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 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924017087937 
 
Cornell University Library 
 ML 410.M93N77 1877 
 
 The life of Mozart; 
 
 3 1924 017 087 937 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE OF MOZAET 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
LONDON : PRINTED BY 
 
 SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUAttB 
 
 AND PAaLlAJIENT STREET 
 
AT THK AOE OF SIX 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE OF MOZAET 
 
 TRANSLATED PROM THE GERMAN WORK OP 
 
 D» LUDWIG NOHL 
 
 BY LADY WALLACE 
 
 WITH PORTRAITS OF MOZART AND HIS SISTER 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 VOL. I. 
 
 '■SI 
 
 LONDON 
 
 LONGMANS, GKEEN, AND C 0. 
 
 1877 
 s 
 
 All rights reserved 
 
TEANSLATOE'S PEBFACE. 
 
 Why, it may be asked, should a Life of Mozart be 
 brought before the public now, nearly a hundred years 
 after his death ? The answer is rather humiliating — 
 Because Mozart's life and works are so little known and 
 appreciated. It is only in the last year (1876) that 
 a prospectus has been issued by Breitkopf and Hartel 
 to obtain subscriptions for the very first complete 
 edition of Mozart's works. A glance at that prospectus 
 will show almost all who look at it of how very much 
 of his writings they are absolutely ignorant. What- 
 ever is in any degree likely to direct attention to the 
 most melodious and lovely music in the world needs 
 no excuse. All who know and feel what music may 
 and ought to be, do well in trying to revive a purer 
 taste, and in passing on the burning torch to younger 
 hands. 
 
 It would be hard to find a biography more varied 
 
vi TRANSLATORS PEEFACE. 
 
 or more sad than this of Mozart— the most dazzling 
 childhood advancing through a youth and manhood of 
 brilliant genius only to end in neglect. He who of all 
 musicians was, the most 'heaven-born,' and naturally 
 the most joyous, was harassed with cares even before 
 he was grown up. He was to endure the coldness and 
 almost estrangement of his most loving father, and to 
 see his tender care change into a mood which- made all 
 appeals for help unavailing; and at last the world, to 
 whose gratification his life was devoted, drove him by 
 its neglect and intrigues almost to madness, and left him, 
 who could not bear to leave his dead starling without 
 a monument, in the nameless grave of a pauper. 
 
 Then alongside of this interesting human life runs 
 the record of the marvellous development of his art ; and 
 this in no dry scientific disquisition, for it is told in his 
 own living words, in the numerous letters which for- 
 tunately remain the witnesses of what he was in child- 
 hood and youth and prime, beyond which his life did 
 not extend. 
 
 It is well to draw the reader's attention to some of 
 the steps which Mozart took in advancing his art, and it 
 must be kept in mind that access to the works of others 
 was in those days most difficult, so that he learned only 
 by fragments what his predecessors had done. 
 
TRANSLATORS PEEFACE. vii 
 
 His father, Leopold Mozart, was such a teacher as 
 few sons have ever had. He was a most excellent 
 theoretic and practical musician, but nevertheless of a 
 school by no means the best, his poverty and residence 
 at Salzburg depriving him of advantages now within 
 the reach of every schoolboy. 
 
 Both Mozart and Haydn were strongly tinctured 
 with the music of the sons of the great John Sebastian 
 Bach, so that much of their writings might pass for 
 inferior work by Mozart. So far as Mozart ' knew, 
 orchestral music was in embryo. The opera had reached 
 its highest point in Grluck. Church music had passed 
 from a correct, simple, and severe style into one loose, 
 sensuous, and ornamental. It will be seen in this 
 biography how he advanced in each of these branches of 
 music. 
 
 In pianoforte works he was' the first to render due 
 honour to the instrument by writing for it directly 
 orchestral effects. Early in his residence at Vienna he 
 made the acquaintance of Baron von Swieten, one of the 
 few who appreciated the genius of Mozart, and afterwards 
 that of Beethoven. This Von Swieten proved himself a 
 firm and wise friend, and put before his proUges music 
 of the highest character for their study. It was thus 
 Mozart first made acquaintance with the 'Wohltem- 
 
riii XEANSLATOE'S PREFACE. 
 
 perirte Clavier ' of SelDastian Bach. In this work he at 
 once saw the musical ideas suggested to be far beyond 
 what the instrument could realise, and he put some of 
 these fugues into score.> This may have given him the 
 hint for writing directly orchestral effects in pianoforte 
 works— effects afterwards carried out on a much grander 
 scale by Beethoven. 
 
 The best music of his time was ' chamber music' 
 Trios and quartetts by Haydn and others known to Mm 
 were really good, and he shewed his liking for this 
 most charming class of music by writing upwards of one 
 hundred such pieces, amongst which are to be found 
 some of the best as well as most lovely and graceful 
 ever composed. 
 
 His concertos for pianoforte and orchestra amount 
 to twenty-eight ; in them we find in degree what he 
 more completely carried out in his symphonies. But it 
 is here that we most feel how great a loss to us is the 
 man himself. These concertos, beyond even his other 
 pianoforte works, require the utmost refinement of 
 touch and expression of which he was so great a master. 
 It is impossible for any player now, however good, to 
 take Mozart's place here ; not only must we miss the 
 
 ' It seems as if he had only had the second set of twenty- 
 four. 
 
teakslator's pbeface. ix 
 
 life and freshness of feeling of the composer's playing 
 his own work, but the life and feeling with which he 
 always inspired his band. Even the dull and frivolous 
 world of Vienna seems to have enjoyed these concertos. 
 
 The slighter pieces of instrumental music are very 
 numerous, most of them being written for bands in the 
 public gardens in order to raise money to support him- 
 self and his wife ; these trifles finding a more ready 
 sale than music of a higher character, and his marriage 
 proving a source of constant and heavy expenditure 
 through the bad health of bis wife. Nothing could 
 exceed the tenderness of his conduct towards her, and 
 his love remained unchanged to the last. 
 
 The symphonies for orchestra stand out clear from 
 all that preceded them. Haydn's work in that line and 
 at that time was as nothing ; in this he was indeed 
 Mozart's pupil. There are no less than forty-one of 
 these symphonies, some of course early and simple 
 affairs ; but far too many are never or rarely performed. 
 
 In the musical drama, however, he still stands 
 supreme, though it may be feared the knowledge of the 
 English public is confined almost to ' Figaro ' and ' Don 
 Giovanni.' It is well known that the ' Idomeneo ' was 
 Beethoven's favourite, and a few words explaining the 
 reason of this preference will at the same time shew 
 
X TRANSLATOR S PRErACE. 
 
 the leap that Mozart took in this style of composition 
 and the facility and kind feeling of the man. 
 
 Through a political change, the band of the Elector 
 of Bavaria at Mannheim was suddenly transferred to 
 Munich, and Mozart, at the age of twenty-five, was 
 commissioned to write an opera for the combined 
 orchestra. The solo vocalists for whom he had to write 
 were the two daughters of Wendling, a flute-player, 
 and old worn-out broken-winded men ; but there was a 
 capital chorus, and in the orchestra the finest collection 
 of solo players perhaps ever gathered together. Up to 
 this time the orchestra had merely accompanied the 
 voices and played dances, &c. Mozart, under these 
 very strange conditions, at once saw his way to raising 
 dramatic music to a height never dreamed of before. 
 He wrote the vocal parts to suit the voices and powers of 
 those with whom he had to deal, showing off in the best 
 light the remains of what had been good, and did this 
 so tenderly that the tenor (Raaff, seventy years old) im- 
 consciously expressed his delight at finding that there 
 was not a passage or a note which he could not sing easily 
 — a sensation of renewed youth to him. But with the 
 orchestra he could indulge his imagination without 
 stint ; the result being such a combination of sounds 
 as to amaze and delight the players who produced it. 
 
TRANSLATORS PREFACE. XI 
 
 The perfect mastery over all the science of form and 
 colour exhibited in this opera (' Idomeneo ') is as com- 
 plete as it is possible to be ; but the most striking point 
 tiO the musician is the wonderful clearness of imagination 
 and invention that could under the circumstances hear 
 completed in his mind sustained effects of tone so entirely 
 new and grand ; and it is by these surprising and grand 
 effects, from the combination of voices and instruments, 
 that the admiration of Beethoven is to be explained. 
 Of his dramatic writings it is needless to say much. It 
 was, however, in Bohemia that his compositions were ap- 
 preciated, and for Prague he wrote ' Don Giovanni ' and 
 ' La Clemenza di Tito,' this being really his last opera 
 and in some respects perhaps his best ; but, alas ! where 
 is it to be heard now ? Mozart himself complains that 
 he had in the ' Zauberflote ' to write down to the vulgar 
 taste of his Vienna audience. So ignorant and stupid 
 was that audience that ' Don Griovanni ' would have been 
 condemned even by the professional musicians, had not 
 the single voice of Haydn boldly spoken out the truth. 
 In connexion with this should be remembered the 
 wise and skilful criticisms that occur in many pas- 
 sages of his letters — those, for instance, written during 
 the composition of ' Idomeneo,' shewing how clearly he 
 understood the proper relative position of libretto and 
 
xii tkanslatob's preface. 
 
 music. With him music was to be supreme in a musical 
 work — the point and expression of the words to be 
 carefully given by the music, but at the same time no 
 baldness or ugliness was for a moment to be tolerated 
 under any pretence. So the poor libretti he always had 
 to deal with never caused him to produce corresponding 
 poverty of musical idea. For instance, the feeble words 
 in the cemetery scene in ' Don Giovanni ' did not hinder 
 his using them to produce a most wonderful effect of 
 awe and terror. 
 
 With regard to his church music we must with the 
 deepest regret regard most of it as being as unworthy 
 of the composer as it is unfit for its place. It was 
 almost all written when he was very young, and written 
 to please a man of corrupt feeling, Mozart knowing 
 well how he was degrading himself and his art by 
 pandering to the vitiated taste of the Archbishop of 
 Salzburg, who was directly and indirectly the cause of 
 aU the misery of his life. We are justified in such 
 criticism because we have Mozart's own words that 
 ' music, however good in itself, might yet be unfit for 
 ecclesiastical purposes,' and also his complaints of 
 having to write to please such a man. It has already 
 been mentioned that the church music of the day was 
 debased, and this Archbishop ' liked to hear the trum- 
 
TEANSLATOE S PREFACE. Xlll 
 
 pets'; so Mozart indulged him. But in such music 
 help to true devotion is not thought of. The devo- 
 tional strains are not those of the congregation, but 
 those of actors listened to by an audience ; in a word, 
 however beautiful they may be, they are worldly. 
 
 The Prince Archbishop looked on this tender, 
 brilliant, sensitive genius as something quite beneath 
 him ; found fault with all his music ; paid him a mere 
 trifle as salary for all his service ; made him live with 
 his menials, dine with his valets and cooks ; and finally, 
 when Mozart went to present a petition to be allowed 
 to resign his situation, he was literally kicked out of 
 the room. 
 
 Can we wonder that he should refuse to return to 
 Salzburg and to such a service, however much his father 
 might desire it ? 
 
 Leopold Mozart was evidently a man of meek pious 
 temper, and looked forward to a life of quiet religious 
 meditation as the greatest blessing to be desired ; 
 he naturally dreaded the temptations to which his son 
 would be exposed in the world, and would have made any 
 sacrifice to keep him safe from them. Into the world, 
 however, Mozart was thus driven, and into one of its 
 most corrupt cities, there to struggle, and hope, and 
 despair, and wear his life out at half its proper span ; 
 
XIV TBANSLATOBS PREFACE. 
 
 and it was not till near the end that his heart was 
 opened to what church music should be. 
 
 Of that company of musicians who form at once the 
 glory and the shame of Germany, Mozart and John 
 Sebastian Bach are strangely alike in many points, though 
 in genera* the contrast is great indeed. In spontaneous 
 fertility of melody, in clearness of head, in counterpoint 
 and harmony, in power of imagination, and in their 
 wonderful productiveness, they approach near together; 
 in poverty and neglect they were equals, but in bearing 
 these evils how different ! Bach in very early life saw 
 the need of entire change in the music of the Eeformed 
 Church, and feeling conscious of his power to effect the 
 reform, he devoted to this task the whole of his long 
 life. His duties as cantor of the Thomas School at 
 Leipzig were enough to use up all the working powers 
 of an ordinary man ; but in addition to this work he 
 steadily and regularly, week after week and year after 
 year, without remuneration, wrote and arranged the 
 musical service for his church. The slightest of those 
 compositions is a masterpiece of science ; but his single 
 aim in all is how best to help the devotion of the people. 
 In these church services he uses voices and orchestra as 
 in a symphony, and with as full effect as his limited 
 orchestra allowed and to a degree never surpassed. 
 
TKANSLATOE'S preface. XV 
 
 Through long years of patient toil he had trained, in 
 addition to his choir, an orchestra and a congregation 
 that could imderstand and execute his compositions ; 
 in that he had his earthly reward. But with his life 
 all this gradually died away, and probably had never 
 got beyond the walls of Leipzig, The ThoAas School 
 still venerated the memory of the old cantor, and still 
 could execute some of his purely vocal works, when 
 Mozart visited Leipzig in the last year but one of 
 his life. We have on record his irrepressible cry of 
 delight at the opening of one of the eight-part motetts 
 performed on purpose for him to hear, then the entire 
 absorption of all his faculties in listening to it, and 
 then his gettiog all the eight separate parts in order to 
 read it over, for no score had been made.' That one 
 work sank deep into Mozart's heart, and soon brought 
 forth noble fruit. It does not appear that he ever 
 heard or knew of the existence of the great vocal and 
 orchestral church works of Bach. But if the spirit of 
 Bach could have wished to return to this world, surely 
 it would have been at the time when this other mighty 
 genius, who had gone out into the world and given his 
 best energies to amuse it, who could rejoice with joy 
 
 ' Those manuscripts were so little cared for that no one now 
 knows where they are. 
 
XVI TEANSLATOE S PEEFACE. 
 
 unspeakable in true sympathy, who could so heartily 
 appreciate the work of others, came, fevered and wearied 
 with the world's vanities, and chilled with its neglect, 
 and heard in this motett what it was ' worth coming 
 to learn.' At last he had heard what church music 
 ought to be ; and his ' Eequiem ' was written with this 
 fresh in his memory, and with the solemn sense that it 
 was for the repose of his own soul. He died dictating 
 how it was to be finished, but even so it is the grandest 
 of all his works.' Once more Bach and Mozart were 
 to be united : to both were awarded a pauper's funeral 
 and an unknown grave. 
 
 The cruelty of this neglect did not end even with 
 the grave. It is somewhat of an excuse for the want of 
 appreciation shewn to these men, that they were far in 
 advance of their time. But what is to be said when 
 in the year 1800, fifty years after the death of John 
 Sebastian Bach, his last surviving child, Eegina Susanna, 
 was in absolute destitution at Leipzig, and was only 
 saved by a hasty subscription then raised by some of the 
 musicians of the day, Beethoven being among the num- 
 ber ? And so late as the year 1830 Mozart's only sister 
 (Marianne), his dearly loved Nannerl, would have died 
 
 • Bach, a few days before his death, being then blind, dictated the 
 chorale ' Wenn wir in hochsten Nothensein,' his last composition. 
 
TRANSLATOKS PREFACE. XVll 
 
 of absolute want at Salzburg but for the aid of the 
 Novellos and some of their London friends. I feel 
 assured that on reading the account of her sad end a 
 pang must pass through the heart of every one old 
 enough to have helped to relieve her destitution, but 
 who never heard of it till too late. 
 
 If we would avoid the guilt of such neglect, we 
 must learn in what respect good music differs from bad, 
 and not look upon it as a frivolous amusement, or even 
 as an elegant accomplishment, but as one of the means 
 that God has given us for refining our pleasures and 
 soothing our cares, and, above all, as the highest way 
 of pouring forth His praise. 
 
 GRACE WALLACE. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
AUTHOE'S PEBFACE. 
 
 When this book appeared in the year 1863, without the 
 usual preliminary announcement of its aim and cha- 
 racter, it was because I felt certain that what made itself 
 clear to my own intuitive perception, would be equally 
 so to others. 
 
 I had proposed to myself to place before the world 
 an artistic picture of Mozart, such as had never hitherto 
 been attempted, far less carried out, and which cer- 
 tainly could not have been achieved by a work such 
 as the well-known biography of Otto Jahn, undertaken 
 solely with a view of contributing a chapter to the 
 history of art, and executed in a scientific manner. 
 This work was certainly rich in matter, and care- 
 fully worked out ; but the living personality and the 
 individuality of the master himself come out only inci- 
 dentally and in a fragmentary way ; for the free and 
 lifelike moulding of the material, such as can only be 
 
 brought out by a distinct artistic intention, is here 
 
 a2 
 
AUTHORS PKEFACE. 
 
 altogether wanting, if indeed it found any place in the 
 design of the author. On the contrary — and this lies in 
 the very nature of scientific work — the subject matter, 
 i.e. technical accuracy, industriously sought out and 
 firmly grounded, comes to the surface throughout ; but 
 nowhere do we find clearly presented to our senses 
 that living form and free movement which charm us, 
 as does the human being who escapes from the limita- 
 tion of the material to that freedom and self-mastery 
 which can be the result of art only. 
 
 If anyone should still entertain doubts as to the 
 purely materialistic nature and character of 0. Jahn's 
 book, they must utterly vanish when he takes up the 
 new abridged edition, which in its compression of the 
 subject manifests even more evidently the radical want 
 of free plastic handling, the deficiency of any central 
 design, arid the incapability of developing life and form 
 from within. 
 
 This book, in many respects so valuable, and so justly 
 received with acclamation, fell into my hands on my 
 return from a journey to Italy, when, after having given 
 myself up for a year to the study of painting and sculp- 
 ture, I returned with fresh zest to music, determined to 
 devote myself for the future to its history and science. 
 The keen perception of the defect in the work which 
 
AUTHOE's preface. XXI 
 
 I have indicated seized me from the first, and, strength- 
 ening as I proceeded, impelled me to try whether it was 
 not possible, out of materials so abundant and well pre- 
 pared, to work out freely the complete picture of th 
 man and the artist, whose characteristic features often 
 peeped out with such startling effect. . It was the stir- 
 ring up of the whole being, which I, like many no doubt 
 before me, felt in reading this first trustworthy and cir- 
 cumstantial record of Mozart's life and work, which 
 gave me no rest for years, and kept my mind constantly 
 occupied with the subject, till at last, as if spontaneously, 
 the resolution sprang forth to venture the attempt of a 
 frankly artistic and, so to speak, purely human treat- 
 ment of it. 
 
 This attempt demanded some courage and even 
 some self-conquest. For it involved no slight risk for 
 an incipient disciple of the science in question, who had 
 just started in a new line, to stake his entire scientific 
 reputation, and to make his first appearance — for the 
 lesser works, 'Der Greist der Tonkunst,' and 'Die Zau- 
 berflote,' could be regarded only as studies and prepara- 
 tions for the greater cast — by profiting from the 
 researches of another ; in short, a complete plagiarism. 
 But the ever-increasing consciousness that Jahn had 
 not even contemplated, certainly had not achieved, a 
 
xdi author's preface. 
 
 statue of Mozart, and the equally growing conviction 
 that nature had not denied me an appreciative sense of 
 art, and therefore a competent power must exist in 
 me to call to light a living form out of the mere dead 
 material, finally induced me to lay aside all fear of mis- 
 construction or intentional misrepresentation, and to 
 attack the subject courageously. During the progress, 
 of the work, I was enabled gradually to invest it with 
 more individual life and personality, partly by some' 
 happy discoveries of my own, and partly by actual, 
 visits to the home, and the centre of activity of the' 
 artist himself — Salzburg and Vienna. 
 
 So, conscious of right intention, and therefore giving 
 a title to the work, such as usually only monuments bear, 
 without adding many ejcplanations or justifying words, 
 I stepped before the public — i.e. before that portion of 
 it to which I had addressed myself in my own mind as 
 fit beholders of such a non-scientific portrait — before, 
 those who with naturally fresh feelings recognise in art 
 the direct expression and fairest blossoming of our 
 existence, and, therefore, when an artist is in question^ 
 wish to enjoy the living warm sensation of himself, of his 
 actual presence, if I may so express myself, and to see 
 him more personally before their eyes in his own form 
 and his whole real self. And who ever lent himself to: 
 
authob's peefacb. xxiii 
 
 such an artistic representation and lifelike moulding of 
 his individuality more entirely than this Mozart of 
 ours, who is the perfect type of a true artist, because 
 he was the perfect type of a true and complete man I 
 
 This was the task which I had set to myself and 
 carried out, and nobody will be inclined to question its 
 significance and desirability. It is not for me to decide 
 how far I have succeeded ; only it is self-evident that 
 it required a thoroughly new and exceptional working 
 up of the material. Every human life is ruled by a 
 fixed law, which regulates not only its beginning and its 
 end, but also its fluctuating tides and ebbs, and which 
 forms the whole, apparently so capricious and changeable, 
 into a harmonious unity, subject to necessity and law, 
 and excluding all that is arbitrary. This natural rhythm 
 of a human life must also be found in a delineation of it, 
 if it is to make anything like a lifelike impression, and 
 to give the idea of a natural and human essence and 
 movement. The crises and turning-points which mark 
 the different periods in a man's life must guide the 
 biographer in the arrangement of his subject ; and I 
 beliieve that the consciousness of the distinct aim which 
 I had in view, was my support in carrying out my work, 
 the plan of which was suggested by my own natural 
 instinct. Of course both the plan and the execution may 
 
Xxiv AUTHOKS PEEFACE. 
 
 have been latent in the material, only awaiting tlje touch 
 of the freely working artist hand to call them forth, and 
 Mozart's own nature and his high artistic eminence fur- 
 nish us with a lofty standard of criticism. But I had the 
 satisfaction of finding that the book which was intended 
 to present a living image of the beloved master, within 
 the comprehension oi" all, soon won good friends both at 
 home and abroad, more especially among those who, free 
 from prejudice, look upon art as the noblest prize we 
 can strive for, as a glorification of life itself, and who, 
 therefore, in such a really great artist — whose creations, 
 like all real creative works, must ever remain a wonder 
 and a problem to the outward understanding — at least 
 delight to recognise the man, and are in some degree 
 worthy to approach the mystery of his towering spirit 
 and his triumphant achievements. Even artists and 
 painters, as well as poets and musicians, have given me 
 the most unequivocal proofs that I had taken the right 
 direction ; and similar recognition came, half-uncon- 
 sciously indeed, but all the more acceptably, here and 
 there from our literary critics. 
 
 Thus encouraged, the book which has been out of 
 print for a long time may, in a carefully revised new 
 edition, appear before those to whom it is dedicated ; and 
 I now give to it the originally intended title, ' Mozart's 
 
ATJTHOE S PEEtACB. XXV 
 
 Life,' for the vague title, ' Mozart,' was then selected, 
 chiefly because the work was to form the first of a 
 series of biographies of our great masters. Let us 
 here remark that the second in the series was to be 
 ' Beethoven's Life.' This, however, in the very designing 
 of it, grew into an altogether different, and strictly 
 scientific work, with which, perhaps, after more than 
 thirteen years of earnest personal research, I may 
 succeed in atoning for the technical errors in this 
 ' Mozart's Life,' which have been detected by profes- 
 sional critics. The third volume of the work, ' Beet- 
 hoven's Last Twelve Years,' has just passed through the 
 press, and therefore the moment has arrived for placing 
 beside this monument of the great Mozart that of the 
 great Beethoven. 
 
 It may be well to say a word as to the place 
 which our master now holds in the mind of the author, 
 who, since that time, has been carried forward consider- 
 ably by a crowd of new conceptions in the region both 
 of life and art, and who has long clearly recognised 
 that we stand in the midst of a richer fulness of those 
 great promises. What else indeed could we look for 
 than that the intensely warm feeling, which the glorious 
 humanity of this wonderful Mozart awakens in vs, and 
 the deep ecstasy which his incomparable artistic power 
 
xxvi authok's pkbface. 
 
 creates in us, should grow steadily in proportion as the 
 inner development of our art' and of our life unfolds 
 itself? 
 
 At that time, indeed, after a period of constant inter- 
 course with the chaste and powerful creations of the 
 Antique and the Eenaissance, the feeble sentimentality 
 and artificial prettinesses which pervaded concert-rooms, 
 private houses, and churches, after the death of the 
 great Beethoven, struck me in a peculiarly imfavourable 
 light. Then the far more un-Grerman style, bidding 
 defiance to all real sentiment, which took possession of 
 our opera-houses after the death of C. M. von Weber, 
 and turned them into a frivolous confusion of native and 
 foreign imitations of worn-out motifs, raised in me a 
 perfect hoi'ror, so that it was an irresistible inward neces-. 
 sity which impelled me to the closer study of such a 
 truly human and artistic type as Mozart, whence we 
 might draw nourishment and renewed vigour. But even 
 in our day, when we may venture to say that the highest 
 and most glorious outcome of the ideal presented to 
 us in that first fair dawn of our classical development 
 has really begun to grow, and that an artistic activity 
 awaits us, which may give complete expression to our 
 noblest aspirations, it is only right to point out how 
 high an influence is exerted upon this activity by a 
 
AUTHOKS PREFACE. XXVll 
 
 genius like Mozart, from the human as well as from the 
 artistic point of view. 
 
 For lovely and full of true human emotion as are 
 the forms which Mozart's exquisite melodies, like the 
 classical poets, leave imprinted on the soul, it is after 
 all only the most general foundation lines of our inner 
 existence which are laid in them — only the delicately 
 outlined shadows of the spiritual powers which inter- 
 penetrate our modern life, and above all our national 
 existence. We still wait for the full impression and 
 sharp individualising of those deeper lying and peculiar 
 elements which are to give new form to our present age, 
 and only now do we stand before those types of art, 
 which once, as in the fair times of Greece, indicate with 
 energy and with unmistakable accuracy the special 
 characteristics of our age, and will hand them down 
 to future generations as new ideals, as representations 
 of all high effort. 
 
 But, however our present age may have advanced 
 in dignity and every noble quality, resting on earlier 
 or later centiiries for strength and stability, and how- 
 ever' much our art may have penetrated to the pure 
 sources of true humanity, and thence drawn the impulse 
 of noblest creation, still Mozart will ever remain a 
 powerful and inspiring example that all our art springs 
 
xxviii author's pebfacb. 
 
 only out of the trae nature of man, and that man only 
 reaches the perfection, the fulness of his existence, by 
 clinging closely to living life as it gushes out sparkling 
 in its unconscious movement, and sets before him in 
 germs of rich promise the most glorious forms and the 
 very ideal of humanity. For as we first feel the living 
 throb of our own pulse when it beats against warm 
 living human hearts, so every epoch and every natiMi 
 presents to its artists with truth and purity that com- 
 prehensive and tangible conception of the Infinite 
 Eternal, out of which they have to produce those ideal 
 forms, which bear the impress of their high origin, and 
 borrow from it a portion of its creative power and its 
 immortality. 
 
 It is in this sense conspicuously that Mozart's artist 
 genius has reproductive significance for us even now. 
 He caught the central idea of life by letting himself 
 simply be swayed by the spirit and mode of feeling of 
 his own day. He perceived the subtle action of the 
 soul of the world, through the changing phenomena of 
 life, because he listened with his soul to the march of 
 the reality aroimd him and to the pulsation of his time. 
 Even in an age overgrown with foreign ways and foreign 
 culture, through which it was scarcely possible to dis- 
 cern the physiognomy of the real national existence, he 
 
AUTHOR S PREFACE. XXIX 
 
 knew, as the dramatic composer of our own day, 
 Richard Wagner, says, ' how to regard the spirit of his 
 Fatherland with its purity of feeling and its chaste 
 inspiration, as the sacred inheritance with which the 
 German, be he where he may and in whatever language 
 he may express himself, is sure to preserve the ancestral 
 majesty and dignity.' In spite of the foreign idiom, 
 and the compulsory form to which he was limited, 
 he announced himself even in his * Figaro ' and ' Don 
 Juan ' as the German master who, in his ' Zauberflote,' 
 attained the highest triumph of his genius, and first 
 pointed out to the nation the prize that awaited her on 
 that most ideal and comprehensive territory of art, if 
 she would remain true to her own individuality. 
 
 And we have won it — this prize of a national art ! 
 And to-day when ' Bayreuth ' is close at hand we may 
 at last look up with joy to the masters who laid the first 
 stone of this monumental structure. Mozart belongs 
 to them. He was the first to speak in music the language 
 of the heart, and, because this heart was itself pure 
 and noble and beautiful, the language of beauty. Let 
 our veneration, our love, be consecrated to him ; he 
 leads us to the steps of the temple in which we win 
 back our better part — the Immortal. He is, among 
 geniuses, the one to whom we may entrust ourselves 
 
XXX 'AITTHOR S PBEFACE. 
 
 with our whole hearts. It was with this feeling that 
 this memorial of his life and work was raised : may it 
 be received in like manner ! 
 
 The AtTTHOK. 
 
 HSIDELBEBa : 
 July 6, 1876. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 OF 
 
 THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 APPRENTICESSIP, 1756-86. 
 
 CHAFTBSl FAQS 
 
 I. Childhood, 1756-66 . .... 3 
 
 n. Boyhood, 1767-70 . . ... 26 
 
 ni. Advancing Youth, 1770-75 ... 44 
 
 IV. Youth, 1770-75 . .... 68 
 
 v. Time of Trial in Salzburg, 1775-77 ... 68 
 
 VI. Munich— Augsburg, 1777 . .... 101 
 
 Vn. Aloysia Weber, 1777-78 . .... 127 
 
 VIII. First Struggle with his Father . . . 142 
 
 IX. His stay in Paris, 1778-79 ... 169 
 
 X. A Masterpiece, 1779-81 199 
 
.FIRST PART 
 
 APPEENTICESHIP 
 
 1756-86 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 CHILDHOOD — 1756-66. 
 
 ' Merit and success are linked together.' 
 
 Wolfgang Amadbus Mozabt was born in Salzburg on 
 January 27, 1756. Salzburg — this portion of Paradise 
 in Germany, this gem among all the cities of our 
 northern Fatherland — lies before us a work of art, with 
 its rich store of spires and cupolas, beautified by glit- 
 tering balls and crosses. Built within a narrow space, 
 hemmed in by a rapid rushing stream, and by rugged hUls, 
 from the summit of which the eye rejoices in the loveliness 
 around ; now dreaming of long bygone days, now soar- 
 ing towards eternity, while reflecting on what has been 
 and on what yet will be ! This city of churches and 
 palaces, displaying the wealth of her citizens and the 
 luxurious ostentation of her art-loving princes ; reflect- 
 ing, as in a mirror, all the arrogance of former days, and 
 yet again veneration for the lofty ideal of which she 
 considers herself to have set an example to others — a 
 city, blending in her physiognomy sensual luxury with 
 B 2 
 
4 APPKENTICESHIP 
 
 delicate perceptions of the Beautiful, and of all that is 
 welcome and pleasing to the eye. Lying under a stem 
 northern sky, within sight of those snow-covered hills 
 which for ever hopelessly separate Salzburg from the 
 milder south, from the land of beauty, yet in her archi- 
 tecture recalling the free art of Italy — a singular com- 
 bination of German solidity and Hesperian brightness 
 — the fascinating beauty of the environs intoxicates the 
 senses, and arrests with magic spell the wanderer when 
 he sees the city in all her pomp, so that he either 
 stretches himself on the Bastei of the Monchsberg ex- 
 posed to the vivifying beams of the sun, or lies on the 
 summit of the rocky Kapuzinerberg, whence the foot 
 reluctantly descends ; for a longing seizes the mind to 
 linger on the spot, to examine more minutely the noble 
 architecture of the Dom Platz with its grandest of alB 
 German fountains, and to gaze longer at the everlasting 
 hills, where the last lingering wintry patches of snow 
 are lit up in rosy hues by the brilliant rays of the even- 
 ing sun. Near at hand the fuU powers of human skill 
 are displayed in well-constructed buildings, and in grand 
 artistic forms, proving the lofty ability of man ; and in 
 the distance, fair Nature, the" groundwork of human 
 efforts, is visible in all her width and breadth in the 
 verdant surface of fields and meadows, through which 
 the silvery brightness of living waters winds along. 
 Then suddenly, towering on high, we see the rugged 
 mountain, the rocks of the Unterberg ; its huge masses 
 
CHILDHOOD. 5 
 
 have always seized the imagination of the people — at 
 one time hailed as a giant transformed into stone, at 
 another as the dwelling-place of art-loving dwarfs 
 watching over treasures, and to this day guarding that 
 most estimable of all German Emperors — Frederick 
 Barbarossa. 
 
 With what wealth of poetry does all this ahound ! 
 How vividly is every phase of our minds excited ! with 
 what sublime feelings do these traditions fill our hearts ! 
 Here, too, architecture attunes the susceptible mind to 
 harmony, for here we find reduced to form and regularity 
 what in mighty nature is exalted into masses, ponderous 
 in height and depth. The sight of the distant plain 
 dotted over with houses and villages, a smiling fruitful 
 landscape, imbues the heart with joy in our earthly being 
 and yet inspires a longing for far distant lands. How 
 does it awaken in our minds that sense of grandeur 
 which the narrowness of every-day life is so apt to 
 stifle ! 
 
 These noble structures that gladden the eye of the 
 spectator, these splendid churches with their slender 
 spires, tempt the soul to ascend with them high into the 
 air, while the simple form of the rounded cupola brings 
 us back to earth. These picturesque objects exercised 
 an active influence on the life of the boy whose career 
 we wish to portray. The succession, too, of beautiful 
 Divine services, the dignified, stately, and devout move- 
 ments of the priesthood in their gold-embroidered robes, 
 
b APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 and, above all, the accompanying strains of exquisite 
 music, fired Mozart's imagination into gracious and 
 fruitful productiveness, causing him to feel the near and 
 living presence of Grod. This, too, is of moment to the 
 youthful fancy, especially when guided by inborn love of 
 an art such as music, which so thoroughly represents 
 the world and life in its entirety. Moreover, all these 
 surroundings, which so attractively occupy the imagina- 
 tion, were important to Mozart in a higher sense. He 
 felt their truth in his heart as a visible revelation of 
 the Divinity, realising to him the Eternal in images 
 that he could grasp, deepening the impressions on his 
 inner perceptions that had been from childhood excited 
 by the picturesque scenery round his home, training him 
 to exercise clear and extended views of life. The early 
 use of sight works favourably on the inner man, espe- 
 cially when directed to ideal and beautiful objects. 
 
 But, quite apart from a worship that by the beauty 
 of its forms so effectively awakens artistic feeling, it 
 was of the last importance for the development of 
 Mozart that he was bom in a southern and purely 
 Catholic land. The greater unity to be found in this 
 belief, and, above all, the union of intellect and soul, is 
 of vast importance in promoting the activity of the 
 mind of man — a ^doctrine so fully developed in this 
 Church, whose aim it is to bring to light what is spiri- 
 tual in the fairest of forms. To the artist, above all 
 others, intellectual truth is the element which gives the 
 
CHILDHOOD. 7 
 
 impress to his mind. It may well, therefore, be deemed 
 fortunate that the glad and careless life of the South, 
 assailed by no doubts, welcomed our master even in his 
 cradle, enjoining on him that intellect and soul must 
 never be severed, and thus preventing his mind ever 
 being harassed by any disturbing elements ; whereas his 
 great successor, Beethoven, was restlessly driven hither 
 and thither, from his youth upwards, by endless strife 
 on this subject, and only attained later in life that per- 
 fection in his works which adorned the creations of our 
 master even in his earliest years. From his childhood 
 a happy fate cultivated the mind of the boy thus glori- 
 ously gifted, causing him soon to become master of that 
 pure clear form which is the essence of the Beautiful. 
 He learned to discern correctly, and to esteem clearness 
 in creations to be the most urgent demand of all art. 
 
 Amid those glorious scenes, then, was Mozart born, 
 where life was bright and genial, where, in spite of cen- 
 turies of cultivation, the influence of Nature was yet 
 never cast aside. 
 
 The father, Leopold Mozart, was the son of a book- 
 binder in Augsburg, In him also was early developed 
 that longing for- a more stirring existence, which in the 
 son broke through aU the barriers of life, striving after 
 the highest aims. Inclination and capacity induced 
 Leopold Mozart at an early period to soar beyond mere 
 handicraft and to devote himself to study. He wished 
 to learn, and, following his natural bias for the inteUec- 
 
8 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 tual and practical, he chose jurisprudence as his profes- 
 sion. At the same time he had the most ardent love for 
 music, and, like many others in his day, contrived to 
 support himself by giving lessons in this art. He went 
 to Salzburg, where there was a university of some re- 
 nown ; his studies, however, did not last long. In 
 order to maintain himself, finding no provision in the 
 pursuit of the law, he soon entered the service of Count 
 Thum as valet. In 1743 he was placed in the band 
 of the reigning Archbishop Sigismund, as one of the 
 Court musicians. Finally he devoted himself unreserv- 
 edly to this art, and composed various pieces of Church 
 music. The horn players, whose duty it is to annoimce 
 to the inhabitants of the town the advent of morning 
 and evening, often played his compositions. A ' School 
 for the Violin ' that he wrote was considered the best of 
 that day, and widely circulated in Germany and else- 
 where ; a proof that he had a thorough knowledge of 
 music, both in theory and practice. 
 
 In 1747 he married a foster child of the convent 
 St. Gilgen in Strasburg — Maria Anna Perth She was 
 very pretty, and at that time they were considered the 
 handsomest couple in Salzburg, She was a genuinely 
 good-hearted woman, though, as we may see from her 
 letters, devoid of any strikingly intellectual capacity, 
 not even possessing that peculiar and lively disposition 
 which many mothers of distinguished artists have be- 
 stowed on their sons, as their most precious inheritance 
 
CHILDHOOD. 9 
 
 through life. On the contrary, she was rather of an 
 indolent nature, but all we hear about her proves that 
 she was a most faithful wife and a most loving mother. 
 These were duties that she had sufficient intellect to 
 fulfil to their utmost extent. Moreover, her most 
 precious endowment was that inward harmony of soul 
 which works so beneficially on the spirit of the husband, 
 and which exercised a vast influence on all those around 
 her, as well as on her son during his whole lifetime. Her 
 genuinely feminine nature disposed the boy's tender 
 soul, from his youth upwards, to mild toleration. His 
 retiring modesty, which in her was a virtue springing 
 from the heart, impressed on the eager lively boy not 
 to expect more than was fairly his due ; and this ad- 
 mirable mother conferred on her marvellously endowed 
 son her purity of heart, as her best gift. She had 
 a frank and thorough appreciation of the joys of life, 
 being of a cheerful disposition, and sharing with her 
 countrymen their love of the comic and humorous. We 
 shall find all these qualities in the character of her son, 
 only developed into greater independence and signifi- 
 cance. 
 
 The father was made of harder clay. He seems to 
 have received from nature the special gifts of moral 
 and practical good sense ; at all events, a strong will 
 forms one of the most prominent points in his character. 
 This, indeed, was in accordance with the code of the 
 old imperial city, only more strongly marked in him 
 
10 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 than in others, by the toils and struggles of bis life. 
 He brought with him to the intellectual princely court 
 a solid burgher mind, and (so far as this was possible 
 in the previous century) a somewhat democratic tendency 
 that guarded him from the obsequious servility so often 
 generated by the moods of the ruling powers. On the 
 other hand, we discover in Leopold Mozart a shrewd 
 knowledge of life; though accustomed to rely on him- 
 self alone, he contrived to seize every passing event and 
 to use it wisely. His energy and prudence alone, in 
 such a difficult career, could have secured an assured 
 and respectable position in a small Court already cor- 
 rupted by all sorts of petty intrigues. 
 
 His understanding was sharp and penetrating. On 
 every occasion we see him searching thoroughly into 
 all questions of practical life. Experience had taught 
 him the absolute necessity of an orderly and well regu- 
 lated household, and he considered life from this point 
 of view. Yet he did not value the substantial goods of 
 this world, which, during his whole existence, he strove 
 to acquire, except as a means to attain freedom of action. 
 The latter, indeed, he never possessed in any great 
 measure, but he contrived always to maintain his inde- 
 pendence, and never ceased to impress on his children 
 the necessity of an unfettered and secure position in 
 life. He succeeded in this admirably with his daughter, 
 but in a lesser degree with his son. 
 
 Ideal things were only prized by him in so far as 
 
CHILDHOOD. 1 1 
 
 they contributed to practical life or embeUished it. 
 His art, notwithstanding his inborn love for it, was 
 chiefly regarded by him as the profession that main- 
 tained him. The Church was to him an institution on 
 which man depends in order to live in more security. 
 He was a good Catholic, and adhered strictly to the 
 laws and ordinances of that faith ; still he would, no 
 doubt, have been an equally good Protestant had chance 
 caused him to be bom in that belief. He esteemed 
 these things as the safe rule by which life is guided. 
 Thus he did not speculate much as to which was the 
 best. Catholic or Protestant ? He simply and firmly 
 believed that the teaching of his Church was right. 
 On a journey to Paris, indeed, he admits, not without 
 surprise, the virtue and morality of a Protestant noble, 
 with whom he for some time associated ; and he had a 
 strong sense of the moral aims of Northern Germany. 
 He so highly appreciated Grellert's hymns that he wrote 
 to him on the subject, to which the poet repUed with 
 much courtesy. 
 
 "We here insert an extract from a letter in which 
 the estimable views and devout principles of the father 
 are fully manifested. ' I must wish you all happiness 
 on your name day,' he writes to his son on October 31,^ 
 1777, ' but what can I wish for you now more than I 
 always wish for you? I wish that the favour of God 
 may everywhere accompany you, that it may never 
 leave or forsake you, and it never will leave you if you 
 
12 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 are careful to fulfil those duties incumbent on every 
 true Catholic. You know me — I am no pedant, no 
 bigot, far less a hypocrite ; but one request of your 
 father's you will not refuse, which is to be so solicitous 
 about your soul that you may cause your father no 
 anguish of mind in his dying moments — no self-re- 
 proach in that trying solemn hour for having in any 
 degree neglected the salvation of your soul. Farewell ! 
 live happily ! live rationally ! Prize and honour your 
 mother, who in her advanced years has many troubles ; 
 and love me as your anxious father loves you.' 
 
 The father, however, writes from Italy that he has 
 purchased a relic, though he was not blind to the fail- 
 ings of his Church. These could not possibly remain 
 hidden from his clear intellect, rendered even more 
 acute by the stern Protestantism of his native city ; 
 indeed, he occasionally speaks rather slightingly both of 
 priests and the priesthood, but he does not the less 
 strictly adhere to the rules of virtue and piety enjoined 
 by his Church, accepting them without much reservation, 
 as fixed laws which must be complied with if our lives 
 are to be prosperous. He went regularly to confession 
 and to mass, and was careful that his children should 
 do the same ; in this manner he accustomed them and 
 himself to a regular mode of life. Simple integrity, 
 springing from innate feeling, naturally good principles, 
 and unaffected piety formed the groundwork of all his 
 actions, more especially in the education of his children ; 
 
CHILDHOOD. 13 
 
 thus he contrived to solve the most difficult of all 
 problems for parents — how to educate a genius. It was 
 precisely his rather restricted and ungenial mode of 
 thought that so well qualified him for this undertaking, 
 which he considered the one great object of his life. 
 It was the severe and narrow views of duty diffused all 
 over Grermany at that period by the Konigsberg philo- 
 sophers that enabled the son, whose tendencies were so 
 thoroughly aesthetic, to attain the highest realms of art. 
 
