LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP



Mozart's love for his father made him dependent on the latter to
the end of his days. He was a model son and must have loved his
wife devotedly, since, for her sake, he once in his life
disobeyed his father. The majority of his letters which have been
preserved are addressed to his father, to whom he reported all
his happenings and whose advice he is forever seeking. Similar
were his relations with his sister Marianne (Nannerl), whom he
loved with great tenderness. The letters to his wife are unique;
all of them, even the last, seem to be the letters of a lover.
They were a pair of turtle-doves.

Mozart was an ideal friend, ready to sacrifice to the uttermost
on the altar of friendship. It was this trait of character which
made him throw himself with enthusiasm into Freemasonry, whose
affiliations he sought to widen by drafting the constitution of a
community which he called "The Grotto." He probably hated only
one man in the world,--the Archbishop of Salzburg, his tormentor.

185. "The moment you do not trust me I shall distrust myself.
The time is past, it is true, when I used to stand on the settle,
sing oragna fiagata fa and kiss the tip end of your nose; but
have I therefore shown laxity in respect, love and obedience?
I say no more."