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+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43413 ***
+
+LIFE OF MOZART
+
+By Otto Jahn
+
+Translated From the German by Pauline D. Townsend.
+
+With A Preface By
+
+George Grove, Esq., D.C.L.
+
+In Three Volumes Vol. III.
+
+London Novello, Ewer & Co.
+
+FAC-SIMILES
+
+Fac-similé No. 1 is of Mozart's letter to Bullinger from Paris, after
+the death of his mother (see Vol. II., p. 53).
+
+Fac-simile No. 2 is of the original MS. of "Das Veil-chen," now in the
+possession of Mr. Speyer, of Herne Hill (see Vol. II., p. 373).
+
+Fac-similes Nos. 3 and 4 are sketches illustrative of Mozart's method of
+composing. Sketch I. is described in Vol. II., p. 425. Sketch II. is of
+part of Denis's Ode, the words of which are given below; it is noticed
+in Vol. II., pp. 370, 424:
+
+    O Calpe! dir donnerts am Fusse,
+    Doch blickt dein tausendjähriger
+    Gipfel Ruhig auf Welten umher.
+    Siehe dort wölkt es sich auf
+    Ueber die westlichen Wogen her,
+    Wölket sich breiter und ahnender auf,--
+    Es flattert, O Calpe! Segelgewolk!
+    Flügel der Hülfe! Wie prachtig
+    Wallet die Fahne Brittaniens
+    Deiner getreuen Verheisserin!
+    Calpe! Sie walltl Aber die Nacht sinkt,
+    Sie deckt mit ihren schwàrzesten,
+    Unholdesten Rabenfittigen Gebirge,
+    Flàchen, Meer und Bucht Und Klippen, wo der bleiche
+    Tod Des Schiffers, Kiele spaltend, sitzt.
+    Hinan!
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIV. MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.
+
+NEXT to pianoforte music for amateur musical entertainments, the quartet
+for stringed instruments was the favourite form of chamber music. The
+performers were occasionally highly cultivated amateurs, but more
+often professional musicians, thus giving scope for more pretentious
+compositions. The comparatively small expense involved enabled others
+besides noblemen, even those of the citizen class who were so inclined,
+to include quartet-playing among their regular entertainments.[1] Jos.
+Haydn was, as is well known, the musician who gave to the quartet its
+characteristic form and development.[2] Other composers had written
+works for four stringed instruments, but the string quartet in its
+well-defined and henceforth stationary constitution was his creation,
+the result of his life-work. It is seldom that an artist has been
+so successful in discovering the fittest outcome for his individual
+productiveness; the quartet was Haydn's natural expression of his
+musical nature. The freshness and life, the cheerful joviality, which
+are the main characteristics of his compositions, gained ready and
+universal acceptance for them. Connoisseurs and critics, it is true,
+were at first suspicious, and even contemptuous, of this new kind of
+music; and it was only gradually that they became aware that depth and
+earnestness of feeling, as well as knowledge and skill, existed together
+with humour in Haydn's quartets. He went on his way, however, untroubled
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(2)
+
+by the critics, and secured the favour and adherence of the public by an
+unbroken series of works: whoever ventured on the same field was obliged
+to serve under his banner.
+
+The widespread popularity of quartet music in Vienna could not fail to
+impel Mozart to try his forces in this direction. His master was
+also his attached friend and fellow-artist, with whom he stood in
+the position, not of a scholar, but of an independent artist in noble
+emulation. The first six quartets belong to the comparatively less
+numerous works which Mozart wrote for his own pleasure, without any
+special external impulse. They are, as he says in the dedication to
+Haydn, the fruit of long and earnest application, and extended over a
+space of several years. The first, in G major (387 K.), was, according
+to a note on the autograph manuscript, written on December 31, 1782;
+the second, in D minor (421 K.), in June, 1783, during Constanze's
+confinement (Vol. II., p. 423); and the third, in E flat major (428 K.),
+belongs to the same year. After a somewhat lengthy pause he returned
+with new zeal to the composition of the quartets; the fourth, in B flat
+major (458 K.), was written November 9, 1784; the fifth, in A major (464
+K.), on January 10; and the last, in C major (465 K.), on January 14,
+1785. It was in February of this year that Leopold Mozart paid his visit
+to Vienna. He knew the first three quartets, Wolfgang having sent them
+to him according to custom; and he heard the others at a musical party
+where Haydn was also present; the warmly expressed approbation of
+the latter may have been the immediate cause of Mozart's graceful
+dedication, when he published the quartets during the autumn of 1785
+(Op. ü).[3]
+
+The popular judgment is usually founded on comparison, and a comparison
+with Haydn's quartets was even more obvious than usual on this occasion.
+The Emperor Joseph, who objected to Haydn's "tricks and nonsense" (Vol.
+II.,
+
+{MOZART AND KLOPSTOCK.}
+
+(3)
+
+p. 204), requested Dittersdorf in 1786 to draw a parallel between
+Haydn's and Mozart's chamber music. Dittersdorf answered by requesting
+the Emperor in his turn to draw a parallel between Klopstock and
+Gellert; whereupon Joseph replied that both were great poets, but that
+Klopstock must be read repeatedly in order to understand his beauties,
+whereas Gellert's beauties lay plainly exposed to the first glance.
+Dittersdorf's analogy of Mozart with Klopstock, Haydn with Gellert
+(!), was readily accepted by the Emperor, who further compared Mozart's
+compositions to a snuffbox of Parisian manufacture, Haydn's to one
+manufactured in London.[4] The Emperor looked at nothing deeper than the
+respective degrees of taste displayed by the two musicians, and could
+find no better comparison for works of art than articles of passing
+fancy; whereas the composer had regard to the inner essence of the
+works, and placed them on the same footing as those of the (in
+his opinion) greatest poets of Germany. However odd may appear to
+us--admiring as we do, above all things in Mozart, his clearness and
+purity of form--Dittersdorf s comparison of him with Klopstock, it is
+nevertheless instructive, as showing that his contemporaries prized his
+grandeur and dignity, and the force and boldness of his expression, as
+his highest and most distinguishing qualities. L. Mozart used also to
+say, that his son was in music what Klopstock was in poetry;[5] no doubt
+because Klopstock was to him the type of all that was deep and grand.
+But the public did not regard the new phenomenon in the same light; the
+quality they esteemed most highly in Haydn's quartets was their animated
+cheerfulness; and his successors, Dittersdorf, Pichl, Pleyel, had
+accustomed them even to lighter enjoyments. "It is a pity," says a
+favourable critic, in a letter from Vienna (January, 1787), "that in his
+truly artistic and beautiful compositions Mozart should carry his effort
+after originality too far, to the detriment of the sentiment and heart
+of his works. His new quartets, dedicated to Haydn, are much too highly
+spiced to be palatable for any length
+
+{MOZART'S instrumental music.}
+
+(4)
+
+of time."[6] Prince Grassalcovicz, a musical connoisseur of rank in
+Vienna,[7] had the quartets performed, as Mozart's widow relates,[8] and
+was so enraged at finding that the discords played by the musicians were
+really in the parts, that he tore them all to pieces--but Gyrowetz's
+symphonies pleased him very much. From Italy also the parts were sent
+back to the publisher, as being full of printer's errors, and even Sarti
+undertook to prove, in a violent criticism, that some of the music in
+these quartets was insupportable from its wilful offences against rule
+and euphony. The chief stumbling-block is the well-known introduction of
+the C major quartet--[See Page Image]
+
+the harshness of which irritates the expectant ear. Its grammatical
+justification has been repeatedly given in learned analyses.[9] Haydn
+is said to have declared, during a dispute over this passage, that if
+Mozart wrote it so, he must have had his reasons for doing it[10]--a
+somewhat
+
+{QUARTETS, 1785.}
+
+(5)
+
+ambiguous remark. Ulibicheff[11] undertook to correct the passage with
+the aid of Fétis,[12] and then considered it both fine and pleasing;
+and Lenz[13] declared that Mozart in "this delightful expression of the
+doctrine of necessary evil, founded on the insufficiency of all finite
+things" had produced a piquant, but not an incorrect passage. It is
+certain, at least, that Mozart intended to write the passage as it
+stands, and his meaning in so doing, let the grammatical construction
+be what it will, will not be obscure to sympathetic hearers. The C
+major quartet, the last of this first set, is the only one with an
+introduction. The frame of mind expressed in it is a noble, manly
+cheerfulness, rising in the andante to an almost supernatural
+serenity--the kind of cheerfulness which, in life or in art, appears
+only as the result of previous pain and strife. The sharp accents of
+the first and second movements, the struggling agony of the trio to
+the minuet, the wonderful depth of beauty in the subject of the finale,
+startling us by its entry, first in E flat and then in A flat major, are
+perhaps the most striking illustrations of this, but the introduction
+stands forth as the element which gives birth to all the happy serenity
+of the work. The contrast between the troubled, depressed phrase--[See
+Page Images]
+
+has a direct effect upon the hearer; both phrases have one solution:--
+
+and the shrill agitated one--[See Page Images]
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(6)
+
+The manner in which they are opposed to each other, and the devices by
+which their opposition is thrown into strong relief, are of unusual, but
+by no means unjustifiable, harshness. But the goal is not reached by one
+bound; no sooner does serenity seem to be attained than the recurrence
+of the _b_ draws the clouds together again, and peace and the power
+of breathing and moving freely are only won by slow and painful
+degrees.[14]
+
+Any difference of opinion as to this work at the present day can only
+exist with regard to minor details, and it will scarcely now be asserted
+by any one that "a piece may be recognised as Mozart's by its rapid
+succession of daring transitions."[15] We are accustomed to take our
+standard from Beethoven, and it seems to us almost incredible that
+a contemporary of Mozart's, the Stuttgart Hofmusicus, Schaul (who
+acknowledged, it is true, that he belonged to a time when nothing was
+heard but Italian operas and musicians), should exclaim:[16]--
+
+What a gulf between a Mozart and a Boccherini! The former leads us over
+rugged rocks on to a waste, sparsely strewn with flowers; the latter
+through smiling country, flowery meadows, and by the side of rippling
+streams.
+
+Apart from all differences of opinion or analogies with other works,
+it may safely be asserted that these quartets are the clear and perfect
+expression of Mozart's nature; nothing less is to be expected from
+a work upon which he put forth all his powers in order to accomplish
+something that would redound to his master Haydn's honour as well as his
+own. The form had already, in all its essential points, been determined
+by Haydn; it is the sonata form, already described, with the addition
+of the minuet--in this application a creation of Haydn's. Mozart
+appropriated these main
+
+{MOZART'S AND HAYDN'S QUARTETS.}
+
+(7)
+
+features, without feeling it incumbent on him even to alter them.
+Following a deeply rooted impulse of his nature, he renounced the light
+and fanciful style in which Haydn had treated them, seized upon their
+legitimate points, and gave a firmer and more delicate construction to
+the whole fabric. To say of Mozart's quartets in their general features
+that, in comparison with Haydn's, they are of deeper and fuller
+expression, more refined beauty, and broader conception of form,[17] is
+only to distinguish these as Mozart's individual characteristics,
+in contrast with Haydn's inexhaustible fund of original and humorous
+productive power. Any summary comparison of the two masters must result
+in undue depreciation of one or the other, for nothing but a detailed
+examination would do full justice to them both and explain their
+admiration of each other. Two circumstances must not be left out of
+account. Mozart's quartets are few in number compared with the long list
+of Haydn's. Every point that is of interest in Mozart may be paralleled
+in Haydn; hence it follows that certain peculiarities found in Haydn's
+music are predominating elements in Mozart's. Again, Haydn was a much
+older man, and is therefore usually regarded as Mozart's predecessor;
+but the compositions on which his fame chiefly rests belong for the most
+part to the period of Mozart's activity in Vienna, and were not without
+important influence on the latter. This mutual reaction, so generously
+acknowledged by both musicians, must be taken into account in forming a
+judgment upon them.
+
+The string quartet offers the most favourable conditions for the
+development of instrumental music, both as to expression and technical
+construction, giving free play to the composer in every direction,
+provided only that he keep within the limits imposed by the nature
+of his art. Each of the four combined instruments is capable of the
+greatest variety of melodic construction; they have the advantage over
+the piano in their power of sustaining the vibrations of the notes, so
+as to produce song-like effects; nor are they inferior
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(8)
+
+in their power of rapid movement. Their union enables them to fulfil the
+demands of complete harmonies, and to compensate by increase of freedom
+and fulness for the advantages which the pianoforte possesses as a solo
+instrument. The quartet is therefore particularly well adapted both for
+the polyphonic and the homophonie style of composition. The varieties of
+tone of the instruments among each other, and of each in different
+keys, further increases their capacity for expression, the nuances
+of tone-colouring appearing to belong to the nature of stringed
+instruments. Thus the material sound elements of the string quartet are
+singularly uniform, at the same time that they allow free scope to the
+individual movement of the component parts. The beginning of the andante
+of the E flat major quartet (428 K.) will suffice to show how entirely
+different an effect is given by a mere difference in the position of the
+parts. The value which Mozart set upon the uniformity of the naturally
+beautiful sound effects of stringed instruments may be inferred from
+the fact that he seldom attempted interference with it as a device for
+pleasing the ear. Pizzicato passages occur only three times--in the trio
+of the D minor quartet (421 K.), of the C major quintet (515 K.), and
+of the clarinet quintet (581 K.)--and each time as the gentlest form of
+accompaniment to a tender melody. He was not prone either to emphasise
+bass passages by pizzicato, and has done so only in the second adagio
+of the G minor quintet (516 K.) and in the first movement of the horn
+quintet (407 K.). Nor is the muting, formerly so frequent, made use of
+except in the first adagio of the G minor quartet and in the larghetto
+of the clarinet quintet. It need scarcely be said that an equal amount
+of technical execution and musical proficiency was presupposed in each
+of the performers. This is especially noticeable in the treatment of the
+violoncello. It is not only put on a level with the other instruments as
+to execution, but its many-sided character receives due recognition, and
+it is raised from the limited sphere of a bass part into one of complete
+independence.
+
+The favourite comparison of the quartet with a conversation between four
+intellectual persons holds good in some
+
+{MOZART'S STRING QUARTETS.}
+
+(9)
+
+degree, if it is kept in mind that the intellectual participation and
+sympathy of the interlocutors, although not necessarily languishing in
+conversation, are only audibly expressed by turns, whereas the musical
+embodiment of ideas must be continuous and simultaneous. The comparison
+is intended to illustrate the essential point that every component part
+of the quartet stands out independently, according to its character, but
+so diffidently that all co-operate to produce a whole which is never at
+any moment out of view; an effect so massive as to absorb altogether the
+individual parts would be as much out of place as the undue emphasising
+of any one part and the subordination of the others to it. The object
+to be kept continually in view is the blending of the homophonie or
+melodious, and the polyphonic or formal elements of composition to form
+a new and living creation. Neither is neglected; but neither is allowed
+to assert itself too prominently. Even when a melody is delivered by
+one instrument alone, the others do not readily confine themselves to
+a merely harmonic accompaniment, but preserve their independence of
+movement. Infallible signs of a master-hand are visible in the free and
+ingenious adaptation of the bass and the middle parts to the melodies;
+and, as a rule, the characteristic disposition of the parts gives
+occasion for a host of interesting harmonic details. The severer forms
+of counterpoint only appear in exceptional cases, such as the last
+movement of the first quartet, in G major (387 K.). The intention is
+not to work out a subject in a given form, but to play freely with
+it, presenting it from various interesting points of view by means
+of combinations, analysis, construction, and connection with fresh
+contrasting elements. But since this free play can only be accepted as
+artistic by virtue of the internal coherency of its component parts,
+it follows that the same laws which govern strict forms must lie at the
+root of the freer construction. In the same way a conversation--even
+though severe logical disputation may be studiously avoided--adheres to
+the laws of logic while letting fall here a main proposition, there
+a subordinate idea, and connecting apparent incongruities by means of
+association of ideas. A similar freedom in the grouping and
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(10)
+
+development of the different subjects exists in the quartet, limited
+only by the unity of artistic conception, and by the main principles of
+rhythmic and harmonic structure, and of the forms of counterpoint. This
+is most observable when an apparently unimportant phrase is taken up,
+and by its interesting development formed into an essential element
+of the whole, as in the first movement of the third quartet, in B flat
+major (458 K.), where a figure--[See Page Image]
+
+at the close of a lengthy subject is first repeated by the instruments
+separately, with a mocking sort of air, and afterwards retained and
+treated as the germ of numerous freely developed images.
+
+In publishing these six quartets together Mozart certainly did not
+intend them to be regarded in all their parts as one whole; his object
+was to bring to view the many-sidedness of expression and technical
+treatment of which this species of music was capable. The first quartet,
+in G major (387 K.), and the fourth, in E flat major (428 K.), have
+a certain relationship in their earnest and sustained tone; but how
+different is the expression of energetic decision in the first from that
+of contemplative reserve in the fourth; a difference most noticeable
+in the andantes of the two quartets. Again, in the third and fifth
+quartets, in B flat (458 K.) and A major (464 K.), the likeness in
+their general character is individualised by the difference in treatment
+throughout. The second quartet, in D minor (421 K.), and the sixth, in
+C major (465 K.), stand alone; the former by its affecting expression of
+melancholy, the latter by its revelation of that higher peace to which a
+noble mind attains through strife and suffering.
+
+An equal wealth of characterisation and technical elaboration meets us
+in a comparison of the separate movements. The ground-plan of the first
+movement is the usual one, and the centre of gravity is always the
+working-out at the beginning of the second part, which is therefore
+distinguished by its length as a principal portion of the movement. The
+working-out of each quartet is peculiar to itself. In the two
+
+{SIX QUARTETS, 1785.}
+
+(11)
+
+first the principal subject is made the groundwork, and combined with
+the subordinate subject closing the first part, but quite differently
+worked-out. In the G major quartet the first subject is spun out into
+a florid figure, which is turned hither and thither, broken off by the
+entry of the second subject, again resumed, only to be again broken off
+in order, by an easy play on the closing bar--[See Page Images]
+
+to lead back again to the theme. In the D minor quartet, on the other
+hand, only the first characteristic division--[See Page Images]
+
+of the broad theme is worked out as a motif; the next division somewhat
+modified--[See Page Images]
+
+is imitated and adorned by the final figure:--[See Page Images]
+
+The first part of the third quartet, in B flat major, has not the usual
+sharply accented second subject; the second part makes up for this in
+a measure by at once introducing a new and perfectly formed melody,
+followed by an easy play with a connecting passage--
+
+this is invaded by the analogous motif of the first part--[See Page
+Images]
+
+which brings about the return to the first part. The peculiar structure
+of the movement occasions the repetition of the second part, whereupon
+a third part introduces the chief subject anew, and leads to the
+conclusion in an independent
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(12)
+
+way. In the E flat major quartet the interest depends upon the harmonic
+treatment of an expressive triplet passage connected with the principal
+subject. The first subject of the fifth quartet, in A major, is
+indicated from the very beginning as a suitable one for imitative
+treatment, and very freely developed in the working-out section. In the
+last quartet in C major also, the treatment of the principal subject is
+indicated at once, but the importance of the modest theme is only
+made apparent by the harmonic and contrapuntal art of its working-out,
+leading to the expressive climax of the coda and the conclusion.
+
+The slow movements of the quartets are the mature fruit of deep feeling
+and masterly skill. With fine discrimination the consolatory andante
+of the melancholy D minor quartet is made easy, but so managed as
+to express the character of ardent longing, both in the ascending
+passage--[See Page Image]
+
+and in the tendency to fall into the minor key. The andante of the
+fourth quartet, in E flat major, forms a complete contrast to this.
+Its incessant harmonic movement only allows of pregnant suggestions of
+melodies, and is expressive of a self-concentrated mood, rousing itself
+with difficulty from mental abstraction. But the crown of them all in
+delicacy of form and depth of expression is the andante of the last
+quartet, in C major; it belongs to those wonderful manifestations of
+genius which are only of the earth in so far as they take effect
+upon human minds; which soar aloft into a region of blessedness where
+suffering and passion are transfigured.
+
+The minuets are characteristic of Mozart's tendencies as opposed
+to Haydn's. The inexhaustible humour, the delight in startling and
+whimsical fancy, which form the essence of Haydn's minuets, occur only
+here and there in Mozart's.
+
+{SIX QUARTETS, 1785.}
+
+(13)
+
+They are cast in a nobler mould, their distinguishing characteristics
+being grace and delicacy, and they are equally capable of expressing
+merry drollery and strong, even painful, emotion. Haydn's minuets are
+the product of a laughter-loving national life, Mozart's give the tone
+of good society. Especially well-defined in character are the minuets
+of the D minor and C major quartets--the former bold and defiant, the
+latter fresh and vigorous. Delicate detail in the disposition of the
+parts is common to almost all of them, keeping the interest tense
+and high, and there are some striking peculiarities of rhythmical
+construction. Among such we may notice the juxtaposition of groups of
+eight and ten bars, so that two bars are either played prematurely, as
+in the minuet of the first quartet, or inserted, as in the trio of the
+B flat major quartet.[18] The ten-bar group in the minuet of the D minor
+quartet is more complicated, because more intimately blended, and still
+more so is the rhythm of the minuet in the fourth quartet, where
+the detached unequal groups are curiously interlaced.[19] Very
+characteristic is also the sharp contrast between minuet and trio--as,
+for instance, the almost harshly passionate minor trios of the first
+and last quartets, and the still more striking major trio of the D minor
+quartet, light and glittering, like a smile in the midst of tears.
+
+The finales have more meaning and emphasis than has hitherto been the
+case in Mozart's instrumental compositions. Three of them are in
+rondo form (those of the B flat, E flat, and C major quartet), quick,
+easy-flowing movements, rich in graceful motifs and interesting features
+in the working-out. The merriment in them is tempered by 1 a deeper vein
+of humour, and we are sometimes startled by a display of pathos, as
+in the finale of the C major quartet. The more cheerful passages are
+distinctly German in tone; and echoes of the "Zauberflote" may be heard
+in many of the melodies and turns of expression.
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(14)
+
+The last movement of the G major quartet is written in strict form, and
+highly interesting by reason of the elegance of its counterpoint; the
+finale of the A major quartet is freer and easier, but nevertheless
+polyphonic in treatment.[20] The D minor quartet concludes with
+variations, the original and long-drawn theme having the rhythmical and
+sharply accented harmonic form of the siciliana. It is in imitation of
+a national song, and is sometimes like a slow gigue, sometimes like a
+pastorale. The rhythm of the 6-8 time is somewhat peculiar, in that
+the first of three quavers is dotted throughout; the tone is soft and
+tender. There is a very similar siciliana in Gluck's ballet "Don
+Juan" (No. 2), showing how marked the typical character is.[21] The
+variations, which are as charming from their grace and delicacy of
+form as from their singular mixture of melancholy and mirth, bring this
+wonderful quartet to a close in a very original manner.
+
+The middle movement of the A major quartet is also in variations--more
+earnest and careful on the whole--the precursor of the variations
+in Haydn's "Kaiser" and Beethoven's A major quartets. These quartet
+variations far surpass the pianoforte variations in character and
+workmanship; they consist not merely of a graceful play of passages, but
+of a characteristic development of new motifs springing from the theme.
+
+The success of the quartets, on which Mozart put forth all his best
+powers, was scarcely sufficient to encourage him to make further
+attempts in the same direction; not until August, 1786, do we find him
+again occupied with a quartet (D major, 499 K.), in which may be traced
+an attempt to
+
+{LATER QUARTETS, 1786-1790.}
+
+(15)
+
+meet the taste of the public without sacrificing the dignity of the
+quartet style. It is not inferior to the others in any essential point.
+The technical work is careful and interesting, the design broad--in many
+respects freer than formerly--the tone cheerful and forcible throughout,
+with the sentimental element in the background, as compared with the
+first quartets. The last movement approaches nearest to Haydn's
+humorous turn of thought, following his manner also in the contrapuntal
+elaboration of a lightly suggested motif into a running stream of
+merry humour. Nevertheless, this quartet remained without any immediate
+successor; it would appear that it met with no very general approval
+on its first appearance. "A short serenade, consisting of an allegro,
+romance, minuet and trio, and finale" in G major, composed August 10,
+1787 (525 K.), does not belong to quartet music proper. The direction
+for violoncello, contrabasso, points to a fuller setting, which is
+confirmed by the whole arrangement, especially in the treatment of the
+middle parts. It is an easy, precisely worked-out occasional piece.
+
+During his stay in Berlin and Potsdam in the spring of 1789 Mozart was
+repeatedly summoned to the private concerts of Frederick William II. of
+Prussia, in which the monarch himself took part as a violoncellist.
+He was a clever and enthusiastic pupil of Graziani and Duport, and he
+commissioned Mozart to write quartets for him, as he had previously
+commissioned Haydn[22] and Boccherini,[23] rewarding them with princely
+liberality. In June of this year Mozart completed the first of three
+quartets, composed for and dedicated to the King of Prussia, in D major
+(575 K.); the second, in B flat major (589 K.), and the third, in F
+major (590 K.), were composed in May and June, 1790. From letters to
+Puchberg, we know
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(16)
+
+that this was a time of bitter care and poverty, which made it a painful
+effort to work at the quartets, but there is even less trace of effort
+in them than in the earlier ones. The instrument appropriated to his
+royal patron is brought to the front, and made into a solo instrument,
+giving out the melodies in its higher notes. This obliges the viola
+frequently to take the bass part, altering the whole tone-colouring of
+the piece, and the instruments are altogether set higher than usual, the
+more so as the first violin constantly alternates with the violoncello.
+By this means the tone of the whole becomes more brilliant and brighter,
+but atones for this in an occasional loss of vigour and force. In other
+respects also, out of deference no doubt to the King's taste, there is
+more stress laid upon elegance and clearness than upon depth and warmth
+of tone. Mozart was too much of an artist to allow any solo part in
+a quartet to predominate unduly over the others; the first violin and
+violoncello leave the other two instruments their independent power of
+expression, but the motifs and working-out portions are less important,
+and here and there they run into a fanciful play of passages. It is
+singular that in the quartets in D and F major the last movements are
+the most important. When once the composer has thrown himself into the
+elaboration of his trifling motifs he grows warm, and, setting to work
+in good earnest, the solo instrument is made to fall into rank and
+file; the artist appears, and has no more thought of his presentation at
+court. The middle movements are very fine as to form and effect, but are
+without any great depth of feeling. The charming allegro of the second
+quartet, in F major, is easy and graceful in tone, and interesting from
+the elegance of its elaboration. In short, these quartets completely
+maintain Mozart's reputation for inventive powers, sense of proportion,
+and mastery of form, but they lack that absolute devotion to the highest
+ideal of art characteristic of the earlier ones.
+
+Mozart's partiality for quartet-writing may be inferred from the many
+sketches which remain (68-75, Anh., K.), some of them of considerable
+length, such as that fragment of a lively movement in A major (68, 72,
+Anh., K.) consisting of 169 bars.
