Chapter II: Part 2

Joseph II. took great interest in the establishment of a school of German opera, and engaged an excellent company of vocalists, among whom was Mozart's old flame, Aloysia Weber, for the theatre. Mozart, who always delighted in writing for the stage, had brought with him to Vienna his German opera _Zaide_. He scarcely hoped that it would be produced, as he thought the libretto unsuited to the Viennese public; but Stephanie, the inspector of the opera, was so pleased with the music that he promised to give Mozart a good text to set. The Emperor was quite willing to see what the composer could do in German opera; and in July Mozart, to his great delight, received the libretto of _Belmont und Constanze_, now known under its second title, _Die Entführung aus dem Serail_. Owing to various causes, among others the cabals of Mozart's enemies, the production of the opera was much delayed; it was only by the express command of the Emperor that it was at length performed for the first time on July 13, 1782. It was of this opera that the Emperor said to the composer: "Too fine for our ears, and an immense number of notes, my dear Mozart!" which called forth the reply: "Exactly as many notes, your Majesty, as are needful."

The success of the work was immediate and complete. Here Mozart was virtually on new ground. Excepting the operetta _Bastien und Bastienne_ and the _Zaide_ above-mentioned, all Mozart's preceding operas had been written to Italian words; and though in _Idomeneo_ a fusion of Italian and German styles is to be seen, it is not till _Die Entführung_ that we find an important work genuinely German in character. Of Italian influence there is but little trace except in some parts of the music allotted to Constanze. This role was undertaken by Madame Cavalieri, a great bravura singer, but little more; and many of the florid passages in her songs remind one of the popular ornate style of the day. It is difficult to speak too highly of the wealth of melodic invention, the truth of expression, or the skill shown in differentiating the various characters of the drama to be found in this work, while the picturesqueness of the orchestration is perhaps even superior to that of _Idomeneo_, and certainly far surpasses that of any of the early operas.

At this time Mozart's old friends, the Webers, had removed to Vienna, and the composer had resumed his intercourse with them. A mutual attachment had grown up between him and Constanze, a younger sister of Aloysia, who had jilted him. He wrote to his father asking his consent to his marriage; but Leopold, knowing that his son had no regular appointment, and that his income was precarious, strongly opposed the step, and for some time the course of true love by no means ran smooth.

Through the influence of a patroness of Mozart, the Baroness von Waldstadten, the obstacles were ultimately surmounted, and the marriage was celebrated at the Baroness's house on August 4, 1782. Though the union was, from one point of view, very happy, owing to the true affection that existed between husband and wife, it cannot be doubted that it was, to a great extent, the cause of much of Mozart's later troubles. Constanze, though endowed with many excellent qualities, was a bad housekeeper, while Mozart, besides being generous to a fault, had not the least capacity for business, nor even any idea of economy. No wonder, then, that when to the care and expense of a young family was added a long and severe illness of the wife, they were often in sore pecuniary difficulties. Jahn says that if Mozart had been as good a man of business as his father, he would have done very well in Vienna, for he earned a very good income. As a matter of fact, from this time to the end of his career, his life was one long struggle, and not always a successful one, to keep his head above water.

Mozart's chief source of income at this time seems to have been derived from his playing, for he was in great demand, not only at concerts, but in the houses of the nobility. According to the unanimous verdict of his contemporaries, he was the greatest pianist and (in the best sense of the term) virtuoso of his day. After his death, Joseph Haydn is reported to have said, with tears in his eyes: "I can never forget Mozart's playing; it came from the heart." The Emperor also highly appreciated the composer's genius, and it is probably only owing to the intrigues of the Italian musicians by whom he was surrounded that he did not confer some adequately paid appointment upon Mozart.

In July, 1783, shortly after the birth of his first child, Mozart took his wife to Salzburg to introduce her to his father and sister. He had, before his marriage, made a vow that, if ever Constanze became his wife, he would compose a new Mass for performance at Salzburg. The work was not quite completed, but he supplied the missing numbers from one of his earlier Masses. As the Archbishop of Salzburg refused permission for the Mass to be performed in the cathedral, it was given in St. Peter's Church, Constanze singing the principal soprano part. The Mass, which is in C minor, is laid out on a much larger scale than those which Mozart wrote for Salzburg, the "Gloria" being in seven movements, while two of the choruses are in five and one in eight parts. The work is a curious mixture; many of the choruses are quite elevated in style, and not unworthy of the "Requiem" itself. The solos are much lighter, and of a florid character. Mozart never finished the Mass, but he used the music two years later for his cantata, _Davide Penitente_.

