The Mozarts, Who They Were (Volume 1)

Games, entertainment and amusement: when friends got together in the Mozart household or at their friends' homes, they enjoyed playing games. Almost everyday there were card games, most often Tressette, a trick-taking card game and Tarock (Tarot), as well as many other card games played with small bets of money. Another game enjoyed by many was darts, played with air-guns, offering prizes for the winner, who was though, obliged to pay for a round of beer for the group. There was also a popular game called Kegelspiel (Ninepins), something similar to bowling.

In 1783, we see the term Lottery written in Nannerl's diary, which was probably a lottery game or something resembling Bingo. The Lottery, already diffused in various forms in other European countries (the Game of the Seminary, named after the ballot box used for its extraction and the Lottery of the Old Maid, named for a wedding dowry) became widespread during the second half of the 18^th century in Austria. Wolfgang Mozart himself had probably brought the game to his friends in Salzburg from Vienna after his marriage to Constanze where it is likely that he learned about it in Vienna where he had lived for two years, and from where all things fashionable came before reaching Salzburg. In fact, there is no mention at all of the game in Nannerl's diary before this.

Music at the Archbishop Prince's Court of Salzburg

In order to understand the dimensions of the aspect of music in a relatively small but wealthy court like that of Salzburg, we need to take into consideration the information related to an article from The Salzburg Institute of Music published at that time in a Berlin newspaper. The writer of the article was anonymous, but likely traceable to Leopold Mozart, given that his presentation is the longest and most detailed of all, not to mention that he corresponded regularly with the director of the newspaper. Approximately one hundred musicians belonging to the Archiepiscopal Musical Choir were listed, among which, about twenty bowed string instrumentalists, two keyboardists, about ten woodwind and brass instrumentalists, not to mention the instrumentalists added for special occasions and celebrations, such as approximately ten trumpeters and two percussionists.

About ten soloists composed of a full orchestra of sopranos, tenors and bass, about twenty contraltos, falsettos, tenors and bass men in the chorus and a children's choir composed of fifteen boys were added to the instrumentalists. The quantity did not always correspond with the quality of the music, if we want to give credit to Wolfgang Mozart as he wrote from Paris to his father on 9 July 1778: "One of the main reasons I can't stand Salzburg is due to the vulgar, miserable and sloppy orchestra of the Court...And this is possibly why our music is not appreciated and taken into consideration. If only things here were like in Mannheim! An orchestra with discipline!"

The English traveler Charles Burney, while not having been in Salzburg in person but informed by his own sources in 1772, reports that the Archbishop Colloredo was a capable amateur violinist and was using all his means to improve his orchestra, "he was noted, according to some, for his loud and crude playing, rather than for delicacy and perfection". The same source who had been at the Mozart home, updated Burney on the status of the two former child prodigies: "The young man, who amazed all of Europe during his childhood continues to be a great master of his instrument". Nannerl "at this point in time has reached all of her potential and does not show any further extraordinary gift". And lastly, an opinion on sixteen year-old Wolfgang's talent, which should be compared to the enthusiastic words of Leopold in order to understand that not everyone had the same impression: "If I were to evaluate the music that I heard, composed for orchestra by the young Mozart, I would consider him to be an example of precocious development, more astonishing than excellent".

If the numbers quoted seem exaggerated (and quite possibly they were, considering the level of poverty in which its subjects lived and in which their taxes were utilized by the Court for its expenses), here we have another example in Germany in 1772; Mannheim, a small capital with a population of approximately 25,000 in 1776, as was Salzburg, which was the seat of the Prince's Electoral Palatinate, as well as the most famous orchestra of its time. Charles Burney reports that there were nearly one-hundred musicians and twenty-three vocalists at the service of the Prince, among which many were Italian (Roncaglio, Persarini and Saporosi). The high regard in which the Prince held the musicians, not especially common in that epoch, was clarified by his specific generosity; on the list of the 100 musicians, not all of them were "actively engaged", some for old age, some for ill-health. So the Prince guaranteed all the musicians who were no longer able to work a good pension as long as they resided in Mannheim, but would be compensated (though with a half salary) in the case that they should relocate back to their birthplace or elsewhere. Moreover, the advantages of the courtiers of the Electoral Palatinate did not end there, as was the summer relocation to the residence at Schwetzingen, His Highness was accompanied by 1,500 people, paying all of their travel, food and accommodation expenses (while it is probably more accurate to say that the Mannheim citizens covered all costs).

