of the life of the common citizens was ruled and dominated by the will - and at times, the whims - of the powerful. While it was true that many of the requests for assistance were granted (twenty percent of the population of Salzburg received something), it was usually less than what was requested. This permitted the Prince to maintain a certain social equilibrium, allowing the population to believe that the commoners had no rights and that the princedom was being generous.
Interesting facts on Salzburg
Here are a few interesting facts related to daily life in Salzburg, some of which were recounted in Nannerl's diary, which help us better understand that faraway epoch and the quotidian of the Mozart family.
Flagellated in the Town Hall: when girls were "discovered" morally misbehaving regarding their sexual conduct, they were publicly whipped in the Town Hall and sent to a "correctional home". On 11 August 1775, this happened to seven maids.
Grenadiers: when the Archbishop traveled outside of the city, he was escorted by numerous grenade throwing soldiers who were guards of honor and served to protect against potential attacks. Nannerl writes of 40 soldiers in her journal.
The pardon: for the occasion of Holy Friday, The Confraternity Brotherhood of Trinity obtained the privilege to request the pardon for the death sentence of a mill worker who had killed a judicial officer, as recorded by Nannerl.
Dangers in the beer taverns: a certain Mr. Stadler was asphyxiated in the cellar of the Stockhammer Pub (which is still open for business in Salzburg today).
Experiments in physics: at the University of Salzburg, while occasional lessons and experiments in physics were executed, persons of nobility of the city were allowed to participate. At times, these experiments were held in less rigorous locations, for example at the Kugel Pub or in the Town Hall where these "illustrative representations" of physics occurred during the market days by Phisicus Hooghe. We know nothing about Mr. Hooghe, except that during that epoch, together with the true scholars, they circulated around the fairs as a sort of itinerant medicine men like Dr. Dulcamara in Donizetti's "Elisir d'amore" ("The Elixir of Love"), using a few tricks to make ends meet by playing upon people's gullibility and the growing interest for science typical of the times.
Scientific experiments: interesting facts and social phenomenon
Among the more simpler experiments that were fashionable during the mid-1700s - so much so, as to be displayed in paintings and hung in households - were to demonstrate the necessity for living creatures' need of oxygen. The experiment was to place a small animal under a bell jar and use aspecific pump that would extract the air, while watching the animal die.
All over Europe, interest in science spread rapidly, even among women. In Parisian parlors, groups of 20-25 people gathered to participate in chemistry, physics and natural history courses. Novels and books on philosophy were substituted by physics and chemistry in women's parlors. Throughout Europe, newspapers published articles that combined science and poetry for women, suggestions on etiquette, news, astronomy, etc. There were also accidents and "martyrs" in the name of research for progress, such as J.P. de Rozier, chemist and physicist who gave lessons to the Parisian nobility and who went down in history as a key player with his hot-air balloon and the first mortal "flight" accident in history. Anatomy also had its followers, such as the eighteen year-old Contessa de Coigny, who during her journeys, never traveled without a cadaver in a crate to execute demonstrations in dissecting.
Soldiers and drilling: in a town like Salzburg, not particularly abundant in events for breaking up the monotony of everyday life, going to watch the soldiers practice their drilling exercises was an opportunity to get out of the house and create a diversion.
Processions: there were solemn events in various moments of the lituragal year. Among these were the procession of the Corpus Christi, accompanied by the Prince's cavalry and open fire with the exception of the various stops effectuated in the Piazza del Duomo. Without a doubt, the liturgical festivities in Salzburg were celebrated with less cruelty compared to Paris, where for the feast of St. John, the very same King of France would ignite a bonfire in which cats and foxes were set fire and thrown upon it.
Suicide and insanity: sadly, even in those times there were desperate situations which were probably caused by misery or the unbearable cruelty of an abusive "master". In Nannerl's journals, she writes about the suicide of a poor servant named Schlauka, who hung himself at 11:30 p.m. in his room. And then there was a certain von Amann, who appears to have lost his mind and was then hospitalized in the city, while another by the name of Edlenbach died in the fortress where he had been incarcerated for disorderly intoxication.
At the theater: theater life in Salzburg was not based on any regular timetable since there was not a resident theatrical company in the city. In exchange, when one reached the privileged period of the performances (the Carnival, for example), an enormous number of exhibitions were performed, with and without music and dancing. One example is during the period between 16 January 1783 and 12 February 1783: eleven different "comedies" were performed, alternating between the performances of serenades, an operetta, three French "comedies", two all-night balls in the City Hall with 65 present at the first and 160 present at the second, as well as another four balls at the Carnival.
Famous musicians just passing through: as in all of the European courts, many famous musicians who were experts in their instruments often passed through Salzburg, touring continuously among the most culturally and politically important hearts of the continent. Nannerl writes in her diary about the arrival in the city of the famous oboist virtuoso, Friedrich Ramm, who joined the celebrated Mannheim Orchestra at the young age of fourteen years old, exhibiting at the Salzburg Court in two concerts before departure to the following stop of his tour, in Munich.
Day trips: the organization of day trips outside of the city were frequent during fair weather, on foot or
by carriage. Among the most popular destinations were the Maria Plain Pilgrimage Basilica, the Mönchsberg (one of the two lower mountains overlooking Salzburg, of which emerge the
Hohensalzburg fortress and nunnery) and the Kapuzinerberg (the Capucines Cloister, named after the monastery upon which it is situated).
Games, entertainment and amusement: when friends got together in the Mozart household or at their friends' homes, they enjoyed playing games. Almost everyday there were card games, most often Tressette, a trick-taking card game and Tarock (Tarot), as well as many other card games played with small bets of money. Another game enjoyed by many was darts, played with air-guns, offering prizes for the winner, who was though, obliged to pay for a round of beer for the group. There was also a popular game called Kegelspiel (Ninepins), something similar to bowling.
In 1783, we see the term Lottery written in Nannerl's diary, which was probably a lottery game or something resembling Bingo. The Lottery, already diffused in various forms in other European countries (the Game of the Seminary, named after the ballot box used for its extraction and the Lottery of the Old Maid, named for a wedding dowry) became widespread during the second half of the 18th century in Austria. Wolfgang Mozart himself had probably brought the game to his friends in Salzburg from Vienna after his marriage to Constanze where it is likely that he learned about it in Vienna where he had lived for two years, and from where all things fashionable came before reaching Salzburg. In fact, there is no mention at all of the game in Nannerl's diary before this.
Music at the Archbishop Prince's Court of Salzburg
In order to understand the dimensions of the aspect of music in a relatively small but wealthy
