The Rochlitz Anecdotes: Issues of Authenticity in Early Mozart Biography

Abstract

The gathering and publication of information about Leopold Mozart's life was still in its very earliest stages when editor Friedrich Rochlitz set out to fill the pages of the first volume of Breitkopf & Hartel's Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung , founded in 1798. Rochlitz provided significant materials to support the belief that Mozart was the archetypal unappreciated Viennese artist, neglected by aristocratic and imperial patrons, the object of cabals by envious composers, exploited or cheated by impresarios and publishers, living on the edge of impoverishment. A sequel to Rochlitz's account is provided by 'an old campaigner', who decades later reported that when Mozart returned to the theatre to apologize for his disturbance and to praise the singers, he became entangled with Madame Baranius, so that it cost his Berlin friends much effort and skill to bring 'these hidden and forbidden perfect fifths to a resolution'.

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