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VOLUME I.
VOLUME I.
PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION. I HAVE been asked to say a few words by way of welcome to the translation of Jahn's Life of Mozart, and I do so with pleasure. The book has been long familiar to me, and I regard its appearance in an English dress as an event in our musical history. It will be a great boon to students and lovers of music, and it shows how much the study of music has advanced among us when so large and serious a work is sufficiently appreciated to repay the heavy expense attendant
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FAC-SIMILES
FAC-SIMILES
Fac-similé No. 1 is of Mozart's letter to Bullinger from Paris, after the death of his mother (see Vol. II., p. 53). Fac-simile No. 2 is of the original MS. of "Das Veil-chen," now in the possession of Mr. Speyer, of Herne Hill (see Vol. II., p. 373). Fac-similes Nos. 3 and 4 are sketches illustrative of Mozart's method of composing. Sketch I. is described in Vol. II., p. 425. Sketch II. is of part of Denis's Ode, the words of which are given below; it is noticed in Vol. II., pp. 370, 424: CONTE
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CHAPTER XVIII. FRENCH OPERA.
CHAPTER XVIII. FRENCH OPERA.
MOZART and his mother left Mannheim on March 14, and arrived in Paris on the 23rd, after a journey of nine days and a-half. "We thought we should never get through it," writes Wolfgang (March 24, 1778), 1 "and I never in my life was so tired. You can imagine what it was to leave Mannheim and all our dear, good friends there, and to be obliged to exist for ten days without a single soul even to speak to. God be praised, however, we are now at our journey's end. I am in hopes that, with His help,
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INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION. To Professor Gustav Hartenstein. MY DEAR FRIEND,—I have little doubt that the afternoon of November 7, 1847, is as fresh in your memory as in my own. We had assembled in the Johan-niskirche to accompany the remains of Mendelssohn on their last sad journey, and by chance (for I had not been long in Leipzig, and my acquaintance with you was slight) we walked side by side in the long line of mourners. From grief at the early loss of a master, whose cultivation, self-discipline, and en
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CHAPTER XXXIV. MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
CHAPTER XXXIV. MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
NEXT to pianoforte music for amateur musical entertainments, the quartet for stringed instruments was the favourite form of chamber music. The performers were occasionally highly cultivated amateurs, but more often professional musicians, thus giving scope for more pretentious compositions. The comparatively small expense involved enabled others besides noblemen, even those of the citizen class who were so inclined, to include quartet-playing among their regular entertainments. 1 Jos. Haydn was,
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CHAPTER XIX. PARIS, 1778.
CHAPTER XIX. PARIS, 1778.
SUCH was the condition of musical affairs at the time of Mozart's arrival in Paris. The successes on either side, and the violence of partisan controversy, had, as might have been expected, prevented any decisive conclusion of the dispute. We know now that Gluck remained master of the field, and that the influence of Lully and Rameau sinking henceforth into oblivion, Gluck determined the character of French opera in all its essential points as it still exists, in spite of its many Italian modifi
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INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.
INTRODUCTION TO THE SECOND EDITION.
MY DEAR FRIEND,—I can scarcely describe to you the depression of spirits with which I laid aside my pen at the close of my foregoing letter to you. When I looked at the thick volume before me, which had grown so wonderfully under my hands, and reflected that several others were to follow, I felt a misgiving amounting to certainty that my work was ill-planned, badly executed, or altogether out of place. I should not have believed any one who had prophesied the result that was actually to follow.
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CHAPTER XXXV. MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.
CHAPTER XXXV. MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.
THE unexampled success of the "Entführung," which brought fame to the composer and pecuniary gain to the theatrical management, justified Mozart in his expectation that the Emperor, having called German opera into existence, 1 would commission him to further its prosperous career. He was indeed offered an opera, but the libretto, ''Welches ist die beste Nation?" was such miserable trash, that Mozart would not waste his music on it. Umlauf composed it, but it was hissed off the stage; and Mozart
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CHAPTER XX. THE RETURN HOME.
CHAPTER XX. THE RETURN HOME.
