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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.07/27/01*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced by John Mamoun (mamounjo@umdnj.edu), Charles +Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + + + +INFORMATION ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION + +The following is the text of "Mozart: The Man and the Artist, as +Revealed in his own Words," compiled and annotated by Friedrich +Kerst and translated into english, and edited, with new +introduction and additional notes, by Henry Edward Krehbiel. +Each page was cut out of the original book with an X-acto +knife and fed into an Automatic Document Feeder Scanner to +make this e-text, so the original book was disbinded in order +to save it. + +Some adaptations from the original text were made while +formatting it for an e-text. Italics in the original book were +ignored in making this e-text, unless they referred to proper +nouns, in which case they are put in quotes in the e-text. +Italics are problematic because they are not easily rendered in +ASCII text. + +This electronic text was prepared by John Mamoun with help from +numerous other proofreaders, including those associated with +Charles Franks' Distributed Proofreaders website. Thanks to C. +Franks, S. Harris, A. Montague, S. Morrison, J. Roberts, R. Rowe, +R. Tremblay, R. Zimmerman and several others for proof-reading. + +Corrections for version 11 of this text made by Andrew Sly. + + + + +MOZART: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS + +BY + +FRIEDRICH KERST + +TRANSLATED BY HENRY EDWARD KREHBIEL + + + + + +MOZART: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS + + + +TABLE OF CONTENTS + + +INFORMATION ABOUT THIS E-TEXT EDITION +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH +MOZART: THE MAN AND THE ARTIST, AS REVEALED IN HIS OWN WORDS + + EDITOR'S NOTE + THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MOZART + CHIPS FROM THE WORKSHOP + CONCERNING THE OPERA + MUSICAL PEDAGOGICS + TOUCHING MUSICAL PERFORMANCES + EXPRESSIONS CRITICAL + OPINIONS CONCERNING OTHERS + WOLFGANG, THE GERMAN + SELF-RESPECT AND HONOR + AT HOME AND ABROAD + LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP + WORLDLY WISDOM + IN SUFFERING + MORALS + RELIGION + + + +BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH + + + +The German composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was not +only a musical genius, but was also one of the pre-eminent +geniuses of the Western world. He defined in his music a system +of musical thought and an entire state of mind that were unlike +any previously experienced. A true child prodigy, he began +composing at age 5 and rapidly developed his unmistakable style; +by 18 he was composing works capable of altering the mind-states +of entire civilizations. Indeed, he and his predecessor Bach +accomplished the Olympian feat of adding to the human concepts of +civility and civilization. So these two were not just musical +geniuses, but geniuses of the humanities. + +Mozart's music IS civilization. It encompasses all that is humane +about an idealized civilization. And it probably was Mozart's +main purpose to create and propagate a concept of a great +civilization through his music. He wanted to show his fellow +Europeans, with their garbage-polluted citystreets, their violent +mono-maniacal leaders and their stifling, non-humane bureaucracies, +new ideas on how to run their civilizations properly. He wanted +them to hear and feel a sense of civilized movement, of the +musical expressions of man moving as he would if upholding the +highest values of idealized societies. One need only listen to +the revolutionary opening bars of his famous Eine Kleine +Nachtmusik to see this. + +He was an extremely sophisticated and complex man. His letters +reveal him as remarkably creative, fascinated by the arts, +principled, religious and devoted to his father. He had an +energetic personality that was almost completely devoid of any +cynicism, pessimism or discouragement from creating music. While +rumors suggest that he was a lascivious individual, there is no +evidence of this at all in his letters. Quite the contrary, the +evidence seems overwhelmingly to suggest the opposite, and that +Mozart may not have had any relations with women except with his +own wife. + +He was not as shrewd as he was civilized, however. He was +peculiarly lax about profiting from his history-changing music. +His promoters constantly short-changed him. + +He died nearly penniless and in debt, and at his death at age 35 +an apathetic public took little notice of this man who had done +so much in service to civilization. He was buried in an unmarked +pauper's grave with few mourners. After his death, the bones of +this great paragon of self-sacrifice for the sake of improving +civilization were dug up and disposed of. His grave was then +re-used, and to this day no one knows where his bones lie. Perhaps +they are in a catacomb somewhere, in a huge bone-pile containing +thousands of anonymous cadavers. + +But the sounds he heard in his head live on, stimulating millions +in elevators, doctors' offices, train terminals, concert halls +and myriad other places to be more civilized, assuming that they +pay attention to the music. + + + +EDITOR'S NOTE + + + +The purpose and scope of this little book will be obvious to the +reader from even a cursory glance at its contents. It is, in a +way, an autobiography of Mozart written without conscious +purpose, and for that reason peculiarly winning, illuminating and +convincing. The outward things in Mozart's life are all but +ignored in it, but there is a frank and full disclosure of the +great musician's artistic, intellectual and moral character, made +in his own words. + +The Editor has not only taken the trouble to revise the work of +the German author and compiler, but, for reasons which seemed to +him imperative, has also made a new translation of all the +excerpts. Most of the translations of Mozart's letters which have +found their way into the books betray want of familiarity with +the idioms and colloquialisms employed by Mozart, as well as +understanding of his careless, contradictory and sprawling +epistolary style. Some of the intimacy of that style the new +translation seeks to preserve, but the purpose has chiefly been +to make the meaning plain. + + +H.E.K. + + +New York, June 7, 1905 + + + +THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MOZART + + + +Mozart! What a radiance streams from the name! Bright and pure as +the light of the sun, Mozart's music greets us. We pronounce his +name and behold! the youthful artist is before us,--the merry, +light-hearted smile upon his features, which belongs only to true +and naive genius. It is impossible to imagine an aged Mozart,--an +embittered and saddened Mozart,--glowering gloomily at a wicked +world which is doing its best to make his lot still more +burdensome;--a Mozart whose music should reflect such painful +moods. + +Mozart was a Child of the Sun. Filled with a humor truly divine, +he strolled unconstrainedly through a multitude of cares like +Prince Tamino through his fantastic trials. Music was his +talisman, his magic flute with which he could exorcise all the +petty terrors that beset him. Has such a man and artist--one who +was completely resolved in his works, and therefore still stands +bodily before us with all his glorious qualities after the lapse +of a century--has Mozart still something to say to us who have +just stepped timidly into a new century separated by another from +that of the composer? Much; very much. Many prophets have arisen +since Mozart's death; two of them have moved us profoundly with +their evangel. One of them knew all the mysteries, and Nature +took away his hearing lest he proclaim too much. We followed him +into all the depths of the world of feeling. The other shook us +awake and placed us in the hurly-burly of national life and +striving; pointing to his own achievements, he said: "If you wish +it, you have now a German art!" The one was Beethoven,--the other +Wagner. Because their music demands of us that we share with it +its experiences and struggles, they are the guiding spirits of a +generation which has grown up in combat and is expecting an +unknown world of combat beyond the morning mist of the new +century. + +But we are in the case of the man in the fairy tale who could not +forget the merry tune of the forest bird which he had heard as a +boy. We gladly permit ourselves to be led, occasionally, out of +the rude realities that surround us, into a beautiful world that +knows no care but lies forever bathed in the sunshine of +cloudless happiness,--a world in which every loveliness of which +fancy has dreamed has taken life and form. It is because of this +that we make pilgrimages to the masterpieces of the plastic arts, +that we give heed to the speech of Schiller, listen to the music +of Mozart. When wearied by the stress of life we gladly hie to +Mozart that he may tell us stories of that land of beauty, and +convince us that there are other and better occupations than the +worries and combats of the fleeting hour. This is what Mozart has +to tell us today. In spite of Wagner he has an individual mission +to fulfill which will keep him immortal. "That of which Lessing +convinces us only with expenditure of many words sounds clear and +irresistible in 'The Magic Flute':--the longing for light and +day. Therefore there is something like the glory of daybreak in +the tones of Mozart's opera; it is wafted towards us like the +morning breeze which dispels the shadows and invokes the sun." + +Mozart remains ever young; one reason is because death laid hold +of him in the middle of his career. While all the world was still +gazing expectantly upon him, he vanished from the earth and left +no hope deceived. His was the enviable fate of a Raphael, +Schiller and Korner. As the German ('tis Schumann's utterance) +thinks of Beethoven when he speaks the word symphony, so the name +of Mozart in his mind is associated with the conception of things +youthful, bright and sunny. Schumann was fully conscious of a +purpose when he called out, "Do not put Beethoven in the hands of +young people too early; refresh and strengthen them with the +fresh and lusty Mozart." Another time he writes: "Does it not +seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener +we hear them?" + +The more we realize that Wagner places a heavy and intoxicating +draught before us the more we shall appreciate the precious +mountain spring which laves us in Mozart's music, and the less +willing we shall be to permit any opportunity to pass unimproved +which offers us the crystal cup. In the mind of Goethe genius was +summed up in the name of Mozart. In a prophetic ecstasy he spoke +the significant words: "What else is genius than that productive +power through which deeds arise, worthy of standing in the +presence of God and Nature, and which, for this reason, bear +results and are lasting? All the creations of Mozart are of this +class; within them there is a generative force which is +transplanted from generation to generation, and is not likely +soon to be exhausted or devoured." + + + +CHIPS FROM THE WORKSHOP + + + +1. "If one has the talent it pushes for utterance and torments +one; it will out; and then one is out with it without +questioning. And, look you, there is nothing in this thing of +learning out of books. Here, here and here (pointing to his ear, +his head and his heart) is your school. If everything is right +there, then take your pen and down with it; afterward ask the +opinion of a man who knows his business." + +(To a musically talented boy who asked Mozart how one might learn +to compose.) + +2. "I can not write poetically; I am no poet. I can not divide +and subdivide my phrases so as to produce light and shade; I am +no painter. I can not even give expression to my sentiments and +thoughts by gestures and pantomime; I am no dancer. But I can do +it with tones; I am a musician....I wish you might live till +there is nothing more to be said in music." + +(Mannheim, November 8, 1777, in a letter of congratulation to his +father who was born on November 14, 1719. Despite his assertion +Mozart was an admirable dancer and passionately devoted to the +sport. [So says Herr Kerst obviously misconceiving Mozart's +words. It is plain to me that the composer had the classic +definition of the dance in mind when he said that he was no +dancer. The dance of which he was thinking was that described by +Charles Kingsley. "A dance in which every motion was a word, and +rest as eloquent as motion; in which every attitude was a fresh +motive for a sculptor of the purest school, and the highest +physical activity was manifested, not as in coarse pantomime, in +fantastic bounds and unnatural distortions, but in perpetual +delicate modulations of a stately and self-sustained grace." +H.E.K.]) + +3. "The poets almost remind me of the trumpeters with their +tricks of handicraft. If we musicians were to stick as faithfully +to our rules (which were very good as long as we had no better) +we should make as worthless music as they make worthless books." + +(Vienna, October 13, 1781, to his father. He is writing about the +libretto of "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail," by Stephanie. The +trumpeters at the time still made use of certain flourishes which +had been traditionally preserved in their guild.) + +4. "I have spared neither care nor labor to produce something +excellent for Prague. Moreover it is a mistake to think that the +practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear +friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition +as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I +have not frequently and diligently studied." + +(A remark to Conductor Kucharz in Prague, who led the rehearsals +for "Don Giovanni" in 1787.) + +5. "They are, indeed, the fruit of long and painstaking labor; +but the hope which some of my friends aroused in me, that my work +would be rewarded at least in part, has given me courage and the +flattering belief that these, my offspring, will some day bring +me comfort." + +(From the dedication of the Six Quartets to Haydn in 1785. The +quartets were sent back to the publisher, Artaria, from Italy, +because "they contained so many misprints." The unfamiliar chords +and dissonances were looked upon as printers' errors. +Grassalkowitsch, a Hungarian prince, thought his musicians were +playing faultily in some of these passages, and when he learned +differently he tore the music in pieces.) + +6. "I can not deny, but must confess that I shall be glad when I +receive my release from this place. Giving lessons here is no +fun; you must work yourself pretty tired, and if you don't give a +good many lessons you will make but little money. You must not +think that it is laziness;--no!--but it goes counter to my +genius, counter to my mode of life. You know that, so to speak, I +am wrapped up in music,--that I practice it all day long,--that I +like to speculate, study, consider. All this is prevented by my +mode of life here. I shall, of course, have some free hours, but +they will be so few that they will be necessary more for +recuperation than work." + +(Paris, July 31, 1778, to his father.) + +7. "M. Le Gros bought the 'Sinfonie concertante' of me. He thinks +that he is the only one who has it; but that isn't so. It is +still fresh in my head, and as soon as I get home I'll write it +down again." + +(Paris, October 3, 1778, to his father. An evidence of the +retentiveness of Mozart's memory. In this instance, however, he +did not carry out his expressed intention. Le Gros was director +of the Concerts spirituels.) + +8. "Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to +a fine racer, and counterpointists to hack post-horses; therefore +be advised, let well alone and remember the old Italian proverb: +Chi sa piu, meno sa--'Who knows most, knows least.'" + +(To the English tenor Michael Kelly, about 1786, in answer to +Kelly's question whether or not he should take up the study of +counterpoint.) + +9. "One of the priests gave me a theme. I took it on a promenade +and in the middle (the fugue was in G minor) I began in the +major, with something jocose but in the same tempo; finally the +theme again, but backwards. Finally I wondered if I might not use +the playful melody as a theme for a fugue. I did not question +long, but made it at once, and it went as accurately as if Daser +had measured it for the purpose. The dean was beside himself." + +(Augsburg, October 23, 1777, to his father. Daser was a tailor in +Salzburg.) + +10. "Above us is a violinist, below us another, next door a +singing teacher who gives lessons, and in the last room opposite +ours, a hautboyist. Merry conditions for composing! You get so +many ideas!" + +(Milan, August 23, 1771, to his "dearest sister.") + +11. "If I but had the theme on paper,--worked out, of course. It +is too silly that we have got to hatch out our work in a room." + +(A remark to his wife while driving through a beautiful bit of +nature and humming all manner of ideas that came into his head.) + +12. "I'd be willing to work forever and forever if I were +permitted to write only such music as I want to write and can +write--which I myself think good. Three weeks ago I made a +symphony, and by tomorrow's post I shall write again to +Hofmeister and offer him three pianoforte quartets, if he has +the money." + +(Written in 1789 to a baron who was his friend and who had +submitted a symphony for his judgment. F.A. Hofmeister was a +composer and publisher in Vienna.) + +13. "You can do a thing like this for the pianoforte, but not for +the theatre. When I wrote this I was still too fond of hearing my +own music, and never could make an end." + +(A remark to Rochlitz while revising and abbreviating the +principal air in "Die Entfuhrung.") + +14. "You know that I had already finished the first Allegro on +the second day after my arrival here, and consequently had seen +Mademoiselle Cannabich only once. Then came young Danner and +asked me how I intended to write the Andante. 'I will make it fit +the character of Mademoiselle Rose.' When I played it, it pleased +immensely....I was right; she is just like the Andante." + +(Mannheim, December 6, 1777, to his father. Rose Cannabich was a +pupil of Mozart's, aged thirteen and very talented. "She is very +sensible for her age, has a staid manner, is serious, speaks +little, but when she does speak it is with grace and amiability," +writes Mozart in the same letter. It is also related of Beethoven +that he sometimes delineated persons musically. [Also Schumann. +H.E.K.]) + +15. "I have composed a Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Horn, Bassoon +and Pianoforte, which has been received with extraordinary favor. +(Kochel, No. 452.) I myself think it the best thing I ever wrote +in my life." + +(Vienna, April 10, 1784, to his father.) + +16. "As an exercise I have set the aria, 'Non so d'onde viene,' +which Bach composed so beautifully. I did it because I know Bach +so well, and the aria pleases me so much that I can't get it out +of my head. I wanted to see whether or not in spite of these +things I was able to make an aria that should not be a bit like +Bach's. It isn't a bit, not a bit like it." + +(Mannheim, February 28, 1778, to his father. The lovely aria is +No. 294 in Kochel's catalogue. The Bach referred to was Johann +Christian, the "London" Bach.) + +17. "I haven't a single quiet hour here. I can not write except +at night and consequently can not get up early. One is not always +in the mood for writing. Of course I could scribble all day long, +but these things go out into the world and I want not to be +ashamed of myself when I see my name on them. And then, as you +know, I become stupid as soon as I am obliged to write for an +instrument that I can not endure. Occasionally for the sake of a +change I have composed something else--pianoforte duets with the +violin, and a bit of the mass." + +(Mannheim, February 14, 1778, to his father. Mozart was ill +disposed toward the pianoforte at the time. His love for Aloysia +Weber occupied the most of his attention and time.) + +18. "Herewith I am sending you a Prelude and a three-voiced Fugue +(Kochel, No. 394)....It is awkwardly written; the prelude must +come first and the fugue follow. The reason for its appearance is +because I had made the fugue and wrote it out while I was +thinking out the prelude." + +(Vienna, April 20, 1782, to his sister Marianne. Here Mozart +gives us evidence of his manner of composing; he worked out his +compositions completely in his mind and was then able, even after +considerable time had elapsed, to write them down, in which +proceeding nothing could disturb him. In the case before us while +engaged in the more or less mechanical labor of transcription he +thought out a new composition. Concerning the fugue and its +origin he continues to gossip in the same letter.) + +19. "The cause of this fugue seeing the light of this world is my +dear Constanze. Baron von Swieten, to whom I go every Sunday, let +me carry home all the works of Handel and Sebastian Bach after I +had played them through for him. Constanze fell in love with the +fugues as soon as she had heard them; she doesn't want to hear +anything but fugues, especially those of Handel and Bach. Having +often heard me improvise fugues she asked me if I had never +written any down, and when I said no, she gave me a good +scolding, for not being willing to write the most beautiful +things in music, and did not cease her begging until I had +composed one for her, and so it came about. I purposely wrote the +indication 'Andante maestoso,' so that it should not be played +too rapidly;--for unless a fugue is played slowly the entrance of +the subject will not be distinctly and clearly heard and the +piece will be ineffective. As soon as I find time and opportunity +I shall write five more." + +(Vienna, April 20, 1782, to his sister Marianne. Cf. No. 93. +[Mozart's remark that he carried home "all the works" of Handel +and Bach, must, of course, be read as meaning all that were in +print at the time. H.E.K.]) + +20. "I have no small amount of work ahead of me. By Sunday week I +must have my opera arranged for military band or somebody will be +ahead of me and carry away the profits; and I must also write a +new symphony. How will that be possible? You have no idea how +difficult it is to make such an arrangement so that it shall be +adapted to wind instruments and yet lose nothing of its effect. +Well, well;--I shall have to do the work at night." + +(Vienna, July 20, 1782, to his father who had asked for a +symphony for the Hafner family in Salzburg. The opera referred +to is "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.") + +21. "I was firmly resolved to write the Adagio for the clock-maker +at once so that