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Approximately 300 bathtubs were available in Paris in 1789 in the public baths and about an additional thousand private bathtubs in the homes of the nobility (but only a tenth of the aristocratic palaces in 1750 had an actual bathroom, although in Versailles, Louis XVI installed six).
So during Mozart's epoch in the European cities, water was not a resource conveniently available to all as it is today.
The scarcity of water was remedied by the amount of underclothes one possessed, moving toward the importance of “good manners”. An unclean body was “covered” by clean clothing (and that is how white clothing became associated with personal virtue).
It was believed that fresh underclothing absorbed the uncleanliness and sweat from the body, leaving it clean. It was, therefore, considered appropriate, as was also ordered by the doctor, to change one's shirt every 2/3 days, more often in the summer or if one was wealthy.
Only the more visible parts of the body were given more attention and care and washed with water: face, hands, neck.
Only a fortunate few (nobility, high-level functionaries, religious institutions and hospitals) received particular “privileges” that allowed them direct access to the public aqueducts, which in any case, were needed by only some neighborhoods.
For the rest, they obtained their provision of water from the common well, at the neighborhood fountain or from traveling salesmen who supplied vessels of water from rivers or canals and went from house to house selling water by the bucket.
However, water from rivers and canals, especially those within the cities, were becoming ever more polluted due to the continual outpouring of waste directly into the watercourses: tanneries, butchers, laundrywomen, etc.
We know that from the 17
century, the main European rivers like the Thames and the Seine, were defined as latrines (the writer Beaumarchais “sarcastically” said that “in the evening the Parisians drink what they had dumped into the river that morning”), but this is still where the Londoners and Parisians obtained the essential quantity of water to quench the thirst of the population.
From the canal system that brought the city's river water to the neighboring areas, the zones located farther away were excluded, and had to meet their need for water by digging common wells (in the courtyards of the residences or in the squares of the neighborhood) or for the wealthy, privately.
But not even wells offered clear water, polluted like the phreatic stratum from infiltrations of every kind, from wells black with cemeterial waste of which epidemics such as cholera and typhus fever originated. When water was not used for external purposes, it had to be boiled.
White gold rapidly became a “necessary luxury”, so much so as to drive the States to massive investments in aqueducts which, as was the case in Paris (nearly by contrast) were financed with a tax on wine consumed in the city.
For a long time running water would be a luxury for only a few and, for those who were lucky enough to live near a fountain (others had to walk long distances with the weight of the supply on their shoulders), the long lines meant a long wait.
It was the women who were prevalently responsible to fetch the water and could carry an average of 15 liters at a time, and then after the tiring journey, had to carry the water four, five or even six flights of stairs to the apartment.
In 1782, hydraulic pumps were introduced by the Perrier brothers that drew water from the Siene and distributed it in the available canalizations, allowing at least a partial operation of cleansing of the main streets, creating a consequential improvement of the salubrity of the air.
Even so, most of the citizens were obliged to continue getting their water from the well and the public fountains, unless they were able to afford to purchase from one of the 20,000 carriers/sellers that were in constant circulation on the streets with their buckets of water.
Another bit of interesting information that Leopold gives us regards the postal service in Paris. On one hand, he complained about the cost of sending/receiving the mail for/from out of town; the letters were weighed and exorbitantly taxed, so he asked Hagenauer to use thin and lightweight paper and for Hagenauer's son, Johann (whose job it was to write any news or facts from Salzburg or anything that might be of interest) to use the smallest calligraphy possible. On the other hand, he commended the so-called “local postal service” that allowed rapid communication in and around Paris (the city was divided into districts and the postage went out four times a day in order to be distributed in the various neighborhoods).
The dimensions of the city, in fact, made moving around the city a long and expensive venture at times, having to pay for public transport (Leopold felt it was of the utmost importance to present himself respectably and avoided traveling on foot to the aristocrat's homes soiled and sweaty from the dirty streets).
