Dramatic Mozart Scandal Letter at Christie's

Christie’s will present an autograph letter from the 26-year old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to his close friend Baroness von Waldstätten (estimate: £300,000–500,000) declaring that he will need to get married within two days in order to save his future wife from the scandal of being dragged out of his house by the police.

The autograph letter in Mozart’s hand, in German, comprises two pages and was written in the summer of 1782 in Vienna. At the time the letter was written, Constanze was known to be cohabiting under the same roof as Mozart (1756-1791) which prompted her mother, Cäcilia Weber, to send in the police to reclaim her daughter from Mozart’s house to save her reputation. This prompted Mozart to declare the only solution is for him to marry Constanze the next day or indeed the same day if at all possible. The couple went on to marry on August 4, 1782.

Thomas Venning, Head of Christie’s Books & Manuscripts, London said: “Mozart letters are scarce at auction, and it is hard to think of any iconic historical figure where you have an equivalent unfiltered insight into such an important and private moment. The letter has always been in private collections, and has not been seen by the public or scholars since 1989.”

Mozart’s arrival in Vienna in 1781 was a turning point in his professional and personal life, representing the moment in which he chose an independent career making money through compositions, performances and teaching over the security of proximity to his father and his privileged position at the Salzburg court. He was relying on a handful of pupils to sustain a living at this time, continuing to teach throughout the 1780s as a supplement to the income from his performances and publications. This moment coincides with the completion of the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), which premiered on July 16, 1782 and achieved considerable success. 

Mozart’s autograph letter will appear as a lead lot in the Exceptional Sale, part of Christie’s Classic Week in London, on July 6, 2023.