allegro spirito; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Presto	Linz
K. 444	K. 425a	1784	Slow introduction to a symphony by Michael Haydn		Vienna	Formally known as "Mozart's 37th symphony"
K. 504	K. 504	1786	No. 38 in D major: "Prague"	Adagio; Allegro; Andante; Presto	Vienna
K. 543	K. 543	1788	No. 39 in E flat major	Adagio/Allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro	Vienna
K. 550	K. 550	1788	No. 40 in G minor	Molto allegro; Andante; Menuetto/Trio; Allegro assai	Vienna
K. 551	K. 551	1778	No. 41 in C major: "Jupiter"	Allegro vivace; Andante cantabile; Menuetto/Trio; Molto allegro	Vienna

Spurious symphonies

There are many reasons why misattributions of works to Mozart continued, during his lifetime and most particularly after his death. The difficulties in authenticating with certainty the early Mozart symphonies have been noted by music critic Nicholas Kenyon.<ref name = Kenyon151>Kenyon, p. 151</ref> Original autograph scores are missing; in some instances the body of the work has been lost, its identity being preserved only through incipits catalogued by Breitkopf & Hartel, who published the Alte Mozart-Ausgabe (AMA) in 1883. The extent of Leopold Mozart's influence on the work of the infant prodigy is another factor which provokes doubts as to some of the early works' validity. Mozart associated with many composers during his lifetime, often copying out all or parts of their works for the purpose of study, leading later archivists and historians into believing that the work was his. After he himself was famous, Mozart was generous in assisting struggling composers to get their music heard, with occasional confusion about who's work was being performed. Long after Mozart's early death any find, whatever the remoteness of the connection with him, was liable to be hailed as a new Mozart discovery. The Mozart symphonic canon is flexible, as new evidence can sometimes lead to authentication of dubious works,<ref name = Kenyon151/><ref>Zaslaw, p. 40–41</ref> or alternatively can disqualify works previously accepted without question.<ref>Zaslaw, p. 392</ref>

Spurious symphonies

There are many reasons why misattributions of works to Mozart continued, during his lifetime and most particularly after his death. The difficulties in authenticating with certainty the early Mozart symphonies have been noted by music critic Nicholas Kenyon.<ref name = Kenyon151>Kenyon, p. 151</ref> Original autograph scores are missing; in some instances the body of the work has been lost, its identity being preserved only through incipits catalogued by Breitkopf & Hartel, who published the Alte Mozart-Ausgabe (AMA) in 1883. The extent of Leopold Mozart's influence on the work of the infant prodigy is another factor which provokes doubts as to some of the early works' validity. Mozart associated with many composers during his lifetime, often copying out all or parts of their works for the purpose of study, leading later archivists and historians into believing that the work was his. After he himself was famous, Mozart was generous in assisting struggling composers to get their music heard, with occasional confusion about who's work was being performed. Long after Mozart's early death any find, whatever the remoteness of the connection with him, was liable to be hailed as a new Mozart discovery. The Mozart symphonic canon is flexible, as new evidence can sometimes lead to authentication of dubious works,<ref name = Kenyon151/><ref>Zaslaw, p. 40–41</ref> or alternatively can disqualify works previously accepted without question.<ref>Zaslaw, p. 392</ref>

Draft of Mozart family's Grand Tour

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1763, aged seven, at the start of the Grand Tour". He is wearing livery presented by the Empress of Austria the previous winter.

The Mozart family's Grand Tour, 1763–66, was an extended journey around the capitals and other major cities of western Europe, undertaken by Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children Maria Anna (Nannerl) and Wolfgang Amadeus. Leopold was a court musician to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, by 1763 holding the post of deputy Kapellmeister. He obtained a protracted leave of absence from his employment so that the the precocious talents of his children, then aged eleven and seven respectively, could be demonstrated to the wider world.

The children's extraordinary skills had already been shown revealed during visits to Munich and Vienna in 1762. In Vienna they had played before the Empress Maria Theresa, and a schedule of public performances had earned considerable sums of money. The social and pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip, taking in the major European courts, accorded with what Leopold saw as his duty, as a Catholic and a German, to show his miraculous children to the world.