One confirmation of his reluctance to walk we find in a letter dated 9 January 1764 when he had just arrived in Paris from Versailles, where he wrote to the notary Le Noir, that he had come to his house only to find that he was out, and highlights the fact that “I even walked to your house; a noteworthy effort!”. To evaluate how noteworthy the distance was, we know that van Eyck's residence, where the Mozarts were staying, was at the Place de Vosges, while the notary Le Noir's house was in rue d'Echelle, behind the Louvre and the Tuileries Gardens, approximately 2.5 kilometers of flatland which was the equivalent of a 30 minute walk.
This letter to the notary illustrates another interesting fact: whoever did not have a butler to greet and invite the guests in while the master of the house was out, left a marker board at the entrance where the visitors could write their names in order to know who had paid a visit...and this is what Leopold did. Whenever possible, Leopold used the “fiacre”, an enumerated public carriage (something like today's taxi) that he defined as miserable, while on the more important occasions he was obliged to hire a “depot carriage” which was very expensive since it was rented for the entire day, but allowed the carriage to enter directly into the courtyards of the noble palaces (while the fiacre would make its stop on the street and the guests had to walk to the entrance, lowering the perception of their social and economical status).
As we have already said, the Mozarts reached Paris on 18 November 1763 and it was Leopold's desire to get busy with organizing the exhibitions, obtaining glory and money. But as luck would have it, a mournful event had taken place that involved the French Court (the death from smallpox of Infanta of Spain Princess Isabella of Parma, niece of Louis XV), imposing a period of mourning during which fun and entertainment were suspended. The Mozarts had to wait well into December before they were able to present themselves to the principle people of the city, but thanks to the Baron Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, writer and person in charge of the affairs in Paris of the Princedom of Frankfurt, put in a good word for them and they were invited to Versailles, seat of the Court of Louis XV, where they were guests for sixteen days at the Au Comier Inn.
Friedrich Melchior von Grimm (1723-1807) writer and diplomat
Appointed Secretary to the Count von Friesen in Paris in 1749, he became responsible for the affairs for the Princedom of Frankfurt.
He was a person of vast culture, and friend of the encyclopedia writers Rousseau, Diderot and Voltaire, not to mention editor of the two-year newsletter “Correspondance littéraire, philosophique et critique” whose purpose was to inform the European Courts (from the German to the Czar of Russia) of the new Parisian cultural fashions and trends, intended in that period to be imitated throughout Europe.
In the dispute between those who supported Italian opera and those who admired the style of Gluck, he took sides, openly and with all the weight of his Parisian aristocratic relations in favor of the Italian style.
The optimal habitual association with, and lover to Louise d'Epinay, writer and entertainer of one of the most famous Parisian “parlors” allowed his social ascension that led him to receive diplomatic posts until he was nominated Baron in 1774 by the Empress of Austria Maria Theresa. As a literary and musical critic, he wrote for the famous magazine Mercure de France.
In the Mozart's first journey to Paris, he played an essential role in their success. Though later, when Wolfgang went to Paris alone with his mother, Grimm was cold and could not stand him as in the past. In his final letter from Paris to his friend Hagenauer, Leopold Mozart spoke of Grimm in the following: “...this man, my good friend, Mr. Grimm, it is thanks to him that here I have been able to obtain everything”.
Even while provided with many letters of recommendation (among which that of the Count de Chatelet French Ambassador in Vienna, the Count Starhemberg Imperial Austrian Emissary in Paris, the Count von Cobenzl Minister of Brussels, the Prince of Conti, etc.), according to Leopold, none of them were good for anything.
Only Count Grimm “did everything”...and imagine, this aid all came from a letter written by the wife of a merchant from Frankfurt who he had met by pure chance in that city where they had stopped over on their way to Paris!
So, he gave Leopold Mozart 80 gold florins for the performance of the children at his home, then he set about distributing 320 tickets for the first concert at the theater of Mr. Felix, paying for the wax needed for the 60 candles per table to illuminate the room.