WOLFGANG'S father expected that he would perform his homeward journey without any unnecessary delay, and his anxiety became serious when day after day passed and he received no tidings of his son's approach to Strasburg. "I confessed and communicated together with your sister," he writes (October 19, 1778), "and earnestly prayed for your preservation; good old Bullinger prayed for you daily in the holy mass." The fact was, that instead of providing Mozart with means to travel by the diligence, w
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TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
TRANSLATOR'S NOTE.
CONSIDERABLE doubt has existed in the mind of the translator as to the proper English equivalent for the word "clavier" throughout this work. Clavier is a generic term in German, and is used to denote any keyed instrument, whether harpsichord, clavichord, or pianoforte. Mozart's compositions for the clavier are equally available for all these instruments, and in his early years he performed indifferently on the harpsichord or clavichord. His first introduction to the pianoforte was at Augsburg,
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CHAPTER XXXVI. "LE NOZZE DI FIGARO."
CHAPTER XXXVI. "LE NOZZE DI FIGARO."
THE choice of Beaumarchais' comedy "Le Mariage de Figaro, ou La Folle Journée," as a subject for operatic treatment, was deliberately made by Mozart himself. 1 The LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO. play had excited unusual interest, both on account of the name and political position of the author and of the curious circumstances under which it had been produced in Paris. Beaumarchais had offered his comedy, towards the end of 1781, to the Théätre-Français, where it was readily accepted. But rumours prejudic
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CHAPTER XXI. COURT SERVICE IN SALZBURG.
CHAPTER XXI. COURT SERVICE IN SALZBURG.
MOZART was welcomed to the paternal roof with open arms; everything was prepared for his reception; "a convenient cupboard and the clavichord were placed in his room," the cook Theresa had cooked capons without number, the high steward Count von Firmian (Vol. I., p. 345) offered him his horses, and Dr. Prexl also placed his "beautiful MOZART'S DISTASTE TO SALZBURG. bay mare" at his disposal; in short, Mozart's return home was a happy and triumphant event to all the good friends of his youth. We
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CHAPTER XXII. "IDOMENEO."
CHAPTER XXII. "IDOMENEO."
ALTHOUGH in his earlier years Mozart's career had, as we have seen, been hindered by the circumstances IDOMENEO. to which he was forced to succumb at Salzburg, yet the severe discipline to which he was subjected must have been in many respects useful during his period of education. Since his return from his travels, however, his Salzburg surroundings were utterly oppressive and distasteful to him. His time of training was over; what he now required was freedom, work worthy of his powers, and the
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CHAPTER I. — CHILDHOOD
CHAPTER I. — CHILDHOOD
WOLFGANG AMADE MOZART came of a family belonging originally to the artisan class. We find his ancestors settled in Augsburg early in the seventeenth century, and following their calling there without any great success. 1 His grandfather, Johann Georg Mozart, a bookbinder, married, October 7, 1708, Anna Maria Peterin, the widow of another bookbinder, Augustin Banneger. 2 From this union sprang two daughters and three sons, viz.: Fr. Joseph Ignaz, Franz Alois (who carried on his father's trade in
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CHAPTER XXXVII. MOZART IN PRAGUE.
CHAPTER XXXVII. MOZART IN PRAGUE.
THE success of "Figaro" did not materially improve Mozart's position in Vienna. He lived, it is true, in very pleasant intercourse with a large circle of friends, especially with the members of the Jacquin family (Vol. II., p. 357), but the necessity he was under of earning his living as a music teacher and virtuoso was very galling to him. "You happy man!" said he to Gyrowetz, who was setting out on a journey to Italy; "as for me, I am off now to give a lesson, to earn my bread." 1 A glance at
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CHAPTER XXIII. RELEASE.
CHAPTER XXIII. RELEASE.
THE summons to Vienna appeared like the fulfilment of Mozart's ardent and long-deferred wish; but his relation to the Archbishop, among whose followers he was obliged to consider himself, was only too well calculated to turn his delight into disappointment. He had apparently the best opportunity of gaining admission to the most distinguished society, and of earning fame and money in a city where music was the prevailing means of entertainment. But the Archbishop, desirous as he was to shine by v
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CHAPTER XXXVIII. "DON GIOVANNI."
CHAPTER XXXVIII. "DON GIOVANNI."
