"Mozart and Casanova" by Edward Radzinsky, summary Automatic translate

This collection of short stories transports readers to bygone eras through the confessions of famous historical figures. Published in 2004, this book is a large-scale historical reconstruction, where the precise recreation of everyday details sits alongside artistic invention. The text is written from the perspective of the participants, whose voices are intertwined with dry facts and personal dramas. The author reveals the underbelly of great achievements. The characters openly share their secrets. The diary format creates a sense of presence.

The Amorous Folly of Giacomo Casanova

Old Giacomo Casanova lives out his days in the Bohemian castle of Dux. He serves as librarian to the wealthy Count of Waldstein. Servants openly mock the impoverished old man. They steal his beloved dog and spoil his food. The proud Venetian endures this ridicule. At night, the old man writes his memoirs. He calls the book "The Story of My Life." Work saves Casanova from despair. He recounts his adventures before the French Revolution. This era destroyed the Age of Gallantry, where sensuality replaced religion.

Sometimes the castle receives guests. Count Waldstein and the Prince de Ligne arrive. The old man dons an old-fashioned velvet doublet and powders his braid. The guests laugh at his ridiculous appearance. Then Giacomo reads to them excerpts from his manuscript. The audience is delighted. Casanova compares love to a military campaign, where a swift attack ensures success in battle. Women joyfully surrender to the victor. Giacomo recalls the young O’Morphy. The girl became the favorite of Louis XV. Casanova himself arranged this acquaintance for money. The nuns M. M. and K. K. shared his bed in Venice. The French ambassador, Abbé de Bernis, observed their pleasures. The beautiful Henrietta captivated Giacomo with the mere contour of her body under the sheets.

The adventurer deceived simpletons, forged promissory notes, and fought duels. The old Marquise de Jufre gave him her fortune. She believed she would give birth to herself. Casanova escaped from the dreaded Venetian prison of Piombi by climbing through a lead roof. Before his fortieth birthday, the hero suffers a crushing defeat. A young English prostitute deceives the adventurer. The girl takes his money. She gives her love to a pathetic barber’s apprentice. The aging warrior of love is broken.

The narrative breaks off. The author analyzes the Venetian’s true identity. Casanova was a secret informant. He served the Inquisition under the name Antonio Pratolini and denounced freethinkers. The real Giacomo was a failed writer. He translated novels and wrote historical treatises. In his later years, the old man found a winning theme. He invented the image of the tireless lover. He created the myth of the eternal Victor. After Casanova’s death in 1798, the manuscript was taken by his niece’s husband, Carlo Angiolini. The texts were later purchased by Friedrich Brockhaus. The book was published in 1822. Myth has conquered time.

Several meetings with the late Mr. Mozart

The composer’s story begins with a letter from a Soviet pianist. The old musician found a manuscript in red morocco leather in Leningrad. The text turned out to be the diary of diplomat Baron Gottfried van Swieten. The pianist was arrested. The diary disappeared. The musician reconstructed the notes from memory.

Baron Gottfried van Swieten describes Mozart’s death. The composer dies on December 5, 1791. Constanze’s wife weeps. The family is left penniless. The baron proposes burying the genius in a common grave, a third-class burial. This costs eight florins. Van Swieten sorts through the deceased’s papers. He reads letters from Mozart’s father. Voices from the past are heard. Leopold Mozart recounts his son’s childhood. The four-year-old wrote the most complex concertos. The seven-year-old conquered Paris, London, and Rome. In Rome, the young genius wrote down the secret score of the "Miserere" from memory. The Pope awards him the Order of the Golden Spur.

Leopold raised his son strictly. He feared Wolfgang’s fiery temperament. The young man falls in love with the singer Aloysia Weber. His father orders him to go to Paris. There, the composer’s mother dies. Aloysia marries another musician. Mozart returns to Salzburg. Serving Archbishop Colorado turns into humiliation. Count Arco, the chamberlain, kicks Mozart down the stairs. The composer leaves for Vienna and settles in the Weber family home. Old Madame Weber weaves an intrigue. Mozart marries Constanze.

Marriage makes Mozart happy. However, the composer remains careless. He throws gold ducats around. He keeps an expense book and records his expenses on a starling bird. The musician leads a frivolous life and calls himself by the comical name Punkititi. His wife constantly travels to the spa in Baden for treatment. Wolfgang sells the household silver for a trip to Frankfurt.

