Chapter XXVIII: Mozart's Family and Friends (2)

writing-table composing. Another time, Leutgeb had to kneel down behind the stove while Mozart wrote.[55] The manuscripts themselves bear traces of good-humoured banter. One (417 K.) has the superscription: "Wolfgang Amadé Mozart takes pity on Leutgeb, ass, ox, and simpleton, at Vienna, March 27, 1783"; another (495 K.) is written alternately with black, red, blue, and green ink. While he is writing down a rondo he amusingly imagines the player before him, and keeps up a running commentary on the supposed performance. The tempo, too, is jokingly indicated as adagio for the horn part, while the accompaniment is allegro; Leutgeb's inclination to drag is alluded to in the remark at the close of the ritornello: "A lei Signor Asino"--in the ejaculations on the theme: "Animo--presto--sù via--da bravo--coraggio--e finisci giä" (at the conclusion). He goes on the same strain: "Bestia--oh che stonatura--chi--oimè (at a repeatedly recurring F sharp)--bravo poveretto! --Oh seccatura di coglioni! (when the subject recurs)--ah che mi fai ridere!--ajuto (at a repeated E flat)--respira un poco! (at a pause)--avanti, avanti!--questo poi va al meglio (when the theme reappears)--e non finisci nemmeno?--ah porco infame! Oh come sei grazioso!--Carino! Asinino! hahaha--respira!--Ma intoni almeno una, cazzo! (at a repeated C sharp)--bravo, ewiva!--e vieni ä seccarmi per la quarta, e Dio sia benedetto per l' ultima volta (at the fourth repetition of the theme)--ah termina, ti prego! ah maledetto --anche bravura? (at a short run) bravo--ah! trillo di pecore (at a shake)--finisci? grazie al ciel!--basta, basta!" Leutgeb was quite willing to submit to his friend's banter as the price of four concertos (412, 417, 447, 495, cf. also 514 K.). They are rapidly put together and easy of execution, without any great originality. Their brevity enables the instrument to preserve its true character as one unsuited for display of execution; in the last movement, which is the regulation rondo in 6-8 time, the original nature of the horn as a hunting instrument is made apparent, which at that

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time, when hunting music was thought more of than at present, was no doubt found very entertaining. In other respects, the customary concerto form is preserved. The first movement is an allegro in sonata form, kept within narrow limits, the second is a simple romanza, followed by the rondo. The accompaniment is simple, to allow due prominence to the horn as the solo instrument, but Mozart seldom refrains from adding touches of life and character to the whole by means of a freer movement in the accompaniment. The quintet for the horn, violin, two tenors, and bass (407 K.), was also written for Leutgeb, who possessed the autograph.[56] The horn part is throughout concertante, the stringed instruments serve only as accompaniment, but are very independent and characteristic, so that the whole has some approach to the quartet style. The piece is altogether more important and finer than the concertos.

Far more important both as to compass and substance is the concerto for clarinet in A major (622 K.), which Mozart wrote or adapted for Stadler, towards the close of his life (between September 28 and November 15, 1791). There exist six pages of a draft score of the first movement, composed much earlier for the basset-horn, in G major, and available for the clarinet with a few alterations in the deeper notes. It has not been ascertained whether this concerto was ever finished, but it is scarcely probable.

It was to be expected that Mozart, who was the first to do justice to the capabilities of the clarinet as a solo instrument, would deal with it with peculiar partiality; the more so, as he had so distinguished a performer to work for.[57] The brilliant qualities of this splendid instrument are in point of fact thrown into the strongest relief. The contrasts of tone-colouring are made use of in every sort of way, especially in the low notes, here much employed in the accompaniment passages, whose wonderful effect Mozart was, as far as I know, the first to discover.

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The capacity of the clarinet for melodious expression, tunefulness, and brilliant fluency, and for the union of force with melting tenderness, is skilfully taken into account; and as Mozart invariably brings the external into harmony with the internal, we find in this work that the grander and broader forms and the greater execution are the natural outcome of brilliant and original ideas. It is not too much to say that this concerto is the basis of modern clarinet-playing.

Mozart composed on September 29, 1789, for the same fickle friend, the "Stadlersquintett" for clarinet and strings (582 K.), which was first performed at the concert for the Musicians' Charitable Fund on December 22, 1789.

The distinct and frequently overpowering effect of the clarinet, in conjunction with stringed instruments, would necessitate its treatment as a solo instrument; and Mozart's loving efforts to display to the full its singular beauties and rich powers serve to isolate it still more completely. Although he avoids with equal taste and skill the danger of treating the stringed instruments as mere accompaniment, or of emphasising the clarinet unduly, and combines them to a whole often with touches of surprising delicacy, yet the heterogeneous elements are not so completely incorporated as are the stringed instruments when they are alone. The whole mechanism is therefore loose and easy, the subjects are more graceful than important, and their development less serious and profound than usual. This quintet therefore, cast as it is in the most beautiful forms, and possessed of the most charming sound effects--fully justifying the praise bestowed upon it by Ambros ("Limits of Music and Poetry") in Goethe's words, "its whole being floats in sensuous wealth and sweetness"--yet falls below the high level of the stringed quintets.

