Tuesday, October 28, 2008

SOPHIE WEBER HAIBL'S MEMORIES OF MOZART

SOPHIE WEBER HAIBL’S MEMORIES OF MOZART

My dear visitors, here are some more of my reminiscences of my late brother-in-law, Mozart, which appear in Nissen’s biography of him:

He was always good-humored, but even in the best of moods very thoughtful, looking at one with a sharp expression.
He would look you keenly in the eye and give a thoughtful answer to anything you said, whether the subject was merry or sad, and yet he always seemed to thinking deeply about something entirely different.
Even when he washed his hands in the morning, he paced restlessly up and down the room, never standing still, tapping one heel against the other, and deep in thought.
At the dining table, he often took the corner of his napkin, crumpled it up tightly, rubbed it up and down his upper lip, and appeared to be unaware of what he was doing, and often making grimaces with his mouth at the same time.
In his leisure, he was always passionately attached to the latest fad, whether it was riding or billiards.
To keep him from company of an unworthy kind, his wife patiently shared everything with him.
Otherwise his hands and feet were always in motion; he was forever playing with something, for instance his hat, pockets, watch-chain, tables, chairs—as if he were playing the piano.

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