It is alleged that Mozart did not like the flute. This comes from a direct quote from a letter
he wrote from Mannheim to his father, Leopold, on February 14, 1778, when he was
residing in Salzburg at the time.
Mannheim, Feb. 14, 1778.
The journey will not cost much, for there are vetturini here who can be engaged at a cheap
rate. By that time, however, I hope to have made enough to pay mamma’s journey home.
Just now I don’t really see that it is possible. Herr de Jean sets off to-morrow for Paris, and
as I have only finished two concertos and three quartets for him, he sent me 96 florins
(having made a mistake of four florins, thinking this sum the half of the 200); he must,
however, pay me in full, for such was the agreement I made with Wendling, and I can send
him the other pieces. It is not surprising that I have been unable to finish them, for I never
have a single quiet hour here. I can only write at night, so I cannot rise early; besides, one is
not always disposed to work. I could, to be sure, scrawl away all day, but a thing of this kind
goes forth to the world, and I am resolved not to have cause to be ashamed of my name on
the title-page. Moreover, you know that I become quite obtuse when obliged to write
perpetually for an instrument that I cannot bear; so from time to time I do something else,
such as duets for the piano and violin, and I also worked at the mass. Now I have begun the
pianoforte duets in good earnest, in order to publish them. If the Elector were only here, I
would very quickly finish the mass; but what must be must be!
The key sentence in German is, „Dann bin auch, wie Sie wissen, gleich stuff [widerwillig],
wenn ich immer für ein Instrument (das ich nicht leiden kann) schreiben soll.“
The significant word he uses is an older word not often used “stuff” It is a slang term
abbreviated from “muffig” meaning musty, sullen, stiffling, disgruntled, with a slightly more
negative connotation than “obtuse” used by the official translation in the letter. German is
my first language, which gives me insights that a translator may not have. The word “stuff”
raises much more negative meaning, like reluctance, disgust, etc. Also, the end of the
sentence has much more dislike expressed than “an instrument I cannot bear”; it should
be “I cannot stand!”
It is true that Mozart was just 22 years old when he wrote that letter, but he had several
other reasons to dislike the flute. It was an instrument much different from the modern
flute that came into use in the 1930s. The original instrument, the baroque flute, was made
of wood with side holes drilled to match the handspan of the flutist and ignored the obvious
changes in character and tone the instrument produced. It was much more difficult to play
to produce the sound the composer had intended. Mozart also had several unpleasant
financial experiences of getting reimbursed for his compositions. A Dutch surgeon and
amateur flutist, Ferdinand de Jean, had commissioned three concertos and four quartets
for which he was to receive 200 Florins ($20/Florin). Because the full order was not
complete, additionally one of the concertos was a revised oboe piece that Mozart had
reworked, thus de Jean reduced the fee to 96 Florins. Then the Duke de Guines had
ordered a flute and harp concerto in C Major for which the Duke never paid him a dime.
When he was 22, he did not like composing for the flute and said so in terms that were not
mistakable and very definitive, as I read the original letter in German. Later, obviously,
Mozart modified his thinking on the flute, as one of his final operas was all about the flute,
serving as both a physical prop in the storyline and a key component of the orchestral
score, The Magic Flute, possibly his best, premiered September 30, 1791. He died December 5, 1791.