Another example, even more expensive and indicative of the social perception that the lower classes had regarding "artistic expenses" of the monarchy: Ludwigsburg 1772, the new seat of the Court of the Duchy of Württemberg after its transfer from Stockholm. The Italian Niccolò Jommelli (1714-1774) serving the Duke from 1754 as a composer and Kapellmeister, directed the theatrical seasons of the Court which were considered the most extravagant and lavish. The expenses for the theatrical and musical productions, though, were so exorbitant, that they compounded upon the taxation level to the point that the citizens had to resort to the Imperial Diet (a convention formed by the Emperor and by the most influential Princedoms of the Empire) in protest of what they considered excessive squandering at the expense of the community.

The result of the protests were a reduction of 50% of the wages of the musicians and consequently an "exodus" of the best in the Court with the exception of the Charge (in 1770, even Jommelli's contract was annulled). Regardless, in 1772 the orchestra of the Duke of Württemberg which was under the direction of the Italian violinist Antonio Lolli (first violin soloist who in his previous years was so extraordinarily talented that he was able to increase his earnings from 700 florins to 2,000) could count on 18 violins, 6 violas, 3 violoncellos, 4 double basses, 4 oboes, 2 flutes, 3 horns and 2 bassoons for a total of 42 musicians, of which were added 2 organists. In addition to the musicians, we can also count the singers, almost all Italian, for the melodramma serio (2 sopranos, 2 contraltos, 2 castratos) and for the opera buffa (3 female voices and 5 male voices), 32 male and female dancers, not to mention instrument carriers, opera prompters and copyists for the preparation of the scores to be distributed among the musicians. Here we also find a list of 90 retired artists. Burney also tells us of a peculiar piece of information, that the Court of the Duke of Wūrttemberg had 15 castrated singers at his disposal, as he had two Bolognese surgeons that were "experts at the surgery that effected the timbre of the voice".

The musicians of the Salzburg Court

Knowing the musicians who gradually came later into the scene in the various roles at their service to the Salzburg Court may help us understand who the Mozart family was dealing with and possibly better comprehend why Leopold, after various initial career advancements, held his position definitively in the role of Vice-Kapellmeister. The names of these musicians can also be occasionally found in the Mozartian epistolary which is why there could be useful information about them in order to better understand situations and relations that influenced the Mozart's life. When Leopold Mozart was hired in 1743 as a violinist in the orchestra of the Prince's Archbishop of Salzburg, at the musical apex of the city sat Johann Ernst Eberlin with already 17 years of service as the Court's organist and then promoted to Kapellmeister in 1750 and Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, initially hired as a chorister, who was then was replaced by Eberlin in the role of Court organist. These two musicians, both originally from Bavaria were, therefore, directly superior and most certainly to him, besides aspiring to the post that they held being of higher importance and pay than his, lead to some profit in the connections of their compositions toward his advancement as a composer.

Johann Ernst Eberlin (Jettingen 1702 -- Salzburg 1762)

Eberlin's musical education was quite similar to that of Leopold Mozart, of which he was also friend, teacher and probably mentor in the musical Court. In fact, like Leopold, he also studied at the Lyceum of the Jesuits of Augsburg where he received his musical education, and later transferred to Salzburg to study law at the Benedictine University, and like Leopold, abandoned his studies after two years. Hired in 1727 as an organist (during the epoch of the Archbishop Firmian who governed nearly 20,000 inhabitants of the region of which practicing Protestants were forced to emigrate), in 1749, he obtained simultaneously the positions of Court Kapellmeister and Cathedral Kapellmeister, namely Chorus Conductor and was responsible for the musical development for all of the ceremonies at the Salzburg Cathedral. Eberlin was an esteemed composer, and even Leopold Mozart had a high opinion of his music which, though, given their outdated style in comparison to the musical evolution of that epoch, were soon forgotten. His keyboard musical pieces, 9 toccatas and fugues for the organ, were requested by Wolfgang in 1782, while he was residing in Vienna, discovering the fugues of Bach thanks to the evenings spent at the Baron van Swieten home. Wolfgang's intention was probably to use them to deepen his study of the fugue, or possibly as had already happened in the past, to claim them as his own (secretly requesting to have his father copy them in Salzburg) obtaining the goodwill of van Swieten who was a great appraiser of Bach's polyphonic music. In a letter to his sister Nannerl, dated 20 April, he writes: "If our father has not yet had the operas of Eberlin copied, I would be happy, as I have already secretly received them and unfortunately, have ascertained (...) that they are too ordinary to deserve a position among Haendel and Bach".

Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (Inzell 1729 -- Salzburg 1777)

After moving from his birthplace in Bavaria to Salzburg, Adlgasser became Eberlin's pupil (later marrying his daughter) and was the organist of the Cathedral until his death (Wolfgang Mozart followed him as organist). He married three times in his lifetime. His last wife was the singer Maria Anna Fesemayer of which both Mozart father and son were witnesses at their wedding given their friendship and their collaboration in the creation of the oratory Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (The Duty of the First Commandment). The composition, in three parts, beholds a ten-year-old Wolfgang Mozart compose the first, Michael Haydn the second and Adlgasser the third. He died astonishingly of a heart attack while performing the aspiration of his life, during his performance at the organ in Salzburg's Cathedral.

Giuseppe Francesco Lolli (Bologna 1701 -- Salzburg 1778)

Hired in 1722 as a tenor in the Orchestra of the Salzburg Court, Lolli became Vice-Kapellmeister in 1743 and then Kapellmeister in 1762. Leopold Mozart, who aspired to that very position, was embittered by the preference conceded to Lolli, so much so, that he writes of his rival's compositions: "He has never written more that a few chamber oratorios and religious music". In 1772, due to old age, he was substituted as Kapellmeister by Domenico Fischietti.

Johann Michael Haydn (1736 -- 1806)

Younger brother (in age as well as musically) of the great Franz Joseph, followed his elder brother's footsteps becoming at the age of eight years old a choirboy in the chorus at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. He later studied violin, organ and composition. As soon as he finished his studies, he was appointed Kapellmeister in Oradea, a Romanian city located in the north-west where he was to gain experience. Five years later, in 1762, he relocated to Salzburg to substitute Leopold Mozart (who was no longer available for the position due to the first promotional journey to Vienna of his child prodigy), and then finally as Kapellmeister and Concert Conductor (initial annual pay was 300 florins), a position that he held for forty-three years, including the honor of free meals in the official dining hall; Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart never had such a privilege, and were only allowed to eat at the table in the kitchen with the servants. Father and son obviously had frequent interactions with Michael Haydn, who represented a model for some of the compositions of Wolfgang's youth, since as a composer, he had a considerably vast production in all types of music utilized in that epoch (symphonies, concerts, serenades, trios, quartets, sonatas, sacred and profane vocal music). Some of Michael Haydn's works were cited in the Mozartian epistolary as transcribed (however, not always authorized) and were utilized for educational purposes as well as something to display to his two children. Even though they worked together on an almost daily basis, Leopold Mozart held a grudge against Michael Haydn which we see in letters to Wolfgang, denigrating his higher-ranking superior with accusations of him being lazy (which was later retracted by his immense catalogue of compositions) and a drunkard. Similar opinions were surely expressed as gossip among the circle of friends of the family and was quite likely that these rumors reached the ears of the Archbishop, which certainly did not serve to favor his opinion of the envious Leopold.

Domenico Fischietti (Naples 1725 -- Salzburg 1810)

Son of Kapellmeister and composer Giovanni Fischietti, after his musical studies in Naples under the tutelage of his father and then Francesco Durante (just to name a few), he made his debut in the same city with his first opera "Armindo" in 1742. In 1755, he moved to Venice where the first thing he did was stage the opere buffe on the texts of Carlo Goldoni with enormous success. After experience in Prague as the impresario of the theatrical Bustelli Company in 1764, he was appointed Kapellmeister in Dresden in 1766 after Johann Adolf Hasse, with an annual salary of 600 florins. Having lost his position at Dresden, he went to Vienna in 1772 where he met the Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg who, appreciating his musical talents, engaged him as composer for the cathedral choir and assistant to the Kapellmeister Lolli and to vice Leopold Mozart. From 1776 to 1783 he was Kapellmeister to the Salzburg Court and cathedral with an annual salary of 800 florins. Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti succeeded him as Kapellmeister.

Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti (1740 -- 1817)

The musical formation of the abbot Gatti took place in Verona and Mantua, where he began his career as a tenor at the Chapel of St. Barbara at Mantua, but soon became successful as a composer thanks to his opera "Alessandro nelle Indie". In 1769, he was Vice-Kapellmeister in the newly established Accademia Reale di Mantova (Virgilian Academy of Science and Arts) with a salary of 6 gold coins of 45 lire. On the occasion of his first trip to the Mozart's Italy in 1770, he was able to listen to the young Wolfgang in Mantua at the highly acclaimed exhibition at the Teatro scientifico (known today as Teatro Bibiena, named after its designer) and met the two Salzburg men. In 1778, he was engaged as Vice-Kapellmeister to the Court in Salzburg and was on good terms with the Mozarts at least until February of 1783 when he was hired as Kapellmeister in Salzburg to the detriment of Leopold Mozart, who had coveted the position for years. In Nannerl's journal, Leopold vented his anger venomously upon one of Gatti's serenades exhibited in the theater, defining it as "charming Italian music, more appropriate for the ears than the heart, since the harmonization with the expression of the lyrics and the true passion is less than satisfactory". In any case, Gatti was an abbot...and he would have had to imagine passion. Gatti was the last Kapellmeister of Salzburg due to the abolishment of the Princedom and the territory was integrated into the borders of the Habsburg Empire.

Here is a summary pertaining to the musicians of the Court of Salzburg during the period involving the Mozart family and the musical activity of the Princedom.

- Prince Archbishop: Leopold Antonio Eleuterio Firmian (from 1727 to 1744)

- Kapellmeister: Matthias Sigismund Biechteler (until 1743) Karl Heinrich von Bibern (from 1743 to 1749)

- Court Organist: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1727)

- Leopold Mozart: 1737; arrival in Salzburg 1740; assistant to the Chamber and Music for the Count Johann Baptist von Thurn-Valsassina and Taxis. Early compositions; 1743 engaged as 4^th violinist in the Court Orchestra

- Prince Archbishop: Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn (from 1745 to 1747)

- Kapellmeister: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1749 to 1762)

- Court Organist: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1727)

- Leopold Mozart: 1744; added to his role of violinist, he was hired to teach violin and keyboard to the children in the Cathedral Choir; he married in 1747

- Archbishop Prince: Andreas Jakob von Dietrichstein (from 1747 to 1753)

The Mozart family: 1751, Nannerl Mozart is born

- Archbishop Prince: Sigismund III Christoph von Schrattenbach (from 1753 to 1771)

- Kapellmeister: Giuseppe Francesco Lolli and Johann Michael Haydn (from 1762)

- Court Organist: Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (from 1762)

- Leopold Mozart:

1756: published the Violin School, Wolfgang is born

1757: appointed Court Composer

1758: promoted to 2^nd violin in the Court Orchestra

1763: appointed Vice-Kapellmeister

Wolfgang Mozart:

1769, appointed 3^rd Master Concert Performer to the Court, without a salary

- Archbishop Prince: Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Colloredo von Wallsee und Mels (from 1772 to 1803)

- Kapellmeister: Domenico Fischietti (from 1772); Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti (from 1783)

- Court Organist: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (from 1777)

- Leopold Mozart: Court Composer (with Caspar Cristelli and Ferdinand Seidl)

- Wolfgang Mozart:

From 1772, he was violinist at the Court Orchestra without a salary, followed by Concert Master with a very low salary of 150 florins annually. In September of 1777, he left the position in order to travel to Munich and Paris. Upon his return in January 1779, he was appointed the position of Court Organist and Concert Master. In Vienna, April 1781, he resigned permanently from the services of Archbishop Colloredo.

The Mozart family

We can begin with a "snap-shot" of the epoch with the celebrated painting by Johann Nepomuk della Croce that represents the Mozart family in 1780/81. It depicts Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl at the keyboard during the performance of a piece with four hands while their father, Leopold, poses nearby listening with his violin, ready to intervene. The oval-shaped portrait hanging on the wall portrays their mother who had passed away in Paris four years earlier. And hanging on the right is Apollo, the Greek God of the arts, displayed with the instrument devoted to him: the cithara. The Mozart family was formed 21 November 1747 when the 28 year-old Leopold Mozart married the 27 year-old Anna Maria Pertl at the Salzburg Cathedral after a rather long courtship. They were reputedly a handsome couple and enjoyed a solid marriage over the years, as we learn from the family correspondence available to us. In one letter sent to his wife, Leopold Mozart who was traveling with their son, Wolfgang, writes: "Today is our wedding anniversary. If I'm not mistaken, twenty-five years have passed since we had the joyful idea to marry: the fact of the matter is that we had this idea many years prior. The best things in life come to those who wait!".

