MOZART in BRUSSELS

[Catherine Sprague]

This article was written jointly by Kris Steyaert and Catherine Sprague and is in recognition of Mozart's visit to Brussels in 1763 and his concert there on November 8th.

MOZART IN BRUSSELS


The Grand Tour of the Mozarts was a journey of more than a thousand days spanning from July 1763 through November of 1766. It is hard not to admire the determination of the family as they steadfastly pushed their way through so many different countries--- Bavaria, Germany, France, England, the Low Countries and Switzerland---with their two small child prodigies. Performing before kings, queens and nobility throughout Europe, Wolfgang and Nannerl amazed those who heard them, and the story of their travels is quite enchanting. Our imagination is further fired when we realize that Wolfgang was a small child of only eight years old when he gave concerts in Paris, the cultural center of Europe at that time. In London he was only nine and just ten years of age when he visited other cities that stretched from The Hague all the way back to his tiny hometown of provincial Salzburg.



The Mozarts remained in some cities for extended periods of time, as was the case for Paris where they stayed for six months, and London where the visit extended well over a year. However, in most other cities the family’s stay was for much shorter periods of time, usually from two days to two weeks. The city of Brussels varies from the norm; here, the family stayed for five weeks in an effort to gain an audience with the ruling Prince who had promised the family that they would be granted an appearance shortly after their arrival.



Brussels was one of the few cities on the tour situated in Hapsburg territory, albeit at the most northern region of its territories, then known as the Austrian Netherlands. These territories were governed by Charles Alexander of Lorraine (1712-1780), the younger brother of Maria Theresia’s husband, Emperor Francis I. Prince Charles himself further secured his bonds to the Hapsburg family with his marriage to the younger sister of Maria Theresia, the Archduchess Maria Anna (1718-1744). Unfortunately, Maria Anna died in the first year of their marriage (1744) after delivering a still-born daughter to her husband. Prince Charles did not remarry. Until the end of his reign, he remained well liked by his subjects.




Painting of Prince Charles

The portion of the journey which had brought the Mozarts to Brussels can be understood by referring to a 1792 map of the Austrian Netherlands and following the line to a region today that comprises what we know as the tiny country of Belgium. (See attachments for map) The Grand Tour had actually been underway since the summer of 1763, but by fall of that year the Mozarts were winding their way through Bavaria and deep into the Rhineland towards Mainz, shown in the lower right hand corner of the map. From Mainz, they traveled in a continual nothwest direction through Coblenz, Bruhl, Cologne, Aachen, Liège, Tienen, Louvain, and finally, in the early part of October, to Brussels itself. Brussels was the center of government for this region, an area once ruled by the Spanish but finally ceded to Austria in the beginning of the eighteenth century.


When the Mozarts arrived in Brussels on the evening of October 4th, 1763, they had hopes of performing soon thereafter before Prince Charles. But as things turned out, they remained there until November 15th, and it is generally believed that the children did not perform for Governor-General Charles until November 8th. And so, during the intervening period, Leopold waited somewhat impatiently for a concert before Prince Charles, his concern driven by his lengthy stay at the very expensive Hôtel d’Angleterre, then located at 81 rue de la Madeleine. This hotel was considered the “finest hotel in Brabant” (Flanders) and later on, in the nineteenth century, would lodge many other famous people including Napoleon, Wellington, and the painter Louis David. Unfortunately, we cannot provide a picture of the hotel as it was demolished in 1937.


Leopold wrote to Hagenauer on November 4th, exactly 30 days into his stay, that although the Prince “has spoken to me himself and has said that he will hear my children in a few days, ....it looks as though nothing will come of it, for the Prince spends his time hunting, eating and drinking, and in the end it appears that he has no money.” Of course, this was anything but the case, but true to Leopold’s way of thinking, he expressed his growing anxiety over languishing in Brussels without a definite date for the concert. As it turned out, the delay in the concert was driven not so much by Charles’s continual eating and drinking, which we learn was accompanied by loud laughter that could be heard three or four rooms away, but by the fact that the court was engaging in lavish celebrations over the name-day of Empress Maria Theresia on October 15th, and Prince Charles’s own name-day as well on November 4th.


What then did the Mozarts do for almost an entire month while they waited to be seen and heard? Naturally, they spent a good deal of their time sightseeing Brussels, but Wolfgang also composed at least one piece that we know of. But first, let us say that they were not totally ignored by Prince Charles, for at some point during their stay and prior to October 17th, they were even given a tour of Prince Charles’s residence in Nassau Palace. In a letter to Hagenauer dated October 17th, Leopold remarked on the beauty of Nassau Palace and the many striking Flemish tapestries and paintings, including “a room with original Chinese statues, porcelain figures and various rare pieces.” Continuing with his observations, he notes that “above all there was a room filled with an indescribable quantity of all kinds of natural history specimens,” and that he had “seen many such collections, but it would be difficult to find such a quantity and so many species.”