During his visit to Salzburg Mozart began work on two new buffo operas, _L'Oca del Cairo_, the libretto by Varesco, who had written the text of _Idomeneo_, and _Lo Sposo Deluso_, by an unknown poet. Neither work, however, was completed.

After his return to Vienna in October, 1783, Mozart's time was fully occupied with concerts and composition. The year 1784 saw the birth of many of his finest works, which at this time were exclusively instrumental. Among them are several of his best piano concertos, which he wrote for his own performance at concerts in which he took part. The list also includes the great sonata in C minor for the piano, a work not without influence on Beethoven, and the beautiful sonata in B flat for piano and violin, composed for Mdlle. Strinasacchi, a young violinist for whose benefit concert, Mozart had promised to write a new work. Being pressed for time, Mozart had deferred writing the sonata till the day before the concert, when the young lady, with much trouble, obtained from him the violin part only. She practised it the next morning, and in the evening played it with the composer without any rehearsal. The Emperor was present at the concert, and, looking through his opera-glass, noticed that Mozart had a blank sheet of music-paper before him. After the sonata was finished, the Emperor sent a message that he wished to see the manuscript. The composer brought the blank sheet. "What, Mozart!" said Joseph, "at your tricks again?" "Please your Majesty," was the reply, "there was not a note lost." Only musicians will be able fully to appreciate the wonderful feat of memory which such a performance involved.

In 1785 Leopold Mozart returned his son's visit, and it was at this time that he made the acquaintance of Joseph Haydn, with whom Wolfgang was on intimate terms. Leopold met Haydn for the first time at a party at his son's house, where three of Mozart's recently composed quartetts were played. It was on that occasion that Haydn said to the proud father: "I declare to you before God, and as a man of honour, that your son is the greatest composer that I know; he has taste, and beyond that the most consummate knowledge of the art of composition."

In February, 1786, was produced the music to _Der Schauspieldirector_, a German comedy in one act, for some festivities given by the Emperor at Schönbrunn. Mozart's share of the work consisted merely of an overture and four vocal numbers. Though the music is extremely melodious, it adds nothing to the composer's fame. Far more interesting and important were the two piano concertos in A major and C minor, both written in March of the same year. But all other compositions of this time sink into insignificance by the side of the opera _Le Nozze di Figaro_, which was produced in Vienna on May 1, 1786. The libretto was adapted by Lorenzo da Ponte, a theatrical poet who was a favourite with the Emperor, from Beaumarchais' comedy, "Le Mariage de Figaro." The subject was suggested by the composer himself. As on so many previous occasions, there were violent intrigues against the piece; but, thanks probably in a great measure to the support of the Emperor, these were unsuccessful, and the Irish singer, Michael Kelly, who took the part of Basilio at the first performance, says in his "Reminiscences": "Never was anything more complete than the triumph of Mozart and his _Nozze di Figaro_, to which numerous overflowing audiences bore witness." Almost more enthusiasm was shown at Prague, where the opera was given a few months later. At the invitation of some of his friends, Mozart went to Prague to witness the success of his work. His reception there was overwhelming. Two concerts which he gave in the city realized a profit of 1,000 florins. At the first of these was produced the fine symphony in D known as the "Prague Symphony." At the same concert he extemporized, in his own masterly manner, for half an hour, after which, in reply to a call for "something from _Figaro_," he improvised variations on "Non più andrai." This visit had an important result. Mozart remarked to Bondini, the manager of the theatre, that, as the people of Prague appreciated him so much, he should like to write an opera for them, whereupon the manager took him at his word, and commissioned an opera from him for the following season.