The early information on Versailles sent to Salzburg by Leopold Mozart are a bit amusing as, while speaking about the Marquise of Pompadour (former mistress of King Louis XV), he compares her to the defunct Mrs. Stainer, a Salzburg friend. Regarding her personality though, he says that she is extremely conceited and still continues to orchestrate everything (even though she had not officially been the King's mistress for at least a dozen years – A/N). He describes her as a woman with an uncommon spirit, large and corpulent, but well-proportioned, blonde, still attractive and was surely very beautiful in her youth, seeing as she had enraptured the King. The Pompadour apartments at Versailles, which faced the gardens, were described by Leopold Mozart as “a paradise”, while the palace in the Faubourg St. Honoré, used as the Parisian residence was described as magnificent. The palace (today it is the official residence of the French President of the Republic) had been built just a few decades previous for the Count d'Evreux; it was bought in 1753 by King Louis XV for 730,000 livres and donated to Madame de Pompadour, his favorite at that time. Evidently, the Mozarts had been admitted since Leopold describes the music room that housed a golden harpsichord painted “with great art” and on the walls hung two life size paintings of Madame de Pompadour and the King Louis XV. The cost of living was also very high at Versailles, and luckily in that period, it was very hot writes Leopold (in December?), otherwise there would have been the cost of wood for the price of 5 soldis per log to warm the lodging. The Mozarts lived in Versailles for two weeks on a road that, keeping in mind the two children of the family and their talents, was appropriately named: Rue des Bon Enfants (Road of the Good Children).
The comfort of a heating system
Relocating from one society that was used to the cold temperatures, or rather, protecting themselves with heavy clothing, allows us to look at the relatively rapid development of the comforts of heating: first in public places (hospitals, barracks, offices) and then private homes.
The wall fireplace appears to have been invented by the Italians (we first hear of it in Venice around the 13
century) and, compared to a central open fire, it allowed the rooms to be less invaded by smoke, but was not very efficient in dispersing the heat. Moreover, it “roasted” one's face and front of the body, leaving the backside freezing cold.
The newest invention was the stove (in iron, cast iron or ceramic) that saved fuel and offered a more homogeneous and pleasant heat. The fireplace required repeated operations and maintenance to keep it functioning: supplies of wood (to purchase, stack, carry into the house, disposing the ashes or using them for the monthly laundry).
We find a reference to the weight of the chore related to wood in a letter from Leopold Mozart to Hagenauer from Munich, dated 10 November 1766: “I ask you, or rather your wife, to find us a good housekeeper, above all in this period in which we need to continually fill the stoves with wood. These things are essential, or rather a malum necessarium (a necessary evil – A/N)”.
The embers were covered in the evening to prevent frequent household fires and to facilitate starting the fire back up in the morning. Smoke was the unavoidable companion in most homes, where the stove was central to the domestic activities in the kitchen.
The rooms, if there were any, were outdoors, so to stay warm during the cold, it was necessary to sleep with heavy clothing, possibly heating the bedding with bed warmers and braziers.
Stoves were certainly the most convenient and the wealthy, naturally, were the first to have access, even in more than one room of their apartments while keeping the antique and imposing fireplaces in the entertainment salons which was becoming a fading symbol of power.
Satisfying the new massive need for heat in the household provoked an increase in the demand for wood (this was before other forms of combustion, such as coal, were available at the turn of the century) which caused an increase in the price of up to 60/70%.
During the coldest winters, the poor ransacked the woods and forests, risking getting caught by the King's Guards or by the nobility's property foresters..
But wood, peat and coal were not the only forms of combustion used: the poor had less and could not afford to be queasy when it came to foul odor, so they used manure that, duly dried out had the caloric power equal to peat and even superior to wood (4.0 compared to an average measure of 3.5 of wood).
If finding manure was easy enough in the country, the poor in the city had to gather the horses' “leftovers”.
Even the windows (a certified innovation in Italian cities such as Genoa and Florence at the turn of the 14
century) gradually substituted wooden shutters with canvases soaked in turpentine (serving to make the fabric semi-transparent) which contributed to the struggle against the cold.
With glass windows, the necessity for light and heat merged: glass became lighter and clearer, illuminating indoor establishments which had for centuries had been dark and damp. Initially, small and round glass windows joined by lead (as can be seen in cathedrals) were invented, progressing with construction techniques to larger and clearer window panes.