Nassau Palace

Only one wing of Nassau Palace stands today, but nonetheless it gives us a good idea of the general architecture, attributed to Dewez and is representative of a refined Louis XVI style. Prince Charles Alexander had set up court in this palace only several years prior to the arrival of the Mozarts, having embarked on an ambitious building program of his own in 1757.(See the third picture in attachments for an interior view.) At this time he greatly enlarged the original palace and gave it a neo-classical look still in evidence today by this one section. Most of Nassau Palace was torn down in the 1950s to make place for the new Royal Library, but the wing represented above and below still exists.


Nassau Palace

It is clear from Leopold’s travel notes and his letters that he was entranced by the beauty of the entire city of Brussels. In particular, he cited the Grand Place or the Grote Markt, known for centuries as one of the most beautiful town squares in the world [It is recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site].




Grand Place

Here he stated that the “Town Hall and the beautiful buildings which stand on the same square” (“das Rathaus und die auf demselben Platz stehende schöne Gebaüde”) were a place where one could find “unbelievably beautiful wares such as silver, gold, mirrors and other fine things.”

TOWN Hall

Leopold and his family toured several floors of the famous Town Hall and he was undeniably impressed that this building, along with many others in the Grand Place, could be lit up at night to a beautiful effect. The Town Hall is considered a masterpiece of civic architecture, begun in 1402 and completed in 1480.




Grand Place At Night

Leopold took the family through many of the famous sites in Brussels; one especially noted by Leopold in his letter of October 17th was St. Michael’s Cathedral. The church was constructed from the thirteenth to fifteenth centuries in Gothic “Brabacnon” style. Of the religious practices in and around Brussels, Leopold commented that “the rules of the Church are still taken fairly seriously here.” He affirmed that it is possible to “see at once that this is a country which belongs to Her Majesty the Empress,” but observed that “rosaries are not usual and in the churches you never see anybody praying with one.”


St Michael's Cathedral At Night

Leopold called this church the “big church” but it was known then as St. Gudula. Inside the family saw the painting by Pieter Paul Rubens depicting St. Peter receiving the keys from Christ.

In the Rubens painting (see attachment below), Leopold noted that the figures are life-size. The painting is dated from 1614-1616 and it remained in the Cathedral for nearly two hundred years until 1800 when it was purchased for the famous Wallace Collection in England.



At some point, the Mozarts gave a concert before Duke Charles of Arenberg(1721-1778), who was a close friend of Governor-General Charles and a descendant of a very prominent Brussels family. For their performance, Wolfgang was given by the Duke (who was also the Archbishop of Mechelen/Malines) a “magnificent sword” and Nannerl was given Brussels lace (see attachment for lace).


The Duke of Arenberg resided in Egmont Palace, the interior of one room shown here. The Palace was partially rebuilt after a fire in 1892 and now houses the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.


Interior of Egmont

Otto Deutsch has stated in his Mozart. A Documentary Biography that on November 4th the Mozarts attended a “free ball in the theatre”. This theatre, founded in 1700, gets its name, the Munt, from the earlier building on the site where coins were minted. Leopold informed Lorenz Hagenauer in one of his letters that the family was planning to attend a fancy-dress ball on November 4th in honor of Charles. This ball would have taken place at the Munt / Monnaie. In 1855, the original building was completely destroyed by fire, apart from the façade in neo-classical style.

The Munt (Theatre)

Unfortunately, not much is known of the concert given by Wolfgang and perhaps Nannerl at Nassau Palace for Prince Charles. We do know that while in Brussels Wolfgang had composed parts or all of his Sonata in C for keyboard (or violin and keyboard), K.6. That is why some refer to this work as the “Brussels sonate”, though this name is not widely used, especially since it was printed in Paris and dedicated to the French Queen Charlotte. Leopold hoped to “haul in plenty of fat thalers and louis d’or” from this concert. It is generally assumed that he was amply rewarded by Prince Charles.

To assist Wolfgang in his practice on a keyboard and help him compose as well, the Mozarts had purchased in Augsburg on the initial leg of their trip a portable clavichord. Perhaps Mozart practiced and composed on a clavichord that may have looked something like the one shown in the attachment below.



On the morning of November 15, the Mozarts concluded their stay in Brusssels and said goodbye to their friends, and with their four horses and coach, continued on their way to reach their eventual destination in Paris, which they did on November 18th.