Life of Mozart Volume 2 — CHAPTER XXVII. MARRIED LIFE. Part 2

(284) The Imperial Augarten replaced the old "Favorite" established by Joseph I.

in the Leopold Vorstadt of Vienna.

It was laid out by Joseph II.

, and opened to the public for their free use in 1775, with the well-known inscription over the entrance: "Public place of recreation dedicated to all men, by one who esteems them."

[44] The principal building was used as an hotel, and the Emperor built for himself a simple little house, surrounded by wooden palings, where he sometimes spent several days, and amused himself by walking freely among his people.

On Sunday afternoons in especial, all the fashionable population of Vienna strolled there,[45] so that the speculation promised to be a successful one.

It provided plenty of occupation for its promoters.

Mozart writes (May 25, 1782):-- To-morrow is our first entertainment in the Augarten.

At half-past eight Martin is to call for me in a hackney-coach, and we have six visits to make; I must be ready by eleven o'clock to go to Rumbeck; then I dine with the Countess Thun; we are to rehearse the music in her garden in the evening.

There is to be a symphony by Van Swieten, and another by me; Mdlle.

Berger, an amateur, is to sing; a boy named Türk[46] is to play a violin concerto, and Fräulein von Aurnhammer and I the duet concerto in E flat (365 K. ).

The first concert went off well; among the audience were the Archduke Maximilian, the Countess Thun, Wallenstein, Baron van Swieten, and many other musical connoisseurs, but we hear nothing further of the undertaking, which cannot have been so brilliant a success as had been hoped.

[47] There was no doubt, however, as to the success which Mozart achieved during the Lenten concerts of 1783. He contributed greatly towards the success of a concert given by his sister-in-law, Aloysia Lange, at the theatre on {CONCERT FOR ALOYSIA LANGE.

} (285) March 11. His Parisian symphony for the Concert spirituel (297 K. , Vol. II.

, p. 49) was performed on this occasion, after which Madame Lange sang the song which he had composed for her in Mannheim: "Non sò d'onde viene" (294 K. , Vol. I.

, p. 419), with new variations for the voice.

How many memories it must have awakened in them both!

"Gluck had the box next to the Langes," he informed his father (March 12, 1783), "in which was also my wife.

He could not praise enough either the symphony or the song, and he invited us all to dinner next Sunday."

In addition Mozart played a concerto of his own composition.

"The theatre was very full;

and I was so well received by the public, that I could but feel happy and content.

After I had gone away the clapping was so persistent that I was obliged to return and repeat the rondo.

It was a perfect storm of applause."

For his own concert on March 22 every box was taken, and the theatre "could not have been fuller."

The programme of this concert, which he copied for his father, gives us an idea of what Mozart's concerts were.

There were performed:-- 1. The new Hafner symphony, composed the previous summer (385 K. , Vol. II.

, p. 210).

2. Air from "Idomeneo," "Se il padre perdei" (366 K. ), sung by Madame Lange.

3. The third subscription concerto, then just published, in C major (415 K.

, No. 5).

4. The Countess Baumgarten's scena (369 K. , Vol. II.

, p. 168), sung by Adamberger.

5. The short Sinfonia-concertante of the last "Final-musik" (320 K. , Vol. II.

, p. 87).

6. The favourite concerto in D (175, 382 K. , Vol. I.

, p. 324).

7. Scena, "Parto, m' affretto," from "Lucio Silla" (135 K. , Vol. I.

, p. 180), sung by Mdlle.

Teyber.

8. Impromptu fantasia by Mozart, beginning with a short fugue, "because the Emperor was there" (Vol. II.

, p. 173), followed by variations on an air from the opera of "Der eingebildete Philosoph" by Paesiello ("Salve Tu, Domine"), and when the thunder of applause obliged him to play again, he chose the air "Unser dummer Pöbel meint," from Gluck's "Pilgrims of Mecca," as a theme for variations.

9. A new rondo, composed for Madame Lange, and performed by her (416 K.

).

10. The last movement of the first symphony.

{MARRIED LIFE.

} (286) This programme makes it evident that the demands on a concert-giver were far greater then than now, and the public were undoubtedly more patient listeners.

"What pleased me most," wrote Wolfgang to his father (March 29, 1783), "was the sight of the Emperor, and how pleased he was, and how he applauded me.

It is always his custom to send the money for his box to the pay-place before he comes to the theatre; otherwise I might certainly have expected more (than twenty-five ducats), for his delight was beyond all bounds."