The Andante in A major to a violin concerto, dated in the Thematic Catalogue April 1, 1785 (470 K.), must certainly have been written for a virtuoso; perhaps for Janiewicz, who was then in Vienna.

Mozart sometimes bestowed improvised compositions in the form of alms. One day a beggar accosted him in the

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street and claimed a distant relationship with him. Mozart, having no money, went into the nearest coffee-house, wrote a minuet and trio, and sent the beggar with it to his publisher, who paid him what it was considered worth.[58]

His ever-ready good-nature must have made Mozart a great favourite among his fellow-artists, and yet he had only too often to complain of the ingratitude to which his very good-nature subjected him. Between him and the majority of Italian opera-singers there existed, nevertheless, an innate antagonism; they complained of his compositions as being far too difficult and not telling enough. There can be no doubt that he made many concessions to display of execution, but these were not considered extensive enough at the time, and Mozart, scorning so cheap and easy a way of gaining the applause of the public, sought to attain his end by other and better means.[59] It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the Italians in Vienna for the most part objected to singing in Mozart's operas, the more so as their disinclination was fostered by outsiders; Mozart, on his part, disliked the then prevalent style of singing: "They rush at it, and shake and make flourishes," he said, "because they have not studied, and cannot sustain a note."[60]

He was fond of mocking in his sarcastic style at this kind of composition and performance, and used to imitate off-hand at the piano grand operatic scenas in the style of well-known masters, with the most telling effect.[61] Such exhibitions would not tend to increase the number of his friends. Mozart was "cutting" (_schlimm_), as we know, and took no pains to restrain his jesting moods, which were doubtless often taken in far worse part than they were meant. But he also pronounced many a sharp censure in earnest upon artists who felt the more bitter as his own

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superiority made itself incontestably felt.[62] Soon after his settlement in Vienna his father was informed that his boasting and criticisms were making him enemies among musicians and others, but this accusation Wolfgang indignantly repelled (July 31, 1782).

Nevertheless, we find him writing not long afterwards (December 23, 1782): "I should like to write a book--a short musical criticism with examples; but of course not in my own name." There was a rage at Vienna for the discussion and criticism of all imaginable subjects by means of pamphlets and brochures.[63] That which tempted Mozart to take pen in hand was the downfall of German opera, which was a serious blow to him. He was conscious of what he as a German might have accomplished for German art, and it pained him to see the universal preference for Italian art and artists.

From early youth he had been aware of the unworthy devices often employed in Italian music, and his aversion to "all Italians" continually betrays itself, but very seldom to the extent of making him unjust towards individual persons or performances. His healthy judgment and inexhaustible flow of human kindness preserved him from this danger. Jos. Frank relates[64] that, finding Mozart continually engaged on the study of French opera scores, he once asked him if he would not do better to devote himself to Italian music, which was then the fashion of the day in Vienna. Mozart answered: "As regards the melodies, yes; but as regards the dramatic effects, no; besides which, the scores that you

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see here are by Gluck, Piccinni, Salieri, and, with the exception of those by Grétry, have nothing French in them but the words."[65] This was true, and we may allow that Mozart did not require to learn melody from the Italians. His judgments of various composers might offend at the time, but we are now ready to endorse them as not only striking but fair. We have already learnt his opinion of Righini (Vol. II., p. 251). Of Martin, the universal favourite, he said: "Much in his works is really very pretty, but ten years hence he will be quite forgotten."[66] How ready he was to acknowledge merit in any performance "which had something in it" is plainly shown in a letter to his father (April 24,1784):--

Some quartets have just appeared by a man named Pleyel; he is a pupil of Jos. Haydn. If you do not already know them, try to get them, it is worth your while. They are very well and pleasantly written, and give evidence of his master. Well and happy will it be for music if Pleyel is ready in due time to take Haydn's place for us.

This was just at the time when he was busy with his own quartets, where he showed how one master learns from another. When he found nothing original in any work he put it aside with the words, "Nothing in it," or vented his mocking humour on it. Rochlitz relates that once at Doles, he made them sing the Mass of a composer "who had evident talent for comic opera, but was out of place as a composer of sacred music," parodying the words in a very entertaining manner.[67]

The description which Mozart gives to his father of the celebrated oboist, J. Chr. Fischer (1733-1800), is characteristic of his sharp and involuntarily comic criticism. Fischer had come to Vienna from London, where he enjoyed an extraordinary reputation (April 4, 1787):[68]--

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If the oboist Fischer did not play better when we heard him in Holland (1766) than he plays now, he certainly does not deserve the reputation which he has. But, between ourselves, I was then at an age incapable of forming a judgment. I can only remember that he pleased me, as he pleased all the world. It would be quite reasonable to contend that taste has altered since then to a remarkable degree, and that he plays after the old school--but no! he plays, in fact, like a miserable learner; young André, who used to learn from Fiala, plays a thousand times better. And then his concertos of his own composition! Every ritornello lasts a quarter of an hour--then enter the hero--lifts up one leaden foot after another, and plumps them down on the ground alternately. His tone is all through his nose, and his tenuto is like the tremulant stop on the organ. Could you have supposed all this? and yet it is nothing but the truth, the real truth, which I tell you.

