Replica of Mozart's traveling “Clavierl”

moves to Augsburg The arrival of the instrument was expected on Tuesday, March 25, at the Leopold Mozart House

In the early summer of 1763, Augsburg-born Leopold Mozart set off from Salzburg with his family in a carriage. His goal: to present the musical genius of his son Wolfgang Amadeus to the royal courts of Europe. This famous journey through Western Europe lasted three years, at the beginning of which Wolfgang Amadeus was seven years old and in the middle of his education. In order to give him and his sister Nannerl sufficient practice along the way, his father Leopold purchased a small traveling clavichord in his home town of Augsburg from organ and piano maker Johann Andreas Stein, who had already made a name for himself at the time.

Leopold Mozart told his friend Johann Lorenz Hagenauer about it: “I have bought a good piano from Mr. Stein in Augsburg, which is of great service to us because of the Exercitio on the journey.”

The original instrument is preserved in the Hungarian National Museum in Budapest. A faithful copy of the original was made and purchased for the Leopold Mozart House, which now officially takes its place in Augsburg. The project was initiated by the German Mozart Society (DMG) and was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Stadtsparkasse Augsburg and its “Mozartstadt Augsburg” foundation. The instrument was built by Albrecht Czernin (Vienna).

The instrument was presented on March 26 as part of the German Mozart Society's “Wednesday with Mozart” concert series. The special exhibition “Anna Maria Mozart” was also opened as part of the event. Part of the exhibition is an oil painting which possibly depicts Anna Maria Mozart, the mother of Wolfgang Amadeus. The creator of this painting is said to be the Viennese court painter Joseph Hickel. This attribution goes back to Siegmund Röhrer, but there is no signature on the painting or any other evidence.

Photo: Alfons Huber (Clavierl)