 Johannes Chrysostomus Sigismundus Wolfgang 
 Amadeus was the youngest of Leopold Mozart's seven 
 children, of whom only one sister survived, four years 
 older than himself. Her name, like her mother's, was 
 Maria Anna, familiarly called Nannerl by her family. 
 She subsequently married Herr von Sonnenberg, and it 
 is to her that a letter is addressed, written by the Court 
 Trumpeter Schachtner, shortly after her brother's death. 
 It contains the best information we possess of Mozart's 
 childish years. It also shadows forth the inborn genius 
 of that Austria, on which Mozart was one day to make 
 the most pure and imperishable impression. It is as 
 follows : — 
 
 ' Honoured Madam, — I did not receive your welcome 
 letter in Salzburg, but in Hammerau, where 1 am now 
 on a visit to my son, who is in an official situation here. 
 You may well believe from my natural courtesy towards 
 everyone, and more especially towards the Mozart 
 family, how vexed I was not to have been able to comply 
 
14 APPHENTICESHIP. 
 
 at once with your request. So now to the point ! as to 
 your first question, with regard to your brother's favourite 
 amusements besides music, this is a question that I 
 cannot answer, for as soon as he began to occupy him- 
 self with music his inclination for all other things 
 seemed dead, and, in order to interest him, even his 
 childish toys and games must all be accompanied by 
 music. If we (he and I) carried our playthings from 
 one room to another, the one who was empty handed 
 always had to sing a march, or play it on the violin. 
 Previous, however, to his beginning music he was so 
 susceptible to every childish sport that he was apt to 
 forget eating and drinking and everything else. He 
 loved me very much, for, as you know, I was his constant 
 companion ; so ten times a day at least he would ask 
 me whether I loved him, and when I sometimes for 
 fun said that I did not, tears sprang to his eyes, so 
 tender and so kindly was his good heart. 
 
 ' Your second question is, how did he behave as a 
 child when people of rank admired his talent and know- 
 ledge of music ? 
 
 ' In very truth, he showed no symptoms of pride or 
 elation; indeed, he could not better have gratified 
 these feelings than by playing to people who knew little 
 or nothing of music, but he never would play except to 
 those who were thorough musicians, or at least without 
 being told they were so. 
 
CHILDHOOD. 15 
 
 * Third question, what intellectual occupations did 
 he prefer ? 
 
 ' On this point he allowed himself to he guided ; it 
 was quite the same to him what he was told to study ; 
 his sole wish was to learn, and to his dearly loved papa 
 he left the choice of the field in which he desired him 
 to work, as if he fully understood that nowhere in the 
 world could he find a teacher or instructor equal to his 
 excellent father. He devoted himself so exclusively to 
 whatever was given him to learn, that he laid aside 
 everything else for the time,, even music — for instance, 
 when he was studying arithmetic, tables, chairs, walls, 
 and even the floor were all chalked over with figures. 
 
 ' Fourth question, what were his qualities, maxims, 
 tendencies, and daily occupations ? 
 
 'He was full of fire, and quickly adopted every 
 pursuit : I think that, but for the admirable education 
 he received, he might have become a reckless reprobate, 
 so susceptible was he to every attraction, the good or 
 evil of which he was not yet able to judge of. 
 
 ' Now for some marvellous incidents which occuiTed 
 in his fifth year, to the absolute truth of which I can 
 solemnly testify. 
 
 ' On one occasion I went home from hearing Mass 
 with his papa on a Thursday. We found little Wolfgang 
 b usy with his pen. 
 
 ' Papa. " What are you doing ? " 
 
16 - APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 ' Wolfgang. " Writing a pianoforte concerto. It is 
 nearly finished." 
 
 ' Papa. " Let me see it." 
 
 ' Wolfgang. " It is not quite completed." 
 
 ' Papa. "Show it to me; no doubt it is something 
 very fine." 
 
 ' His papa took it from him, and showed me a mass 
 of scrawled notes written chiefly over a surface smeared 
 with ink. 
 
 ' (N.B. Little Wolfgang each time dipped the pen, 
 in his childish fashion, to the very bottom of the ink- 
 stand ; so when he began to use it great blots fell on the 
 paper, but he quickly found a remedy by smearing off 
 the ink with the palm of his hand and writing the 
 notes over it.) At first we laughed at this seeming 
 galimathias, but then papa began to examine the notes 
 and the composition. He looked long and fixedly at 
 the paper, when tears of emotion, surprise, and joy 
 sprang to his eyes. " Herr Schachtner," said he, " only 
 look how correct and according to rule all this is 
 written, only it cannot be made use of, for it is so 
 exceedingly difficult that no one could attempt to play 
 it." Wolfgang here interrupted him by saying, " But it 
 is a concerto, and it must be well practised tiH it is 
 mastered. See ! this is how it must go ! " He then 
 began to play, and could just manage to give us an 
 idea of the effect he intended. At that time his con- 
 
CHILDHOOD. 17 
 
 viction was that to play a concerto or to perforin a 
 miracle was equally difficult. 
 
 ' One thing more ; you may remember, dear Madam, 
 that I have a very good violin, which from its full soft 
 tone Wolfgang used to call a butter violin. On one 
 occasion, shortly after his return from Vienna, he was 
 playing on it, and could not say enough in praise of the 
 instrument. A few days later I went to see him, and 
 found him busy with his own violin. He said at once, 
 " What is your butter violin doing ? " then he resumed 
 his fantasia ; at length he put down his instrument, and, 
 after reflecting for a moment, said, " Herr Schachtner, 
 your violin is half a quarter of a note lower than mine, 
 if the pitch is the same as when I last played on it." I 
 laughed at this, but papa, who knew the extraordinary 
 ear and memory of the boy, begged me to fetch my 
 violin to see whether he was right — and right he 
 assuredly was. 
 
 ' A short time previously, a few days after their return 
 from Vienna, Wolfgang having brought with him a 
 little violin which had been given him there, arrived a 
 very good violinist, the late Herr Wentzl, but only a 
 beginner in composition. He brought with him six trios 
 that he had written in the absence of papa, and wished 
 to have his opinion about them. We were to try over 
 one : Papa to play bass on the viola, Wentzl first violin, 
 and I second violin. Wolfgang begged that he might be 
 second violin, but papa reproved him for such a foolish 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
18 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 xequest, inasmuch as hitherto he had had no teaching 
 whatever on the violin, and papa thought that he could 
 do nothing on it. Wolfgang said, " There is no need to 
 learn to play second violin ; " and when papa insisted 
 that he should go away at once, and not trouble us 
 further, the boy began to cry bitterly, but walked off 
 with his little fiddle. 
 
 ' I begged, however, that he might be allowed to play 
 with me, so at last papa said, " Play along with Herr 
 Schachtner, but so softly that no one can hear you, or else 
 jou must go away ; " so this was settled, and Wolfgang 
 played beside me. I soon remarked with amazement 
 that I was quite superfluous. I quietly laid down my 
 violin and looked at papa, who had tears of wonder and 
 gladness in his eyes. In the same way he played over 
 all the trios at sight. When we had finished, Wolfgang, 
 emboldened by our praise, declared that he could play 
 first violin. We let him make the attempt for fun, and 
 were in fits of laughter at seeing his wrong and 
 awkward fingering, but he contrived to play on and 
 never to stick fast. 
 
 ' In conclusion — as to the tenderness and dehcaey of 
 his ear. 
 
 ' Till his tenth year he had the most unconquerable 
 fear of the trumpet, when sounded without any other 
 music. If a trumpet was held up before him, it was 
 like putting a loaded pistol to his ear. Papa, wishing 
 xo overcome this childish dre:id, on one occasion told me 
 
CHILDHOOD. 19 
 
 not to mind this aversion on the hoy's part, but to 
 sound the trumpet close to him. Good Heavens ! how 
 I wished I had never been persuaded to do this ! 
 Scarcely had "Wolfgang heard the shrill sound than he 
 turned pale and began to sink to the ground. Had I 
 gone on he would certainly have fallen into convulsions. 
 ' This is only incidental. I have answered all your 
 questions to the best of my ability. Excuse such a 
 scrawl, but I am so depressed that I cannot write better. 
 I am. Madam, with high esteem and consideration. 
 ' Your faithful servant, 
 
 ' AnDHEAS SCHACHTNEn, 
 
 ' Court Trumpeter. 
 ' Salzbiu-g, April 24, ]792.' 
 
 This simple and good-hearted account gives us ample 
 information both of the wondrous child's powers and 
 his loving, tractable, thoughtful, yet childish ways. 
 
 When Wolfgang was six years old and his sister 
 ten, the father resolved to exhibit to the world their 
 extraordinary abilities. He set out on his travels with 
 them. 
 
 They went first in 1772 to Munich, and as the 
 father's expectations both as to fame and money were 
 even exceeded there, they proceeded to Vienna to bring 
 forward the children at that music-loving Imperial 
 Court, Maria Theresa and her illustrious husband re- 
 ceived the little prodigies with the greatest kindness, 
 and heard them play in private at Schonbrunn. Wolf- 
 
 c 2 
 
20 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 gang unembarrassed and natural as usual, jumped witli- 
 out ceremony on the lap of the Empress, who had been 
 so good to him, and kissed her to his heart's content. 
 He did pretty much the same to the fascinating Marie 
 Antoinette, who was then about his age. He slipped 
 and fell on the polished parquet, to which he was unac- 
 customed, but the little princess ran up to him and 
 helped him to rise, on which he said, ' You are good ; I 
 will marry you ; ' and when the Empress asked him why 
 he wished this, he replied ' Out of gratitude ; she was 
 kind, while her sister took no notice of me ' (having let 
 him lie on the floor). The Empress presented the little 
 virtuosi with clothes made for her own children, and 
 they were painted life-size in this costume. These por- 
 traits hang in the ' Mozarteum,' at Salzburg. There is 
 something kindly and comic in Wolfgang's childish face, 
 whereas in that of Nannerl we see great beauty and 
 charm of expression. • After the Court had thus noticed 
 the children, the nobility whose soirees were always 
 adorned by musical productions, vied with each other in 
 engaging the young artists, and the family, after a stay 
 of some months, returned to Salzburg enriched by con- 
 siderable gains. The instruction of the children had by 
 no means been neglected during their absence, so they 
 had not lost the habit of regular occupation, and their 
 education was now conducted with the utmost care, as we 
 have already seen. In addition to the piano, Wolfgang 
 ' Facsimiles of these portraits are given in this wort. 
 
CHILDHOOD. 21 
 
 had begun also to learn the violin, and was now initiated 
 into the first rules of composition in the solid manner 
 which distinguished the sensible father in all things. 
 
 But this man could not long rest in narrow Salzburg. 
 In the spring of 1763 he again set off on a journey with 
 his children — his chief object being Paris. Shortly after 
 they visited Munich and Augsburg, besides various small 
 courts and country seats on the Ehine, Ludwigsburg, 
 Schwetzingen, Heidelberg. Meanwhile Wolfgang had 
 learned the organ, and excited more astonishment by 
 his playing on this gigantic instrument than by either 
 violin or piano. His little feet ran about so nimbly 
 on the pedals that the spectators were lost in amaze- 
 ment, and the priest of the church of the Holy Ghost 
 in Heidelberg could not resist inscribing on the organ 
 the boy's name and the date of his visit, as an enduring 
 remembrance of this ' wonder of God.' They then pro- 
 ceeded to Mayence, Frankfort, Coblenz, Bonn, Aix, and 
 were everywhere received with the same appreciation, 
 and more or less remuneration. The father, however, 
 never neglected seeing all that was worth seeing, in every 
 city that they visited, and his little daughter kept a 
 childish diary, recording most of these remarkable ob- 
 jects, written in a large scrawling hand, and sadly defi- 
 cient in orthography. In Paris the influential author 
 Baron Grimm took special interest in this artistic family, 
 commending strongly in his writings the youthful pro- 
 digies to the notice of the public. The Court of Ver- 
 
22 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 sailles and the nobility also took a keen interest in the 
 marvellous child, who could distinguish each individual 
 note merely by ear, compose without a piano, play every- 
 thing at sight and accompany songs also by ear. The 
 Marquise de Pompadour, who at that time was all- 
 powerful at Court, was not, indeed, so indulgent and 
 motherly to the boy as Maria Theresa ; for once, having 
 placed "Wolfgang on a table before her, he tried to 
 throw his arms round her neck and kiss her, she eluded 
 his intended embrace, on which the boy said with in- 
 dignant pride, ' Who is this who will not kiss me ? 
 the Empress kissed me ! ' He was very much elated by 
 the Empress's kindness, and liked to boast of it. The 
 King's daughters, also, were too good-natured to ob- 
 serve any etiquette with the children, kissing them and 
 giving them their hands to kiss in return. 
 
 From Paris they proceeded by Calais to London, 
 where their reception at Court and success with the public 
 was even more gratifying than in Paris. The royal 
 couple, George III. and Queen Charlotte, were both 
 devoted to music ; the public here, too, were much more 
 interested in the performances of the children than by 
 their youth. The father did not find much in Paris to 
 commend, either in music or life ; the former seemed to 
 him cold, empty, tiresome, and noisy, full of bombast 
 and luxury, but devoid of real merit ; the city, one to 
 which Providence must be very gracious if it did not 
 go at once to ruin. 
 
CHILDHOOD. 23 
 
 In London, however, Handel had awakened a love 
 for a more solid style of music, and Johann Christian 
 Bach contrived to foster this hetter taste. The father^ 
 therefore, stayed a long time in London, his boy profiting 
 by the talents of the distinguished singer, Manzuoli. 
 "Wolfgang also wrote some orchestral symphonies, which 
 were performed at their concerts. At length they set 
 off to return home laden with fame and money. 
 
 At the Hague first one child and then the other were 
 seized with a most dangerous illness — a hard trial to the 
 courage and spirits of the anxious father for months. 
 The parents, however, endured this calamity bravely, and 
 after the father, even during Lent, had been able to dis- 
 play at Amsterdam the wonderful talents of his boy, the 
 family returned by Paris, where this time they did not 
 meet with as favourable a reception as before. They went 
 on to Dijon, where the States of France were assembled, 
 then to Salzburg by Lyons, Geneva, Lausanne, through 
 Wiirtemberg, and Bavaria. 
 
 We therefore perceive that the boy had seen many of 
 the fairest spots on earth ; and Mozart was accustomed to 
 regard the world as a free arena on which man can press 
 forwards to the mark with a glad heart and frank spirit. 
 He early conquered all shyness — a feeling that many a 
 son of solitude, in spite of all his intellectual endow- 
 ments, has had to struggle with through life, depriving 
 him of much success in the world. He also early learned 
 to draw near to men as friends; they did not seem 
 
24 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 strangers to him, he found the way to their hearts by 
 his own winning ways. Early in life he saw into the 
 various dispositions of men, and had a quick eye for their 
 manifold peculiarities, or rather he exercised his quick 
 perceptions on the character and qualities of each indi- 
 vidual. Early, also, his susceptible ear perceived the 
 style of music peculiar to various nations. For though 
 Italian art at that time prevailed, in all countries, yet 
 each people had their own particular melodies ; Mozart, 
 too, learned betimes the charming refined style that 
 distinguished the tone of society in the previous cen- 
 tury, the gracious and elegant manners in social life, 
 the minuet step in its comic stateliness, powder, too — 
 this irony on nature — and, above all, distinctness of 
 form. For while travelling the family lived exclusively 
 in the most polished society, indeed, in the atmosphere 
 of Courts. And when we see the charming galant 
 costume with its coquettish quaintness, displayed in the 
 portrait of Mozart to which we have already alluded, 
 we cannot but contrast it with the simple appropriate 
 bourgeois dress, and the straightforward unsophisticated 
 feeling the child was accustomed to at home. This 
 being faithfully nurtured by his parents, we can well 
 imderstand that his youthful compositions should on 
 the surface at least have preserved the most refined 
 forms, and yet that simplicity in their substance, which 
 speak to us of the life of the people and also of the 
 two conditions of genuine art, finish in the outward 
 
CHILDHOOD. 25 
 
 form, and freedom of natural feeling; which Mozart, 
 by the happy chance both of birth and training, at an 
 early age fulfilled. 
 
 We must not forget either that the worldly prosperity 
 which brightened the youth of this genius, and, above aU, 
 the universal recognition of his powers and efforts, 
 excited the young soul betimes into that state of glad 
 emotion which enables the spirit to create, with freedom 
 and delight ; was it not so with Goethe ? did not the 
 rays of his youthful felicity still shine cheeringly on the 
 days of his old age ? whereas on the heads of Schiller 
 and Beethoven gloomy clouds still brooded over the 
 evening of their lives, dense vapours having hovered 
 over their early youth amid the struggles and difficulties 
 of life. As a child, indeed, Mozart was so modest that 
 he shed tears if anyone praised him, nor did the elation 
 of success ever tempt him to swerve from the right path. 
 Still by this recognition he early acquired self-confidence 
 and security in his works, and though with him, even 
 more than with most men, hard work was not spared, 
 yet this calm self-dependence ensured him more success 
 in his productions than is enjoyed by those who make 
 the most strenuous efforts to obtain appreciation, and 
 struggle through life against injustice. 
 
26 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 CHAPTER ir. 
 
 BCTHOOD 1767-70. 
 
 ' Love 1 love ! nurse of beauty.' 
 
 ' Next to our gracious Grod comes papa ! ' such, was 
 the maxim of the boy Wolfgang. When he went to 
 bed at night, he always asked his father to place him 
 on a chair and to sing a little duet with him com- 
 posed by himself on some meaningless words which 
 sounded like Italian, ' Oragina fiago, ta fa ; ' after 
 which he kissed the tip of his father's nose, promising, 
 ' when he was older, to put him under a glass case to 
 guard him from the cold and to keep him always at 
 home.' Then the boy went to bed quite happy. 
 
 How different was the case of the gifted Chevalier 
 Gluck, a son of the people, the child of a rough forester, 
 who followed his father barefoot into the woods in the 
 most bitter cold weather, in order to carry his game- 
 bag ! How did music and strength of character shield 
 him from that coarseness and intolerance, from which 
 a milder rule preserved Mozart even in his childhood ! 
 How little did the cheerful Haydn know of that sun- 
 
BOYHOOD. 27 
 
 shine and tender love which brings the soul into 
 harmony and enlightens the mind early in life, bestow- 
 ing peace and beauty ! The child of a mechanic, he 
 received more blows than victuals from his master, and 
 was forced to gain a penurious livelihood by singing. 
 The father, too, of the great Beethoven, a musician of 
 no note, fell a victim to a disorderly life, alas ! too com- 
 mon during the previous century in his profession, thus 
 robbing his family of every source of subsistence and of 
 that peaceful atmosphere in which alone children can 
 be trained in the right path. Stubborn by nature, this 
 great man was unsociable with his fellow-men, from 
 the lack of that love which had failed him in his child- 
 hood, and not till late in life did he learn by severe 
 sufferings what a well-spring gushes forth from that 
 virtue. 
 
 Grluck and Beethoven were destined by fate to 
 transform the art of their time, amid toil and conflict. 
 Whereas Mozart, the genius of beauty, wandered like 
 the stars along a peaceful path all joy and harmony. 
 Streams of loveliness, concord, and beauty, flowed from 
 him who had so early imbibed the fulness of love. 
 Like a youthful hero, he gained the mastery over his 
 day, not by passionate strife but by the magic spell of 
 his genius. He attained the loftiest heights of humanity, 
 shedding alike on the high and the low, the good and 
 the evil, the fragrant blossoms of his productions. 
 
 Mozart was now ten years old, a well-grown boy. 
 
28 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 biit already a finished composer. Indeed, the ' London ' 
 Bach had said that many a Kapell-Meister died without 
 knowing as much as this boy. They soon returned to 
 Vienna — ^for the father was not contented to remain 
 long in Salzburg. In the autumn of 1767 the marriage 
 of the Archduchess Maria Josepha with the King of 
 Naples took place. Already the envy and jealousy of 
 his fellow-artists were awakened, and on all sides every 
 kind of obstacle was raised to prevent Wolfgang's being 
 brought forward. In fact, even at that time he had 
 shown talents equal to, and even superior to, those of. 
 most living composers, and he soon found an opportunity 
 to prove this in public. The Emperor Joseph II. had 
 ■ unhappily recently adopted a system of economy that 
 specially pressed hard on artists, whose livelihood de- 
 pended chiefly on the patronage of the great. He, 
 indeed, received the young artist very graciously, highly 
 admiring his progress. His sister Nannerl too, who had 
 meanwhile bloomed into a very lovely girl, he highly 
 complimented, ' tinging her cheeks with blushes ; ' he 
 no longer gave her handsome presents, but he gave 
 Wolfgang the joyful commission to write an opera for 
 him. It was ' La Finta Semplice,' a comic opera in 
 three acts. 
 
 Wolfgang set to work at once ; but as the opera 
 director, Affligio, delayed sending the libretto till the 
 ensuing spring, the opera was not finished till after 
 Easter. And now the professional jealousies of the 
 
BOYHOOD. 29 
 
 other musicians became evident, as they strove in every 
 possible way to obstruct the performance. It was soon 
 said that it was a shame to see a boy, ten years of age, 
 on the same spot where masters of such fame as Hasse 
 and Grluck used to stand — the Emperor's express wish 
 being that Wolfgang should conduct his own opera. 
 Then again they declared that the music was not his 
 own, but written by his father — a calumny which the 
 latter refuted by making his son compose an aria or a 
 sonata extempore in the presence of other musicians. 
 Finally, they contrived to insinuate to the singers that 
 they could gain no honour by such a boyish composi- 
 tion, thus inciting them also to opposition, although 
 Wolfgang had written the music expressly for each 
 voice ' as if he had taken their measure.' The mild 
 and genial Hasse, indeed, who gladly recognised rising 
 talent and encouraged upright industry, frankly said 
 that Wolfgang's opera was better than those of twenty 
 living composers. But the director of the theatre paid 
 no attention to the repeated commands of the Emperor 
 or the constant importunity of the father. At last, 
 however, he consented to produce the opera, protesting 
 at the same time that he would take care it should 
 be well hissed. On hearing this the father himself 
 withdrew the piece, but presented a petition to the 
 Emperor, without, however, any result. The theatre 
 at that period was not Imperial, but belonged to the 
 director, Affligio, an adventurer and a most unprincipled 
 
30 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 man, who was subsequently thrown into prison for 
 forgery. 
 
 Thus the whole summer passed away without any 
 fruits, and Wolfgang was now for the first time to learn 
 those adverse influences which at a future day he was so 
 often to contend with. These repulsive intrigues, how- 
 ever, did not affect him so deeply as the father, but being 
 prepared both by nature and experience to deal with such 
 matters he, too, was not cast down. On the contrary, 
 in spite of all the jealousies and attacks by which he was 
 often assailed, he pursued with manly steadiness the 
 path on which he felt assured that his son would one 
 day certainly attain success. ' Such is the manner in 
 which we must fight our way in this world,' writes he ; 
 ' if a man has no talent he is unhappy enough ; if he 
 really has talent envy pursues him just in proportion 
 to his merits ; but we must convince the world by 
 patience and perseverance that our opponents are 
 malicious, liars, slanderers, and envious beings, who 
 would laugh in their sleeves if they succeeded in terrify- 
 ing or crushing us.' 
 
 His next object was Italy, a country at that time 
 the Eldorado of all musicians. An artist who obtained 
 a decisive success with an opera in one 'of the large 
 theatres there was certain to meet with fame and 
 brilliant remuneration on every stage in Europe. At 
 that period scarcely any operas or singers except those 
 of Italy were known, and virtuosi as well as composers 
 
BOYHOOD. 31 
 
 of every nationality were obliged to go to Italy, and if 
 possible to Italianise even their names, before an opera 
 public received them favourably. Handel had already 
 done this, and so had Hasse, Naumann, and others. 
 Even the Hesperian public were prepared to acknowledge 
 the merits of him who submitted to visit Italy, and 
 worked out his own ideas in accordance with this estab- 
 lished manner. They prized Handel's ' Einaldo,' wor- 
 shipped the ' Caro Sassone ' of Hasse, with his hundred 
 operas all written on the Italian model, and showed 
 pleasure in Grluck's earlier works, which, indeed, pro- 
 cured for him in Rome the Order of the Golden Spur. 
 None of the maestri who had earned laurels in Naples, 
 Rome, or Milan failed in a successful career. Gluck's 
 reforms in operas had then just begun to creep in. 
 
 The ' Finta Semplice ' was an opera buffa, quite in 
 accordance with Italian tendencies. ColLellini, a cele- 
 brated poet of the day, had written the libretto, and 
 the singers who were to perform in the opera were all 
 Italians. We can therefore understand how important 
 it was to the father to succeed in getting his son's opera 
 performed. Of its success he felt quite assured ; he 
 knew his son's mode of writing, which, with the most 
 perfect security in the mastery of form, combined that 
 vivacity of youthful feeling which had already obtained 
 the approval of a Hasse. The more bitterly was he 
 disappointed when at last he became convinced of the 
 impossibility of his son's work being given. Meanwhile, 
 
32 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 as the whole of his salary was stopped during his absence 
 from Salzburg, the family were deprived of all income. 
 Wolfgang and Nannerl, too, were both laid up by illness. 
 They had measles during the winter, which caused 
 Wolfgang to remain blind for a couple of weeks. It is 
 therefore evident that the father did not wish to stay 
 longer in a place where nothing more was to be gained. 
 Wolfgang at this time wrote a little Grerman operetta, 
 'Bastien und Bastienne,' the text being adapted by 
 Schachtner (Court Trumpeter) from Rousseau's popular 
 ' Devin du village.' It was not, however, given in public, 
 but merely sung in Herr Mesmer's garden-house. He 
 also wrote a mass for the consecration of the new Church , 
 for Oi-phans in Vienna, which he directed himself, with 
 a large baton, on December 7, 1768. 
 
 The refined tact with which this boy of twelve knew 
 how to distinguish between the different styles of these 
 various works (especially operas) is highly to be admired, 
 displaying, as it does, wonderful ability and a superior 
 musical treatment. For nothing can differ more than 
 the Italian opera and the Grerman Svngspiel. The 
 former abounding in recitative, consequently eminently 
 dramatic; in the latter, melody forming the chief basis. 
 In both genres Wolfgang hit on the right tone with 
 the most perfect security ; for in the ' Finta Semplice ' 
 the form of the aria pervades the whole, with its repe- 
 tition of individual passages, whereas in ' Bastien und 
 Bastienne ' the Grerman Volkslied is carried out even in 
 
BOTHOOD. 33 
 
 the construction of the melody. Thus Mozart early in 
 his career adopted in his theatrical music the peculiar- 
 ities of both nations, being destined one day to raise 
 these diversities to a higher degree of unity. This 
 process was not, however, accomplished till a much later 
 period. Meanwhile the boy, partly from his own 
 genuinely . artistic instincts and partly owing to the 
 guidance of his father, pursued that path of refined 
 forma which Italian music offered him. 
 
 He was now soon to learn this phase of art at its 
 source, for he was about to breathe a purer atmosphere 
 and to see the enchanting skies, the peaceful fair out- 
 lines of the mountains, the stately coronals of the trees, 
 the characteristic forms of the plants, and the stately 
 figures of the people who dwell on the soil of Italy. 
 Shortly he was to tread the streets of Eternal Eome, 
 with its surging sea of hills and cupolas, churches and 
 palaces, exhibiting in its ancient physiognomy the 
 stern gravity and dignity of the wide world, and yet 
 offering to the amazed sight St. Peter's, a monument 
 of all the charm and the powers of mortal genius. The 
 boy indeed was only thirteen to whom this land has 
 been such a fertile source of spiritual culture, and 
 which so many still long in vain to see. But his eye 
 was quick to discern the splendours of earth, and his 
 genius could imbibe these splendours and absorb them 
 in his soul without a thought or even consciousness of 
 such impressions. Mozart never reflected on similar 
 
 VOL. I. D 
 
34 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 seiisations. Even in his later years his remarks on 
 such subjects are very scanty ; we must not therefore he 
 misled by his letters to his dear Nannerl, that tell so 
 little of the beauties of Italy. The impressions existed, 
 and were of the utmost efficacy for his artistic develop- 
 ment. 
 
 Towards the end of the year 1768 the travellers 
 returned from Vienna to Salzburg, where Mozart, in 
 recognition of his conspicuous abilities, was named 
 Concert Master. His studies pursued their usual course 
 ■during the ensuing year. The father lost no oppor- 
 tunity of collecting from all quarters the works of the 
 composers of the day. In the year 1769 Mozart wrote 
 two more Masses. Then he crossed the mountains to 
 the land of milder breezes and lovelier forms. 
 
 In Innsbruck and in Noveredo, Mozart's playing 
 both on the organ and the piano excited the same pro- 
 found astonishment that we liave already alluded to. 
 In Verona, so great was the rush of those who were 
 curious to hear him, that the father and son with 
 difficulty forced their way to the organ. In Mantua, 
 Mozart played a concerto in the Philharmonic Society, 
 and in Milan, where they arrived at the end of January 
 1770, his eminent abilities, and especially his composi- 
 tions, caused such a sensation that the principal object 
 of his journey — to obtain a commission to write an 
 opera — was here fulfilled. Wolfgang was engaged for 
 the ensuing season, new operas being at that time 
 
BOYHOOD. 35 
 
 demanded each winter. The'Honorar was fixed at one 
 hundred ducats, and free board and lodging during 
 his stay at Milan. The travellers proceeded on their 
 journey without delay, but the libretto was to be for- 
 warded to him afterwards. The opera was not to be 
 given till the ensuing Christmas; so now Wolfgang 
 could minutely study at his leisure the true taste and 
 tone of this nation. 
 
 In BologQa the juvenile composer was highly extolled 
 for his works by the great and learned Padre Martini ; 
 he also there made acquaintance with the most renowned 
 singer of that century, Farinelli, whose voice and talent 
 impressed him deeply. He indeed sharply criticised 
 all artistic performances, as we see from the humorous 
 descriptions he gives to his sister, both of operas and 
 singers. His judgments aj-e original, yet they all tell 
 of the natural acute perceptions of the outspoken boy, 
 who is shrewd without precocity, and frank without 
 presumption. 
 
 At Florence, owing to their Austrian letters of 
 introduction, the travellers were very kindly received 
 at Court. In Eome, Mozart writes down from memory 
 Allegri's celebrated Miserere, which was given in the 
 Holy Week in the Sistine Chapel by the Papal choir. 
 The father writes : ' You are aware that the far-famed 
 Miserere is so highly esteemed that the musici of the 
 chapel are forbidden, on pain of excommunication, to 
 remove any of the parts oat of the chapel, or to copy 
 
 D 2 
 
36 APPKBNTICESHIP. 
 
 or give them away. But we have it. Wolfgang wrote 
 it down from hearing it, and I would have enclosed it in 
 this letter to Salzburg, had it not been necessary that we 
 should ourselves be there too, for the manner in which 
 it must be rendered is even more essential than the 
 composition itself. Meanwhile we cannot entrust the 
 mystery to others, lest we fall directly or indirectly 
 under the censure of the Church.' They took every 
 possible share in all the festivities of the time, and 
 Wolfgang's imagination was no doubt even more artis- 
 tically excited by the noble grandeur of the Church 
 than by the Dome of Salzburg. He writes to his sister 
 about the ' splendid functions.' They then proceeded to 
 Naples. There also the success of the boy was brilliant ; 
 indeed, as the father had already written from Eome, 
 the farther they penetrated into Italy, the more lively 
 became the admiration the- boy excited. When he 
 played in the Conservatorio alia Pieta (one of the 
 numerous schools of music in Naples), the Neapolitans 
 declared that the marvellous dexterity of his left hand 
 depended on a ring containing a magic spell, but when 
 he took it off, the wonder and applause were boundless. 
 On their return to Eome, they saw the brilliant 
 Grirandola, fiery sheaves of many thousand rockets, the 
 striking illumination of St. Peter's, the presentation of 
 the Neapolitan tribute, and other festivities. Wolfgang 
 also received from the Pope the Cross of the Order of 
 the Grolden Spur which entitled him to be addressed as 
 
BOYHOOD. 37 
 
 le Chevalier Mozart ; but we hear no more of this title. 
 The father writes : ' You may imagine how I laugh when 
 I hear my boy called Signor CavaUere.'' Nevertheless 
 he knew how to appreciate the trifling advantage gaitied 
 by this in travelling, and he was well pleased when 
 Wolfgang was taken for a Grerman CavaUere, or a Prince, 
 while he himself was supposed to be the tutor. They 
 were particular as to being well dressed ; nor did Wolf- 
 gang ever lose this habit all through his life. The 
 social advantages conferred by this Order, which were of 
 more value in the previous century than at present, had 
 little interest for him. He was far more gratified by 
 being elected a member of the Accademia Filarmonica 
 in Bologna, which occurred on August 13, 1770. In 
 October they returned to Milan. 
 
 Thus our youthful maestro had traversed the land 
 of beauty, and though music, and especially his opera, 
 chiefly absorbed his thoughts, still there can be no 
 doubt that the varied impressions which his susceptible 
 disposition received in that country had a remarkable 
 influence on the clearness of his mind, and, above all, on 
 t;he acuteness of Kis perceptions; for both his early and 
 later works are distinguished from those of other mas- 
 ters by perspicuity in the arrangement of the different 
 parts, and by the rhythmical construction of the whole; 
 and this certainly proceeds, exclusive of his natural 
 talent, from his using that acute sight which lie always 
 exercised both in viewing nature and art. Objects are 
 
38 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 transferred from the eye, by which we measure them, to 
 the ear and to our brain ; thus sight most of all guides 
 the fancy. The father never failed to attract the son's 
 attention to all that was worth seeing in that country. 
 He writes to his wife from Florence : ' I wish you could 
 see Florence, the country around, and the situatian of 
 the city ; you would say it is a land to live and die in.' 
 In Eome Wolfgang wishes his sister could be there, for 
 no doubt that city would delight her ; and from Naples 
 he writes, ' Naples is lovely.' Of the museums, too, he 
 says, ' We visited the capital, and saw some very fine 
 things.' How must the antiquities and stately buildings 
 of that country have worked on the imagination of the 
 gifted boy ! 
 
 The magic power of these attractions, and not music 
 alone, was so great on his youthful soul, that eight years 
 later we find him writing from thoughtless Paris to his 
 father : ' You must faithfully pledge yourself to let me 
 see Italy again, in order to refresh my life. I do entreat 
 of you to confer this happiness on me.' Above all Mozart 
 acquired here, to the great benefit of his music, the 
 conviction which he always maintained, that melody 
 was the soul of music; and in all that he subsequently 
 learned, whether the polyphony of German music, or 
 the richer and deeper colouring imparted by orchestra- 
 tion, he never ceased to consider melody as his chief 
 aim, all else merely serving to strengthen, enrich, and 
 elevate the composition. 
 
BOYHOOD. 39 
 
 Of all artists, Mozart most worshipped beauty; but, 
 in addition to melody, he knew the depth and fulness of 
 German counterpoint, and thus in such hands the fair 
 form of beauty, too much neglected, now bloomed once 
 more in its original lustre. We do not pretend to say that 
 Italian melodies were wholly devoid of this warm inner 
 life; on the contrary, the strains of Scarlatti, Leo, 
 Pergolese, and others, possess a degree of vivid feeling 
 which causes their music to live even in the present day. 
 But it was during Mozart's time that that inner life in 
 all its fulness began to awaken : the most charming 
 love songs sprang to light in profusion like spring 
 blossoms. Masters like Christian Bach, and even 
 Federigo Fiorillo, had written sonatas indicative of the 
 charm and feeling that we find in Mozart. Groethe had 
 given to the world his magic strains, gently winning for 
 himself the hearts of the nation, and attuning it to 
 love and tenderness. It was Mozart, then, who found 
 the means of giving utterance in music to all the riches 
 of his beauteous inner life. He removed the seal from all 
 hearts of that time, when he began to pour forth the 
 riches from his own ; and the mysterious influence that 
 ensured him success, beyond all others, in his mission, 
 was adopting as his own those loving strains which 
 embellished Italian music. But it was his heart, above 
 all, that sought and understood this language. And did 
 not Mozart's own nature overflow with love ? Does not 
 Schachtner's letter show this? and likewise his own 
 
40 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 expressions at that time ? The few lines that he adds 
 when in Italy to his father's more detailed letters, 
 always consist, though in childish phrase, of the most 
 loving devotion to his mother and sister, and the whole 
 circle of his friends. He forgets none ; he inquires for 
 each; he sympathises in Martha's illness, with Herr 
 Hagenauer's iU-health. The father writes : ' Both of 
 us prayed earnestly to-day in church for his recovery.' 
 The ' high and lofty thoughts ' in Italy, and constant 
 hard work, did not turn the boy's heart from such feel- 
 ings and reflections, and yet we often find him ' quite 
 distracted hy so many affairs.' He kisses 'mamma's hands 
 100,000,000,' and Nannerl's ' face, nose, and mouth.' 
 On the post days that bring him letters from Germany, 
 < he far more enjoys eating and drinking.' Every page 
 contains some pleasantry for Nannerl, and such jokes 
 show with what brotherly love he is attached to her. 
 Moreover, the never-failing gaiety of spirit that he and 
 his father always enjoyed, leads us to the conclusion 
 that his soul was full of harmony, the result of his own 
 loving feelings towards all mankind. 
 
 But already the boy's susceptibility to beauty in the 
 fair sex was stirring within him. He writes with true 
 Salzburger uncouthness of the prima ballerina in 
 Mantua : ' They say she is not an ugly animal, but I have 
 not seen her near,' showing that he was already looking 
 at belle donne. The following year he speaks out more 
 plainly. ' You promised me (you know what — my pet !) 
 
BOYHOOD. 41 
 
 Be sure not to forget. I do beg — I shall be so grateful ; ' 
 for the brother and sister faithfully shared their little 
 mysteries. We shall speak more in detail of these matters 
 when that fuller life was awakened within him, of which 
 we have here only the first faint indications. For 
 though the boy of fourteen already shows symptoms of 
 more profound feelings, still, at this stage of his devekp- 
 ment we must look more to the pervading element that 
 nourished his natural character, and also tlie terms on 
 which the whole family lived with each other, and the 
 stream of love that flowed from the father and mother 
 on the susceptible boy. The children addressed their 
 parents by the more formal ' Sie,' yet affection even 
 more than reverence prevailed in their intercourse ; nor 
 was that cold respect ever manifested, by which in former 
 times the development of family life was in so many 
 ways hindered. 
 
 There was no constraint in the education of Mozart : 
 corporal punishment was quite unnecessary, the boy 
 being so docile by nature; thus his life was guided by 
 that voluntary submission to the law which is of the 
 last importance to every artist. 
 
 In Florence he formed a loving friendship with an 
 English boy of his own age, who was also a musical 
 prodigy, Thomas Linley. During the short time they 
 were together they were inseparable, and vied unwea- 
 riedly with each other in their musical efforts. Their 
 separation cost both many tears. Does not the en- 
 
42 APPEENTICESniP. 
 
 thusiastic friendship that Goethe showed for Lenz, 
 Lavater, Jacobi, and others, date from the same period? 
 and was not the Gottinger Hainbund formed only a 
 short time previously ? All through Germany was stir- 
 ring an overflow of heart in which men found their deeper 
 feelings a source of happiness. Goethe exclaims, ' Of all 
 earthly possessions, a man's own heart is the most pre- 
 cious.' "Wondrous sounds were echoing through German 
 minds. It was as if the old primaeval truths of human 
 love were now to become the daily food of life — old men 
 and young embracing each other, vowing never-ending 
 love and lasting friendship. The warm life displayed at 
 the beginning of the century in the pulpits and teaching 
 of the Church now suddenly penetrated into life. The 
 Pietisnnus of the North German Spener, and the mysti- 
 cism of the noble-minded Friedrich von Spee, who had 
 preceded him in the southern parts of our Fatherland, 
 had come forth from the narrow circle of believing 
 brethren into the wide world, and by their innate 
 energy effected that miracle of art which forms so 
 striking a contrast to the stiff scientific pedantry of 
 that day, as well as to the ossified condition of the Church, 
 the State, and social life. This sunshine by degrees 
 vivified afresh the whole nation ; and then it was that 
 every relation in life began to thaw, and, above all, to 
 cast off the ' powder and pigtail ' of unnatural foreign 
 influences, and to adopt natm-e in their melodies. These 
 fresher natural impulses were also shown in the Mozart 
 
BOYHOOD. 43 
 
 family. The tolerant character of the father, who loved 
 the Protestant Gellert, and allowed his children to read 
 Klopstock's poems, and his son to follow the bent of his 
 own feelings, thus favoured half-instinctively and with 
 wise insight the progress of the youthful genius from 
 whom was one day to flow a spring of the most pure 
 ' and profound feeling, and fresh types of human nature. 
 
44- .AI'PEENTICESHIP. 
 
 CHAPTEK III. 
 
 THE TOUTH — 1770-75. 
 ' He iDruised the ripe fruit in his lap,' 
 
 The Protestant Reformation, embraced in txim by each 
 nation of Northern Europe, was a reaction of the 
 German spirit from the worship of the Middle Ages 
 and the doctrines of the Eoman Catholic Church, which 
 had in former days been forced on the Northern races. 
 It was, however, a reaction only in this sense, that what 
 for centuries past had been felt coercive, because its 
 forms were foreign and unwelcome to Germans, was now 
 freely accepted in its own significance and intrinsic 
 worth. The German spirit only shook off forms, but 
 the indwelling sense was preserved. Learning was to 
 be liberated from that scholasticism which had obscured 
 the pure and simple meaning of the ancient faith, and re- 
 ligion freed from those symbolic forms under the pressure 
 of which truth had been almost buried. Luther gave 
 back the Bible to his nation, and sought to instruct 
 them in the meaning of its words. The works of Greece 
 
THE YOUTH. 45 
 
 were again restored in their primitive form; their 
 writings being brought by fugitives from Byzantium 
 to Italy and from thence to Germany, where in the 
 course of time they founded quite a new culture, thus 
 preparing the way for the great literary epoch of the 
 last century. 
 
 This latter process was more speedily effected by the 
 Eoman people ; for they, being more closely assimilated 
 to the antique by their descent, had not to guard them- 
 selves from any foreign influences. On the contrary, 
 the restoration of the antique only brought forth a 
 greater degree of fertility. Music also received the 
 most profound impress from this revival of the ancient 
 style. We cannot sufficiently prize what the refined 
 taste of Italians accomplished for the science of music 
 in the invention of Operas. Professor Jahn, on his part, 
 has rescued the character of a genuine man — our Mozart 
 — from the rubbish of many calumnious traditions, and 
 brought to light a dark and unartistic epoch. His 
 trustworthy facts also induced us to employ them as a 
 foundation in our attempt to portray this noble-minded 
 man, and to strive to clear his name from every false 
 conception and idle report, so that all may now com- 
 prehend him. The name of Jahn will ever remain 
 inseparably connected in the realm of literatiu-e with 
 that of our Maestro. In his admirable delineation of 
 the youthful progress of Mozart, he says how singular 
 it was that the very same master who swayed as few 
 
46 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 have done during a long life the Italian stage, J. A. 
 Hasse, personally transferred his sceptre to this youth, 
 who indeed did not reach the height of his fame during 
 the old man's life, but was destined to bequeath it the 
 more enduringly to posterity. The world-famed Hasse, 
 after hearing the performance of a theatrical serenata 
 written by Mozart in his sixteenth year for Milan, ex- 
 claimed, 'This boy will one day cause us all to be 
 forgotten ! ' The boy, however, had sufficient artistic 
 good sense not to wish to be wiser than the masters who 
 had preceded him, but for a time to devote himself 
 steadily to the popular Italian style, at first adopting 
 the Italian Opera method, with all its shortcomings as 
 well as its merits. The subject of the libretti sent to 
 him for composition by the Milan Impresario was from 
 the antique — the ' fabulous story ' of Mithridates, King 
 of Pontus. 
 
 This was the first opera that Mozart wrote for Milan, 
 and it brought him much honour. He was still indeed 
 obliged to struggle against the cabals and caprices of the 
 Virtuoso canaille, but this chiefly aifected the father. 
 Wolfgang was always ready to study the individuality 
 and the inclinations of the singers, and, as his imagina- 
 tion was equally flexible and fertile, he succeeded in 
 gaining the approbation of the vi/rtuosi. He ' fitted 
 them exactly.' The father writes : ' Before the first 
 rehearsal, people were not wanting who loudly declared 
 beforehand, and in fact prophesied with satirical tongues, 
 
THE TOUTH. 47 
 
 that the music would prove childish and contemptihle, 
 and that it was inapossible a young boy, and moreover a 
 German, could write an Italian opera. They were ready 
 to acknowledge that be was a great virtuoso, but that 
 he could understand or appreciate the chiaroscuro 
 so indispensable for the stage was out of the question. 
 But from the evening of the first short rehearsal all 
 these people are dumb, and dare not venture to say 
 another syllable. The copyist is full of delight, which 
 is a good omen in Italy, because, when the music proves 
 successful, he gains more money by the transfer and 
 sale of copies than the Kapell-Meister by his composi- 
 tion ! The singers, male and female, are quite pleased 
 and satisfied. The prima donna, and primuomo 
 especially, are delighted with their duett.' 
 