A short time after Mozart played a concerto at Mdlle.

Teyber's concert.

[48] Again the rondo was encored, but when he sat down to the piano again, he had the desk removed in order to improvise.

"This little surprise delighted the audience immensely; they clapped, and cried 'Bravo, bravissimo!'

" The Emperor did not leave this concert until Mozart had quite finished playing.

So the latter in high glee informs his father (April 12,1783).

In Lent, 1784,[49] besides a concert in the theatre, which took place in April, Mozart proposed to give six subscription concerts, and he begs his father to send him the score of "Idomeneo," because he intended to produce it (December 6, 1783).

The pianoforte teacher Richter had established Saturday concerts, which were attended by the nobility only upon the understanding that Mozart was to play; after playing at three of them he raised subscriptions (six florins) for three concerts of his own, which took place on the three last Wednesdays in Lent (March 17, 24, and 31), in a fine hall belonging to Trattnern, a bookseller.

[50] The list of subscribers {LENTEN CONCERTS, 1784.

} (287) numbered 174 names,[51] thirty more than were procured by the partners, Richter and Fischer; the latter was a violin-player, married to Storace, the singer.

[52].

"The first concert, on the 17th," Mozart writes (March 20, 1784), "went off well; the hall was crammed full, and the new concerto, which I played, was very well received; every one is talking about the concert."

The succeeding performances were equally successful, so that he was able to assure his father that they had been of considerable service to him.

Besides the subscription concerts, he gave two others in the theatre, which also went off well.

"To-morrow should have been my first concert in the theatre," he writes (March 20, 1784), "but Prince Louis Liechtenstein has an operatic performance which would have taken half the nobility from my audience, besides some of the chief members of the orchestra.

So I have postponed it, in a printed advertisement, to April 1. He wrote two great concertos[53] and the quintet for piano and wind instruments, which was enthusiastically applauded.

"I myself," he adds, "consider it the best thing I ever wrote in my life.

I do wish you could have heard it!

And how beautifully it was performed!

To tell the truth, I grew tired of the mere playing towards the end, and it reflects no small credit on me that my audience did not in any degree share the fatigue."

In the following year Leopold Mozart visited his son in Vienna, and was an eye-witness of his popularity.

He {MARRIED LIFE.

} (288) writes to his daughter (January 22, 1785): "I have this moment received a line from your brother, saying that his concerts begin on February 11, and are to continue every Friday."

He arranged to be in Vienna for this concert, which was given on the Mehlgrube, with a subscription list of over one hundred and fifty at three ducats each.

He wrote to Marianne at the conclusion of the concert (February 11, 1784): "Wolfgang played an admirable new concerto, which was in the copyist's hands when we arrived yesterday; your brother had not even time to try over the rondo.

The concerto is in D minor" (466 K. , No. 8).

The second concert, too, "was splendid"; and at a benefit concert in the theatre for which Wolfgang wrote the Concerto in C major (467 K. , No. 1) he made 559 florins, "which we had not expected, as the list for his subscription concerts numbers one hundred and fifty persons, and he has often played at other people's concerts for nothing," as L. Mozart writes (March 12, 1785).

He played at Madame Laschi's concert on February 12, 1785, a splendid concerto which he had composed for the blind pianiste in Paris, Marie Thérèse Paradies (1759-1824); this is probably the Concerto in B major (456 K.

, No. 11) dated September 30, 1784. "When your brother made his exit," writes the father, "the Emperor bowed to him, hat in hand, and called: 'Bravo, Mozart!'

He was very much applauded on his entrance."

During the Lent of 1786 Mozart had, as he wrote to his father (December 28,1785), three subscription concerts, with one hundred and twenty subscribers; for these he wrote three new concertos.

One in E flat major (482 K.

, No. 6) on December 26, 1785, another in A major (488 K. , No. 2) on March 2, 1786, and the third in C minor on March 24, 1786, the andante of which he was obliged to repeat at the concert of April 7, the last given in the theatre.

[54] In Advent of the same year, as he informs his father (December 8, 1786), he gave four concerts at the Casino, for which he composed a new Concerto in C major (503 K. , No. 16), dated December 4, 1786; in January of the same year he {PRIVATE CONCERTS.

} (289) journeyed to Pragüe, where he was received with enthusiasm as the composer of "Figaro."