Mozart's amiability and good-nature prevailed in his personal intercourse with fellow-artists, even where reserve or irritated feeling would have been excusable. When the Italian Opera was reopened, from which Mozart had been purposely excluded, he did not withdraw his friendship from the composers, whom he might justifiably have considered as interlopers. When Paesiello came to Vienna from St. Petersburg in 1784 he was treated with a distinction never bestowed upon German masters. His "Barbiere di Seviglia" was at once put upon the stage, and the Emperor lost no time in commissioning him to compose an opera, for which Casti, as the most distinguished comic poet, was to provide the libretto. The opera was "Il Re Teodoro," for which Joseph himself suggested the subject as a satire, it was said, on the visit of Gustavus III. of Sweden to Venice in the year 1783.[69] Such active participation from the Emperor assured the maestro a brilliant position, both pecuniary and social, during his stay in Vienna. Mozart, whose judgment of Paesiello's light music was very favourable,[70] made friendly advances towards him. Kelly was present at their introduction, and testifies to their mutual courtesy and esteem;[71] and we have already seen

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(Vol. II., p. 279) how pleased Mozart was to have his compositions performed before Paesiello by a talented pupil. Paesiello, on his part, begged for the score of "Idomeneo" for his own study.[72] Mozart was equally complaisant to Sarti, who was in Vienna at the same time, on his way to St. Petersburg. "If Maestro Sarti had not been obliged to set out to-day for Russia," he writes to his father (June 9, 1784), "he would have gone out with me. Sarti is a straightforward, honest man. I have played a great deal to him, ending with variations on one of his airs (460 K.),[73] which gave him great pleasure."

The "honest" man afterwards wrote a most malicious criticism on some passages in Mozart's quartets, concerning which, indignant that "barbarians, without any sense of hearing should presume to think they can compose music," he exclaims, "Can more be done to put performers out of tune?" ("Si puö far di più per far stonar i professori?"). He points out error after error "which could only be made by a clavier-player, who can see no difference between D sharp and E flat"; and concludes with a flourish, "This is, in the words of the immortal Rousseau, 'De la musique pour faire boucher ses oreilles!'"[74]

A charming instance of Mozart's benevolence towards younger artists is supplied by Gyrowetz. He relates in his autobiography, how he was introduced to the most distinguished artists of Vienna, at some grand soirée:--

Mozart appeared to be the most good-natured of them all. He observed the youthful Gyrowetz with an expression of sympathy which seemed to say: "Poor young fellow, you have just embarked on the ocean of the great world, and you are anxiously looking forward to what fate may have in store for you." Encouraged by so much affability and sympathy the young artist entreated the master to cast a glance over his compositions, which consisted of six symphonies, and to give his

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opinion of them. With true benevolence, Mozart granted the petition, went through the works, commended them, and promised the young artist to have one of his symphonies performed at his concert in the hall at the Mehlgrube, where Mozart gave subscription concerts during that year (1785). This took place on a Thursday. The symphony was performed with great applause. Mozart, with his native courtesy and kindness, took the young composer by the hand, and introduced him to the public as the author of the symphonies.

Beethoven made his appearance in Vienna as a youthful musician of promise in the spring of 1787, but was only able to remain there a short time;[75] he was introduced to Mozart, and played to him at his request. Mozart, considering the piece he performed to be a studied show-piece, was somewhat cold in his expressions of admiration. Beethoven remarking this, begged for a theme for improvisation, and, inspired by the presence of the master he reverenced so highly, played in such a manner as gradually to engross Mozart's whole attention; turning quietly to the bystanders, he said emphatically, "Mark that young man; he will make himself a name in the world!"[76]

Mozart does not appear to have become intimately acquainted with Dittersdorf, who at that time was paying only passing visits to Vienna; but his way of mentioning Mozart shows appreciation and esteem. The same may be said of Gluck, who, as we have seen, showed himself on several occasions well disposed towards Mozart (Vol. II., pp. 212, 285); but the difference of their natures--perhaps also Salieri's close connection with Gluck--prevented anything like intimacy between them.

