Water in the 18th century in Europe
To better understand how things have changed in terms of use and abuse over the centuries, the example of water is a perfect representation. In our modern cities today, we take for granted this precious resource. All we have to do is turn a handle and it appears, hot or cold as needed.
It has been calculated that the consumption of water per capita (for domestic, industrial, public and agricultural use) has increased from 200 liters a day during the mid 1900s to 2,000 liters a day in modern times (and beyond that in the more wasteful areas). To have an immediate perception of the difference, just imagine that in the 1700s the average Parisian had 5 liters of water a day available, and 10 liters available at the turn of the century.
It is obvious, with the quantity of water available, that personal hygiene was not among the first and foremost of priorities. Baths were taken in the river in the summer (even though there was a preconceived notion that this practice was harmful to the male gender's body, fearing a loss of physical strength) and in the few public baths.
Approximately 300 bathtubs were available in Paris in 1789 in the public baths and about an additional thousand private bathtubs in the homes of the nobility (but only a tenth of the aristocratic palaces in 1750 had an actual bathroom, although in Versailles, Louis XVI installed six).
So during Mozart's epoch in the European cities, water was not a resource conveniently available to all as it is today.
The scarcity of water was remedied by the amount of underclothes one possessed, moving toward the importance of good manners. An unclean body was covered by clean clothing (and that is how white clothing became associated with personal virtue).
It was believed that fresh underclothing absorbed the uncleanliness and sweat from the body, leaving it clean. It was, therefore, considered appropriate, as was also ordered by the doctor, to change one's shirt every 2/3 days, more often in the summer or if one was wealthy.
Only the more visible parts of the body were given more attention and care and washed with water: face, hands, neck.
Only a fortunate few (nobility, high-level functionaries, religious institutions and hospitals) received particular privileges that allowed them direct access to the public aqueducts, which in any case, were needed by only some neighborhoods.
For the rest, they obtained their provision of water from the common well, at the neighborhood fountain or from traveling salesmen who supplied vessels of water from rivers or canals and went from house to house selling water by the bucket.
However, water from rivers and canals, especially those within the cities, were becoming ever more polluted due to the continual outpouring of waste directly into the watercourses: tanneries, butchers, laundrywomen, etc.
We know that from the 17th century, the main European rivers like the Thames and the Seine, were defined as latrines (the writer Beaumarchais sarcastically said that in the evening the Parisians drink what they had dumped into the river that morning), but this is still where the Londoners and Parisians obtained the essential quantity of water to quench the thirst of the population.
From the canal system that brought the city's river water to the neighboring areas, the zones located farther away were excluded, and had to meet their need for water by digging common wells (in the courtyards of the residences or in the squares of the neighborhood) or for the wealthy, privately.
But not even wells offered clear water, polluted like the phreatic stratum from infiltrations of every kind, from wells black with cemeterial waste of which epidemics such as cholera and typhus fever originated. When water was not used for external purposes, it had to be boiled.
White gold rapidly became a necessary luxury, so much so as to drive the States to massive investments in aqueducts which, as was the case in Paris (nearly by contrast) were financed with a tax on wine consumed in the city.
For a long time running water would be a luxury for only a few and, for those who were lucky enough to live near a fountain (others had to walk long distances with the weight of the supply on their shoulders), the long lines meant a long wait.
It was the women who were prevalently responsible to fetch the water and could carry an average of 15 liters at a time, and then after the tiring journey, had to carry the water four, five or even six flights of stairs to the apartment.
In 1782, hydraulic pumps were introduced by the Perrier brothers that drew water from the Siene and distributed it in the available canalizations, allowing at least a partial operation of cleansing of the main streets, creating a consequential improvement of the salubrity of the air.
Even so, most of the citizens were obliged to continue getting their water from the well and the public fountains, unless they were able to afford to purchase from one of the 20,000 carriers/sellers that were in constant circulation on the streets with their buckets of water.