In that era, roles were well-defined and customs and traditions were highly respected. The husband took care of all things related to finances and society (Leopold was extremely meticulous to the point of fanaticism as we will see in his letters), while the wife looked after the household and children, maintaining relations with their circle of friends or people who were in some way useful to reach certain purposes. The Mozart couple had seven children, but only two survived, the fourth-born Maria Anna (Nannerl) in 1751 and the seventh-born Wolfgang (Wolferl for family members) who came into the world in 1756. The mortality rate for childbirth in that epoch was a situation that was painfully accepted by parents who, for this reason, gave birth to many children. Wolfgang, himself, had six children of which only two survived.

In Nannerl's Diary which was written from 1775 to 1783, we learn that the Mozart family had a wide range of acquaintances, with friends who visited them at their home (some on a daily basis) or who they visited in their friends' homes, as well as the students of Leopold and Nannerl. They passed their time together chatting and gossiping or playing cards (tresette, tarocchi, briscola, etc.) or at range shooting played with air-compressed guns always made with small wagers of money or birilli (a game similar to bowling). The guests frequently stayed at the Mozart's home for meals and likewise the Mozart family was often hosted at their friends' homes to dine. And naturally, there were many occasions to play music. To begin with, there were the music lessons; Leopold taught violin while Nannerl taught the harpsichord at the Mozart residence or at the students' homes. But in the household, Mozart also played music with his circle of friends from Salzburg, many of whom belonged to the Orchestra of the Archbishop Court. He also played with foreigners passing through the city who were invited by Leopold or brought to him by his circle of friends who regularly visited.

Nannerl's friends would style her hair, accompany her for walks along the city walls (which no longer exist today), participate in the almost daily religious receptions which were often accompanied by the music of the Court composers such as Eberlin, Adlgasser, Michael Haydn and Wolfgang Mozart, himself. Processions were another attraction for the people, especially those of solemn occasions of which the Archbishop Prince would make an appearance. Or, as on the occasion of the Feast of Corpus Christi where they were accompanied in grand style by the Order of Chivalry, as was written in Nannerl's diary, Wolfgang couldn't resist making fun of the fact that on the occasion of a visit to the Hagenauer family (the previous owners of the Mozart house in Getreidegasse), he "saw the horses crapping" and dropped a lit candle on the procession.

Things wouldn't have been complete without blasphemous distractions, such as the frequent participation of the Mozart family (even for many days in a row) of the comedic performances proposed by the theatrical companies that toured Salzburg and would stop over for a few weeks where they offered various shows from their repertoire. In 1779, for example, Johann Bohm's theatrical company settled in Salzburg for the season, proposing over the course of the year about ten encore performances (in the neighborhood of sixty, according to Nannerl's diary) of a variety of comedies and ballets, which were, in truth, judged as "very bad". There were also the musical academies and ballets, as well as the evenings of weekly ballroom dancing, mostly during the Carnival at the Town Hall.

Here is the musical program of an academy held on 18 March 1779. (In Nannerl's diary, the twenty-three year-old Wolfgang sometimes wrote in his sister's journal with his characteristic gags, describing the academy as "trendy crapademia"):

1 -- a symphony (the Haffner Symphony KV385 composed by Wolfgang -- A/N);

2 - an Italian aria;

3 - a trio with three voices by Antonio Salieri (Imperial Composer and Kapellmeister during that epoch in Vienna -- A/N);

4 -- a cello concert by Joseph Fiala (oboist, cellist and friend of Mozart -- A/N);

5 -- a voice aria, oboe and harp;

6 -- An aria with trumpets, timpani, flutes, violas, bassoons and basses written by me (Wolfgang -- A/N);

7 -- Anfossi's first finale from "Perseguita incognitata" (Wolfgang's comically twisted title of the opera; the correct title by the composer Pasquale Anfossi's opera is "L'incognita perseguitata" (A/N);

8 -- out of mere compassion did we let Ceccarelli sing a Rondeau (Ceccarelli was a "castrato" and family friend who served the Salzburg Court, and for whom Wolfgang wrote an aria and an acting part -- A/N);

9 -- In conclusion, we performed in the entire city of Milan n.b.: with trumpets and timpani.

