Jan Swafford on the Influence of Leopold Mozart on His Precocious Son
December 15, 2020
In her diary, Nannerl (aka Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart, older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) wrote that at Calais, on the way to London in April 1764, they observed “how the ocean ebbs and waxes.” For the Channel crossing, Leopold hired a private boat and picked up four more paying passengers. On the way the family all got wretchedly seasick; Leopold wrote home that he was champion at vomiting. They reached London on the twenty-third, staying for a few days at an inn in Piccadilly before settling into cheaper rooms above a barber’s in St Martin’s Lane. Discovering that their Parisian attire attracted cries of “Bugger the French!” from street urchins, Leopold hastened to equip the family with English clothes, including fashionable round hats. The children’s reputation had preceded them: five days after their arrival, Wolfgang and Nannerl played before King George III an