+
+{TRIO IN E FLAT, 1788.}
+
+(17)
+
+Duets and trios for stringed instruments were naturally held in less
+esteem than string quartets. Mozart composed in Vienna (September 27,
+1788), for some unspecified occasion, a trio for violin, viola, and
+violoncello, in £ flat major (563 K.), which consists of six movements,
+after the manner of a divertimento--allegro, adagio, minuet, andante
+with variations, minuet, rondo. The omission of the one instrument
+increases the difficulty of composing a piece full in sound and
+characteristic in movement, more than could have been imagined; the
+invention and skill of the composer are taxed to the utmost. It is
+evident that this only gave the work an additional charm to Mozart. Each
+of the six movements is broadly designed and carried out with equal care
+and devotion, making this trio unquestionably one of Mozart's finest
+works. No one performer is preferred before the other, but each, if
+he does his duty, may distinguish himself in his own province. With
+wonderful discrimination, too, every technical device is employed which
+can give an impulse to any happy original idea. How beautifully,
+for instance, is the simple violoncello passage which ushers in the
+adagio--[See Page Images]
+
+transformed into the emphatic one for the violin--
+
+coined in due time, with climacteric effect, by the viola and
+violoncello. The violin-jumps in the same adagio--
+
+are effective only in their proper position; and all the resources at
+command are made subservient to the art which is to produce the living
+work.
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(18)
+
+The variations demand special attention. The theme is suggestive of a
+national melody, and its effect is heightened by the different treatment
+of each part when repeated, which also gives fulness and variety to the
+variations. Each of these is artistically worked out in detail and of
+distinctly individual character; the last is especially remarkable, in
+which the viola, to a very lively figure, carries out the theme in its
+simplest enunciation as a true Cantus firmus. The whole impression is
+one of freshness and beauty of conception, elevated and enlivened by
+the difficulties which offered themselves. Nothing more charming can
+be imagined than the first trio of the second minuet; its tender purity
+charms us like that of a flower gleaming through the grass.
+
+Haydn seems to have made no use of the increased resources offered
+by the quintet, although other musicians--Boccherini, for
+instance--cultivated this branch. It would appear to have been for some
+particular occasions that Mozart composed four great string quintets,
+in which he followed the track laid out in the first quartets. Two were
+composed in the spring of 1787, after his return from Prague--[24]
+
+C major, composed April 19, 1787 (515 K.).
+
+G major, composed May 16, 1787 (516 K.).--
+
+the other two--
+
+D major, composed December, 1790 (593 K.).
+
+E flat major, composed April 12, 1791 (614 K.).--
+
+at short intervals, "at the earnest solicitation of a musical friend,"
+as the publisher's announcement declares.[25]
+
+Mozart doubles the viola[26]--not like Boccherini in his 155 quintets,
+the violoncello[27]--whereby little alteration in tone, colour, or
+structure is effected. The doubling of the violoncello gives it a
+predominance which its very charm of tone
+
+{THE QUINTET.}
+
+(19)
+
+renders all the more dangerous: whereas the strengthening of the less
+strongly accentuated middle parts by the addition of a viola gives
+freer scope for a lengthy composition. The additional instrument gives
+increase of freedom in the formation of melodies and their harmonic
+development, but it also lays on the composer the obligation of
+providing independent occupation for the enlarged parts. A chief
+consideration is the grouping of the parts in their numerous possible
+combinations. The first viola corresponds to the first violin as leader
+of melodies, while the second viola leaves the violoncello greater
+freedom of action; these parts share the melodies in twos or threes,
+either alternately or in imitative interweaving; the division of a
+motif as question and answer among different instruments is especially
+facilitated thereby. Again, two divisions may be placed in effective
+contrast, the violins being supported by a viola, or the violas by the
+violoncello. But the device first used by Haydn in his quartets, of
+giving two parts in octaves, is perhaps the most effective in the
+quintets, a threefold augmentation being even employed in the trio of
+the E flat major quintet (614 K.). Finally, it is easier to strengthen
+the violoncello by the viola here than it is in the quartet. It is not
+that all these resources are out of reach for the quartet, but that they
+find freer and fuller scope in the quintet. The effect of the quintet is
+not massive; it rests on the characteristic movement of the individual
+parts, and demands greater freedom in order that this movement of
+manifold and differing forces may be well ordered and instinct with
+living power. The increased forces require greater space for their
+activity, if only on account of the increased mass of sound. If the
+middle parts are to move freely without pressing on each other, the
+outer parts must be farther apart, and this has a decided influence on
+the melodies and the sound effects, the general impression becoming more
+forcible and brilliant. The dimensions must also be increased in other
+directions. A theme, to be divided among five parts, and a working-out
+which is to give each of them fair play, must be planned from the first.
+The original motif of the first Allegro of the C major quintet (515
+K.)--[See Page Image]
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(20)
+
+involves of necessity the continuation of the idea enunciated; and only
+after a third repetition with modifications is it allowed to proceed
+to a conclusion. It has thus become too far developed to allow of a
+repetition of the whole theme; it starts again in C minor, is further
+developed by harmonic inflections; and after a short by-play on a
+tributary, it is again taken up and leads on to the second theme; we
+have thus a complete organic development of the first motif. The second
+theme is then of course carried out, and finally we have the broadly
+designed motif which brings the part to a conclusion in a gradually
+increasing _crescendo_ for all the parts; the whole movement thus gains
+considerably in dimensions.
+
+The motif of the first movement of the E flat major quintet (614
+K.)--[See Page Image]
+
+is precisely rendered. But it is the germ whence the whole movement
+is to spring; all beyond itself is suggested by this motif, and is
+important only in relation thereto. The unfettered cheerfulness which
+runs through the whole of the movement is expressed in these few bars,
+given by the violas like a call to the merry chase. The opening of the
+C major quintet prepares us in an equally decided manner for what is to
+follow. The decision and thoughtfulness which form the ground-tone of
+the whole movement, in spite of its lively agitation, are calmly and
+clearly expressed in the first few bars.
+
+The G minor quintet begins very differently, with a complete melody of
+eight bars, repeated in a different key. Few
+
+{MOZART'S G MINOR QUINTET.}
+
+(21)
+
+instrumental compositions express a mood of passionate excitement with
+such energy as this G minor quintet. We feel our pity stirred in the
+first movement by a pain which moans, sighs, weeps; is conscious in its
+ravings only of itself, refuses to take note of anything but itself, and
+finds its only consolation in unreasoning outbreaks of emotion, until
+it ends exhausted by the struggle. But the struggle begins anew in
+the minuet, and now there is mingled with it a feeling of defiant
+resentment, showing that there is some healthy force still remaining;
+in the second part a memory of happy times involuntarily breaks in,
+but is overcome by the present pain; then the trio bursts forth
+irresistibly, as if by a higher power, proclaiming the blessed certainty
+that happiness is still to be attained. One of those apparently obvious
+touches, requiring nevertheless the piercing glance of true genius,
+occurs when, after closing the minuet in the most sorrowful minor
+accents--[See Page Image]
+
+Mozart introduces the trio with the same inflection in the major--
+
+and proceeds to carry it out in such a manner that only a whispered
+longing may be detected underlying the gently dying sounds of peace.
+This turn of expression decides the further course of the development.
+The next movement, "Adagio ma non troppo, con sordini," gives us an
+insight into a mind deeply wounded, tormented with self-questionings;
+earnest reflection, doubt, resolve, outbreaks of smothered pain
+alternate with each other, until a yearning
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(22)
+
+cry for comfort arises, tempered by the confident hope of an answer
+to its appeal; and so the movement ends in the calm of a joyful peace
+instead of, as the first, in the silence of exhaustion. The conquered
+pain breaks out again in the introduction to the last movement, but its
+sting is broken--it dies away to make room for another feeling. The new
+émotion is not merely resignation, but joy--the passionate consciousness
+of bliss, just as inspired, just as restlessly excited as the previous
+pain. But the exultant dithyramb has not the same engrossing interest
+for the hearers; man is readier to sympathise with the sorrows of others
+than with their joys, although he would rather bear his sorrow alone
+than his joy. This complete change of mood may well excite a suspicion
+of fickleness, but it is not the less true that the anguish of the first
+movement, and the exultation of the last, belong to one and the same
+nature, and are rendered with absolute truth of artistic expression.
+
+We turn involuntarily from the artist to the man after such a
+psychological revelation as this, and find traces of Mozart's nature
+unmistakably impressed on his work. But we may seek in vain for any
+suggestion of the work in his actual daily life. At the time when he
+wrote this quintet his circumstances were favourable, he had only lately
+returned from Prague covered with honour and substantial rewards, and he
+was enjoying an intercourse with the Jacquin family which must have been
+altogether pleasurable to him. It is true that he lost his father soon
+after (May 26), but a recollection of the letter which he addressed to
+him with the possibility of his death in view (Vol. II., p. 323), Mozart
+being at the time engaged on the C major quintet, will prevent our
+imagining that the mood of the G minor quintet was clouded by the
+thought of his father's approaching decease. The springs of artistic
+production flow too deep to be awakened by any of the accidents of
+life. The artist, indeed, can only give what is in him and what he, has
+himself experienced; but Goethe's saying holds good of the musician as
+well as of the poet or painter; he reveals nothing that he has not felt,
+but nothing _as_ he felt it.
+
+The main characteristics of the other quintets are calmer
+
+{MOZART'S QUINTETS.}
+
+(23)
+
+and more cheerful, but they are not altogether wanting in energetic
+expression of passion. The sharper characterisation made necessary by
+the division of the music among a greater number of instruments was only
+possible by means of the agitation and restless movement of the parts,
+even when the tone of the whole was quiet and contained. We find
+therefore various sharp or even harsh details giving zest to the
+whole--such, for instance, as the use of the minor ninth and the
+comparatively frequent successions of ninths in a circle of fifths;
+and the quintets have apparently been a mine of wealth to later
+composers, who have made exaggerated use of these dangerous stimulants.
+Greater freedom of motion stands in close connection with the better
+defined characterisation of the quintets. Polyphony is their vital
+element; the forms of counterpoint became more appropriate as the number
+of parts increased. The finales to the Quintets in D and E flat Major
+(573, 614, K.) showed that Mozart was able to make use of the very
+strictest forms upon occasion. Both movements begin in innocent
+light-heartedness, but severe musical combinations are developed out
+of the airy play of fancy; ideas which have only been, as it were,
+suggested are taken up and worked out, severe forms alternate with laxer
+ones--one leads to the other naturally and fluently, and sometimes they
+are both made use of at the same time. The disposition of the parts is
+free, without any preconceived or definitive form, and its many delicate
+details of taste and originality give an individual charm to each
+separate part. The homophonie style of composition is not altogether
+disregarded for the polyphonic, but it is never made the determining
+element. Even a melody such as the second subject of the first movement
+of the G minor quintet, complete in itself as any melody can be, is
+made use of as a motif for polyphonic development. The freest and most
+elastic treatment of form is that of the last movements. The other
+movements are fully developed, and sometimes carried out at great
+length, but the main features are always distinct and well preserved;
+the outline of the finales is less firm, and capable of a lighter and
+more varied treatment.
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(24)
+
+Another branch of concerted music high in favour in Mozart's day was the
+so-called "Harmoniemusik," written exclusively for wind instruments, and
+for performance at table or as serenades. Families of rank frequently
+retained the services of a band for "Harmoniemusik" instead of a
+complete orchestra.[28] The Emperor Joseph selected eight distinguished
+virtuosi[29] for the Imperial "Harmonie," who played during meals,
+especially when these took place in the imperial pleasure-gardens. The
+performances included operatic arrangements as well as pieces composed
+expressly for this object.[30] Reichardt dwells on the enjoyment
+afforded him in 1783 by the Harmoniemusik of the Emperor and the
+Archduke Maximilian. "Tone, delivery, everything was pure and
+harmonious; some movements by Mozart were lovely; but unluckily nothing
+of Haydn's was performed."[31] First-class taverns supported their own
+"Harmonie" bands, in order that the guests might not be deprived of this
+favourite accompaniment to their meals.[32]
+
+Besides the great serenades, intended for public performance, the old
+custom was still practised of writing "Standchen,"[33] for performance
+under the window of the person who was to be thus celebrated; and the
+general desire that such pieces should be new and original provided
+composers with almost constant employment on them.[34] Wind instruments
+were most in vogue for this "night-music." The instruments were usually
+limited to six--two clarinets, two horns, and two bassoons, strengthened
+
+{SERENADES FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS.}
+
+(25)
+
+sometimes by two oboes. Such eight-part harmonies sufficed both the Emperor
+and the Elector of Cologne as table-music and for serenades; and at a
+court festival at Berlin in 1791 the music during the banquet was
+thus appointed.[35] The "Standchen," in "Cosi fan Tutte" (21), and the
+table-music, in the second finale of "Don Giovanni," are imitations of
+reality.
+
+Mozart did not neglect the opportunities thus afforded him of making
+himself known during his residence in Vienna. He writes to his father
+(November 3, 1781):--
+
+I must apologise for not writing by the last post; it fell just on my
+birthday (October 31), and the early part of the day was given to
+my devotions. Afterwards, when I should have written, a shower of
+congratulations came and prevented me. At twelve o'clock I drove to the
+Leopoldstadt, to the Baroness Waldstädten, where I spent the day. At
+eleven o'clock at night I was greeted by a serenade for two clarinets,
+two horns, and two bassoons, of my own composition. I had composed it
+on St. Theresa's day (October 15) for the sister of Frau von Hickl (the
+portrait-painter's wife), and it was then performed for the first time.
+The six gentlemen who execute such pieces are poor fellows, but they
+play very well together, especially the first clarinet and the two
+horns. The chief reason I wrote it was to let Herr von Strack (who
+goes there daily) hear something of mine, and on this account I made
+it rather serious. It was very much admired. It was played in three
+different places on St. Theresa's night. When people had had enough of
+it in one place they went to another, and got paid over again.
+
+This "rather serious" composition is the Serenade in E flat major (375
+K.), which Mozart increased by the addition of two oboes, no doubt in
+June, 1782, when he also wrote the Serenade in C minor for eight wind
+instruments (388 K., s.). He had at that time more than one occasion for
+works of this kind. The attention both of the Emperor and the Archduke
+Maximilian was directed towards him (Vol. II., p. 197); and since
+Reichardt heard compositions by Mozart at court in 1783, his attempt to
+gain Strack's good offices must have been successful. In the year
+1782 Prince Liechtenstein was in treaty with Mozart concerning the
+arrangement of a Harmoniemusik (Vol. II., p. 206), and he
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(26)
+
+had undertaken with Martin the conduct of the Augarten concerts, which
+involved the production of four great public serenades (Vol. II., p.
+283).
+
+Both the serenades already mentioned are striking compositions, far
+above the ordinary level of their kind, and may be considered, both
+as to style and treatment, the precursors of modern chamber music. The
+first movement of the Serenade in E flat major had originally two parts,
+which Mozart afterwards condensed into one, giving it greater precision
+by the omission of lengthy repetitions. The addition of the oboes gives
+it greater fulness and variety; but it is easy to detect that they are
+additions to a finished work. The whole piece is of genuine serenade
+character. After a brilliant introductory phrase, a plaintive melody
+makes its unexpected appearance, dying away in a sort of sigh, but
+only to reassert itself with greater fervour. The amorous tone of the
+"Entführung" may be distinctly traced in the adagio, and through all its
+mazy intertwining of parts we seem to catch the tender dialogue of two
+lovers. The closing rondo is full of fresh, healthy joy; the suggestion
+of a national air in no way interferes with the interesting harmonic
+and contrapuntal working-out.[36] The Serenade in C minor is far from
+leaving the same impression of cheerful homage. The seriousness of its
+tone is not that of sorrow or melancholy, but, especially in the
+first movement, of strong resolution. The second theme is especially
+indicative of this, its expressive melody being further noteworthy by
+reason of its rhythmical structure. It consists of two six-bar phrases,
+of which the first is formed of two sections of three bars each:--[See
+Page Image]
+
+After the repetition of this, the second phrase follows, formed from the
+same melodic elements, but in three sections of two bars each--[See Page
+Image]
+
+{SERENADE IN C MINOR.}
+
+(27)
+
+and also repeated. On its first occurrence it forms a fine contrast to
+the passionate commencement, and lays the foundation for the lively
+and forcible conclusion of the first part, while in the second part
+its transposition into the minor prepares the way for the gloomy and
+agitated conclusion of the movement. The calmer mood of the andante
+preserves the serious character of the whole, without too great softness
+or languor of expression.
+
+Mozart has perpetrated a contrapuntal joke in the minuet. The oboes and
+bassoons lead a two-part canon in octave, while the clarinets and horns
+are used as tutti parts. In the four-part trio the oboes and bassoons
+again carry out a two-part canon (_al rovescio_) in which the answering
+part exactly renders the rhythm and intervals, the latter, however,
+inverted:--[See Page Image]
+
+Tricks of this kind should always come as this does, without apparent
+thought or effort, as if they were thrown together by a happy chance,
+the difficulties of form serving only to give a special flavour to the
+euphonious effect. The last movement, variations, passes gradually from
+a disquieted anxious mood into a calmer one, and closes by a recurrence
+to the subject in the major, with freshness and force.
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(28)
+
+This serenade is best known in the form of a quintet for stringed
+instruments, to which Mozart adapted it apparently before 1784 (506
+K.). Nothing essential is altered--only the middle parts, accompaniment
+passages, &c., are somewhat modified. Some of the passages and
+movements, however, especially the andante and finale, have lost
+considerably by the altered tone-colouring.
+
+Various divertimenti for wind instruments, which have been published
+under Mozart's name, have neither external nor internal signs of
+authenticity.[37] An Adagio in B flat major for two clarinets and three
+basset-horns (411 K.), concerning which little is known, stands alone
+of its kind.[38] The combination of instruments points here as elsewhere
+(Vol. II., pp. 361, 410) to some special, perhaps masonic occasion,
+the more so as a detached and independent adagio could only have been
+written with a definite object in view. The juxtaposition of instruments
+so nearly related, with their full, soft, and, in their deeper notes,
+sepulchral tones, produces an impression of solemnity, which is in
+accordance with the general facter of peace after conflict expressed
+by the adagio.
+
+Mozart's works for wind instruments are distinguished by delicacy of
+treatment apart from virtuoso-like effects. Considering them, however,
+in the light of studies for the treatment of wind instruments as
+essential elements of the full orchestra, they afford no mean conception
+of the performances of instrumentalists from whom so much mastery of
+technical difficulties, delicacy of detail, and expressive delivery
+might be expected. Instrumental music had risen to great importance in
+Vienna at that time. A great number of available, and even distinguished
+musicians had settled there. Besides the two admirably appointed
+imperial orchestras, and the private bands attached to families of rank,
+there were various societies of musicians ready to form large or small
+orchestras when required; and public and private concerts were, as we
+have seen, of very frequent occurrence.
+
+{THE VIENNA ORCHESTRA.}
+
+(29)
+
+The appointment was, as a rule, weak, when judged by the standard of the
+present day. The opera orchestra contained one of each wind instrument,
+six of each violin, with four violas, three violoncelli, and three
+basses.[39] On particular occasions the orchestra was strengthened (Vol.
+II., p. 173), but most of the orchestral compositions betray by their
+treatment that they were not intended for large orchestras. The purity
+and equality of tone and the animated delivery of the Vienna orchestra
+is extolled by a contemporary, who seems to have been no connoisseur,
+but to have faithfully rendered the public opinion of the day.[40]
+Of greater weight is the praise of Nicolai, a careful observer, who
+compared the performances of the Vienna orchestra with those of other
+bands.[41] He asserted, when he heard the Munich orchestra soon after,
+that it had far surpassed his highly wrought expectations of Mannheim,
+and that he had been perfectly astonished at the commencement of an
+allegro.[42] It was not a matter of small importance, therefore, that
+Mozart should have learnt all that could be learnt from the orchestras
+of Mannheim, Munich, and Paris, and then found in Vienna the forces at
+command wherewith to perfect this branch of his art. In this respect he
+had a great advantage over Haydn, who had only the Esterhazy band at his
+disposal, and never heard great instrumental performances except during
+his short stays in Vienna.
+
+Mozart had much to do with raising the Vienna orchestra, particularly
+in the wind instruments, to its highest pitch of perfection. Among
+contemporary composers, who strove to turn to the best account the
+advantages of a fuller instrumentation,
+
+Haydn undoubtedly claims the first rank. It is his incontestable merit
+to have opened the way in his symphonies to the free expression of
+artistic individuality in instrumental music, to have defined its forms,
+and developed
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(30)
+
+them with the many-sidedness of genius; he did not, how-I ever, bequeath
+to Mozart, but rather received from him the well-appointed, fully
+organised, and finely proportioned orchestra of our day. In his old age
+Haydn once complained to Kalkbrenner that death should call man away
+before he has accomplished his life-long desires: "I have only learnt
+the proper use of wind instruments in my old age, and now I must pass
+away without turning my knowledge to account."[43]
+
+The first of the seven Vienna symphonies is in D major (part 5, 384 K.
+(likely 385 K. DW)), and was composed by Mozart, at his father's wish,
+for a Salzburg fête in the summer of 1782. He wrote it under the
+pressure of numerous engagements in less than a fortnight, sending the
+movements as they were ready to his father (Vol. II., p. 211). No wonder
+that when he saw it again he was "quite surprised," not "remembering a
+word of it." For performance in Vienna (March 3, 1783) he reduced it to
+the usual four movements by the omission of the march and of one of the
+minuets, and strengthened the wind instruments very effectively in the
+first and last movement by flutes and clarinets.
+
+A lively, festive style was called for by the occasion, and in the
+treatment of the different movements the influence of the old serenade
+form is still visible. The first allegro has only one main subject, with
+which it begins; this subject enters with a bold leap--[See Page Image]
+
+and keeps its place to the end with a life and energy enhanced by harsh
+dissonances of wonderful freshness and vigour. The whole movement is
+a continuous treatment of this subject, no other independent motif
+occurring at all. The first part is therefore not repeated, the
+working-out section is short, and the whole movement differs
+considerably from the usual form of a first symphony movement. The
+andante is in the simplest lyric form, pretty and refined, but nothing
+more; the minuet is fresh and brilliant (Vol. I., p. 219).
+
+{THE D MAJOR SYMPHONY.}
+
+(31)
+
+The tolerably long drawn-out concluding rondo is lively and brilliant,
+and far from insignificant, though not equal to the first movement in
+force and fire.
+
+A second symphony was written by Mozart in great haste on his journey
+through Linz in November, 1783; it was apparently that in C major (part
+6, 425 K.), which with another short symphony in G major (part 6, 444
+K.), bears clear traces of Haydn's influence, direct and indirect.
+(Note: By M. Haydn--the Introduction only by Mozart. DW)
+
+Several years lie between these symphonies and the next in D major (part
+1, 504 K.). This was written for the winter concerts on December 6,
+1786, and met with extraordinary approbation, especially in Prague,
+where Mozart performed it in January, 1787[44]The first glance at the
+symphony shows an altered treatment of the orchestra; it is now
+fully organised, and both in combination and detail shows individual
+independence. The instrumentation is very clear and brilliant--here and
+there perhaps a little sharp--but this tone is purposely selected as the
+suitable one. Traces of Haydn's influence may be found in the prefixing
+of a solemn introduction to the first allegro, as well as in separate
+features of the andante; such, for instance, as the epigrammatic close;
+but in all essential points we have nothing but Mozart. The adagio is
+an appropriate preface for the allegro, which expresses in its whole
+character a lively but earnest struggle. In this allegro the form of
+a great symphony movement lies open before us. The chief subject is
+completely expressed at the beginning--[See Page Image]
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(32)
+
+and recurs after a half-close on the dominant with a characteristic
+figure--[See Page Image]
+
+thus allowing of the independent development of section B. Then, after a
+complete close on the dominant, there enters the very characteristic and
+originally treated second subject; the close of the part is introduced
+by the figure, D, so that a member of the chief subject, A, is again
+touched upon. The working-out in the second part is founded on the third
+section of the chief subject, C. These two bars, which there formed only
+an intermediate passage, are here treated imitatively as an independent
+motif; first B, then D, are added as counter-subjects, all three are
+worked-out together, tributary subjects reappear from the first part,
+until the chief subject, A, enters on the dominant in D minor, leading
+the way for the other motifs, which press in simultaneously, and glide
+upon a long organ point gradually back to the first subject, with
+which the modified repetition of the first part begins. In this lengthy
+working-out every part of the main idea is fully developed. The simple
+enunciations of the first part appear, after the elaboration of
+their different elements like utterances of a higher power, bringing
+conviction and satisfaction to all who hear. The springlike charm of the
+andante, with all its tender grace, never degenerates into effeminacy;
+its peculiar character is given by the short, interrupted subject--[See
+Page Image]
+
+which is given in unison or imitation by the treble part and the bass,
+and runs through the whole, different harmonic turns giving it a tone,
+sometimes of mockery, sometimes of thoughtful reserve. The last movement
+(for this symphony has no minuet) displays the greatest agitation and
+vivacity
+
+{SYMPHONIES, 1788.}
+
+(33)
+
+without any license; in this it accords with the restraint which
+characterises the other movements. It illustrates the moderation of
+most of Mozart's great works, which, as Ambros ("Granzen der Musik und
+Poesie," p. 56) remarks, "is not a proof of inability to soar into a
+higher sphere, but a noble and majestic proportioning of all his forces,
+that so they may hold each other in equilibrium." The essence of the
+work, to borrow the aesthetic expression of the ancients, is ethic
+rather than pathetic; character, decision, stability find expression
+there rather than passion or fleeting excitement.
+
+A year and a half passed before Mozart again turned his attention to
+the composition of symphonies; then, in the summer of 1788, within two
+months, he composed the three symphonies in E flat major (June 26), G
+minor (July 25), and C major (August 10)--the compositions which
+most readily occur to us when Mozart's orchestral works come under
+discussion. The production of such widely differing and important works
+within so short a space of time affords another proof that the mind of
+an artist works and creates undisturbed by the changing impressions of
+daily life, and that the threads are spun in secret which are to form
+the weft and woof of a work of art. The symphonies display Mozart's
+perfected power of making the orchestra, by means of free movement
+and songlike delivery, into the organ of his artistic mood. As Richard
+Wagner says:--
+
+The longing sigh of the great human voice, drawn to him by the loving
+power of his genius, breathes from his instruments. He leads the
+irresistible stream of richest harmony into the heart of his melody, as
+though with anxious care he sought to give it, by way of compensation
+for its delivery by mere instruments, the depth of feeling and ardour
+which lies at the source of the human voice as the expression of the
+unfathomable depths of the heart.[45]
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(34)
+
+This result can only be attained by the most delicate appreciation of
+the various capacities of each individual instrument. The very diversity
+of tone-colouring which characterises these symphonies shows the
+masterly hand with which Mozart chooses and blends his tones, so that
+every detail shall come to full effect. It would not be easy to find
+places in which the sound-effect does not correspond with the intention;
+as he imagined it and willed it, so it sounds, and the same certainty,
+the same moderation, is apparent in every part of the artistic
+construction.
+
+The Symphony in E flat major (543 K., part 3) is a veritable triumph of
+euphony. Mozart has employed clarinets here, and their union with the
+horns and bassoons produces that full, mellow tone which is so important
+an element in the modern orchestra; the addition of flutes gives
+it clearness and light, and trumpets endow it with brilliancy and
+freshness. It will suffice to remind the reader of the beautiful passage
+in the andante, where the wind instruments enter in imitation, or of
+the charming trio to the minuet, to make manifest the importance of the
+choice of tone-colouring in giving characteristic expression. We find
+the expression of perfect happiness in the exuberant charm of euphony,
+the brilliancy of maturest beauty in which these symphonies are, as it
+were, steeped, leaving such an impression as that made on the eye by the
+dazzling colours of a glorious summer day. How seldom is this unalloyed
+happiness and joy in living granted to mankind, how seldom does art
+succeed in reproducing it entire and pure, as it is in this symphony!