As the libretto of _Figaro_ had suited him so well, it was only natural that Mozart should again apply to Da Ponte for a book for the new work. The subject chosen was the old legend of _Don Giovanni_, and in September, 1787, Mozart and his wife went to Prague in order that he might, as was his custom, be near the artists who were to sing in the work. Meanwhile his pen had been by no means idle. From the autograph catalogue of his works, which he began to keep in 1784 and continued till his last illness, we find that between _Figaro_ and _Don Giovanni_ he wrote thirty works, including some of the more important of his compositions in the domain of chamber music. Among these maybe specially named the string quintetts in C major and G minor, the two great pianoforte duet sonatas in F and C, the charming trio in E flat for piano, clarinet, and viola, and the sonata in A for piano and violin.

Arrived in Prague, Mozart first lodged at an inn, but later removed to the house of his friend Duschek, in the suburbs of the city. Here a great part of the opera was written, each number being sent to the singers as soon as it was completed. Visitors to Prague are still shown the summer-house with a stone table in the garden of Duschek's house, at which Mozart used to work at his opera while his friends were playing at bowls. It is said that he would leave his work from time to time to take his part in the game, and then resume it without having lost the thread of his ideas. The story has often been told how, on the night before the production of the opera, the overture was still unwritten. Mozart had parted late in the evening from his friends, and his wife mixed him a glass of punch and sat up with him while he wrote, telling him fairy tales to keep him awake. At last sleep overpowered him, and she persuaded him to lie down for an hour or two. At five she woke him, and when at seven the copyist came for the score the overture was ready. There was barely time to get the parts copied before the evening, and the excellent orchestra played it at sight without rehearsal. Mozart, who was conducting, said to the players near him: "A good many notes fell under the desks, but it went very well."

The first performance of _Don Giovanni_ took place on October 29, 1787, and excited the utmost enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the composer's father was not able to witness his son's triumph, as he had died in the preceding May, after a long illness. Mozart returned to Vienna shortly after the production of his opera, but his success brought about but little improvement in his pecuniary circumstances. True, the Emperor appointed him "kammermusikus" in December, but the salary attached to the post--800 florins--was ridiculously small. His only duty was to write dance music for the masked balls of the Imperial Court; this caused him to make the bitter remark that his salary was too much for what he did, and too little for what he could do.

On May 7, 1788, _Don Giovanni_ was given at Vienna. For this performance the composer had written three additional numbers, two of which were Don Ottavio's air, "Dalla sua pace," and Elvira's "Mi tradi quell' alma ingrata." The work, nevertheless, proved a failure; the style was too novel for the taste of the audience. The Emperor, after hearing it, said: "The opera is divine--perhaps even more beautiful than _Figaro_--but it is no food for the teeth of my Viennese." When this was repeated to Mozart, he said: "Let us give them time to chew it, then!" and, by his advice, the opera was repeated at short intervals until the public became accustomed to its beauties. The applause increased at each fresh performance.

The most important works composed in the year 1788 were the three great symphonies in E flat, G minor, and C major (generally known as the "Jupiter"), the last of forty-nine which Mozart wrote. In these he rises to a height which in his previous instrumental works he had seldom attained. The symphony in G minor, unquestionably the finest work ever written for a small orchestra, has never been surpassed in its combination of passion and pathos; while the finale of the "Jupiter" symphony, with its elaborate fugal counterpoint, still remains without a rival in its combination of the most consummate learning with the utmost profusion of melodic invention.

It was toward the close of this year that the Baron van Swieten, an enthusiastic lover of Handel's music, commissioned Mozart to arrange _Acis and Galatea_ for performance at some concerts with which the Baron was connected, and of which he superintended the preparation. In Mozart's autograph catalogue, already spoken of, we find that the arrangement was made in November, 1788. In the course of the following year he made a similar arrangement of the _Messiah_, and, in 1790, of _Alexander's Feast_ and the _Ode for St. Cecilia's Day_. Space will not allow a detailed criticism of these arrangements; it must suffice to say that, while often extremely beautiful, they are not always in accordance with Handel's spirit or intentions, the probable explanation being that Mozart, as we learn from Otto Jahn, knew but little of Handel's music till introduced to it by Baron van Swieten.

