The Mozarts, Who They Were Volume 2

If a noble had given himself up to the theatrical profession he would have lost the right to his title, while an aristocrat who had wanted to sing or play in the Opera team would not have suffered negative consequences.

While in Italy the situation of the actors was better, thanks to the greater tolerance that was generally practiced towards all forms of conduct at the limits of morality. In France the social condemnation was very much alive to the point that the deceased actors and dancers were denied the funeral ceremony and burial in consecrated ground.

We were buried at night and almost in secret, as was done for the most heinous criminals, and as happened for the poor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his stage name of Molière, great actor / author.

His enormous popularity, the applause and support of the Sun King, Louis XIV, for whom he wrote and interpreted numerous plays at Versailles and in Parisian theaters, was worthless: the pressure of the Court only obtained that he was not buried in a mass grave . Not even his death on the stage, during the recitation of the "Imaginary Sick", softened the religious but the same fate was also destined for many other actors among the most admired and even idolized, such as the actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (celebrated by the melodrama namesake of Francesco Cilea of 1902) lover of Maurice of Saxony and many others, who were buried on the banks of the Seine only thanks to the interest of the Prefect of Paris.

The excommunication prevented the actors from receiving the sacraments and therefore also getting married was a problem. Since religious marriage was the only one officially recognized, anyone who had more common law relationships, living together as married couples, could have incurred the rigors of the law that punished public concubines.

Finally, the children of these couples were forcibly "de facto" and considered illegitimate, a condition that deprived them of many civil rights and exposed them to public mockery.

There was no way around the norm, not even for the most acclaimed stars of the stage, not even for friends and lovers of high ranks of the nobility.

The only way out consisted in solemnly declaring, in front of a priest and witnesses, one's irrevocable renunciation of the theater.

Some famous artists followed this procedure but, as they say: every law has a loophole.

Once he had renounced the theater, the King, either by decision of him or at the request of the courtiers who appreciated the artist, could order that the renouncer present himself in the theater and his career continued. Besides, could he have disobeyed the King?

The arrows of the Church, however, were not the only ones to strike the actors, even the civil laws excluded them: they could not enter the army or exercise public employment, they could not testify in the trials and, even, if some belonging to a noble profession were married to a theatrical player, he would have been struck out of the ranks.

Although many nobles and noblewomen vied to have the most famous actors / actresses and dancers at their tables, the common morality of some continued to think that having them at their receptions was scandalous, much more than having them between the sheets of their bed. .

However, there were not a few nobles who, challenging the family and risking disinheritance, became actors, perhaps hiding behind a stage name that would have at least contributed to not dishonoring the family coat of arms. However, it must be said that the actors did nothing to improve the social perception of the category, quite the opposite!

It had come to the point that an abbot, a clergyman but evidently broad-minded (like many religious of the time who imitated the womanizer Richelieu) came to argue that if a singer had only three lovers at the same time, it was acceptable as one. He kept one for pleasure, the second for honor, and the third for money.

Intrigues and rivalries were the order of the day, as were the excesses in the behavior of daily life, without counting the repeated sentimental events (often mercenary) that made the fortune of the most valid and aesthetically appreciable artists and artists, bringing their lovers of financial ruin due to the fabulous gifts that they demanded: carriages complete with horses, jewels, cash to pay their debts up to entire palaces obtained more on the fabrics of an alcove than among those of the curtains.

The litigation in the theater companies was extremely high and an assignment of a part to the rival was enough to unleash the wrath of the diva who believed herself cheated of her right to excel.

The clashes could result in simple bickering, in loud quarrels (even on stage, during shows, with exchanges of punches on the head and hair pulling), in intrigues and conspiracies to damage opponents, in jokes and teasing (such as defecating in the box where the actresses kept their false beauty marks and the necessities for tricks) but also in real duels, such as the sword fight between the famous actor Dazincourt and the younger Dangeville or the gun duel between the singer Beaumesnil and the dancer Theodore.

The numerous publications that circulated in Paris, sold by street vendors but also in theaters, threw themselves to death on all the events involving the most famous theatrical characters: the gossip about private lives and professional quarrels was certainly not invented by us today.

The public of "fans" of the most famous artists was not satisfied with attending their performances in the theater, they also wanted to "take them home" and those who could not do it by inviting them in person were content to buy the Sèvres porcelain figurines or portraits. which were produced and marketed in abundance.

It was the practice that famous actresses and actors, singers and dancers had rich lovers, both noble and belonging to the big bourgeoisie, and it was not uncommon the case of multiple contemporary relationships, where lovers knew they were in close relations but generally did not they worried too much.

In this 18th century which reminds us of our times in so many aspects, it even went so far as to publish in the gazettes widespread in Paris, such as the Espion anglais (the English spy), lists of the most famous prostitutes in the city, which seems to counted from 40,000 to 60,000, according to some sources.