 The first performance took place on December 26, 
 1770, under the direction of "Wolfgang. Almost every 
 one of the airs was welcomed with enthusiastic clapping 
 of hands, and loud cries of ' Evviva il Maestro ! ' ' Evviva 
 il Maestrino I ' The applause indeed increased at each 
 performance; twenty being given in rotation, every 
 time to crowded houses. The work was then laid 
 aside, which was always the case in those days with 
 Italian operas, being only given for one season. In 
 fact, the copyists had commissions to send five com- 
 plete copies — one for Milan, two for "Vienna, one for the 
 Duchess of Parma, and one for Lisbon. A Milanese 
 Gazette of January 2 says : ' This juvenile Kapell- 
 
48 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 Meister studies the beautiful in nature, and brings it 
 before us embellished by the most rare musical charm.' 
 Wolfgang had certainly spared no pains. In fact, Jahn 
 writes: ' The father watched carefully over his son, so 
 far as he could, to prevent Mm from overtasking his 
 strength, and, except in some exigency, never allowing 
 him to write immediately after eating, when indeed he 
 usually went out walking with him.' But the intellec- 
 tual strain of such continued occupation, and the 
 gravity of the subject, caused such an earnest] mood in 
 the boy, that the father wrote to his Salzburg friends : 
 ' It would be a good action to send him cheerful and 
 jocular letters, to enliven him.' From this time forth 
 industry and recognition, the two things which lead 
 men to the goal of their efforts, accompanied this young 
 genius on his path through life. On January 5, 1771, 
 the Accademia Filarmonica of Verona (like that of 
 Milan) elected the much-admired Maestrino Kapell- 
 Meister a member of their society. 
 
 Thus the object for the sake of which the father had 
 given up income and home, submitting to all the toils 
 and troubles of travelling, was now fuUy obtained — 
 indeed, the director of the Milan Theatre gave the son 
 a commission to write the first opera for the Carnival of 
 1772, with an increased Honorar of 1 30 gigliati. They 
 set off on their journey in good spirits, and made an 
 excursion to Venice, where they enjoyed the pleasures 
 of the Carnival, and the rocking of the gondolas on the 
 
THE YOUTH. 49 
 
 Lagunes, arriving at home safe and sound at the end 
 of March. 
 
 How rejoiced the mother and sister must have been, 
 to have the little composer once more with them ! The 
 young Maestrino came back covered with worldly fame, 
 his name being placed by the public on a level with 
 the greatest of his contemporaries, Metastasio and 
 Hasse. Yet he behaved with the utmost simplicity and 
 modesty, friendly to everyone, esteeming every one his 
 equal, and equally devoid of arrogance and presumption. 
 Nannerl, who was now in her twentieth year, and whose 
 beauty attracted many admirers, must indeed have been 
 delighted again to have her juvenile confidant, to whom, 
 no doubt, dm'ing his absence she had revealed many of 
 her love secrets. How often must they have wandered 
 together on the Monchsberg and Maria Plain. She, a 
 slender figure in powder and a hoop petticoat. He, 
 the little Kapell-Meister, in a gallooned hat, velvet coat, 
 
 shirt frill, silk stockings, and a sword ! — quite a 
 
 . oavaliere, and a gallant one too. 
 
 He was now fifteen, and a livelier sense of tender- 
 ness and beauj;y awoke within him. During his journey 
 he could make merry at the expense of an unhappy 
 lover. On January 26, 1770, he writes to his sister: 'One 
 thing annoys me; your allowing Herr Von Molktosigh 
 and suffer at such a rate. You might have gone with 
 him in his sledge, so that he might have upset you. How 
 many handkerchiefs he must have made use of to dr}'' 
 
 VOL. I. E 
 
50 APPEENTICBSHIP. 
 
 Ms tears on that day for your sake ! ' But now he is 
 sighing himself, a victim to this flame, and to heighten 
 his enthusiasm, and to suit the age of his beloved one, 
 the object of his passion is a grown-up young lady, and 
 soon to be married! It is of her therefore that he writes 
 to his sister during his ensuing journey : ' I beg you will 
 tell me of that other owe— where another never can be 
 — you understand ? ' A year later he certainly alludes 
 to a new queen of his heart : ' I hope you have visited 
 the Fraulein — you know whom I mean. I beg when you 
 «ee her that you will give her my kind regards,' and 
 then, ' I thank you much — you know for what.' Thus 
 gradually was formed that charming rosy chain which 
 throughout life was entwined with the career of our 
 artist, who remained always young, his heart and his 
 fancy lovingly excited. His mind ever continued frank 
 and free, never, like too many German youths, sinking 
 into gloomy fanaticism, thus rendering void the great 
 aim of his life. We see him now as gay as ever, and 
 ready for every kind of enjoyment. His admiration for 
 one person by no means makes him blind to the charms 
 or obtuse to the merits of others. ' Tell. Fraulein W. 
 Von Molk, that I rejoice at the thoughts of Salzburg, 
 where I may possibly get another present for the 
 minuets, like the one the Academy gave me ; but she 
 already knows this.' It is fitting for an artist to pluck 
 the flower that blooms on the bush beside him. This 
 gives rich glad life and keeps alive creative power. 
 
THE YOUTH. 61 
 
 Here also we discover the healthy nature of Mozart, 
 which knew how to enjoy, without injuring either his 
 own life, or that of others. 
 
 In the month of Axigust we find the travellers once 
 more in Milan. Wolfgang had received from the Em- 
 press Maria Theresa, a commission to write a theatrical 
 cantata for the marriage of her son Ferdinand with 
 Beatrice of Modena. This was a Featspiel with brilliant 
 decorations, and a ballet in which all honour was done 
 to the royal couple by many flattering allusions. It 
 was called ' Ascanius in Alba.' Wolfgang received the 
 libretto in the beginning of September, and the mar- 
 riage was to take place in October. He shewed that he 
 could compose under all circumstances. ' I am panting 
 with heat, and have torn open my waistcoat ; above us is 
 a violinist, under us another, next to us a siDging master 
 who gives lessons, and in the opposite room an oboist. 
 This is nice for a composer, this is a source of inspira- 
 tion ! ' What a contrast to Th". Hoffmann's Kapell-Meister 
 — Kreisler. The reci' atives and choruses were finished 
 on September 13, and the father thought that in ten 
 days more both operii and ballet would be completed. 
 This proved to be the case, and so we can understand 
 Wolfgang saying, ' My fingers ache from writing.' On 
 this occasion he had no cabals on the part of the 
 singers to contend with. He writes, ' They are all 
 celebrated singers and reasonable people.' 
 
 Tlie result was, as usual with him, extraordinary. 
 
 E 2 
 
52 APPEENTICESHIP, 
 
 The newly married pair, by their applause, bravos and 
 bows to the young Maestro, set an example which the 
 public followed. It was this work that called forth 
 the prophecy of Hasse that we have already mentioned. 
 The father writes, ' I regret to say Wolfgang's serenata 
 ' has entirely eclipsed Hasse's opera. This serenata was 
 repeatedly given, quite contrary to the usual custom 
 with a Festspiel. Besides the customary Honorar, 
 Wolfgang received a box set with diamonds from the 
 royal personages ; so this journey also was profitable. 
 
 Just at the time the travellers returned to Salzburg 
 the reigning pious Archbishop Sigismund died, after a 
 long and distressing illness. His successor, to the 
 great terror of the people, was Hieronymus, Joseph 
 Franz von Paula, Count CoUoredo, a man whose hard 
 nature and petty spirit we shall, presently learn. The 
 festivities connected with this new election were to 
 commence on April 29, 1772. The Salzburgers, proud 
 of their Maestro of world-wide fame, entrusted to him 
 the composition of the Festspiel that was given here 
 also. It was ' II sogno di Scipione,^ by Metastasio. 
 Besides this Wolfgang fulfilled his duties as Concert- 
 Meister by writing symphonies and church music. Even 
 at that time his fertility was very remarkable, his 
 compositions embracing every phase of music. A 
 Litany, Be venerabile, a Megina coeli, the Festspiel, 
 four symphonies and a grand Divertimento (an instru' 
 mental piece in the style of Beethoven's Grand Septett) 
 
THE YOUTH. 53 
 
 are of this date, and certainly are not all that he wrote 
 at that time. He too had been laid up for many weeks 
 by severe illness. It was only the regularity and 
 method in the use of his intellectual faculties, to which 
 he was accustomed by his father's guidance, and the 
 numerous commissions he received, that enabled him 
 to produce so much simultaneously. 
 
 In November we find the father and the son already 
 in Venice. The time for giving operas was at hand, 
 and it was now of the most vital importance to the 
 father that his son should obtain not only fame, but 
 a settled appointment. Their position at Salzburg 
 under the new Archbishop had already begun to be most 
 oppressive. This tyrannical personage, accustomed to be 
 entirely absolute, considered arid treated those around 
 him simply as his servants and inferiors — conduct which 
 by no means suited the independent mind of Leopold 
 Mozart. From the very first this prelate's little piercing 
 eyes seem not to have looked with much favour on the 
 Mozart family ; at least, the father now complains of 
 the gloomy, hypochondriacal style of thought in Salz- 
 burg, which imperceptibly affected him also, though he 
 strove to banish it as quickly as possible ; and we learn 
 that henceforth his whole efforts were directed to rescue 
 his son from such a subordinate position at home, and to 
 transfer him to a more suitable one elsewhere. When at 
 Milan he applied for a situation in Florence for himself 
 and his son, but in vain. 
 
54 APPBENTICESHIP. 
 
 The singers in the opera of ' Lucius Sulla,' the text 
 of which was already in Mozart's hands, were very dila- 
 tory. However, all was completed by the appointed time, 
 though he writes : ' I cannot possibly write much, for I 
 know nothing, and, besides, I really don't know what I 
 am writing, for my whole thoughts are absorbed by my 
 opera, and there is a risk of my transcribing a whole 
 aria for you instead of words.' The singers were in the 
 highest degree delighted, and the rehearsals went off 
 well. At the performance, however, various unlucky 
 drawbacks occurred. First of aU, the public were 
 wearied by waiting several hours for the Archduke, who 
 had a letter to write, which, it was said, always cost him 
 much time and trouble. Then the tenor unconsciously 
 caused much merriment in the audience during the 
 Prima Donna's first aria. While she was singing, he was 
 supposed to express his rage by gestures ; so, wishing to 
 exert himself to the uttermost, he gesticulated in such 
 an extraordinary manner that the spectators burst out 
 laughing. This caused great alarm in the Prima Donna, 
 not knowing at first at whom they were laughing, so 
 she did not sing well the whole evening, especially as 
 the Primuomo on his entrance was received by the 
 Archduchess with applause. But in spite of this the 
 success was extraordinary, and the opera given more 
 than twenty times to crowded houses. 
 
 With this opera Mozart's achievements in Italy 
 ended. Commissions from distant cities certainly did 
 
THE YOUTH. 55 
 
 not fail ; the recognition of his works and hjs personal 
 popularity were too great not to render this a certainty. 
 No doubt the Archbishop thenceforth refused to give 
 him permission to travel, which of course only increased 
 the father's efforts to quit Salzburg altogether, and it 
 was certainly ivith this view that, in July 1773, he went 
 to Vienna with his son. They met with the kindest 
 reception there from their old friends, but the visit had 
 no particular result. 
 
 The following year they spent quietly in Salzburg. 
 Mozart wrote instrumental and church music, and thus 
 considerably enlarged the sphere of his powers. Then 
 came from Munich an unexpected application to Wolf- 
 gang to write a comic opera for the Carnival of 1775. 
 This the Archbishop could not oppose, as his personal 
 relations with the Elector Maximilian were so intimate. 
 The court at Munich was very musical, and the Elector 
 already much interested in Mozart. The Elector was 
 himself a composer and played well on the violoncello, 
 80 he was very liberal both to the orchestra and to the 
 singers, and Mozart began to write the opera with 
 hearty goodwill. It was ' La Finta Griardiniera.' Operas 
 had been repeatedly written for the same libretto. It 
 was said of Mozart's work that there never was heard 
 more charming music, every aria being beautiful. The 
 performance was most brilliant, and the court, as well 
 as the public, overwhelmed the Maestro with applause 
 and honours. 
 
56 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 God be praised! My opera was given yesterday, the 
 13th, and proved so successful that I cannot possibly de- 
 scribe all the tumult. In the first place the whole theatre was so 
 crammed that many people were obliged to go away. After 
 each aria there was iavariably a tremendous uproar and 
 clapping of hands, and cries of Vive Maestro ! Her Serene 
 Highness the Electress and the Dowager (who were opposite 
 me) also called out Bravo ! When the opera was over, 
 during the interval when all is usually quiet till the ballet 
 begiQS, the applause and shouts of Bravo! were renewed; 
 sometimes there was a lull, but only to recommence afresh, 
 and so forth. I afterwards went with papa to a room 
 through which the Elector and the whole court were to pass. 
 I kissed the hands of the Elector and the Electress and the 
 other royalties, who were all very gracious. At an early 
 hour this morning the Prince Bishop of Chiemsee [who had 
 most probably procured the sarittura for his young friend 
 Wolfgang] sent to congratulate me that the opera had proved 
 such a brilliant success in every respect. As to our return 
 home, it is not likely to be soon, nor should mamma wish it, 
 for she must know well what a good thing it is to have a 
 little breathing-time. We shall come quite soon enough to 
 
 . One most just and undeniable reason is, that my 
 
 opera is to be given again on Eriday next, and I am very neces- 
 sary at the performance, or it might be difficult to recognise 
 it again. There are very odd ways here. A thoiisand kisses 
 to Miss Bimberl [the dog]. 
 
 Bimberl was the dog, and Mozart was nineteen years 
 of age. The father and Nannerl, too, were present, and 
 also the Archbishop Hieronymus, an involuntary witness 
 of his concert-master's triumphs. He was obliged to 
 
THE YOUTH. 57 
 
 pay a visit to the Elector, though not present at any 
 performance, as none chanced to take place during his 
 stay; still ' he could not help hearing the way in which 
 this opera was extolled by the Elector and his family 
 and the nobility, so he was forced to accept the solemn 
 congratulations offered him on every side. This so em- 
 barrassed him that his only reply was to bow and shrug 
 his shoulders.' His ' subordinate ' did not certainly 
 stand higher in his good graces from this. 
 
 Mozart also brought forward some of his church 
 music and composed a motett as an offertoriuin for 
 Munich. His pianoforte playing was much admired 
 here as well as everywhere else. The travellers heartily 
 enjoyed the gaieties of the Carnival, and in March re- 
 turned to ' dreary ' Salzburg. Mozart had an order 
 to write an Italian Festapiel .this year — 1775 — ' II E6 
 Pastore.' It was the last that he composed in the pure 
 Italian style. His inducement was the visit of the 
 Archduke Maximilian, subsequently the patron of 
 Beethoven, to Salzburg. From this date a considerable 
 change took place in the creations of the Maestrino, for 
 he was now brought into close contact with the various 
 phases of German music. 
 
58 APPHEKTICESHIP. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 TOUtH. 
 ' Faith brings true greatness.' 
 
 It is a fact that imaginative and kindly natures, in youth 
 especially, adhere with pious devotion to current con- 
 victions, and to forms of prevalent morality and estab- 
 lished laws and doctrines of the Church. The impulses 
 of their hearts urge them to this, while the predominance 
 of their imaginations deters them from searching too 
 critically into accepted dogmas. 
 
 Mozart's career affords a striking proof of these 
 views. Nature had gifted him with an acute under- 
 standing ; indeed, in later years,, his wife was so struck 
 by this that she declared her husband might have been 
 as good a mathematician as a musician. But how far 
 from his disposition was all petty critical analysis! 
 His nature led him to simple belief in the teaching of 
 his Church, and his impulses towards the creation of the 
 beautiful deterred him from all religious subtleties. 
 
 There can be no doubt that this religious toleration 
 had a favourable influence on the individuality of 
 
YOUTH. 59 
 
 Mozart. In the critical North, especially in Berlin, 
 from which at that time sprang the doctrine of ' En- 
 lightenment,' no Mozart could have prospered. The 
 system of analysing and investigating that caused so 
 much disquietude in the North was not favourable to 
 peaceful production. The basis of Mozart's nature was 
 hajmony, and, in order to create what is beautiful, 
 harmony must not be disturbed. In fact, from many 
 natural causes he had at first a certain antipathy to the 
 Lutheran faith, which he did not lose till late in life, 
 and never did his attachment waver to his beloved 
 mother, the Eoman Catholic Church. On the contrary, 
 it came to light vividly once more in the evening of his 
 life in all its depth and strength. The Eequiem proves 
 not only how profound were the religious feelings of 
 Mozart, but above all what a mighty power the services 
 of the Church exercised over the mind and imagination 
 of our Maestro. 
 
 During Mozart's whole life he retained a lively 
 remembrance of the impression made on his youthful 
 heart by the lofty dignity of his Church. Indeed, he 
 lovingly adhered to her dogmas and usages, which is an 
 admirable feature in his character. The boy of fourteen 
 writes : ' My love to Nannerl ; I hope she will pray 
 diligently for me.' 'I congratulate mamma on her 
 name-day. I wish that she may live many hundred 
 years, and enjoy good health. I pray every day, and 
 will pray for her every day. I can offer her nothing 
 
60 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 but some Loretto bells and candles, a hood and some 
 gauze, on my return.' ' Beg mamma to pray for me that 
 my opera may succeed, so that we may soon have a 
 happy meeting.' In after years he assures his anxious 
 father that he attends mass regularly, and goes to con- 
 fession. ' I wrote to you that your last letter caused 
 me much pleasure — ^this is true; still one thing 
 annoyed me a little, the question as to whether I had 
 not omitted going to confession ; I cannot object to 
 this, at the same time one thing I do entreat of you, 
 which is, not to think so Ul of me.' After his betrothal 
 he writes to his father that for a long time he had 
 gone to church with his Constanze. 'And I found 
 that I never prayed so heartily, confessed or communi- 
 cated so devoutly, as when by her side ; and she feels 
 the same.' His was one of those exceptional natures 
 where every emotion of the soul is pious. His deepest 
 and most heartfelt aspirations were always directed 
 to reconciliation with the Eternal One, and he appeased 
 his 'longing for God' by working hard at his art. 
 The Beautiful was to him a worship, and Art a shrine 
 before which he could pray from his inmost souL 
 
 As Concert-Meister to the Archbishop, it was part of 
 his duties to write music for all the ceremonies of his 
 Church, particularly for special festivals. In this 
 manner during the years that Mozart lived in his native 
 city, he wrote a succession of masses, litanies, vespers, 
 and other instrumental pieces, some of which are among 
 
YOUTH. 61 
 
 the loveliest creations of this Maestro's genius. The 
 dispensation of fate snatched the youth from this path 
 and gave another direction to his talents-^for his own 
 liking tended quite as much, and perhaps even more, t& 
 this style of music than to that of the opera ; and w& 
 shall see him in the evening of his existence, after having 
 experienced the manifold changes of life, turning to the 
 contemplation of the highest of all objects, and in them 
 he found his greatest consolation. 
 
 But even now in that style of music which is best 
 calculated to promote worship, we find indications of 
 that devout and wise spirit which already, with original 
 and prophetic power, disclosed itself to mankind. 
 However closely his music adopts the style of the day, 
 sacred words awaken his inward soul, and he looks far 
 beyond this earthly sphere, to seek that which is 
 Eternal. There are passages in those masses which must 
 awaken in all time to come, the holiest conceptions of 
 the Divinity in all His purity and truth ; their perfect 
 originality calling forth the feeling that a man ought 
 to have in drawing near his Maker ; passages which so 
 vividly express pious gratitude, adoration, a repentant 
 spirit, and reconciliation with God, that they cannot 
 fail to inspire devotion in every age. They express 
 what was innate in the artist's nature, and emanated 
 from a heart as remarkable for purity and depth of 
 feeling, as for the power of artistic conception, which 
 knew how to express in the most perfect simplicity every 
 
62 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 emotion of the human breast, so that every ear could at 
 once understand and every heart accept it. 
 
 Among the vast number, however, of compositions 
 of that date, consisting of more than twenty masses, 
 litanies and vespers, besides many hymns, psalms, 
 offertoriums, and motetts, we find, as might be expected, 
 a number of works far removed from that genuinely 
 devout spirit which endures for all time, only recalling 
 the superficial style of Church forms but too prevalent 
 in Mozart's time. A certain decorous arrangement of 
 prescribed duties, so easy to be attained by a Church 
 which from the earliest period had distinct and settled 
 usages, can of course easily be reproduced by music. 
 The style of sacred music at that period, like architec- 
 ture, bears the stamp of pompous sensuality or capricious 
 elegance, which was to prevail still more as soon as the 
 operatic strains which then occupied the minds of all 
 men intruded into the Church. The gaudy colouring, 
 of which we shall now hear, was then scarcely more sub- 
 dued in the Church than in the opera, and instrnmental 
 accompaniments, hitherto unknown in church choirs, 
 furnished the most fitting expression of this effeminate 
 and superficial style. 
 
 Mozart, a child of his time and pliant by nature 
 wrote many masses of this sort, and it so happens that 
 these are the very works most and best known. But 
 even in these compositions we discover not merely his 
 refined feeling for that melodious charm [which this 
 
YOUTH. 63 
 
 Maestro from the first moment knew how to impart to 
 his works, but also, in spite of the sensual attractions in 
 which the worship of the day abounded, they also display 
 a dignity and nobility of soul that elevates them far 
 beyond the works of his contemporaries. Joseph Haydn 
 alone and his younger brother Michael, also a Kapell- 
 Meister at Salzburg, can be compared in this point to 
 our Maestro. After the death of Sigismund, who had 
 fostered church music, Mozart complained bitterly of 
 the restrictions imposed on sacred music by the newly 
 elected prelate who cared only for outward pomp. On 
 September 4, 1770, he writes to Padre Martini at 
 Bologna : — 
 
 Most reverend and esteemed Father and Maeatro,— 
 The veneration, the esteem, and the respect I feel for 
 your illustrious person, induce me to intrude on you with 
 this letter, and also to send you a small portion of my music, 
 which I venture to submit to your masterly judgment. Last 
 year, at Monaco in Bavaria, I wrote an opera buffa (' La 
 Knta Giardiniera ') for the Carnival. A few days previous to 
 my departure from thence, his Electoral Highness wished to 
 hear some of my contrapuntal music ; I was therefore obliged 
 to write this motett in haste, to allow time for the score to 
 be copied for his Highness, and to arrange the parts so that 
 it might be produced on the folio wiug Sunday at grand mass 
 at the offertory. Most dear and highly esteemed Maestro, I 
 do entreat you to give me unreservedly your candid opinion 
 of the motett. We live in this world ia order always to 
 learn industriously, and to enlighten each ~ other by means of 
 discussion, and to strive vigorously to promote the progress 
 
64 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 of science and the fine arts. Oh, how many and many a time 
 have I desired to be nearer you, that I might converse and 
 argue .with your Eeverence ! I live in a country where 
 music has very little success, though, exclusive of those who 
 have forsaten us, we have still admirable professors, and 
 more particulai-ly composers of great solidity, knowledge, and 
 taste. We are rather badly off at the theatre from the 
 want of actors. We have no musici, nor shall we find it 
 very easy to get any, because they insist on being well paid, 
 and liberality is not a failing of ours. I amuse myself in 
 the meantime by writing church and chamber music ; and we 
 have two excellent contrapuntists here, Haydn and Adlgasser. 
 My father is maestro at the Metropolitan church, which 
 gives me an opportunity to write for the church as much as 
 I please. Moreover, my father has been thirty-six years in 
 the service of this present court, and knowing that our pre- 
 sent Archbishop neither can nor will endure the sight of 
 elderly people, he does not take it to heart, but devotes himself 
 to literature, which was always his favourite pursuit. Our 
 church music is rather different from that of Italy, and the 
 more so, as a mass including the Kyrie, Gloria, Credo, the 
 Sonata aU ' Epistola, the Offertory or Motett, Sanctm, and 
 Agnus Dei, and even a solemn mass, when the Prince himself 
 officiates, must never last more than three-quarters of an hour. 
 A particular course of study is required for this class of com- 
 position. And what must such a mass be, scored with all 
 the iastruments, war-drums, cymbals, &c., &c. ! Oh why 
 are we so far apart, dearest Signor Maestro ? for how many 
 things I have to say to you ! I devoutly revere all the Sig- 
 nori Filarnionici. I venture to recommend myself to your 
 good opinion ; I shall never cease regretting being so distant 
 from the person in the world whom I most love venerate 
 
YOUTH. 65 
 
 and esteem. I beg to subscribe myself, reverend Eatber, 
 always your most bumble and devoted servant, 
 
 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozaet. 
 
 At the close of this chapter we must say a few 
 words on the general character of Mozart's church 
 compositions, especially as to their aesthetic value, and 
 also the intellectual spirit of the Maestro — as neither 
 Phidias nor Eaphael could find a loftier image of the 
 Eternal than man in his highest purity, so Mozart, with 
 the instincts of his artistic nature so closely approxi- 
 mating to the divine, grasped that phase of art which 
 most purely expresses man's personality — Melody. He 
 found in human nature the reflected splendours of the 
 Godhead. The strains of his church music breathe that 
 warm breath of individual feeling that glorifies the 
 Almighty in all His grandeur, and, above all, praises 
 and magnifies the infinite love of God to man. Even in 
 his youthful years the divine and the human were 
 united in his inner soul. The one the expression, 
 and the pure symbol of the other. Like Eaphael's 
 Madonnas, Mozart's music is both divine and human, 
 and also like these, his sacred strains, even in their 
 most grave portions, bear that cheerful human type 
 that makes man rejoice in his existence. For, like 
 old Haydn, his heart was always glad when he thought 
 of the goodness of the Lord — thus his music is devoid 
 of that dreary gloom which pervaded the ancient 
 Church. All the harshness and austerity of medieval 
 
 VOL. I. F 
 
66 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 ■views are swept away by the magic charm of that good- 
 ness and tenderness which forms the essence of the life 
 of man ; which renders existence joyful, soothing him 
 in sorrow, and rendering him truly happy. The sound 
 ■of these works still rings pure and golden, emanating 
 from a heart at peace with all the world, because it 
 lovingly embraced all the world — it warms and brightens 
 like the shining of the blessed sun those who seek con- 
 solation and long for happiness. 
 
 This was Mozart's inner self. The course of his life 
 will more and more unveil to us the groundwork of 
 Ms soul. For now the time is at hand, when the youth 
 must enter on the struggles of life, and experience all 
 the joys and sorrows in store for him when in contact 
 with mankind. After having 'enjoyed to a singular 
 ■extent the rich fulness of life, with those pleasures and 
 pains that the heart creates, Mozart transferred these 
 varied experiences into his most noble works. In the 
 ■evening of his days his whole being retm-ned to that 
 condition of feeling, and that sacred reserve of the soul 
 in which we leave him, to follow him now on the path 
 of public life. Several years of peace and quiet had 
 enabled him to strengthen and collect his ideas, and 
 now the young eagle with full-grown pinions was to 
 risk his first flight, to come into more direct contact 
 with the world and to gain a more profound knowledge 
 of life. What his own inner impulses had hitherto 
 produced, now became the sme and absolute convic- 
 
YOUTH. 67 
 
 tions that distingaish the man from the youth, and 
 first bestow full power on his creations. Not till the 
 end of his days, after the battle of life had taught him 
 that earnestness with which the truly good man devotes 
 himself to the most lofty aims, did he discover that the 
 most precious boon is the reality of life. Then it was 
 that living streams did indeed flow from him which still 
 refresh the whole world. 
 
 y'2 
 
68 APPEESTICESHIP. 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBITEG 1775-77. 
 
 'Talent thrives in seclusion.' 
 
 The life of the Mozart family in Salzburg could not be 
 called pleasant. Domestic happiness was their best re- 
 source, and no doubt compensated for many privations. 
 The mother, indeed, whose intellectual requirements 
 were by no means great, and who, like a true woman, 
 found fall satisfaction in domestic activity and loving 
 deeds, might find herself very comfortable in Salzburg, 
 especially as it was her native place. Nor did the sister 
 find much amiss if only "Wolfgang were at home sharing 
 her joys and her griefs. The pretty slender girl was 
 beloved by a certain nobleman, and she was equally 
 devoted to him ; but he was without any prospect of 
 assured means ; thus their connection was severed, which 
 caused Nannerl much sorrow, and brought on an illness 
 that nearly proved fatal. The father, too, was fax from 
 being agreeably situated in Salzburg; for being obliged 
 to provide for his family, he thought that a settled 
 position, and the money he earned by giving lessons. 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG. 69 
 
 ought to be his chief consideration, and all further needs 
 were subordinate to these. Moreover his love for his 
 son made life bright to him in Salzburg, — and not 
 till Wolfgang was no longer there did he begin to feel 
 his existence empty and comfortless. He writes later : 
 ' Each time that I go home I have a little fit of melan- 
 choly, for when I approach my own house I always 
 think I must hear you playing the violin.' 
 
 The one who was most dissatisfied with staying in 
 his native city was our Wolfgang, and even fair nature 
 no longer compensated him for all that was wanting. 
 His compositions indeed for the church. and the Arch- 
 * bishop's orchestra kept him in a state of activity both 
 improving and agreeable. He was. also much occupied 
 as a pianoforte master, teaching many ladies of the first 
 families. But for genuine artistic creations he missed 
 in the long run that excitement caused by living in 
 large cities, and by intercourse with distinguished men. 
 Moreover, Salzburg had no established theatre. An 
 itinerant company gave during the winter a variety of 
 performances which were certainly of no great value so 
 far as music was concerned. The evening court concerts 
 were restricted to one hour, and yet several pieces were 
 to be played ; besides the orchestra was very limited 
 in its means, and there were no clarionets. But even 
 under such restrictions Mozart shewed his artistic 
 powers. The short symphonies of that day abounding 
 in life and spirit prove that under all circumstances he 
 
70 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 knew how to create and how to extend his knowledge. 
 In church music alone did he find men whom he could 
 emulate — above all, Michael Haydn, whose composi- 
 tions Mozart so highly prized that he transcribed many 
 of them, and at a later period sent for them to Vienna. 
 But these were not to be compared in merit with what 
 he had already heard and enjoyed in foreign countries. 
 The freer atmosphere of large cities had become a 
 necessity to him, and though what is termed intellectual 
 intercourse may not have been precisely what Mozart 
 sought, yet the obtuse narrow-mindedness of the Salzburg 
 of that day cramped his soaring spirit, and the absence 
 of cultivated feeling was repulsive to his nature. 
 
 ' I have learned a new language — a childish one, 
 indeed, but good enough for Salzburg,' he writes dmng 
 his stay in Italy. He also used to tell of a Salzburger 
 who declared that he could not see Paris because the 
 houses were so high. Even Herr Von Molk, Nannerl's 
 adorer, during the performance of the ' Finta Giardi- 
 niera ' in Munich, was so amazed, and ' crossed himself 
 so often ' at what he saw there, that Mozart was quite 
 ashamed of him, as everyone must see that in all his 
 life he had never been anywhere except in Salzburg and 
 Innspruck. The nobility were entirely uncultivated 
 and very bigoted. Only a few travelled men shewed 
 any inclination for art or science. One of these was 
 Count Ferdinand Von Zeil, bishop of Chiemsee, remark- 
 able not only for his high character, but also for his 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBUKG. 71 
 
 talents and cultivation. It was to his influence with 
 the Bavarian Court that Mozart was indebted for the 
 command to write a comic opera for Munich. Mozart 
 had free entrance into the house of this nobleman, was. 
 in the habit of playing there and giving lessons. In 
 spite, however, of Mozart's ' golden spur,' there was 
 certainly no question of much sociability, for at that 
 period the line was too strongly marked between citizens 
 and nobles.. 
 
 The minor nobility, chiefly belonging to the court, 
 were also no society for the Mozart family, for in that 
 class there was a still more disagreeable mixture of 
 pride of rank and deficiency of intellect. Yet Mozart 
 was not only acquainted but even intimate with some 
 of these gentlemen. We have already made acquaint- 
 ance with Herr Von Molk, and Herr Von Schiedenhofen 
 seems to have long been an intimate friend of Wolf- 
 gang's. In the circles which the position of Mozart's 
 family allowed him to frequent, he found even less 
 cultivation than he was accustomed to in his travels. 
 Above all, the musicians of the previous century did not 
 stand in the best repute from their characters and mode 
 of life ; this was more especially the case in Salzburg. 
 Mozart's father writes from Mannheim : ' The musicians 
 here lead respectable lives, and are neither sots, gam- 
 blers, or miserable scamps,' the latter being no doubt 
 the case in Salzburg, for again at a later date the father 
 writes : ' One of the chief reasons that makes me hate 
 
72 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 Salzburg, is the coarse, beggarly, and immoral court 
 orchestra. No civilised man with any good breeding 
 can associate with them — he must feel ashamed of them.' 
 -Even Michael Haydn lived in a manner which made 
 the father avoid any intercourse with his family, for he 
 was too fond of a drinking bout. Who does not know 
 Haydn's little room in the chapter cellar at Salzburg. 
 However, this was his own affair, and not in reality so 
 bad, although old Mozart expressed himself very sharply 
 on one occasion on this habit of the talented musician : 
 ' Who do you think has been appointed organist at the 
 church of the Holy Trinity ? Herr Haydn ! everyone 
 is laughing. After each litany he swallows a quart of 
 wine, and transfers the rest of the services to Lipp, who 
 also drinks ! ' What was still more repulsive to the 
 strong moral sense of propriety of the father was that 
 Frau Haydn, who when a girl had been sent to Italy by 
 the Archbishop to cultivate her voice, was in bad repute 
 on account of her mode of life. Wolfgang jests on this 
 subject in a letter to his friend BulUnger: — ' It is true 
 that Frau Haydn is in very bad health ; she has probably 
 carried too far the austerity of her life ; few are like 
 this ! I wonder that, owing to perpetual scourgings, 
 flagellations, and hair shirts, she did not long ago lose 
 her voice I ' 
 
 Intercourse with this class was not therefore very 
 edifying, and the more so, as not only did Mozart's 
 wonderful productions, now that he was grown up. 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBtTKG. 73 
 
 eclipse the works of the established musicians, thus 
 exciting their envy, but, also, because both the Mozarts, 
 as we have already seen by some specimens, placed no 
 . bridle on their tongues when they intended to criticise 
 the weaknesses of others. No folly escaped the quick 
 eye of the father, and when he was more lenient it was 
 not so much from kindness of heart as from prudence ; 
 and the son had the same sharp perceptions, and 
 though in his case the inborn goodness of his heart 
 seemed to mitigate all severity and harshness, yet 
 nature had gifted him with such an acute sense of 
 the peculiarities and foibles of others, that their comic 
 aspect involuntarily forced itself on him. He was not 
 accustomed to repress the utterance of his criticisms, 
 but on the contrary to give free course in his lively and 
 imprudent manner to his witty fancies a hundredfold 
 more than his father did ; thus we can easily under- 
 stand why the Mozart tongue was dreaded in Salzburg, 
 and the family considered rather satirical. In addition 
 to which, Mozart by no means concealed his opinions as 
 to the merits of the various musicians. His nature in- 
 clined him to recognise the talents of others, and he 
 was, indeed, far removed from all foolish arrogance; but 
 his outspoken and decided judgments, no doubt quite 
 just in the main, must have been very distasteful to his 
 colleagues. Even his remarkable readiness to make 
 his art serviceable to everyone did not atone for this 
 fault ; thus during life he never escaped the envy and 
 
74 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 persecution of his fellow-artists. Even after his death a 
 newspaper writer endeavours in sonae degree to justify 
 this persistent cabal by saying that no doubt his sans 
 soud manner often irritated others ! 
 
 Among the Salzburg musicians Schachtner alone 
 was a steady friend to the Mozart family, and his devotion 
 to Wolfgang is very evident by the letter to his sister 
 after the death of her brother. He came almost daily to 
 Mozart's house, took a warm interest in all the, events 
 of his life, and, so far as his abilities went, was always 
 eager to give a helping hand to our young Maestro. He 
 worked at the text of ' Bastien and Bastienne,' wrote 
 the Kbretto for the opera of 'Zaide,' and translated 
 ' Idomeneo ' into German. A still greater personal 
 ally of Mozart's was Bullinger, ' my faithful and best 
 friend, always a chief personage with me,' from whom 
 the family had no secrets. He was tutor in the house 
 of Count Arco, and had studied for the priesthood in 
 the Jesuit Seminary at Munich. Mozart was devoted 
 to this ma,n with the strongest affection, pouring out to 
 him many and many a time the sorrows of his over- 
 burdened heart. Bullinger himself was at all times 
 ready to assist his friend by good advice, and, in case 
 of need, by deeds also ; for once when the father was in 
 great embarrassment, during a journey with Wolfgang, 
 he advanced him a considerable sum. 
 
 Some higher families, especially that of the merchant 
 Hagenauer, were on the sociable terms of people who 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBrEa. 75 
 
 live much together in a friendly way. Mozart was born 
 opposite the house formerly called the ' Drei Alluerten,' 
 where Hagenauer lived, and the father was in the habit 
 of applying to him with regard to money matters. They 
 visited each other in the evenings, but. any further 
 help was not to be expected from them. Mozart had 
 by nature a most lively and sociable disposition, and 
 the father, who kept the children busily occupied 
 during the day, did not grudge them any recreations 
 that his means permitted. Salzburg at that time was 
 supposed to be a particularly pleasure-loving place 1 
 Caspar Bisbeck, a traveller of that day who indeed saw 
 with the eyes of a North German ' enlightenment,' 
 writes from Salzburg, 'Everything here breathes the 
 spirit of pleasure and gaiety ; people feast, dance, make 
 music, love, and gamble like mad, and I have never 
 yet been in any place where so much amusement is to 
 be had for so little money.' 
 
 The Archbishop Hieronymus held much more liberal 
 views with regard to public amusements than his pious 
 predecessor, and attended the balls, concerts, games, 
 and assemblies that the magistrates had arranged in 
 the newly built town-hall. Wolfgang loved beyond 
 measure everything of the kind. All through his life 
 he was passionately fond of dancing, and declared quite 
 gravely that his achievements in this art were in- 
 finitely superior to those in music. Carnival frolics, 
 however, were his chief delight, and we have already 
 
76 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 seen the father and son frequenting with great assiduity 
 the Carnival gaieties in Italy, and special mention is 
 made in their letters of those in Venice. They also 
 shared to their heart's content in the Carnival at Munich, 
 when the success of the ' Finta Griardiniera ' had re- 
 joiced their hearts. But even in Salzburg Mozart was 
 often very joyous, and with his extreme love of fun, the 
 masked redoute balls offered him the most welcome 
 opportunity to give free course to his sparkling wit and 
 quaint humour. On one occasion he appeared in the 
 costume of a peasant at a wedding, on another as a hair- 
 dresser's apprentice, conversing with all present with 
 the most inexhaustible humour ; but he let no one escape, 
 and the young ladies especially tried in vain to elude 
 his bantering. 
 
 Mozart's susceptible heart was again moved by sweet 
 fancies, and the youth of eighteen writes : — 
 
 [ My dearest Sister,- — I entreat you not to forget, before 
 your journey, to perforra your promise — that is, to make a 
 certain visit. I have my reasons for this. Pray present my 
 kind regards in that quarter, but in the most iilipressive and 
 tender manner — ^the most tender; and, oh ! — ^but I need not 
 be in such anxiety iipon the subject, for I know my sister and 
 her peculiarly loving nature, and I feel quite convinced that 
 she wUl do all she can to give me pleasure — and from self- 
 interest, too ! — ^rather a spiteful hit that ! [Nannerl was 
 considered a little selfish by her family.] 
 
 But although he appears occasionally to be rather 
 infatuated,' yet ' his mind is far from being engrossed 
 
TIME OP TRIAL IN SALZBUEG. 77 
 
 by such things; art still forms his chief object of 
 interest, moreover he is as yet a playful child, loving 
 all sorts of freaks and fun. 
 
 His letters are full of quips and cranks and jests, 
 especially misplacing words in a way rather silly than 
 witty. The mere sound pleases his ear, to the sense he 
 is quite indifferent. ' That I am a foolish creature is 
 pretty well known,' he says of himself. Most of all he 
 delighted in acting the part of harlequin, even in Vienna, 
 long after he was a sober married man. The Salzburg 
 spirit of buffoonery had taken deep root in him also, and, 
 accordingly, his freaks were of a less refined nature than 
 the propriety of our day might sanction. But we must 
 remark that they never offended against true morality, 
 particularly where ladies were concerned, and, above all, 
 that in spite of the love of fun and jocularity that 
 clung to him through life, no trace of this ever crept 
 into his works, where all is genuinely comic and trans- 
 formed into true art. The trifling translation of " Don 
 Juan,' attributed by J. P. Lyser to Mozart, is undoubt- 
 edly by Lyser himself. Throughout life Mozart seemed 
 as if he wished to direct into another channel his 
 spiritual nature, which during his early years was so 
 unusually grave. ' As a child and a boy you were rather 
 more serious than childish,' writes the father at a later 
 date, ' and when seated at the piano occupied with music, 
 no one dared venture to jest with you. Indeed, the 
 expression of your countenance was so serious that many 
 
78 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 intelligent people, from the too early development of 
 your talents, and youi- always thoughtful and reflective 
 air, prophesied that your life would not be a long one.' 
 We can thus understand what his brother-in-law Lange 
 writes : ' Never did Mozart appear so little in the light 
 of a great man in his conversation and actions, as when 
 ■occupied with some grand work. He not only then 
 talked in a confused, manner, but played all sorts of 
 tricks, to which we were quite unaccustomed with 
 him ; nay, he seemed even purposely to be more negli- 
 gent in his demeanour, and never to appear to think 
 deeply or brooding on any subject. For no obvious 
 reasons he purposely chose to conceal the strain on his 
 faculties by outward frivolity, or he took pleasure in 
 ■contrasting with the godlike ideas of his music the 
 commonplace ideas of everyday life, and thus to divert 
 himself with a kind of self-irony.' The happy instincts 
 -of nature protected him from all destructive influences 
 both from within and 'from without. 
 
 The young artist's interest in the fair sex was now 
 very warm and manifold ; yet lively and marked as was 
 the homage paid by this ancient seat of prelate princes 
 to the influences of love in Salzburg, where the most 
 free and easy and sensual life prevailed, "Wolfgang 
 enjoyed these things in innocence of soul ; we find his 
 youth unstained by those sad failings which too often 
 precipitate a youth of excitable nature from the path of 
 light into that of gloom and misery, ruining his pros- 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG. 79 
 
 pects for life. Mozart is still in a gladsome and joyous 
 mood, in spite of all the annoyances of his present posi- 
 tion. His taking part in sledging and assemblies, &c., 
 ■were recreations that only served to strengthen for fresh 
 work the youthful genius, who had already written more 
 than thousands have done during their whole lives. 
 Those transitory little heart affairs, which usually spring 
 from such social meetings, and in fact lend them their 
 chief charm, awoke in him those warmer feelings with 
 which he has endowed the personages in the 'Finta 
 Oiardiniera,' elevating this work far above all other 
 comic operas of that dav. The life-like individuality 
 ■of these characters, who are real men, and not merely 
 masks like those in the usual Opera Buffa, would even 
 now delight us, were it not that our Maestro's later works 
 have accustomed us to a richer development of indi- 
 viduality, and to more profound revelations of the 
 human heart. The Cavatina, however, ' Es klagt die 
 Turteltaube' is so full of charm and tenderness and 
 sweetness, that it precedes Mozart's sun as the crimson 
 flush precedes the dawn of day. Here we already 
 find indications of that innate and lively sense of the 
 •comic that Mozart embodied in his music, and we can 
 understand why he, who was destined to become the 
 first true poet of the Opera Buffa, should have such an 
 irrepressible tendency to jests, and freaks, and frolics 
 of every kind. He liked the most lively style of life. 
 The charming refinement, nobility of soul, and ideal 
 
80 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 emotions presented to us in this opera, are the inalien- 
 able property of his genius, its fascinations delighting 
 us even in the present day. 
 
