Mozart in Italy, part 4: "Such useless people"

Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera. Picador, 2023. 262 pages. Image source: The Hanbury Agency

A continuation of the series on Mozart's Italian journeys; for the previous post please see "Mozart in Italy, part 3: The most dangerous place in all Italy."

Wolfgang and his father would not remain with Maria Anna and Nannerl in Salzburg for long. Arriving home in time for Easter at the end of March 1771, they were due back in Milan by the end of August so that the 15-year-old Wolfgang could compose the serenata for the wedding celebrations of the 17-year-old Archduke Ferdinand Karl of Milan, the fourth born and third surviving son of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa, and the 21-year-old Princess Maria Beatrice d'Este of Modena.

Of course, both Leopold and Wolfgang held positions in the musical establishment of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Siegmund von Schrattenbach, and had been absent for 15 months during their first journey to Italy.

Siegmund III Christoph Graf von Schrattenbach, by Franz Xaver König, ca. 1760s. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Von Schrattenbach lost no time in putting Wolfgang to work, even though his position was unpaid. During the spring and summer he was kept busy composing several sacred works and also a serenata for Salzburg. The celebratory occasion for the Salzburg serenata, a setting of Metastasio's libretto Il sogno di Scipione (The dream of Scipio), was probably the anniversary of von Schrattenbach's consecration on 21 December. Since the Mozarts would not return from Milan until December, Wolfgang needed to compose Il sogno in advance to ensure that it would be ready in time. He also composed the oratorio commissioned by Marchese Ximenes in Padua, La Betulia liberata (Bethulia liberated, the Apocryphal story of Judith and Holofernes).

However, he could not begin work on the wedding serenata for Milan because during the summer the libretto was still being written by the court poet Giuseppe Parini. Even after the libretto was completed it would first be sent to Vienna to receive imperial approval. Wolfgang would have to be in Milan as soon as the approved libretto was available so that he could compose the music to suit the singers, rehearse the work, and have it ready for performance by mid-October. He and Leopold once more received leave from the Archbishop, although somewhat begrudgingly: even though they would be gone only for four months this time, von Schrattenbach ordered Leopold's salary to be stopped. (In the end his full salary was paid after Leopold petitioned for it on his return.)

Return to Milan and Ascanio in Alba, 13 August–15 December 1771

Leopold and Wolfgang left on their second journey to Italy on 13 August. Following the same route south through the Brenner pass as during their first journey, they made excellent time on their dry (and dusty) summer route except when their carriage wound up stuck behind slow farmer's carts on the narrow mountain roads.

They had planned to post the score of the oratorio Betulia liberata to Padua from Verona. They may have left the score with their Veronese host Pietro Lugiati for that purpose, although there is no mention in the letters that they did so. No performances of Wolfgang's Betulia liberata have been documented in Padua or elsewhere, and no libretto crediting him with the music has been found (the oratorio was set by different composers more than 40 times in the 18th century), so whether it was ever performed is unknown.

Swiftly crossing the northern Italian plain and arriving in Milan on Wednesday 21 August—traversing in just eight days the same distance that had taken a leisurely six weeks on their first journey—they discovered that their haste had been in vain. Three days after their arrival Leopold wrote Maria Anna,

I ought to tell you that we have not yet received from Vienna the text which everyone is awaiting with great anxiety, for until it arrives the costumes cannot be made, the stage arranged nor other details settled. [1]

Among those "other details," of course, was Wolfgang's musical setting of the words. The serenata was entitled Ascanio in Alba.

Title page of the libretto of Ascanio in Alba, Milan, 1771. Image source: Internet Archive

Ascanio, in this version of the myth the son of the goddess Venus and the Trojan hero Aeneas, is prompted by his mother to test the fidelity of his promised bride, the nymph Silvia, by appearing in disguise. At first Silvia rejects the idea of marrying Ascanio, whom she has never met, because she has fallen in love with a youth she has seen in a dream. When Ascanio appears undisguised but without identifying himself, she recognizes the figure from her dream but doesn't realize that he is Ascanio. Finally Venus descends from the heavens and sets everything right: Silvia learns that her dream lover is Ascanio, and he is declared the ruler of Alba, where he will found a great city and, with his new wife, produce a dynasty.

Although used for other ruling-class weddings before and afterwards, this story seems to allegorize the betrothal of the Archduke Ferdinand and the Princess Maria Beatrice.

Maria Beatrice d'Este, by Anton von Maron, c. 1770s. Image source: Château de Versailles

In 1753, when she was three years old, Maria Beatrice had been united by treaty to the six-year-old Peter Leopold, the third-born son of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa.

Peter Leopold of Austria, by Jean-Étienne Liotard, 1762. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

But eight years later in 1761, when the Empress's second son Karl Joseph died of smallpox, roles were suddenly shifted. Since Peter Leopold was now second in line to the thrones of both his mother (the Habsburg ruler) and his father (the Holy Roman Emperor), the engagement to Maria Beatrice was broken and he was engaged to the more consequential bride originally intended for Karl Joseph: Maria Luisa, daughter of King Charles III of Spain. [2]

Two years later, in 1763, Peter Leopold's younger brother, 9-year-old Ferdinand, took his place as the fiancé of the now 13-year-old Princess Maria Beatrice. As in Ascanio in Alba, the groom's mother arranged the whole thing, and the couple would never set eyes on one another in person before their nuptial ceremonies.

The parallels make the "testing of virtue" plot of Ascanio seem even creepier. Maria Beatrice had, after all, been betrothed to Ferdinand's brother for eight years; Ascanio in Alba seems designed to reassure Ferdinand and all the courtly spectators that the switch in fiancés accorded with Maria Beatrice's own wishes, that he was her "dream lover." But this was a consoling fiction. Love was a luxury that royal couples did not require, at least in the view of the parents who arranged their marriages. Their job was to produce children: two sons, an heir and a spare, and any number of daughters, to be married off strategically among the European powers for the political advantage of the Habsburg Empire.

Ferdinand Karl of Austria, by August Friedrich Oelenhainz. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

The wedding was scheduled for Tuesday 15 October, less than two months away from the time the Mozarts arrived in Milan. On Saturday 31 August Leopold could finally report,

The text has arrived at last [in a postscript to his sister Wolfgang added that it had arrived two days earlier, on Thursday], but so far Wolfgang has only written the ouverture, that is, a rather long Allegro, followed by an Andante, which has to be danced, but only by a few people. Instead of the last Allegro he has composed a kind of contredanse and chorus, to be sung and danced at the same time. He will have a good deal of work during the coming month. [3]

The "rather long Allegro" of the overture to Ascanio in Alba performed by Mozarteumorchester Salzburg conducted by Leopold Hager:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho7xWm8zg10

In a previous letter Wolfgang had written to Nannerl about their Milan lodgings,

Upstairs we have a violinist, downstairs another one, in the next room a singing-master who gives lessons, and in the other room opposite ours an oboist. That is good fun when you are composing! It gives you plenty of ideas. [4]

Wolfgang began with the recitatives and choruses, and then turned to the arias. His task was made even more difficult because he knew only one of the cast members: the exceptional castrato Giovanni Manzuoli, who would play Ascanio. Burney wrote of Manzuoli's first appearance in London in 1764, "Manzoli's voice was the most powerful and voluminous soprano that had been heard on our stage since the time of Farinelli; and his manner of singing was grand and full of taste and dignity." Manzuoli excelled in the cantabile (flowing, lyrical) style of singing; Burney noted, "His voice alone was commanding from native strength and sweetness. . .and as to execution [of rapid coloratura passages and elaborate ornamentation], he had none." [4]

Giovanni Manzoli [Manzuoli] Fiorentino. Image source: New York Public Library.

