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diff --git a/old/67828-0.txt b/old/67828-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index 15945bb..0000000 --- a/old/67828-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,4991 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of Life of Mozart, by Louis Nohl - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: Life of Mozart - Biographies of Musicians - -Author: Louis Nohl - -Translator: John J. Lalor - -Release Date: April 13, 2022 [eBook #67828] - -Language: English - -Produced by: D A Alexander, David E. Brown, and the Online Distributed - Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This book was - produced from images made available by the HathiTrust - Digital Library.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF MOZART *** - - - -[Illustration: WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART.] - - - - - _BIOGRAPHIES OF MUSICIANS._ - - LIFE OF MOZART - - BY - LOUIS NOHL - - TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN - BY - JOHN J. LALOR. - - “_Man’s title to nobility is the heart._” - - CHICAGO: - JANSEN, McCLURG, & COMPANY. - 1880. - - - - - COPYRIGHT, - JANSEN, MCCLURG & COMPANY. - A. D. 1880. - - STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED - BY - THE CHICAGO LEGAL NEWS COMPANY. - - - - -TRANSLATOR’S NOTE. - - -Mr. Louis Nohl, the author of the present little volume, has merited -for himself in Germany a high reputation as a writer of the biographies -of musicians, and some of his larger works have appeared in English on -the other side of the Atlantic. The present is the first translation -into our language of his shorter Life of Mozart. It will, we trust, -prove acceptable to those who desire to learn the chief events in -the life of the great composer, to see how his life influenced his -compositions, and how his great works are, in many instances at least, -the expression of his own joys and sorrows, the picture of his own soul -in tones. - -The translator’s grateful acknowledgments are due to Mr. A. W. Dohn, of -Chicago, who was kind enough to compare the entire translation with the -original. His thorough knowledge of music and German, no less than his -rare familiarity with the English language, have largely contributed to -the fidelity of this translation. - - J. J. L. - - - - -CONTENTS. - - - CHAPTER I. - - CHILDHOOD AND EARLY TRAVELS. - - Mozart’s Parentage--Early Development of his Genius--Character - as a Child--Travels at the Age of Six--Received by Maria - Theresa and Marie Antoinette--Mozart and Goethe--Meeting - with Madame de Pompadour--The London Bach’s Opinion of - Young Mozart--Asked to Write an Opera by Joseph II--Assailed - by Envy--Padre Martini--Notes Down the Celebrated Miserere - from Ear--The Pope Confers on him the Order of the Golden - Spurs--A Member of the Philharmonic Society of Bologna--First - Love--Personal Appearance--Troubles with the Archbishop, 7-41 - - - CHAPTER II. - - THE GREAT PARISIAN ARTISTIC JOURNEY. - - Disgusted with Salzburg--In Vienna Again--Salzburg - Society--Character of Musicians in the Last Century--Jerome - Colloredo, Archbishop of Salzburg--Mozart’s Letter to - Him--The Father’s Solicitude for His Son--Paternal Advice--New - Compositions--Incidents of his Journey--Meets with - Opposition--Secret Enemies--His Ambition to Elevate - the Character of the German Opera--Disappointments--His - Description of German “Free City” Life--Meeting with Stein--In - his Uncle’s Family--“Baesle”--Meeting with the - Cannabichs--Attachment for Rosa Cannabich--Influence of this - Attachment on his Music--The Weber Family--The _Non so d’Onde - Viene_--Circumstances of its Composition, 42-82 - - - CHAPTER III. - - IDOMENEO. - - New Disappointments--Opposition of the Abbe Vogler--Mozart and - the Poet Wieland--Wieland’s Impressions of Mozart--German - Opera and Joseph II--The Weber Family--Aloysia Weber--Mozart’s - Plans--His Father Opposes them and his Attachment for - Aloysia--Mozart’s Music and Heart-trials--In - Paris--Disappointments there--Contrast Between Parisian and - German Life--New Intrigues Against Him--Invited Back to - Salzburg--“Faithless” Aloysia--Meeting of Father and - Son--Reception in Salzburg--“King Thamos”--Character of - Mozart’s Music Composed at this time--Invitation to Compose - the Idomeneo--Its Success--Effect on the Italian Opera, 83-117 - - - CHAPTER IV. - - ELOPEMENT FROM THE SERAGLIO--FIGARO--DON GIOVANNI. - - Opinions on the Idomeneo--Tired of Salzburg--Goes to Vienna--The - Archbishop Again--Mozart Treated by Him with - Indignity--Paternal Reproaches--Assailed by Slander--He Leaves - Salzburg--Experiences in Vienna--Austrian Society--The German - Stage--The Emperor Expresses a Wish that Mozart might Write a - New Opera--Mozart’s Love for Constance Weber--Description of - Constance--The New Opera--Mozart’s Marriage--The Emperor’s - Opinion of Mozart’s Music--Mozart’s Interest In the Figaro--Its - Composition--Its Success--Mozart’s Poverty--In Bohemia--His - Popularity in Prague--Meaning of the Don Giovanni--Richard - Wagner on Mozart, 118-180 - - - CHAPTER V. - - THE MAGIC FLUTE--TITUS--THE REQUIEM. - - Haydn’s Opinion of Mozart--Made Court Composer by Joseph - II--Don Giovanni in Vienna--Mozart’s Extreme Poverty--His - Cheerfulness under Adverse Circumstances--“The Song of the - Swan”--Other Compositions--Mozart’s Opinion of - Handel--Acquaintance with Sebastian Bach--Mozart’s Opinion - of Church Music--Mozart’s Characteristics--Audience - with the Emperor--Petition to His Imperial Majesty--His - Religious Feelings--Joins the Free Masons--History of the - Magic Flute--The Mysterious Stranger--The Requiem--Success - of the Magic Flute--Mozart as Reflected in his Music--His - Industry--Last Illness--Strange Fancies--His Last - Days--His Death, 181-236 - - - - -THE LIFE OF MOZART. - - - - -CHAPTER I. - -1756-1777. - -CHILDHOOD AND EARLY TRAVELS. - - Mozart’s Parentage--Early Development of his Genius--Character as a - Child--Travels at the age of Six--Received by Maria Theresa and - Marie Antoinette--Mozart and Goethe--Meeting with Madame de - Pompadour--The London Bach’s Opinion of Young Mozart--Asked to Write - an Opera by Joseph II--Assailed by Envy--Padre Martini--Notes Down - the Celebrated Miserere from Ear--The Pope Confers on him the Order - of the Golden Spurs--A Member of the Philharmonic Society of - Bologna--First Love--Personal Appearance--Troubles with the - Archbishop. - - -Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in the city of Salzburg, on the 27th -of January, 1756. His father, Leopold, was descended from a family -of the middle class of the then free imperial city of Augsburg, and -had come to Salzburg, the domicile of a prince-bishop and the seat -of an excellent university, to study law. But as he had to support -himself by teaching music, even while pursuing his legal studies, -he was soon compelled to enter entirely into the service of others. -He became _valet de chambre_ to a canon of the Roman church, Count -Thurm; afterwards court-musician and then _capellmeister_[1] to -the archbishop. He had married in 1747 a young girl, educated in a -neighboring convent. Himself and wife were considered the handsomest -couple in Salzburg in their day. Of seven children born to them, they -lost all but two, Maria Anna, known by the pet-name of Nannerl, and our -Wolfgang, most frequently called Wolferl. Anna was about five years -older than Wolfgang, and both gave evidence, from the time they were -little children, of an extraordinary talent for music. - -An old friend of the family tells us how, from the moment young Mozart -had begun to give himself to music, he cared neither to see nor hear -anything else. Even his childish games and plays did not interest -him unless accompanied by music. “Whenever,” says our informant, “we -carried our toys from one room to another, the one of us who had -nothing to carry was always required to play, or sing a march,” ... -and further: “He [Mozart] grew so extremely attached to me because -I kept him company and entered into his childish humors, that he -frequently asked me ten times in a day, if I loved him; and when I -sometimes said no, only in fun, the tears instantly glistened his eyes, -his little heart was so kind and tender.” - -We learn from the same source that he manifested no pride or awe, yet -he never wished to play except before great connoisseurs in music; -and to induce him to do so it was sometimes necessary to deceive him -as to the musical acquirements of his hearers. He learned every task -that his father gave him, and put his soul so entirely into whatever -he was doing that he forgot all else for the time being, not excepting -even his music. Even as a child, he was full of fire and vivacity, and -were it not for the excellent training he received from his father, -who was very strict with him, and of a serious turn of mind, he might -have become one of the wildest of youths, so sensitive was he to the -allurements of pleasure of every kind, the innocence or danger of which -he was not yet able to discover. - -When only five years of age he wrote some music in his _Uebungsbuch_ or -Exercise-book, which is yet to be seen in the Mozarteum[2] in Salzburg; -also some little minuets; and, on one occasion, his father and the -friend of the family mentioned above, surprised him engaged on the -composition of a concerto so difficult that no one in the world could -have played it. His ear was so acute, and his memory for music so good -from the time he was a child, that once when playing his little violin, -he remembered that the _Buttergeige_, the “butter-violin,” so-called -from the extreme smoothness of its tones, was tuned one-eighth of a -tone lower than his own. On account of this great acuteness of hearing, -he could not, at that age, bear the sound of the trumpet; and when -notwithstanding his father once put his endurance of it to the test, he -was taken with violent spasms. - -His readiness and skill in music soon became so great that he was able -to play almost everything at sight. His little sister also had made -very extraordinary progress in music at a very early age, and the -father in 1762, when the children were respectively six and ten years -of age, began to travel with them, to show, as he said, these “wonders -of God” to the world. - -The first place they went to was Munich, then as now the real capital -of Southern Germany, and after that to Vienna. Maria Theresa and her -consort were very fond of music. They received the children with -genuine German cordiality, and little Wolfgang without any more ado, -leaped into the lap of the Empress and kissed her; just as he had told -the unfortunate Marie Antoinette, who had helped him from the slippery -floor: “You are good and I’ll marry you.” The youngest son of Maria -Theresa, the handsome and amiable grand-duke, Maximilian, was of the -same age as young Mozart, and always remained his friend, as he was, -subsequently, the patron of Beethoven. The picture of Mozart and his -little sister dressed in the clothes of the imperial children hangs on -the walls of the Mozarteum; his animated eyes and her budding beauty -have an incomparable charm. - -He now, in his sixth year, learned to play the violin, and his father -neglected nothing to give him, in every way, the best musical -instruction. For he was himself an excellent composer, and had written -a “violin method” which had a great reputation in its day, and was -honored with translation. Mozart’s education in music continued even -during the journey. Instruction in playing the organ was soon added to -instruction in the use of the violin. The next scene of the marvels of -the little ones was Southern Germany. This was in the summer of 1763. -In Heidelberg, Mozart’s little feet flew about on the pedals with such -rapidity that the clergyman in charge made a record of it in writing -on the organ itself. Goethe heard him in Frankfort, and thus obtained -a standard by which to measure all subsequent men of musical genius -whom he chanced to meet. In his declining years, Goethe listened to a -child similarly gifted, Felix Mendelssohn. In Paris, also, the court -was very gracious to the children; but when little Wolfgang, with the -ingenuousness of childhood, tried to put his arms about the neck of the -painted Madame de Pompadour as he had about that of Maria Theresa, he -was met with a rebuff, and, wounded to the quick, he cried: “Who is -that person there that won’t kiss me? The empress kissed me.” He always -thought a great deal of Maria Theresa, and his heart, through life, had -a nook in it for her, and was ever loyal to the imperial family, as we -shall see further on. - -The princesses were all the more amiable in consequence, and did not -trouble themselves about etiquette. Every one wondered to hear so young -a child tell every note the moment he heard it; compose without the aid -of a piano, and play accompaniments to songs by ear only. No wonder -that he was greeted everywhere with the loudest applause, and that the -receipts were so flatteringly large. - -The reception extended to them in London in 1764, was still kinder; for -the royal couple themselves were German, and Handel had already laid -a lasting foundation there for good music; while the French music of -the time seemed to our travelers to be exceedingly cold and empty--“a -continual and wearisome bawling.” Their stay in England was, on this -account, a very long one, and the father made use of the opportunity -he found there to give an excellent Italian singer as an instructor -to Wolfgang, who soon mastered the Italian style of melody, which was -then the prevailing one. It was in London that Mozart wrote his first -symphonies. - -Their journey back in 1765, led them over Holland, where both children -were taken very dangerously ill, and the father’s strength for the -difficult task of preserving and educating such a boy as Wolfgang, -was put to the severest test. Even during the Lenten season, he was -allowed, in Amsterdam, to exhibit “for the glory of God” the wonderful -gifts of his son, and he finally returned in the fall of 1766, after -an absence of more than two years, to Salzburg, laden not so much with -money as with the fame of his little ones. - -The journey taken thus early in life was of great advantage to Mozart -himself. He learned to understand men--for his father drew his -attention to everything; he even made the boy keep a diary--he got -rid of the shyness natural to children, and acquired a knowledge of -life. He had listened to the music of the different nations, and thus -discovered the manner in which each heart understands that language of -the human soul called melody. The refined tone of the higher classes -at this time was also of great advantage to his art. The magnificent -landscape scenery of his native place had awakened his natural sense -of the beautiful; its beautiful situation, its numerous churches and -palaces, had further developed that same aesthetic sense; and now the -varied impressions received from life and art during these travels, -so extensive for one so young, were one of the principal causes why -Mozart’s music acquired so early that something so directly attractive, -so harmoniously beautiful and so universally intelligible, which -characterizes it. But this phase of his music was fully developed only -by his repeated long sojourns in that land of beauty itself, in which -Mozart spent his incipient youth, in Italy. - -Mozart’s father, indeed, did not remain long in Salzburg. Salzburg was -no place for him. And must not the boy always have felt keenly the -impulse to display his artistic power before the world? Had not the -London Bach, a son of the great Leipzig cantor, Sebastian Bach, whose -influence on Mozart we shall hear of further on, said of him that many -a _capellmeister_ had died without knowing what this boy knew even -now? The marriage of an archduke brought the family, in 1768, to Vienna -once more, the first place they lived in after leaving Salzburg. Here -the father saw clearly, for the first time, that Italy and Italy alone -was the proper training-school for this young genius. The Emperor -Joseph had, indeed, confided to him the task of writing an Italian -opera--it was the _La Finta Semplice_, “Simulated Simplicity”--and the -twelve-year-old boy himself directed a solemn mass at the consecration -of a church, a performance which made so deep an impression on his -mind, that twenty years after he used to tell of the sublime effect of -his church on his mind. A German operetta, _Bastien and Bastienne_, -was honored with a private performance. But this first Italian opera -was the occasion of Mozart’s experiencing the malicious envy of his -fellow-musicians, which, it is said, contributed so much, later, to -make his life wretched and to bring it to an early close. - -His father writes: - -“Thus, indeed, have people to scuffle their way through. If a man has -no talent, his condition is unfortunate enough; if he has talent, -he is persecuted by envy, and that in proportion to his skill.” -Young Mozart’s enemies and enviers had cunning enough to prevent the -performance of his work, and the father was now doubly intent on -exhibiting his son’s talent where, as the latter himself admitted, he -felt that he was best understood, and where he had won the highest fame -in his youth. - -Italy is the mother country of music and was, besides, at this time, -the Eldorado of composers. The Church had nurtured music. With the -Church it came into Germany. From Germany it subsequently returned -enriched. It reached its first memorable and classical expression in -the Roman Palestrina. After his day, a worldly and even theatrical -character invaded the music of the Catholic Church, of which Palestrina -is the great ideal. The cause of this change was the introduction of -the opera, which was due to the revival of the study of the antique, -and especially of Greek tragedy. - -The pure style of vocal composition was founded on the Protestant -choral, and reached its highest classical expression, in modern times, -in the German Sebastian Bach. His contemporary and countryman, Handel, -on the other hand, remained, by way of preference, in the region of -opera; and, after he had achieved great triumphs in it in foreign -countries, he rose to the summit of his greatness, in the spiritual -drama, the oratorio. The world at this time loved the theatrical; and -its chief seat, so far as the opera was concerned, was the country -which had given birth to music. As, in its day, Italy had the greatest -composers, it had now, to say the least, the greatest and most -celebrated singers, and with a single victory here one entered the -lists with all educated Europe. “Then up and go there,” the father must -have said to himself, when he saw that his son’s talent for composition -was not recognized in Germany as much as it deserved to be recognized -even then, and the superior excellence of his performances denied there -when it was admitted everywhere else. - -We need not here enter into the details of this journey. The youthful -artist continued to work wonders similar to those which we have -already related. And on one occasion, in Naples, the boy was even -obliged to remove a ring from his finger, because his wizard-like art -was ascribed by the people to his wearing it. We must here confine -ourselves to tracing the course of development of this extraordinary -genius, and to showing what were the influences that made him such. - -At the end of the year 1769, that is, when Mozart was nearly fourteen -years of age, we find him and his father journeying through the -Tyrol to the land of milder breezes and sweet melodies. Everywhere -the same unbounded admiration of his talent. In Vienna, the two--who -now traveled unaccompanied by the mother and sister--were obliged to -elbow themselves through the crowd to the choir, so great was the -concourse of people. In Milan, such was the impression made by our -hero, that Wolfgang was asked to compose an opera. In Italy new operas -were introduced twice a year; and he was given the first opportunity -to display his talent during the season preceding Christmas. The -honorarium paid him was, as usual, one hundred ducats and lodging free. -He received no more at a later period for his _Don Giovanni_. But -such an amount was a large remuneration, at that time, for the young -beginner. - -In the execution of his task, however, he showed himself by no means a -mere beginner. For when, continuing their journey--to which they could -give themselves up with all the more composure as the libretto was to -be sent after them--they came to Bologna and there called upon the most -learned musician of his age, Padre Martini, even he could do nothing -but lose himself in wonder at the power of achievement of our young -master, who, as Martini said, solved problems and overcame difficulties -which gave evidence both of innate genius and of the most comprehensive -knowledge. Wolfgang here became acquainted with the greatest singer -of his time, the sopranist, Carlo Broschi, known as Farinelli, and -received from him as a last legacy the Italian art of _bel canto_; -for, said he, only he who understands the art of song in its highest -sense, can, in turn, properly write for song. And yet this vocalist was -already in the sixties. - -Florence was still governed by the Hapsburgs, and hence the best of -receptions was given to our travelers there. Of the magnificent works -of art in the place, the letters to his mother and sister do not say -anything. But we can scarcely suppose that the _Venus Anathusia_ -and the _Madonna della Sedia_ remained unknown to him who was alone -destined to give life to Raphael and the antique, even in tones. -Mozart’s own letters from Rome do not leave us in the dark on this -point. He writes to his sister: “Yesterday we were in the Capitol -and saw many beautiful things, and there are, indeed, many beautiful -things there and elsewhere in Rome”--Laocoon and Ariadne, the Apollo -Belvedere and the head of Olympian Jove. And then the many churches, -and among them a St. Peter’s! But naturally enough, the music remained -the most remarkable thing of all to the two musicians; and then there -was the Sistine Chapel, in which alone something of the art of the -great Romans still lived and ruled. Of Palestrina we hear nothing in -this connection, but Wolfgang went so far as to make a copy of Allegri. -“You know,” the father writes, “that the Miserere sung here is esteemed -so highly that the musicians of the chapel are forbidden, under -pain of excommunication, to copy any part of it, or to give a part -of it to anybody. But we have it. Wolfgang has written it down from -ear. However, we do not wish this secret to come into anyone’s else -possession, lest we should incur the censure of the Church directly or -indirectly.” The Mozarts, indeed, attached some importance to their -faith in the Catholic Church. To them it was intrinsic truth. And thus -Wolfgang’s youthful soul was forever consecrated, for the reception -of the highest feelings of the human breast, by the peculiarly sacred -songs sung during this holy week in Rome--feelings which, even in -compositions not religious, he, in the course of his life, clothed -in sounds so beautiful and enrapturing. In after years, he was wont -to tell of the deep impression made on him by these incidents in -his religious experience. “How I felt there! how I felt there!” he -exclaimed, over and over again, in speaking of them. - -We have heard already of Naples. The father had written from Rome -that the further they got into Italy the greater was the wonder of -the people. The intoxicating beauty of nature mirrored in the Bay of -Naples, could not but make a deep impression on the artist, who was -himself destined one day to give expression in so magical a manner -and in sounds so entrancing, to the charm and intoxication of the -serenest joys of life. “Naples is beautiful,” he writes curtly but -characteristically to his sister. Yet it may be that the immense -solemnity of Rome was more in harmony with Mozart’s German nature. -They were there soon again, and this time they had an opportunity to -see what can be seen only in Rome--the Pope. Delighted with young -Wolfgang’s playing, the Holy Father--it was the great Ganganelli, -Clement XIV--granted him a private audience, and conferred on him the -order of the Golden Spurs, that same order which afterwards gave us a -chevalier Gluck. Mozart did not, at first, make much of this honor, and -his father wrote: “You may imagine how I laugh to hear him called all -the time _Signor Cavaliere_.” Later, however, they knew when a proper -occasion presented itself, how to turn such a distinction to advantage. - -The end now aimed at by young Mozart and his father was fame and -success. A step towards the attainment of these was Wolfgang’s -nomination as a member of the celebrated Philharmonic Society of -Bologna, which invested him, in Italy, with the title of _Cavaliere -Filarmonico_. And when father and son came to Milan again in 1770, -he had, so far as his rank as an artist and his position in life -were concerned, attained success. At fourteen, he was _Signor -Cavaliere_--Chevalier Mozart. The journey itself had done much to bring -his artistic views to maturity. His technical ability was very plainly -now supplemented by the pure sense of the beautiful, the result of the -highest intellectual labor. He had surmounted all difficulties, and -especially those purely natural ones by which the rough, lack-lustre -north, with its inhospitable climate, only too frequently keeps Germans -back in art. From this time forward the divine rays of ideal beauty -beam brightly from Mozart’s melody, and they never became extinct. In -Mozart’s art there was now no room for perfection of form. His art -could be added to only by adding to the life that was in it; and we -shall soon again meet with traces of that personal contact with life -which matures man’s capabilities and develops them. Let us first look -at the earliest decided successes of the composer, successes which, for -a long time, bound him to the “land where the citron blooms.” - -The Italian opera which then ruled supreme everywhere, was far from -being such a dramatic performance on the stage as rivets the attention. -The taste of the Italians which revelled in beautiful songs, soon made -these the chief feature in the entire opera. Interesting or thrilling -incidents from history, and still more the great myths of antiquity and -of the middle ages, were so adapted for the occasion that a love affair -always played the principal part in them, and the whole culminated -in the effusions of happy or heart-broken lovers. There was here, -certainly, a rich opportunity for an art like music. As it was, almost -the entire opera was made up of arias, and the person who wrote the -prettiest arias, of course, carried off the palm. These arias had like -a garment to be made to order, so to speak, for the several singers, -and to fit them exactly, if they were to produce their full effect: the -finest note of the prima donna, or a tenor, had to be at the same time -the finest part of the air, and _vice versa_. Thus prepared, the opera -was sung, and went the round of one-half of Europe. We have seen this, -in this century, in the case of Rossini, Bellini and Donizetti, and we -see it in our own day, in the case of Verdi. - -It was at this point that Mozart modestly entered on the musical -inheritance from the past. A youth of fourteen will certainly not -change or attack what more than a century and the whole educated world -has approved and admired. But how he took up into his work the several -features of the “fabulous history” of the old, unfortunate king of -Pontus, Mithridates, and united them into glowing music, we learn from -the critic of the day, after the performance of the piece on the 26th -of December, 1770, in the following words: “The young _Capellmeister_ -studies the beautiful in nature, and then gives us back that beauty -adorned with the rarest musical grace.” Envy and intrigue were, indeed, -not wanting here, either. But Wolfgang was equal to the task of taking -care of himself, and even of adapting himself to the whims of the -singers. “If this duet does not give satisfaction, he can re-arrange -it,” the first sopranist exclaimed; and people were very much surprised -to see the tone of the home opera, its _chiaroscuro_, as they called -the beautiful discordance of the different pieces with one another, so -accurately hit by a young beginner. Cries of _Evviva il maestro! Evviva -il maestrino!_ were heard on every side; the work had to be repeated -twenty times, and it was immediately ordered for five other stages, -among them that of Mozart’s own beloved capital--all of which, however, -according to the custom of the time, turned only to the advantage of -the copyist. - -The object of the first trip to Rome, in 1770, was thus attained. -Wolfgang had not spared himself, and his father had to keep a -watchful eye on him. Uninterrupted labor and earnest occupation had -given so serious a turn to his mind--and he was always naturally -reflective--that his father thought well to invite some friends to his -home while Wolfgang was composing. He asked others to write him jocose -letters, in order to divert him. The musical genius and the inner man -were ripening side by side. At the age of fifteen he had the maturity -of a full-grown youth. - -Even now the chords of his nature, which lent to his melodies that most -fervid of tones which we think we hear even when only Mozart’s name is -mentioned, those tender feelings of the heart which made him above all -the minstrel of love, are heard in the soft vibrations of his music. In -his hearty attachment to his mother and sister, we see the development -of what the family-friend already mentioned has told us of his innate -craving for affection when only four years old. His little postscripts -to his father’s letters about this journey are delightful reading. He -never forgets the dear ones at home. He inquires about each one in -turn; and even the “weighty and lofty thoughts of Italy,” where he was -frequently “distracted by mere business,” do not keep him from doing -so. He tells his mamma he kisses her hands a billion times, and Nannerl -that he kisses her “cheek, nose, mouth and neck.” On post-days, he goes -on, “everything tastes better,” and only the abundance of his bantering -in these notes preserved in the Mozarteum can give any idea of his -overflowing tenderness for his sweet sister. - -But it was not long before he discovered beauty in others than his -sister. His young eye caught sight of the _prime donne_ and pretty -ballet-dancers of Italy; but, with the fair ones, he had formed a -more intimate personal acquaintance in Salzburg, where his sister had -friends of her own sex. “I had a great deal to say to my sister, but -what I had to say is known only to God and myself,” he wrote from -Italy; and shortly after, still more suggestively: “What you have -promised me, my dear (---- you know you are my dear one), don’t fail -to do, I pray you. I shall surely be obliged to you.” This was during -his second journey to Rome, when his short and restful stay in his -beautiful home allowed his heart, so to speak, repose, and afforded him -leisure to busy himself with other matters than music. “I implore thee, -let me know about the other one, _where there is no other one_; you -understand me, and I need say no more,” he adds, evidently desiring to -cover something up, and what could there be for him to cover up but a -tender feeling of the heart? Later he adds: “I hope that you have been -to see the young lady; you know which one I mean. I beg of you when you -see her to pay her a compliment for me.” There certainly is nothing -more easy of explanation than that the young artist was attracted by -the fair sex, whose admiration for him was so unbounded. Nothing so -charms woman as fame and greatness, especially when fame and greatness -have an intellectual foundation; and was not the young _cavaliere -filarmonico_ famed beyond all men living? His mere appearance, indeed, -made no very powerful impression at the first sight. He was small of -stature. According to the account given of himself, in one of his -letters, he was “brought up on water.” His head seemed to be too large -for his body, the result of an abundance of beautiful flaxen hair; -and only his natural ease and grace of movement made him--especially -in the costume of the past century--irresistibly charming, an effect -which was heightened by the thoughtful expression of his beautiful -greyish-blue eyes. But when this excitable young man, in his velvet -coat, knee-breeches, silk stockings, buckled shoes, galoon-hat and -sword, was thought of as the celebrated _maestro_, whose fame was -only beginning; or when he was heard play and seen producing his own -compositions, the impression was changed, and the place of mere -physical attraction was taken by the unspeakable charm of the mind and -heart, by the spell-binding, mysterious force of creative genius. But -woman loves the power of genius, and surrenders her entire self to it. -A kiss from pretty lips when he had written a new minuet, he considered -a beautiful “present,” and kisses do not come singly. - -But now little time remained to him for the half-innocent, -half-sensuous idyls of the eighteenth century. He was again engaged -for the first season of the year, 1773, in Milan, this time for a -consideration of one hundred and thirty ducats, and in the meantime, -he received another commission, probably in consequence of the -reputation of “Mithridates,” to help celebrate the marriage of a son -of the Empress Maria Theresa, in Milan, by means of a _serenata_, _i. -e._, a kind of little opera. This was in the summer of 1771, and in -August both father and son were in Milan again. The subject-matter was -_Ascanius in Alba_. But flattery for the noble couple chiefly filled -this theatrical sketch, a fact which by no means kept Wolfgang from -doing his best. He writes: “Over us is a violinist, under us another, -next us a singing master, and in the only remaining room a hautboyist, -all of which makes composing very