Fortunately, the exhibitions of the two prodigious children at the Court began to show some profit. A gold tobacco tin and a small, but very valuable watch was given to Wolfgang by the Countess Adrienne-Catherine de Noailles de Tessé (the Dame of Honor of the Dauphin and mistress of the powerful Prince of Conti to which Wolfgang had dedicated two sonatas on the harpsichord which was composed and published in the following weeks), a small transparent and engraved gold tobacco tin for Nannerl and a silver pocket-sized escritoire with a matching silver pen for Wolfgang from the Princess of Carignano. Other gifts arrived in the following days: a red tobacco tin with gold rings, a tobacco tin in glass material ingrained in gold, a tobacco tin in “laque Martin” (also known as “vernis Martin”, invented in 1728 by the Martin brothers, an imitation of Chinese and Japanese lacquer, it was much more economical as it was initially produced with copal, a resinous substance similar to amber) with flowers and pastoral instruments in enamaled gold, a tiny ring mounted in gold with an antique setting, as well as a quantity of gifts whose value Leopold did not underestimate (ribbons for daggers, arm ribbons and tassels, tiny flowers for Nannerl's bonnets, small kerchieves and other necessary accessories to be fashionable in Paris). One last curious gift was a solid gold toothpick holder given to Nannerl.
Table settings
In reference to the gift of the toothpick holder, this allows us to speak briefly about some innovations that were forthcoming and were to become part of future etiquette: table settings. Related to food at the beginning of the 1700s, the objects that constituted the instruments at the table were the spoon, the fork and the knife.
The name “spoon”, already known from Ancient Egypt and by the Romans, is derived from cochlea (seashell) and during the Middle Ages it was made of wood or for the wealthy, gold or silver, ivory or crystal.
The knife originated even farther back with a much more aggressive history. This is possibly why its use was limited, for fear of wounding a dining companion or using it as a weapon in the case of a dispute (in China, it was against the law) up till the Renaissance Period when a rounded tip was invented, surely much safer.
The fork appeared in the modern use of bringing one's food to their mouth in Venice in 955 when the Greek Princess Argilio (who probably learned to use it in Byzantium) flaunted hers on the occasion of her wedding with her son to the Doge Pietro III Candiano.
The diffusion of this useful instrument, however, had to come to terms with the Roman Catholic Church which, due to the orthodox schism, identified the use of the fork with the Byzantium use and banded its use as demonic.
To better understand the deeply anchored curse of the mentality of people, we know of one cultured person from the 17
century, Claudio Monteverdi, who when obliged to use a fork for good manners for his hosts, later requested three masses to pardon his sin. The fork was introduced at the French Court, needless to say, by Catherine de' Medici, whose son Henry III, went as far as legislating (without much success) its common use.
During those days of mourning, the Mozarts dressed, at least in part, according to Parisian fashion; Leopold cites Wolfgang's black outfit complete with a French hat. Actually, the Mozart family had four black outfits tailored for the death of the Prince-Elector of Saxony Frederick Christian, brother of the Dauphine of France.
The rules of mourning
Death in the 18
century was frequent, whether due to disease, war or an epidemic.
Often times, as we learn in the Mozartian epistolary, an event of mourning jeopardized Leopold Mozart's plans, ruining potential earnings and weeks of contacts and maneuvers in order to obtain an invitation to a certain court or palace for the exhibitions of his children.
The aesthetics of mourning were well-defined; the dress code of the family members of the defunct, as well as the length of time the clothing should be worn..
In the case of the death of a monarch, the mourning process involved all of the subjects with evident exterior displays that included mourning wear of the nobility to the black band worn on the upper arm of the citizens.
On the occasion of the death of a regal mourning, all events and shows were postponed for weeks or even months, as was the case that involved the Mozarts and their projects in Vienna: the death of the Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria, betrothed to the King of Naples Ferdinand IV of the House of Bourbon that provoked the suspension of every event for six weeks.
In Versailles, the rigorous protocol required that the mourning dress of the King was to be purple while that of the Queen was to be white. This was declared for the death of any member belonging to the royal family or of any foreign monarch.
There was no mourning for a child under the age of seven years old, as it was considered below the age of descretion. In any case, infancy death was common and accepted with resignation.
For widows, the rules were equally as rigid. The entire household was covered in black, including paintings and mirrors and the bedroom of the widow was painted over in black. The widow had to wear a black veil and dress in the same color.