The Mozarts had first met him when they were in London in 1764, and had renewed their acquaintance in Florence the previous year. The vocal capabilities of the 51-year-old Manzuoli were thus probably known to Wolfgang. At his entrance, Wolfgang gave him time to warm up with a secco dialogue with Venere, followed by an extended accompanied recitative, before his first aria, "Cara, lontano ancora" (Beloved, though you are far away).

"Cara, lontano ancora" performed by Agnes Baltsa accompanied by Mozarteumorchester Salzburg conducted by Leopold Hager:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbg3ayZucsE

Glover writes that in composing the arias for Manzuoli "Wolfgang was manifestly aware of vocal gifts no longer at their peak." [6] Perhaps, but as we saw in Mozart in Italy, part 1, in 1770 Manzuoli was still expecting 1,000 ducats to appear in a Milan Carnival season—ten times what Wolfgang was paid to write an entire opera. Wolfgang later reported that Manzuoli had been paid 500 cigliati, or about 500 ducats, to perform in Johann Adolph Hasse's wedding opera Il Ruggiero, which alternated with Ascanio during the celebrations and which involved the same singers. This is apparently the same rate—there were two operas per Carnival season in Milan—although his contract had not mentioned Wolfgang's serenata, for which he expected to be paid an additional 500 cigliati. In the end he received 700 cigliati and a fine gold snuff-box for both the opera and the serenata; offended, he returned both the fees and the gift. His vocal decline could not have been very apparent, or Manzuoli would not still demand such fees. So we may hear in Manzuoli's Ascanio in Alba arias, not so much a composer attempting to disguise his primo uomo's vocal decline, but one (as was common practice) showcasing his strengths.

But tailoring the arias for the other singers required Wolfgang to meet and work with each of them.

The cast of Ascanio in Alba, Milan, 1771. Image source: Internet Archive

Jane Glover writes that, judging from the score, "The finest singer in Wolfgang's cast was clearly Girelli as Silvia." (This would not be a surprise; she was the prima donna.) "She had splendid coloratura, which Wolfgang readily exploited, but she could also convey the greatest tenderness." [7] In Part II, Silvia's aria "Infelice affetti miei," here performed by Edith Mathis accompanied by Mozarteumorchester Salzburg conducted by Leopold Hager, displays both aspects of her talent:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehyw8tpklcY

Time was short, and Wolfgang reported to Nannerl on 13 September that he had "a very heavy cold and a bad cough." Nonetheless he had to compose without rest, because rehearsals in the theater would begin in only ten days. He pressed on, and a week later was able to write to his sister, "I cannot write much, firstly, because I have nothing to say, and secondly, because my fingers ache so from composing. . .There are now only two arias of the serenata to compose and then I shall be finished." The final aria was completed on Monday 23 September, the very day the recitatives were rehearsed for the first time. Wolfgang was, of course, also leading the rehearsals, and so never got a chance to fully recover from his exhausting composing marathon; in the midst of rehearsals ten days before the wedding he reported to Nannerl, "I am quite well, but always sleepy." [8]

Leopold was confident of his son's abilities, and had not only the chance to hear the music as Wolfgang composed it, but also in rehearsal. He wrote to Maria Anna on 28 September,

You will be pleased to hear that I have good hopes that Wolfgang’s work will win great applause; firstly, because both Signor Manzuoli and all the other singers are not only immensely pleased with their arias, but are looking forward even more than we are to hearing the serenata performed this evening with all the instruments; and secondly, because I know how good Wolfgang’s work is and what an impression it will make, for it is more than certain that his composition is excellently adapted both to the singers and to the orchestra. [9]

Il Ruggiero

In addition to Wolfgang's serenata, the Viennese court had commissioned the wedding opera Il Ruggiero from Hasse and the librettist Pietro Metastasio, both now in their 70s.

Title page of the libretto of Il Ruggiero, o vero L'Eroico Gratitudine (Ruggiero, or true heroic gratitude) by Pietro Metastasio, with music composed by Johann Adolph Hasse, Milan, 1771. Image source: Internet Archive

The story was derived from the last three cantos of Ludovico Ariosto's chivalric romance Orlando Furioso, in which the knight Ruggiero finally marries the woman to whom he has been long betrothed, Bradamante. She is the female warrior who, in male disguise, rescued the bewitched Ruggiero from the magic island of the seductive sorceress Alcina. The opera was fitting not only because it ends with a wedding celebration, but also in its choice of source, which honored Maria Beatrice. Her ancestor Alfonso I had been Ariosto's patron, and Orlando Furioso fancifully traces the lineage of the House of Este back to Ruggiero and Bradamante.

Il Ruggiero librettist Pietro Metastasio, attributed to Martin van Mytens II, c. 1740-1750. Image source: Christies.com

In the opera Ruggiero (Manzuoli) has been made prisoner by the Greeks, but is freed from captivity by their ruler Leone (Adamo Solzi, Fauno in Ascanio), who admires his enemy for his bravery. Leone, betrothed to Clotilde (Geltrude Falchini, Venus in Ascanio), decides he wishes to marry Bradamante (Girelli) instead. She sets a condition on anyone who would ask for her hand: first he must best her in single combat. Leone, knowing that he is no match for Bradamante, asks Ruggiero to stand against her in his place. Torn between love for his betrothed and obligation to his liberator, Ruggiero fights her as "Leone" until time expires, winning her for his rival. Leone, abashed by Ruggiero's adherence to his knightly code, admits before the Emperor Carlo (Charlemagne, sung by Giuseppe Tibaldi, Aceste in Ascanio) that Ruggiero fought in his place and that he wishes to honor his prior engagement to Clotilde. Carlo unites the two original couples and a double wedding is celebrated.

The cast of Il Ruggiero in Milan, 1771. Image source: Internet Archive

With its theme of the switching of fiancés and its Este-associated source, Il Ruggiero also seems to deliberately allegorize the situation of Ferdinand and Maria Beatrice. Curiously, it was originally intended (but not completed) for a different wedding the year before, that of Maria Theresa's daughter Maria Antonia with the dauphin of France; the French context is probably the reason it is set on the banks of the Seine near Paris. Maria Antonia and the dauphin would become better known to history as Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI.

Hasse's opera was performed the day after the wedding of Ferdinand and Maria Beatrice, Wednesday 16 October, and Ascanio followed on Thursday. Ascanio was an immediate success, as Leopold had predicted. Operas were not performed on Fridays, a day of penitence, and no performances had been planned for Saturday or for Sunday, which was the anniversary of the death of the Empress Maria Theresa's father. However, after the enthusiastic reception of Ascanio on Thursday an extra performance was scheduled for Saturday 19 October.