Van Swieten tries to introduce the composer to the austere music of Bach. Mozart takes someone else’s work and reworks it. Librettist Lorenzo di Ponte composes the lyrics. Mozart writes "The Marriage of Figaro." The opera is a resounding success. But Antonio Salieri plots against Mozart. The composer loses his court lessons. The family plunges into poverty. Theater director Schikaneder commissions "The Magic Flute." Wolfgang writes luminous, fairytale-like music.

A gray stranger appears. The man commissions a Requiem. Mozart is certain he is writing a funeral mass for himself. The composer is ill. He suspects Salieri of poisoning him. The illness consumes Wolfgang. Van Swieten secretly rejoices at the genius’s torment. The Baron believes that hardships give birth to true music. The truth is revealed. The Requiem was commissioned by Herr Leutgeb. He served Count von Walsegg zu Stuppach. The Count wanted to claim credit for the mass. Mozart dies without finishing the work. Old Salieri loses his mind. Van Swieten triumphantly performs the Requiem in Vienna.

Walks with the Executioner

Charles-Henri Sanson works as a Parisian executioner. The position is hereditary. People despise executioners. The Sansons live in isolation. At home, they play music and play in a string quartet. Charles-Henri recalls the execution of the robber Cartouche. This execution was carried out by his grandfather. Charles himself quarters Damiens. The criminal attempted to assassinate Louis XV. Damiens’s torture is horrific. Horses tear the condemned man’s body apart. Sanson keeps a log of executions. In his youth, the executioner seduces the beautiful Jeanne. She becomes Countess du Barry, the old king’s favorite. Later, Charles brands de la Motte. This woman stole the queen’s expensive necklace. The French Revolution begins.

The National Assembly grants executioners equal rights with citizens. Deputy Guillotin proposes using the mechanism for executions. Mechanic Schmidt draws up a design for the guillotine. Louis XVI makes technical amendments. The king suggests making the blade beveled. The machine is approved. The revolution gathers momentum. Louis XVI is brought before the Convention. On January 20, 1793, the monarch ascends the scaffold. Sanson binds his hands. The guillotine cuts off Louis’s head. The crowd rejoices. The body is thrown into a pit of quicklime. Sanson secretly orders a mass for the king.

A bloody reign of terror begins. The Revolutionary Tribunal rubber-stamps death sentences. Prosecutor Fouquier-Tinville sends hundreds to their deaths. Sanson executes Charlotte Corday. She stabbed the frantic Marat to death in the bathtub. The girl dies courageously. Marie Antoinette’s turn comes next. The former queen of the French rides in the cart of shame. The people shower her with curses. Sanson cuts off her head. The severed head stares at the crowd with open eyes.

The revolutionaries begin to devour each other. The Girondins go to the scaffold. The executioner executes Vergniaud, Brissot, and Madame Roland. The condemned sing "La Marseillaise." Madame Roland addresses the Statue of Liberty. Later, the leaders of the Paris Commune perish. Hébert weeps cowardly. Anacharsis Clootz cries out for brotherhood. Jeanne du Barry also ends up on the scaffold. The former favorite begs the executioner to wait a moment. A youth from the crowd picks up her severed head and falls dead from horror.

The machine of terror does not stop. Robespierre orders the arrest of Danton and Desmoulins. Danton shouts harsh words at the artist David. On the scaffold, Danton prophesies Robespierre’s imminent death. Desmoulins weeps for his wife, Lucile. Soon, Lucile, too, is beheaded. Executions become mass. Every day, Sanson kills dozens of townspeople. The chemist Lavoisier and Princess Elizabeth perish. The executioner is exhausted. His assistant, Louvet, hangs himself. Charles Henri sees blood stains everywhere. He takes a walk outside the city and meets Robespierre. Robespierre looks at the executioner with wild horror. Sanson hands over his post to his son.

Danton’s prophecy comes true. Robespierre is arrested. Sanson’s son carries the tyrant in the same cart. Robespierre dies under the guillotine. Charles-Henri Sanson is tormented by nightmares. Horror settles forever in the soul of the old executioner.