The Grand Tour itinerary took the family, via Munich and Frankfurt, to Brussels. From there they travelled to Paris, and, after a stay of five months, departed for London for what would be their longest sojourn, fifteen months. In London Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his first symphonies. The family moved on to Holland, where the schedule of performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, but Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically, The homeward journey incorporated a second stop in Paris and a trip through Switzerland, before the eventual return to Salzburg in November 1766.

The children's performances had inspired comments of rapture and amazement wherever they played. However, the material rewards of the tour, though substantial, did not transform the family's lifestyle, Leopold continuing in the Prince-Archbishop's service. The journey had enabled children to experience fully the cosmopolitan musical world, and to receive "a wonderful education", which in Wolfgang's case would continue through further journeys for the next six years.

Infant prodigies

File:Wolfgang02.jpg

Nannerl and Wolfgang playing together, some years after the grand tour. Leopold observes.

Of seven children born to Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart,, only two survived infancy: the fourth, Maria Anna (Nannerl), born 31 July 1751, and the youngest, Wolfgang Amadeus, born 27 January 1756. When Nannerl was seven her father began to teach her to play the harpsichord, with Wolfgang looking on; according to Nannerl's own account "the boy immediately showed his extraordinary, God-given talent. He often spent long periods at the clavier, picking out thirds, and his pleasure showed that they sounded good to him [...] When he was five years old he was composing little pieces which he would play to his father who would write them down". A family friend, the poet Johann Andreas Schachtner, recounted that at the age of four Wolfgang began to compose a recognisable piano concerto, and was able to demonstrate a phenomenal sense of pitch.

Marie Antoinette, aged 7, in 1763, when she met Mozart in Vienna

Nannerl herself was an extremely apt pupil, no less quick to learn than her brother, playing the keyboard with "striking virtuosity" by the time she was eleven. In that year, 1762, Leopold brought the children to Munich to play before the Elector Maximilian III. Leopold then took the entire family to Vienna, on a trip that lasted for three months. Leopold had secured invitations from several noble patrons, and within three days of arrival the children were playing at the palace of Count Collalto. Among those present was the Viennese Treasury councillor and future prime minister Johann Karl Count Zinzendorf, who noted in his diary that "a little boy, said to be only five-and-a-half years old (Mozart was actually nearly seven) played the harpsichord". After an appearance before the Imperial Vice-Chancellor, the Mozarts were invited to the Royal court, where the Empress Maria Theresa tested Wolfgang's abilities by requiring him to play with the keyboard covered. During this court visit Wolfgang met the the Archduchess Maria Antonia, the future Queen Marie Antoinette of France, who was two months his senior. The story is told that she helped Wolfgang when he slipped on the polished floor, and in return received from him a proposal of marriage.

As the Mozarts began to be noticed by the Viennese aristocracy, they would often be required to give several performances during a single day; Mozart scholar Stanley Sadie records that on 15 October they played engagements at different houses at 2.30, 3.45 and 5.30. They were well rewarded for this activity—at the end of their first hectic week in Vienna Leopold was able to send home the equivalent of more than two years' salary. Their schedule was interrupted when Wolfgang fell ill with scarlet fever, and the former impetus was not regained; nevertheless, the visit was left Leopold "intoxicated with the(se) social and financial jackpots". On their return to Salzburg, Wolfgang played the harpsichord and violin at a birthday concert for the Archbishop, "to everyone's astonishment".

Grand tour

Preparations

Leopold Mozart, circa. 1765

In a letter to his friend and landlord Lorenz Hagenauer, written after the tour, Leopold quotes the words of the German diplomat Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm, who had said, after hearing the children play: "Now for once in my life I have seen a miracle: this is the first". Leopold believed that it was his duty to his country, his prince and his God to proclaim this miracle to the world, by showing Nannerl and Wolfgang to the highest European society, "otherwise I would be the most ungrateful creature". It has been suggested by Mozart student Wolfgang Hildesheimer that, at least in the case of Wolfgang, this venture was premature: "Too soon, father dragged son all over Western Europe for years. This continual change of scene would have worn out even a robust child..." However, there is little evidence to suggest that Wolfgang was physically or productively harmed by these childhood exertions; it seems that he felt equal to the challenge from the start.