In obedience to the general desire, he played at a great concert in the Opera-House, to a very crowded audience; Mozart was recalled three times, and when at last he improvised variations on "Non più andrai" there was no end to the applause; a second concert was attended with eqally brilliant results.

Madame Storace informed L.

Mozart, who wrote the news to his daughter (March 1, 1787), that Wolfgang had made one thousand florins in Prague.

Even if it be granted that the honour and profit of these concerts did not equal that which was accorded to celebrated vocalists of the day,[55] yet it would be unjust to maintain that Mozart was not appreciated by the public, and that they failed to express their appreciation in hard cash.

Any comparison with the unexampled success attained by great performers of a later day ought not to leave out of sight that the concert-visiting public has enormously increased since that time, when this enjoyment was the exclusive privilege of the higher ranks.

The growing interest for literature and art was then just beginning to awaken in the citizen class some desire for participation in theatrical performances and concerts; but still the concert public of that time had very little resemblance to that which we now expect to find.

The difference shows itself in the private concerts.

During the winter, and particularly during Lent, musical performances were the chief means of entertainment among the nobility and wealthy citizens.

Amateur theatricals were also very fashionable, and even operas were often given in private.

[56] An opera by Prince Liechtenstein has been mentioned before (Vol. II.

, p. 287); Mozart's "Idomeneo" was given in 1786 at the private theatre of Prince Auersperg, where in 1782 an Italian opera had been given in honour of the Grand {MARRIED LIFE.

} (290) Duke;[57] Kelly had heard the Countéss Hatzfeld[58] sing Gluck's "Alceste" there incomparably well.

[59] Noblemen of high rank often maintained their own musical establishments;

and though this did not often consist, as in the case of Prince Esterhazy or the Prince von Hildburghausen,[60] of a complete orchestra, yet the retinue of most of the nobility (especially in Bohemia) were capable of taking part in orchestral music,[61] or there was at least a band of wind instruments to play during meals or in serenades.

[62] But for the private performances of which we have just spoken a complete orchestra was always employed,[63] which was an easier matter then than it would be now that orchestras are so much more fully appointed.

This arrangement was of the greatest importance for the musical profession.

The frequent concerts gave opportunity for a large number of musicians to educate themselves into good orchestral players, and the composers found constant employment in every branch of their art.

Patrons vied with each other in the production of new works by distinguished masters, and above all in the acquisition of celebrated performers.

The expense of musical soirées was very great, but custom made it a point of honour among the aristocracy to patronise the art which then surpassed all others in public estimation.

Mozart's popularity as a pianist would, as a matter of course, render him much in request at these private concerts.

As early as the winter of 1782 he was engaged for all the concerts given by Prince Gallitzin, the Russian ambassador, who "placed his carriage at my disposal both going and returning, and treated me in the handsomest {PRIVATE CONCERTS--NOBLE PATRONS.

} (291) manner possible' (December 21,1782).

During the following winter he again played regularly for Prince Gallitzin, also for Count Johann Esterhazy, Count Zichy, &c. He calculates for his father's benefit that, from February 26 till April 3, he would have to play five times for Gallitzin, and nine times for Esterhazy, to which might be added three of Richter's concerts and five of his own, besides chance invitations.

"Have I not enough to do?"

he asks.

"I do not think I shall be allowed to get out of practice."

When his father was in Vienna in 1785, he wrote to his daughter that Wolfgang's harpsichord had been to the theatre and to different private houses quite twelve times between February 11 and March 12. [64] What amount of fee Mozart received for his performances in private we have no means of ascertaining; in general, however, the aristocracy were accustomed to reward distinguished artists according to their deserts, and the exceptional position of the Viennese nobility enabled the artists to accept their liberality without loss of dignity;

the more so as it was usually founded on sentiments of esteem and consideration.

That the friendly demeanour of persons of high rank was highly prized by the artists themselves, there can be no doubt; nor would there be wanting some who sought to merit it by servile adulation.

From any tinge of this Mozart was absolutely free; not only was he unfettered by the forms of social class distinctions, but he moved in society with all the independence of a distinguished man, without laying claim to the license usually accorded to artists of genius.

The etiquette of rank was no bar to his intimacy with Prince Karl Lichnowsky; and another of his true friends was Count August Hatzfeld, who had carefully cultivated a considerable musical talent, and was a first-rate quartet violinist.

He became so imbued with the spirit of Mozart's quartets, that the latter was said to have declared that he liked nobody's execution of them so well as Count {MARRIED LIFE.

