page_title: Mozart family grand tour
section_title: Homeward journey (April–November 1766)
hierarchical_section_title: Mozart family grand tour / Grand tour / Homeward journey (April–November 1766)
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Österreich, Salzburg, Getreidegasse English: Austria, Salzburg, Getreidegasse Русский: Австрия, Зальцбург, Музей в доме, где родился Моцарт Français&#160;: Autriche, Salzbourg, Getreidegasse &#160; This media shows the protected monument with the number 35579 in Austria. (Commons, de, Wikidata) The birthplace of Mozart at 9 Getriedegasse, Salzburg, Austria on January 27th 1756.
context_page_description: The Mozart family grand tour was a journey through western Europe, undertaken by Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children Maria Anna and Wolfgang Amadeus from 1763 to 1766. At the start of the tour the children were aged eleven and seven respectively. Their extraordinary skills had been demonstrated during a visit to Vienna in 1762, when they had played before the Empress Maria Theresa at the Imperial Court. Sensing the social and pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip embracing the capitals and main cultural centres of Europe, Leopold obtained an extended leave of absence from his post as deputy Kapellmeister to the Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg. Throughout the subsequent tour, the children's Wunderkind status was confirmed as their precocious performances consistently amazed and gratified their audiences.
  The first stage of the tour's itinerary took the family, via Munich and Frankfurt, to Brussels and then on to Paris where they stayed for five months.
context_section_description: The family remained in Paris for two months. No concerts were given by them in this period although, according to Grimm, there were performances of Wolfgang's symphonies. Grimm was effusive about the development of both children; Nannerl, he wrote, "had the finest and most brilliant execution on the harpsichord", and: "no-one but her brother can rob her of supremacy". Of Wolfgang he quoted a Prince of Brunswick as saying that many Kapellmeisters at the peak of their art would die without knowing what the boy knew at the age of nine. "If these children live," wrote Grimm, "they will not remain in Salzburg. Monarchs will soon be disputing about who should have them."
  The only surviving music composed by Wolfgang during this Paris visit is his Kyrie in F major, K. 33, his first attempt to write formal church music. On 9 July, the family left Paris for Dijon, following an invitation from the Prince of Conti. The children played in a concert there on 19 July, accompanied by a local orchestra, about whose players Leopold made disparaging comments: Très médiocre – Un misérable italien détestable – Asini tutti – Un racleur (a scratcher) – Rotten. They moved on to Lyon where Wolfgang "preluded for an hour and a quarter with the most capable master here, yielding nothing to him".
  A letter to Hagenauer dated 16 August indicated that Leopold wished to proceed to Turin, then across northern Italy to Venice, and home via the Tyrol. "Our own interest and love of travel should have induced us to follow our noses", he wrote, but added: "...I have said I shall go [directly] home and I shall keep my word." The family took a shorter route through Switzerland, arriving in Geneva on 20 August, where the children gave two concerts, and were received by the distinguished composer André Grétry. Many years later Grétry wrote of this encounter: "I wrote for him [Wolfgang] an Allegro in E flat, difficult but without pretension; he played it, and everyone, except myself, thought it was a miracle. The child had never broken off, but following the modulations, he had substituted a number of passages for those I had written." This claim, that Wolfgang improvised when faced with passages he could not play, appears to be the only adverse comment from all those called upon to test him.
  The journey through Switzerland continued, with concerts at Lausanne and Zürich. Since leaving the Netherlands, Wolfgang had composed little; a minor harpsichord piece, K. 33B, written for the Zürich concerts, and later some cello pieces (since lost) written for the Prince of Fürstenberg. The prince received the party on 20 October, on its arrival in Donaueschingen on the German border, for a stay of some 12 days. Resuming their journey, they reached Munich on 8 November. They were delayed here for nearly two weeks after Wolfgang fell ill, but he was well enough to perform before the Elector, with Nannerl, on 22 November. A few days later they set out for Salzburg, arriving at their home on the Getreidegasse on 29 November 1766.
caption: The Mozart family's house, No. 9 Getreidegasse, Salzburg, photographed in 1998. The family's quarters were on the floor immediately above the sign "Mozarts Geburtshaus".
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