Mozart in Private: Fun, Music, and Games

We don’t know all the details of Mozart’s life, but as far as we can guess, this is what might have happened during these evenings: Over the span of several years, the musical genius spent almost every Wednesday evening as a guest of Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin. The botanist, chemist and doctor was one of the most important scholars of his time and many scientists and artists frequented his salon. Mozart taught composition to his son Gottfried von Jacquin and piano to his daughter Franziska.
 

The evenings at the Jacquins always lasted long into the night. While the older generations discussed scientific theories, the younger ones - which Mozart was a part of - amused themselves with music and games. With Mozart’s workload, these evenings were especially welcome. The easy-going atmosphere allowed him to relax and occasionally he even found inspiration for new music.

In 1787 Mozart came up with the idea for a musical game (KV 516f.), which he dedicated to Franziska Jacquin. Judging by the sheet music, it was likely that Mozart intended to turn the name "Francisca" into a melody. His piano student Caroline Pichler recounted in her "Denkwürdigkeiten aus meinem Leben" (Memorable events of my life): "Franziska played the piano exceedingly well, she was one of Mozart’s best students, she also sang very prettily, and he wrote the Trio with Clarinet for her. So it happened that on Wednesday evenings, [...], at her father’s salon, scholarly topics were discussed and the young people chatted, joked, played music, enjoyed little games and entertained themselves splendidly."

Mozart wrote two bars of music for each letter of the alphabet, as well as two additional ones each as alternatives. One could combine them according to a complicated set of rules. At the Haus der Musik in Vienna, this musical game has been recreated as an interactive computer programme called „NAmadeus“. Somehow we have the feeling that if Mozart were alive today, he would have enjoyed spending time at the Haus der Musik amusing himself with this computer game.