It seems that the response to Hasse's opera was not nearly so positive. On 19 October as he and Wolfgang were "just off to the opera," Leopold paused to dash off a note to Maria Anna: "We are constantly addressed in the street by courtiers and other persons who wish to congratulate the young composer. It really distresses me very greatly, but Wolfgang’s serenata has completely killed Hasse’s opera." [10]

Leopold was probably being sincere about his distress, as the Mozarts and the Hasses knew one another and were on friendly terms; nonetheless, he couldn't help but be gratified at Wolfgang's success, even if it came at Hasse's expense. On 26 October Leopold reported that two nights earlier "their Royal Highnesses the Archduke and Archduchess not only caused two arias to be repeated by applauding them, but both during the serenata and afterwards leaned over from their box towards Wolfgang and showed their gracious approval by calling out 'Bravissimo, maestro' and clapping their hands. Their applause was taken up each time by the courtiers and the whole audience." Wolfgang added in a postscript, "The two arias which were encored in the serenata were sung by Manzuoli and by the prima donna, Girelli, respectively," but did not indicate which they were. [11]

After hearing Ascanio, Hasse is said to have remarked, "This boy will cause us all to be forgotten." [12]

Johann Adolph Hasse by Balthasar Denner, c. 1740. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

No source I have found indicates how many performances of Ascanio were given, but from the evidence of the letters it looks as though there were at least six: 17, 19, 22, 24, 27 and 28 October. As we've seen, the performance on 19 October was added, and that on 28 October also may been added because it breaks the alternating pattern of the two works up to that point, and that Leopold mentions in his letters. [13]

After what may have been the final performance of Ascanio on Monday 28 October, Hasse's opera, which had clearly been intended as the centerpiece of the wedding celebrations (note the difference in the ornateness of its libretto compared with that of Ascanio), continued for a few more performances; Leopold and Wolfgang missed the (final?) Ruggiero performance on 2 November because Leopold had a bout of rheumatism. The Mozarts remained in Milan to have a celebratory meal at Count Firmian's with Hasse on 8 November; there Hasse was presented with a snuff-box and Wolfgang a watch set with diamonds (they both may also have received their fees on this occasion).

Leopold had been planning to leave Milan by mid-November, perhaps stopping off in Padua (could this be when a performance of Betulia liberata might have taken place?). But then suddenly word came from the Milanese court. Leopold wrote Maria Anna,

I hoped to leave for certain on the 18th [of November], but His Royal Highness the Archduke now wishes to speak to us when he returns from [his honeymoon in] Varese in a week’s time. So our stay here will have to be prolonged for more than ten days. . .My head is full and I have more things to think of than you can guess. [14]

Leopold was anticipating that the Archduke, who had clearly been very impressed with Ascanio, would offer both father and son a position at his court. If so, he was disappointed. When the Mozarts were finally received by the Archduke on Tuesday 26 November, he was evidently highly complimentary, but did not extend an immediate invitation to join his court. He may have held out some hope, however, because the Mozarts stayed in Milan for another nine days after their audience. Finally, receiving no definite word from court, they left Milan on 5 December. There was no time to stop off in Padua, and they headed directly back to Salzburg. On 8 December from Ala in the foothills of the Italian Alps Leopold wrote to Maria Anna,

The question which you asked me in one of your four letters which I found in Verona, I shall answer when we meet. All that I can now say is that the affair is not quite hopeless. [15]

The question Maria Anna raised was undoubtedly that of the possibility of an appointment to the Archduke Ferdinand's court in Milan. What Leopold didn't know was that as he and Wolfgang were crossing the Brenner Pass towards Salzburg, a letter from the Empress Maria Theresa in Vienna to her son Ferdinand in Milan was crossing in the opposite direction.

Empress Maria Theresa by Anton von Maron, after 1765. Image source: Château de Versailles MV 3859

The Archduke had written to her for advice about finding positions for the Mozarts at his court; her reply, dated 12 December, was blunt:

You ask me about taking the young Salzburger into your service. I do not know why, believing you have no need for a composer or useless people. If however it would give you pleasure I would not hinder you. What I say is so that you do not burden yourself with useless people or giving titles to people of that sort. If they are in your service, it debases the service when such people go about the world like beggars. Furthermore, he has a large family. [16]

The Mozart family, of course, numbered only four, and their purpose in "going about the world" was precisely to obtain a paid court position for Wolfgang. But the Archduke would not go against his mother's wishes, and no appointment was ever offered.

It was now winter; the days were short and the weather and roads were bad, causing delays, but Leopold and Wolfgang arrived in Salzburg on 15 December. The very next day they received the stunning news of the death of their employer, Prince-Archbishop von Schrattenbach. The future for them both was now extremely uncertain.

Next time: The final journey to Milan and Lucio Silla

Posts in this series:

• Mozart in Italy, part 1: "We shall not become rich"
• Mozart in Italy, part 2: "We have won the first battle"
• Mozart in Italy, part 3: "The most dangerous place in all Italy"
• Mozart in Italy, part 4: "Such useless people"
• Mozart in Italy, part 5: "There is little hope"

---

1. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 140, 24 August 1771, in Emily Anderson, editor and translator, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, London: MacMillan and Co., 1938, p. 282.
2. At the 1738 marriage of Maria Luisa's parents, King Charles III of the Two Sicilies and Maria Amalia of Saxony, Vittoria Tesi performed. In 1762, as a six-year-old, Wolfgang met the famous Tesi (by then retired) in Vienna. For more details of their meeting, please see The first Black prima donna: Vittoria Tesi.
3. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 141, 31 August 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 284.
4. Mozart to his sister, Letter 140a, 24 August 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 283.
5. Charles Burney, A general history of music, from the earliest ages to the present period, Vol. 4. London: Printed for the author, 1789, p. 485.
6. Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera. Picador, 2023, p. 164.
7. Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy, p. 163. However, we have a first-hand account of Girelli's abilities around this time which contradicts this picture. Six months after she appeared in Ascanio, Burney wrote of her first appearance in London, "Her style of singing was good, but her voice was in decay, and her intonation frequently false, when she arrived here; however, it was easy to imagine from what remained, that she had been better" (A general history of music, Vol. 4, p. 499). One wonders whether Burney heard her at a time when she was indisposed.
8. Mozart to his sister, Letter 143a, 13 September 1771, Letter 144a, 21 September 1771, & Letter 146a, 5 October 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 288, 291 & 294.
9. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 145, 28 September 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 292.
10. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 148, 19 October 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 296.
11. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 149, 26 October 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 297.
12. William Smyth Rockstro and Donald Francis Tovey, "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus," Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 18, 1911, p. 950.
13. "On the 16th there will be the opera, the 17th the serenata, on the 18th, 19th and 20th nothing on account of the anniversary of the death of His Majesty the Emperor. On Monday the serenata will be repeated and so forth." As we've seen, a performance of the serenata was added on the 19th. Leopold to his wife, Letter 147, 12 October 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, pp. 295–296.
14. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 152, 16 November 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 301.
15. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 155, 8 December 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 304.
16. Quoted in Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy, pp. 169–170. Translation slightly altered.

Mozart in Italy, part 3: "The most dangerous place in all Italy"

Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera. Picador, 2023. 262 pages. Image source: The Hanbury Agency

This is the third in a series of posts on Mozart's Italian journeys; for the previous post please see Mozart in Italy, part 2: "We have won the first battle."