pleasant, and suggests many ideas -to one.” These ideas must have been of great consequence to him at -this time, because his rival, the composer of the principal opera, was -Hasse, the then most celebrated composer in Italy, the “dear Saxon,” -as the Italians called him, a man who had presented them with so many -hundred operas that he could not count them himself. The libretto did -not reach him until the end of August, and the festivities were to take -place in October. “And then my fingers pain me so from writing,” he -says, in an exculpatory way, after four weeks, to Nannerl. There were -now wanting only two arias. Thanks to the elasticity of his nature, he -preserved his health; but the fact that he “was always sleepy” shows -how very hard he had worked, nay, that he had worked too hard. - -He did not fail of success. The noble couple set an example to the -public by their approbation, and the father writes: “I am sorry; -Wolfgang’s _serenata_ has so badly beaten Hasse’s opera that I cannot -describe it.” And it is said that the latter, with a delightful absence -of envy, exclaimed: “That boy will send us all to oblivion.” How true -was the prophecy, and how many, in all ages will not this same Mozart -eclipse by his refulgence! - -The play was, contrary to custom, repeated several times, and on -this occasion a diamond snuff-box from the archduke was added to the -honorarium usually paid. - -In December, 1771, we find the Mozarts at home once more, but enjoying -the pleasant prospect of new laurels in Italy. It was well that there -was such a prospect before them; for the death of Archbishop Sigismund -placed a new master over them. His successor, Jerome, whose election -was received with feelings anything but joyful, was destined to leave a -sad page in Mozart’s life. - -The citizens of Salzburg entrusted their celebrated young -fellow-townsman with the composition of the music for the occasion of -their demonstration of respect to the new archbishop. It was the “Dream -of Scipio.” Besides this, there was little in Salzburg to be done. In -the capacity of _concertmeister_ to the archbishop, to which position -he was appointed after his success in Italy, he had to write the music -for the court and for the cathedral. In those days people were ever -craving for something new in their favorite art; and while Mozart’s -masses, yielding to the theatrical tendency of the time, like those of -Haydn, have more of a pleasant play in them than of church gravity, -and are therefore of less importance to posterity, the composition of -symphonies carried him into a department which, created by Haydn, was -destined, through Mozart, to lead to that mighty phenomenon, Beethoven. - -The form of the sonata, which is the basis of the symphony, also -had originated in consequence of a more and more poetico-musical -development from the suite which introduced a series of dances, -the allemande being the first. And as the dance itself is a direct -imitation of natural human movement and passion, the sonata and -symphony, together with the quartette, became more and more, the -expression of the personal experience and feelings of the composer, -who, the more deeply and grandly he conceived the world, was able to -give of it, in his music, a more beautiful and ravishing picture--an -art which afterwards reached in Beethoven’s symphonies a height -unsurpassed as yet. - -What poetry and prose were for the opera, the joy and the sorrow -of life felt by the composer himself were for the piano and the -orchestra--the impulse and poetical bait to musical composition. We -shall soon find Mozart’s life reflected in his art, and it is this that -makes the biography of the man so peculiarly attractive and so full of -meaning. - -In November, 1772, we find our two travelers in Italy again. The opera -of Silla had to be written for Milan. And now, what the father desired -above all, was to see his son anchored there in a permanent position. -He first made some arrangements in Florence. He could not feel at home -in Salzburg after the appointment of the new archbishop. The latter -was, indeed, friendly to intellectual progress, and opposed to the -gloomy rule of the priesthood, but, at the same time, he was himself -too much of a tyrant to be able to bless his people by diffusing -prosperity among them, or to win their love. His mode of government -could not be acceptable to the independent spirit of the father any -more than to the liberty-loving genius of the son; and this all the -more, as he had no real feeling for, or understanding of art, or of -the sovereign rule of genius. And so it happened, that the father, -even during his journey, found it hard to banish what he called his -“Salzburg thoughts” from his mind. He was disappointed because he -accomplished nothing in Florence, and this added to his trouble. - -But he now met with compensation in Milan. In his letters, Wolfgang -says: “It is impossible for me to write much, because, in the first -place, I know nothing to write about, and in the second place, I do not -know what I am writing; for all my thoughts are with my opera, and I -am in danger of writing a whole aria to you instead of a letter.” The -performers were very well satisfied this time too, and what an effect -the work must have produced is attested by a mishap which occurred -to the principal male voice. He had unwittingly provoked the prima -donna to a fit of laughter, which confused him so much that he began -to gesticulate himself in a most unmannerly way. The audience, whose -patience had been taxed to the utmost by being obliged to wait for the -archduke, who lived in the city, caught the contagion, and began to -laugh likewise. Spite of this, the opera proved victoriously successful -the first time it was performed, and was repeated more than twenty -times. - -This closed Mozart’s real work for the Italians. He would certainly -have been called upon to do much more in that country, but the -Archbishop of Salzburg refused him leave of absence, saying that he -“did not want to see his people going begging about the country.” -And yet Mozart himself said subsequently: “When I think it all over, -I have nowhere received so many honors, and nowhere been so highly -esteemed as in Italy. A man has good credit indeed when he has written -operas in Italy.” And, in reality, it was due to his success in Italy -that Mozart was, two years after this, called to Munich to write the -music for another Italian opera. This was the charming _opera buffa_ -(comic opera), the _La finta giardiniera_; and here Jerome could not -refuse his permission; his relations, personal and official with the -neighboring elector’s court, did not allow him to do so. - -The elector Maximilian III. was a kindly, good-hearted gentleman, and -very fond of music himself. He had long before manifested a great deal -of interest in Mozart, and knew as well as anybody what success the -young composer had met with in the world. Mozart saw himself loved -and honored, and the excellence of the opera in Munich was a great -incentive to induce him to do his very best in the performance of the -task now given him. In it we find early traces of those living streams -of pleasant feelings which flowed from Mozart’s heart. The words of -the opera had been frequently set to music; but the people said that -no more beautiful music had ever been heard than that of Mozart’s -opera, in which all the arias, without exception, were beautiful. -“Thank God,” he wrote on the 14th of January, “my opera was put upon -the stage yesterday, and came off so well that I find it impossible -to describe the bustle to mamma. In the first place, the theater was -so very crowded that a great many people had to go back home. Every -aria was followed by a frightful hubbub and cries of _viva maestro!_ -Her highness the electoress and the electoress dowager, who were just -opposite me, saluted me with a _bravo!_ When the opera was out, there -was nothing to be heard but the clapping of hands and cries of _bravo!_ -interrupted by pauses of silence, only to be taken up again, and again. -After this, I went with papa into a room, through which the elector -had to go, where I kissed the hands of his highness, of the electoress -and of the nobility, all of whom were very gracious to me. Early this -morning his grace, the prince-bishop of Chiemsee, sent a special -messenger here to congratulate me on the fact that the opera had proved -so unprecedently successful.” The prince-bishop, who had been a canon -of the cathedral in Salzburg, and loved Mozart very much, had, it is -very likely, procured for him the commission from Munich, and hence his -enhanced interest in Mozart, and the peculiar satisfaction he felt in -his great success. - -Even the archbishop himself was an unwilling witness of the triumph of -his _concertmeister_, to whom he showed so little respect. He had not, -indeed, seen the opera himself, because it was not performed during -his visit, which was a mere visit on business connected with his -office; but, as the father writes, he could not help hearing Mozart’s -praise, and accepting many solemn congratulations on having secured the -services of so great a genius, from all the elector’s household and -from the nobility. This confused him so much that he could answer only -with a nod of the head and a shrug of the shoulders. We shall soon see -that all this did not redound to Mozart’s welfare and advantage. - -An operetta, the _Il Re Pastore_, “The Royal Shepherd,” written in -honor of the sojourn of the Archduke Maximilian Francis in Salzburg, -in the same year, 1775, must also be classed among the youthful works -of our artist. He had now passed his twentieth year. He had learned -all there was to be learned, and proved it in many ways by what he had -achieved in practice. His feelings urged him to display his powers -before the world. He felt himself a man with - - “Muth sich in die Welt zu wagen, - Der Erde Weh, der Erde Glück zu tragen.” - -His boyhood was over; the youth was growing into the man, and the man -craves to try his strength--craves action. - -This craving brought our artist, for the first time, into a personal -struggle with life; and as he was compelled henceforth to carry on that -struggle alone, experience quickly strengthened his moral power; and we -find him no longer simply the divinely favored artist, but the strong, -noble-minded man as well. - - - - -CHAPTER II. - -1777-1779. - -THE GREAT PARISIAN ARTISTIC JOURNEY. - - Disgusted With Salzburg--In Vienna Again--Salzburg Society--Character - of Musicians in the Last Century--Jerome Colloredo, Archbishop - of Salzburg--Mozart’s Letter to Him--The Father’s Solicitude for - His Son--Paternal Advice--New Compositions--Incidents of his - Journey--Meets With Opposition--Secret Enemies--His Ambition to - Elevate the Character of the German Opera--Disappointments--His - Description of German “Free City” Life--Meeting With Stein--In His - Uncle’s Family--“Baesle”--Meeting With the Cannabichs--Attachment - for Rosa Cannabich--Influence of this Attachment on His Music--The - Weber Family--The _Non so d’onde viene_--Circumstances of its - Composition. - - -In a letter written in the year 1776, Wolfgang complained to Father -Martini, of Bologna, that he was living in a city in which musicians -met with little success; that the theater there had no persons of good -ability, because persons of good ability wished good pay; and he adds: -“Generosity is a fault of which we cannot be accused.” He informs the -reverend father that he was engaged writing Church music and chamber -music, but that the pieces had to be always very short, because such -was the desire of the archbishop, and he closes thus: “Alas, that we -are so far away from you, dearest master. Were we nearer to each other, -how much I would have to say to you.” - -It is easy to see that the young _maestro_ felt impelled to go where he -might breathe a freer air, and prove by his deeds the power that was in -him. As early as in the summer of 1773, the father and son were again -together in Vienna, but not even the shrewdness of the father, with all -his experience, could devise any way to the success he desired there, -and Wolfgang himself wrote from Munich to his mother that she should -not wish for their immediate return, for she knew well enough how much -he needed a breathing spell, and he says: “We shall be soon enough with -----.” - -They lived at home, father, son and daughter, a happy family in their -own narrow circle. They had, we are glad to say, some true and trusted -friends with whom they employed the little leisure which they could -afford to take, in the parlor games customary at the time, and other -simple pleasures. And this leisure was small indeed, for they had to -try to make both ends meet by writing musical compositions and giving -instruction in music. The father’s salary amounted to only forty -marks, and the son’s to only twenty-five marks a month. No wonder he -wrote: “generosity is not our fault.” But their sense of refinement -was offended yet more by the rude manner and the coarse tone prevalent -in the place. The Salzburgian was looked upon as a fool, and the merry -Andrews of Vienna mimicked his dialect. The mode of life and the -views of the higher and lower “noblesse” were of a nature still less -agreeable and refined. Mozart, who much preferred even the manners -of the “boorish Bavarians,” as they were then universally called, to -that of the Salzburg nobility, relates, in his letters, how one of the -latter expressed so much surprise and crossed himself so frequently at -the Munich opera, that they were greatly ashamed of him. - -It is notorious that Mozart’s real colleagues, the musicians, had -a well-merited reputation during the last century, as “drunkards, -gamesters and dissipated, good-for-nothing fellows.” This was one of -the reasons which inspired him with so great a hatred for Salzburg. -“No decent man,” he writes, “could live in such company.” He was -ashamed of them, and of the coarse and dissolute music of the court. -Michael Haydn himself, Joseph Haydn’s brother, a very clever composer, -was not free from at least one of these vices. There was no one in -Salzburg but knew Haydn’s little drinking room in the _Stiftskeller_ -(monastery wine-cellar). On one occasion, when the organist of one of -the city churches, drunk on the organ-seat, was struck with apoplexy, -Wolfgang’s father wrote to him asking him to divine who had been -appointed his successor. And he proceeds: “Herr Haydn--all laughed. -He is, indeed, an expensive organist. He drinks a quart of wine after -every part of the mass. He sends Lipp (another organist) to attend the -other services--another man,” he adds forcibly enough, “who wants a -drink.” - -How now could it be said that here, in his own real province, the young -artist found a reward worthy of his fiery spirit and of his already -tested powers? - -We have heard himself complain of the theatre, the parlor, and the -orchestra. A wandering troupe performed in the theatre during the -winter. The court-concerts were limited to, at most, an hour, during -which several pieces had to be performed. Masses, even the most solemn, -were not allowed to be longer than three-quarters of an hour. Moreover, -the orchestra was a small one, without as much as even a clarionet. -That, notwithstanding all this; that thus confined and narrowed, and -with means thus limited, Mozart was able to produce works such as we -possess in his masses, symphonies, and chamber music--works which far -surpass those of his contemporaries, and find a worthy place by the -side of the music of the same kind by Joseph Haydn, is a triumph which -bears eloquent testimony to his industry and genius. But he could -never be satisfied in Salzburg. That same genius urged him out into a -purer atmosphere, in which action such as he was capable of, becomes -possible, in which he might come in contact with men of culture. His -resolve was made. The world was before him, and he said to himself: Go -forth! - -But in his way stood, bold and dark, the “---- ----” to whom they -had, as Mozart writes, returned soon enough, the “Mufti,” as he -called the man “with the keen glance from his grey eyes, the left -of which was scarcely ever entirely open, and the rigid lines about -the mouth”--Archbishop Jerome Colloredo. This man really could not -appreciate how much he possessed in Mozart. “Let them only ask the -archbishop, he will put them immediately on the right path,” Wolfgang -writes, on one occasion, referring to him concerning a concert which -had met with unusual success in Mannheim. The principal cause of -complaint, however, was the archbishop’s niggardliness. He was thus -rigorous with those in his employ, lest they should make any claims -upon him. Mozart wrote, at a later period: “I did not venture on -contradiction, because I came straight from Salzburg, where the faculty -of contradiction has been lost by long abstinence from using it.” -Whatever he composed was wrong, found fault with, and unsparingly. On -one occasion, the archbishop had the face to tell Mozart that he did -not understand anything of his art, and that he should first go to the -Conservatory at Naples to learn something about music, and this to -Mozart, the Academician of Bologna and Verona, the far-famed composer -of operas! We are informed that he never flattered Mozart except when -he wanted something; and Leopold told Padre Martini that, otherwise, -the archbishop never paid Wolfgang a farthing for his compositions. - -Suffering from the mania of the time, Jerome preferred the Italians in -matters of music, and had surrounded himself with Italian musicians. -The Mozarts were, in consequence, set back in every way and made the -victims of “persecution and contempt.” All the elements of variance -were here. A breach was inevitable; for on the one side were the -father and son, both very frank, clear-headed and witty; Wolfgang, -with something in him of the impetuosity of youth, conscious of his -power and of the opinion which the world had of him, a consciousness -which he took no trouble to conceal; on the other the archbishop, whose -peculiarity it was to allow himself to be impressed by persons of fine, -handsome figure, but not to respect little, insignificant-looking -people like the slender, twenty-year-old Mozart. - -We have Mozart’s letter to the archbishop. It saw the light--being -found among the official papers of the archbishopric--just one hundred -years after it was written. It gives us a great deal of information -concerning a circumstance which had a great influence on Mozart’s life, -and which was finally the cause of the most decided catastrophes to -him. It shows us, at the same time, what was the entire tone of the -period, and especially of Salzburg subserviency. Mozart writes: - - “TO HIS ILLUSTRIOUS GRACE, MOST REVEREND - PRINCE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE: - - _Most Gracious Liege-Lord and Herr Herr!_ - - I dare not trouble your illustrious grace with any minute description - of our pitiful circumstances. My father has most humbly, upon his - honor and conscience, and with all truth, called the attention of - your illustrious grace to those circumstances in his most humble - petition presented to your grace on the 14th of March of this - year. But as your illustrious grace’s most gracious and propitious - decision, which was hoped for, did not come to him, my father would - have most humbly begged your illustrious grace, as long ago as the - month of June, most graciously to allow us to make a journey of a few - months, to the end that we might in this way do something to help - ourselves in our necessity, were it not that your illustrious grace - most graciously ordered that all your grace’s musicians should keep - themselves in readiness for the occasion of his imperial majesty’s - [Joseph II] passage through your grace’s city. After this, my father - most humbly asked this same permission, but your illustrious grace - refused it to him, and most graciously expressed a conviction that - I, who am only half engaged in your grace’s service, might travel - alone. Our circumstances are those of urgent need. My father resolved - to send me on my way alone. But here also your illustrious grace - interposed some most gracious objections. Most gracious liege-lord - and _Herr Herr_, parents laboriously strive to put their children in - a position such that they may earn their own daily bread; and this is - a duty which they owe to themselves and to the state. - - The more talents children have received from God, the greater are - their obligations to make use of those talents for the amelioration - of their own and their parents’ circumstances, to assist their - parents and to take heed for their own advancement and for the - future. The gospels teach us thus to put our talents out at interest. - I therefore, in conscience, owe it to God to be grateful to my father - who spends untiringly his every hour on my education; to lighten his - burthen; and to care for my sister; for it would pain me greatly if, - after spending so many hours at the piano, she should not be able to - turn what she has so laboriously learned to account. - - Your illustrious grace will, therefore, most graciously allow me to - ask most humbly for my dismissal from your grace’s service, as I - am forced to make use of the month of September this fall which is - just beginning, so that I may not be exposed to the inclemency of - the severe weather of the cold months which follow so soon upon it. - Your illustrious grace will not take this most humble petition of - mine ungraciously, as your grace most graciously pronounced against - me three years ago, when I asked leave to travel to Vienna, told me - that I had nothing to hope for, and that I would do better to seek my - fortune in some other place. Most humbly do I thank your illustrious - grace for all the high favors I have received from your grace, and - with the flattering hope of being able to serve your illustrious - grace with greater approval when I shall have reached man’s estate, I - commend myself to the favor and grace of - - Your most illustrious Grace, - My most gracious liege-lord and _Herr Herr_. - Most humbly and obediently, - - WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART. - - [_Addressed_] - - TO HIS ILLUSTRIOUS GRACE - THE ARCHBISHOP OF SALZBURG, etc., etc.; - - The most humble and obedient petition of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.” - -It is no easy matter to imagine all that must have occurred before the -father resolved to permit his son to take a step which might possibly -cost himself both his position and his livelihood, but it may all be -very readily divined from the following passages in the Mozart letters. -The son writes: “I hope that you meet with less vexation now than when -I was in Salzburg, for I must confess that I was its sole cause.” -And again: “I was badly treated, I did not deserve it. You naturally -sympathized with me, but too much. That was the principal reason why I -hastened away from Salzburg.” And the father: “You are, indeed, right, -my dear son. I felt the greatest vexation at the contemptible treatment -which you received. It was that that preyed on my heart so, that kept -me from sleeping, that was ever in my thoughts, and which would have -surely ended by consuming me entirely.” And here follows an outburst -characteristic of the feelings of the Mozarts: “My dear son, when you -are happy, so am I, so is your mother, so is your sister, so are we -all. And that you will be happy I hope from God’s grace, and through -the confidence I place in your sensible behavior.” - -And, indeed, this last was the only cause of solicitude the father had -when his son started on his journey. Not that he had any doubt as to -the young man’s character or goodness of heart. He had as much faith -in both as in the “superiority of his son’s talents.” What alarmed him -was Wolfgang’s want of experience. Wolfgang had never traveled alone. -And who had better opportunity to know the extent of this inexperience -than the faithful mentor who, as the son himself confesses, had always -served him like a friend, nay like a servant? The father’s utterances -here are full of beauty. They show us many a trait characteristic of -the whole life of the yet youthful but immortal prodigy of art. - -The father writes: “You know, my son, that you will have to do -everything for yourself, and that you are not accustomed to get along -entirely without the help of others; that you are not very familiar -with the different kinds of coin, and that you have not the least idea -how to pack your things, or to do much else which must be done.” He -continues: “I would also remind you, that a young man, even if he had -dropped down from heaven and stood head and shoulders above all the -masters of art, will never get the consideration due him. To win this, -he must have reached a certain age, and so long as a person is under -twenty, enviers, enemies and persecutors will find matter for blame -in his youth, in the little importance attached to him and his small -experience.” And later: “My son, in all your affairs, you are hasty -and headlong. Your whole character has changed since your childhood -and boyhood years. As a child, you were rather serious than childish. -Now, as it seems to me, you are too quick to answer every one in a -jesting way at the very first provocation; and that is the first step -towards familiarity which one must avoid in this world, if he cares to -be respected. It is your good heart’s fault that you can see no defect -in the person who pays you a clever compliment, who professes esteem -for you and lauds you to the heavens, and that you take him into your -confidence and give him your love.” - -Even if all this paternal chiding was provoked only by the one -special cause of which we shall soon have something to say, it is, -nevertheless, true that the father here touches upon some of Mozart’s -characteristic traits, especially his confiding goodness of heart, -his wit and jocoseness in everything, which were led into wrong -channels by the quickness of his mind. The parting of father and son -was heart-rending indeed. We are sure that the words in which Leopold -Mozart describes his feelings, when Wolfgang, in company with his -mother, started out on his travels in September, 1777, came from the -very bottom of a father’s heart. “After you had gone,” he writes, -“I went, very tired, up the steps and threw myself in a chair. I -tried hard to restrain myself on the occasion of our leave-taking, -that I might not make our separation still more painful, and in my -excitement I forgot to give my son a father’s blessing. I ran to the -window and begged a blessing upon both of you, but I did not see you -go out through the gate, and we could not but think that you had -already passed it, because I sat there a long time without thinking of -anything.” Nannerl cried so much that she was taken sick, and it was -evening before either she or her father had so far recovered from the -shock as to be able to distract themselves by attending to some little -home duties, and enjoying what remained to them of domestic bliss. -“Thus did this sad day pass--a sadder day than I believed life could -ever bring me,” says the father, in his account of it, when answering -the first letter he received from his son after his departure. - -Wolfgang himself was very cheerful. He was out again in the bracing -atmosphere of freedom. His confidence in human nature, the result of -inexperience, hid from his eyes the thorns of life which were destined -henceforth to sting him till he died. Trusting in his talents and his -good will, he thought that his pathway would be strewn with roses. His -father, in a somewhat gloomy excess of zeal writes him: “Cling to God, -I beg you; you must do it, my dear son, for men are all knaves.”... -“The older you get and the more you have to do with men, the more will -you learn this bitter truth. Think only of the many promises, all the -sycophancy and the hundred other things we have met with, and then draw -your own conclusions as to how much you can build on human aid.” All -Salzburg wondered and revolted at the course pursued by the archbishop, -for young Mozart got his dismissal immediately and in a very unkind and -ungracious way. The father, indeed, was allowed to retain his position, -but the dissatisfaction of the court at the loss was very great, for -strangers found nothing to admire but Wolfgang. One of the cathedral -canons afterwards admitted this to Mozart himself, and the steward of -the household, Count Firmian, who was very fond of Mozart, gives the -following account of a conversation overheard by him while waiting on -the court: - -“We have now one musician less. Your illustrious grace has lost a great -performer.” - -“How so?” - -“He is the greatest piano-player I ever heard in my life. As a -violinist he served your illustrious grace exceedingly well, and he was -besides a very good composer.” - -The archbishop was silent. - -All this was a rich source of satisfaction to Wolfgang, but it did -not lessen his father’s cares. The preparations for his journey -were of course very carefully made, even in the minutest details, -especially in what related to his compositions, that he might “be able -to show what he could do in everything:” in concertos for the piano -and violin, sonatas, airs and ensemble pieces of the most various -kind. The sonatas for the piano alone--as we would remark here to the -lovers of music--known as Nos. 279-284 in L. Kœchel’s “_Chron. themat. -Verzeichniss_,” are, as to their form, perfectly full of beauty, and -the matter of them frequently interests us by the distinctness of its -almost speaking pictures of life. More significant and important yet -is the sonata in C major. Its _Andante cantabile_, in F major (3/4), -is a dramatic scene which, although on a small scale, clearly bespoke -the hand of the future composer of _Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_. And -the variations with which the sonata in A major (6/8) begins were -hardly equaled by Beethoven in his Op. 26. The trio in the minuet, on -the other hand, was a full scene from life, taken from the Carnival to -which the closing _Alla Turca_ alludes. Compared with these youthful -works of Mozart--for they belong to the end of the year 1770--what are -the sonatas of Ph. E. Bach, and even of Joseph Haydn? - -The travelers had also, with the assistance of the father, made every -other preparation for their journey. The boot-tree or stretcher, even, -which was, at the time, a necessary part of a traveler’s outfit, was -not forgotten. And yet their first stopping-place was near enough. The -father had once before knocked at the doors of Munich. Now the son went -to seek his fortune by calling personally on the good-hearted elector. - -We can here, of course, touch only on the principal incidents of -Mozart’s journey, on those which influenced his subsequent life, and -must refer the reader for more detailed information to his letters. We -find in them the clearest and most charming descriptions of his life. -They appeal to our deepest feelings; for they are addressed, almost -without exception, to the father. The father’s answers had to be very -explicit, for there was ample room for advice and timely precaution, -much to deter from or to make good again, as occasion required, and -not a little place for admonition. In every one of them, we find the -reflection of the solid worth of these two faithful souls, a worth -which was destined to find a really ideal and transfigured echo in -Mozart’s music. This journey had for effect the development of Mozart’s -inmost nature. It gave his artistic creations that sovereign and -catholic character for which they are so remarkable. - -Wolfgang wrote some letters home, when he reached the first station. In -one of them we read: “We live like princes. There is nothing wanting -to complete our happiness but papa. But, please God, all will be well -with us.”