Overture Magazine: 2017-2018 Season January-February 2018 | Page 15

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Making
Beautiful
CONCERTO IN C MAJOR FOR FLUTE,
HARP AND ORCHESTRA
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
One of the most calamitous periods in
Mozart’s life came in 1778 at age 22
when he arrived in Paris on a high-
pressure mission, masterminded by
his father, to secure a lucrative post in
the French capital and thereby enable
the whole Mozart family to move
there from Salzburg. Wolfgang had to
leave Mannheim, Germany, where he
had fallen in love with Aloysia Weber,
elder sister of his future wife. To make
sure his son stuck to his plan, Leopold
Mozart sent along Mozart’s mother as
a chaperone and also arranged for a
family friend there, Baron Grimm, to
smooth his connections into French
musical circles.
Nevertheless, Mozart’s heart wasn’t
really in this task, and the mission was
a failure. In a letter to Aloysia’s father,
Mozart complained: “You may have
no idea what a dreadful time I am
having here.…(between ourselves) I am
trying to get away from here as soon as
possible.” To his father, he wrote that
Paris “is totally opposed to my genius,
inclinations, knowledge and sympathies.”
And Baron Grimm candidly analyzed
Mozart’s weaknesses in pursuing a career
in Paris: “He is too good-natured, too
little active, too easily caught out, too
little concerned with advancing his
career. Here, to make an impression, one
must be crafty, enterprising and bold.
I would wish him, for success, half the
talent and double the savoir faire.”
Grimm’s analysis was borne out by
the tale of Mozart’s Concerto for Flute
and Harp, composed in April 1778 on a
commission from the Comte de Guines, a
wealthy amateur flutist, and his daughter,
a harpist. Though Mozart claimed
to dislike both these instruments, his
concerto was a brilliant artistic success,
but also a pecuniary disaster. Recently
recalled from a foreign diplomatic post
because of his shady financial dealings,
de Guines also stiffed Mozart for the
agreed-upon fee.
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