 We must now give an account of the modest and 
 citizenlike circumstances in which Mozart passed his 
 youth. He was not, indeed, deprived of the necessaries 
 of life, like young Grluck, who went about the country 
 playing the violin, and on one occasion instead of 
 money brought back with him a sack of eggs ; or Haydn, 
 who, at a later day, earned a scanty livelihood by play- 
 ing the violin in the streets with a night band. His 
 youth was also different from that of Beethoven, who, 
 in early life, was obliged to struggle with difficulties and 
 privations of every kind. But Mozart, too, soon dis- 
 covered that the man who wishes to lead an honest life 
 must learn to limit his wants. It is very touching to 
 read what the father writes to him on this very subject, 
 when Wolfgang was on his travels and costing a good 
 deal^of money: — ' Ever since your birth and even before 
 it, in fact ever since I married, I have found it a 
 hard enough task to maintain a wife and seven chil- 
 dren in succession, and two servants, and to procure for 
 your mamma a settled monthly sum of about twenty 
 guilders. Also to provide for various accouchements, 
 deaths, and illnesses. Now, if you will reflect for a 
 moment, these outlays will show you that not only 
 have I never spent a single kreutzer on the most trifling 
 amusement for myself, but also that had it not been for 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG. 81 
 
 the goodness of God, not even all my toils and manage- 
 jnent could have enabled me to live free from debt. I 
 have therefore sacrificed everything for you and your 
 sister, in the hope that you can not only estimate what 
 you have cost me for your maintenance, but that you 
 may be able to ensure to me a peaceful old age, so that 
 I can render an account to God as to the education of 
 my children, and- meet the approach of death with 
 tranquillity.' How wise and shrewd he is also when he 
 writes to his wife : ' If you require clothes, get what is 
 needful made at once ; neither you nor Nannerl must be 
 deprived of what is necessary — what must be, must be ; 
 but don't buy anything bad, there is no economy in 
 buying inferior things.' Even in regretting the ' foolish 
 outlay ' for masquerade costumes in Italy, he comforts 
 himself by the idea that ' they may be made use of for 
 many purposes, especially for linings, &c.' 
 
 It was only by such principles that this man could 
 accomplish what all the world now thanks him for — the 
 education of a Mozart. This modesty in his preten- 
 sions in life was peculiar to the son also, who never 
 cared to play the part of a fine gentleman, and though 
 his artistic proclivities made him love all that was free 
 and informal, and thus prevented him from observing 
 the strict household regularity practised by the father, 
 yet, on the other hand, he had none of that eagerness to 
 get money by which so many artists have brought dis- 
 grace on their profession. But, as is too often the case, 
 
 VOL. I. G 
 
82 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 the father in the course of years became rather too 
 solicitous about money matters, and tormented his son 
 more than was either kind or necessary, when his mind 
 was absorbed by other things. One precious gift, how- 
 ever, he bestowed on Wolfgang's path in life — a gift 
 that maintains our position among our fellow-creatures, 
 and confers inward peace on ourselves — the endeavour 
 always to go through life with honour and self-respect. 
 We shall find stronger proofs of these views in Mozart 
 than in many so-called artists of that day, and likewise 
 our own, 
 
 The father's monthly salary was twenty gulden, and 
 that of the son twelve gulden and twenty kreutzers, 
 exclusive of what they earned by giving lessons ; almost 
 a hundred years later these were only paid in Salzburg 
 at the rate of four to five gulden a month. The simple 
 ■ mode of living of this family, and their moderate ideas 
 as to amusements, we may gather from the fact that 
 their chief pleasure was cross-bow shooting. It is 
 still the custom in South Germany, as it was then in 
 the circle of Mozart's friends, that a certain number of 
 intimate acquaintances met every Sunday at the house 
 of one of the families to shoot for a prize. Each 
 member in turn was bound to supply a painted target, 
 the subject being always chosen from passing events. 
 This caused much merriment, especially as the target 
 was illustrated by doggerel rhymes. The Salzburg love 
 for rough jesting was thus thoroughly satisfied. The 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG. 83 
 
 common funds were on a very moderate scale, and it 
 was from them the expenses were met for the little 
 festivities which the society occasionally gave. The 
 interest in these shooting matches must have been very 
 great. They are often mentioned in the family corre- 
 spondence, and an exact calculation made in kreutzers 
 of all gains and losses. Even those who were absent 
 continued members and provided proxies. Thus, years 
 afterwards, we find Mozart writing to his sister from 
 Vienna, ' The target-shooting will soon take place. I 
 beg you aolemniter to drink the health of a faithful 
 archer ; when my turn comes to send a prize target let 
 me know, and I will have one painted.' No doubt the 
 long and intimate connection of this society made their 
 meetings very gay, especially as the succession of target 
 pleasantries was held in lively remembrance ; so there 
 was ample food for laughter. 
 
 But all this was as nothing in the eyes of the real 
 Mozart ; it did not affect his inner self; it amused him 
 at the time, and was a mere recreation like anything 
 else. He was no recluse, no dreamer ; he did not affect 
 superiority over others. He was a healthy child of life, 
 and liked to be gay with his tellow-men. But in his 
 character there was that impulse towards higher things 
 that lifted him out of the sphere of everyday life, and 
 not until this was satisfied do we find him cheerfully 
 and heartily enjoying the commonplace. His require- 
 ments were not fully met here. He missed intel- 
 
 G 2 
 
84 APPKBNTICESHIP. 
 
 lectual excitement, he missed appreciative recognition 
 and sympathy. He daily more and more felt these 
 privations ; thus the days seemed to him to drag on idly 
 and drearily. "We learn this from occasional passages 
 in his letters after he had quitted Salzburg. Yet, even 
 during this time, he wrote an astonishing number of 
 admirable works. What productive power, what acti- 
 vity of mind, what creative love distinguish these 
 compositions ! But gradually his time for learning 
 expired, and he now found the want of all opportunity 
 or inducement to make his works known very depress- 
 ing. At a later date he asserts that what chiefly dis- 
 gusted him in Salzburg was music not being esteemed 
 there, and the Archbishop never taking any notice of 
 well-informed or travelled people. 
 
 That' was the real grievance. The Archbishop, the 
 most prominent personage in Salzburg life, did not 
 appreciate him, never vouchsafed to give him any 
 opportunity of shewing his capabilities, and still less 
 did he grant him any fitting recognition. Hierony- 
 mus was of an envious disposition, and being perfectly 
 aware that he had been placed on the throne contrary 
 to the wishes of the people, he also shewed his aversion 
 to them in every possible way. He possessed a shrewd 
 understanding and an enlightened mind, and introduced 
 many beneficial new laws into the government of the 
 country, and, as we have already seen, he was no foe to 
 public amusements. If, however, he met any citizen or 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBTJEG. 85 
 
 official at these entertainments, he said they seemed 
 to have plenty of money, though they were always 
 complaining ; on the other hand, if they stayed away, he 
 declared they had no love for him. Moreover he was 
 arbitrary and penurious, obstinate and reckless. We 
 are told of him, ' though only of middle height and 
 slender figure, his complexion pale and sickly, yet the 
 sharp glance of his grey eyes — the left one seldom quite 
 open — and the stem expression of his mouth, inspired 
 respect and awe.' ' I did not venture to contradict,' 
 writes Mozart to his father, ' having come direct from 
 Salzburg, where we are unused to do so.' To this we 
 may add that the Archbishop liked none but Italian 
 musicians, and he had the peculiarity of only being 
 impressed by people who were tall and stately ; thus he 
 had no respect for small insignificant-looking persons. 
 Mozart was a German and a Salzburger ; his sb'ght 
 figure, and the delicate features of his youthful face, 
 won therefore no consideration from the Archbishop. 
 On this account he treated his artistic powers with con- 
 tempt; nothing that Mozart could compose pleased 
 him, being invariably found fault with, and in very un- 
 sparing terms. He told Mozart that he did not in the 
 least understand his art, and that he ought to go to 
 Naples, there to learn something. This was not a little 
 irritating to the academician of Verona and Bologna, 
 who had already enjoyed such triumphs everywhere, both 
 as a performer and a composer. Still on the whole it 
 
86 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 rather amused him, and he writes in his humorous 
 style, ' I played my concerto to-day to some ladies at 
 Cannabeche, and, though known to be mine, it pleased 
 very much. No one said that it was not well composed, " 
 because people here don't understand these things. 
 They ought to apply to the Archbishop, who would 
 soon put them on the right scent.' 
 
 In reality it was nothing but avarice that drove the 
 ' Mufti ' to such treatment, for he was quite aware of 
 Mozart's genius, and always gave him orders for works 
 that were of use to himself. The father writes to the 
 son in Paris, ' I have written two long letters to Baron 
 Grimm, detailing all our circumstances, and referring 
 him to you for information as to the persecution and 
 contempt we have encountered from the Archbishop- 
 I have told him that he was only civil and complimen- 
 tary when he wanted something, and that he had never 
 paid you a single kreutzer for all your compositions.' 
 His great object was to deter the young composer from 
 thinking that he had claims to a higher yearly salary 
 than 150 gulden. Thence was it that old Mozart, 
 conscious of his own integrity and loyal fidelity, had 
 no inclination to shew the crawling servility that this 
 spiritual prince demanded. It was the same with the 
 young artist, who, with all his modesty, in reality 
 recognised no authority but that of his own mind ; and 
 no doubt in his frank and candid moods was apt to 
 forget that he was in the service of the Archbishop, and 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG. 87 
 
 was, therefore, by no means careful in dissembling his 
 opinions. There was no lack of envious people to carry 
 tales to the Archbishop, thus purposely irritating him, 
 in order that the young Concert-Meister might doubly 
 feel the weight of the prelate's sovereignty. Mozart 
 submitted to this with his usual patience, which he did 
 for his father's sake, and by the elasticity of his nature 
 quickly recovered those fresh impulses that impelled 
 him to work. At length, however, the matter became 
 too bad, and the father himself thought of dissolving 
 the connection. 
 
 During the last few years he had endeavoured to 
 find a suitable appointment for his son in Florence, 
 Vienna, and Munich, but nowhere did he succeed in 
 this. He was obliged to go to work very cautiously 
 owing to the malevolence of the Salzburgers, it being 
 the interest of his colleagues to get rid of Wolfgang 
 that they might fill his place ; so they were always 
 ready to slander him. The father's circumstances, too, 
 did not permit him to resign at once a secure position. 
 But it was now too much for human patience, and the 
 annoyances he had to bear were beyond endurance. 
 Wolfgang, in after days, writes to his father from 
 Mannheim, ' I hope that you have less annoyance than 
 when I was in Salzburg, for I must admit that I was the 
 chief cause of this. They gave me bad treatment which 
 I did not deserve, and you naturally took my part only 
 too lovingly. I can tell you, indeed, that this was one 
 
88 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 of the principal and most urgent reasons for my leaving 
 Salzburg in such haste.' To which the father gives the 
 following excellent answer : ' You are right in saying 
 that my greatest sorrow was the abominable treatment 
 you were forced to endure ; it was that which gnawed 
 at my heart, which deprived me of sleep, being always 
 in my thoughts, and which would eventually have con- 
 sumed my life. My dear son, when you are happy, then 
 so am I, so is your mother, so is your sister, in fact we 
 are then all happy. I pray through the mercy of God, 
 this may be the case, and your prudent conduct inspires 
 me with entire confidence in the future.' 
 
 Wolfgang was resolved to go away and to resign his 
 situation in the Archbishop's service. He urged with 
 ever-increasing impatience that they should all leave 
 Salzburg together, and at once proceed on an artistic 
 tour to seek fame and a livelihood, until they could 
 find a fitting appointment. But the father, who knew the 
 world better, rejected this plan as impracticable. Mean- 
 while, circumstances altered, though he still doubted 
 whether they could in this manner defray the expenses 
 of their living. He subsequently writes, ' You know 
 how many years our patience has been tried in Salzburg, 
 you know how often you and I were anxious to get 
 away ; you, no doubt, remember all the reasons I alleged 
 why we should not all leave Salzburg ; you have now 
 the proof that I was right — a heavy outlay on the jour- 
 ney, and small profits, or, at all events, not sufficient to 
 
TIME OF TKIAL IN SALZBUKG. 89 
 
 support a whole family.' He could not make up his 
 mind either to allow the son to travel alone : — ' You are 
 aware that you would have to manage everything your- 
 self — you, who are accustomed to do nothing without 
 the help of others, knowing very little about our coin- 
 age, and still less of that of foreign countries, and as 
 for packing and the many untoward occurrences you 
 must expect when travelling, you would not have the 
 least idea what to do. I must further remind you that 
 so young a man, even were he a heaven-born Maestro, 
 and excelled all others, never can at once win the re- 
 cognition he deserves ; for this purpose a certain number 
 of years are required, and, so long as you are under twenty 
 years of age, envious men, persecutors, and enemies, 
 will seize the pretext of your youth and inexperience to 
 justify their criticisms and their censure.' How open 
 and unsuspicious was Wolfgang, how kind and unsel-: 
 fish, but, again, how irritable and pugnacious in word 
 and wit I ' My son,' writes the father, ' you are too pas- 
 sionate and hasty in everything ; your whole character 
 has changed since your childhood and boyhood — you 
 were then more serious and less childish, &c. It seems 
 to me that you are too eager at the very first provoca- 
 tion to reply in a bantering tone, this being the first 
 step towards familiarity, which we must npt encourage 
 in this world if we wish to be respected. It is your 
 goodness of heart that leads you to bestow all yoiur love 
 and confidence on anyone who flatters you or praises 
 
90 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 you up to the skies — in such a person you can see no 
 fault.' Again, ' I entreat you to place your trust in God, 
 for all men are more or less wicked. The older you 
 grow, and the more intercourse you have with mankind^ 
 the more will you be convinced of this sad truth. Recall' 
 all the promises, the wheedling assurances, and a hun- 
 dred other things we have known, and draw your own 
 conclusions, as to how far the help of man is to be 
 relied on. In the long run everyone finds or invents a 
 plausible excuse for backing out of his kind intentions, 
 and transferring the burden to a third person.' Wolf- 
 gang's danger on this point was great, for his whole 
 nature had hitherto disposed him to believe in men, 
 and when seized by a fit of enthusiasm for his art, all 
 prudence, all advantage to himself, and the best laid 
 plans for the future, were wholly forgotten. The 
 worldly-wise father also trembled at the moral dangers 
 to which his inexperienced son must be the more ex- 
 posed at his first entrance into life, because his feelings 
 were easily excited, and his liking quickly captivated. 
 He had grown up in the narrow circle of a burgher 
 family, and always lived in the midst of his artistic 
 occupations — thus he had no foreboding of the tempta- 
 tions that awaited him beyond this circle. The father 
 therefore delayed the plans for a journey as long as 
 possible, representing to the son that this apprentice- 
 ship would be very advantageous to his artistic develop- 
 ment and as a preparation for travelling, and that he 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG, 91 
 
 would have a Letter prospect of success, when more 
 matured both as a man and an artist. 
 
 But even this consolation failed at last, and after 
 more than two years had elapsed since Mozart had made 
 a long stay in Munich when writing ' La Finta 
 Giardiniera,' the father resolved humbly to entreat the 
 Archbishop to grant him and his son leave of absence 
 for the purpose of making an artistic tour. The request 
 was peremptorily refused. His eminence did not 
 approve of anyone in his service travelling about to 
 gain money like beggars. The family weighed the 
 matter well. Wolfgang urged, Nannerl was on his 
 side, the mother advised reflection, and it did indeed 
 cost the father many a sleepless night. At length they 
 came to a decision : Wolfgang sent in his resignation, 
 respectfully requesting permission to quit the Arch- 
 bishop's service. 
 
 This step was quite too much for the gracious 
 prelate ; enraged at the audacity of the young Maestro 
 in so unceremoniously leaving him, he granted the 
 petition without delay, and in the most ungracious 
 terms. Indeed, there was a rumour that the father was 
 to lose his appointment, but this was not the case. 
 There seems to have been no little discord among the 
 members of the orchestra, for in the Archbishop's 
 Beeretum it is expressly stated that he wished to have 
 peace in his orchestra, and in this hope he would not 
 deprive Leopold Mozart of his situation. 
 
92 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 All at Salzburg were astonished and indignant at 
 this occurrence, and by the Court in " particular this 
 step of the Archbishop's was highly disapproved. The 
 prelate himself was not a little out of humour about it. 
 The old high chamberlain, Count Fermian, had just 
 bought four new horses, and was pleased at the thoughts 
 of driving them for the iirst time with his young friend 
 Wolfgang, whom he highly valued ; so he was very much 
 displeased when he heard the news on his return from 
 the purchase. He went to pay his respects to the Arch- 
 bishop, who said to him, ' Well, we have one musician the 
 less now ! ' The Count replied, ' Your Highness has lost 
 a great performer.' ' How so ? ' ' Mozart is the greatest 
 pianist I ever heard in my life. He has done good 
 service too here with his violin, and is a first-rate com- 
 poser ; ' on which the Archbishop said not another word. 
 Canon Count Joseph Stahrenberg, to whom the father 
 afterwards recounted the whole affair, admitted that he 
 only spoke the truth, and that all strangers who attended 
 the Court had been full of admiration for his son, and 
 he was himself quite fascinated by him. 
 
 Now there was nothing more to be done, "Wolfgang 
 must go. The father was a prey to much anxiety. The 
 artistic preparations were, indeed, long ago completed 
 for a journey intended to remind the world of Mozart's 
 abilities both as a composer and a virtuoso. His ex- 
 ercises had been most fatiguing and incessant on the 
 piano and violin, and he had written a succession of 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBUKS. 93 
 
 works. These were numerous ; they were fairly tran- 
 scribed, and bound in little books for the convenience 
 of packing, and also to be at hand when required at 
 performances, or to be given away to others. But as it 
 was now summer much profit could not be expected. 
 Pride and good sense, however, both urged the execution 
 of this scheme. Mozart could not have resumed his 
 former position without a degree of humiliation which 
 neither the father nor the son was disposed to undergo. 
 The father with the mature experience of his years wrote 
 out a route which opened some prospect of a livelihood, 
 at all events for a time. They were to visit the larger 
 towns, especially the capitals, and the country seats of 
 the nobility, in order that concerts or orders for composi- 
 tions should defray the travelling expenses, until a 
 settled appointment could be secured in an honourable 
 manner. ' Every effort,' writes the father, ' must be 
 made to earn money, and every care taken to spend as 
 little as possible. The object of the journey, and a 
 very necessary object too, is, and must be, to obtain 
 a situation and to get money.' ' It is true that I did 
 wish to see you well settled, but only in such towns as 
 Munich 9r Mannheim, or any other where you would 
 not be prevented making a journey from time to time ; 
 but, so far as my wishes go, no lifelong place per 
 decretum. If you had such a post even for a couple of 
 years, you would no doubt f^ sure of seeing France 
 and Italy. You are well aware that a few more years 
 
94 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 and, perhaps, a title, will ensure respect and considera- 
 tion. 
 
 The father continues unweariedly active in smooth- 
 ing the son's path, pointing out to him how he must act 
 so as to fulfil the object of his journey; but "Wolfgang 
 was by nature devoid of those practical quaiities which 
 enable a man to take advantage of circumstances and 
 events for his own benefit. He had no eye for such 
 matters, and, indeed, such insight must be inborn. His 
 thoughts and energies were absorbed in his art. There 
 he was a match for any man, and never doubted that all 
 the rest would come in time ; but this was not to be 
 without some efforts on his part. ' As yet he has no 
 desire either for money or a situation,' writes the father ; 
 ' at least, if he has it is still a mystery to me.' Then 
 he continues to repeat these injunctions, which, no doubt, 
 went in at one ear and out at the other of the son in 
 Salzburg, whose whole thoughts were engrossed by the 
 prospect of the journey. In order to have some security 
 as to practical matters, and that things should go on 
 in an orderly manner, the father at last formed the 
 trying resolution to send the mother with Wolfgang. 
 After what had already passed he could not hope for 
 leave of absence himself, and thus saw his intention to 
 travel with the son entirely frustrated. 
 
 We already know the mother to be good-hearted, 
 but rather indolent ; she^id not possess the energy and 
 tact of the father, who, with all his love for his gifted 
 
TIME OF TKIAL IN SALZBURG. 95 
 
 Bon, knew how to check his peculiarities and foibles. 
 She had, however, a good deal of experience in travel- 
 ling, so the current expenses and occurrences of daily life 
 were at all events in good hands. It was agreed that 
 she should write down every outlay and every sum re- 
 ceived, to render an account to the father, and to keep 
 him minutely informed of all occurrences, so that he 
 might give them timely assistance by his advice and 
 help. The father writes, ' I do entreat you, dear 
 Wolfgang, to weigh well everything, and do not delay 
 writing about any matter till it is past and done with, 
 or we shall all be unhappy. I know that I should forget 
 a hundred things at least about which I wish to write 
 to you, if I had not prepared a sheet of paper, on 
 which I note down a few words when anything occurs to 
 me. When I write to you I refer to the document 
 which contains all my news, and then I read your last 
 letter and answer it. You can easily do the same ; I 
 efface on the paper all that I have already written to 
 you, and next time a letter goes to you I transcribe 
 what still remains on the diary — and you, my dear wife, 
 will, I hope, write the lines very closely — you will see 
 that I do this in my letters.' 
 
 It is touching to see the forethought of this man, 
 and his anxiety to ward off every risk and annoyance 
 from the travellers. When they had fairly started on 
 their journey, he writes, ' I beg, dear Wolfgang, that 
 you will be very temperate. From your youth upwards 
 
96 APPKENTICESniP. 
 
 you have been accustomed to moderation, and not 
 to drink strong wines. You know that you are easily 
 flushed, and cold suits you better than heat — a clear 
 proof that your blood is disposed to be heated, that you 
 are easily excited ; strong wines, or, indeed, wines of 
 any kind, are very pernicious to your health. Do not 
 forget the unhappiness and misery you might cause 
 your excellent mother in a distant foreign land. You 
 see I say nothing as to myself.' To which the son 
 replied : ' I eat little, drink water, and have only one 
 small glass of wine with my fruit.' The father, too, 
 urges him to be very careful as to his companions. He 
 says, ' I only made the acquaintance or sought the 
 friendship of persons belonging to the higher classes ; 
 and, even among these, exclusively with those of 
 acknowledged respectability, but never with young 
 striplings, whatever their rank might be. I never 
 asked anyone to visit me often in my own house, for I 
 wished to be entirely free, therefore I deemed it more 
 fitting to see others when I thought proper to do so. 
 If your acquaintance does not please, or you are occu- 
 pied, you can stay away, whereas if a visitor comes to 
 you and is not well bred, you do not know how to get 
 rid of him. Often, too, a person who is far from being 
 disagreeable hinders me in my necessary work. You 
 are a young man of two-and-twenty, consequently you 
 cannot have the grave demeanour of older people. So 
 any young fellow, whoever he might be — adventurer, 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBUEO. 97 
 
 bully, or scoundrel, young, or old — might seek your 
 acquainiauce and friendship, and try to entice you into 
 his society, and probably by degrees lead you to share 
 his views. You might in this way become imper- 
 ceptibly entangled and unable to extricate yourself, I 
 do not enter on the subject of the fair sex, but it is one 
 where you must observe the utmost reserve and pru- 
 dence ; insignificant jests, flatteries, and frolics at first, 
 may lead a man on blindly till the return of reason 
 shames him. I need not say this, for you have had 
 a little experience of it in your own case. I do not 
 reproach you. I know that you love me not only as your 
 father, but also as your best and truest friend.' 
 
 We shall presently see that the father had his own 
 reasons for writing in such a strain ; for our young 
 Maestro had committedplenty of juvenile indiscretions; 
 but we know that these were mere follies, and not 
 aberrations from the right path. The presence of the 
 mother and the strong moral sense of the son, as well 
 as his careful training and childlike submission, were 
 sure guarantees that no frivolous or immoral companions 
 would be permitted to approach the young man to 
 tarnish his pure mind. The mother did all in her 
 power to replace the father. ' I am busy packing, 
 which gives me great trouble, as I must do it all 
 myself, for Wolfgang cannot help me in the least. I am 
 in such a heat and so tired, that I don't know whether 
 I am on my head or on my heels.' The father, however, 
 
 VOL. I. H 
 
98 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 in his ironical way, calculates the time they have 
 already wasted. ' My dear wife boasted that she would 
 rise early, would make no complaints, and do every- 
 thing so quickly, like a good housekeeper.' One great 
 object was that the journey should not cost too much. 
 He had no means of his own, and his salary scarcely 
 sufficed to maintain his daughter and himself; they 
 were, therefore, obliged henceforth to retrench in every 
 possible way, and to add to their income by giving 
 lessons. He provided for the wants of the travellers 
 as far as he could, their landlord, Hagenauer, and the 
 faithful BulUnger helping from time to time with 
 small advances of money. These were the first debts 
 this conscientious man had incurred, and they weighed 
 heavily on his mind. Who can blame him if he 
 frequently and rather sternly reminds the son of his 
 duty, urging him to attend to the demands of practical 
 life. For Wolfgang preferred following his own bent 
 in work, and many a time, like other artists, allowed 
 his natural impulses to guide him rather than lay any 
 restraint on himself. The father writes on the par- 
 ticular occasion that had called forth these warnings, 
 'Dear Wolfgang, I have not the smallest distrust of 
 you; on the contrary, I place all possible faith and 
 hope in your filial love. Everything depends on your 
 listening to the sound reason you undoubtedly possess, 
 but in some degree also on favourable circumstances. 
 The latter you cannot command, but I trust and believe 
 
TIME OF TRIAL IN SALZBURG. 99 
 
 that you will always appeal to reason for counsel.' Few 
 youths have had a father whose thoughts are so wholly 
 devoted to his son's welfare. This man regarded the 
 genius of Wolfgang as a boon from heaven. He trained 
 him to the best of his abilities, and this the world 
 cannot fail to acknowledge, and to feel grateful for his 
 success. ' The will and decree of Providence have or- 
 dained that I must now resume the wearisome task of 
 giving lessons, in a place, too, where this trying work 
 is so badly paid that the monthly expenses of a family 
 cannot be earned by it, and yet it is necessary to look 
 pleased and talk till you are hoarse and have a pain in 
 the chest, in order to secure even these smaU sums.' Yet 
 with all this the worthy man had still something to 
 spare for the necessities of others. He mentions that a 
 poor milliner had been obliged to give up the adjoining 
 room, so he must assist her. 
 
 These are facts highly honourable to the father, 
 and they eventually bore fruit ; for the same kind, 
 benevolent disposition distinguished the son through 
 life ; and is not this inborn peculiarity of the artist, so 
 often soaring above commonplace exigencies, the more 
 to be admired ? 
 
 At length everything was prepared — money, lug- 
 gage, clothes, and music ; a chaise, too, was procured, 
 which a virtuoso of that day required in order to travel 
 suitably, and to obtain the respect of others. For the 
 father did not choose that his son should roam about 
 
 H 2 
 
100 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 the world like a strolling player. How sad must the 
 parting have been ! What fears and hopes have alter- 
 nately agitated the father's breast ! His absence lasted 
 above a year, and brought the anxious parent much 
 annoyance and little happiness. The son he indeed 
 saw again, but without the profits he had so wished 
 and hoped for from the long expensive journey. The 
 mother never came back ; and yet the journey had one 
 result that it ought to have had to be worth so many 
 sacrifices — Wolfgang's genius, as a man and an artist, 
 attained a higher degree of maturity. 
 
101 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 MUNICH ; A0GSBURa 1777. 
 
 ' Talent thrives in seclusion, 
 Character in the stream of the world.' 
 
 HiTHBKTO it was chiefly the cultivation and studies of 
 the artist which occupied Mozart, and, indeed, occupy 
 the youthful years of every man. The pressure of life 
 had not as yet been felt by him ; the faithful father, 
 far more than the son, had to encounter the diflSculties 
 that life prepares for all those who aspire to tread her 
 higher paths ; our young Maestro had not as yet come 
 much into contact with the envy of his professional 
 colleagues, and the intrigues of baser natures. His 
 thoughts were so exclusively occupied with his art that 
 he quickly forgot the annoyance of such occurrences ; 
 the more so as the shrewd father held open as far as he 
 could that path of artistic cultivation which the son 
 must tread in his future career. 
 
 Thus we see Mozart writing his works in cheerful- 
 ness of heart, and devoting any spare time to the 
 light-hearted enjoyments of his youth. Not till at 
 
102 APPBENTICESHir. 
 
 length adverse and straitened circumstances threatened 
 to injure his powers does he become somewhat depressed 
 and impatient. He frets like a young horse that feels 
 all his powers and vigour fully developed, and strives to 
 be allowed his freedom, to escape from the barriers that 
 control him, and to be able to show what he can do ; 
 and when he at last succeeds in surmounting the 
 barrier, he for the moment is only conscious of the joys 
 of liberty, and can think of nothing but the delights of 
 freedom. Mozart wrote, indeed, to the father he had 
 just quitted the very first evening, but the letter con- 
 tains only jokes and insigniiicant things that had 
 amused him on the journey. He has seen a cow 
 of two colours, and a portly gentleman in Salzburg 
 who ' promised to give a hundred thousand loves to my 
 papa, and to my sister, the raadcap. "We live like 
 princes ; we want nothing but you, dearest papa. "Well ! 
 this is the will of Grod, and no doubt all will go on 
 right. I am quite a second papa, and look after every- 
 thing. I settled from the first to pay the postilions, 
 for I can speak to such fellows better than mamma. 
 "We beg that papa will be careful of his health, not 
 go out too early, nor fret, and remember that " the 
 Mufti H. C." [Hieronymus Colloredo, the Archbishop] 
 ■is a mAiff, but Grod we know to be loving, merciful, 
 and compassionate.' 
 
 "Wolfgang was in a sprightly mood, for he loved 
 travelling. He has no presentiment that he has taken 
 
MUNICH — AUGSBUEa. 1 03 
 
 the first step in the career which is indeed to lead him 
 to much fame, to the highest gifts of life and human 
 felicity. Still it was a path beset with thorns, and 
 obstacles of every kind were to hamper him as long 
 as he lived. His unsuspicious heart saw nothing of 
 this ; for him life was all brightness, for he was quite 
 conscious of his superior power and talents, and thought 
 they must suffice to attain every worldly object; it 
 totally escaped him that prudence, watchfulness, and 
 calm reflection were also requisite ; thus he never suc- 
 ceeded in gaining the good things of this world to such 
 an extent as to render him free from care as to his 
 maintenance, so that he might devote himself wholly 
 to his artistic aims. But was this necessary ? We who 
 can follow the events of his life, know that be was en- 
 dowed, as few mortals have been, with the most precious 
 gifts of the heart and the intellect. We know that all 
 his straits and difficulties never prevented his be- 
 coming what he did become. In fact, although the 
 world may have treated him hardly, yet he not only 
 continued to live and breathe in a pure atmasphere, 
 but to thrive. An impartial survey of his whole career 
 shows us that it was a happy one ; his life was a brief 
 but continuous course of triumphs. 
 
 It is very touching to see him, in all the ingenuous^ 
 ness of early youth, which looks only to the highest 
 aims ; he presses forward on his way, full of life and 
 spirit, never doubting that he can conquer all things. 
 
104 ■ APtEENlCICESniP. 
 
 so that the whole world should one day be his portion. 
 His father, too, rejoices in the merry tone of his first 
 letter, and BuUinger laughed heartily when he read it. 
 But, with regard to the jests about the Archbishop, the 
 father writes, ' I beg, dear Wolfgang, that you will send 
 no more pleasantries about " the Mufti " ; remember 
 that I am still here, and such a letter might be lost, or 
 fall into the hands of others.' As for himself, he was 
 far from being in a jesting mood ; the pain of parting 
 still weighed heavily on him, and his eye anxiously 
 scanned the future. He writes : ' After you went I was 
 very sorrowful, and threw myself into an arm-chair. I 
 did all in my power to restrain my feelings when you 
 left me, not to make our farewell more painful, but in 
 my distress I forgot to give my son my parting blessing, 
 so I ran to the window and sent it after you mentally. 
 I did not see you drive out of the gate, so I knew you 
 were fairly gone, while I had been sitting too long 
 thinking of nothing,' Nannerl, too, wept ' most sur- 
 prisingly,' and would not be comforted; indeed, she 
 was c[uite ill, and did not recover till towards evening, 
 when she and her father played picquet to divert their 
 thoughts. 
 
 The travellers left Salzburg very early on Septem- 
 ber 23, 1777. Their first destination was Munich, 
 where the father, indeed, did not expect much profit 
 He knew how matters stood there, and remembered the 
 failure of his previous attempts in that city. Still. 
 
MUNICH — AUGSBUnG. 105 
 
 fresh efforts could do no harm. The hotel-keeper, 
 Albert, known as ' the learned landlord,' had been 
 friendly towards them on a former journey, so they 
 drove to his hotel. ' Though tired from travelling, we 
 did not go to bed till late ; however, we rose next 
 morning at seven o'clock. My hair was in such disorder 
 that I could not go to Count Seeau's till half-past ten 
 o'clock.' (Seeau was theatrical intendant, and Mozart 
 was already known to him by the 'Finta Griardiniera.') 
 ' I regret that mam^a should be suspicious of Count 
 Seeau,' writes Wolfgang, ' for he certainly is an agree- 
 able, polite gentleman, and more courteous than any of 
 his degree in Salzburg.' The courtesy, however, of the 
 worthy count did not go very far ; at least, the musi- 
 cians of that day had plenty of tales to tell of his 
 rudeness. The writers of the period sought to excuse 
 his deficiency in culture by the remark that when the 
 old gentleman was young schools were of little value. 
 As to his knowledge of music, an anecdote is still 
 current in the Munich orchestra, which gives a proof 
 of it. The horn-players in the orchestra wanted their 
 salaries to be raised, which, indeed, in the case of every 
 member, were suflBciently shabby. The intendant, 
 whose box at the theatre was just above where the 
 horn-players sat, was much enraged at their request. 
 He had long watched " the horns, and now addressed 
 them in his queer dialect thus : ' What ! you lazy 
 fellows ! I am to give you more pay, and half the time 
 
106 APPEENTICBSHIP. 
 
 there you sit, and never blow your horns at all ! ' So 
 no increase of salary did they get. 
 
 This all-potent intendant, however, received our 
 young Maestro in a friendly manner, for which he had 
 his own reasons. He already knew all the details as to 
 Mozart's leaving Salzburg, and advised him to beg at 
 once for an audience from the Elector; and when 
 Wolfgang rejoined that a good composer was much 
 Wanted in Mimich, he said, 'I know that well.' On 
 which Wolfgang went off to his patron, the Bishop of 
 Chiemsee, Prince Zeil, who was still in Munich on 
 account of diplomatic affairs. When he had heard all 
 particulars he promised to do his best, and to speak at 
 once to the Elector and the Electress. But a few days 
 afterwards the Bishop, with all due courtesy, said to 
 Mozart, ' I don't think we shall effect much here. 
 During dinner at Nymphenburg I spoke privately to 
 the Elector, who said : " It is too soon at this moment ; 
 he must leave this and go to Italy and become famous. 
 I do not actually reject him, but these are too early days 
 as yet." ' The Electress also, to whom the Bishop had 
 already spoken, shrugged her shoulders, but promised 
 to do all she could, though doubtful as to success. 
 
 In spite of this, Mozart was presented to the 
 Elector just as he was going out hunting. 
 
 When the Elector came up to me, I said 'Will your 
 Royal Highness permit me to pay my homage and to offer 
 yoiu- Royal Highness my services V 'So you have finally 
 
MUNICH ATTGSBUEG. 107 
 
 left Salzburg 1 ' 'I have left it for ever, your Royal Highness. 
 I only asked leave to make a journey, and being refused I 
 was obliged to take this step, although I have long intendexl 
 to leave Salzburg, which is no place for me, I feel sure.' 
 ' Good heavens ! you are quite a. young man. But your 
 father is still in Salzburg 1 ' ' Yes, your Royal Highness ; 
 he humbly lays his homage at your feet, &c., &c. I have 
 already been three times in Italy. I have written three 
 operas, and am a member of the Bologna Academy ; I un- 
 derwent a trial where several maestri toiled and laboured for 
 four or five hours, whereas I finished my work in one. 
 This is a sufficient testimony that I have abilities to serve 
 any court. My greatest wish is to be appointed by your 
 Royal Highness, who himself is such a great, &c., &c.' ' But, my 
 good yoimg friend, I regret that there is not a single vacancy. If 
 there were only a vacancy ! ' ' I can assure your Royal Highness 
 that I would do credit to Munich.' ' Yes, but what does that 
 avail when there is no vacancy 1 ' This he said as he was mov- 
 ing on ; so I bowed and took leave of his Royal Highness. 
 
 To this the father replied, ' I never was very sac- 
 guine about Munich ; the Elector is bound not to 
 engage anyone unless there be a vacancy, and, besides, 
 there are always secret enemies to oppose your success 
 through jealousy.' Thus the first cast of the spear only 
 rebounded. But it was not in Mozart's nature to be 
 cast down by frustrated hopes. His spirit was elastic, 
 so he began to form new plans. Count Seeau, who was 
 partly also entrepreneur of the theatre, his special 
 department being comedy and the German opera, saw 
 what an advantage it would be to him if he could 
 
108 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 secure such a fertile and complaisant composer as 
 Mozart for his own purposes. Hitherto all the texts of 
 operas had been translated from French and Italian, 
 so he asked the Bishop of Chiemsee, ' Do you know 
 whether Mozart has enough from his family to enable 
 him to remain here with a little assistance ; I should 
 like to keep him ; ' on which the Bishop referred him 
 to Mozart himself, as he could not say positively as to 
 this, but he had his doubts. Seeau, however, did not 
 apply to him at once. The wary count preferred 
 having a proposal made to him, so that he might engage 
 Mozart on the easiest possible terms. For self-interest 
 was one of the mainsprings of his actions. Mozart 
 saw through this, and was cautious. "We can quite 
 imagine that he was all fire and flame at the thoughts 
 of composing an opera. In this frame of mind he 
 attended the German opera at Munich, and the en- 
 thusiastic description he gives is no doubt owing to the 
 attractions of the prima donna. He writes — 
 
 The name of the first singer here is Keiserin ; her father 
 is cook to a count here ! she is a very pleasing girl, and pretty 
 on the stage ; I have not yet seen her near. She is a native 
 of this place. When I heard her it was only her third appear- 
 ance on the stage. She has a fine voice, not powerful, though 
 by no means weak, very pure, and a good intonation. Her 
 instructor is Yalesi ; and her style of singing shows that her 
 master knows how to sing as well as how to teach. When she 
 sustains a note for a couple of bars, I am quite surprised at 
 
MUNICH — ADGSBtlRG. 109 
 
 the beauty of her crescendo and decrescendo. She is a great 
 favourite with the people here, and with me. 
 
 Mamma was in the pit ; she went as early as half-past 
 four o'clock to get a place. I, however, did not go till 
 half-past six o'clock, for I can go to any box I please, being 
 pretty well known. I was in the Brancas' box ; I looked at 
 Keiserin with my opera-glass, and at times she drew tears 
 from my eyes. I often called out irava, bravissima, for I 
 always remembered that it was only her third appearance. 
 The piece was ' Das Fischer madchen,' a very good trans- 
 lation of Piccini's opera, with his music. As yet they have 
 no original pieces, biit are now anxious soon to give a Ger- 
 man opera seria, and a strong wish prevails that I should 
 compose it. 
 
 We see here how easily Wolfgang's young heart 
 was stirred by every passing emotion. His tears were 
 caused not so much by the fair singer, who served only 
 as a pretext ; they were, in reality, an ease to bis heart, 
 touched by the glad sense of liberty, the novel impres- 
 sions of the journey, and the hope of composing an 
 opera. He writes: 'I am in the happiest mood. I 
 feel so light-hearted since I no longer have such worries 
 to contend with.' To this was added the delights of 
 the opera, of which he had been so long deprived. 
 Some months afterwards he writes — 
 
 As for your reproach about the little singer in Munich, 
 I must confess that I was an ass to write such a complete 
 falsehood. She does not as yet know even what singing 
 means. It was true that, for a person who had only learned 
 music for three months, she sang sui-prisingly ; add, besides, 
 
110 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 she has a pleasing pure voice. The reason why I praised 
 her so much was probably my hearing people say, ft'om 
 morning to night, ' There is no better singer in all Europe ; 
 those who have not heard her have heard nothing.' I did 
 not venture to disagree with them, partly because I wished 
 to acquire friends, and partly because I had come direct from 
 Salzburg, where we are not in the habit of contradicting any- 
 one ; but as soon as I was alone I never could help laughing. 
 Why, then, did I not laugh at her in my letter to you? 
 I really cannot tell. 
 
 Wolfgang no longer remembered the mood that in- 
 fluenced him at that time. What a weight must have 
 crushed his soul during the last days in Salzburg, that 
 merely hearing a prima donna should have made him 
 so enthusiastic ! But she was pretty, which was very 
 attractive to a Mozart, always peculiarly susceptible to 
 female charms, and thus his usually quick perceptions 
 were blunted in judging of her musical powers. In his 
 later letters a particular circumstance caused him to 
 retract his former opinion decidedly, which no doubt 
 was, after all, not far wrong. He had now become 
 acquainted with Aloysia Weber, whose gifts were very 
 superior ; she was not only his pupil, but also his wor- 
 shipped idol, whose praises were eloquently set forth in 
 his letters to his father. Still, most of all, he prized her 
 talents, wishing to make a tour with her and her father, 
 to give concerts, and he was anxious to obtain his 
 father's consent to this project, who, however, reminded 
 him of his high eulogy on Madlle. Keiserin, to show 
 
MUNICH — AUaSBL'RG. 11] 
 
 him how fancy and feeling could warp his judgment. 
 Wolfgang defends himself, and, what is very unusual 
 with him, in both cases he exaggerates. He was very 
 yielding by nature, and as Aloysia's parents urged him 
 to every possible exertion, he, wishing to satisfy his 
 father's constant exhortations to become practical, bad 
 only praised Madlle. Keiserin 'to win good friends.' 
 "We shall see that, at all events, he was not mistaken in 
 his praise of Aloysia Weber. His gentle complaisance, 
 however great in trifling things, never induced him to 
 forego his convictions when matters were at stake 
 which affected character or inner life. 
 
 His suddenly kindled enthusiasm for the German 
 opera was kept alive by those who wished to profit by 
 his talents. A certain Professor Huber was especially 
 anxious to see the young composer engaged for the 
 theatre. He was vice-intendant, and, as Mozart writes, 
 it was his province 'to read through, to improve or to 
 spoil, or to correct, curtail, or reject those comedies that 
 were to be performed.' The directors accepted every 
 work sent to them, and considered themselves bound, at 
 least, to rehearse all Munich productions. A chronicler 
 of that day writes, ' As almost every student or official 
 here is attacked by the malady of authorship, the 
 directors are overwhelmed with rubbish.' Baron Rum- 
 ling paid Mozart the following compliment in speak- 
 ing of him : — ' Plays are my delight, with good actors 
 and, actresses, good singers, and, above all, such an 
 
112 APP nENTICESHIP. 
 
 admirable composer as Mozart.' To which Wolfgang 
 replies, ' That is all talk— to talk is so easy— but he 
 never said as much to myself.' He played at Count 
 Salem's, and writes to his father as follows : — 
 
 On the three days that I was at Count Salern's I played 
 a great many things extempore — two Cassations [diverti- 
 mentos] for the Countess, and the finale and Eondo, 
 and the latter by heart. You cannot imagine the dehght 
 this causes Count Salem. He understands music, for he 
 was constantly saying Bravo ! while other gentlemen were 
 taking snxiff, humming and hawing, and clearing their throats 
 or holding forth. I said to him, ' How I do wish the 
 Elector were only here, that he might hear me play ! He 
 knows nothing of me — he does -not know what I can do. 
 How. sad it is that these great gentlemen shoidd beUeve what 
 anyone tells them and do not choose to judge for themselves ! 
 But it is always so. Let him put me to the test. He may 
 assemble all the composers in Munich, and also send in quest 
 of some from Italy and France, Germany, and England and 
 Spain, and I will undertake to write against them aU.' I 
 related to him all that had occurred to me in Italy, and 
 begged him, if the conversation turned on me, to bring in 
 these things. He said, ' I have very little influence, but the 
 little that is in my power I will do with pleasure.' 
 