... “I hope that papa will be cheerful and as well satisfied -as I am. I can put up very well with my lot. I am a second papa. I look -after everything. I have undertaken to pay the postillion, too, for I -can talk to the fellows better than mamma can. Papa should take care -of his health, and remember that the mufti J. C. [Jerome Colloredo] -is a mean fellow, but that God is compassionate, merciful and kind.” -No sooner, however, had they reached their first stopping-place than -things began to wear a different aspect. Mozart received, indeed, a -warm reception. There was no lack of admiration for, or of recognition -of, his genius. But he met with no success. His receipts were small, -and employment hard to find. The innkeeper, Albert, of the sign of -the “Black Eagle” (the hotel Detzer of the present), received them. -Albert was known as the “learned host,” and took no small interest in -art. Mozart first called on the manager of the theatre, count Seeau. -He thought that if he had only one more opera, all would be well with -him. He next visited the bishop of Chiemsee, to whom he owed it that he -had the opportunity to compose the _Verstellte Gaertnerin_. Everybody -knew of his arrival, and advised him to go direct to the elector, who -was a patron of the fine arts, and esteemed Mozart himself very highly. -But many days did not pass before Wolfgang discovered that the bishop -had had a private conversation at table, in Nymphenburg, from which he -gathered that he could accomplish very little in Munich. The bishop -said: “It is too soon yet. He must go; he must take a trip to Italy -and become famous. I refuse him nothing; but it is too soon yet.” The -father was right; the want of good will hides itself too frequently -behind the mask of “youth and too little experience.” And yet, we -must ask, who was so much more celebrated than this young _Cavaliere -filarmonico_? The electoress, too, shrugged her shoulders, but promised -to do her best. - -Mozart, however, insisted on going to Nymphenburg. The elector wanted -to bear mass just before going to hunt. Mozart thus dramatizes the -scene in one of his letters: - -“With your electoral highness’s permission, I would fain most humbly -cast myself at your highness’s feet and offer my services to your -highness.” - -“Well, have you left Salzburg for good?” - -“Yes, for good, your electoral highness.” - -“But why for good? Have you quarreled?” - -“Well, please your electoral highness, I only asked leave to take a -trip. This was refused me, and hence I was compelled to take this step, -although I had long contemplated leaving, for Salzburg is no place for -me.” - -“My God, and you a young man!” - -“I have been in Italy three times. I have written three operas, am a -member of the Academy of Bologna, and have been obliged to undergo an -examination on which many a master has been obliged to work and to -sweat over for four or five hours. I got through it in an hour. This -may prove to your highness that I am able to be of service at any -court. My only wish is to serve your electoral highness, who is himself -a great....” - -“Yes, my dear child, but I am sorry to say that there is not a place -vacant. If there was only a vacancy.” - -“I assure your highness that I would certainly do honor to Munich.” - -“Well, it’s of no use to talk that way, there’s not a place vacant.” - -We have here given the whole dialogue. It is a typical example of the -way in which princes and magnates treated Mozart through the whole of -his short life. There never was “a vacancy” for him. Real genius finds -no place to lay its head. It would seem as if its god-given nature were -fated to find nothing earthly to cling to. - -But, to continue. Spite of this positive declaration, Mozart was not -deterred from trying it again at court, and this spite of the fact -that his father had written to him that the elector could not create a -new place without any more ado, and that, besides, there were always -secret enemies in such cases, who prevented a thing of that kind out -of anxiety to save their own skin. Yet friends, true and false, found -means to flatter him. First of all, there was count Seeau, who had a -pecuniary interest in the theater, and understood what advantage a -fertile mind like that of Mozart might be to him. He knew how to amuse -Mozart, whom, on the occasion of the performance of his first opera, -he saw to be all fire and flame, with fair hopes: Mozart was to write -a German opera of the heroic kind, and this appealed powerfully to -his patriotic feelings. He himself next stirred up his own friends. -A number of those interested in him, it was proposed, should club -together, and enable him, by a regular monthly contribution, to remain -in Munich until he had written such a work, and thus obtained a -foothold. Seeau had, indeed, expressed himself to the effect that he -would like to retain Mozart, if he had only “a little assistance from -home.” Mozart wanted to pledge himself to write four German operas a -year, partly comic and partly serious, and estimated that his profits -from them would be at least eight hundred and fifty marks, or about two -hundred dollars; that count Seeau would give at least five hundred, and -would be always invited--and how much there was to be gained here! And -he adds: “I am very much liked here even now; but how popular I should -be if I could only elevate the German opera! and this I certainly would -be able to do, for I felt the greatest desire to write when I heard the -German vaudeville.” - -“Wolfgang’s first castles in the air!” the father must have said to -himself when he read these lines. The “learned host” who had taken -the matter of contributions in hand with honest zeal and with a true -interest in young Mozart, could not find so many as ten persons to give -a trifle over a ducat a month to aid in the good cause. Yet it must be -remembered that the German national taste for art was fast awakening -together with the freedom of German national, intellectual life--the -result of many causes, but especially of the deeds and exploits of Old -Fritz (Frederick the Great); and, that a German national opera was -among the ideals both of princes and artists--at least of those of them -who shared in the broader and nobler thought of the period. We shall -have something to say on this point further on. - -Thus are we able to understand Wolfgang’s warm attachment for the -German opera--and, indeed, had not the prima donna Kaiser “drawn many -and many a tear from him”--as well as his arduous endeavor to obtain -a firm and permanent foothold in Munich. But Wolfgang’s success as a -virtuoso made the father believe in him completely, and inspired him -with confidence, spite of this first want of success. The son writes: -“At the very last, I played my own _cassation_ in B major. Every one -wondered. I played as if I were the greatest fiddler in Europe.” To -which the father answered: “You don’t know yourself, my son, how well -you play the violin when you only do yourself justice and care to play -with heart and spirit, just as if you were the first violinist in -Europe.” A _cassation_ is a piece of music in the form of Beethoven’s -septett, but intended for a solo-instrument, and especially for -serenades. - -But he was doomed to disappointment. To see how the father watched over -the credit of his son who, in his first endeavors to attain success, -had fallen into a condition of dependence entirely unworthy of him, -and thus become a laughing-stock for the archbishop; and how the son -excused his inconsiderate and inordinate zeal by pleading his passion -for the opera, we must consult the letters of both. Wolfgang, with his -characteristic amiability, says: “I speak from my heart, and just as -I feel. If papa convinces me that I am in the wrong, I shall submit, -however reluctantly; for I am out of myself the moment I even hear an -opera spoken of.” - -They left Munich on the 11th of October, 1777--that is, a full -fortnight after their arrival. The father reminds them that neither -“fair words, compliments nor _bravissimos_ pay the postmaster or -the host.” “Do all you can to earn some money, and be as careful as -possible about your expenses. The object of your journey is, and must -be, either to obtain employment or to earn money.” This last, however, -was not their object in the rich and free imperial city of Augsburg, -whither they first directed their steps, because it was their father’s -birthplace. They received a warm welcome there from the father’s -brother, like Wolfgang’s grandfather, a book-binder. Mozart’s playing -and composition, as well as himself, here as everywhere else, met with -the greatest recognition, both in public and private, but he did not -succeed in giving a concert. The “patricians” were not in funds. And -when the Protestant patricians invited them to their boorish academy -(to the _vornehmen Bauernstub Akademie_), the total amount of the -present made was--two ducats. “I’m very sure,” the father says, “they -would scarcely have gotten me into their beggarly academy;” and, we may -add: “The prophet is without honor in his own country.” - -But he has erected the best possible monument to those Gothamites, so -foolishly proud of their old imperial-city denizenship. In Mozart’s -letters to his father, we get an exquisitely faithful picture of “free -city” life and “free city” men, with the exaggerated self-consciousness -and self-satisfaction of inherited possession and honor, so frequently -met with in them that even mere youths seemed almost in their dotage. -One cannot but grow merry at the expense of that narrow little world. -“His grace,” the chamberlain to the exchequer of the town, Herr von -Langenmantel the “my lords,” his sons, and his “gracious” young wife, -fare all the worse under the lash of the Mozart’s well-known “wicked -tongue,” because Mozart might reasonably have hoped to find a becoming -welcome in his father’s birthplace. Even the golden spur given Mozart -by Pope Ganganelli did more to charm these “free citizens” than it did -to remind them of the honors so young an artist had already won, and -that he was, in consequence, the peer of any one of them. One officer -of the imperial army, especially, who ignored this fact, was very -properly snubbed, and taught the lesson that Mozart was not to be made -sport of. We read in one of the father’s letters, “Whenever I thought -of your journey to Augsburg, I could not help thinking of Wieland’s -Abderites; a man should get an opportunity to see _in natura_ what in -reading he considers a pure ideal.” But Mozart had here the best of -opportunities to pursue those studies which the artist needs, in order -to paint from life. We are reminded of his experiences, like those in -Augsburg, by the brutal, self-destructive, ridiculous haughtiness of -Osmin in the “Elopement from the Seraglio.” - -Mozart’s meeting with the celebrated piano manufacturer Stein, to whom -he left it to guess who he was, was a very cheerful meeting, and the -manner of it such as Mozart delighted in. He again characterizes as -“bad” the playing of Stein’s eight-year-old little girl, afterwards -Frau Streicher, who played so honorable and womanly a part in -Beethoven’s life. His intercourse with his uncle’s family, in which -the presence of his niece, (_das Baesle_), a young girl of eighteen, -served somewhat to exercise his affections, and was the occasion, -afterwards, of a series of jocose letters between them. He writes: -“I can assure you, that, were it not that it holds a clever uncle and -aunt and a charming ‘Baesle,’ I should regret exceedingly having come -to Augsburg.” “Baesle” and he seemed made for one another, he thought; -“for,” as he said, “she, too, has a little badness in her. The two of -us banter the people, and we have very amusing times.” - -Their separation was of such a nature that the father had the “sad -parting of the two persons, melting into tears, Wolfgang and Baesle,” -painted on a panel in their room. All else concerning this sojourn in -Augsburg must be looked for in the letters themselves, where the reader -will find some exquisite genre painting. - -“How I like Mannheim? As well as I can like any place where ‘Baesle’ is -not,” we soon hear him answer; for Mannheim, the home of the elector, -Karl Theodore, who was as fond of reveling as he was of art, was the -next nearest destination our travelers had in view in order to attain -Wolfgang’s main object. True, he did not attain his object here either, -but he had there that first genuine heart-experience which helped to -mature his character as much as his mind was already developed beyond -his years. - -His next meeting was with the electoral _Capellmeister_, Cannabich, who -knew him when he (Mozart) was a child. He was “extraordinarily polite,” -but the orchestra stared at him. As he writes: “They think that because -I am so little and young, I have not much that is great in me; but they -will soon see.” And the mother, soon after: “You cannot imagine how -highly Wolfgang is esteemed here, both by musicians and others. They -all say that he has no equal. They fairly deify his compositions.” And -yet, so far, he had composed nothing here that could be called really -great, no opera; and to write one was the chief reason why Mozart -protracted his stay in Mannheim so long. Karl Theodore was, above all, -the promoter and protector of those who endeavored to create a German -national operatic stage, and his orchestra, under the leadership of -Cannabich, was so exquisitely good that it and old Fritz’s tactics were -considered the most significant and noteworthy phenomena in Europe at -the time. Moreover, the elector was very affable with his musicians, -who were everywhere looked upon as “decent people”--a complete contrast -with those of Salzburg. - -The pleasure-seeking tone of the court had, indeed, invaded the middle -classes of society, also; but what did Mozart’s pure heart know of -that? On the contrary, he was destined to find, even in voluptuous -Mannheim, a love as beautiful as it was pure. - -His heart was now completely open to that irresistible impulse of -the human breast. Even when in Munich composing, his _Gaertnerin aus -Liebe_, he once said to his “dearest sister”: “I implore you, dearest -sister, do not forget your promise; that is, to make the visit, you -know, ... for I have my reasons. I beg of you to make my compliments -there, ... but most emphatically ... and most tenderly ... and ... O -... well, I should not trouble myself about it. I know my sister too -well; she is tenderness itself.” His trifling with “Baesle” had left no -impression on his heart of hearts. She was both in mind and culture too -much of the _bourgeoise_, too immature to captivate him. His jocose -correspondence with her affords sufficient proof of this. But now we -see that Cupid himself directed his pencil. - -Young Mozart next informs us of the merry times he had at the houses of -the musicians of a city, in which, as a writer of the times says, “the -ladies,” were beautiful, sweet and charming. We soon find him again, -“as usual,” at Cannabich’s, for supper. Of an evening of this kind, -spent there, he writes: “I, John Chrysostome Amadeus Wolfgang Sigismund -Mozart, plead guilty, that, day before yesterday and yesterday, as I -have done frequently, I did not come home until midnight, and that -from ten o’clock, in the presence and society of Cannabich, his wife -and daughter, of Messrs. Ramm and Lang [two members of the orchestra], -I have made rhymes, and not of the most exalted nature, in words and -thoughts but not in deeds. I would not have acted in so godless a way -were it not that Lisel had excited me to it, and I must confess that -I found real pleasure in it.” On one occasion, at the house of the -flute-player, Wendling, he was in such excellent humor, and played so -well, that when he had finished, he had to kiss the ladies. He tells -us that, in the case of the daughter, he found this a very easy and -pleasant task. She had been the elector’s sweetheart, and, as Schubart -says, in his _Aesthetik der Tonkunst_, the “greatest beauty in the -orchestra.” - -But Rosa Cannabich “a very sweet and beautiful girl,” as he writes of -her himself, fettered him with the complete irresistibleness of her -innocent charms more than could even this blooming flower. And this -was the beginning of those sweet love-songs which now flowed in pure -tones from his poet-heart; and, hence, this event marks a period in -our artist’s life. He writes, shortly after his arrival in Mannheim: -“She plays the piano very sweetly, and to make him (the father) a fast -friend, I am writing a sonata for mademoiselle, his daughter.” When -the first _allegro_ was finished, a young musician asked him how he -intended to write the _andante_. “I shall fashion it after mademoiselle -Rosa’s character,” he answered; and he informs us further: “When I -played it, it gave extraordinary satisfaction. It is even so. The -_andante_ is just like her.” - -What was she like? A painter subsequently wrote of her thus: “How -many such beautiful, priceless hours did heaven grant me in sweet -intercourse with Rosa Cannabich. Her memory is an Eden to my heart;” -and Wolfgang now wrote of her that, for her age, she was a girl of -much mind, and of demure and serious disposition, one who said little, -but that little in an affable, nay, charming manner. In Naples stands -Psyche, a rose just opening. Mozart possessed the same refined, antique -feeling for the soul-statue of man. Here, before his clear-seeing -artist eye, the bud that in it lay was fully blown. This fruitful -heart-life was destined soon to sow deeper germs in his own soul, and -to cause his own art to bloom fully forth. - -Here, accordingly, we discover one of those turning points in the -development of Mozart’s inner nature, which had much to do with his -intellectual growth, inasmuch as his passion disclosed to him for the -first time the meaning of the homely truth, that both life and art are -serious things. We proceed to show how this effect was produced. - -The court had heard him in the very first week of his stay in -Mannheim. “You play incomparably well,” said the elector to him. -Shortly after Mozart spoke to the elector as “his good friend,” and -the latter began: “I have heard that you wrote an opera in Munich.” -“Yes, your highness,” Mozart replied, “I commend myself as your grace’s -obedient servant. My highest wish is to write an opera I beg your -highness not to forget me quite I know German also, and may God be -praised and thanked for it.” “That is not at all impossible,” answered -his most serene highness, and so Mozart made his arrangements for a -longer sojourn in Mannheim. He took some pupils, and as we saw when -speaking of the pretty Rosa Cannabich, he wrote sonatas, or variations -for them. For this he needed a copyist But copying was, as he once -complained to his father, very dear in Mannheim, and he was, therefore, -overjoyed, copying being to himself a real torment, after a while--it -was at the beginning of 1778--to find a man who performed that task for -him, in consideration of his instructing his daughter in music. - -This man was Fridolin von Weber, brother of the father of C. M. von -Weber, and at that time, a prompter and a copyist in the Mannheim -theater. The daughter’s name was Aloysia, later the celebrated singer, -Madame Lange. - -The family had seen better days, but the father’s passion for the stage -had led him into these straits, where he had for years to support -a family of six children on an annual salary of three hundred and -fifty marks. But he made such good use of his knowledge of music that -his second daughter, who was at this time--she was in her fifteenth -year--an excellent singer, cooperated with him at the theater, and thus -doubled her father’s salary. Mozart as a musician felt at home in the -family--for the eldest daughter, Josepha became afterwards Frau Hofer, -for whom the “Queen of the Night” in the _Magic Flute_ was written--and -so the sympathy of his good heart was soon awakened. “She needs nothing -but action, and then she will make a good prima donna on any stage. -Her father is a thoroughly honorable son of our German fatherland. He -brings his children up well, and that is the very cause why the girl -is persecuted here.” Thus did he sum up the chief points in this -affair in the first news he sent home. Subsequently he wrote _a propos_ -of a performance at the house of the princess of Orange: “I may pass -over her singing with a single word--it was superb!” And at the close -of his letter: “I have the inexpressible pleasure to have formed the -acquaintance of thoroughly honest and really Christian people. I only -regret that I did not know them long ago.” - -This tells the whole story. He henceforth devoted nearly all his -leisure to the family, rehearsed with the young vocalist all her -arias, procured her opportunities to have her music heard, and had the -satisfaction to know that Raaff himself, the most celebrated tenor in -Mannheim, and even in Germany, declared that she sang not like a pupil, -but like an adept in the vocal art. - -One incident here deserves to be specially mentioned, for it had a -decided, far-reaching and direct influence on Mozart’s action, and on -his development as an artist. He had set about writing an aria for -the great tenor already mentioned, in order to win him over for his -contemplated opera. “But,” he writes, with the utmost frankness, “the -beginning of it seemed to me too high for Raaff, and I liked it too -well to change it. I therefore resolved to write the aria for Miss -Weber. I laid it aside, and resolved on other words for Raaff. But to -no purpose. I found it impossible to write. The first aria haunted my -mind and would not away, and then I decided to write it out to suit -Miss Weber exactly.” - -What was the import of those words which he selected simply because an -air to the same words, composed by the London Bach, had pleased him so -much and kept forever ringing in his ears, and because he wanted to try -whether, spite of everything, he was not able to write an aria entirely -unlike Bach’s? What were the words? - -A king orders a youth who has made an attempt upon his life to be -led to execution. But when he sees the young culprit, he immediately -exclaims: “What is this strange power that agitates and moves me? His -face, his eye, his voice! My heart palpitates; every fibre of my body -quivers! Through all my feelings I look for the cause of this strange -effect, and cannot find it. What is it, O God, what is it that I -feel?” And hereupon follows that very aria, _Non so d’onde viene_: -“I know not whence this tender feeling. Mere pity cannot produce a -change so sudden!” Was not this the condition of Mozart’s own heart? -He imagined that pity, and pity only, for the condition of the Weber -family, and, at most, an interest in the “beautiful, pure voice,” -and wonder at the combination of so much ability with such extreme -youth, bound his heart to their home; but it was not that; it was the -undivined depths which the first feeling of love opens before us; the -wonder, the charm, the trembling, glowing exultation, the heart-felt, -floating, exquisite bliss which with a longing foreboding discovers -us to ourselves for the first time, and which, in the throes of our -heart of hearts, seems to give a new birth to every drop of blood in -our veins. In such a state, we may imagine, it was that he sang this: -_Non so d’onde viene_--not as a musician, not as an artist, but urged -thereto by that powerful, irresistible impulse of the heart which, in -the last instance, begets in us all our truest life. And as Pygmalion, -in a fit of such fiery ardor, moved the marble so Mozart melted -in this first fire of the fullest and most human of feelings, the -elemental substances of all music, and gave it what it hitherto had -possessed only in isolated cases and accidentally, an impression full -of soul, a meaning to its every tone. - -It is hard to find before Mozart, except it be in national melodies, -anything of this living, animated, thoroughly personal expression of -feeling, such as we possess in this _Non so d’onde viene_. It is like -Aloysia’s picture itself. Here we find a language plainer and more -universally intelligible than words. It charms and enchants us; looks -us in the face; speaks to us with an expression as if we alone were -addressed. This is the highest, the very highest effect of art, and -this the time when it becomes a second, an ideal, a transfigured life. -The language which Mozart thus acquired for his art, he never forgot or -dropped. He embellished it, amplified it, deepened it, until he reached -that expression of the soul in which, like the melody in the _Magic -Flute_, the soul itself stands face to face with its Creator, and in -the calmness of its bliss, feels that it is “the image of God,” and His -portion forever. - -We here close the account of Mozart’s inner awakening. We may now -compare with his first heart-trials his first intellectual exploits, -the very beginning of which was this aria, _Non so d’onde viene_, to -write which he was inspired by his love for Aloysia Weber. - - - - -CHAPTER III. - -1779-1781. - -IDOMENEO. - - New Disappointments--Opposition of the Abbe Vogler--Mozart and the - Poet Wieland--Wieland’s Impressions of Mozart--German Opera and - Joseph II.--The Weber Family--Aloysia Weber--Mozart’s Plans--His - Father Opposes them and his Attachment for Aloysia--Mozart’s Music - and Heart-trials--In Paris--Disappointments there--Contrast Between - Parisian and German Life at this Time--New Intrigues Against - Him--Invited Back to Salzburg--“Faithless” Aloysia--Meeting of - Father and Son--Reception in Salzburg--“King Thamos”--Character of - Mozart’s Music Composed at this Time--Invitation to Compose the - Idomeneo--Success of that Opera--Effect of the Idomeneo on the - Italian Opera. - - -Mozart’s way is henceforth through the tortuous paths of life. -Disappointment after disappointment meets him. He becomes familiar with -suffering and sorrow, but they point him to a higher goal than that of -mere immediate success. The severest trials of his affections broaden -his heart and make room in it for interests other than his own--an -effect which unveils the real worth of the artist. - -It would be a great mistake to suppose that Mozart, at this time, was -completely entangled in the meshes of love. He did not forget his -high vocation, and even in this affair of the heart, his art had no -small influence. He writes to his father: “My dear miss Weber has done -herself and me credit beyond expression, by this aria. All said that -they were never moved by an aria as they were by that one. But then she -sang it as it should be sung.” And yet she “had learned the aria by -herself,” and sang it “in accordance with her own taste.” How well that -taste must have been already cultivated, and what a good teacher the -young composer must have been! But does not Platen sing: - - “Mein Herz und deine Stimme - Verstehn sich gar zu gut!”[3] - -Aloysia, in later years, contributed more than any other vocalist to -make the world acquainted with Mozart’s music and to teach people to -understand it. And this was necessary. For, even Mozart’s melodies, -which seem to us now so easily and so universally intelligible, found -it, in their own day, and this not unfrequently, no easy matter to -hold their own; and it was only very gradually that they were given the -preference over the incomparably more languid melodies of the time, -especially over the florid style of the Italians. - -Even now, he had in this successful effort, the hoped-for opera in -Mannheim, mainly in view; which would thus and through his own efforts -have a _prima donna_ as well as a first tenor. But even here his hopes -were destined to disappointment. We cannot now enter into details, but -must refer the reader to Mozart’s letters to his father. They afford -us a true picture of the culture, musical and other, of a small German -court of that period, which had a very decisive influence on German art. - -From these letters we learn, first of all, that the real object of his -visit was kept steadily in view. They tell us of his plans, and give -us detailed accounts of his industry in his art, with here and there -an outburst of the unknown feeling that animated him. Mozart, who was -so fond of doing nothing but “speculating and studying”: that is, who -loved to live only for art and in art, diligently endeavors to find -scholars to instruct and tasks in composition of every description, -even for the flute, for which he had so little liking. He has still -a firm faith in the intention of the elector to charge him with the -composition of at least one German opera. He had heard an opera of that -kind--“Guenther von Schwarzburg,” by Holzbauer--here in Mannheim, and -what would he not have been able himself to produce with artists like -Raaff, his own Weber, and the celebrated Mesdames Wendling, under the -leadership of a Cannabich! At all events he here learned what might -be expected of a good orchestra, just as he had previously learned in -Italy how to write for song. - -When, now, Mozart’s prospects for an opera were becoming obscured--we -have no certain information as to the causes of this, but may safely -assume that the well-known abbe Vogler, _Capellmeister_, in Mannheim, -Mozart’s life-long opponent and even enemy, was not without influence -here--and there was little promise of the realization of his hopes, -it would have been very natural that he should think of pursuing his -journey further, especially as Paris was now not so far away. Some of -the musicians of the orchestra, Wendling, Ramm and Lang proposed to -him to go there with him in the Lenten season and give a concert with -him. They thought that their influence would help him to get orders -for all kinds of composition, and even for an opera. And, to keep him, -for the time being, in Mannheim, spite of his having himself written -to his father that the elector did nothing for him, they endeavored to -procure pupils and compositions for him. Added to this was an event -which strongly engaged him to stay, the rehearsal of another German -opera, “Rosamunde,” by Wieland; and it is of interest to learn what -Mozart, with that frankness which characterized him, had to say of -other celebrated men of that period. His description of Wieland can -scarcely be called flattering. He describes him a man, “with a rather -child-like voice, looking steadily through his glasses, with a certain -learned coarseness, and occasionally stupid condescension.” Yet he -excuses the poet because the people of Mannheim looked upon him as -upon an angel dropped down from heaven. Besides, Wieland did not yet -know the artist himself, and may, therefore, not have treated him in a -becoming manner. For, soon afterwards, we read in one of his letters: -“When Herr Wieland had heard me twice, he was charmed. The last time, -after paying me all possible kinds of compliments, he said: ‘It is a -real good fortune for one to have seen you!’--and he pressed my hand.” - -Wieland had, by his appeal in the “Essay on the German opera,” in -the _Deutsche Merkur_ in 1775, become the principal representative -of those who were endeavoring to create a German national opera, and -thus Mozart’s meeting with him was of the utmost importance, and had a -great influence in promoting the end contemplated. The performance of -“Rosamunde” was, however, prevented by the sudden death of the elector, -Maximilian III. of Bavaria, as Karl Theodore had to go to Munich about -New Year’s. Still, the idea of a German opera continued a motive power -in Mozart’s soul. He even now writes about the intention of the Emperor -Joseph II. to establish such an opera in Vienna, and of his looking -seriously about for a young _Capellmeister_ with a knowledge of the -German language, one possessed of genius, and able to produce something -entirely new. The man who was one day to compose the “Elopement from -the Seraglio,” and the “Magic Flute,” exclaims: “I think that there is -there a task for me.” - -At first, nothing came of this, much as Mozart, in his present -circumstances, might have desired such a position. But it had the -effect of changing his plans entirely, and this change of plans is -worthy of more than passing mention, since it was attended by a -powerful agitation and perturbation of his whole mind and heart. -Besides, it throws a new light on his relations to his “dear Weber.” - -The father, who confidently believed that Wolfgang had gone to Paris, -and who had given him excellent advice on every point, telling him -among other things that he would do best to bring his mother back to -Augsburg, suddenly received the information that Wolfgang was not going -to Paris. The Wendlings’ way of living did not please him, he said; -they had “no religion;” besides, he added, he did not see what he was -going to do in Paris; he was not made to give lessons in music. “I am,” -he goes on, “a composer and born to be a _Capellmeister_. I must not -bury the talent with which God has so richly gifted me--I think I may -speak of myself in this way without pride--and I would be burying it by -taking so many scholars.” - -What was it that he craved? Why does he lay so much stress on the -talent he possessed? He wanted to go to Italy with the Webers and write -operas there, in which the daughter was to act as prima donna. - -He writes: “The thought of being able to help a poor family without -having to do any injustice to myself is a genuine pleasure,” and, in -these few words, he lays his whole soul open before us. Possessed by -this honest, benevolent feeling, he is only half conscious of the wish -to be able to remain with the charming girl and to make her his own at -last, by his ability and his profitable productions as a composer of -Italian operas. Some weeks previously, he had written to a friend in -Salzburg: “That is another mercenary marriage, a marriage for money. I -would not marry in that way. I want to make my wife happy, and not to -make a fortune by her.” At first they only intended to give concerts. -He tells his father: “When I travel with him [Weber] I feel just as -I used to when I traveled with you. And that is the reason I am so -fond of him; because, with the exception of his external appearance, -he is just like you. He has your character and your way of thinking. -I did not need to trouble myself about anything. Even the mending of -my clothes was seen to. In a word, I was served like a prince. I am so -fond of this distressed family, that I desire nothing so much as to be -able to make them happy, and perhaps I may be able to do it.” - -It was in memory of his triumph in Italy that he himself counseled -going there, and advised his father that the sooner he renewed his -connections with it the better, so that he might get a commission for -an opera that season. He would pledge his life that her (Aloysia’s) -singing would be a credit to him. They would next visit his home, and -Nannerl would find a companion and friend in Aloysia; for she had in -Mannheim a reputation like that of Nannerl in Salzburg, her father -like his own, and the whole Weber family a reputation like the Mozart -family’s. “You know,” he concludes, “my greatest and most ardent desire -to write operas. I am jealous, to the extent of vexation, of every -person who writes one, and I could cry my eyes out whenever I hear or -see an aria. I have now written to you about everything just as I feel -in my heart. I kiss your hands a thousand times, and until death I -remain your most obedient son. W. A. Mozart.” - -But the mother secretly added a post-script to this letter, saying -that Wolfgang would sacrifice everything for the Webers; that it was -true Aloysia sang incomparably well, and that the Wendlings had never -treated her exactly right, but that the moment he had become acquainted -with the Webers, he changed his mind about Paris. - -Although the prudent father was “almost beside himself” when he heard -of Wolfgang’s plan of roving about the world with strangers, he begins -by laying before him as clearly and distinctly as possible, how almost -entirely useless his course had been since he started on his journey, -and by a thousand reasons endeavoring to make him see plainly the -impossibility of carrying out his design. His letter is throughout -replete with love for his child, with moderation and discretion, but -he nevertheless makes full use of his right as a father, and does not -even hesitate to employ the incisive irony of his nature. He begins -by telling him that he now recognizes his son only by his goodness -of heart and his easy credulity--one must read this beautiful, long -letter and bear in mind the time and place of its writing to appreciate -it, for it is a monument to the good sense that ruled in Mozart’s -family--that all else is changed, and that for him happy moments like -those he used to have were passed; that it lay with his son alone to -decide now whether he would gradually acquire the greatest renown ever -enjoyed by a musician--and he owed this to his talents--or whether, -ensnared by the beauty of a woman, he would die in a room full of -suffering and hungry children. He says: “The proposition to travel with -Mr. Weber and, mark well, with his two daughters made me almost run -mad.” Thus giddily to play with one’s own and his parents’ honor! And -how, he asks, could a young girl suddenly attain success in Italy where -all the greatest vocalists were to be found? Besides, just then, war -was impending--on account of the Bavarian succession. Moreover, such -plans were plans for small lights, for inferior composers, for daubers -in music. And, at last, he cries out to his son forcibly enough: “Get -thee to Paris. Have the great about thee. _Aut Cæsar, aut nihil!