The regulations for mourning in France, as well as other European countries, were even imposed by law. In France in 1716 the duration of mourning was shortened to half by law establishing the widow a duration of one year and six weeks.
During the first four and a half months, the widowed dame had to wear a cape, surcoat and a cheesecloth skirt, then for the next three months she had to wear a dress of crêpe and wool, and for the following three months she wore clothes in silk and chiffon, and finally for the remaining six weeks she began the “half mourning” where the dress code was less severe and the use of jewelry was allowed.
Leopold calculated that the purchase of clothing and the expenses to reach the location at the Royal Palace of Versailles amounted to 26/27 Louis d'or in sixteen days, since in Versailles “horse cabs” and “rental carriages” were not available, only wagons. Due to the rainy days, in order to avoid getting their clothes muddy before approaching the Court, the four Mozarts had to take round trips with two wagons for a cost of 12 soldi each. The mother and Nannerl traveled together on one and Leopold and Wolfgang on the other. Up until that time, the Mozarts had received in cash, while waiting for the King's donations, the amount of 12 Louis d'or which only covered half of the sustained expenses. The 50 Louis d'or that were donated by the King through the Office of the Menus plaisir du Roy (responsible for the lesser royal pleasures) were held in a tabacco shop and allowed them to make ends meet for the relocation to Versailles (without including the value of the abovementioned gifts).
While in Paris, the Mozarts attempted to speak French, at least the basics that would allow them as foreigners to communicate with the locals, but judging from the errors found in the epistolary, their fluency of the language left much to be desired. Even in Wolfgang's letters in the following years, we note many spelling and grammatical errors in his use of the French and Italian languages, having learned by the seat of his pants through opera libretti and during the course of his three journeys to Italy. In a letter from Paris, peculiarly addressed to Hagenauer's wife, Leopold expresses his opinion on the beauty of French women. His impression was that they were so excessively made-up, “unnatural”, he says, “like the dolls that are made in Berchtesgaden” (a place in the Bavarian Alps 25 kilometers from Salzburg) “that even if they are pretty, they are repelling in the eyes of an honest German.”.
Beauty products
On the vanity table of an elegant dame (without excluding husbands, who also used various creams and makeup) there were many products aimed at creating fashionable pale and fresh skin, as well as substances to alter the tone, false beauty marks, etc.
Since the 16
century, there had already been books printed with recipes of every type for curing diseases or for the preparation of beauty oils and creams, such as “I Secreti Universali in Ogni Materia” by Thimoteo Rossello, published in Venice in 1575 whose second volume contained a list of a dozen recipes for making hair blond and beautiful and how to have splendid white skin.
Several similar publications were also widespread in the 18
century, for example “La Toilette de Venus” published in 1771, or “La Toilette de Flore” from the doctor Pierre-Joseph Buc'hoz who offered recipes for oils and beauty creams derived from flowers and plants.
Transparent and brilliant skin (the fashion to follow was the “convent complexion”) in the 1700s was praised enough to forgive a woman who displayed even stupidity or unrefined behavior.
Men and women who applied make-up used ceruse to whiten their complexion (originally derived from egg whites and later a white pigment made with toxic lead) and rouge for lips and cheeks (originally derived from animal substances such as scarlet-colored insects or plant-based red sandalwood, later derived from minerals such as lead, minium and sulfur baked in ovens at high temperature), not to mention the dozens of essences, creams, pastes and eau de cologne.
In one of his writings, the Knight d'Elbée calculates the sales of 2,000,000 jars of rouge and reports the words of Montclar (among the most famous vendors of rouge in Paris), who confirms having sold three dozen jars of rouge a year to Signor Dugazon (the actor, Jean-Baptiste-Henry Gourgaud), while his wife, the actress Rose Lefèvre purchased six dozen jars from Bellioni and Trial each for six francs a jar.
The make-up or rouge was not, however, chosen by its tone or color. It needed to make a statement about the person wearing it, so much so, that a certain type was reserved for the dames of social class as opposed to the dames of the Court (the princesses wore a very intense color), while another color was appropriate for the middle class, and obviously another for the courtesans.
There were also lotions: to lighten the color of the skin or to give it a blush tone, to enhance and to wash it, to eliminate freckles and blackheads, to rejuvinate skin yellowed by age, etc.
