Diego Minoia - The Mozarts, Who They Were (Volume 1)

The author's intention was that "Violinschule" was to be utilized by violin teachers and to those students who, while gifted, did not have the economic means to pay for private lessons; hence, the coherence of the method, its clear and concise language and the explicated examples of all the aspects of importance, not only for a correct execution of the music, but also for a precise expressive and communicative interpretation of the music that was to be carried out. The project of realizing a method for the violin gave us a Leopold Mozart who, at thirty-six years old, was well aware of the world of music of his time and of the new demands that were being proposed. His epistolary contacts with musicians and German musical critics were testimony that his ambition went beyond his career that was leading him to the Salzburg Court.

Even before Wolfgang's birth, later driving him to dedicate all of his efforts toward his son's achievements, his ambition was to leave a long lasting mark in the world of music, but it is significant that he chose to do this through the means of an instructional method. This tells us that he was aware of his organizational and methodology abilities, while possibly emphasizing that he did not have particular ambitions to go down in history as a composer (admitting, at least to himself, to not being gifted enough to compete not only with the Italian composers, but with his local competitors for the title of Kapellmeister of the Court).

In any case, the choice to write a method for the violin was consistent with the times and gave results to a well thought out plan, given that in that epoch, the choice for available aspiring musicians was not what it is today. In the radius surrounding Germany, there were two principle methods for learning an instrument: that of Johann Joachim Quantz for the flute, with some mention of the violin (1752), and that of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach for keyboard instruments (1753). As we can see, there was not an abundance of opportunity and, at least in the Germanic area, there was no specific method for the violin.

In England, a few years previous (1748 -- 1751), there was the Italian composer and violinist Francesco Saverio Geminiani (Lucca 1687 -- Dublin 1762) who had published three books on learning the violin. And previous to that, Giuseppe Tartini (Piran 1692 -- Padua 1770), celebrated violinist and composer, as well as a talented acoustics theorist and scholar (well-known for his "Devil's Trill Sonata" and for the theorization of the famous "combination tone" - additional tone or tones that are artificially perceived when two real tones are sounded at the same time). The Italian teacher had written various works such as "A letter from the late Signor Tartini to Signora Maddalena Lombardini: published as an important lesson to performers on the violin", "Traité des agréments de la musique -- Treatise on ornaments in music" and the method "Lezioni pratiche del violino - Practical Lessons of the Violin".

Tartini's operas were well-known by Leopold Mozart and took it upon himself to "borrow" some of the important parts, even the above-mentioned examples in their entirety (but transposed in another key to camouflage the origin) without citing the name of the author and only occasionally mentioning "a famous Italian violinist". The Mozartian epistolary tells us that Leopold was always very scrupulous with every detail regarding the distribution of his method and for bringing in the best profits. Later, we will talk about the difficulties related to the technical and financial problems of publishing the method and how arduous it was to manage the distribution of the book with sellers and to receive payment for the sales (a job that, in his absence, was delegated to his wife under extremely precise instructions).

Here, we have an example of what he wrote to his wife on 7 January 1770 from Verona during his first journey to Italy with Wolfgang: "Has no letter from Mr. Lotter yet arrived (the publisher from Augsburg who printed billable copies of Violinschule -- A/N) regarding the punctual receipt of money?". And later in the same letter: "Has Mr. Breitkopft from Leipzig (another music publisher -- A/N) not yet written to say whether he has received the 100 books? Have the books been sent to Vienna and has Mr. Graeffer (a bookseller -- A/N) confirmed their arrival?". "...prepare 12 copies of Violinschule and send them to the bookseller Joseph Wolf in Innsbruck. You should attach a brief letter stating something like: 'These are 12 copies of Violinschule which my husband, from Verona, told me to send to you. You may sell them on commission at 2 florins and 14 Tyrolese kreutzers per copy, and pay my husband 1 florin and 45 kreutzers per copy sold'".

Leopold Mozart also proved to be an attentive teacher to both of his children, preparing first Maria Anna and later Wolfgang, with a Notebook containing a certain number of brief compositions for the keyboard chosen by artists from that epoch (nearly always omitting the name) and was put in ascending order of difficulty. The initial amazement, and the father and musician's pride who realized that such an extraordinary talent was being produced (a state of mind stimulated for Wolfgang but not felt in the past for the equally talented Nannerl) are highlighted in the writings added to the legacy of pieces that the boy had learned bit by bit. It is almost like reading a prophesy of information being left to future readers, giving proof of his son's precocious abilities: "Wolfgangerl (term of endearment) has learned in half an hour this four-handed minuet, at half past nine in the evening on 26 January 1761, the day before his birthday". With Wolfgang's early attempts at composing, the Notebook also became enriched with little minuets created and performed at the keyboard by the boy and transcribed by the father.

Naturally, when the two prodigious children's "promotional" travels began, they never missed an opportunity for learning from various perspectives: singing lessons from famous performers (such as those had by Wolfgang in London from the celebrated Giovanni Manzuoli), learning about composing at encounters with prominent musicians (from, again in London, Johann Christian Bach and many other composers they met on their Italian journey). Moreover, besides the confined world of music, a smattering of foreign language was acquired (some French, English, Italian -- necessary for the operas, some Latin -- useful for sacred music), but most importantly, a lot of music heard in the academies, in the concert halls and in the well patronized theaters. We can say: on a daily basis, by the Mozarts.

The father

It is beyond a shadow of a doubt that Leopold had a systematic and powerful influence over the entire life of his son, not only during his childhood, but well into his formative years (the period in which he had total "control" of Wolfgang's activities), continuing into the subsequent stages, specifically during their separation (his journeys to Munich and Paris and his move to Vienna), always with growing difficulty in making his son, who had grown unruly with his new born liberty, listen to him. The scholastic formation of Leopold Mozart was superior to the average citizen of that epoch which explains why he personally looked after his children's cultural education, as well as musical (particularly that of his son). In fact, there is no evidence that the Mozart children had ever attended any scholastic institutions, probably because once the father had realized that there were two talented children in the household, he decided to orient his own life and that of his offspring toward their development of child prodigies as soon as possible. To his credit, he did have the knowledge as father and musician, the duty to develop his children's' talent to the best of his ability, as he writes in a letter on 10 November 1766: "God who has been too generous with me, a miserable human being, and has given my children such talent that even if it were not my paternal duty, I would still be obliged to sacrifice everything for their best upbringing". In a later letter from 1777, he reiterates the concept "take advantage of talent: it is the Gospel itself that teaches us this". The child prodigies had to be nurtured before they aged, though, which would otherwise reduce the wonder and amazement that their talent would provoke from the public.