Dear Amadé,

What could have been the inspiration for the delicate piano concerto you played tonight? Contessa Rosina? I glimpsed her youth & dignity, but the adagio…I haven’t heard you write in F# minor before…how lonely it sounds! Like waiting in a dark garden, dressed as one’s own maid. & worst of all, to be showered with affection meant for someone else.

I went home by way of Friedhof Sankt Marx just to smell the lilacs in the moonlight & to think about your music. Speaking of disguise, You didn’t recognize me, did you? Well, the Opera must have the finest costume department, because you seemed rather taken with
a certain “Miss Katie Heron” who had only just arrived from Ireland to take singing lessons. (From the highly esteemed Mme. Lange of course!)

Amadé, I know you’d rather compose than perform…
The mighty Mozart must be more than a mere Musikus! Perhaps that is why I find it so captivating to watch the composer play his own music. Who but your fortunate contemporaries will ever have that chance? By the way, what fun to sing in your amusing little play for the Emperor! Did I make a convincing prima donna as Madame Herz in Der Schauspieldirektor? (That’s not fair – such type-casting!) How do you have time to write all this music while working on Figaro? Certainly not by reading my impossibly long letters! Give my love to Stanzi & little Karl.
(Pray God he stays healthy!)

♥ A.

(Exerpts from Letters to Mozart © 2006 Kristin Serafini.)