As usual, I tried to steer the conversation over to German. Anxious to improve my conversational skills, I seized every opportunity to practice. Kallir never indulged me on this but he did seem to respect the efforts I was making. When we said goodbye, he wished me luck on the upcoming Orpheus tour and reminded me to give the sealed envelope to Frau Haupt-Stummer. The little sealed envelope puzzled me. Only by the end of the tour did I begin to grasp its significance.
When I arrived in Salzburg I made a special trip to the Geburtshaus on Getreidegasse 9. I handed my little envelope to the director. She seemed to have some idea who I was. Smiling, she said, “I see that you are studying German and I think this little book will help.” What she handed me then was a small green paperback edition of the correspondence between Mozart and his second cousin Bäsle - well known for its scatological content!
Then I got a personal guided tour of the museum. When we got to Mozart’s own fortepiano I begged her to unlock it. She said, “Of course you may play it” and she unlocked the transparent shield surrounding the piano.
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