I hope you`ve recovered from your cold. The latest news is that Herr Meissner arrived from Naples at noon today and is leaving again in 2 days for Florence, from where he`s going straight to Salzb., so that he`ll be there shortly. He sends you all his best wishes. I`ve already written to His Grace. You wanted to know if Wolfg. is still singing and playing the fiddle etc. etc. He plays the fiddle, but not in public. ¹¹ See letter 177, where Leopold describes Wolfgang’s private violin performances with Thomas Linley[Close] - He sings, but only when some words are set before him - he has grown a little, - I`m neither fatter nor thinner - and we`ve grown used to Italian food. We`re leaving sooner than I`d thought - on 8 May - as I have the opportunity to go to Naples with 4 Augustinians. Otherwise I`ve nothing to report; I hope that God will keep you and Nannerl well and that He will keep us well enough not only to travel to Naples and back but also, when the time comes, to return home safely. I shan`t be staying in Naples for much more than about 5 weeks: then via Loretto to Bologna and Pisa and thereabouts and to endure the greatest heat in the coolest and healthiest place. Herr Meisner tells me that he hasn`t seen a letter from Salzb. since the beginning of February. I now know why Madame Rosa doesn`t have a mother. ²² See letter 173[Close] Best wishes to all our friends. We kiss you and Nannerl 10,000 times, and I am your old
Mzt

MOZART`S POSTSCRIPT

I`m well, praise and thanks be to God, and I kiss Mama`s hand and my sister`s face, nose, mouth, neck and my wretched pen and arse if it`s clean.
Wolgango Mozart: Rome: 1770

JOSEPH MEISSNER`S POSTSCRIPT TO NANNERL

That I`m no great lover of letter-writing will already be clear to you, but you should know that I am well, thank God, and that I continue to commend myself to your friendship
Joseph Meissner
My most obedient compliments to Madame Marianna.

LEOPOLD`S POSTSCRIPT

Herr Meisner and Wolfg. performed at the German College today. ³³ The performance was noted in the diary of Giovanni Biringucci:

At 10.15pm a small boy from Salzburg, 12 or 13 years old, came to the College with the permission of the Father Rector. He played the harpsichord astonishingly, and extemporized at length on a theme given to him without notice by our maestro di capella before the entire community assembled in the room. In similar fashion he then improvised on other themes presented to him, accompanied two arias, and then everyone gathered in the church where he played the organ. He appeared gratis, thanks to his fellow countryman Sig. Mölck, to whose family he professed obligations. For the rest, he is travelling throughout Europe with his father, maestro di cappella at Salzburg, and it is said that he is to compose an opera for the next carnival at Milan. He is truly a prodigy, and frequently invited to gatherings in Rome; it is said that he receives 20 [scudi] for each appearance.

See Sonnemans, ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Besuch im Collegium Germanicum in Rom am 2. Mai 1770’ and Eisen, New Mozart Documents, 19. Mölck is probably Albert Andreas Mölck, a student at the Collegium from 1768-1771[Close]