The significant role of concert performances in sustaining interest in Figaro and Don Giovanni following the departure of the Italiänische Opera-Virtuosen from Leipzig is very evident in the months leading up to Mozart’s brief visits to the city. At that period there were three regular series: the Gewandhaus subscription concerts under the direction of Johann Gottfried Schicht and his wife Constanze Valdesturla; a complementary series of ‘Extra’ concerts, usually held in the Thomäisches Haus; and a stream of one-off benefits promoted by visiting artists in a wide variety of venues including the Saal des Rannstädter Schießhauses, the Sala della Biblioteca del Magistrato, the Theater am Rannstädter Thore, the Hôtel de Saxe and the Saal der Drey Schwanen. Also very fashionable at Christmas and Easter were large-scale concerts spirituels. Despite the city’s relatively small size, it therefore enjoyed an exceptionally rich culture of public concerts.

The resources of the Stadtgeschichtliches Museum allow us to trace the slowly rising profile of Mozart’s music during the 1780s, and the sharp increase in interest that occurred in 1788. The first ‘Mozart’ work to be heard in Leipzig was by Leopold. On 9 September 1779, his Schlittenfahrt was advertised in a bill which gave full details of the instrumentation and movements. Then on 24 January 1782 there was a performance of a ‘Sinfonie vom jüngern Mozart’. Throughout the mid-1780s, a selection of Mozart’s keyboard and chamber music was advertised by Breitkopf. Examples include: ‘Auch sind daselbst neue Amsterdamer, Lyoner, Mannheimer und Wiener Musikalien von Bocherini, Kozeluch, Hayda [sic], Mozart etc zu haben’ (1782); ‘sind folgende neue Musikalien zu bekommen … Mozard Sonaten’ (1783); ‘Mozard Clavier-Auszug, aus der Opera: die Entführung aus dem Serail, 2 fl. 30 kr. oder 1 Thlr. 16 Gr.; Mozard 3 neue Clavier-Sonaten, mit Begleitung einer Violine, 2 fl. oder I Thlr. 8 Gr.’ (1784). Another publisher who actively advertised his stock in Leipzig was Bossler. On 19 November 1785, he informed the public that his entire music list (‘meinen ganzen Musicalien-Verlag’) would henceforth be available from the retailer Christian Gottfried Martini. In 1787, Bossler had on offer ‘das 3te und 4te Stück Variat. von Förster & Mozart, 10 Gr.; / das 5te, 6te 7te Stück Variat. von Vanhall & Mozart, 18 Gr.; / das 10te Stück Mozart Quartet, 20 Gr; / das 11te Stück Mozart Sonat. 14 Gr.; / das 12te Stück Mozart 12 Variat. mit 1 Rondo, 11 Gr.; / 1 großen Clavier-Concert von Mozart, 1 Thle, 12 Gr.’ On 19 September 1789, Martini drew attention to: ‘Mozart Quartetto Op.14 per il Flauto, Viol. e Basso’.