Another bit of interesting information that Leopold gives us regards the postal service in Paris. On one hand, he complained about the cost of sending/receiving the mail for/from out of town; the letters were weighed and exorbitantly taxed, so he asked Hagenauer to use thin and lightweight paper and for Hagenauer's son, Johann (whose job it was to write any news or facts from Salzburg or anything that might be of interest) to use the smallest calligraphy possible. On the other hand, he commended the so-called local postal service that allowed rapid communication in and around Paris (the city was divided into districts and the postage went out four times a day in order to be distributed in the various neighborhoods).
The dimensions of the city, in fact, made moving around the city a long and expensive venture at times, having to pay for public transport (Leopold felt it was of the utmost importance to present himself respectably and avoided traveling on foot to the aristocrat's homes soiled and sweaty from the dirty streets).
One confirmation of his reluctance to walk we find in a letter dated 9 January 1764 when he had just arrived in Paris from Versailles, where he wrote to the notary Le Noir, that he had come to his house only to find that he was out, and highlights the fact that I even walked to your house; a noteworthy effort!. To evaluate how noteworthy the distance was, we know that van Eyck's residence, where the Mozarts were staying, was at the Place de Vosges, while the notary Le Noir's house was in rue d'Echelle, behind the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens, approximately 2.5 kilometers of flatland which was the equivalent of a 30 minute walk.
This letter to the notary illustrates another interesting fact: whoever did not have a butler to greet and invite the guests in while the master of the house was out, left a marker board at the entrance where the visitors could write their names in order to know who had paid a visit...and this is what Leopold did. Whenever possible, Leopold used the fiacre, an enumerated public carriage (something like today's taxi) that he defined as miserable, while on the more important occasions he was obliged to hire a depot carriage which was very expensive since it was rented for the entire day, but allowed the carriage to enter directly into the courtyards of the noble palaces (while the fiacre would make its stop on the street and the guests had to walk to the entrance, lowering the perception of their social and economical status).
As we have already said, the Mozarts reached Paris on 18 November 1763 and it was Leopold's desire to get busy with organizing the exhibitions, obtaining glory and money. But as luck would have it, a mournful event had taken place that involved the French Court (the death from smallpox of Infanta of Spain Princess Isabella of Parma, niece of Louis XV), imposing a period of mourning during which fun and entertainment were suspended. The Mozarts had to wait well into December before they were able to present themselves to the principle people of the city, but thanks to the Baron Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, writer and person in charge of the affairs in Paris of the Princedom of Frankfurt, put in a good word for them and they were invited to Versailles, seat of the Court of Louis XV, where they were guests for sixteen days at the Au Comier Inn.
Friedrich Melchior von Grimm (1723-1807) writer and diplomat
Appointed Secretary to the Count von Friesen in Paris in 1749, he became responsible for the affairs for the Princedom of Frankfurt.
He was a person of vast culture, and friend of the encyclopedia writers Rousseau, Diderot and Voltaire, not to mention editor of the two-year newsletter Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique whose purpose was to inform the European Courts (from the German to the Czar of Russia) of the new Parisian cultural fashions and trends, intended in that period to be imitated throughout Europe.
In the dispute between those who supported Italian opera and those who admired the style of Gluck, he took sides, openly and with all the weight of his Parisian aristocratic relations in favor of the Italian style.
The optimal habitual association with, and lover to Louise d'Epinay, writer and entertainer of one of the most famous Parisian parlors allowed his social ascension that led him to receive diplomatic posts until he was nominated Baron in 1774 by the Empress of Austria Maria Theresa. As a literary and musical critic, he wrote for the famous magazine Mercure de France.
In the Mozart's first journey to Paris, he played an essential role in their success. Though later, when Wolfgang went to Paris alone with his mother, Grimm was cold and could not stand him as in the past. In his final letter from Paris to his friend Hagenauer, Leopold Mozart spoke of Grimm in the following: ...this man, my good friend, Mr. Grimm, it is thanks to him that here I have been able to obtain everything.
Even while provided with many letters of recommendation (among which that of the Count de Chatelet French Ambassador in Vienna, the Count Starhemberg Imperial Austrian Emissary in Paris, the Count von Cobenzl Minister of Brussels, the Prince of Conti, etc.), according to Leopold, none of them were good for anything.
