Whilst most original instruments associated with Mozart now reside in Salzburg, owned by the International Mozarteum Foundation, other instruments on which he played are also of historical interest, not least because they offer an insight into his improvisational process at a particular point in his musical creativity. Some of these instruments were invariably cathedral or church organs upon which he played in the cities and towns where he stayed on some of his journeys, such as the organs in the churches at Mannheim, for example. The city of Prague claims similar associations – and as the city itself has such strong links with Mozart, some of these instruments deserve closer scrutiny.
The baroque organ of the St. Nicholas Church in Prague’s Lesser Town – with over 4,000 pipes – was also played on by Mozart, according to oral tradition. It was built as three separate organs by the Jesuit organ builder Thomas Schwarz in 1745-47. The St. Nicholas Church – the great Dientzenhofer masterpiece – was at least in the right area of Prague for Mozart to improvise, being in the Lesser Town, as we know that Mozart and Constanze stayed in the palace of Count Thun during the first 1787 visit. Count Thun’s palace was located on the site of today’s British Embassy, in the Lesser Town. The St. Nicholas Church states that Mozart played this organ whilst he was a guest of the Duseks, which implies it may have been during the second 1787 visit, but confirmed to me that no actual record exists of his playing it. Poignantly, it was in this Church that the Requiem mass took place in memory of Mozart, on 14 December 1791.
Elizabeth Jane Timms is a writer, historian
and freelance royal journalist. She contributes to an international
academic journal about royalty and also writes for magazines and the
web.