Milan 23 January / 1773

I`m writing this in bed as I`ve been suffering from acute rheumatism for the last week and have been laid up since the 17th. The pain was in the joint of my left thigh but after a few days it moved down to my left knee and is now affecting my right knee too. I`ve tried only burr root tea, <sup>11</sup> Tea made from burr root (or burdock root) was a common eighteenth-century treatment for arthritic and other pains. See, for example, Thomas Short, Medicina Britannica: or a treatise on such physical plants, as are generally to be found in the Fields or Gardens in Great-Britain (London and Philadelphia: D. Hall and B. Franklin, 1751), 33: ‘Burdock (Bardana) the Root . . they are, from good Authority, vouch’d to be good in Stone, or Gravel of Kidneys and Bladder, and in Gout and Arthritic Pains.’ Leopold continued to drink burr root tea throughout his life; on 21 February 1785, while visiting Mozart in Vienna, he wrote to Nannerl: ‘I thought I had completely shaken off the cold I caught on the journey; but yesterday evening I had pains in my left thigh and before I went to bed I discovered that I had indeed got rheumatism. So this morning I drank some burr root tea in bed and didn’t get up until half past one, just in time for lunch . . .’.[Close] 3 or 4 large glasses of which I`ve been drinking every day, I`ve also had to lie on the mattress as the room is often colder than the street, the most depressing part about it is that I have to cover my painful thighs with coats, furs etc. in order to keep warm and make myself sweat because otherwise I have only one or 2 single sheets to cover me. I`m lying here in my dressing gown and furs simply to keep warm, so you can imagine their weight on my legs and the inconvenience that they cause whenever I try to move. Once you`ve received this letter, you shouldn`t write to Milan any more as I hope that with God`s help I`ll be able to leave here during the first week of next month, assuming I`m not detained by the copyists working on the music that I`m having copied for Hs Grace ²² It is uncertain which works Leopold had copied for Colloredo. For the identity of some music acquired by Leopold Mozart in Italy, as well as, more generally, the dissemination in Salzburg of Italian music, see Eisen, ‘The Mozarts’ Salzburg Music Library’ and ‘Mozart e l’Italia’[Close] and which they can`t do at present because they have to work for the theatre as the second opera is not opening until 30 January. If you write to me on 5 Feb., send the letter to Roveredo and write Ferma la Posta on it. Wolfg. is sorry that Leitgeb will arrive too late and won`t be able to hear his opera. Every day the theatre is amazingly full, it`s being performed 26 times. The rest of the time is for the second opera, while on Fridays and the odd feast day there`s no performance at all, [ I`ve sent ] Wolfgang`s [ opera to the Grand Duke in Florence ] . ³³ See letter 272[Close] Even if there is [nothing that we can hope to obtain from him, I still hope that he`ll recommend us. But if it`s all in vain, we shan`t go under, God will help us, I`ve already given it some thought]. Best wishes to all our good friends inside and outside the house. Lasting health to H Joseph Hag, we kiss you many 10000 times & I am your old
Mzt.

MOZART`S POSTSCRIPT TO HIS SISTER ⁴⁴ This postscript is written in Italian[Close]

Signor and Signora d`Aste, Sigre and Sigra Germani, Sig Mislivecek and Sigra de Amicis have asked me to write and to convey to you their compliments and respects. Please tell Sig Giovani Hagenauer from me that he shouldn`t doubt that I`ll go to the armourer`s shop and look for what he wants and that if I find it, I shall unfailingly bring it back with me to Salzburg. I`m sorry that Sig[nor] Leitgeb left Salzburg so late that by the time he gets here my opera will no longer be on, perhaps he`ll miss us too unless we meet him en route. The first orchestral rehearsal of the second opera took place yesterday evening, but I heard only the first act since I left at the beginning of the second because it was already late. In this opera there are 24 horses and a vast number of people onstage, so it`ll be a miracle if there`s not an accident. I like the music, but I don`t know if the general public will like it because only people connected with the theatre have been allowed to attend the early rehearsals. I hope that my father will be allowed to leave the house tomorrow. We`re having the most appalling weather this evening. Sigra Teiber is now in Bologna and will be singing in Turin during the coming carnival, next year she`s going to be singing in Naples. Kind regards to all my friends. Kiss my mother`s hands for me. I`ve nothing else to report. Addio. Sorry about the wretched handwriting, but my pen isn`t worth a brass farthing.