Free Mozart: A Life in Letters: A Life in Letters by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Page B

journey. A
carosse de remise
or hired coach for just half a day comes to 15 or 16 shillings, including the tip. My dearest Frau Hagenauer, what do you think a servant girl earns in a year in a tavern, a merchant’s house or any other house where there’s a lot to do? – –
10 guineas, even 12 guineas
. NB: without the tips that are very much in vogue here. The usual wages in an ordinary household are 5 or 6 guineas; a household servant or lackey etc. never earns less than a guinea a week, including his clothing and tips. But he has to provide his own board. All journeymen have to provide their own board and lodging and report for duty on time in the morning. A wigmaker’s apprentice, for example, is normally paid 2 shillings a day and has to be at work at 6 o’clock. There are even some who earn 3 shillings. Most good workers get a guinea a week. A goldsmith doesn’t start work until 9 and goes home at 6 etc. You’ll be able to tell from these few facts what London is like. – – Now letme say something
about Ranelagh and Vauxhal
. 1 – – These are 2 pleasure gardens unlike anything else in the world: it would be impossible to describe them adequately. But in due course I shall – God willing – show you some copper engravings not only of these places but of many other things both in Paris and London. You can then have a fuller explanation of them. I’ve left a number of copper engravings in Paris that are worth 2 louis d’or. I only regret that I can’t tell you about it all now, but it’s simply not possible, for I haven’t come to England for a few thousand florins. If Almighty God keeps us in good health and doesn’t withdraw His divine blessing, which He has so graciously granted us, I hope to be able to send a few 100 guineas from here to Salzburg. And it will be no bad thing if there’s someone at the Salzburg court who can speak English: you never know when it may be useful. Ranelagh Gardens isn’t big, but it’s attractive and is illuminated every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Within it is an amazingly large rotunda that you enter at ground level and that’s lit by an incredible number of large chandeliers, lamps and wall-lights. The orchestra is arranged in tiers on one side, with an organ at the top. The music lasts 3 hours, from 7 till 10: then quartets are played on hunting horn, clarinets and bassoon for an hour or more, in other words, until 11 or 12 o’clock. In the middle is a large stove where a fire is lit if it’s cold, as these gardens are open in March or April; and most of the entertainments take place in this hall. Around the stove are lots of tables, and along the walls of the whole hall are nothing but niches or a kind of alcove or small chapel, in each of which is a table and from them you go up a flight of steps to a similar number of boxes, just as in a playhouse, with a similar number of tables. On each table there is everything necessary for a drink of coffee or tea. On entering the gardens you pay 2½ shillings. For this, you get coffee, tea, bread and butter – as much as you can eat and drink. Here there is room to walk in addition to the space inthe middle, with 2 to 3 or even 4500 people walking round and round and constantly meeting each other. Partly in order to make it easier on the feet and partly to reduce the noise of walking, the floor is entirely covered in a finely woven mat or carpet of straw. There is space for at least 6000 people in the gardens and hall. The hall itself holds 3000 people comfortably. Each servant or attendant has a badge on his breast with the numbers of the box or chapel that he has to serve. Here all men are equal, and no lord will allow anyone to stand before him bare headed: in return for their money, all are equal.
Vauxhall
is every day. Ranelagh will soon stop because as soon as it gets very hot everyone hurries off to Vauxhall. On Friday 29 June – the Feast of St Peter and St Paul – there will be a concert or benefit at