All the Scattered Pages

By Jared Gollob

The path to Mozart goes through his wife Constanze.

That path was lost until the discovery of a set of travel diaries, which recorded one couple's visit with Constanze and other loved ones following Mozart's death. Those diaries provided a century-old sketch of Mozart, his family, and friends that left readers wanting more. Using the diaries as a framework, All the Scattered Pages provides a provocative dramatization of what may have really transpired during that trip.

The diaries belonged to Vincent and Mary Novello, a couple central to the music and literary scene of 19th century London. Vincent was a composer and music publisher who founded Novello & Company and led a charmed life, excluding the tragic death of his 4-year-old son. Since that loss, he has been obsessed by Mozart's Requiem and the controversy over who completed the unfinished masterpiece after Mozart's premature death 40 years earlier.

In the summer of 1829, he and Mary set off for Austria in search of the original Requiem manuscript, which they hope to publish along with the true story behind its posthumous completion. While they justify their trip as an opportunity to visit with Mozart's dying sister Nannerl in Salzburg and present her with a donation from admirers, their real objective is to meet with Mozart's widow Constanze, who also lives in Salzburg and may hold the key to the Requiem.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798350918236

Book preview

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All the Scattered Pages

© 2023, Jared Gollob.

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

Print ISBN: 979-8-35091-822-9

eBook ISBN: 979-8-35091-823-6

Cast of Characters

VINCENT NOVELLO, organist, composer, music publisher in London

MARY NOVELLO, his wife

CONSTANZE VON NISSEN, widow of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen

FRANZ XAVER WOLFGANG MOZART, musician, composer, youngest son of Mozart and Constanze

MARIA ANNA (NANNERL) VON SONNENBURG, sister of Mozart

SOPHIE HAIBL, sister of Constanze

ALOYSIA LANGE, sister of Constanze, former famous Viennese opera singer

THOMAS ATTWOOD, musician, composer, former student of Mozart

JOSEPH EYBLER, musician, composer, former student of Mozart

ABBÉ MAXIMILIAN STADLER, musician, composer, former Benedictine monk and abbot, close friend of Mozart

TOBIAS HASLINGER, musician, composer, music publisher in Vienna

JOSEPH HENICKSTEIN, financier, amateur musician, friend of Mozart

CHARLES LAMB, essayist, poet and antiquarian

LEIGH HUNT, critic, essayist and poet

ALFRED NOVELLO, son of Vincent and Mary

WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

SETTING: The play in 2 Acts is set from June–August 1829 in London, Salzburg and Vienna. Mozart has been dead for nearly 40 years.

Act I

Act I, Scene 1

Act I, Scene 2

Act I, Scene 3

Act I, Scene 4

Act I, Scene 5

Act II

Act II, Scene 1

Act II, Scene 2

Act II, Scene 3

Act II, Scene 4

Epilogue

Act I

Act I, Scene 1

Drawing room of VINCENT and MARY Novello at 66 Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn, London in June of 1829. The walls around Center stage are of a delicate rose tint color, hung with water-color drawings by Varley, Copley Fielding, Havell, and Cristall. The floor is covered with a plain grey drugget bordered by a garland of vine leaves. In the center of the room are several large sofas with several sofa tables strewn with books and prints, along with several chairs. At one end of the room, Stage right, is a chamber organ with bench and another chair nearby. There are lit candles in sconces along the back wall and on small tables near the sofas and next to the organ. VINCENT is seated at the organ in black evening attire, playing sacred music by Mozart. He is in his late-40s, of medium height and a little stout, balding and clean-shaven except for carefully groomed sideburns that extend forward. He has a calm, friendly expression that belies his intensity and attention to detail. MARY, recently turned 40, is seated on one of the sofas. Taller than her husband and finely proportioned, looking young for her age, MARY wears an elegant light-grey dress with white lace collar and large white cap ornamented with pink and white ribbons. LEIGH Hunt, in his mid-40s, and CHARLES Lamb, in his mid-50s, are seated in chairs with drinks in hand, dressed in more casual dinner attire. THOMAS Attwood, in his mid-60s, and ALFRED Novello, 19, are standing around the organ in black evening attire.

VINCENT ends his playing, and everyone in the room applauses.

CHARLES

Vincent, as we are gathered here to see you and Mary off on your Mozart pilgrimage to Austria, it is fitting that you should play music by your beloved Mozart. But I would be remiss if I did not express my disappointment in not hearing my Serenata for Two Voices set to music. I expected my words, written on the occasion of Victoria’s marriage to Charles, to inspire you to compose music rivaling Mozart’s, sung by Clara and none other than myself.

VINCENT

Perhaps if you had sent it sooner, rather than waiting so long after the wedding, I would have finished it by now.

CHARLES

We cannot all be as efficient as you. But I blame my sister Mary for the delay, as she was the one who discouraged me from sending it.

THOMAS

Tell us Vincent, were you inspired by his words to compose?

LEIGH

Before you answer him Vincent, also comment on whether a composer’s greatest works are inspired by words or by a creative force that transcends words or thoughts.

VINCENT

That depends on whether music is meant to be in the service of language or is a language unto itself. I think it is both. So the real question is which comes more naturally for a composer. I have a bias towards sacred works of music, and because I think Mozart’s most profound work is the Requiem, rivaled only by his operas, I believe that musical creation inspired by language is the more natural state for a composer.

THOMAS

But you have still not answered my question. Since you did not perform a Serenata for Two Voices tonight, I have to assume you were not inspired by Charles. In which case, are you going to wait for the right words? I can assure you I never knew Mozart to wait for them.

ALFRED

Kelly said you were Mozart’s favorite pupil, did he not?

THOMAS

Yes, although he was prone to exaggeration. As a teacher Mozart could be rather blunt. There are some places in my exercise notebook where next to his corrections he wrote You are an ass.

LEIGH

If I recall, Mozart’s manuscripts never showed any changes, so he must have been sure of that before he wrote it down.

THOMAS

Thank you, Leigh, I’ve always been impressed by how you apply your scholarship to ridicule. This did amuse me, and I think my willingness to take a beating from him with a sense of humor while learning his style and approach to composition endeared me to him. Mozart was very liberal in giving praise to those who deserved it but felt a thorough contempt for insolent mediocrity.

MARY

Oh my, Leigh, then I’m afraid you wouldn’t have gotten on well with Mozart.

LEIGH

Mary, I used to think of you as Vincent’s better half; now I’m starting to wonder if I was mistaken.

Turning back to THOMAS.

Thomas, you were studying under Mozart when he composed Figaro. Was he not inspired by DaPonte’s libretto to write his greatest work during that time?

THOMAS

Yes, but keep in mind that Mozart was incredibly prolific during those 2 years, writing not just Figaro, but also six piano concertos, one symphony, three piano trios, two piano quartets, and one string quartet. I would argue that several of his piano concertos, including those in D minor and A major, are as inspired as Figaro. I’m not convinced that setting words to music is the more natural state for a composer like Mozart. For a strong, unrelenting creative force, the vehicle for creation is whatever is immediately at hand.