_ The -very thought of seeing Paris should have kept you from indulging in -such foolish whims.” - -When Wolfgang received this letter he became ill, such was its effect -upon him. Not one of his most sacred feelings but was touched by -it--his love, his sense of duty, his honor, and his pride in his art. -On one point alone his father had said nothing: his love. To have -spoken of it would have been unavailing. And yet he reminded him of -all his changing inclinations, of his tears for the little Kaiser girl -in Munich, his little episode with “Baesle,” and his _andante_ for -sweet Rosa Cannabich. And so Wolfgang’s child-like feeling bent to his -father’s will, and his inexperience, to his father’s tried and tested -prudence. He had, he assured his parents, done all that he had done, -out of devotion to the family, and they might believe what they liked -about him, provided they did not believe anything bad of him, for he -was “a Mozart and a well-minded Mozart.” And at last, the full sun of -confiding love breaks out again: “After God, my papa! This was my motto -as a child, and I am true to it yet.” - -Preparations were immediately made for his departure, and, after a -little, Mozart was in Paris. The sonata for the piano in A minor, which -bears the date “Paris, 1778,” tells us by its energetic rhythm and the -passionate lament of the finale, better than all else, what was going -on, at that time, in Mozart’s soul. It is the most direct language -of a heart bowed down with sorrow, and discloses to us, just as the -aria _Non so d’onde viene_ did, a short time before, a region newly -conquered to poetic expression, in tones. And, indeed, we find that -Mozart’s character had noticeably matured after these first struggles -with his beloved father. The sudden death of his mother in Paris -contributed largely to intensify and elevate this, his earnestness of -mind. Upon its heels followed the painful disappointment, that his love -for the beautiful Aloysia was a mortal one, and he had, at last, though -with great difficulty, to overcome himself and return to Salzburg, -which he so thoroughly hated. Such are the events and experiences which -lead us to the first real masterpiece of our artist, to his _Idomeneo_. -We shall meet again in his later years with the traces of the trials -of these days in Mannheim, and especially of the full recognition of -the worth of a father’s controlling love, as he then most decidedly -experienced it. - -To continue our narrative. His father writes: “I have no, no not the -least want of confidence in you, my dear Wolfgang. On the contrary, I -have every confidence in your filial love. On you I base all my hopes. -From the bottom of my heart, I give you a father’s blessing, and remain -until death your faithful father and your surest friend.” Such was the -parting salutation he received from home, when starting on his journey -to a foreign land. And Wolfgang himself writes: “I must say that all -who knew me parted with me reluctantly and with regret.” Aloysia had, -“from goodness of heart,” knit a little memento for him. They all wept -when their “best friend and benefactor departed.” He says: “I must -ask your pardon, but the tears rush to my eyes when I think of it.” -Besides, there was now “neither rhyme nor reason” with him in anything. -He had, however, done his father’s will, and this was some consolation -to him. He soon learned that Raaff had come to Paris; and what pleased -him more, Raaff promised to take care of his dear Aloysia’s future. - -In Paris, he met scarcely anything but discomfort and disappointment. -The style of Parisian music did not please him. The Italian arias were -distorted and the indigenous whining in singing grated on his musical -feelings which craved above all the charm of the beautiful. And yet -it was at this time, in Paris, that there was a decided controversy -between two schools of music; between the disciples of Gluck and -Piccini. - -We saw above that, in the Italian opera, melody, the florid style -(_Coloratur_) and vocal virtuosity became predominant. But the French -had developed their opera independently. Action and a corresponding -musical recitation in keeping with the words, were considered by them -its chief features. The German Gluck at this point began his work in -France. He was guided here by his own good sense; and by theoretical -demonstrations he proved the weakness of the Italian style. He had -already turned his attention to the sublime tragedies of the Greeks, -and captivated Paris by his _Iphigenia in Aulis_. But as the great -mass always favors trifles and the fashion, this innovation was soon -confronted by a formidable opposition, which after all was only a -further development of the national French opera. Contrary to the -usual French custom, and misled by Rousseau’s influence, the Italian -opera was put above the nation’s own, and a foreigner, the Neapolitan -Piccini, called to Paris to retaliate on Gluck. - -We know now who came off the victor in this struggle. Mozart’s feelings -ranged him, at first, on the Italian side--that is, on that side so -far as music alone was concerned. But his German nature told him that -the ultimate source of music lay in that earnestness of feeling and -of intellectual life which is the creator of poetry, and above all of -tragic poetry; and here the Italians were altogether too superficial -to satisfy him. And, then, he involuntarily favored the earnest -endeavors of the French opera, much as he disliked the French music -of the time. And, indeed, the whole mode of the really historic life -of Paris, contrasted with the political wretchedness of Germany and -Italy, must have made a forcible impression on his mind, spite of his -many disagreeable experiences there, and of the many inconveniences -and troubles he had to put up with. And, more than all else, the high -regard in which the stage, at that time, was held, in France, did not -escape his observation. It made a decided and lasting impression on -his mind. In his letters, he subsequently made particular mention of -the fact that the clown was banished even from the comic opera there. -It was not, indeed, until he was about to leave Paris, that he became -conscious of this greater, richer, more vigorous life,--of a life such -as was evidenced ten years later by the great Revolution. But the fact -remains that he did become conscious of it, and, as a consequence, his -artistic taste and aims acquired greater fixedness and value. This was -Mozart’s gain from his stay in Paris at this time. It was a gain of the -mind which richly compensated for his want of pecuniary success. - -The detailed account of this sojourn in Paris is to be found in -Mozart’s own letters. It is a very vivid one, very clear, and the -language used is frequently very strong. The letters themselves -constitute a piece of the history of the art, and culture of the Paris -of the time. The death of his mother, the result of a way of living to -which she was not used and of great depression of spirits, had a very -sad effect on his mind. But when he saw that he had no need to worry, -at least about his father, he felt greatly encouraged, and the prospect -of writing an opera for Paris infused new life into the sluggish blood -of our young artist. A cheering evidence of this is to be found in the -so-called French symphony which he wrote just at this time; and we -can see what purely external cause it was that gave it its peculiarly -lively tone. It was the character of the French themselves, with their -peculiar love of life and of the external. All his hearers were carried -away by a lively passage of this kind in the very beginning, but in the -finale he took the liberty with his ingenuous musical audience to crack -a joke like that subsequently played by Haydn in London, by the beating -of the kettle-drum suddenly to attract the attention of the listeners. -Contrary to the custom usual in Paris, he had two violins to begin to -play _piano_, immediately followed by a _forte_. When they were playing -_piano_ a sound of sh-sh-sh--called for a dead silence; but “the moment -his audience heard the _forte_, they broke out into hand-clapping and -applause.” Thus adroitly and immediately did he employ in Paris the -manner of working up a climax which he had noticed in Mannheim. - -But envy and intrigue still dogged him. He fairly dazzled the Italian -maestro, Cambini, the very first time he met him. Mozart played one of -Cambini’s quartets from memory, and executed it in such a manner, that -the latter exclaimed: “What a head that man has!” Cambini, after this, -took care that no more of Mozart’s compositions should be performed in -public, and hence he had to resort once more to the giving of lessons -in music, to make ends meet. This was exceedingly difficult in Paris, -and especially for an artist who, as he himself wrote at the time, was, -so to say, “sunk in music--one whose thoughts it always occupied, and -who liked to speculate, study and reflect the live-long day.” - -A friend whom he had made during his previous stay in Paris, the -encyclopædist, Grimm, was not of much use to him this time either. -Wolfgang was not the man to see his way in such a city, or in -such society. And Grimm wrote to the father that his son was too -true-hearted, too inactive, too easily captivated, too little versed in -the arts which lead to success. This, indeed, was Mozart’s character. -He knew little of the ways of the world, and he remained ignorant of -them through life. As nothing came of his prospects to write an opera, -his father could not but wish that he might leave Paris entirely, -which, after his mother’s death, he considered a dangerous place for -him. - -Wolfgang had turned his eyes towards Munich, where Karl Theodor was now -elector. But the war still kept everything in a state of stagnation -there. In the meantime, a vacancy occurred in Salzburg itself. A -_Capellmeister_ was needed in that city. Many a hint had been given the -father previously, on another occasion, when a vacancy was created by -death. Now he was appealed to again, at first in a round-about way and -then directly. And what was the bait he held out to his son? Aloysia! -The archbishop wanted a prima donna, also, and Wolfgang had already -urged his father to take an interest in her welfare. He did not, at -first, agree to the arrangement, but when it was certainly decided that -he could have the position and was sure of more becoming treatment than -he had formerly received there, and, when he heard that Miss Weber -was very ardently desired by the prince and by all, his hatred for -Salzburg and its hard and unjust archbishop abated. But without the -positive assurance that he would be granted leave of absence to travel, -an assurance which he received, he would not have been completely -satisfied; for, he writes: “A man of only ordinary talent, always -remains ordinary, whether he travel or not; a man of superior talent, -and it would be wicked in me to deny that I possess such talent, -deteriorates by remaining always in the same place.” - -But, in the meantime, Aloysia found a place in Munich. Mozart learned -this fact before his departure, and all his aversion for Salzburg was -again suddenly awakened. Paris again stood out before him, a place in -which he would certainly have “earned honor, fame and money, and where -he would have been able to free his father from debt.” He now thought -of getting a place once more in Munich himself, for he had recently -learned again how much the girl loved him. Rumors of his death had been -put in circulation, and the poor child had gone to church every day -to pray for him. Writing of this incident, he says: “You will laugh, -I cannot; it touches me, and I can’t help it.” But this was a serious -matter with the father. His own place, as well as his daily bread, was -certainly at stake now, if Wolfgang retreated! - -The journey was proceeded with this time slowly. And, indeed, -what cause was there for haste? He made a long stay in Strassburg -and Mannheim, and entered into some negotiations there about the -composition of a melodrama. “On receipt of this you shall take your -departure,” was the positive order sent him; and yet there was “a real -scramble” for him at Mannheim. His father consoles him by assuring him -that he is not at all opposed to his love for Aloysia, and this all the -less, since now she was able to make his fortune, not he hers! While -on his journey, Mozart had invited “Baesle” also to Munich, adding: -“You will, perhaps, get a great part to play.” - -But, strange!--Aloysia does not seem, when he enters, to recognize the -very man for whom she once had wept. Mozart, therefore, seated himself -hastily at the piano, and sang aloud: - - “Ich lass das Maedl gern, das mich nicht will!”[4] - -This was told by Aloysia’s younger sister, Constance, who was -afterwards Mozart’s wife, to her second husband, and she gave as the -reason of it, the fact that Aloysia’s taste was offended because, -following the custom of the time, he wore black buttons, in mourning -for his mother, on his red coat. It may be, however, that the officers -and gentlemen of the court pleased the prima donna better than the -little man whose heart-tones had once entranced her. This time also, he -left the faithless one a gift, a composition of his own, not, however, -one which sprung from his heart, but one which showed his power as an -artist. The aria which he now wrote for her, _Popopoli di Tessaglia_, -discovers to us completely the full meaning of his _Non so d’onde -viene_, in his own life. - -Aloysia was not happy. We shall have more to say of this hereafter. -Mozart did not, at this time, weep away his grief in tones. His pride -vanquished his love. But his letters depict the state of his mind all -the more truly, now that the hopes he had entertained of obtaining -a position in Munich turned to smoke. Still, his present sojourn in -Munich was destined to lead soon to a very important event in his life -as an artist. He regrets that he cannot write, because his heart is -attuned to weeping. A friend told the father that Wolfgang cried for -a whole hour, spite of all efforts to dry his tears. And, writing of -Mozart’s beautiful inner self, he says: “I never saw a child with more -tenderness and love for his father than your son. His heart is so pure, -so child-like to me, how much more pure and tender must it be for his -father! Only, one must hear him; and who is there that would not do him -justice as the best of characters, the most upright and most ardent of -men!” We think we hear the sounds of the well-spring from which the -tones of the _Idomeneo_ and the aria of the _Ilia_ were soon to flow. - -The meeting of father and son could not fail to be a very touching -sight. To form an idea of their feelings on that occasion, one must -read the letter written by the father, after he received the news of -the mother’s illness. Wolfgang came home immediately, but he came -without her, the dearly beloved wife and mother. Every one received -him with open arms; but he had already written: “Upon my oath and upon -my honor, I say I cannot endure Salzburg or its people; their language -and their whole mode of life is unbearable to me;” and the chief cause -of his feeling thus lay in his art. He said later: “When I play in -Salzburg, or when one of my compositions is produced there, I feel as -if only chairs and tables were my listeners.” After this, it is easy to -understand why Salzburg was not to his taste. He says: “When one has -trifled away his young years in such a beggarly place, in inaction, it -is sad enough, and besides, a great loss.” - -“Baesle’s” merriness helped him to while away the first week of his -second stay in his dull native city, in the beginning of 1779. But -her simple ways could not now make her what she was to him, when he -was less matured in mind and heart. His work was his most agreeable -pastime, and, spite of everything, productions of the most varied -nature written during his sojourn in Salzburg, afford very abundant -proof of this. The symphonies he now wrote were, indeed, greatly -excelled by others which he subsequently composed, and the masses -eclipsed by his great requiem. But the music to a tragedy, “King -Thamos,” has a sound so full and so appeals to the soul, that we feel -the presence in it of the greater life-trials he had experienced. And -hence it is that Mozart was subsequently able to adapt its choruses -to other words, and to introduce them to the world as “hymns.” Their -tone reminds us of the solemn, serious choruses of the “Magic Flute,” -the drift of which was followed also in the matter of the drama. The -composition of these works was due to Schikaneder, of whom we shall -have something more to say when speaking of the “Magic Flute.” He was, -at this time, director of the theater at Salzburg, and Mozart received -an order to write a comic opera for him. This was the “Zaide” and the -plot embraced a tale of abduction. Its composition was fast drawing -to a close when, at last--it was in the fall of 1780--he saw signs of -redemption from his captivity. He received an invitation to compose -an opera for Munich. It was the _Idomeneo_, and its success sealed -Mozart’s fate for all subsequent time. With the exception of a short -visit paid there, he never saw Salzburg again. - -The subject of this work is the old story of Jephtha’s vow. The scene, -however, is transferred to Crete, whither its king Idomeneus, returns -after the destruction of Troy. In a frightful storm which occurred -during his journey, he vows to Neptune the first human being he shall -meet. The victim is his own son, Idamante. Idomeneus wishes to send -him away into a foreign country. But Neptune causes a still greater -storm to rage and the whole country to be devastated by a monster. The -people meet and hear of the vow that Idomeneus has made. When Idamante -himself who, in the meantime, had slain the monster, is informed of his -fate, he is ready to appease the anger of the god. Whereupon, Ilia, -who loves him, throws herself between him and his father, and asks that -she may suffer death in his place. But just as she casts herself on her -knees, “a great subterraneous noise is heard, Neptune’s statue trembles -on its base. The high priest is transported out of himself, all stand -motionless with fear, and a deep majestic voice proclaims the will of -the god:” that Idomeneus shall abdicate the throne, and that Idamante -and Ilia happily united shall ascend it. - -It is easy to see that we have here great and grave situations in -the life of human creatures. Mozart knew how to do them justice. He -grasped their very kernel and allowed that which was only of secondary -importance to remain secondary. The whole, although taken from a French -libretto, had been, according to the custom of the Italian opera of -the time, broken up into a great many fragments for the purposes of -music, and among them we find, especially, a large number of arias; and -hence it did not satisfy true dramatic taste. But even these disjointed -pieces,--it mattered not whether they gave expression to sorrow, -terror, tenderness or joy, united to or mixed with one another--were -always full of what they were intended to express, and were, not -unfrequently, overflowing with musical beauty. It was only when he -conceded, too much to the incompetence or narrowness of singers, that -any sacrifice was made to the traditional form and sing-song of the -Italians. But there were in the plot, and they were its chief part, -some powerful scenes, susceptible of really dramatic presentation; -and here Mozart demonstrated that he was a great master of the stage, -and that he had adopted Gluck’s innovations not to allow the singers -and their florid style, but the music to govern, and the music as the -highest expression of the poetry, that is of the dramatic scene which -is performing. Mozart’s own letters give us many details of great -interest in this connection. - -He again met his Mannheim artists, singers as well as the -orchestra--all but Aloysia, who had been called a short time -previously, to the national operatic theatre in Vienna--in Munich, -and he was therefore well prepared to go to work. And he was anxious -to do so, for it was a long time since he had an opportunity to show -his full powers on the stage. He felt happy, nay, delighted, since -his arrival. He lived in the _Burggasse_. A bronze tablet bearing his -portrait has since been placed on the house in which he lived. The -elector greeted him most graciously, and when Mozart gave expression -to the peculiar ardor he felt, he tapped him on the shoulder and said: -“I have no doubt whatever; everything will be well.” Every one was -delighted and astonished at the rehearsal of the first act. Much had -been expected of him, but the performance surpassed all expectation. -Frau Cannabich, who had been obliged to remain at home with her sick -daughter, Rose, embraced him, so overjoyed was she at his success; and -the musicians went home almost crazed with delight. The hautboyist -Ramm, with whom Beethoven played his quintet op. 16, in 1804, told him -on his word as a true son of the fatherland, that no music had ever -made such an impression on him--referring to the double choruses during -Idomeneus’s shipwreck--and what joy would it bring to his father when -he heard of it! - -The latter cautioned him from home to take care of himself. He knew -his son. And, indeed, Wolfgang had a slight attack of illness at this -time. He writes ingenuously enough: “A man gets easily over-heated when -honor or fame is at stake.” But he was soon well again, and able to -write: “A person is indeed glad when he is at last done with so great -and so toilsome a piece of work; and I am almost done with it; for, all -that is wanting now is two arias, the final chorus, the overture, the -ballet--and _adieu partie_.” The father had reminded him not to forget -to make his music popular. It was the “popular” in music that tickled -the long-eared. Wolfgang replied that there was music in his opera -for all kinds of people, the long-eared excepted. And indeed the work -contained ballet-interludes, and besides the most popular of all kinds -of music, the dance. Mozart’s genius permitted him, as we have seen, to -make many a concession to the peculiarities of the singers, spite of -the gravity of the subject. But where this same gravity was paramount, -as in the quartet of the third act, he had trouble enough. The oftener -he put it on the stage, the greater was the effect it produced on -himself, and it was liked by all, even when only played on the piano. -Raaff alone found it too long, and not easy enough to sing. - -Mozart replied to his objections: “If I only knew a single note that -could be changed! But I have not been as well satisfied with anything -in this opera as with the quartet;” and Raaff was himself afterwards, -as he said, “agreeably disappointed;” and just as delighted were the -four musicians: Wendling, Ramm, Ritter and Lang, who had an _obligato_ -accompaniment to the aria of Ilia, in the first act, and who were thus -given an opportunity to appreciate Mozart’s skill; for it was the -profound rapture that comes from joy and love which was here to be -expressed in music. And as Mozart had once given expression to that -rapture in his _Non so d’onde viene_, he again gave it a voice in the -premature evening of his life in the aria: - - _Dies Bildniss ist bezaubernd schoen._[5] - -The aria of Ilia reminds us of both. But the quartet is the crowning -glory of Gluck’s endeavor to allow each singer to express himself, -at every moment, as far as possible, in accordance with his own -individuality. Even in Mozart’s works, we find little like it; and at -that time such musical wealth was entirely new and unheard of. - -The elector said laughingly, after the thunder-storm in the second act: -“One would not think that that small head could carry so much.” And -then the choruses, when the people, during the storm, utter their cry -of horror! The members of the orchestra said that this chorus could -not but freeze the blood in one’s veins. And yet the third act was -incomparably richer. Mozart himself says: “There is scarcely a scene -which is not exceedingly interesting,” and that “his head and hands -were so full of it that it would be no wonder if he were to become -the third act himself.” He thinks, however, that it would prove as -good as the first two. He says: “but I believe infinitely better, and -that it may be said: _Finis coronat opus_ (the end crowns the work).” -For the address of the high priest on the sufferings of the people, -caused by the sea monster, the solemn march, and the oracle itself, -Gluck’s Alceste may have served as a model. The magnitude of these -tragic elements at least were well understood; and no one can, even -to-day, remain unmoved by these tones. But it became also a school of -the genuine dramatic style in music; and the orchestration was the best -that Mozart had produced. From it, all who followed him learned the -best they knew. - -Of the presentation of the opera itself on the stage, in January, 1781, -we have no detailed information. But the impression made by it must -have been in keeping with that created by the rehearsals. That the -_Idomeneo_ lives now only in the concert hall, is due to the Italian -words, which interrupt the acting at almost every step. Mozart put -an end to the absolute rule of the Italian opera by his _Idomeneo_. -It henceforth had only a national character. Mozart compelled the -composers of opera, from this time forward, to take another course, and -to comply with Gluck’s demands, which have lifted the opera of our age -to the height of the genuine drama. - -But the first and fully decisive steps in this direction, were the -_Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_. We now turn to them. The _Idomeneo_, -as it was Mozart’s first masterpiece, monumental in its style, -constituted, together with the operas which followed it, the transition -to an entirely new epoch in his life, to the period of his complete -independence, both as an artist and as a man. - - - - -CHAPTER IV. - -1781-1787. - -THE ELOPEMENT FROM THE SERAGLIO--FIGARO--DON GIOVANNI. - - Opinions on the Idomeneo--Tired of Salzburg--Goes to Vienna--The - Archbishop Again--Mozart Treated by him with Indignity--Paternal - Reproaches--Assailed by Slander--He Leaves Salzburg--Experiences in - Vienna--Austrian Society--The German Stage--The Emperor Expresses - a wish that Mozart might Write a New Opera--Mozart’s Love for - Constance Weber--Description of Constance--Performance of the - New Opera--Mozart’s Marriage--The Emperor’s Opinion of Mozart’s - Music--Mozart’s Interest in the Figaro--Particulars Relating to its - Composition--Its Success--Mozart’s Poverty--Mozart in Bohemia--His - Popularity in Prague--Meaning of the Don Giovanni--Richard Wagner on - Mozart. - - -We are told that Mozart, even in his later years, prized the _Idomeneo_ -very greatly, and it is certain that connoisseurs have always -entertained a very high opinion of its music. It combines the freshness -of youth, great force and vitality, with a great variety in invention, -and has all the characteristics of art. It is easy to conceive that -the consciousness of being the possessor of so much power, especially -while he was engaged on the work itself, made Mozart’s bosom swell, and -that in such moments the memory of the narrowness and “chicanery” of -Salzburg must have been exceedingly mortifying to him. “Out! out into -the wide world and into the air of freedom!”--he must have heard now -ringing in his ears as he had four years before. And had not Vienna, at -that time the capital of Germany, intellectually advanced, and had not -the Emperor Joseph, established a national opera there? - -As early as in December 1780, he had written to inquire how it stood -about his leave of absence. He told his father that he was in Salzburg -only to please him, and that, most assuredly, if it depended on him, he -would have scorned the place; for, he adds, “upon my honor, the prince -and the proud nobility become more intolerable to me every day.” It -would now, he said, be easy for him to get on in Munich without the -protection of the great, and it brought the tears to his eyes when he -thought of the state of things in Salzburg. Yet he could stay longer -than his leave of absence allowed him; for the archbishop remained -some time in Vienna on business, and thus Mozart found leisure, after -the opera was completed, to rest in Munich and to participate in the -pleasures of the carnival, while otherwise his greatest diversion would -have been to be with his beloved Rose and the Cannabichs. - -In the midst of this youthful jollity, which seems very natural after -the great strain upon the minds of all during many months, he received -the archbishop’s order to repair to Vienna. This was in the middle -of March, 1781. Jerome was witness of the ostentation of the princes -in that city; and what reason was there why his “illustrious grace” -should not cut a figure also? His eight handsome roan horses were there -already. The members of his household followed him, and who was there -who, in the music at a feast, had a Mozart to show? Thus did our artist -unexpectedly realize his wish to come to Vienna; and circumstances so -had it, that he remained there. - -His reception was a good one. He had indeed, as was the custom of the -time, to sit at table with cooks and _valets de chambre_, but these -he kept at a proper distance by “great gravity” and silence. Yet even -now we hear that the archbishop was only giving himself airs with -his attendants; for when an opportunity presented itself for Mozart -to show his powers, in other noble houses, the archbishop refused -him permission to do so; and still, it was only in such houses, that -he could expect to meet the Emperor Joseph--a circumstance on which -everything now depended. Rather did this domineering ecclesiastic do -all in his power to make Mozart feel his dependence more keenly. The -father did all he could to appease him, but Wolfgang felt that the -archbishop used him only to tickle his own ambition; that, in all -other respects, that worthy served only to hide his light. Besides -he had to stand about the room like a servant. Yet Mozart tells us -how, at a performance at prince Galizin’s, he had left the other -musicians entirely, and how he had gone directly up to the host in -the music room, and remained with him. Nothing was paid him for his -compositions for the archbishop’s _soirées_. Mozart, indeed, helped to -lend _éclat_ to a concert for the widows of deceased musicians in the -Haydn Society, because “all the nobility of Vienna had tormented the -archbishop to permit him to do so.” But his grace would not allow him -to give a concert for his own benefit, spite of the fact that he had -been received so well. The hardest blow of all to our artist was the -news that he would have to go back to Salzburg with the rest. He at -first paid no attention to intimations of this nature, for he wanted -to give a concert before he left. He had, besides, a prospect of a -position in the imperial city itself. But his father at home would -agree to nothing. - -Mozart now writes “in natural German, because all the world should know -it,” that the archbishop owed it entirely to his father that he did not -lose him yesterday, for all time. He had been annoyed altogether too -much at the concert yesterday. After a little, dissension broke out -in earnest. “I am out of myself. My patience has been tried so long -that it is at an end.” The archbishop had, even before this, called -him “a low fellow,” and told him to go his way. Mozart bore it for his -father’s sake. Then he was ordered suddenly to leave the house, and he -went to old Madame Weber’s, and had to live at his own expense. He, -therefore, did not want to go until this outlay at least was made up -for. - -“Well, fellow, when do you go?” snarlingly asked this prince spiritual, -and he then proceeded, in a single breath, to tell him that he was a -dissipated fellow, that no one used him so badly, and that he would -stop his pay. We scarcely believe our ears when we hear a prince-bishop -call our artist a scamp, a young blackguard, an idiot! Wolfgang’s blood -became too hot at last, and he asked whether his illustrious grace was -not satisfied with him. - -“What? Threats? You idiot! There’s the door! I will have nothing more -to do with such a miserable villain.” - -“Nor I with you.” - -“Then go!” - -Such was the dialogue between a prince and an artist of the past -century! It tells us something of its culture and civilization. -Mozart’s account of this scene concludes: “I will hear no more of -Salzburg. I hate the archbishop even to madness.” - -But this was not the worst. “I did not