Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Page A

miracle. And so they want to remove it from the eyes of the world: for how could it be more visible than at a public spectacle in a large and populous city?– – –But why should we be surprised to find ourselves persecuted away from home when almost the same has happened in the child’s home town? – – What a disgrace! What inhumanity! You may wonder why Prince Kaunitz and other greatmen, indeed, why even His Majesty the Emperor himself, do not give orders for the opera to be performed. In the first place, they cannot do so as it is the sole concern of Sgr Affligio (whom some people call Count Affligio); 2nd, they might possibly order him to give it at another time: but as it was Prince Kaunitz who, against His Majesty’s will, persuaded Affligio to invite to Vienna some French actors who are costing him more than 70, 000 florins a year and who are ruining him as they aren’t drawing the crowds that were hoped for, Affligio is now blaming Prince Kaunitz, while the prince, conversely, is hoping to persuade the emperor to take an interest in the French theatre and defray Affligio’s expenses; the result is that His Majesty has not appeared at any performance for several weeks. You see the annoying circumstance that had to happen at the same time and that helped persuade Affligio to shove Wolfgang’s opera to one side in order to keep his 100 ducats, while on the other hand this same circumstance prevented people from speaking to Affligio in an insistent, commanding and emphatic tone for fear that they’d have to compensate him for the 70, 000 florins. Meanwhile all of this was going on behind our backs. Affligio blamed the singers for the postponement, saying that they were both unable and unwilling to sing it, while the singers for their part blamed Affligio, claiming he had said he would not perform it and that he had even told them so himself: but of course they could always have this or that passage changed. And so it is going to be performed. But if some new obstacle is to present itself, as is bound to happen, I shall address my complaint to Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress and demand such satisfaction as shall salvage our honour in the eyes of the whole of Vienna and the rest of the honest world; for it would be no honour for us or, indeed, for the court in Salzburg if we were simply driven away by the envy that has been pursuing us and if, after our departure, we were to allow these villains to tell the ignorant public – as has already happened – that Wolfgang never managed to write the opera at all or that it had turned out to be so bad that it was simply impossible to perform it etc. etc. You see how we have to struggle to make our way in the world. If a man has no talent, he is unhappy enough; but if he has talent, he is pursued by envy in proportion to his ability. On top ofall this, one of the singers, Bernasconi, has now gone down with a bad cold, and Baglioni isn’t very well either: this is holding us up and will in turn delay the business for at least 3 weeks, so that it is with the most extreme annoyance, such as I have not known at any other time on our travels, that I now have to await the outcome of this hateful affair. All sensible people must note with shame that it is a national disgrace that we Germans are trying to stamp on a fellow German to whom other nations have done justice by their tremendous admiration and even by publicly acknowledging him in writing. But only patience and perseverance will help to convince people that our adversaries are malicious liars, slanderers and envious creatures who would laugh in their sleeves at their victory if we were to allow ourselves to be frightened or worn down or if we were to leave in a huff: and all the more so in that in Vienna such people as those who are invited to instruct a princess, for example, or an imperial prince, indeed, even those who merely breathe the air here and who are already proud enough that the emperor himself