MOZART had been so well satisfied with Da Ponte's libretto for "Figaro" that he had no hesitation in intrusting the new libretto to him, and immediately on his return to Vienna they consulted together as to the choice of subject. Da Ponte, fully convinced of the many-sidedness of Mozart's genius, proposed "Don Giovanni," and Mozart at once agreed to it. Da Ponte relates, 1 with an amusing amount of swagger, that he was engaged at one and the same time on "Tarar" for Salieri, on the "Arbore di Di
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CHAPTER II. EARLY JOURNEYS
CHAPTER II. EARLY JOURNEYS
It was in January of the year 1762 that L. Mozart first turned to account the precocious talent of his children in an expedition to Munich. Their visit extended over three weeks, and both Wolfgang and his sister were summoned to play before the Elector, and were well received everywhere. Their success encouraged their father to a bolder attempt, and on September 19, of the same year, they set out for Vienna. 1 Their journey was made by easy stages. At Passau they remained for five days, at the r
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CHAPTER XXIV. FIRST ATTEMPTS IN VIENNA.
CHAPTER XXIV. FIRST ATTEMPTS IN VIENNA.
WHEN Mozart's withdrawal from the service of the Archbishop had become an established fact, the latter was anxious to show the world that it lay in his power to attract equally distinguished artists to his service, and he offered a salary of one thousand gulden to Leop. Kozeluch, who was considered the first clavier-player in Vienna, if he would come to Salzburg. Kozeluch refused, as Mozart wrote to his father (July 4, 1781), because he was better off in Vienna, and he had said to his friends: "
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CHAPTER XXXIX. OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.
CHAPTER XXXIX. OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.
FROM a practical point of view, Mozart's "Don Giovanni" did no more than his "Figaro" towards improving his position in Vienna. His painful pecuniary circumstances may be gathered from his letters to Puchberg in June, 1788. A glance at the catalogue of his compositions after his return from Prague is sufficient to indicate the fact of their having been produced at the pleasure of pupils or patrons:— 1787. December 11. Lied, "Die kleine Spinnerin" (531 K.). 1788. January 3. Allegro and andante fo
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CHAPTER III. STUDY IN SALZBURG.
CHAPTER III. STUDY IN SALZBURG.
LEOPOLD MOZART had every reason to be satisfied with the result of his tour; the extraordinary talents of his children had been duly appreciated, 1 honours of every kind had been heaped upon them, and the three years exertions had produced a not inconsiderable pecuniary gain. 2 In spite of repeated, and sometimes severe, attacks of illness, the children returned to Salzburg in full health and vigour, and, what was of not less importance, with their childlike simple minds unspoiled by the excepti
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CHAPTER XL. A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.
CHAPTER XL. A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.
MOZART'S unsatisfactory position in Vienna, both from a pecuniary and a professional point of view, 1 doubtless inclined him for a professional tour, to which the immediate inducement was an invitation from Prince Karl Lichnowsky, husband of the Countess Thun, a zealous musical connoisseur and a pupil and ardent admirer of Mozart. His estates in Schleswig and his position in the Prussian army necessitated his residence from time to time in Berlin; and, being on the point of repairing thither in
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CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST OPERA IN VIENNA.
CHAPTER IV. THE FIRST OPERA IN VIENNA.
THE approaching marriage of the Archduchess Maria Josepha with King Ferdinand of Naples furnished Leopold Mozart with a pretext for repairing to Vienna with his whole family; this he did in the beginning of September, 1767, with every expectation that the public of that brilliant capital would recognise the progress made by Wolfgang since their former visit. 1 They travelled quickly; were invited to dine with the Bishop at Lambach; and at the Monastery of Mölk, where Wolfgang tried the organ, hi
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CHAPTER XXV. "DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL."
CHAPTER XXV. "DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL."
THE gradual decline of the German festival and "spektakel" operas was consummated in 1742, when Gottsched, DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL. who had waged incessant war against them throughout his career, had the satisfaction of chronicling the opera of "Atalanta," in Dresden, as the last of its kind 1 but they were succeeded by a sort of aftergrowth in the form of the operetta. 2 The theatrical managers could not altogether dispense with similar means of attraction, and attempts were made to intro
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CHAPTER V. THE ITALIAN TOUR.
CHAPTER V. THE ITALIAN TOUR.
