Daily Blague

Well, it was probably inevitable. Dennis Brain's recording of Mozart's Horn Concerti was one of the first LPs that I owned; it was one of the four "free" discs that I got by subscribing to the Angel Record Club. (At least two of the others also featured Herbert von Karajan). By the time I'd played the Mozart into the ground, I'd "grown up," and learned to look down my nose a little at this music. Besides, the recording was monaural. Reasoning that was persuasive to a seventeen year-old took a long time to lose its grip. The other day, I ordered the recording from MHS, somewhat incredulous at EMI's having let this cornerstone recording go. (Perhaps they haven't; perhaps MHS simply picks up the marketing and distribution without buying any rights. It would be nice to know more.)

Listening to the horn concerti this morning, I dusted off some vintage mental lumber. I promise to check it out later, and don't you believe a word of the rest of this paragraph until I do. But here's what I recall: the concerti were written for Michael Puchberg, a wealthy fellow-Mason who played the instrument as an amateur. I forget how he made his money, but Mozart wrote not only the concerti for Puchberg but a lot of letters to him, begging for cash, and we know that Puchberg came through because Mozart wrote to say thanks, too - although the thank-you notes often asked for more. On top of that, the manuscript scores of the concerti are littered with insulting challenges to the soloist that are not fit for republication in this family blog. At least not until later when I've looked them up.

These Puchberg letters have contributed to the very incorrect idea that Mozart had money troubles because nobody appreciated his genius. It seems rather that Mozart was a manic-depressive who lived far beyond his means. At one point, he rented an apartment in the center of Vienna that had its own ballroom. (Mozart loved parties.) He dressed like a Kurfürst and a weakness for gems. His popularity, it is true, ebbed after the premiere of Don Giovanni in 1787, but that had almost as much to do with an expensive war against Turkey as anything else. If anything Mozart was too appreciated, in that he was seen as complicated and demanding. He asked too much of everybody.

That's why I think there ought to be a Puchberg Prize. Decency requires this award to be posthumous, but then that's when the winners will need it most. After all, who would remember Michael Puchberg if he hadn't lent money to Mozart?