Leopold wanted to begin the tour as soon as possible—the younger the children were, the more spectacular would be the demonstration of their gifts. The route he intended to take included southern Germany, the Austrian Netherlands, Paris, Switzerland and possibly northern Italy, the London leg only being added after urgings during the Paris visit, and the eventual Holland visit an unplanned detour. In general, the plan was to take in as many princely European courts as possible, as well as the great cultural capitals. Leopold was relying on the professional musical network, and on his more recent social contacts, to obtain inviations from the royal courts. Practical assistance came from Hagenauer, whose trading connections in the major cities would supply the Mozarts with what, in Jane Glover's words, were "effectively banking facilities". It seems likely that Hagenauer, and possibly other Salzburg merchants, had helped to finance the tour, and expected to share in the prospective rewards.

Before the journey could begin, Leopold needed the consent of his employer, the prince-archbishop. Leopold had only been appointed deputy Kapellmeister in January 1763; nevertheless the archbishop's consent to an extended leave of absence was granted, on the grounds that the Mozarts' successes would bring glory to Salzburg, its ruler, and to God.

Early stages

The journey's beginning, on 9 July 1763, was inauspicious; on the first day a carriage wheel broke, necessitating a 24-hour interlude while repairs were carried out. Wolfgang turned this delay to advantage, by visiting the nearby church at Wasserburg and demonstrating his ability, after brief explanation, to play on the organ pedals "as if he had been studying it for months". In Munich, on successive evenings, the children played before the Elector of Bavaria and Elector Maximilian III, earning from these engagements the equivalent of half of Leopold's annual salary. The next stop was Augsberg, where Leopold's estranged mother refused to attend any of the three concerts given there. The family then moved on to Schwetzingen and the Mannheim court, where the children's performance apparently "amazed" the Electress.

Johann Wolfgang Goethe, who saw the infant prodigies perform in Frankfurt, in 1765

The next extended stop was at Mainz, from where the family took a boat journey down the Rhine to Frankfurt, where several public concerts were given. Among those present at the first of these was the fourteen-year-old Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, who would many years later recall "the little fellow with his wig and his sword". An advertisement for these concerts announced that "the girl" would play "the most difficult pieces by the greatest masters", while "the boy" would play a concerto on the violin and also repeat his Vienna trick of playing with the keyboard completely covered by a cloth. Finally "he will improvise out of his head, not only on the fortepiano but also on the organ...in all the keys, even the most difficult, that he may be asked".

After several more weeks in Mainz the family took another riverboat to Coblenz, thence to Bonn and Cologne. At Aachen a performance was given before Princess Amalie of Prussia, the sister of Frederick the Great. The princess tried to persuade Leopold to abandon his itinerary and go to Berlin, but Leopold resisted. "She has no money," he wrote to Hagenauer, recounting that she had repaid the performance with kisses. "Howbeit, neither mine host nor the postmaster are to be contented with kisses".The next stage of the journey took them to the Austrian Netherlands, where they visited Liège before arriving in the regional capital, Brussels, on 5 October. After a long wait for the governor-general, Prince Charles of Lorraine, to summon them ("His highness the prince does nothing but hunt, gobble and swill", wrote Leopold to Hagenauer), a grand concert was held in the prince's presence on 7 November. On the 15th the family departed for Paris.

During the long hiatus in Brussels Wolfgang turned his attention briefly from performing to composing. On 14 October he finished an Allegro for harpsichord, which would later be incorporated into the C major sonata K.6, which he completed in Paris.

Paris

Plaque on the Hôtel Beauvais, where the Mozarts lodged in Paris, 1763–64

The Paris in which the Mozart family arrived on 18 November 1763 was the most important musical centre in Europe, and also a city of great power, wealth, and intellectual activity.. In nearby Versailles was the court of Louis XV; Leopold's hopes of success in Paris were chiefly fixed on appearances at this court. However, a recent death in the royal family prevented any immediate invitation, so Leopold sought other engagements. Biographer Eric Blom writes of this period that "the cold shoulder was turned on them everywhere", In fact, Leopold's letters record appearances at several noble houses. One person who took particular note of the children was The German diplomat Friedrich Melchior von Grimm's journal records Wolfgang's feats in glowing terms: "the most consummate Kapellmeister could not be more profound in the science of harmony and modulation". This is close to Leopold's own assessment, written a few months later: "My little girl, although only 12 years old, is one of the most skilful players in Europe and, in a word, my boy knows more in his eighth year than one would expect for a man of forty".