I might drop a few ducats into the hands of my +dear little wife; and I began it, but was unlucky enough--because +I hate such work--not to be able to finish it. I write at it every +day, but have to drop it because it bores me. If the reason for its +existence were not such a momentous one, rest assured I should let +the thing drop. I hope, however, to force it through in time. Ah, +yes! if it were a large clock-work with a sound like an organ I'd +be glad to do it; but as it is the thing is made up of tiny pipes +only, which sound too shrill and childish for me." + +(Frankfort-on-the-Main, October 3, 1790, to his wife. "A Piece +for an Organ in a Clock." [Kochel's catalogue, No. 594.] It was +probably ordered by Count Deym for his Wax-works Museum on the +occasion of the death of the famous Field Marshal Laudon. The +dominant mood of sorrow prevails in the first movement; the +Allegro is in Handel's style.) + + + +CONCERNING THE OPERA + + + +When he was twenty-two years old Mozart wrote to his father, +"I am strongly filled with the desire to write an opera." Often +does he speak of this ambition. It was, in fact, his true and +individual field as the symphony was that of Beethoven. He took +counsel with his father by letter touching many details in his +earlier operas, wherefore we are advised about their origin, and, +what is more to the purpose, about Mozart's fine aesthetic +judgment. His four operatic masterpieces are imperishable, and a +few words about them are in place, particularly since Mozart has +left numerous and interesting comments on "Die Entfuhrung aus dem +Serail." This first German opera he composed with the confessed +purpose of substituting a work designed for the "national lyric +stage" for the conventional and customary Italian opera. Despite +its Hispano-Turkish color, the work is so ingenuous, so German in +feeling, and above all so full of German humor that the success +was unexampled, and Mozart could write to his father: "The people +are daft over my opera." Here, at the very outset, Mozart's +humor, the golden one of all the gifts with which Mother Nature +had endowed him, was called into play. With this work German +comic opera took its beginning. As has been remarked "although it +has been imitated, it has never been surpassed in its musically +comic effects." The delightfully Falstaffian figure of Osmin, +most ingeniously characterized in the music, will create +merriment for all time, and the opera acquires a new, personal +and peculiarly amiable charm from the fact that we are privileged +to see in the love-joy of "Belmont" and "Constanze" an image of +that of the young composer and his "Stanzerl." + +After "Die Entfuhrung" (1782) came "Le Nozze di Figaro" (1786), +"Don Giovanni" (1787), and "Die Zauberflote" (1791). It would be +a vain task to attempt to establish any internal relationship +between these works. Mozart was not like Wagner, a strong +personality capable of devoting a full sum of vital force to the +carrying out of a chosen and approved principle. As is generally +the case with geniuses, he was a child; a child led by momentary +conditions; moreover, a child of the rococo period. There is, +therefore, no cause of wonderment in the fact that Italian texts +are again used in "Le Nozze di Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," and +that another, but this time a complete German opera, does not +appear until we reach "Die Zauberflote." + +Nevertheless it is possible to note a development towards a +climax in the four operas respecting Mozart's conception of the +world. It has been denied that there is a single red thread in +Mozart's life-work. Nevertheless our method of study will +disclose to us an ever-growing view of human lift, and a deeper +and deeper glimpse into the emotional and intellectual life of +man, his aims and destiny. From the almost commonplace conditions +of "Die Entfuhrung," where a rascal sings in the best of humor +of first beheading and then hanging a man, we reach a plane in +"The Marriage of Figaro," in which despite the refinement and +mitigation of Beaumarchais's indictment we feel the revolutionary +breeze freshly blowing. In "Don Giovanni" we see the individual +set up in opposition to God and the world, in order that he +fulfill his destiny, or live out his life, as the popular phrase +goes today. Here the tremendous tragedy which lies in the story +has received a musical expression quite without parallel, +notwithstanding the moderation exercised in the employment of +means. In "Die Zauberflote," finally, we observe the +clarification which follows the fermentation. Here we breathe the +pure, clear atmosphere of heaven, the atmosphere within which he +can live who has freed himself from selfish desire, thus gaining +internal peace, and who recognizes his ego only in the happiness +and welfare of others. + + + +22. "I have an unspeakable desire to compose another opera....In +Italy one can acquire more honor and credit with an opera than +with a hundred concerts in Germany, and I am the happier because +I can compose, which, after all, is my one joy and passion....I +am beside myself as soon as I hear anybody talk about an opera, +sit in a theatre or hear singing." + +(Munich, October 11, 1777, to his father, reporting an +expectation of making a position for himself in Italy.) + +23. "I beg of you do your best that we may go to Italy. You know +my greatest longing--to write operas....Do not forget my wish to +write operas! I am envious of every man who composes one; I could +almost weep from chagrin whenever I hear or see an aria. But +Italian, not German; seria not buffa." + +(Mannheim, February 2, 1778, to his father. Mozart wanted to go +with the Weber family (he was in love with Aloysia, his future +sister-in-law) to Italy while his father was desirous that he +should go to Paris.) + +24. "I am strongly possessed by the desire to write an opera-- +French rather than German, but Italian rather than either German +or French. Wendling's associates are all of the opinion that my +compositions would please extraordinarily in Paris. One thing is +certain; I would not fear the test. As you know I am able to +assimilate and imitate pretty much all styles of composition." + +(Mannheim, February 7, 1778, to his father. Wendling was a +flautist in Mannheim.) + +25. "I assure you that if I get a commission to compose an opera +I shall not be frightened. True the (French) language is of the +devil's own making, and I fully appreciate all the difficulties +that composers have encountered; but I feel myself as capable of +overcoming them as any other composer. Au contraire when I +convince myself that all is well with my opera, I feel as if my +body were afire--my hands and feet tremble with desire to make +the Frenchman value and fear the German. Why is no Frenchman ever +commissioned to write a grand opera? Why must it always be a +foreigner? In my case the most unendurable thing would be the +singers. Well, I'm ready. I shall begin no dickerings, but if I +am challenged I shall know how to defend myself. But I should +prefer to get along without a duel; I do not like to fight with +dwarfs." + +(Paris, July 31, 1778, to his father.) + +26. "Do you imagine that I would write an opera comique in the +same manner as an opera seria? There must be as little learning +and seriousness in an opera buffa as there must be much of these +elements in an opera seria; but all the more of playfulness and +merriment. I am not responsible for the fact that there is a +desire also to hear comic music in an opera seria; the difference +is sharply drawn here. I find that the buffoon has not been +banished from music, and in this respect the French are right." + +(Vienna, June 16, 1781, to his father. Mozart draws the line of +demarcation sharply between tragedy and comedy in opera. +["Shakespeare has taught us to accept an infusion of the comic +element in plays of a serious cast; but Shakespeare was an +innovator, a Romanticist, and, measured by old standards, his +dramas are irregular. The Italians, who followed classic models, +for a reason amply explained by the genesis of the art-form, +rigorously excluded comedy from serious operas, except as +intermezzi, until they hit upon a third classification, which +they called opera semiseria, in which a serious subject was +enlivened with comic episodes. Our dramatic tastes being grounded +in Shakespeare, we should be inclined to put down 'Don Giovanni' +as a musical tragedy; or, haunted by the Italian terminology, as +opera semiseria; but Mozart calls it opera buffa, more in +deference to the librettist's work, I fancy, than his own."--"How +to Listen to Music," page 221. H.E.K.]) + +27. "In opera, willy-nilly, poetry must be the obedient daughter +of music. Why do Italian operas please everywhere, even in Paris, +as I have been a witness, despite the wretchedness of their +librettos? Because in them music rules and compels us to forget +everything else. All the more must an opera please in which the +plot is well carried out, and the words are written simply for +the sake of the music and not here and there to please some +miserable rhyme, which, God knows, adds nothing to a theatrical +representation but more often harms it. Verses are the most +indispensable thing in music, but rhymes, for the sake of rhymes, +the most injurious. Those who go to work so pedantically will +assuredly come to grief along with the music. It were best if a +good composer, who understands the stage, and is himself able to +suggest something, and a clever poet could be united in one, like +a phoenix. Again, one must not fear the applause of the +unknowing." + +(Vienna, October 13, 1781, to his father. The utterance is +notable as showing Mozart's belief touching the relationship +between text and music; he places himself in opposition to Gluck +whose ideas were at a later day accepted by Wagner. ["It was my +intention to confine music to its true dramatic province, of +assisting poetical expression, and of augmenting the interest of +the fable, without interrupting the action, or chilling it with +useless and superfluous ornaments; for the office of music, when +joined to poetry, seemed to me to resemble that of coloring in a +correct and well disposed design, where the lights and shades +only seem to animate the figures without altering the outline." +Gluck in his dedication of "Alceste" to the Grand Duke of +Tuscany. "The error in the genre of opera consists herein, that a +means of expression (music) has been made the end, while the end +of expression (the drama) has been made a means." Wagner, "Opera +and Drama." H.E.K.]) + +28. "Nota bene, what has always seemed unnatural in an aria are +the asides. In speech one can easily and quickly throw in a few +words in an aside; but in an aria, in which the words must be +repeated, the effect is bad." + +(Munich, November 8, 1780, to his father. Mozart had been invited +to Munich to compose an opera, "Idomeneo, Re di Creta," for the +carnival of 1781. [In contradistinction to the observations +touching poetry and music in the preceding paragraph, this remark +shows that he nevertheless had a sense of dramatic propriety. He +accepted the form as he found it, but protested against the +things which stood in the way of its vitalization. H.E.K.]) + +29. "The second duet will be cut out entirely--more for the good +than the harm of the opera. You shall see for yourself, if you +read over the scene, that it would be weakened and cooled by an +aria or duet, which, moreover, would be extremely annoying to the +other actors who would have to stand around with nothing to do; +besides the magnanimous contest between 'Ilia' and 'Idamante' +would become too long and therefore lose in value." + +(Munich, November 13, 1780, to his father. The reference is to +the opera "Idomeneo.") + +30. "It will be better to write a recitative under which the +instruments can do some good work; for in this scene, which is to +be the best in the whole opera, there will be so much noise and +confusion on the stage that an aria would cut but a sorry figure. +Moreover there will be a thunder-storm which is not likely to +cease out of respect for an aria, and the effect of a recitative +between two choruses will be incomparably better." + +(Munich, November 15, to his father. Mozart was at work on +"Idomeneo.") + +31. "Don't you think that the speech of the subterranean voice +is too long? Think it over, carefully. Imagine the scene on the +stage. The voice must be terrifying--it must be impressive, one +must believe it real. How can this be so if the speech is too +long--the length itself convincing the listener of the +fictitiousness of the scene? If the speech of the 'Ghost' in +'Hamlet' were not so long it would be more effective." + +(Vienna, November 29, 1780, to his father, who had made the +following suggestions respecting the opera "Idomeneo." "Idamante +and Ilia have a short quarrel (near the close of the opera) in a +few words of recitative which is interrupted by a subterranean +noise, whereupon the oracle speaks also from the depths. The +voice and the accompaniment must be moving, terrifying and most +extraordinary; it ought to make a masterpiece of harmony.") + +32. "In a word: far-fetched or unusual words are always out of +place in an agreeable aria; moreover, I should like to have the +aria suggest only restfulness and satisfaction; and if it +consisted of only one part I should still be satisfied--in fact, +I should prefer to have it so." + +(Munich, December 5, 1780, to his father. "Idomeneo" is still the +subject of discussion.) + +33. "As to the matter of popularity, be unconcerned; there is +music in my opera for all sorts of persons--but none for long +ears." + +(Munich, December 16, 1780, to his father, who had expressed a +fear that Mozart would not write down to the level of his public. +[On December 11, his father had written: "I recommend you not to +think in your work only of the musical public, but also of the +unmusical. You know that there are a hundred ignorant people for +every ten true connoisseurs; so do not forget what is called +popular and tickle the long ears." H.E.K.]) + +34. "I have had a good deal of trouble with him about the +quartet. The oftener I fancy it performed on the stage the more +effective it seems to me; and it has pleased all who have heard +it on the pianoforte. Raaff alone thinks it will make no effect. +He said to me in private: 'Non c'e da spianar la voce--it is too +curt.' As if we should not speak more than we sing in a quartet! +He has no understanding of such things. I said to him simply: +'My dear friend, if I knew a single note which might be changed +in this quartet I would change it at once; but I have not been +so completely satisfied with anything in the opera as I am with +this quartet; when you have heard it sung together you will talk +differently. I have done my best to fit you with the two arias, +will do it again with the third, and hope to succeed; but you +must let the composer have his own way in trios and quartets.' +Whereupon he was satisfied. Recently he was vexed because of one +of the words in his best aria--'rinvigorir' and 'ringiovenir,' +particularly 'vienmi a rinvigorir'--five i's. It is true it +is very unpleasant at the conclusion of an aria." + +(Munich, December 27, 1780, to his father. Raaff was the +principal singer in the opera "Idomeneo," which Mozart had been +commissioned to write by the Elector for Munich. The observation +shows how capable Mozart was of appreciating foreign criticism.) + +35. "My head and hands are so full of the third act that it would +not be strange if I were myself transformed into a third act. It +has cost me more care than an entire opera, for there is scarcely +a scene in it which is not interesting. The accompaniment for the +subterranean voice consists of five voices only--three trombones +and two French-horns, which are placed at the point from which +the voice proceeds. At this moment the whole orchestra is +silent." + +(Munich, January 3, 1781, to his father, whom in the same letter +he invites to Munich to hear the opera.) + +36. "After the chorus of mourning the King, the populace, +everybody, leave the stage, and the next scene begins with the +directions: 'Idomeneo in ginochione nel tempio (Idomeneus, +kneeling in the temple).' That will never do; he must come with +all his following. That necessitates a march, and I have composed +a very simple one for two violins, viola, bass and two oboes, +which is to be played a mezza voce, during which the King enters +and the priests make the preparations for the sacrifice. Then the +King sinks on his knees and begins his prayer. In Electra's +recitative, after the subterranean voice, the word 'Partono (they +go)' should be written in; I forgot to look at the copy made for +the printer and do not know whether or how the direction has been +written in. It seems silly to me that everybody should hurry away +only in order to leave Mademoiselle Electra alone." + +(Munich, January 3, 1781, to his father.) + +37. "I am glad to compose the book. The time is short, it is +true, for it must be performed about the middle of September; but +the circumstances connected with the performances, and a number +of other purposes, are of such a character that they enliven my +spirits in such a degree that I hurry to my writing desk and +remain seated there with great joy." + +(Vienna, August 1, 1781, to his father. The opera referred to is +"Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail." The "circumstances" were the +court festivals which were to celebrate the coming of the Russian +Grand Duke, from which Mozart, as was his wont, expected all +manner of future benefits.) + +38. "As regards the work of Stephanie you are right, of course, +but nevertheless the poetry is well fitted to the character of +the stupid, coarse and malicious Osmin. I know full well that the +style of the verse is none of the best, but it has so adjusted +itself to the musical thoughts (which were promenading in my +brain in advance) that the lines had to please me, and I will +wager there will be no disappointment at the performance. So far +as the songs are concerned they are not to be despised. Belmont's +aria 'O, wie angstlich' could scarcely have been written better +for music." + +(Vienna, October 13, 1781, to his father. Stephanie was the +author of the libretto of "Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.") + +39. "An aria has been written for Osmin in the first act....You +have seen only the beginning and end of it, which must be +effective; the rage of Osmin is made ridiculous by the use of +Turkish music. In developing the aria I have given him (Fischer, +a bass) a chance to show his beautiful low tones. The 'By the +beard of the Prophet' remains in the same tempo but has quicker +notes, and as his anger grows continually, when one thinks that +the aria is come to an end, the Allegro assai must make the best +kind of an effect when it enters in a different measure and key. +Here is the reason: a man who is in such a violent rage oversteps +all order, all moderation; he forgets himself, and the music must +do the same. + +"Inasmuch as the passions, whether violent or not, must never be +carried in their expression to the verge of disgust, and music, +even in the most awful situations must not offend the ear but +always please, consequently always remain music, I have not +chosen a key foreign to F (i.e. the key of the aria), but a +related one,--not the nearest, D minor, but the more distant, A +minor. You know how I have given expression to Belmont's aria, +'O, wie angstlich, O wie feurig,'--there is a suggestion of the +beating heart,--the violins in octaves. This is the favorite aria +of all who have heard it,--of myself, as well,--and is written +right into the voice of Adamberger. One can see the reeling and +trembling, one can see the heaving breast which is illustrated by +a crescendo; one hears the lispings and sighs expressed by the +muted violins with flute in unison. The Janizary chorus is, as +such, all that could be asked, short and jolly, written to suit +the Viennese." + +(Vienna, September 26, 1781, to his father. Concerning the +composition of "Die Entfuhrung," Mozart delivered himself at +greater length and more explicitly than about any other opera. +From the above excerpt one can learn his notions touching musical +characterization and delineation. ["Turkish" music, or "Janizary" +music, is that in which the percussion effects of Oriental music +are imitated--music utilizing the large drum, cymbals, etc. +H.E.K.]) + +40. "The close will make a deal of noise; and that is all that +is necessary for the end of an act;--the noisier the better, the +shorter the better, so that the people shall not get too cool to +applaud." + +(Vienna, September 26, 1781, to his father. The Trio at the end +of the first act is the finale referred to.) + +41. "My opera is to be performed again next Friday, but I have +protested against it as I do not want it to be ridden to death at +once. The public, I may say, are daft about this opera. It does a +fellow good to receive such applause." + +(Vienna, July 27, 1782, to his father.) + +42. "My opera was performed again yesterday, this time at the +request of Gluck. Gluck paid me many compliments on it. I am to +dine with him tomorrow." + +(Vienna, August 7, 1782, to his father. [How Mozart and Gluck +differed in principle on the relation between text and music the +reader has already had an opportunity to learn. H.E.K.]) + +43. "The most necessary thing is that the whole be really +comical; then, if possible, there should be two equally good +female parts, one seria, the other mezzo carattere; but one must +be as good as the other. The third woman may be all buffa, also +all the men if necessary." + +(Vienna, May 7, 1783, to his father, in Salzburg, where the Abbe +Varesco was to write an opera libretto.) + +44. "It would be a pity if I should have composed this music for +nothing, that is to say if no regard is to be shown for things +that are absolutely essential. Neither you, nor Abbe Varesco, nor +I, reflected that it will be a bad thing, that the opera will be +a failure, in fact, if neither of the principal women appears on +the scene until the last minute, but both are kept promenading on +the bastion of the fortress. I credit the audience with patience +enough for one act, but it would never endure the second. It must +not be." + +(Vienna, December 6, 1783, to his father. The opera in question, +entitled "L'Oca del Cairo," was never finished.) + +45. "Abbe Varesco has written over the cavatina for Lavina: +a cui servira la musica della cavatina antecedente,--that is +the cavatina of Celidora. But that will never do. In Celidora's +cavatina the words are comfortless and hopeless, while in +Lavina's cavatina they are full of comfort and hope. Moreover it +is hackneyed and no longer customary habit to let one singer echo +the song of another. At best it might only be done by a soubrette +and her sweetheart at ultime parti." + +(Vienna, December 24, 1783, to his father. The Italian phrase is +a direction that the music of a preceding cavatina might be used +for a second cavatina.) + +46. "It is much more natural, since they have all come to an +agreement in the quartetto to carry out their plan of attack that +the men leave the stage to gather their helpers together, and the +women quietly retire to their retreat. All that can be allowed +them is a few lines of recitative." + +(Vienna, December 24, 1783, to his father. The situation referred +to was in Varesco's opera which never reached completion.) + +47. "At six o'clock I drove with Count Canal to the so-called +'Breitfeldischen Ball' where the pick of the beauties of Prague +are in the habit of congregating. That would have been something +for you, my friend! I fancy seeing you,--not walking, but +limping,--after all the pretty girls and women! I did not dance, +neither did I spoon;--the first because I was too tired, the +second because of my congenital bashfulness. But I saw with great +pleasure how all these people hopped about delightedly to the +music of my 'Figaro' turned into contradances and Allemands. +Here nothing is talked about except 'Figaro,' nothing played, +piped, sung or whistled except 'Figaro;' no opera is attended +except 'Figaro,' always 'Figaro.' Certainly a great honor for +me." + +(Prague, January 15, 1787, to a friend, whose name is unknown.) + +48. "'Don Giovanni' was not written for the Viennese; rather for +the people of Prague, but most of all for me and my friends." + +(Reported by Nissen, who also relates that Mozart often said +"The Bohemians are the ones who understand me." When "Le Nozze +di Figaro" received an enthusiastic reception in Prague, Mozart +said: "Because the Bohemians understand me so well I must write +an opera for them." The opera was "Don Giovanni.") + +49. "I am just home from the opera; it was as crowded as ever. +The duet, 'Mann und Weib,' and the bells in the first act, were +repeated as usual,--also the trio of the boys in the second act. +But what delights me most is the silent applause! It is easy to +see how this opera is ever rising." + +(Vienna, October 7, 1791, to his wife. The opera was "Die +Zauberflote.") + + + +MUSICAL PEDAGOGICS + + + +50. "Herr Stein is completely daft on the subject of his +daughter. She is eight years old and learns everything by heart. +Something may come of her for she has talent, but not if she goes +on as she is doing now; she will never acquire velocity because +she purposely makes her hand heavy. She will never learn the most +necessary, most difficult and principal thing in music, that is +time, because from childhood she has designedly cultivated the +habit of ignoring the beat." + +(Augsburg, October 23, 1777, to his father. Nanette Stein +afterward married Andreas Streicher, who was Schiller's companion +in his flight to Franconia. As Frau Streicher she became +Beethoven's faithful friend and frequently took it upon herself +to straighten out his domestic affairs.) + +51. "If she does not get some thoughts and ideas (for now she has +absolutely none), it will all be in vain, for God knows, I can +not give her any. It is not her father's intention to make a +great composer out of her. 