+The feeling of pride in the consciousness of power shines through the
+magnificent introduction, while the allegro expresses purest pleasure,
+now in frolicsome joy, now in active excitement, and now in noble and
+dignified composure. Some shadows appear, it is true, in the andante,
+but they only serve to throw into stronger relief the mild serenity of a
+
+{G MINOR SYMPHONY, 1788.}
+
+(35)
+
+mind that communes with itself and rejoices in the peace which fills it.
+This is the true source of the cheerful transport which rules the last
+movement, rejoicing in its own strength and in the joy of being. The
+last movement in especial is full of a mocking joviality more frequent
+with Haydn than Mozart, but it does not lose its hold on the more
+refined and elevated tone of the preceding movements. This movement
+receives its peculiar stamp from its startling harmonic and rhythmical
+surprises. Thus it has an extremely comic effect when the wind
+instruments try to continue the subject begun by the violins, but
+because these pursue their way unheeding, are thrown out as it were, and
+break off in the middle. This mocking tone is kept up to the
+conclusion, which appears to Nägeli ("Vorlesungen," p. 158) "so noisily
+inconclusive" (_so stillos unschliessend_), "such a bang, that the
+unsuspecting hearer does not know what has happened to him."[46]
+
+The G minor symphony affords a complete contrast to all this (550 K.,
+part 2). Sorrow and complaining take the place of joy and gladness. The
+pianoforte quartet (composed August, 1785) and the Quintet (composed May
+16, 1787) in G minor are allied in tone, but their sorrow passes in the
+end to gladness or calm, whereas here it rises in a continuous climax
+to a wild merriment, as if seeking to stifle care. The agitated first
+movement begins with a low plaintiveness, which is scarcely interrupted
+by the calmer mood of the second subject;[47] the working-out of the
+second part intensifies the gentle murmur--[See Page Image]
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(36)
+
+into a piercing cry of anguish; but, strive and struggle as it may, the
+strength of the resistance sinks again into the murmur with which the
+movement closes. The andante, on the contrary, is consolatory in tone;
+not reposing on the consciousness of an inner peace, but striving after
+it with an earnest composure which even attempts to be cheerful.[48]
+The minuet introduces a new turn of expression. A resolute resistance is
+opposed to the foe, but in vain, and again the effort sinks to a
+moan. Even the tender comfort of the trio, softer and sweeter than the
+andante, fails to bring lasting peace; again the combat is renewed, and
+again it dies away, complaining. The last movement brings no peace, only
+a wild merriment that seeks to drown sorrow, and goes on its course
+in restless excitement. This is the most passionate of all Mozart's
+symphonies; but even in this he has not forgotten that "music, when
+expressing horrors, must still be music" (Vol. II., p. 239).[49]
+Goethe's words concerning the Laocoon are applicable here ("Werke"
+XXIV., p. 233): "We may boldly assert that this work exhausts its
+subject, and fulfils every condition of art. It teaches us that though
+the artist's feeling for beauty may be stirred by calm and simple
+subjects, it is only displayed in its highest grandeur and dignity when
+it proves its power of depicting varieties of character, and of throwing
+moderation and control into its representations of outbreaks of human
+passion." And in the same sense in which Goethe ventured to call the
+Laocoon graceful, none can deny the grace of this symphony, in spite of
+much harshness and
+
+{C MAJOR SYMPHONY.}
+
+(37)
+
+keenness of expression.[50] The nature of the case demands the
+employment of quite other means to those of the E flat major symphony.
+The outlines are more sharply defined and contrasted, without the
+abundant filling-in of detail which are of such excellent effect in
+the earlier work, the result being a greater clearness, combined with
+a certain amount of severity and harshness. The instrumentation agrees
+with it; it is kept within confined limits, and has a sharp, abrupt
+character. The addition of clarinets for a later performance gave the
+tone-colouring greater intensity and fulness. Mozart has taken an extra
+sheet of paper, and has rearranged the original oboe parts, giving
+characteristic passages to the clarinets, others to the oboes alone, and
+frequently combining the two. No clarinets were added to the minuet.
+Again, of a totally distinct character is the last symphony, in C
+major (551 K., part 4), in more than one respect the greatest and best,
+although neither so full of passion as the G minor symphony, nor so
+full of charm as the E flat major.[51] Most striking is the dignity and
+solemnity of the whole work, manifested in the brilliant pomp in the
+first movement, with its evident delight in splendid sound-effects.:
+
+It has no passionate excitement, but its tender grace is heightened by
+a serenity which shines forth most unmistakably in the subject already
+alluded to (Vol. II., p. 455, cf. p. 334), which occurs unexpectedly
+at the close of the first part. The andante reveals the very depths of
+feeling, with traces in its calm beauty of the passionate agitation and
+strife from which it proceeds; the impression it leaves is one of moral
+strength,
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(38)
+
+perfected to a noble gentleness. The minuet recalls to mind the cheerful
+subject of the first movement. There is an elastic spring in its motion,
+sustained with a delicacy and refinement which transports the hearer
+into a purer element, where he seems to exist without effort, like the
+Homeric gods. The finale is that masterpiece of marvellous contrapuntal
+art, which leaves even upon the uninitiated the impression of a
+magnificent princely pageant, to prepare the mind for which has been the
+office of the previous movements. We recognise in the principal subject
+which opens the movement--[See Page Images]
+
+the motif of which Mozart made frequent use even in his youth (Vol. I.,
+p. 259); here he seems anxious to bid it a final farewell. He takes it
+again as a fugue subject, and again inverted:--
+
+Then other motifs join in. One, in pregnant rhythm--
+
+asserting itself with sharp accents in all sorts of different ways, and
+connected with a third motif as a concluding section:--
+
+All these subjects are interwoven or worked out with other subordinate
+ideas, both as independent elements for
+
+{SYMPHONIES.}
+
+(39)
+
+contrapuntal elaboration, and in two, three, or fourfold combinations,
+bringing to pass harmonic inflections of great force and boldness,
+sometimes even of biting harshness. There is scarcely a phrase, however
+insignificant, which does not make good its independent existence.[52]
+A searching analysis is out of the question in this place; such an
+analysis would serve, however, to increase our admiration of the genius
+which makes of strictest form the vehicle for a flow of fiery eloquence,
+and spreads abroad glory and beauty without stint.[53]
+
+The perfection of the art of counterpoint is not the distinguishing
+characteristic of this symphony alone, but of them all. The enthralling
+interest of the development of each movement in its necessary connection
+and continuity consists chiefly in the free and liberal use of the
+manifold resources of counterpoint. The ease and certainty of this mode
+of expression makes it seem fittest for what the composer has to say.
+Freedom of treatment penetrates every component part of the whole,
+producing the independent, natural motion of each. The then novel art
+of employing the wind instruments in separate and combined effects was
+especially admired by Mozart's contemporaries. His treatment of the
+stringed instruments showed a progress not less advanced, as, for
+instance, in the free treatment of the basses, as characteristic as it
+was melodious. The highest quality of the symphonies, however, is their
+harmony of tone-colour, the healthy combination of orchestral sound,
+which is not to be replaced by any separate effects, however charming.
+In this combination consists the art of making the orchestra as a living
+organism express the artistic idea which gives the creative impulse to
+the work, and controls the forces which are always ready to be set in
+motion. An unerring conception of the capacities for development
+
+{MOZART'S INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC.}
+
+(40)
+
+contained in each subject, of the relations of contrasting and
+conflicting elements, of the proportions of the parts composing the
+different movements,[54] and of the proportions of the movements to
+the whole work; finally, of the proper division and blending of the
+tone-colours--such are the essential conditions for the production of a
+work of art which is to be effective in all its parts.
+
+Few persons will wish to dispute the fact that Mozart's great symphonies
+display the happiest union of invention and knowledge, of feeling and
+taste. We have endeavoured also to show in brief outline that they are
+the characteristic expression of a mind tuned to artistic production,
+whence their entire organisation of necessity proceeds. But language,
+incapable of rendering the impressions made by the formative arts, is
+still more impotent in seeking to reproduce the substance of a musical
+work.[55] Points that can be readily apprehended are emphasised
+disproportionately; and the subjectivity of the speaker or writer
+intrudes itself upon the consideration of the music. It has been
+lately questioned, for instance, whether Mozart's compositions were the
+absolute and necessary results of certain definite frames of mind, and
+a comparison has been made between him and Beethoven upon this point.
+If it is intended by this to draw attention to Beethoven's art, as
+proceeding from his _spiritual_ being (Geist), in contrast to that of
+earlier composers--of Mozart especially--which came from the _mind_
+(Seele),[56] an important point is indicated. But if this distinction is
+made exhaustive, or essentially qualitative, the right point of view
+is thereby disturbed. There can be no doubt that Beethoven has struck
+chords in the human mind which none before him had touched--that
+
+{THE RIGHT MEANING OF THE SYMPHONIES.}
+
+(41)
+
+he employs the means at his command with a power and energy of
+expression unheard before; that by him--the true son of his time--the
+strife of passions and the struggle for individual freedom are more
+powerfully and unhesitatingly expressed than by any of his predecessors.
+But human nature remains the same, and the genuine impulses of artistic
+creation proceed from universal and unalterable laws; the artist does
+but impress his individual stamp upon the composing elements of his
+work; and if, under certain circumstances, this should fail to be
+comprehended, it does not therefore follow that the work has no
+meaning.[57] For neither can the form and the substance of a veritable
+work of art be divided or substituted the one for the other, nor can
+such a work take effect as a whole when it is not accepted and grasped
+in all its parts.[58] It is this wholeness, this oneness, which brings
+the mind of the artist most clearly before us. Let it be remembered
+that Mozart's contemporaries dis-; covered an exaggerated expression of
+emotion and an incomprehensible depth of characterisation in those very
+compositions in which our age recognises dignified moderation, pure
+harmony, perfect beauty, and a graceful treatment of form sometimes even
+to the loss of intrinsic force; and it will be acknowledged that much
+which was supposed to depend on the construction of the work lies really
+in the changing point of view of the hearers. Those only who come to the
+consideration of the work with a clear and unbiased mind, taking their
+standard from the universal and unchangeable laws of art--those only who
+are capable of grasping the individuality of an artistic nature, will
+not go astray either in their appreciation or their criticism.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XXXIV.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The Greiners had quartet parties every Tuesday during Advent and
+Lent (Car. Pichler, Denkw., I., p. 127. Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 71).]
+
+[Footnote 2: Luigi Boccherini (1740-1805), who was almost a contemporary,
+followed his own bent in numerous quartets, quintets, and trios,
+uninfluenced by the works of others, and not himself exerting any
+lasting influence (Piquot, Notice sur la Vie et les Ouvrages de L.
+Boccherini. Paris, 1851).]
+
+[Footnote 3: The advertisement (Wien. Ztg., 1785, No. 75, p. 2191) ran: "Mozart's
+works require no praise, and to quote any would be superfluous; we can
+only assure the public that we are offering them a masterpiece. This
+is confirmed by the fact that the quartets are dedicated to his friend
+Joseph Haydn, Kapellmeister to Prince Estcrhazy, who honoured them with
+all the approbation which one man of genius can bestow upon another."]
+
+[Footnote 4: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 238.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Nissen, Nachtrag, p. 62.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Cramer, Magazin der Musik, II., p. 1273.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Gyrowetz, Selbstbiogr., p. xx. Jahrb. d. Tonkunst, 1796, p. 77.]
+
+[Footnote 8: A. M. Z., I., p. 855.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Fétis attacked this introduction in the Revue Musicale, V., p. 601,
+and maintained his opinion against Pernes (Ibid., VI., pp. 25, 32). An
+equally lively onslaught upon Fétis was made in a detailed analysis by
+C. A. Leduc (A. M. Z., XXXII., p. 117), and renewed (A. M. Z., XXXIII.,
+pp. 81, 101) after an answer by Fétis (Rev. Mus., VIII., p. 821), and
+also by C. M. Balthasar (A. M. ZM XXXIII., p. 493). Thereupon G. Weber
+subjected the passage to a searching examination, and acknowledged
+finally that the combinations of sound were unpleasing to his own ear.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Càcilia, XIV., p. 2.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Ulibicheff, II., p. 254.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The conjecture of Fétis that the first violin follows the second at
+the second instead of the third crotchet of the second bar, by reason of
+a printer's error, is disproved by Mozart's own manuscript (also by his
+Thematic Catalogue).]
+
+[Footnote 13: Lenz, Beethoven, II., p. 78.]
+
+[Footnote 14: The same object is entirely fulfilled by Beethoven in the
+introduction to the Symphony in B flat major, to say nothing of the
+Quartet in C major. The cheerful serenity pervading the symphony, and
+the occasional stronger accents of passionate feeling, are, as it were,
+prefigured in the introduction, where we hear the rolling of the storm
+which is to clear and freshen the atmosphere.]
+
+[Footnote 15: A. M.Z., III., p. 350.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Joh. Bapt. Schaul, Briefe über den Geschmack in der Musik, p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Cf. Musik. Briefe von einem Wohlbekannten, II., p. 40.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Two bars are added as an extension of the conclusion as in the
+minuet of the Quintet in C major (515 K.).]
+
+[Footnote 19: There are groups of seven bars in the minuet of the later Quartet
+in F major (590 K.), and of five bars in the trio.]
+
+[Footnote 20: This movement has been scored by Beethoven; the original is in
+Artaria's possession.]
+
+[Footnote 21: A siciliana occurs among the variations in a sonata for pianoforte
+and violin (377 K., 3), simpler and shorter than the one under
+consideration, and altogether omitting the transition to the major key.
+The same form is the basis of the rondo to the pianoforte Trio in G
+major (496 K.), but freely carried out. The siliciana is employed,
+according to old usage, for the slow middle movements of an early Sonata
+in F major (280 K.), and of the pianoforte Concerto in A major (414 K.).]
+
+[Footnote 22: The Hadyn quartets, written in 1787 for the King of Prussia, are
+well known.]
+
+[Footnote 23: From 1787 to 1797 Boccherini drew a considerable pension from
+Frederick William II., for which he had to furnish annually some
+quartets and quintets, compositions much loved and often played by the
+King (Reichardt, Musik. Monatsschr., p. 17. Mus. Ztg., 1805, p. 232.
+Picquot, Not. sur L. Boccherini, pp. 16, 112).]
+
+[Footnote 24: In March, 1788, Mozart announced (Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 27 Anh.)
+three new quintets--these two, and the one arranged in C minor--at four
+ducats a copy.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Wien. Ztg., May 18, 1793, p. 1462.]
+
+[Footnote 26: So also in the unfinished sketches of a number of qointet movements
+(79.84 Anh., K.).]
+
+[Footnote 27: Picquot, Not. sur L. Boccherini, pp. 19, 28, 123]
+
+[Footnote 28: Prince Grassalcovicz reduced his full band to a "Harmoniemusik"
+(Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 77).]
+
+[Footnote 29: Trûbensee and Wendt as oboists, the brothers Stadler as
+clarinetists, Rub and Eisen hornists, Kautzner and Druben bassoonists
+(Cramer, Magaz. Mus., I., p. 1400. Musik. Korresp., 1790, p. 31).]
+
+[Footnote 30: Mozart arranged the "Entfuhrung" for wind instruments (Vol. II., p.
+210).]
+
+[Footnote 31: A. M. Z., XV., p. 668 (Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p. 327).]
+
+[Footnote 32: Mozart praised Albert's good "Harmoniemusik" to his father from
+Munich (October 3, 1777). A special wind band was engaged for the table
+music at the Augarten (Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 78).]
+
+[Footnote 33: Nicolai speaks highly of the "Harmoniemusik," which was performed
+every evening before the main guard at the court (Reise, IV., p. 558).]
+
+[Footnote 34: Carpani, Le Haydine, p. 81. Gyrowetz, Biogr., p. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Musik. Korr., 1791, p. 366.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The serenata has two minuets, the second of which is especially
+Haydnlike in character. Perhaps they were intended to be omitted in the
+rearrangement, for in Mozart's autograph score they are only copied and
+inserted.]
+
+[Footnote 37: The beginning of an eight-part allegro is among the sketches.]
+
+[Footnote 38: The first bars of an adagio for clarinets and three basset-horns
+were written out (93 Anh., K.), and an allegro for two clarinets and
+three basset-horns (95 Anh., K.) was somewhat further advanced.]
+
+[Footnote 39: So it is given by Meyer (L. Schröder, I., p. 357) for the year 1781
+(cf. A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 268), and the tables in the Jahrb. d. Tonkunst,
+1796, p. 92, agree with his statement.]
+
+[Footnote 40: K. R[isbeck], Briefe ûb. Deutschld., I., p. 279.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Nicolai, Reise, IV., p. 542.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Nicolai, Reise, VI., p. 702.]
+
+[Footnote 43: So Kalkbrenner told me in Paris, in 1837.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Niemetschek, Biogr., p. 41. (Note: Misnumbered in the print
+edition--DW)]
+
+[Footnote 45: Rich. Wagner, Kunstwerk der Zukunft, p. 85. It was just this
+"Cantabilität" with which Nàgeli reproached Mozart, who according to him
+"cannot be termed a correct composer of instrumental music, for he
+mingled and confounded 'cantabilität' with a free instrumental play of
+ideas, and his very wealth of fancy and emotional gifts led to a sort of
+fermentation in the whole province of art, causing it rather to
+retrograde than to advance, and exercising a very powerful influence
+over it" (Vorlesungen, p. 157). It certainly appears strange in our
+times to see Mozart considered as the disturbing and exciting element in
+the development of art; and Nägeli was thoroughly sincere and in earnest
+in his musical judgments.]
+
+[Footnote 46: E. T. A. Hoffmann says of this symphony (called the "swan song"):
+"Love and melancholy breathe forth in purest spirit tones; we feel
+ourselves drawn with inexpressible longing towards the forms which
+beckon us to join them in their flight through the clouds to another
+sphere." A. Apel attempted to turn the symphony into a poem, which was
+to imitate in words the character of the different movements (A. M. Z.,
+VIII., p. 453). Cf. Ludw. Bauer's Schriften, p. 471.]
+
+[Footnote 47: It is characteristic that in the first and last movements the
+second theme is only fully expressed when it enters for the second time
+in the minor; in the major key it is far less expressive.]
+
+[Footnote 48: A mistake long perpetrated in the andante has been pointed out
+by Schumann (N. Ztschr., XV., p. 150. Ges. Schr., IV., p. 62). In both
+parts four bars (I., 29-32; II., 48-51) are repeated twice, with altered
+instrumentation; this is altogether inexcusable, for it causes the same
+transition from D flat major to minor (G flat major, A flat minor) to
+occur twice in succession. A glance at the original score makes the
+matter clear. Mozart originally wrote the four bars 33-36 (II., 52-55),
+and then added the other version on a separate page, probably as
+being easier; they were copied one after the other by mistake. That
+he intended the demisemiquaver passage for the wind instruments may
+be inferred from the arrangement with clarinets to be presently noted,
+where it is given to those instruments.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Palmer (Evangel. Hymnologie, p. 246) finds no pain in this
+symphony, only pure life and gaiety.]
+
+[Footnote 50: H. Hirschbach says, apparently quite seriously (N. Zeitschr. Mus.,
+VIII., p. 190): "There are many people who fight shy of Beethoven's
+music, finding his earlier symphonies tolerable, but the later bizarre,
+obscure, and so on; but Mozart's G minor symphony is acknowledged to
+be a masterpiece, though here and there may be one who thinks this
+so-called symphony really does not deserve the name, for it is
+distinguished neither by originality nor workmanship, and is a
+commonplace mild piece of music, requiring no great effort for its
+production (even if we set aside the greater demands of the present
+day), and it was apparently not considered as a great work by
+Beethoven."]
+
+[Footnote 51: It has been called, I do not know when or by whom, the "Jupiter"
+symphony, more, doubtless, to indicate its majesty and splendour than
+with a view to any deeper symbolism.]
+
+[Footnote 52: Sechtcr gave a technical analysis in the appendix to Marpurg's
+Kunst der Fuge (Wien: Diabelli) II., p. 161. Lobe, Compositionslehre,
+III., p. 393.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Nägeli (Vorlesungen, p. 162) subjects this symphony to a searching
+criticism, in order to prove that Mozart (to whom he allows great
+originality and power of combination, extolling him as the first to form
+the orchestra into a perfect organic whole) was wanting in repose, and
+often shallow and confused.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Ad. Kullak (Das Musikalisch Schöne, p. 80) remarks that numerous
+calculations undertaken by him serve to show that Hadyn and Mozart, in
+the majority of their works, keep pretty close to the law of proportion
+laid down by Zeising (according to which a whole divided into unequal
+parts will not give the effect of symmetry unless the smaller parts bear
+the same ratio to the larger as the larger to the whole), and that in
+some cases they follow it exactly.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Mendelssohn's Briefe, II., p. 337.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Marx, Musik. des Neunzehnten Jahrh., p. 68.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Ad. Kullak, Das Musikalisch Schöne, p. 149.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Ambros, Gränzen der Musik und Poesie, pp. 64,123, 141.]
+
+
+===
+
+
+
+MOZART 35
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXV. MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.
+
+THE unexampled success of the "Entführung," which brought fame to the
+composer and pecuniary gain to the theatrical management, justified
+Mozart in his expectation that the Emperor, having called German opera
+into existence,[1] would commission him to further its prosperous
+career. He was indeed offered an opera, but the libretto, ''Welches ist
+die beste Nation?" was such miserable trash, that Mozart would not waste
+his music on it. Umlauf composed it, but it was hissed off the stage;
+and Mozart wrote to his father (December 21, 1782) that he did not know
+whether the poet or the composer were most deserving of the condemnation
+the work received. In fact, the impulse given to German opera seemed
+only too likely to die away without lasting result. Stephanie the
+younger[2] contrived by his intrigues to obtain the dismissal of Müller
+as conductor of the opera, and the appointment of a committee, whose
+jealousies and party feelings he turned so skilfully to account that
+they were all speedily satisfied to leave the actual power in his hands.
+The incessant disagreements which were the consequence, the hostility
+between composers, actors, and musicians, disgusted Kienmayer and
+Rosenberg, the managers of the opera, and the Emperor himself. Nor were
+the repeated experiments made with the works of mediocre
+
+{THE OPERA IN VIENNA.}
+
+(43)
+
+composers (which so enraged Mozart that he purposed writing a critique
+on them with examples) likely to find favour with the Emperor. Add to
+this that his immediate musical surroundings, Salieri at the head of
+them, were at least passively opposed to German opera, and it will not
+be thought surprising that the Emperor Joseph angrily renounced German
+opera, and followed his own taste in the reinstalment of the Italian.
+Chance brought this determination to a point. A French company of
+considerable merit, both in opera and the drama, was performing at the
+Kamthnerthortheater, and was patronised by the Emperor.[3] He sent for
+the performers to Schönbrunn in the summer of
+
+1782, and entertained them in the castle during their stay. They were
+dissatisfied with the hospitality they there received, and one of the
+actors had the ill-breeding, during a meal at which the Emperor happened
+to come in, to offer him a glass of wine, with the request that he would
+try it, and say whether such wretched Burgundy was good enough for them
+to drink. The Emperor drank the wine, and answered that it was good
+enough for him, but he had no doubt they would find better wine in
+France.[4]
+
+On the dismissal of this company, Count Rosenberg was commissioned to
+engage the best singers in Italy, male and female, for an opera buffa,
+which was all that was then thought feasible; and at the end of the
+carnival of 1783 the German opera company was dissolved, its best
+members associating themselves with the new Italian company.[5] Under
+these circumstances there was not much hope of success for German
+operatic compositions; and only three new pieces were produced in 1783,
+none of them with any success.[6] Mozart wrote to his father (February
+5, 1783):--
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(44)
+
+Yesterday my opera was given for the seventeenth time with the usual
+applause, and to a crowded house. Next Friday a new opera is to
+be given, the music an absurdity (Galimathias) by a young pupil of
+Wagenseil's
+
+(Joh. Mederitsch), called "Gallus cantans in abore sedens gigirigi
+faciens." It will probably fail, but perhaps not so completely as
+its predecessor, an old opera by Gassmann," "La Notte Critica" ("The
+Disturbed Night"), which was scarcely brought to a third performance.
+Before this there was Umlaufs execrable opera, which only reached a
+second. It is as though, knowing that German opera is to die after
+Easter, they wanted to hasten its end by their own act: and they are
+Germans--confound them!--who do this. My own opinion is, that Italian
+opera will not survive long, and I shall always hold to the German; I
+prefer it, although it is certainly more trouble. Every nation has its
+opera, why should we Germans not have ours? Is not our language as fit
+for singing as the French and English? and more so than the Russian?
+Well, I am writing a German opera all _for myself_.
+
+I have chosen as subject Goldoni's comedy "Il Servitore di Due Padroni,"
+and the first act is already translated--the translator being Baron
+Binder! But it is to be a secret until it is finished. Now, what do you
+think of that? Don't you think that I shall do myself some good by it?
+
+There can be little doubt that his father would have answered this
+question in the affirmative, but he would have been more sceptical as to
+the feasibility of the plan, and practical considerations seem to have
+caused its abandonment. Two German airs, preserved in draft score,
+belong by their handwriting to this period; one for a tenor (indicated
+as Carl), "Müsst ich auch durch tausend Drachen" (435 K.), and the other
+for a bass (Wahrmond), "Manner suchen stets zu naschen" (433 K.). No
+dramatic situation is recognisable, and it cannot therefore be affirmed
+that they were composed for this opera. The composition of a German
+opera for which he afterwards received a commission from Mannheim
+came to nothing. Klein sent him a libretto (doubtless "Rudolf von
+Habsburg")[7] with the request that he would set it to music, whereupon
+Mozart answered (March 21, 1785):[8]--
+
+{DECLINE OF GERMAN OPERA.}
+
+(45)
+
+I ought certainly to have acknowledged before now the receipt of your
+letter and the accompanying parcel; but it is not the case that I have
+in the meantime received two other letters from you; if so, I should
+certainly have remembered to answer your first as I now do, having
+received your other two letters on the last post-day. But I should have
+had no more to say to you on the subject of the opera than I now have.
+My dear sir, my hands are so full of work that I have not a moment to
+myself. You know by experience, even better than I, that a thing of this
+sort must be read carefully and attentively several times over. Hitherto
+I have not been able to read it once without interruption. All that I
+can say at present is, that I should like to keep the piece a little
+longer, if you will be kind enough to leave it with me. In case I should
+feel disposed to set it to music, I should wish to know beforehand
+whether it is intended for performance at any particular place? For such
+a work ought not to be left to chance. I shall hope for an explanation
+on this point from you.
+
+The reasons for the final rejection of this opera are unknown.