} (292) Hatzfeld's. [65] The song in "Idomeneo" with obbligato violin was composed for him.

His noble character won for him universal esteem, which was intensified by the calmness with which he met death in his thirty-first year (Bonn, 1787).

Mozart wrote to his father in a very serious letter (April 4, 1787):-- On this subject (death and dying) I have already expressed my mind to you on the occasion of the melancholy death of my best and dearest friend, Count von Hatzfeld.

He was thirty-one--just my age.

I do not mourn for _him_, but for myself and for all those who knew him as I did.

Mozart also gave regular musical performances every Sunday morning in his own house; he used to invite his friends, and musical amateurs were admitted on payment.

Kelly relates[66] that he never missed one of these.

I find them mentioned elsewhere also, and have heard of them from old people who took part in them during the last years of Mozart's life.

They were always well attended; but whether Mozart's public concerts were continued with unabated success after the year 1788, or whether the time had come when he was to experience "the fickleness" of the Viennese, I have no means of determining with exactitude.

He wrote three symphonies in June, July, and August of 1788, whence it may be concluded that he was giving concerts during that time; and, by the same reasoning, the absence of any symphonies or concertos composed during the years immediately following would prove that no concerts were then given.

His pecuniary embarrassments during those years tell the same tale; and the cutting off of this important contribution to his income seems to have occasioned his journeys to Berlin and Frankfort.

Not until January, 1791, do we meet with another pianoforte concerto in B flat major (595 K. , No. 15) that was no doubt intended for a Lenten concert.

The publication of his compositions, which in the present day would have been Mozart's chief dependence, was by no means profitable, as matters then stood.

The music trade {PUBLICATION OF COMPOSITIONS.

} (293) of the day was small and insignificant; indeed, the first impulse was given to it by the publication of an edition of all Mozart's works soon after his death.

During his life, however, compositions were more often copied than printed;[67] and the composer was obliged to keep careful watch lest copies should be distributed which were not ordered from him, and which in consequence he was never paid for.

It need scarcely be said that caution such as this was not in Mozart's nature, and that copies of his works were frequently made and sold without his knowledge.

Different musical firms (Joh.

Traeg, Lausch, Torricella, &c. ) advertised copies of his compositions for sale under his very eyes; nor was this conduct, however undesirable, thought unworthy of a respectable tradesmen.

He was careful only of his concertos; too much depended on his keeping possession of them, and not allowing any one to play them who chose.

His three first concertos, indeed, he thought it advisable to publish himself by a subscription of six ducats (December 23, 1782).

He offered them afterwards to the "highly respectable public" for four ducats, "beautifully copied and revised by himself."

[68] Even this his father thought too dear; but Mozart thought that the concertos were worth the money, and could not be copied for it.

When sending his father those composed in the following year, he wrote (May 24, 1784): "I can wait patiently until you send them back, so long as they do not fall into any one else's hands; I might have had twenty-four ducats for one of them to-day; but I think it will be to my advantage to keep them a couple of years by me, and then to have them printed."

He used to take only the orchestral parts with him on his journeys, and to play himself from a clavier part of most extraordinary appearance, according to Rochlitz.

[69] It consisted of only the figured bass and the principal {MARRIED LIFE.

} (294) motifs, with hints for the passages, runs, &c. ; he depended on his memory, which never by any chance failed him.

In 1788 he advertised copies of three quintets for four ducats.

[70] As far, then, as concertos and symphonies were concerned, the composer made his principal profit by his own performance of them; but he was also called upon to write different things for other people.

Mozart wrote many compositions for his pupils, an extraordinary number for his friends and acquaintance, and not a few to order on particular occasions.

Among the latter class are the quartets written for Frederick William II.

, in 1789 and 1790 (575, 589, 590, K. ), for which he was doubtless well paid; it was said that he received for the first a valuable gold snuff-box and a hundred friedrichs-d'or.

[71] It is well known that one hundred ducats were paid in advance for the Requiem, and something may have come in for the adaptation of Handel's oratorios, ordered by Van Swieten in 1788 and 1789, as well as for here and there a commission or dedication.

But a closer examination of the long list of Mozart's compositions of this class makes it probable that they were not for the most part profitable to him.

A characteristic anecdote is related of him by his widow, which bears out this supposition.

[72] At one of Mozart's Sunday matinées there was present a Polish Count, who was very much delighted with the new (composed March 30, 1784) pianoforte quintet with wind instruments.