In 1789 Mozart accepted an invitation from his pupil and patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, to accompany him on a visit to Berlin. The composer, whose pecuniary position was still very precarious, no doubt hoped that he might find some post in the North of Germany which would be worthy of his acceptance and relieve him from his pressing embarrassments. Leaving Vienna on April 8, he arrived four days later at Dresden, where he played before the Court, receiving for his performance the sum of 100 ducats. Thence he proceeded to Leipzig, where he made the acquaintance of Rochlitz, who, in his "Für Freunde der Tonkunst," has preserved some interesting reminiscences of his visit. It was here also that, through Doles, the cantor of the Thomas-Schule, he learned to know the great motetts of Sebastian Bach, for which he expressed the highest admiration.

On his arrival at Berlin, Mozart was at once conducted by Prince Lichnowsky to Potsdam, to be presented to the King, Frederick William II., who was a great lover of music and a good performer on the violoncello. The King received him very warmly, and took special pleasure in hearing him improvise. Mozart, however, derived but little pecuniary advantage from his visit. The King, it is true, offered him the post of kapellmeister at his Court with a salary of 3,000 thalers, but the composer, with whom worldly considerations had little weight, declined the offer, saying: "Can I leave my good Emperor?" The only profit made by the tour was a present from the King of 100 friedrichs d'or, which was accompanied by a wish that Mozart should write some quartetts for him. Three string quartetts (in D, B flat, and F), in all of which the part for the violoncello is of more than usual prominence, were written for and dedicated to the King.

After his return to Vienna Mozart's embarrassments became more pressing than ever. The ill-health of his wife involved him in constant expense, and his income was at all times precarious. By the advice of his friends he informed the Emperor of the offer that had been made him by the King of Prussia. The Emperor asked if he were really going to leave him, and Mozart replied: "Your Majesty, I throw myself upon your kindness; I remain." No improvement, however, resulted in his position, though it was at the suggestion of the Emperor that he was commissioned to write a new opera for Vienna. This was the two-act opera buffa _Cosi fan tutte_, the libretto of which was again from the pen of Da Ponte, and which was produced on January 26, 1790. The first performances appear to have been successful; but the death of the Emperor in the following month caused the theatre to be closed for some time; in all it was given ten times, and then fell out of the repertoire. The plot of the opera is weak and improbable, and the indifferent quality of the libretto is without doubt the chief reason why the music is as a whole inferior to that of _Don Giovanni_ and _Figaro_. _Cosi fan tutte_, nevertheless, contains some of its composer's best work, especially in the concerted movements, such as the trio "Soave sia il vento," the quintett and sextett in the first act, and the two finales. The orchestral colouring also is almost richer and more varied than in any of Mozart's preceding operas.

The accession of Leopold II. to the throne of Austria brought no improvement in the composer's circumstances, for the new Emperor's tastes differed widely from those of Joseph, and it soon became evident that those who had enjoyed the favour of the latter had but little to hope from his successor. Mozart applied for the post of second kapellmeister, and also asked to be allowed to teach the young Princes; but both requests were refused. Thinking that the coronation of the Emperor at Frankfort might afford him a favourable opportunity for an artistic tour, Mozart, who was obliged to pawn his plate in order to procure the necessary funds, started for that city on September 26, and gave a concert of his own compositions in the Stadt-Theatre on October 14. But neither here nor at Mannheim and Munich, which he visited on his return journey, did he make much profit, and he returned to Vienna with little or no improvement in his circumstances. Here he had the pain of parting with one of his dearest friends, Joseph Haydn, who was just leaving for London with Salomon, who had engaged him for a series of concerts.* Salomon also entered into negotiations with Mozart for a similar series in the following year, but before that time the composer was no more. He and Haydn never met again.

* It was for these concerts that Haydn composed his best-known and finest symphonies--those called in this country the "Salomon Set."

In May, 1791, an old acquaintance of Mozart's, Emanuel Schickaneder, the manager of a small theatre at Vienna, being in embarrassed circumstances, proposed to Mozart to write an opera on a magic subject, of which he, Schickaneder, would prepare the libretto. Mozart, always ready to help a friend, agreed, though with some little hesitation, saying that he had never written a magic opera. The work was _Die Zauberflöte_, and Mozart began its composition at once. Various causes interfered with its rapid progress. It was while working at it that the first signs of the breaking up of his vital powers showed themselves. He suffered from fainting fits, and in June he was obliged to suspend work on the opera and go to Baden, a suburb of Vienna, to recruit his health.

