On the 22d of December, 1777, Mozart's father wrote as follows to Padre
Martini in Bologna:--"My son has been now five years in the service of
our Prince, at a mere nominal salary, hoping that by degrees his earnest
endeavors and any talents he may possess, combined with the utmost
industry and most unremitting study, would be rewarded; but in this hope
we find ourselves deceived. I forbear all allusion to our Prince's mode
of thinking and acting; but he was not ashamed to declare that my son
knew nothing, and that he ought to go to the musical training school in
Naples to learn music. And why did he say all this? In order to intimate
that a young man should not be so absurd as to believe that he deserved
a rather higher salary after such a decisive verdict had issued from the
lips of a prince. This has induced me to sanction my son giving up his
present situation. He therefore left Salzburg on the 23d of September"
[with his mother].
59.
Wasserburg, Sept. 23, 1777.