He commissioned Mozart to write a trio with obbligato flute, which the latter promised to do.

As soon as he arrived at home, the Count sent Mozart a hundred half-louis with a very polite note, repeating his thanks for the pleasure the music had given him.

The terms of the note left Mozart no doubt that the money was a generous gift, and he returned the politest acknowledgment, at the same time sending the Count, contrary to his custom, the original score of the quintet he had so much admired.

A year after the Count came again to Mozart and inquired after the trio.

Mozart excused himself by saying he had not yet found himself in the humour to {PUBLICATION OF COMPOSITIONS.

} (295) write anything worthy of the Count's acceptance.

"Then, no doubt," answered the Count, "you will find yourself still less in the humour to return me the hundred half-louis which I paid you for it."

Mozart returned the money, but the Count kept the score of the quintet, which was soon after printed in Vienna without Mozart's permission.

Against such persons and such behaviour Mozart had no weapons but a shrug of the shoulders, and a--"The rascal!"

It may well be supposed that others besides this Polish Count took advantage of such easy-going good-nature.

But the publishers must not be credited with more than their share of blame.

[73] Variations and similar trifles were doubtless often printed without the composer's consent, and brought in considerable profits in which he had no share.

But the more important of his works which appeared during his lifetime were either printed by subscription or trusted for publication to Torricella, Artaria, and Hoffmeister.

I have only in one case been able to discover the amount paid to him; he wrote to his father, who communicated it to his daughter (January 22, 1785) that he had sold his quartets dedicated to Jos.

Haydn to Artaria for one hundred ducats.

This was a considerable sum for those days, and the reception given to the quartets on their appearance might well cause the publisher to fear he had paid too dear for them.

It is said that the two beautiful pianoforte quartets in G minor (478 K. , composed in July, 1785) and in E flat major (493 K. , composed in June, 1786), were only the commencement of a series bespoken by Hoffmeister; but the public finding them too difficult, and refraining from buying them, he allowed Mozart to retain the money he had paid in advance, and gave up the continuation.

[74] The popularity gained by Mozart's greater works must always have been of gradual growth, since they were considered in every respect too difficult, and it is quite credible that Hoffmeister said, as was reported of him:[75] "Write more popularly, or else I can neither print nor pay for anything more of yours!"

{MARRIED LIFE.

} (296) nor is it less credible that Mozart should have answered: "Then I will write nothing more, and go hungry, or may the devil take me!"

A note written to Hoffmeister on November 20, 1785, is indeed in quite another tone:[76]-- Dear Hoffmeister,--I have recourse to you, and beg you to assist me with a little money, of which I am much in want at present.

I earnestly entreat you to send me what I require as soon as possible.

Pardon my troubling you so much, but you know me, and are aware how much I have your affairs at heart, so that I am convinced that you will not be offended at my importunities, but will be as ready to show yourself my friend as I am yours.

A very enterprising publisher, Commerzienrath Hummel, of Berlin, maintained that, though not musical, he could tell by the look of a composition whether it would suit him.

He had a poor opinion of Mozart, and used to boast of having sent him back various works.

[77] Rochlitz relates, as an instance of Mozart's ill-treatment at the hands of theatrical managers,[78] that Schikaneder paid nothing for the "Zauberflöte," and even, contrary to the agreement, sold the score without his knowledge.

Seyfried,[79] on the other hand, maintains that Schikaneder paid Mozart a hundred ducats, and resigned the net profits of the sale of the score to his widow.

Be this as it may, Schikaneder's treatment of Mozart must not be considered illustrative of that which he usually received from his managers.

A hundred ducats was then the usual payment in Vienna for an opera.

This sum Mozart received for the "Entführung," for "Figaro," and no doubt also for "Cosi fan Tutte."

For "Don Giovanni" he had 225 florins.

To this were usually added the proceeds of a benefit performance (and another for the poet), which of course depended on the popularity of the composer with the public.

Mozart does not mention the benefit performance of the {PROFITS ON OPERAS.

} (297) "Entführung"; but both in this case and that of "Figaro" it must have had considerable results.

[80] Bondini paid a hundred ducats for "Don Giovanni."

The Bohemian States, who ordered the "Clemenza di Tito" for their coronation festival, can scarcely have offered him less remuneration; even the manager Guardasoni, who was famous for his parsimony, "almost agreed" in the year 1785 to give Mozart "two hundred ducats for an opera and fifty ducats travelling expenses," as he informs his wife--an agreement, however, which was never carried out.

