JenÃzaros - Turkish Imperial Guard soldiers |
The trip to Vienna imposed by the Prince-Archbishop was perhaps the last straw; Mozart realized that the time had come to ditch Colloredo and his prosaic court once and for all. For this reason, he began to act more and more discourteously towards the Archbishop. He started by staying away from the visits that every servant was supposed to pay to Colloredo each morning, and then he added some other signs of independence and rebellion.
Wolfgang mischief did not go unnoticed. Colloredo forced him to arrive at the table after the house servants, but before the cooks. For Mozart, this was just too much and he requested an interview with Colloredo, grudgingly granted by the Archbishop. In there, the dispute got out of hand.
This was such an unpleasant situation, that still angers me, more than two hundred years later.
The quarrel must have been very tough. In a letter to his father, Wolfgang reports that Colloredo called him "a scoundrel, a rascal, a vagabond". After stoically enduring these insults, Wolfgang asked:
"-So, Your Grace, is not satisfied with me?
To which the Archbishop replied:
"-What, you dare to threaten me, you scoundrel? There is the door! Look out, for I will have nothing more to do with such a miserable wretch."
"At last, I said:
"-Nor I with you"
"-Well, be off."
This is the point where some scholars mention the kick-up-the-backside issue. The strict truth is that the following day Mozart handed in his resignation, which was accepted a month later.
Thus, Wolfgang became the first musician in history who decided to do business single-handedly. To dramatize a little, he would have cut the tickets, helped the audience to their seats and only then he would have sat to play the piano.
This new lifestyle would demand Mozart to be aware of fashion. During those years, the European society had a keen ear to the fashionable marches performed by the Turkish Imperial Guard. No doubt, Mozart's Rondo alla Turca would have responded to such trend.
Third Movement - Rondo alla turca
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