On 24 December the family moved to Versailles for a two week period during which, thanks to a court connection, they were able to attend a royal dinner where, reportedly, Wolfgang was allowed to kiss the hand of the Queen. At Versailles they also visited the famous courtesan Madame de Pompadour, then in the last months of her life—"an extremely haughty woman who still ruled over everything", according to Leopold. According to Nannerl's later recollections, Wolfgang was made to stand on a chair to be examined by the Madame, who would not allow him to kiss her.

Madame de Pompadour, whom the Mozart's met at Versailles, 1763–74

If and when the children played before the royal family is a matter of some conjecture; they were apparently given 50 louis d'or and a gold snuff-box by the royal entertainments office, in respect of appearances in February 1764, but no more details are available. Further concerts were given in Paris on 10 March and on 9 April, at a private theatre in the rue et Porte St Honoré.. Paris was also the location of Wolfgang Mozart's first published works, two pairs of sonatas for harpsichord and piano, K.6 and 7, and K.8 and 9. These pairs became Opus 1 and Opus 2 in Leopold's private catalogue of his son's work. The first pair was dedicated to the king's daughter, Madame Victoire de France, the second to the Countess of Tessé. In writing these sonatas Mozart developed material that had originally been written as harpsichord solos, and included the Allegro he had composed in Brussels in the first of the series, K.6 in C major. This consists of four movements, whereas the subsequent sonatas K.7 in D major, K.8 in B flat major and K. 9 in G major, are more conventional three movement works. Although, as Sadie observes, some aspects of the pieces are "rather childish and naïve", their technique is "astonishingly sure, their line of thinking is clear and smooth, and their formal balance is beyond reproach".

The decision to go to London was taken in Paris, perhaps on the advice of Leopold's musical and court acquaintances, who would probably have advised him that England was, in Mozart scholar Neal Zaslaw's words, "known for the enthusiasm with which it received continental musicians and the extravagance with which it rewarded them". On 10 April the family left for Calais and, after an unpleasant crossing to Dover on a hired boat, and some delays, arrived in London on 23 April.

London

Cecil Court, the street in which the Mozart family found lodgings on arriving in London, April 1764 (2005 photograph)

The Mozarts' first London lodgings were above a barber's shop in Cecil Court, near St Martin's in the Fields. Letters of introduction from Paris proved effective; on 27 April, within four days of arrival the children were playing before King George III and his 19-year-old German queen, Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. A second royal engagement was fixed for 19 May, at which Wolfgang was asked by the king to play pieces by Handel, J.C. Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel. The royal party was impressed by his organ-playing even above his harpsichord playing. He was allowed to accompany the queen as she sang an aria, and improvised "the most beautiful melody" to a Handel bass line, which according to Leopold "astonished everyone".

Many of the nobilty and gentry were leaving town for the summer, but Leopold reckoned that many would return for the king's birthday celebrations on 4 June, and accordingly organised a concert for the 5th. This was deemed a success, and Leopold hastened to arrange for Wolfgang to appear at a benefit concert at Ranelagh Pleasure Gardens on 29 June, in aid of a maternity hospital. Leopold apparently saw as "a way to earn the love of this very special nation" by doing charitable works.Wolfgang was advertised as "...the celebrated and astonishing Master Mozart, a Child of Seven Years of Age..." (he was in fact eight), "justly esteemed the most extraordinary Prodigy, and most amazing Genius, that has appeared in any Age" On 8 July there was a private performance at the Grosvenor Square home of the Earl of Thanet, from which Leopold returned with an inflammation of the throat and other worrying symptoms. "Prepare your heart to hear one of the saddest events", he wrote to Hagenauer in anticipation of his own imminent demise. He was incapacitated for several weeks, and for the sake of his health the family moved from its Cecil Court Lodgings to a house in the countryside, in Ebury Street, Chelsea.

