Mozart's Sister by Nancy Moser Page B

instrument, or even clocks. Wolfie also did
the covered-keys trick and improvised for extended lengths of time.
He was very talented. I would never take anything away from my
brother's prowess.
    And I did well too-actually my very best toward my effort to
become a musician who could not be ignored in spite of her gender.
I heard Papa say, "Nannerl can be compared with the boy, for she
plays in such a way that everyone speaks of her and admires her
fluency." It was a victory that made me want to try even harder.
    Wolfie's penchant for saying whatever came into his head nearly
got him in trouble in Mainz. The violin virtuoso Karl Michael Esser
played the clavier, and Wolfie told him that he did well, but he did
too much, and it would be better to play just what was written. Actually, my brother was right. Esser wasn't that good at improvising and thus should not have attempted it. But for Wolfie to say so ... we
all hoped he would gain discretion with his years.

    Along the way, Wolfie got the Schnupfen, the sniffles, and we
had to slow down, taking an expensive riverboat up the Rhine
because the roads were so drenched. The river towns were less than
clean. Papa had feared we would have carriage trouble and opted to
put the carriage on the boat and go that way. So many castles-on
nearly every crest of every hill, on either side of the river, there was
a castle looming down on us. Wolfie and I chose which ones we
liked the best and claimed them as our own. I preferred the ones
facing west, the ones that were bathed in the colors of the sunset. I
would have a Castle Nannerl. I would share it with a husband and
many children. But there would also be a grand music room with
space for a large audience. And I would have my very own workroom in a parapet that would offer a glorious view of the Rhine,
inspiring me to achieve great heights of music-music that would
provide us with a good living. After all, I did need to be practical.
    We all did. Money was always an issue: earning it and dealing
with it. For even the smallest principality had its own coins, and
Papa had trouble getting a good exchange rate for Bavarian money.
He also received a few letters from Herr Hagenauer suggesting we
not spend so much and not stay in such nice places. We'd already
spent over a thousand gulden, but Papa said other people had paid
for the expenditure. And we had to keep our health and our reputation in mind. We had to travel like nobles if we were to be associated with them. Every time I played I wondered how much we
would receive-and when. The presents were very nice-we
received a beautiful set of bottles valued at four ducats, a snuff box,
a toothpick case, a ring, and a piece of embroidery (Papa said we
would soon have enough items to rig out a stall). But money was
always best. Money eased the wrinkles in Papa's brow
    Some places were profitable, and others were not. In one concert given to a small group of nobles, they were more interested in
eating and drinking than in our music. But most audiences were
very appreciative.
    By the end of September we were in Cologne, but we found
the cathedral there in a horrible state, like a stable. The pulpit that Martin Luther had preached from was held up by a brick, and the
furniture was in disrepair. We tried to go into the choir area, but it
was closed to visitors. Yet what was worse was when we were met
by a drunken priest, who greeted us and was eager to show off a
display of the cathedral's treasures.

    Papa wondered if it wouldn't be more edifying to get the house
of God into a clean condition rather than to have jewels, gold, and
silver-with which numerous saints' bones were thickly encasedlying in iron chests and shown for money. And the boys' choir
shrieked more than sang. All this put Papa in a mood. I reminded
Wolfie to be especially good.
    Along the next leg of the journey, traveling west toward Brussels
by way of Aachen, we met Princess Amalia,