THE Archbishop could not but feel flattered at the accomplishments of the young Salzburger, and he endeavoured, as far as lay in his power, to complete the partial success of the visit to Vienna by ordering a performance of Wolfgang's opera in Salzburg, notwithstanding that it was "an opera buffa, THE ITALIAN TOUR. requiring performers of a buffo character." The programme, recovered by Köchel 1 gives the following [See Page Image] 2 cast:— The performance must have taken place on the fête-day of
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CHAPTER XLI. "COSÌ FAN TUTTE,"
CHAPTER XLI. "COSÌ FAN TUTTE,"
UPON his arrival in Vienna on June 4, Mozart at once set to work upon a quartet for Frederick William II.; the Quartet in D major (575 K.) was completed in the same month, and in return for it, according to the Berlin Veteran, he received a valuable gold snuff-box with 100 friedrichsdor, and a complimentary letter. 1 But this did not materially affect his embarrassed circumstances; the precarious state of his wife's health kept him in a state of perpetual anxiety, and the expenses it involved br
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CHAPTER XXVI. COURTSHIP.
CHAPTER XXVI. COURTSHIP.
IT has often been pointed out that Mozart wrote the "Entführung" as an accepted lover; and many analogies have been drawn THE WEBERS. between his own love affairs and those represented in the opera, with the view of accounting for the depth and truth of his expression of the tenderest of passions. It is true that Mozart could not have rendered love so truly without having felt it in its full intensity. But if we stop to realise the difficulties and vexations with which Mozart had to struggle as
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CHAPTER VI. WORKS IN GERMANY.
CHAPTER VI. WORKS IN GERMANY.
AT Salzburg during May, 1773, Wolfgang composed a symphony (181 K.), a concertone for two violins (190 K.), and a mass (167 K.) in June. In the summer of this year the Archbishop repaired to Vienna, and Leopold Mozart seized the opportunity of following him thither with Wolfgang. He looked forward only to a short absence, but when they presented themselves before the Archbishop in Vienna he gave them permission to extend their stay, as he intended himself to go into the mountains and to Gmünd. O
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CHAPTER XLII. LABOUR AND POVERTY.
CHAPTER XLII. LABOUR AND POVERTY.
THE accession of Leopold II. to the Imperial throne (March 13, 1790) was not an event of good omen for music and the opera. Up to the month of July he had not entered the theatre, nor had any private concerts, nor MOZART'S POSITION AT COURT, 1790. displayed any sort of partiality for music; his consort, the Empress Louise, visited the opera and laid claim to some musical knowledge, although she expressed herself dissatisfied with the state of music in Vienna; the young princes, too, were instruc
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CHAPTER XXVII. MARRIED LIFE.
CHAPTER XXVII. MARRIED LIFE.
THE newly married couple began their housekeeping upon an uncertain and barely sufficing income, MARRIED LIFE. and so it remained to the end. Limited means, sometimes even actual want, failed either to increase the carefulness or to damp the spirits of husband or wife. Mozart's sincere and upright love for his wife has been clearly demonstrated already; it was the talk of Vienna. One day, soon after his marriage, as he and his wife were walking in the public gardens, they amused themselves by pl
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CHAPTER XLIII. "DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE"
CHAPTER XLIII. "DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE"
DISAPPOINTED and suffering, Mozart returned to Vienna in the middle of September. While his wife again repaired to Baden, he divided his time between the labours involved in the completion and scenic arrangements of the "Zauberflöte" (620 K.) and the Requiem. The chorus "O Isis und Osiris," Papageno's song, which Schikaneder had stipulated for, and the second finale, must have been written after September 12; 1 on September 28 he completed the overture and the march which formed the introduction
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CHAPTER XXVIII. MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
CHAPTER XXVIII. MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS.
MOZART'S relations to his father, which had hitherto, one may say, filled his whole mental life to a most uncommon degree, MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS. had been seriously affected by his marriage. It was not till after long opposition that Leopold Mozart voluntarily, although most unwillingly, gave his consent, and how deeply he was wounded will appear from the answer he made to a conciliatory letter addressed to him by the Baroness Waldstädten (August 23, 1783):— I thank your ladyship most hear
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CHAPTER VII. OPERA SERIA.
CHAPTER VII. OPERA SERIA.
