Hi there Pyras,
The first keyboard in the Mozart family was a small portable bought by Leopold Mozart on a visit to Augsburg made there between June 22nd and July 6th in 1763 at the start of their grand tour of Europe. From the maker Stein. Which Leopold said in a letter would be useful for practice during their travels !!!! :rolleyes5:
The first real keyboard owned by the Mozarts was obtained in Salzburg only in 1776 - when Mozart was already 20 years old. Not long before he left for an extended stay in Paris. And the celebrity of Wolfgang in Vienna (late 1762) for several months came at a time when he had composed nothing and studied nothing. In fact (rather than fiction) neither Leopold nor Nannerl studied music theory or harmony at any time in their entire life. I have seen no evidence which contradicts these facts. There is none.
Regards
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Pyras
I see that there are very big problems also about the music Mozart was performing during Mozarts' trip in Munich. What music Wolfgang was supposed to have performed? If we take a look in his first exercices, this idea of performing a concert, improvising music, it's completely unbelivable, in 1762. Is it true they didn't have any keyboard at home?
MOZART - THE ‘GRAND TOUR’
(June 1763-September 1766)
1/7
PREFACE
The appeal to our naivety is the means by which the cultural and academic myth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91), (‘genius composer and performer’) has always succeeded. And why elements of his myth have always tended to transcend historical and musical criticism within the academic world, even on those rare occasions where its exponents have been forced to face its own inherent contradictions and absurdities. Naivety and its exploitation were certainly a major factor with young Wolfgang himself. This also explains why we are indifferent to claims that W.A. Mozart was an exploited child. And this modern naivety of ours (plus refusal to fairly examine evidence from history and from documents of the time) have always been factors in determining the contents of much loved biographies of Mozart’s supposed childhood and public career.
The same is true of accounts of their giant musical tour taken across Europe between June of 1763and September 1766. At the time of which Wolfgang, the alleged composer of only a single clumsy minuet in B Flat Major (and virtually nothing else) had not studied music composition nor attended a single day in school. (Nor did he to do so over the years which followed). Nor were Wolfgang's family owners of a keyboard. But the Wolfgang of popular belief does not depend upon facts such as these which tend to undermine his myth. And we must remember he and his family had already tasted instant celebrity amongst rulers and the nobility of high society in Vienna over several months before being persuaded to set out again from Salzburg in that year of 1763. Accompanied by a new servant, Sebastian Winter (he having been seconded to serve them only weeks earlier to prove their rapid rise in status ). This farce being matched by the sudden and unexpected promotion of Leopold Mozart from his lowly employment as 2nd violinist at the Hofkapelle to that of Deputy Kapellmeister at Salzburg. (An amazing thing in itself, you may agree). Nor do we need to point out Leopold, now about to be absent from his very place of employment in Salzburg for close to 3 ½ years, taught nobody, even on his eventual return ! These too are widely considered to be inconvenient facts. Since what followed these earlier adventures of 1762 in Munich and Vienna proved to be a far more audacious, sustained and stage-managed affair which took the starry eyed Mozarts across most of western Europe over the next years. During which they would be protected by a network of fraternal patrons then in high office, applauded wildly by the credulous as prodigies and ‘wonders of nature‘, and supported throughout the whole of this extraordinary performance by a string of other allied myth makers and promoters. As usual. An outline of which will be offered in the coming weeks over the 7 parts of this series.
(I would however advise young children and those of nervous disposition to read other kinds of Mozart literature)!
Thank You
R. Newman