+Mozart's account of the position of German opera in Vienna is very
+characteristic. In 1784, it was almost extinct; only Madame Lange
+selected the "Entführung" for her benefit on January 25, conducted
+by Mozart himself (Wiener Zeitung, 1784, No. 7); and Adamberger gave
+Gluck's "Pilgrimme von Mecca" on February 15. Besides these, Benda's
+melodramas, "Ariadne" and "Medea," Jacquet's chief characters, were
+performed a few times. But when in the following year the desire
+for German opera revived, it was decided to reappoint the
+Kamthnerthortheater, which had been freed from its connection with
+the court, and to reinstate the German opera in competition with the
+Italian. On this point Mozart continues:--
+
+I can give you no present information as to the intended German opera,
+as (with the exception of the alterations at the Karnthnerthor-theater)
+everything goes on very quietly. It is to be opened at the beginning of
+October. I do not prophesy a very prosperous result. It seems to me that
+the plans now formed are more likely to end in the final overthrow
+of the temporarily depressed German opera, than in its elevation and
+support. My sister-in-law Lange alone is to be allowed to join the
+German company. Cavalieri, Adamberger, Teyber, all pure Germans, of
+whom our fatherland may be proud, are to stay in the Italian theatre, to
+oppose and rival their own countrymen. German singers at present may be
+easily counted! And even if they be as good
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(46)
+
+as those I have named, which I very much doubt, the present management
+appears to me too economical and too little patriotic to think of paying
+the services of strangers, when they can have as good or better on the
+spot. The Italian _troupe_ has no need of them in point of numbers; it
+can stand alone. The present idea is to employ _acteurs and actrices_
+for the German opera who sing from need; unfortunately the very men are
+retained as the _directeurs_ of the theatre and the orchestra who have
+contributed by their want of knowledge and energy to the downfall of
+their own edifice. If only a single patriot were to come to the fore,
+it would give the affair another aspect. But in that case, perhaps,
+the budding national theatre would break forth into blossom; and what a
+disgrace it would be to Germany if we Germans once began in earnest to
+think, or act, or speak and even--to _sing_ German! Do not blame me, my
+dear sir, if I go too far in my zeal. Convinced that I am addressing a
+fellow _German_, I give my tongue free course, which unfortunately is
+so seldom possible that after such an outpouring of the heart one feels
+that one might get drunk without any risk of injuring one's health.
+
+The performances of the new German opera, which opened on October 16,
+1785, with Monsigny's "Félix," were in no respect equal to those of the
+Italian opera. Mozart, whose "Entführung" maintained its place in the
+repertory until March, 1788, when the house was again closed, was not
+further employed as composer.[9] Only on one occasion did the Emperor
+seem to recollect that Mozart was the only opera composer of German
+birth who could rival the Italian Salieri. At a "Festival in honour of
+the Governor-General of the Netherlands," dramatic performances were
+commanded by the Emperor in the Orangery at Schönbrunn, on February
+7, 1796; the most distinguished actors and singers, both Italian and
+German, were engaged.[10] Stephanie junior was commissioned to prepare
+the German occasional
+
+{DER SCHAUSPIELDIRECTOR, 1786.}
+
+(47)
+
+piece; it was called "Der Schauspieldirector."[11] The dramatis persona
+were as follows:--[See Page Image]
+
+The plot consists in the difficulties of Frank, the manager, in engaging
+a company for a theatre he has received permission to open in Salzburg.
+Many actors and actresses offer their services, and perform favourite
+scenes by way of testing their ability, the piece concluding with a
+similar trial of operatic music. The piece was loosely put together, and
+its main interest consisted in allusions to the passing events in the
+theatrical world; these are sometimes too palpable and rather coarse.
+Casti's little Italian opera, written for the same occasion, "Prima la
+Musica e poi le Parole" is, on the contrary, really witty and amusing,
+and allows the composer scope for a genuine musical work. Salieri, whose
+music, according to Mozart, was tolerable, but nothing more,[12] thus
+gained a great advantage over Mozart, to whom was entrusted the musical
+portion of the German piece. There could here, of course, be no question
+of dramatic interest and individual characterisation. The two singers
+bring their airs with them as prepared trials of skill. The object was
+to mark the contrast between them. The two songs are alike in design,
+with one slow and one agitated movement, and they further resemble each
+other in their mixture of sentimentality and gaiety, and in the number
+of bravura passages,
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(48)
+
+which sometimes go to a considerable height. It is in the details that
+everything is different, even to the instrumentation, and that the
+sharpest possible contrast is maintained both in the parts and style of
+delivery. There is no great liveliness of movement until--the manager
+being perplexed to make his choice between the two--they fall to
+quarrelling, each of them reiterating with increasing warmth: "Ich bin
+die beste Sangerin." Thereupon the tenor comes to the rescue, and seeks
+to allay the irritation of the enraged ladies, giving occasion for
+a comic terzet full of life and humour. This was composed by Mozart,
+probably because it amused him, on January 18, 1786, although the play
+was not finished until February 3. Although the situation in itself
+cannot be said to possess much interest, there is a certain charm in
+the piece, and the forms which are usually only of artistic significance
+have here a substantial basis. The imitations with which the singers
+follow on each other's heels, the passages in which they run up to
+a fabulous height, the alternation of rapid _parlando_ with affected
+delivery and extraordinary passages--all these not only take effect as
+means of dramatic characterisation, but give the hearers the pleasure
+of deciding for themselves which of the two aspirants really is the best
+singer. The peacemaking tenor attaches., himself now to one, now to the
+other singer, and then again opposes them both, giving a certain amount
+of dignity to the dispute by means of musical and dramatic contrasts.
+Indeed the whole scene is so lively, so gay, so free from caricature,
+and so euphonious, that the terzet may well claim a place with more
+important works. The concluding operatic piece is a vaudeville. Each
+solo voice delivers a verse of the song, passing with characteristic
+modifications into the principal motif, which takes the form of a
+chorus. The bass voice comes last; the actor Buf gives his decision for
+the first buffo. This was Lange, who himself used to say that he could
+only make a singer at need (Selbtsbiographie, p. 126), and who thus
+ironically parodied his own words.
+
+Mozart also wrote an overture to the piece, in which, less bound by the
+triviality of the text, he could move more
+
+{DER SCHAUSPIELDIRECTOR, 1786.}
+
+(49)
+
+freely. It consists of a single movement in quick time. The first
+bars--[See Page Image]
+
+fall at once into the tone of the whole, and form in their contrasting
+elements the motifs which are afterwards intersected in the working-out.
+The two subsequent better-sustained melodies possess in their easy
+imitative movement, the charm of a lively, excited conversation, the
+transition passage forming a piquant contrast; in short, the whole
+overture resembles a comedy with the different characters and intrigues
+crossing each other, until at last all ends well. The whole festival was
+twice repeated at the Kamthnerthortheater soon after the performance at
+Schönbrunn.[13]
+
+Several later attempts were made to give the piece more action and more
+music, so as to preserve Mozart's work on the stage.
+
+When Goethe undertook the management of the court theatre at Weimar in
+1791, numerous Italian and French operas were arranged to German words
+by the indefatigable concertmeister Kranz and the industrious theatrical
+poet, Vulpius.[14] Goethe, being in Rome in the summer of 1787, was
+extremely amused by the performance of an intermezzo, "L' Impresario
+in angustie,"[15] which Cimarosa had composed in the Carnival of the
+previous year (at the same time as Mozart's "Schauspieldirector") for
+the Teatro Nuovo at Naples.[16] He at once had it arranged as a comic
+opera, with the title of "Theatralische Abenteuer," and the whole of the
+music to Mozart's "Schauspieldirector" introduced.[17]
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(50)
+
+It was performed at Weimar on October 24,1791, with great success,
+and afterwards repeated with alterations[18] on other stages during a
+considerable time.
+
+In Vienna, after the operetta had again been thrice performed in
+1797, an experiment was made in 1814 with an increased adaptation by
+Stegmeyer, but without lasting success.[19] Within the last few years
+L. Schneider has made a false step in the publication of the
+"Schauspieldirector, or Mozart und Schikaneder."[20] Wishing to preserve
+Mozart's music free from foreign contact, he chose out some songs, which
+were suitably instrumentalised by Taubert, and fitted fairly well into
+the new piece.[21] But in order to give the plot more interest he fell
+into the unpardonable error of making Mozart himself the hero of the
+opera, composing the "Zauberflöte"
+
+under Schikaneder's direction. It is incredible that any one should have
+been capable of thus misrepresenting the master whom the resuscitation
+of his music was intended to honour, as a senseless, infatuated coxcomb,
+contemptible both in his obsequious submission to Schikaneder and
+his immoral relations with his sister-in-law, Aloysia Lange. In 1856
+Mozart's operetta was given in Paris at the Bouffes Parisiens with great
+success; but with what adaptations I am not aware.
+
+Mozart was altogether deceived in his expectation that the Italian opera
+would not find favour with the public. Joseph made himself acquainted
+through Salieri with all the most distinguished artists whom the latter
+had heard in Italy (Mosel, Salieri, p. 75), and gave him full power to
+engage those he thought fit; he even made this a special object of his
+own journey through Italy. He thus succeeded in bringing together a
+_personnel_ for opera buffa, which through a long series of years, with
+various changes, was unsurpassed in the
+
+{REVIVAL OF ITALIAN OPERA, 1783.}
+
+(51)
+
+unanimous opinion of the public and connoisseurs.[22] The already
+mentioned Vienna singers who went over to the Italian opera, Lange,
+Cavalieri, and Teyber, were joined by Bemasconi, already past her
+prime, in honour of whom Gluck's "Iphigenie in Tauris" was performed in
+Italian, in December, 1783.[23] From Italy came Nancy Storace, Mandini,
+and afterwards Celestine Coltellini. Of the German male singers they
+had indeed dismissed Fischer, whose loss Mozart rightly declared to
+be irreparable, but in Benucci they acquired a bass buffo of the first
+rank. True, he left Vienna the same year, but Marchesini, who replaced
+him, was not nearly so popular, and Benucci was recalled the following
+year. The baritones were Mandini, Bussani, and Pugnetti, together
+with the tenor, O'Kelly (Kelly), and the Germans, Adamberger, Saal, and
+Ruprecht. On April 22, 1783, the Italian opera was opened with Salieri's
+newly adapted opera "La Scuola dei Gelosi."[24] It was a decided success,
+and was repeated twenty-five times, although a cold criticism of the
+opening night asserts: "The prima donna sang extremely well, but her
+gesticulation is intolerable. The buffo bore away the palm for natural
+acting. The other performers are unworthy of notice."[25] The next
+opera, by Cimarosa, "L' Italiana in Londra" (May 5), was not so well
+received; but on the other hand Sarti's opera, "Fra due Litiganti il
+Terzo Gode" (May 25) excited extraordinary enthusiasm.[26] Schroder
+writes on July 26, 1783: "The Italian opera is much sought after, and
+the German
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(52)
+
+theatre is empty."[27] Earnestly as Mozart desired to be employed upon
+a German opera, he could not fail to be excited by the performances and
+success of the Italian opera, and his overpowering love of the drama
+urged him again to employ his genius in the field best fitted for its
+efforts. He writes to his father (May 7, 1783):--
+
+The Italian opera has recommenced, and pleases very much. The buffo,
+named Benucci, is particularly good. I have looked through at least a
+hundred (indeed more) ibretti, but cannot find one satisfactory--that
+is, unless much were to be altered. And a poet would often rather write
+a new one than alter--indeed the new one is sure to be better. We have
+here a certain Abbate da Ponte as poet; he is driven frantic with
+the alterations he has to make for the theatre; he is, _per obligo_,
+employed on a new libretto for Salieri, and will be at least two months
+over it;[28] then he has promised to do something new for me. But who
+knows whether he can or will keep his word? You know how fair-spoken the
+Italians are! If he tells Salieri about it, I shall get no opera as long
+as I live--and I should like to show what I can do in Italian music.
+Sometimes I have thought that if Varesco does not bear malice on
+account of the Munich opera he might write me a new book for seven
+characters--but you know best if that can be done. He might be writing
+down his ideas, and we could work them out together in Salzburg. The
+essential point is that the whole thing should be very comic and, if
+possible, that it should have two good female parts--one seria, the
+other mezzo carattere, but both equal in importance. The third female
+might be quite buffa, and all the male parts if necessary. If you think
+anything can be done with Varesco, please speak to him very soon.
+
+By way of inducement to Varesco, he sent him word that he might reckon
+on a fee of four or five hundred gulden, for that it was customary in
+Vienna to give the poet the receipts of the third representation. Some
+time after he asks again (June 7, 1783)
+
+Do you know nothing of Varesco? I beg you not to forget; if I were in
+Salzburg we could work at it together so well, if we had a plan ready
+prepared.
+
+Before Mozart went to Salzburg he had an instance of what he might
+expect in the opposition made to the insertion of his two airs for
+Adamberger and Madame Lange in
+
+{L' OCA DEL CAIRO, 1783.}
+
+(53)
+
+Anfossi's "Curioso Indiscreto" (Vol. II., p. 326). On his arrival
+in Salzburg at the end of July, he found Varesco quite ready for
+the undertaking, which was to begin at once, and to be completed in
+Salzburg.
+
+Among Mozart's remains were found in Varesco's handwriting the first act
+complete, and the prose table of contents in detail of the second and
+third acts of the opera "L' Oca del Cairo" ("The Goose of Cairo"). The
+_dramatis personæ_ are as follows:--
+
+The contents are briefly these:--
+
+Don Pippo, Marchese di Ripasecca, a vain and haughty fool, has by his
+ill-treatment forced his wife, Donna Pantea, to leave him; he believes
+her dead, but she is living, concealed at a place over the seas.
+Biondello, hated by him, loves his daughter Celidora, whom he intends to
+marry to Count Lionetto di Casavuota; he himself has fallen in love with
+her companion Lavina, who has come to an understanding with Calandrino,
+Biondello's friend and Pantea's relative. The two maidens are confined
+in a fortified tower and closely guarded. In full conviction of his
+security, Don Pippo has been induced to promise Biondello that if he
+succeeds in gaining access to Celidora within the year, her hand shall
+be his reward. Hereupon, Calandrino, a skilful mechanic, has constructed
+an artificial goose large enough to contain a man, and with machinery
+capable of motion; this is conveyed to Pantea, who, disguised in Moorish
+costume, is to display it as a show; it is hoped that Pippo may consent
+to its exhibition before the two maidens, and that Biondello may thus
+be conveyed into the tower. As a condition Calandrino exacts from his
+friend a promise of Lavina's hand.
+
+The opera begins on the anniversary of the wager. Don Pippo is about
+to marry Lavina, and awaits the arrival of Count Lionetto; his house is
+filled with preparations for festivity. The curtain rises on the whole
+household, including the coquettish maid Auretta and her lover the
+house-steward, Chichibio, having their hair dressed. Calandrino
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(54)
+
+enters in much perturbation; Pantea has not arrived, and a violent storm
+gives rise to the fear that she may fail altogether; some other device
+must be hit upon. He promises marriage to Chichibio and Auretta, if
+they can succeed in abstracting Don Pippo's clothes, and preventing his
+leaving the castle, which they undertake. The scene changes: Celidora
+and Lavina are conversing on a terrace on the fourth story of the tower,
+to which they have obtained access in secret; the lovers appear below on
+the other side of the moat, and a tender quartet is carried on. The new
+plan is to throw a bridge across the moat and scale the tower. Workmen
+arrive and the task is eagerly commenced; but Chichibio and Auretta,
+chattering about their marriage, have failed to keep watch, and now
+announce that Don Pippo has gone out; he himself speedily appears,
+summons the watch, stops the work, and drives away the lovers.
+
+In the second act Pantea lands with the goose in a violent storm. It
+is a fair-day, and the assembled people are full of amazement at the
+natural and rational movements of the goose, which is supposed to come
+from Cairo. Auretta and Chichibio inform Don Pippo of the wonderful
+sight. He causes Pantea to come forward, and she informs him that the
+goose having lost its speech from fright during the storm can only be
+restored by the use of a certain herb growing in a lonely garden. Don
+Pippo, delighted, commissions Calandrino to take Pantea and the
+goose into the pleasure-garden, that so the two maidens may enjoy the
+spectacle. The finale represents the fair close to the tower, the two
+ladies looking on from the window. A dispute arises, in which Biondello
+takes part; Don Pippo, as magistrate, is called on to do justice; some
+ridiculous action is carried on, ending in a general tumult. Pantea then
+puts Biondello into the goose and enters the garden, while Calandrino
+informs Don Pippo that Biondello, in despair, has set out to sea in a
+small boat, which is confirmed by the weeping Auretta. Don Pippo, in
+high delight, forms a ludicrous wedding procession and proceeds to the
+tower, where Celidora and Lavina stand at the window while the goose
+makes various antics for the amusement of the crowd. Finally, Don Pippo
+appears in the great hall of the tower, accompanied by the two maidens
+and the goose, in full confidence of his triumph, and only waiting the
+arrival of Count Lionetto to celebrate the wedding. Chichibio enters
+with an uncourteous refusal from the Count. As Don Pippo is in the act
+of giving his hand to Lavina, Pantea advances in her true person, the
+goose begins to speak, opens, and Biondello steps out; Don Pippo is
+beside himself, and is ridiculed by them all; he ends by promising to
+amend his ways, and the three couples are made happy.
+
+No doubt this summarised account has omitted to take note of many comic
+and effective touches; but on the other hand it has suppressed many
+absurdities--the general impression of a fantastic and senseless plot
+not being affected
+
+{L'OCA DEL CAIRO, 1783.}
+
+(55)
+
+by the treatment of the details. In the first glow of delight at having
+a new libretto, Mozart set to work composing at once in Salzburg,
+and after his return to Vienna he anticipated different scenes that
+interested him; but he was soon seized with misgivings that the opera
+could not be put on the stage without important alterations. He wrote on
+the subject to his father (December 6, 1783):--
+
+Only three more airs, and the first act of my opera is finished. With
+the aria buffa, the quartet, and the finale I can safely say I am
+perfectly satisfied--in fact, quite delighted. So that I should be
+sorry to have written so much good music in vain, which must be the case
+unless some indispensable alterations are made. Neither you, nor
+the Abbate Varesco, nor I, reflected that it would have a very bad
+effect--indeed, would ruin the opera--if neither of the two principal
+female characters were to appear on the stage until the last moment,
+but were to be always wandering about on the ramparts or terraces of
+the tower. One act of this might pass muster, but I am sure the audience
+would not stand a second. This objection first occurred to me in Linz,
+and I see no way out of it but to make some scenes of the second act
+take place in the fortress--_camera della fortezza_. The scene where
+Don Pippo gives orders to bring the goose in might be the room in which
+Celidora and Lavina are. Pantea comes in with the goose. Biondello pops
+out; they hear Don Pippo coming. In goes Biondello again. This would
+give an opening for a good quintet, which would be all the more comic
+because the goose sings too. I must confess to you, however, that my
+only reason for not objecting to the whole of the goose business is that
+two men of such penetration and judgment as yourself and Varesco see
+nothing against it. But there would still be time to think of something
+else. Biondello has only undertaken to make his way into the tower;
+whether he does it as a sham goose, or by any other trick, makes no
+difference at all. I cannot help thinking that many more comic and more
+natural scenes might be brought about if Biondello were to remain in
+human form. For instance, the news that Biondello had committed himself
+to the waves in despair, might arrive quite at the beginning of the
+second act, and he might then disguise himself as a Turk, or something
+of the kind, and bring Pantea in as a slave (Moorish, of course). Don
+Pippo is anxious to purchase a slave for his wife; and the slave-dealer
+and the Mooress are admitted into the fortress for inspection. This
+leads to much cajoling and mockery of her husband on the part of Pantea,
+which would improve the part, for the more comic the opera is the
+better. I hope you will explain my opinion fully to the Abbate Varesco,
+and I must beg him to set to work in earnest. I have worked hard enough
+in the short time. Indeed, I should have finished the first act, if I
+did not require some alterations made in some of the words; but I would
+rather you did not mention this to him at present.
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(56)
+
+In the postcript he again begs his father to consult Varesco, and hurry
+him on. On further consideration, however, he thought he had still
+conceded too much, and a few days afterwards he wrote (December 10,
+1783):--
+
+Do all you can to make my book a success. I should like to bring the
+ladies down from the ramparts in the first act, when they sing their
+airs, and I would willingly allow them to sing the whole finale
+upstairs.
+
+Varesco was quite willing to make the alteration, which was easily to be
+effected by a change of scene. The altered version exists, together with
+the original text; but we know nothing further on the subject. Mozart
+seems to have made more extensive demands. He wrote to his father
+(December 24, 1783):--
+
+Now, for what is most necessary with regard to the opera. The Abbate
+Varesco has written after Lavina's cavatina: "A cui serverà la musica
+della cavatina antecedente"--that is of Celidora's cavatina--but
+this will not do. The words of Celidora's cavatina are hopeless and
+inconsolable, while those of Lavina's are full of hope and consolation.
+Besides, making one character pipe a song after another is quite an
+exploded fashion, and never was a popular one. At the best it is only
+fitted for a soubrette and her lover in the _ultime parti._ My idea
+would be to begin the scene with a good duet, for which the same words,
+with a short appendix for the coda, would answer very well. After the
+duet, the conversation could proceed as before: "E quando s' ode il
+cam-panello della custode." Mademoiselle Lavina will have the goodness
+to take her departure instead of Celidora, so that the latter, as prima
+donna, may have an opportunity of singing a grand bravura air. This
+would, I think, be an improvement for the composer, the singers, and
+the audience, and the whole scene would gain in interest. Besides, it
+is scarcely likely that the same song would be tolerated from the second
+singer after being sung by the first. I do not know what you both mean
+by the following direction: At the end of the interpolated scene for the
+two women in the first act, the Abbate has written: "Siegue la scena
+VIII che prima era la VII e cosi cangiansi di mano in mano i numeri." This
+leads me to suppose that he intends the scene after the quartet, where
+the two ladies, one after the other, sing their little songs from the
+window, to remain. But that is impossible. The act would be lengthened
+out of all proportion, and quite spoiled. I always thought it ludicrous
+to read: _Celidora_. "Tu qui m' attendi, arnica. Alla custode farmi
+veder vogl' io; ci andrai tu puoi." Lavina: "Si dolce arnica, addio."
+(Celidora parte.) Lavina sings her song. Celidora comes back and says:
+"Eccomi, or vanne," &c.; and then out goes Lavina, and Celidora sings
+her air; they relieve one another, like soldiers on guard. It is much
+more natural
+
+{L'OCA DEL CAIRO, 1783.}
+
+(57)
+
+also that, being all together for the quartet, to arrange their
+contemplated attack, the men should go out to collect the necessary
+assistants, leaving the two women quietly in their retreat. All that can
+be allowed them is a few lines of recitative. I cannot imagine that it
+was intended to prolong the scene, only that the direction for closing
+it was omitted by mistake. I am very curious to hear your good idea for
+bringing Biondello into the tower; if it is only comical enough, we will
+overlook a good deal that may be unnatural. I am not at all afraid of
+a few fireworks; all the arrangements here are so good that there is no
+danger of fire. "Medea" has been given repeatedly, at the end of which
+half the palace falls in ruins while the other half is in flames.
+
+Whether Varesco refused to give up the "goose business," whether he was
+afraid of further endless emendations, or what his reasons were, who
+can tell? In any case no radical change was made in the text, and, much
+against his will, Mozart was forced to lay the opera aside. Besides a
+recitative and the cursory sketch of a tenor air, six numbers of the
+first act are preserved in draft score (422 K.), with, as usual, the
+voice parts and bass completely written out, and the ritornelli
+and accompaniment more or less exactly indicated for the different
+instruments. Four numbers belong to Auretta and Chichibio; the
+comparison with "Figaro" is an obvious one, and though Chichibio is
+far from being a Figaro, Auretta approaches much nearer to Susanna. The
+situation of her air (2) is not badly imagined. Calandrino, hearing from
+Auretta that Chichibio is very jealous, embraces her in jest and says,
+"What would Chichibio say if he saw us?" Thereupon that personage
+enters, and Auretta, pretending not to observe him, sings:--
+
+     Se fosse qui nascoso
+     Quell' Argo mio geloso,
+     O, poverina me!
+
+     Direbbe: "O maledetta,
+     Pettegola, fraschetta!
+     La fedeltà dov' è?"
+
+     Pur sono innocente,
+     Se fosse presente,
+     Direbbe tra se:
+
+     "O qui non c' è pericolo,
+     Un caso si ridicolo
+     Goder si deve affè."
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(58)
+
+The musical apprehension of the contrasts contained in the words is
+remarkably humorous and graceful, and especially the point to which
+the whole tends. "O qui non cè peri-colo" is as charmingly roguish as
+anything in "Figaro." Chichibio's comic air (3) is in the genuine
+style of Italian buffo, and consists of a rapid _parlando_; after the
+direction to close with the ritornello it acquires some originality of
+colour from the instrumentation. In the shorter of the two duets
+between Auretta and Chichibio, the orchestra was also intended to play a
+prominent part. The first duet (1), however, is more important and
+more broadly designed; Auretta provokes Chichibio's jealousy in the
+traditional manner, and then seeks to appease it. The whole piece, with
+its shifting humours, is lively and amusing, and the subject--[See Page
+Image]
+
+carried out by the orchestra and toyed with by the voice-parts, is of
+a mingled grace and intensity truly worthy of Mozart. Then there are
+sketches of two great ensembles. The quartet (6) in which the lovers
+converse from afar has less of a buffo character and more true
+feeling; the two pairs of lovers are clearly distinguished, and their
+characteristics sharply defined. The finale (7), on the other hand, is
+altogether in the liveliest buffo tone. At the beginning the lovers are
+full of eagerness and hope at the building of the bridge, then follows
+the excitement of suspense, and when Don Pippo actually appears a
+general tumult breaks out. It does not lie in the nature of this
+situation to make the same display of rich variety, nor of the dignity
+of deep emotion, which we admire so much in other finales; it is
+calculated rather to excite wonder at the long continuation of spirited
+movement and ascending climax. In the last presto, especially, this is
+quite extraordinary; here the chorus (contrary to custom in comic opera)
+is independent and full of effect, yielding to no later work of the same
+kind. A proof of the figure Don Pippo is intended to cut is given in
+this
+
+{LO SPOSO DELUSO, 1784.}
+
+(59)
+
+finale. The short andante maestoso, "Io sono offeso! La mia eccellenza,
+la prepotenza soffrir non de," indicates a grand buffo part such as
+never occurs in any other opera. We have, it is true, but a weak and
+shadowy outline of all these movements. Let the experiment be made of
+imagining corresponding numbers of "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" deprived
+of all their orchestral parts except the bass, and a few bars to suggest
+the different motifs, and how much weaker and more colourless will be
+the image that remains! So, also, we can scarcely arrive at even an
+approximate idea of the life which Mozart would have thrown into
+these sketches when he came to work them out in all their detail and
+brilliancy of colouring. They betray, in common with all the works of
+this period, the firm touch of a master, and possess a singular interest
+to the student, even in their incomplete form. Who can say that Mozart,
+if he had finished the opera, would not have succeeded in overcoming the
+weaker points of the libretto? And yet he scarcely seems to have hoped
+as much himself, seeing that he finally laid aside the work, begun with
+so much eagerness and carried on so far. But he was far from abandoning
+his design, and seeing no immediate prospect of a new libretto, he
+selected from among the numerous books which he had collected one that
+he might at least hope to see put on the stage. This was "Lo Sposo
+Deluso" ("Der gefoppte Brautigam"), probably the same opera which was
+produced at Padua in the winter of 1787, with music by Cav. Pado.[29]
+That it was a libretto which had already been made use of follows
+from the fact that Mozart made some corrections from the original of
+inaccuracies as to names committed by the ignorant Italian copyist.
+It is not necessary for the comprehension of the portions composed by
+Mozart (430 K.) to transcribe the whole of the complicated contents of
+the book; the list of characters, with the names of the singers to whom
+Mozart alloted the various parts, will suffice to show the drift of the
+plot.
