Letters and Correspondence

This page highlights manuscript correspondence to, from, and about Mozart. The Music Division holds a handful of manuscript correspondence between Mozart and members of his family. Links to digitized items have been provided for all items.

Letter from Mozart to his sister, Nannerl [Maria Anna Mozart]
Call Number: ML30.8d .M6 no. 1
Published/Created: 1770 March 3
The body of letter chronicles the experiences of the young composer in Milan, but it is the postscript that reveals Mozart the boy, who begs Nannerl to "Kiss mamma's hand for me 1000000000 [one billion] times."
Letter from Mozart to his father, Leopold Mozart
Call Number: ML95.M88 Case
Published/Created: 1783 June 21
Letter from Constanze Mozart to Josef von Hoffbauer
Call Number: ML95.N5
Published/Created: 1832 May 25
Letter from Leopold Mozart to Marie Anna Mozart
Call Number: ML95.M87 Case
Published/Created: 1770 December 22

The Music Division also holds a fragment from a diary shared by Mozart and his sister:

Diary entries of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 24 May 1780
Call Number: Moldenhauer archives
Fragment, from the diary of Maria Anna [nickname: Nannerl] and Wolfgang Mozart
An account of a very remarkable young musician. by Daines Barrington
Call Number: ML95 .B226 (case)
Published/Created: [ca. 1780]
Daines Barrington, a lawyer, antiquary, naturalist and Friend of the Royal Society was committed to testing "scientifically" whether this young Mozart was truly a genius. In a few visits to the Mozart family lodgings in London, Barrington observed and tested the young composer. His report, entitled Account of a Very Remarkable Young Musician, documents Barrington’s various rounds of testing that involved sight-reading newly-composed, never before seen music as well as improvising material that conveyed specific emotions (such as love and rage).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Guide to Primary and Secondary Resources at the Library of Congress

Performing Arts: Ask a Librarian

Letters and Correspondence