'She shall,' he says, 'not write any +operas, or arias, or symphonies, but only great sonatas for her +instrument and mine!' I gave her her fourth lesson today, and so +far as the rules of composition and her exercises are concerned I +am pretty well satisfied with her. She wrote a very good bass to +the first minuet which I set her, and has already begun to write +in three parts. It goes, but she gets bored too quickly. I can +not help her; progress is impossible, she is too young even if +she had talent. Unfortunately she has none; she must be taught +artificially; she has no ideas, there are no results, I have +tried in every sort of way. Among other things it occurred to me +to write down a very simple minuet and to see if she could write +a variation on it. In vain. Well, thought I, it is because she +does not know how to begin. I then began a variation of the first +measure and told her to continue it in the same manner; that went +fairly well. When she had made an end I asked her to begin +something of her own,--only the first voice, a melody. She +thought a full quarter of an hour, and nothing came. Thereupon I +wrote four measures of a minuet and said to her: 'Now look what +an ass I am; I have begun a minuet and can't finish even the +first part; be good enough to finish it for me.' She thought it +impossible. At length she produced a little something to my joy. +Then I made her finish the minuet, i.e. only the first voice. For +her home work I have given her nothing to do except to alter my +four measures and make something out of them, to invent another +beginning, to keep to the harmony if she must, but to write a new +melody. We shall see what comes of it tomorrow." + +(Paris, May 14, 1778, to his father. The pupil was the daughter +of the Duke de Guines, an excellent flautist. "She plays the harp +magnificently," writes Mozart in the same letter; "has a great +deal of talent and genius, and an incomparable memory. She knows +200 pieces and plays them all by heart." When it came to paying +Mozart for the lessons the Duke was anything but a nobleman.) + +52. "The Andante is going to give us the most trouble, for it is +full of expression and must be played with taste and accurately +as written in the matter of forte and piano. She is very clever +and learns quickly. The right hand is very good but the left +utterly ruined. I can say that I often pity her when I see that +she is obliged to labor till she gasps, not because she is unapt, +but because she can't help it,--she is used to playing so, nobody +ever taught her differently. I said to her mother and her that if +I were her regular teacher, I would lock up all her music, cover +the keyboard with a handkerchief, and make her practice both +hands at first slowly on nothing but passages, trills, mordents, +etc., until the difficulty with the left hand was remedied; after +that I am sure I could make a real clavier player out of her. It +is a pity; she has so much genius, reads respectably, has a great +deal of natural fluency and plays with a great deal of feeling." + +(Mannheim, November 16, 1777, to his father. The pupil was Rose +Cannabich, to whom the sonata referred to is dedicated. Her +father, whom Mozart admired greatly as an able conductor, was +Chapelmaster of the excellently trained orchestra at Mannheim. He +lived from 1731 to 1798. [The Andante from which trouble was +expected was that which Mozart wrote with the purpose that it +should reflect the character of Rose Cannabich, a lovely and +amiable girl, according to all accounts. H.E.K.]) + +53. "This E is very forced. One can see that it was written only +to go from one consonance to another in parallel motion,--just as +bad poets write nonsense for the sake of a rhyme." + +(From the exercise book of the cousin of Abbe Stadler who took +lessons in thorough-bass from Mozart in 1784. It is preserved in +the Court Library in Vienna.) + +54. "My good lad, you ask my advice and I will give it you +candidly; had you studied composition when you were at Naples, +and when your mind was not devoted to other pursuits, you would, +perhaps, have done wisely; but now that your profession of the +stage must, and ought to, occupy all your attention, it would be +an unwise measure to enter into a dry study. You may take my word +for it, Nature has made you a melodist, and you would only +disturb and perplex yourself. Reflect, 'a little knowledge is a +dangerous thing;'--should there be errors in what you write, you +will find hundreds of musicians in all parts of the world capable +of correcting them, therefore do not disturb your natural gift." + +(To Michael Kelly, the Irish tenor, to whom Mozart assigned the +parts of Basilio and Don Curzio at the first performance of "Le +Nozze di Figaro" in 1786. Kelly had asked Mozart whether or not +he should study counterpoint. [See No. 8. Three years later Kelly +returned to England, began his career as composer of musical +pieces for the stage. He was fairly prolific, but failed to +impress the public with the originality of his creative talent. +He went into the wine business, which fact led Sheridan to make +the witty suggestion that he inscribe over his shop: "Michael +Kelly, Composer of Wines and Importer of Music." He was born in +1764 and died in 1826. H.E.K.]) + +55. "This is generally the case with all who did not taste the +rod or feel the teacher's tongue when boys, and later think that +they can compel things to their wishes by mere talent and +inclination. Many succeed fairly well, but with other people's +ideas, having none of their own; others who have ideas of their +own, do not know what to do with them. That is your case." + +(In a letter written in 1789 to a noble friend criticizing a +symphony.) + +56. "Do not wonder at me; it was not a caprice. I noticed that +most of the musicians were old men. There would have been no end +of dragging if I had not first driven them into the fire and made +them angry. Out of pure rage they did their best." + +(Reported by Rochlitz. Mozart was rehearsing the Allegro of one +of his symphonies in Leipsic. He worked up such a fit of anger +that he stamped his foot and broke one of his shoe-laces. His +anger fled and he broke into a merry laugh.) + +57. "Right! That's the way to shriek." + +(At a rehearsal of "Don Giovanni" the representative of Zerlina +did not act realistically enough to suit Mozart. Thereupon he +went unnoticed on the stage and at the repetition of the scene +grabbed the singer so rudely and unexpectedly that she +involuntarily uttered the shriek which the scene called for. [The +singer was Teresa Bondini, the place Prague, and the time before +the first performance of the opera which took place on October +29, 1787. H.E.K.]) + + + +TOUCHING MUSICAL PERFORMANCES + + + +58. "Herr Stein sees and hears that I am more of a player than +Beecke,--that without making grimaces of any kind I play so +expressively that, according to his own confession, no one shows +off his pianoforte as well as I. That I always remain strictly in +time surprises every one; they can not understand that the left +hand should not in the least be concerned in a tempo rubato. When +they play the left hand always follows." + +(Augsburg, October 23, 1777, to his father. [We have here a +suggestion of the tempo rubato as played by Chopin according to +the testimony of Mikuli, who said that no matter how free Chopin +was either in melody or arabesque with his right hand, the left +always adhered strictly to the time. Mozart learned the principle +from his father who in his method for the violin condemned the +accompanists who spoiled the tempo rubato of an artist by waiting +to follow him. H.E.K.]) + +59. "Whoever can see and hear her (the daughter of Stein) play +without laughing must be a stone (Stein) like her father. She +sits opposite the treble instead of in the middle of the +instrument, so that there may be greater opportunities for +swaying about and making grimaces. Then she rolls up her eyes and +smirks. If a passage occurs twice it is played slower the second +time; if three times, still slower. When a passage comes up goes +the arm, and if there is to be an emphasis it must come from the +arm, heavily and clumsily, not from the fingers. But the best of +all is that when there comes a passage (which ought to flow like +oil) in which there necessarily occurs a change of fingers, there +is no need of taking care; when the time comes you stop, lift the +hand and nonchalantly begin again. This helps one the better to +catch a false note, and the effect is frequently curious." + +(Augsburg, October 23, 1777. The letter is to his father and the +young woman whose playing is criticized is the little miss of +eight years, Nanette Stein.) + +60. "When I told Herr Stein that I would like to play on his +organ and that I was passionately fond of the instrument, he +marveled greatly and said: 'What, a man like you, so great a +clavier player, want to play on an instrument which has no +douceur, no expression, neither piano nor forte, but goes on +always the same?' 'But all that signifies nothing; to me the +organ is nevertheless the king of instruments.' " + +(Augsburg, October 17, 1777, to his father.) + +61. "I had the pleasure to hear Herr Franzl (whose wife is a +sister of Madame Cannabich) play a concerto on the violin. He +pleases me greatly. You know that I am no great lover of +difficulties. He plays difficult things, but one does not +recognize that they are difficult, but imagines that one could do +the same thing at once; that is true art. He also has a +beautiful, round tone,--not a note is missing, one hears +everything; everything is well marked. He has a fine staccato +bow, up as well as down; and I have never heard so good a double +shake as his. In a word, though he is no wizard he is a solid +violinist." + +(Mannheim, November 22, 1777, to his father.) + +62. "Wherein consists the art of playing prima vista? In this: To +play in the proper tempo; give expression to every note, +appoggiatura, etc., tastefully and as they are written, so as to +create the impression that the player had composed the piece." + +(Mannheim, January 17, 1778, to his father. Mozart had just been +sharply criticizing the playing of Abbe Vogler. [See No. 66.]) + +63. "I am at Herr von Aurnhammer's after dinner nearly every day. +The young woman is a fright, but she plays ravishingly, though +she lacks the true singing style in the cantabile; she is too +jerky." + +(Vienna, June 27, 1781, to his father. Beethoven found the same +fault with Mozart's playing that Mozart here condemns.) + +64. "Herr Richter plays much and well so far as execution is +concerned, but--as you will hear--crudely, laboriously and +without taste or feeling; he is one of the best fellows in the +world, and without a particle of vanity. Whenever I played for +him he looked immovably at my fingers, and one day he said 'My +God! how I am obliged to torment myself and sweat, and yet +without obtaining applause; and for you, my friend, it is mere +play!' 'Yes,' said I, 'I had to labor once in order not to show +labor now.' " + +(Vienna, April 28, 1784, to his father in Salzburg, whither the +pianist Richter, whom he recommends to his father, is going on a +concert trip.) + +65. "Meissner, as you know, has the bad habit of purposely making +his voice tremble, marking thus entire quarter and eighth notes; +I never could endure it in him. It is indeed despicable and +contrary to all naturalness in song. True the human voice +trembles of itself, but only in a degree that remains beautiful; +it is in the nature of the voice. We imitate it not only on wind +instruments but also on the viols and even on the clavier. But as +soon as you overstep the limit it is no longer beautiful because +it is contrary to nature." + +(Paris, June 12, 1778, to his father. [The statement that the +tremolo effect could be imitated on the clavier seems to require +an explanation. Mozart obviously had in view, not the pianoforte +which was just coming into use in his day, but the clavichord. +This instrument was sounded by striking the strings with bits of +brass placed in the farther end of the keys which were simple and +direct levers. The tangents, as they were called, had to be held +against the strings as long as it was desired that the tone +should sound, and by gently repeating the pressure on the key a +tremulousness was imparted to the tone which made the clavichord +a more expressive instrument than the harpsichord or the early +pianoforte. The effect was called Bebung in German, and +Balancement in French. H.E.K.]) + +66. "Before dinner Herr Vogler dashed through my sonata prima +vista. He played the first movement prestissimo, the andante +allegro and the rondo prestissimo with a vengeance. As a rule, +he played a different bass than the one I had written, and +occasionally he changed the harmony as well as the melody. That +was inevitable, for at such speed the eyes can not follow, nor +the hands grasp, the music. Such playing at sight and...are all +one to me. The hearers (I mean those worthy of the name) can say +nothing more than they have seen music and clavier playing. You +can imagine that it was all the more unendurable because I did +not dare to say to him: 'Much too quick!' Moreover it is much +easier to play rapidly than slowly; you can drop a few notes in +passages without any one noticing it. But is it beautiful? At +such speed you can use the hands indiscriminately; but is that +beautiful?" + +(Mannheim, January 17, 1778, to his father.) + +67. "They hurry the tempo, trill or pile on the adornments +because they can neither study nor sustain a tone." + +(Recorded by Rochlitz as a criticism by Mozart of Italian singers +in 1789.) + +68. "It is thus, they think, that they can infuse warmth and +ardor into their singing. Ah, if there is no fire in the +composition you will surely never get it in by hurrying it." + +(According to Rochlitz Mozart used these words while complaining +of the manner in which his compositions were ruined by +exaggerated speed in the tempi.) + + + +EXPRESSIONS CRITICAL + + + +69. "We wish that it were in our power to introduce the German +taste in minuets in Italy; minuets here last almost as long as +whole symphonies." + +(Bologna, September 22, 1770, to his mother and sister. Mozart as +a lad was making a tour through Italy with his father. [There +might be a valuable hint here touching the proper tempo for the +minuets in Mozart's symphonies. Of late years the conductors, of +the Wagnerian school more particularly, have acted on the belief +that the symphonic minuets of Mozart and Haydn must be played +with the stately slowness of the old dance. Mozart himself was +plainly of another opinion. H.E.K.]) + +70. "Beecke told me (and it is true) that music is now played in +the cabinet of the Emperor (Joseph II) bad enough to set the dogs +a-running. I remarked that unless I quickly escape such music I +get a headache. 'It doesn't hurt me in the least; bad music +leaves my nerves unaffected, but I sometimes get a headache from +good music.' Then I thought to myself: Yes, such a shallow-pate +as you feels a pain as soon as he hears something which he can +not understand." + +(Mannheim, November 13, 1777, to his father. Beecke was a +conceited pianist.) + +71. "Nothing gives me so much pleasure in the anticipation as the +Concert spirituel in Paris, for I fancy I shall be called on to +compose something. The orchestra is said to be large and good, +and my principal favorites can be well performed there, that is +to say choruses, and I am right glad that the Frenchmen are fond +of them....Heretofore Paris has been used to the choruses of +Gluck. Depend on me; I shall labor with all my powers to do honor +to the name of Mozart." + +(Mannheim. February 28, 1778, to his father. On March 7 he +writes: "I have centered all my hopes on Paris, for the German +princes are all niggards.") + +72. "I do not know whether or not my symphony pleases, and, to +tell you the truth, I don't much care. Whom should it please? I +warrant it will please the few sensible Frenchmen who are here, +and there will be no great misfortune if it fails to please the +stupids. Still I have some hope that the asses too will find +something in it to their liking." + +(Paris, June 12, 1778, to his father. The symphony is that known +as the "Parisian" (Kochel, No. 297). It is characterized by +brevity and wealth of melody.) + +73. "The most of the symphonies are not to the local taste. If I +find time I shall revise a few violin concertos,--shorten them,-- +for our taste in Germany is for long things; as a matter of fact, +short and good is better." + +(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father, in Salzburg. +In the same letter he says: "I assure you the journey was +not unprofitable to me--that is to say in the matter of +composition.") + +74. "If only this damned French language were not so ill adapted +to music! It is abominable; German is divine in comparison. And +then the singers!