The Places • The churches and palaces of Prague are seen, with the great River
Vltava (the Moldau), which flows through the city, the outline of city buildings
reflected in its waters. The Strahov Monastery and the Villa Bertramka are
practical examples of Mozart’s contact with Prague. On a visit to the monastery
he improvised on the organ, and at the Villa Bertramka he and his wife Constanze
were guests of the Czech composer Dušek. There is also a visit to Southern
Moravia and Lednice, with its Neo-Gothic castle, its folly, a slender minaret, in its
English gardens, with its trees and artificial lakes.
The Music • Mozart had happy memories of Prague. When, during the last ten
years of his life, circumstances in Vienna proved increasingly difficult, he was
always welcome in the Bohemian capital. It was for Prague that he wrote his
opera Don Giovanni in 1787 and for Prague that he wrote one of his last operas,
La clemenza di Tito, commissioned for the coronation of Leopold II as King of
Bohemia, and for his unappreciative wife, who described the work as ‘porchería
tedesca’, German porkery. Prague continues to honour Mozart in various festivals,
concerts and memorabilia.
