Noteworthy in the Arts and Sciences
Among the wonders of the arts and sciences
may surely be placed the case of a certain
High German boy named Wolfgang Mozart,
who is only around 8 years old and is a composer
and master of music the like of which no one
has ever seen. This boy, who recently arrived
in England, not only plays by heart on the
harpsichord with incredible precision and skill the
concertos and sonatas of various masters, but
also improvises in a wonderful way the most
difficult Fantasias, worthy of the greatest masters.
If one presents him with a piece, he will vary it and
even play it in another key. If one presents him
with an aria to sing, he will do so while simultaneously
playing an accompaniment, without having seen it
beforehand. If one gives him something without
a bass, he will play it, adding bass and middle
voices without effort. If, on the contrary, one gives
him a simple bass part, he will play it while
adding the required melody. He will execute the
most demanding compositions on the organ;
in short, no matter how he is put to the test,
people always become convinced of his superior
and almost incomprehensible talent. In addition,
he composes his pieces without touching the
keyboard; this musical wonder submits himself
boldly to the judgment of all masters of music
and connoisseurs, expecting them to do him
justice on account of his abilities, and the whole
world, thus informed, to agree that he is an
example without equal, and that one has to see
and hear him in order to be properly convinced
of his astonishing prowess in music. Thus one
sees that diligence and desire are capable of
raising someone from childhood to great ability
and that it is not always the mature years that
bring forth great men.
Commentary
This article from the second volume of Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws is a variant of one printed in the Oprechte Haerlemse Courant on 16 Feb 1765 (Dokumente, 41–42, Dutch original 512). When the article appeared in the Haarlem paper, the Mozarts were still in England; by the time the variant version appeared in the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws in the second half of 1765, they had probably returned to the continent; they arrived in Calais from Dover on 1 Aug.
The version of the article in the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws omits a sentence about Wolfgang playing before the King and Queen of England (see the corrected transcription from the Oprechte Haerlemse Courant in the Notes below), instead saying merely that the Mozarts had “recently arrived in England.” This bit of “news” was considerably out of date by that point, as they had arrived in England in April of the previous year and were probably no longer in England by the time the second volume of the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws appeared (the title of the volume states that it is reporting news “until” July 1765). The version of the article in the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws also omits a reference to Wolfgang playing fugues (“Fougue”) on the organ. On the other hand, the version in the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws adds a new introductory sentence referring to the section of the book in which it appears (news of the arts and sciences), and a new closing sentence providing an anodyne moral: “Dus ziet men, dat iever en lust, iemand van der jeugd af tot groote vermogens kunnen opleiden, en dat het niet altyd de rype jaaren zyn, die groote Mannen voortbrengt” (“Thus one sees that diligence and desire are capable of raising someone from childhood to great ability and that it is not always the mature years that bring forth great men”).
Notes
Deutsch’s transcription (Dokumente, 512) of the original Dutch from the Oprechte Haerlemse Courant on 16 Feb 1765 (on Delpher) contains several errors. The corrected transcription is:
Oprechte Haerlemse Courant, no. 7, Sat, 16 Feb 1765
[corrections are in red; passages omitted from the version in Nederlandsche Mengel-Nieuws are in blue]
[1]
GROOT-BRITANNIEN.
LONDEN den 8 February. [...]
[...] Ook is alhier aan-
gekomen een Componist en Muzyk-Meester van omtrent 8 Jaaren,
die in der daad een Wonder is en nooit voor dezen zyns gelyken
gehad heeft. Deze Jongen is een Hoogduytzer, Wolfgang Mozart
genaamd: Hy speeld niet alleen op de Clavecimbal met eene
ongelooffelyke naauwkeurigheid, de Concerten en Sonaten van
verscheidene Meesters, maar ook op eene wonderbaare wyze,
de allermoeyelykste Fantasyen, waardig om van den grootsten
Meester gespeeld te worden, uyt het Hoofd. Laat men hem
een Stuk voorleggen, hy zal hetzelve varieeren, en zelfs uyt
eenen anderen Toon speelen. Laat men hem eene Aria te zin-
gen geven, hy zal ze zingen en te gelyk accompagneeren, zon-
der dezelve ooit te vooren gezien te hebben. Laat men hem
eene Piece zonder Bas voorleggen, hy zal dezelve zonder moeite
afspeelen, den Bas en de Tusschen-Partyen daarby voegende.
Wanneer hem in tegendeel eene simple Bas-Party gegeeven word,
zal hy dezelve speelende de vereischte Melody daarby voegen.
Als men hem verzoekt zig op den Orgel te laaten hooren, zal
hy ’er eene aangenaame Fougue, of wel een ander der aller-
zwaarste Muzyk-Stukken op speelen; en op welke Proef men
hem ook stelle, zal hy altoos en een ygelyk van zyn verheeven
en ten eenemaal onbegrypelyk Talent overtuygen. Voor het
overige schryft hy zyne Compositien zonder het Clavecimbal
aan te roeren. Hy heeft tot drie verscheidene maalen de Eer
gehad voor hunne Majesteiten den Koning en de Koningin te
speelen, en de Permissie verkregen 6 Sonaten voor het Clave-
cimbal, met het accompagnement van eene Viool en Violon-
cel, te componeeren, om dezelve aan haare Majesteit de Ko-
ningin te presenteeren; die ze niet alleen heeft gelieven te ac-
cepteeren, maar ook, na dat haare Majesteit ze van den jon-
gen Componist zelve had hooren executeeren, met haare Konin-
glyke Goedkeuring heeft begunstigd. Dit musicalis Wonder geeft
zig stoutmoedig aan het Oordeel van alle de Muzyk-Mee-
sters over, en verwacht van de rechtgeaardheid hunner Harten,
dat zy hem recht zullen laten toekomen; dat de geheele Wae-
reld daarin zal overeenstemmen, dat hy een Voorbeeld zonder
Exempel is, en dat men hem moet zien en hooren, om volstrekt
en na den eisch van zyne verbaazende Force in de Muzyk over-
tuygd te worden. [...]