[81] In this respect, therefore, Mozart was not behind contemporary composers.

With regard to performances on foreign stages, we have no definite information as to whether his permission was asked or paid for,[82] but we may gather something from the ordinary usages of the time.

It was the traditional custom in Italy that whoever ordered the opera should pay for it; what became of the score afterwards was generally left to chance.

The impresario remained in possession of it, and usually allowed the copyist to make what profit he could out of the sale of it (Vol. I.

, p. 131); but the composer also kept the score, and seems to have distributed it wherever he thought he might gain honour or profit by it.

In Germany the case was altered, since there the composer had generally to do with a court theatre.

In Mannheim and Munich he retained undivided possession of the score (Vol. II.

, p. 141).

[83] Mozart rejoiced that Baron Riedesel had asked him for the "Entführung" and not the copyist (Vol. II.

, p. 213).

As a matter of course foreign theatres took the easiest course open to them to obtain possession of the score.

When they applied to the composer it was only because they saw no other way of getting it, or for some special reason.

Any question of {MARRIED LIFE.

} (298) the composer's rights or the theatrical manager's obligations seems never to have occurred to either party.

A careful hold of the score and watchful supervision of the copyist were the only means of protection.

These did not go far, nor was Mozart the man to make use of them.

When, therefore, his operas appeared on foreign boards without any compensation to himself, he only shared the fate of most of his contemporaries, nor does he seem to have complained of it.

He is glad to write to his father (December 6, 1783) that his "Entführung" had been well and successfully performed in Prague and Leipzig; and he rejoiced again when "Figaro" was given in Prague and "Don Giovanni" in Vienna;

but there is no mention of payment.

If we summarise these financial remarks, we shall arrive at the conclusion that in view of the importance of his works, and the profits afterwards made on them both by the theatres and the publishers, Mozart was very inadequately paid; but this standard cannot be unreservedly applied to them.

The conditions and fluctuations of profit to which even artists are subject are ruled by the prevalent type of living among citizens and the higher classes; the close-fisted organisation of a community of merchants and traders cares little for the comet-like course of an artistic genius, and is only too likely to give it an altogether wrong direction or to ruin it at the outset.

From a pecuniary point of view we must acknowledge that Mozart was on the whole as well treated as the majority of his fellow-artists; that both as a composer and a performer he was sometimes no worse, sometimes better, paid than others; that he had no lack of opportunities for earning money, and that in point of fact he had a very good income.

If Mozart had possessed the same capacity for business as his father or Joseph Haydn, he would no doubt have reaped far greater advantages from his position in Vienna;

but even on what he actually earned he might have lived in ease and plenty.

Without ourselves going into calculations on the subject, we have a trustworthy witness for it in Leopold Mozart.

During his visit to Vienna, in 1785, he had a watchful eye on the earnings and expenditure of his son, and wrote to his {PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENT.

} (299) daughter (March 19, 1785): "I believe that, _if he has no debts to pay_, my son can now lay by two thousand florins; the money is certainly there, and the household expenses, so far as eating and drinking are concerned, could not be more economical."

How far removed was Mozart from such providence!

From the time of his marriage we find him in constantly recurring money difficulties; a long list of melancholy documents lets us into the vexations, cares, and humiliations which were the inevitable consequences of his improvidence.

Scarcely six months after their marriage the wedded couple were obliged to apply to the Baroness von Waldstädten in the following note, in order to avert a threatened action-at-law by one of their creditors:-- Most honoured Baroness,--I find myself in a fine position, truly!

We agreed with Herr von Tranner lately that we should have a fortnight's grace.

As this is customary with every merchant, unless he be the most disobliging fellow in the world, I thought nothing more of it, and hoped, if I could not pay the amount myself, at least to be able to borrow it.

Now Herr von Tranner sends me word that he positively refuses to wait, and if I do not pay him between to-day and to-morrow he will bring an action against me!

I cannot pay him even the half of it.

If I had had any idea that the subscriptions for my concert would come in so slowly, I would have fixed the payment for a later date.

I pray your ladyship, for Heaven's sake, to help me to preserve my honour and my good name!

My poor little wife is feeling poorly, and I cannot leave her, or else I would come myself and beg this favour of you by word of mouth..

We kiss your ladyship's hand a thousand times, and beg to remain your ladyship's obedient children, February 15, 1783.