+
+The _dramatis personæ_, then, are as follows:--[See Page Image]
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(60)
+
+The time at which Mozart was at work on this libretto falls within that
+during which Nancy Storace performed as Signora Fischer. She had been
+induced to marry an English violinist, a Dr. Fisher, at Vienna, who
+ill-treated her, and was thereupon sent out of the country by the
+Emperor. This was in the year 1784,[30] and as Nancy Storace never
+afterwards bore the name of her husband, she could only have been so
+described by Mozart shortly after her marriage. As the opera begins,
+Bocconio, awaiting his bride, is discovered giving the finishing touches
+to his toilet; his friend Pulcherio, the woman-hater, is present, and
+jeers at him; so do Don Asdrubale and Bettina, who declares that if her
+uncle does not provide her with a husband without delay, she will give
+him and his wife no peace. While he is defending himself, the arrival
+of the bride is announced; the confusion increases, for he is not yet
+ready, and the others all torment him the more. Mozart has connected
+this quartet with the overture, which leads into the first scene without
+a break. We have a merry flourish of trumpets and drums, taken up by the
+whole orchestra, and at once we are in the midst of wedding festivities
+and joyous excitement. The plan of the
+
+{LO SPOSO DELUSO, 1784.}
+
+(61)
+
+overture, though without any actual allusion, reminds us of that to
+"Figaro," but falls short of it in spirit and refinement. The merriment
+is interrupted by a tender andante 3-8, in which strings and wind
+instruments alternate, prefiguring the amorous emotions which are to
+have a place in the drama. The flourish is heard again, the curtain
+rises, and the andante is repeated in its main points, the instrumental
+movement serving as a foundation for the free motion of the voices. The
+different points are more sharply accented, and the hearer's enjoyment
+is intensified by the richer and more brilliant working out of the
+movement, which shows itself, as it were, in an altogether new light.
+The ensemble is inspired with cheerful humour, full of dramatic life,
+and showing distinctly Mozart's own art of giving independence and
+freedom to the voices and orchestra, as members of one perfect whole.
+The draft is worked out somewhat beyond the first design, the stringed
+instruments being almost written in full, and the principal entrances of
+the wind instruments at least indicated. We are thus enabled to form
+a sufficient idea of the movement, which, had it been completed, would
+have been so brilliant an introduction to the opera. Two airs are
+preserved in the customary sketch form--voices and bass entire, and
+detached indications for the violin. In the soprano air (3), however,
+the outline is so characteristic that but a small effort of imagination
+suffices to endow it with the effect of full instrumentation. The
+caricatured haughtiness of the Roman lady Eugenia is shown in the very
+first words:--
+
+The contrast between pomposity and volubility is given at once; the
+object is to balance one with the other, so that they may appear natural
+displays of a consistent character.
+
+The moderation of tone thus obtained is all the more necessary from the
+character being a female one, since a woman cannot be caricatured to
+the point of being revolting, as a man can, without injury to the comic
+effect.
+
+     Nacqui all' aura trionfale,
+     Del Romano Campidoglio
+     E non trovo per le scale,
+     Che mi venga ad incontrar?
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(62)
+
+Caricature, which emphasises certain characteristic features of an
+individual at the cost of others less striking must always be an
+objectionable mode of musical representation. The external features
+which can be exaggerated by the musician are limited and soon exhausted,
+the exaggeration of emotional expression to produce a comic effect is
+a very dangerous device, because music does not possess the resources
+which enable poetry and the formative arts to represent disproportions
+of caricature as amusing and comical rather than distorted and hideous.
+Mozart takes as the foundation for his musical representation a genuine
+pride, which is only led by chance impulses to express itself in
+an exaggerated and distorted manner, and it is this temporary
+self-contradiction which produces the comic effect. The musical
+device he employs for the purpose is the composition of the air in
+the traditional heroic form of opera seria, which is opposed to the
+situation of the moment as well as to the fault-finding words. The
+compass and employment of the voice show that Mozart had Storace in
+view, for whom he afterwards composed Susanna. Pulcherio's second air
+(4) is much more sketchily delineated. Eugenia and Bocconio, after
+their first meeting, are not on very good terms with each other, and the
+obliging friend seeks to reconcile them; he draws Bocconio's attention
+to Eugenia's beauty, and hers to Bocconio's amiability, and as he goes
+first to one and then to the other with his appeals, he pictures to
+himself the misery which is sure to follow the union of the two. The
+contrasting motifs to which the situation gives rise are arranged
+in animated alternation. The sketch, however, shows only the general
+design; and the share taken in it by the orchestra, doubtless a very
+important one, cannot be even approximately arrived at. A terzet (5
+cf., Vol. II., p. 424) between Eugenia, Don Asdrubale and Bocconio is
+completely worked out, and causes regret that it was not inserted in
+a later opera, that so we might have heard it from the stage. Don
+Asdrubale coming to greet Bocconio's bride, the lovers in amazement
+recognise each other. Eugenia, who had been informed of Don Asdrubale's
+death in battle, falls half-swooning on a couch, and Bocconio hastens
+off to fetch
+
+{LO SPOSO DELUSO, 1784.}
+
+(63)
+
+restoratives. Asdrubale, who is on the way to Rome that he may wed
+Eugenia, overwhelms her with reproaches, and throws himself on a couch
+in despair. Eugenia has risen, and before Asdrubale can explain himself,
+Bocconio returns, and to his astonishment finds the scene completely
+altered. At this point the terzet begins, and expresses most charmingly
+the confusion and embarrassment of the three personages, who are all in
+the dark as to each other's conduct, and who put restraint on themselves
+even in their extremity of suspense. The orchestra carries on the
+threads independently, joined by the voices, sometimes apart and
+interrupted, to suit the situation, sometimes together. An excellent
+effect is given by the sharply accented expression of involuntary
+painful emotion contrasting with the reserve which otherwise prevails
+in the terzet. The whole tone of the piece is masterly; while never
+overstepping the limits of comic opera, it successfully renders the deep
+agitation of mind of all the three characters. This is contrived, not
+by the mixture of a comic element in the person of Bocconio, who rather
+approximates to the frame of mind of the other two, but by the cheerful
+tone which penetrates the whole without any loss of truth of expression.
+
+This opera again stopped short of completion, and a third seems to
+have had the same fate. A terzet for male voices, which is preserved in
+duplicate draft, was intended for the first scene of a comic opera. An
+opera by Accoromboni, "Il Regno delle Amazoni," was, according to Fétis,
+performed at Parma in 1782, as well as elsewhere,[31] with success, and
+the words of the terzet leave little doubt that this, too, was among the
+"little books" Mozart had looked through, and that it suggested to him
+an experiment which must almost have coincided in point of time with the
+two just mentioned. It can scarcely have been the imperfections of the
+libretti alone which caused Mozart to leave these operas unfinished,
+but also the improbability of ever bringing them to performance.
+The brilliant reception accorded to the Italian maestri, Sarti and
+Paesiello, in Vienna, only caused
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(64)
+
+the German masters to fall more into the background. The extraordinary
+success of Paesiello and Casti with "Il Re Teodoro'' (Vol. II., p. 344),
+alarmed even Salieri. He had himself begun an opera, "Il Ricco d' un
+Giorno," but laid it aside rather than enter into competition with the
+"Re Teodoro." He was always skilful in turning circumstances to account.
+When his "Rauchfangkehrer" failed in 1781, and Mozart's "Entführung" was
+rousing great expectations, he received in the nick of time a commission
+from Munich to write the opera "Semiramide," which was performed during
+the Carnival.[32] He then set out, recommended and patronised by Gluck,
+to produce "Les Danaides" in Paris. Crowned with new laurels, by reason
+of the success which it there met with, he returned to Vienna and
+completed his opera, after the first enthusiasm for his rivals had died
+out. It was given on December 6, 1784, but without success.[33] Mozart's
+prospects for the year 1785 were not any more favourable, when suddenly
+help appeared from an unexpected quarter.
+
+Lorenzo da Ponte (1749-1838),[34] a native of Ceneda, was exiled from
+the republic of Venice, where he had been schoolmaster, on account of
+his opinions and manner of life. After a short stay in Gorz and Dresden,
+he came to Vienna, warmly recommended to Salieri by the poet Mazzola,
+just as the Italian opera was in process of being established. Through
+Salieri's influence he was appointed a theatrical poet by Joseph II.,
+who continued to befriend him; he had thus every reason to be beholden
+to Salieri. His first attempt was this opera, "Il Ricco d' un Giorno,"
+which he did not himself consider a success; Salieri ascribed its
+failure, which he felt the more keenly in contrast to Paesiello's
+success, solely and entirely to the poet, and swore that he would sooner
+cut off his hand than set to music another word of Da Ponte's. He had no
+difficulty in obtaining a libretto
+
+{CASTI--DA PONTE.}
+
+(65)
+
+from Casti, "La Grotta di Trofonio"; and this opera, which was first
+given on October 12, 1785, was a great success.[35] Da Ponte now saw
+himself threatened in his position, for Casti was his declared rival and
+opponent.
+
+Casti had long been famous as a witty and gallant verse-maker; he was
+acquainted with the most influential men of the day, and was ambitious
+of succeeding Metastasio as _poeta Cesareo_. The rise of Da Ponte, who
+had to some extent taken Metastasio's place in the theatre, would be
+altogether against his interests; he sought therefore both by praise and
+blame to bring his rival into discredit, and ridiculed him personally
+in his operetta, "Prima la Musica" (Vol. III., p. 47). Casti carried his
+vanity and self-complacency to such a pitch that Kelly mimicked him on
+the stage in his own opera ("Demo-gorgone"), to the intense delight of
+the public.[36] It was plainly Da Ponte's interest to gain the favour of
+composers who might do credit to his operatic libretti.
+
+Vincent Martin (1754-1810), born in Valencia, and therefore called "Lo
+Spagnuolo," had produced some operas in Italy with success since 1781;
+Storace had made a furore in one of them at Venice.[37] This caused him
+to repair to Vienna in 1784, where the wife of the Spanish Ambassador
+took him under her powerful protection. At the command of the Emperor
+Da Ponte adapted for him the opera, "Il Burbero di Buon Core," after
+Goldoni's comedy, which was performed for the first time on January
+4, 1786, with complete success; but his next operas, "Il Finto Cieco,"
+composed by Gazzaniga, and "Il Demogorgone," composed by Righini, were
+not particularly successful. Not satisfied with these composers, he cast
+his eyes on Mozart, to whom he had promised a libretto as early as 1783.
+Da Ponte positively affirms[38] that it was owing to his readiness and
+decision that Mozart was enabled to place his masterpiece on the stage
+in defiance of all the cabals and intrigues of his enemies; and he
+expresses the
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(66)
+
+hope that an impartial and truthful account of the affair will make this
+evident. We shall therefore follow his account, but shall correct and
+modify it in its details by means of other available information.[39]
+
+Baron Wezlar, a great lover of music, in whose house Mozart had lived
+for a time (Vol. II., p. 304), had brought about the acquaintance
+between the latter and Da Ponte, and proved himself a munificent patron
+on the occasion. On Mozart's expressing anxiety lest an opera composed
+by him should not be allowed to appear, Wezlar engaged to pay the
+librettist a suitable fee, and to bring about the performance of
+the opera in London or Paris if the obstacles in Vienna proved
+insurmountable. Confiding in the favour and discernment of the Emperor,
+Da Ponte declined this offer. In discussing a suitable subject Mozart
+expressed the wish that Da Ponte would adapt Beaumarchais' comedy, "Le
+Mariage de Figaro," which, after a prolonged struggle, had been given
+for the first time on April 27, 1784, and was now occupying public
+attention. The adaptation would be an easy matter, but the Emperor had
+forbidden the production of the piece at the National Theatre on account
+of its freedom of tone. Da Ponte, however, hoped to overcome this
+difficulty; he agreed with Mozart to keep.the undertaking a secret.
+They set to work, Da Ponte writing the libretto, and Mozart composing
+it gradually as he received it: _in six weeks the whole was finished_.
+Fortunately there was a dearth of new operas at the time. Da Ponte,
+without consulting any one, went straight to the Emperor, and told him
+what had happened. The Emperor had misgivings both as to Mozart, who,
+though an excellent instrumental composer, had written an opera which
+was no great success ("non era gran cosa"), and as to the piece which
+he had already suppressed. Da Ponte declared that he would be answerable
+for Mozart as well as for the piece, which he had adapted in such a
+manner as to be perfectly fit for representation. The Emperor gave way,
+summoned Mozart before him with the score, and after
+
+{ADAPTATION OF "FIGARO," 1785.}
+
+(67)
+
+hearing some portions of it, commanded that it should be performed and
+put into rehearsal at once. This caused much displeasure to Mozart's
+opponents, Casti and Count Rosenberg, "a sworn enemy of the Germans, who
+would listen to nothing that was not Italian,"[40] and who made as many
+difficulties as he could. Da Ponte relates one instance of the kind. The
+manager, Bussani (the singer who was cast for the part of Bartolo), told
+Count Rosenberg that in the third act of "Figaro," during the wedding
+festivities, while Susanna is conveying the letter to the Count, a
+ballet was to be introduced. Rosenberg sent for the poet, reminded him
+that the Emperor would not allow a ballet, and turning a deaf ear to
+his remonstrances, tore the scene out of the book. Mozart was furious;
+wanted to call the Count to answer, to horsewhip Bussani, to appeal to
+the Emperor, to take back the score--in short, he could with difficulty
+be pacified. At the full rehearsal the Emperor was present. In obedience
+to Rosenberg's order the ballet was omitted, and in dead silence Susanna
+and the Count made their now meaningless gestures. The Emperor, in
+amazement, asked what it all meant, and on Da Ponte's explanation of
+the affair, ordered a proper ballet to be at once arranged. This story,
+although Da Ponte may have exaggerated the importance of his own share
+in it, doubtless gives a fair idea on the whole of the circumstances
+under which Mozart's "Figaro" was produced. Kelly's assertion that
+Mozart was commissioned by the Emperor to write an opera, and selected
+"Figaro," accords very well with Da Ponte's account. Mozart began his
+work in the autumn of 1785, as we learn from a letter of his father's to
+Marianne (November 11, 1785):--
+
+At last, after six weeks' silence, I have received a letter from your
+brother of November 2, containing quite twelve lines. His excuse for not
+writing is that he has been over head and ears at work on his opera,
+
+"Le Nozze di Figaro." He has put off all his pupils to the afternoon, so
+that he may have his mornings free. I have no fear as to the music;
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(68)
+
+but there will no doubt be much discussion and annoyance before he can
+get the libretto arranged to his wish; and having procrastinated and let
+the time slip after his usual fashion, he is obliged now to set to work
+in earnest, because Count Rosenberg insists upon it.
+
+This contradicts Da Ponte's account of the secrecy with which the opera
+was prepared; and it may be doubted also whether it was really written
+in six weeks. The date in Mozarts own catalogue,-April 29, 1786, only
+proves that he closed his work by writing the overture immediately
+before the first performance (May 1).[41] Da Ponte may have exaggerated
+somewhat tor the sake of effect. Mozart's Thematic Catalogue shows what
+he was capable of accomplishing even while at work upon "Figaro." There
+is a hiatus in the catalogue from July 5, 1785, to November 5. It is
+possible that he was busy with the opera during this interval; but
+during the time immediately following, when he was working at it in real
+earnest, we find the following compositions entered:--
+
+1785. November 5. Quartet to the "Villanella Rapita" (Vol. II., p.
+331).
+
+November 21. Terzet I (479, 480 K.).
+
+December 12. Sonata for piano and violin in E flat major (481 K.).
+
+December 16. Pianoforte concerto in E flat major (482 K.).
+
+1786. January 10. Pianoforte rondo in D major (485 K.).
+
+January 18. Terzet from the "Schauspieldirector."
+
+February 3. "Schauspieldirector" (486 K.).
+
+March 2. Pianoforte concerto in A major (488 K.).
+
+March 10. Duet and air for the private performance of "Ido-meneo" (489,
+490 K.).
+
+March 24. Pianoforte concerto in C minor (491 K.).
+
+April 29. "Le Nozze di Figaro" (492 K.).
+
+To these may be added the Lent Concerts, which were also then
+occupying him. There were other difficulties to be overcome before
+the performance, of which we hear nothing from Da Ponte, but which are
+related by Kelly:--
+
+There were three operas now on the _tapis_, one by Righini ("ü
+Demo-gorgone"), another by Salieri ("La Grotta di Trofonio"), and one
+
+{INTRIGUES AGAINST "FIGARO."}
+
+(69)
+
+by Mozart, by special command of the Emperor. Mozart chose to have
+Beaumarchais' French comedy, "Le Mariage de Figaro," made into an
+Italian opera, which was done with great ability by Da Ponte. These
+three pieces were nearly ready for representation at the same time, and
+each composer claimed the right of producing his opera for the first.
+The contest raised much discord, and parties were formed. The characters
+of the three men were all very different. Mozart was as touchy as
+gunpowder, and swore that he would put the score of his opera into the
+fire if it was not produced first; his claim was backed by a strong
+party. Righini, on the contrary, was working like a mole in the dark to
+get precedence. The third candidate was Maestro di Capella to the court,
+a clever, shrewd man, possessed of what Bacon called "crooked wisdom";
+and his claims were backed by three of the principal performers, who
+formed a cabal not easily put down. Every one of the opera company took
+part in the contest. I alone was a stickler for Mozart, and naturally
+enough, for he had a claim on my warmest wishes, from my adoration
+of his powerful genius and the debt of gratitude I owed him for many
+personal favours. The mighty contest was put an end to by his majesty
+issuing a mandate for Mozart's "Nozze di Figaro" to be instantly put
+into rehearsal.
+
+A slight error has crept in here, for Salieri's opera was given first
+on October 12, 1785; but this account confirms the fact of the Emperor's
+interference. Mozart's claims were supported by the distinguished
+company of amateurs who arranged a representation of "Idomeneo" at the
+Auersperg Theatre in March (Vol. II., p. 289). The fact that his friends
+Count Hatzfeld (Vol. II., p. 291) and Bridi (Vol. II., p. 359) took his
+part in the dispute shows that it was intended to put Mozart forward as
+a composer of Italian operas, and that powerful support was considered
+necessary for the purpose. His father had cause therefore to write to
+his daughter (April 18):--
+
+On the 28th, "Le Nozze di Figaro" is to be put on the stage for the
+first time. It will mean much if it succeeds, for I know that there
+has been a surprisingly strong cabal against it. Salieri and all
+his adherents will move heaven and earth against it. Duschek told me
+lately[42] that my son met with such violent opposition because of his
+extraordinary talent and cleverness.
+
+{MOZART AS AN OPERA COMPOSER.}
+
+(70)
+
+Niemetschek (p. 37) goes so far as to assert that it was commonly
+reported that the Italian singers did all they could to ruin the opera
+on its first performance by intentional mistakes and carelessness, and
+that they had to be sternly reminded of their duty by the Emperor, to
+whom Mozart appealed in despair at the end of the first act. Kelly says
+nothing of this; he maintains, on the contrary, that never was opera so
+strongly cast, and that all the subsequent performances he had seen
+were no more to be compared to the original one than light is to
+darkness:[43]--
+
+All the original performers had the advantage of the instruction of the
+composer, who transfused into their minds his inspired meaning. I never
+shall forget his little animated countenance, when lighted up with the
+glowing rays of genius; it is as impossible to describe it as it would
+be to paint sunbeams. I remember at the first rehearsal of the full band
+Mozart was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked
+hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra. Figaro's song "Non
+più andrai" Benucci gave with the greatest animation and power of
+voice. I was standing close to Mozart, who, (_sotto voce_), was repeating:
+"Bravo! bravo, Benucci!" and when Benucci came to the fine passage,
+"Cherubino, alla vittoria, alia gloria militar!" which he gave out with
+stentorian lungs, the effect was electricity itself, for the whole of
+the performers on the stage, and those in the orchestra, as if actuated
+by one feeling of delight, vociferated: "Bravo! bravo, maestro! viva,
+viva, grande Mozart!" Those in the orchestra I thought would never have
+ceased applauding, by beating the bows of their violins against the
+music-desks. The little man acknowledged by repeated obeisances his
+thanks for the distinguished mark of enthusiastic applause bestowed upon
+him.
+
+The following was the cast of the first performance, according to
+Mozart's Thematic Catalogue--the original libretto is unfortunately
+lost:[44]--[See page images]
+
+{PERFORMANCE OF "FIGARO."}
+
+(71)
+
+The reception of the opera by the public on its first performance (May
+1, 1786) was such as to justify the most favourable anticipations.[45]
+"Never was anything more complete," says Kelly, "than the triumph of
+Mozart and his 'Nozze di Figaro.'" The house was crowded, and many
+pieces were encored, so that the opera lasted twice the usual time;
+but that did not prevent long-continued applause and repeated calls for
+Mozart at the close of the performance. L. Mozart wrote to his daughter
+on May 18: "At the second performance of your brother's opera (May 3)
+five pieces were encored, and on the third (May 8) seven; one little
+duet had to be sung three times."[46] The opera, therefore, was a decided
+success; too much so, indeed, for many people, and the Emperor was
+persuaded, after the first performance, to forbid any piece to be
+encored, under the pretence of sparing the singers and the conductor.
+Kelly narrates how the Emperor, after issuing this prohibition,
+addressing himself at a rehearsal to Storace, Mandini, and Benucci,
+said:[47] "I
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(72)
+
+dare say you are all pleased that I put a stop to encores; it must
+be fatiguing and distressing to you to repeat so many songs." Storace
+replied: "It is indeed, sire, very distressing." The other two bowed,
+as if in assent; but Kelly, who was standing by, said boldly to the
+Emperor: "Do not believe them, sire, they all like to be encored; at
+least I am sure I always do"; whereupon the Emperor laughed. Mozart's
+enemies found it impossible to drive the opera completely from the
+stage, but they took care that it should not be given often enough
+to take firm hold of the public favour. Nevertheless, it reached nine
+performances within the year, though with long intervals between them
+(May 1, 3, 8, 24, July 4, August 28, September 22, November 15, December
+18). On November 17 Martin's "Cosa Rara" (after so strong an opposition
+on the part of the singers, that the Emperor was obliged to compel them
+to sing)[48] achieved an unprecedented success. This threw "Figaro"
+somewhat into the shade, both in the public estimation and in the
+Emperor's opinion; the latter told Dittersdorf that Mozart overweighted
+the singers with his full accompaniments;[49] Martin's easy and taking
+melodies were far more to the royal taste. During 1787 and 1788 "Figaro"
+was not given at all in Vienna,[50] and was not reproduced until August
+29, 1789.
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XXXV.
+
+[Footnote 1: For the history of opera in Vienna I am much indebted to an article
+written with full knowledge of the subject (A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 2651)
+and still more so to the careful and accurate communications which I
+owe to the courtesy of my friend Dr. Leop. von Sonnleithner; these two
+accounts form the groundwork of the present chapter, even where I have
+not expressly referred to them.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Müller (Abschied, p. 263) does not indeed mention the younger
+Stephanie by name, but other accounts explain his allusions. Schroder
+wrote to Dalberg (January 19, 1782): "I'm insisting upon the removal of
+young Stephanie from all concern in the affair, but there is no one bold
+enough to propose to the Emperor to dismiss a man whom he has appointed,
+and who will certainly be the ruin of the theatre."]
+
+[Footnote 3: Meyer, L. Schroder, I., p. 358. A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 265. Nicolai
+heard a performance of Gluck's "Orpheus" there in 1781 (Reise, IV., p.
+537).]
+
+[Footnote 4: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 194.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 269. Schroder wrote to Dalberg (October 21,
+1782): "German opera is abolished here, and comedy has been strengthened
+by Reineke and Opiz."]
+
+[Footnote 6: The new operas were: January 10--Gassmann, "Die Unruhige Nacht" (La
+Notte Critica), performed three times; February 9--Gallus, "Rose," or
+"Pflicht und Liebe im Streit," performed twice; February 23--J. Weigl,
+"Die betrogne Arglist," performed three times.]
+
+[Footnote 7: On January 20, 1781, Klein submitted his opera "Kaiser Rudolf von
+Habsburg" to the Electoral German company; a short notice (Rhein.
+Beitr. z. Gelehrs., 1781, I., p. 383) gives it extraordinary praise. He
+afterwards turned the same subject into a tragedy with similar title,
+which appeared in 1787.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The letter was published in facsimile by Gassner (Zeitschr. f.
+Deutschlands Musikvereine, II., p. 161), and has often been printed.]
+
+[Footnote 9: The new German original operas which were performed were: 1785--"Die
+Dorfhandel," or "Bunt über Eck," by Rupprecht; "Die Dorfdeputirten,"
+by Teyber. 1786--"Die glücklichen Jager," by Umlauf; "Der Alchymist," by
+Schuster; "Doctor und Apotheker," by Dittersdorf; "Robert und Hannchen,"
+by Hanke; "Betrug und Aberglauben," by Dittersdorf; "Zemirens und Azors
+Ehestand," by Umlauf. 1787--"Die Liebe im Narrenhause," by Dittersdorf;
+"Das wüthende Heer," by Rupprecht; "Im Finstern ist nicht gut tappen,"
+by Schenk; "Die Illumination," by Kürtzinger.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Wien. Ztg., 1786, No. 11. L. Schneider, Cäcilia, XXIV., p. 148. R.
+Hirsch, Mozart's "Schauspieldirector," Leipz., 1859.]
+
+[Footnote 11: "Der Schauspieldirector." Ein Gelegenheitsstück in einem Aufzuge.
+Wien, 1786. Printed, according to Schneider, in Stephanie's Vaudevilles.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Mosel, Salieri's Leben u. Werke, p. 90.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Wien. Ztg., 1786, No. 13 Anh.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Goethe, Tag-Vund Jahreshefte, 1791 (Werke, XXI., p. 12).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Goethe, Ital. Reise (Werke, XIX., p. 360).]
+
+[Footnote 16: A. M. Z., 1864, pp. 465, 649.]
+
+[Footnote 17: The text is printed in Diezmann's Goethe-Schiller-Museum, p. 15.
+Goethe can scarcely have had a greater share in it than the insertion
+of the songs "An dem schönsten Frûhlingsmorgen" and "Bei dem Glanz der
+Abendröthe" (Neues Verz. e. Goethe-Bibl., p. 37). The words of Mozart's
+pieces are only somewhat improved in unimportant particulars, being, as
+a whole, very poor and insipid.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Theaterbriefe von Goethe, p. 32.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Hirsch, Mozart's Schauspieldirector, p. 18.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Printed in the German Bühnenalmanach, 1861.]
+
+[Footnote 21: Besides the Bandlterzett (441 K., Vol. II., p. 362), and the air
+"Manner suchen stets zu naschen" (433 K., Vol. III., p. 44), the two
+songs "An Chloe" (524 K.) and "Die betrogene Welt" (474 K.) are also
+inserted.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Reichardt (A. M. Z., XV., p. 665. Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p.
+324): "Opera buffa was at that time (1783) far better appointed there,
+and followed its own bent with far more earnestness and consistency than
+anywhere in Italy. The orchestra was also first-rate--full of fire and
+discretion." Cf. Musik. Wochenbl., p. 66. Car. Pichler, Denkw., I., p.
+78.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Berl. Litt.-u. Theat.-Ztg., 1784,1., p. 14. Opera seria was only
+given as an exception. When the celebrated male soprano Luigi Marchesi
+(Cramer, Magaz. f. Mus., I., p. 559) passed through Vienna on his
+journey from St. Petersburg, in August, 1785, the Emperor directed him
+to appear in Sarti's "Giulio Sabino," which was played six times to
+overflowing houses (Muller, Abschied, p. 7).]