Only Count Grimm did everything...and imagine, this aid all came from a letter written by the wife of a merchant from Frankfurt who he had met by pure chance in that city where they had stopped over on their way to Paris!
So, he gave Leopold Mozart 80 gold florins for the performance of the children at his home, then he set about distributing 320 tickets for the first concert at the theater of Mr. Felix, paying for the wax needed for the 60 candles per table to illuminate the room.
The early information on Versailles sent to Salzburg by Leopold Mozart are a bit amusing as, while speaking about the Marquise of Pompadour (former mistress of King Louis XV), he compares her to the defunct Mrs. Stainer, a Salzburg friend. Regarding her personality though, he says that she is extremely conceited and still continues to orchestrate everything (even though she had not officially been the King's mistress for at least a dozen years A/N). He describes her as a woman with an uncommon spirit, large and corpulent, but well-proportioned, blonde, still attractive and was surely very beautiful in her youth, seeing as she had enraptured the King. The Pompadour apartments at Versailles, which faced the gardens, were described by Leopold Mozart as a paradise, while the palace in the Faubourg St. Honoré, used as the Parisian residence was described as magnificent. The palace (today it is the official residence of the French President of the Republic) had been built just a few decades previous for the Count d'Evreux; it was bought in 1753 by King Louis XV for 730,000 livres and donated to Madame de Pompadour, his favorite at that time. Evidently, the Mozarts had been admitted since Leopold describes the music room that housed a golden harpsichord painted with great art and on the walls hung two life size paintings of Madame de Pompadour and the King Louis XV. The cost of living was also very high at Versailles, and luckily in that period, it was very hot writes Leopold (in December?), otherwise there would have been the cost of wood for the price of 5 soldis per log to warm the lodging. The Mozarts lived in Versailles for two weeks on a road that, keeping in mind the two children of the family and their talents, was appropriately named: Rue des Bon Enfants (Road of the Good Children).
The comfort of a heating system
Relocating from one society that was used to the cold temperatures, or rather, protecting themselves with heavy clothing, allows us to look at the relatively rapid development of the comforts of heating: first in public places (hospitals, barracks, offices) and then private homes.
The wall fireplace appears to have been invented by the Italians (we first hear of it in Venice around the 13th century) and, compared to a central open fire, it allowed the rooms to be less invaded by smoke, but was not very efficient in dispersing the heat. Moreover, it roasted one's face and front of the body, leaving the backside freezing cold.
The newest invention was the stove (in iron, cast iron or ceramic) that saved fuel and offered a more homogeneous and pleasant heat. The fireplace required repeated operations and maintenance to keep it functioning: supplies of wood (to purchase, stack, carry into the house, disposing the ashes or using them for the monthly laundry).
We find a reference to the weight of the chore related to wood in a letter from Leopold Mozart to Hagenauer from Munich, dated 10 November 1766: I ask you, or rather your wife, to find us a good housekeeper, above all in this period in which we need to continually fill the stoves with wood. These things are essential, or rather a malum necessarium (a necessary evil A/N).
The embers were covered in the evening to prevent frequent household fires and to facilitate starting the fire back up in the morning. Smoke was the unavoidable companion in most homes, where the stove was central to the domestic activities in the kitchen.
The rooms, if there were any, were outdoors, so to stay warm during the cold, it was necessary to sleep with heavy clothing, possibly heating the bedding with bed warmers and braziers.
Stoves were certainly the most convenient and the wealthy, naturally, were the first to have access, even in more than one room of their apartments while keeping the antique and imposing fireplaces in the entertainment salons which was becoming a fading symbol of power.
Satisfying the new massive need for heat in the household provoked an increase in the demand for wood (this was before other forms of combustion, such as coal, were available at the turn of the century) which caused an increase in the price of up to 60/70%.
During the coldest winters, the poor ransacked the woods and forests, risking getting caught by the King's Guards or by the nobility's property foresters..
But wood, peat and coal were not the only forms of combustion used: the poor had less and could not afford to be queasy when it came to foul odor, so they used manure that, duly dried out had the caloric power equal to peat and even superior to wood (4.0 compared to an average measure of 3.5 of wood).