Among these, of a very different level from the tens of thousands of poor girls whose only way to make ends meet in the sale of their bodies for little money, there were famous actresses (such as M.lle Clairon, registered mail thanks to her extra-theatrical skills, which debuted in the theater thanks to a decree of the Duke of Gesvres who in 1743 ordered the Comédie-Francaise to "immediately make her debut ... in the role she will have chosen"), singers (such as M.lle Arnould, of the which we will see later on the qualities of the spirit) and dancers (such as M.lle Guimard), all enrolled in the roles of the Comédie Francaise or the Académie Royale de Musique, better known as Opéra.

Towards the end of the century, when the laws against social promiscuity in aristocratic marriages became more relaxed, some artists even managed to get married by aristocrats, thus obtaining a noble title to be placed before their name: the singer Levasseur became the Countess Mercy-Argenteau, D'Oligny became Marchesa Du Doyer, Saint-Huberty became Countess D'Entraigues.

Despite the negative moral vision, general but superficial in the upper classes, towards the theater and the theatricals, in the 18th century the love for that world was rampant: everywhere people acted, danced and sang, from Versailles to the great Parisian noble palaces, from the houses of the bourgeoisie to the convents.

Over the course of the century, those who could afford it did not deprive themselves, inside their palace or castle, of a private theater, often of extreme luxury and with hundreds of seats, where all the most illustrious coats of arms of France gathered together. to the high ecclesiastical offices and the most fashionable intellectuals who often, like Rousseau, Corneille and Voltaire, wrote texts for the theater.

In these private theaters, not excluding that of the Court in Versailles, the aristocrats also performed and, in some cases, demonstrating certainly remarkable vocal and recitative talents.

The three Royal Theaters

It all began with Louis XIV, the Sun King, who, inspired by the Italian Academies existing since the Renaissance, decided to establish in France, in 1661, the Royal Dance Academy (an art he practiced being himself the protagonist of several ballets that he staged in Versailles for the Court, with the music of his resident musician, the Florentine Giovan Battista Lulli, who with the well-known French chauvinism was immediately naturalized and renamed Jean-Baptiste Lully).

This was followed in 1669 by the Royal Academy of Music, later simply called Opéra.

The third protagonist of the Maison du Roi, the House of the King, which was entrusted with the entertainment of His Majesty, dates back to 1680 with the foundation of the theater company of the Comédie-Francaise, the comedians of the King to whom the actors of the Comédie were counterbalanced. Italienne (and what battles arose to defend French privileges from the cravings of Italian comedians).

Authors and Actors

As also Wolfgang Mozart was able to verify through his own experience on the occasion of the composition and rehearsal of his melodramas, the actors (and above all the prima donna) could play the good and the bad ordeal by refusing to sing the arias that in their opinion did not enhance their voices or by asking to add new ones to better highlight their role in to the detriment of / the rival etc.

Even in France the situation was not dissimilar, at least until the time when Gluck, thanks to his artistic "weight" of European level and the times that were progressively changing in favor of composers and authors, was unable at least in part to contain and trim, not without difficulty, the claims of the stars.

The authors of the literary texts of tragedies or comedies represented in Parisian theaters were often not paid or, if they managed to agree on a small percentage on the proceeds of the plays, they were regularly cheated by the directors of the companies who falsified the revenue figures by inflating the expenses.

It is true that a Royal Decree of the end of the 17th century had established that the authors would have to pay a fee equal to one ninth of the collection for the texts in five acts and one twelfth for those in three acts, net of management costs of the theater.

This decree was never applied.

Even the directors of the theaters put up absurd clauses for which if a theatrical work did not reach a certain income in two or three consecutive performances, the rights of the text passed to the company, which could have staged it at will without paying a cent to the author.

The company of the Italian Theater, however, from 1775 decided to continue to pay for the work of the authors, which caused a flow of writers who, leaving the Comédie-Francaise, offered their works to Italians.

The earnings of the actors

The income of the most famous actors, singers and dancers underwent, during the eighteenth century, considerable increases: from the 2,000 annual livre (which in the mid 18th century allowed a dignified but certainly not brilliant life) soon reached figures 10/20/30 times more, not counting the gifts from admirers and lovers.

The great artists thus began to "keep a parlor" by hosting nobles and intellectuals at their tables, spending enormous sums to feed their guests every day and to sumptuously furnish the palaces, which began to compete for luxury with those of the great aristocracy.

One of the major items of expenditure, especially for the artists, were the stage costumes that for almost the whole of the 18th century were not dissimilar from those in fashion in the contemporary world (in spite of the eras represented in the tragedies, where the "Arianne" mourning the abandonment of Theseus with clothes equipped with farthingdales 150 centimeters wide or the "Didone Abandoned" showed charming red-heeled shoes).

