me. Their prodigious musical talents -- and Leopold's prodigious promotional talent -- would carry Anna Maria far from Salzburg. She and her family visited the courts of Europe and got to be with with the royalty: Maria Theresa and her son, Joseph, of Austria; Louis XV of France; and George III of England. Even though she was left behind during her son's three tours of Italy, circumstances led to her accompanying him on his fateful job-hunting expedition to southern Germany and Paris: because the Archbishop of Salzburg would not grant Leoplod leave to accompany his son, Anna Maria went instead. They left for Salzburg for Bavaria in September 1777. In her letters home, Anna Maria becomes suddenly tangible. They reveal an intelligent, optimistic woman possessed of a wry, self-deprecating wit. They also give us a good indication of the origin of Mozart's fondness for scatological humor. From Munich, she wrote to Leopold: "Addio, ben mio. Keep well, my love. Into your mouth your arse you'll shove. I wish you good-night, my dear, but first xxxx in your beaded make it burst. It is long after one o'clock already. Now you can go on rhyming yourself." When things did not work out as planned in Germany, Leopold urged his wife and son onto Paris. Anna Maria agreed, and they left Mannheim in the spring of 1778. In Paris, the incessant rounds of socializing, teaching and job hunting meant that Mozart had to leave his mother alone for days at a time. She did not speak French. Neglected and isolated, she kept up a brave front. " I don't get out much, it is true, and the rooms are cold, even when a fire is burning," she wrote on May 1. "You just to get used to it." Her health began to deteriorate. A letter of June 12th is full of gossip but shorter than usual because, she reported, she had been bleeding the day before and couldn't write much. Her last words to Leopold are in the postscript: "I must stop, for my arm and eyes are aching." Three weeks lat...