Entire fortunes were squandered on beauty products, to the point of boiling gold foil in lemon juice in order to obtain an otherworldly complexion in the light of day.
Then there were the ointments to repair the scars on the skin from disease, smallpox in particular which was widespread in that era, products for hair, nails and for teeth.
And what about false moles, also known as beauty marks? They were tiny pieces of sticky cloth in various shapes (hearts, moons, stars, etc.), purchased from the famous manufacturer Madame Dulac, meant to complete the make-up with personality and spirit.
The position of these false beauty marks (each with an assigned name) were rigorously imposed by well known rules: the assassin (at the corner of the eye), the romantic (in the middle of the cheek), the cherished (near the mouth), the regal (on the forehead), etc.
To complete the preparation of the head of the noblewoman before leaving the house neccessitated the setting and styling of her hair which, for the great noblewomen on important occasions usually involved true architectural creations by the greatest hairdressers in Paris.
The height of the hairstyles reached towering limits, so much so that caricaturists represented the hairdressers standing on stools, if not ladders to reach the peaks while they worked on their creations.
If during the early part of the 18
century, brown was the favored standard for beauty of hair color, at the turn of the century, fashion abruptly changed: dark hair fell out of favor to blue eyes and blond hair.
A pale complexion, though, remained an essential element. To reach this objective, many underwent a bloodletting procedure often many times a day through the application of bloodsuckers or being stuck with a pin in an exterior vein.
Even religious devotion and the morality of the Parisians gave Leopold reason to express many of his sarcastic doubts. Regarding the business that the Mozarts expected from the exhibitions in Versailles, all moved so slowly that Leopold complained that at the Court “things go at a snail's pace, even more than at other Courts” mostly because every entertainment activity (festivities, concerts, theatrical performances, etc.) had to pass through the evaluation and the organization of a special commission of the Court, the Menus-plaisirs du Roi (the lesser royal pleasures of the King). Leopold Mozart writes to Hagenauer's wife, illustrating some of the Parisian Court's different practices compared to what was done in Vienna: in Versailles you do not kiss the hand of royalty or bother them with requests and pleas, least of all during the ceremony of the “passage” (the procession between the two wings of courtiers that the royal family practiced while going to mass at the chapel inside the palace). It was not customary to display honor to royalty by bowing the head over a bended knee as was done in other European Courts. Instead, one was to stand up straight and comfortably and watch the members of the royal family walk by.
In reference to these customs, Leopold does not miss the chance to remark with great surprise that among the guests present, the daughters of the King stopped to speak with Wolfgang and Nannerl, letting them kiss their hands and doing likewise. Even on the evening of the New Year during the “grand couvert” (royal dinner where numerous courtiers and guests stood by watching the high ranking social class) held in the Hearth Hall that also served as the antechamber to the Queen's apartments, “My Mr. Wolfgangus had the honor to pass the entire evening near the Queen”. He conversed with her (she spoke German very well as she was of Polish origin and spent some years of her youth in Germany) and even ate the food offered by her. Leopold also draws attention to the fact that they were all accompanied to the “grand couvert” hall (given the large crowd that flocked in order to watch the dinner) by the Swiss Guards and that he, too, was near Wolfgang while his wife and Nannerl were placed near Louis, Dauphin of France (heir to the throne) and one of the daughters of the King.
The Swiss Guards
Today when we talk about the Swiss Guards, the first thing that comes to mind are the pictoresque soldiers at the State of the Vatican, with their colorful Renaissance uniforms that guard of honor of the Pope.
In truth, dating back to the 14
century during the epoch of the Hundred Years' War, many European kings used Swiss mercenaries to form military corps for their protection.
The first monarch to create a Swiss Guard corp was Louis XI and his successor Charles VIII progressively increased the number to 100, hence the name Cent suisses (the Hundred Swiss).
Between the end of the 1400s and the beginning of the 1500s, the Papal State followed the example of the King of France to the point that Julius II had at his service 150 Swiss Guards that demonstrated their faith during the course of the Sack of Rome which was carried out by the German mercenary Landsknecht soldiers enrolled in Emporer Charles V's army.
