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I wish to thank Cliff Eisen for helpful criticism on this piece. In mozart's life trajectory, London stands as a social extreme as well as a geographical one. It was Europe's most populous, wealthy and liberal city, yet also the noisiest, most polluted and crime-infested. This contrast is well documented in Leopold's letters from 1764-65, where marvel gave way to disgust along with the family's dwindling hopes for financial gain. Britain's weak monarchy and stingy aristocratic patronage made commercial exposure the ultimate path to success. After all, it was through public concerts that Handel, the acknowledged model of Mozart, had amassed his fortune only a decade ago. Early London publicity touted Wolfgang as 'the greatest Prodigy that Europe or that Human Nature has to boast of, and the 'most amazing Genius that has appeared in any Age' surpassing 'all Understanding or all Imagination'.1 The hype paid off, as the Mozart benefit of 5 June delivered a 'shock of taking in one hundred guineas in three hours'.2 This auspicious beginning was followed, however, by half-a-year of withdrawal from the public eye, owing to the dead season of summer, Leopold's severe illness, and the delayed opening of parliament, which 'dealt upon the whole a severe blow at all arts and sciences'.3 By the time of Wolfgang's second benefit concert, in February 1765, London had probably forgotten the name Mozart. Leopold was determined to make up for lost ground ('Once I leave England, I shall never see guineas again. So we must make the most of our opportunity'4), hence the puzzlingly inaccurate report:
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