It was while engaged on the composition of _Die Zauberflöte_ that Mozart received from a mysterious stranger the commission to write a _Requiem_ Mass. He was asked to name his own terms, but was enjoined to make no effort to discover who it was that had ordered the work. Mozart, who had written no church music since his Mass in C minor eight years before, eagerly accepted the commission, and began work at once. It is now ascertained beyond a doubt that the individual who visited Mozart was the steward of a certain Count Walsegg, an amateur musician who desired to be thought a great composer, and who actually copied the score of the _Requiem_ and had it performed as his own work.

Mozart's work on the _Zauberflöte_ and the Requiem were alike interrupted in August by a commission which it was needful to execute at once. This was the composition of an opera for Prague, to be performed there on the occasion of the coronation of the Emperor Leopold II. as King of Bohemia. The libretto selected was Metastasio's _La Clemenza di Tito_, which had been already set to music by several eminent composers. As the coronation was to take place in the following month, Mozart had but little time for composition; according to Jahn, the opera was completed in eighteen days. Its first performance took place on September 6, and was not a success. Mozart, who was in bad health when he arrived in Prague, and who had become still worse through his arduous exertions in getting the work ready in time for the performance, was greatly depressed at its failure.

Returning to Vienna in September, with health and spirits alike failing him, Mozart resumed work on _Die Zauberflöte_, which was produced on the 30th of the same month, the composition of the overture and the march which opens the second act having been only completed two days previously. Though the success of the first performance was less than had been anticipated, the public soon began to appreciate its beauties; it was given twenty-four times in the following month and reached its hundredth performance in a little more than a year.

As soon as the opera was off his mind, Mozart returned to his still incomplete _Requiem_, a work which now engrossed all his attention and energy. In his enfeebled and depressed state he formed the idea that he was writing the _Requiem_ for himself, and had a firm conviction that he had been poisoned. By the advice of his doctor his wife took away the score from him, and a temporary improvement resulted, which enabled him to write a small cantata for a masonic festival--the last work which he entered in the thematic catalogue already mentioned. At his request his wife returned him the score of the _Requiem_, but as soon as he resumed work upon it all the unfavourable symptoms returned with increased violence, and partial paralysis set in. In the latter part of November he took to his bed, from which he was never to rise again. By a sad irony of fate, it was during his last illness that fortune smiled upon him for the first time: some of the Hungarian nobility joined to assure him of an annual income of 1,000 florins, while music publishers at Amsterdam gave him commissions for compositions which would have insured him against want for the future. But all came too late for the dying composer, and his last hours were embittered by the thought of leaving his wife and children unprovided for at the very time when he would have been able to support them in comfort. To the last his mind was full of his unfinished _Requiem_, and on the afternoon before his death, he had the score laid on his bed, and the music sung by his friends, he himself taking the alto part. When they reached the opening bars of the "Lacrymosa," Mozart burst into a violent fit of weeping, and the score was laid aside. In the evening the physician told Mozart's pupil, Süssmayr, in confidence that there was nothing more to be done; but he ordered cold bandages to be applied to the head, which brought on such convulsions that Mozart lost consciousness; he never recovered it, but died at one o'clock on the morning of December 5, 1791. He was buried the next day in the churchyard of St. Marx in so violent a storm that the mourners all turned back before reaching the graveyard, where the great composer was laid, not in a grave of his own, but in that allotted to paupers. When the widow was sufficiently recovered from the first shock to be able to go to the burial-ground to look for the grave, a new sexton was there who knew nothing about the matter, and the exact spot under which Mozart's remains rest has never been identified with certainty.

THE ART OF MOZART

In surveying Mozart's art work as a whole, one of the first things to strike the student is the comprehensiveness of his genius. There is hardly another of the great composers who has produced so many masterpieces in so many different styles. It may be at once conceded that in certain directions he has been surpassed by one or other of those who have succeeded him. Very few musicians will be found who will place him, either as a symphonist or as a writer for the piano, by the side of Beethoven; but, on the other hand, the latter is far inferior to Mozart in his treatment of the voice. Again, Mozart's songs, taken as a whole, will not compare with those of Schubert, but as an operatic composer Schubert has written nothing to approach, still less to equal, _Figaro_ or _Don Giovanni_. There is hardly one department of musical composition on which the genius of Mozart has not left its mark. From this point of view, it will be scarcely too much to call him the most wonderful "all-round" musician that the world has ever yet seen.

