On the other hand, it seems that it was not considered a theft to "skim money" at the expense of the masters: Leopold says that this is to be considered profit and not theft. Then as today, if the law was very hard on the poor, it was not so hard on the rich and powerful. Thus a notary, taking advantage of the sums of money entrusted to him and no longer able to repay them, went bankrupt and disappeared from circulation. They, therefore, had to be content with hanging his portrait.
In the last letter sent to Hagenauer from Paris on 1 April 1764, Leopold Mozart refers to an infrequent episode: an eclipse of the sun. For days the Parisian glassmakers had collected all the glass fragments left over from the work to prepare for the event, and had colored them blue or black for sale to those who wanted to observe the eclipse without having any damage to their eyesight. Those who were not satisfied with observing the eclipse from the road could go to the Observatory built by Louis XIV in 1667 and entrusted to the Italian astronomer and mathematician Giovanni Cassini (later naturalized French, as had happened, again under Louis XIV with the Florentine musician Giovan Battista Lulli who became Jean-Baptiste Lully). Unfortunately for the Parisians who had bought the colored glass, a heavy rain fell that day and the vision of the eclipse faded.
In compensation, however, the anticipation of the event had unleashed the superstition of those (and there were many since the churches that morning were stormed) who believed that the eclipse would poison the air or even cause plagues. Having scraped together a lot of money from the performances of the boys, Leopold writes to Hagenauer (who, remember, was his lender / administrator / banker) that he wanted to deposit 200 Luigi d'oro, at the Parisian branch of the Tourton and Baur bank, waiting to have them transferred to Salzburg. He also looks forward to collecting the proceeds of the next concert, scheduled for 9 April, with which he hopes to replenish the reserves with at least another 50 or 60 Luigi d'oro, without excluding the hope of obtaining more.
But how did the organization of public concerts work at that time? For private individuals, kings and aristocrats, they presented themselves, obtained an invitation, the performance was carried out and then waited (even for some time) for a gift in money or precious objects (if all went well). Public concerts with payment of an entrance ticket were not yet widespread at the time when the Mozarts were in Paris. The main organization dedicated to the proposal of musical concerts was the "Concert spirituel" which, since 1725, had the royal permission to have music performed in competition with the Parisian theatrical institutions. In particular, the concerts were organized during the period of Lent, when any profane entertainment was forbidden, and the programs included choral and instrumental music with interventions by the main virtuosos. These concerts were mainly frequented by the middle class and the lower aristocracy (the important aristocrats, as we have seen, organized them at home).
For paid public concerts, the organization provided for the presale of tickets through friends and acquaintances introduced in the Parisian salons who could circulate the news of the concert and sell the tickets to interested parties. Even the shops of the music publishers could be part of the booking and ticket sales points (in Vienna in the following years, this was the case for Wolfgang and also later, for Beethoven and others who became entrepreneurs themselves). The friends, therefore, contacted potential interested parties eight days before the concert and sold them concert tickets which, in this specific case, cost 1/4 of Luigi d'oro. If the price was the same as the one charged for the previous concert, which had collected 112 Luigi d'oro, then we can estimate the presence of 448 people at the Parisian exhibition on 10 March 1764!
A little selling trick, Leopold himself reveals, consisted in giving most of the tickets, in packets of 12 or 24, to ladies who, as such, would hardly have received any refusal to purchase from the courteous men who may have offered them. To prevent fake tickets from being printed Leopold Mozart had his seal put on the cards and the content was very concise: At the Teatro del Signor Felix, rue and Porte Saint Honoré, this Monday 9 April at 6 pm. This Mr. Felix's theater was actually a small private theater built inside his palace, where friends and noble guests delighted in acting in first person plays.
The two concerts given by the Mozarts were able to be organized thanks to the availability of the Theater, obtained thanks to the support of Madame Clermont, but above all thanks to a special authorization obtained from Mr. de Sartine, Lieutenant General of Police, on multiple interventions by Mozart supporters: the Duke of Chartres, the Duke of Duras, the Count of Tessé and many other ladies. Why was authorization needed to organize concerts? The reason depends on the fact that the King had granted some Parisian institutions "privileges" which provided for the exclusivity in the organization of certain shows: L'Opera (L'Académie Royale de Musique) had the exclusive right to organize theatrical performances, the Concerts spirituels enjoyed the privilege of organizing concerts, the Comédie francaise and the Comédie italienne were the only ones authorized to organize theatrical performances. What was the picturesque world of theater like in Paris?
