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Auction archive: Lot number 2

MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO HIS WIFE CONSTANZE, Prague, Good Friday 10 April 1789, brown ink, relating to his activities in Prague, his arrival and the people he has met, the commission for a new opera (which was ...

Auction 24.06.1992
24 Jun 1992
Estimate
£45,000 - £55,000
ca. US$83,381 - US$101,911
Price realised:
£60,500
ca. US$112,102
Auction archive: Lot number 2

MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO HIS WIFE CONSTANZE, Prague, Good Friday 10 April 1789, brown ink, relating to his activities in Prague, his arrival and the people he has met, the commission for a new opera (which was ...

Auction 24.06.1992
24 Jun 1992
Estimate
£45,000 - £55,000
ca. US$83,381 - US$101,911
Price realised:
£60,500
ca. US$112,102
Beschreibung:

MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO HIS WIFE CONSTANZE, Prague, Good Friday 10 April 1789, brown ink, relating to his activities in Prague, his arrival and the people he has met, the commission for a new opera (which was never carried out), the eagerness with which King Frederick William II of Prussia awaited his arrival in Berlin and Mozart's hopes for a letter from Constanze, 2 pages, octavo, 202 x 164mm., with later envelope wrapper inscribed Für Fraulein Jenny Lind , (slight fraying at edges and slight creasing at folds) A warm and vibrant letter full of news, hopes and love for his wife and son, written by Mozart on his arrival in Prague two days after leaving Vienna. Early in 1789 Mozart accepted an invitation to go to Berlin with Prince Karl Lichnowsky. En route they stopped at Prague, before going on to Dresden where Mozart desperately hoped that he would find a letter from his wife: I am simply aching for news from you. Perhaps I shall find a letter at Dresden. Great God fulfil my wishes . The letter refers to Mozart's meeting with the impresario Domenico Guardasoni (1731-1806) with whom he discussed the possibility of a new opera. Although the commission was unfulfilled Mozart was optimistic when writing home: [Guardasoni] has practically arranged to give me 200 ducats next autumn for the opera and 50 ducats for travelling expenses . His optimism was justified in that Guardasoni played a major role in Mozart's professional life. He was the impresario for the first performance of Don Giovanni in Prague on 29 October 1787, and the opera had been commissioned by Pasquale Bondini who ran the Bustelli company taken over very soon after by Guardasoni. From 1788 Guardasoni was the manager of the National Theatre at Prague, and in 1789 took Don Giovanni to Leipzig and Warsaw. He also commissioned Mozart to compose La Clemenza di Tito as the coronation anthem of Leopold II and in 1791 produced Così fan tutte in Prague and Dresden. Mozart also reports to Constanze that Frederick William II of Prussia, a good 'cellist and active patron of music, had been inquiring whether he was really coming to Berlin. Because of this eagerness Mozart judged that in Berlin my affairs ought to be fairly successful. In the event he was favourably received by the king, although the composer thoroughly antagonised the court conductors Duport and Reichardt. While in Prague Mozart took Prince Lichnowsky to see his friend Duschek with whom he had spent much time during his visit to Prague two years before. They met Duschek's wife in Dresden which they reached on the afternoon of Easter day. Mozart's relations with Lichnowsky did not remain amicable. Mozart was lent money by the Prince who later sued him for the sum of 1,435 florins. This letter is published in Emily Anderson, Letters of Mozart and his Family , 3rd edition, London, 1985, p.920.

Auction archive: Lot number 2
Auction:
Datum:
24 Jun 1992
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
Beschreibung:

MOZART, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756-1791). AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED TO HIS WIFE CONSTANZE, Prague, Good Friday 10 April 1789, brown ink, relating to his activities in Prague, his arrival and the people he has met, the commission for a new opera (which was never carried out), the eagerness with which King Frederick William II of Prussia awaited his arrival in Berlin and Mozart's hopes for a letter from Constanze, 2 pages, octavo, 202 x 164mm., with later envelope wrapper inscribed Für Fraulein Jenny Lind , (slight fraying at edges and slight creasing at folds) A warm and vibrant letter full of news, hopes and love for his wife and son, written by Mozart on his arrival in Prague two days after leaving Vienna. Early in 1789 Mozart accepted an invitation to go to Berlin with Prince Karl Lichnowsky. En route they stopped at Prague, before going on to Dresden where Mozart desperately hoped that he would find a letter from his wife: I am simply aching for news from you. Perhaps I shall find a letter at Dresden. Great God fulfil my wishes . The letter refers to Mozart's meeting with the impresario Domenico Guardasoni (1731-1806) with whom he discussed the possibility of a new opera. Although the commission was unfulfilled Mozart was optimistic when writing home: [Guardasoni] has practically arranged to give me 200 ducats next autumn for the opera and 50 ducats for travelling expenses . His optimism was justified in that Guardasoni played a major role in Mozart's professional life. He was the impresario for the first performance of Don Giovanni in Prague on 29 October 1787, and the opera had been commissioned by Pasquale Bondini who ran the Bustelli company taken over very soon after by Guardasoni. From 1788 Guardasoni was the manager of the National Theatre at Prague, and in 1789 took Don Giovanni to Leipzig and Warsaw. He also commissioned Mozart to compose La Clemenza di Tito as the coronation anthem of Leopold II and in 1791 produced Così fan tutte in Prague and Dresden. Mozart also reports to Constanze that Frederick William II of Prussia, a good 'cellist and active patron of music, had been inquiring whether he was really coming to Berlin. Because of this eagerness Mozart judged that in Berlin my affairs ought to be fairly successful. In the event he was favourably received by the king, although the composer thoroughly antagonised the court conductors Duport and Reichardt. While in Prague Mozart took Prince Lichnowsky to see his friend Duschek with whom he had spent much time during his visit to Prague two years before. They met Duschek's wife in Dresden which they reached on the afternoon of Easter day. Mozart's relations with Lichnowsky did not remain amicable. Mozart was lent money by the Prince who later sued him for the sum of 1,435 florins. This letter is published in Emily Anderson, Letters of Mozart and his Family , 3rd edition, London, 1985, p.920.

Auction archive: Lot number 2
Auction:
Datum:
24 Jun 1992
Auction house:
Christie's
London, King Street
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