The value of only the theatrical costumes of the actress Raucourt amounted to 90,000 livre, even poor if we compare them to the 4,000 pairs of shoes and 800 dresses that occupied the wardrobe of the actress Hus in 1780.

And then diamonds, carriages and horses, servants that exceeded ten units, fine furniture, palaces (even two or three, often received as a gift from lovers).

In terms of comparison, let's say that the actors of the theaters of the fairs, often no less good, could earn in the same seasonal periods around 5,000 livre per year.

When they were asked to perform abroad (admitted and not granted that the permission to leave France was recognized) they were no less greedy, as in the case of the singer Caterina Gabrielli who asked for 5,000 Ducats from Catherine II of Russia.

To her assertion that she didn't even pay her generals that much, the singer replied: "Then let them sing."

The "spirit" of the time

Having "esprit and savoir vivre", spirit and refinement, was absolutely essential to attend the beautiful French society of the 18th century and it is no surprise that the young Mozart when he was in Paris, alone with his mother during the second attempt to break through in France, could not be accepted by an acolyte of rich, bored and snobbish people who, after having applauded him, made him wait for hours in the hall in the cold before receiving him.

Moreover, his "esprit" and his "savoir vivre" did not always prove to be up to the rituals and conveniences deemed worthy of a gentleman. Being fashionable also meant knowing "where" to go and "when" to go, on the "right" days. For example, it was considered elegant to show up at the Comédie-Francaise on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays.

The shows at the theater began at 5.30 pm and ended at 9 pm (if some actress or dancer did not arrive late or did not throw a tantrum by delaying the shows for hours) and generally presented two titles: a first more important show called "grand pièce" and a second show called “petite pièce”.

To advertise their shows, the theaters had posters posted in the streets of the city with personalized colors: yellow for the Opéra, red for the Comédie-Italienne and green for the Comédie-Francaise.

Just as an example, to show the style of thought considered brilliant at the time, here are some jokes of the famous singer Sophie Arnould handed down to posterity.

Meeting the poet Pierre Joseph Bernard, known to always be very condescending and complimenting to everyone, asked what he was doing sitting under a tree. At the poet's reply "I entertain myself" she managed to find a lightning-fast comment warning him with the words "Be careful because you are chatting with a flatterer".

At the news that the satirical writer Francois Antoine Chevrier, author of poisonous pamphlets against the malpractice of the theatrical world, had died, Arnould exclaimed "He must have sucked her pen!".

Artists in prison

We have seen how the most famous artists behaved, on stage and in life, often over the top, not to say decidedly arrogant and disrespectful even towards the King and the highest courtiers.

The start of the show was delayed if the dress did not seem to live up to the fame they enjoyed or because the author had not satisfied them in adding arias and lines to enhance them better than their rivals. Performances were blown up claiming to be sick and then we would show up in the same evening in a box at the Opèra in the company of the lover on duty. Faced with these behaviors, the reaction of the authorities was more than soft: they summoned them to the prison of Fort-L'Eveque, a building in Paris adapted to a prison for petty crimes where the cells were paid and, if they had financial resources, it was also possible to furnish them according to personal taste, to invite people to party by eating and drinking the tastiest things on offer at the market.

A room with a fireplace cost 30 soldi a day (roughly the same as a theater ticket), if there was no fireplace it went down to 20 soldi, 15 soldi for each person in the common rooms, down to 1 penny a day for those who were housed in multiple rooms sleeping on straw (which was changed once a month!).

Interesting fact

Even then there was ticket scalping, that is the activity of grabbing tickets for shows and then reselling them at higher prices, but it was prohibited by law for the premieres and for the most anticipated shows. Complimentary tickets are also not a modern invention, they existed even then but could be used by those who received them only if the theater sold out by selling every available ticket.

It was a way not to damage the finances of the theater by letting in non-paying people who occupied the seats of those who would have gladly shelled out some money to see the show.

The pressures to attend the shows for free were evidently many, from anyone who had a position of power (nobles, officers, courtiers, musketeers) so much so that the King was forced to issue an decree, which was not respected, to prohibit those categories free admission.

Inside the theaters there was no silent attendance at the performances but the audience even interacted with the actors, making salacious comments to the acting jokes, or initiated noisy disputes between the stalls and boxes, not to mention the shouting of fruit sellers and printed magazines, more or less clandestine who passed between the boxes during the performances to sell their wares.

The price of tickets in the main theaters was 20 soldi (which towards the end of the century had become 48) and therefore the audience was frequented by people of bourgeois extraction among whom there were rarely women, due to the crowd and promiscuity of which forced a crowd.

The nobles rarely entered the stalls preferring to occupy the seats in the boxes (the cost of which however increased considerably) or even buy the very expensive seats placed directly on the stage.