--men and women--they are unmentionable. They do +not sing; they shriek, they howl with all their might, through +throat, nose and gullet." + +(Paris, July 9, 1778, to his father. Mozart was thinking of +writing a French opera.) + +75. "Ah, if we too had clarinets! You can't conceive what a +wonderful effect a symphony with flutes, oboes and clarinets +makes. At the first audience with the Archbishop I shall have +much to tell him, and, probably, a few suggestions to make. Alas! +our music might be much better and more beautiful if only the +Archbishop were willing." + +(Mannheim, December 3, 1778, to his father. Mozart was on his +return to Salzburg where he had received an appointment in the +Archiepiscopal chapel. It seems that wood-wind instruments were +still absent from the symphony orchestra in Salzburg.) + +76. "Others know as well as you and I that tastes are continually +changing, and that the changes extend even into church music; +this should not be, but it accounts for the fact that true church +music is now found only in the attic and almost eaten up by the +worms." + +(Vienna, April 12, 1783, to his father, who was active as Court +Chapelmaster in Salzburg, and who had been asked by his son in +the same letter, when it grew a little warmer, "to look in the +attic and send some of your (his) church music.") + +77. "The themes pleased me most in the symphony; yet it will +be the least effective, for there is too much in it, and a +fragmentary performance of it sounds like an ant hill looks,-- +that is as if the devil had been turned loose in it." + +(In a letter written in 1789 to a nobleman who was a composer and +had submitted a symphony to Mozart for criticism.) + +78. "So far as melody is concerned, yes; for dramatic effect, no. +Moreover the scores which you may see here, outside those of +Gretry, are by Gluck, Piccini and Salieri, and there is nothing +French about them except the words." + +(A remark made to Joseph Frank, whom Mozart frequently found +occupied with French scores, and who had asked whether the study +of Italian scores were not preferable.) + +79. "The ode is elevated, beautiful, everything you wish, but too +exaggerated and bombastic for my ears. But what would you? The +golden mean, the truth, is no longer recognized or valued. To win +applause one must write stuff so simple that a coachman might +sing it after you, or so incomprehensible that it pleases simply +because no sensible man can comprehend it. But it is not this +that I wanted to discuss with you, but another matter. I have a +strong desire to write a book, a little work on musical criticism +with illustrative examples. N.B., not under my name." + +(Vienna, December 28, 1782, to his father. "I was working on a +very difficult task--a Bardic song by Denis on Gibraltar. It is a +secret, for a Hungarian lady wants thus to honor Denis." When +Gibraltar was gallantly defended against the Spaniards, Mozart's +father wrote to him calling his attention to the victory. Mozart +replied: "Yes, I have heard of England's triumph, and, indeed, +with great joy (for you know well that I am an arch-Englishman)." +The little book of criticism never appeared.) + +80. "The orchestra in Berlin contains the greatest aggregation of +virtuosi in the world; I never heard such quartet playing as +here; but when all the gentlemen are together they might do +better." + +(To King Frederick William II, in 1789, when asked for an opinion +on the orchestra in Berlin. The king asked Mozart to transfer his +services to the Court at Berlin; Mozart replied: "Shall I forsake +my good Emperor?") + + + +OPINIONS CONCERNING OTHERS + + + +81. "Holzbauer's music is very beautiful; the poetry is not +worthy of it. What amazes me most is that so old a man as +Holzbauer should have so much spirit,--it is incredible, the +amount of fire in his music." + +(Mannheim, November 14, 1777, to his father. Ignaz Holzbauer was +born in Vienna, in 1711, and died as chapelmaster in Mannheim, on +April 7, 1793. During the last years of his life he was totally +deaf. The music referred to was the setting of the first great +German Singspiel, "Gunther von Schwarzburg.") + +82. "There is much that is pretty in many of Martini's things, +but in ten years nobody will notice them." + +(Reported by Nissen. Martini lived in Bologna from 1706 to 1784; +there Mozart learned to know and admire him. In 1776 he wrote a +letter to him in which he said that of all people in the world he +"loved, honored and valued" him most.) + +83. "For those who seek only light entertainment in music nobody +better can be recommended than Paisiello." + +(Reported by Nissen. Paisiello was born in Taranto in 1741, +composed over a hundred operas which, like his church music, won +much applause. He died in Naples in 1816. Mozart considered his +music "transparent.") + +84. "Jomelli has his genre in which he shines, and we must +abandon the thought of supplanting him in that field in the +judgment of the knowing. But he ought not to have abandoned his +field to compose church music in the old style, for instance." + +(Reported by Nissen. Jomelli was born in 1714 near Naples, where +he died in 1774. He was greatly admired as a composer of operas +and church music. He was Court Chapelmaster in Stuttgart from +1753 to 1769.) + +85. "Wait till you know how many of his works we have in Vienna! +When I get back home I shall diligently study his church music, +and I hope to learn a great deal from it." + +(A remark made in Leipsic when somebody spoke slightingly of the +music of Gassmann, an Imperial Court Chapelmaster in Vienna, and +much respected by Maria Theresa and Joseph.) + +86. "The fact that Gatti, the ass, begged the Archbishop for +permission to compose a serenade shows his worthiness to wear the +title, which I make no doubt he deserves also for his musical +learning." + +(Vienna, October 12, 1782, to his father. Gatti was Cathedral +Chapelmaster in Salzburg.) + +87. "What we should like to have, dear father, is some of your +best church pieces; for we love to entertain ourselves with all +manner of masters, ancient and modern. Therefore I beg of you +send us something of yours as soon as possible." + +(Vienna, March 29, 1783, to his father, Leopold Mozart in +Salzburg, himself a capable composer.) + +88. "In a sense Vogler is nothing but a wizard. As soon as he +attempts to play something majestic he becomes dry, and you are +glad that he, too, feels bored and makes a quick ending. But what +follows?--unintelligible slip-slop. I listened to him from a +distance. Afterward he began a fugue with six notes on the same +tone, and Presto! Then I went up to him. As a matter of fact I +would rather watch him than hear him." + +(Mannheim, December 18, 1777, to his father. Abbe Vogler was +trying the new organ in the Lutheran church at Mannheim. Vogler +lived from 1749 to 1814, and was the teacher of Karl Maria von +Weber (who esteemed him highly) and Meyerbeer. Mozart's criticism +seems unduly severe.) + +89. "I was at mass, a brand new composition by Vogler. I had +already been at the rehearsal day before yesterday afternoon, but +went away after the Kyrie. In all my life I have heard nothing like +this. Frequently everything is out of tune. He goes from key to key +as if he wanted to drag one along by the hair of the head, not in +an interesting manner which might be worth while, but bluntly and +rudely. As to the manner in which he develops his ideas I shall say +nothing; but this I will say that it is impossible for a mass by +Vogler to please any composer worthy of the name. Briefly, I hear a +theme which is not bad; does it long remain not bad think you? will +it not soon become beautiful? Heaven forefend! It grows worse and +worse in a two-fold or three-fold manner; for instance scarcely is +it begun before something else enters and spoils it; or he makes so +unnatural a close that it can not remain good; or it is misplaced; +or, finally, it is ruined by the orchestration. That's Vogler's +music." + +(Mannheim, November 20, 1777, to his father.) + +90. "Clementi plays well so far as execution with the right hand +is concerned; his forte is passages in thirds. Aside from this he +hasn't a pennyworth of feeling or taste; in a word he is a mere +mechanician." + +(Vienna, January 12, 1782, to his father. Four days later Mozart +expressed the same opinion of Muzio Clementi, who is still in +good repute, after having met him in competition before the +emperor. "Clementi preluded and played a sonata; then the Emperor +said to me, 'Allons, go ahead.' I preluded and played some +variations.") + +91. "Now I must say a few words to my sister about the Clementi +sonatas. Every one who plays or hears them will feel for himself +that as compositions they do not signify. There are in them no +remarkable or striking passages, with the exception of those in +sixths and octaves, and I beg my sister not to devote too much +time to these lest she spoil her quiet and steady hand and make +it lose its natural lightness, suppleness and fluent rapidity. +What, after all, is the use? She is expected to play the sixths +and octaves with the greatest velocity (which no man will +accomplish, not even Clementi), and if she tries she will produce +a frightful zig-zag, and nothing more. Clementi is a Ciarlatano +like all Italians. He writes upon a sonata Presto, or even +Prestissimo and alla breve, and plays it Allegro in 4-4 time. I +know it because I have heard him! What he does well is his +passages in thirds; but he perspired over these day and night in +London. Aside from this he has nothing,--absolutely nothing; not +excellence in reading, nor taste, nor sentiment." + +(Vienna, June 7, 1783, to his father and sister.) + +92. "Handel knows better than any of us what will make an effect; +when he chooses he strikes like a thunderbolt; even if he is +often prosy, after the manner of his time, there is always +something in his music." + +(Mozart valued Handel most highly. He knew his masterpieces by +heart--not only the choruses but also many arias. [Reported by +Rochlitz. H.E.K.]) + +93. "Apropos, I intended, while asking you to send back the +rondo, to send me also the six fugues by Handel and the toccatas +and fugues by Eberlin. I go every Sunday to Baron von Swieten's, +and there nothing is played except Handel and Bach. I am making a +collection of the fugues,--those of Sebastian as well as of +Emanuel and Friedemann Bach; also of Handel's, and here the six +are lacking. Besides I want to let the baron hear those of +Eberlin. In all likelihood you know that the English Bach is +dead; a pity for the world of music." + +(Vienna, April 10, 1782, to his father. Johann Ernst Eberlin +(Eberle), born in 1702, died in 1762 as archiepiscopal +chapelmaster in Salzburg. Many of his unpublished works are +preserved in Berlin. The "English" Bach was Johann Christian, son +of the great Johann Sebastian. As a child Mozart made his +acquaintance in London.) + +94. "I shall be glad if papa has not yet had the works of Eberlin +copied, for I have gotten them meanwhile, and discovered,--for I +could not remember,--that they are too trivial and surely do not +deserve a place among those of Bach and Handel. All respect to +his four-part writing, but his clavier fugues are nothing but +long-drawn-out versetti." + +(Vienna, April 29, 1782, to his sister Nannerl.) + +95. "Johann Christian Bach has been here (Paris) for a fortnight. +He is to write a French opera, and is come only to hear the +singers, whereupon he will go to London, write the opera, and +come back to put it on the stage. You can easily imagine his +delight and mine when we met again. Perhaps his delight was not +altogether sincere, but one must admit that he is an honorable +man and does justice to all. I love him, as you know, with all my +heart, and respect him; as for him, one thing is certain, that to +my face and to others, he really praised me, not extravagantly, +like some, but seriously and in earnest." + +(St. Germain, August 27, 1778, to his father. Johann Christian +Bach was the second son of Johann Sebastian, and born in 1735. +He lived in London where little Wolfgang learned to know him in +1764. Bach took the precocious boy on his knee and the two played +on the harpsichord. [Bach was Music Master to the Queen. "He +liked to play with the boy," says Jahn; "took him upon his knee +and went through a sonata with him, each in turn playing a +measure with such precision that no one would have suspected +two performers. He began a fugue, which Wolfgang took up and +completed when Bach broke off." H.E.K.]) + +96. "Bach is the father, we are the youngsters. Those of us who +can do a decent thing learned how from him; and whoever will not +admit it is a..." + +(A remark made at a gathering in Leipsic. The Bach referred to is +Phillip Emanuel Bach, who died in 1788.) + +97. "Here, at last, is something from which one can learn!" + +(Mozart's ejaculation when he heard Bach's motet for double +chorus, "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied," at Leipsic in 1789. +Rochlitz relates: "Scarcely had the choir sung a couple of +measures when Mozart started. After a few more measures he cried +out: 'What is that?' and now his whole soul seemed to be in his +ears.") + +98. "Melt us two together, and we will fall far short of making a +Haydn." + +(Said to the pianist Leopold Kozeluch who had triumphantly +pointed out a few slips due to carelessness in Haydn's +compositions.) + +99. "It was a duty that I owed to Haydn to dedicate my quartets +to him; for it was from him that I learned how to write +quartets." + +(Reported by Nissen. Joseph Haydn once said, when the worth of +"Don Giovanni" was under discussion: "This I do know, that Mozart +is the greatest composer in the world today.") + +100. "Nobody can do everything,--jest and terrify, cause laughter +or move profoundly,--like Joseph Haydn." + +(Reported by Nissen [the biographer who married Mozart's widow. +H.E.K.].) + +101. "Keep your eyes on him; he'll make the world talk of himself +some day!" + +(A remark made by Mozart in reference to Beethoven in the spring +of 1787. It was the only meeting between the two composers. [The +prophetic observation was called out by Beethoven's improvisation +on a theme from "Le Nozze di Figaro." H.E.K.]) + +102. "Attwood is a young man for whom I have a sincere affection +and esteem; he conducts himself with great propriety, and I feel +much pleasure in telling you that he partakes more of my style +than any scholar I ever had, and I predict that he will prove a +sound musician." + +(Remarked in 1786 to Michael Kelly, who was a friend of Attwood +and a pupil of Mozart at the time. [Thomas Attwood was an English +musician, born in 1765. He was chorister of the Chapel Royal at +the age of nine, and at sixteen attracted the attention of the +Prince of Wales, afterward George IV., who sent him to Italy to +study. He studied two years in Naples and one year in Vienna with +Mozart. Returned to London he first composed for the theatre and +afterward largely for the church. He and Mendelssohn were devoted +friends. H.E.K.]) + +103. "If the oboist Fischer did not play better when we heard him +in Holland (1766) than he plays now, he certainly does not +deserve the reputation which he has. Yet, between ourselves, I +was too young at the time to pronounce a judgment; I remember +that he pleased me exceedingly, and the whole world. It is +explained easily enough if one but realizes that tastes have +changed mightily since then. You would think that he plays +according to the old school; but no! he plays like a wretched +pupil....And then his concertos, his compositions! Every +ritornello lasts a quarter of an hour; then the hero appears, +lifts one leaden foot after the other and plumps them down +alternately. His tone is all nasal, and his tenuto sounds like an +organ tremulant." + +(Vienna, April 4, 1787, to his father. Johann Christian +Fischer--1733-1800--was a famous oboist and composer for his +instrument. [Fischer was probably the original of the many artists +of whom the story is told that, having been invited by a nobleman +to dinner, he was asked if he had brought his instrument with him, +replied that he had not, for that his instrument never ate. Kelly +tells the story in his "Reminiscences" and makes Fischer the hero. +H.E.K.]) + +104. "I know nothing new except that Gellert has died in Leipsic +and since then has written no more poetry." + +(Milan, January 26, 1770. Wolfgang was on a concert tour with his +father who admired Gellert's writings and had once exchanged +letters with him. The lad seems to have felt ironical.) + +105. "Now I am also acquainted with Herr Wieland; but he doesn't +know me as well as I know him, for he has not heard anything of +mine. I never imagined him to be as he is. He seems to me to be a +little affected in speech, has a rather childish voice, a fixed +stare, a certain learned rudeness, yet, at times, a stupid +condescension. I am not surprised that he behaves as he does here +(and as he would not dare do in Weimar or elsewhere), for the +people look at him as if he had fallen direct from heaven. All +stand in awe, no one talks, everyone is silent, every word is +listened to when he speaks. It is a pity that he keeps people in +suspense so long, for he has a defect of speech which compels him +to speak very slowly and pause after every six words. Otherwise +his is, as we all know, an admirable brain. His face is very +ugly, pockmarked, and his nose rather long. He is a little taller +than papa." + +(Mannheim, December 27, 1777, to his father. On November 22, +Mozart had reported: "In the coming carnival 'Rosamunde' will be +performed--new poetry by Herr Wieland, new music by Herr +Schweitzer." On January 10, 1778, he writes: "'Rosamunde' was +rehearsed in the theatre today; it is--good, but nothing more. If +it were bad you could not perform it at all; just as you can't +sleep without going to bed!") + +106. "Now that Herr Wieland has seen me twice he is entirely +enchanted. The last time we met, after lauding me as highly as +possible, he said, 'It is truly a piece of good fortune for me to +have met you here,' and pressed my hand." + +(Mannheim, January 10, 1778.) + +107. "Now I give you a piece of news which perhaps you know +already; that godless fellow and arch-rascal, Voltaire, is +dead--died like a dog, like a beast. That is his reward!" + +(Paris, July 3, 1778, to his father, who, like the son, was a man +of sincere piety and abhorred Voltaire's atheism.) + +108. "When God gives a man an office he also gives him sense; +that's the case with the Archduke. Before he was a priest he was +much wittier and intelligent; spoke less but more sensibly. You +ought to see him now! Stupidity looks out of his eyes, he talks +and chatters eternally and always in falsetto. His neck is +swollen,--in short he has been completely transformed." + +(Vienna, November 17, 1781, to his father. The person spoken of +was Archduke Maximilian, who afterward became Archbishop of +Cologne, and was the patron of Beethoven. [The ambiguity of the +opening statement is probably due to carelessness in writing, or +Mozart's habit of using double negatives. H.E.K.]) + + + +WOLFGANG, THE GERMAN + + + +Mozart's Germanism is a matter of pride to the German people. To +him "German" was no empty concept, as it was to the majority of +his contemporaries. He is therefore honored as a champion of +German character and German art, worthy as such to stand beside +Richard Wagner. Properly to appreciate his patriotism it is +necessary to hear in mind that in Mozart's day Germany was a +figment of the imagination, the French language, French manners +and Italian music being everywhere dominant. Wagner, on the +contrary, was privileged to see the promise of the fulfillment of +his strivings in the light of the German victories of 1870-1871. +When the genius of Germany soared aloft she carried Wagner with +her; Wagner's days of glory in August, 1876, were conditioned by +the great war with France. How insignificant must the patronage +of Joseph II, scantily enough bestowed on Mozart in comparison +with that showered on Salieri, appear, when we recall the +Maecenas Ludwig II. + + + +109. "Frequently I fall into a mood of complete listlessness and +indifference; nothing gives me great pleasure. The most +stimulating and encouraging thought is that you, dearest father, +and my dear sister, are well, that I am an honest German, and +that if I am not always permitted to talk I can think what I +please; but that is all." + +(Paris, May 29, 1778, to his father.) + +110. "The Duke de Guines was utterly without a sense of honor and +thought that here was a young fellow, and a stupid German to +boot,--as all Frenchmen think of the Germans,--he'll be glad to +take it. But the stupid German was not glad and refused to take +the money. For two lessons he wanted to pay me the fee of one." + +(Paris, July 31, 1778, to his father. Mozart had given lessons in +composition to the Duke's daughter. See No. 51.) + +111. "An Italian ape, such as he is, who has lived in German +countries and eaten German bread for years, ought to speak +German, or mangle it, as well or ill as his French mouth will +permit." + +(Said of the violoncellist Duport, the favorite of King William +I, of Prussia, in 1789, when Mozart was in Berlin and Duport +asked him to speak French.) + +112. "I pray God every day to give me grace to remain steadfast +here, that I may do honor to myself and the entire German nation, +to His greater honor and glory, and that He permit me to make my +fortune so that I may help you out of your sorry condition, and +bring it to pass that we soon meet again and live together in +happiness and joy. But His will be done on earth as in heaven." + +(Paris, May 1, 1778, to his father who had plunged himself in +debt and was giving lessons in order to promote the career of his +son. His sister also helped nobly.) + +113. "If this were a place where the people had ears, hearts to +feel, and a modicum of musical understanding and taste, I should +laugh heartily at all these things; as it is I am among nothing +but cattle and brutes (so far as music is concerned). How should +it be otherwise since they are the same in all their acts and +passions? There is no place like Paris. You must not think +that I exaggerate when I talk thus of music. Turn to whom you +please,--except to a born Frenchman,--you shall hear the same +thing, provided you can find some one to turn to. Now that I am +here I must endure out of regard for you. I shall thank God +Almighty if I get out of here with a sound taste." + +(Paris, May 1, 1778.) + +114. "How popular I would be if I were to lift the national +German stage to recognition in music! And this would surely +happen for I was already full of desire to write when I heard the +German Singspiel." + +(Munich, October 2, 1777. [A Singspiel is a German opera with +spoken dialogue. H.E.K.]) + +115. "If there were but a single patriot on the boards with me, a +different face would be put on the matter. Then, mayhap, the +budding National Theatre would blossom, and that would be an +eternal disgrace to Germany,--if we Germans should once begin to +think German, act German, speak German, and--even sing German!!!" + +(Vienna, March 21, 1785, to the playwright Anton Klein of +Mannheim. It was purposed to open the Singspiel theatre in +October.) + +116. "The German Opera is to be opened in October. For my part I +am not promising it much luck. From the doings so far it looks as +if an effort were making thoroughly to destroy the German opera +which had suspended, perhaps only for a while, rather than to +help it up again and preserve it. Only my sister-in-law Lange has +been engaged for the German Singspiel. Cavalieri, Adamberger, +Teyber, all Germans, of whom Germany can be proud, must remain +with the Italian opera, must make war against their countrymen!" + +(Vienna, March 21, 1785, to Anton Klein. Madame Lange was Aloysia +Weber, with whom he was in love before he married her sister +Constanze.) + +117. "The gentlemen of Vienna (including most particularly the +Emperor) must not be permitted to believe that I live only for +the sake of Vienna. There is no monarch on the face of the earth +whom I would rather serve than the Emperor, but I shall not beg +service. I believe that I am capable of doing honor to any court. +If Germany, my beloved fatherland, of whom you know I am proud, +will not accept me, then must I, in the name of God, again make +France or England richer by one capable German;--and to the shame +of the German nation. You know full well that in nearly all the +arts those who excelled have nearly always been Germans. But +where did they find fortune, where fame? Certainly not in +Germany. Even Gluck;--did Germany make him a great man? Alas, +no!" + +(Vienna, August 17, 1782, to his father. Mozart's answer in 1789, +when King Frederick William II of Prussia said to him: "Stay with +me; I offer you a salary of 3,000 thalers," was touching in the +extreme: "Shall I leave my good Emperor?" Thereupon the king +said: "Think it over. I'll keep my word even if you should come +after a year and a day!" In spite of his financial difficulties, +Mozart never gave serious consideration to the offer. When his +father advised him against some of his foreign plans he answered: +"So far as France and England are concerned you are wholly right; +this opening will never be closed to me; it will be better if I +wait a while longer. Meanwhile it is possible that conditions may +change in those countries." In a preceding letter he had written: +"For some time I have been practicing myself daily in the