That, notwithstanding so much goodwill, Mozart should

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have met with envious critics and detractors[77] among the artists of Vienna is scarcely to be wondered at. We have already noticed one of his most determined opponents, Kreibich (Vol. II., p. 203); another, equally implacable, was Leopold Kozeluch, a pianist of some brilliancy, and a fashionable teacher, especially after he gave lessons at court; he had a passing reputation, too, as a composer, but vanity and stupidity were his chief claims to distinction. He was fond of magnifying his own merits by paltry criticism of his fellow-artists, especially of Haydn. Once, when a new quartet of Haydn's was being performed in a large company, Kozeluch, standing by Mozart, found fault, first with one thing and then with another, exclaiming at length, with impudent assurance, "I should never have done it in that way!" "Nor should I," answered Mozart; "but do you know why? Because neither you nor I would have had so good an idea."[78] Henceforth Kozeluch became Mozart's avowed and determined opponent; and what better revenge could be taken by the man "who never praised any one but himself," than to pronounce the overture to "Don Giovanni" "good, but full of faults";[79] and to exclaim condescendingly, after hearing the full rehearsal of the overture to the "Zauberflöte," "Ah, our good friend Mozart is trying to be learned this time!,,[80] When they were both at Prague, at the coronation of Leopold, Kozeluch expressed his enmity to Mozart so obtrusively, that he forfeited a great share of the interest "with which hitherto every Bohemian had been proud to own him as a fellow-countryman."[81]

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The most charming instance of Mozart's reverence and love for Joseph Haydn is the dedicatory epistle wherein he offers him his six quartets as the fruit of long and painful study inspired by his example, as a father intrusts his children to a tried and valued friend, confident of his protection and indulgence towards them. These expressions of reverence came from the very depths of Mozart's heart: to a friend who made some remark on the dedication he answered: "It was due from me, for it was from Haydn that I learned how quartets should be written."[82] "It was quite affecting," says Niemetschek" (p. 94) "to hear him speak of the two Haydns or any other of the great masters; one would have imagined him to be one of their enthusiastic pupils rather than the all-powerful Mozart." The Haydn so honoured of Mozart was not by any means the "Father Haydn" of a later time, reverenced and loved by all. It was not until after his residence in London that Haydn met with general admiration and veneration in the Austrian capital; in earlier years the opposition to his originality was nowhere stronger than in Vienna. His very position in the service of Prince Esterhazy, and his residence in Hungary, prejudiced the musicians of the capital against him. The music-loving public enjoyed his fresh and jovial creations with unrestrained delight, but the artists and connoisseurs took grave exception to them. Humour in music was as yet unrecognised, and the dispute as to whether and in what degree it could be justified had just begun; the freedom, well considered as it was, with which Haydn treated traditional rules, was looked upon as a grave fault. At the head of his opponents stood the Emperor Joseph;[83] he would have nothing to say to his playful oddities, and we can scarcely wonder that the royal example was widely followed, and that Haydn had good cause to complain of his critics and enemies.[84] It required

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an artist as genial and as incapable of envy as Mozart fully to understand and appreciate him. And Haydn was equally prompt to discover the greatness of Mozart, and to accord him his full share of admiration and esteem. We have seen the testimony which he bore of Mozart to his father (Vol. II., p. 321); and he lost no opportunity of expressing his conviction of Mozart's artistic greatness.[85] When it was proposed to produce an opera by Haydn at Prague, together with Mozart's "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," Haydn wrote to the Commissary Roth:[86]--

You wish an opera buffa from me. With all my heart, if it will give you any pleasure to possess some of my vocal compositions. But if it is your intention to place the opera on the stage in Prague I am sorry that I cannot oblige you. My operas are inseparable from the company for whom I wrote them, and would never produce their calculated effect apart from their native surroundings. It would be quite another matter if I had the honour of being commissioned to write a new opera for the theatre in question. Even then, however, it would be a risk to put myself in competition with the great Mozart. If I could only inspire every lover of music, especially among the great, with feelings as deep, and comprehension as clear as my own, in listening to the inimitable works of Mozart, then surely the nations would contend for the possession of such a jewel within their borders. Prague must strive to retain the treasure within her grasp--but not without fitting reward. The want of this too often saddens the life of a great genius, and offers small encouragement for further efforts in future times. I feel indignant that Mozart has not yet been engaged at any imperial or royal court. Pardon my wandering from the subject--Mozart is a man very dear to me.

This letter was written in December, 1787, and the news of Mozart's appointment as Imperial private composer had not yet reached Haydn in Esterhaz; the uncertain position of his friend evidently affected him greatly. In the year following, when controversy was rife in Vienna on the subject of "Don Giovanni," Haydn found himself one evening in the midst of a company discussing the faults of omission

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and commission of the new opera; at last he was asked for his opinion. "I cannot decide the questions in dispute," said he; "but this I know, that Mozart is the greatest composer in the world."[87] It must not be imagined that because Haydn set so high a value on Mozart's operatic compositions, he had by any means a small opinion of his own. Forgotten as they now are, he himself was not inclined to rank them below the performances of the majority of his contemporaries. He writes to Artaria (May 27, 1781):--

Mons. Le Gros, directeur of the Concert spirituel, writes me many compliments on my "Stabat Mater," which has been performed four times with great success. The management were surprised at this revelation of my powers as a vocal composer; but they had had no previous opportunity of judging of them. If they would only hear my operetta "L'Isola Disabitata," and my last opera "La Fedeltä Premiata"! I assure you, such works have never yet been heard in Paris, and perhaps not in Vienna; but it is my misfortune to live retired in the country.