THE OPERA 1 owes its rise to the attempt which was made in Florence at the beginning of the sixteenth century to discover the musical method of ancient tragedy and to reproduce it in conformity to the spirit of the Renaissance. 2 GRADUAL RISE OF OPERA. In opposition to the predominant madrigal style of part-singing, worked out in counterpoint, there arose strivings after a method which should give freedom and independence to the solo singer, and which should render the poet's words comprehensibl
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CHAPTER XLIV. ILLNESS AND DEATH.
CHAPTER XLIV. ILLNESS AND DEATH.
NO sooner was the "Zauberflöte" completed and performed than Mozart set to work with restless eagerness upon his still unfinished Requiem. 1 His friend, Jos. von Jacquin, calling upon him one day to request him to give pianoforte lessons to a lady who was already an admirable performer on the instrument, found him at his writing-table, hard at work on the Requiem. Mozart readily acceeded to the request, provided he might postpone the lessons for a time; "for," said he, "I have a work on hand whi
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CHAPTER XXIX. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.
CHAPTER XXIX. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.
FIRST among the group of friends in intercourse with whom Mozart found entertainment and refreshment of the highest kind, must be named the Countess Thun, née Uhlefeld. She was one of the musical ladies who took him under their protection from the first, and it was she more especially who introduced him in Vienna, and furthered his advancement by every means in her power. The prominent position which was hers more in virtue of her cultivation and amiability than of her rank and wealth, pointed h
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CHAPTER VIII. MOZART'S EARLY OPERAS.
CHAPTER VIII. MOZART'S EARLY OPERAS.
MOZART found rules as to the form and technicalities of the opera 1 seria rigidly laid down even to the minutest details, and he was the less tempted to disregard these, since the extraordinary ease of his invention prevented his ever finding a prescribed form to be a burdensome restriction. Mozart's mission was not to overstep the bounds of custom, but quietly and gradually to bring to perfection all that was genuine and true in the diverse elements of his time. He found the opera already in th
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CHAPTER IX. ORATORIO.
CHAPTER IX. ORATORIO.
THE commonly received opinion 1 that the oratorio originated in the devotional exercises held in the oratories of monasteries, ORIGIN OF ORATORIO. and thrown into the form of a musical drama by Filippo Neri (1515-1595), is without foundation. All that can confidently be asserted is that he caused laudi spirituali , a kind of motett, 2 to be sung by way of recreation, and that he organised carnival performances ("rappresentazioni") which withdrew the mind from worldly follies; 3 whether, and in w
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CHAPTER XXX. VAN SWIETEN AND CLASSICAL MUSIC.
CHAPTER XXX. VAN SWIETEN AND CLASSICAL MUSIC.
OTTFRIED, Baron van Swieten, was a man who exercised, in more than one respect, an important influence on Mozart's career. He was born in 1734, the son of the Empress Maria Theresa's celebrated and influential physician Gerhard van Swieten, who had removed with his family from Leyden to Vienna in 1745. Gottfried devoted himself to the study of the law, and pursued a diplomatic career, 1 but from his youth up he had been passionately fond of music, and had turned his studies in the art to practic
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CHAPTER XLV. THE REQUIEM.
CHAPTER XLV. THE REQUIEM.
ONE of the first cares of Mozart's widow was the Requiem (626 K.). 1 Mozart having left it unfinished, she could not but fear that the Unknown would not only refuse to complete the stipulated payment, but would demand the return of what had been already paid. In this dilemma, she called various friends into counsel, and hit upon the idea of continuing such portions of the work as Mozart had left, and of presenting it entire to the Unknown. The completion was first intrusted to Joh. Eybler; 2 wit
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CHAPTER XLVI. AT THE GRAVE.
CHAPTER XLVI. AT THE GRAVE.
MOZART'S early and unexpected death, removing him from the eyes of the world at the moment when he might seem to have attained the height of his artistic greatness, had the effect of silencing the detractions and the envy of the few who were blinded by jealousy to his merits, and of exalting his works in the minds of those who felt his loss to be an irreparable one. Public feeling took the form of sympathy for his bereaved family, who were left in pressing need; and they found generous support,
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CHAPTER X. OPERA BUFFA.
CHAPTER X. OPERA BUFFA.
