THE MOZART CHILDREN IN LONDON

New Zealand Listener, Volume 2, Issue 41, 5 April 1940, Page 34

THE MOZART CHILDREN IN LONDON

(This article is taken from a talk by "Ebor" in the 2YA Children’s Hour recently.)

HE house at Salzburg where Mozart was born is now a museum, and in it are some precious relics. Among these are locks of Mozart’s hair, the spinet on which he learned to play, and the later pianoforte, his first violin, notebook, and even the corn plaster which he brought back from his visit to London. Mozart’s Christian names were

Wolfgang Amadeus, and his father was a musician, which was a splendid thing for the boy. At the age of three he learned to play; before he was five he had composed a great many little melodies, which his father wrote down for him. Mozart had an older sister called Anna, or "Nannerl" which was her pet name. Nannerl played marvellously well, and when the children were very young their father started them on a concert tour of Europe during which they visited and played in London. Benefit Concert ‘In the month of May, 1765, an advertisernent appeared in London announcing that a concert would be given at Hickford’s Rooms, Brewer Street, Golden Square, "For the benefit of Miss Mozart,

aged thirteen, and Master Mozart, eight years of age, prodigies of nature-a concert of music, with all the overtures of this little buy’s own composition." Suppose that we had been able to attend that concert in May, 1765. A charming occasion it must have been, for London was quite excited over the event; pianoforte performances were novel enough

then, but this one had a particular character of its own. Clever children, " prodigies of nature" as they were called, were much in favour with the people of London. We read of quite small children being brought into company for the purpose of entertaining older people who had grown tired of ordinary social pleasures. Small children, scarcely able to speak their own language, scmetimes recited in Latin or Greek. Dances were given which called for grace and great carefulness, and the little people who performed them very often became nothing better than spoiled brats. Try to Imagine It I am sure there was a great deal of jostling about of sedanchairs and footmen the first evening the Mozarts appeared, and in

the spring twilight — they gave concerts earlier in the evening in those days-the gorgeously dressed ladies and gentlemen must have looked very much like a picture. Let us follow them to Hickford’s Rooms. We find ourselves in a large well-lighted hall with chairs and benches and a large platform containing some instruments and a good harpsichord. Out comes big Papa Mozart, a dignified gentleman from Salzburg, leading a child by each hand: one a charming pretty little girl in a quaint looking dress; the other a boy of eight, of a most striking grace and beauty, and dressed like a little Court gentleman-that is, with knee breeches, silk stockings, shoe buckles, a little satin coat with lace ruffles, and a little sword at his side. The boy makes his bow to the people who are clapping their hands very vigorously. He sits down at the harpsichord, and begins one of his own sweet, childlike, yet harmonious little pieces. After this Nannerl plays. And then the concert is finished and all the people go home. Although Nannerl was four years older than her brother, she always said after being complimented on her playing, "I am but the pupil of my brother." Nannerl’s Little Joke On one occasion Mozart sent her, from Paris, a Prelude-in a letter he told her it was "a sort of Capriccio to try the piano with, as a birthday greeting." With this piece Nannerl played a little joke on her father. She received the piece at four o'clock. in the afternoon, and at once set to work to practise it till she knew it by heart. When her father came in an hour later, she told him that she had an idea, and that if he liked she would write it down. She at once started to copy down the "Prelude" on the music paper, and before her puzzled daddy had quite got over the surprise, she laughingly took her brother’s letter and piece of music out of her pocket. When Mozart was six the Empress of Austria gave him a charming miniature painting of himself. There he stands in his little brocade suite with the lace ruffles and the little sword, the child who threw his arms round the neck of the Empress and kissed her, who told Marie Antoinette he would marry her when he grew up, and who was petted by the King and Queen of England.