He says of the "Armida," in March, 1874, that it has been produced with signal success, and is considered his best work.[88] It is doubly significant, therefore, that Haydn should have acknowledged himself so completely overshadowed by Mozart as an operatic composer. And not in this branch of their art alone did he accord him superiority; he gave way even where they might justly be considered as rivals, and declared that, if Mozart had written nothing but his violin quartets and the "Requiem," he would have sufficient claim to immortality.[89] He assured a friend, with tears in his eyes, that he could never forget Mozart's clavier-playing; "It came from the heart!"[90] To the end of his life he missed no occasion of hearing Mozart's music, and used to assert that he had never heard one of his compositions without learning something from it.[91] In 1790, when he had returned to his solitude at "Estoras," he writes how

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the north wind had waked him from a dream of listening to the "Nozze di Figaro."[92]

The personal intercourse between the two was simple and hearty. Mozart used to call Haydn "Papa," and both Sophie Haibl and Griesinger mention their use of the pronoun _du_ to each other, a habit less frequent in those days than at present between friends of such difference in age. But while Mozart lived in Vienna, Haydn had his fixed residence at Eisenstadt or Esterhaz, and only came to Vienna for a few months at a time with his princely patron, who was not fond of the capital, and shortened his stay there as far as was practicable; Haydn sometimes obtained leave of absence for a flying visit to Vienna, but the Prince always gave it unwillingly.[93]

It was not until the Kapelle was broken up, on the death of Prince Nicolaus in 1790, that Haydn took up his abode in Vienna; and in December of the same year Salomon persuaded him to undertake the journey to London. Mozart agreed with others of Haydn's friends in considering this expedition a great risk, and drew his attention to the difficulties he was sure to encounter as an elderly man, unused to the world, amidst a strange people whose language he did not understand. Haydn replied that he was old, certainly, (he was then fifty-nine), but strong and of good courage, and his language was understood by all the world.[94] Mozart spent the day of Haydn's departure with him, and as they took leave he was moved to tears and exclaimed: "We are taking our last farewell in this world!" Haydn himself was deeply moved, thinking of his own death, and sought to console and calm Mozart.[95]

A letter from Haydn to Frau von Gennzinger (October 13, 1791) shows that calumniators sought to sow enmity between the friends in their separation: "My friends write, what I cannot however believe, that Mozart is doing all he can to

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disparage me. I forgive him. Mozart must go to Count von Fries to inquire about the payment."[96] When the news of Mozart's death reached London, Haydn lamented his loss with bitter tears.[97]

The sight of these two great and noble men extending to each other the hand of brotherhood, and remaining true to the end, untouched by professional envy or intrigue, is as pleasant as it was rare in the Vienna of those days. Each understood and appreciated the other, each freely acknowledged his indebtedness to the other from a musical point of view, and each, in his own consciousness of power and independence, found the standard for estimating the worth of his brother-artist.

Those who strove to raise the dust of dissension between them are, for the most part, forgotten or relegated to their due position in the background of musical history: Mozart and Haydn stand side by side on the heights, witnessing for ever to the truth that the greatness of a genuinely artistic nature attracts and does not repel its like.

FOOTNOTES OF CHAPER 28

[Footnote 1: At Wolfgang's request he sent the Baroness a couple of Salzburg tongues, which were esteemed a delicacy.]

[Footnote 2: Hamburger Litt. u. Krit. Blatter, 1856, No. 72, p. 563.]

[Footnote 3: Unfortunately Wolfgang's letters to his father are only preserved in anything like completeness up to his visit to Salzburg (July, 1783); after that we have only detached ones. His sister believed, so Nissen says (Vorr., p. XVI.), that the later letters were destroyed by the father, on account of containing allusions to Freemasonry, which is probable enough. There is no sort of evidence that Mozart ever actually neglected his father's correspondence; but it was not in his power to continue to keep a journal such as he had been in the habit of writing while travelling, or such as the daughter kept up after her marriage.]

[Footnote 4: The firstborn son, Leopold, "der arme dicke fette and liebe Buberl," as he is called in a letter (December 10, 1783), died in the same year.]

[Footnote 5: On January 19, 1786, L. Mozart wrote to his daughter that the Archbishop had opened a letter of Wolfgang's, but without finding anything in it.]

[Footnote 6: Nissen, p. 476.]