French +language, and I have also taken three lessons in English. In +three months I hope to be able to read and understand English +books fairly well.") + +118. "The two of us played a sonata that I had composed for the +occasion, and which had a success. This sonata I shall send you +by Herr von Daubrawaick, who said that he would feel proud to +have it in his trunk; his son, who is a Salzburger, told me this. +When the father went he said, quite loud, 'I am proud to be your +countryman. You are doing great honor to Salzburg; I hope that +times will so change that we can have you amongst us, and then do +not forget me.' I answered: 'My fatherland has always the first +claim on me.' " + +(Vienna, November 24, 1781, to his father. Mozart is speaking of +a concert which he had given. The sonata is the small one in D +major (Kochel, No. 381). Mozart often made merry over the +Salzburgians; he called them stupid and envious.) + +119. "Thoroughly convinced that I was talking to a German, I gave +free rein to my tongue,--a thing which one is so seldom permitted +to do that after such an outpouring of the heart it would be +allowable to get a bit fuddled without risk of hurting one's +health." + +(Vienna, March 21, 1785, to Anton Klein.) + + + +SELF-RESPECT AND HONOR + + + +Beethoven is said to have been the first musician who compelled +respect for his craft,--he who, prouder than Goethe, associated +with royalties, and said of himself, "I, too, am a king!" Mozart +rose from a dependent position which brought him most grievous +humiliations; he was looked upon as a servant of the Archbishop +of Salzburg, and treated accordingly. At the time composers +and musicians had no higher standing. Mozart feels the +intolerableness of his position and protests against it on every +opportunity; he is conscious of his worth and intellectual +superiority. When he endures the grossest indignities from his +tormentor, Archbishop Hieronymus, it is for the sake of his +father whom he would save from annoyance. In all things else +he follows the example of his father, but in the matter of +self-respect he admonishes and encourages his parent. Although +Beethoven rudely rejected the condescending good will of the +great which would have made Mozart happy, and demanded respect +as an equal, it must be confessed that the generally manly +conduct of Mozart was an excellent preparation of the Viennese +soil. + +120. "I only wish that the Elector were here; he might hear +something to his advantage. He knows nothing about me, knows +nothing about my ability. What a pity that these grand gentlemen +take everybody's word and are unwilling to investigate for +themselves! It's always the way. I am willing to make a test; let +him summon all the composers in Munich, and even invite a few +from Italy, Germany, England and Spain; I will trust myself in a +competition with them all." + +(Munich, October 2, 1777, to his father. Mozart had hoped to +secure an appointment in Munich, but was disappointed.) + +121. "I could scarcely refrain from laughing when I was +introduced to the people. A few, who knew me par renommee, were +very polite and respectful; others who know nothing about me +stared at me as if they were a bit amused. They think that +because I am small and young that there can be nothing great and +old in me. But they shall soon find out." + +(Mannheim, October 31, 1777, to his father.) + +122. "We poor, common folk must not only take wives whom we love +and who love us, but we may, can and want to take such because we +are neither noble, well-born nor rich, but lowly, mean and poor. +Hence we do not need rich wives because our wealth dies with us, +being in our heads. Of this wealth no man can rob us unless he +cuts off our heads, in which case we should have need of nothing +more." + +(Mannheim, February 7, 1778, to his father. Mozart had fallen in +love with Aloysia, daughter of the poor musician Weber.) + +123. "I will gladly give lessons to oblige, particularly if I see +that a person has talent and a joyous desire to learn. But to go +to a house at a fixed hour, or wait at home for the arrival of +some one, that I can not do, no matter how much it might yield +me; I leave that to others who can do nothing else than play the +clavier,--for me it is impossible. I am a composer and was born +to be a chapelmaster. I dare not thus bury the talent for +composition which a kind God gave me in such generous measure (I +may say this without pride for I feel it now more than ever +before), and that is what I should do had I many pupils. Teaching +is a restless occupation and I would rather neglect clavier +playing than composition; the clavier is a side issue, though, +thank God, a strong one." + +(Mannheim, February 7, 1778, to his father, who must have read +the words with sorrow, since he and his daughter Nannerl were +laboriously giving lessons and practicing economy to make +Mozart's journey possible and had to advance money to him.) + +124. "I know of a certainty that the Emperor intends to establish +a German opera in Vienna, and is earnestly seeking a young +conductor who understands the German language, has genius and is +capable of giving the world something new. Benda of Gotha is +seeking the place and Schweitzer is also an applicant. I believe +this would be a good thing for me,--but with good pay, as a +matter of course. If the Emperor will give me a thousand florins, +I will write a German opera for him, and if then he does not wish +to retain me, all right. I beg of you, write to all the good +friends in Vienna whom you can think of that I would do honor to +the Emperor. If there is no other way let him try me with an +opera." + +(Mannheim, January 10, 1778, to his father.) + +125. "The greatest favor that Herr Grimm showed me was to lend me +15 Louis d'Or in driblets at the (life and) death of my blessed +mother. Is he fearful that the loan will not be returned? If so +he truly deserves a kick--for he shows distrust of my honesty +(the only thing that can throw me into a rage), and also of my +talent....In a word he belongs to the Italian party, is deceitful +and is seeking to oppress me." + +(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father, who was on a friendly +footing with the French encyclopaedist Grimm since the first +artistic tour made with little Wolfgang in 1763, when he owed +many favors to Grimm. Apparently Mozart here does an injustice to +his patron, who, it is true, thought highly of the Italian +Piccini.) + +126. "On my honor, I can't help it; it's the kind of man I am. +Lately when he spoke to me rudely, foolishly and stupidly, I did +not dare to say to him that he need not worry about the 15 Louis +d'Or for fear that I might offend him. I did nothing but endure +and ask if he were ready; and then--your obedient servant." + +(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father, at whose request Baron +Grimm had received the young artist in Paris, but at the same +time had exercised a sort of artistic guardianship over him. +Wolfgang had written to his father as early as August 27: "If you +write to him do not be too humble in your thanks;--there are +reasons." On another occasion: "Grimm is able to assist children, +but not adults. Do not imagine that he is the man he was.") + +127. "You know that I want nothing more than good employment,-- +good in character and good in recompense, let it be where it will +if the place be but Catholic...; but if the Salzburgians want me +they must satisfy my desires or they will certainly not get me." + +(Paris, July 3, 1778, to his father, who wished to see his son in +the service of the archiepiscopal court at Salzburg.) + +128. "The Prince must have confidence either in you or me, and +give us complete control of everything relating to music; +otherwise all will be in vain. For in Salzburg everybody or +nobody has to do with music. If I were to undertake it I should +demand free hands. In matters musical the Head Court Chamberlain +should have nothing to say; a cavalier can not be a conductor, +but a conductor can well be a cavalier." + +(Paris, July 9, 1778.) + +129. "If the Archbishop were to entrust it to me I would soon +make his music famous, that's sure....But I have one request to +make at Salzburg, and that is that I shall not be placed among +the violins where I used to be; I'll never make a fiddler. I will +conduct at the clavier and accompany the arias. It would have +been a good thing if I had secured a written assurance of the +conductorship." + +(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father who had urged him to +return to Salzburg to receive an appointment to the +conductorship. Mozart seems to have a premonition of the +treatment which he received later from the Archbishop.) + +130. "I must admit that I should reach Salzburg with a lighter +heart if I were not aware that I have taken service there; it is +only this thought that is intolerable. Put yourself in my place +and think it over. At Salzburg I do not know who or what I am; I +am everything and at times nothing. I do not demand too much or +too little;--only something, if I am something." + +(Strassburg, October 15, 1778, to his father, while returning +from Paris filled with repugnance to the Archbishop. "For aside +from obeying a praiseworthy and beautiful motive" (he means +filial affection), "I am really committing the greatest folly in +the world," he writes in the same letter.) + +131. "The Archbishop can not recompense me for the slavery in +Salzburg! As I have said I experience great pleasure when I think +of visiting you again, but nothing but vexation and fear at the +thought of seeing myself at that beggarly court again. The +Archbishop must not attempt to put on grand airs with me as he +used to; it is not impossible, it is even likely that I would put +my fingers to my nose,--and I know full well that you would enjoy +it as much as I." + +(Mannheim, November 12, 1778, to his father.) + +132. "At 11 o'clock in the forenoon, a little too early for me, +unfortunately, we already go to table; we dine together,--the two +temporal and spiritual valets, Mr. the Controller, Mr. Zetti, the +Confectioner, Messrs. the two cooks, Ceccarelli, Brunetti and my +insignificance. N.B. The two valets sit at the head of the table; +I have at least the honor of sitting above the cooks. Well, I +simply think I am at Salzburg. At dinner a great many coarse and +silly jokes are cracked, but not at me, because I do not speak a +word unless of necessity and then always with the utmost +seriousness. As soon as I have dined I go my way." + +(Vienna, March 17, 1781, to his father. The Archbishop was +visiting Vienna and had brought with him his best musicians whom, +however, he treated shabbily. At length the rupture came; Mozart +was dismissed--literally with a kick.) + +133. "Believe me, best of fathers, that I must summon all my +manhood to write to you what reason commands. God knows how hard +it is for me to leave you; but if beggary were my lot I would no +longer serve such a master; for that I shall never forget as long +as I live,--and I beg of you, I beg of you for the sake of +everything in the world, encourage me in my determination instead +of trying to dissuade me. That would unfit me for what I must do. +For it is my desire and hope to win honor, fame and money, and I +hope to be of greater service to you in Vienna than in Salzburg." + +(Vienna, May 12, 1781, to his father.) + +134. "I did not know that I was a valet de chambre, and that +broke my neck. I ought to have wasted a few hours every forenoon +in the antechamber. I was often told that I should let myself be +seen, but I could not recall that this was my duty and came +punctually only when the Archbishop summoned me." + +(Vienna, May 12, 1781.) + +135. "To please you, best of fathers, I would sacrifice my +happiness, my health and my life; but my honor is my own, and +ought to be above all else to you. Let Count Arco and all +Salzburg read this letter." + +(Vienna, May 19, 1781. It was Count Arco who had dismissed Mozart +with a kick. The father was thrown into consternation at the +maltreatment of his son and sought to persuade Mozart to return +to Salzburg. Mozart replied: "Best, dearest father, ask of me +anything you please but not that; the very thought makes me +tremble with rage.") + +136. "You did not think when you wrote this that such a back-step +would stamp me as one of the most contemptible fellows in the +world. All Vienna knows that I have left the Archbishop, knows +why, knows that it is because of my injured honor, of an injury +inflicted three times,--and I am to make a public denial, +proclaim myself a cur and the Archbishop a noble prince? No man +could do the former, least of all I, and the second can only be +done by God if He should choose to enlighten him." + +(Vienna, May 19, 1781, to his father, who had asked him to return +to the service of the Archbishop.) + +137. "If it be happiness to be rid of a prince who never pays +one, but torments him to death, then I am happy. For if I had to +work from morning till night I would do it gladly rather than +live off the bounty of such a,--I do not dare to call him by the +name he deserves,--I was forced to take the step I did and I can +not swerve a hair's breadth from it; impossible." + +(Vienna, May 19, 1781.) + +138. "Salzburg is nothing now to me except it offer an +opportunity to give the Count a kick...even if it were in the +public street. I desire no satisfaction from the Archbishop, for +he is not in a position to offer me the kind that I want and must +have. Within a day or two I shall write to the Count telling him +what he can confidently expect to receive from me the first time +I meet him, be it where it may, except a place that commands my +respect." + +(Vienna, June 13, 1781, to his father. Count Arco's offence has +been mentioned. On June 16 Mozart wrote: "The hungry ass shall +not escape my chastisement if I have to wait twenty years; for as +soon as I see him he shall come in contact with my foot, unless I +should be so unfortunate as to see him in the sanctuary." [The +reader will probably guess that the translator is resorting to +euphemisms in rendering Mozart's language. H.E.K.]) + +139. "It is the heart that confers the patent of nobility on man; +and although I am no count I probably have more honor within me +than many a count. Menial or count, whoever insults me is a cur. +I shall begin by representing to him, with complete gravity, how +badly he did his business, but at the end I shall have to assure +him in writing that he is to expect a kick...and a box on the +ear from me; for if a man insults me I have got to be revenged, +and if I give him no more than he gave me, it is mere retaliation +and not punishment. Besides I should thus put myself on a level +with him, and I am too proud to compare myself with such a stupid +gelding." + +(Vienna, June 20, 1781, to his father. These expressions, called +out by the insulting treatment received from the Archbishop and +Count Arco, are in striking contrast to Mozart's habitual +amiability.) + +140. "I can easily believe that the court parasites will look +askance at you, but why need you disturb yourself about such a +miserable pack? The more inimical such persons are to you the +greater the pride and contempt with which you should look down +upon them." + +(Vienna, June 20, 1778, to his father, who fears that some of the +consequences of his son's step may be visited upon him.) + +141. "I do not ask of you that you make a disturbance or enter +the least complaint, but the Archbishop and the whole pack must +fear to speak to you about this matter, for you (if compelled) +can without the slightest alarm say frankly that you would be +ashamed to have reared a son who would have accepted abuse from +such an infamous cur as Arco; and you may assure all that if I +had the good luck to meet him today I should treat him as he +deserves, and that he would have occasion to remember me the +rest of his life. All that I want is that everybody shall see +in your bearing that you have nothing to fear. Keep quiet; but +if necessary, speak, and then to some purpose." + +(Vienna, July 4, 1781, to his father.) + +142. "I may say that because of Vogler, Winter was always my +greatest enemy. But because he is a beast in his mode of life, +and in all other matters a child, I would be ashamed to set down +a single word on his account; he deserves the contempt of all +honorable men. I will, therefore, not tell infamous truths rather +than infamous lies about him." + +(Vienna, December 22, 1781, to his father, to whose ears Peter +Winter, a composer, had brought slanderous reports concerning +Mozart and his Constanze. Winter was a pupil of Abbe Vogler. See +No. 66.) + +143. "He is a nice fellow and a good friend of mine; I might +often dine with him, but it is a custom with me never to take pay +for my favors; nor would a dish of soup pay them. Yet such people +have wonderful notions of what they accomplish with one....I am +fond of doing favors for people but they must not plague me. She +(the daughter) is not satisfied if I spend two hours every day +with her, but wants me to loll about the whole day; yet she tries +to play the well behaved one." + +(Vienna, August 22, 1781, to his father. Mozart is writing about +a landlord and his daughter concerning whom favorable reports had +reached the ears of the father. Mozart explains matters and soon +thereafter announces a change of lodgings.) + +144. "I beg of you that when you write to me about something in +my conduct which is displeasing to you, and I in turn give you my +views, let it always be a matter between father and son, and +therefore a secret not to be divulged to others. Let our letters +suffice and do not address yourself to others, for, by heaven, I +will not give a finger's length of accounting concerning my +doings or omissions to others, not even to the Emperor himself. I +have cares and anxieties of my own and have no use for petulant +letters." + +(Vienna, September 5, 1781, to his father, who lent a willing ear +to gossips and was never chary of his reproaches. Mozart was +already twenty-five years old.) + +145. "If I were Wiedmer I would demand the following satisfaction +from the Emperor: he should endure 50 strokes at the same place +in my presence and then he should pay me 6,000 ducats. If I could +not obtain this satisfaction I should take none, but thrust a +dagger through his heart at the first opportunity. N.B. He has +already had an offer of 3,000 ducats on condition that he does +not come to Vienna, but permits the matter to drop. The people of +Innsbruck say of Wiedmer: he who was scourged for our sake will +also redeem us." + +(Vienna, August 8, 1781, to his father. Herr von Wiedmer was a +nobleman and theatre director, who, without cause, had been +sentenced to a whipping by the president, Count Wolkenstein, on +the complaint of another nobleman. [Mozart's bloodthirstiness was +probably due to memories of Arco's kick still rankling in his +heart. It was only after long solicitation from his father that +he abandoned his plan to send Arco the threatened letter. +H.E.K.]) + +146. "You perhaps already know that the musico Marquesi-- +Marquesius di Milano--was poisoned in Naples; but how! He was +in love with a duchess and her real amant grew jealous and sent +three or four bravos to Marquesi and left him the choice of +drinking poison or being massacred. He chose the poison. Being a +timid Italian he died alone and left his gentlemen murderers to +live in rest and peace. Had they come into my room, I would have +taken a few of them with me into the other world, as long as some +one had to die. Pity for so excellent a singer!" + +(Munich, December 30, 1780, to his father. Mozart, on the whole, +was one of the most peaceable men on earth, but he was not +wanting in personal courage, and he could fly into transports of +rage.) + +147. "If you were to write also to Prince Zeil I should be glad. +But short and good. Do not by any means crawl! That I can not +endure." + +(Mannheim, December 10, 1777, to his father. Count Ferdinand von +Zeil was Prince Bishop of Chimsee and favorably disposed towards +Mozart, who was hoping for an appointment in Munich. "If he wants +to do something he can; all Munich told me that." Nothing came of +it.) + +148. "Whoever judges me by such bagatelles is also a scamp!" + +(Mozart wrote many occasional pieces for his friends,--fitting +them to the players' capacities. Mozart said that the publisher +who bought some of these "bagatelles" and printed them without +applying to him was a scamp (Lump), but took no proceedings +against him.) + +149. "Very well; then I shall earn nothing more, go hungry and +the devil a bit will I care!" + +(Mozart's answer to Hofmeister, the Leipsic publisher, who had +said: "Write in a more popular style or I can neither print nor +pay for anything of yours.") + + + +STRIVINGS AND LABORS + + + +150. "We live in this world only that we may go onward without +ceasing, a peculiar help in this direction being that one +enlightens the other by communicating his ideas; in the sciences +and fine arts there is always more to learn." + +(Salzburg, September 7, 1776, to Padre Martini of Bologna, whose +opinion he asks concerning a motet which the Archbishop of +Salzburg had faulted.) + +151. "I am just now reading 'Telemachus;' I am in the second +part." + +(Bologna, September 8, 1770, to his mother and sister.) + +152. "Because you said yesterday that you could understand +anything, and that I might write what I please in Latin, +curiosity has led me to try you with some Latin lines. Have the +kindness when you have solved the problem to send the result to +me by the Hagenauer servant maid." + +"Cuperem scire, de qua causa, a quam plurimis adolescentibus +ottium usque adeo aestimetur, ut ipsi se nec verbis, nec +verberibus ab hoc sinant abduci." + +(The Archiepiscopal concertmaster, aged 13, writes thus to a girl +friend.) + +153. "Since then I have exercised myself daily in the French +language, and already taken three lessons in English. In three +months I hope to be able to read and understand the English books +fairly well." + +(Vienna, August 17, 1782, to his father. Mozart had given it out +that he intended to go to Paris or London. Prince Kaunitz had +said to Archduke Maximilian that men like Mozart lived but once +in a hundred years, and should not be driven out of Germany. +Mozart, however, writes to his father: "But I do not want to wait +on charity; I find that, even if it were the Emperor, I am not +dependent on his bounty.") + +154. "I place my confidence in three friends, and they are strong +and invincible friends, viz: God, your head and my head. True our +heads differ, but each is very good, serviceable, and useful in +its genre, and in time I hope that my head will be as good as +yours in the field in which now yours is superior." + +(Mannheim, February 28, 1778, to his father.) + +155. "Believe me, I do not