Deutsch also (presumably accidentally) omitted from his German translation of this passage the phrase "om dezelve aan haare Majesteit de Koningin te presenteeren,” thereby slightly altering the implication. The original passage is:
Hy heeft tot drie verscheidene maalen de Eer gehad voor hunne Majesteiten den Koning en de Koningin te speelen, en de Permissie verkregen 6 Sonaten voor het Clavecimbal, met het accompagnement van eene Viool en Violoncel, te componeeren, om dezelve aan haare Majesteit de Koningin te presenteeren [...]
Deutsch’s translation (omitting the phrase in red) is:
Er hat bei drei Gelegenheiten die Ehre gehabt, vor Ihren Majestäten, dem König und der Königin, zu spielen, und er hat die Erlaubnis bekommen, sechs Sonaten für das Cembalo, mit Begleitung der Violine und des Violoncells, für Ihre Majestät die Königin zu schreiben […] [Dokumente, 42]
This translation says that Mozart received permission to write six sonatas for the Queen. But the original Dutch text actually says that Mozart was given permission (by whom is not specified) to compose six sonatas to “present” to the Queen (that is, to dedicate to her). A more accurate German translation would be:
Er hat bei drei Gelegenheiten die Ehre gehabt, vor Ihren Majestäten, dem König und der Königin, zu spielen, und die Erlaubnis bekommen, sechs Sonaten für das Cembalo mit Begleitung der Violine und des Violoncells zu komponieren, um dieselbe Ihrer Majestät der Königin zu präsentieren […]
Deutsch’s omission and slight misconstrual is taken over into the English edition of Dokumente. An English rendition restoring the missing phrase would be:
On three occasions he had the honor to play before Their Majesties the King and Queen, and received permission to compose six sonatas for harpsichord with the accompaniment of violin and violoncello, in order to present these to Her Majesty the Queen […]
The works referred to here are the sonatas (sometimes also called “trios”) K. 10–15, which were indeed published with a dedication to Queen Charlotte, the wife of King George III (for facsimiles of the title page and dedication, see Haberkamp 1986, ii:8–10). In a letter to Lorenz Hagenauer dated 27 Nov 1764, Leopold Mozart mentions that the Queen herself had requested that the sonatas be dedicated to her (Briefe, i:170).
The translation of “uit het hoofd” (in both versions of the article discussed here) is somewhat problematic. “Uit het hoofd” is usually translated into English as “by heart,” implying “by memory.” But in the articles in the Oprechte Haerlemse Courant and the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws, the references to “fantasias” (“Fantasyen,” “Fantasiën”) strongly imply (in an eighteenth-century context) that Mozart was improvising free fantasias, in which case it would not make sense to say he was playing them “by heart.” (The implication that 9-year-old Mozart—the utch texts incorrectly say that he was 8—was improvising free fantasias in his performances seems not to have received a great deal of attention in the Mozart literature.)
In fact, “uit het hoofd” can have a somewhat more flexible meaning in Dutch than “by heart” has in English. (See the comprehensive entry on the word “hoofd,” with examples of usage, in theWoordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal.) “Hoofd” literally means “head,” and the phrase “uit het hoofd” literally means “out of the head.” In Dutch this usually implies “by memory,” but it can also, depending on the context, imply that someone is “making it up.” The syntax of the original Dutch is also somewhat ambiguous, and the phrase “uit het hoofd” seems to be intended to modify both preceding phrases, the one referring to concertos and sonatas, and the one referring to fantasias:
Deeze Jongen, onlangs in Engeland aangekomen, speeld niet alleen op de Clavecimbel met een ongelooflyke nauwkeurigheid en vaardigheid, de Concerten en Sonaten van verscheidene Meesters, maar ook op een wonderbaare wyze de allermoeijelykste Fantasiën, waardig voor den grootsten Meester, uit het hoofd. [from the version in the Nederlandsch Mengel-Nieuws]
Because in Dutch it is possible for “uit het hoofd” to have slightly different implications for the first and second phrases, we have chosen to translate the passage accordingly:
This boy, who recently arrived in England, not only plays by heart on the harpsichord with incredible precision and skill the concertos and sonatas of various masters, but also improvises in a wonderful way the most difficult Fantasias, worthy of the greatest masters.
On the Oprechte Haerlemse Courant, see the Notes to our entry for 28 Feb 1765.
Bibliography
Haberkamp, Gertraut. 1986. Die Erstdrucke der Werke von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. 2 vols. Musikbibliographische Arbeiten, edited by Rudolf Elvers, vol. 10. Tutzing: Hans Schneider.
Credit: DE & Kris Steyaert
Authors:
Dexter Edge,
Kris Steyaert
Search Term: mozart
Source Library:
Koninklijke Bibliotheek, The Hague, KW 3102 G 25
Categories:
Addenda,
Corrigenda
First Published: Tue, 29 Aug 2017
Print Citation:
Edge, Dexter, and Kris Steyaert. 2017. “A Dutch report on Mozart in London (addendum) (16 February 1765).” In: Mozart: New Documents, edited by Dexter Edge and David Black. First published 29 August 2017. https://www.mozartdocuments.org/documents/16-february-1765/
Web Citation:
Edge, Dexter, and Kris Steyaert. 2017. “A Dutch report on Mozart in London (addendum) (16 February 1765).” In: Mozart: New Documents, edited by Dexter Edge and David Black. First published 29 August 2017. [direct link]