[Footnote 7: A. M. Z., I., p. 291. Biograph. Skizze von Mich. Haydn (Salzburg, 1808), p. 38.]

[Footnote 8: Lipowsky, Bayersch. Mus. Lex., p. 36.]

[Footnote 9: Rochlitz, Für Freunde d. Tonk., üI., p. 179.]

[Footnote 10: Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1817, p. 289.]

[Footnote 11: Nissen, Vorr., p. 18.]

[Footnote 12: On L. Mozart's return from Vienna in 1785, he stopped at Linz, as the guest of Count Thun; here he met the new Bishop, Count Herberstein (I., p. 25).]

[Footnote 13: Instances might be multiplied on closer examination; I content myself with quoting from the C major symphony the unexpected entry of E minor (p. 6, bar 8) and C major (p. 6, bar 12), the loud notes for the wind instruments (p. 25, bars 3,4), the original theme with which the basses interpose (p. 28, bar 5), and most especially the mocking conclusion of the minuet (p. 36, bars 12-16).]

[Footnote 14: Nissen asserts (Vorr., p. 18) that L. Mozart's letters from Vienna to his daughter (of which I have unfortunately only seen a few), betray considerable coldness towards his son.]

[Footnote 15: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 240. Holmes conjectures that as Haydn was a good violinist, but no solo-player, Kelly has substituted him for Mozart by a slip of memory (p. 267); it is more probable that Dittersdorf, the most celebrated violin-player of the day, played first violin, and Haydn second.]

[Footnote 16: Mozart lost no time in communicating the sorrowful news to his friend, Gottfried von Jacquin: "I must inform you that on my return home to-day I received the sad intelligence of the death of my dear father. You can imagine the state I am in."]

[Footnote 17: "My son wrote to me some time ago," writes L. Mozart to the Baroness Waldstädten (August 23, 1782), "that as soon as he was married he would cease to live with the mother. I hope he has already actually left the house; if not, it will be a misfortune both for him and his wife."]

[Footnote 18: Prefixed to the first volume of the "Ephemeriden der Literatur und des Theaters" (Berlin, 1785), are the portraits of Lange and his wife in a medallion. Her features are regular and good, but, probably owing to her delicate health, less youthful than one might have expected.]

[Footnote 19: Lange, Selbstbiogr., p. 118.]

[Footnote 20: Friedel, Briefe aus Wien, p. 409.]

[Footnote 21: A. M. Z., üI., p. 659.]

[Footnote 22: On the same day Mozart writes to his father full of anxiety about his own circumstances, thus proving again that the true artist can divest himself during his hours of production of the cares and anxieties of his ordinary life.]

[Footnote 23: The Berl. Litt. u. Theat. Ztg., 1783, p. 559, announces from Vienna: "June 30, 1783, 'Il Curioso Indiscreto' was performed for the first time. Madame Lange sang to-day for the first time in the Italian opera, and the public, in spite of all cabals, showed their appreciation of her talents." Cf. Lange's Selbstbiogr., p. 119.]

[Footnote 24: Written on the autograph is (June 21, 1783): "All the parts are to be extracted and augmented--the _parte cantante_ to be done at once, and returned to Herr Adamberger."]

[Footnote 25: The completely written-out melody of a soprano air (178 K.) is preserved, the words of which, "Ah spiegarti, oh Dio vorrei," differ very little from the above; it is probably a first attempt abandoned. The voice part of Adamberger's air sketched in the same way still exists, and the bravura air is on the same leaf.]

[Footnote 26: The performance took place on January 25, 1784, and was repeated on February 1 (Wien. Ztg., 1784, No. 7, Anh., No. g, Anh.).]

[Footnote 27: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 253.]

[Footnote 28: The notices of her professional tour in the year 1784, from Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, Schwedt, and Hamburg, are full of admiration (Berl. Litt. II. Theat. Ztg., 1784, I., p. 160; II., p. 138).]

[Footnote 29: Wien. Ztg., 1785, No. 97.]

[Footnote 30: It was so in Amsterdam in 1798 (A. M. Z., üI., p. 659), and in Paris in 1802 (A. M. Z., IV., p. 322).]

[Footnote 31: Cf. Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 39.]

[Footnote 32: Alsatia, 1853, p. 92.]

[Footnote 33: Magaz. d. Mus., II., p. 185.]

[Footnote 34: The autograph has on the title-page "Composta per la Sgra. Storace dal suo servo ed amico W. A. Mozart, 26 di Dec., 1786."]

[Footnote 35: Wien. Ztg., 1785, Nr. 97, Anh. I do not know whether Bianchi wrote his opera for Vienna or Venice. The statement (A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 485) that the Emperor Joseph II. caused it to be composed in the form of a pasticcio is incorrect. The overture, which was given in Leipzig (A. M. Z. XIII., p. 168) and Vienna (A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 485) as having been composed by Mozart for this opera, is the one which was written in Salzburg in 1779 (319 K.; Cf., I., p. 516).]