Only towards the end of the century did chairs appear in the stalls (with price increases) and the less wealthy public had the only choice to attend the shows from the top of the gallery, the last rows immediately under the roof which in Italy are affectionately called "dovecote" by the patrons.

The throng in the stalls, where people were squeezed like sardines in the most famous shows, offered the opportunity to swift-handed criminals to relieve the unfortunate spectators who, distracted by the singing and acting of their favorites, realized it when it was too late: impossible in that chaos to identify the thief and even more difficult to chase him.

We had left Leopold Mozart while he was organizing the concert on 9 April 1764 at Signor Felix's theater. Still in the last letter from Paris, Leopold recommends that his faithful Hagenauer have 8 masses recited on consecutive days between 12 and 19 April (probably to propitiate the trip from Paris to London planned for those days). Concluding the letter, however, Leopold does not forget to deal with less spiritual topics: he is depositing the famous 200 Louis d'or but would like to find a way to transfer them to Salzburg, obtaining a profit by transforming the money into goods that, once arrived in Salzburg, could have sell with Hagenauer's help by earning 11 Florins for each Louis of gold. To achieve his purpose, he asks Hagenauer to mobilize his commercial correspondents in Augsburg who, among other things, had asked Leopold Mozart to do him services in Paris: probably purchases of fashionable merchandise that they would have resold at a profit in Augsburg. And certainly Leopold will not have done those services for free. Finally Leopold mentions the work he had assigned to a Parisian copper engraver to make the matrix (to be used for printing hard copies) of the painting made by the painter Louis de Carmontelle in which we can see Wolfgang at the harpsichord, Leopold behind him playing the violin and Nannerl behind the harpsichord holding the score while singing.

The Parisian compositions of Wolfgang Mozart

As we have seen before, Wolfgang began in Salzburg, from the age of five, before leaving for the European Grand Tour, to experiment his creativity with small minuets for the harpsichord.

These first simple compositions, probably used later also in the performances of a prodigious infant in Vienna and in the first stages of the European Tour, were taken up as regards form and stylistic features from the examples of various authors that his father Leopold had transcribed to him in a notebook. but also from the indications contained in the Gradus ad Parnassum by Johann Joseph Fux, a well-known instructional work at the time.

During the great journey, coming into contact with different musicians, styles and compositional forms, from the most modern to those already considered antiquated at the time, little Wolfgang gradually increases not only his executive and improvisational skills but also progressively enriches his a wealth of experiences that will lead him to try (with the supervision but often, also with the direct intervention of his father to correct and modify what was wrong) more complex creations.

One of the most popular and popular forms of the time (and also easier to creatively deal with for a keyboardist who also played the violin, as in the case of Wolfgang) was the harpsichord sonata with violin accompaniment.

In this particular compositional form the lion's share was played by the harpsichord while the violin was limited to performing counter-melodies, often in the third or in unison, taken from the melodic ideas entrusted to the keyboard or simple accompaniments with repeated notes and arpeggios based on principle harmonies.

For those wishing to listen to the main Mozart compositions of that period, looking for them in the discography or on the internet, here is a summary:

- K6 The first attempt to compose a complete Sonata for harpsichord and violin resulted in Sonata n ° 1 in C major, begun in 1762 and completed in 1764 during the European Grand Tour. The Sonata consists of 5 movements: 1 Allegro, 2 Andante, 3 Minuetto I, 4 Minuetto II, 5 Allegro molto.

- K7 Sonata n ° 2 in D major was begun in 1763 and completed in Paris in autumn 1764. It is made up of 4 movements: 1 Allegro molto; 2 Adagio, 3 Minuet I, 4 Minuet II

Both Sonatas K6 and K7 were published by Edizioni Vendôme in Paris in 1764 and dedicated to Madame Victoire, daughter of Louis XV.

- K8 The Sonata n ° 3 in B flat major, composed between the end of 1763 and the beginning of 1764 in Paris is made up of 4 movements: 1 Allegro, 2 Andante grazioso, 3 Minuetto I, 4 Minuetto II.

- K9 Sonata n ° 4 in G major includes 4 movements: 1 Allegro spiritoso, 2 Andante, 3 Minuetto I, 4 Minuetto II.

Both Sonatas K8 and K9 were published by Edizioni Vendôme in Paris in 1764 and dedicated to the Countess Madame de Tessé, Lady in the company at the Court of Versailles.

These 4 Sonatas are the first editorial publications of compositions created by Wolfgang Mozart.

The music Wolfgang listened to in Paris and the study of the many musical scores purchased or received as gifts from the main composers active in the city greatly influenced young Wolfgang, guided by his father in creating music suited to the prevailing taste. In particular, it was the German composers Schobert, Eckard and Honauer, whom Wolfgang knew and frequented in Paris, and who influenced these early Sonatas.

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