 On another occasion, when playing exclusively to 
 musicians, he writes — 
 
 As a finale, I played my last divertimento in B ; they all 
 pricked up their ears. I played as if I had been the greatest 
 violin-player in all Europe. 
 
 To which his father answers, ' You don't yourself; 
 
MUNICH — AUGSBURG. 113 
 
 know how well you play the violin, but you must prac- 
 tise, and be careful to play correctly, and with feeling, 
 just as if you really were the first violin-player in 
 Europe.' Wolfgang took every pains to gain friends, 
 and he had many, and yet Herr Albert, who took great 
 interest in Mozart, could not succeed in bringing 
 together ten friends, each of whom was to contribute a 
 ducat monthly. This sum would have amounted to 
 600 florins, and Wolfgang thought it would be easy to 
 get so many commissions from Count Seeau, that he 
 might confidently reckon on an income of 800 florins. 
 The mother also was much captivated by this proposal. 
 But the shrewd father had strong doubts of its success, 
 and he was right. The ten friends were not to be 
 found. 
 
 Mozart, however, thought that even without their 
 aid he could pull through. A letter to his father 
 shows the self-confidence of the artist, but at the same 
 time his utter want of knowledge of the world. He 
 writes — 
 
 It would not be impossible for me to contrive to live, 
 were I alone here, for I should get at least 300 florins from 
 Count Seeau. My board would cost little, for I should be often 
 invited out, and even were it not so, Albert would always be 
 charmed to see me at dinner in his house. I eat little, driuk 
 water, and for dessert take only a little fruit and a small 
 glass of wiue. Subject to the advice of my kind friends, I 
 would make the following contract with Coimt Seeau : — I 
 would engage to produce every year four German operas, 
 
 VOL. I. I 
 
114 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 partly huffe and partly serie ; from each of these I should 
 claim the profits of one performance, for such is the custom 
 here. This alone would bring me in 500 florins, which along 
 with my salary would make up 800 florins, but in all pro- 
 bability more ; for Eeiner, an actor and singer, cleared 200 
 florins by his benefit, and I am very much beloved here, and 
 how much more so should I be if I contributed to the eleva- 
 tion of the national theatre of Gennany in music ! And this, 
 would certainly be the case with me, for I was inspired with 
 the most eager desire to wi-ite when I heard the Grerman 
 operettas. 
 
 What lofty demands he makes on his abilities, and 
 yet how slight on the world, from which he expects his 
 reward I But Count Seeau does not care to risk even 
 300 gulden. The father answers, ' It is true that you 
 might continue to live in Munich, but what honour 
 would you gain by that ? How the Archbishop would 
 sneer ! You might gain your living in any town, but 
 not in Munich. You must not hold yourself so cheap, 
 and thus throw yourself away. There is no occasion 
 that you should do so.' Nannerl, too, writes, ' It would 
 not be to your credit to remain in Munich without an 
 engagement ;^ as you have failed there, why not seek one 
 in the house of some great noble ? — you are sure to find 
 one.' The father now urged him to leave Munich as 
 soon as possible, for even during his absence, hia 
 friends could be active in his behalf; so Wolfgang took 
 leave of Count Seeau, saying — 
 
 ' I have only come, your Excellency,, to explain my case 
 
MUNICH — AUOSBUUG. 115 
 
 clearly. I Lave been told that I ought to go to Italy, which 
 is casting a reproach on me. I was sixteen months in Italy, 
 I have written three operas, and all this is notorious enough. 
 What further occurred your Excellency will see from these 
 papers.' And after showing him the diplomata, I added, ' I 
 only show these, and say this to your Excellency that, in the 
 event of my being spoken of, and any injustice done me, your 
 Excellency may with good grounds take my part.' He asked 
 me if I was now goLog to France. I said I intended to remain 
 in Germany ; by this, however, he supposed I meant Munich, 
 and said, with a meriy laugh, ' So you are to stay here 
 after all? ' I replied, ' No ! to tell you the truth, I should 
 like to have stayed, if the Elector had favoured me with a 
 small sum, so that I might then have offered my composi- 
 tions to your Excellency devoid of all interested motives. 
 It would have been a pleasure to me to do this.' At these 
 words he half Hfted his skull-cap. 
 
 This lifting his cap was, however, the sole honour 
 Wolfgang received ; but Seeau did not forget the cour- 
 teous young composer, for a few years later we shall 
 find Mozart once more in contact with him. Before 
 starting on his journey, however, one pleasant prospect 
 opened on him. A friend, whom he had known in Italy, 
 Misliweczeck, had been engaged to compose an opera 
 for the next Neapolitan carnival, and promised Wolfgang 
 to procure a similar commission for him. The young' 
 Maestro, whose ' inexpressible longing to compose an 
 opera ' we already know, was enchanted by this oflFer, and 
 writes with much excitement to his father, closing his 
 letter with his usual commendable modesty. 
 
 I 2 
 
116 APrEENIICESHIP. 
 
 This is mere talk, but still I say what is in my heart. If 
 papa gives me any good grouiids to show that I am wrong, 
 then I will give it up, though, I own, reluctantly. Even 
 when I hear an opera discussed, or am in a theatre myself 
 and hear voices, oh ! I reaUy am beside myself ! 
 
 The father was not opposed to this project, and 
 entered into correspondence with Misliweczeck on the 
 subject, but it came to nothing after all. The father 
 writes, ' Misliweczeck writes that he soon expects the 
 libretto for you from Naples. I consider this a mere 
 subterfuge, for he only says so when he wants my help.' 
 
 Id Munich little or nothing had been done. ' Fine 
 word?, praise, and bravissimos,' writes the father, 
 ' neither pay postmasters nor landlords ; so as soon as 
 you find that nothing is to be earned, you must at 
 once proceed elsewhere. The travellers left Munich on 
 October 11, and arrived the same evening in Augsburg, 
 where Leopold Mozart's brother resided — a bookbinder 
 by. trade. In the present day we see in the Ludwig- 
 strasse a large sign, ' Mozart^Friseur,' Mozart's frolic at 
 a Salzburg masquerade being thus realised. Mother 
 and son met with a cordial reception from this family. 
 Wolfgang was on the most friendly terms with the 
 merry Marianne, his uncle's daughter, a girl of nine- 
 teen. His heart was, perhaps, a little touched by her, 
 but it chiefly afforded him an opportunity to give free 
 course to his humorous sprightly moods in talking to 
 her, which we also find in his letters from Augsburg. 
 
MUNICH — AUGSBURG. 117 
 
 The first visit enjoined by his father to the burgo- 
 master, Herr von Langenmantl, by no means pleased 
 him. 
 
 My fii-st visit was to tke Stadtpfleger Longo TabaiTO 
 [Burgomaster Langenmantl]. My cousin, a good, kind, 
 honest man and -worthy citizen, went with me, and had the 
 honour to wait in the hall like a footman till niy interview 
 with the high and mighty Stadtpfleger was over. I did not 
 faU first of all to present papa's respectful compliments. He 
 deigned graciously to remember you, and said, ' And pray 
 how have things gone with liim t ' ' Vastly well, God be 
 praised ! ' I instantly rejoined, ' and I hope things have also 
 gone well with you 1 ' He then became more civil, and 
 addressed me iu the third person, so I called him ' Sir ' ; 
 though, indeed, I had done so from the first. He gave me 
 no peace till I went up with him to see his son-ia-Iaw (on 
 the second floor), my cousin, meanwhile, having the pleasiu-e 
 of waiting in the staircase hall. I was obliged to control 
 myself with all my might, or I must have given some polite 
 hint about this. On going upstau's I had the satisfaction of 
 playing for nearly three-quarters of an hour on a good 
 clavichord of Stein's, in the presence of the stuck-up young 
 son, and his prim condescending wife, and the simple old lady. 
 I first extemporised, and then played all the music he had, 
 prima vista, and among others some very pretty pieces of 
 Edlmann's. Nothing could be more polite than they all 
 were, and I was equally so, for my rule is to behave to 
 people just as they behave to me ; I find this to be the best 
 plan. 
 
 This singular mixture of self-respect and unassum- 
 ing courtesy towards persons of high degree, forms a 
 
118 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 striking contrast to Beethoven's moods and ideas. 
 Brought up in French revolutionary principles, he car- 
 ried into society not only the feeling of respect due to 
 an artist and a composer, but insisted on being always 
 placed on a footing of equality with others ; so h-e 
 behaved towards princes and archdukes as if he were 
 their equal. Haydn, the man of the olden time, on 
 this account gave Beethoven the name of the ' Great 
 Mogul.' Still it was he who first secured the artist 
 his just rights in society, thus gradually elevating the 
 whole position both of musicians and artists, who in 
 the previous century had been rather looked down upon. 
 Both the Mozarts felt the impropriety and absurdity 
 of too great pride of rank, but the only weapons they 
 used in self-defence were courtesy and complaisance, 
 though they had their little revenge afterwards hy 
 mockery. 'Every time I thought of your journey to 
 Salzburg,' writes the father, ' the words of Wieland's 
 Abderiten recurred to my mind — we ought to have au 
 opportunity to see in naturo what we hold to be purely 
 ideal, when reading of it.' Then he instructs his son as 
 to the high dignity of a burgomaster, and the respect 
 in which this mock king is held by the burghers. 
 
 Wolfgang then went to the famed pianoforte-maker, 
 Stein, but under a feigned name, according to his 
 father's wish, on the pretext that he came from Inn- 
 spruck, and was commissioned to look at his instru- 
 ments. Stein had not seen Mozart since he was seven 
 
MUNICH — ATJGSBUKG. 119 
 
 years old, and such a joke was quite after his own 
 heart. He had already told the burgomaster that after 
 dinner he was going to Stein's. 
 
 I said that I meant to go to Stein's after dinner, so the 
 young man offered to take me there himself. I thanked him 
 for his kindness, and promised to return at two o'clock. I 
 did so, and we went together ia company with his brother-in- 
 law, who looks a genuine student. Although I had begged 
 that my name should not be mentioned, Herr von Langen- 
 mantl was so incautious as to say, with a simper, to Herr 
 Stein, ' I have the honour to present to you a virtuoso on the 
 piano.' I instantly protested against this, saying that I was 
 only an indifferent pupU of Herr Sigl in Munich, who had 
 charged me with a thousand compUments to him. Stein 
 shook his head dubiously, and at length said, ' Surely I have 
 the honour of seeing M. Mozart 1 ' ' Oh, no,' said I ; ' my 
 name is Trazom, and I have a letter for you.' He took the 
 letter and was about to break the seal instantly, but I gave 
 him no time for that, saying, ' What is the use of reading the 
 letter just now t Pray open the door of your saloon at once, 
 for I am so very anxious to see your pianofortes.' ' With all 
 my heart,' said he, 'just as you please ; but for all that I 
 believe I am not mistaken.' He opened the doors and I ran 
 straight up to one of the three pianos that stood in the room. 
 I began to play, and he scarcely gave himself time to glance 
 at the letter, so anxious was he to ascertain the truth ; so 
 he oidy read the signature. ' Oh ! ' cried he, embracing me, 
 and crossing himself, and making all sorts of grimaces from 
 intense delight. 
 
 Mozart then praised his pianos, and by his intelli- 
 gent remarks and his playing, knowing how to show off 
 
1 20 APPEKSTICESHIP. 
 
 to the bept advantage the merits of these instruments, 
 he at once gained Steins approbation, who also consulted 
 liim about his daughter. She was then eight years of age, 
 and afterwards well known as Nanette Streicher, the 
 wife of Schiller's great friend. This lady enjoyed 
 universal esteem to the day of her death, not only as 
 a distinguished pianiste, but from her cultivation and 
 kindness of heart. In addition to this she was a good 
 mother, and an admirable manager at home. It was she 
 who, when the great Beethoven, being entirely absorbed 
 in the ideal, came to a low ebb in domestic matters, 
 never failed with faithful devotion to rearrange his 
 household, and always remained his attached friend. 
 
 A prof OS, as to his little girl, anyone who can see and 
 Lear her play without laughing must he Stein [stone] Hke 
 her father. She perches herself exactly opposite the treble, 
 avoiding the centre, that she may have more room to tlirow 
 herself ji,bout and make grimaces. She rolls her eyes and 
 smirks ; when a passage comes twice she always plays it 
 slower the second time, and if three times slower still. She 
 raises her arms in playing a passage, and if it is to be played 
 with emphasis she seems to give it with her elbows and not 
 her fingers, as awkwardly and heavily as possible. The 
 finest thing is, that if a scale occurs (which ought to flow 
 Hke oil) where the fingers must necessarily be changed, she 
 does not pay much heed to that, but lifts her hands, and 
 quite coolly goes on again. This, moreover, puts her in a 
 fair way to get hold of a wrong note, which often produces 
 a curious effect. I only write this in order to give you some 
 
MUNICH — AUG.-BUKG. 121 
 
 idea of pianoforte-playing and teaching here, so that you may 
 in turn derive some benefit from it. 
 
 His own playing as usual excited the highest admi- 
 ration. The approval of the connoisseurs was equally 
 gained by his powers on the pianoforte, as well as on 
 the organ and violin. At first he had no public concert. 
 ' The patricii were not in funds;' indeed, they presumed 
 to banter Mozart about his cross, which he wore by his 
 father's desire, in Augsburg, as there was no reigning 
 prince there, so having received the order from the great 
 and renowned Pope Granganelli, Clemens XIV., the 
 father thought it would win respect for him. One officer 
 in particular was so offensive and impertinent that 
 Wolfgang lost all patience, and pulled him up very 
 sharply. Indignant at such treatment, he refused to 
 play in the concert of the Patrizii, thougli he had 
 promised to do so. Stein, however, now stirred up the 
 Lutheran patricii (the others were Eoman Catholics), 
 who showed him so much politeness that in the 
 Banern Stube academy, where some of his composi- 
 tions were given, he played a concerto and a sonata — 
 for which, besides many compliments, he received — two 
 ducats. The father writes, ' This is always the case with 
 ■ them ; they would not have succeeded so easily in 
 getting me to their beggarly concert.' Wolfgang's only 
 revenge was to send home a very witty sketch of the 
 members of the academy in a letter to his father dated 
 October 17, 1777. 
 
122 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 Meanwhile, his friends succeeded in arranging a 
 public concert for him, where the admiration much 
 exceeded the receipts, and Wolfgang writes — 
 
 I may with truth say that, were it not for my kiiwj 
 cousins, my regrets would be as numberless as the hairs on 
 my head for ever having come to Augsburg. I must write 
 you some account of my fair cousin, but you must excuse my 
 deferring this till to-morrow, for one ought to be quite fresh 
 to praise her as highly as she deserves. 
 
 The 17th. — I now write early in the morning to say that 
 my cousin is pretty, intelligent, lovable, clever, and gay, 
 probably because she has lived so much in society ; she was 
 also some time at Mimich. We do, indeed, exactly suit each 
 other, for she too is rather inclined to be satirical, so we 
 banter our friends most merrily together. 
 
 A certain Father Emilian, a conceited jackass and a 
 sorry witling, was very sweet on my cousin, and wished to 
 have his jest with her, but she made a jest of him. At last, 
 when rather tipsy (which soon occurred), he began to talk 
 about music, and sang a canon, saying, ' I never in my hfe 
 heard anything finer.' I said, ' I regret that I can't sing it 
 with you, for nature has not given me the power of song.' 
 ' No matter,' said he. So he began. I made the thu-d, but 
 I sang different words — thus : ' Pater EmiUan, oh ! thou 
 numskull' — sotto voce to my cousin; then we laughed on 
 for at least half an hour. 
 
 This was the way the cousins made merry together ; 
 he gave her his portrait, and she was sketched for him 
 in a French costume, ' which made her look ten per cent, 
 better.' He is in a red coat, and powdered hair, which 
 
MUNICH — AUGSBURG. 123 
 
 gives a droll antique air to the young face, while the 
 shrewd eyes have a lively and candid expression — 
 whereas the Basle's figure is rather substantial ; her face 
 looks good-natured and merry, though not exactly 
 pretty, but it leaves a pleasant impression. In accord- 
 ance with the burgher fashion of that day she wears an 
 embroidered mob cap which is very becoming to lier. 
 She has no curls, and wears a little black lace hand- 
 kerchief on her shoulders. The portraits of these two 
 are quite characteristic of each. With him nobility of 
 intellect is clearly manifest through the disadvantage 
 of an insignificant appearance, and illuminates his 
 delicate features. The Basle had no conception of this, 
 and thought Mozart's zeal for the piano very comical. 
 Her simple genuine burgher ways and fresh youth 
 incited the Maestro to all sorts of loving frolics, but 
 never afifected his inner self. 
 
 A propos, mamma and I earnestly beg you, dear papa, to 
 send our charming cousin a souvenir ; we both regretted so 
 much having nothing with us, but we promised to write to 
 you to send her something. We wish two things to be seut 
 — a double neckerchief in mamma's name, like the one she 
 wears, and in mine some ornament ; a box, or etui, or any- 
 thing you like, only it must be pretty, for she deserves it. 
 
 A number of presents received by Wolfgang during 
 his former travels were still in the father's hands. 
 
 The farewell was of course very sorrowful, so that 
 Stein mentions it in a letter to Mozart's father, who at 
 
1 24 APPRENTlCESHir, 
 
 the next crossbow meeting, caused to be painted on 
 the target, 'The sad parting between Wolfgang and the 
 Basle, both dissolved in tears.' The target was most 
 amusing : an Augsburg girl stood on the right hand 
 presenting a huge nosegay to a young man in boots 
 and travelling attire ; in the other hand she grasped a 
 long white sheet that trailed on the ground, with which 
 she was drying her weeping eyes. The youth had a 
 similar sheet which he was also applying to his eyes, 
 and held his hat in the other hand. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival in Mannheim, he wrote the 
 following droll letter in which certainly no wit is to be 
 found, but we see the pleasure in sound and rhythm, 
 which always gratified his delicate ear rather than his 
 mind. Children and the mob act alike. The original 
 impulses of power create the beautiful. How the ear 
 of this fertile artist seems to rejoice in the mere sound 
 of the echoing words, totally devoid of meaning as they 
 are ! Wolfgang writes — 
 
 Mannheim, Oct. 5, 1777. 
 My dear Coz — Buzz, — I have safely received yoiu- precious 
 epistle — thistle, and from it I perceive — achieve, that my 
 aunt — gaunt, and you — shoe, are quite well — bell. I have 
 to-day a letter — setter, from my papa — ah-ha, safe in my 
 hands — sands. I hope you also got — trot, my Mannheim 
 letter— setter. Now for a little sense — pence. The prelate's 
 seizure — leisure, grieves me much — touch, but he will, I hope, 
 get well — sell. You write — blight, you wUl keep — cheap, 
 your promise to write to me— he he, to Augsburg soon— 
 
MUNICH — AUGSBUEG. 125 
 
 spoon. Well, I shall be very glad — mad. You further 
 write, indeed you declare, you pretend, you hint, you vow, 
 you explain, you distinctly say, you long, you wish, you 
 desire, you choose, command, and point out, you let me know 
 and inform me that I must send you my portrait soon — 
 moon. Eh, Men! you shall have it before long — song. 
 Now I wish you good-night — tight. 
 
 I can now write no more — which makes my heart sore. 
 To all my kind friends much love — dove. Addio ! Your 
 old young, till death — breath, 
 
 Wolfgang Amad^ Rosenceanz. 
 
 Miennham, eht ht5 rebotoc, 7771. 
 
 And so he goes on and on till one's eyes and ears 
 are utterly perplexed, and no doubt the Basle herself 
 must have been somewhat annoyed. Jests alone, and 
 those very poor ones, and no tender expressions, which 
 no doubt the girl, who was very fond of her merry 
 cousin, would infinitely have preferred ; he closes his 
 letter thus : — 
 
 How do I like Mannheim ? As well as I can any place 
 where my cousin is not. I hope, on the other hand, that 
 you have at all events received my two letters — one from 
 Hohenaltheim, and one from Mannheim — this, such as it is, 
 being the third from hence, but making the fourth in all. 
 
 This is written on November 14, only three weeks 
 after their parting, and then follow a few nonsensical 
 phrases, which, however, testify to his merry mood : — 
 
 Love me as I love you, and then we shall never cease 
 loving each other. 
 
126 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 We shall presently see how the affair collapsed, to 
 the vexation of the Basle. 
 
 Meanwhile, the mother and son left Augsburg, and 
 after a short visit to Prince Wallenstein at Hohen- 
 altheim, arrived at Mannheim on October 30, 1777. 
 How many important events were to occur there to 
 Mozart 1 
 
127 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ALOYSIA WEBER 1777-78. 
 
 ' First love's golden days.' 
 
 The day after Mozart's arrival at Mannheim he wrote 
 to his father — 
 
 I went to-day with Herr Banner to M. Cannabich's 
 [Director of the Elector's orchestra]. He was uncommonly 
 polite, and I played something for him on his piano, which 
 is a very good one. We went together to the rehearsal. I 
 could scarcely help laughing when I was presented to the 
 musicians, because though some who knew me by renomm,e 
 were very civil and courteous, the rest, who knew nothing 
 whatever about me, stared in such a ludicrous way, evidently 
 thinking that becaiise I am Httle and young nothing great or 
 mature is to be found in me ; but they shall soon find it 
 out. 
 
 Wolfgang was peculiarly tenacious on this point. 
 His appearance was insignificant, and his genius only 
 visible when he played or conducted an orchestra — but 
 even then his animation appeared very droll to the 
 Basle. He was now one-and-twenty, and the mother 
 writes that his beai-d was growing so much that it must 
 
128 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 be removed. To which the father jocosely replies, 'J. 
 propos, is the beard to be cut off, burnt off, or shaved ? ' 
 The answer is amusingly %ai/: — 'No barber has yet 
 shaved Wolfgang; his beard has been cut with scissors; 
 this will no longer suffice, so we must have recourse to 
 a barber.' The mother also writes, ' You cannot imagine 
 how much Wolfgang is appreciated here, not only for 
 his music, but for other things. Everyone says that he 
 has no equal, and they perfectly idolise his composi- 
 tions.' 
 
 The music director Cannabich was beyond all 
 others his warmest admirer. He had known Wolfgang 
 when a boy, and now welcomed him to his house in the 
 most hospitable manner. The musicians of the Elec- 
 toral orchestra were considered good worthy people. 
 They were well paid, and their prince, the accom- 
 plished Karl Theodor, had done much for music, while 
 his cheerful disposition and courteous manners im- 
 parted to his subordinates a certain degree of geniality 
 and amiability. The homes and the hearts of these? 
 people were always open to every man of talent and 
 good-breeding. Mozart found this to be the case, as 
 others had done before him. Even in this circle, 
 however, something of the frivolity of the Elector's 
 Court had grown up, and it seems not quite passed 
 away even now. We are told by a contemporary 
 writer that the bad example of the nobility had pene- 
 trated even into burgher families, but he justly addSj' 
 
ALOTSIA WEBEE. 129 
 
 ' The ladies in this city are very handsome, polite, and 
 charming.' 
 
 Mozart was well aware of this evil. In writing 
 about a worthy German who brings up his children 
 well, he says, ' And this is why the girl is persecuted 
 here ' ; but such matters did not affect him much. It had 
 been very nearly the same at Salzburg, and this homage 
 to the fair sex only had the effect of making him easy 
 and natural in their society. He neither saw nor heard 
 anything of their follies, because his soul was wholly 
 absorbed in his art, and this so glorified his life, that 
 he only saw what was delightful and attractive in 
 woman ; but these good qualities he did see, and fully 
 appreciated and loved. 
 
 At Cannabich's house, where Mozart constantly 
 dined, and often supped with him and his daughter, 
 they were merry enough, as the following letter shews : — 
 
 I, Johannes, Ohrysostomus, Amadeus, "Wolfgangus, 
 Sigismundus, Mozart, plead guilty to having both yesterday 
 and the day before (and very often besides) stayed away from 
 home till twelve o'clock at night, from ten o'clock till the 
 aforesaid hour, I beiag ia the presence and company of M. 
 Gannabich, his wife and daughter, the Herrn Schatzmeister, 
 Eamm, and Lang, making doggerel rhymes with the utmost 
 facility in thought and word, but not in deed. I should not, 
 however, have conducted myself in so reckless a manner if 
 our ringleader, namely, the so-called Lisel (Elisabeth Ganna- 
 bich), had not inveigled and instigated me to mischief, and I 
 am bound to admit that I took great pleasure in it myself. 
 
 TOIi. I. K 
 
130 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 I confess all these my sins and shortcomings from the depths 
 of my heart, and in the hope of often having similar ones to 
 confess, I firmly resolve to ^.mend my present sinful life. 
 
 And so he goes on with his jokes. 
 
 The magnet, however, that attracted the young 
 Maestro into this house was Kosa — a girl of thirteen, 
 ' a very pretty sweet girl.' The painter Kobell writes 
 of her : — ' How many sweet precious moments did heaven 
 grant me in the charming society of the lovely Eose 
 Cannabich ! Her memory is cherished as an Eden in 
 my heart ! ' 
 
 Wolfgang says of her : — 
 
 She has so much genius, reads very tolerably, has great 
 natural aptitude, and plays with great feeling, 
 
 She played to him the very day after his arrival. 
 
 I began to teach my sonata to Madlle. Eose three days 
 ago, and she has learned the allegro. The andante will give 
 us most trouble, for it is full of expression, and must be 
 played with accuracy and taste, and the fortes and picmos 
 given just as they are marked. She is very clever, and 
 learns with facility. 
 
 He also writes, December 6, 1777 : — 
 
 Young Danner asked me how I intended to compose the 
 a/ndante. ' Entirely in accordance with Madlle. Rose's cha- 
 racter,' said I. "When I played it, it seemed to please much. 
 Danner mentioned afterwards what I had said. And it is 
 really so ; she is just what the andante is. 
 
 Which cwidawf e may that be ? I think that in the 
 
ALOYSIA -WEBEB. 131 
 
 sonata in B flat (Andre, No. 10). It is entitled 
 ' Amoroso,' an addition rarely made by Mozart. This 
 also corresponds with the composer's own remark : — 
 
 I send my sister the allegro and the cmdcmte of the sonata 
 I wrote for Madlle. Cannabich. The Rondo will follow 
 shortly. 
 
 This cmdante possesses a great charm of deep feeling, 
 and the kind of feeling, too, that Mozart was likely to 
 have on this occasion. Tender questions, and timid 
 answers, and all the charming playfulness of a young 
 girl's heart, who, though not devoid of a sweet presen- 
 timent of the joys of life, yet, with the sensitiveness of 
 youth, is half ashamed of her sensations, as if she felt 
 they were criminal. We must then figure to ourselves 
 the ardent young Maestro glowing with that excitement 
 with which his heart was always overflowing. If 
 Pygmalion could animate marble, how much more 
 could genius and a flery soul kindle a flame in the 
 heart of a young girl, in whom deeper feelings were 
 already imaged forth. Be this as it may, we have no 
 proof that it was actually love that inspired this 
 sonata ; but, at all events, it is certain that in this 
 manner these two young creatures became very inti- 
 mate. Shortly after Wolfgang writes :-^ 
 
 She caused me most indescribable pleasure yesterday, by 
 playing my sonata in the most admirable manner. The 
 andante (which must not be played quick) she executed with 
 the greatest possible feeling ; and she likes to play it. 
 
 X 2 
 
132 APPHENTICESHIP. 
 
 This was followed by regular instruction. Wolfgang 
 went daily to the honse, and, glowing with pure love 
 for the Beautiful, these two youthful spirits advanced 
 to greater maturity both in art and in life. 
 
 It was, however, only for a very brief period that 
 their hearts beat for each other. Such little fancies 
 were by no means rare in gay Mannheim, and served as 
 good training for the artist. Cannabich also took him 
 to the house of Wendling, a flute-player. Wol%ang 
 writes that his daughter, who was formerly the favourite 
 of the Elector, played charmingly on the piano. 
 
 I cannot describe to yoil the happy mood I was in. I 
 played extempore, and then three duetts with, the violin, 
 which I had never in my life seen, nor do I now know the 
 name of the author. They were aU so delighted that I — 
 was desired to embrace the ladies. No hard task with the 
 daughter, for she is very pretty. 
 
 Wieland, too, whom we shall meet with later, writes 
 of her, that she was like a Eaphael Madonna, or a Carlo 
 Dolce — that on first seeing her it seemed scarcely 
 possible to resist addressing her with a ' Salve Eegina.' 
 Heinse called her his centifoglia Rose — so Wolfgang, 
 it seems, had good taste. 
 
 But what did he at that time understand about the 
 intoxicating spell such a personality can exercise over 
 men ! ' She is very pretty,' is aU he has to say of a 
 girl who had enraptured two poets into expressions of 
 ecstasy. He was, indeed, one day to learn the strength 
 
ALOTSIA WEBEK. 133 
 
 of this spell to its fullest extent, and to transfer it, as 
 no one else has ever done, into artistic images. But even 
 then we find none of the sensuality that pervades the 
 forms in Wieland's poetry; Mozart's thoughts were 
 ever gay, pleasing, and ingenuous. 
 
 The moment was now come when the full bright- 
 ness of day, preceded by so much twilight, was suddenly 
 to dawn on him in all its glory. That passion which 
 so often decides the weal or woe of our lives, was now 
 to take possession of our young genius. It came about 
 thus. 
 
 At the beginning of 1775 Mozart made the 
 acquaintance of the theatre-copyist Weber, wishing to 
 have some of his works copied. This man was an 
 uncle of the Weber who afterwards wrote the 'Frei- 
 schiitz.' The straitened circumstances in which he and 
 his family lived roused Wolfgang's inborn kindliness. 
 He strove the more eagerly to assist them, as he foimd 
 that the second daughter, Aloysia, a girl of fifteen, had 
 a glorious voice. He resolved to give her lessons, and, 
 as it often happens, and frequently in the case of 
 Mozart himself, out of artistic interest soon arose an 
 inclination of the heart which imparted life to the 
 affair. Indeed it was inevitable that the blooming 
 beauty of this girl should day by day make a deeper 
 impression on Wolfgang, and ere long the connection 
 between master and pupil became so confidential and 
 impassioned, that it may be called true love — and it 
 
134 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 was this first true love on both sides that fascinated 
 these young creatures. The poet says, ' My heart and 
 thy voice comprehend each other but too well.' Such 
 was no doubt Mozart's idea when he imparted to the 
 gifted girl all he had learned of singing in Italy. She 
 had quick perceptions, and an innate love of a,rt, so 
 when Mozart accompanied her voice, he must have 
 touched her feelings in a way which music alone can 
 do. In their youth and innocence, they had not yet 
 discovered that it was love which attracted them so 
 passionately towards each other — we do not, indeed, 
 know the girl's thoughts, but her youth, and Mozart's 
 letters, lead us to the conclusion that she innocently 
 yielded to a preference which had its root in artistic 
 interest. We know that Wolfgang, though he felt 
 warmly and truly, was equally unconscious of his feel- 
 ings. Nothing can be more charming than his letters 
 to his father, which bear living witness to this important 
 event in his life. In them Wolfgang from the very 
 first unconsciously betrays the sensations of his heart, 
 though he still imagines he is only interested by 
 Aloysia's voice, and that the poverty of the family 
 impels him to such impetuous expressions. In writing 
 thus, however, to his grave stem father, to whom he is 
 responsible for the fulfilment of aU the duties of life, 
 his words have less significance than if written to a 
 friend or confidant in this affair of the heart. 
 In the middle of January he writes : — 
 
ALOTSIA WEBER. 135 
 
 Next "Wednesday I am going for some days to Earchheim- 
 Boland, the residence of the Princess of Orange. 
 
 As she has a passionate admiration of singing, I have 
 had four arias copied out for her. I will also present her 
 with a symphony, for she has a very nice orchestra and 
 gives a concert every day. Besides, the copying of the airs 
 will not cost me much, for a M. "Weber who is going there 
 with me has copied them. He has a daughter who sings 
 admirably, and has a lovely pure voice ; she is only fifteen. 
 She fails in nothing but in stage action ; were it not for 
 that, she might be the prima donna of any theatre. Her 
 father is a downright honest German who brings up his 
 children well, for which very reason the girl is persecuted 
 here. He has six children — five girls and a son. He and 
 his wife and children have been obliged to live for the last 
 fourteen years on an income of 200 florins ; but as he has 
 always done his duty well, and has lately provided a very 
 accomplished singer for the Elector, he has now actually 400 
 florins. My aria for De' Amicis she sings to perfection with 
 all its tremendous passages : she is to sing it at Barchheim- 
 Boland. 
 
 He describes this holiday excursion a couple of 
 weeks afterwards : — 
 
 "We had a capital covered coach which held four ; at four 
 o'clock we arrived at Kirchheim-Boland. "We immediately 
 sent a list of our names to the palace. Next morning early, 
 , Hen- Concert-Meister Rothfischer called on us. He had been 
 already described to me at Mannheim as a most honourable 
 man, and such I find him to be. In the evening we went 
 to court (this was on Saturday), where Madlle. Weber sang 
 three airs. I say nothing of her singing, but it is indeed 
 
136 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 admirable. I wrote to you lately with regard to her merits ; 
 but I cannot. finish this letter without writing further about 
 her I as I hare only recently known her well, so I have now 
 first discovered her great powers. We dined afterwards at 
 the officers' table. 
 
 In the evening we might have supped at court, but we 
 preferred being all together, at the inn. We would gladly 
 have made them a present also of the dinners at the officers' 
 table, for we were never so pleased as when by ourselves ; 
 but economy rather entered our thoughts, since we were 
 obliged to pay heavily enough at the inn. 
 
 The following day, Monday, we had music again, and 
 also on Tuesday and Wednesday. Madlle. Weber sang in 
 all thirteen times, and played twice on the piano, for she 
 plays by no means badly. What surprises me most is that 
 she reads music so well. Only think of her playing my 
 difficult sonatas at sight, slowly, but without missiag a single 
 note. I give you my honour I would rather hear my 
 sonatas played by her than by Vogler. I played twelve 
 times, and once, by desire, on the organ of the Lutheran 
 church. I presented the Princess with four symphonies, 
 and received only seven louis d'or in silver, and our poor 
 dear Madlle. Weber only five. This I certainly did not 
 anticipate ! I never expected great things ; but, at all events, 
 I hoped that each of us would at least receive eight louis 
 d'or. £asta ! We were not, however, losers, for I have a 
 profit of forty-two florins, and the inexpressible pleasure of 
 becoming better' acquainted with worthy upright Christian 
 people, and good Catholics. I regret much not having 
 known them long ago. 
 
 From this time forth Wolfgang spent all his time 
 in the society of the Weber family, making his Aloysia 
 
ALOTSIA -VraBEK. 137 
 
 study all his arias — indeed, sending to Salzburg for 
 those he had not brought with him. He procured for 
 her also an opportunity to be heard elsewhere, and 
 mentions with delight that Eaaff, the best singer at 
 Mannheim, who was certainly no flatterer, when asked 
 to give his sincere opinion, said, ' She does not sing like 
 a scholar, but like a professor.' He also composed an 
 aria for her, into which he threw his whole feelings 
 more distinctly than in his letters, and this aria he 
 cherished more fondly than any other of his composi- 
 tions. At first he intended it for Eaaff, but he writes : — 
 
 The beginning seemed to me too high for Raaff's voice, 
 but it pleased me so much that I would not alter it ; 
 and from the orchestral accompaniment, too, I thought it 
 better suited to a soprano. I therefore resolved to write it 
 for Madlle. Weber. I laid it aside, and took the words 
 ' Se al labhro ' for Raaff. But all in vain, for I could write 
 nothing else, as the first air always came back iato iny head ; 
 so I returned to it, with the intention of making it exactly 
 in accordance with Madlle. Weber's voice. When it was 
 finished, I said to Madlle. Weber, ' Learn the air by yourself, 
 sing it according to your own taste, then let me hear it, and 
 I will afterwards tell you candidly what pleases and what 
 displeases me.' 
 
 In the course of a couple of days I went to see her, when 
 she sang it for me and accompanied herself, and I was 
 obliged to confess that she sung it precisely as I could have 
 wished, and as I would have taught it to her myself This 
 is now the best aria that she has, and wUl insure her success 
 wherever she goes. 
 
138 APPBENTICESHIP. 
 
 How entirely must his heart and fancy have been 
 captivated by this fair young girl, when so trivial a 
 reason sufficed to cause him such emotion! he who, 
 beyond all others, had usually full control over his 
 creative powers ! The words he selected had been set 
 to music by the ' London Bach,' and pleased Mozart so 
 much that he said they were always ringing in his ears. 
 He writes : — 
 
 I have also, for practice, airanged the air ' Non sd d' onde 
 viene,' which has been so charmingly composed by Bach, 
 Just because I know that of Bach so well, and it pleases me 
 and haunts my ear, I wished to try if, in spite of all this, I 
 could succeed iu writing an aria totally unlike the other. 
 And, indeed, it does not in the very least resemble it. 
 
 The words of this aria, though describing a situation 
 very dififerent from his own, yet expressed in beautiful 
 simplicity the sensations of his heart. In this work 
 of Metastasio's the king has condemned to death an 
 unknown youth (who afterwards proves to be his son), 
 for an attempt on the king's life. Suddenly he feels 
 strangely moved by the aspect of the criminal, and 
 says to his friend, ' Alcandro ! I own I am astonished 
 at myself. This youth's features, his glance, his voice, 
 awaken unwonted trembling in my heart, that vi- 
 brates in every pulse. I seek the cause in memory, and 
 find none. Ye righteous •Gods! What is it that I 
 feel ? ' and then he continues, ' I know not whence 
 proceeds this tenderness, this agitation that involuntarily 
 
ALOTSIA -W^EBEE. 139 
 
 pervades my being, this thrill that runs through my 
 veins — compassion alone does not seem enough to give 
 rise to such emotions.' 
 
 Was not this precisely Mozart's own condition? 
 Did not the pity and sympathy he felt for Aloysia and 
 her family move his heart deeply, daily exciting him 
 more and more? Was not a more profound feeling 
 roused within him in joyful anticipation ? Yes, he was 
 awakened, he felt more than pity, whether aware of it 
 or not, and this gave the composer the creative power 
 to write one of the most eloquent arias that ever 
 expressed the awakening of first love, and as he so 
 ardently wished that his beloved Aloysia should share 
 these feelings, he placed these words on her lips. He 
 writes : — 
 
 I must say that all those who knew me, Hofrathe, 
 Kam/merrathe, and other high-class people, as well as all the 
 court musicians, were very grieved and reluctant to see me 
 go ; and really and truly so. 
 
 He seems never weary of speaking of her, and 
 when he sends the aria to his father, he begs him not to 
 give it to anyone to sing, as it is written for Madlle. 
 Weber, and fits her like a glove. 
 
 Was not the mode in which his idol sang these 
 words and music already a response ? 
 
 Madlle. Weber sang De' Amicis' air, ' Parto m' affretto" ; 
 and, as a finale, my symphony ' II E6 Pastore ' was given. 
 I do entreat you urgently to interest yourself in Madlle. 
 
140 APPnENTICBSHIP. 
 
 Weber ; it would make me so happy if good fortune were to 
 attend her. 
 
 How could she resist such tones ? The love spring- 
 ing up in her heart was not yet become a ruling 
 passion, and yet she cannot but feel that a crisis in her 
 life is at hand, which must decide her fatm-e destiny; 
 Mozart had been careful to develop, in this aria, the 
 whole beauty of her bright and unusually high soprano, 
 in all its rich colomring, and above all the magic charm 
 with which she rendered expressive melodies. This 
 aria does indeed overflow with music, and expresses the 
 inmost emotions of the heart in truly golden sounds. 
 Who can wonder that the young artist regarded with 
 enthusiasm the slender form of the girl of fifteen. 
 Mozart's heart now fully bloomed forth ; he enjoyed 
 life to the uttermost, and thought it was always to be 
 thus. Aloysia enjoyed the same felicity with himself, 
 so they were happy together. He had soared to the 
 highest pinnacle of his life — all was hope, and joy, 
 and sweetest intoxication of love ! 
 
 We must now drop the curtain over this fair scene 
 of youthful felicity, that it may, at least for a time, be 
 realised by the hearts of all who love Mozart, and 
 prize him as the true poet of love, and that we may 
 feel that he held in his hand the cup of brightest bliss, 
 and thus imbibed ample nourishment for his soul. 
 Come what may, he who has even once in his life 
 known perfect happiness, can never be entirely miser- 
 
ALOYSIA WUBEK. 141 
 
 able. He never can lose that peculiar mood of the 
 soul, when excitement reached its highest point, and 
 made him feel all the fulness of life, and such a remem- 
 brance will never cease to inspire his creations with 
 joyousness. In Mozart, as ought to be the case with 
 an artist, this awakening of the heart gave rise to an 
 awakening of his whole artistic nature. Thus the 
 felicity of these weeks was for him infinite, and for art 
 imperishable. 
 
142 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 FIRST STRUGGLE WITH HIS FATHER. 
 ' Passion and reason, how seldom oombined ! ' 
 
 After what we have recently heard of our young 
 Maestro we are almost tempted to believe that he had 
 been seized with that giddy frivolity so prevalent] in 
 gay Mannheim, and entirely devoted to foolish love 
 affairs. He writes a French song for Madlle. Grustl 
 Wendling, and an aria to suit the ' soul-stirring voice ' 
 of the celebrated Dorothea Wendling, of whom Heinse 
 said, ' She has much in the expression of her counte- 
 nance, that I have observed in the most admirable of 
 her sex — ^the winning, calm, and tranqiul repose of 
 woman's love, yet again something that teUs of quick 
 emotions easily roiised into passion.' Mozart also 
 wrote for Ther^se Pierron, a girl of fifteen, ' our house 
 nymph,' a sonata with violin accompaniment ; but aU 
 these emanated from that complaisance which made 
 him place his sparkling powers at the service of all 
 who wished to profit by them ; indeed every opportu- 
 nity for writing or hearing music was always welcome 
 
FIRST STBUGGLK WITH HIS FATHER. 143 
 
 to him. For music was all in all to him — as in his 
 childhood, nothing which had not some slight analogy 
 with his art, even now ever touched his heart ; and it is 
 very doubtful whether in the course of his life, any 
 fair being made such a profound impression on him, or 
 became more dear and precious in his sight than 
 music. His whole atmosphere breathed music, and 
 however much his heart sympathised with the things of 
 the world and with man, we shall still under every 
 circumstance find him ready and eager to compose, 
 whether to lighten a burden that weighed on his heart, 
 or to enjoy the play of fancy that makes every Eftrtistic 
 creation so irresistibly lovely. 
 
 So, amidst all the events we have described, Wolf- 
 gang's mind was in reality engrossed by art. We see by 
 his letters to his father, which chiefly contain projects 
 and schemes, how ardently he hoped, by perseverance 
 in his profession, to become at last successful. The 
 object of his journey had been fully impressed on him. 
 He was to strive to gain a maintenance and an appoint- 
 ment in order to irritate the Salzburgers, and to set 
 free his father from the oppressive burden of providing 
 for his family. But this was not the idea that in- 
 fluenced Wolfgang. His eager impulse to artistic work, 
 when he could obtain it, was the mainspring that 
 always kept him on the alert. Indeed it is touching to 
 see him who so much liked 'study and speculation,' 
 incessantly occupied either in giving lessons, or seeking 
 
144 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 orders for fresh work, while he spares no trouble or 
 persuasion to procure an appointment in Mannheim. 
 For he liked the place — he was for the first time ia a 
 city where his art was considered a chief object, and 
 where it had certainly risen to a degree of excellence 
 not easily to be found elsewhere. 
 