[Footnote 36: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 48.]

[Footnote 37: Wien. Ztg., 1785, No. 29, Anh.]

[Footnote 38: Wien. Ztg., 1785, No. 46, Anh.]

[Footnote 39: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 234.]

[Footnote 40: Cramer, Mag. d. Mus., II., p. 62. Reichardt, Musik. Monatsschr., p. 38. Scudo, Mus. Ane. et Mod., p. 18.]

[Footnote 41: Wien. Ztg., 1789, No. 52, Anh.]

[Footnote 42: It is only known to me in an old copy among Mozart's remains.]

[Footnote 43: Müller, Abschied, p. 156.]

[Footnote 44: It was just noticed in the Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 23, Anh.]

[Footnote 45: The song: "Beim Auszug in das Feld," dated August 11, 1788, in the Thematic Catalogue, was probably written for a similar use; but I am not acquainted with it.]

[Footnote 46: A German air, "Ohne Zwang aus eigenem Triebe" (569 K.), noted by Mozart, under date "Jenner, 1789," has quite disappeared.]

[Footnote 47: Mus. Corr., 1790, p. 170; 1791, p. 69.]

[Footnote 48: She announced (Wien. Ztg., 1791, No. 66, Anh.) that in her concert on June 19, she would play "an entirely new and beautiful 'Konzertantquintet,' with wind instruments, accompanied by Herr Kapellmeister Mozart." CL Mus. Correspondenz, 1792, p. 146. A. M. Z., üI., p. 127. Among the sketches in the Mozarteum at Salzburg is the commencement of another quintet for the same instruments in C major.]

[Footnote 49: Both in Berlin and Leipzig complaints were made that Mar. Kirchgassner had sought to attract admiration by a rapidity and an affected manner quite out of keeping with the character of the harmonica (Reichardt, Mus. Monatsschr., p. 25. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 150. A. M. Z., II., p. 254).]

[Footnote 50: Cf. Schink, Litt. Fragm., II., p. 286.]

[Footnote 51: It is entered in the Thematic Catalogue under April 21, 1784.]

[Footnote 52: In the Wiener Zeitung (1784, No. 54, p. 1560), Torricella announces the composition by the celebrated Kapellmeister Mozart of three new clavier sonatas, the third of which, with a violin accompaniment, had a short time before been played with great success in the theatre by the celebrated Mdlle. Strinasacchi and Herr Mozart, which is sufficient recommendation in itself.]

[Footnote 53: The story is told by the widow (A. M. Z., I., p. 290), and more in detail by Rochlitz (Für Freunde der Tonk., üI., p. 285).]

[Footnote 54: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 50.]

[Footnote 55: According to a communication of Sonnleithner's, who also asserts that Leutgeb died in good circumstances on February 27, 1811.]

[Footnote 56: Cäcilie, IV., p. 306; VI., p. 203.]

[Footnote 57: Schink, Litt. Fragm., II., p. 236. Musik. Wochenbl., p. 118.]

[Footnote 58: So Parker asserts, Mus. Mem., II., p. 179, "from authentic sources."]

[Footnote 59: Cf. Niemetschek, p. 75. Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 115.]

[Footnote 60: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., üI., p. 591. Compare Mozart's remarks on Gabrielli and Aloysia Weber, I., p. 427.]

[Footnote 61: Rochlitz, whose opinions were identical, describes a bravura scena for a prima donna, which Mozart has also recorded (A. M. Z., üI., p. 591).]

[Footnote 62: "Deceit and flattery were alike foreign to his artless character," says Niemetschek (p. 96), "and any restraint upon his intellect was insupportable to him. Free and unreserved in his expressions and answers, he frequently wounded the susceptibilities of self-love, and made many enemies." An article upon him after his death contains the following passage (Reichardt, Musik. Wochenbl., p. 94): "Now that he is dead, the Viennese will know what they have lost in him. During his life he was much harassed by cabals, whose hostility he sometimes provoked by his _sans-souci_ manner."]

[Footnote 63: Blumauer, who mentions this characteristic in his observations on the culture and literature of Austria, asserts that within eighteen months 1,172 publications of this kind appeared at Vienna (Pros. Schr., I., p. 72).]

[Footnote 64: Prutz, Deutsch. Museum, II., p. 28.]

[Footnote 65: The few opera scores found among Mozart's remains are Gluck's "Arbre Enchanté," "Le Diable ä Quatre," Grétry's "Zemire et Azor," "Bamevelt," Mich. Haydn's "Endimione."]

[Footnote 66: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 116. Cf. Siever's Mozart u. Süssmayer, p. 22.]

[Footnote 67: A. M. Z., iiI., p. 493. He did not think highly of Jomelli as a church composer, although he admired his operas (A. M. Z., I., p. 116), while of Gass-mann he formed an exactly opposite opinion (A. M. Z., XX., p. 247).]