Without underestimating his remarkable natural gifts, it can hardly be doubted that Mozart's surroundings conduced not a little to the versatility of his genius. Both in Salzburg and in Vienna Italian music was in the ascendant; and in this the vocal element was of far more importance than the instrumental. With his extraordinary power of assimilating all that was best in whatever he heard, and the almost supernatural facility in composition which seems to have come to him instinctively, it is not surprising that his earliest works show strong traces of Italian influence. This was no doubt to some extent modified by the journeys which, as a child, he made with his father to Paris and London, in which cities he learned to know much of both French and German music; but nearly to the end of his life his style, especially in his vocal music, was rather Italian than distinctively German.

One of the most striking features of Mozart's music is the perfect command of form seen in even his earliest works. He was never a great innovator in the sense in which that word may be applied to Haydn, Beethoven, or Schumann; he worked on lines that had been already laid down by others, contenting himself with improving as far as possible on his models. If his earlier operas be compared with the works of his Italian contemporaries, it will be found that the form of the songs and concerted pieces differs in no material respect from that to be seen in the operas of Cimarosa, Paisiello, or Sarti; that which distinguishes Mozart's work is its wonderful flow of melody, its perfect feeling for euphony, and the true dramatic instinct displayed wherever the libretto affords an opportunity. But his later operas, beginning with _Idomeneo_, stand upon an altogether higher footing. Mozart had at this time come under the influence of Gluck, whose works he had learned to know in Paris.

If we compare the score of _Idomeneo_ with that of Gluck's _Alceste_, we cannot but see the similarity of style. True, Mozart's flow of melody is more abundant--we might even say more spontaneous; it is in the more dramatic treatment of the orchestra, and especially in the large amount of accompanied recitative (as distinguished from _recitativo secco_) that we note the resemblance. Yet while the influence of the older master is clearly to be traced, there is an essential difference in the method of the two composers. Gluck sometimes sacrifices his musical forms for dramatic effect; Mozart treats the accepted forms in such a way as to make them capable of expressing the emotions of the drama.

An important point, in which Mozart surpassed not only Gluck, but all other composers of his day, was his treatment of the orchestra. In his earlier works his employment of the instruments was somewhat conventional; but he soon freed himself from the trammels of tradition, and tried experiments in tone combination that were as new as they were striking. These novelties are to be seen less in his operas and symphonies than in his serenades and divertimenti.* It was not till his visit to Paris in 1779 that his command of orchestration reached its highest development. In his works from this time forward, whether purely instrumental, or vocal with orchestral accompaniment, are seen a richness and a feeling for beauty of colouring in advance of anything previously heard. It was the elaborate accompaniments of his operas, as compared with those of other composers of his day, that caused Gretry to reproach him with having placed the pedestal on the stage and the statue in the orchestra. At the present time we are so accustomed to the rich instrumentation of the modern school that Mozart's scores seem comparatively thin.

* As examples, may be named the serenade for two orchestras, one consisting of two violins, viola, and double-bass, and the other of string quartett and kettle-drums, and the very curious little pieces for two flutes, five trumpets, and four drums.

If we compare Mozart's instrumental works with those of Haydn, it will be seen that the difference between them is one of spirit rather than of form. Haydn's music flows on in a clear stream, of no great depth in general, but always pleasing, always intelligible, and most logical and coherent in its thematic developments. In Mozart's music the lyrical element predominates. His slow movements are in general more emotional than those of Haydn, both melody and harmony are richer, and the workmanship more finished. This statement must be taken only as a generalization, for in the later years of Haydn's life the influence of Mozart on his style is clearly to be seen, and some of the slow movements in the Salomon symphonies or the later quartetts are not unworthy to be placed by the side of Mozart's best. On the other hand, we find in Haydn's minuets and finales an element of humour, sometimes even of broad fun, which is rarely seen in Mozart's instrumental music, though abundant enough in the lighter scenes of his operas.