Plaque on the house in Ebury Street, where the Mozarts stayed in the summer of 1765

During this period performances were impossible, and Wolfgang's attentions turned to composition. Exactly when he started composing in London is not clear; Nannerl's later recollections imply that it was at Ebury Street, but other evidence contradicts this. Jane Glover, again assuming Ebury Sreet, says that "fired by having met J.C. Bach and heard his symphonies, (he) decided to compose some symphonies of his own". It is not clear that Mozart had either met Bach at the time of the Ebury Street sojourn, or heard his symphonies, although he had played harpsichord works by Bach in his recital before the king in May 1764. However, Wolfgang began to compose music of a kind that he had not previously attempted. These compositions include Symphony No 1 in E flat, K.16, and possibly No. 4 in D, K.19 (which Zaslaw concludes was more likely composed, or at least completed, in The Hague. This latter, in Hildesheimer's words, has "an originality of melody and modulation which goes beyond the routine methods of his (grown-up) contemporaries". These are Mozart's first orchestral writings, although Zaslaw hypotheses a theoretical "Symphony No. 0" from sketches in the London Notebook (Mozart's musical sketchbook). A symphony by Abel, which Mozart copied and partly re-orchestrated as an exercise was, on its discovery a century later, listed for a while as one of Mozart's own (No. 3 in E flat major).. Three lost symphonies, known in the Köchel catalogue only by their incipits, may also have originated from the London period.

Other works were composed by Mozart in London, including several instrumental sonatas, the "jewel" of which, according to Hildesheimer, is the C major sonata for piano, four hands, K.19d. He also wrote the motet "God is our Refuge" (K.20) and the tenor aria "Va dal furor portata" (K.21), these being his first vocal works. A group of the sonatas, with extra flute and cello parts, was dedicated to Queen Charlotte at her request, and presented to her with an appropriate inscription (in French) in January 1765.

Johann Christian Bach, son of Johann Sebastian Bach, who influenced Mozart's musical development in London

By the end of September 1764 Leopold's recovery was complete, and the family moved back to central London, this time to lodgings in Thrift Street (later Frith Street), Soho. These lodgings were conveniently close to several concert rooms, and to the residences of both Carl Abel and Johann Christian Bach. Bach, a son of Johann Sebastian Bach, soon became a family friend; Nannerl later recalled Bach and the eight-year-old Wolfgang playing a sonata together, taking turns to play a few bars individually, and that "anyone not watching would have thought it was played by one person alone". On 25 October the children played, at King George's invitation, at the celebrations marking the fourth anniversary of the king's accession. It seems that Leopold had hoped to set up a concert series similar to that run annually by Bach and Abel, but this proved impossible. The Mozarts' next public appearance was a concert held on 21 February 1765, with a moderate audience—the date clashed with a Bach-Abel concert. Only one more London concert was given, on 13 May, but meanwhile Leopold had devised another way of making money. Between April and June members of the public were invited to the Mozarts lodgings where, for a five shilling fee, Wolfgang would perform his musical party pieces. During June both the "young Prodigies" performed daily at the Swan and Hoop Tavern in Cornhill, the charge this time being a mere two shillings and sixpence. These were, as Sadie puts it, "Leopold's last, desperate efort to extract guineas from the English public". Hildesheimer likens this part of the tour to a travelling circus, and compares the Mozarts to a "family of acrobats".

The Mozarts left London for the Continent on 24 July 1765. Before this, Leopold allowed Wolfgang to be subjected to a scientific examination, conducted by The Hon. Daines Barrington. A report, issued in Philosophical Transactions for the year 1770, confirms the truth of Wolfgang's exceptional capabilties.. Practically the last act of the family in London was the gift to the British Museum of the manuscript copy of "God is our Refuge".

Holland

Following the long London sojourn, Leopold intended to take the family to Paris and from there, return home to Salzburg. He had been quite specific, in letters to Haganauer, that they would not visit Holland. However, he was persuaded by an envoy of the Princess Caroline of Nassau-Weilburg, who was the sister of the Prince of Orange, to go instead to The Hague and to present the children to her. The family would be official guests of the court. After the party's landing at Calais the slow journey through the Austrian Netherlands began; there was a month's delay at Lille, as first Wolfgang, then Leopold, fell sick. Early in September the family moved on to Ghent, where Wolfgang played on the new organ at the Bernardines chapel; a few days later he played on the cathedral organ at Antwerp. On 11 September the party finally reached The Hague, Leopold commenting on the the cleanliness of the Dutch towns and villages, "which to many of us seems overdone".