 The Elector, Karl Theodor, in his zeal for art and 
 science, had built an academy, and a theatre. He was 
 anxious to establish a German opera as well as German 
 dramas, for which he had succeeded in engaging the 
 most superior actors. This project alone sufficed to 
 enchain Mozart. How had the same thought kindled 
 his spirit in Munich ! Now, in Mannheim, he heard 
 a genuine German opera, ' Giinther von Schwarzburg,' 
 by old Holzbauer, which pleased him exceedingly. 
 
 Now about the opera briefly. Holzbauer's music [for the 
 ■first great Grerman operetta, ' Giinther von Schwarzbiu'g '] is 
 very beautiful, but the poetry is not worthy of such music. 
 What surprises me most is that so old a man as Holzbauer 
 should still have so much spirit, for the opera is incredibly 
 full of fire. 
 
 There were distinguished artists also in the Mann- - 
 heim Theatre ! Eaaff, the greatest German tenor of his 
 day — ^no longer, indeed, young, but a genuine artist, 
 and his voice still admirable. Dorothea Wendling, her 
 sister-in-law Elizabeth Wendling, and others. But the 
 orchestra was the crowning glory, which, under the 
 direction of Cannabich, was considered at that time the 
 
FIRST STRUGGLE -WIIH HIS FATHER. 145 
 
 $rst in Europe. Every hearer was enchanted with it, 
 not only by its marvellous precision, and hitherto 
 unparalleled gradation of tone, but even more by 
 the admirable use of wind instruments, among which 
 the clarionet was quite a novelty in an orchestra. 
 A mass of contemporary notices is still extant on this 
 subject, and Wolfgang shews his appreciation of its 
 merits by declaring that his most ardent wish was to 
 write for such an orchestra. "We see him, on the other 
 hand, quite unexcited amid these interesting doings ; 
 in fact, they inspire in him no awe whatever. On the 
 contrary, in his letters to his father on the subject he 
 indulges in impartial but frank criticism. 
 
 The spiritual excitement that prevailed in Mann- 
 heim at that time, both in literary and artistic matters, 
 had the most stimulating effect on Wolfgang, and he 
 revels in the living flood like a fish in water. The 
 members of the orchestra soon became his friends. 
 His complaisance in playing as well as in composing, 
 for anyone who wished it, won all their hearts. 
 
 Eamm (hautboy-player) is a good, jolly, worthy man, 
 about thirty-five, who has travelled a great deal, and so has 
 much experience. 
 
 There were very few with whom he was not on good 
 terms, and when this was not the case the fault was not 
 his. His nature, which was all harmony, pure and clear 
 in artistic as well as in moral things, revolted against 
 such a person as the Vice-Kapell-Meister, Abbe Vogler, 
 
 VOL. I. L 
 
146 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 court chaplain, and the subsequent teacher of C. M. 
 Weber and Meyerbeer. This Vogler, though clever 
 and a man of importance, failed in inner balance, 
 being devoid of all artistic creative powers; and he 
 sought by refined technicality and elaboration to make 
 up for the inventive genius that was denied him. Wolf- 
 gang is especially severe on his pianoforte-playing. He 
 calls him plainly a mountebank and a buffoon. And as he 
 certainly did not conceal these opinions in Mannheim 
 (though written in confidence to his father in Salzburg), 
 where Vogler was much disliked, the court chaplain 
 naturally had not much to say in favour of Mozart, 
 who in after years was destined to suffer cruelly from 
 this man's aversion. Vogler's intimate friend, Peter 
 Winter, whose name lived for a time as the composer 
 of the ' Unterbrochenen Opfer fest,' was not wanting 
 in evil reports and slanders of every kind about Wolf- 
 gang, attacking both his artistic and moral fame. 
 
 Some of the members of the orchestra, the flute- 
 player Wendling, the oboist Eamm, and the bassoon- 
 player Eitter, proposed to Wolfgang that he should go 
 with them during Lent to Paris, to give concerts there. 
 This was the first definite offer he had received, and it 
 induced him to prolong his stay in Mannheim. 
 
 Wendling assures me I shall never regret it ; he has been 
 twice in Paris, and has only just returned. He says, ' It is, 
 in fact, the only place where either real fame or money is 
 to be acquired. Yoii are a man of genius ; I will put you 
 
FIRST STEUaSLE WITH HIS FATHER. 147 
 
 on the right path. You must write an opera seria and 
 cormque, an oratorio, and every kind of thing.' 
 
 This was enough to make Wolfgang favourable to 
 the project ; he therefore communicates it to his father. 
 The mother also writes : — ' Mr. Wendling is an upright 
 man, who is known to everyone. He has travelled 
 much, and is well acquainted with all the ins-and-outs 
 of Paris, where he has been thirteen times. Our friend, 
 Herr Grrimm, is also his best friend, and has done much 
 for him. So it is for you to decide. I shall be content, 
 whatever your opinion may be. Herr Wendling assures 
 me that he will be a father to Wolfgang, whom, indeed, 
 he loves like a son, and watch over him as carefully as 
 I myself could do. You, of course, must know that I 
 am unwilling to let him leave me, and if I must take 
 that long journey home alone, it will be anything but 
 pleasant to me — but what is to be done ? To go so far 
 as Paris would be too trying at my age, and also too 
 expensive.' Wolfgang fiurther writes — 
 
 The first and best musicians here like me very much, 
 and respect me too. They always call me Herr Kapell- 
 Meister. 
 
 From the very first Wolfgang bad striven for per- 
 mission to wait on the Elector, in the hope of being 
 placed in his orchestra, and his friends urged on the 
 matter zealously. Now, extra pressure was required. 
 Soon after his arrival he was presented at court by the 
 intendant, Count Savioli. Mozart writes : — 
 
 L 2 
 
148 APPEENTICBSHIP. 
 
 The Elector and the Electress, and the whole court, are 
 very much pleased with me. Both times I played at the 
 concert, the Elector and she stood close beside me at the 
 piano. After the music was at an end, Cannabich managed 
 that I should be noticed by the court. I kissed the Elector's 
 hand, who said, ' I think it is now fifteen years since you 
 were here ? ' ' Yes, you.r Highness, it is fifteen years since I 
 had that honour.' ' You play inimitably.' The Princess, when 
 I kissed her hand, said, ' Monsieur, je vous assure, on ne 
 peut pas jouer mieux.' 
 
 Yesterday, I went with Cannabich to pay the visit 
 mamma already wrote to you about [to Duke Carl Theodor's 
 children], and there I conversed with the Elector as if he had 
 been some kind friend. He is a, most gracious and good 
 prince. He said to me, ' I hear you wrote an opera at 
 Munich ' [' La finta Giardiniera '] t ' Yes, your Highness, 
 and, with your gracious permission, my most anxious wish 
 is to write an opera here ; I entreat you will not quite forget 
 me. I cotild also write a German one, God be praised ! ' said 
 I, smiling. ' That may easily be arranged.' He has one son 
 and three daughters, the eldest of whom and the young Count 
 ■plsbj the piano. The Elector questioned me confidentiaUy 
 about his children. I spoke quite honestly, but without 
 detracting from their master. Cannabich was entirely of my 
 opinion. The Elector, on going away, took leave of me 
 with much courtesy. ' 
 
 These prospects were quite sufficient to make the 
 Maestro cling to Mannheim, and when to this was added 
 the Parisian scheme, the young artist liked hearing 
 people say, ' Where are you to be this winter ? Travel- 
 ling is odious at this season — stay here.' His position 
 at Mannheim was most agreeable, for he enjoyed free 
 
FIRST STEtTGGLE WITH HIS FATHEB. 149 
 
 intercourse with clever men and cultivated colleagues. 
 The mother was entirely guided by him and his friends. 
 Meanwhile, he drew on the banker for 150 gulden. 
 This, of course, the father by no means approved of; 
 it could not go on thus — he writes : ' Such a journey is 
 no light matter, but you have yet to learn that you 
 must have more solid ideas in your head than such 
 tomfooleries. You must exercise the utmost foresight, 
 and spare no trouble, or you will find yourself in the 
 mire, and with no money; .and where there is no money, 
 there are no friends — no ! not if you give a hundred 
 lessons gratis, compose sonatas, and amuse yourself every 
 night from ten to twelve o'clock by follies instead of 
 attending to things of greater moment. Can you then 
 ask for a letter of credit ? — this is beyond a joke, and at 
 such a moment the most laughing face must become 
 grave.' 
 
 Wolfgang felt the justice of these reproaches, and 
 replied, in an irritated but dejected tone : — 
 
 But wten you ascribe this to my negligence, thoughtless- 
 ness, and indolence, I can only regret your having such an 
 opinion of me, and from my heart I grieve that you so little 
 know your son. I am not careless, I am only prepared for 
 the worst ; so I can wait and bear everything patiently, so long 
 as my honour and my good name of Mozart remain uninjured. 
 But if it must be so, so let it be. I only beg that you will 
 neither rejoice nor lament prematurely ; for whatever may 
 happen, all will be well if we only have health ; for happiness 
 exists — merely in the imagination. 
 
150 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 A philosophical maxim which the father in turn 
 coolly criticises thus—' My dear Wolfgang, youi- axiom 
 is only a moral axiom for men who are satisfied with 
 nothing." 
 
 The result was that Mozart as well as his friends 
 pressed forward the affair with the Elector more 
 urgently than ever. Cannabich wished to apply to 
 Savioli to as\ the Elector to make Mozart his chamber 
 composer. The question then arose as to his instruct- 
 ing the Elector's children. Wolfgang often went to 
 them, and brought his compositions that they might 
 play them in the presence of the Elector, who was ex- 
 ceedingly pleased by Mozart's method of teaching the 
 children. Mozart expressed a wish to become their 
 permanent instructor. The Elector promised to take 
 it into consideration. The affair continued to drag on, 
 and at last the father is told, ' Nothing is to be got here 
 at present from the Elector.' 
 
 This news made as powerful an impression on his 
 Mannheim friends as on Wolfgang himself. He went 
 to Cannabich. 
 
 When Macllle. Eose (who was in the third room from us 
 busy with the Unen) had finished, she came in and said to me, 
 ' Do you wish me to begiu now 1' as it was the hour for her 
 lesson. ' I am at your orders,*' said I. ' Do you know,' said 
 she, ' that I mean to be very attentive to-day? ' ' I am sure 
 you will,' answered I, ' for the lessons will not contiuue much 
 longer.' 'How so? What do you mean? — Why?' She 
 tu]?aed to her mamma, who told her. ' What ! ' said she, ' is 
 
FIRST STKUGGLE WITH HIS FATHEE, 151 
 
 tliis quite certain 1 I cannot believe it.' ' Yes — ^yes ; quite 
 cei-taia,' said I. She then played my sonata, but looked very 
 grave. Do you know, I really could not suppress my tears ; 
 and at last they bad all tears in tbeir eyes — ^mother, daughter, 
 and Schatzmeister, for she was playing the sonata at the 
 moment, which is the favourite of the whole family. 
 
 But there was to be no leave-taking at that time, as 
 his friends secured his stay by fresh plans, and the final 
 farewell, two months later, was to cost many more tears. 
 For the fair Aloysia far surpassed the pretty Eose 
 Cannabich, though as yet Wolfgang was not acquainted 
 with Madlle. Weber. 
 
 Wendling, who became ' quite red and flushed ' when 
 he heard the news, hit upon a happy expedient. A rich 
 Dutchman, ' a true philanthropist,' ofiered to give 
 Mozart 200 gulden for three little short easy concertos 
 and a couple of quartetts for the flute. Some piano- 
 forte duetts and one for the violin were also to be pub- 
 lished by subscription. Wolfgang was to board with 
 Wendling, and lodge with the mother of the Hof 
 Kammer-rath Serrarius, to whose daughter (the ' House 
 Nymph ') he in return was to give lessons gratis. The 
 mother boarded in the house .of young Banner, to whom 
 Mozart gave lessons in composition. Even the father 
 was quite satisfied with these arrangements, for he did 
 not approve of a journey in the winter cold for his dear 
 ones, and Wolfgang's letters showed him that his time 
 would not be badly spent. 
 
 I stay to supper there, when we converse and sometimes 
 
152 APPEBNTICESHIP. 
 
 play ; I then invariably take a book out of my pocket and 
 read, as I used to do at Salzburg. We cannot very -well rise 
 before eigbt o'clock, for in our rooms (on the ground-floor) it 
 is not light tUl half-past eight. I then dress quickly ; at ten 
 o'clock I sit down to compose till twelve or half past twelve, 
 when I go to Wendling's, where I generally write till half- 
 past one ; we then dine. At three o'clock I go to the Mainzer 
 Hof (an hotel), to a Dutch ofScer, to give him lessons in 
 galanterie playing and thorough bass, for which, if I mistake 
 not, he gives me four ducats, for twelve lessons. At four 
 o'clock I go home to teach the daughter of the house. We 
 never begin till half-past four, as we wait for lights. At six 
 o'clock I go to Oannabich's to instruct Madlle. Rose. 
 
 The mother confirms this by saying, ' Wolfgang has 
 so much to do, that he does not know which way to 
 turn.' 
 
 A musical incident now occurred which caused fresh 
 excitement in our yoimg artist. Wieland's ' Eosamunde,' 
 a German work set to music by Schweitzer, was to be 
 produced at Mannheim, where everyone was in a state 
 of eager expectation. The poet himself was to come to 
 Mannheim for the occasion. Accordingly he arrived 
 on December 21, and was overwhelmed with attention 
 from the court and the public. Wolfgang wiites : — 
 
 I have made acquaintance with Herr Wieland. He does 
 not, however, know me as I know him, for he has heard 
 nothing of me as yet. I had not at all imagined him to he 
 what I find him. He speaks in rather a constrained way, 
 and has a childish voice, eyes very watery, and a certaiu 
 pedantic uncouthness, and yet at times is provokingly conde- 
 
FIEST STKUGSLE WITH HIS FATHER. 153 
 
 scending. I am not, howeTer, surprised that lie should choose 
 to hehave in this -way at Mannheim, though no doubt very 
 differently at Weimar and elsewhere, for here he is stared 
 at as if he had fallen from the skies. People seem to be so 
 ceremonious in his presence ; no one speaks, all are as still as 
 possible, striving to catch every word he utters. It is un- 
 lucky that they are kept so long in expectation, for he has 
 some impediment in his speech which causes him to speak 
 very slowly, and he cannot say six words without pausing. 
 Otherwise he is, as we "all know, a man of excellent parts. 
 His faee is downright ugly and seamed with the small-pox, and 
 he has a long nose. His height is rather above that of papa. 
 
 Wolfgang's judgment, therefore, was not biassed by 
 the universal enthusiasm. A fortnight afterwards he 
 writes : — 
 
 Herr Wieland, after meeting me twice, seems quite en- 
 chanted with me. The last time, after every sort of eulogium, 
 he said, ' It is really fortunate for me having met you here,' 
 and pressed my hand. 
 
 How must Wieland, who first introduced into our 
 beloved German tongue that sprightly charm without 
 which all poetry must be dry and withered — how must 
 he have spoken to his friends in Weimar of the young 
 genius, whose grace so vividly recalled to him his 
 adored idol, another great Wolfgang! Did he really 
 recognise at this time, in all its superiority, the genius 
 of him whose fame was to fill the world for centuries 
 yet to come ? Probably not ! 
 
 The performance of the opera was indeed prevented 
 by the death of the Elector of Bavaria, and Karl 
 
154 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 Theodor set off to Munich. But Wolfgang knew the 
 music through rehearsals, and though he had not much 
 to say in its favour, yet the enthusiastic sympathy 
 shown by the public for these native strains of dramatic 
 music, exercised a vast influence over his mind, and at 
 this time he wrote to his father : — 
 
 I know for certain that the Emperor intends to establish 
 a German opera in Vienna, and is eagerly looking out for a 
 young Kapell-Meister who understands the German language, 
 and has genius, and is capable of bringing something new into 
 the world. Beuda at Gotha has applied, but Schweitzer is 
 determined to succeed. I think it would be just the thing 
 for me, but well paid of course. 
 
 He urges the father to apply to all the friends, he 
 can think of in Vienna ; but on this occasion nothing 
 came of it. ' It seems to me,' writes the father, ' that 
 the Emperor is rather like our Archbishop — he wants 
 something good, provided it costs nothing.' A certain 
 Herr Heufeld wrote to get more information about 
 Wolfgang, which annoyed Mozart very mvich, because 
 just at that time his love for Aloysia made him wish 
 more than ever for a settled appointment; besides, 
 the tone of the gentleman's letter offended him. He 
 writes: — 'It was no use sending me Heufeld's letter, for 
 it gave me more pain than pleasure. The simpleton 
 thinks I am going to write a comic opera at a venture. 
 It seems to me also that it would not have been any 
 discredit to his nobility if he had put your "Herr son," 
 
FIRST STRUGGLE WITH HIS FATHEIl. 155 
 
 and not merely " your son " — but he is only a Viennese 
 clown, or else he thinks that men always remain twelve 
 years of age.' 
 
 We see from these words the strange state of excite- 
 ment in which Wolfgang was, during these months. He 
 is not usually so irritable, and, above all, not so easily 
 offended. But he was about, as it were, to be bom 
 afresh. His inmost feelings were to be assailed on 
 every side, when a brief period of eager and painful 
 struggles, brought Ijim speedily into the full possession 
 of the powers given him by Nature. 
 
 The far-seeing father wrote to Padre Martini, to 
 ask him to persuade the Elector to give Wolfgang an 
 appointment in Mannheim. In Salzburg, too, a fair 
 prospect was opening. The organist there, Adlgasser, 
 was suddenly seized with paralysis when playing the 
 organ, and died the same evening. Application was at 
 once made to Michael Haydn and to old Mozart, to ask 
 them if they knew where a good organist was to be met 
 with, who could also play the piano, and whether such a 
 person could be found in Mannheim. The father men- 
 tioned this to the son, but without connecting it with 
 any plan, for the Paris journey was in his mind. As 
 for the son I he turned a deaf ear ! He had just re- 
 covered his freedom and tasted its joys, and was he 
 to return into his cage ? He took no notice whatever, 
 in his reply to his father, of this passage in his letter. 
 More important things were weighing on his heart. 
 
156 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 The breath of ardent love was now swelling the sails. 
 The recognition of the most distinguished men made 
 Wolfgang fully conscious of his powers, and still more 
 so the comparison of his works with those of other artists 
 which his own far surpassed, and who, though so in- 
 finitely inferior to him, filled the world with their 
 fame. In this first awakening of his whole nature, his 
 surging enthusiasm imagined that he could accomplish 
 everything, and it may be said that he did so in reality. 
 He thought he could take a bold flight into the world, 
 and by one stroke win fame and a secure position. 
 
 Meanwhile the father, occupied of course with the 
 Paris journey, which was now close at hand, gave the 
 son all sorts of good advice. He was to take care that 
 his mother's journey to Augsburg was comfortably 
 arranged, when the proper time arrived; and also to 
 regulate all his affairs in Mannheim, and leave nothing 
 unsettled — to be very prudent and reserved in Paris, 
 especially with artists. All confidential intimacy was 
 to be avoided with composers whose rivalry was to be 
 feared, such as Griuck and Piccini, when they came to 
 Paris, and also with Gretry. But, above all, he was to 
 observe great discretion in the society of ladies, some of 
 whom were too apt to waylay young geniuses, to spend 
 their money, and to entangle them in their matrimonial 
 nets. He adds, ' That would be my death.' He has no 
 cause indeed to dread the latter, for the son's heart was 
 so entirely qngrossed with one image, that he could not 
 
FIRST STRUGGLE WITH HIS FATHER, 157 
 
 even look at any other woman. He now no longer 
 wished to go to Paris, for his thoughts dwelt on a very- 
 different subject, and the father was greatly surprised 
 when he suddenly heard that they were not going to 
 Paris. 
 
 Mamma and I have discussed the matter, and we agree 
 that we do not like the sort of life the WendUngs lead. 
 Wendliag is a very honourable and kind man, but unhappily 
 devoid of all religion, and the whole family are the same. 
 I say enough when I tell you that his daughter was a most 
 disreputable character. Eamm is a good fellow, but a 
 libertine. I know myself, and I have such a sense of 
 rehgion that I shall never do anything which I would not 
 do before the whole world ; but I am alarmed even at the 
 very thoughts of beiug in the society of people, during my 
 journey, whose mode of thinking is so entirely different from 
 mine (and from that of all good people). 
 
 The mother in her next letter confirms this: — ' It is 
 quite true that Herr "Wendling is the best man in the 
 world, but neither he nor his family know anything of 
 religion, nor do they care for it. The mother and 
 daughter never through the whole year go to church, nor 
 to confession, nor to hear mass ; but they go regularly 
 to the theatre. They say church is unhealthy.' 
 
 To this the father replies :— ' It is quite right that 
 
 you should not travel with the party you mention, but 
 
 you have long been aware of their want of religion, and 
 
 yet during this lengthened period of your acquaintance 
 
 " with the family, you have never named this to your 
 
158 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 anxious father, or asked his advice, and (sad to say) 
 neither has your mother ! ' 
 
 They had allowed themselves to be deceived by the 
 universal praise of the Wendlings, and also by their 
 many good qualities. But neither Wolfgang nor his 
 mother (who was quite under his influence) would have 
 written so sharply on this matter, had not other motives 
 been combined with their pious convictions ; and these 
 we are about to leajn, Wolfgang's dearest wish now 
 was to forego his journey to Paris. 
 
 I lately wrote to you my chief reason for not going to 
 Paris with these people, but another is that I have reflected 
 well on what I have to do in Paris. I could, not get on 
 passably without pupils, which is a kind of work that does 
 not suit me — of this I have a strong example here. I might 
 have had two pupils ; I went three times to each, but finding 
 one of them not at home, I never went back. I am willing 
 to give lessons out of complaisance, especially when I see 
 genius, and inclination and anxiety to learn ; but to be 
 obliged to go to a house at a certain hour, or else to wait 
 at home, is what I cannot submit to, if I were to gain twice 
 what I do. I find it impossible, so must leave it to those 
 who can do nothing but play the piano. I am a composer, 
 and born to become a Kapell-Meister, and I neither can nor 
 ought thus to bury the talent for composition with which 
 God has so richly endowed me (I may say this without 
 arrogance, for I feel it now more than ever) ; and this I 
 should dp were I to take many pupUs. 
 
 What a salutary impression does this lively sense 
 of his high vocation make on us, and this revolt of 
 
riKST STKUGGLB WITH HIS FATHER. 159 
 
 the youthful spirit against the constraint of a ' metier ' ! 
 But what did he in reality wish for? Many letters 
 pass between father and son, by which we learn that 
 even the flute quartetts for the Dutchman are not 
 yet ready ; he must, therefore, have spent the greater 
 portion of his time with his beloved Aloysia. At length 
 we hear his plan : he wishes to travel with the Webers, 
 and give concerts ! 
 
 This scheme, as he fully details it to his father, 
 offers a striking proof of his inexperience, but also of 
 his passionate love for Aloysia, as well as of the natural 
 goodness of his heart. The thought of assisting an 
 impoverished family, which he could do without injury 
 to himself, delights his heart. He eagerly wishes also 
 to remain near his idol until he could call her his own. 
 That his every effort was devoted to this object we 
 discover from a letter he wrote some weeks previously 
 about his youthful friend Schiedenhofen, who had just 
 made a wealthy marriage : — 
 
 I cordially wish, him joy ; but his is, after all, only one 
 of those money matches, and nothing else ! 
 
 Added to this was the irresistible passion to write 
 operas ! 
 
 He therefore wishes to remain in Mannheim in 
 order to finish the works already bespoken. 
 
 In the meantime Herr Weber will endeavour to make 
 various engagements for concerts with me, and then we 
 shall travel together. If ,1 am with him, it is just as if I 
 
160 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 were with you. This is the reason that I like him so much 
 — except in personal appearance, he resembles you in all 
 respects, and has exactly your character and mode of think- 
 ing. If my mother were not, as you know, too comfortably 
 lazy to write, she woiild say precisely what I do. I must 
 confess that I mtich enjoyed my excursion with them. We 
 were pleased and merry; I heard a man converse just like 
 you ; I had no occasion to trouble myself about anything ; 
 what was torn I found repaired. In short, I was treated 
 like a prince. I am so attached to this oppressed family 
 that my greatest wish is to make them happy, and perhaps 
 I may be able to do so. My advice is that they should go 
 to Italy, so I am all anxiety for you to write to our good 
 friend Lugiati [impresario], and the sooner the better, to 
 enquire what are the highest terms given to a prima donna 
 in Verona — the more the better, for it is always easy to 
 accept lower terms. Perhaps it would be possible to obtain 
 the Ascensa in Venice. I will be answerable with my Ufa 
 for her singing, and her doing credit to my recommendation. 
 She has, even during this short period, derived much profit 
 from me; and how much further progress she will have made 
 by that time ! I have no fears either with regard to her 
 acting. If this plan be realised, M. Weber, his two 
 daughters, and I, will have the happiness of visiting my 
 dear papa and dear sister for a fortnight, on oiu- way through 
 Salzburg. My sister will find a friend and companion in 
 Madlle. Weber ; for, like my sister in Salzbm-g, she enjoys 
 the best reputation here, owing to the careful way in which 
 she has been brought up ; the father resembles you, and the 
 whole family that of Mozart. They have, indeed, detractors, 
 as with us, but when it comes to the point they must confess 
 the truth ; and truth lasts longest. I should be so glad to 
 go with them to Sakburg, that you might hear her. My 
 
FIRST STRUGGLE WITH HIS FATHER. 161 
 
 air that De' Amicis used to sing, and the bravura aria 
 ' Parto m' affretto,' and ' DaUa sponda tenehrosa' she sings 
 splendidly. Pray do all you can to insure ottr going to 
 Italy together. You know my greatest desire is — to write 
 operas. 
 
 I will gladly write an opera for Verona for thii-ty 
 zecchini, solely that Madlle. Weber may acquu-e fame by 
 it ; for, if I do not, I fear she may be sacrificed. Before 
 then I hope to make so much money by visiting different 
 places that I shall be no loser. I think we shall go to 
 Switzerland — perhaps also to Holland ; pray write to me 
 soon about this. Should we stay long anywhere, the eldest 
 daughter [Josepha, afterwards Madame Hofer, for whom the 
 part of the Queen of the Night in the ' Flauto Magico ' was 
 , written] would be of the greatest use to us ; for we could 
 have our own manage, as she \inderstands cooking. 
 
 Send me an answer soon, I beg. Don't forget my wish 
 to write an opera ; I envy every person who writes one ; I 
 could almost weep from vexation when I hear or see an aria. 
 But Italian, not German- — seria, not huffa ! I have now 
 written you all that is in my heart ; my mother is satisfied 
 with my plan. 
 
 The mother adds a postscript : — 
 
 No doubt you perceive by the accompanying letter that 
 when Wolfgang makes new friends he would give his life 
 for them. It is true that she does sing incomparably ; stiU, 
 we ought not to lose sight of our own interests. I never 
 Kked his being in the society of WendHng and Kamm, but 
 I did not venture to object to it, nor would he have listened 
 to me ; but no sooner did he know these Webers than he 
 instantly changed his mind. In short, he prefers other 
 
 VOL. I. M 
 
162 APPKESTICESHIP, 
 
 people to me, for I remonstrate -with him sometimes, and 
 that he does not like. I write this quite secretly while he 
 is at dinner, for I don't wish him to know it. 
 
 Wolfgang reiterates his urgent request in several 
 letters, and enters into all the details, as they spring up 
 in his loving heart. Meanwhile, the father had already 
 begun a very long letter, in which he places the matter 
 before his son in a light which admits of no denial. 
 Wolfgang's thoughtlessness in drawing on a banker for 
 money, while the father at home could scarcely contrive 
 to struggle on free from debt, provoked him much; 
 and also the indolence that caused him to delay the 
 completion of the works bespoken by the Dutchman ; so 
 that, instead of 200 florins, he had as yet only received 
 50 florins, and it was with this sum that the expense of 
 his visit to Mannheim was to be defrayed. This new 
 project of his son's was therefore so obnoxious in his 
 eyes that it nearly drove him crazy I But it is a proof 
 of the solid character and clear head of the man that, 
 in spite of the irritation he feels, perceiving that his 
 son does not suspect this, he abstains from all foolish 
 and exaggerated accusations. On the contrary, though 
 he sharply analyses and criticises the project of the 
 youth, paternal love, and, still more, his sense of Wolf- 
 gang's well-grounded principles, alone guide his pen. 
 He points out to him thfe right means to employ if| 
 he wishes to attain success ; not merely to secm'e a 
 momentary gain to relieve his father from debt, but to 
 
FIRST STRUGGLE WITH HIS FATHER. 163 
 
 strive after a remunerative employment for his talents, 
 by ■which a certain position might he secured. 
 
 We really do not know which to admire most, the 
 wisdom of the experienced father, who knows how to 
 keep the son in the right path, even amid the hardest 
 trials, or the genuine filial modesty of the son who 
 controls his ardent passion in compliance with the 
 will of his father, whose nature he considers so noble. 
 All now became smooth again between the father and 
 the son; and from this struggle we recognise the 
 solidity of both characters, which, indeed, alone rendered 
 it possible for the surpassing gifts of the son to attain 
 the loftiest height in his own sphere. Towards the 
 close of his life, above aU, we learn how dearly Wolf- 
 gang loved this best of aU fathers, and how fully he 
 was impressed by his wisdom and his goodness of heart. 
 
 Meanwhile, both speak out boldly. Wolfgang was 
 obliged to listen to very plain truths ; especially how 
 far he was as yet from securing an appointment, or 
 even keeping one in view, giving himself up body and 
 soul to every passing momentary impression, and now 
 on the point of altogether neglecting his duties. 
 
 The object of your journey was to assist your parents, and 
 to contribute to your dear sister's welfare, but, above all, that 
 you might acquire honour and fame in the world, wHch you in 
 some degree did in your boyhood ; and now it rests entirely 
 with you to raise yourself by degrees to one of the highest 
 positions ever attained by any musician. This is a duty you 
 ' owe to a kind Providence in return for the remarkable talents 
 
 M 2 
 
164 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 -with which He has gifted you ; and it depends wholly on your 
 own good sense and good conduct, whether you become a com- 
 monplace artist whom the world will forget, or a celebrated 
 Kapell-Meister, of whom posterity will read hereafter in books 
 — whether, infatuated with some pretty face, you one day 
 breathe your last on a straw sack, your wife and children in 
 a state of starvation, or, after a well-spent Christian life, die 
 peacefully in honour and independence, and your family well 
 provided for. 
 
 Then the father distinctly pointed out to him, how 
 difficult, if not impossible, it would be to take a young 
 girl to Italy with no artistic fame, and to procure an 
 engagement for her on the stage. ' Youi- proposal to 
 travel about with Herr Weber and— --N.B. two daughters — 
 has driven me nearly wild ! ' This was, indeed, recklessly 
 to trifle with the good name of his parents, and to 
 expose himself to the derision, laughter, and mockery 
 of the world. Besides, war was everywhere threaten- 
 ing to break out. Such schemes were only for lesser 
 lights, for petty composers or mere scribblers. ' Off with 
 you to Paris at once ! Place yourself by the side of 
 great people — Aiit Goesar out nihil. The thought 
 alone of seeing Paris should have preserved you from 
 such flights of fancy.' 
 
 It was thus he succeeded in impressing his son, for 
 he knew where he was most vulnerable. He appealed to 
 his filial love, his sense of duty, his feeling of honour, 
 and his ambition. One point alone he leaves untouched, : 
 which Wolfgang had not as yet openly acknowledged— 
 
FIKST STRUGGLE WITH HIS FATHER. 165 
 
 his love affair. The father was certainly judicious in 
 ignoring it, for the son, like any man of deep feeling, 
 would have been impervious to all reason. On the 
 contrary, the father shews that he feels sympathy with 
 the talents of the girl, as well as with the necessities of 
 her family, by advising the singer Eaafif to interest 
 himself in Aloysia, for he could be of use to her if he 
 chose. 
 
 When Wolfgang read this letter he was deeply 
 affected — so much so that he was seized with illness, 
 and obliged to remain for several days in his room. At 
 length, reason conquered passion. He now saw the 
 impropriety of his wish, and also that it was not 
 necessary finally to forego the impulses of his heart, 
 or even to renounce the project he had formed ; that, in 
 fact, he was much more likely to attain his aims by 
 doing what the father wished. He did not attempt 
 to conceal either from his father or himself that the 
 possession of Aloysia was his great object, and that he 
 only left Mannheim in the hope of securing a perma- 
 nent appointment. He therefore yielded with filial 
 submission to the father's will. 
 
 I always thought that yovi would disapprove of my 
 journey with the Webers, but I never had any such intention 
 — I mean, under present circumstances. I gave them my 
 word of honour to write to you to that effect. 
 
 We have no difficulty in guessing the- course of the 
 affair. No doubt, Wolfgang, who knew and loved Italy, 
 
166 APPKENTICESHIPi 
 
 first suggested the idea of the journey, which was 
 eagerly taken up by the Webers, and carried out more 
 speedily than he himself wished. 
 
 These good people are as tired of being here as you 
 
 know who and where [meaning the Mozarts, father and son, 
 in Salzburg], and they think everything feasible. I promised 
 them to write every detail to my father, but when the letter 
 was sent off to Salzbm-g, I constantly told her that she must 
 have a little patience, for she was still rather too young, &c. 
 They take all I say in good part, for they have a high opinion 
 of me. 
 
 At first, indeed, he cast back his father's reproaches 
 with sufficient bitterness : — 
 
 Believe what you please of me, only nothing bad. There 
 are people who think no one can love a poor girl without 
 evil designs. But I am no Brunetti [a vioUnist in Salzburg], 
 no MisHweczeck. I am a Mozart ; and, though young, stOl 
 a high-principled Mozart. 
 
 But soon the full sunshine of trusting love breaks 
 through the dark clouds of pain and mortification : — 
 
 ' liText to God comes papa * was my axiom when a child, 
 and I still think the same. 
 
 Preparations for the journey were at once made, 
 while the father sent his best blessing to his son on his. 
 way. He writes : — ' You may indeed imagine what a 
 trial it is to me to know that you are going still further 
 from me. You may in some degxee realise this, but 
 you cannot feel as keenly as I do how this weighs on- 
 
FIRST STKUGGLE WITH HIS FATHEE. 167 
 
 my heart. My dear Wolfgang, I have not the smallest 
 mistrust of you, no ! not an atom ! and I place all my 
 hope and confidence in your filial affection. I know 
 that you love me not only as your father, but as your 
 best and truest friend ; in facft, the duration of my life 
 or my speedy death (under Providence) is in your 
 hands* If I know you as I think I do, I may feel that 
 I have nothing but satisfaction to look forward to from 
 you ; and this consoles me for your absence, though I 
 must meanwhile renounce the fatherly delight of hear- 
 ing, and seeing, and embracing you. From my heart 
 do I give you my paternal blessing, and remain until 
 death your faithful friend and loving father.' 
 
 Wolfgang set off on his journey ; and we gladly 
 interrupt this narrative for a moment, to dwell on this 
 picture of love and confidence between father and son ; 
 for it is rare, indeed, to find an example of such purity 
 of feeling and self-sacrifice, the basis of the higher 
 phase of man's nature. We discover here those in- 
 fluences that guide and sustain life — the rich soil from 
 which springs all that is good and noble — love, trust, 
 and a sense of duty. In the course of Mozart's life we 
 shall see that it was these same influences which decided 
 his mode of action, and towards the close of his life 
 increased to such a degree that he hecame, as an artist, 
 one of the greatest that ever lived. As a man, likewise, 
 he displayed a degree of moral power, heightened by 
 the loving grace of his nature into the purest specimen 
 
168 APPBBNTICESHIP. 
 
 of humanity, presenting us with an exalted type of 
 true virtue. We see that he was ready to sacrifice to 
 the will of another the most profound feeling he had 
 ever known, and which he, no doubt, deemed unassailable 
 in its purity. This singular instance of self-denial, 
 proceeding from a deep sense of the claims of duty, this 
 patient submission, offer a proof of the wisdom of the 
 youth that we could scarcely expect in a man, and 
 which we shall henceforth find to be the basis of all 
 his actions. His conduct on this trying occasion shews 
 his moral sense in its best light, in thus yielding to the 
 will of his father without betraying or compromising 
 his better self. But from this time forth we shall see 
 him doing what he considers right with decision and 
 firmness, even when his kind and beloved father difiers 
 from him. The qualities of the man now begin to be 
 developed in the youth, and it is by these same quali- 
 ties that Mozart attained true greatness. 
 
169 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 HIS STAY IN PARIS — 1778-79. 
 
 ■ ' I feel these sorrows deeply in my heart — mysterious 
 creative power.' 
 
 AmonGt Mozart's sonatas is one in A minor, which 
 must always be remarkable in the eyes of Mozart's ad- 
 mirers, by the resemblance the first movement bears to 
 the manner and style of Handel, and still more by the 
 passionate, nay, despairing feeling expressed in the 
 finale. It would be especially difficult to understand 
 this final movement, as its style is so rarely to be met 
 with in Mozart, were it not that we learn, from the dis- 
 covery of the autograph, that the date of this sonata 
 corresponds with that of his visit to Paris. Both pecu- 
 liarities are thus explained, and, in fact, nothing can 
 give us such good information of the mood of Mozart's 
 soul at that time as this sonata. The energetic 
 struggles with himself, the manly firmness battling with 
 the passionate wish of his heart, are clearly portrayed 
 in the sharp rhythmical motion of the first movement, 
 which indicates the spiritual type of that struggle 
 
170 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 between inclination and duty with which Wolfgang 
 was at that time assailed. We cannot, therefore, 
 wonder that the expression of this state of mind is 
 not written in the genuine Mozart style, but rather 
 reminds us throughout of Handel's manner, who 
 represented among musicians, so to speak, the grand 
 and classical style in the most decided forms, in opposi- 
 tion to freer and lighter compositions. In his art 
 he seized that moment of northern life, developed by 
 Protestantism, and carried through by that ' categorical 
 imperative ' of duty, which, half a centuiy later, the 
 Konigsberger accomplished for science and life. Though 
 there are no traces in Mozart's compositions of direct 
 plagiarism, but merely a tendency to the same style, 
 yet on this occasion he was anxious to adopt the peculiar 
 character of a mode of expression hitherto foreign to 
 him, in order to illustrate a frame of mind as yet 
 equally unknown to him, and which, indeed, remained so 
 during the whole of his life. We find an instance of 
 the same kind in the well-known air of Elvira in 
 'Don Griovanni,' when similar reasons influenced the 
 composer. 
 
 Mozart's was no one-sided formal character. We 
 have already said that free impulse alone was the law 
 by which he lived and acted, and in accordance with 
 which his nature would permit him to live. Thus, al- 
 though he had vanquished his own will, and yielded to 
 that of his father, we by no means find that peace and 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 171 
 
 harmony, which generally result from such a struggle. 
 He sacrifices to his father's importunities the wish to 
 remain with his cherished idol, and by her side to win 
 the crown of victory. In order to attain the aim both 
 he and his father strove after, by which his power and 
 great gifts might be fully developed, and a settled posi- 
 tion secured, he had been forced to pursue another path 
 instead of the one he from his inner convictions thought 
 the best. He had cherished the thought of being by 
 the side of his Aloysia, and writing works for her which 
 could not fail to bring him fame and position. He 
 placed his faith in the influence of this love to kindle 
 his art into the highest achievements. His idea was, 
 that on the path of love, and in the strength of passion, 
 he could better fulfil the duties he owed both to his 
 father and himself. The former, however, thought 
 otherwise, and snatched him by force, nay, even harshly, 
 from the path he had chosen. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the son's heart was 
 deeply wounded by the sharp and satirical manner in 
 which the father alluded to the various preferences of 
 the son — first for the little singer in Munich, then for 
 the Basle, and Madlle. Eose — in some degree reproach- 
 ing him for these transient likings ; and now he does 
 the same with regard to Madlle. Weber, affecting to 
 think that his love for her was of the same description. 
 This was neither wise nor just, for it roused a certain 
 bitterness in the heart of the son which was not effaced 
 
172 APPKBNTICESHIP. 
 
 till a new and severe sorrow befel both father and son, 
 bringing theix" hearts once more into unison. Yet it 
 would not be fair to reproach the father. He acted at 
 that time in a manner which circumstances fully justi- 
 fied. He was bound to provide for the payment of his 
 debts, and to endeavour to obtain for his son an appoint- 
 ment befitting his talents, and the honour and credit 
 of the Mozart family. And he deemed that this 
 object, which alone appeared in his eyes the right- 
 ful one, could only be attained by Wolfgang going 
 to Paris. Moreover, as we shall presently learn from 
 his own assurances, he did not consider his son's passion 
 so profound as it proved to be. And yet it is not to be 
 denied that a fair blossom was here crushed, and that 
 Mozart suffered deep sorrow in consequence. But 
 ought we thus to strive to escape sorrow? And how 
 can we tell whether Wolfgang's plan might not have led 
 to equally great things with those which now lie before 
 us, as the results of his life ? Goethe's words are cer- 
 tainly true — ' Happy he to whom first love stretches out 
 a hand.' Suffering alone reveals to genius the deeper 
 sources of life. Even when expressed in this finale with 
 all the vehemence of despair, there axe moments when 
 a hope of reunion seems to shine through the gloom. 
 Indeed, the sun as it glances on the incomparably lovely 
 middle movement in a major key, seems to us brighter 
 and purer because it breaks forth from the clouds of the 
 minor. A veil lies over those inner episodes of the 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 173 
 
 human heart which the hand of a stranger cannot 
 venture to raise. We may call it fate that now chast- 
 ened Mozart. He certainly suffered deeply, but sorrow 
 matured him for higher things.. 
 
 We have now some lost ground to make up. When 
 the journey was settled, Wolfgang gave several concerts 
 in order to make known his own abilities as well as 
 those of his pupil. It was then that the full extent 
 of his powers was revealed to the Mannheimers. Thus 
 he wrote to his father : — 
 
 Madlle. Weber sang three arias of mine, the ' Aer tran- 
 quillo ' from the ' E,6 Pastore,' and the new ' Ifon sd d' 
 onde viene.' With this last air my dear Madlle. Weber 
 gained very great honour both for herself and for me. All 
 present said that no aria had ever affected them like this 
 one ; and, indeed, she sang it as it ought to be sung. The 
 moment it was finished, Calmabich exclaimed, ' Bravo ! 
 bramssimo maestro ! veramente scritta da maestro ! ' It 
 was given for the first time on this occasion with instru- 
 ments. I should like you to have heard it also, exactly as 
 it was executed and sung there, with such precision m time 
 and taste, and in the pianos and fm'tes. Who knows ] you 
 may perhaps stUl hear her. I earnestly hope so. The 
 members of the orchestra never ceased praising the aria and 
 talking about it. 
 
 And Aloysia ? The day after he arrived in Paris he 
 wrote : — 
 
 Madlle. Weber paid me the compliment kindly to knit 
 two pahs of mits for me, as a remembrance and slight 
 acknowledgment. M. Weber wrote out whatever I required 
 
174 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 gratis, gave me the music-paper, and also made me a present 
 of Moli^re's Comedies (as he knew that I had never read 
 them), with this inscription : — ' Ricevi, amico, le opere di 
 Moliere, in segno di gratitudine, e qualehe volta ricordati 
 di me.' And when alone with mamma he said, ' Our best 
 friend, our benefactor, is about to leave us. There can be 
 no doubt that your son has done a great deal for my daughter, 
 and interested himself much about her, and she cannot he 
 too thankful to him.' The day before I set off, they vould 
 insist on my sup2Ding with them, but I managed to give them 
 two hours before supper instead. They never ceased thank- 
 ing me, and saying they only wished they were in a position 
 to testify their gratitude, and when I went away they all 
 wept. Pray forgive me, but really tears come to my eyes 
 when I think of it. Weber came downstairs with me, and 
 remained standing at the door till I turned the corner and 
 called out Adieu ! 
 
