My first impression on reading Mozart’s letters was that he was sweet and scattered and almost violently adorable.
Seriously. In his letters, he is nothing but endlessly earnest and passionate. From his letters to his friends; (Dearest friend! Companion of my youth!) to his letters to pretty much everyone else, he is always exuberant, always excessive with the singing of the praises, and self-aware without being arrogant. His letters always close with variations on I remain your humble servant, W. A. Mozart. His letters to his family are full of love. In a letter written to his sister, he writes: “As I have said and thought a thousand times, I would leave everything to you with true delight in doing so.” His love for his wife is equally boundless, and his level of detail when describing what he does to his wife’s picture whenever he sees it shows how madly in love he is. He sent her upwards of 3 million kisses and one time, precisely 2999.5 kisses.
However, Mozart’s letters are also job applications. In his letter to the Archduke Franz of Vienna, he writes: “I make so bold as very respectfully to beg your Royal Highness to be so gracious as to speak to His Majesty the King touching my most humble petition to his Majesty. Prompted by a desire for fame, by a love of my work and by a conviction of my own talents, I venture to apply for the post of second kapellmeister, the more particularly that Salieri…has never devoted himself to the ecclesiastical style in music, whereas I have made myself completely familiar with this style from my youth up.” This reads like any job application, in that the prospective employee knows of their talents but does not allow their talent to puff up their ego. The letter is unfailingly polite, and carefully flattering.
Mozart was famous for his money troubles, and indeed his letters to his friends are equal parts compliments, asking for money, and promising to repay them when a little more money comes in. It pains him to have to ask for money. In a letter to Michael Puchberg, he writes in a postscript: “O God! I can scarcely make up my mind to send this letter! And yet I must! Had this illness not befallen us, I should not have been forced to beg so shamelessly from my only friend. And yet I hope for your forgiveness…Forgive me, for God’s sake, only forgive me!” Here Mozart’s characteristic passion and desperation can be clearly seen. I can only imagine what Puchberg must have felt upon reading it.
In addition, Mozart was a trickster. In a letter to his wife, he recounts messing with the actor who played Papageno: “Today I went behind the scenes for Papageno’s aria with the glockenspiel, for I felt a great desire to play it myself. For a joke, I played an arpeggio when Schickaneder has to speak a few words. He…looked into the wings and saw me. I guessed his thoughts and played the chord again. He then struck the glockenspiel, muttering, ‘Stop it!’ Everyone laughed. I think my joke disclosed to many for the first time that the actor does not play the instrument.” Here, we see Mozart as someone who shows where credit is due whie also having a laugh.
In his letters, Mozart comes across as a man who is full of joy. Fitting that his music was called God’s Laughter.