know,” says Mozart, “that I -was a _valet de chambre_; that overcame me entirely; and my father -should be glad that he has not a man dishonored for his son.” But now -sycophantic flunkies began to busy themselves with the affair. They -knew that the archbishop did not like to lose an artist whom such -efforts had been made, before his eyes, to retain in Vienna. The master -of the household, Count Arco, therefore, did everything that in him -lay to quiet the matter. He refused, “from lack of courage and a love -of adulation,” to accept Mozart’s petition for dismissal. But when the -latter insisted on it, with a brutality not unworthy of his master, -Arco threw the noble artist out the door--with a kick! - -After his personal audience with the archbishop, Mozart’s blood boiled; -he trembled from head to foot and reeled on the street like a drunken -man. Now he assures us that, when he meets the count, he will pay him -back the compliment he received from him. In the ante-chamber he did -not, like Arco himself, wish “to lose his respect for the prince’s -apartments,” but then he was determined that “the hungry donkey should -get an answer from him that he would feel,” even if it were twenty -years before a suitable occasion presented itself to give it. And when -his father recoiled at the boldness of such an attempt, our young -artist gave expression to a sentiment which lifted him high above all -that environed him, and stamps him one of the noblest representatives -of human nature. We have chosen that sentiment as the motto of this his -biography: “The heart is man’s title to nobility!” - -More painful than all these insults to the manly honor of our young -artist were the heart-aches caused him by the very person who should -have understood him best, by his own father. - -The latter had been obliged to write to him: “Do not allow yourself -to be misled by flattery. Be on your guard.” Now reproach was added -to mistrust, and Wolfgang was accused of endangering his father’s -subsistence, in his old age. He compared Wolfgang to Aloysia, who had -scarcely secured a good position in life than she joined her fortunes -to those of a comedian--the celebrated Joseph Lange--and neglected -her own people. He even went so far as to demand that his son should -withdraw his petition, adding that he was in honor bound to do so. -There was not in all of this a single trait by which Mozart could -recognize his father. He could, indeed, he said, recognize “a father, -but not the best, the most loving of fathers, the father solicitous -for his own honor and the honor of his children,--in a word, not my -father.” And he concludes: “Ask me to do anything you want, anything -but that. The very thought of it makes me tremble with rage.” What he -had achieved made Mozart, as an artist, manful and sure of himself; and -these sufferings had a similar effect on him as a man; but, compared -with the latter troubles, all that he had previously undergone was -light indeed. We know how deeply and fully Wolfgang loved his father; -but to understand his state of mind at this trying time, one must read -the father’s own letters. He reproaches his son, even with a want -of love, with being a pleasure-seeker in the great city, and with -keeping company with the frivolous! The slanders of strangers and the -father’s own suspicions conspired to make things worse; and in the -circulation of these slanders, a pupil of the abbe Vogler, J. P. -Winter, subsequently known by his _Unterbrochenes Opferfest_, played a -leading part. The way in which Mozart repelled these slanders, lays his -whole heart open before us. It was what might have been expected of one -whose art was so thoroughly pure and peaceful. He says, with the utmost -modesty and simplicity: “My chief fault is that, apparently, I do not -act as I should act;” and in answer to all other slanders, he replies, -with the most charming consciousness of self: “I need only consult my -reason and my heart to do what is right and just.” - -Thus was Mozart’s relations with Salzburg, which had never brought -him much happiness or honor, dissolved for all time. He lost, it is -true, by this dissolution, the loving confidence of his father; but -painful as this loss was to him, it was not without compensation. He -obtained personal freedom and conquered for himself a place in which -his already highly developed individuality as an artist was at liberty -to act, room for the workings of his creative genius. This and his love -and marriage, which put him in possession of something which he could -permanently call his own, are further decisive events in our artist’s -life. We shall see their effects on his art, and, in the creation of -such magnificent works as the “Elopement from the Seraglio,” “Figaro” -and “Don Giovanni.” His recent personal experience had given him -that insight and that inward freedom without which his towering, -life-experienced style and his supreme power of depicting character are -impossible. - -The time and place were favorable to the production of such works. -And it was not simply the oppressive feeling of the humiliating and -narrowing circumstances of his position hitherto, but the joyful -consciousness that, as his genius soon perceived, he was at last in the -place in the world best suited to his taste, in Vienna, that this time -caused him to conceive and hold fast to his desire. _Und wenn die Welt -voll Teufel waer!_--“And though the world were full of devils!”--we -may discover something of the desperate resolution which these words -imply, in his struggle at this time with his dearest of fathers; a -resolution generated, doubtless, by the circumstances in which he -now saw himself suddenly and accidentally placed, and which were so -favorable to his art, and to a becoming mode of living. He felt that he -had come here to grow to his full stature; and the instinct of artistic -creation, like the instinct of love, is involuntary and irresistible. -The father did not understand this. He had to be won over by prospects -of material success, and this success Wolfgang was able confidently -to promise himself and his father. Nor was he wanting here. And if we -are obliged to confess that Mozart, even in the rich city of Vienna, -almost starved, and that he died before his time, the cause was, in the -first place, that his genius was too great to be fully appreciated by -his contemporaries and his environment, and then that he was so wrapped -up in his sublime task, that the world gradually receded from him, and -it became an easy matter for the envious and his enemies to rob him of -the visible fruits of his success, and to limit him to the joys and -sunshine of his art. His art, indeed, throve even in Vienna, far beyond -what he had hoped. It was more than his contemporaries could appreciate -or understand. And, indeed, where would we be to-day without Mozart? As -well as Goethe, he touched the purest, the ultimate feeling of beauty -in art, and opened to our view the innermost and deepest depths of the -human soul. It was more than all else, Vienna and Austria that helped -him to do this. - -During the period, beginning with 1780, Austria had recovered from the -effects of the wounds it received in the Seven Years’ War. The people -were well-to-do, and the rich nobles of the eastern provinces, the -Esterhazys, Schwarzenbergs, Thuns and Kinskys left immense amounts of -money in the capital. The state of society was not yet disturbed. The -nobility and middle class lived in harmony with one another. Above all -and dearly loved by all, sat throned, the Emperor Joseph II., an ideal -Austrian, whose like had not been seen since the time of Maximilian -I. The emperor Joseph was, so to speak, the counterpart, both in -disposition and education, of old Fritz (Frederick the Great), who -was the ablest representative at that time of practical German energy -and intelligence. This it was that gave the Austrian, and above all -the Viennese, disposition that peculiar character from which sprang a -style of art which had no predecessor and no counterpart that could be -called its equal save in Raphael and the antique--German chamber music. -Haydn’s, Mozart’s and Beethoven’s quartets alone sufficed to make this -Viennese period, from 1775 to 1825, a stretch of fifty years, forever -memorable. But besides, there was the instrumental music of this -brilliant musical triad whom Gluck had preceded. - -Life at this time in Vienna was overflowing with a warm sensuousness, -unpolluted by the coarseness of vice. Men gave themselves up -unconstrained to their emotions. This itself is the most natural and -most fertile soil for productions of the mind, intended, primarily, to -operate on the senses, and through the senses to speak to our heart -of hearts and to our mind of minds. It is the most fitting soil for -art. And hence, we find here the first and most indispensable of all -conditions precedent to the full bloom of music. Life in the Austrian -capital, sunk apparently in sensuousness, had, like a reflection of the -ever brightening and warming sun, in its depths, that German, joyous -good-nature, that _deutsche Gemueth_, that leveling peace, and that -beautiful disposition which allow every living creature to do what -pleases him best and go his own way. Added to this was the high degree -of education which distinguished Vienna at the time, and which was -influenced, in part, by direct contact with the period of the highest -Italian culture, the renaissance. It had noble houses, wealthy and -refined families of the middle class and of the learned, and above all, -its emperor--if not in music, in all else the most nobly cultured! We -have only to think of the other capitals at the time, Paris, London, -and even Berlin, to be convinced that a Gluck, a Haydn, a Mozart, or -a Beethoven, could never have thrived in any of them. They thrived in -Vienna; and the last two artists asserted that it was in Vienna only -that they could have thrived, that is developed that art, the germ’s of -which they felt themselves to possess as a talent confided to them. - -We may inquire, more particularly now, how it stood with music and the -theatre in those days. Many of the great houses had music of their own; -the wealthiest princes had not unfrequently their private orchestra; -other families string-quartets or the piano; and the latter was, as -Ph. E. Bach says, intended for music that went direct to the heart, and -not simply for children to practice on. No such golden age of music -had been seen since the days of the North German School for organists, -which had produced that eighth wonder of the world, Sebastian Bach; and -Beethoven recalled it, with a feeling of melancholy, when, with the -great wars of the Revolution a desolate period began, in which men’s -souls and with them music, the soul’s own art, were struck dumb. Philip -Emanuel Bach, the younger son of John Sebastian Bach, it was, who had -led music out of the stage which had religion for its center, and -opened to it by his sonatas _fuer Kenner und Liebhaber_, the domain of -purely human thought and feeling. “He is the parent, we the children,” -said Mozart, speaking of himself, and J. Haydn. Haydn also made a -similar admission. - -It was these two men indeed, who, so to speak, gave expression to -the whole of human life in this unrestrained language of music, and -who, together with Beethoven, opened the hearts of their age and of -humanity, by their sonatas, symphonies, and quartets. This explains -why Mozart was able to write that the ladies detained him at the piano -a whole hour after the concert, adding: “I think I should be sitting -there still, if I had not stolen away!” - -Again, he writes to his sister: “My only entertainment is the theater. -I wish you could see a tragedy played here. I know no theater in -which all kinds of plays are very well produced, unless it be here.” -Shroeder no doubt contributed largely to produce this effect. Then -Shakespeare’s plays had begun to attract attention in Germany, and -German dramatic literature to blossom forth in Lessing and Goethe. -No wonder that “Figaro” and “Don Giovanni,” now began to engage his -attention. We have already spoken of a national German theater. It is -not to be supposed that the Emperor Joseph II. sympathized with the -Germans in music. His early impressions caused him to favor the Italian -school, and, cultivated as was his talent for music, it was not great -enough to enable him to overcome them. But he was compelled to assist -the nation in its endeavors in this sphere, since Frederick the Great -had anticipated him in almost every other. Thus Vienna, together with -Mannheim and Weimar, constituted the glorious triad, the creators -of German music and of a German stage; and the full significance of -German endeavors, in this direction, may be inferred from the path of -light beginning with Mozart’s “Magic Flute,” followed by Beethoven’s -Symphonies, and ending with the “Ring of the Niebelungen” in Bayreuth -in 1876. Verily a cycle of art, of which Germany may well be proud! - -Mozart came just in time for the German operatic stage. Gluck had -stopped composing; his victory was a decided one; he had almost reached -his zenith; he was approaching his seventieth year. True, his pupil, -Salieri, was the “idol of the emperor;” but he was an Italian, and -the remaining Viennese composers of the time were of little or no -importance. Haydn, properly speaking, did not busy himself in this -sphere of the drama, and besides, he lived the greatest part of the -time in Eisenstadt with prince Esterhazy. Northern Germany had no -longer anything to show of those things which mark an epoch in history; -and, what is more its preponderantly “learned” or formal music would -not have pleased the taste of the Viennese. What then could be more -natural than that they should open their arms to the young _maestro_ -who, in a new field, had just given evidence of his transcendent power? -And, indeed, shortly after Mozart’s arrival in Vienna, the Emperor -himself had given expression to a wish that he might write a German -opera of this kind; and we are informed that after Count Rosenberg, -the manager of the theatre, had heard the _Idomeneo_ at a private -rehearsal, he ordered the writing of a libretto for Mozart. This was -“Belmonte and Constance,” or the “Elopement from the Seraglio.” Mozart -tells how he was so cheered by this, that he hastened to his writing -table with the greatest eagerness and sat at it with the greatest -pleasure. He finished, at this first sitting, one of the arias of -the Belmonte, and that the most beautiful of them all--the _O wie -aengstlich, o wie feurig!_ - -The whole matter was postponed for a time, but to no disadvantage; -for, in the meanwhile, Mozart experienced things which gave him -that wonderful depth of coloring and that golden, mature sweetness -which, besides himself and Raphael, scarcely another possesses--love -moved him to the innermost depths of his soul. This love had as much -influence on his life as on his music. It led to that most decided -union of human hearts, marriage; and hence we have here to consider -this important bit of the life of our artist, in his case as in all -others, made up of anguish and bliss. - -We have seen already that when Mozart was compelled to leave the -archbishop’s palace, he hastened to the house of the Webers. Of his -removal thither he wrote: “There I have my pretty room, am with -obliging people ready to assist me in everything, when necessary.” -After the death of her husband, Madame Weber supported herself by -renting rooms, so that her daughters might remain with her. She lived -in the _Auge Gottes_, which is still standing in the _Petersplatz_. -The father’s suspicions were immediately awakened; and Mozart writes -in answer to his expression of them: “In the case of Aloysia [Lange] I -was a fool, but what may not a man become when he is in love!” For the -present, Mozart was concerned only with finding comfortable lodging -quarters and people who might take a personal interest in his father -and in the devouring anger and sorrow which possessed him, on account -of the course pursued towards him by the archbishop; and this interest -he found here. And, indeed, now that he had to compose incessantly in -order to eke out a livelihood, he needed a “clear head and a quiet -mind.” His father, however, insisted on his leaving the Webers, and in -the fall, he finally consented to quit them. But he greatly deceived -himself when he said that he left them only on account of “the gossip -of the people,” and wanted to know why he should be so recklessly -taken to task, because he had moved into the house of the Webers, as -if that meant that he was going to marry the daughter. The tender care -which the third daughter Constance took of him and the disposition she -manifested to do him every service in her power, generated in him the -desire to care for and serve her, in like manner. - -We cannot here enter into the minute details of the origin and tenacity -of this beautiful affair of the heart; and we, therefore, confine -ourselves to that which is most essential. - -Constance Weber was born in 1764. She was now in her eighteenth year, -and eight years younger than Mozart. She had been one of his pupils -in Munich. He gave her lessons on the piano then, and now he was -teaching her vocal music as well. Thus Mozart had, on both occasions, -an inducement other than his feelings, to bring him to the house of the -Webers. Music at first threw him and Constance involuntarily together; -but the language of the soul was destined sooner or later to create a -more intimate bond between them. In the evening they had their little -chats; they were joined by friends of Constance’s own sex; and Mozart, -in a letter written long after he was married, tells how they played -“hide and seek” with them. Then again, a great many circumstances -conspired to decide him to make choice of a partner for life. There -were his years, and his temperament which inclined him to a quiet mode -of life. From his earliest youth, he had never been taught economy, and -as a consequence now had many unnecessary expenses. He felt lonely and -desolate, when, tired by the exhausting labors of the day, he was not -with the Webers. When he left their house in September, he was like a -man who has left his own comfortable carriage for a stage-coach. And -when, with that instinct which belongs only to our deepest feelings, -he became gradually conscious that she was “the right one,” he frankly -laid before his father the necessity of his marrying and his settled -purpose to marry. - -He writes in December, 1781: “But who is the object of my love? Do not -be horrified, I pray you. Surely, not one of the Weber girls? Yes, one -of the Weber girls, but not Josepha, not Sophia but Constance, the -middle one.” And then he gives us a description which must have been -somewhat exaggerated and colored by his feeling at the time. In no -family, he tells us, had he found such inequality. The eldest daughter -was lazy and coarse, and a little too knowing. Her tall sister was -false and a coquette; and yet he had written in the spring that he -had some liking for her. The youngest, Sophia, of whom we shall have -something to say further on, was still too young to be much. She was -nothing more than a good but giddy creature. He adds concerning her: -“May God preserve her from temptation!” Next comes a description of his -dear Constance. He says of her: “The middle daughter, my dear good -Constance, is a martyr among them, and, on that very account, perhaps, -the best-hearted, cleverest, in a word, the best in every way, among -them. She takes care of everything in the house, and yet can please -nobody.” He could if he desired, write whole pages of the ugly scenes -in that house. It was these very scenes which had made the two so dear -to one another. They tested their mutual affection. - -And now he describes Constance herself. She was not ugly, but then she -was far from being beautiful. All her beauty consisted in two small -black eyes, and a fine figure. She had no wit, but common sense enough -to enable her to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother. That she -was not inclined to be lavish in her expenditures, was by no means -true; but she was accustomed to being plain; for the mother used the -little she had on the other two. She could make all her own things, -understood housekeeping, and had the best heart in the world. “I love -her,” he says, “and she loves me with all her heart. Tell me now, -could I desire a better wife?” The best commentary to these words is -furnished by the pieces which were already finished for “Belmonte and -Constance,” but above all by the _O wie aengstlich, o wie feurig_,[6] -which dates from the summer of 1781, and the aria _Ach ich liebte, -war so gluecklich_,[7] the text of which is extant in Constance’s own -handwriting. - -But the painful lot of separation was destined at least to threaten -him. First the father, next the daughters’ guardian, then the mother, -and lastly his loved one’s own stubborn willfulness--the willfulness of -youth--menaced him with the destruction of his happiness. His life’s -happiness was indeed at stake here. This is very evident from Mozart’s -letters written during this time of trouble; and no one can know Mozart -thoroughly who does not follow him through this his heart trial. - -Turn we now to the artistic results of this new existence in Vienna. -Of course much piano and chamber music had been produced. The craving -for something new continued great in all Viennese circles. And who was -better prepared to satisfy that craving than Mozart whose fame and even -support now depended on the reception he met with in the imperial city? -Everything turned on the opera given him to compose, and fortunately -its composition was resumed in the following spring, that of 1782. And -spite of all the vexation he had to endure from his own father and the -mother of his betrothed, he was ready with it, in time. To accomplish -his task, he had frequently to write until one o’clock at night and to -be up again at six in the morning. And although he could not devote to -it all his time, all his strength, all his mind, all the powers of his -fancy nor such minute labor as he had to the _Idomeneo_, he was able to -tell his father that he felt exceedingly well pleased with his opera. -He generally followed only his own feelings, but on this occasion he -had as much regard as possible for the taste of the Viennese people; -and their taste in such matters inclined to subdued hilarity and to the -comic. These therefore, are the prevailing characteristics of the work. -Of Belmonte’s _O wie aengstlich_ he writes himself: You can see the -trembling, the shaking. You can see how the swelling bosom heaves. It -is expressed by a _crescendo_. You can hear the whispering and sobbing -in the first violins with sordines and a flute in unison. The _O wie -der aengstlich_ was everybody’s favorite aria as well as his own. And -yet the rondo _Wenn der Freude Thraenen fliessen_,[8] was still more -enrapturing. It contains also that celebrated passage: - - “Ach Constanze dich zu sehen - Dich voll Wonne und Entzuecken - An dies treue Herz zu druecken.” - -in which German music for the first time fully learned the language -of manly love and devotion, just as it first had found the musical -sublimity of religious feeling in the chorale. Through Belmonte, the -character of the “German youth,” was, so to speak, fixed in music for -all time. Think only of Beethoven’s _Florestan_, and Wagner’s _Walther -von Stolzing_. - -But the character of the stupid, coarse and wicked master of the -Harem, Osmin, thus comically and powerfully drawn, but with all the -nobility of style as to its form, was new also. He is no other than the -“starched stripling,” the son of a puffed-up Augsburg bourgeois. We -have here a picture of the brutal haughtiness of the Salzburg harem, -with its model steward of the kitchen. But the vengeance of the artist -is noble, and produces an ennobling effect on whole generations. We -must read his letters to see how fully he was conscious of the comic -even in Osmin’s aria: _Drum beim Barte des Propheten_, and that all -folly and excess are their own punishment, and become an object of -derision. We find here in this sketch the entire material from which, -two generations later, the “Dragon” of the _Niebelungenring_ was -built. The heavy rhythm in the very first song, the rudeness of the -entire movement, the almost roaring “trallalara”--are the expression -of the untamed savagery of brute nature, the grandeur of coarseness in -miniature. - -We now turn to the performance. This took place on the 12th of July, -1782. It seemed as if the applause of the crowded house would never -cease. The audience was surprised, charmed, and carried away by the -beauty and euphony of the music--music full to overflowing with life, -and which did not sacrifice nobility of form to truth of portraiture, -nor depend for its seductive power on glittering dialogue. Performance -followed performance in quick succession, and this spite of the fact -that intrigue in theatrical circles labored strenuously to prevent -its repetition. The Italians, with Salieri at their head, looked with -displeasure at the rise of the German operatic stage. It disturbed -them, and threatened to do away with their exclusive rule. They went -so far even as to entice the performers away so that the presentation -of the opera became very difficult; whereupon Mozart writes: “I was in -such a rage that I did not know myself.” But they could not prevent the -audience’s crying bravo! and Mozart himself says: “It does one good to -get such applause.” The “Elopement” is the first link in the unbroken -chain of effects and triumphs which ends in the dramatic production -of our days, confined to no one nation--a production destined, in a -generation, to rule Europe more powerfully than did the Italian opera -in those days, and which even now succeeded in impeding the success of -this first German opera and banishing it from the stage. - -This actually happened, and the emperor Joseph was weak enough to allow -the Italian school to obtain the upperhand to such an extent that -Mozart himself could not help joining in the chorus of those priests of -Bacchus; but then he gave that chorus a beauty and fullness which it -had not possessed before. This result was attained in the _Figaro_, of -which we shall speak next. - -The first thing that occupied his mind after the completion of his -great task was, of course--and it was very natural that it should be -so--his union with Constance. And, indeed, after the success he had met -with, what reason was there why he should not venture to get married -and to found a home of his own? Speaking of the work, Joseph II. had -said: “Too pretty for our ears, and an infinity of notes, my dear -Mozart!” To which the latter with noble frankness replied: “Just as -many notes as are necessary, your majesty!” But Gluck, who was by far -the highest authority in Vienna on theatrical matters, had the opera -performed for himself specially, although it had been given only a few -days before, and he complimented the composer very highly and invited -him to dinner. This augured better for Mozart’s future than all else. -He had, however, other patrons. Prince Kaunitz, known as the “Kutscher -von Europa,” the _Coachman of Europe_, expressed great dissatisfaction -with the emperor because he did not value men of talent more, and -allowed them to leave the country. Among other things he told the -archduke Maximilian, on one occasion when the conversation turned on -Mozart, that men like him appeared in the world only once in a century, -and that for that reason some effort should be made to keep them. - -Mozart now brought every influence he could to bear on his father. The -vexation already caused him by the girl’s mother brought it to such a -pass, that he was forced to take her to his friend and patroness Frau -von Waldstaedten. He writes about this time: “My heart is troubled, my -brain is crazed! How can a man think or work under such circumstances?” -But the father looked upon the marriage as a misfortune to him, and -instead of his consent to it, he gave “only well-meant advice.” -Mozart, therefore, made short work of it, and, with the assistance of -his patroness, he acted the _Elopement from the Auge Gottes_, as he -afterwards jocosely called his marriage. The baroness herself wrote -to the father, smoothed over the difficulties in the way as best she -could, even procured the money necessary to have the marriage contract -drawn and dispensation from having the bans called in the church. The -two who loved each other so well, were married on the 4th of August -1782. We must turn to Mozart himself for an account of it. - -He tells us that, shortly after, the father’s consent was received. -There was no one present at the marriage ceremony but the mother, the -youngest sister, the guardian and two witnesses. And he adds: “The -moment we were made one, my wife as well as myself began to weep, -which touched every one, even the priest; and they all cried when they -witnessed how our hearts were moved.” The marriage feast consisted of -a supper at Frau von Waldstaedten’s, of which Mozart writes: “It was -more like a prince’s than a baron’s.” A few days later, he writes: -“For a considerable length of time, while we were yet single, we went -together both to mass and communion, and I find that I never confessed -and communicated as devoutly as by her side; and the same was the case -with her. In a word, we are made for one another, and God who ordains -all things, and who therefore has brought about all that has passed -with us will not forsake us.” And He did not forsake them. Their -marriage was blessed, truly blessed; for it had its foundation in love; -and even leaving his music out of consideration, we shall hear this -sweetest echo of life, the joyful notes of pure, tender love, echo as -clearly through the world as the name of Mozart, himself a minstrel of -love. - -For an account of the cheering and touching tenacity of the love of our -artist, we must refer the reader to our large work on Mozart, in which -we have endeavored to give a picture or rather a history of a part of -his life of which the world has entertained an entirely false idea. -There is no reason why a single trait in Mozart’s character should be -concealed. Its every feature is human, and even his weaknesses are -amiable and readily excusable. If that highest of all moral precepts: -Let him who is without sin cast the first stone, be applicable -anywhere, it is here. We shall have something more to say on this -subject below. We now turn to Mozart’s subsequent achievements. - -The emperor, indeed, valued Mozart’s _talent decidé_ very highly, -and one day summoned him to meet Clement, in single combat, that his -majesty might enjoy his immense superiority over the more formal talent -of that renowned Roman. But the emperor did not recognize the full -value of the _Elopement from the Seraglio_, which he once characterized -by saying of it: _non era gran cosa_--“it did not amount to a great -deal.” This grieved Mozart sorely. He even thought of leaving Vienna in -consequence of it, and of going first to France and then to England. -In the meantime, the Italian musicians in Vienna, probably because of -the steady and great success of the _Elopement from the Seraglio_, -had induced the emperor to order a new and excellent _opera buffa_, -which gave great satisfaction. Mozart wrote of it: “The _basso buffo_ -is remarkably good; his name is Benucci.” Lorenzo da Ponte, known -to-day as the poet of the two greatest _opere buffe_ of the world--our -_Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_ had been in Vienna for some time, and -was there now. He had promised Mozart, who of course had an eye on -this Italian opera, a new subject as soon as he had finished one for -Salieri. Two years passed away, but Da Ponte’s word was kept at length. -In the meantime, Mozart had, on the occasion of his visit to Salzburg, -in the fall of 1783, begun a comic opera, “Die Gans von Cairo”--“The -Goose of Cairo.” It was, however, never completed. The libretto was too -bad and the goose-story too “stupid.” - -To this epoch, ending with the _Figaro_, belongs a large abundance -of purely instrumental music. The quartet for the piano with -wind-instruments was ready on the 24th of March, 1784; the fantasy -in C major, which was never surpassed even by Beethoven, and the -_Veilchen_, in the spring of 1785; the piano quartet in G minor, which -Mozart called the best he had written in his whole life, in July of -the same year; and the six quartets, dedicated to Joseph Haydn, the -creator of that species of music, in the fall of that year (1785), a -year which must be considered among the most fertile of his life. And -yet, even at this time, Mozart was engaged on the comic opera above -named, and had begun another, the _Il Sposo deluso_, “The derided -Bridegroom,” which he dropped, to work on the _Figaro_. Scarcely had -this last subject begun to occupy his mind, than it took possession of -it entirely. Not even to the _Idomeneo_ and the _Elopement from the -Seraglio_ did he devote himself so entirely as to the _Figaro_. Into -this last he put all his individuality. It was the first subject which -occupied all his mind and soul, and, at the same time, afforded him an -opportunity to show the real brilliancy of his wit and of his musical -capacity. In this work, we have a perfect whole, a gem which shines -with dazzling brightness. A few weaknesses due to its derivation from -the Italian opera are cancelled by its excellences. It is a picture of -life which seems indeed to belong to one particular period, but which, -after all, shows us human nature itself with all its weaknesses, the -butt of ridicule or the object of pity. - -Count Almaviva, who, with the assistance of Figaro, the barber of -Seville, had won his beautiful countess, is enamoured of her more -charming waiting-maid, Susanna; and the latter is in love with Figaro. -An effort must be made to cure the count of his folly. His jealousy is -first excited against the page. To