The Mozarts, Who They Were (Volume 1). Diego MinoiaЧитать онлайн книгу.
were allowed to participate. At times, these experiments were held in less rigorous locations, for example at the Kugel Pub or in the Town Hall where these "illustrative representations" of physics occurred during the market days by Phisicus Hooghe. We know nothing about Mr. Hooghe, except that during that epoch, together with the true scholars, they circulated around the fairs as a sort of itinerant medicine men like Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti's "Elisir d'amore" ("The Elixir of Love"), using a few tricks to make ends meet by playing upon people's gullibility and the growing interest for science typical of the times.
Scientific experiments: interesting facts and social phenomenon
Among the more simpler experiments that were fashionable during the mid-1700s - so much so, as to be displayed in paintings and hung in households - were to demonstrate the necessity for living creatures' need of oxygen. The experiment was to place a small animal under a bell jar and use aspecific pump that would extract the air, while watching the animal die.
All over Europe, interest in science spread rapidly, even among women. In Parisian parlors, groups of 20-25 people gathered to participate in chemistry, physics and natural history courses. Novels and books on philosophy were substituted by physics and chemistry in women's parlors. Throughout Europe, newspapers published articles that combined science and poetry for women, suggestions on etiquette, news, astronomy, etc. There were also accidents and "martyrs" in the name of research for progress, such as J.P. de Rozier, chemist and physicist who gave lessons to the Parisian nobility and who went down in history as a key player with his hot-air balloon and the first mortal "flight" accident in history. Anatomy also had its followers, such as the eighteen year-old Contessa de Coigny, who during her journeys, never traveled without a cadaver in a crate to execute demonstrations in dissecting.
Soldiers and drilling: in a town like Salzburg, not particularly abundant in events for breaking up the monotony of everyday life, going to watch the soldiers practice their drilling exercises was an opportunity to get out of the house and create a diversion.
Processions: there were solemn events in various moments of the lituragal year. Among these were the procession of the Corpus Christi, accompanied by the Prince's cavalry and open fire with the exception of the various stops effectuated in the Piazza del Duomo. Without a doubt, the liturgical festivities in Salzburg were celebrated with less cruelty compared to Paris, where for the feast of St. John, the very same King of France would ignite a bonfire in which cats and foxes were set fire and thrown upon it.
Suicide and insanity: sadly, even in those times there were desperate situations which were probably caused by misery or the unbearable cruelty of an abusive "master". In Nannerl's journals, she writes about the suicide of a poor servant named Schlauka, who hung himself at 11:30 p.m. in his room. And then there was a certain von Amann, who appears to have lost his mind and was then hospitalized in the city, while another by the name of Edlenbach died in the fortress where he had been incarcerated for disorderly intoxication.
At the theater: theater life in Salzburg was not based on any regular timetable since there was not a resident theatrical company in the city. In exchange, when one reached the privileged period of the performances (the Carnival, for example), an enormous number of exhibitions were performed, with and without music and dancing. One example is during the period between 16 January 1783 and 12 February 1783: eleven different "comedies" were performed, alternating between the performances of serenades, an operetta, three French "comedies", two all-night balls in the City Hall with 65 present at the first and 160 present at the second, as well as another four balls at the Carnival.
Famous musicians just passing through: as in all of the European courts, many famous musicians who were experts in their instruments often passed through Salzburg, touring continuously among the most culturally and politically important hearts of the continent. Nannerl writes in her diary about the arrival in the city of the famous oboist virtuoso, Friedrich Ramm, who joined the celebrated Mannheim Orchestra at the young age of fourteen years old, exhibiting at the Salzburg Court in two concerts before departure to the following stop of his tour, in Munich.
Day trips: the organization of day trips outside of the city were frequent during fair weather, on foot or
by carriage. Among the most popular destinations were the Maria Plain Pilgrimage Basilica, the Mönchsberg (one of the two lower mountains overlooking Salzburg, of which emerge the
Hohensalzburg fortress and nunnery) and the Kapuzinerberg (the Capucines Cloister, named after the monastery upon which it is situated).
Games, entertainment and amusement: when friends got together in the Mozart household or at their friends' homes, they enjoyed playing games. Almost everyday there were card games, most often Tressette, a trick-taking card game and Tarock (Tarot), as well as many other card games played with small bets of money. Another game enjoyed by many was darts, played with air-guns, offering prizes for the winner, who was though, obliged to pay for a round of beer for the group. There was also a popular game called Kegelspiel (Ninepins), something similar to bowling.
In 1783, we see the term Lottery written in Nannerl's diary, which was probably a lottery game or something resembling Bingo. The Lottery, already diffused in various forms in other European countries (the Game of the Seminary, named after the ballot box used for its extraction and the Lottery of the Old Maid, named for a wedding dowry) became widespread during the second half of the 18th century in Austria. Wolfgang Mozart himself had probably brought the game to his friends in Salzburg from Vienna after his marriage to Constanze where it is likely that he learned about it in Vienna where he had lived for two years, and from where all things fashionable came before reaching Salzburg. In fact, there is no mention at all of the game in Nannerl's diary before this.
Music at the Archbishop Prince's Court of Salzburg
In order to understand the dimensions of the aspect of music in a relatively small but wealthy court like that of Salzburg, we need to take into consideration the information related to an article from The Salzburg Institute of Music published at that time in a Berlin newspaper. The writer of the article was anonymous, but likely traceable to Leopold Mozart, given that his presentation is the longest and most detailed of all, not to mention that he corresponded regularly with the director of the newspaper. Approximately one hundred musicians belonging to the Archiepiscopal Musical Choir were listed, among which, about twenty bowed string instrumentalists, two keyboardists, about ten woodwind and brass instrumentalists, not to mention the instrumentalists added for special occasions and celebrations, such as approximately ten trumpeters and two percussionists.
About ten soloists composed of a full orchestra of sopranos, tenors and bass, about twenty contraltos, falsettos, tenors and bass men in the chorus and a children's choir composed of fifteen boys were added to the instrumentalists. The quantity did not always correspond with the quality of the music, if we want to give credit to Wolfgang Mozart as he wrote from Paris to his father on 9 July 1778: "One of the main reasons I can't stand Salzburg is due to the vulgar, miserable and sloppy orchestra of the Court...And this is possibly why our music is not appreciated and taken into consideration. If only things here were like in Mannheim! An orchestra with discipline!"
The English traveler Charles Burney, while not having been in Salzburg in person but informed by his own sources in 1772, reports that the Archbishop Colloredo was a capable amateur violinist and was using all his means to improve his orchestra, "he was noted, according to some, for his loud and crude playing, rather than for delicacy and perfection". The same source who had been at the Mozart home, updated Burney on the status of the two former child prodigies: "The young man, who amazed all of Europe during his childhood continues to be a great master of his instrument". Nannerl "at this point in time has reached all of her potential and does not show any further extraordinary gift". And lastly, an opinion on sixteen year-old Wolfgang's talent, which should be compared to the enthusiastic words of Leopold in order to understand that not everyone had the same impression: "If I were to evaluate the music that I heard, composed for orchestra by the young Mozart, I would consider him to be an example of precocious development, more astonishing than excellent".