Wolfgang to his sister · 19 May 1770
Letters from Mozart · Chapter I Italy · Neapel
Listen to the first sentence (German)
The letter and its translation
Der 12te Menuett von Haydn, den Du mir geschickt hast, gefällt mir recht wohl, und den Baß hast du unvergleichlich dazu componirt, und ohne mindesten Fehler.
Haydn's twelfth minuet, which you sent me, pleases me very much; you have composed an inimitable bass for it, and without the slightest fault.
Schreibe mir, wie es dem Herrn Canari geht. Singt er noch? Pfeift er noch?
Tell me how Master Canary is? Does he still sing? and still whistle?
Weißt Du, warum ich auf den Canari denke? Weil in unserm Vorzimmer einer ist, welcher ein G'seis macht, wie unserer.
Do you know why I am thinking about the canary? Because we have one in our ante-room that chirps out a G sharp just like ours.
Gestern haben wir unsere neuen Kleider angezogen; wir waren schön wie die Engel.
Yesterday we wore our new clothes; we were as handsome as angels.
Die Königin und den König haben wir unter der Messe zu Portici in der Hofcapelle gesehen, und den Vesuvius haben wir auch gesehen. Neapel ist schön, ist aber volkreich wie Wien und Paris.
We saw the king and queen at mass in the court chapel at Portici, and we also saw Vesuvius. Naples is beautiful, but as crowded with people as Vienna or Paris.
Selected sentences from the letter. The translation is our own.
A painting of Vesuvius erupting from the same years (1777), not the day Wolfgang saw it. The opening of the letter is written in Italian, as practice. Portici, where he saw the royal couple, is the site of a royal palace at the foot of Vesuvius. Nohl, who edited the letters, notes that Mozart loved animals and later always kept birds in his room.
In the app the letter arrives line by line like a message, with the meaning under each word, and you can talk with the writer. Chapter I is free.
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Credits
- Picture: Pierre-Jacques Volaire · Der Ausbruch des Vesuvs · 1777 · Art Institute of Chicago (1978.426) · Public domain · source
- Letter text: Mozarts Briefe (L. Nohl, 1865), Nr. 12 · public domain · archive.org
- Narration: made with Supertonic 3 (Supertone Inc.), model licence OpenRAIL-M.
- All sources: Lingua Museum sources and licences