accomplish this, the help of a great -many other persons becomes necessary; and thus we get a whole series -of exquisite scenes ending in the total bewilderment of the count. The -second part--the _opera buffa_ has generally only two parts, having -been originally nothing more than an “intermezzo,” between the three -acts of the grave opera, _opera seria_--finds Susanna at the count’s, -arranging a secret rendezvous with him for the evening, in the garden. -The ladies had so arranged it that the countess herself, disguised -as Susanna, should be in the garden at the time of the rendezvous, -and that Susanna should play the countess and surprise the two by -her sudden appearance on the scene. The page arrived too. The count -gives him a box on the ear for his dainty attentions to the disguised -countess. The page carries his grievance to the jealous Figaro, who, -warned of the infidelity of his Susanna, had approached too near, -notwithstanding the darkness. He makes a passionate declaration of -love to the supposed countess, although she had given him to understand -who she was, in the presence of the count. This of course, brought -matters to a crisis. The count orders lights to be brought. Covered -with shame at the discovery he makes, and lovingly forgiven by the -countess, he is, as we may reasonably assume, cured of his wicked -weakness for all time. - -Such was the course of Mozart’s opera. It was attractive and cheerful, -and for the time, not too daring. Mozart invested the female characters -of the piece with the utmost goodness of heart and purity of soul. Even -from the haughty giddiness of the count, he took the sting in such a -way that we leave the presentation of this piece of human weakness -entirely satisfied. - -It was otherwise with the original work, the _Le Mariage de Figaro ou -la folle Journée_, of the same Beaumarchais from whom Goethe borrowed -his Clavigo. In it we find the vices and above all the high-handed -violence of the nobility scourged with such a regardlessness of -consequences, that the piece must be looked upon as a species of -prelude to that historic night in August, 1789, on which every -privilege of the nobility was wiped out with a stroke of the pen. It -shows us at the same time the cordial gentleness and dignity of the -man, Mozart, who had himself personally experienced the brutal pride -of the privileged classes, and this in the most revolting manner. He, -however, solved the whole problem in the kindest of humor, with a -sympathy which may be seen shining through tears; explaining it by the -limitations and weaknesses of human nature. This work was Mozart’s own -even from the ordering of the libretto; and he it was that made choice -of it. - -The following are the particulars relating to its composition. Lorenzo -da Ponte, of whom we made mention above, and who was at first so -completely on the side of Salieri and the Italians, now turned to -Mozart, in order to save his place, as libretto-poet, which he was -in danger of losing. Paisiello, at this time a man of world-wide -reputation, had come to Vienna, and achieved the greatest success with -an opera--“King Theodore.” In order to supplant the poet of the opera, -Casti, Da Ponte composed a libretto for Salieri, with which, however, -Salieri made so complete a failure, that he swore he would rather -have his fingers cut off, than set another verse written by Da Ponte -to music. Salieri now turned to Casti and met with great success in -his “Grotto of Trophonius.” Da Ponte who saw his position as poet for -the theater in peril, in consequence of this, had recourse to Mozart. -Thus it was the intrigue and jealousy of the Italians which eventually -helped Mozart to the place which he was born to fill; and thus -Salieri’s blow recoiled upon himself, for Mozart proposed Beaumarchais’ -piece which had been given in Paris, in the spring of 1784, and had -produced an immense sensation there. But the king had forbidden the -piece in Vienna because of its “immoral style.” Besides, he had some -doubts as to Mozart’s capacity. Mozart, he said, was a good composer of -instrumental music, but had written an opera which did not amount to -much. On this account, Mozart went quietly to work. He first composed a -part of his opera, and Da Ponte then took occasion to have the emperor -hear the part thus composed. His imperial majesty immediately ordered -the completion of the work, and subsequently its performance. - -Such is the story as it is to be gathered from the memoirs of the -writer of the libretto and of one of the singers, O’Kelley, an -Englishman. Both prove that the Italians now moved heaven and earth -to shut Mozart out from the stage, and that, as a matter of fact, -the emperor was obliged personally to interfere in his behalf, in -the case of the _Figaro_. Moreover, just at this time he gave Mozart -a token of his favor by commissioning him to write an opera called -the _Shauspieldirector_, or “The Manager of the Theater,” for a -garden-festival at Schœnbrunn. The subject of this opera is the -competitive trial of two prima donnas before the manager--a comic piece -which his enemies subsequently endeavored to interpret as a picture of -scenes in his own life. - -The Italians, indeed, had reason enough for fear. Salieri subsequently -gave expression to their feelings when he said, it was well that Mozart -was dead, since, if he had lived, it would soon have come to such a -pass that not one of them would get as much as a mouthful of bread for -his compositions. These compositions are, indeed, valueless to-day, -while Mozart’s work is immortal, and while arias like _Will der Herr -Graf ein Taenzlein wagen_, _Neue Freuden neue Schmerzen_ and _Ihr die -ihr Triebe_, will live as long as music lives. - -We shall now hear what an effect the actual performance of the opera -which took place on the first of May, 1786, had on him. The following -account, which has in it something of a Mozart-like amiability, is by -the singer Kelley: - -“Of all the performers of the opera at that time, there is only one -still living--myself. [He sang the parts of Basilio and the stuttering -judge.] It must be granted that no opera was ever better performed. -I have seen it at different times and in all countries, and well -performed; and yet the very first performance of it compared with all -others is like light to darkness. All the original players had the -advantage of being instructed by the composer himself, who endeavored -to transfer his own way of looking at it, and his own enthusiasm to -their minds. I shall never forget his little, vivacious face glowing -with the fire of genius. It is just as impossible to describe it as to -paint the sunbeam. - -“One evening, when I visited him, he said to me: ‘I have just finished -a little duet for my opera, and you must hear it.’ He seated himself -at the piano and sang it. I was carried away, and the musical world -will understand my transport--when I say that it was the duet of the -countess, Ulmaviva with Susanna: _So lang hab’ ich geschmachtet_. -Nothing more exquisite had ever before been written by human being. It -has often been a source of pleasure to me to think that I was the first -who heard it. I can still see Mozart in his red fur hat trimmed with -gold, standing on the stage with the orchestra, at the first rehearsal, -beating time for the music. Benucci sang Figaro’s _Dort vergiss leises -Fleh’n, suesses Wimmern_, with the greatest enthusiasm and all the -power of his voice. I stood beside Mozart, who repeatedly cried ‘bravo! -bravo! Benucci!’ in subdued tones. When Benucci came to the beautiful -passage: _Bei dem Donner der Karthaner_, he allowed his stentorian -voice to resound with all his might. The players on the stage and in -the orchestra were electrified. Intoxicated with pleasure, they cried -again and again, and each time louder than the preceding one, ‘bravo! -bravo! maestro! Long live the great Mozart!’ Those in the orchestra -beat the music stands incessantly with the bows of their violins, thus -expressing their enthusiasm. It seemed as if this storm of applause -would never cease. The little man returned thanks for the homage paid -him by bowing repeatedly. The finale at the end of the first act was -received with similar delight. Had Mozart written nothing but this -piece of music, it alone would, in my humble opinion, have stamped him -the greatest master of his art. Never was there a greater triumph than -that of Mozart and his _Figaro_.” - -This is the only detailed account which we possess. The father had -heard enough of the astonishingly powerful intrigues caused by his -son’s great talent and the respect in which he was held. Now he was -able to write to his daughter, that five and even seven parts of the -opera had been repeated, and that one duet had to be sung three times. -The Italians induced the emperor to forbid these repetitions. But when -he spoke to the singers of “this favor he had done them,” the person -playing the part of Susanna frankly replied: “Do not believe that, your -Majesty. They all wish to hear _dacapo_ cried. I at least can assert -that of myself.” Whereupon the emperor laughed. - -But we may ask, was Mozart’s fortune now made? He was, indeed, at -this time, in such pinching circumstances that he had to apply to his -publisher, Hofmeister, for such petty advances as a few ducats. - -The house was always full to overflowing, and the public never tired -of applauding Mozart and calling him out. But care was now taken that -the performances should not follow one another too frequently or too -rapidly, the effect of which would soon have been an improvement in the -taste of the public. Moreover, the success of a new opera, _Una Cosa -rara_--it serves in the _Don Giovanni_ as table-music--by Martin, the -Spaniard, was enough to throw the _Figaro_ into the shade both with -the emperor and with the people, and then to displace it entirely. -The success of that opera was incredible, and such as might have been -expected from a public whose noblest representative, the emperor Joseph -himself, told Dittersdorf the composer of _Doctor and Apotheker_, -that he liked Martin’s light, pleasant melodies better than Mozart’s -style, who drowned the voice of the singers with the noise of the -accompaniment. “Happy man,” said Mozart to the young composer Gyrowetz, -who went to Italy in the fall of 1785, “if I could only travel with -you, how glad I would be! I must give a lesson now in order to earn a -pittance.” He thought again of going to England, but no inducement to -go there offered. - -And yet the _Figaro_ was attended by very immediate success even to -its composer. It gave occasion to the writing of the _Don Giovanni_; -and this leads us to the conclusion of a chapter in Mozart’s life -descriptive of a portion of that life as important as it was replete -with action. - -The love of the Bohemians for music and their skill in the art are -well known. After Mozart had made his first appearance in Vienna, the -people of Prague appropriated him just as they have Richard Wagner in -our own day, and the _Figaro_ which followed the _Elopement from the -Seraglio_ was received with an amount of applause which can be compared -only with that subsequently accorded to the _Magic Flute_. It was given -almost without interruption during the whole of the winter 1786-87. -The enthusiasm of the audiences was unparalleled. They never tired of -hearing it. Arrangements for the piano, for wind-instruments, quartets, -dances, etc., were made from it. _Figaro_ was re-echoed in the streets, -in gardens, and even the harper had to play its _Dort Vergiss_ if he -wished to be heard. - -It was the orchestra and a society of “great” connoisseurs and amateurs -that invited him to Prague. Nothing could have been more agreeable -to Mozart than to be able to show his enemies in Vienna that he was -not yet without friends in the world. His wife accompanied him. It -was in January, 1787. Count Thun, one of the first chevaliers and -musical connoisseurs of Prague, was his host. He gave every day a -musical entertainment at his own home. He found great delight in the -intercourse of loving friends of his art, friends who recognized his -genius. The very first evening, a ball was given by a well-known -society in Prague--the “elite of the beauties of Prague.” Writing of -it himself, Mozart says: “I was delighted to see all these people -moving about so truly happy, to the music of the _Figaro_ transformed -into counter dances and waltzes. Nothing is talked of here but the -_Figaro_. The people visit no opera but the _Figaro_. It is nothing but -_Figaro_!” - -He was to direct the work in person, to the infinite delight of all. He -himself paid a high compliment to the execution of the orchestra. They -always played with great spirit. Two concerts followed. An eye-witness -writes: “The theatre was never seen so full of human beings. Never -was delight more universal. We did not, indeed, know what most to -admire, the extraordinary composition or the extraordinary playing. -The two together produced an impression that was sweet enchantment. -But when Mozart, towards the close, played a number of fantasias -alone, this condition was resolved into one of overflowing expressions -of approval.” Mozart appeared, his countenance radiant with genuine -satisfaction. He began with an enthusiasm that kept increasing from the -first, and had accomplished greater things than had ever before been -heard, when a loud voice cried out: “From Figaro!” whereupon Mozart -played the favorite aria, _Dort vergiss_, improvised a dozen of the -most interesting and artistic variations and closed this remarkable -production amid thunders of applause. - -This was certainly one of the brightest days in Mozart’s life. He had -reached the climax of success. In the applause of the multitude, he -saw a reflection of his own intellectual features which called that -applause forth. Strange thoughts now possessed his soul. Feelings never -felt before stirred within him. When a person has reached a height -like that now obtained by Mozart, he is in a position to embrace in -his horizon all that lies below and around him. It was the first time -that his life-sparkling mind did this, but we shall see that it did so -now. The incessant intrigues of his opponents and enemies--intrigues -so violent and great, that, when he died, it was rumored he had been -poisoned--devoured his life like a vulture, and ended it before -his time. The consciousness of this first came to him with all its -melancholy amid the infinite jubilation we have just described, in the -midst of all this joy and recognition of his genius. He now, for the -first time, had a perception of life’s close, of life’s tragic play, as -reflected in _Don Giovanni_; and this was the result of his journey -to Prague. For when, in the overflowing joy of his heart, Mozart said -that he would like to write an opera expressly for such a public, the -director of the theatre, Bondini, took him at his word, and closed the -contract with him for the following autumn, at one hundred ducats. - -Da Ponte relates that, on this occasion, he proposed the subject-matter -himself. He had perceived that Mozart’s genius required a sublime and -many-sided poem. And, indeed, this, like _Faust_, was a subject-matter -on which writers of all nations had long labored. _Don Giovanni_ -represents the indestructible instinct of life, as _Faust_ does the -instinct of knowledge, showing how that instinct is ever annihilating -and reproducing itself. The hero is given up to the fullest enjoyment -of life regardless of consequences. Cheerfully and freely he surrenders -himself to it. No shackles bind him. Opposition only adds to his -strength. But this very wantonness is, at last, the cause of his ruin. -This was the conclusion of the whole, extended, original Spanish play -chosen by the poet of the libretto. - -Don Giovanni rushes into the apartment of Donna Anna, who is waiting -for the arrival of her beloved Don Octavio. Her cry for help calls out -her father. A duel puts an end to his aged life. On the street, Don -Giovanni and his servant Leporello, are met by the forsaken Elvira. She -complains, gives expression to her grief and loads him with reproaches. -He hastens on his way in the search after pleasure. Zerline, the bride -of the young Marsetto is next snatched away from him by Elvira’s -jealousy. But he has invited the whole company to the castle. He is -again met, (everything even now foreshadows the catastrophe) by Donna -Anna with Octavio. They seek his assistance on account of the murdered -father. But Donna Anna, whose suspicions had been already awakened by -Elvira, recognizes him as the murderer. They next appear masquerading -in black at the banquet, and just as Don Giovanni is on the point -of carrying away the rustic beauty, they come up to him; a struggle -ensues, and master and servant are saved only by the most masculine -boldness. This is the first act of this opera, which is also considered -an _opera buffa_. - -The second act finds Don Giovanni engaged in a quarrel with Leporello. -Leporello does not want to serve so dangerous a master any longer. -But money atones for the anxiety he endures. Elvira appears on the -balcony. Don Giovanni changes clothes with Leporello and swears love -to her anew. She comes down and at an artificial noise, made by Don -Giovanni, flees with Leporello into the darkness. This is followed by -a serenade to her waiting-maid, Leporello’s beloved. Marsetto and his -peasants, armed with guns, now appear. But Don Giovanni, dressed as -Leporello, succeeds in getting his friends away, and in coaxing the -weapons from Marsetto himself. He then cudgels him soundly, whereupon -Zerline consoles him with her promises. Elvira now looks in the dark -for the supposed lover. The anxious Leporello endeavors to escape. Don -Octavio and Donna Anna suddenly appear with torches and see that this -time they have the servant instead of his master. The former escapes -and according to agreement meets Don Giovanni in the churchyard. Their -godless conversation is suddenly interrupted by a voice which says: -“Presumptuous man, let those rest who have gone to sleep!” It is the -statue of the Comthur. Don Giovanni haughtily forces Leporello to -invite him to dinner. In the midst of the revels of the table--for -which Martin’s _Cosa rara_ furnished a part of the music, as, in -Prague, did the _Dort vergiss_--in the midst of the most luxurious joys -of life, which not even the warning voice of the loving Elvira could -dispel, the stony guest approaches him, and announces his sentence to -him: - -“Down into the dust and pray!” - -“Tell women to pray!” - -“Be converted!” - -“No!” - -“Yes!” - -“No!” - -“Now thy end has come!” - -Yawning abysses open, and spirits of hell drag the dastard into the -dismal grave, alive. - -We know what the cheerful phase of the life of the past century was. -It has found a more fiery expression in _Don Giovanni_ than even in -the _Figaro_. The Renaissance had introduced anew the free enjoyment -of life of the ancient world. Think only what the Borgias were! From -Italy and Spain it had made its way to France, when people there, for -the first time, became conscious that they were “dancing on a volcano.” -The feeling that there hangs a necessary and tragic sentence over the -mere sensuousness of life, which is, after all, but a powerful picture -of the transitoriness of all things earthly--a transitoriness which -will always remain a dark enigma to the living themselves, and which -therefore fills the proudest life with a certain melancholy--this -feeling, which constitutes the poetic nucleus of the whole story of -_Don Giovanni_, no one of all who have treated the subject, in an -artistic manner, has fathomed or shown the power of, even in a remote -degree, as did Mozart. The music, on the appearance of the stony guest, -springs from the same fountain as Faust’s most beautiful and profound -monologues. It is the consciousness, the heart-felt knowledge of the -permanent duration of human life; and we have seen how life itself led -Mozart, the artist and the man, to this heart-felt knowledge and to the -feeling of something really eternal in the changes that surround us. - -The following further details as to the origin of _Don Giovanni_ are -not devoid of interest. - -Da Ponte’s boasting in his memoirs is indeed exquisite, and shows -that, after all, he had no idea what the value of the material of _Don -Giovanni_ was. He had the three distinguished opera composers of Vienna -at the time to write for, and he quieted the doubts of the emperor -as to the success of such a task, by telling him that he would write -during the night for Mozart and keep thinking of Dante’s Hell, in the -morning for Martin, and read Petrarca, in the evening for Salieri, when -Tasso should be his companion. With a bottle of tokai and some Spanish -tobacco before him, and the sixteen-year-old daughter of his hostess, -as his muse beside him, he says he began his work, and in two months -the whole was finished. - -And how about Mozart? When at the beginning of April, the libretto of -this poetical judgment on human life had come into his hands, his soul -was directed with redoubled energy to its serious meaning. He received -at that time, the news of the grave illness of his father, which led -him to give expression to some remarkable sayings about death as the -“true goal of our life--man’s true, best friend.” We shall yet see -what suggested this. Besides, he had shortly before lost his “best and -dearest” friend, Count Hatzfeld, and now, on the 28th of May 1787, he -lost his beloved father also. The quintet in G minor dates from this -time. The depths of his soul open up before us here. This quintet is -a prelude to _Don Giovanni_. At this time, too, it was that the court -organist, Ludwig Beethoven of Bonn, now in his sixteenth year, paid him -a visit. Mozart paid no attention to Beethoven beyond predicting his -world-wide fame, so entirely was he pre-occupied with his new work. The -following September, his friend Dr. Barisoni, who had attended him two -years before, when he was very dangerously sick, died; and Mozart wrote -under some of his verses in his album: “It is well with him!--but it -will never be well with me, with us and with all who knew him so well, -until we are happy enough to see him in a better world, never to part -again!” His thoughts went beyond the grave and endeavored to fathom -the eternal relations of things. This was the mood in which he wrote -_Don Giovanni_. Even into the brightest light of life, creep at last -the dark shadows of annihilation! - -In the beginning of September 1787, composer and poet were in Prague. -Constance also had traveled with them. She had to see that no -disturbance from without interfered with the workings of our artist’s -laborious mind. Personal intercourse with the singers increased his -intellectual activity. The first singer who took the part of Don -Giovanni was lauded to the deaf Beethoven, almost forty years later, as -a “fiery Italian.” The female singers were not by any means remarkable. -Yet it was said that our artist had been guilty, during this sojourn in -Prague, of all kinds of gay adventures; and this while he was writing -himself to a friend in Vienna: “Is there not an infinite difference -between the pleasure of a fickle, whimsical love and the bliss of a -really rational one?” In after years, his acquaintances remembered the -happy hours they had spent with him in Prague. He played at nine-pins -with them in a wine-garden, which is now adorned with his bust, while -at the same time he wrote out his score at the table in the place. And -in the evening before the performance he was exceedingly cheerful and -full of jokes. Finally, Constance told him it was eleven o’clock, that -the overture was not yet written. At his home, with his glass of punch, -such as he liked, he proceeded to perform the task which was so irksome -to him. He had the work long since finished in his head. He had even -already played it as well as two other drafts of it for his friends. -On this account, Constance, in order to keep his thoughts flowing, was -obliged to tell stories to him. These were fairy tales, like Aladdin’s -Wonderful Lamp, and Cinderella. Mozart frequently laughed over them -until the tears came. Fatigue, however, overpowered him at last, and -his wife allowed him to sleep a few hours. Yet the copyists received -their work in the early morning. He had, moreover, according to his own -confession to the director of the orchestra, never allowed himself to -be prevented from producing something excellent for Prague, and at the -same time assured him, that he had not acquired his art easily. No -one, he said, had been more industrious to acquire it than he, and it -would be hard to find a celebrated master whom he had not diligently -studied. - -It is said that he set the celebrated _Reich mir die Hand_ to music -five times for _Don Giovanni_. He made the singers rehearse to him -separately. He danced the minuet for them himself; for, strange to -say, he once told Kelly that his achievements in dancing were more -remarkable than his achievements in music. Hence, the players were -full of good will and enthusiasm, the consequence of which was, that -the performance this time, also, was a very good one. It took place -on the 29th of October, 1787. The house was full to overflowing, and -Mozart was received with a flourish of trumpets, repeated three times, -and applause which it seemed would never cease. Such was the reception -accorded the opera itself, that the director of the theatre wrote to -the composer of the libretto, who, in the meantime had returned to -Vienna: “Long live Da Ponte! Long live Mozart! Praise them, all ye -directors and all ye singers! So long as they live theatres cannot -fail to do a thriving business.” As usual, Mozart himself speaks -modestly of “the loudest kind of applause,” and remarks to his friend -in Vienna, mentioned above: “I could wish that my friends were here a -single evening to share my pleasure. But probably the opera will not be -performed in Vienna. I wish so. People are doing all in their power to -prevail upon me to remain here a few months and write another opera; -but, flattering as the invitation is, I cannot accept it.” - -And now, as to the work itself. Schiller wrote to Goethe on the 29th -of December, 1797, that he had always entertained the confidence -that out of the opera as out of the choruses of the old feasts of -Dionysos, tragedy would develop a nobler form. By the power of music, -it attuned the heart to a finer susceptibility, and, in this way, it -might happen that, at last, even the ideal might stealthily make its -way to the stage. Goethe answered curtly: “You might have seen your -hopes recently realized to a great extent in _Don Giovanni_. But in -this respect, that piece stands entirely alone, and Mozart’s death has -rendered all hope of anything like it, idle.” We owe it to _Figaro_ -and _Don Giovanni_, more than to anything else, that we are able -to-day, to assert the contrary, and that we witness the real dramatic -art which was attained to by Italy in the revival of antiquity in a -truly flourishing condition about us. What Gluck required should be the -characteristic points of dramatic composition is here complied with to -the fullest extent; to an extent which, in many particulars, has not -been yet surpassed. This perfection Mozart owed to his more accurate -acquaintance with the exigencies of the drama and his supreme command -of all the capabilities of music. The separate and distinct pieces -of music, indeed, with their pitiful, recurring cadences, remind us -continually that it is with a musician we have to do, and one whose -style was a development from the Italian school. But then such is the -poetical intuition of this musician that the poetical material helps -him always to some new invention in his own art. And while this art -seems to demand that it should be necessarily confined to its own -sphere and possess definite forms, genius is able to so arrange it that -the dramatic action may lose nothing that properly belongs to it, and -yet that the music may not become simply “the obedient daughter of -poetry.” - -Richard Wagner, the great master, who, in this sphere, is Mozart’s -only real successor, says: “Mozart in his operas demonstrated the -inexhaustible resources of music most fully to meet every demand of -the poet on its power of expression; and considering his completely -original course, this glorious musician did a great deal more to -discover this power of music, both in respect to truth of expression, -and in the endless varieties of its causes, than Gluck and all his -successors.” And in this dramatic respect, the _Figaro_, and _Don -Giovanni_, unquestionably occupy the first place. Who is there that -does not recognize in _Keine Ruh’ bei Tag und Nacht_, _Wenn du fein -artig bist_, _Treibt der Champagner_, a new language in tones? We -here again witness the noblest acquisitions of the _Idomeneo_ and the -_Elopement from the Seraglio_, in the highest possible perfection -concentrated in all their energy. It is a miracle of strength and -grace, of spirit and euphony, of buoyant force, of nobleness, and at -the same time, of truest, deepest feeling. - -Thus the _Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_, together with Germany’s classic -poetry, occupy a place at the beginning of a great dramatic epoch -which commenced one hundred years ago. They are a part of the life of -modern humanity in general. In them Mozart first fully developed his -inexhaustible genius. And thus it is that these works, like the antique -and the art of the Renaissance, belong to the whole cultured world. - -Mozart’s concluding labors are a condensation of all the impressions of -his life, and of all the perceptions of his mind, in their very depths. -The _Magic Flute_, especially by its purely human and ethico-religious -tendency, became the starting point of the efforts of an art which was -peculiarly German, but of which the universal art-creations of the -present day were born. This leads us to the fifth and last chapter of -our biography. - - - - -CHAPTER V. - -1787-1791. - -THE MAGIC FLUTE--TITUS--THE REQUIEM. - - Haydn’s Opinion of Mozart--Made Court Composer by Joseph II.