OPERA BUFFA was a gradual outgrowth from the opera seria, in which originally comic characters took part in burlesque scenes. OPERA BUFFA. Even so late as 1718, when Scarlatti's "Telemacco" was produced, there were scenes of coarse humour between Tersite and Silvina in this otherwise conventionally correct opera. 1 When, however, the discrepancy between these and the dignity and purity of the opera seria came to be fully felt, the comic scenes were detached, generally without much difficulty, an
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CHAPTER XXXI. MOZART AND FREEMASONRY.
CHAPTER XXXI. MOZART AND FREEMASONRY.
AN account of the circumstances which affected Mozart's social and artistic position in Vienna, as well as his moral and intellectual development, would be incomplete without some notice of his connection with Freemasonry. 1 It is well known 2 that a propensity for secret associations and brotherhoods, having for their object the furtherance of intellectual, moral, and political ideas, was very prevalent in Germany during the latter half of the eighteenth century. These associations were all mor
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CHAPTER XI. MOZART'S "RE PASTORE."
CHAPTER XI. MOZART'S "RE PASTORE."
THE last opera of the series we have been considering is the festival opera, "Il Re Pastore," composed in honour of the Archduke Maximilian, at Salzburg, in 1775, to the text of Metastasio (208 K.). The characters and plot are as follows: 1 — Alessandro, re di Macedonia. Aminta, pastorello, amante d' Elisa, che, ignoto a se stesso, si scuopre poi l' unico legittimo erede del regno di Sidone. Elisa, nobile ninfa di Fenicia, dell' antica stirpe di Cadmo, amante d' Aminta. Tamiry principessa fuggit
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APPENDIX I. MARIANNE MOZART.
APPENDIX I. MARIANNE MOZART.
MARIANNE MOZART. OLFGANG MOZART'S sister, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia, known to her family and friends as Nannerl, was born July 30, 1751, and was thus five years older than her brother. She early showed a decided talent for music, and made extraordinary progress under her father's tuition. She made her appearance as a clavier-player during the early professional tours of the Mozart family in 1762, 1763-1766, and 1767, competing successfully with the first performers of the day, and overshadowed
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CHAPTER XXXII. MOZART AS AN ARTIST.
CHAPTER XXXII. MOZART AS AN ARTIST.
OF those who realise the excitement and want of repose of Mozart's life in Vienna, and the variety of occupations and distractions which beset him, it must appear matter of wonder that he was able to produce so large a number of compositions, each bearing an individual character of maturity and finish. The wonder increases as the conviction grows that not only was he ready as each occasion arose to prove, as Goethe says every artist should, that his art came at his command, but that he had the p
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CHAPTER XXXIII. MOZART'S PIANOFORTE MUSIC.
CHAPTER XXXIII. MOZART'S PIANOFORTE MUSIC.
THERE can be no reason to doubt what has often been asserted and maintained with proof, that Mozart was the greatest pianoforte-player of his time. Although, however, the fame of a virtuoso among his contemporaries is more brilliant and universal than that of a composer, yet posterity can form but a vague idea of the performances which were so enchanting to the hearers. It is impossible to give an accurate or very intelligible account of Mozart's playing, but it will not be without interest to n
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APPENDIX II. ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.
APPENDIX II. ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.
ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC. EVEN cantatas which appeared under Mozart's name (Leipzig: Breitkopf and Hartel, and elsewhere) are perhaps, after his operas, the most widely known of his works, and upon them in a great measure rests his fame as a composer of church music. Of these cantatas, however, only one, the second (and that with altered words), was left in its present state by Mozart; the others were all put together after his death from separate portions of various church composit
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CHAPTER XII. SONGS.
CHAPTER XII. SONGS.
WE must here cast a glance at a number of separate songs composed by Mozart, either for insertion in operas or for performance at concerts. The earliest of them, composed for the two Licenze at Salzburg (p. 99), and those belonging to the first Italian journey, call for no special remark. Yet there occurs in the air composed at Rome, "Se tutti i mali miei" (183 K.), a change of key produced by enharmomic progression which deserves to be noticed:— BUFFO SONGS, 1775-76. [See Page Image] No such so
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APPENDIX III. PORTRAITS OF MOZART.
APPENDIX III. PORTRAITS OF MOZART.