[Footnote 68: Burney, Reise, I., p. 22. Busky, Gesch. d. Mus., II., p. 584.]

[Footnote 69: So Jos. Frank asserts in Prutz, Deutsch. Museum, II., p. 24. There are interesting notices in Kelly's Reminisc., I., p, 238.]

[Footnote 70: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 185.]

[Footnote 71: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 238.]

[Footnote 72: Bridi, Brevi Notiz., p. 47.]

[Footnote 73: The theme "Come un agnello" is from Sarti's opera, "Fra i Due Litiganti Il Terzo Gode," which was then the rage in Vienna, and is the same which is made use of in the second finale of "Don Giovanni."]

[Footnote 74: Sarti's "Esame acustico fatto sopra due frammenti di Mozart" has, as far as I know, never been printed; an extract was given in A. M. Z., XXXIV., p. 373 (cf. XXVI., p. 540).]

[Footnote 75: According to a letter from Bonn of April 8, 1787 (Cramer's Magaz., II., p. 1,386) he was still in Bonn at that time, and returned home just before the death of his mother, on July 17, 1787.]

[Footnote 76: Schindler (Biogr. Beethoven, I., p. 15) apparently did not know of this interview, which Beethoven was fond of alluding to; the above account was communicated to me in Vienna on good authority. The anecdote is embellished in Beethoven's Studien (Anh., p. 4), and alludes to studies in counterpoint and theory which Beethoven had not even attempted at the time. According to Ries (Biogr. Not., p. 86) he received a few lessons from Mozart, but never heard him play.]

[Footnote 77: "Mozart willingly listened to criticism, even when it was adverse," says Rochlitz (A. M. Z., I., p. 145); "he was susceptible only to blame of one kind, and that was the kind which he most often received--that is, blame for his too fiery imagination and intellect. This sensitiveness was but natural; for if the blame were justifiable, then all that was most original and characteristic in his music was valueless."]

[Footnote 78: The anecdote is given by Niemetschek, p. 94; Rochlitz (A. M. Z., I., p. 53); Griesinger (Biogr. Notizen uber J. Haydn, p. 105); Nissen, p. 681, who names Kozeluch.]

[Footnote 79: Bohemia, 1856, p. 127.]

[Footnote 80: This remark was communicated to me by Neukomm, who heard it from Haydn.]

[Footnote 81: A. M. Z., II., p. 516.]

[Footnote 82: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 53; cf. p. 116.]

[Footnote 83: So Reichardt asserts, A. M. Z., XV., p. 667 (Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p. 325). Reise nach Wien, II., p. 91, and Dittersdorf (Selbstbiogr., p. 238).]

[Footnote 84: Sending a sonata to Artaria, he writes (February 8,1780): "I hope at least to gain credit for this work with people of cultivation; it is sure to be criticised by the envious (who are very numerous)"; and similar remarks frequently occur.]

[Footnote 85: Parke, Mus. Mem., I., p. 170.]

[Footnote 86: Niemetschek, p. 78 (A. M. Z., I., p. 182; XI., p. 780. Nissen, p. 643. Wien. Musikzeitg., 1817, p. 288. Nohl, Musikerbr., p. xoi). Griesinger asserts by mistake (Biogr. Notizen, p. 104), followed by Carpani (Le Haydine, p. 202), that in 1791, Haydn (who was then in London) was summoned to Prague for the coronation of Leopold II., but refused the invitation in the words, "Where Mozart is, Haydn cannot show himself."]

[Footnote 87: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 52.]

[Footnote 88: Nohl, Musikerbr., pp. 84, 93. Cf. Griesinger, Biogr. Not., p. 25.]

[Footnote 89: Stadler, Vertheidigung der Echtheit des Mozartschen Requiem, p. 27.]

[Footnote 90: Griesinger, Biogr. Not., p. 104.]

[Footnote 91: Carpani, Le Haydine, p. 201.]

[Footnote 92: Karajan, Haydn in London, p. 66. Nohl, Musikerbr., p. 114.]

[Footnote 93: Griesinger, Biogr. Not., p. 23.]

[Footnote 94: Griesinger, Biogr. Not., p. 35. Dies, Biogr. Nachr., p. 75.]

[Footnote 95: Dies, Biogr. Nachr., p. 77.]

[Footnote 96: Karajan, J. Haydn in London, p. 97. Nohl, Musikerbr., p. 135.]

[Footnote 97: I have heard from Neukomm that Haydn spoke of it with emotion (Cf. Wien. Ztg. fur Theat., 1808, üI., p. 107). "I am childishly glad to be at home," he wrote (December 20, 1791), "and welcomed by my old friends. I only regret to miss the greeting of the great Mozart, whose death I deplore. Posterity will not see such talent for a century to come" (Karajan, p. 102; Nohl, Musikerbr., p. 140).]