Milan to Venice, 4 February 1771–12 March 1771

Today it's a four-hour train trip from Milan to Venice. In 1771 in the dead of winter, it took Wolfgang and his father a week to cross the northern Italian plain. They stopped to eat, sleep, and attend an opera buffa in Brescia, but also encountered, as Leopold wrote to Maria Anna, "shocking weather and a violent gale." [1]

When they arrived in Venice on Monday 11 February it was still raining. Their lodgings were in the Casa Ceseletti next to the Ponte dei Barcaroli, midway between the Piazza San Marco and the Teatro di San Benedetto opera house.

Casa Ceseletti, adjacent to the Ponte dei Barcaroli, from the Rio de l'Barcaroli canal. Image source: Google Maps Street View.

Their residence was very near the home of Johannes Wider, a friend and business associate of Johann Hagenauer, the Mozarts' landlord in Salzburg since 1743. The Wider family entertained the Mozarts throughout their monthlong stay in Venice.

In the afternoon of the same day the Mozarts arrived, in fact, Herr Wider and his wife went with them to the opera. It's likely that they attended Antonio Boroni's Le contadine furlane (The Friulian peasant women), a dramma giocoso at the Teatro Giustiniani di San Moisè, just a few minutes' walk from the Casa Ceseletti.

Title page of the libretto of Antonio Boroni's Le contadine furlane, Venice, 1771. Image source: Albert Schatz Collection, Library of Congress.

The following day was Shrove Tuesday, and the Mozarts made the most of the final day of Carnival (and the final night of opera until after Easter):

On Tuesday we lunched with him [Herr Wider] and went to the opera, which began at two and went on until seven. [2]

It's likely that on the final evening of Carnival they saw Giovanni Battista Borghi's Siroe at the Teatro di San Benedetto. Metastasio's libretto was very popular and had been set by many composers, including Antonio Vivaldi (for Reggio nell' Emilia, 1727), George Frideric Handel (for London, 1728), and Johann Adolph Hasse (for Bologna, 1733).

Title page of of the libretto of Giovanni Battista's Siroe, Venice, 1771. Image source: Albert Schatz Collection, Library of Congress.

The prima donna of Borghi's Siroe was Anna De Amicis, a soprano the Mozarts had met in Mainz during their European tour in 1763, and had encountered again in May 1770 in her native city of Naples when she performed the title role in Jommelli's Armida Abbandonata. (Wolfgang had written of her Armida, "De Amicis sings amazingly well." For more on Jommelli and the opera, please see Mozart in Italy, part 1.) In Siroe De Amicis played Emira, who spends most of the opera in male disguise as "Idaspe." Originally seeking revenge against King Cosroe for the death of her father, Emira soon falls in love with the King's son and heir Siroe, and he with her. The two must foil the machinations of the King's mistress Laodice, whose love for Siroe is unrequited, and of Siroe's younger brother Medarse, who wants the throne for himself. De Amicis would later perform in Wolfgang's opera Lucio Silla during his third Italian journey in 1772-1773.

The interior of the Teatro San Benedetto, Venice, with the 1782 ball in honor of the 'Conti del Nord.' Image source: Christies.com

After attending the opera, the Mozarts wanted to enjoy, in the company of Herr Wider and his family, the pleasures that would be suspended just a few hours later when Ash Wednesday dawned.

We dined with him afterwards and about eleven or twelve o'clock by German time we were on the Piazza San Marco on our way to the Ridotto. We said to one another that at that moment both of you would probably be with Herr Hagenauer and would be little thinking that we were talking about you on the Piazza San Marco. [3]

Piazza San Marco, by Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal), late 1720s. Image source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Ridotto was a casino located in the Palazzo Dandolo, just to the east of the Piazza San Marco. Although ostensibly public (it was run by the Venetian state), the stakes were high and masquerade dress was required (Leopold had been irritated by the expense of the cloaks and cowls he and Wolfgang had to have made to order for Carnival in Milan a year earlier). As a result the Ridotto was frequented by the nobility and the nobility-adjacent, such as rich merchants like Herr Wider. 

In the painting by Canaletto immediately below, the Palazzo Dandolo is the large building to the right, directly above the blue and red cloths shading the deck of the boat in the far right foreground:

The Molo, Venice, from the Bacino di San Marco, by Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal), ca. 1730s. Image source: Christies.com.

Another view by Canaletto of the Palazzo Dandolo, in the right center to the east of the Doge's Palace, the Prigioni (prisons), and a group of smaller buildings:

View of the Riva degli Schiavoni, Venice, by Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal), ca. late 1730s. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

An 18th-century depiction of the interior of the Ridotto filled with revellers in maschera:

The Ridotto in the Palazzo Dandolo at San Moisè, attributed to Francesco Guardi, ca. 1746. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Wolfgang, who had turned 15 in late January, seems to have thoroughly enjoyed his time in Venice—particularly when that time was spent in the household of Herr Wider, who had six daughters. Wolfgang wrote to Johannes Hagenauer, the son of their Salzburg landlord,

The particularly splendid pearl [Catarina Wider, the eldest daughter] and all the other pearls too [the five younger daughters] admire you very greatly. I assure you that they are all in love with you and that they hope that like a Turk you will marry them all, and make the whole six of them happy. I am writing this in Herr Wider’s house. He is a fine fellow, as you told me in your letter. Yesterday we wound up the carnival at his house, dined with him and then danced and went with the pearls to the new Ridotto, which I liked immensely. . .I am charmed with Venice. [4]

After Lent had begun the Mozarts and Widers continued to spend time together in sometimes ribald games. A week after the letter quoted above Wolfgang wrote his sister Nannerl,

Tell Johannes that Wider’s pearls, especially Mademoiselle Catarina, are always talking about him, and that he must soon come back to Venice and submit to the attacco, that is, have his bottom spanked when he is lying on the ground, so that he may become a true Venetian. They tried to do it to me—the seven women all together—and yet they could not pull me down. [5]

There was also time for sightseeing and attending performances at the ospedali, the famous all-female orphanages of Venice. Leopold wrote to Maria Anna,

Later on I shall tell you in detail how I like the Arsenal, the churches, the ospedali and other things, in fact Venice as a whole. Meanwhile I shall content myself with saying that beautiful and unusual things are to be seen here. [6]

In their travel notes the Mozarts mention the composer Ferdinando Bertoni, the organist at the Basilica di San Marco and the musical director of the Ospedale di San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti; the Mozarts may have attended services at both places. Like Antonio Vivaldi earlier in the century, in addition to his musical duties at an ospedale, Bertoni was also an opera composer.

Ferdinando Bertoni by Angelo Crescembeni. Image source: Wikimedia Commons

Earlier in the 1771 Carnival season (December and January) Anna De Amicis had appeared as Cleofide in Bertoni's setting of Metastasio's Alessandro nell' Indie at the Teatro di San Benedetto. Charles Burney reported that the opera "has been universally applauded; particularly a duet, sung by Signora de Amicis and Signor Caselli."

Burney attended a service at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti, and described what it was like to hear the all-women chorus, soloists and orchestra perform behind the metal screens which partially hid them from the lustful eyes of the men in the audience:

. . .I went to the hospital de' Mendicanti, for orphan girls, who are taught to sing and play, and on Sundays and festivals they sing divine service in chorus. Signor Bertoni is the present Maestro di Capella. There was a hymn performed with solos and chorusses, and a mottetto à voce sola, which last was very well performed, particularly an accompanied recitative, which was pronounced with great force and energy. Upon the whole, the compositions had some pretty passages, mixed with others that were not very new.