With a few important exceptions, Mozart's pianoforte works do not rank among his greatest achievements. Many of his sonatas, variations, etc., were written for his pupils, and possess little more than historical interest. Mozart lived at the transitional period in which the harpsichord was giving place to the piano, and in his earlier sonatas, etc., the style of harpsichord music is often to be seen. Yet some of his later works for the piano, such as the two fantasias in C minor, the sonatas in B flat and C minor, the rondo in A minor, and the adagio in B minor, though now, owing to the changes in popular taste, seldom heard, are far from deserving the neglect into which they have fallen. The same may be said of the best sonatas for piano and violin, and of many of the concertos. It is hardly a generation since the latter were often to be heard in public; the modern love of sensationalism and of display for its own sake seems to have banished them--it is to be hoped not permanently--from the concert room.

In estimating Mozart's Church music, it is needful to bear in mind that much of it, more especially the Masses composed at Salzburg, was written under special and in some respects arbitrary restrictions.

In a letter written in 1776 to Padre Martini, Mozart tells him that a Mass, including the regular five sections, besides an offertory or motett and a sonata at the epistle, was not allowed to last longer than three-quarters of an hour; for this reason most of his Masses are very concise in their form as compared with the later masses of Haydn or with Beethoven's Mass in C. Besides this, the Archbishop of Salzburg loved a showy and brilliant style of music, and Mozart was bound, to some extent, to make concessions to his taste. Yet it is going too far to say, as some German critics have done, that these masses are their composer's weakest works. Some of them, especially those in F and D major, both of which were written at Salzburg in 1774, are in every way worthy of Mozart, while there are but few of the others which do not contain movements of the greatest beauty. The same may be said of his litanies, vespers, and smaller sacred works. But his power as a composer of Church music is best shown in portions of the great Mass in C minor, which he began at Vienna in 1783, but never completed, and most of all in the _Requiem_, in which his genius rises to a greater height than in any of his other sacred compositions. There is little reason to doubt that, had he been allowed free scope, his works in this field of art would have been little, if at all, inferior to those on which his fame most securely rests.

As a contrapuntist Mozart undoubtedly ranks second only to J. Sebastian Bach, of whom, indeed, his astounding facility in solving the most complex musical problems at times reminds us. Nowhere is the _ars celare artem_ more perfectly exemplified than in the best specimens of Mozart's fugal and canonic writing. The example most frequently referred to as an illustration is the finale of the "Jupiter" symphony, but such pieces as the "Rex tremendæ" of the _Requiem_, with its quadruple canon, the final fugue in the _Davidde penitente_, or the "Laudate pueri" of the second Vespers, are scarcely less remarkable. The large number of canons for unaccompanied voices which he wrote show his preference, no less than his aptitude, for the stricter forms; yet, however elaborate, in his hands they never become dry, but are always full of melodic beauty. With Mozart technique is always the means, never the end.

The influence of Mozart on the music of the first half of the last century can hardly be fully estimated. It is clearly to be seen in the earlier works of Beethoven. By this it is not meant that the younger master borrowed, or even imitated, the actual themes of his predecessor; his individuality was from the first too strongly marked. But many of the works of what is known as Beethoven's "first manner" are clearly modelled upon corresponding works by Mozart. Thus, his trio for strings in E flat, Op. 3, was evidently suggested by Mozart's trio in the same key, while the septett and the quintett for piano and wind instruments clearly show traces of Mozart's manner. The same may be said of the adagio of the first piano sonata, and of the whole of the sonata in D for piano and violin--to name but a few examples of many. Not the least disparagement of Beethoven is intended in saying this: every great composer has begun his career by imitating more or less closely the works of his predecessors, and it was inevitable that Mozart should have influenced one who had so many points of affinity with him. In Beethoven's later works the similarity of style is no longer to be noticed.

Passing over with a mere word of mention such composers of the second rank as Andreas Romberg and Hummel, we find two composers of marked individuality--Schubert and Mendelssohn--in whose earlier works the influence of Mozart is more or less traceable. As a song-writer, Schubert was original from the first; even in his instrumental works it is only occasionally that one is reminded of other composers. The suggestions of Mozart are chiefly to be found in Schubert's earlier symphonies. The variations which form the slow movement of the symphony in B flat might be inserted in one of Mozart's serenades without seeming out of place. In the works of Mendelssohn's youth the Mozart influence is more distinct,* though, like Schubert, he soon emancipated himself.

