By this time, word of a gifted – and reasonably good-looking – young music prodigy had reached Vienna’s nobility. Curiosity grew until we received a formal invitation to perform for Empress Maria Theresa[i] and Emperor Franz I[ii] at their summer residence, the Schloss Schönbrunn[iii]. The palace was so vast one could enter a corridor in Austria and emerge, several hours later, somewhere near Hungary.
The most memorable part of our visit, however, was not the performance but a game of hide-and-seek with the imperial children in the Spiegelsaal, a ballroom lined entirely with mirrors. Wherever I turned, I was confronted by dozens of small versions of myself, all smiling back at me with alarming confidence.
Crossing the polished parquet floor proved difficult. Dressed in a red velvet coat, white stockings, and a stubborn wig, my movement was cautious. At some point, gravity intervened. I slipped and landed firmly on the floor.
To everyone’s delight, a young Archduchess named Marie Antoinette hurried forward to help me. In that moment – lying on the floor and with my dignity already lost – I announced that I intended to marry her when I was grown. (I did not, in fact, marry Marie Antoinette. History, and France, would have taken a very different course if I had). The entire room erupted in laughter. Father’s face turned the color of beet soup. The Empress, however, smiled kindly and said: “That can be arranged, my dear”.
[i] Maria Theresa (1717–1780) was Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, and the only female ruler of the Habsburg dominions. As Holy Roman Empress by marriage to Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, she reigned for forty years, transforming a fragile monarchy into a centralized and modernized European power.
[ii] Franz I (Francis Stephen of Lorraine; 1708–1765) was Holy Roman Emperor from 1745 until his death and the husband and imperial consort of Maria Theresa.
[iii] Schloss Schönbrunn (English: Schönbrunn Palace) was the main summer residence of the Habsburg rulers. The 1,441-room Baroque palace is one of the most important architectural, cultural, and historic monuments in the country.