Burney described how Bertoni composed for a chorus made up entirely of women:

The girls here I thought accompanied the voices better than at the [Ospedale della] Pietà: as the chorusses are wholly made up of female voices, they are never in more than three parts, often only in two; but these, when reinforced by the instruments, have such an effect, that the full complement to the chords is not missed, and the melody is much more sensible and marked, by being less charged with harmony. In these hospitals many of the girls sing in the counter tenor [range] as low as A and G, which enables them always to keep below the soprano and mezzo soprano, to which they sing the base; and this seems to have been long practised in Italy. [7]

Venice, the Rio dei Mendicanti looking North with the church of San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti, by Francesco Guardi, ca. 1780. Image source: Christies.com

The Mozarts weren't only cultural tourists; they were also in Venice to further Wolfgang's career. Virtually every day they were invited to one or another noble's house for a meal (and, probably, an "impromptu" performance by Wolfgang). Leopold wrote Maria Anna that he and Wolfgang

are only sorry that we cannot remain here longer. It is indeed a pity, for we have got to know very well the whole nobility; and everywhere, at parties, at table, and, in fact, on all occasions we are so overwhelmed with honours that our hosts not only send their secretaries to fetch us and convey us home in their gondolas, but often the noble himself accompanies us on our return; and this is true of the greatest of them, for instance, the Cornaro, Grimani, Mocenigo, Dolfino, Valieri and so forth. [8]

All of the patrician families Leopold names are significant—the current Doge was Alvise Giovanni Mocenigo—but one stands out in particular in the context of Venetian opera history: the Grimani family. The family had built no less than four opera houses in Venice. These included the Teatro Santi Giovanni e Paolo, built in 1638, where Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria (Ulysses' return to his homeland, 1640) and the scandalous L'incoronazione di Poppea (The coronation of Poppea, 1642) had their first performances. In 1678 the Grimanis built the lavish Teatro San Giovanni Grisostomo, where Handel's wickedly entertaining Agrippina (1709), with a libretto by Cardinal Vincenzo Grimani, had its première. The Grimanis' latest opera house was the Teatro di San Benedetto, built in 1755, where the Mozarts had just seen Anna De Amicis sing; although the Grimanis had ceded the theatre to a group of its boxholders in 1766, they probably still had significant influence there. In any case, Glover states that "there was early discussion with the Teatro San Benedetto of a possible commission for Wolfgang, for November 1772." [9]

On 5 March Wolfgang gave a "big concert" at the Palazzo Maffei, but nothing is known about what was played, who attended, or its reception. [10] A week later the Mozarts left Venice; neither of them ever had an opportunity to return.

Northern Italy to Salzburg, 12 March–28 March 1771

In the journey to Padua, rather than take a carriage from Fusina on the mainland, Leopold decided to take the more comfortable and more scenic route by sailing down the Venetian lagoon and hiring a burchiello (barge) on the Brenta Canal. This also enabled the Mozarts to prolong their visit with the Widers.

I took a barcello for ourselves and Wider, his wife and his two [eldest] daughters, Catarina and Rosa; and the Abbate [Giovanni Maria Ortes, a rich opera lover] too came with us as far as Padua. They brought food and drink and all other necessaries and we cooked and ate on board. [11]

A View of la Porto del Dolo on the Brenta Canal, by Francesco Guardi. Image source: Sothebys.com

In Padua they had a busy 24 hours: Wolfgang gave two performances in private houses and played the organ at the church of San Giustino. He also received a commission from the Marchese Giuseppe Ximenes of Aragon for an oratorio setting of Metastasio's libretto Betulia liberata. 

From Padua, Leopold and Wolfgang went on to Vicenza, while the Widers and Ortes returned to Venice. On hearing that the son of a Salzburg acquaintance was travelling to Venice, Leopold wrote to Maria Anna, "Herr Kerschbaumer. . .ought to entrust his son too to Johann Wider. . .I know what is good and what is bad for young people, especially in Venice, the most dangerous place in all Italy." [12] 

After a day in Vicenza, where Mozart performed at the house of their host, the bishop, the Mozarts travelled on to Verona. There they stayed with Pietro Lugiati, who a year earlier had commissioned a portrait of Wolfgang (to view the portrait please see Mozart in Italy, part 1), and received some excellent news. A letter from Milan, probably from Count Karl Joseph von Firmian, let them know that they would soon receive the formal contract for the first opera of the 1772–73 Carnival season there, and also announced that on their return to Salzburg they should expect to receive another commission. Leopold wrote Maria Anna that the new commission "will not only fill you with amazement but will bring our son imperishable honour." [13] It was from the imperial court, for a wedding serenata to be performed in the coming autumn during the marriage celebrations for the Archduke Ferdinand Karl, the fourth son of the Habsburg Empress Maria Theresa and Governor of the Duchy of Milan, and Princess Maria Beatrice d'Este of Modena.

The Mozarts left Verona on 20 March and travelled by carriage to Rovereto and then across the Brenner Pass into Austria. On 25 March Leopold wrote to Maria Anna from Innsbruck, "We arrived here this evening in a violent gale, in snow and horribly cold weather." [14] Undeterred by the unpleasant conditions, the next day they pressed on, and reached Salzburg on Maundy Thursday, 28 March. As he embraced his mother and sister, though, Wolfgang already knew that he would be returning to Italy twice more without them.

Next time: Mozart's second Italian journey and Ascanio in Alba

Posts in this series:

• Mozart in Italy, part 1: "We shall not become rich"
• Mozart in Italy, part 2: "We have won the first battle"
• Mozart in Italy, part 3: "The most dangerous place in all Italy"
• Mozart in Italy, part 4: "Such useless people"
• Mozart in Italy, part 5: "There is little hope"

---

1. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 132, 13 February 1771, in Emily Anderson, editor and translator, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, MacMillan and Co., 1938, p. 266.
2. Same as note 1.
3. Same as note 1.
4. Mozart to Johannes Hagenauer, Letter 132b, 13 February 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 267.
5. Mozart to his sister, Letter 133a, 20 February 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 269.
6. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 134, 1 March 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 270.
7. Quote on Alessandro nell' Indie: Charles Burney, The present state of music in France and Italy, Becker, 1771, p. 190. Quote on  the performance at the Ospedale dei Mendicanti: Burney, The present state of music in France and Italy, pp. 141–142. The article on Bertoni by George Truett Hollis in Grove Music Online states that while in Venice "Mozart and his father may have heard Anna de Amicis sing in Bertoni's Alessandro nell' Indie (Venice, Teatro S Benedetto)," but the letter Burney quotes on Alessandro dated 25 January 1771 confirms that "At the same theatre we have at present Il Siroe riconosciuto, composed by Signor Borghi, which is generally disliked." The Mozarts went to the Teatro di San Benedetto on 11 or 12 February.
8. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 135, 6 March 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 272.
9. Glover, Mozart in Italy, p. 138.
10. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 134, 1 March 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 271.
11. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 136, 14–18 March 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 273.
12. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 136, 18 March 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 274.
13. Same as note 11.
14. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 137, 25 March 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 275.

Mozart in Italy, part 2: "We have won the first battle"

Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera. Picador, 2023. 262 pages. Image source: The Hanbury Agency

This is the second in a series of posts on Mozart's Italian journeys; for the previous post please see Mozart in Italy, part 1: "We shall not become rich."