love idleness, but work. True it was +difficult in Salzburg and cost me an effort and I could scarcely +persuade myself. Why? Because I was not happy there. You must +admit that, for me at least, there was not a pennyworth of +entertainment in Salzburg. I do not want to associate with many +and of the majority of the rest I am not fond. There is no +encouragement for my talent! If I play, or one of my compositions +is performed, the audience might as well consist of tables and +chairs....In Salzburg I sigh for a hundred amusements, and here +for not one; to live in Vienna is amusement enough." + +(Vienna, May 26, 1781, to his father, who was concerned as to the +progress making in Vienna.) + +156. "I beg of you, best and dearest of fathers, do not write me +any more letters of this kind,--I conjure you, for they serve no +other purpose than to heat my head and disturb my heart and mood. +And I, who must compose continually, need a clear head and quiet +mood." + +(Vienna, June 9, 1781, to his father, who had reproached him +because of his rupture with the Archbishop.) + +157. "If there ever was a time when I was not thinking about +marriage it is now. I wish for nothing less than a rich wife, and +if I could make my fortune by marriage now I should perforce have +to wait, because I have very different things in my head. God did +not give me my talent to put it a-dangle on a wife, and spend my +young life in inactivity. I am just beginning life, and shall I +embitter it myself? I have nothing against matrimony, but for me +it would be an evil just now." + +(Vienna, July 25, 1781, to his father, who was solicitous lest he +fall in love with one of the daughters in the Weber family with +whom he was living. All manner of rumors had been carried to him. +The father persuaded his son to seek other lodgings; but +Constanze Weber eventually became Mozart's wife nevertheless.) + +158. "This sort of composer can do nothing in this genre. He has +no conception of what is wanted. Lord! if God had only given me +such a place in the church and before such an orchestra!" + +(A remark made in Leipsic, in 1789, in reference to a composer +who was suited to comic opera work, but had received an +appointment as Church composer. Mozart examined a mass of his and +said: "It sounds all very well, but not in church." He then +played it through with new words improvised by himself, such as +(in the Cum sancto spiritu) "Stolen property, gentlemen, but no +offence.") + +159. "You see my intentions are good; but if you can't, you +can't! I do not want to scribble, and therefore can not send you +the whole symphony before next post day." + +(Vienna, July 31, 1782, to his father, who had asked for a +symphony for the Hafner family in Salzburg.) + +160. "I do not beg pardon; no! But I beg of Herr Bullinger that +he himself apply to himself for pardon in my behalf, with the +assurance that as soon as I can do so in quiet I shall write to +him. Until now no such occasion has offered itself, for as soon +as I know that in all likelihood I must leave a place I have no +restful hour. And although I still have a modicum of hope, I am +not at ease and shall not be until I know my status." + +(Mannheim, November 22, 1777, to his father. Abbe Bullinger was +the most intimate friend that the Mozart family had in Salzburg. +Mozart had been negligent in his correspondence.) + +161. "To live well and to live happily are different things, and +the latter would be impossible for me without witchcraft; it +would have to be supernatural; and that is impossible for there +are no witches now-a-days." + +(Paris, August 7, 1778, to his friend Bullinger, who had sought +to persuade him to return to Salzburg.) + +162. "The Duke de Chabot sat himself down beside me and listened +attentively; and I--I forgot the cold, and the headache and +played regardless of the wretched clavier as I play when I am in +the mood. Give me the best clavier in Europe and at the same time +hearers who understand nothing or want to understand nothing, and +who do not feel what I play with me, and all my joy is gone." + +(Paris, May 1, 1778, to his father. The Duchess had behaved very +haughtily and kept Mozart sitting in a cold room for a long time +before the Duke came.) + + + +AT HOME AND ABROAD + + + +163. "I assure you that without travel we (at least men of the +arts and sciences) are miserable creatures. A man of mediocre +talent will remain mediocre whether he travel or not; but a man +of superior talent (which I can not deny I am, without doing +wrong) deteriorates if he remains continually in one place." + +(Paris, September 11, 1778, to his father, who had secured an +appointment for him at Salzburg which he was loath to accept. He +asked that the Archbishop permit him to travel once in two years. +He feared that he "would find no congenial society" in Salzburg, +where, moreover, music did not stand in large appreciation. +Mozart's subsequent experiences were of the most pitiable +character.) + +164. "Write me, how is Mr. Canary? Does he still sing? Does he +still pipe? Do you know why I am thinking of the canary? Because +there is one in our anteroom that makes the same little sounds as +ours." + +(Naples, May 19, 1770, to his sister. Mozart was very fond of +animals. In a letter from Vienna to his sister on August 21, +1773, he writes: "How is Miss Bimbes? Please present all manner +of compliments to her." "Miss Bimbes" was a dog. At another time +he wrote a pathetic little poem on the death of a starling. While +in the midst of the composition and rehearsal of "Idomeneo" he +wrote to his father: "Give Pimperl (a dog) a pinch of Spanish +snuff, a good wine-biscuit and three busses.") + +165. "Because of my disposition which leans towards a quiet, +domestic life rather than to boisterousness, and the fact that +since my youth I have never given a thought to my linen, clothing +or such things, I can think of nothing more necessary than a +wife. I assure you that I frequently spend money unnecessarily +because I am negligent of these things. I am convinced that I +could get along better than I do now on the same income if I had +a wife. How many unnecessary expenditures would be saved? Others +are added, it is true, but you know in advance what they are and +can adjust them;--in a word you lead a regulated life. In my +opinion an unmarried man lives only half a life; that is my +conviction and I can not help it. I have resolved the matter over +and over in my mind and am of the same opinion still." + +(Vienna, December 15, 1781, to his father.) + +166. "At present I have only one pupil....I could have several if +I were to lower my fee; but as soon as one does that one loses +credit. My price is twelve lessons for six ducats, and I make it +understood besides that I give the lessons as a favor. I would +rather have three pupils who pay well than six who pay ill. I am +writing this to you to prevent you from thinking that it is +selfishness which prevents me from sending you more than thirty +ducats." + +(Vienna, June 16, 1781, to his father. [In American money +Mozart's fee is represented by $1.20 per lesson. H.E.K.]) + +167. "I could not go about Vienna looking like a tramp, +particularly just at this time. My linen was pitiable; no servant +here has shirts of such coarse stuff as mine,--and that certainly +is a frightful thing for a man. Consequently there were again +expenditures. I had only one pupil; she suspended her lessons for +three weeks, and I was again the loser. One must not throw one's +self away here,--that is a first principle,--or one is ruined +forever. The most audacious man wins the day." + +(Vienna, September 5, 1781, to his father, excusing himself for +not having made remittances.) + +168. "Resent anything and at once you receive smaller pay. +Besides all this the Emperor is a skinflint. If the Emperor wants +me he ought to pay for me; the mere honor of being in his employ +is not enough. If the Emperor were to offer me 1,000 florins and +a count 2,000, I should present my compliments to the Emperor and +go to the count,--assuming a guarantee, of course." + +(Vienna, April 10, 1782, to his father. Mozart was not too +industrious in the pursuit of a court appointment, yet had reason +to be hopeful. Near the end of his short life the appointment +came from Joseph II, to whom Mozart had been too faithful.) + +169. "I described my manner of life to my father only recently, +and I will now repeat it to you. At six o'clock in the morning I +am already done with my friseur, and at seven I am fully dressed. +Thereupon I compose until nine o'clock. From nine to one I give +lessons; then I eat unless I am a guest at places where they dine +at two or even three o'clock,--as, for instance, today and +tomorrow with Countess Zichy and Countess Thun. I can not work +before five or six o'clock in the evening and I am often +prevented even then by a concert; if not I write till nine. Then +I go to my dear Constanze, where the delight of our meeting is +generally embittered by the words of her mother;--hence my desire +to free and save her as soon as possible. At half after ten or +eleven I am again at home. Since (owing to the occasional +concerts and the uncertainty as to whether or not I may be called +out) I can not depend on having time for composition in the +evening, I am in the habit (particularly when I come home early) +of writing something before I go to bed. Frequently I forget +myself and write till one o'clock,--then up again at six." + +(Vienna, February 13, 1782, to his sister Marianne--Nannerl, as +he called her.) + +170. "We do not go to bed before 12 o'clock and get up half after +five or five, because nearly every day we take an early walk in +the Augarten." + +(Vienna, May 26, 1784, to his father, to whom he complains of his +maid-servant who came from Salzburg and who had written to the +father that she was not permitted to sleep except between 11 and +6 o'clock.) + +171. "Now as to my mode of life: As soon as you were gone I +played two games of billiards with Herr von Mozart who wrote the +opera for Schickaneder's theatre; then I sold my nag for fourteen +ducats; then I had Joseph call my primus and bring a black +coffee, to which I smoked a glorious pipe of tobacco....At 5:30 I +went out of the door and took my favorite promenade through the +Glacis to the theatre. What do I see? What do I smell? It is the +primus with the cutlet Gusto! I eat to your health. It has just +struck 11 o'clock. Perhaps you are already asleep. Sh! sh! sh! I +do not want to wake you." + +"Saturday, the 8th. You ought to have seen me yesterday at +supper! I could not find the old dishes and therefore produced a +set as white as snow-flowers and had the wax candelabra in front +of me." + +(Vienna, October 7, 1791, to his wife, who was taking the waters +at Baden. Mozart was fond of billiards and often played alone as +on this occasion. He was careful of his health and had been +advised by his physician to ride; but he could not acquire a +taste for the exercise--Hence the sale of his horse. The primus +was his valet, a servant found in every Viennese household at the +time. Out of the door through which he stepped on beginning his +walk to the theatre his funeral procession passed two months +later.) + +172. "I have done more work during the ten days that I have lived +here than in two months in any other lodgings; and if it were not +that I am too often harassed by gloomy thoughts which I can +dispel only by force, I could do still more, for I live +pleasantly, comfortably and cheaply." + +(Vienna, June 27, 1788, to his friend Puchberg.) + +173. "I have no conveniences for writing there (i.e. at Baden), +and I want to avoid embarrassments as much as possible. Nothing +is more enjoyable than a quiet life and to obtain that one must +be industrious. I am glad to be that." + +(Vienna, October 8, 1791, to his wife at Baden. Mozart probably +refers to work on his "Requiem." He says further: "If I had had +nothing to do I would have gone with you to spend the week.") + +174. "Now the babe against my will, yet with my consent, has been +provided with a wet nurse. It was always my determination that, +whether she was able to do so or not, my wife was not to suckle +her child; but neither was the child to guzzle the milk of +another woman. I want it brought up on water as I and my sister +were, but..." + +(Vienna, June 8, 1783, to his father, the day after his first +child was born. The "Dear, thick, fat little fellow" died soon +after.) + +175. "Young as I am, I never go to bed without thinking that +possibly I may not be alive on the morrow; yet not one of the +many persons who know me can say that I am morose or melancholy. +For this happy disposition I thank my Creator daily, and wish +with all my heart that it were shared by all my fellows." + +(Vienna, April 4, 1787, to his father, shortly before the +latter's death. Mozart himself died when, he was not quite +thirty-six years old.) + +176. "If it chances to be convenient I shall call on the Fischers +for a moment; longer than that I could not endure their warm room +and the wine at table. I know very well that people of their +class think they are bestowing the highest honors when they offer +these things, but I am not fond of such things,--still less of +such people." + +(Vienna, December 22, 1781, to his sister. Mozart was acquainted +with the Fischer family from the time of his first journeys as a +child. The contrast which he draws between the artist and the +comfort-loving, commonplace citizen is diverting.) + +177. "The Viennese are a people who soon grow weary and +listless,--but only of the theatre. My forte is too popular to be +neglected. This, surely, is Clavierland!" + +(Spoken to Count Arco who had warned him against removing to +Vienna because of the fickleness of the Viennese public. He +wanted him to return to Salzburg.) + +178. "I am writing at a place called Reisenberg which is an +hour's distance from Vienna. I once stayed here over night; now I +shall remain a few days. The house is insignificant, but the +surroundings, the woods in which a grotto has been built as +natural as can be, are splendid and very pleasant." + +(Vienna, July 13, 1781, to his father. Like Beethoven, Mozart +loved nature and wanted a garden about his home.) + +179. "I wish that my sister were here in Rome. I am sure she +would be pleased with the city, for St. Peter's church is +regular, and many other things in Rome are regular." + +(Rome, April 14, 1770. A droll criticism from the traveling +virtuoso, aged 14, in a letter to his mother and sister.) + +180. "Carefully thinking it over I conclude that in no country +have I received so many honors or been so highly appreciated +as in Italy. You get credit in Italy if you have written an +opera,--especially in Naples." + +(Munich, October 11, 1777, to his father. An influential friend +had offered to help him get an appointment in Italy.) + +181. "Strassburg can't get along without me. You have no idea how +I am honored and loved here. The people say that everything I do +is refined, that I am so sedate and courteous and have so good a +bearing. Everybody knows me." + +(Strassburg, October 26, 1778, to his father, on his return +journey from Paris. On October 3 he had written: "I beg your +pardon if I cannot write much. It is because, unless I am in a +city in which I am well known, I am never in a good humor. If I +were acquainted here I would gladly stay, for the city is truly +charming--beautiful houses, handsome broad streets, and superb +squares.") + +182. "Oh, what a difference between the people of the Palatinate +and of Bavaria! What a language! How coarse! To say nothing of +the mode of life!" + +(Mannheim, November 12, 1778, to his father. Mozart, while +returning from Paris, had stopped at his "dear Mannheim," where +at the moment a regiment of Bavarian soldiers were quartered, and +had just got news of the rudeness with which the people of Munich +had treated their Elector.) + +183. "In Regensburg we dined magnificently at noon, listened to +divine table music, had angelic service and glorious Mosel wine. +We breakfasted in Nuremberg,--a hideous city. At Wurzburg we +strengthened our stomachs with coffee; a beautiful, a splendid +city. The charges were moderate everywhere. Only two post relays +from here, in Aschaffenburg, the landlord swindled us +shamefully." + +(Frankfort-on-the-Main, September 29, 1790, to his wife. The +remark is notable because of the judgments pronounced on the +renaissance city Nuremberg, and the rococo city Wurzburg.) + +184. "All the talk about the imperial cities is mere boasting. I +am famous, admired and loved here, it is true, but the people are +worse than the Viennese in their parsimony." + +(Mozart went to Frankfort, in 1790, on the occasion of the +coronation of the emperor, hoping to make enough money with +concerts to help himself out of financial difficulties, but +failed.) + + + +LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP + + + +Mozart's love for his father made him dependent on the latter to +the end of his days. He was a model son and must have loved his +wife devotedly, since, for her sake, he once in his life +disobeyed his father. The majority of his letters which have been +preserved are addressed to his father, to whom he reported all +his happenings and whose advice he is forever seeking. Similar +were his relations with his sister Marianne (Nannerl), whom he +loved with great tenderness. The letters to his wife are unique; +all of them, even the last, seem to be the letters of a lover. +They were a pair of turtle-doves. + +Mozart was an ideal friend, ready to sacrifice to the uttermost +on the altar of friendship. It was this trait of character which +made him throw himself with enthusiasm into Freemasonry, whose +affiliations he sought to widen by drafting the constitution of a +community which he called "The Grotto." He probably hated only +one man in the world,--the Archbishop of Salzburg, his tormentor. + +185. "The moment you do not trust me I shall distrust myself. +The time is past, it is true, when I used to stand on the settle, +sing oragna fiagata fa and kiss the tip end of your nose; but +have I therefore shown laxity in respect, love and obedience? +I say no more." + +(Mannheim, February 19, 1779, to his father, who was vexed +because Mozart was showing a disposition to stay in Mannheim, +because of a love affair, instead of going to Paris. "Off with +you to Paris, and soon!" wrote the father. The Italian words are +meaningless and but a bit of child's play, the nature of which +can be gathered from Mozart's remark.) + +186. "Pray do not let your mind often harbor the thought that I +shall ever forget you! It is intolerable to me. My chief aim in +life has been, is, and will be to strive so that we may soon be +reunited and happy....Reflect that you have a son who will never +consciously forget his filial duty toward you, and who will labor +ever to grow more worthy of so good a father." + +(Mannheim, February 28, 1778, to his father.) + +187. "The first thing I did after reading your letter was to go +on my knees, and, out of a full heart, thank my dear God for this +mercy. Now I am again at peace, since I know that I need no +longer be concerned about the two persons who are the dearest +things on earth to me." + +(Paris, July 31, 1778, to his father, who had written that he and +Nannerl had comforted each other on the death of his mother.) + +188. "Dearest, best of fathers! I wish you all conceivable good; +whatever can be wished, that I wish you,--but no, I wish you +nothing, but myself everything. For myself, then, I wish that you +remain well and live innumerable years to my great happiness and +pleasure; I wish that everything that I undertake may agree with +your desire and liking,--or, rather, that I may undertake nothing +which might not turn out to your joy. This also I hope, for +whatever adds to the happiness of your son must naturally be +agreeable also to you." + +(Vienna, November 16, 1781, to his father, congratulating him on +his name-day. On March 17, 1778, Mozart had written from +Mannheim: "Your accuracy extends to all things. 'Papa comes +directly after God' was my maxim as a child and I shall stick to +it.") + +189. "Our little cousin is pretty, sensible, amiable, clever and +merry, all because she has been in society; she visited Munich +for a while. You are right, we suit each other admirably, for +she, too, is a bit naughty. We play great pranks on the people +hereabouts." + +(Augsburg, October 17, 1777, to his father. The "little cousin" +was two years younger than Mozart. Her father was a master +bookbinder in Augsburg. The maiden seems later to have had +serious designs on the composer.) + +190. "I shall be right glad when I meet a place in which there is +a court. I tell you that if I did not have so fine a Mr. Cousin +and Miss Cousin and so dear a little cousin, my regrets that I am +in Augsburg would be as numerous as the hairs of my head." + +(Augsburg, October 17, 1777, to his father, whose birthplace he +was visiting on a concert tour. Mozart was vexed at the insolence +of the patricians.) + +191. "In the case of Frau Lange I was a fool,--that's certain; +but what is a fellow not when he's in love? I did really love +her, and am not indifferent toward her even now. It's lucky for +me that her husband is a jealous fool and never permits her to go +anywhere, so that I seldom see her." + +(Vienna, May 12, 1781, to his father, at the time when he was +being outrageously treated by the Archbishop. Frau Lange was +Aloysia Weber, sister of Constanze, to whom Mozart transferred +his love and whom he made his wife. Aloysia married an actor at +the Court Theatre, Josef Lange, with whom she lived unhappily.) + +192. "I will not say that when at the house of the Mademoiselle +to whom I seem already to have been married off, I am morose and +silent; but neither am I in love. I jest with her and amuse her +when I have time (which is only evenings when I sup at home, for +in the forenoons I write in my room and in the afternoons I am +seldom at home); only that and nothing more. If I were obliged to +marry all the girls with whom I have jested I should have at +least 200 wives." + +(Vienna, July 25, 1781, to his father, who had heard all manner +of tales concerning the relations of Mozart and Constanze Weber.) + +193. "My good, dear Constanze is the martyr, and, perhaps for +that very reason, the best hearted, cleverest, and (in a word) +the best of them all. She assumes all the cares of the house, and +yet does not seem able to accomplish anything. O, best of +fathers, I could write pages if I were to tell you all the scenes +that have taken place in this house because of us +two....Constanze is not ugly, but anything but beautiful; all her +beauty consists of two little black eyes and a handsome figure. +She is not witty but has enough common sense to be able to +perform her duties as wife and mother. She is not inclined to +finery,--that is utterly false; on the contrary, she is generally +ill clad, for the little that the mother was able to do for her +children was done for the other two--nothing for her. True she +likes to be neatly and cleanly, though not extravagantly, +dressed, and she can herself make most of the clothes that a +woman needs; she also dresses her own hair every day, understands +housekeeping, has the best heart in the world,--tell me, could I +wish a better wife?" + +(Vienna, December 15, 1781, to his father. Constanze seems to +have been made for Mozart; they went through the years of their +brief wedded life like two children.) + +194. "Dearest, best of friends!" + +"Surely you will let me call you that? You can not hate me so +greatly as not to permit me to be your friend, and yourself to +become mine? And even if you do not want to be my friend longer, +you can not forbid me to think kindly of you as I have been in +the habit of doing. Consider well what you said to me today. +Despite my entreaties you gave me the mitten three times and told +me to my face that you would have nothing further to do with me. +I, to whom it is not such a matter of indifference as it is to +you to lose a sweetheart, am not so hot tempered, inconsiderate +or unwise as to accept that mitten. I love you too dearly for +that. I therefore beg you to ponder on the cause of your +indignation. A little confession of your thoughtless conduct +would have made all well,--if you do not take it ill, dear friend, +may still make all well. From this you see how much I love you. +I do not flare up as you do; I think, I consider, and I feel. If +you have any feeling I am sure that I will be able to say to +myself before night: Constanze is the virtuous, honor-loving, +sensible and faithful sweetheart of just and well-meaning Mozart." + +(Vienna, April 29, 1782, to his fiancee, Constanze Weber. She had +played at a game of forfeits such as was looked upon lightly by +the frivolous society of the period in Vienna. Mozart rebuked her +and she broke off the engagement. The letter followed and soon +thereafter a reconciliation. Mozart had said to her: "No girl who +is jealous of her honor would do such a thing.") + +195. "She is an honest, good girl of decent parents;--I am able +to provide her with bread;--we love each other and want each +other!...It is better to put one's things to rights and be an +honest fellow!