Life in Vienna remained bruised by the war, and my financial situation showed little inclination to improve. My income continued to shrink while my debts stubbornly persisted. It became clear that I would need to leave Vienna for a time if I hoped to change my circumstances.
Having not toured in some years, I accepted an offer from my fellow Freemason, Prince Karl Lichnowsky[i], who proposed a journey through the German lands at no cost to me. Traveling with a prince sounded glamorous in theory. In practice, the prince enjoyed fine lodgings and ceremonial welcomes, while the composer negotiated with innkeepers and demonstrated his usefulness in skills trials to local musicians.
Still, the journey had its rewards. Both Dresden and Leipzig welcomed me warmly, like a distant relative who had been absent long enough to be missed but not long enough to be forgotten. The true highlight, however, was Leipzig’s Thomaskirche, where Johann Sebastian Bach[ii] had once worked. In a rare moment of uncomplicated joy, I was invited to play one of his works on the very organ he had used.
I sight-read the piece on the spot. Bach, as ever, did not make this easy. But few things are more exhilarating than surviving difficulty in public – especially when it includes terrifying the locals.
Unfortunately, bills from Vienna followed me like loyal dogs, and the profits from the journey were modest at best. On one occasion, I was presented with a snuffbox[iii] and one hundred ducats, a sum generous in appearance and limited in application. It covered dinner admirably and little else.
In Potsdam, I performed for King Friedrich Wilhelm II[iv], a ruler known for his musical enthusiasm and his refined taste. He commissioned several string quartets and a trio – welcome work, though insufficient to restore financial peace.
When I returned to Vienna, I found Constanze in delicate health, and the doctor’s remedies alarmingly expensive. Still, there were signs of encouragement. The city had rediscovered Figaro, and audiences now laughed freely at jokes they had once deemed too boldly political and controversial. At the same time, Emperor Joseph II began making quiet preparations for a new operatic commission, suggesting better days to come.
[i] Prince Karl Alois Lichnowsky (1761–1814) was an Austrian nobleman, diplomat, and noted patron of classical music. He is best remembered for his close friendship with Ludwig van Beethoven and for supporting composers like Mozart during Vienna’s late 18th-century musical flowering.
[ii] Johann Sebastian Bach (31 March 1685 – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms.
[iii] A snuffbox is a decorative container for holding powdered tobacco, popular in the 18th and 19th centuries and often seen as a status symbol.
[iv] Friedrich Wilhelm II (September 25, 1744 – November 16, 1797) was King of Prussia from 1786 to 1797.