Bologna to Milan, 20 July – 18 October 1770

Their seven weeks' stay at the country estate of Count Pallavicini aided the healing of Leopold's leg, severely injured in the carriage accident on the return to Rome in late June. On 30 August, in the third week of their stay with the Count, Leopold was mobile enough to travel into Bologna with Wolfgang to see a performance given by the Accademia Filarmonica in which ten different composers each set a part of the Mass and Vespers. At the performance the Mozarts encountered the music historian Charles Burney, father of the novelist Fanny Burney, who was travelling to gather information for his books The Present State of Music in France and Italy (1771) and A General History of Music (1776). The Mozarts had first met Burney in London four years previously, when Wolfgang was ten years old.

Charles Burney by Sir Joshua Reynolds, 1781. Image source: National Portrait Gallery NPG 3884

Burney wrote of their reunion at the Accademia Filarmonica performance,

There was a good deal of company, and among the rest who sh[oul]d I meet but the celebrated little German, Mozart, who in 1766 astonished all hearers in London by his premature musical talents. . .The little man is grown considerably, but is still a little man. . .He is now at the age of 12 [really 14], engaged to compose an opera for Milan. . .[I] shall be anxious to know how this extraordinary boy acquits himself in setting words in a language not his own. But there is no musical excellence I do not expect from his extraordinary quickness and talents, under the guidance of so able a musician as his father. [1]

On 1 October the Mozarts moved back into Bologna, where they stayed for the following two weeks and met daily with the great music teacher Padre Giovanni Battista Martini. On 9 October Wolfgang took the Accademia Filarmonica entrance exam: placed by himself in a locked room, he was given the task of setting a plainchant antiphon in four-part counterpoint. Leopold wrote to his wife Maria Anna,

When Wolfgang had finished it, it was examined by the Censores and all the Kapellmeisters and Compositores. Then a vote was taken, which was done by means of white and black balls. As all the balls were white, Wolfgang was called in and all the members clapped their hands as he entered and congratulated him, and the Princeps of the Academy informed him, on behalf of the company, that he had passed the examination. . .All the members were surprised that Wolfgang had finished his task so quickly, seeing that many candidates had spent three hours over an antiphon of three lines. For I must tell you that it is not at all an easy task, as in this kind of composition many things are not allowed and of these Wolfgang had been told previously. Yet he had finished it in less than half an hour. . .This distinction does Wolfgang all the more credit as the Academia Bonnoniensis is more than a hundred years old and, apart from Padre Martini and other eminent Italians, only the most distinguished citizens of other countries are members of it. [2]

With the support of Padre Martini, the Accademia's minimum age (20) was waived, as was the requirement that candidates should have studied at the Accademia for one year; Martini also paid Wolfgang's admittance fee.

Padre Giovanni Battista Martini by Angelo Crescimbeni, c. 1770. Image source: Museo internazionale e biblioteca della musica, Bologna

On 13 October the Mozarts departed Bologna for Milan. Though rains and a high river delayed them at Parma, they arrived on 18 October.

Milan: Mitridate, re di Ponto, 18 October 1770 – 4 February 1771

During their stay in Bologna, Wolfgang had finally begun writing the recitatives for Mitridate. Mitridate (the historical Mithridates VI) is the ruler of Pontus, a kingdom on the southern and eastern coasts of the Black Sea, in 63 B.C. He is engaged in the latest in a series of wars against the Romans, who are expanding eastward as Mitridate attempts to extend his kingdom westward. Returning from defeat in battle, Mitridate learns the unwelcome news that his betrothed queen Aspasia is in love with his younger son Sifare, who loves her in return. Meanwhile, Mitridate's eldest son Farnace (the historical Pharnaces II), although betrothed to the Parthian princess Ismene, wants both Mitridate's throne and Aspasia. Conflict, and conflicted feelings, ensue.

According to the contract signed in Milan in March the recitatives were due in October, leaving Wolfgang less than two weeks after their arrival to complete them. On 20 October he wrote to his mother in a postscript to a letter from Leopold, "I cannot write much, for my fingers are aching from composing so many recitatives. Mamma, I beg you to pray for me, that my opera may go well and that we may be happy together again." Two weeks later he signed a postscript to his sister Nannerl, "I am, as always, your brother Wolfgang Mozart, whose fingers are tired, tired, tired, tired [Müdhe Müdhe Müedes müde sind] from writing." [3]

After completing the recitatives, Wolfgang turned to the opera's 23 arias, plus a duet and a concluding ensemble for the surviving characters. The final cast list for the opera was slightly different from the list the Mozarts had received in Bologna.

Cast of Mitridate, re di Ponto, Milan, 1770. From the Thomas Fisher Libretti Collection, University of Toronto. Image source: Internet Archive

Mitridate, King of Pontus and other kingdoms, in love with Aspasia	Guglielmo D’Ettore [tenor]
Aspasia, betrothed to Mitridate and already declared Queen	Antonia Bernasconi [prima donna, soprano]
Sifare, son of Mitridate and Stratonica, in love with Aspasia	Pietro Benedetti, known as Sartorino [primo uomo, soprano castrato]
Farnace, eldest son of Mitridate, in love with the same [Aspasia]	Giuseppe Cicognani [alto castrato]
Ismene, daughter of the King of Parthia, in love with Farnace	Anna Francesca Varese [seconda donna, soprano]
Marzio, Roman tribune and ally of Farnace	Gaspare Bassano [tenor]
Arbate, governor of Nymphaea	Pietro Muschietti [soprano castrato]

In writing arias for this cast Wolfgang had the advantage of having already heard several of them sing. D'Ettore and Bernasconi had probably sung in Wolfgang's audition concert in Milan the previous spring, and he had seen Cicognani perform both in Michelangelo Valentini's setting of Metastasio's La Clemenza di Tito in Cremona in January, and in the concert at Count Pallavicini's in Bologna in March. After seeing the opera Wolfgang had written to his sister Nannerl of Cicognani that he possessed "a delightful voice and a beautiful cantabile." [4]

Wolfgang started with the most important arias: those for the prima donna Antonia Bernasconi, whose role is the emotional center of the opera. But it wasn't long before the Mozarts encountered intrigue. Leopold wrote to Maria Anna,

. . .you will be astounded to hear what a storm we have been through, to weather which presence of mind and constant thought were necessary. God be praised, we have won the first battle and have defeated an enemy, who brought to the prima donna’s house all the arias which she was to sing in our opera and tried to persuade her not to sing any of Wolfgang’s. We have seen them all and they are all new, but neither she nor we know who composed them. But she gave that wretch a flat refusal, and she is now beside herself with delight at the arias which Wolfgang has composed to suit her. [5]

In fact, as Leopold later discovered, the arias were from Quirino Gasparini's version of the same opera, which had been performed in Turin three years previously. Bernasconi had not performed in Turin, and so the arias may indeed have been unknown to her. But it was common practice for singers to occasionally insert into one opera a preferred aria by a different composer. Rather than giving Gasparini's versions a flat refusal, Bernasconi had decided to try Wolfgang's first, after which she declared that she was "infinitely pleased with her arias." [6]

It was also common for arias to be revised by the composer in consultation with the singer. Arias were custom-written to display each singer's strengths and disguise their weaknesses. And the singers had, if not always complete veto power, a great deal of input. Aspasia's entrance aria "Al destin che la minaccia" (From the fate that threatens me / Free, O God, my oppressed heart) exists in two versions. The second, in the words of Jane Glover, "is truly splendid, with energetic coloratura and a wide range (she evidently had a wonderful top C, which Wolfgang happily exploited)." [7]