--Don - Giovanni in Vienna--Mozart’s Extreme Poverty--His Cheerfulness - under Adverse Circumstances--“The Song of the Swan”--Other - Compositions--Mozart’s Opinion of Handel--He becomes Acquainted - with Sebastian Bach--Mozart’s Opinion of Church Music--Traveling - Again--Some of Mozart’s Characteristics--Audience with the - Emperor--Petition to his Imperial Majesty--His Religious - Feelings--Joins the Free Masons--History of the Composition of the - Magic Flute--The Mysterious Stranger--The Requiem--Success of the - Magic Flute--Mozart as Reflected in his Music--His Industry--Last - Illness--Strange Fancies--Incidents of his Last Days--His Death. - - -The composer of _Figaro_, Mozart himself, writes in 1785: “If there -were only a single German patriot in a position of influence, with him -things would wear a different aspect. But, then, perhaps, our national -theatre, now only in bud, would come to full bloom; and, of course, -it would be an everlasting shame for Germany, if we should seriously -begin to think German, act German, speak German, and even to sing -German!” Chance would have it, that, towards the close of his days he -was able to give his pen and not merely his tongue, as he did here, -free rein on this point. And the very fact that his circumstances -became poorer, and that the parties, which prevailed at the time, -succeeded in relegating him to an inferior social position, was here of -decisive influence. - -Haydn now writes to Prague, where Mozart had declined the composition -of another opera: “You ask me for another opera. With all my heart, -if you wish to have something for yourself alone.” But he would have -had too much to risk in writing for the theatre there, inasmuch as -scarcely any one could be compared with the great Mozart. The noble -master continues: “For if I could impress on the souls of all lovers -of music, but above all on the great, the inimitable works of Mozart; -could I endow them with a proper comprehension of music, and impart to -them the feeling with which I understand and feel them, the nations -would emulate one another for the possession of that jewel.” Prague, -he said, should keep such a man, but at the same time, it should -remunerate him properly, for when not properly remunerated the history -of genius is sad indeed. And he concludes: “It grieves me sorely that -Mozart, who has no equal, has not yet been engaged at some royal or -imperial court.... Pardon me for not keeping to my subject, but I am so -fond of the man.” - -Schwind, the painter, who, during his youth in Vienna, knew very many -of Mozart’s friends, writes: “People spoke of him as one speaks of the -person he loves. Why was it that ‘the great’ did nothing for him?” - -The success of the _Don Giovanni_ in Prague had a good effect in -Vienna, and when it was learned that Mozart was going to leave that -city for England, Joseph II. named him--it was on the 7th of December, -1787--his court composer with a salary of 800 guldens in all; of which -Mozart once wrote on his tax-returns: “too much for what I do, too -little for what I might do.” In his position, he had no duties but -to write the dancing music for the imperial masquerades! And yet, -the position which Gluck held from the emperor with a salary of two -thousand guldens had just become vacant by that composer’s death! -Mozart must have had wicked enemies and enviers and only half friends, -at this court. His patron, Maximilian Francis, elector of Cologne, -was now in Bonn, where he had found young Beethoven, and the emperor -himself liked the lighter music better than Mozart’s. Thus Salieri -again gained the advantage; and before the opera _Azur_, which had been -ordered by the emperor, was given, _Don Giovanni_ was not to be thought -of. - -Yet, the emperor finally ordered its performance also. It took place -on the 7th of May, 1788; but the opera did not give satisfaction. Da -Ponte writes: “Everybody, Mozart alone excepted, was of opinion that -the piece would have to be re-written. We made additions to it, changed -pieces in it, and yet, a second time, _Don Giovanni_ did not give -satisfaction.” According to Da Ponte, however, this did not keep the -emperor from saying, that the “work was magnificent, more beautiful -than _Figaro_, but no morsel for the Viennese.” Mozart, to whom this -saying of the emperor had been carried, replied: “Only give them time -to taste it;” and, indeed, every performance of the opera added to -its success. Haydn said, in a company at the house of Count Rosenberg, -which was no rendezvous for Mozart’s friends, that he could not settle -their dispute about the faults of the work, but he knew that Mozart was -the greatest composer which the world then had. - -And yet, at this very time, Mozart was suffering from want, actual -want! The first of those mournful letters to his friend Puchberg, the -merchant, is dated the 17th of June of this year. These letters afford -us a picture of his condition during the last years of his life. They -even foreshadow the sad, premature end of our artist. He received from -_Don Giovanni_, in Vienna, altogether two hundred and twenty-five -guldens. His compositions were in contents and execution too difficult -for the dilettanti, and his feeling and views on art did not allow -him to write otherwise; so that the publishers were not able to pay -him much. Besides, those parts of his compositions which were really -popular, were everywhere republished. Concerts could not be given all -the time, and his receipts from all sources were too irregular. His -household expenses, spite of his simple way of living, were great. He -had several children, in quick succession, and Constance was taken, -repeatedly, very seriously ill--in one instance, for eight whole -months. He closes one of his letters, asking for, and imploring a -little “momentary assistance,” according to his friend’s pleasure, as -follows: “My wife was sick again yesterday. To-day, thank God, she is -better: yet I am very unhappy, always wavering between worry and hope.” - -This affliction of body and mind was a constant trial of his better -nature. His letters next to his music afford us the most beautiful -proof of the purity of his soul and the depth of his feelings. Yet the -last years of Mozart’s life disclose to us a mournful picture of the -existence of a German artist; and it is only Mozart’s own spirit that -can lift us high above the sadness and acrimony which we are disposed -to feel here. - -His mind did not grow gloomy. Like the phœnix, he always rose out of -the ashes of the want that consumed him--more brilliantly arrayed and -fitted for a grander flight. And it is truer of scarcely any artist -than of him, that his last note was like the dying strains of the -swan, an echo from another and higher world, a sound at once joyful and -melancholy such as had never been heard before. - -The symphony in E major which was finished in these summer days of -1788, has in fact, been called the Song of the Swan. Of it Hoffman, in -his celebrated _Phantasiestuecken_, beautifully says: “The language of -love and melancholy are heard in the sweet voices of spirits. The night -breaks into a bright purple light, and, with an unspeakable longing, we -follow the forms which invite us with friendly glances into their ranks -as they fly through the clouds to the eternal music of the spheres.” -Immediately following this came the exceedingly powerful and life-like -symphony in G minor, and the Jupiter symphony. Did mortal ever before -hear the quiet jubilation of all beings as it is heard in the _andante_ -of this last? The man who can write such works has higher joys than -the world can give or take away. His eye full of the truest happiness, -is directed towards an eternal ideal which refreshes, preserves and -blesses him. The grave little _adagio_ in H minor for the piano was -also written in this same year, 1788. - -At this time, Handel, with his vigorous and manly nature entered -Mozart’s domain. He was preparing for a friend and patron, the former -ambassador to Berlin, Baron von Swieten, _Acis and Galatea_ and the -_Messias_. Mozart’s opinion of Handel was, that he understood better -than any one else the power of music, and that when he chose, he could -use chorus and orchestra with overwhelming effect; even his airs in -the Italian style always betokened the composer of the Messias. But -he was destined soon to become acquainted with a greater genius, a -man all imposing to him--Sebastian Bach. Handel’s freer form and his -dramatic characterization were not new to him; and we may judge from -the _Idomeneo_ that Mozart possessed a power not unlike that which was -peculiar to Handel. Yet Bach opened to him, both as an artist and a -man, a new world, but one which he had long half suspected and half -known--that ocean of polyphony governed with such sovereign power. And -yet the matter lay deeper. - -Some one in Leipzig itself--he probably had reference to Bach--had, -in a conversation, called it a burning shame, that it was with so -many great musicians as it had been with the old painters: they -were compelled to employ their immense powers on the fruitless and -mind-destroying subjects of the church. Mozart was highly displeased -at the remark, and said in a very sad manner, that that was some more -art-twaddle. And he continued in some such strain as this: “With you, -enlightened Protestants, as you call yourselves, when all your religion -is the religion of the head, there may be some truth in this. But with -us, it is otherwise. You do not at all feel the meaning of the words, -_Agnus Dei qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem_. [Lamb of God -who takest away the sins of the world; grant us peace.] But when one -has, from his earliest childhood, been introduced into the sanctuary of -our religion, and attended its service with fervor, and called those -happy who knelt at the touching strains of the _Agnus Dei_ and received -the communion, while the music gushing in tender joy from the hearts of -the faithful, said, _Benedictus qui venit_, [Blessed is he who comes -in the name of the Lord,] it is very different; and, when now, these -words, heard a thousand times, are placed before one to be set to -music, it all returns and stirs the soul within him.” On this occasion, -he recalled that first composition for the consecration of a church in -his childhood, in Vienna, and the religious impressions he carried away -from Italy of which we spoke above. - -He was now in Leipzig and became acquainted with Sebastian Bach in his -church compositions. Necessity had again started him on an artistic -journey. His friend and pupil, prince Charles Lichnowsky, who was -soon destined to play an important part in Beethoven’s life also, had -asked Mozart to travel with him to Berlin where he might probably be -of some use to him with the music-loving Frederick William II. Our -information concerning this journey and one that followed it, is to be -found in those letters to his wife, of which she herself subsequently -wrote that these unstudied epistles were the best indication of his -way of thinking, of his peculiar nature and of his culture. She -says: “The rare love for me which these letters breathe is supremely -characteristic of him. Those written in his later years are just as -tender as those which he must have written during the first years of -our married life, are they not?” In those letters, indeed, we have the -man, Mozart as he really was, and what he had gone through in life, -before us. - -In Prague, the director of the theatre had almost so arranged it that -he was to get two hundred ducats for a new opera, and fifty ducats -for traveling expenses. This gave him new life. One of his old Munich -friends, the hautboyist Ramm, who had come from Berlin, had also told -him, in Prague, that the king had asked him “very often and very -anxiously” if it was sure that Mozart was coming, and when he saw that -he had not come, said: “I am afraid that he is not going to come.” -“Judging from this,” says Mozart, “my affairs will not go ill.” In -Dresden, he formed the acquaintance of Schiller’s friend, Koerner, the -father of the poet, whose sister-in-law, Doris Stock, made a drawing of -his picture. But all the affection he met with only turned his thoughts -more lovingly to his wife and child at home. He writes, on the 13th of -April, 1789: “My dearest wife, if I only had a letter from you.... -If I could only tell you all I have to say to your dear picture!... -And when I put it away I let it slide from me gradually, while I say: -Well! well! well! and, at the last, good night, pet, pleasant dreams!” -The same complete ingenuousness of a really child-like soul, of which -his friends in Prague were wont to speak. One of them, Professor -Niemetschek, to whom we are indebted for the first biography of -Mozart, says of him: “Brimming over with the pleasantest humor, he -would surrender himself to the drollest fancies, so that people forgot -entirely that they had the wonderful artist, Mozart, before them.” -Closing the letter to his wife, above referred to, he says: “Now, I -think I have written something which the world at least will think very -stupid; but it is not stupid to us who love one another so tenderly.” -We shall yet see what a treasure for his art was this heart of his, -which always loved, as it did, the day he was married. Only genius can -manifest so much innocence and, at the same time, such depth of feeling. - -In Dresden he played at court and was presented with “a very pretty” -snuff-box. Here, too, was one Haessler, a pupil of Sebastian Bach, -whose forte was the piano and the organ. This served to stimulate -Mozart’s ability to a higher pitch. He had already become acquainted, -through Van Swieten, with a number of Bach’s and Handel’s fugues. He -also had frequently improvised such fugues himself, or noted them down -at the request of his wife. The man who understands polyphony as Mozart -shows he did in the ensembles of _Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_--which -testify to the magnitude of his technic powers chiefly by the fact -that it is only the connoisseur that notices these marvels--must -really insist on perfect art in this point, also. Mozart writes: “Now, -the people here think that because I come from Vienna I know nothing -whatever of this kind of music or this manner of playing. I, therefore, -seated myself at the organ and played. Prince Lichnowsky, who knew -Haessler well, persuaded him, after a great deal of trouble, to play, -too.” It then appeared that Haessler had simply learned harmony and -some modulations by rote from old Sebastian Bach, and was not able to -execute a harmony properly; that, as Mozart expresses himself, he was, -by no means, an Albrechtsberger--a man well known as one of Beethoven’s -thorough-bass teachers. But, when Haessler sat down at the piano, he -fared worse yet. - -Mozart now went to Leipzig, itself, and the successor of the great -Sebastian, the cantor Doles, master of the choir in the church of -Saint Thomas, was very friendly to him. He first displayed his powers -at the organ here. Says an eye-witness: “Doles was charmed with the -artist’s playing, and imagined Sebastian Bach returned to life.” “With -the greatest facility,” Mozart had put all the arts of harmony in -operation, and improvised the chorale, “Jesus my trust,” in a masterly -manner. This way of working up a chorale was the peculiar art of the -North German school of artists. As a token of gratitude, Doles caused -Bach’s motetto for eight voices, _Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied_, -to be sung for him. Our artist was overjoyed, and exclaimed: “That is -something full of suggestion!” When Beethoven heard this same motetto -with all its elemental power and magnitude, he exclaimed, referring to -its composer: “His name should not be Bach (_brook_), but Meer (_the -sea_).” A similar expression of opinion is ascribed to Wagner, who -performed the same motetto, in 1848, in Dresden. - -When Mozart heard that the church of Saint Thomas had several other -such motettoes, he asked for them all, and laid the several parts on -his knees--there being no score--and on the chairs about him, and gave -his whole soul to their study until he had thoroughly mastered them. At -his request Doles gave him a copy of them. - -Can we imagine what now passed in Mozart’s soul? The artist recognized -the artist. Of predecessors, with like creative powers, he could have -named only Palestrina. But what moved him still more, and stirred him -to the very depths of his heart, was the sublimity of the religious -feeling which lives in this spirit, and which laid hold of and lifted -Mozart, the Catholic, up all the more because Bach was a Protestant. -“Then he grew suddenly quiet, turned bitter, drank a great deal of -strong wine, and spoke not another rational word,” writes Rochlitz, -who became acquainted with him at this time, and who subsequently -distinguished himself as a writer on Mozart. The opera here afforded -him no opportunity to display his power, and writing for his own church -had little attraction, since, through the reforms of Joseph II., -the expenses allowed for music, even for a divine service, the very -exigencies of which had created the art, were curtailed to the very -utmost. But we shall soon see from his own compositions that he was -deeply affected by the sublime peace of this great choir-master. And -here, in Leipzig, we notice that he did not allow melancholy, at least -externally, to lord it over him. He dined the last evening he spent -there at Doles’ house. His host and hostess were very sad, and begged -for a memento from his hand. He wrote, in at the most from five to six -minutes, on two small leaves of paper, a canon or round for each, one -in long notes and very melancholy, the other exceedingly droll. “When -it was noticed,” says Rochlitz, “that they could be sung together, he -wrote under the one: ‘Farewell, we shall meet again,’ and under the -other, ‘Wail away like women old.’ It is impossible to describe what a -ridiculous and yet profound, not to say angry and cutting effect this -made upon us all, and if I do not mistake, upon himself, for, in a -somewhat wild voice, he suddenly exclaimed, ‘Good-bye, children,’ and -vanished.” - -A closer acquaintance with “old Bach,” was the only lasting gain -of this long-extended journey. Frederick William I. had, after the -frank opinion Mozart had given of his private band, of which J. F. -Reichardt was the leader, tendered him that position, at a yearly -salary of three thousand thalers. But Mozart asked himself: “Shall I -forsake my emperor?” This was the expression of the home-feeling he -had for Austria--a feeling the fruitful and fostering soil of which -would certainly have been lost in the sands of a margrave. One hundred -Frederick sd’or, in a golden snuff-box, and a commission for three -quartets--the king, who himself played the cello, was very fond of this -kind of music--were, however, a moderate remuneration. - -His friends at home urged him at least to lay the case before the -emperor; for the king of Prussia had left his offer open a whole year. -Mozart had an audience with his imperial majesty. The emperor said: -“How, do you want to leave me?” To which Mozart replied: “I beg -your majesty’s pardon; I shall remain.” And this was the only result -of the audience. To a friend, who alluded to a possible increase of -salary, he gave the characteristic reply: “Who on earth would think -of that at such a time?” Mozart was an Austrian and idealized his -emperor, especially at this time, when Joseph’s best intentions were -misunderstood in his own country, and Turkey and Belgium caused him -equal anxiety. Was he, who now felt himself forsaken by his own, to -see himself separated from one of the very best of his subjects? That -was more than Mozart’s feelings could stand. However, the emperor -now ordered that _Figaro_ should be put on the stage again. Mozart -had added to it the great aria of the countess in F major, and the -renewed success of the work determined the emperor to charge him with -the writing of a new opera, the words of which were suggested by the -thoughtless bet of two officers. It was the _Cosi fan tutte_ (So They -All Do, or The Lover’s School.) - -Two officers and a bachelor make a wager as to the fidelity of their -intended wives, and actually succeed, with the assistance of the -waiting-maid, and by desperately intimidating them, in rendering them -faithless, each to the other, whereupon they take refuge in the sorry -consolation: _Cosi fan tutte_--so they all do. - -It is hard to imagine a subject more frivolous. But, leaving out of -consideration the tone of the time--a time when it was palpably evident -that the _deluge_ was impending, and when people thoughtlessly enjoyed -all that was to be enjoyed--Mozart did not treat it seriously. He -rather illustrated by it the masquerade character of the _opera buffa_, -made of it a species of magic-lantern performance, the excuse for, and -the basis, so to speak, of his dream-like music. And, indeed, that -music is wonderfully balmy, like a half-veiled sunny-cloudy morning, -on which every object is still concealed, or only duskily seen shining -through the air--such music as only a Mozart could write. But the -words were so trifling and frivolous that it was soon all over with -this opera, and all efforts to resuscitate it have proved vain. It was -not until life, which had become a deceptive play to the profoundly -thoughtful mind of our artist, arose before him like a picture of -fairy-land, that he was able to infuse into that picture the full -breath of the higher truth, which is not to be found in such a coarse, -hollow-eyed and worm-eaten reality as the wager of those two officers. -This brings us to the _Magic Flute_, and to the final perfection and -full concentration of Mozart’s purposes and powers. - -_Cosi fan tutte_ was given on the 26th of January, 1790, and was very -successful. The work was written entirely in the light style of Italian -music, so popular at the time. But the man who had prompted it never -saw it. The emperor Joseph was sick at the time it was given, and fell -a victim to the grief and worry of the last years of his reign, in -February, 1790, without having done anything further for Mozart. In -no year of his life did Mozart write fewer musical compositions. He -ascribes this fact himself to his extreme pecuniary distress. To his -shame, and still more to ours, who have come after him, he was obliged -to write, just at this time, to his “dearest friend,” Puchberg: “You -are right in not deigning to answer me. My importunity is too great.... -I can only beg you to consider my circumstances in all their bearings, -to pity and forgive my warm friendship and my trust in you.” Even -his industry did not avail him. His compositions found no purchasers. -They were above the comprehension of the people of his time, and thus -he was soon left entirely without the means of support. The keeper of -a neighboring inn surprised him one morning early, waltzing about his -room with Constance. They were without fuel, and took this strange way -of protecting themselves against the cold. O the mortal pilgrimage of -genius! - -A petition to the new emperor, Leopold I., and a memorial to an -archduke, were drawn up, the draft of each of which is still extant. -The court had its own orchestra in the court chapel of Saint Augustine; -and, mindful of the church of Saint Thomas, in Leipzig, Mozart says, -in his petition to the emperor: “A desire for fame, love of action, -and a conviction of my abilities, embolden me to petition for a second -place as _Capellmeister_, especially, as the very able _Capellmeister_, -Salieri, never devoted himself to the church style of music, while I -have made that style a favorite study from my youth.” He also requested -to be allowed to instruct the royal family “because of the little fame -the world had accorded him for his skill at the piano.” He had great -hopes because the emperor retained his petition. But Gluck’s former -patron was not friendly to Mozart, and, besides, it was scarcely to be -expected that any one who had stood in close relations with Joseph I. -would find favor in his eyes. - -On the 17th of May, 1790, the composer of _Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_ -was obliged to write: “I have now two scholars. I would like to -bring the number up to eight. Try to spread it abroad that I am -giving lessons.” In the meantime, he finished at least three quartets -for Frederick William I., and, through Swieten, received Handel’s -_Alexander’s Feast_, and the _Ode for Saint Cecilia’s day_, to -re-arrange. When Mozart saw that, on the occasion of the presence of -the King of Naples, in September, 1790, he was passed over entirely, -and that Salieri, as well as his pupil, Weigl, were preferred to him, -he became convinced that he would have to seek his fortune in foreign -parts. The emperor was to be crowned in Frankfurt, in October. Mozart -decided on going there. He took his eldest sister-in-law’s husband, the -violin player, Hofer, with him; for he had no doubt of his success on -this occasion. It was not vouchsafed to him, however, to attach himself -to the court as its composer of chamber music, and his silver-ware had -to go to the pawn-shop, that he might procure as much as a vehicle to -travel in. This journey for the purposes of his art--it was destined to -be his last--is described in his letters to his “best and dearest wife -of my heart.” They breathe the deepest melancholy. In reading them, -we cannot fail to see that the shadows of death were even now playing -about his head. - -As if he had not been the most industrious of workers, he writes to -his wife at this time: “I am now firmly resolved to do my very best -here, and then I shall be heartily glad to be with you again. What a -glorious life we shall live after this! I shall work--O how I shall -work! that I may never again get into such a fatal state in consequence -of unexpected contingencies.” He was, indeed, literally “immersed” -in music. His application had so distracted him, and his mind was so -unhinged in consequence, that he did not dare even to cut his own meat -in eating, lest he might injure himself. His strange contortions of -countenance and his strange gestures showed that his thoughts were far -from being in the world about him. He had fallen into the hands of -usurers, and that “un-christian class of people,” as he called them, -succeeded in involving him completely in their meshes. - -But, unfortunately, he was soon forced to the conviction, that, even in -Frankfort, there was not much for him to do. In a letter of the 30th -of September, 1790, to his wife, he says: “I am exceedingly glad to -go back to you again. If people could only look into my heart I would -be almost forced to blush. I am so cold, so icy cold to everything. -If you were with me, perhaps I would find more pleasure in the kind -treatment I receive from people; but, as it is, my heart is empty.” -On his journey home, he visited Mayence where Tischbein, Goethe’s -friend, painted his picture. He was going to Mannheim. “O the golden -days of a heart’s first love!” What thoughts must have possessed him -at this time! For, did not all Vienna know how happily he lived with -his Constance, while the unhappy relations of Aloysia with her husband -were matter of discussion in the public press? But why was it that the -man who, at that time, gave promise of such a career of happiness, was -now obliged to travel about the world in search of his daily bread? -The thought of this filled his soul with bitterness, at the very time -that he was invited to Munich, on account of the King of Naples, to a -concert at court. He writes: “A pretty honor for the court of Vienna -that the King has to hear me in a strange country!” And, indeed, the -court’s neglect of him was the chief cause of the sad plight he was in. - -His journey had cheered and strengthened him, but it had not improved -his pecuniary condition. He could, in consequence, redeem only a -portion of the silver-ware he had pledged, and the rest of it was lost -entirely through his too great confidence in a Masonic friend. At this -time, one of the directors of a London concert company, J. P. Salomon, -had come to Vienna to take Haydn--his old patron prince Esterhazy -having died--to London. Mozart was to follow after. His parting with -the “old papa” was touching in the extreme. We saw above how deep his -feeling of affection was for Mozart. The latter, with tears in his -eyes, and at a time when he might well have thought rather of his own -death, said to Haydn who was so much older: “This is probably our last -good-bye, in this life.” He divined only too well. Haydn shed bitter -tears of sorrow when he heard of Mozart’s premature death a year later, -in London. He now wrote: “Posterity will have to wait a hundred years -for another like him;” and again, many years afterwards: “Pardon me, -but I must always weep when I hear my dear Mozart’s name.” - -Mozart’s soul was deeply affected. But his mind soared into regions -beyond this life, where compensation for its inequalities would be -found. The debt that weighed upon him now was light in comparison -with the wealth he had labored so industriously and devotedly to give -the world, and which he was still bestowing on it. And hence it has -genuine melancholy, not pain nor plaintive sighs that filled his soul. -The golden light of consolation tinged all his work. A friend had once -written in his album. “Love! love! love! is the soul of genius.” He -now interpreted these words in the sense of eternal love and merciful -goodness. A spirit of wonderful sweetness and reconciliation henceforth -animates all his music. We need only remind the reader of the two -“fantasias” for four hands in F minor. They were written in the winter -of 1790-91 “at the urgent solicitation of a friend, a great lover of -music,” for an orchestration, in which one Count Dehm produced, for -the benefit of his countrymen, a number of distinguished historical -characters in wax; and which was intended for the “mausoleum” of the -celebrated Field-marshal Laudon. In it we reach the sunny heights of -Mozart’s genius, and see how he dived down into, and was absorbed by, -his own hard and chequered life, and how he was again lifted up to that -eternal spring from which his own as well as Bach’s sublime religious -art proceeded; the union of sanctified personal feeling to the sensible -presentation of the Eternal itself, to which the human soul looks up -in silent, earnest faith and resignation. It was time that another -opportunity were offered to Mozart to give complete expression to this -final and highest feeling of the human breast; and it was afforded him. -Mere accident led to what he aimed at. We are thus brought face to -face with his _Magic Flute_ and _Requiem_; works ushered in by those -fantasias, like bright morning stars, just as the quintet in G minor -had preceded his _Don Giovanni_. - -In order fully to appreciate the place these two works fill in Mozart’s -own life, we must turn our gaze backwards, for a time. - -We know what Mozart’s heart-felt religious feeling was. He disclosed -it in the frankest way whenever a proper occasion offered. He was just -as honestly attached to his Church. When he was starting on his great -Parisian journey, in the interest of his art, his father wrote him: -“May the grace of God attend you everywhere, may it never forsake you, -and it never will forsake you, if you are industrious to fulfill the -duties of a really good Catholic.” But at this time, the necessity -of examining the great questions of life, death and immortality, and -of disclosing to each other, in earnest conversation, the questions -of the soul, was very generally felt, by people even outside the -Church. And this all the more, because neither the Protestant nor -the Catholic service seemed able to satisfy the spiritual cravings -of the educated. The Protestant Church was divided into the opposing -parties of orthodoxy and rationalism. The Catholic Church had grown -torpid, stereotyped in dogma, and its worship had sunk almost to -the level of mere theatrical mummery. Oneness of spirit soon led to -leagues or unions and orders of which the order of Free Masons attained -the greatest importance. Of the men who constantly bore in mind the -intellectual life and elevation of the German people, Lessing, Wieland, -Herder and Goethe belonged to this order. And since it was its aim to -realize the highest virtues of Christianity, the purification of the -mind and heart by the sacrifice of self, and the assistance of all men, -it was impossible that a man like Mozart should not have felt drawn to -it. - -He joined the order in Vienna, and so true did the doctrine of the -sanctifying nature of death as the real “object and aim of life,” and -as the symbol of the self-sacrifice we should be ever ready to make -of ourselves, seem to him that he did not rest until he had induced -his father to join it also. They, indeed, destroyed the correspondence -with one another, on this subject. But the _Magic Flute_ bears witness -to the earnestness with which Mozart held to these sublime truths of -Christianity, even outside the Church. Its history is as follows: - -Schikaneder who, as far back as 1780, had known how to make use -of young Mozart in Salzburg, had been some years in Vienna, and -had a small wooden theatre in the Stahremberg _Freihaus_.[9] His -inexhaustible good humor made him very good company, and Mozart -had long enjoyed himself in the circle of his theatrical friends. -Schikaneder had frequently, when acting as theatrical director, -alternately reveled in superfluity, and almost starved. Now, in -consequence of the competition of the theatre in the Leopoldstadt, he -was brought to the very brink of ruin. This was in the spring of 1791. -He applied to Mozart for a “piece that would attract.” He said that he -had a proper subject, a _Magic Opera_, and that Mozart was the man to -write the music for it. It was an unparalleled piece of impudence, and -one which discloses Schikaneder’s whole character, to ask the emperor’s -composer, the author of _Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_ to write a _Magic_ -_Opera_ for a board booth in the suburbs. But Schikaneder knew the -world and knew Mozart. And then he was linked to him by the ties of -brotherhood in the order of Free Masons. To that brotherhood, Mozart -himself owed the steady assistance he received from Puchberg. And hence -his objections were soon overcome by the description the sly director -gave of his extreme poverty. “If we are unfortunate in the matter, it -will not be my fault,” Mozart replied; “for I never yet composed a -‘magic opera,’” and with these words, he went immediately to work. - -To the clown, Schikaneder, the bird-catcher, Papageno--who understood -so well how to describe the good natured, rather timid, fanciful, -easy-going nature of the average Viennese--was of more consequence than -the other nobler characters of the opera. But to the composer, the -chosen play was a reflection of life such as he had seen it in his own -soul for years, and above all, as it was in the heart of the loving -pair who, separated by adverse fate, were destined to meet again in -more intimate union; and in the _Dies Bildniss ist bezaubernd schoen_, -we hear once more the first heart-felt love notes of his youth, more -beautiful and more full of soul than ever. But we would call attention -also to the ideal charm and transformation of all the other powers -that appear in this magic play. Mozart really felt the existence of -higher powers, and that they preside over our lives. The rehearsals of -the first act began as early as July; for Schikaneder had the tact to -win Mozart over to himself completely. He had even given up the summer -house in the garden to him, and endeavored to provide him with the most -cheerful society. The accounts that have come down to us representing -Mozart as a frivolous pleasure-seeker originated about this time. But -we need only read the letters which he wrote during this same time -to his wife, who was not far away,--she was in Baden on account of -sickness,--to see that his soul was not in these outer pleasures. Yet -after all, what remained to him whom the great world disdained but the -little world about him? He was now literally at the bottom round of -the ladder, socially. The fact that he had, besides, to strain every -nerve to eke out a mere existence for his wife and child, had an effect -upon his entire system, which could be removed only by good-fellowship -and wine. The increased action and concentration of all the powers -of his mind and body, naturally called for in artistic and above all -in musical invention, necessarily leads to the craving for enhanced -enjoyment, if only for a few moments. And that Schikaneder knew how to -procure such moments of enjoyment for Mozart, that he might own him -entirely, and make the composer serve his purposes, we may infer from -the story, that after Mozart’s death, which followed so soon on this, -Schikaneder went about crying out: “His ghost pursues me wherever I go. -He is always before my eyes!” - -But more important than the question, how much of a pleasure-seeker -Mozart was, is the fact that his somewhat irregular mode of life, at -this time had a bad influence on him mentally. Two causes cooperated to -produce this effect. - -In May, 1791, he had solicited the position of assistant musician in -the church of St. Stephen, for the reason that “he could consider -himself more competent than others for the position, because of his -more thorough knowledge of the church style of music.” He had long -wished to find something to do in this sphere again, especially -since the new emperor had removed the narrow limits put to it by the -emperor, Joseph. Now he was asked to write a requiem, the most solemn -music in the worship of his church; and the request came to him under -the strangest, nay under mysterious circumstances. A long, lean man, -dressed in gray, with a very serious expression of countenance, handed -him the commission for the requiem in a very flattering letter. Mozart -communicated the matter to his wife, saying, at the same time, that -he longed to write some music of that kind once more, and to produce -a work which friends and foes alike might study after his death. He -took the commission and asked, as the entire price of the work, fifty -ducats, without however, fixing the time when the work should be -delivered. The messenger came once more, paid the money and promised an -additional sum, the composer to write precisely as he felt, and only -when he felt like writing, but to make no effort to discover the person -who gave the commission, since any effort of the kind would be in vain. - -We now know that it was one count Walsegg who gave the commission for -the work, intending to have it performed as his own at the death of his -wife. But the mysteriousness surrounding the commission took complete -hold of Mozart’s mind. He looked upon it as a commandment from on high. -His soul was already filled with thoughts that lead beyond the limits -of this life. Added to this was the other circumstance referred to -above. - -The first act of the _Magic Flute_ was finished as far as the finale -when Schikaneder was informed, to his sorrow, that the same thing -was being played with the greatest success by the competing theatre. -But he did not despair; it was resolved to change the point of the -play, to transform the wicked wizard who had stolen the princess whom -Tamino was to recover, into the sage and philanthropist Sarastro, and, -instead of the disconsolate mother, to put the evil-minded “queen of -the night” with her Moors and the three ladies in black. These changes -occasioned a noticeable disparity and much that was contradictory in -the opera as a whole; but, on the other hand, Mozart could now put -his whole soul into it, and to this incident we are indebted for the -most earnest and beautiful effusions of his mind and heart. The whole -work now centered about the idea of free-masonry. By the earnest trial -of their moral power, mortals must win their higher immortal portion, -and with it their happiness. The bonds that unite the two lovers -are purified and sanctified, transmuted into the more powerful and -lasting life-bonds of marriage, which freed from all passion by the -labors of love and resignation, discloses the real object and meaning -of love. And, indeed, who had ever more purely tasted the sweets of -this ever-virginal, marital love than Mozart, who even now, so many -years after he was married, closed a letter to his wife with these -words: “Good-bye, my dear, my only one. Two thousand nine hundred and -ninety-nine and a half kisses are flying from me through the air. Put -out your hands and catch them; they are waiting for you. A thousand -sweet kisses. Thy Mozart forever.” - -And now as to the character of Sarastro. Of all the human shapes -that Mozart had met in life, his father’s, after that of his beloved -Constance, had the firmest hold upon him, and this spite of his -misunderstandings of, and even want of confidence in, his son, in his -declining years. And had not his personal experience with men, next to -his artistic experiences, come to him, in real life and even in public -life, in the guise, so to speak, of the rulers of his existence? Was -not the emperor Joseph and the order of Free Masons the highest ideal -of purely humanitarian aims that his imagination could conceive? All -this had nothing whatever to do with his religious feelings. His Church -and his own personal faith were things apart. He thought, indeed, that -their abuses, as for instance the immoderate increase of the religious -orders, might be attacked, but that which constituted their very core, -and their truth, were sublimely beyond the reach of doubt. But while -these last, in that which is imperishable in them, now found their -holiest expression in the _Requiem_, it could not but be, that those -parts of the new opera descriptive of those higher purely human aims, -should participate in the solemn sacred tones that poured from Mozart’s -soul. And hence we need not hesitate to say that the _Requiem_ and the -_Magic Flute_ tell us all that Mozart’s heart knew and felt of heaven -and of earth, that it transfigured the earthly in the light of heaven, -and sought from heaven to bring down peace to earth. We know this both -from the chorus: _O goldene Ruh’ steig hernieder, Kehr in den Menschen -Herzen wieder_, as well as from Tamino’s painful, longing exclamation: -_O ew’ge Nacht, wann wirst du schwinden? Wann wird das Licht mein Auge -finden?