* The first subject of the finale of Mendelssohn's first piano quartett is a very close, though probably unconscious, imitation of the opening bars of the finale of Mozart's sonata in C minor.

Among composers of the present day one would seek in vain for any traces of Mozart's influence. Times have changed, and the classical style has been supplanted by the romantic. Whether this is altogether to the advantage of modern music is a question which cannot be discussed here; but an energetic protest may at least be entered against the superficial criticism sometimes to be heard that Mozart's works are weak and old-fashioned. That music has made much progress since Mozart's days nobody will deny; the operatic reforms of Wagner are far-reaching, while Schumann, Chopin, and Brahms--not to mention more recent composers--have enlarged the harmonic resources of the art. But on all those whose musical palates have not been vitiated by the highly-spiced viands of the ultra-modern school, Mozart's pure, natural, soulful music can never cease to exert its charm. "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever," and, in spite of the proverbial danger of prophesying, it is hardly rash to predict that Mozart's best symphonies will outlive those of Berlioz or Tschaïkowsky, and that his _Don Giovanni_ and _Figaro_ will continue to be the delight and admiration of true musicians, even though changes in the popular taste should banish them from the stage. Mozart's place among the immortals is as secure as that of Bach or Beethoven.

LIST OF WORKS.

Of all the great composers, Mozart was one of the most prolific. The chronological thematic catalogue of his works, by Kochel, published at Leipzig in 1862, contains 626 numbers, varying in length from short pieces of only a few bars to operas, the manuscripts of which fill hundreds of pages. Even a clearer idea of the enormous quantity of music written by Mozart in his short life of thirty-six years will be gained when it is said that the complete collection of his works, published by Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig, fills nearly 13,000 folio pages. The following list, compiled from Kochel's catalogue, will show not only the extent, but the variety of the ground covered by the composer. A few of the works mentioned by Kochel have been lost, and are therefore not included in Breitkopf's edition.

1. VOCAL MUSIC.

1. Nineteen Masses, and the _Requiem_. Of the Masses three are incomplete, and the genuineness of one is doubtful.

2. Four Litanies and three Vespers.

3. Forty short pieces of sacred music (offertories, motetts, etc.).

4. Two oratorios (_La Betulia Liberata_ and _Davide Penitente_) and four cantatas.

5. Twenty-three operas and other dramatic works. This list includes the incidental music to the play _König Thamos_, and the two unfinished operas, _L'Oca del Cairo_ and _Lo Sposo Deluso_.

6. Sixty-six concert arias, trios, etc., with orchestral accompaniment. Many of these were written by Mozart for his personal friends; others were intended to be introduced, according to the custom of the time, into operas by other composers.

7. Forty songs, with accompaniment for the piano.

8. Twenty-two canons for voices without accompaniment. Of these one is for two voices, eight are for three, ten for four, two for six, and one for three four-part choirs.

2. INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.

9. Forty-nine symphonies for orchestra.

10. Thirty-three serenades and divertimenti for various combinations of instruments.

11. Twenty-seven miscellaneous instrumental works of various kinds--symphony movements, minuets, marches, etc.

12. Thirty-nine collections of dances, containing 194 separate numbers.

13. Six concertos for violin, one for two violins, and one for violin and viola; also four single movements for a solo violin with orchestra.

14. Twelve concertos, or single movements, for various wind instruments with orchestra.

15. Nine string quintetts, of which one is with horn and another with clarinet.

16. Twenty-seven quartetts for strings, two for strings with flute, and one for strings with oboe.

17. One trio and three duets for strings.

18. Twenty-seven pianoforte concertos, including one for two and another for three pianos; also two rondos for piano and orchestra.

19. A quintett for piano and wind instruments; two quartetts and seven trios for piano and strings, and one trio for piano, clarinet, and viola.

20. Forty-three sonatas, and two sets of variations for piano and violin.

21. A fugue and a sonata for two pianos; five sonatas and a set of variations for piano duet.

22. Seventeen sonatas for piano solo.

23. Four fantasias, fifteen sets of variations, and twenty various pieces for piano solo.

24. Seventeen sonatas for organ, with other instruments, written for Salzburg.

In addition to the above works, Kochel's catalogue gives a list of ninety-eight works which Mozart began, but, for some unknown reason, never completed.