Here is the second and final version, sung by Yvonne Kenny accompanied by the Concentus Musicus Wien conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, from the 1986 film of Mitridate directed by Jean-Pierre Ponelle:

https://youtu.be/s_gHjv3jZJ4

Aspasia's Act II aria "Nel grave tormento" (In the great torment which oppresses my breast), in which she expresses "the anguished conflict between her love for Sifare and her duty to Mitridate," also exists in two versions: an unfinished first attempt abandoned after a substantial 40 measures, and a second version composed with "much greater confidence and fluency." [8]

Yvonne Kenny performing "Nel grave tormento" from the 1986 film of Mitridate:

https://youtu.be/CislZewNHuw

In Act III, Aspasia's love for Sifare has been revealed to Mitridate, who sends her a chalice of poison. Wolfgang composed a scene which shifts from recitative to accompanied recitative leading into a cavatina (a short aria without a da capo repeat). Glover writes that this scena is "of exceptional maturity, portraying with real emotional authenticity Apasia's Juliet-like vacillation between resolving to take her poison and fearing its reality." Wolfgang highlighted Bernasconi's "impressively wide vocal range as well as her sublime lyric gifts." [9]

Yvonne Kenny performing "Ah ben ne fui persaga!. . .Pallid' ombre" from the 1986 film of Mitridate:

https://youtu.be/a-I139Wku7c

On the evidence of alternative aria versions, the tenor singing Mitridate, Guglielmo D’Ettore, was the most demanding member of the cast: there are no fewer than five versions of his entrance aria, "Se di lauri il crine adorno." The final version is unconventional, a flowing andante showcasing D'Ettore's wide vocal range; Burney wrote of him that he was "the best singer of his kind on the operatic stage." [10]

Gösta Winberg performing "Se di lauri il crine adorno" (If I do not return crowned with laurel, faithful shores) from the 1986 film of Mitridate:

https://youtu.be/LldEoMPrS4s

D'Ettore had sung the role of Mitridate in Turin three years earlier, and apparently he decided to perform Gasparini's version of his third-act aria "Vado incontro el fato estremo" (I go to meet my final destiny), rather than Mozart's. It's a substitution that has continued to the present day. Stanley Sadie writes that Gasparini's version "has continued to be sung in modern revivals—it is erroneously printed as Mozart's own in all published scores, with Mozart's original setting relegated to an appendix." [11]

The primo uomo Pietro Benedetti came to Milan a month later than other singers due to another engagement. He finally arrived on 1 December, just three and a half weeks before opening night. In late November Leopold had written to Maria Anna,

Wolfgang has his hands full now, as the time is getting on and he has only composed one aria for the primo uomo, because the latter has not yet arrived and because Wolfgang refuses to do the work twice over and prefers to wait for his arrival so as to fit the costume to his figure. [12]

Wolfgang was wise to wait until the singer had arrived, but that did not prevent him from having to do his work twice over—or three times, in the case of Sifare's Act II aria of farewell to Aspasia, "Lungi da te, mio ben" (Far from you, my love).

He also had to rework the duet between Sifare and Aspasia that concludes Act II, "Se viver non degg'io" (If I cannot live), after their mutual love has been discovered by Mitridate. Glover writes that it is "the musical highlight of the whole opera. . .this [second] version on which they all agreed was altogether richer, with four horns rather than the usual two in the accompaniment, and—significantly perhaps for the fledgling composer—was in the key of A major, which very much became the key of passion and seduction in all Wolfgang's later operas." On 15 December Leopold wrote to Maria Anna that "the prima donna and the primo uomo. . .are simply enchanted with their duet. The primo uomo has actually said that if this duet does not go down [well], he will let himself be castrated again." [13]

Ann Murray (Sifare) and Yvonne Kenny (Aspasia) performing "Se viver non degg'io" from the 1986 film of Mitridate:

https://youtu.be/8CVGkYeRCxo

SIFARE:	SIFARE:
Se viver non degg’io, Se tu morir pur dei, Lascia, bell’idol mio, Ch’io mora almen con te.	If I cannot live, If you, too, must die, Let me, my beloved, Die together with you.
ASPASIA:	ASPASIA:
Con questi accenti, oh Dio! Cresci gli affanni miei, Troppo tu vuoi, ben mio, Troppo tu chiedi a me.	With these words, oh God! You worsen my suffering, You want too much, my love, You ask too much of me.
SIFARE:	SIFARE:
Dunque. . .	Then. . .
ASPASIA:	ASPASIA:
Deh taci.	Say no more.
SIFARE:	SIFARE:
Oh Dei!	Oh Gods!
ASPASIA, SIFARE:	ASPASIA, SIFARE:
Ah, che tu sol, tu sei, Che mi dividi il cor. Barbare stelle ingrate, Ah, m’uccidesse adesso L’eccesso del dolor!	Ah, you are the only one Who shares my heart. Cruel, ungrateful stars, If only this overwhelming sorrow Would kill me now!

The 14-year-old Wolfgang not only composed the opera, but would lead the 60 musicians of the Teatro Regio Ducale orchestra from the first harpsichord during rehearsals and for the first three performances. On 22 December Leopold wrote Maria Anna and Nannerl that the first rehearsal in the theatre three days earlier "went off very well" and "both the singers and the orchestra are evidently quite satisfied." He reported that for the performances Wolfgang would be wearing a new suit, as over the past year he'd outgrown the clothes he'd brought from Salzburg:

Picture to yourselves little Wolfgang in a scarlet suit, trimmed with gold braid and lined with sky-blue satin. The tailor is starting to make it to-day. Wolfgang will wear this suit during the first three days when he is seated at the clavier. The one which was made for him in Salzburg is too short by half a foot and in any case is too tight and too small.

But disturbing news had come from Naples. "I hope at least that Wolfgang will not have the bad luck of Signor [Niccolò] Jommelli, whose second opera at Naples [Demofoönte] has failed so miserably that people are even wanting to substitute another; and Jommelli is a most celebrated master, of whom the Italians make a terrible fuss." [14] Audiences could be fickle, and reject even the work of long-established composers. Now all that remained was to hear their verdict on Mitridate.

Title page of the libretto of Mitridate, re di Ponto, Milan, 1770. From the Thomas Fisher Libretti Collection, University of Toronto. Image source: Internet Archive

Three days after Mitridate's première on St. Stephen's Day (26 December 1770, the beginning of the 1771 Carnival season), Leopold wrote to Maria Anna,

God be praised, the first performance of the opera took place on the 26th and won universal applause; and two things, which have never yet happened in Milan, occurred on that evening. First of all, contrary to the custom of a first night, an aria of the prima donna was repeated, though usually at a first performance the audience never call out "fuora". Secondly, after almost all the arias, with the exception of a few at the end, there was extraordinary applause and cries of: "Evviva il Maestro! Evviva il Maestrino!"

On the 27th two arias of the prima donna were repeated. As it was Thursday and there was Friday to follow, the management had to try to cut down the encores; otherwise the duet would also have been repeated, as the audience were so enthusiastic. . .How we wished that you and Nannerl could have had the pleasure of seeing the opera! Within living memory there has never been such eagerness to see the first opera as there has been this time. [15]

Audience enthusiasm may have been flagging towards the end of the opera, not because Wolfgang's musical inspiration had waned, but because by then it was midnight and they'd been in the theater for six full hours. Each act of Wolfgang's opera was followed by a ballet by another composer, Francesco Caselli, who was also one of the 28-member dance company.

