Carl Starzer advertised his Invention-Horns for sale as early as 17711. I thought about the price of such instruments and wondered if it had been an obstacle to their purchase. Could Leutgeb afford one ?
It is necessary to make a short reminder on the viennese currency of the XVIIIth century : the unit was the Gulden (simplified « fl » or « f »), which was divided in 60 Kreutzen (« xr »). 1 Ducat was worth 4 fl and 30 xr (a Gulden and a half)2. To give the lector an idea of the value, I will simply quote Richard Maunder : « A rough modern (late 1990’s) equivalent, in terms of both purchasing power and middle-class earnings, would be about 1f =₤25=$403 ». $40 in the 1990’s represent more or less €33 in 20194.
In his advertisement mentioned above, Starzer announces a price of 45 Ducats for a pair of Invention-Horns (202 fl and 30 xr). In 1807, we have a bill for a pair of Kerner5 Invention-Horns for 280 fl6 ; another from Huschauer, dated 1808, for 200 fl the pair7. Kerner charged 21 fl 20 xr for a horn with a complete set of crooks in 17738, but since the price is quite different it probably wasn’t an Invention-Horn, maybe a master-crooked horn.
What do those figures mean at the time for a musician ? We can have an idea thanks to an article by Otto Erich Deutsch, Austrian Currency Values and Their Purchasing Power (1725-1934). Centered on the musical world, the article gives the amount of money certain artists, mainly composers, earned with their work at the time, and the meaning of those figures. The article provides us with the very interesting budget of a typical mid-class bachelor in Vienna for the year 17869 :
Deutsch makes it clear that those figures barely change from 1725 to 1785, and thus they are considered relevant for the whole XVIIIth century10.
It is then possible to state that a pair of Starzer’s Invention-Horns from 1771 costed almost half the budget of a mid-class bachelor at the time11. That is quite a price, so one needed a strong budget.
According to Helen Starzer, from 1752 Thomas Starzer was earning per year an average of 150 fl as first horn of the orchestra of the Deutschen Theaters nächst Kärntnerthor. (From 1754 his salary was raised to 180 fl12.) We know for a fact that the same year, Leutgeb was playing in the orchestra of Prince Hildburghausen in Vienna ; we can then have an idea of his salary. Even if it was a bit higher than Thomas Starzer’s, a « new » Invention-Horn would still represent a year-salary to him.
Later in 1779, Leutgeb became hornist of Vienna’s Burgtheater. During the 1782/3 season, he earned an annual 350 fl13. An Invention-Horn represents over two thirds of this salary.
Of course, he probably made much more money from his solo-concerts in Paris and Milano. And yet, Leutgeb financial situation was not comfortable in the 1780’s. In the letter mentionned earlier [see the Researching Leutgeb chapter], we know that Leutgeb owed money to Leopold Mozart :
« Mr. Leitgeb, who has now bought in a suburb of Vienna a cheesemonger’s shop the
size of a snail’s shell, wrote to us both after your departure, promised to pay me in due
course, and asked you for a concerto14. »
In Lorenz’s paper, we have evidence that Leutgeb had never been in charge of any cheeseshop15. It is a myth which started with this very letter from Leopold ; Lorentz suggests that it was « part of a sheme to elicit money from Leopold Mozart » ; this is how badly Leutgeb needed money.
Mr. Lorenz adds that Leutgeb also borrowed money from a butcher of Penzing to buy his house in Vienna in 1777 ; a house he had to mortgage at a 4% interest rate on July 1st 1778 !
And finally, in a letter dated May 8th 1782 (right during the horn concertos time), Mozart writes to his father :
« Have a bit of patience about the poor Leutgeb, I beg you ; if you knew his situation
and saw how he has to cope with it, you surely would pity him. I will talk to him and I
am sure he will pay you, at least bit by bit16. »
To sum up, not only were Invention-Horns not so successfull in Vienna, they were also quite expensive ; Leutgeb probably did not have a significant salary and we know for sure that his financial situation was precarious. Thus, he probably did not have the resources to buy such an expensive horn, particularly when fixed-pitch horns were all around.