 Now, above all, novel impressions and strong ex- 
 citement were needed in order to banish Wolfgang's 
 distress of mind. But these were wanting, and we see 
 that the elasticity of spirit which he maintained in every 
 after-phase of his life, both in mind and imagination, 's 
 was somewhat abated during this summer. A deep 
 feeling of discontent seems to have assailed him, for he 
 felt as if he had not acted rightly. He, indeed, mis- 
 trusted Aloysia's fidelity as little as his own love. He 
 did not conceal from his father that he was in constant 
 correspondence with the Weber family, and gives in- 
 telligible hints as to the real goal of all his hopes and 
 wishes. It was a great consolation to him that Eaaff, 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 175 
 
 who came to Paris at the same time, and who entirely 
 approved of his love for Madlle. Weber, became 
 his friend, promising to give her instruction, and also 
 to do all he could for the family. Some weeks later 
 he writes : — 
 
 I am pretty well, thank God ! but still I am often 
 puzzled to know what to make of it all. I feel neither hot 
 nor cold, and don't take much pleasure in anything. What, 
 however, cheers and strengthens me most is the thought that 
 you, dearest papa, and my dear sister are well ; that I am 
 an honest German, and though I cannot say, I may at all 
 events think what I please, and after all that is the chief 
 thing. 
 
 This was, indeed, little enough ! We here perceive 
 the deep disquietude of his whole being, where formerly 
 every pulse beat so fresh and bright. In addition to 
 this, he felt the utmost antipathy towards French 
 music : — 
 
 Baron Grimm and I often give vent to our wrath at the 
 music here. N.B.— when tete-A-tete ; for in public we call 
 oiit ' Bravo ! bravissimo ! ' and clap our hands till our fingers 
 tingle. 
 
 And, on another occasion :— ■ 
 
 If this were a place where people had ears to hear or 
 hearts to feel, and understood just a little of music, and 
 had some degree of taste, these things woiild only make me 
 laugh heartily, but as it is (so far as music is concerned) I 
 am surrounded by mere brute beasts. But how can it be 
 otherwise ? for, in all their actions, inclinations, and passions, 
 
176 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 they are jiist tlie same. There is no place in the world like 
 Paris. You must not think that I exaggerate when I speak 
 in this way of the music here ; refer to whom you will, 
 except to a Frenchman bom, and (if trustworthy) you will 
 hear the same. But I am now here, and must endure it for 
 your sake. I shall be grateful to Providence if I get away 
 with my natural taste uninjured. I pray to God every day 
 to grant me grace to be firm and steadfast here, that I may 
 do honour to the whole German nation, which wiU all re- 
 dound to His greater honour and glory, and to enable me to 
 prosper and make plenty of money, that I may extricate you 
 from your present emergencies, and also to permit us to meet 
 soon, and to live together happily and contentedly ; but ' His 
 will be done in eai-th as it is in heaven.' I entreat you, dearest 
 father, in the meantime, to take measures that I may see Italy, 
 in order to bring me to life again. Bestow this great happi- 
 ness upon me, I implore you ! 
 
 But his stay in Paris, though not productive of 
 much outward success for our young Maestro, had im- 
 portant results for his future life, even beyond all that 
 he had seen and heard in Mannheim. It was the period 
 of the celebrated struggle between Italian music and 
 the reformed French style of Griuck, which had been 
 kindled into fierce flames, the Piccinists and Gluckists 
 being bitterly opposed to each other. In this keen 
 strife, chiefly conducted by the literati, there was un- 
 questionably nothing that could promote Mozart's 
 genius. The performance, however, of the operas of 
 both rivals, and the extraordinary sympathy of the 
 public, frequently excited into a positive scandal 
 roused Mozart's attention to the uttermost to discern 
 
HIS STAY IN PAKIS. 177 
 
 the difference between their compositions, as well as 
 the direction of the course Grluck had adopted. Griuck, 
 indeed, was not then in Paris, and Piccini, whose 
 ' Eoland ' had at this particular time enormous success, 
 was regarded as the hero of the day. But Mozart was 
 already decidedly attracted by the new style, and this 
 preference, with its important influences, no doubt is 
 owing to the circumstance that he was at that time in 
 Paris. 
 
 He was well acquainted with Italian music, and as 
 much at home in it as any of the other living artists. 
 He, therefore, felt less interest in Piccini. 
 
 I talked to Piccini at the Coiicert Spirituel ; he is always 
 most polite to me and I to him when we do by chance meet. 
 Otherwise I do not seek much acquaintance, either with him 
 or any of the other composers ; they understand their- work 
 and I mine, and that is enough. 
 
 There is no indication of any acquaintance with 
 Gretry, the composer of that charming ' Eichard Coeur 
 de Lion,' and the founder of the French operetta, with 
 its pleasant, easy grace, and fresh impulsive life. 
 Wolfgang did not, indeed, seek out these masters, but 
 he studied their scores. Meanwhile, he was devoted 
 heart and soul to Grluck ; and probably this predilection 
 was in some degree founded on the intense pathos and 
 earnestness of Grluck, which harmonised with the pre- 
 sent mood of his soul, having so recently endured the 
 first painful experiences of his life. It was Gluck who 
 VOL. I. N 
 
178 APPBENTICESHIP. 
 
 had just interposed a violent and emphatic check on 
 the luxurious virtuoso style of singing, which, at that 
 period, exaggerated Italian music with all its melodious 
 charm into utter extravagance. Thus, in compliance 
 with the reaction of the time, which everywhere ex- 
 acted a return to nature and simplicity, Gluck intro- 
 duced into his music the law that all the characteristics 
 of the various personages and their situations should 
 be expressed with truth, and without ornament. In 
 his ' Alceste ' he had already given a high example 
 of this, and it was quickly followed by " Iphigenie.' 
 Everyone felt that the spirit of the antique, which, 
 above all, consists of noble sympathy, was here rendered 
 in such tones that the emotions expressed by the music 
 were grand and genuine, and true tragic pathos was 
 portrayed. The sensual charm of Italian strains, however 
 devoid they may be of sense andsignificance,give us lovely 
 simple melody, naturally preferred by a great pait of the 
 public. The admirers of these two styles were violently 
 opposed to each other, being as yet unaware that they 
 were not in reality inimical; while the genius who was 
 one day to fuse them into unity quietly watched the 
 rage of the partisans. He did not reqiure to concern 
 himself much about the grace and charm of melody, 
 for in him these were inborn and already cultivated. 
 With all his leanings towards this form of beauty, that 
 •genuine truth and simplicity which form the basis of 
 all art, especially that of music, never failed Mozait. 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 179 
 
 On the contrary, all his melodies, whether in the ' Finta 
 G-iardiniera,' or in his smaller instrumental pieces, 
 breathe this natm-al profound feeling. But this re- 
 quirement was now demanded in a far higher sense ; 
 the situations were to be grander, the passions more 
 vehement ; in fact, the tragic element pervaded the 
 personages of Grluck, and he acquired for his music 
 nobler means of expression. Mozart's artistic instincts, 
 on a level with the spirit of the time, adhered at once 
 to this style. When Grluck's victory over the Italians 
 occurred some years later, it was a proof of the justness 
 of his ideas. A still more decisive testimony was, that 
 a genius like Mozart, as soon as he came into contact 
 with this school, adopted it and made it his own. At 
 this very moment his heart had been for the first time 
 smitten with that passion which alone fully reveals man 
 to himself. It had cost him a severe struggle to defend 
 his love against sharp assaults, while his former gaiety 
 of soul and frolicsome mood were now replaced by a 
 gravity directed to the lofty and pathetic, destined for 
 some years to come to rule exclusively Mozart's mind, 
 until resolved into a loftier, freedom and harmony of 
 soul. 
 
 In addition to the other troubles that caused such 
 violent emotion in Wolfgang, an event at this time 
 occurred that painfully agitated his soul, and initiated 
 the inexperienced youth into the trials of life. The good 
 mother, who had accompanied her son to Paris, died 
 
 N '1 
 
1 80 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 quite unexpectedly. Everything had become one-half 
 dearer in Paris, so they lived together in an uncomfort- 
 able dark room, so small that there was no space in 
 it even for a piano. This discomfort and constant 
 solitude — for Wol%ang was occupied almost all day 
 in the town — brought an illness on the poor mother, 
 who also suffered from congestion, which kept her in her 
 room for three weeks. Their intention was to move 
 into a better apartment, where the mother could assist 
 in ihe menage ; but in June she was again attacked by 
 illness. She was bled, and wrote herself to her husband, 
 complaining of much pain ; and, after fourteen miser- 
 ably anxious days passed by Wolfgang at her bedside, 
 she died. 
 
 The son was now left all alone in the large metro- 
 polis. Yet we see him, whose heart and nature were 
 so singularly susceptible, not sinking into a state of 
 feeble lamentation, but recognising clearly and with 
 manly self-control, that this dreadful news must be 
 broken to his father with all possible care. He, there^ 
 fore, applies to his friend Bullinger to prepare his 
 father. He then writes to bis father, who had had 
 so many trials, first to tranquillise him about his own 
 condition ; and it is touching to see how carefully he 
 does this, and how deeply affected he is when he hears 
 that his father is composed. 
 
 Melancholy as your letter made me, still I was inexpressibly 
 happy to find that you both bear this sorrow as it ought to 
 
HIS STAY IN PABIS. 181 
 
 he borne, and that my mind may now be at ease about my 
 beloved father and sister. As aeon as I read your letter, my 
 £rst impulse -was to throw myself on my knees, and fervently 
 to thank our gracious God for this blessing. I am now 
 comparatively happy, bexiause I have no longer anything to 
 ■dread on account of the two persons who are dearest to me in 
 this world ; had it been otherwise, such a terrible misfortune 
 would have utterly overwhelmed me. 
 
 This was the first reminder to our Maestro that all 
 i;hings on earth pass away. No doubt the days and 
 nights passed by the sick bed of his mother had given 
 rise to many serious thoughts in his mind, and her 
 ■death afiSicted him deeply. But, although it occurred 
 unexpectedly, and much as Wolfgang dreaded her loss, 
 still he watched his mother's life gradually ebb away, and 
 knew it was an event which must have taken place in 
 the course of nature. In his letter to his father, and 
 also to his friend BuUinger, he expressly says :— 
 
 By the mercy of God I have borne it all with firmness 
 -and composure. When the danger became imminent, T 
 prayed to God for only two things — a happy death for my 
 mother, and strength and courage for myself ; and our gra- 
 •cious God heard my prayer, and conferred these two boons 
 fully on me. 
 
 Shortly after he was to learn the fleeting nature of 
 things from a source he had never anticipated, which 
 was to rend asunder his heart and disturb the course 
 «of his life. Indeed, even now he had ' fits of melan- 
 
182 APPEBNTICESHIP. 
 
 choly,' and his longing to see his Aloysia contributed 
 to his sadness. On the whole, however, he was ' fresh 
 and well,' and as for those hours of depression, he 
 declared that they were much softened by writing and 
 receiving letters. ' I then once more feel cheerful.' 
 
 He continued to give the most minute details of 
 his life to his father, whose anxiety about his inex- 
 perienced son, alone in Paris, daily increased. We see 
 his care and attention from the handwriting, which had 
 been latterly somewhat neglected, either from careless- 
 ness or owing to natural sorrow, so that the father felt 
 himself called upon to send him a carefully written out 
 alphabet. Fresh vitality seems now to return to the 
 young man, as if the past storm had cleared the atmo- 
 sphere. And when he saw a prospect of writing an 
 opera, the life-blood of the aspiring artist once more 
 resumed its usual lively flow. This hope, however, 
 never was fulfilled, nor did his stay in Paris produce 
 any direct visible results. Grrimm, indeed, took charge 
 of him kindly ; in fact, brought him to live with him — 
 or rather with Madlle. d'Epinay — as they lived together. ■ 
 His Mannheim friends, too, although, in consequence of 
 Mozart not having performed his promise to return, 
 obliged to give their concerts without him, made every 
 effort to extend his artistic fame in Paris, and thus tO' 
 procure for him an opportunity for fresh compositions. 
 Out of gratitude for this, he wrote a ' Sinfonie Con- 
 oertante ' for them, which the director, Le Gros, pro- 
 
HIS STAT IN PAKIS. 183 
 
 mised to produce at one of the Concerts Spirituels ; 
 but he never did so. He also, with his usual good- 
 nature, and impelled by gratitude, wrote for this same 
 Le Gros, a symphony, quite in accordance with Parisian 
 taste, clever and lively, with startling effects, especially 
 the crescendo that he had learned from the Mannheim 
 orchestra. 
 
 Just in the middle of the allegro a passage occvirred which 
 I felt sure must please, and there was a burst of applause ; 
 but as I knew at the time I wrote it what effect it was sure 
 to produce, I brought it in once more at the close, and then 
 rose shouts of 'Dacapo ! ' The andante was also Hked, but 
 the last allegro still more so. Having observed that all last 
 as well as first allegros here begia together wth all the other 
 instruments, and generally unisono, mine commenced with 
 only two violins, piano for the first eight bars, followed 
 instantly by a forte ; the audience, as I expected, called out 
 ' Htish ! ' at the soft beginning, and the iastant the forte was 
 heard began to clap their hands. The moment the symphony 
 was over I went off in my joy to the Palais Royal, where I 
 took a good ice, told over my beads, as I had vowed, and went 
 home, where I am always happiest. 
 
 This passage occurs in the letter intended to pre- 
 pare the father for the death of his wife. Wolfgang 
 well knew that such a subject was sure to interest him, 
 and would have the best effect in diverting his mind 
 from sad thoughts and consuming grief. This was, 
 however, the only happy result he could report. For 
 here, as elsewhere, envious and malicious enemies were 
 
184 APPEENTICBSHIP. 
 
 occupied in placing obstacles in the path of the 
 young artist. Of Le Gros and his own ' Sinfonie ' he 
 writes : — 
 
 I believe the real catise to be Cambini, an Italian 
 Maestro ; for at our first meeting at Le Gros', I unwittingly 
 took the wind out of his sails. He composes quintetts, one 
 of which I heard at Mannheim ; it was very pretty, so I 
 praised it, and played the beginning to him. Ritter, Bamm, 
 and Punto were all present, and gave me no peace till I 
 agreed to continue, and to supply from my own head what 
 I could not remember. I therefore did so, and Cambini was 
 quite excited, and could not help saying, ' Questa e una gran 
 testa ! ' Well, I suppose after all he did not quite rdish 
 this. 
 
 Presently, however, he succeeded in getting some 
 pupils and commissions. At first, through Grimm's 
 recommendation, he gave lessons in composition for a 
 couple of hours daily to the daughter of the Due de 
 Guines, and was only offered two louisd'or for his 
 trouble, which he declined to accept. He wrote to his 
 father that the French seemed always to think that he 
 was still only seven years old, and treated him like a 
 beginner. Another time he writes : — 
 
 The French are far from being as polite as they were 
 fifteen years ago. 
 
 He then gives his father an example, which we must 
 quote, being so characteristic of the nonchalance with 
 which artists were at that time treated, and which also 
 shows his own keen sensibility to such conduct : — 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 185 
 
 M. Grimm gave me a letter to tlie Duchesse de Chabot, 
 so I drove there, the purport of the letter being chiefly to 
 recommend me to the Duchesse de Bourbon, who when I was 
 last here [during Mozart's first visit to Paiis] was in a con- 
 vent, and to introduce me afresh to her and recaU me to her 
 memory. A week elapsed without the slightest notice of 
 my visit, but as eight days previously she had appointed me 
 to call on her, I kept my engagement and went. I waited 
 half-an-hour in a large room without any fire, and as cold 
 as ice. At last the Duchess came in, and was very polite, 
 begging me to make allowances for her piano, as none of her 
 instrimients were in good order, but I might at least try it. 
 I said that I would most gladly play something, but at this 
 moment it was impossible, as my fingers were quite benumbed 
 from the cold, so I asked her at all events to take me to a 
 room where there was a fire. ' Oh ! oui, Monsieur, vous 
 avez raison ' — was her answer. She then seated herself, and 
 drew for a whole hour in company with several gentlemen, 
 all sitting in a circle round a large table, and during this 
 time I had the honour to wait. The windows and doors 
 were open, so that not only my hands, but my body and my 
 feet were cold, and my head also began to ache. Moreover, 
 there was altum silentium, and I really did not know what to 
 do owing to cold, headache, and weariness. I agaia and again 
 thought to myself, that if it were not on M. Grimm's axjcount 
 I would leave the house at once. At last, to cut matters 
 short, I played on the wretched, miserable piano. What 
 however vexed me most of aU was, that the Duchess and all 
 the gentlemen did not cease drawing for a single moment, 
 but coolly contiaued their occupation ; so I was left to play 
 to the chairs and tables and the walls. My patience gave 
 way under such unpropitious circumstances. I therefore 
 began the Fischer variations, and after playing one half of 
 
186 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 them I rose. Then came eulogiums -without end. 1, how- 
 ever, said all that could be said — which was, that I could do 
 myself no justice on such a piano, but I should be very glad 
 to fix some other day to play, when a better instnunent 
 might be found. But the Duchess would not hear of my 
 going away ; so I was obliged to wait till her husband came 
 in, who placed himself beside me and listened to me with 
 great attention, while as for me I became unconscious of all 
 cold and all headache, and, in spite of the wretched piano, 
 played as I can play when I am in the right mood. Give 
 me the best piano in Europe and listeners who understand 
 nothing, oi- don't wish to understand, and who do not 
 sympathise with me in what I am playing, I no longer feel 
 any pleasure. I afterwards told all this to M. Grimm. 
 
 What child-like modesty ! what charming com- 
 plaisance ! what conscious artistic power ! Yet with 
 all these noble qualities no progress was to be made 
 with a public like the Parisians of that day, who stood 
 in the lowest grade of musical cultivation. To this 
 was added his aversion to giving lessons. He writes; — 
 
 Giving lessons is no joke here, and unless you wear your- 
 self out by taking a n\imber of pupils, not much money can 
 be made. You must not think that this proceeds from lazi- 
 ness. No ! it is only quite opposed to my genius and my 
 habits. You know that I am, so to speak, plunged into 
 music — ^that I am occupied with it the whole day — ^that I 
 like to speculate, to study, and to reflect. Now my present 
 mode of life effectually prevents this. I have, indeed, some 
 hours at liberty, but those few hours are more necessary for rest 
 than for work. 
 
HIS STAT IN PAEIS. 187 
 
 M. Grrimm regards these peculiarities of the young 
 artist in a very different light. He mistakes these 
 feelings for indifference, and esteems it his duty to 
 reprove the indolence of the young Maestro. He tells 
 him his opinion frankly, and writes to the father, ' He 
 is too simple-hearted, not sufficiently active, too easily 
 entrapped, too little occupied with the means that lead 
 to fortune. In Paris, men must bestir themselves, 
 especially at this moment, when all is strife and tumult 
 as regards music' Wolfgang was highly indignant at 
 such treatment, which he says might have suited 
 children, but not men. He more especially disliked 
 the tone of superiority in these admonitions, which the 
 intellectual and revered encyclopedist thought himself 
 well entitled to use towards the apparently insignificant 
 and unknown artist. This was qtiite a 'pendant to the 
 conduct of the aristocratic Duchesse de Chabot. Be- 
 sides, Wolfgang by no means liked living in the house 
 of Madame d'Epinay and M. Grimm, for the latter 
 ' perpetually throws his kindness in my face ; ' he adds : — 
 
 The room I inhabit belongs to her, not to him. It is 
 the invalid's room — that is, if anyone is ill in the house, he 
 is put there J it has nothing to recommend it except the 
 view — only fcmx bare walls, no chest of drawers — in fact, 
 nothing. 
 
 He also felt that things were carried on in a strange 
 manner in this house ; for, while his intellectual hosts 
 were assiduously circulating deceitful bulletins about 
 
188 APPKBNTICESHIP. 
 
 Voltaire, then lying at the point of death, he simply 
 writes to his father : — 
 
 I must give you a piece of iatelligence that you perhaps 
 already know — namely, that the ungodly arch-villain Voltaire 
 has died miserahly like a dog — just like a brute. This is his 
 reward ! You must long since have remarked that I do not 
 like being here, for many reasons, which, however, do not 
 signify as I am actually here. I never fail to do my very best, 
 and to do so with all my strength. Well, Grod will make all ' 
 things right. 
 
 Nevertheless, Grimm was really concerned about 
 his protegL He lent him fifteen louisd'or, 'bit by 
 bit,' which he was .to be in no hurry to repay. But 
 what Wolfgang could no longer endure was that Grrimm 
 did not consider his talents sufficiently great to enable 
 him to make his way in Paris, and was always extolling 
 Italian music. 
 
 He was constantly urging me to go to see Piccini, and 
 also Garibaldi — for there is a miserable opera huffa here — 
 but I always said, ' No, I will not go a single step,' &c. In 
 short, he is of the Italian faction ; he is insincere himself, 
 and tries to crush me. 
 
 This suspicion was, however, in some degree un- 
 founded, though certainly Grimm's mode of acting did 
 not show much noble or refined feeling, and Wolfgang 
 might well wish to write an opera, to prove to Grimm 
 that he could do as much as his Piccini, although ' only 
 a German.' We are now aware that Mozart, even at 
 that time, had made up his mind as to the merits of 
 
HIS STAT IN PAEIS. 189 
 
 Italian operas, and appreciated the forward steps taken 
 by Grluck and Grretry in dranaatic art, who had opened a 
 new path which they intended to pursue. Meanwhile, 
 he could not profit by the great advantages derived from 
 his visit to Paris. No opportunity was afforded him of 
 writing an opera, and who can tell whether at that 
 period, when all was party excitement, he was suflB- 
 ciently impressed with his proposed combination of both 
 styles ? So the father might well wish that Wolfgang 
 should leave Paris, and this Grrimm also strongly urged. 
 
 Wolfgang's wish now was to find a situation in 
 Munich, where he might also exert himself for th& 
 Webers. The father made no opposition to this, and 
 wrote at once to Padre Martini, to entreat him, through 
 Eaaff, to influence the new Elector. This was done,, 
 and the friends of Mozart in the Electoral orchestra 
 did what they could in his favour. A Grerman com- 
 poser was needed at Munich. Holzbauer was too old ; 
 so there was a good prospect for Mozart at once to 
 obtain an appointment there. But just at the time 
 when the transit of the court and orchestra from 
 Mannheim to Munich was fixed, warlike threats from 
 Prussia (1778) intervened, and all came to a standstill. 
 The father now could only wish that Wolfgang should 
 remain in Paris till these things blew over, and we can 
 quite understand his being eager to seize this oppor- 
 tunity to see his son reinstated in Salzburg. 
 
 Soon after Adlgasser's death, some strong hints had 
 
190 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 "been given on the part of the court. Now the Kapell- 
 Meister Lolli was also dead. So at last the Ai-chbishop 
 spoke out plainly. He first applied to BuUinger, and 
 then directly to the father, who, however, went very 
 diplomatically to work. "Wolfgang was minutely in- 
 formed of all particulars, but did not seem much taken 
 with the idea. The mother being dead, and thfe father 
 supported by Grimm in his wish to shorten his son's 
 stay in Paris, friend BuUinger took up his pen to ex- 
 plain to "Wolfgang that the conditions of the appoint- 
 ment were now very advantageous, and that it was his 
 duty towards others to accept the offer, adding that 
 people might really contrive to live in Salzburg as well 
 as elsewhere ; and, in order still further to attract him, 
 he mentions that Madame Haydn had no longer any. 
 attractions for the Archbishop, who wished to engage a 
 new singer, and his choice might be directed to Aloysia : 
 "Weber. "Wolfgang had written : — 
 
 Count Seeau, who is quite determiaed to engage Madlle. . 
 Weber, would have left nothing tmdone to insure her coming 
 to Munich, so that there was some hope that the family ; 
 might have been placed in better circmnstances ; but now that 
 all is again qvuet about the Munich joiu-ney, these poor, 
 people may have to wait a long time, while their debts daily -^ 
 accumulate. If I coidd only help them ! Dearest father, I 
 recommend them to you from my heart. 
 
 And to BuUinger he replies : — 
 
 You, my dear friend, are well aware how I hate 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 191 
 
 Salzburg, not only on account of the injustice sliewn to my 
 father and myself there, which was in itself enough to make 
 lis wish to forget such a place, and to blot it out wholly from 
 our memory. But do not let us refer to that, if we can con- 
 trive to live respectably there. To live respectably and to 
 live happily are two very different things ; but the latter I 
 never could do, short of witchcraft— it would indeed be super- 
 natural if I did — so this is impossible, for in these days 
 there are no longer any witches. "Well, happen what may, it 
 will always be the greatest possible pleasure to me to embrace 
 my dear father and sister, and the sooner the better. Still, 
 I cannot deny that my joy would be twofold were this to be 
 elsewhere, for I have far more hope of living happily any- 
 where else. 
 
 He takes no notice whatever of the hints about Madlle. 
 Weber. 
 
 Soon after the father mentions that he had been 
 asked on the part of the court whether his son would 
 come if the situations of the late Adlgasser and Lolli 
 were given to the father and son, the salaries amount- 
 ing to 1,000 florins a year. He reminds his son that 
 they could enjoy a variety of recreations if no longer 
 obliged to look so closely after money ; but this offer 
 did not tempt Wolfgang. Salzburg was too circum- 
 scribed, too uncultivated, too 'inferior' for him. 
 Another letter, however, speedily arrived that at once 
 conquered bis aversion. The father writes, ' You do 
 not like Paris, and in that you are not far wi-ong. 
 Hitherto, my heart and mind have been troubled about 
 
192 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 you, and I have been obliged to play a rather question- 
 able part, as amid all my anguish of soul, I was obliged 
 to assume an appearance of cheerfulness to make people 
 believe that you were in the best circumstances and 
 had plenty of money, though well did I know the con- 
 trary. I almost despaired of attaining my object, 
 because, as you know, the step we adopted highly 
 offended the Prince, who took your resignation much 
 to heart. But by my laudable firmness I have suc- 
 ceeded in my aim, and the Archbishop has not only 
 agreed to all our terms both for you and myself, giving 
 you a salary of 500 florins, but expresses his regret that 
 he cannot appoint you at once Kapell-Meister ; and 
 if my post is beyond my strength, or I become super- 
 annuated, you are to undertake my duties. The question 
 now is whether you credit me with having a head on 
 my shoulders, and believe that I care for your best 
 interests — whether you wish to prolong my life or be 
 the cause of my death. Madlle. Weber has found as- 
 tonishing favour in the eyes of the Prince and every- 
 one ; they are all resolved to hear her, and when she 
 comes here she is to stay with us. Yoiu: father of 
 course has no head! but I will manage the matter 
 better for you if you will be guided by me. You must 
 speak at once in favour of Madlle. Weber, for another 
 singer is absolutely required to perform in an opera. 
 My next letter will tell you when to set off.' 
 
 The filial love of the son once more overcame his 
 
HIS STAY IN PARIS. 193 
 
 profound dislike to Salzburg. But the mixture of joy 
 and pain that affected his heart we find touchingly ex- 
 pressed : — 
 
 When I read it I trembled with joy, for I fancied myself 
 already in your arms. True it is (and this you will yourself 
 confess) that no great stroke of good fortune awaits me , 
 still, when I think of once more embracing you and my 
 defir sister, I care for no other advantage. 
 
 But still more he dwells on the thought that possibly 
 Aloysia may come to Salzburg ; for, if the Archbishop 
 really wished to have a good singer, he could not 
 possibly get a better. He writes : — 
 
 When I go to Salzburg I shall certainly not fail to plead 
 zealously for my dear friend ; in the meantime you will not 
 neglect doing all you can in her favour, for you cannot cause 
 your son greater joy. 
 
 He also wishes to return by Mannheim to see the 
 Webers. But what chiefly comforts him is the Arch- 
 bishop's promise to give him leave of absence to travel ; 
 without this stipulation he certainly would not have 
 agreed to return to Salzburg. He writes : — 
 
 A man of moderate talent will never rise above medio- 
 crity, whether he travels or not ; but a man of superior 
 talents (which, without being ungrateful to Providence, I 
 cannot deny that I possess) deteriorates if he always remains 
 in the same place. 
 
 Still he by no means strove to conceal his aversion 
 to hjs native city. The father continues to point out 
 VOL. I. o 
 
1 94 APPBENTICESHIP. 
 
 to him all the advantages he would derive from his 
 position in Salzburg, which also would not prevent his 
 having time to study and speculate. He was not re* 
 quired to play the violin at court, but had permission 
 to conduct the orchestra with a pianoforte. He adds, 
 ' We can attend all the balls in the town hall here 
 during the Carnival. The Munich theatrical company 
 come here the end of September. They are to remain 
 all the winter till Lent, to give comedies and operettas. 
 Every Sunday there will be crossbow-shooting, &c.' 
 The chief point, however, was Madlle. Weber, and the 
 father speaks out frankly on this subject: — ' As to Madlle. 
 Weber, you must not imagine that I object to this ac- 
 quaintance. All young people must sometimes play 
 the fool. You may continue your correspondence just 
 as you do at present. I shall never question you on 
 the subject, far less desire to read your letters. Indeed, 
 I will give you a piece of advice. You know a number 
 of people here, so you might cause Madlle. Weber's 
 letters to be addressed to someone else, and receive 
 them privately, if you dread my curiosity.' 
 
 No sooner was Grimm told of the appointment in Salz- 
 burg, than he urged his protig^ to leave Paris at once. 
 This was only natural, as, according to his conviction, 
 nothing more was to be gained for Wolfgang in Paris, 
 and he was also anxious to be relieved as soon as pos- 
 sible from the responsibility of such a charge ; and he 
 certainly acted in accordance with the intentions of the 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 195 
 
 father, who gratefully acknowledged this, especially as 
 <Trimm offered to advance the money for the journey 
 to Strasburg. Wolfgang, however, could see in this 
 notliing but mistrust and treachery, and he was still 
 more irritated by Grrimm's insisting on his being ready 
 to start within eight days, as he had yet to receive 
 payment from the Due de Gruines and Le Gros. The 
 sonatas were being printed, but were not yet corrected. 
 But though Grrimm may appear somewhat harsh, yet 
 Wolfgang's indignation about the journey had other 
 grounds. We learn from one of the letters he wrote 
 after his arrival in Salzburg, that, meanwhile, Aloysia 
 bad been appointed court singer in Munich, with a 
 salary of 1 ,000 gulden. He writes to his father : — 
 
 That Madlle. Weber, or rather m,y dear Weberin, should 
 now receive a salary, and justice be at last done to her merits, 
 rejoices me to a degree natural in one who feels such deep 
 interest in all that concerns her. I still warmly recommend 
 her to you ; thovtgh I must now, alas ! give up all hope of 
 what I so much wished — her getting an engagement in. 
 Salzburg — for the Archbishop would never give her the 
 salary she now has. All we can now hope for is that she 
 may sometimes come to Salzburg to sing in an opera. 
 
 Of course, the Salzburg appointment was more 
 than ever distasteful to him, and all the annoyances he 
 had endured during his stay in Paris appeared less in 
 his eyes now that he had good hopes of attaining im- 
 portant results. He thought it the greatest folly in the 
 world, and writes to his father as follows : — 
 
 o 2 
 
196 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 Dearest father, I do assure you that, were it not for the' 
 pleasure of soon embracing you, I would never come tc 
 Salzburg ; for, with the exception of this commendable and 
 delightful impulse, I am really committing the greatest folly 
 In the world. Eest assui-ed that these are my own thoughts,, 
 and not borrowed from others. When my resolution to leave 
 Paris was known, certain facts were placed before me, and 
 the sole weapons 1 had to contend against or to conquer 
 these were my true and tender love for my kind father, which 
 could not be otherwise than laudable in all eyes ; but with 
 the remark that, if my father had known my present circum- 
 stances and fair prospects (and had not got different and 
 false impressions by means of a kind friend), he certainly 
 would not have written to me in such a strain as to render 
 me wholly incapable of offering the least resistance to his 
 wish ; and in my own mind I thought jthat, had I not been 
 exposed to so much annoyance in the house where I lived, 
 and the journey come on me like a sudden thunder-clap,, 
 leaving me no time to reflect coolly on the subject, I should 
 have earnestly besought you to have patience for a time, and 
 to let me remain a little longer in Paris. I do assure you 
 that I should have succeeded in gaining fame, honour, and 
 wealth, and been thus enabled to defray your debts. But 
 now it is settled, and do not for a moment suppose that I 
 regret it ; but you alone, dearest father, you alone can 
 sweeten the bitterness of Salzburg for me ; and that you 
 will do so, I feel conviaced. I must also candidly say that 
 I should arrive in Salzburg with a lighter heart were it not 
 for my official capacity there ; for this thought is to me the 
 most intolerable of all. 
 
 We entirely believe this. His object was now to 
 secure a situation in Munich, as Aloysia was there; 
 
HIS STAT IN PARIS. 197 
 
 ^indeed he had recently received a proof of her affection 
 and fidelity. He writes : — 
 
 These poor people were in the greatest distress about me, 
 fearing that I must be dead, a whole month having elapsed 
 without any letter from me (owing to the last one beiug 
 lost) ; an idea that was confirmed by a report in Mannheim 
 that my poor dear mother had died of a contagious disease. 
 So that they have been all praying for my soul. The poor girl 
 went every day for this purpose into the Capuchin church. 
 Perhaps you may laugh at this 1 I did not ; on the contrary, 
 I could not help being much touched by it. 
 
 The father seems not to have fathomed the depth of 
 his son's feelings, or he would not have used the expres- 
 ■sion of 'making a fool of himself,' which caused a 
 variance for a time between these two estimable men, 
 Although Wolfgang's filial piety makes him struggle in 
 the most touching manner against the impulses of his 
 heart— a fact which must equally excite our sympathy 
 and our esteem. He feels his own rights, but is unwill- 
 ing to maintain them contrary to his father's wishes. 
 Yet, inspired by the power of true love, he steadily pur- 
 sues his aim amid every annoyance. He leaves Paris 
 much depressed — not knowing the important influence 
 •of his stay there on himself. His ardent hope is soon 
 to see his beloved Aloysia, and if all goes well to be 
 speedily united to her. This idea was indeed to prove 
 a delusion. Meanwhile, the innumerable troubles and 
 vexations he had been subjected to, strengthened and 
 jnatured his character ; but some sharp strokes of Fate 
 
198 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 were still required to make Mm entirely self-dependent. 
 These he was not to be long spared. The unappeased 
 yearnings, and irritable frowardness, emanating from a 
 lack of excitement and occupation peculiar to the days 
 of early youth, especially when great abilities are con- 
 cerned, were first banished from Mozart's heart by a 
 sharp sorrow which roused all his powers of self-de- 
 pendence, some years later, inciting him to strain every 
 nerve, and qualifying him for the highest creations. 
 It was certainly a happy circumstance for the develop- 
 ment of our artist, that he took no share in the stormy 
 party cabals in the great city, which at that time 
 threatened whoUy to undermine the dignity of art. Our- 
 Maestro calmly studied the great questions at stake 
 in that strife, only at no distant day to solve them in 
 the most brilliant manner. 
 
199 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 A MASTERPIECE 1779-81. 
 
 ' Storms clear the air, 
 And all springs forth 
 More lovely than before.' 
 
 To an artist who derives the subject of his works from 
 the depths of his own feelings, the experiences of the 
 heart are of greater importance than to other men. We 
 must, therefore, minutely follow the few details we can 
 gather that disclose to us the course of Mozart's life. 
 What concerns us here is the cultivation of the man — 
 the cultivation of the artist we can only glance at. We 
 have seen the struggle between duty and inclination in 
 Mozart's heart during his journey to Mannheim ; it 
 was severe — all the fibres of his susceptible heart were 
 affected by it ; and yet, in these same days of sorrow, he 
 wrote a letter teeming with pleasantries. It is addressed 
 to the ' Basle,' and shews that his interest in this girl 
 proceeded chiefly from that merry humour which she 
 had in common with himself. All tender feelings that 
 might naturally have crept into their intercourse were 
 
200 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 now entirely swallowed up by Mozart's passionate love 
 for another. 
 
 Mademoiselle, ma trte-chfere Cousuiei 
 
 You perhaps think or believe that I must be dead? 
 Not at all ! I beg you will not think so, for how could I 
 write so beautifully if I were dead ? Could such a thing be 
 possible t I do not attempt to make any excuses for my 
 long silence, for you would not believe me if I did. Biit 
 truth is truth ; I have had so much to do that, though I 
 have had time to think of my cousin, I have had no time 
 to write to her, so I was obliged to let it alone. But at last 
 I have the honour to enquire how you are, and how you 
 fare? If we soon shall have a talk 1 If you wilte with a 
 lump of chalk 1 If I am sometimes in your mind 1 If to 
 hang yourself you're inclined ? If you're angry with me, 
 poor fool ? If your wrath begins to cool 1 — Oh ! you are 
 laughing ! Victoria ! I knew you could not long resist me, 
 and in your favour would enlist me. Yes ! yes ! I know 
 well how this is, though I am in ten days off to Paris. If 
 you write to me from pity, do so soon from Augsburg city, 
 so that I may get your letter, which to me would be fai' 
 better. 
 
 Now let us talk of other things. Were you very merry 
 during the Carnival? They are much gayer at Augsburg 
 at that time than here. I only wish I had been there that 
 I might have frolicked about with you. I send my love to 
 your father and mother, and to our cousin, and hope they 
 are well and happy; better so, so better! A propos, how 
 goes on your French ? May I soon write you a French 
 letter ? from Paris, I suppose 1 
 
 Now, before I conclude, which I must soon do because 
 I am in haste (having just at this moment nothing to do), 
 
A MASTEEPIECE. 201 
 
 and also have no more room, as yon see my paper is done, 
 and I am very tired, and my fingers tingling from writing 
 so much ; and, lastly, even if I had room, I don't know what 
 I could say, except, indeed, a story which I have a great 
 mind to tell you. So listen ! It is not long since it 
 happened, and in this very country too, where it made a 
 great sensation, for really it seemed almost incredible, and, 
 indeed, between ourselves, no one yet knows the result of 
 the affair. So, to be brief, about iow: miles from here — I 
 can't remember the name of the place, but it was either a 
 village or a hamlet, or something of that kind. Well, after 
 all, it don't much signify whether it was called Triebetrill 
 or Burmsquick ; there is no doubt that it was some place 
 or other. There a shepherd or herdsman lived, who was 
 pretty well advanced in years, but still looked strong and 
 robust ; he was unmarried and well-to-do, and lived happily. 
 But before telling you the story, I must not forget to say 
 that this man had a most astounding voice when he spoke ; 
 he terrified people when he spoke ! Well ! to make my tale 
 as short as possible, you must know that he had a dog called 
 Be]lot, a very handsome large dog, white, with black spots. 
 Well ! this shepherd was going along with his sheep, for he 
 had a flock of eleven thousand under his care, and he had a 
 staff in his hand, with a pretty rose-coloured topknot of 
 ribands, for he never went out without his staff; such was 
 his invariable custom. Now to proceed ; being tired, after 
 having gone a couple of miles, he sat down on a bank beside 
 a river to rest. At last he fell asleep, when he dreamt that 
 he had lost all his sheep, and this fear woke him, but to his 
 great joy he saw his flock close beside him. At length he 
 got up again and went on, but not for long ; indeed, half an 
 hour could scarcely have elapsed, when he came to a bridge 
 which was very long, but with a parapet on both sides to 
 
202 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 prevent anyone falling into tie river. "Well ! he looked at 
 his flock, and as he was obliged to cross the bridge, he began 
 to drive over his eleven thousand sheep. Now be so obliging 
 as to wait tUl the eleven thousand sheep are all safely across, 
 and then I will finish the story. I already told you that 
 the result is not yet known ; I hope, however, that by the 
 time I next write to you all the sheep will have crossed the 
 bridge; but if not, why should I care? So far as I am 
 concerned, they might all have stayed on this side. In the 
 meantime you must accept the story so far as it goes ; what 
 I really know to be true I have written, and it is better to 
 stop now than to tell you what is false, for in that case you 
 would probably have discredited the whole, whereas now 
 you will only disbelieve one half. 
 
 I must conclude, but don't think me rude ; he who begins 
 must cease, or the world would have no peace. My compli- 
 ments to every friend, welcome to kiss me without end, for 
 ever and a day, till good sense comes my way ; and a fine, 
 kissing that wUl be, which frightens you as well as me. 
 Adieu, ma chfere cousine ! I am, I was, I have been, oh ! 
 that I were, would to heavens I were ! I will or shall be, 
 would, could, or should be — what ? — A blockhead ! 
 
 W. A. M. 
 
 The duetts for violin and pianoforte that Mozart 
 began and finished in Paris breathe that cheerfulness 
 which flows from inner harmony. The slower move- 
 ments especially express an amount of tender emotion 
 that could only proceed from a peaceful heart, whereas 
 the D minor sonata is pervaded by a tone of gravity 
 evidently dictated by his own feelings, the struggles 
 and painful excitement of his mind vibrating through- 
 
A MASTEEPIECE. 203- 
 
 out the work. This gifted composer, however, succeeds 
 in impressing on the creations of his fancy the stamp of 
 peace from which true beauty flows. The organisation 
 of his nature which, in its original state, was all concord 
 and harmony, even when disturbed by untoward events, 
 could always regain its balance, by the exertion of his 
 creative imagination. In fact, we only find him dis- 
 pirited when he has no work to do. He could, however, 
 only write at the suggestion of others, for the musi- 
 cians of that day seldom or never took up the pen 
 without a regular commission. No satisfactory orders 
 were to be had in Paris, and very few were given even 
 at a later date; thus the year 1778 was comparatively 
 unfruitful in compositions. 
 
 To this fact may be attributed the brooding mood 
 which had so much dominion over our young Maestro 
 while in Paris, and which did not entirely disappear on 
 the journey, in spite of the hope soon to meet his be- 
 loved Aloysia once more. At lasb came the violent storm 
 that was to clear the oppressive atmosphere. 
 
 Wolfgang left Paris on September 26 — not, indeed, 
 as Grimm had promised, by the usual diligence, but 
 by a carriage which was twelve days on the journey. 
 Wolfgang could not stand the slowness of this convey- 
 ance for more than eight days, so he stopped at Nancy, 
 There he could find no opportunity to continue his 
 journey; thus he did not arrive at Strasburg till the 
 middle of October. Meanwhile, the father receiving no 
 
204 APPBENXICESHIP. 
 
 tidings of his son was in a state of the most overwhelm- 
 ing anxiety. He writes : — ' Your sister and I confessed 
 and communicated, and prayed to God earnestly for 
 your preservation ; our good friend Bullinger daily 
 prays for you at Holy Mass.' 
 
 Wolfgang gave several concerts at Strasburg, which, 
 however, brought so little profit that he was obliged 
 to draw on a banker for money. This paltry debt 
 caused him much annoyance years afterwards, as by 
 some unlucky chance it was not paid at the right 
 time. 
 
 He could not pursue his journey till November 3, as 
 the roads had become impassable owing to heavy floods. 
 By the advice of experienced travellers he went by 
 Mannheim. The father thought this the most foolish 
 step possible. By the 27th, the Webers and most of his 
 other friends had already left Mannheim, but his heart 
 still clung to this city of bright memories. He lived 
 with Madame Cannabich, and writes, ' People are fight- 
 ing to have me,' and adds, ' Just as I love Mannheim, so 
 Mannheim loves me.' It was his wont to feel cheerful 
 wherever he was, and to form good hopes for the future, 
 so he let himself be easily persuaded by the Mannheim- 
 ers that the Elector would soon return, as he could not 
 endure the unpolished manners of the Bavarians, and 
 then Mozart would be appointed. Indeed, he soon had 
 a prospect of profit, as well as of dramatic composition. 
 Eight days afterwards he writes : — 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 205 
 
 I may perhaps make forty louisd'or here. To be sure, 
 I should have to stay six -weeks, or at most two months, in 
 Mannheim. Seller's company is here, -whom you no doubt 
 already know by reputation. Herr von Dalberg is the 
 director. He will not hear of my leaving this tiU I have 
 written a duodrama for him, and indeed I did not lon<T 
 hesitate. 
 