The theatrical world in Paris at the time of the Mozarts
First of all it should be remembered that the profession of theatrics and the people who practiced it were at the time (and for centuries) considered immoral by the Church, so much so that the actors and dancers were subject to excommunication (for the musicians the speech was different because their art did not include excommunications and accusations of corruption of conscience).
If a noble had given himself up to the theatrical profession he would have lost the right to his title, while an aristocrat who had wanted to sing or play in the Opera team would not have suffered negative consequences.
While in Italy the situation of the actors was better, thanks to the greater tolerance that was generally practiced towards all forms of conduct at the limits of morality. In France the social condemnation was very much alive to the point that the deceased actors and dancers were denied the funeral ceremony and burial in consecrated ground.
We were buried at night and almost in secret, as was done for the most heinous criminals, and as happened for the poor Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, better known by his stage name of Molière, great actor / author.
His enormous popularity, the applause and support of the Sun King, Louis XIV, for whom he wrote and interpreted numerous plays at Versailles and in Parisian theaters, was worthless: the pressure of the Court only obtained that he was not buried in a mass grave . Not even his death on the stage, during the recitation of the "Imaginary Sick", softened the religious but the same fate was also destined for many other actors among the most admired and even idolized, such as the actress Adrienne Lecouvreur (celebrated by the melodrama namesake of Francesco Cilea of 1902) lover of Maurice of Saxony and many others, who were buried on the banks of the Seine only thanks to the interest of the Prefect of Paris.
The excommunication prevented the actors from receiving the sacraments and therefore also getting married was a problem. Since religious marriage was the only one officially recognized, anyone who had more common law relationships, living together as married couples, could have incurred the rigors of the law that punished public concubines.
Finally, the children of these couples were forcibly "de facto" and considered illegitimate, a condition that deprived them of many civil rights and exposed them to public mockery.
Finally, the children of these couples were forcibly "de facto" and considered illegitimate, a condition that deprived them of many civil rights and exposed them to public mockery.
There was no way around the norm, not even for the most acclaimed stars of the stage, not even for friends and lovers of high ranks of the nobility.
The only way out consisted in solemnly declaring, in front of a priest and witnesses, one's irrevocable renunciation of the theater.
Some famous artists followed this procedure but, as they say: every law has a loophole.
Once he had renounced the theater, the King, either by decision of him or at the request of the courtiers who appreciated the artist, could order that the renouncer present himself in the theater and his career continued. Besides, could he have disobeyed the King?
The arrows of the Church, however, were not the only ones to strike the actors, even the civil laws excluded them: they could not enter the army or exercise public employment, they could not testify in the trials and, even, if some belonging to a noble profession were married to a theatrical player, he would have been struck out of the ranks.
Although many nobles and noblewomen vied to have the most famous actors / actresses and dancers at their tables, the common morality of some continued to think that having them at their receptions was scandalous, much more than having them between the sheets of their bed. .
However, there were not a few nobles who, challenging the family and risking disinheritance, became actors, perhaps hiding behind a stage name that would have at least contributed to not dishonoring the family coat of arms. However, it must be said that the actors did nothing to improve the social perception of the category, quite the opposite!
It had come to the point that an abbot, a clergyman but evidently broad-minded (like many religious of the time who imitated the womanizer Richelieu) came to argue that if a singer had only three lovers at the same time, it was acceptable as one. He kept one for pleasure, the second for honor, and the third for money.
Intrigues and rivalries were the order of the day, as were the excesses in the behavior of daily life, without counting the repeated sentimental events (often mercenary) that made the fortune of the most valid and aesthetically appreciable artists and artists, bringing their lovers of financial ruin due to the fabulous gifts that they demanded: carriages complete with horses, jewels, cash to pay their debts up to entire palaces obtained more on the fabrics of an alcove than among those of the curtains.
The litigation in the theater companies was extremely high and an assignment of a part to the rival was enough to unleash the wrath of the diva who believed herself cheated of her right to excel.