Willem V, Prince of Orange, with his family. The young prince met the Mozart family in 1765–66

After the arrival in The Hague Nannerl developed a severe cold and was unable to participate in the intial concerts before the Princess during their first week, nor in a performance before the Prince a few days later. Leopold was sufficiently confident of Nannerl's recovery to announce the appearances of both prodigies at a concert to be given at the hall of the Oude Doelen on 30th September. The notice for this concert gives Wolfgang's age as eight (he was nine), but correctly gives Nannerl's as fourteen. The advertisement concentrates on Wolfgang: "All the overtures will be from the hands of this young composer [...] Music-lovers may confront him with any music at will, and he will play it at sight".

It is not certain whether this concert in fact took place—Sadie believes it may have been postponed. If it did happen, Wolfgang would have appeared alone, for by this time Nannerl's cold had developed into typhoid fever. Her condition grew steadliy worse, and on 21 October she was given the last sacrament. However, a visit from the royal physician turned the tide; he changed the treatment, and by the end of the month she was recovering. It was then Wolfgang's turn to fall ill, and it was mid-December before he was on his feet again. Both children were able to appear at the Oude Doelen on 22 January 1766, in a concert which may have included the first public performance of one of Wolfgang's London symphonies, K.19, and possibly a new symphony in B flat major (K.22), which he had composed in Holland. Following this concert they removed to Amsterdam, where they played several more concerts before returning to The Hague early in March.

The main reason for their return was the forthcoming public celebrations of the Prince of Orange's coming of age. Wolfgang had composed a suite for small orchestra and harpsicord, entitled Galimathias musicum (K.32), which was played at a special concert to honour the Prince, on 11 March. This was one of several pieces which Wolfgang composed for this occasion; he wrote arias for the Princess using words from Pietro Metastasio's libretto Artaserse, keyboard variations on a Dutch song Laat ons juichen, Bativieren!, and a set of keyboard and violin sonatas for the Princess, similar to those earlier written for the Queen of England. It has been established that another symphony, K.45a, commonly known as "Old Lambach", and thought to derive from several years later, was also written in the Hague for the Prince'a concert. They left The Hague for the last time at the end of March, moving first to Haarlem, where the organist of St Bavo's Church invited Wolfgang to play on the church's organ, one of the largest in the country.. From there they travelled south, giving concerts along the way at Amsterdam and Utrecht, before leaving Holland and travelling through Brussels and Valenciennes before arriving in Paris on 10 May.

Homeward journey

The Mozart family's house, No. 9 Getreidegasse, Salzburg, photographed in 1998. The family's quarters were on the floor immediately above the sign "Mozart's Geburtshaus"

The family stayed in Paris for two months. No concerts were recorded for this period but, according to Zaslaw, that "does not mean that none occurred.". Some of Wolfgang's symphonies were undoubtedly performed in Paris, according to the testimony of Grimm. Grimm was effusive about the development of both children; Nannerl, he wrote, "had the finest and most brilliant execution on the harpsichord", and: "no-one but her brother can rob her of supremacy". Of Wolfgang he quoted a Prince of Brunswick as saying that many Kapellmeisters at the peak of their art would die without knowing what the boy knew at the age of nine. "If these children live," wrote Grimm, "they will not remain in Salzburg. Monarchs will soon be disputing about who should have them".

At the end of May the family spent a few days at Versailles, and were again received by the Court. The only music composed by Wolfgang during this Paris visit appears to be his Kyrie in F major, K.33, his first attempt to write church music. On 9th July they left Paris for Dijon, following an invitation from the Prince of Condé. The children played in a concert at the Town Hall on 19 July, accompanied by a local orchestra, about which Leopold made disparaging comments in various languages: Très mediocre – Un miserable italien detestable – Asini tutti – Un racleur (a scratcher) – Rotten. They moved on to Lyons where it was reported of Wolfgang that "he preluded for an hour and a quarter with the most capable master here, yielding nothing to him".