_ It is the expression of a homesickness divine, a craving for -God, the highest good for the human soul. - -Obstacle after obstacle was placed in the way of the completion of -both works. The Bohemians had ordered a great opera, _Titus the Mild_, -for Leopold’s coronation. There were only a few weeks remaining during -which it could be written. Mozart started immediately on his journey. -It was the middle of August. Constance again accompanied him. As they -were entering the carriage, the mysterious messenger in gray stood -before them. Mozart quieted him with the assurance that the _Requiem_ -was the first task that would engage him after his return. Yet this -seemed to him a new warning not to postpone the last work of his -life; for such he considered the _Requiem_ to be. He felt unwell even -now. He overworked himself in Prague--_Titus_ was written and put -in rehearsal within a fortnight--and thus accelerated the breaking -down of his already over-taxed, vital energies. Added to this was the -want of success of the opera. He had this time forgotten the rule -“hasten slowly,” and the quintet in great dramatic style in the first -finale, could not conceal from his Prague audience, who were certainly -indulgent, the absence of the artist’s peculiar skill. Titus remained -an _opera seria_, a bundle of arias, and the applause Mozart was wont -to meet with, failed him, even in Prague. He was very much depressed in -consequence. He again, indeed, recovered his native cheerfulness, but -in leaving Prague the tears flowed abundantly. He had a presentiment -that he would never see those friends again. - -In the middle of September, he was in Vienna once more. The _Magic -Flute_ was to be put on the stage, and might serve to make up what he -had lost of reputation in Prague. Besides, it was part of his great -life task. King Leopold had abolished the order of Free Masons, and -it, therefore, now seemed to Mozart, simply a duty he owed to his -order to put its humane aims in their true light, by every means in -his power. And what a refulgence streams from the choruses of the -second act, from the overture which, as well as the introductory march -of the same act, so suggestive of _Idomeneo_, was only just written! -“Through night to light!”--such is the sense in which Mozart wrote -and understood the entire work, the accidental garb of which did -not mislead him in the least. Into one of the pieces descriptive of -this earnestness of moral trial of the heart, Mozart went as far as -to weave a Protestant chorale. It is the song of the _Geharnischten -Maenner_--the “men in mail;” and its “figuration” shows that Mozart -had added Bach’s artistic characteristics to his own. But he had also -appropriated his spirit of deep piety and genuine virtue! Nothing -exhibits more clearly how solemn and high his vocation as an artist was -to him, nor proves more forcibly that, for him, there was no secluded -spot where alone the ideal and the divine were to be taught. The ideal -and the divine should, like the sun, shed their rays everywhere, and -the stage was the place where our artist felt that he could address, -from his inmost heart, his nation and his contemporaries. - -And what a work we have before us here! There never was a greater -contrast between an ideal work of art and the place and occasion to -which it owed its origin, than between the _Magic Flute_, one of the -starting-points of the most ideal efforts of the German nation, and the -audiences of a board booth in a suburb of Vienna! - -We must, indeed, leave the trivialities and absurdities of the libretto -out of consideration. And even here, Mozart’s music succeeded in -turning deformity into ideal beauty; and this spite of the fact that -the “bird-catcher,” Schikaneder, is said to have suggested many of the -melodies to him which have since come into such universal favor. There -is still a note of his extant in which we read: “Dear Wolfgang! In the -meantime, I return your pa-pa-pa to you. I find it about right. It will -do. We shall meet this evening. Yours--Schikaneder.” A church hymn was -afterwards put to the air: _Bei Maennern welche Liebe fuehlen_. How -ideal must not those lines have been when the higher moral sentiments -could be awakened by so simple an air! - -That best known of all solemn songs: _In diesen heil’gen Hallen_, has -this very tone of the dignity of a heart that has mastered itself, and -wisely and lovingly thinks only of humanity. Only the fact that it is -as well known and as familiar to us as light and air, allows us to -forget that it is as lustrous as the one and as ethereal as the other. -The character of Sarastro personifies what Mozart conceived to be the -deeper meaning of life. Pamina is the most beautiful expression of -pure love and tenderness. Tamino is the ideal character of a youth who -restrains his own feelings under life’s stern rule--and thus insures -for himself and those confided to him by fate, the happiness of life. -We need only ask the attention of the reader to the exclamation in the -conversation with the priest, _der Lieb und Tugend Eigenthum!_--“love’s -and virtue’s prize!” With the fullest expression of heart-felt -conviction, these few tones describe the whole moral stability of -Mozart’s nature. - -It is not hard to see in what relation these characters stand to the -heroes and female characters of Richard Wagner, and it is not without -reason that Francz List has called the _Ring of the Niebelungen_ the -_Magic Flute_ of our day. Wagner here filled out the clear outline -of the human ideals which Mozart drew in the _Magic Flute_ from his -knowledge of the German nature. All the sublime ideal powers which -move and lead us, from the conscious emotions of our own hearts to the -elemental, primeval forces which determine our will are here found, in -the faintest outlines, it is true, but still as the first features of -the surest characterization; and as Osmin points to Fafner, the “three -boys” who lead Tamino point to the three daughters of the Rhine who -warn Siegfried of his death. It was the first time that that which -lives in every human breast as the consciousness of the most intimate -knowledge of the real constitution of the world, and fills us with the -feeling of the eternal, was portrayed with such Rafaelite, ideal art in -opera. This it is that gives to the whole work its peculiar tone. Like -the golden light of creation’s first morning, it plays about the opera -of the _Magic Flute_. - -The reception accorded to the work, the popularity of which is -unequalled in any nation, was in keeping with its merits. The first -representation of it took place on the 30th of September, under -Mozart’s own direction. After the overture, the audience was perfectly -motionless: for who could have expected such solemn, thrilling notes -in a _Magic opera_? Schenk, who afterwards composed the _Dorfbarbier_, -the teacher of Beethoven, who still occupied a place in the orchestra, -crept up to the director’s chair, and kissed Mozart’s hand, who, -continuing to beat time with the other, gave him a friendly look -of recognition and gently stroked his cheek. Our artist felt that, -even here, in this board booth, he was in his own dear Vienna, in -his own beloved Austria. But, even after the close of the first act, -the applause was not great, and it is said that Mozart went pale and -perplexed to Schikaneder, who quieted and consoled him. During the -second act, however, this motley multitude discovered the message that -this music conveyed to the soul. It was, indeed, with difficulty that -Mozart could now be moved to appear on the stage. It wounded him to -the quick to think that the best he could do was so little appreciated. -But he was soon able to write to his “best and dearest wife” at Baden, -that, spite of the fact that it was mail day, the “opera was played -before a very full house and met with the usual applause.” His feeling -for the work is expressed at the close of the letter, in the words of -the incomparable terzetto, when Sarastro dismisses the two lovers to -make proof of their love: “The hour is striking farewell! we shall -meet again.” With the unconcern of his own magnanimity he himself -ushered in his mortal enemy, Salieri, and the latter found the work -“worthy of being produced before the greatest monarch at the greatest -festivities.” And how frequently this very thing has happened since! -But the people continue Mozart’s real sovereign, the people in the most -ingenuous innocence of their every impulse and emotion and of the most -ideal view of life’s ultimate nature. And Mozart belongs to the people. -To them, he is not dead. - -But the hour of our parting ourselves with this phenomenal artist and -phenomenal man will soon strike. - -He now worked uninterruptedly on his _Requiem_, and the theatre was -left to a younger _Capellmeister_. He frequently wrote until two -o’clock in the morning. He even refused to give lessons in music to a -lady for a very dear Vienna friend. He had, he said, a piece of work in -hand which was very urgent and which he had very much at heart; and, -until it was finished, he could do nothing else. Even while engaged on -the last pieces of the _Magic Flute_, such as the march and the chorus, -“O Isis and Osiris,” he sometimes sank exhausted in his chair, and had -short fits of fainting; for his whole heart and soul were wrapped up in -his work. But he cared less than ever now about physical exhaustion, -since he was directly concerned with the erection of a worthy monument -to his sentiment and feeling of the Eternal in the holy sanctuary -itself. He had an earnest feeling of the terror of guilt, even if the -feeling seemed to him no more than a weakness. But he felt also, and -infinitely more deeply, the power of forgiving love which was the life -of his own soul. That mighty mediæval, Christian poem, the _Dies irae_, -inspired and stimulated his fancy. He wished to show the world its -own painfully tragic meaning and its blessed reconciliation. Certain -it is that no composer ever went to work with a more honest intention -to give a true artistic form to religious expression in the mass for -the dead. True, it is only certain parts that are in complete keeping -with this deep, religious feeling; while his secular compositions are -throughout appropriate to the subject treated. The explanation of this -difference is the fact, that Mozart was too long and too exclusively -engaged in writing operatic music, and that the operatic character had, -as we have already seen, crept into the music which was now in favor -in the service of the Catholic Church. But these parts, especially the -thrilling accords descriptive of man’s consciousness of guilt, the -_Gedenke gnaedig meines Endes_, and the close of the _Confutatis_, the -touching prayer for loving mercy in the _Lacrimosa_--these parts were -in entire harmony with the religious feeling of their author and with -his unsurpassed artistic power. And this it was that made the work so -very dear to himself. It was his favorite, his dying song. Art had -subsequently to take another and very different direction in this -department of music, but the language of the heart overflowing with the -feelings of its God and of the purest confidence in his undying love, -will always be heard in this _Requiem_. That language is its very soul. - -We are rapidly approaching the end. The funeral bell is already -tolling. Melancholy is the last picture in the life of an artist who -never had an equal. - -Constance observed the growing infirmity and melancholy of her beloved -husband with increasing alarm. She did all in her power to take him -away from his work and to brighten him up by cheerful society. But -Mozart, who was wont to be so social, was turned in upon himself, -depressed, and could give only wandering answers to the questions put -to him. She rode out into the open air with him. Nature had always -had the effect of relieving and cheering him, so that he worked best -traveling, when he insisted on having his “portefeuille,” as he called -his leather case filled with music paper, in the side-fob of the -carriage, at hand. They rode out in this manner, one beautiful November -day, into the _Prater_. The aspect of dying nature and the falling -of the leaves suggested to him thoughts of the end of all things. He -now began to speak of death, and said, with tears in his eyes: “I know -very well I am writing the _Requiem_ for myself. I am too conscious -of myself. Some one must have poisoned me; I cannot rid myself of -that thought.” His utter debility without any noticeable external -cause readily suggested that suspicion. He could not imagine that his -strength had been exhausted by sheer intellectual labor. And then, had -not care and sorrow gnawed at his vitals for years? - -Constance was exceedingly alarmed, and succeeded in getting the score -of the _Requiem_ from him. She consulted a physician, who recommended -complete rest. This had so favorable an effect, in a short time, that -Mozart was able to write the cantate _Das Lob der Freundschaft_--“the -praise of friendship”--for a newly established lodge, and, shortly -afterwards, to direct its production himself. The success of the -work,--which itself bears internal evidence to a feeling of greater -calmness and cheerfulness in its author--had a refreshing and -comforting effect upon him. He now declared his suspicions that he had -been poisoned, the effect of his ill-health, and demanded the _Requiem_ -back. But a few days later, he again fell a victim to his melancholy -feelings, and his strength left him. “I feel that I shall soon have -done with music,” he said one morning to the faithful person who had -once surprised him waltzing about his room with Constance, gave him -back his wine and made an appointment to meet him next morning on some -matters of business. When the latter reached the threshold of Mozart’s -house, on the following day, he was met by the servant maid with the -news that her master had been taken seriously sick during the night. -Mozart himself looked at him fixedly from his bed, and said: “Nothing -to-day, Joseph. To-day we have to do with doctors and apothecaries.” - -He did not leave his bed any more after this. It was not long before -worse symptoms appeared. His consciousness did not leave him for a -moment. Neither did his loving sweetness and kindness. But the thought -of his wife and children filled his heart with melancholy. New and -better prospects were now before him. The Hungarian nobility and -some rich Amsterdam gentlemen, lovers of music, asked him to write -compositions for them, in consideration of a large annual honorarium. -And then there was the success of the _Magic Flute_, in which he was -deeply interested. “Now the first act is over! Now they have come to -the place _Dir, grosse Koenigin der Nacht_”--he was wont to say in the -evening with the watch at hand. The day before his death, he exclaimed: -“Constance, if I could only hear my dear _Magic Flute_ once more!” -And he hummed away the air of the “bird-catcher,” in a voice that was -scarcely audible. - -But he had the _Requiem_ still more at heart, and he had so far -sketched its principal features, that his pupil, Suessmayer who -had also written the recitative for Titus was subsequently able to -complete it. During the afternoon that preceded the last night of his -life, he had the score of the _Requiem_ brought to him in bed. The -Tamino of Schikaneder’s troop took the soprano, Sarastro the bass, his -brother-in-law, Hofer the tenor, and Mozart, as usual, the alto. They -sang until they reached the _Lacrimosa_ when Mozart burst into tears -and put the score aside. The thought of his approaching end and of -God’s all-merciful, eternal love, filled his heart with an unspeakable -feeling which made it overflow with a melancholy joy. This is plainly -evident from the infinitely mild, conciliating tones in which Mozart -has described that day of tears on which eternal grace and goodness are -to make compensation for the eternal guilt of men. - -His sister-in-law, Sophie, came in the evening. He said to her: “Ah, my -dear, good Sophie, how glad I am you are here! You must stay to-night, -and see me die. I have the death-taste on my tongue. I have the odor -of death in my nostrils. And who will then help my dear Constance?” -Constance hereupon asked her sister to go for a clergyman, but it was -no easy matter to induce one to come. The patient was a Free Mason, and -the order of Free Masons was opposed to many of the institutions of the -Church. - -When she returned she found Suessmayer at his bedside. Mozart was -explaining to him how to finish the _Requiem_, remarking as he did -so: “Did I not say that I was writing it for myself?” In the evening, -the crisis came. Cold applications to his burning head so shattered -him that he did not regain consciousness any more. Thirty-five years -after his death, his sister-in-law Sophie wrote: “The last thing he -did was to endeavor to imitate the kettle-drums in the _Requiem_. I -can hear him still.” About midnight he raised himself up. His eyes had -a fixed gaze. He then turned his head towards the wall and seemed to -drop asleep. He died at one o’clock in the morning, on the 5th day of -December, 1791. - -The last account we have of him says: “It is impossible for me to -describe with what an expression of infinite wretchedness his devoted -wife cast herself on her knees and called on the Almighty for aid.” -She threw herself on his bed, that she might die of the same sickness, -as if the cause of his death was some accidental disease. The three -medical opinions assigned each a different cause for Mozart’s premature -death--inflammation of the brain, purple fever and dropsy! - -The people walked about his house in the _Rauhenstein’gasse_ in crowds -and wept. The poem of the order of Free Masons on the occasion refers, -in touching terms, to the way in which he carried assistance to many -a poor widow’s hut. The owner of the art-cabinet for whom the two -fantasias in F minor were written, came and took an impression of his -“pale, dead face” in plaster of Paris. The two sublime funeral odes -were now made to serve as his own mausoleum. - -Van Swieten took charge of his burial. But as he left only sixty -guldens, a common grave had to be selected for his body; and thus it -happens that we do not know to-day where Mozart’s last resting place -is. When Constance, sick and sorrowful, went to the churchyard, some -time after the grave-digger had been replaced by another, who could not -point out where all that was mortal of our artist lay. Not a friend -followed his bier to the cemetery. All turned back at the gate, on -account of the bad weather. Mozart’s skull, however, was saved, and is -preserved in Vienna. The churchyard keeper’s son secretly abstracted it -from the grave. - -As the parting words of our great artist, who, spite of all the sorrows -he had to bear, preserved, throughout a cheerful, joyous nature, we -may cite the following lines from a note of his, written near the close -of his life--lines eloquently indicative of his sweet composure during -his last days. They run thus: “Dear sir,” he replies to the admonitions -of a friend--the original autograph, in Italian, is preserved in -London--“willingly would I follow your advice, but how can I do it? -My brain is distracted. It is with difficulty that I can collect my -thoughts, and I cannot dismiss the picture of that unknown man from -my mind. He is ever before me, praying for, urging me for, demanding -that _Requiem_. I continue working because work does not exhaust me as -much as the absence of employment. I know by my feelings that my hour -has come. It is striking even now. I am in the region of death. I have -reached my end, without having reaped the pleasure my talent should -have brought me. And yet life was so beautiful! My career opened under -such happy auspices; but one cannot change his destiny. No one can fix -the number of his days. We must be resigned and do what Providence -decrees.” - - “Wir wandeln durch des Tones Macht - Froh durch des Todes duestre Nacht.” - -Thus gravely and solemnly sing the soulfull and ideally transfigured -lovers in the _Magic Flute_--Mozart’s own confession. It is the -expression of the new and deep spring of life given to humanity in his -music; and Mozart remained to his latest breath a consecrated priest -of the purifying and sanctifying influence of his own melodies. His -creations will live as long as humanity clings to the life of its own -soul, and seeks higher nutriment for that life. - - -THE END. - - - - -TALES FROM FOREIGN TONGUES, - -COMPRISING - - =MEMORIES; A STORY OF GERMAN LOVE.= - BY MAX MÜLLER. - - =GRAZIELLA; A STORY OF ITALIAN LOVE.= - BY A. DE LAMARTINE. - - =MARIE; A STORY OF RUSSIAN LOVE.= - BY ALEX. PUSHKIN. - - =MADELEINE; A STORY OF FRENCH LOVE.= - BY JULES SANDEAU. - - - _In neat box, per set_, _Price, $6.00._ - - _Sold separately, per volume_, _Price, $1.50._ - -Of “Memories” the London _Academy_ says: “It is a prose poem. * * * It -is seldom that a powerful intellect produces any work, however small, -that does not bear some marks of its special bent, and the traces of -research and philosophy in this little story are apparent, while its -beauty and pathos show us a fresh phase of a many-sided mind, to which -we already owe large debts of gratitude.” - -Of “Graziella” the Chicago _Tribune_ says: “It glows with love of the -beautiful in all nature. * * * It is pure literature, a perfect story, -couched in perfect words. The sentences have the rhythm and flow, -the sweetness and tender fancy of the original. It is uniform with -‘Memories,’ and it should stand side by side with that on the shelves -of every lover of pure, strong thoughts, put in pure, strong words. -‘Graziella’ is a book to be loved.” - -Of “Marie” the Cincinnati _Gazette_ says: “This is a Russian love tale, -written by a Russian poet. It is one of the purest, sweetest little -narratives that we have read for a long time. It is a little classic, -and a Russian classic, too. That is one of its charms, that it is so -distinctively Russian. We catch the very breezes of the Steppes, and -meet, face to face, the high-souled, simple minded Russian.” - -Of “Madeleine” the New York _Evening Telegram_ says: “More than thirty -years ago it received the honor of a prize from the French Academy and -has since almost become a French classic. It abounds both in pathos -and wit. Above all, it is a pure story, dealing with love of the most -exalted kind. It is, indeed, a wonder that a tale so fresh, so sweet, -so pure as this has not sooner been introduced to the English-speaking -public.” - - - - -“_It ought to be in the hands of every scholar and of every -schoolboy._”--_Saturday Review, London._ - - -Tales of Ancient Greece. - -BY THE REV. SIR G. W. COX, BART., M.A., - -Trinity College, Oxford. - - _12mo., extra cloth, black and gilt_, _Price, $1.60._ - -“Written apparently for young readers, it yet possesses a charm of -manner which will recommend it to all.”--_The Examiner, London._ - -“It is only when we take up such a book as this, that we realize how -rich in interest is the mythology of Greece.”--_Inquirer, Philadelphia._ - -“Admirable in style, and level with a child’s comprehension. These -versions might well find a place in every family.”--_The Nation, New -York._ - -“The author invests these stories with a charm of narrative entirely -peculiar. The book is a rich one in every way.”--_Standard, Chicago._ - -“In Mr. Cox will be found yet another name to be enrolled among those -English writers who have vindicated for this country an honorable rank -in the investigation of Greek history.”--_Edinburgh Review._ - -“It is doubtful if these tales, antedating history in their origin, -and yet fresh with all the charms of youth to all who read them for -the first time, were ever before presented in so chaste and popular -form.”--_Golden Rule, Boston._ - -“The grace with which these old tales of the mythology are re-told -makes them as enchanting to the young as familiar fairy tales, or -the ‘Arabian Nights.’ * * * We do not know of a Christmas book which -promises more lasting pleasures.”--_Publishers’ Weekly._ - -“Its exterior fits it to adorn the drawing-room table, while its -contents are adapted to the entertainment of the most cultivated -intelligence. * * * The book is a scholarly production, and a welcome -addition to a department of literature that is thus far quite too -scantily furnished.”--_Tribune, Chicago._ - - - - -SHORT HISTORY OF FRANCE, - -FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. - -BY MISS E. S. KIRKLAND. - -AUTHOR OF “SIX LITTLE COOKS,” “DORA’S HOUSEKEEPING,” ETC. - - _12mo., extra cloth, black and gilt_, _Price, $1.50._ - - -“A very ably written sketch of French history, from the earliest times -to the foundation of the existing Republic.”--_Cincinnati Gazette._ - -“The narrative is not dry on a single page, and the little -history may be commended as the best of its kind that has yet -appeared.”--_Bulletin, Philadelphia._ - -“A book both instructive and entertaining. It is not a dry compendium -of dates and facts, but a charmingly written history.”--_Christian -Union, New York._ - -“After a careful examination of its contents, we are able to -conscientiously give it our heartiest commendation. We know no -elementary history of France that can at all be compared with -it.”--_Living Church._ - -“A spirited and entertaining sketch of the French people and -nation--one that will seize and hold the attention of all bright -boys and girls who have a chance to read it.”--_Sunday Afternoon, -Springfield_, (_Mass._) - -“We find its descriptions universally good, that it is admirably simple -and direct in style, without waste of words or timidity of opinion. -The book represents a great deal of patient labor and conscientious -study.”--_Courant, Hartford, Ct._ - -“Miss Kirkland has composed her ‘Short History of France’ in the way -in which a history for young people ought to be written; that is, she -has aimed to present a consecutive and agreeable story, from which the -reader can not only learn the names of kings and the succession of -events, but can also receive a vivid and permanent impression as to the -characters, modes of life, and the spirit of different periods.”--_The -Nation, N. Y._ - - - - -“_An exceedingly interesting narrative of an extraordinary life._”--The -Standard. - - -LIFE OF BENEDICT ARNOLD: - -HIS PATRIOTISM AND HIS TREASON. - -BY HON. I. N. ARNOLD, - -AUTHOR OF “LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN.” - - _Crown, 8vo., with Portrait_, _Price, $2.50._ - - -This Life of Arnold is full of new facts, now first given to the -public. Manuscripts from the family of Arnold, in England and in -Canada, and the Shippen manuscripts, have enabled the author to make -new contributions to Revolutionary history of great interest. The -unpublished manuscripts of General Schuyler, to which the author has -had access, has thrown new light upon the expedition to Canada and the -campaign against Burgoyne. The author does not, to any extent, excuse -Arnold’s treason, but aims to do full justice to him as a soldier and -patriot. For Arnold, the traitor, he has no plea but “guilty;” for -Arnold, the soldier and patriot, he asks a hearing and justice. - -“The biographer discriminates fairly between Arnold’s patriotism and -baseness; and while exhibiting the former and the splendid services by -which it was illustrated, with generous earnestness, does not in any -degree extenuate the turpitude of the other.”--_Harper’s Monthly._ - -“The public is the gainer (by this book), as additional light is -thrown on the prominent actors and events of history. * * * Bancroft -erroneously asserts that Arnold was not present at the first battle -of Saratoga. Upon this point the author has justice and right on his -side, and to Arnold, rather than to Gates, the success of this decisive -campaign seems greatly attributable.”--_New England Historical and -Genealogical Register._ - -“After a careful perusal of the work, it seems to us that Mr. Arnold -has accomplished his task wonderfully well. * * * It is rarely that one -meets in the pages of biographical literature a nobler woman than was -the devoted wife of Benedict Arnold; she mourned his fallen greatness, -but even in his ignominity was faithful to the vows by which she had -sworn to love and care for him until death.”--_Traveller, Boston._ - - -_Sold by booksellers, or mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price, by_ - -JANSEN, McCLURG & CO., Publishers, Chicago, Ill. - - - - -FOOTNOTES: - - - [1] A _capellmeister_ is the director of a choir or band. - - [2] Mozart Museum. - - [3] My heart and thy sweet voice, dear, - Understand each other too well--too well. - - [4] “I gladly leave the maiden who doesn’t care for me.” - - [5] “This picture is charmingly beautiful.” - - [6] “O how anxiously, O how fiery!” - - [7] Ah, I loved and was so happy. - - [8] When the tears of joy are flowing. - - [9] A _Freihaus_ is a house subject to a jurisdiction other than that - in which it is situated. - - - - -TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES: - - - Italicized text is surrounded by underscores: _italics_. - - Emboldened text is surrounded by equals signs: =bold=. - - Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. - - Inconsistencies in hyphenation have been standardized. - - Archaic or alternate spelling has been retained from the original. - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF MOZART *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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