Did Mozart Hate Flutes?

Scholars do not believe Mozart hated flutes ... and speculation that the 18th-century flute was unreliable is also unfounded.

In a letter to his father, February 14, 1778, Mozart complained about the flute, which given Mozart’s love of composing, has confused many who have written about him. When Mozart commented about an instrument (“I can’t stand”), he’d decided not to go to Paris with the flutist Johann Wendling. But not because he hated the flute.

Mozart wanted to travel to Paris with Aloysia Weber, his landlord's daughter in Mannheim. Fortunately, for Mozart music lovers, that never happened.

Spaethling said that Mozart’s primary excuse about Wendling’s lack of religion did not fool Leopold. Documented clashes between Mozart and his father, Leopold, are well known. But Mozart did not flee with Aloysia to Paris as planned—Aloysia left without Mozart. Despite this, however, Aloysia became a successful opera singer (Mozart went to Paris with his mother). 

Writing for “Wonders and Marvels,” Stephanie Cowell said that had Mozart married Aloysia, we’d all be missing a lot of Mozart’s remarkable music today. 
 

According to Cowell, Mozart married Aloysia’s sister, Constanze, whom his father, oddly, rejected also. Leopold did not like Aloysia, Mozart’s first love, nor her sister Constanze. Given this, it is easy to see why Mozart could have been angry about his father telling him what to do with his life. But hateful feelings would have been difficult to express, if not impossible. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loved his father (this is clear in his letters home), but certainly, his dad’s meddling wore him down.
 

After his father’s tantrum, Mozart did not want to go to Paris. He sincerely believed that by helping Aloysia, they both would prosper financially. Wendling’s religion, or lack of it, was just an excuse so he could be with Constanze after her sister, Aloysia, left without him to Paris. Mozart just wanted to get away from his father’s meddling.

Lovesick pleas, which began with “faux hate,” foretold a real tragedy: The death of his mother in Paris.

“One isn’t always in the mood to write,” Mozart told his father in a letter best understood as passive-aggressive, a reaction formation, as Freud called it, to circumvent anger and resentment. Thus, Mozart exaggerated and adopted a superficial idea to hide his true feelings. He sought refuge in opposition to his knowledge and understanding of composition.

The flute plays a vital role in many of Mozart's works (for example, his Piano Concerto No. 27). If there is any instrument he did not like, it would probably be the harp. Mozart's Concerto for Flute, Harp, and Orchestra in C major is the only work written for a harp. 

 

It is true the harp is missing in every other composition, but Mozart loved to write. “I could scribble all say long,” he told his father in the letter about the flute, “and scribble as fast as I can, but such a thing goes out into the world; so I want to make sure that I won’t have to feel ashamed, especially when my name appears on that page; besides, my mind gets easily dulled, as you know, when I’m supposed to write a lot for an instrument I can’t stand....”

Why this quote has puzzled so many is because “most flutists would agree,” Spaethling wrote, “Mozart composed some excellent flute music, not only the flute quartets and two concertos he wrote, but his Flute and Harp Concerto, K. 299 (shared above), the Andante for Flute, K. 315, and, of course, the flute music in Die Zauberflote.”

Mozart did not want to go to Paris, and it can be argued he had a premonition.

In the flute and harp concerto the flutist soars, and while at first the harp seems to pluck along, it soon becomes clear this “minor” composition for the the harp (and flute) is remarkable in its depth and beauty.

The concerto, Spaethling said, commissioned for flute and harp, was written in the style of French salon music, but, as so often in his compositions, Mozart far transcended the formal requirements of the commissioned work and created a masterpiece of precision and lyricism.”

Today, scholars do not believe Mozart hated flutes, and speculation that the 18th-century flute was too challenging or worthless as a musical instrument, is also unfounded. Many regarded the flute negatively in its earliest centuries, it is true. The Vienna Symphonic Library said some saw it as a common man's instrument, but this belief had faded by the 18th century.

Unfortunately, Mozart’s heartbreaking, lovesick pleas, which began with a “faux hate” of flutes, foretold a real tragedy. Yes, he complained about the instrument on February 14, 1778, but by July 31, 1778, he was writing home about his mother’s death in Paris. Mozart was frightened, alone, resentful, and still chained to Dad:

 

“What annoys me most is these stupid Frenchmen think I am still just seven years old...” It is not difficult to fill in the blank: Just like you dad!

Mozart did not want to go to Paris, and it can be argued he had a premonition. Then, to add insult to grief and guilt, Adrien-Louis de Bonnières (Comte de Guînes), would not pay him for the flute and harp composition. Mozart's anger and frustration is easy to understand, and hear: “What annoys me most,” he wrote, “is these stupid Frenchmen think I am still just seven years old....” 

It is not difficult to fill in the blank: Just like you dad!