In a letter to Hagenauer dated 16 August, Leopold makes it clear that he wanted at that stage to take a roundabout trip home, going first to Turin, then across northern Italy to Venice, and home via the Tyrol. "Our proximity, our situation, the general encouragement we have received, our own interest and love of travel should have induced us to follow our noses", he wrote, but adding: "My decision has been made; I have said I shall go home and I shall keep my word". The family took the shorter route through Switzerland, arriving in Geneva on 20 August, where children gave two concerts, and were received by the distinguished composer André-Ernest-Modeste Grétry. Many years later Grétry wrote of this encounter: "I wrote for him (Wolfgang) an Allegro in E flat, difficult but without pretension; he played it, and everyone, except myself, thought it was a miracle. The child had never broken off, but following the modulations, he had substituted a number of passages for those I had written". This claim, that Wolfgang improvised when faced with passages he could not play, appears to be the only adverse comment from all those called upon to test him. In Geneva the party missed an opportunity to meet the French novelist Voltaire, who was too ill to attend their concerts.

The journey through Switzerland continued, with concerts at Lausanne and Zürich. Since leaving Holland Wolfgang had composed little; a minor harpsichord piece, K.33B, written for the Zürich concerts, and later some cello pieces (since lost) written for the Prince of Fürstenberg, who received the party on its arrival in Donaueschingen, on the German border, on 20 October. They spent twelve days here before resuming their journey towards Munich, which they reached on 8 November. They were delayed here for nearly two weeks after Wolfgang fell ill, but he was well enough to perform before the Elector, with Nannerl, on the 22nd. A few days later they set out for Salzburg, arriving at their home on the Getreidegasse on 29 November.

Evaluation

The material benefits from the tour were evidently considerable. The librarian of St Peter's Abbey, Salzburg, thought that the gifts ("gewgaws") alone which they brought back were worth at least 10,000 florins. In terms of musical development, while both children had advanced, Wolfgang's was "out of all possible recognition or even expectation".. They were now known throughout the musical establishments and royal courts of Northern Europe. Leopold's employer, the Prince-Archbishop, was frankly disbelieving about Wolfgang's compositions, believing them to be Leopold's—they were "not nearly bad enough to be the work of a child".

The children had experienced encounters in real palaces, with real kings and queens, could converse in several languages, and could astonish their friends with their stories. The tour represented, for them, "an outstanding education". However, these advantages had been gained at a price; Grimm, in Paris, noting the stresses and strains on Wolfgang in particular, had feared that "so premature a fruit might fall before maturing". The continual travel and scene changes would, writes Hildesheimer, have worn out even a robust child, and certainly one required constantly to perform. But the same writer concludes that, if Mozart's death at the age of 35 was caused by the exertions of his childhood, the intervenng decades would not have been so productive, nor evidencing so few symptoms of decline.

Of Wolfgang's music composed during the tour, around thirty pieces survive. A number of further works are lost, including the Zürich cello pieces and several symphonies. The surviving works include the keyboard sonatas written in Paris, London and The Hague, several symphonies, various arias, the assorted music written for the Prince of Orange, a Kyrie, and other minor pieces. Wolfgang's career as a symphonist began in London where, in addition to the direct influences of Abel and J.C. Bach, he would have heard symphonies from leading London composers including Thomas Arne, William Boyce and Giuseppe Sammartini—"a nearly ideal introduction to the genre", according to Zaslaw. The earliest symphonies, Zaslaw points out, while not in the same class as the later Mozart masterpieces, are comparable in length, complexity and originality to those written at the same time by the acknowledged symphonic masters of the day.

Aftermath

Despite the financial rewards, the Mozart family continued to live in their cramped apartment on the Getreidegasse, while Leopold resumed his duties as a court musician. However, travel and public display dominated the next six years of Wolfgang's life. In September 1767 the family was on the move again, this time to Vienna, remaining there (apart from an enforced evacuation during a smallpox epidemic) until January 1769. In December of the same year Leopold and Wolfgang left for Italy—without Nannerl who, now eighteen, was no longer exhibitable as a child wonder. They were away for sixteen months, but went back to Milan in August 1771 for five months, to attend rehearsals and the performance of Wolfgang's opera Ascanio in Alba. A third and final visit to Italy, from October 1772 until March 1773, was the last of the extended trips; the new Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymous Colloredo, had unenlightened views about the roles of his court musicians, which precluded the freedoms that Leopold—and Wolfgang, now himself employed by the court—had formerly enjoyed.