+
+[Footnote 24: Berl. Litt.--u. Theat.-Ztg., I., pp. 14,19.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Berl. Litt.--u. Theat-Ztg., I., p. 313.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Cramer, Magaz. f. Mus., II., p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Meyer, L. Schröder, I., p. 345.]
+
+[Footnote 28: This was the opera "Il Ricco d'un Giomo," which was produced with
+little success on December 6, 1784 (Mosel, Salieri, p. 86).]
+
+[Footnote 29: Mus. Real-Ztg., 1789, p. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 231. Pohl, Mozart u. Haydn in London, p.
+169.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Cramer, Magaz. f. Mus., II., p. 556.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Mosel, Salieri, p. 74.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Mosel, Salieri, p. 79. Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 34: L. Da Ponte's "Memorie" appeared in New York, 1823 (2nd edition,
+1829-30), and a translation at Stuttgart, 1847. Cf. A. M. Z., X., p.
+679; XLI., p. 788; XLIV., p. 769.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Schink, Dramaturg. Monate, II., p. 539.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 235.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 189.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 68.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Kelly (Reminisc., I., p. 257) gives some interesting notices on the
+history of "Figaro."]
+
+[Footnote 40: Berl. Mus.-Ztg., 1793, p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 41: An account of the fate of the autograph score, which came into the
+possession of N. Simrock, of Bonn, in 1864, is given in the N. Ztschr.
+fur Mus., XXXVI., p. 261. Cf. XXXV., pp. 65, 77.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Duschek and his wife had arrived at Salzburg from Prague at the
+beginning of April, after a short stay in Vienna.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Ulibicheff's opinion that, fortunately for the music, Mozart had
+to do with mediocre singers (II., p. 40), is unfounded. Cf. A. M. Z.,
+XXIV., p. 270.]
+
+[Footnote 44: It is remarkable that none of the German vocalists, neither Madame
+Lange nor Cavalieri nor Teyber, on whom Mozart had himself reckoned
+for his "Sposo Deluso" (Vol. III., p. 60), were employed; a result, no
+doubt, of operatic factions. We know from Da Ponte (Mem., I., 2, pp.
+109, no, 135) that Cavalieri was highly favoured by Salieri (Mosel,
+Salieri, p. 184), whose pupil she was.]
+
+[Footnote 45: So Mozart writes the name. Kelly was, as he says himself
+(Reminisc., I. p. 139), called Okelly in Italy.]
+
+[Footnote 46: She afterwards saog Pamina in the "Zauberflote."]
+
+[Footnote 47: The Wiener Zeitung (1786, No. 35) contained only the following
+brief notice: On Monday, May 1, was performed lor the first time in the
+National Theatre a new Italian opera in four acts, entitled 'Le Nozze di
+Figaro,' adapted from the French comedy of Mons. de Beaumarchais by
+Herr Abb. da Ponte, theatrical poet; the music is by Herr Kapellmeister
+Mozart. La Sign. Laschi, who has lately returned here, and La Sign.
+Bussani, a new vocalist, made their first appearance as the Countess and
+the page."]
+
+[Footnote 48: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 90.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 237.]
+
+[Footnote 50: In, June, 1787, Balzer announced (Wien. Ztg., 1787, No. 46, Anh.)
+that the unanimous approbation with which Mozart's masterpiece, "Die
+Hochzeit des Figaro," had been received in Prague, had induced him
+to publish a pianoforte arrangement by Kucharz; he also advertised
+arrangements for wind instruments, and a version of the work as a
+quintet by Abbé Vogler(I).]
+
+
+===
+
+
+
+MOZART 36
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVI. "LE NOZZE DI FIGARO."
+
+THE choice of Beaumarchais' comedy "Le Mariage de Figaro, ou La Folle
+Journée," as a subject for operatic treatment, was deliberately made by
+Mozart himself.[1] The
+
+{LE MARIAGE DE FIGARO.}
+
+(73)
+
+play had excited unusual interest, both on account of the name and
+political position of the author and of the curious circumstances
+under which it had been produced in Paris. Beaumarchais had offered his
+comedy, towards the end of 1781, to the Théätre-Français, where it was
+readily accepted. But rumours prejudicial to the piece led Louis XVI. to
+have it read aloud in his presence; he was horrified at its freedom of
+tone, and declared that he would never consent to its performance. This
+only served to stimulate curiosity, and people thronged to hear the
+reading of the manuscript; a strong court party interested themselves
+for its production, the actors pressed for it, the public insisted
+upon it. Beaumarchais knew well how to turn all these circumstances to
+account; in June, 1783, his comedy was on the point of performance at
+the court theatre; the audience was actually assembled, when, just as
+the curtain was about to rise, a fresh prohibition arrived, from the
+King. Complaints of tyranny and oppression now became audible, and the
+affair assumed a political aspect. At length the King was prevailed upon
+to countenance a private representation at a festival given by M.
+de Vaudreuil to the Comte d'Artois in September, 1783. Beaumarchais
+contrived that this should lead to a public performance, which took
+place in April, 1784.[2] The unheard-of success of the play caused its
+reputation to spread rapidly, and Mozart's attention could not fail to
+be attracted to it, the more so as Paesiello's "Barbiere di Seviglia,"
+founded on Beaumarchais' earlier comedy, had been well received in
+Vienna. Mozart's search for a suitable libretto among the Italian ones
+already published, and his attempt to produce a new one with. Varesco,
+were equally unsuccessful. The accepted form of opera buffa, relying
+for effect solely on broadly comic situations and caricature, did not
+satisfy Mozart's conditions of dramatic reality in the development of
+an interesting plot and a consistent delineation of character. Both
+conditions were amply fulfilled by Beaumarchais. "Le Nozze di Figaro"
+is well known to be in a certain sort a continuation of the "Barbiere di
+Seviglia."
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(74)
+
+The majority of the characters appear in both pieces, events belonging
+to the plot of "Figaro" are grounded on the previous play, and it is
+necessary for a proper appreciation of the motives and characterisation
+to bear the connection of the two in mind:--
+
+Count Almaviva having, with Figaro's help, gained the hand of Rosina,
+the charming ward of Doctor Bartolo, takes Figaro and Marcellina,
+Rosina's duenna, into his service, and retires to his castle, attended
+also by Basilio, the music-master. He soon wearies of his wife's
+society, and seeks distraction in the company of Susanna, the Countess's
+maid and Figaro's affianced bride. Basilio is again made to act the
+part of a go-between. The piece begins on the day appointed for Figaro's
+wedding. Figaro, having learnt the Count's designs from Susanna,
+determines to outwit his master, and to prevent the success of his
+scheme for delaying the wedding. In this scheme the Count is offered
+assistance by Marcellina, who is in love with Figaro, and possesses his
+written undertaking to marry her should he fail in repaying her by a
+certain day a sum of money she has lent him. Her dread of losing all
+chance of Figaro, by his union with Susanna, induces her to call Bartolo
+to her assistance, and the latter is the more ready to do what he
+can, both that he may revenge himself on Figaro, and free himself from
+Marcellina's claims upon him. It appears that years ago she bore him a
+son, who was kidnapped as a child. While this danger is hanging over
+the heads of the lovers, Susanna is sought in her room by the page
+Cherubino, a heedless and beautiful youth, just budding into manhood.
+The Count has surprised him with Fanchette, daughter of his gardener
+Antonio, with whom he is himself flirting, and has discharged him from
+his service; he begs Susanna to intercede for him with the Countess, his
+godmother, for whom he entertains an ardent passion. As they converse,
+they hear the Count approaching, and Cherubino hides behind a large
+arm-chair; the Count has come to offer Susanna a dowry if she will
+consent to meet him the same evening; she, however, vigorously repulses
+him. Basilio enters: the Count hides behind the same arm-chair, and
+Cherubino slips round to the front, and covers himself with a cloak
+which lies upon the chair. Basilio reiterates to Susanna the Count's
+proposals, and, on her continued refusal, makes malicious allusions to
+the page, who is paying court not only to Susanna, but to the Countess.
+The Count comes forward in a fury, orders the immediate dismissal of
+the page, tells how he found him concealed in the gardener's house, and
+discovers him in the arm-chair. But Cherubino has been a witness to all
+that has passed, and, in order to conciliate and get rid of him at the
+same time, the Count gives him a commission in his regiment, ordering
+his immediate departure for Seville, to join the garrison there. At this
+point Figaro enters at the head of the villagers in holiday attire. The
+Count, at his marriage, had
+
+{BEAUMARCHAIS' FIGARO.}
+
+(75)
+
+renounced his seignorial rights, and, instigated by Figaro, his grateful
+subjects come to petition him to honour the first wedding which has
+since been celebrated by himself placing the wreath on the head of the
+bride. The Count cannot refuse the petition, but begs for a few hours
+delay, in order that the ceremony may be rendered more brilliant.
+Figaro in the meantime is plotting a double intrigue against the Count,
+with the co-operation of the Countess, who has been kept informed of
+all that is going on by her devoted Susanna. Her relations to Figaro and
+Susanna, and her ready acquiescence in a design to recall her husband
+to a sense of his duty by means of a trick, keep us in mind that the
+Countess Almaviva is the Rosina of the "Barber of Seville." She loves
+her husband, and has a full consciousness of her own dignity; but
+the circumstances of her early life, and of her marriage with Count
+Almaviva, have left their indelible impress upon her. Figaro warns the
+Count, who has gone hunting, by an anonymous letter that a rival has
+made an assignation with the Countess; he hopes that jealousy will
+divert his mind from the wedding. On the other side he assures him of
+Susanna's intention to keep her appointment in the garden; Cherubino,
+who has been allowed to delay his departure at Figaro's intercession,
+is to be disguised so as to take Susanna's place at the interview. |The
+page comes to be dressed; all at once the Count knocks, having hurried
+home in jealous haste. Cherubino slips into the inner room, of which the
+Countess locks the door; as the Count is plying her with angry questions
+Cherubino throws down a chair; the Countess explains that Susanna is
+within, but refuses to allow her to come out, or even to answer, and
+will not give up the key. The Count, enraged, secures all means of
+egress, and drags the Countess away with him to fetch an axe and break
+the door open. Susanna, who has been concealed in an alcove during
+this scene, proceeds to liberate Cherubino; he, finding no other exit
+available, springs through the window into the garden, and Susanna
+takes his place in the cabinet. The Count returning with the Countess,
+determined to employ force in opening the door, she confesses that the
+page is in the inner chamber, whereby his rage is still further excited;
+to the astonishment of them both Susanna steps forth. The Countess soon
+collects herself, and explains that their only intention has been to
+punish him for his want of faith, and that Figaro wrote the letter as a
+preliminary to the trick; the Count is forced to sue for pardon, which
+he obtains with difficulty. Figaro now enters with the information that
+all is prepared for the wedding, and being taxed by the Count with the
+letter, denies all knowledge of it, and is with difficulty brought to
+understand the position of affairs. This danger is hardly over when the
+gardener enters, half tipsy, with the complaint that some one has just
+jumped from the window of the cabinet upon his flowers; Figaro declares
+that he was there with Susanna, and had jumped into the garden from fear
+of the Count's fury. The gardener says that he thought he had recognised
+Cherubino, but hands Figaro a paper which
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(76)
+
+had been dropped in the garden. The Count, his suspicions newly
+awakened, demands the contents of the paper; the Countess recognises
+in it the page's patent, and whispers through Susanna to Figaro, who is
+able to ward off this fresh danger. Marcellina now appears supported
+by Bartolo, and makes known Figaro's promise of marriage; the Count, in
+high delight, promises to support her claims in a court of justice, and
+by dismissing Basilio, who puts forward his claims to Marcellina's hand,
+revenges himself for the letter which Basilio had presented to him.
+
+Before the sitting of the court the Countess conceives the design of
+herself taking Susanna's place at the rendezvous with the Count. The
+trial which takes place results in Figaro's being ordered to pay his
+debt to Marcellina, or in default to marry her. The Count appears at the
+goal of his wishes, but Figaro's evasion--that he must have the consent
+of his parents--leads to the discovery that he is the long-lost son
+of Bartolo and Marcellina, who thereupon decide to celebrate their
+espousals together with his; Susanna, entering with money obtained
+from the Countess to redeem Figaro, is indignant at finding him in
+Marcellina's arms, but her anger is speedily turned to delight at
+hearing the true position of affairs.
+
+During the solemn wedding ceremony--at which Cherubino, disguised as
+Fanchette, appears among the village maidens and is recognised--Susanna
+gives the Count a letter dictated by the Countess, in which she appoints
+the place of rendezvous; a pin which is stuck into the letter is to be
+returned as a token of understanding. Figaro sees that the Count reads
+the letter and pricks himself with the pin, without noticing that
+Susanna has given it to him; hearing afterwards from Fanchette that
+she is commissioned by the Count to convey the pin back to Susanna, he
+easily surmises what it means. Beside himself with jealousy, he stations
+his parents and friends in the neighbourhood of the appointed place, and
+repairs thither himself to surprise and punish the guilty pair.
+
+In the darkness of night the Countess and Susanna, having exchanged
+clothes, come to put their husbands to the proof; Susanna has been
+warned by Marcellina of Figaro's designs. Scarcely is the Countess
+alone, when she is alarmed by the approach of Cherubino, who presses
+a kiss on the supposed Susanna; the Count, entering on the instant,
+salutes the page with a box on the ear, which is received instead by the
+listening Figaro. Alone with the Countess, the Count addresses her in
+the most endearing terms, presents her with money, and with a costly
+ring, and endeavours to go off with her; she escapes him in the
+darkness, and he seeks her in vain.
+
+In the meantime Susanna, as the Countess, comes to the enraged Figaro,
+but forgetting for a moment to disguise her voice, he recognises her,
+and turns the tables by proposing to her to revenge herself for her
+lord's want of faith by her own, whereupon she makes herself known by
+
+{DA PONTE'S LIBRETTO.}
+
+(77)
+
+boxing his ears. Peace is easily restored by his explanation, and as
+the Count approaches, seeking his Susanna, they continue to counterfeit
+love. The Count in a rage calls for his people with torches, Figaro's
+friends hasten in, and with them the Countess. The Count, to his
+shame, discovers that it was his wife who accepted his presents and
+declarations of love, and the pardon which she accords to him brings the
+confusion to an end.
+
+Such is a mere outline of this amusing play of intrigue, where one knot
+twisting in with another, one embarrassment growing out of another, call
+forth ever and again fresh contrivances, while an abundance of effective
+situations and characteristic detail make the witty and satirical
+dialogue one of the most graphic character pictures of the time.[3]
+Da Ponte has arranged his libretto with much skill, having no doubt
+received important aid from Mozart himself. The progress of the piece
+is left almost unaltered, the necessary abbreviations being judiciously
+made.[4] Thus, the lengthy trial scene is omitted, and only the result
+in its bearing on the plot is communicated. Sometimes an under-plot is
+added, such as Basilio's appearance as Marcellina's lover. The
+clearness of the plot is not often endangered, as it certainly is by the
+alteration which omits all mention of a son of Bartolo and Marcellina
+previous to their recognition of Figaro as their offspring. The musical
+pieces are introduced with admirable discrimination in such positions
+as to allow free and natural scope to the musical rendering of each
+situation without hindering the progress of the plot, and this is no
+small praise in such a piece as "Figaro." The whole scheme of the drama
+demands that quite as much attention shall be given to the ensemble
+movements and finales as
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(78)
+
+the solo airs; and this is of great advantage to the musical
+construction. The definite and prearranged progress of the action
+fulfils all the conditions of operatic representation with regard to the
+position and diversity of the musical pieces; the poetical conceptions
+are clever and appropriate, a suggestion of Beaumarchais being often
+amplified in the musical working-out. The French comedy was of wonderful
+advantage in maintaining the dialogue; and, shortened and modified as
+it was of necessity, it retained far more of the spirit and life of the
+original than was usual in the recitatives of opera buffa. This is
+not indeed the case as far as the German adaptations of the opera are
+concerned. I am not aware whence proceeded the first translation made
+use of in Berlin in 1790.[5] In 1791 Knigge adapted the opera for
+Schroder in Hamburg;[6] in 1792 it was given in Vienna, translated by
+Gieseke; and in 1794 Vulpius's translation appeared. A new translation,
+giving not only Da Ponte's verses, but Mozart's improvements on them, is
+a pressing necessity. The vast superiority of "Le Nozze di Figaro," in
+characterisation, plot, and dialogue, to the very best of opera buffa
+libretti may be easily discerned by comparing it with other famous
+operas, such as Casti's "Re Teodoro" or "Grotta di Trofonio." In many
+essential points "Figaro" overstepped the limits of opera buffa proper,
+and brought to view entirely new elements of dramatic construction. The
+political element indeed, on which perhaps most of the effect of the
+comedy depended, was altogether omitted from the opera. Not only does
+the dialogue receive its essential character from the satire and scorn
+which it freely casts upon the abuses of political and social life--the
+whole tendency of the play is to depict the nobleman of the period, who,
+himself without truth and honour, demands both from others, indulges
+his lust without scruple, and thereby causes his dependents, injured in
+their moral rights, to turn against him their intellectual superiority,
+so that he is finally
+
+{DA PONTE'S LIBRETTO.}
+
+(79)
+
+worsted and disgraced. This conception of the nobility and their
+position in relation to the citizen class is expressed with energy and
+malice, and found such a response in the prevailing opinions of the
+time, that the production of the piece against the expressed will of
+the King appeared to be a public confirmation of the principles which
+inspired it; and Napoleon might with justice say of "Figaro": "C'était
+la révolution déjà en action."[7] Every trace of these feelings has
+vanished in the opera, as will be clearly perceived by a comparison of
+the celebrated "Frondeur-monologue" of Figaro in the fifth act with
+the jealous song in the opera. The omission was made not so much in
+deference to the Emperor Joseph's scruples as with the right conviction
+that the political element is altogether out of place in music.
+
+The omission of political satire is the more serious because it leaves
+as the central point of the plot an immorality which is not exactly
+justified, but not by any means seriously punished; only treated with
+a certain frivolity. The noble libertine is opposed by true and upright
+love, honest devotion to duty and honourable conduct; but these moral
+qualities are not made in themselves effective; the true levers of the
+plot are cunning and intrigue employed as weapons of defence. The whole
+piece appears in a doubtful light, the atmosphere surrounding Count
+Almaviva is impure, and the suppression of those circumstances which
+could alone make the phenomenon natural affects more or less the whole
+spirit of the plot, and deprives the dialogue of much of its point and
+double meaning.
+
+Beaumarchais might fairly plead that, having undertaken to give a true
+picture of the manners of his time, absolute truth of conception and
+detail was necessary to insure the right moral effect; it was for
+a later age to perceive how completely the author of the satire was
+himself under the influence of the time which he depicts and would fain
+improve. This justification is denied to the opera. It has no title to
+be considered as a picture of morals, neither can it pretend to exercise
+any direct influence, whether moral or
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(80)
+
+political, on the minds of men. The dialogue is undoubtedly in many
+respects purer than in the comedy; but the plot and its motives, the
+chief situations, the whole point of view, become all the more decidedly
+frivolous. How came it, then the Mozart could choose such a subject for
+his opera, and that the public could accept it with approbation? It must
+in the first place be borne in mind that the facts on which the plot is
+founded, and the point of view from which these facts are regarded,
+had at that time substantial truth and reality; men were not shocked at
+seeing on the stage that which they had themselves experienced, and
+knew to be going on in their own homes. A later age is disgusted by the
+contrast between semblance and reality, and at the representation of
+immorality in all its nakedness; the taste of the time demands that
+it shall be shown after another form and fashion. A glance at the
+entertaining literature, and even at the operas of the last half of
+the eighteenth century, shows clearly that representation of immorality
+plays an important part therein in a form which bespeaks the temper and
+spirit of the time; and further, that a desire for the representation
+of moral depravity is an infallible symptom of moral disease. It cannot,
+therefore, be wondered at that a picture of the moral corruption which
+penetrated all classes, from the highest to the lowest, and which had
+brought all social and political relations to the verge of dissolution,
+should have been regarded with eager approbation and enjoyment. The
+age which produced and enjoyed "Figaro" took a lighter view of sensual
+gratification and the moral turpitude connected therewith than that
+which seems right to a generation grown serious by reason of higher aims
+and nobler struggles. It need not here be discussed how far manners
+and opinions which change with the times are to be regarded as absolute
+morality; the point we are proving is undeniable, and is apparent,
+often painfully so, in all the light literature and memoirs of the day.
+Caroline Pichler writes in reference to this very period:[8]--
+
+{MORAL TENDENCY OF FIGARO.}
+
+(81)
+
+There prevailed a taste for all that was beautiful and pleasant in
+Vienna at that time. The mind had freer movement than at present, and
+anything might be written and printed which was not in the strictest
+sense of the word contrary to religion and the state. There was not
+nearly so much stress laid upon _good manners_. Plays and romances of
+a tolerably free tendency were admitted and discussed in good society.
+Kotzebue was very much thought of. His pieces, as well as Gemmingen's
+"Deutscher Hausvater," Schroder's "Ring," and many others which are sunk
+in oblivion, together with a number of tales and romances (Meissner's
+sketches above all) were founded on indecent subjects. They were read
+without scruple or concealment by all the world, and every young girl.
+
+I myself saw and read them all repeatedly; "Oberon" I knew well, and
+Meissner's "Alcibiades." No mother felt any scruple at allowing her
+daughter to become acquainted with such works; and indeed living
+examples of what we read moved before us with so little concealment of
+their irregular and immoral doings, that it would not have been possible
+for any mother to keep her daughter in ignorance on these points.
+
+It is sufficient to refer to the reading of Wieland's works.
+
+What can be more repugnant to our ideas than to find a young girl
+writing to her lover:--
+
+I hope you will soon get the new "Amadis"; it is the funniest, most
+whimsical book. I wonder how you will like Olinda! Master Amadis is a
+little too like butter--he melts in every sunbeam.
+
+Our wonder increases when we reflect that this young girl is Caroline
+Flachsland, and her lover is Herder.[9] There can be no doubt that in
+this respect Mozart was a child of his time; that he willingly allowed
+himself to glide along the pleasant stream of life in Vienna, and that
+his merrier moods were often productive of free and even coarse jests.
+The frivolous element in Beaumarchais' comedy was not, therefore, likely
+to repel him, although it would be unfair to assert that it mainly
+attracted him; he accepted it, as others did, as the sauce which was
+most likely to be of acceptable flavour.
+
+His chief concern was doubtless the gradual unfolding and continual
+interest of the plot, and the graphic delineation of character,
+qualities which were entirely overlooked by the ordinary opera buffa.
+Any approach to probability or analogy with actual life was not thought
+of, and was
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(82)
+
+not often replaced even by a fanciful poetic vein of humour; attempts to
+give consistency to the caricatures of individuals and situations only
+served to bring their irreconcilable contrasts into stronger relief.
+In "Figaro," on the contrary, the interest depends upon, the truth the
+representation of actual life. The motives of the actors are serious,
+they are carried out with energy and intellect, and from them the
+situations are naturally developed; only the light in which they are all
+portrayed is that of Beaumarchais' strongly accented "gaieté," which is
+by no means innocent, and in its essence nothing less than musical. It
+is one of the strongest proofs of Mozart's genius that he should have
+undertaken, moved as he was by the dramatic signification of the piece,
+to infuse a new soul into it by his musical treatment; so sure was
+he that whatever came home to his mind might be used as the germ of a
+living creation. The musical representation, however, could only be a
+true one by relying entirely on the emotions which alone are capable
+of being expressed in music.[10] The whole piece is raised to a
+higher sphere by the subordination of the powers of understanding and
+intellect, which Beaumarchais had made the chief factors in his design.
+Beaumarchais' aim was to preserve his plot and characters from vulgarity
+or caricature; the point of view whence the musical reconstruction
+proceeded led inevitably to an ennobling of the whole representation.
+In depicting emotions, whether as the impulse to action, or as giving
+significance even to the least commendable promptings of the mind, the
+musician was in his own element, and the
+
+{MUSICAL TREATMENT OF THE DRAMA.}
+
+(83)
+
+wealth of dramatic situations and characters was a pure gain to an
+artist who knew how to turn it to account. The piercing eye of genius
+finds materials for its finest performance where a more superficial view
+reveals nothing but difficulties. If each of the characters, pursuing
+the interests they have at heart, are to express their inner sentiments
+at every point in conformity with their nature, it follows that the
+aim of dramatic characterisation in its true sense must be the
+representation of individuality, sharp and precise in form, true and
+pure as to its source; thus only will the exaggeration of caricature be
+avoided. This holds good of all the chief characters in "Figaro"--of the
+Count and Countess, Figaro, Susanna, and Cherubino. They are so entirely
+governed by their emotions and passions, so completely involved in the
+complications proceeding therefrom, that an artistic representation must
+depend on the depicting of these emotions in their fullest truth.
+
+Bartolo and Marcellina seem to invite a treatment in caricature. In the
+"Barber of Seville" we find the same Bartolo as a buffo character. This
+is made impossible here by the fact that they are to appear afterwards
+as Figaro's parents, and ought not, therefore, to cut grotesque figures
+in our eyes. Beaumarchais' point, that Marcellina gives herself airs
+of superiority to Susanna, "parce qu'elle a fait quelques études
+et tourmenté la jeunesse de Madame" is not available for musical
+characterisation, but Mozart brings it out skilfully in another way. In
+the duet (Act I., 5), in which Susanna and Marcellina vie with each other
+in impertinence and provocation, the expression is toned down by the
+actual, disputing being left to the orchestra, and the two women are put
+quite on an equality. Susanna prevails over Marcellina only by reason
+of her youthful grace, and the whole appears an outbreak of that jealous
+susceptibility which is said to be an attribute of the female sex.
+Nobler women would not yield to such impulses, but these two belong to
+no exalted sphere, and give the rein to their angry humours. But they
+never forget themselves so far as to offend delicacy, and the general
+tone is a gay one, Marcellina being shown in no way inferior to
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(84)
+
+Susanna.[11] Afterwards, when graver matters engage her, when she
+asserts her claims upon Figaro in the first finale, or recognises him as
+her son in the sestet, the musical expression is sustained and full of
+true feeling. A singer who was able to form her conception of the part
+from these touches of character would make of Marcellina something quite
+different from the ordinary old housekeeper, whom we have unhappily been
+used to see and hear, no doubt from a mistaken endeavour to render the
+illusion that Figaro's mother must be an old woman, and sing like an
+old woman. Marcellina's air (Act IV., 2)," on the other hand, does not
+assist the characterisation, and is the only piece in the whole opera
+which fails of its effect. The whole style of it, even to the passages,
+is old-fashioned, like the traditional air for a seconda donna; it
+appears to have been a concession made to the taste of the singer.
+Basilio, the man of cold intellect and malicious cunning, is not a
+figure which can be made comic by caricature. Mich. Kelly (1764-1825),
+for whom it was written, was an Irishman, who had studied in Naples, and
+was highly successful as a tenor in Italy and Vienna; his powers as a
+mimic fitted him especially for comic parts.[12] Basilio's malice
+and scorn are expressed in the terzet (Act I., 7) with delicacy and
+character, and, in contrast with Susanna's painful excitement and the
+Count's anger, they give to the piece an irony, such as has seldom found
+expression in music. The point justly noted by Ulibicheff (II., p. 45 )
+that Basilio, in his attempts to pacify the Count after finding the page
+in the arm-chair, repeats the words: "Ah, del paggio quel ch' ho detto
+era solo un mio sospetto," a fifth higher, brings out in a striking
+degree his character of refined malice. The effect is heightened by the
+use of the same motif by the Count, when he is
+
+{BASILIO.}
+
+(85)
+
+telling how he found the page with Barberina; and it is attained in the
+simplest manner by the natural development of the musical structure.
