Postscripts to letter from Leopold

Listen to a translation of Mozart’s earliest known letter, postscripts to a 1769 letter to his mother and his sister, read by actor Christopher Inman. 

Shortly after leaving Salzburg to begin their first Italian journey, Leopold Mozart wrote home to his wife to report their progress. It was the first time that Leopold and Wolfgang traveled alone, unaccompanied by Anna Maria and Nannerl. Wolfgang added two charming postscripts of his own, to his mother and his sister. Though he wrote to his mother in German, his note to Nannerl is entirely in Italian. Even before setting foot in Italy, he was already fluent in the language. 

This letter by Mozart reveals much about the young composer: his humor and wit, his fluency of expression, and even a hint of his theatrical sense. He was a remarkable letter writer. The Italian postscript to Nannerl, filled with playful references and private jokes, also reflects the close bond the two shared—a closeness that grew colder and more distant after his move to Vienna in the 1780s. 

Leopold’s letter, preserved at the Mozarteum, and Wolfgang’s postscripts, held at the Morgan Library, are reunited in this exhibition—brought together again after being separated in the nineteenth century.