Ballets composed by Francesco Caselli performed during Mitridate, re di Ponto, Milan, 1770. From the Thomas Fisher Libretti Collection, University of Toronto. Image source: Internet Archive

The ballets had their own scenic backdrops and, except for the final ballet, told stories with only a metaphorical relationship to the opera: following Act I, "The Judgment of Paris" set in an Arcadian landscape; following Act II, "The Triumph of Virtue over Love" set in an imperial Chinese palace; and following Act III, a celebration of the marriages of Aspasia and of Ismene with their lovers. Leopold wrote to his wife that "The ballets, however, are now to be shortened, for they last two hours at least." [16]

After the third performance on 29 December the Mozarts continued to attend the opera, with Wolfgang joining his father in the audience instead of leading the orchestra. On 5 January Leopold wrote to Maria Anna,

I can hardly find time to write to you, for every day we go to the opera and this means going to bed at half past one or even two o’clock in the morning, as we must have something to eat after the performance. So we get up late, and the day, which is short enough as it is, becomes, in consequence, even shorter. . .Our son’s opera is still running, is still winning general applause and is, as the Italians say, alle stelle![Literally, "to the stars"; figuratively, "soaring sky-high."] Since the third performance we two have been listeners and spectators, sometimes in the parterre [orchestra level] and sometimes in the boxes or palchi, where everyone is eager to speak to the Signore Maestro and see him at close quarters. During the performance we walk about here and there, wherever we like. For the Maestro was obliged to conduct the opera from the orchestra only on the first three evenings, when Maestro Lampugnani accompanied at the second clavier. But now, as Wolfgang is no longer conducting, Lampugnani plays the first clavier and Maestro Melchior Chiesa the second one.

Leopold followed this description of their evenings with an understandable surge of parental pride at his son's accomplishment:

If about fifteen or eighteen years ago, when Lampugnani had already composed so much in England and Melchior Chiesa in Italy, and I had heard their operas, arias and symphonies, someone had said to me that these masters would take part in the performance of my son's composition, and, when he left the clavier, would have to sit down and accompany his music, I should have told him that he was fit for a lunatic asylum. [17]

Mitridate would run for a total of 22 performances—a striking success, particularly for the first opera of the season. News of its enthusiastic reception, and of Wolfgang's induction into the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna in October, must have reached Verona. On 11 January Leopold received a letter from Pietro Lugiati, who had commissioned Wolfgang's portrait during their visit there in January 1770 (see Mozart in Italy, part 1), that Wolfgang had been voted into the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona as well.

As the run of Mitridate was nearing its end, on 14 January the Mozarts left Milan for a short visit to Turin. There they met the composer Quirino Gasparini, whose Mitridate arias of three years previously had been offered to Antonia Bernasconi in place of Wolfgang's. They also met the composer Giovanni Paisiello, whose opera Annibale in Torino (Hannibal in Turin, 1771) was just then having its première in Turin's Teatro Regio; Leopold called it "magnificent." [18]

The Mozarts returned to Milan at the end of January to complete their packing and finally begin their journey home. On 2 February they were invited to a farewell dinner at Count Firmian's. It's likely that a new commission was discussed with him, because less than a month later they received a contract for the first opera of Milan's 1773 Carnival season, opening on 26 December 1772. There may have been suggestions that a second new commission might be forthcoming for later in the current year, but clearly negotiations were still continuing. Still, as they left Milan on 4 February, they must have been extremely gratified at the honors, commissions and success that had resulted from their Italy trip.

It wasn't over yet: their next destination was Venice.

Next time: Mozart in Italy, part 3: "The most dangerous place in all Italy"

Posts in this series:

• Mozart in Italy, part 1: "We shall not become rich"
• Mozart in Italy, part 2: "We have won the first battle"
• Mozart in Italy, part 3: "The most dangerous place in all Italy"
• Mozart in Italy, part 4: "Such useless people"
• Mozart in Italy, part 5: "There is little hope"

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1. Quoted from the unpublished manuscript version of The Present State of Music in Percy Scholes, The Great Dr. Burney: His Life, His Travels, His Works, His Family, and His Friends, Greenwood Press, 1971 (reprint of Oxford University Press, 1948), p. 170.
2. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 117, 20 October 1770, in Emily Anderson, editor and translator, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, MacMillan and Co., 1938, pp. 243–244.
3. Mozart to his mother, Letter 117a, 20 October 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, pp. 244–245; Mozart to his sister, 3 November 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 249. Emily Anderson translates "Müdhe Müdhe Müedes müde sind" rather colorlessly as a single "tired."
4. Mozart to his sister, Letter 77a, 26 January 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 162. In Letters of Mozart and His Family Emily Anderson states that the version of La Clemenza di Tito seen by the Mozarts in Cremona was composed by Hasse, but in Mozart: The Early Years, 1756–1781, W.W. Norton, 2006, pp. 186–187, Stanley Sadie attributes the opera to Valentini. In the final months of his life Mozart would compose an opera to this same libretto to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia. Far from exhibiting the clemency of the opera's title, Leopold rescinded the freedom of Bohemian serfs granted by his brother Joseph II.
   
5. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 120, 10 November 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, pp. 249–250.
6. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 121, 17 November 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 251.
7. Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy: Coming of Age in the Land of Opera. Picador, 2023, p. 121.
8. Glover, Mozart in Italy, p. 121.
9. Glover, Mozart in Italy, p. 121–122.
10. Quoted in Stanley Sadie, Mozart: The Early Years, 1756–1781, W.W. Norton, 2006, p. 219.
11. Sadie, Mozart: The Early Years, 1756–1781, pp. 219–220.
12. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 122, 24 November 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 252.
13. Jane Glover, Mozart in Italy, p. 125; Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 125, 15 December 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 256.
14. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 126, 22 December 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, pp. 257–258. For a description of Jommelli's first opera for Naples in May, Armida Abbandonata, and the Mozarts' encounters with the composer, please see Mozart in Italy, part 1.
15. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 127, 29 December 1770, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 259.
16. Same as note 13.
17. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 129, 5 January 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, pp. 262–263. Giovanni Battista Lampugnani was appointed as the resident composer at the King's Theatre in London in 1743, and remained there until 1745, when he returned to his native Italy. Over his lifetime he composed more than 30 operas, and had been appointed harpsichordist at the Teatro Regio Ducale in 1758. Burney wrote of his London opera Alfonso (1744), "there is a graceful gaiety in the melody of his quick songs, and an elegant tenderness in the slow." See Michael F. Robinson, revised by Fabiola Maffei and Rossella Garibbo, "Lampugnani, Giovanni Battista (ii)" in Grove Music Online (https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.15926). Of Melchiorre Chiesa, Burney wrote during his visit to Milan in 1770 that "Chiesa and Monza seem and are said to be the two best composers for the stage here at present." See "Chiesa, Melchiorre" in Grove Music Online (https://doi.org/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.05576).
18. Leopold Mozart to his wife, Letter 131, 2 February 1771, Letters of Mozart and His Family, Vol. 1, p. 265.