References to Mozart in Three Letters to Count Wolkenstein
Posted: Sun, 6 Jun 2021
We have just added three new documents to our site, all passages from letters to Count Pio Fedele von Wolkenstein in Trent. All three were discovered by Clemente Lunelli, who first reported them in 1982, but they have remained almost entirely unknown to the Mozart literature.
Count Cajetan von Rogendorf in Milan writes to Wolkenstein about events during the wedding festivities for Archduke Ferdinand and Princess Maria Beatrice d’Este, including Hasse’s Ruggiero and Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba.
Violinist Franceso Galoardi, Wolkenstein’s violin teacher, reports on his visit to the Mozarts in Salzburg while on his way to Passau to take up a position in the court orchestra there.
Countess Lodron in Salzburg, stepmother of Wolkenstein’s wife, had previously asked Wolkenstein to suggest a violinist who might be willing to come to Salzburg for the winter, because (as she makes clear in this letter), the Mozarts are out of town, and she is having a difficult time finding musicians for their domestic music making. Wolkenstein has suggested Giacomo Tranquillini, and this letter from the countess responds to that suggestion.
We welcome all reports of corrections, potential new documents, and proposals for commentaries. All contributions and corrections will be explicitly acknowledged. Correspondence should be directed to Dexter Edge at dexedge@gmail.com.
We also continue to welcome financial contributions to the project, which currently receives no financial support of any kind; we currently cover the costs of sources and technology out of our own pockets. If you would like to contribute, please contact Dexter Edge at dexedge@gmail.com; or if you have a PayPal account, you can send a contribution directly to the account linked to that e-mail address.
We are very grateful to Arizona State University for providing access to its research collections and online resources.