Two overlooked references to Mozart in Zinzendorf (and an addendum)
Posted: Mon, 28 Jun 2021
We have added three new entries to our site: two overlooked references to Mozart in the diaries of Count Zinzendorf and a new reading of Zinzendorf’s well-known entry of 5 Dec 1782. The overlooked references were discovered by Mary Sue Morrow and included (without transcription) in her 1989 book on Viennese concert life, but up to now they have not been noticed by Mozart scholars.
After dining wIth the Archbishop of Salzburg and other guests in the Deutschordenshaus in Vienna, Zinzendorf reports hearing Mozart playing violin and Ceccarelli singing.
Zinzendorf’s well-known report of the emperor talking about the Mozart-Clementi duel, nearly a year after it had taken place, has not been understood in context. Joseph is not talking to Zinzendorf, but rather to his cousin Louise von Diede, a highly accomplished keyboard player who has just arrived in Vienna on 21 Nov, whom the emperor has just met.
The following day, Zinzendorf hears Louise play “very difficult pieces by Mozart and others by Bach” at Countess Oeynhausen’s.
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