Moreover, on special occasions there was other forms of entertainment, such as fireworks in the Summer Equitation School.

Another fashionable activity during the mid-eighteenth century (also documented as a pastime in the Mozart household) was the silhouette, a portrait technique that traced the outline of a person or object and coloring the entire subject in black. This was achieved by hanging a white cloth in front of the subject while it remained back-lit, highlighting the outline. Among these activities (with the exception of brief lessons nearly everyday), there were of course the responsibilities at the Court that weren't particularly demanding for concerts or various tasks, such as Leopold's job tuning the piano at the Archbishop's summer residence at Mirabell Palace.

Sometimes walks were taken in the gardens of the Mirabell Palace, in the newer part of the city on the other side of the river. Alternatively, there were excursions outside of the city walls, such as the visit in 1780 to the salt refinery and San Zeno (remember that rock salt was the principle source of wealth in the region, of which is derived the name of the city of Salzburg, the castle of salt and the Salzach River - the passage of salt). One last interesting fact regarding the Mozart family is the ciphered code that Leopold and his wife used to avoid the curiosity of censorship (during that epoch, letters and correspondence were often opened and read to monitor the subjects' thoughts and ideas in order to avoid conspiracies). The letters that Leopold wrote were meant to circulate around Salzburg to express recognition of the musical feats that were accomplished in the various courts, consequently the secret code was used to communicate with his wife the occasions in which there were lies present in their correspondence to be fed to the Archbishop.

The most glaring examples we find in the letters from Milan, sent over the course of Leopold and Wolfgang's third and final Italian journey in which he complains of a terrible pain in his arms and legs that kept him from departing for their return to Salzburg. In truth, he was procrastinating in order to find out the result of his contacts with Peter Leopold of Habsburg-Lorraine, Gran Duke of Tuscany, regarding Wolfgang being hired by the Florentine Court, which turned out to be unsuccessful. Leopold was, unfortunately, obliged to return to Salzburg with his tail between his legs, his great Italian dream vanished.

Looking back at the coded language, it was nothing particularly complex and if a censor were to have gone to the trouble of deciphering it, they would have probably figured it out. Besides, it appears that none of the letters with coded parts were chanced upon by the monitors because, if they had been, the censor would have surely been curious to know which secrets might have been revealed in these senseless sentences included in letters that were otherwise easily comprehensible. And the methods for saying it were surely not lacking. So here is the little Mozart family secret: substitute the vowels of some of the words with consonants

A = M E = L I = F O = S U = H

Instead of Milano, they would have written Mflmns

Wolfgang's mother

Anna Maria Walburga Pertl (1720 -- 1778), was born in St. Gilgen, a small village situated 545 meters above sea level on the banks of Lake Wolfgangsee, approximately thirty kilometers from Salzburg, the region's capital. It lies in a pleasant area and was enriched by small alpine lakes. In that epoch, there were just a handful of homes inhabited by farmers.

Anna Maria's father, Wolfgang Nikolaus Pertl (married to Euphrosina Puxbaum, the daughter and widower of two musicians of the church), completed his law studies and began a promising career as a state official in Salzburg, Vienna and Graz. However, an incapacitating disease forced him to accept a lesser job as Vice Superintendent at Huttenstein, a town near St. Gilgen, with a reduced annual salary of 250 florins. Taking into consideration the situation (imagine that today the town has little more than 3,000 inhabitants, divided into 7 districts and that at that time the population was much lower) such a position wouldn't be particularly honorary, let alone well paid. At her father's death in 1724, the family lived in serious poverty with debts of more than one thousand florins, causing their assets to be repossessed. This situation forced the wife to make the decision to return to the family's place of origin in Salzburg with two small children, one of which died shortly after. Here, they lived a life of misery, managing to survive only thanks to a town welfare payment and minimal domestic jobs for other families. Therefore, we can assume that Anna Maria and Leopold's first meeting surely occurred in Salzburg.