--God will give the reward! I do not want to have +anything to reproach myself with." + +(Vienna, July 31, 1782, to his father, who had given his consent, +hesitatingly and unwillingly, to the marriage of his son who was +twenty-six years old. On August 7 Mozart wrote to him: "I kiss +your hands and thank you with all the tenderness which a son +should feel for his father, for your kind permission and paternal +blessing.") + +196. "If I were to tell you all the things that I do with your +portrait, you would laugh heartily. For instance when I take it +out of its prison house I say 'God bless you, Stanzerl! God bless +you, you little rascal,--Krallerballer--Sharpnose--little +Bagatelle!' And when I put it back I let it slip down slowly and +gradually and say 'Nu,--Nu,--Nu,--Nu;' but with the emphasis +which this highly significant word demands, and at the last, +quickly: 'Good-night, little Mouse, sleep well!' Now, I suppose, +I have written down a lot of nonsense (at least so the world +would think); but for us, who love each other so tenderly, it +isn't altogether silly." + +(Dresden, April 13, 1789, to his wife in Vienna.) + +197. "Dear little wife, I have a multitude of requests; +1mo, I beg of you not to be sad. + +"2do, that you take care of your health and not trust the spring +air. + +"3tio, that you refrain from walking out alone, or, better, do +not walk out at all. + +"4to, that you rest assured of my love. Not a letter have I +written to you but that your portrait was placed in front of +mine. + +"5to, I beg of you to consider not only my honor and yours in +your conduct but also in appearances. Do not get angry because of +this request. You ought to love me all the more because I make so +much of honor." + +(Dresden, April 16, 1789, to his wife, in Vienna, who was fond of +life's pleasures.) + +198. "You can not imagine how slowly time goes when you are not +with me! I can't describe the feeling; there is a sort of sense +of emptiness, which hurts--a certain longing which can not be +satisfied, and hence never ends, but grows day by day. When I +remember how childishly merry we were in Baden, and what +mournful, tedious hours I pass here, my work gives me no +pleasure, because it is not possible as was my wont, to chat a +few words with you when stopping for a moment. If I go to the +Clavier and sing something from the opera (Die Zauberflote) I +must stop at once because of my emotions.--Basta!" + +(Vienna, July 7, 1791, to his wife, who was taking the waters at +Baden.) + +199. "I call only him or her a friend who is a friend under all +circumstances, who thinks day or night of nothing else than to +promote the welfare of a friend, who urges all well-to-do friends +and works himself to make the other person happy." + +(Kaisersheim, December 18, 1778, to his father. Mozart was making +the journey from Mannheim to Munich in the carriage of a prelate. +The parting with his Mannheim friends, especially with Frau +Cannabich, his motherly friend, was hard. "For me, who never made +a more painful parting than this, the journey was only half +pleasant--it would even have been a bore, if from childhood I had +not been accustomed to leave people, countries and cities.") + +200. "Permit me to beg for a continuance of your precious +friendship, and to ask you to accept mine for now and forever; +with an honest heart I vow it to you everlastingly. True it will +be of little use to you; but it will be the more durable and +honest for that reason. You know that the best and truest friends +are the poor. Rich people know nothing of friendship!--especially +those who are born rich and those who have become rich +fortuitously,--they are too often wrapped up completely in their +own luck! But there is nothing to fear from a man who has been +placed in advantageous circumstances, not through blind, but +deserved good fortune, through merit,--a man who did not lose +courage because of his first failures,--who remained true to his +religion and trust in God, was a good Christian and an honest man +and cherished and valued his true friend,--in a word,--a man who +has deserved better fortune--from such a man, there is nothing to +fear." + +(Paris, August 7, 1778, to his friend Bullinger, in Salzburg, to +whom he felt beholden for the gentle and considerate way in which +he had broken the news of his mother's death to the family.) + +201. "My friend, had I but the money which many a man who does +not deserve it wastes so miserably,--if I only had it! O, with +what joy would I not help you!--But, alas! those who can will +not, and those who would like to can not!" + +(Paris, July 29, 1778, to Fridolin Weber, father of Constanze. +The letter was found but recently among some Goethe autographs.) + + + +WORLDLY WISDOM + + + +Mozart's father brought him up to be worldly wise. While +journeying at a tender age through the world with his father the +lad became an eye witness of the paternal business management +with all its attention to detail; of the art of utilizing persons +and conditions in order to achieve material results. As a youth +he repeats the journeys accompanied by his mother whom he loses +by death in Paris. Regularly from Salzburg his father sends him +letters full of admonitions and advice, the subjects almost +systematically grouped. The worldly wisdom of the son is the +fruit of paternal education, which he did not outgrow up to the +day of his death. But life, experience, was also an educator; a +seeming distrust of mankind speaks out of many a passage in his +letters, but on the whole he thought too well of his fellow men, +and remained blind to the faults of his false friends who basely +exploited him for their own ends. Although gifted with keen +powers of observation he always followed his kind heart instead +of his better judgment and his sister spoke no more than the +truth when she said after his death: "Outside of music he was, +and remained, nearly always, a child. This was the chief trait of +his character on its shady side; he always needed a father, +mother, or other guardian." + +202. "Reflect, too, on this only too certain truth: it is not +always wise to do all the things contemplated. Often one thinks +one thing would be most advisable and another unadvisable and +bad, when, if it were done, the opposite results would disclose +themselves." + +(Mannheim, December 10, 1777, to his father, when a plan for an +appointment in Mannheim came to naught.) + +203. "I am not indifferent but only resolved, and therefore, I +can endure everything with patience,--provided, only, that +neither my honor nor the good name of Mozart shall suffer +therefrom. Well, since it must be so, so be it; only I beg, do +not rejoice or sorrow prematurely; for let happen what may it +will be all right so long as we remain well--happiness exists +only in the imagination." + +(Mannheim, November 29, 1777, to his father, who had upbraided +him because of his reckless expenditures. At the time Mozart was +hoping for an appointment at Mannheim.) + +204. "Dearest and best of fathers:--You shall see that things go +better and better with me. What use is this perpetual turmoil, +this hurried fortune? It does not endure.--Che va piano va, sano. +One must adjust himself to circumstances." + +(Vienna, December 22, 1781, to his father, just before Mozart's +marriage engagement to Constanze Weber.) + +205. "Now, to put your mind at ease, I am doing nothing without +reasons, and well-founded ones, too." + +(Vienna, October 21, 1781, to his "little cousin," who may still +have cherished hopes of capturing her merry kinsman.) + +206. "I have no news except that 35, 59, 60, 61, 62, were the +winning numbers in the lottery, and, therefore, that if we had +played those numbers we would have won; but that inasmuch as we +did not play those numbers we neither won nor lost but had a good +laugh at others." + +(Milan, October 26, 1771, to his sister.) + +207. "Everybody was extremely courteous, and therefore I was also +very courteous; for it is my custom to conduct myself towards +others as they conduct themselves towards me,--it's the best way +to get along." + +(Augsburg, October 14, 1777, to his father.) + +208. "In Vienna and all the imperial hereditaments the theatres +will all open in six weeks. It is wisely designed; for the dead +are not so much benefited by the long mourning as many people are +harmed." + +(Munich, December 13, 1780, to his father. Empress Maria Theresa +had died on November 29. Mozart had greatly revered her from his +youth. Nevertheless he takes a practical view of the situation +since the production of his opera "Idomeneo" is imminent. He +requests of his father to have his "black coat thoroughly dusted, +cleaned and put to rights," and to send it to him, since +"everybody would go into mourning, and I, who will be summoned +hither and thither, must weep along with the others.") + +209. "Rest assured that I am a changed man; outside of my health +I know of nothing more necessary than money. I am certainly not a +miser,--it would be difficult for me to change myself into one--and +yet the people here think me more disposed to be stingy than +prodigal; and for a beginning that will suffice. So far as pupils +are concerned I can have as many as I want; but I do not want many; +I want better pay than the others, and therefore I am content with +fewer. One must put on a few airs at the beginning or one is lost, +i.e. one must travel the common road with the many." + +(Vienna, May 26, 1781, to his father.) + +210. "Depend confidently on me. I am no longer a fool, and you +will still less believe that I am a wicked and ungrateful son. +Meanwhile trust my brains and my good heart implicitly, and you +shall never be sorry. How should I have learned to value money? I +never had enough of it in my hands. I remember that once when I +had 20 ducats I thought myself rich. Need alone teaches the value +of money." + +(Vienna, May 26, 1781, to his father.) + +211. "If it were possible that it should vex me I should do my +best not to notice it; as it is, thank God, there is no need of +my deceiving myself because only the opposite could vex me, and I +should have had to decline, which is always too bad when one is +dealing with a grand gentleman." + +(Vienna, October 5, 1782, to his father. Mozart had expected to +give music lessons to a princess, but another teacher was chosen. +Continuing in the same letter, he says: "I need only tell you his +fee and you will easily be able to judge from it the strength of +the master--400 florins. His name is Summerer.") + +212. "I shall compose an opera but not in order, for the sake of +100 ducats, to see the theatre earn four times as much in a +fortnight. I shall perform my opera at my own cost and make at +least 1,200 florins in three performances; then the director can +have the work for 50 ducats. If he does not want it I shall have +received my pay and can utilize the opera elsewhere. I hope that +you have never observed a tendency to dishonest dealing in me. +One ought not to be a bad fellow, but neither ought one to be a +stupid who is willing to let others benefit from the work which +cost him study, care and labor, and surrender all claims for the +future." + +(Vienna, October 5, 1782, to his father. Mozart's plans for +exploiting his opera were never realized.) + +213. "Yesterday I dined with the Countess Thun, and tomorrow I +shall dine with her again. I let her hear all that was complete; +she told me that she would wager her life that everything that I +have written up to date would please. In such matters I care +nothing for the praise or censure of anybody until the whole work +has been seen or heard; instead I follow my own judgment and +feelings." + +(Vienna, August 8, 1781, to his father. The opera in question was +"Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail.") + +214. "Magnanimity and gentleness have often reconciled the worst +enemies." + +(Vienna, July 8, 1791, to his wife, who had somewhat rudely +repulsed the advances of one of the visitors at Baden where she +was taking the waters.) + + + +IN SUFFERING + + + +It is as difficult to call up in the fancy a picture of a +suffering Mozart as a merry Beethoven. The effect of melancholy +hours is scarcely to be found in Mozart's music. When he +composed,--i.e. according to his own expression "speculated" +while walking up and down revolving musical ideas in his mind and +forming them into orderly compositions, so that the subsequent +transcription was a mechanical occupation which required but +little effort,--he was transported to the realm of tones, far +from the miseries of this world. Nor would his happy disposition +permit him long to remain under the influence of grief and care. +None of the letters which sound notes of despair lacks a jest in +which the writer forcibly tears himself away from his gloomy +thoughts. His sufferings came to him from without; the fate of a +Beethoven was spared him. Others brought him pain,--his rivals +through envy, the Archbishop through malevolence, the Emperor +through ignorance. Sufferings of this character challenged +opposition and called out his powers, presenting to us a Mozart +full of temperament and capable of measuring himself with any +opponent. + +He never lost hope even when hope seemed most deceptive. It is +therefore impossible to speak of a suffering Mozart in the sense +that we speak of a suffering Beethoven; fate was kind even at his +death, which was preceded by but a brief illness. + +215. "I am still full of gall!...Three times this--I do not +know what to call him--has assailed me to my face with +impertinence and abuse of a kind that I did not want to write +down, my best of fathers, and I did not immediately avenge the +insult because I thought of you. He called me a wretch (Buben), +a licentious fellow, told me to get out and I--suffered it all, +feeling that not only my honor but yours as well was attacked; +but,--it was your wish,--I held my tongue." + +(Vienna, May 9, 1781, to his father, who had heard with deep +concern of the treatment which his son was enduring at the hands +of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and who feared for his own +position. At the close of the letter Mozart writes: "I want to +hear nothing more about Salzburg; I hate the archbishop to the +verge of madness.") + +216. "The edifying things which the Archbishop said to me in the +three audiences, particularly in the last, and what I have again +been told by this glorious man of God, had so admirable a +physical effect on me that I had to leave the opera in the +evening in the middle of the first act, go home, and to bed. I +was in a fever, my whole body trembled, and I reeled like a +drunken man in the street. The next day, yesterday, I remained at +home and all forenoon in bed because I had taken the tamarind +water." + +(Vienna, May 12, 1781, to his father. The catastrophe +between Mozart and the archbishop is approaching.) + +217. "Twice the Archbishop gave me the grossest impertinences and +I answered not a word; more, I played for him with the same zeal +as if nothing had happened. Instead of recognizing the honesty of +my service and my desire to please him at the moment when I was +expecting something very different, he begins a third tirade in +the most despicable manner in the world." + +(Vienna, June 13, 1781, to his father. See the chapter +"Self-Respect and Honor.") + +218. "All the world asserts that by my braggadocio and criticisms +I have made enemies of the professional musicians! Which world? +Presumably that of Salzburg, for anybody living in Vienna sees +and hears differently; there is my answer." + +(Vienna, July 31, to his father, who had sent Mozart what the +latter called "so indifferent and cold a letter," when informed +by his son of the great success of his opera, "Die Entfuhrung aus +dem Serail." As on previous occasions Salzburg talebearers had +been busying themselves.) + +219. "I rejoice like a child at the prospect of being with you +again. I should have to be ashamed of myself if people could look +into my heart; so far as I am concerned it is cold,--cold as ice. +Yes, if you were with me I might find greater pleasure in the +courteous treatment which I receive from the people; but as it +is, it is all empty. Adieu!--Love!" + +(Frankfort, September 30, 1790, to his wife. Mozart had made the +journey to Frankfort to give concerts amidst the festivities +accompanying the coronation of Leopold II, hoping that he could +better his financial condition. Not having been sent at the cost +of the Emperor, like other Court musicians, he pawned his silver, +bought a carriage and took with him his brother-in-law, a +violinist named Hofer. "It took us only six days to make the +journey." He was disappointed in his expectations. "I have now +decided to do as well as I can here and look joyfully towards a +meeting with you. What a glorious life we shall lead; I shall +work--work!") + +220. "Dreams give me no concern, for there is no mortal man on +earth who does not sometimes dream. But merry dreams! quiet, +refreshing, sweet dreams! Those are the thing! Dreams which, if +they were realities, would make tolerable my life which has more +of sadness in it than merriment." + +(Munich, December 31, 1778, to his father. During Mozart's +sojourn in Paris the love of Aloysia Weber had grown cold, and +Mozart was in the dolors.) + +221. "Happy man! Now see,--I have got to give still another +lesson in order to earn some money." + +(1786, to Gyrowetz, on the latter's departure for Italy.) + +222. "You can not doubt my honesty, for you know me too well for +that. Nor can you be suspicious of my words, my conduct or my +mode of life, because you know my conduct and mode of life. +Therefore,--forgive my confidence in you,--I am still very +unhappy,--always between fear and hope." + +(Vienna, July 17, 1788, to his faithful friend, Puchberg, whom he +has asked for money on account of the severe illness of his +wife.) + +223. "You know my circumstances;--to be brief, since I can not +find a true friend, I am obliged to borrow money from usurers. +But as it takes time to hunt among these un-Christian persons for +those who are the most Christian and to find them, I am so +stripped that I must beg you, dear friend, for God's sake to help +me out with what you can spare." + +(One of many requests for help sent to Puchberg. It was sent in +1790 and the original bears an endorsement: "May 17, sent 150 +florins.") + +224. "If you, worthy brother, do not help me out of my present +predicament I shall lose my credit and honor, the only things +which I care now to preserve." + +(Vienna, June 27, 1788, to Puchberg, who had sent him 200 florins +ten days before. Puchberg was a brother Mason.) + +225. "How I felt then! How I felt then! Such things will never +return. Now we are sunk in the emptiness of everyday life." + +(Remarked on remembering that at the age of fourteen he had +composed a "Requiem" at the command of Empress Maria Theresa and +had conducted it as chapelmaster of the imperial orchestra.) + +226. "Did I not tell you that I was composing this 'Requiem' for +myself?" + +(Said on the day of his death while still working on the +"Requiem" for which he had received so mysterious a commission. +The work had been ordered by a Count Walsegg, who made +pretensions to musical composition, and who wished to palm it off +as a work of his own, written in memory of his wife. Mozart never +knew him.) + +227. "I shall not last much longer. I am sure that I have been +poisoned! I can not rid myself of this thought." + +(Mozart believed that he had been poisoned by one of his Italian +rivals, his suspicion falling most strongly on Salieri. ["As +regards Mozart, Salieri cannot escape censure, for though the +accusation of having been the cause of his death has been long +ago disproved, it is more than possible that he was not +displeased at the removal of so formidable a rival. At any rate, +though he had it in his power to influence the Emperor in +Mozart's favor, he not only neglected to do so, but even +intrigued against him as Mozart himself relates in a letter to +his friend Puchberg. After his death, however, Salieri befriended +his son, and gave him a testimonial which secured him his first +appointment." C.F. Pohl, in "Grove's Dictionary of Music and +Musicians."]) + +228. "Stay with me to-night; you must see me die. I have long had +the taste of death on my tongue, I smell death, and who will +stand by my Constanze, if you do not stay?" + +(Reported by his sister-in-law, Sophie, sister of Constanze.) + +229. "And now I must go just as it had become