+Basilio falls into the background in the course of the opera; the comic
+way in which Beaumarchais makes him banished by the Count, and his
+courtship of
+
+Marcellina, would have afforded good operatic situations, but
+abbreviation and simplification were absolutely necessary, and much
+that was not essential had to be sacrificed. The air which is given to
+Basilio in the last act (Act IV., 3) scarcely affords compensation. Da
+Ponte, deprived of Beaumarchais' guidance in this place, makes Basilio
+illustrate by the fable of the asses' skin that those who can flatter
+and deceive succeed in the world. The musical rendering follows the
+story, the orchestra giving the characteristic detail. The expression
+of ease and self-complacency, and above all the incomparable idea,
+deservedly noticed by Ulibicheff, of turning the last sentence of the
+heartless poltroon: "Onte, pericoli, vergogna e morte col cuojo d' asino
+fuggir si puö," into a sort of parody of a triumphal march, give the air
+a character of its own". Executed with humour and delicate mimicry it
+becomes in fact an epitome of Basilio's character, with its utter want
+of genial qualities. But tone-painting occurs only in such touches as
+those of the storm, the yelping dog, the hurried retreat, and never
+comes to the foreground. This means of effect, elsewhere so favourite a
+device in opera buffa, is always sparingly used by Mozart. The "Din
+din, don, don," in the duet between Susanna and Figaro (Act I., 2) can
+scarcely be called tone-painting any more than it can be said to be
+word-painting; it is hardly more than an interjection, which has the
+advantage in its musical rendering of being incorporated as a motif in
+the structure of the piece. Nor can the term be justly applied to the
+march like tone of Figaro's "Non più andrai" (Act I., 9). Certain forms
+and phrases have developed themselves in music as expressions of warlike
+ideas, and they are employed as a matter of course where these ideas
+occur; Figaro, describing to the page the military life before him, has
+it mirrored as it were by the orchestra. Mozart wisely guards against
+entering
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(86)
+
+upon any musical details in the picture, which would have led to a
+distorted tone-painting; he confines himself to the barest and most
+general allusions produced by association of ideas. It is often
+difficult to decide how far the association of ideas contributes to
+the partly involuntary, partly conscious construction of the musical
+expression. For instance in the first duet between Figaro and Susanna
+(Act I., 1), the motif for the bass--[See Page Image]
+
+with the corresponding one for the first violins, goes very well with
+Figaro's measuring of the room, the diminutions expressing clearly
+enough his repeated stretches. It cannot be doubted that the situation
+has suggested the motif, but whether Mozart intended to express the
+action of measurement is far less certain, and any idea of tone-painting
+is out of the question. The subordinate characters of the drunken
+gardener Antonio and the stuttering judge Don Curzio might under other
+circumstances have been made into caricatures in the sense of opera
+buffa, but they appear in situations which have so decided a character
+of a totally different kind that they could not have departed from it
+without serious injury to that harmony of the whole which none knew
+better than Mozart how to preserve. The little cavatina (Act IV., 1)
+
+for Barbarina, (Fanchette in Beaumarchais) is very significantly not
+exactly caricatured, but drawn in stronger colours than is elsewhere
+the case. This little maid, in her liking for Cherubino, and with an
+open-hearted candour which makes her a true _enfant terrible_ to the
+Count, is altogether childish, and not only naïve but unformed. It is,
+therefore, natural that she should express her grief for the lost pin,
+and her fear of punishment, like a child; and when we hear her sobbing
+and crying over it we receive the same ludicrous impression which
+grown-up people rarely fail to feel at the sight of a child expressing
+the sorrow of his heart with an energy quite out of proportion to the
+occasion. The fact that the strong accents which Mozart here multiplies
+to produce the effect of the disproportion of childish
+
+{FIGARO.}
+
+(87)
+
+ideas are afterwards made use of to express real emotion does no injury
+to the truth of his characterisation. In a similar way the expression
+of sentiment is exaggerated when it is represented as feigned; as,
+for instance, the last finale, when Figaro makes love to the supposed
+Countess, whom he has recognised as Susanna, and grows more and more
+vehement in order to excite the Count's jealousy. Here we have a parody
+of the accents of strongest passion (Vol. II., p. 427). How differently
+does the same Figaro express his true feelings! How simple and genuine
+is the expression of his love in the first duet (Act I., 1), when
+he interrupts his measurements to exclaim to his pretty bride, with
+heartfelt joy: "Si, mio core, or è più bello!" and in the last finale,
+when he puts an end to pretence and, in an exalted mood, with the
+feeling of his newly won, safely assured happiness fresh upon him,
+exclaims: "Pace! pace, mio dolce tesoro!" Equally true is Figaro's
+expression of the jealousy which results from his love. At first indeed
+this feeling is a curiously mingled one. Warned by Susanna herself, he
+has full confidence in her, and feels all his intellectual superiority
+to the Count; he contemplates his situation with a humour which is
+admirably rendered in the celebrated cavatina (Act I., 3). Cheerfully
+as it begins, the expression of superciliousness and versatility has a
+tinge of bitterness and resentment, betraying how nearly he is touched
+by the affair which he affects to treat so lightly. Afterwards, when he
+believes himself deceived, grief and anger are strongly expressed in the
+recitative preceding his air (Act IV., 4). But his originality asserts
+itself even here. The consciousness of what his situation has of the
+ludicrous never forsakes him, and his anger against the whole female
+sex, which he works up more and more, involuntarily assumes a comic
+character. Here we have one of the many points which Mozart added to the
+text.
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(88)
+
+The somewhat unflattering description of womankind runs--
+
+     Queste chiamate dee
+     Son streghe che incantano per farci penar,
+     Sirene che cantano per farci affogar,
+     Civette che allettano per trarci le piume,
+     Comete che brillano per toglierci il lume--
+
+and so on, until at the end--
+
+     Amore non senton, non senton pietà--
+     Il resto non dico, già ognuno lo sà.
+
+He has no sooner pronounced the fatal "il resto non dico," when he seems
+unable to get out any more; and so it runs--
+
+     Son streghe che incantano--il resto non dico
+     Sirene che cantano--il resto non dico, &c.--
+
+giving, opportunity for a corresponding musical treatment of the words.
+At last Mozart makes the horns strike in unexpectedly and finish the
+phrase for him in a manner full of musical fun. As the consciousness
+grows upon Figaro that he is himself the injured party, his signs of
+grief and pain grow stronger and more animated. The blending of warm
+feeling with the involuntarily comic expression of intellectual reaction
+is psychologically true, and in such a character as Figaro's inevitable;
+it is embodied in the music in a form very different to that of an
+ordinary buffo aria. Not less true to nature is Figaro's resigned
+expression of disappointed love further on, when, having the evidence of
+his own senses that Susanna has been unfaithful to him, he ejaculates:
+"Tutto è tranquillo." But such a mood as this could not be a lasting one
+with Figaro, and changes at once upon Susanna's entrance. Benucci, for
+whom Mozart wrote Figaro, possessed an "extremely round, full, fine bass
+voice." He was considered a first-rate actor as well as singer, and
+had the rare merit of never exaggerating.[13] The individual
+characterisation is still more sharply defined when several personages
+appear together in similar situations. Immediately upon the air where
+Figaro declares war upon the Count (Act I., 3) follows Bartolo's air
+(Act I., 5) [14] in which the latter announces his approaching victory
+over Figaro. He also is altogether in earnest; Figaro has cruelly
+deceived him, and the long-looked-for
+
+{BARTOLO.}
+
+(89)
+
+opportunity of vengeance is close at hand: "Tutta Sevilla conosce
+Bartolo, il birbo Figaro vinto sarà." He is full of pride and
+self-consciousness--
+
+    La vendetta è un piacer serbato ai saggi,
+    L' obliar l' onte, gl' oltraggi
+    E bassezza, è ognor viltà--
+
+and the air begins with the forcible and impulsive expression of this
+self-consciousness enhanced by rapid instrumentation; Bartolo feels the
+injury done to him, and his obligation in honour to avenge himself,
+and the sincerity of this feeling invests him with a certain amount of
+dignity. But--his character has none of the elements of true greatness;
+as soon as he begins to descant on the way in which he is to outwit
+Figaro, his grovelling spirit betrays itself; he excites himself with
+his own chatter, and complacently announces his own triumph beforehand.
+Bartolo's dignity is not, however, a parody on his true self; the
+comic element consists in the contrast of the pride which lays claim to
+dignity and the small-mindedness which unwittingly forfeits the claim.
+The German translations lose the chief point of the characterisation.
+Capitally expressed is the original: "coll' astuzia, coll' arguzia, col
+giudizio, col criterio, si potrebbe----" here the orchestra takes up the
+motif of the words "è basezza," as if to edge him on, but soon
+subsides, as he recollects himself: "si potrebbe, si potrebbe"--suddenly
+interrupted by "il fatto è serio," to which the whole orchestra responds
+with a startling chord; thereupon he resumes with calm self-confidence:
+"ma, credete, si farà," and then launches into the flood of trivialities
+with which he seeks to bolster up his courage.
+
+Steffano Mandini, the original Count Almaviva, was considered by Kelly
+as one of the first buffos of the day,[15] and Choron used to hold him
+up to his scholars as his ideal of a singer.[16] At the moment when
+Susanna has hearkened to; his suit, he infers from a word let fall by
+her that she has
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(90)
+
+deceived him. Injured pride, disappointed hope, and jealousy of his
+happier rival, excite him to a pitch of passion which breaks out in
+true cavalier fashion with the words (Act III., 2).: "vedrò, mentr' io
+sospiro, felice un servo mio!" What a world of expression Mozart has
+thrown into these words! While disappointed but unvanquished passion
+presses its sting deep into his heart, injured pride flares up prepared
+to give place to no other feeling than that of revenge. In the wonderful
+passage which follows with renewed force upon the immediately preceding
+tones of sharp complaint--[See Page Image] the change from major to
+minor brouight about by the chromatic passage in the middle parts is
+of inimitable effect.[17] We have before us the nobleman, feeling
+his honour affronted because he is not allowed to injure that of his
+servant, and there is in the expression of his revengeful desires and
+his certainty of victory no tinge of Figaro's cunning or Bartolo's
+meanness; the stream of passion flows full and unmingled, and the
+noble position of the Count gives it a certain amount of composure;
+his weakness excites regret rather than contempt or even ridicule. The
+expression of this air corresponds to the musical conception of the
+Count throughout the opera, in making his feelings of injured pride
+outweigh those of disappointed desire. Pride, jealousy, or anger,
+unjustifiable as they may be in their outbreaks, are always more
+dignified and nobler motives than a love-making whose only foundation
+is licentiousness, and its only excuse frivolity. He gives free play to
+this feeling in
+
+{THE COUNT.}
+
+(91)
+
+the enchanting duet with Susanna (Act III., 1); but the situation
+is rendered endurable to the audience by the knowledge that Susanna
+is playing a part to please the Countess. Mozart has given this little
+duet a title to be placed in the first rank of musical works of art by
+the delicacy with which he has rendered the mixture of encouragement and
+coyness in Susanna's demeanour, her true motives being as clear to the
+audience as is the misunderstanding of the Count. The harmonic turns of
+her evasive answer to his passionate request, "Signor, la donna ognora
+tempo ha di dir si," are masterpieces of musical diplomacy. Even the
+piquant conceit by which she answers his urgent questions, "Verrai? non
+mancherai?" with "si" instead of "no," and _vice versa_, to his great
+perplexity, has something more than a merely comic signification.[18] It
+characterises most strikingly the security with which she plays with
+his passion as expressed in these eager, flattering requests. Even here,
+delight at his hard-won victory predominates over his sensual impulses.
+
+The sensual element of love plays far too great a part in "Figaro,"
+however, to be altogether disregarded in its musical rendering. It would
+be a difficult matter to determine how far and in what way music
+is capable of giving artistic expression to this side of the tender
+passion; but it cannot be disputed that Mozart has in this respect
+competed successfully with the sister arts of painting and poetry.
+In Susanna's so-called garden air (Act IV., 5) her longing for her
+betrothed is expressed with all the tender intensity of purest beauty;
+but the simple notes, cradled as it were in blissful calm, that seem to
+be breathed forth "soft as the balmy breath of eve," glow with a mild
+warmth that stirs the heart to its depth, entrancing the mind,
+and intoxicating the senses like the song of the nightingale. The
+_pizzicato_ accompaniment of the air fitly suggests a serenade. It gives
+the voice free scope, and the sparely introduced wind instruments, as
+well as the tender passage for the first violin towards the close, only
+serve to give a finer emphasis to the
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(92)
+
+full body of the voice. The impression of longing delight is intensified
+by the simplicity of the harmonies, as if from fear of disturbing by any
+sudden change the calm bliss of the passing moment. But what analysis
+can penetrate these mysteries of creative genius[19] Mozart was right to
+let the feelings of the loving maiden shine forth in all their depth
+and purity, for Susanna has none but her Figaro in her mind, and the
+sentiments she expresses are her true ones. Figaro in his hiding-place,
+listening and suspecting her of waiting the Count's arrival, throws,
+a cross light on the situation, which, however, only receives its full
+dramatic signification by reason of the truth of Susanna's expression
+of feeling. Susanna, without her sensual charm is inconceivable, and a
+tinge of sensuality is an essential element of her nature; but Mozart
+has transfigured it into a noble purity which may fitly be compared with
+the grandest achievements of Greek sculpture.
+
+Nancy Storace (1761-1814), "who possessed in a degree unique at that
+time, and rare at any time, all the gifts, the cultivation, and the
+skill which could be desired for Italian comic opera,"[20] seems to have
+been a singer to whom Mozart was able to intrust the rendering of this
+mixture of sentiment and sensuality. When "Figaro" was reproduced in
+July, 1789, he wrote for Adriana Ferrarese del Bene,[21] a less refined
+and finished singer, the air "Al desio di chi t'adora" (577 K.),
+retaining the
+
+{RONDO FOR SUSANNA.}
+
+(93)
+
+accompanied recitative.[22] The words of this song--
+
+
+     Al desio di chi t' adora
+     Vieni, vola, o mia speranza,
+     Morirö, se indarno ancora
+     Tu mi lasci sospirar.
+     Le promesse, i giuramenti
+     Deh! ramenta, o mio tesoro!
+     E i momenti di ristoro
+     Che mi fece amor aperar.
+     Ah! che omai più non resisto
+     All' ardor, che il sen m' accende.
+     Chi d' amor gli affetti intende,
+     Compatisca il mio penar.
+
+with the reference to vows and hopes unfulfilled seem better suited to
+the Countess than to Susanna, though the air is clearly indicated for
+the latter. Apparently the song was intended to strengthen Figaro in the
+delusion that it was the Countess he saw before him. The device
+might intensify the situation, but it was a loss to the musical
+characterisation, for the air was not altogether appropriate either to
+Susanna or the Countess. The singer had evidently wished for a grand,
+brilliant air, and Mozart humoured her by composing the air in two
+broadly designed and elaborately executed movements, allied in style to
+the great airs in "Cosi fan Tutte," and in "Titus." The bravura of the
+voice and orchestra is as entirely foreign to "Figaro" as is the greater
+display of sensual vigour with which the longing for the beloved one
+is expressed. Apart from its individual characterisation, the air has
+wonderful effects of sound and expression, greatly heightened by the
+orchestra. Basset-horns, bassoons, and horns are employed, occasionally
+_concertante_, giving a singularly full and soft tone-colouring to the
+whole. A draft score, unfortunately incomplete, in Mozart's handwriting,
+testifies to a later abandoned attempt for a similar song. The
+superscription is "_Scena con Rondo_"[23] the person indicated, Susanna.
+The beginning of the recitative, both in words and music, is like that
+of the better-known
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(94)
+
+song, and it expresses the same idea somewhat more diffusely as it
+proceeds, closing in B flat major. The solitary leaf preserved breaks
+off at the eighth bar of the rondo; only the voice-part and the bass are
+given--[See Page Image]
+
+but even this fragment of text and melody suffices to show a complete
+contrast to the air just mentioned. A little ariette preserved in
+Mozart's original score and marked "Susanna" (579 K.), has still less
+of the delicate characterisation which we admire so much in the
+opera.[24]The words--
+
+     Un moto di gioja
+     Mi sento nel petto,
+     Che annunzia diletto
+     In mezzo il timor.
+     Speriamo che in contento
+     Finisca l' affanno,
+     Non sempre è tiranno fato ed amor--
+
+are trifling, and so commonplace that they suggest no particular
+situation. Even the music, hastily thrown together and light in
+every respect, expresses only a superficially excited mood. If, as is
+probable, the air was intended for the dressing scene,[25] the want of
+individual characterisation
+
+{SUSANNA.}
+
+(95)
+
+becomes all the more observable. It would be a great mistake to consider
+the character of Susanna as a mere expression of amorous sensuality.
+This side of it is judiciously displayed first without any reserve,
+in order to throw into relief her not less real qualities of devoted
+affection, faithful service, and refined and playful humour. The very
+scene, not in itself altogether unobjectionable, in which the ladies
+disguise the page, is turned into an amusing joke by Susanna's innocent
+and charming merriment. Susanna's air in this scene (Act II., 3)
+is, technically speaking, a cabinet piece. The orchestra executes an
+independent piece of music, carefully worked-out and rounded in most
+delicate detail, which admirably renders the situation, and yet only
+serves as a foil to the independent voice-part. A tone of playful humour
+runs through the whole long piece from beginning to end; it is the
+merriment of youth, finding an outlet in jest and teasing, expressed
+with all possible freshness and grace. But the high spirit of youth does
+not exclude deeper feelings where more serious matters are concerned; in
+the terzet (Act II., 4) where Susanna in her hiding-place listens to the
+dialogue between the Count and Countess, she displays deep emotion, and
+expresses her sympathy with truth and gravity. Mozart has indeed grasped
+this painful situation with a depth of feeling which raises the terzet
+far above ordinary opera buffa.[26] In her relations to Figaro, Susanna
+displays now one, now the other side of her nature. It is judiciously
+arranged that immediately succeeding her first heartfelt, though not
+sentimental expression of love (Act I., 1), the second duet (Act I., 2),
+should display her merry humour. Her consciousness of superiority over
+Figaro, who learns the Count's designs first through her, combined with
+the ease of her relations towards them both, resulting from the honesty
+of her love, enable her to carry off the difficult situation with
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(96)
+
+a spirit and youthful gaiety which contrast with Figaro's deeper
+emotions. He begins indeed with unrestrained merriment, but the same
+motif, mockingly repeated by Susanna, becomes a warning which has so
+serious an effect upon him that not even her endearments can quite
+succeed in chasing the cloud from his brow.[27] The ground-tone of the
+duet, the intercourse of affianced lovers, is expressed with the utmost
+warmth and animation, and places us at once in the possession of the
+true state of affairs. Before the end comes, however, we see the couple
+testing each other's fidelity and measuring their intellectual
+strength against each other, as when in the last finale Susanna, in the
+Countess's clothes, puts Figaro to the proof, and he, recognising her,
+takes his clue accordingly. This duet sparkles with life and joviality,
+rising, after the explanation, to the most winning expression of tender
+love.
+
+The characters of the Countess and Cherubino are much less complicated
+than that of Susanna. The Countess is represented as a loving wife,
+injured by a jealous and faithless husband. The musical characterisation
+gives no suggestion of any response, however faint and soon stifled, to
+the page's advances, but is the most charming expression of ideal purity
+of sentiment. She suffers, but not yet hopelessly, and the unimpaired
+consciousness of her own love forbids her to despair of the Count's.
+Thus she is presented to us in her two lovely songs. The calm peace of
+a noble mind upon which sorrow and disappointment have cast the first
+light shadow--too light seriously to trouble its serenity--is expressed
+with intensest feeling in the first air (Act II., 1). The second (Act
+III., 4),
+
+when she is on the point of taking a venturous step to recall the
+Count to her side, is more agitated, and, in spite of the melancholy
+forebodings which she cannot quite repress, gives expression to a joyful
+hope of returning happiness. There is no strong passion even here; the
+Count's affronts
+
+{CHERUBINO.}
+
+(97)
+
+excite her anger, and the dilemma in which she is, placed awakens her
+youthful pleasure in teasing. This reminiscence of Rosina in earlier
+years, combined with the consciousness of her true feeling, so finely
+expressed by the music, may in some measure supply the motive for the
+deceit which she thinks herself justified in using towards the Count.
+Signora Laschi, who took the part of the Countess, was highly esteemed
+in Italy, but was not a great favourite in Vienna.[28] Signora Bussani,
+on the other hand, who appeared for the first time as the page, although
+not a singer of the first rank, was much admired by the public for her
+beautiful figure and unreserved acting,[29] or as Da Ponte says, for her
+_smorfie_ and _pagliacciate_.[30] "Cherubino is undoubtedly one of the
+most original of musical-dramatic creations, Beaumarchais depicts a
+youth, budding into manhood, feeling the first stirrings of love, and
+unceasingly occupied in endeavouring to solve the riddle which he is to
+himself. Count Almaviva's castle is not a dwelling favourable to virtue,
+and the handsome youth, who pleases all the women he meets, is not
+devoid of wanton sauciness: "Tu sais trop bien," he says to Susanna,
+"que je n'ose pas oser." To Susanna, with whom he can be unreserved, he
+expresses the commotion of his whole nature in the celebrated air (Act
+I., 6) which so graphically renders his feverish unrest, and his deep
+longing after something indefinable and unattainable. The vibration of
+sentiment, never amounting to actual passion, the mingled anguish and
+delight of the longing which can never be satisfied, are expressed with
+a power of beauty raising them out of the domain of mere sensuality,
+Very remarkable is the simplicity of the means by which this
+extraordinary effect is attained. A violin accompaniment passage, not
+unusual in itself, keeps up the restless movement; the harmonies make no
+striking progressions, strong emphasis and accents are sparingly used,
+and yet the
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(98)
+
+soft flow of the music is made suggestive of the consuming glow of
+passion. The instrumentation is here of very peculiar effect and of
+quite novel colouring; the stringed instruments are muted, and clarinets
+occur for the first time and very prominently, both alone and in
+combination with the horns and bassoons.[31] The romanze in the second
+act (2) is notably different in its shading. Cherubino is not here
+directly expressing his feelings; he is depicting them in a romanze, and
+he is in the presence of the Countess, towards whom he glances with all
+the bashfulness of boyish passion. The song is in ballad form, to suit
+the situation, the voice executing the clear, lovely melody, while the
+stringed instruments carry on a simple accompaniment _pizzicato_,
+to imitate the guitar; this delicate outline is, however, shaded and
+animated in a wonderful degree by solo wind instruments. Without
+being absolutely necessary for the progress of the melodies and the
+completeness of the harmonies, they supply the delicate touches of
+detail reading between the lines of the romanze, as it were, what is
+passing in the heart of the singer. We know not whether to admire most
+the gracefulness of the melodies, the delicacy of the disposition of the
+parts, the charm of the tone-colouring, or tenederness of the
+expression--the whole is of entrancing beauty.
+
+Unhappily we have lost a third air written for Cherubino. After the
+sixth scene of the second act, in which Barberina requests the page to
+accompany her, the original draft score contains the remark: "_Segue
+Arietta di Cherubino; dopo l'Arietta di Cherubino viene scena 7, ma ch'
+è un Recitativo istromentato con Aria della Confessa_," This arietta is
+not in existence, and probably never was, a change in the arrangement
+of the scenes having rendered it superfluous. This is to be regretted;
+Cherubino's intercourse with Barberina would have supplied an essential
+feature which is now wanting in the opera. But even as it is, the image
+of
+
+{DANCE--MARCH.}
+
+(99)
+
+Cherubino is so attractive, so original, that it must unquestionably be
+reckoned among the most wonderful of Mozart's creations.
+
+Thus we see all the _dramatis personæ_ live and move as human beings,
+and we unconsciously refer their actions and demeanour to their
+individual natures, which lie before us clear and well-defined. So great
+a master of psychological characterisation was under no necessity of
+calling accessories of costume or scenery to his aid, and declined even
+to remind us by the use of peculiar musical forms that the action was
+laid in Spain. This device is only once resorted to. The dance which is
+performed during the wedding festivities in the third act (Act III.,
+8, p. 377) reminds us so forcibly of the customary melody for the
+fandango,[32] that there can be no doubt this dance was known in Vienna
+at the time. Gluck has employed the same melody in his ballet of "Don
+Juan," produced at Vienna in 1761. If Mozart's adaptation be compared
+with the other two, it will be perceived that he has formed a free and
+independent piece of music out of some of the characteristic elements
+of the original, combining dignity and grace in a singular degree; the
+treatment of the bass and middle pans, and the varied combinations u of
+the wind instruments heighten the effect of the unusual colouring. At
+the exclamation of the Gotmt, who has pricked himself with a pin the
+bassoon strikes up in plaintif tones:--[See Page Image]
+
+which are comically appropriate. But they are not primarily introduced
+to express pain; they belong to the dance music, and recur at the same
+point later on in the dance; the point of the joke is the apparently
+chance coincidence of the dance music with the situation of the moment.
+The fine march preceding the ballet, the gradual approach of which
+produces a very effective climax (Vol. II., p. 154, note), takes its
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(100)
+
+peculiar colouring from the constant transition to the minor in the wind
+instruments--[See Page Images]--without having any very decided national
+character. Neither are the choruses sung on the same occasion by female
+voices, or male and female together, particularly Spanish in tone, any
+more than the chorus in the first act (Act I., 8); they are gay, fresh,
+very graceful, and exactly fitted to the situation.
+
+Hitherto we have attempted an exposition only of the musical-dramatic
+characteristics of the opera, the psychological conception which makes
+the actions of the characters correspond with their individual nature...
+Not less important are the events and circumstances which give rise to
+the _combined action_ of the different characters; in the opera this is
+displayed in ensemble movements. The prevailing principle is here
+again truth in the expression of feeling; but the juxtaposition of
+the different characters necessitates a greater stress to be laid on
+individual peculiarities;
+
+and again, these characteristics of detail must be subordinated to the
+main idea of producing a well-formed whole. A due balance of parts can
+only be produced by compliance with the conditions of a musical work of
+art. The substance and form of these ensemble movements are of course
+subject to many modifications; many of them are nothing more than a
+detailed and fuller exposition of some definite situation or mood;
+and their whole design is therefore simple. Such are the duets between
+Figaro and Susanna (Act I., i, 2), between Susanna and Marcellina (Act
+I., 5), the writing duet (Act III., 5), and the duet between the Count
+and Susanna (Act III., 1); they are distinguished from airs more by
+their form than their nature. If during the dressing scene Cherubino
+were to chime in with Susanna's remarks, the Countess were also directly
+to interpose, such a duet or terzet would represent the situation in
+greater variety of detail, the form would become richer by means of
+contrasting
+
+{ENSEMBLES.}
+
+(101)
+
+elements, but the musical matter would not differ essentially from that
+to which we are accustomed in solo airs. The terzet in the second act
+is of this character; a situation or a mood is maintained, and only
+variously mirrored in the various personages. Here, then, is the point
+of departure for unity in the grouping of the whole; and the ordinary
+resources of musical construction, such as the repetition of a motif in
+different places, the elaboration and combination of the motifs, for the
+most part lend themselves to the situation.