The clashes could result in simple bickering, in loud quarrels (even on stage, during shows, with exchanges of punches on the head and hair pulling), in intrigues and conspiracies to damage opponents, in jokes and teasing (such as defecating in the box where the actresses kept their false beauty marks and the necessities for tricks) but also in real duels, such as the sword fight between the famous actor Dazincourt and the younger Dangeville or the gun duel between the singer Beaumesnil and the dancer Theodore.
The numerous publications that circulated in Paris, sold by street vendors but also in theaters, threw themselves to death on all the events involving the most famous theatrical characters: the gossip about private lives and professional quarrels was certainly not invented by us today.
The public of "fans" of the most famous artists was not satisfied with attending their performances in the theater, they also wanted to "take them home" and those who could not do it by inviting them in person were content to buy the Sèvres porcelain figurines or portraits. which were produced and marketed in abundance.
It was the practice that famous actresses and actors, singers and dancers had rich lovers, both noble and belonging to the big bourgeoisie, and it was not uncommon the case of multiple contemporary relationships, where lovers knew they were in close relations but generally did not they worried too much.
In this 18th century which reminds us of our times in so many aspects, it even went so far as to publish in the gazettes widespread in Paris, such as the Espion anglais (the English spy), lists of the most famous prostitutes in the city, which seems to counted from 40,000 to 60,000, according to some sources.
Among these, of a very different level from the tens of thousands of poor girls whose only way to make ends meet in the sale of their bodies for little money, there were famous actresses (such as M.lle Clairon, registered mail thanks to her extra-theatrical skills, which debuted in the theater thanks to a decree of the Duke of Gesvres who in 1743 ordered the Comédie-Francaise to "immediately make her debut ... in the role she will have chosen"), singers (such as M.lle Arnould, of the which we will see later on the qualities of the spirit) and dancers (such as M.lle Guimard), all enrolled in the roles of the Comédie Francaise or the Académie Royale de Musique, better known as Opéra.
Towards the end of the century, when the laws against social promiscuity in aristocratic marriages became more relaxed, some artists even managed to get married by aristocrats, thus obtaining a noble title to be placed before their name: the singer Levasseur became the Countess Mercy-Argenteau, D'Oligny became Marchesa Du Doyer, Saint-Huberty became Countess D'Entraigues.
Despite the negative moral vision, general but superficial in the upper classes, towards the theater and the theatricals, in the 18th century the love for that world was rampant: everywhere people acted, danced and sang, from Versailles to the great Parisian noble palaces, from the houses of the bourgeoisie to the convents.
Over the course of the century, those who could afford it did not deprive themselves, inside their palace or castle, of a private theater, often of extreme luxury and with hundreds of seats, where all the most illustrious coats of arms of France gathered together. to the high ecclesiastical offices and the most fashionable intellectuals who often, like Rousseau, Corneille and Voltaire, wrote texts for the theater.
In these private theaters, not excluding that of the Court in Versailles, the aristocrats also performed and, in some cases, demonstrating certainly remarkable vocal and recitative talents.
The three Royal Theaters
It all began with Louis XIV, the Sun King, who, inspired by the Italian Academies existing since the Renaissance, decided to establish in France, in 1661, the Royal Dance Academy (an art he practiced being himself the protagonist of several ballets that he staged in Versailles for the Court, with the music of his resident musician, the Florentine Giovan Battista Lulli, who with the well-known French chauvinism was immediately naturalized and renamed Jean-Baptiste Lully).
This was followed in 1669 by the Royal Academy of Music, later simply called Opéra.
The third protagonist of the Maison du Roi, the House of the King, which was entrusted with the entertainment of His Majesty, dates back to 1680 with the foundation of the theater company of the Comédie-Francaise, the comedians of the King to whom the actors of the Comédie were counterbalanced. Italienne (and what battles arose to defend French privileges from the cravings of Italian comedians).
Authors and Actors
As also Wolfgang Mozart was able to verify through his own experience on the occasion of the composition and rehearsal of his melodramas, the actors (and above all the prima donna) could play the good and the bad ordeal by refusing to sing the arias that in their opinion did not enhance their voices or by asking to add new ones to better highlight their role in to the detriment of / the rival etc.