possible for me to +live quietly. Now I must leave my art just as I had freed myself +from the slavery of fashion, had broken the bonds of speculators, +and won the privilege of following my own feelings and compose +freely and independently whatever my heart prompted! I must away +from my family, from my poor children in the moment when I should +have been able better to care for their welfare!" + +(Uttered on his death-bed.) + + + +MORALS + + + +As regards his manner of life and morals Mozart long stood in a +bad light before the world. The slanderous stories all came from +his enemies in Vienna, and a long time passed before their true +character was recognized. A great contribution to this end was +made by the publication of his letters, which disclose an +extraordinarily strong moral sense. The tale of an alleged +liaison with a certain Frau Hofdamel, as a result of which the +deceived husband was said to have committed suicide, has been +proved to be wholly untrue and without warrant. + +It may be said, indeed, that Mozart was an exception among the +men of his period. The immorality of the Viennese was proverbial. +Karoline Pichler, a contemporary, writes as follows in her book +of recollections of the eighth decade of the eighteenth century: +"In Vienna at the time there reigned a spirit of appreciation for +merriment and a susceptibility for every form of beauty and +sensuous pleasure. There was the greatest freedom of thought and +opinion; anything could be written and printed which was not, in +the strictest sense of the words, contrary to religion and the +state. Little thought was bestowed on good morals. There was +considerable license in the current plays and novels. Kotzebue +created a tremendous sensation. His plays...and a multitude of +romances and tales (Meissner's sketches among other things) were +all based on meretricious relations. All the world and every +young girl read them without suspicion or offence. More than once +had I read and seen these things; 'Oberon' was well known to me; +so was Meissner's 'Alcibiades.' No mother hesitated to acquaint +her daughter with such works and before our eyes there were so +many living exemplars whose irregular conduct was notorious, that +no mother could have kept her daughter in ignorance had she +tried." + +Mozart was a passionate jester and his jokes were coarse enough; +of that there is no doubt. But these things were innocent at the +time. The letters of the lad to his little cousin in Augsburg +contain many passages that would be called of questionable +propriety now; but the little cousin does not seem to have even +blushed. The best witness to the morality of Mozart's life is his +wife, who, after his death, wrote to the publishing firm of +Breitkopf and Hartel: "His letters are beyond doubt the best +criterion for his mode of thought, his peculiarities and his +education. Admirably characteristic is his extraordinary love for +me, which breathes through all his letters. Those of his last +year on earth are just as tender as those which he must have +written in the first year of our married life;--is it not so? I +beg as a particular favor that special attention be called to +this fact for the sake of his honor." + +He was a Freemason with all his heart, and gave expression to his +humanitarian feeling in his opera "The Magic Flute." Without +suspicion himself, he thought everybody else good, which led to +painful experiences with some of his friends. + +230. "Parents strive to place their children in a position which +shall enable them to earn their own living; and this they owe to +their children and the state. The greater the talents with which +the children have been endowed by God, the more are they bound to +make use of those talents to improve the conditions of themselves +and their parents, to aid their parents and to care for their own +present and future welfare. We are taught thus to trade with our +talents in the Gospels. I owe it, therefore, to God and my +conscience to pay the highest gratitude to my father, who +tirelessly devoted all his hours to my education, and to lighten +his burdens." + +(From his request for dismissal from service in August, 1777. He +wished to undertake an artistic tour with his father. He received +his dismissal from the Archbishop of Salzburg, who granted it +right unwillingly, however.) + +231. "Only one thing vexed me a trifle,--the question whether I +had forgotten confession. I have no complaint to make, but I do +ask one favor, and that is that you do not think so ill of me! +I am fond of merriment, but, believe me, I can also be serious. +Since I left Salzburg (and while still in Salzburg) I have met +persons whose conduct was such that I would have been ashamed to +talk and act as they did though they were ten, twenty or thirty +years older than I! Again I humbly beg of you to have a better +opinion of me." + +(Mannheim, December 30, 1777, to his father, in answer to a +letter of reproaches.) + +232. "With all my heart I do wish Herr von Schiedenhofen joy. It +is another marriage for money and nothing else. I should not like +to marry thus; I want to make my wife happy,--not have her make +my fortune. For that reason I shall not marry but enjoy my golden +freedom until I am so situated that I can support wife and +children. It was necessary that Herr Sch. should marry a rich +woman; that's the consequence of being a nobleman. The nobility +must never marry from inclination or love, but only from +considerations of interest, and all manner of side +considerations. Nor would it be becoming in such persons if they +were still to love their wives after the latter had done their +duty and brought forth a plump heir." + +(Mannheim, February 7, 1778, to his father.) + +233. "In my opinion there is nothing more shameful than to +deceive an honest girl." + +(Paris, July 18, 1778, to his father.) + +234. "I am unconscious of any guilt for which I might fear your +reproaches. I have committed no error (meaning by error any act +unbecoming to a Christian and an honest man). I am anticipating +the pleasantest and happiest days, but only in company with you +and my dearest sister. I swear to you on my honor that I can not +endure Salzburg and its citizens (I speak of the natives). Their +speech and mode of life are utterly intolerable." + +(Munich, January 8, 1779, to his father, who was urging his +return from Paris to take the post of chapelmaster in Salzburg. +The musicians of Salzburg were notorious because of their loose +lives.) + +235. "From the way in which my last letter was received I observe +to my sorrow that (just as if I were an arch scoundrel or an ass, +or both at once) you trust the tittle-tattle and scribblings of +other people more than you do me. But I assure you that this does +not give me the least concern. The people may write the eyes out +of their heads, and you may applaud them as much as you please, +it will not cause me to change a hair's breadth; I shall remain +the same honest fellow that I have always been." + +(Vienna, September 5, 1781, to his father, who was still +listening to the slander mongers. Mozart could not lightly forget +the fact that it was due to these gentlemen that he had been +forced to leave the house of the widow Weber with whose daughter +Constanze he was in love.) + +236. "You have been deceived in your son if you could believe him +capable of doing a mean thing....You know that I could not have +acted otherwise without outraging my conscience and my honor....I +beg pardon for my too hasty trust in your paternal love. Through +this frank confession you have a new proof of my love of truth +and detestation of a lie." + +(Vienna, August 7, 1782, to his father, whose consent to his +son's marriage did not arrive till the day after.) + +237. "Dearest and best of fathers:--I beg of you, for the sake of +all that is good in the world, give your consent to my marriage +with my dear Constanze. Do not think that it is alone because of +my desire to get married; I could well wait. But I see that it is +absolutely essential to my honor, the honor of my sweetheart, to +my health and frame of mind. My heart is ill at ease, my mind +disturbed;--then how shall I do any sensible thinking or work? +Why is this? Most people think we are already married; this +enrages the mother and the poor girl and I are tormented almost +to death. All this can be easily relieved. Believe me it is +possible to live as cheaply in expensive Vienna as anywhere else; +it all depends on the housekeeping and the orderliness which is +never to be found in a young man especially if he be in love. +Whoever gets a wife such as I am going to have can count himself +fortunate. We shall live simply and quietly, and yet be happy. +Do not worry; for should I (which God forefend!) get ill today, +especially if I were married, I wager that the first of the +nobility would come to my help....I await your consent with +longing, best of fathers, I await it with confidence, my honor +and fame depend upon it." + +(Vienna, July 27, 1782.) + +238. "Meanwhile my striving is to secure a small certainty; then +with the help of the contingencies, it will be easy to live here; +and then to marry. I beg of you, dearest and best of fathers, +listen to me! I have preferred my request, now listen to my +reasons. The calls of nature are as strong in me, perhaps +stronger, than in many a hulking fellow. I can not possibly live +like the majority of our young men. In the first place I have too +much religion, in the second too much love for my fellow man and +too great a sense of honor ever to betray a girl...." + +(Vienna, December 18, 1781. [The whole of this letter deserves to +be read by those who, misled by the reports, still deemed +trustworthy when Jahn published the first edition of his great +biography, believed that Mozart was a man of bad morals. +Unfortunately Mozart's candor in presenting his case to his +father can scarcely be adjusted to the requirements of a book +designed for general circulation. Let it suffice that in his +confession to his father Mozart puts himself on the ground of the +loftiest sexual purity, and stakes life and death on the +truthfulness of his statements. H.E.K.]) + +239. "You surely can not be angry because I want to get married? +I think and believe that you will recognize best my piety and +honorable intentions in the circumstance. O, I could easily write +a long answer to your last letter, and offer many objections; but +my maxim is that it is not worth while to discuss matters that +do not affect me. I can't help it,--it's my nature. I am really +ashamed to defend myself when I find myself falsely accused; +I always think, the truth will out some day." + +(Vienna, January 9, 1782, to his father. In the same letter he +continues: "I can not be happy and contented without my dear +Constanze, and without your satisfied acquiescence, I could only +be half happy. Therefore, make me wholly happy.") + +240. "As I have thought and said a thousand times I would gladly +leave everything in your hands with the greatest pleasure, but +since, so to speak, it is useless to you but to my advantage, I +deem it my duty to remember my wife and children." + +(June 16, 1787, to his sister, concerning his inheritance from +his father who had died on May 28.) + +241. "Isn't it true that you are daily becoming more convinced of +the truth of my corrective sermons? Is not the amusement of a +fickle and capricious love far as the heavens from the +blessedness which true, sensible love brings with it? Do you not +often thank me in your heart for my instruction? You will soon +make me vain! But joking aside, you do owe me a modicum of +gratitude if you have made yourself worthy of Fraulein N., for I +certainly did not play the smallest role at your conversion." + +(Prague, November 4, 1787, to a wealthy young friend, name +unknown.) + +242. "Pray believe anything you please about me but nothing ill. +There are persons who believe it is impossible to love a poor +girl without harboring wicked intentions; and the beautiful word +mistress is so lovely!--I am a Mozart, but a young and well +meaning Mozart. Among many faults I have this that I think that +the friends who know me, know me. Hence many words are not +necessary. If they do not know me where shall I find words +enough? It is bad enough that words and letters are necessary." + +(Mannheim, February 22, 1778, to his father, who had rebuked him +for falling in love with Aloysia Weber, who afterward became his +sister-in-law.) + + + +RELIGION + + + +Mozart was of a deeply religious nature, reared in Salzburg where +his father was a member of the archiepiscopal chapel. Throughout +his life he remained a faithful son of the church, for whose +servants, however, he had little sympathy. + +The one man whom Mozart hated from the bottom of his soul was +Archbishop Hieronymus of Salzburg who sought to put all possible +obstacles in the way of the youthful genius, and finally by the +most infamous of acts covered himself everlastingly with infamy. +Though Mozart frequently speaks angrily and bitterly of the +priests he always differentiates between religion, the church and +their servants. Like Beethoven, Mozart stood toward God in the +relationship of a child full of trust in his father. + +His reliance on Providence was so utter that his words sometimes +sound almost fatalistic. His father harbored some rationalistic +ideas which were even more pronounced in Mozart, so that he +formed his own opinion concerning ecclesiastical ceremonies and +occasionally disregarded them. His cheery temperament made it +impossible that his religious life should be as profound as that +of Beethoven. + + + +243. "I hope that with the help of God, Miss Martha will get well +again. If not, you should not grieve too deeply, for God's will +is always the best. God will know whether it is better to be in +this world or the other." + +(Bologna, September 29, 1770, to his mother and sister in +Salzburg. The young woman died soon after.) + +244. "Tell papa to put aside his fears; I live, with God ever +before me. I recognize His omnipotence, I fear His anger; I +acknowledge His love, too, His compassion and mercy towards all +His creatures, He will never desert those who serve Him. If +matters go according to His will they go according to mine; +consequently nothing can go wrong,--I must be satisfied and +happy." + +(Augsburg, October 25, 1777, to his father, who was showering him +with exhortations on the tour which he made with his mother +through South Germany.) + +245. "Let come what will, nothing can go ill so long as it is the +will of God; and that it may so go is my daily prayer." + +(Mannheim, December 6, 1777, to his father. Mozart was waiting +with some impatience to learn if he was to receive an appointment +from Elector Karl Theodore. It did not come.) + +246. "I know myself;--I know that I have so much religion that I +shall never be able to do a thing which I would not be willing +openly to do before the whole world; only the thought of meeting +persons on my journeys whose ideas are radically different from +mine (and those of all honest people) frightens me. Aside from +that they may do what they please. I haven't the heart to travel +with them, I would not have a single pleasant hour, I would not +know what to say to them; in a word I do not trust them. Friends +who have no religion are not stable." + +(Mannheim, February 2, 1778, to his father. For the reasons +mentioned in the letter Mozart gave up his plan to travel to +Paris with the musicians Wendling and Ramen. In truth, perhaps, +his love affair with Aloysia Weber may have had something to do +with his resolve.) + +247. "I prayed to God for His mercy that all might go well, to +His greater glory, and the symphony began....Immediately after +the symphony full of joy I went into the Palais Royal, ate an +iced cream, prayed the rosary as I had promised to do, and went +home. I am always best contented at home and always will be, or +with a good, true, honest German." + +(Paris, July 3, 1778, to his father. The symphony in question is +no longer in existence, although Mozart wanted to write it down +again at a later date.) + +248. "I must tell you my mother, my dear mother, is no more.--God +has called her to Himself; He wanted her, I see that clearly, and +I must submit to God's will. He gave her to me, and it was His to +take her away. My friend, I am comforted, not but now, but long +ago. By a singular grace of God I endured all with steadfastness +and composure. When her illness grew dangerous I prayed God for +two things only,--a happy hour of death for my mother, and +strength and courage for myself. God heard me in His loving +kindness, heard my prayer and bestowed the two mercies in largest +measure." + +(Paris, July 3, 1778, to his good friend Bullinger, in Salzburg, +who was commissioned gently to bear the intelligence to Mozart's +father. At the same time Mozart, with considerate deception, +wrote to his father about his mother's illness without mentioning +her death.) + +249. "I believe, and nothing shall ever persuade me differently, +that no doctor, no man, no accident, can either give life to man +or take it away; it rests with God alone. Those are only the +instruments which He generally uses, though not always; we see +men sink down and fall over dead. When the time is come no +remedies can avail,--they accelerate death rather than retard +it....I do not say, therefore, that my mother will and must die, +that all hope is gone; she may recover and again be well and +sound,--but only if it is God's will." + +(Paris, July 3, 1778, to his father, from whom he is concealing +the fact that his mother is dead. He is seeking to prepare him +for the intelligence which he has already commissioned Bullinger +to convey to the family.) + +250. "Under those melancholy circumstances I comforted myself +with three things, viz.: my complete and trustful submission to +the will of God, then the realization of her easy and beautiful +death, combined with the thought of the happiness which was to +come to her in a moment,--how much happier she now is than we, so +that we might even have wished to make the journey with her. Out +of this wish and desire there was developed my third comfort, +namely, that she is not lost to us forever, that we shall see her +again, that we shall be together more joyous and happy than ever +we were in this world. It is only the time that is unknown, and +that fact does not frighten me. When it is God's will, it shall +be mine. Only the divine, the most sacred will be done; let us +then pray a devout 'Our Father' for her soul and proceed to other +matters; everything has its time." + +(Paris, July 9, 1778, to his father, informing him of his +mother's death.) + +251. "Be without concern touching my soul's welfare, best of +fathers! I am an erring young man, like so many others, but I can +say to my own comfort, that I wish all were as little erring as +I. You, perhaps, believe things about me which are not true. My +chief fault is that I do not always appear to act as I ought. It +is not true that I boasted that I eat fish every fast-day; but I +did say that I was indifferent on the subject and did not +consider it a sin, for in my case fasting means breaking off, +eating less than usual. I hear mass every Sunday and holy day, +and when it is possible on week days also,--you know that, my +father." + +(Vienna, June 13, 1781--another attempt at justification against +slander.) + +252. "Moreover take the assurance that I certainly am religious, +and if I should ever have the misfortune (which God will +forefend) to go astray, I shall acquit you, best of fathers, from +all blame. I alone would be the scoundrel; to you I owe all my +spiritual and temporal welfare and salvation." + +(Vienna, June 13, 1781.) + +253. "For a considerable time before we were married we went +together to Holy Mass, to confession and to communion; and I +found that I never prayed so fervently, confessed and +communicated so devoutly, as when I was at her side;--and her +experience was the same. In a word we were made for each other, +and God, who ordains all things and consequently has ordained +this, will not desert us. We both thank you obediently for your +paternal blessing." + +(Vienna, August 17, 1782.) + +254. "I have made it a habit in all things to imagine the worst. +Inasmuch as, strictly speaking, death is the real aim of our +life, I have for the past few years made myself acquainted with +this true, best friend of mankind, so that the vision not only +has no terror for me but much that is quieting and comforting. +And I thank my God that He gave me the happiness and the +opportunity (you understand me) to learn to know Him as the key +to true blessedness." + +(Vienna, April 4, 1787, to his father, who died on the 28th of +the following month. One of the few passages in Mozart's letters +in which there are suggestions of the teachings of Freemasonry. +In 1785 he had persuaded his father to join the order, with the +result that new warmth was restored to the relationship which had +cooled somewhat after Mozart's marriage.) + +255. "To me that again is art twaddle! There may be something +true in it for you enlightened Protestants, as you call +yourselves, when you have your religion in your heads; I can not +tell. But you do not feel what 'Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata +mundi' and such things mean. But when one, like I, has been +initiated from earliest childhood in the mystical sanctuary of +our religion; when there one does not know whither to go with all +the vague but urgent feelings, but waits with a heart full of +devotion for the divine service without really knowing what to +expect, yet rises lightened and uplifted without knowing what one +has received; when one deemed those fortunate who knelt under the +touching strains of the Agnus Dei and received the sacrament, and +at the moment of reception the music spoke in gentle joy from the +hearts of the kneeling ones, 'Benedictus qui venit,' etc.;--then +it is a different matter. True, it is lost in the hurly-burly of +life; but,--at least it is so in my case,--when you take up the +words which you have heard a thousand times, for the purpose of +setting them to music, everything comes back and you feel your +soul moved again." + +(Spoken in Leipsic, in 1789, when somebody expressed pity for +those capable musicians who were obliged to "employ their powers +on ecclesiastical subjects, which were mostly not only unfruitful +but intellectually killing." Rochlitz reports the utterance but +does not vouch for its literalness.) + + + +End of The Project Gutenberg eText of "Mozart: The Man and the +Artist, as Revealed in his own Words," by Kerst and Krehbiel + diff --git a/4042.zip b/4042.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..f92d751 --- /dev/null +++ b/4042.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. 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