Letter by W. A. Mozart´s Son Purchased

One of the most valuable collections kept in the National Library of the CR is the Mozart Memorial, originally in German „Mozarts Denkmal in seinen Werken 1837“ [The Mozart Memorial in His Works 1837]. The original name characterizes the collection that is not a „monument“ in the sense of a museum, but a collection of period, especially notated sources. The memorial includes manuscript and printed historical sheet music containing more than 180 compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart  (1756-1791), correspondence, librettos, and other archival documents related to his life and work. The most precios part of the collection is a set collected by the researcher, musician and famous Viennese collector Alois Fuchs (1799-1853), who kept contacts with eminent composers of the time and frequently published in period press. Letters wirtten by W. A. Mozart, his father and mother, and a concept of a letter written by Mozart´s wife Constanze were acquired to the Memorial from the Fuchs´ collection in 1845. Now, 175 years later, the National Library managed to complete the Memorial by purchasing a letter written by Mozart´s younger son Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (1791-1844), who was also a composer and pianist.

The letter had been, until recetly, in the possession of the family of Vojtěch Kubašta, a famous Czech illustrator, graphic designer, painter, and among other also a collector of materials related to the life of W. A. Mozart. The letter in question, written by Mozart junior and dated of August 12, 1842, was, in all probability, addressed to a member of the Salzburg Mozarteum Committee. It talks about Mozart junior´s relation to the Mozarteum newly established in Salzburg, and his personal participation in and performance at the inaugural concert. In addition, the content of the letter points to the uniqueness of the Prague Mozart Memorial established in the Klementinum as early as 1837, i. e. several years before the Salzburg Mozarteum. This is the unique historical significance of the letter acquired.