APPENDIX III. Mozarteum, lithographed in Nissen, represents him as a boy of seven years old, standing near the clavier, clad in the violet gold-laced court dress of the Archduke Maximilian, which had been presented to him in 1762 (Vol. I., p. 28). His hair is frizzed and powdered, his hat under his arm, his sword by his side; his left hand is thrust into his vest; his right on his side. The round good-humoured boyish face, with its candid eyes, looks out as if from a disguise. During the stay of
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CHAPTER XIII. CHURCH MUSIC.
CHAPTER XIII. CHURCH MUSIC.
FIFTEEN choristers were maintained at the cost of the Archbishop in the Kapellhaus, and educated by special instructors. They afterwards entered the choir as singers or passed into the service of the court; if they showed extraordinary talent, they were sent to finish their training in Italy, and then took their place as solo singers. 3 Archbishop Sigismund allowed the male sopranos to die out, and did not replace them with others; on the other hand he sent the daughter of the cathedral organist
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CHAPTER XIV. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
CHAPTER XIV. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
DURING the last half of the eighteenth century it had become the fashion in Italy and elsewhere to perform detached instrumental pieces as introductions or intermezzi during the pauses in Divine service. 1 They were written in the then customary symphony form; music of a lively and secular tone not being thought out of place in churches. 2 Brilliancy of effect was provided for by doubling the orchestra and other mechanical means, 3 besides forcible composition. Further innovations were made in a
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CHAPTER XV. EARLY MANHOOD.
CHAPTER XV. EARLY MANHOOD.
OUR examination of the development of Mozart's youthful genius, as it is to be traced in the multiplicity and variety of his studies, may fitly be concluded by a rapid survey of what he had accomplished and the position which he held at his entry into manhood. At twenty-one years of age he could hold his own with the first masters of his time as a performer on the clavier, the organ, and the violin, and his powers as an executant were far surpassed by his accomplishments in every branch of compo
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CHAPTER XVI. MUNICH AND AUGSBURG.
CHAPTER XVI. MUNICH AND AUGSBURG.
EARLY on the morning of September 23,1777, Wolfgang and his mother took their departure from Salzburg, leaving L. Mozart far from well, and inconsolable in his solitude. "After you had set off," he wrote (September 25, 1777), "I went upstairs quite exhausted, and threw myself on a couch. It was with a great effort that I had restrained myself at parting, in order not to add to our grief, and in the confusion I had forgotten to give my son the paternal blessing. I ran to the window and sent it af
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CHAPTER XVII. MANNHEIM
CHAPTER XVII. MANNHEIM
The Palatinate Academy of Science, founded in 1763, encouraged historical and scientific research; collections of pictures and engravings, and an exhibition of plaster casts from the antique—at that time the only, and much-thought-of collection of the kind in Germany 2 —served, in connection with an academy, to encourage the formative arts; and a German society, founded in Mannheim by the Elector in 1775, proved the desire of its members to take their share in the new impulse which German litera
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THE FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER 12
THE FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER 12
1 ( return ) [ His father tells him (December 15, 1780) that Fr. Duschek considered herself indebted to him for the former song, and pressed for another, which he had refused as impossible at that time.] 2 ( return ) [ A song (119 K.) printed only with German words, "Der Liebe himmlisches Gefuhl," is a bravura song in the old style, of undoubted early Italian origin.] 3 ( return ) [ [Koch-Stemfeld] Die leiten dreissig Jahre des Erzbisthums Salzburg, p. 255. Cf. Burney, Reise, III., p. 260. Schub
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THE FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER 13
THE FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER 13
3 ( return ) [ Schubart, Teutsch. Chron., 1775, p. 408; Dressier, Theaterschule, p. 42.] 4 ( return ) [ J. E. Altenburg, Anleitg. zur heroisch-musik. Trompeter- Pauker-Kunst. (Halle, 1795,1., p. 26).] 5 ( return ) [ [Schinn und Otter] Biographische Skizze von Michael Haydn (Salzburg, 1808).] 6 ( return ) [ K. R[isbeck] expresses himself to the same effect, Briefe e. reis. Franz, I. p. 357. Michael Haydn became very industrious later in life.] 7 ( return ) [ Wolfgang says of Schweizer (December 3
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