 But the father will not hear of this project, and 
 writes decidedly, ' Set off at once on receipt of this ' ; 
 and a few days later : — ' There are two things which ab- 
 sorb your mind and form an obstacle to all reasonable 
 conclusions. The first and chief of these is your love 
 for Madlle. Weber, to which I am by no means opposed ;. 
 I was not so when her father was poor, why should I be- 
 so now when she can make both her own fortune and 
 yours ? I of course take it for granted that her father 
 is aware of your love, as it is known by everyone in 
 Mannheim. Herr Fiala (a flute-player), having heard 
 of it from yourself; Herr Bullinger, who is tutor at 
 Count Lodron's, said he had travelled in the diligence 
 from EUwang with the Mannheim Musicl who talked 
 of nothing but of your talents, compositions, and love 
 for Madlle. Weber.' He goes on to say, that in Salzburg- 
 he will be so near Munich that he can easily go there,, 
 and Madlle. Weber also might come over and pay them 
 a visit. Fiala had spoken of her singing to the Arch- 
 bishop, so her appointment would in all probability not 
 be long delayed. He continues : — ' It is singular that 
 
"206 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 your being installed in the situation here should be 
 the only opportunity for you once more to go to Italy, 
 and this is a project which is more in my head than all 
 else. In fact this plan is quite indispensable, if you 
 have not in your head the detestable and malicious idea 
 of making a laughing-stock of your careworn father. 
 It is my wish, if Grod wills it so, to live a few years 
 longer, to pay my debts — and then, if you choose, you 
 may knock your head against the wall ! But no ! you 
 have too good a heart — you are incapable of malice — 
 you are only volatile — it will one day all come right ! ' 
 The worthy man had much dif&culty in overcoming his 
 son's hatred of Salzburg, and inducing him to give up 
 his other views. Wolfgang did set off soon, but this 
 time also he did not take the nearest way. He went 
 by Kaiserheim, as the Bishop Prelate there took him as 
 a companion on his journey. ' He is (though a priest) 
 a most delightful man.' As he also wished to go to 
 Munich, Wolfgang waited to accompany him, and thus 
 did not arrive in Munich till Christmas Day. The leave- 
 takings in Mannheim caused him much pain. Madame 
 Cannabich had always been his best and truest friend. 
 When he left it was at an early hour and she would not 
 get up, in order to avoid saying farewell to him, so he 
 crept away quietly, to make the parting less sorrowful. 
 He took his melodrama with him. He promised him- 
 self an equal, nay an infinitely greater, joy in Munich. 
 Prom Kaiserheim he writes to his cousin in Augsburg : — 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 207 
 
 Ma trfes-chfere Cousine, 
 
 I -write to jou in the greatest haste, and in the deepest 
 sorro-w and remorse, and with the determined purpose to tell 
 you that it is my intention to set off to-morrow to Munich. 
 I would, I assure you, gladly have gone to Augsburg, but 
 the prelate was resolved to claim me, for which you <»,nnot 
 blame me. It is my loss, so don't be cross. I may, perhaps, 
 make an excursion from Munich to Augsburg, but this is by 
 no means certain. If you will be as glad to see me, as I 
 shall be to see you, do come to the good town of Munich. 
 Be sure you come by the new year, that I may see your 
 face so dear, and escort you far and near. One thing I 
 very much regret, which is that I cannot give you house- 
 room, because I am not at an hotel, but am living with — 
 whom do you think? I should like to know this myself 
 [with the Webers]. But now Spassus apart. For that very 
 reason, and for my sake, it would be advisable you should 
 come ; perhaps you may have a great part to play, but at all 
 events come. I can then pay you in my own mighty person 
 all proper compliments. Now adieu, angel of piety ! I 
 await you with anxiety. Your sincere cousin, 
 
 "W. A. MOZAET. 
 
 And then comes a postscript that shews his merry 
 mood: — 
 
 P.S. — Write to me forthwith to Munich, Poste Eestante, 
 a little note of twenty-four pages, but do not mention where 
 you are to lodge, that I may not find you out, nor jovl me. 
 
 He is evidently revelling in hope, and how griev- 
 ously was he to be undeceived. His Aloysia — was faith- 
 less to him ! He no longer found her sentiments the 
 same. Mozart, being in mourning for his mother. 
 
208 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 appeared before her dressed, according to French custom, 
 in a red coat with black buttons, which seems not to 
 have pleased Aloysia. He quickly perceived that her 
 feelings were utterly changed. Staats Eath Nissen, who 
 eventually married Mozart's widow, writes : — ' Aloysia 
 seemed scarcely to recognise one for whose sake she had 
 shed so many tears, on which Mozart quickly seated 
 himself at the piano, and sang in a loud voice, " Ich lass 
 das Madchen gem das mich nicht will " (I gladly give 
 up the girl who slights me).' 
 
 Wolfgang lived with the Webers, who received him 
 in the kindest manner. This incident was, indeed, a 
 severe shock to his soul. His father, too, had written 
 through Cannabich, enjoining him to leave Munich 
 by the first diligence, and not to attempt any further 
 delay, though he and Eaaff were working hard 
 for Wolfgang in every direction. The father's orders, 
 however, were imperative ; so now, in addition to his 
 ruined hopes and the . gloomy prospect of Salzburg, 
 Mozart felt much uneasiness lest his father, in his state 
 of discontent and depression, should not receive him 
 kindly. He really felt quite heart-broken, for he now 
 more than ever found the need of being sustained by 
 his father's faithful devotion, when the ground seemed 
 tottering under his feet, when she whom he had so 
 fondly loved was no longer to be his. He poured out 
 his heart to his old friend Becke (a flute-player), who 
 still further increased the excitement of his young 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 209 
 
 spirit, by representing to him all the goodness and in- 
 dulgence of his father. So the measure was now full 
 to overflowing, and there is much significance in Mozart's 
 simple words to his father, a few days later : — 
 
 I naturally write very badly, for I never learned to write ; 
 stUl, in my whole life I never wrote worse than this very 
 day, for I really am unfit for anything — my heart is too full 
 of tears. 
 
 It was not Mozart's way to ease his heart by words. 
 The commotion of feelings that like a stream rushed 
 through his heart, remained locked within him, and did 
 not flow away in tears, though shed drop by drop on the 
 years of his life, on the images of his fancy, and nour- 
 ished (like few other artists) by his heart's blood. No 
 word of complaint issues from his lips, but at this trying 
 moment he thinks of his father's love ; and no better 
 proof can be given of the goodness of young Mozart's 
 heart than Becke's letter to the father : — ' Wolfgang is 
 burning with the desire once more to see and to em- 
 brace his most dear and beloved father, which he will 
 certainly do as soon as circumstances here will permit. 
 Indeed, he has made me also feel very low-spirited, for 
 during the last hour he has never ceased to shed tears. 
 He has the very best heart in the world ! I never saw 
 anyone with more reverence and love for a father than 
 your son has for you. His heart is so pure, so childlike, 
 so upright towards me — how much more must this be 
 the case towards his father ! We have only to hear him 
 
 VOL. I. i' 
 
210 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 speak to do him the justice to say that he has the best 
 disposition, and is the most honourable and zealous of 
 men.' 
 
 Wolfgang's heart was saddened by the thought that 
 he had so Ipng delayed his return, and he tried every 
 means to get an appointment anywhere rather than 
 in Salzburg. The only object that had tempted, and 
 even justified him in doing so, had proved a lie and a 
 delusion. 
 
 The father at once replied that he might rest assured 
 of the most affectionate welcome at home ; that he had 
 only iirged his return because the order for his appoint- 
 ment had been issued four months previously, and his 
 long absence was displeasing to the Archbishop ; so 
 they must strive to prevent its being cancelled. Still 
 the letter that Wolfgang writes in return is more in 
 an accusatory than apologetic tone : — 
 
 I assure you, my very dear father, that I am now full 
 of joy at returning to you (but not to Salzburg), as your last 
 letter shews that you know me better than formerly. There 
 never was any other cause for my long delay in going home 
 hut this doubt, which gave rise to a feeling of sadness that 
 I could no longer conceal ; so I at last opened my heart to 
 my friend Becte. What other reason covdd I possibly have t 
 I have done nothing to cause me to dread reproach from 
 you ; I am guilty of no faidt (by a fault I mean that which 
 does not become a Christian and a man of honour) ; in short, 
 I now rejoice, and already look forward to the most agreeable 
 and happy days, but only in the society of yourself and my 
 dear sister. I give yon my solemn word ot honour that I 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 21 1 
 
 cannot endure Salzburg or its intabitants (I speak of the 
 natives of Salzburg). Their language, their manners, are to 
 me quite intolerable. 
 
 Doubtless this was all true, but it is also true that his 
 heart was aching for his lost love far more than through 
 •aversion to his native city, and his anxiety about his 
 father's affection. And yet this letter concludes as if 
 nothing painful rankled in the mind of the writer : — 
 
 My cousin is here. Why 1 To please me, her cousin ; 
 
 this is, indeed, the ostensible cause. But ^we can talk 
 
 about it in Salzburg ; and, on this account, I wished very 
 much that she would come with me there. You will find a 
 few lines written by her own hand, attached to the foiu-th 
 page of this letter. She is quite willing to go ; so, if it would 
 really give you pleasure to see her, be so kind as to write 
 immediately to her brother, that the thing may be arranged. 
 When you see her and know her, she is certain to please 
 you, for she is a favourite with everyone. 
 
 Did he thus try to soothe his feelings by jests ? and 
 were those pleasantries addressed to his cousin a mere 
 channel for turning aside the grief that gnawed his 
 ;soul ? Certain it is that he did not fall a prey to the 
 violence of his grief; and who does not know that a 
 heart with a'love sorrow is the most susceptible to a 
 fresh love ! The Basle went with him to Salzburg, and 
 'brightened the first weeks of his stay there, and though 
 Ms intercourse with her was only child's play, still she 
 cheered the heart that had been thus flung back on him. 
 We have no direct information from Mozart about those 
 
 F 2 
 
212 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 days, and the passage from Nissen which we have already 
 quoted only proves how he satisfied his pride, but not 
 how his feelings were in reality affected by this incident. 
 We know from innumerable expressions in his previous 
 letters how devotedly he loved Aloysia. It is much to- 
 be regretted that the letters he wrote to her have not 
 been preserved. We learn that the cruel deception he 
 had suffered long continued to affect him, and if we 
 wish for confirmation of this, we shall find it in the 
 words he wrote to his father when he met the Webers 
 in Vienna two years afterwards : — 
 
 What you write of the Webers, I do assure you, is not th& 
 fact. I was a fool about Madame Lange, I own. 
 
 Believe me when I say that old Madame Weber ' is a 
 very obliging person, and I cannot serve her in return in pro- 
 portion to her kindness to me, for indeed I have not time 
 to do so. 
 
 But even now he gives utterance to his feelings in 
 his own way. He wrote another aria for Aloysia ; but 
 what a prodigious difference between this and the one 
 lie wrote for her in Mannheim, where his dawning passion 
 was expressed with such loving warmth ! On this occa- 
 sion, too, his own feelings are portrayed in the recitative, 
 containing the most .powerful and surprising changes of 
 harmony. The choice of the text firom the opera of 
 ' Alceste,' by the composition of which Schweitzer, and 
 still more Gluck, attained renown, proves that the artist 
 now wishes to shew his powers, and, so far at least as 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 213 
 
 feeling is concerned, he succeeded in surpassing both his 
 predecessors. The expression of passion and dramatic 
 .style are more elevated in GHuck. Mozart's special wish 
 was to exhibit his own abilities, and likewise the powers 
 ■of the fair singer. The aria is pervaded by embellish- 
 ments which exhibit in the most brilliant light the 
 fabulous extent as well as the flexibility of her voice, 
 .and by other sostenuti passages which recall the deep 
 feeling that Mozart himself had formerly prized in this 
 girl ; but the soul of love no longer dwells in these 
 tones. The aria is a homage offered to the singer, not 
 .a heart's gift bestowed on a beloved idol. 
 
 Aloysia was, indeed, no longer worthy of the love 
 that Mozart felt for her. We certainly do not learn 
 whether the admiration excited in Munich by her 
 youthful beauty and by her singing had given rise to 
 foolish arrogance on her part, or whether the girl, now 
 surrounded by more aristocratic and fashionable ad- 
 mirers, considered the unpretentious, youthful Maestro 
 too insignificant. This we cannot tell. At all events, 
 her conduct is a proof that her character was not 
 suited to the noble nature of Mozart, and we shall 
 see that, in the course of a few years, he acknowledged 
 his mistake. At this moment, however, his sorrow 
 was too recent, and his love not yet overcome. It was 
 •only the great purity of his heart that prevented such 
 a trial depriving him of peace of soul or trust in man. 
 But, from this love in all its poetic fulness taking such 
 
214 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 root in his heart, he gained an inestimable treasure, by 
 which he profited through life. He had, indeed, lost 
 the girl to whom he was devoted ; but love he did 
 not lose. It remained with this child of sorrow, and 
 disciplined his soul; and few more experiences were 
 needed, till his inner self, casting off earthly wishes, 
 stood alone and independent. Still we see, as it were, 
 a light misty veil floating round his head, even amid 
 the many cheerful compositions of this period; but 
 scarcely two years elapsed before the sun shone forth 
 again in all its lustre, confidence and light revisiting 
 his heart. 
 
 Neither happiness nor riches brightened Aloysia's 
 path in life, nor the peace of mind arising from the 
 consciousness of purity of heart. Not till she was an 
 aged woman, and Mozart long dead, did she recognise- 
 what he really had been ; she liked to talk about him 
 and his friendship, and in thus recalling the brightest 
 memories of her youth, some of that lovable charm, 
 seemed to revive that Mozart had imparted to her and 
 to all with whom he had any intercourse. Everyon& 
 was captivated by her gay, unassuming manner, her 
 freedom from all the usual virtuoso caprices in society,, 
 and her readiness to give pleasure by her talent to 
 everyone who had any knowledge or love of music. It 
 seemed as if a portion of the tender spirit with which 
 Mozart once loved her had passed into her soul and 
 brought forth fresh leaves from a withered stem. But 
 
A MASTEHPIECE. 215 
 
 years of faults and follies intervened for Aloysia, and 
 we shall see Mozart often brought into contact with 
 her. Meanwhile, he parted from her with much pain, 
 though the esteem with which he had hitherto regarded 
 her was no longer the same. 
 
 So much the greater was the loving reverence with 
 which the deceived lover returned to his faithful 
 father, and the zeal with which he now applied himself 
 to his art, and the pursuit of his ideal. 
 
 His reception at home, and the loving welcome he 
 everywhere met with, must have deeply affected him. 
 He had been absent almost two years. The golden 
 bird had flown away from his cage with the fairest 
 hopes, rejoicing in liberty. Now he came back into 
 the same cage with many a bright feather plucked out 
 by ruthless hands, not knowing when he should be 
 freed from his imprisonment, and devoid of all hope. 
 He had expected to gain fame and honour, and wealth 
 also, in the wide world. He had striven honestly, and 
 won some renown ; but no wealth did he bring home. 
 He returned poor to his native city — ' poor in purse, 
 sick at heart.' He had left his mother for ever in a 
 foreign land. His youthful love, only a few short 
 weeks ago so warm, so vivid, had been equally borne to 
 the grave. Nowhere did he see a glimmer of joy, no- 
 where any token of a happy future. How many tears 
 must he have shed when once more in the arms of his 
 
216 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 good father ! No doubt their lips were silent, but their 
 hearts were eloquent 1 
 
 All was carefully prepared for his reception. A 
 large handsome press and a harpsichord were placed in 
 his room, Theresel bought any amount of capons, 
 Count Firmin already proffered the use of his horses, 
 and Dr. Prexl placed his handsome bay horse at his 
 service. How many other friends greeted him with 
 delight and triumph ! Yet tears ran down his cheeks, 
 his mood was gloomy, and his heart crushed by grief. 
 He did not then see what we have since learned — ^that 
 all was tp turn out for the best, and that the long 
 journey, with all its joys and sorrows, had matured the 
 man as well as the artist ; and that even the secluded 
 life at Salzburg into which he had been again forced 
 would tend to the full growth of his powers, and render 
 him capable of the highest efforts. 
 
 During the first weeks the Basle came to visit her 
 uncle, and no doubt this frolicsome little creature 
 cheered and amused Wolfgang. Many an old con- 
 nection with Salzburg friends was renewed ; so there 
 was no lack of cheerful sociability. It was, however, 
 the small amount of cultivation and reverence for art 
 that revolted Mozart in his native city. He writes 
 later : — 
 
 You cannot deny that in Salzbiu-g (for me at least) there 
 is not the smallest recreation. With many there I do not 
 choose to associate, and most of the others do not think me 
 
A MASTEKPIECE. 217 
 
 good enough. No encouragement besides for my talent. 
 When I play, or when any of my compositions -are given, 
 it is just as if the audience were all chairs "and tables. 
 
 Moreover, the mode and manner in which the 
 ' mufti ' treated him seemed more offensive than before. 
 We know no more details of Mozart's last visit to his 
 birthplace ; but the ill-usage he afterwards experienced 
 from the Archbishop leads us to conclude that there was 
 nothing very encouraging in their connection. Besides, 
 the resentment the holy prelate cherished against his 
 young Kapell-Meister was certainly not mitigated by 
 Mozart's long delay in entering on his new duties. 
 The novel arrangements that enjoined very short pieces 
 being given not only at court, but in church, was not 
 a pleasant prospect for our Maestro, nor an inducement 
 to use those creative powers, the nearest and dearest of 
 all things to him, and in the exercise of which he con- 
 trived to forget all the troubles of life. He writes 
 later that, though he certainly preferred work to idle- 
 ness, it cost him such an effort to work in Salzburg, 
 that often he could not prevail on himself to do so. 
 ' Why ? because my mind was not cheerful ! ' More- 
 over, he was oppressed by the feeling that his stay at 
 Salzburg would impede his real mission. ' To spend 
 one's young years in idleness, and in such a beggarly 
 dreary place as Salzburg, is a great loss of time.' 
 
 And yet these years of gloom and oppression had 
 their advantages. They impelled the youth to search 
 
218 APPKENTICESH IP. 
 
 into and to study his own heart, and to work out the 
 various materials of joy and sorrow he had abeady 
 gathered in the world. P'or, though he speaks of idle- 
 ness, ,he composed a number of works at this very 
 time, forerunners of the masterpiece by which hei 
 was shortly to purchase his liberty, and to rise from 
 an apprentice to become a master. We cannot furnish 
 a list of the works produced during these two years. 
 It suffices to say that each of them shews a greater 
 maturity both in the man and the artist. The sym- 
 phonies of this date manifest, by their rich counter- 
 point the advantages of his stay in Mannheim and in 
 Paris. The individual instruments are more studied, 
 and, above all, each of the wind instruments has his seat 
 and vote in the musical parliament. In all his works a 
 degree of freedom and vigour jirevails, which might lead 
 us to doubt whether his heart had really received such 
 deep wounds, if many an andante did not set forth in 
 its profoimdly touching melody the depth of the feeling 
 that sorrow brings to man. But even in this suppressed 
 melancholy lies a peace which proves that his heart had 
 struggled through its sorrows, and from these had 
 sprung forth lively, bright, and laughing hxunour. 
 
 In May, another of his droll letters is despatched 
 to the Basle : — 
 
 Dearest, sweetest, most beauteous, fascinating, and 
 charming of all cousins, most basely maltreated by an un- 
 worthy kinsman ! Allow me to strive to soften and appease 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 219 
 
 your just wrath, which only heightens your charms and 
 winning beauty, as high as the heel of your slipper ! I hope 
 to soften you, nature having bestowed on me a large amount 
 of softness, and to appease you, being fond of sweet pease. 
 As to the Leipzig affair, I can't tell whether it may be worth 
 stooping to pick up ; were it a bag of ringing coin, it would 
 be a very different thing, and nothing less do I mean to 
 accept, so there is an end of it. 
 
 Sweetest cousia, such is life ! One man has got a purse, 
 . but another has got the money, and he who has neither has 
 nothing ; and nothing is even less than little ; while, on the 
 bther hand, much is a great deal more than nothing, and 
 nothing can come of nothing. Thus has it been from the 
 beginning, is now, and ever shall be ; and as I can make it 
 neither worse nor better, I may as well conclude my letter. 
 The gods know I am sincere. How does Probst get on with 
 his wife ; and do they live in bliss or in strife 1 most silly 
 questions, upon my life ! Adieu, angel ! My father sends 
 you his uncle's blessing, and a thousand cousinly kisses from 
 my sister. Angel, adieu ! 
 
 Then follows a parody on a poem of Klopstock's, 
 set so charmingly to music by Franz Schubert, ' Dein 
 siisses Bild ' : — 
 
 A TENDER ODE. 
 To Mt Ootjsin. 
 
 Thy sweet image, cousin mine, 
 
 Hovers aye before me ; 
 Would the form indeed were thine ! 
 
 How I would adore thee ! 
 I see it at the day's decline ; 
 I see it through the pale moonshine, 
 And linger o'er that form divine. 
 
220 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 By all the flowers of sweet perfume 
 
 I'll gather for my cousin — 
 By all the wreaths of myrtle bloom 
 
 ru wreath her hy the dozen — 
 I call upon that image there 
 To pity my intense despair, 
 And he indeed my cousin fair. 
 
 This is the last letter to the Basle which has as 
 jet come into our hands. It shows that a good deal 
 of bantering and a little tenderness passed between the 
 two, and it appears that she had taken this playful 
 courtship in rather a serious light; at least, those 
 around her believed (Jahn says) that the manner in 
 which she spoke of him betrayed some traces of hopes 
 deceived. She was never willing to refer to that 
 period of her life. She was not musical ; thus she was 
 far estranged from Mozart's own nature ; besides, he 
 did not find in her those more profound emotions 
 which, with all his light-heartedness, formed in reality 
 the basis of his being. 
 
 The Basle died on January 20, 1841, at the ad- 
 vanced age of 83. 
 
 The choruses to the drama of ' King Thamos ' were 
 ■written at that time, and are of deeper significance 
 than the other instrumental pieces we have mentioned. 
 They were afterwards provided by Mozart himself with 
 Latin words, and thus transformed into those Hymns 
 so universally admired, and which have become the 
 standard of his excellence as a church composer. A 
 
A MASTEKPIECE. 221 
 
 certain solemnity pervades them sucli as few of his 
 sacred works possess, and an elevation of feeling, only 
 surpassed in the ' Flauto Magico.' But the composer 
 has relied on theatrical effect, and thus, in spite of his 
 graver intentions, we find more worldly pomp than reli- 
 gious depth in these choruses, which Mozart worked 
 out with all love and care, even in their most minute 
 details, and which manifest the thoughtful mood that 
 absorbed his soul. Yet some of the sacred works of 
 that date, in spite of the narrow limits within which 
 Hieronymus had circumscribed them, bear a much 
 deeper impress of that spirit from which at the close of 
 his life the Requiem emanated. 
 
 Now, however, an ppportunity was offered him to 
 pour forth the thoughts that had been so long ferment- 
 ing within him. The director of the theatre Schi- 
 kaueder, whom we shall presently hear more of, was 
 in Salzburg this year with his company, and knew 
 how to use Wolfgang's abilities for his own advantage. 
 He was acquainted with the Mozart family, and soon 
 became so intimate with them that he took part in 
 the crossbow-shooting. Wolfgang composed an aria 
 for him, and it was at his suggestion that the worthy 
 Schachtner wrote the text of an operetta which we 
 know under the name of ' Zaide.' The subject roused 
 Mozart's feelings. It treated of two lovers who, as in 
 the ' Entfiihrung,' were separated by the passion of a 
 sultan. Mozart could here express the whole magic 
 
222 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 charm of his own emotions, the misery of the lovers, 
 their joys succeeded by sorrow, and then final happi- 
 ness. He had himself experienced all these vicissi- 
 tudes ; his melodies, therefore, breathed a tenderness, 
 a fervour, and, moreover, a dignity and grace charac- 
 teristic of the genuine Mozart, just as we now know 
 and love him — a type of his charming, refined, pure, 
 loving soul. This aria, some instrumental pieces, and 
 pianoforte sonatas, possess a singularly fascinating 
 spell of warm feeling, strikingly portraying the inner 
 life of the young artist. We see him gradually giving 
 forth the experiences of his inner and outward life ; 
 and even the distasteful circle around him does not 
 disturb the harmony and brightness of his soul. These, 
 however, were only effusions of personal feeling, or at 
 most preparatory to greater things. He longed for a 
 task on a larger scale. His wish was to write a grand 
 opera. His studies in this school had been long com- 
 pleted ; he knew what great masters had done for the 
 dramatic muse; he was well acquainted with their 
 various styles — the old Italian method, as well as the 
 recent innovations of Grluck. He burned with the 
 desire to achieve some great work, by which he could 
 prove himself a master and soar above all the others ;'- 
 and it was so. ' ''' 
 
 In Munich, where, in spite of every effort, Wolfgang 
 had failed in procuring an a pointment, his friends 
 were as active as evei: in his behalf; so when a new 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 223 
 
 Italian opera was commissioned for the Carnival of 1781, 
 it was not difficult to direct the choice to Mozart. Both 
 the Elector and Count Seeau knew and appreciated him. 
 The moment the commission arrived in Salzburg, Mozart 
 laid aside everything else, both his office and his 
 operetta, and joyfully hurried off to Munich. The 
 Archbishop could not venture to refuse him leave of 
 absence, having given the most faithful pledges on this 
 subject ; and, moreover, consideration was due to his 
 Bavarian neighbour. A Salzburger, Abbe Varesco, was 
 • to write the l^retto, which Schaohtner subsequently 
 translated into German. It was ' Idomeneo, King of 
 Crete,' and this was the first great work by which Mozart 
 , entered the circl.e of the Immortals. 
 
 Here was a task worthy of him, The Munich 
 orchestra had known Mozart at Mannheim. It was the 
 best in Germany— indeed, in the world— and he had a 
 right to expect much from them, especially as its mem- 
 bers were almost all personally attached to him. He 
 was equally well acquainted with the singers. Dorothea 
 Wendling's talents were very conspicuous ; Elizabeth 
 Wendling also was not devoid of merit. Raaff, though 
 'wedded to the old style,' was an admirable, well-trained 
 singer. Mozart was indeed obliged to teach the musico, 
 Dal Prato, the whole opera, and he writes : — ' He is 
 incapable of singing even the introduction to any air of 
 
 importance, and his voice is so uneven ! ' He adds : 
 
 ' The fellow's voice would not be so bad if he did not 
 
224 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 sing through his nose and from the back of his throat I ' 
 But be made due allowance for this in writing his 
 part, and achieved the right thing here also. The 
 subject furnished many dramatic and effective situations," 
 and though in the style of an opera seria, the music 
 chiefly a succession of arias, strung together by the 
 threads of a plot, yet Mozart, who had seen Griuck's 
 operas, urged choruses being interwoven with the textj 
 and that they might share in the action of the piecei 
 And now he began to compose with a zeal which we can 
 understand, after having seen the young eagle so long shut 
 up in prison. He wished to take advantage of the first, 
 flight he had ventured to make into the world. He 
 longed to prove himself to be the r9yal bird which 
 in reality he felt he was. His mind was teeming with 
 grand ideas, his heart free and fresh, his fancy burning 
 with youthful fire. What he had now at stake was to 
 win so much renown that he might leave hated Salzburg 
 for ever. Long had he ' waited and watched ' — in 
 Mannheim, in Paris, and again in Mannheim, he had 
 vainly longed to compose a grand opera. Now he held 
 trumps in his hand, and he wished to play them out. 
 We know that he did so, that he succeeded and won the 
 game, and with it golden liberty. 
 
 He arrived in Munich the beginning of November, 
 1780, ' happy and joyous.' He lived in the Burggasse, 
 where a tablet is now placed to his memory. Part of 
 
A MASTBBPIECE. 225 
 
 the music was already written, which must now be 
 studied, and the remainder completed. On every side 
 he met with the most kindly reception. Count Seeau 
 was all complaisance, though they had their disputes, 
 when Mozart became crusty, ' or I could do nothing with 
 him.' He writes : — 
 
 After mass last Sunday Count Seeau presented me, en pas- 
 sant, to H. S. H. the Elector, who was very gracious. He 
 said, ' I am happy to see you here again ' ; and on my reply- 
 ing that I would strive to deserve the good opinion of His 
 Serene Highness, he clapped me on the shoulder, saying, 
 ' Oh ! I have no doubt whatever that all will go well — a 
 piano piano si vd, lontano.' 
 
 So he could entirely tranquillise his father as to the 
 success of his opera. 
 
 By the end of November the first act was already 
 rehearsed. He writes : — 
 
 The rehearsal went off with extraordinary success ; the 
 requisite wind instruments were there, but only six violins in 
 all. No one was admitted but Count Seeau's sister and 
 young Count Seiasheim. This day week we are to have 
 another rehearsal with twelve violins for the first act, and 
 then the second act will be rehearsed (like the first on the 
 previous occasion). I cannot tell you how delighted and 
 surprised all were ; but I never expected anything else, for 
 I declare I went to this rehearsal with as quiet a heart as if 
 I had been going to a banquet. Count Seinsheim said to me, 
 ' I do assure you, though I expected a great deal from 
 you, I can traly say this I did not expect.' 
 
 VOL. I. Q 
 
226 APPHENTICBSHIP. 
 
 The Cannabichs and all who frequent their house are true 
 Mends of mine. After the rehearsal (for we had a great deal 
 to discuss with the Count), when I went home with Canna- 
 hich, Madame Oannabich came to meet me, and hugged me 
 for joy at the rehearsal having passed off so admirably; then 
 came Eamm and Lange, quite out of their wits with delight. 
 My true friend the excellent lady, who was alone in the house 
 with her invalid daughter Rose, had been full of solicitude 
 on my account. When you know him, you will find Bamm 
 a true German, saying exactly what he thinks to your face. 
 He said to me, ' I must honestly confess that no music ever 
 made such an impression on me, and I assure you I thought 
 of your father fifty times at least, and of the joy he will feel 
 when he hears this opera.' But enough of this subject. My 
 cold is rather worse owing to this rehearsal, for it is impos- 
 sible not to feel excited when honour and fame are at stake, 
 however cool you may be at first. 
 
 The father exhorted him to spare himself, especially 
 as at that time Nannerl was suffering from congestion 
 of the lungs, and threatened with consumption. But 
 Wolfgang was not to be checked in his flow of work, 
 and writes : — 
 
 You have no doubt seen by my letters that I am well and 
 happy. Who would not feel happy to have completed such a 
 great and laborious work — and completed it, too, with honour 
 and renown 1 Three arias alone are wanting — ^the last chorus 
 in the third act, and the overture and ballet ; and then — 
 / 
 
 What brightness ! what delight in composition ! He 
 forgets his catarrh, and no longer recalls former days in 
 
A MASTERPIECE. 227 
 
 Munich. Aloysia now lived in Vienna, having been 
 engaged there as •prima donna, and her family had 
 gone with her. Mozart only once alludes to her at that 
 time, and then only casually as an admirable singer, so 
 that it seems as if delight in his opera absorbed all 
 other things. He heard the celebrated Mara in Munich, 
 and writes of her : — 
 
 Mara has not the good fortune to please me. She does 
 too little to be compared with a Bastardella (yet this is her 
 pecTihar style), and too much to touch the heart Hke a 
 Weber [Aloysia], or any judicious singer. 
 
 The sense of his artistic strength was enhanced by 
 this work, which was everywhere greeted by the loudest 
 praise. The father writes : — ' I advise you in your work, 
 not to think only or exclusively of musicians, but also 
 of the unmusical public. You know there are at least 
 a hundred ignoramuses for ten true connoisseurs ; do 
 not therefore forget what is called the popular element, 
 that you may tickle the long ears ! ' Mozart replies : — 
 
 As for what is called the popular taste, do not be uneasy, 
 for in my opera there is music for every class, except for the 
 long-eared. 
 
 So secure did he feel in his work, that he who was 
 usually so obliging and indulgent to • the peculiarities 
 and whims of the singers, now absolutely refused to 
 give way an inch on points where he felt he was right. 
 Of that splendid quartett, in which more profound 
 
 o 2 
 
228 APPRENTICESHIP. 
 
 dramatic life is to be found than in many an entire 
 opera, and which first shows the genius of the dramatic 
 muse in its full splendour, he writes : — 
 
 I have had a piece of work about the quartett. The 
 more I think of the quartett as it will be on the stage, 
 the more effective I consider it, and it has pleased aU those 
 who have heard it on the piano. Raaff alone maintains 
 that it will not be successful. He said to me confidentially, 
 ' There is no opportunity to expand the voice ; it is too con- 
 fined.' As if in a quartett the words should not far rather 
 be spoken, as it were, than sung ! He does not at all under- 
 stand such things. 
 
 ' My dear friend, if I were aware of one single note in 
 this quartett which ought to be altered, I would change it 
 at once ; but there is no single thing in my opera with which 
 I am so pleased as with this quartett, and when you have 
 once heard it sung in concert you will speak very differently. 
 I took every possible pains to conform to your taste in your 
 two arias, and intend to do the same with the third, so I 
 hope to be successful ; but with regard to trios and quartetts, 
 they should be left to the composer's own discretion.' On 
 which he said that he was quite satisfied. 
 
 Indeed after the rehearsal Eaaff was pleased to find 
 that he had been mistaken, and he no longer doubted 
 the good effect. 
 
 Grluck's requirement that in an opera every feeling 
 and situation be expressed in exact accordance with 
 reality, is carried out by Mozart in this quartett in a 
 manner which must have astonished even Gluck him- 
 self, by the delineation of the various personages and 
 
A MASTEKPIECE. 229 
 
 their feelings, portraying also the ensemble of several 
 persons dominated by the same mood, with a degree of 
 ahiUty that Gluck himself could scarcely have attained. 
 For, in addition to the clearness with which Gluck's 
 great mind recognised true feeling, always finding the 
 right tone to express it, Mozart employs those contra- 
 puntal resources of art which can alone clearly define 
 several persons, each in his own individuality, and yet 
 comprise them in one frame. Mozart solved this enigma 
 in a manner far superior to Grluck himself — his strains 
 always preserving the charm of melody, thus imparting 
 to the whole the indescribable magic of sound. This 
 arose partly from his inborn gift of introducing dignity, 
 grace, and pleasing sounds into his works, and partly 
 from having studied in the Italian school. It is not 
 therefore surprising that his music made at that time 
 the deepest impression. Wolfgang writes : — 
 
 The last rehearsal was splendid. It took place in a spa- 
 cious apartment in the palace. The Elector was also within 
 hearing. On this occasion it was rehearsed with the whole 
 ■orchestra (of course I mean those who belong to the opera). 
 After the first act the Elector called out Bravo ! rather too 
 audibly, and when I went into the next room to kiss his 
 hand, he said, ' Your opera is quite charming, and cannot fail 
 to do you honour.' As he was not sure whether he could 
 remain for the whole performance, we played the concerted 
 aria and the thunderstorm at the beginning of the second 
 act, by his desire, when he agaia testified his approbation 
 in the kindest manner, and said, laughing, ' Who could 
 
230 APPEENTICESHIP. 
 
 believe that such great things could be hidden ia so smsdl 
 a head ] ' 
 
 Wolfgang was told that the Elector also said : — ' I was- 
 quite surprised ; no music ever had such an effect on 
 ine ; it is magnificent music' 
 
 But let us now recall the splendid double chorus- 
 when the people flock together during the stonn> 
 Becke wrote to the father, ' This chorus is so powerful 
 that even in the greatest heat of the sun it makes one- 
 f«el ice cold.' This was a novelty at that time ; but does, 
 it not produce the same effect to this day ? We trace 
 in this chorus Griuck's mighty personality, though all 
 that is rough or uncouth is erased. At the end of 
 December Wolfgang writes : — 
 
 The third act will prove at least as good as the two- 
 others — ^in fact, I believe, infinitely better, and that it may 
 fairly be saidj.^i* coronat opus. 
 
 He exerted himself to the uttermost. 
 
 My head and my hands are so fully occupied with my 
 third act, that it would not be wonderful if I turned into a 
 third act myself, for it alone has cost me more trouble than 
 the entire opera ; there is scarcely a scene in it which is not' 
 interesting to the greatest degree. 
 
 He also alludes to the subterranean music, represent- 
 ing the voice of the oracle given by five instruments,. 
 viz. three trombones and two French horns, placed. 
 
A MA8TEBPIECE. 231 
 
 on the spot whence the voice proceeds — the rest of the 
 orchestra silent. Then he had still to write what he 
 calls the ' execrable dance music,' which occupied hiTn 
 so much that he could think of nothing else, not even 
 of his health ; and on January 18 he at length writes, 
 ' Laus Deo — I have done with it at last ! ' Meanwhile, 
 the day of the performance, after many delays, was 
 fixed for January 29. The fame of the music had 
 made its way into Salzburg ; Becke had already written 
 about it, and now Dr. Prexl wrote to Wolfgang that he 
 had ' heard with inexpressible pleasure the great credit 
 he had done to Salzburg.' Several of his friends went 
 to Munich to be present at the first performance of his 
 opera. The father, too, who ' felt the delight of a child 
 in the admirable orchestra,' wished to come with Nannerl. 
 He only waited till the Archbishop, who was about to 
 go to Vienna, left Salzburg, He did not choose to run 
 the risk of an unfavourable answer. Nannerl had a 
 narrow escape of being disappointed ; for, owing to the 
 Empress Maria Theresa's death, everyone was obliged 
 to go into mourning. The father writes : — Your sister 
 has been sorely perplexed about a black dress. Her 
 old one is so shabby that she can wear it no longer, so . 
 to-day she has made up her mind to order a new one, 
 and the silk has been sent to the tailor ; it will cost 
 about 70 florins ; she hopes the Elector wiU pay for it.' 
 This last sentence is written in cypher. They set off 
 on January 25, and arrived in due course at Mimich. 
 
232 APPKENTICESHIP. 
 
 They stayed with Wolfgang, so there were no letters 
 about the performance ; thus we cannot teU how it went 
 off. But from the success of the rehearsal, and tlie 
 eagerness with which the work was expected, we cannot 
 doubt that its reception by the public was a brilliant 
 one. All must agree that the Italian school, which at 
 that time ruled the whole world, received a check tiat 
 set limits to its supremacy by the manner in which 
 Mozart grasped its substance in this work. No Italian 
 has since reached the eminence to which Mozart soars 
 in 'Idomeneo,' for from his youth upwards he was 
 thoroughly versed in the Italian style, to the nature of 
 which he was well accustomed. Charm of sound, tender- 
 ness and grace of melody, the most refined rhythm and 
 finish of form, all is unique in this opera, and it more- 
 over possesses a rich, profound, and earnest signification, 
 especially by the fulness of the instrumentation. The 
 dramatic element, however, is not maintained through- 
 out in accordance with Grluck's reforms. ' Idomeneo ' 
 rather comes short in this respect, so it has disappeared 
 from the stage, though containing much finer music 
 than all Grluck's operas put together. Its splendid 
 quartett has not rescued it from this fate. Mozart was 
 not to^solve this problem till the trials of life had 
 plunged him deeper into its mysteries. But, though in 
 ' Idomeneo ' a rather one-sided tendency is perceptible, 
 Mozart at least proved by it that he was a master who 
 surpassed all his predecessors. Of this he was himself 
 
A MASTEEPIBCE. 233 
 
 aware, and such a consciousness made his heart beat 
 higher. His own creations gave him fresh inspiration, 
 for he felt the power of his genius in the highest sphere 
 -of art. It was in such a mood that, anticipating the 
 glories of the future, he wrote to his father thus : — 
 
 A propos, how goes on the Archbishop ? Next Monday 
 I shall have been six weeks away from Salzburg. You know, 
 dear father, that I only stay there to oblige you, for, by 
 heavens ! if I followed my own inclinations, before coming 
 here I would have torn up my last diploma ; for I give you 
 my honour that not Salzburg itself, but the Prince and his 
 proud nobility, become every day more intolerable to me. 
 1 should rejoice were I to be told that my services were no 
 longer required ; for with the great patronage that I have 
 here, both my present and future circumstances would be 
 seciu-e, death excepted, which no one can guard against, 
 though no great misfortune to a single man. But anything 
 in the world to please you. It would be less trying to me if 
 I could only occasionally escape from time to time, just to 
 draw my breath. You know how diflBcult it was to get away 
 on this occasion ; and without some very urgent cause, there 
 would not be the faintest hope of such a thing. It is enough 
 to make one weep to think of it, so I say no more. Adieu ! 
 Come soon to see me at Munich and to hear my opera, and 
 then teU me whether I have not a right to feel sad when I 
 think of Salzbiirg. 
 
 In fact he never did return there — very dififerent 
 reasons, however, than the mere conviction of his abili- 
 ties, were to influence him at last to resolve to break 
 through the barriers that formed such obstacles to his 
 
234 APPREN'ilCESHIP. 
 
 aims and efforts. On one occasion he secretly tried to 
 get a situation in Munich. The father wrote :— ' As to 
 your six weeks' absence, I do not intend to stir in the 
 matter, nor to mention it. If, however, I receive a 
 message on the subject, I am resolved to say that it was 
 understood you were to be six weeks in Mtmich after 
 the performance of your opera, for I could not suppose 
 that his Grace imagined such a work could be composed, 
 transcribed, and put on the stage in six weeks.' 
 
 Wolfgang sent for some of his masses, and amid aU 
 the pressure of opera work, he wrote a grand Kyrie, 
 that melodiously expresses his pathetic grave mood, 
 and is embellished by grand and rich orchestral ac- 
 companiments. In order to display the excellence of 
 the orchestra in the most brilliant light, he also set 
 a serenade, previously composed in Salzburg, for wind 
 instruments. In one of the seven numbers of which it 
 consists is an adagio, displaying (as Otto Jahn says) 
 the most earnest and profound feeling, and the most 
 lofty expression of the Beautiful that Mozart ever 
 reached. 
 
 But even now he could not find a situation. After 
 the performance of his opera, he, indeed, remained for 
 a time in Munich, amusing himself with his friends, 
 the Archbishop being still in Vienna. Thus he enjoyed 
 free intercourse with kindly men, who, according to 
 their various capacities, could appreciate his heart as 
 well as his works. So long as he was occupied with his 
 
A MASTEBFIBOE. 235 
 
 opera he went nowhere except to the Cannabichs, and 
 no doubt during many an evening he relaxed the 
 tension of his spirit by jests and laughter with the 
 pretty Eose, who was now sixteen. Then, while his 
 father and sister were in Munich, he enjoyed with them 
 the diversions of the Carnival, which, indeed, in Munich 
 did not amount to much — an occasional masked ball 
 perhaps, where Mozart's love of quips and cranks might 
 be satisfied by skipping about, bantering, and dancing. 
 Yet he thought it necessary to apologise for this to his 
 father. He, who had made such demands on his own 
 powers, and had so brilliantly fulfilled them. Six weeks 
 after his arrival in Vienna he writes to his father : — 
 
 It is true that in. Municli I involuntarily shewed myself 
 to you in a false light, for I had too much amusement there. 
 But I pledge you my word that till my opera had been given, 
 I had never been in any theatre, or gone anywhere but to 
 the Canna^bichs. 
 
 Then, in the midst of all these gay juvenile follies 
 — for they were nothing more — an order arrived in 
 the middle of March from the Archbishop to come 
 to Vienna at once, Hieronymus wishing to make his 
 appearance there in all the pomp of a spiritual prince. 
 In January the father writes : — ' This morning at nine 
 o'clock the four handsome black horses were sent off to 
 Vienna. Six others were attached to a chaise with the 
 comptroller and cook (I mean the horses, not the men). 
 I hear Cassel goes also, and probably the Archbishop 
 
236 APPKENTICBSHIP. 
 
 may send for Cecarelli and Brunetti' — ^the former 
 being a, singer, and the latter one of the orchestra. As, 
 therefore, the Archbishop wished to shine through the 
 talents of his musical ' servants,' Mozart of course could 
 not be dispensed with. So Wolfgang went to Vienna, 
 the first step on that path where he was to strive after 
 and ultimately attain the great object of his life, and 
 scarcely had he entered this path when his fate was de- 
 cided. He never went back to Salzburg. His Wan- 
 derjahre were at an end. 
 

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