+
+The difficulty of the task increases in proportion as the music forms
+part-of the plot. We have an instance of this in the duet between
+Susanna and Cherubino (Act II., 5); when the latter tries to escape, and
+finally jumps out of the window. The simple situation gives rise to an
+expression of fear and disquiet in short, interrupted motifs, and the
+prevailing characteristic is an agitation almost amounting to action__in
+progress. The agitation, however, is so characteristically rendered by
+the music, that, while appearing to flow from an irresistible impulse,
+it is in reality only an effect of a definite musical formula fitly
+working out a given motif. The orchestral part forms a separate piece of
+music of very varied character.[33]
+
+The terzet of the first act comes in the very middle of the action (Act
+I., 7). Here we have not merely three persons of dissimilar natures
+thrown together, but at the particular point in the plot their interests
+and sentiments are altogether opposed, and each of them is influenced by
+different suppositions. The plot proceeds, however, and the discovery
+of the page in the arm-chair gives a turn to affairs which changes the
+position of each person present. We are struck in the first place with
+the striking, delicately toned musical expression, especially when the
+voices go together, as at the beginning, when the Count's anger: "Tosto
+andate e scacciate il
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(102)
+
+seduttor!" Basilio's lame excuse: "In mal punto son qui giunto," and
+Susanna's distress: "Che ruina, me meschina!" are all blended into a
+whole, while preserving throughout their individual characters. The same
+is the case at the end also, when the Count, taken by surprise, turns
+his displeasure against Susanna in ironical expressions: "Onestissima
+signora, or capisco come và"; while she is anxious on her own account:
+"Accader non puo di peggio!" and Basilio gives free expression to his
+malice: "Cosi fan tutte le belle!" But while the music appears only to
+follow the plot, we cannot fail on closer examination to perceive that
+I we have before us a work constructed and carried out I according to
+the strictest laws of musical form. It is all so naturally and easily
+put together that what is really owing to deep artistic insight might be
+considered by the uninitiated as the result of a fortuitous coincidence
+of dramatic and musical effects. The intensely comic effect produced by
+Basilio's repetition of his previous sentence, a fifth higher is brought
+about of necessity by the musical form. A similar effect is produced
+when, at the point where a return to the original key leads us to expect
+a recurrence of the principal subject, the Count, with the same notes
+in which he had exclaimed, full of resentment at Susanna's intercession;
+"Parta, parta il damerino!" now turns to Susanna herself with the words:
+"Onestissima signora, or capisco come và," the point being brought out
+by the change from _forte_ to _pianissimo_. Traits like this of
+delicate dramatic characterisation proceed immediately from the musical
+construction, and are to be ascribed solely to the composer; the text
+does not by any means directly suggest them.
+
+The dramatic interest reaches a far higher level in the two great
+finales. The finale to the second act is judiciously constructed, as
+far as is compatible with musical exigences, out of the elements
+already existing in Beaumarchais. The dramatic interest rises with the
+increasing number of persons taking part in the action, and grows to a
+climax, while new developments proceeding from the unravelling of each
+complication bring the actors into ever-varying relations with each
+other. The different situations afford the most
+
+{FINALES.}
+
+(103)
+
+animated variety, moving onwards in close connection, but each
+one keeping its ground long enough to give ample scope for musical
+elaboration.[34] The situations thus give rise to the eight movements,
+distinct in design and character, which form the finale. The masterly
+combination of the different movements is more effective than would be
+any amount of emphasis laid on particular points of characterisation.
+The finale opens with a manifestation of intensest passion--the Count
+glowing with rage and jealousy, the Countess, wounded to the heart,
+trembling at the consequences of her imprudence.
+
+In no other part of the opera is the pathetic element express so
+prominent, the conflict being so strongly expressed that a serious
+catastrophe appears inevitable. But Susanna's unexpected appearance
+brings about an explanation, which could not be more aptly expressed
+than by the rhythmical motif of the second movement.[35] Susanna's
+mocking merriment, which for a moment rules the situation, is in some
+degree moderated by the uncertainty of the two others. The want of
+repose of the following movement alters the character again, while the
+chief characters have to adapt themselves to their change of relative
+position. The Count has to propitiate his wife, without being altogether
+convinced himself; the Countess's anger and forgiveness both come from
+the heart, but she feels that she is not now quite in the right. Susanna
+is exerting herself to bring about explanation and reconciliation,
+and in so doing takes involuntarily, as it were, the upper hand of the
+Countess. It is a mimic war, carried on in the most courteous manner;
+every emotion is broken and disturbed.
+
+Now let us turn to the music. A succession of short motifs, each of
+which characterises a particular element of the situation, are loosely
+put together, none of them independently worked out, one driving out the
+other. But the
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(104)
+
+motifs occur in every case just where dramatic expression demands,
+and each repetition throws a new light upon the situation, turning the
+apparent confusion into a well-formed musical whole. Figaro brings
+an element of unrestrained gaiety into the midst of this troubled
+atmosphere; the G major following immediately on the E flat major breaks
+away from all that has gone before. His merriment is truly refreshing,
+but even he feels some constraint knowing that his secret is betrayed,
+without being aware of what has led to it. The eagerness with which the
+Count interrupts him, the anxiety with which the women seek to put him
+in the right way, his alternate holding back and yielding, give the
+scene a diplomatic sort of tone, wonderfully well-rendered by a tinge of
+dignity in the music, which only here and there betrays, involuntarily
+as it were, more animation. The closing ensemble gives to each of the
+four voices a mysterious character which is quite inimitable. A complete
+contrast to this delicate play is afforded by the half-drunken gardener
+with his denunciation; this opponent requires quite a different
+treatment. The musical characterisation becomes more lively and broader,
+the different features more strongly marked. As soon as the Count begins
+his examination of Figaro, the tone alters again. The remarkable andante
+6-8 in which the beating motif--[See Page Image] is hurried through
+the most varied harmonic transitions expresses an impatience which is
+scarcely to be kept from violent explosion, quite in accordance with the
+suspense with which the progress of the explanation is followed by
+all present without arriving at any satisfactory solution. Finally
+Marcellina enters with her confederates. The firm, bold pace which is at
+once adopted by the music marks the commencement of a new struggle; the
+peril becomes serious, and the change of situation brings about a new
+
+{FINALES.}
+
+(105)
+
+disposition of the characters. Marcellina, Basilio and Bartolo range
+themselves on one side, the Countess, Susanna and Figaro on the other,
+both parties aggressive and prepared for the fight, the Count between
+them turning first to the one side and then to the other. When the
+crisis is over, and Marcellina's claim acknowledged, the previous
+positions are reversed; Marcellina's party has the advantage, Figaro's
+is defeated. The vanquished party now lose self-command and become
+violently agitated, while the victors express their triumph with mocking
+composure. The finale ends in doubled tempos with a diffuse but decided
+expression of those discordant moods on both sides, bringing the long
+strife and confusion to an end.[36] The plan of the second finale
+is quite different; we plunge at once into the midst of an animated
+intrigue, one misapprehension and surprise following close upon another.
+The Countess, disguised as Susanna, awaits the Count; Figaro, and
+Susanna listen concealed; first the page enters, then the Count, and the
+play proceeds, every one getting into the wrong place, receiving what
+is not meant for him, and addressing himself to the wrong person. Mozart
+has only grasped the amusing side of the complication, and the music
+maintains a cheerful, lively character, without leaving room for any
+expression of deeper feeling. By this means whatever is objectionable in
+the situation seems to spring unavoidably as it were from the facts of
+the case, on which the play is founded and developed. It is sufficiently
+astonishing that the music should succeed in following this development
+step by step in all its turns; the higher art of the master is displayed
+in his power of representing dramatic life and reality in all its
+perfection within the limits of a musical movement of scientific
+conception and form. Nowhere perhaps is the style of intrigue which
+Zelter praises as the special quality of the opera[37] brought
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(106)
+
+so prominently forward as in this ensemble. It consists in the art of
+making each character express himself naturally and appropriately, at
+the same time rendering the due meaning of the situation and throwing
+the right light on every separate utterance, while giving the whole a
+brighter colouring. As soon as Figaro and Susanna are opposed to each
+other, the tone and style are altered. Serious genuine feeling breaks
+through the mask of deception, and asserts its sway. Not until the
+Count enters does the trickery begin again, leading to a succession of
+surprises which find their climax in the appearance of the Countess. The
+music renders so bewitchingly the impression of her pardoning gentleness
+and amiability that we are forced to believe in the sincerity of the
+reconciliation, and to share in the rejoicings which follow on so many
+troublous events.[38]
+
+Next to these two finales a prominent position is assigned to the sestet
+(Act III., 3) which according to Kelly was Mozart's favourite piece in
+the whole opera.[39] This partiality is characteristic, for his amiable
+nature finds fuller expression in this piece than in any other. The
+trial scene is omitted in the opera, but the recognition of Figaro
+by Marcellina and Bartolo is brought into the foreground. The cool
+sarcastic tone of Beaumarchais gives this scene something unpleasant;
+but the musical version even here allows human sentiment to assert
+itself; if it were not for the extraordinary circumstances on which the
+scene is founded it would be quite pathetic. Both the parents and the
+son are in the act of expressing the tenderest affection and delight
+when Susanna hastens in to redeem Figaro. The violence with which she
+manifests her anger at Figaro's apparent want of constancy is meant
+quite seriously, and is necessary in order to show how deeply her heart
+is affected. Amid the caresses of her supposed rival she learns the
+truth, the charming melody to which Marçellina had made herself known to
+her
+
+{THE SESTET.}
+
+(107)
+
+son being transferred to the orchestra while she acquaints Susanna of
+her relationship to Figaro. Susanna, incredulous of the wonderful story,
+demands confirmation from each person present in turn, and the situation
+assumes a comic character, consisting however only in the unexpected
+turn of events, not in the sentiments of the persons interested, who
+only wish to be quite sure of their facts before giving themselves up
+to unmitigated delight. Once assured of their happiness, it overflows in
+fervent gratitude with an enchanting grace that invests the happy lovers
+with a sort of inspired and radiant beauty. Mozart has added very much
+to the effect by keeping the whole passage _sotto voce_, a device which
+he always employs with deep psychological truth.[40] But the lovers are
+not alone, and the contrast afforded by the other personages present
+prevents the purely idyllic character which would be incongruous in this
+scene. One of these is the Count, who with difficulty restrains his rage
+so far as not to commit himself. The other is the stupid, stuttering
+judge, Don Curzio, who has pronounced judgment as the Count's tool, and
+is now amazed at what is passing before him; incapable of an idea,
+he says first one thing and then another, and finally takes refuge in
+obsequiously following the opinions of his lord and master. The striking
+musical effect of the high tenor going with the Count's deep bass gives
+an expression of cutting irony, and emphasises the stupidity of the
+judge who chimes in with the Count, without in the least entering into
+the passions which agitate him. Don Curzio serves here the same purpose
+as Basiliain the terzet of the first act, mingling a comic element with
+the expression of a deeper emotion, and modifying, without injuring,
+the serious ground-tone of the piece. This mode of construction is
+altogether Mozart's own, and is a striking testimony to his power of
+grasping and delineating dramatic truth.
+
+Kelly narrates that Mozart begged him not to stutter
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(108)
+
+while he was singing lest the impression of the music should be
+disturbed. He answered that it would be unnatural if a stutterer should
+lose his defect as soon as he began to sing, and undertook to do no harm
+to the music. Mozart gave in at last, and the result was so successful
+that the sestet had to be repeated, and Mozart himself laughed
+inordinately. He came on the stage after the performance, shook Kelly
+by both hands and thanked him, saying: "You were right and I was
+wrong."[41] This was doubtless very amiable of Mozart, but his first
+view was the right one, nevertheless. The artifice might succeed in a
+master of mimicry, but Don Curzio ought certainly not to be made the
+principal person in the sestet. On the contrary, he might well be
+omitted altogether as a musical pleonasm; at least, if Basilio were to
+be brought in and made to take the same part in the action.
+
+The sestet may be taken as an excellent example of the manner in which
+Mozart turned his means of representation to account. We are struck
+first of all with his power of grouping so as to produce a clear and
+distinct whole. The effect and appreciation of music depends, like
+architecture, on symmetry. Even though a strict parallelism of the
+different component parts may be in all but certain cases inapplicable,
+yet their symmetry must be always present to the apprehension of the
+hearers. In the musical drama the characterisation of the situation
+dominates the construction side by side with the laws of musical form.
+In the sestet before us Marcellina, Bartolo, and Figaro form a natural
+group, announcing themselves at once as connected from a musical point
+of view, Marcellina and Bartolo closely corresponding, Figaro forming
+the uniting member of the little group. Opposed to them we have the
+Count and Don Curzio, who also keep together, but with greater freedom
+of independent movement. Susanna's entry introduces a new element. At
+first she opposes Figaro, and allies herself to the Count, and we have
+then two strongly characteristic groups of three persons, each with a
+construction and
+
+{TREATMENT OF THE VOICE PARTS.}
+
+(109)
+
+movement of its own. The explanation which ensues necessitates the
+dissolving of the ensemble into a monologue, after which the situation
+is changed. Susanna goes over to Figaro, Marcellina, and Bartolo, and
+fresh group is formed, with Susanna as the chief member, though the
+others do not by any means renounce their independence. Against this
+concentrated force the discontented minority gives expression to
+additional energy and resentment, coming to an end in unison. These
+hints will suffice to show with what a firm mind of the hearers an
+impression of the perfect freedom of dramatic action, within the limits
+of strict and simple musical form.
+
+The great stress laid upon dramatic reality necessitated in general
+simple forms and moderate execution in the musical part of the work.
+In the airs the traditional form of two elaborate movements is only
+exceptionally employed the cavatina or rondo form being in most cases
+preferred and treated freely, although with considerable precision the
+majority of the duets are similar in design, Mozart having usually
+written over them _duettino, arietta_, But neither confined limits
+nor dramatic interest have been made a pretext for the neglect of
+well-constructed, well-rounded form;
+
+he never fails to hit upon the right point, whence a whole may be
+organised. Thus, every separate passage in the finale heightens the
+contrast, and leads by a 'natural process of development to a conclusion
+for which '+ helps to prepare the way. What has been said in general terms
+may be applied to the treatment of details, and primarily of the voices.
+The dramatic characterisation necessitates perfect freedom in the
+employment of every source of effect; long-drawn cantilene shorter
+melodious phrase; well-marked motifs requiring elaborate working-out,
+declamatory delivery merging into an easy conversational tone--all are
+employed in their right place, often in rapid alternation and varied
+combination. It is not sufficient, however that each separate device
+should be employed effectively the essential point is that they should
+be placed in right relations with each other, and with the whole of
+which hand the musical edifice is put together so as to leave on the
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(110)
+
+they form parts. The unhesitating use of the resources of the voice,
+and the harmony of the effect, are admirable alike in the great ensemble
+movements and in the smallest passage to be sung; the sestet and the
+second duet may be brought forward as essentially differing in style and
+subject, yet each in its place distinguished by delicacy of detail and
+striking effect. Great simplicity in the treatment of the voices is
+a noteworthy consequence of this tendency. Song is merely the means
+adopted for expressing emotion of different kinds. Homely simplicity
+not only corresponds to truth of expression--it is necessary for
+the combination of heterogeneous motives, which would otherwise be
+incomprehensible.
+
+This simplicity, however, is not of the kind that reduces all expression
+to the same level, and abjures ornament and grace; rather is it the
+simplicity of a nature which draws its inspiration from the depths of
+the heart, and excludes all merely virtuoso-like displays which would
+serve but to glorify the singer.[42]
+
+An important aid to characterisation and colouring was found by Mozart
+in the orchestra. We know by what means he had prepared and cultivated
+every part of a full orchestra as a means of characteristic expression
+and euphonious charm. His contemporaries were particularly impressed
+by his use of wind instruments, and in point of fact they were little
+likely ever to have experienced before the sensations produced by the
+tender interweaving of the wind instruments in Cherubino's romanze (Act
+II., 2), or their soft, melting sounds in his air (Act I., 6). In these
+days we should, indeed, appreciate rather Mozart's moderation in the
+employment of wind instruments. Trombones are never used, and trumpets
+and drums only in the overture the march with a chorus (Act III., 7),
+the closing passages of the finales, and in three airs: those of Bartolo
+(Act I., 4), Figaro (Act I., 9), and the Count (Act III., 2). This is
+not saying much; true moderation consists, not so much in
+
+{THE ORCHESTRA.}
+
+(111)
+
+abstaining from certain methods, as in the way in which those which are
+employed are held in check. Equally admirable is the masterly treatment
+of the stringed instruments which form the groundwork of the orchestra,
+at the same time that the independent movements of the separate
+instruments develop a fresh and ever-varied vivacity. Mozart has striven
+above all to preserve a healthy balance of sound effects, and a unity of
+treatment which never aims at brilliant effects brought about either by
+an ostentatious extra vagance or an exaggerated economy in the use of
+his resources; the right effect is produced at the right point, and in
+the simplest manner, regard being always had to the laws of climax. The
+simplicity of the voice parts necessitates a corresponding simplicity
+in the instrumental parts! most distinctly appreciable where they occur
+obbligato. A comparison with "Idomeneo" and the "Entführung" in this
+respect will bring out the difference very strongly. The orchestra in
+the "Entführung" is treated more easily and simply than in "Idomeneo";
+in "Figaro" the highest degree of clearness is united with abundant
+fulness and intensive force of instrumental colouring.
+
+The position here accorded to the orchestra may be regarded as not
+so much an improvement on earlier operas as an essentially new
+conception of its powers and functions.[43] The orchestra appears For
+the first time not only as an integral part of the whole, but as
+one with equal rights, taking an independent and active part in the
+musical-dramatic representation. Such a conception could only be
+realised when the orchestra and instrumental music had been developed
+and cultivated as they were by Haydn and Mozart. In this independent
+position it is neither above nor in opposition to the voices, but each
+is indispensable to the due effect of the other.
+
+The orchestra is no longer to be looked upon as a mere accompaniment
+to the voices, but as an independent and co-operating means of
+representation. And as such we find it in "Figaro." In many passages
+the orchestra seems to take the lead--as, for instance, in the dressing
+scene (Act II., 3), when the animated,
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(112)
+
+delicately worked-out orchestral passages not only hold the threads
+together, but develop the characterisation. At other times the orchestra
+forms the foundation in the working-out of motifs upon which the
+voices are suffered to move freely, as in the duet between Susanna and
+Cherubino (Act II., 5) and in different passages of the finales, the
+andante 6-8 of the first finale and the first passage of the second.
+There are, indeed, few numbers in which the orchestra does not
+temporarily undertake one or the other office, in order to assist the
+characterisation. The orchestra is never employed in this way with
+better effect than in the so-called "writing-duet" (Act III., 5). At
+the close of the recitative the Countess dictates the title, "canzonetta
+sull' aria," and as soon as Susanna begins to write, the oboes and
+bassoons take up the ritornello, and undertake to tell, as it were, what
+Susanna is writing when she is silent and the Countess dictates.[44]
+There is a trace here of a subsequent editorial alteration. Instead
+of the present closing bars of recitative, which are inserted in the
+original score by a strange hand, there were originally quite
+different ones, to which the little duet in B flat major could not have
+immediately succeeded. They probably served as an introduction to
+a lively scene between the Countess and Susanna, similar to that in
+Beaumarchais' dialogue. This is confirmed by the first sketch of the
+writing-duet, which, with the title "Dopo il Duettino," only prefixes
+the words of the Countess as recitative: "Or via, scrivi cor mio,
+scrivi! gia tutto io prendo su me stessa." So close an approximation of
+two duets was most likely the cause of the rejection of the first, with
+the words of the recitative which called it forth.
+
+Detached features of the orchestral treatment, important as they may be,
+however, do not constitute its peculiar character; many of them had been
+previously and successfully attempted by other musicians. The essential
+point consists in the orchestra taking part, as it were, in the action,
+so that more often than not the instrumental parts would
+
+{THE ORCHESTRA--OVERTURE.}
+
+(113)
+
+form a complete and satisfying whole without any voice parts at all.
+The orchestra, of course, frequently executes the same melodies as the
+voices, but it treats them in an original manner, producing a constant
+flow of cross effects with the voices. Sometimes again it works out
+its own independent motifs, and adds shading and detail to the outlines
+furnished by the voices. It is not possible to over-estimate the share
+thus taken by the orchestra in maintaining the main conception of the
+situation, in increasing the dramatic reality and interest of the plot,
+and in strengthening the impression made upon the audience.
+
+The capabilities of instrumental music in this direction are most
+strikingly displayed in the overture, in composing which Mozart appears
+to have kept before him the second title of Beaumarchais' play, "La
+Folle Journée." He has made one very characteristic alteration in
+the course of the overture. At first the rapid impetuous presto was
+interrupted by a slower middle movement. In the original score the point
+where the return to the first subject is made (p. 13) is marked by a
+pause on the dominant-seventh, followed by an andante 6-8 in D minor of
+which, however, only one bar is preserved:--[See page image]
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(114)
+
+The leaf on which its continuation and the return to the presto was
+sketched is torn out, and the portion between _vi_ and _de_ crossed
+through.[45] It is plain that Mozart altered his mind when he came to
+the instrumentation of the overture, which he had sketched in the usual
+way. Perhaps a middle movement beginning like a Siciliana did not please
+him; in any case, he thought it better not to disturb the cheerful
+expression of his opera by the introduction of any foreign element.
+And in very truth the merry, lively movement pursues its uninterrupted
+course from the first eager murmur of the violins to the final flourish
+of trumpets. One bright, cheerful melody succeeds another, running
+and dancing for very lightness of heart, like a clear mountain stream
+rippling over the pebbles in the sunshine. A sudden stroke here and
+there electrifies the motion; and once, when a gentle melancholy shines
+forth, the merriment is as it were transfigured into the intensest
+happiness and content. A piece of music can hardly be more lightly and
+loosely put together than this; there is an entire want of study or
+elaboration. Just as the impulses of a highly wrought poetic mood exist
+unobserved, and pass from one to the other, so here one motif grows out
+of the other, till the whole stands before us, we scarce know how.
+
+A not less important office is undertaken by the orchestra in assisting
+the psychological characterisation, not only by giving light and shade
+and colouring through changes of tone-colouring and similar devices
+unattainable by the voices, but by taking a positive part in the
+rendering of emotion.
+
+No emotion is so simple as to be capable of a single decided and
+comprehensive expression. To the voices is intrusted the task of
+depicting the main features, while the orchestra undertakes to express
+the secondary and even 'the contradictory impulses of the mind, from
+the conflict of which arise emotions capable of being expressed in music
+alone of all the arts. We can scarcely wonder that Mozart's
+
+{FIGARO AS AN OPERA BUFFA.}
+
+(115)
+
+contemporaries, surprised at the novelty of his orchestral effects,
+failed to appreciate their true meaning,[46] nor that his imitators
+confined themselves to the material result, and failed to perceive
+the intellectual significance of the improved instrumentation.[47] The
+freedom with which Mozart employs voices and orchestra together or
+apart to express dramatic truths can only exist as the highest result of
+artistic knowledge and skill. The independence with which each element
+cooperates as if consciously to produce the whole presupposes a
+perfect mastery of musical form. True polyphony is the mature fruit of
+contrapuntal study, although the severe forms of counterpoint are seldom
+allowed to make themselves visible.
+
+To sum up, there can be no doubt that Mozart's "Figaro" must be ranked
+above the ordinary performances of opera buffa on higher grounds than
+its possession of an interesting libretto, a wealth of beautiful melody,
+and a careful and artistic mechanism. The recognition of truth of
+dramatic characterisation as the principle of musical representation was
+an immense gain, and had never even been approached by opera buffa, with
+its nonsensical tricks and caricatures.
+
+Rossini himself said that Mozart's "Figaro" was a true _dramma giocoso_,
+while he and all other Italian composers had only composed _opere
+buffe_.[48] Even though we acknowledge the influence of French opera
+on Mozart (Vol. II., p. 342) as formed by Gluck,[49] and still more by
+Grétry (Vol. II., p. 15),[50] the first glance suffices to show
+that Mozart's superior musical cultivation enabled him to employ the
+resources of his art to
+
+{LE NOZZE DI FIGARO.}
+
+(116)
+
+a far greater degree than Grétry. Granting also Grétry's undoubted
+powers of dramatic characterisation and expression of emotion, Mozart's
+nature is also in these respects far deeper and nobler. Nothing can be
+more erroneous than the idea that Mozart's merit consisted in taking
+what was best from Italian and French opera, and combining them into
+his own; it was solely by virtue of his universal genius' that he
+was enabled to produce an opera which is at once dramatic, comic,
+and musical. Chance has decreed that "Figaro" should be an Italian
+adaptation of a French comedy, set to music by a German; and this being
+so serves only to show how national diversities can be blended into a
+higher unity.
+
+A glance by way of comparison at the Italian operas which competed
+in some respects successfully with "Figaro," such as Sarti's "Fra due
+litiganti il terrzo godef" Paesiello's.
+
+"Barbiere di Seviglia" and "Re Teodoro," Martin's "Cosa Rara and "Arbore
+di Diana," or Salieri's "Grotta di Trofonio," may at first excite
+surprise that they contain so much that reminds us of Mozart, and which
+we have learnt to identify with Mozart, knowing it only through him. But
+a nearer examination will show that this similarity is confined to form,
+for the most part to certain external turns of expression belonging to
+the time, just as certain forms of speech and manner belong to different
+periods. In all essential and important points, careful study will serve
+only to confirm belief in Mozart's originality and superiority. All the
+operas just mentioned have qualities deserving of our recognition.
+They are composed with ease and cleverness, with a full knowledge
+of theatrical effect and musical mechanism, and are full of life and
+merriment, of pretty melodies, and capital intrigue. But Mozart fails in
+none of these qualities, and only in minor matters do these other works
+deserve to be placed side by side with his. None of them can approach
+him even in some matters of detail, such as the treatment of the
+orchestra, or the grouping of the ensembles. What is much more
+important, however, they fail altogether in that wherein consists
+Mozart's true pre-eminence: in the intellectual organisation, the
+psychological depth, the
+
+{VIENNA, 1786.}
+
+(117)
+
+intensity of feeling, and consequent power of characterisation, the
+firm handling of form and resource, proceeding from that power, and
+the purity and grace which have a deeper foundation than merely sensual
+Beauty. Those operas have long since disappeared from the stage,
+because no amount of success in details will preserve in being any work
+uninteresting as a whole. Mozart's "Figaro" lives on the stage, and in
+every musical circle; youth is nourished on it, age delights in it
+with ever-increasing delight. It requires no external aid for its
+apprehension; it is the pulse-beat of our own life which we feel, the
+language of our own heart that we catch the sound of, the irresistible
+witchery of immortal beauty which enchains us--it is genuine, eternal
+art which makes us conscious of freedom and bliss.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES FOR CHAPTER XXXVI.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Confirmed by Kelly (Reminisc., I., p. 257).]
+
+[Footnote 2: L. de Lomenin, Beaumarchais et son Temps, II., p. 293.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The piece in various translations was soon familiar on every
+stage in Germany. A. Lewald has lately issued a new translation of it
+(Beaumarchais, Stuttg., 1839).]
+
+[Footnote 4: In Paris (in 1793) the unfortunate idea was conceived of performing
+Mozart's music with Beaumarchais' complete dialogue (Castil-Blaze,
+L'Acad. Imp. de Mus., II., p. 19). Beaumarchais was pleased with the
+representation, though not with the adaptation (Lomenin, Beaumarchais,
+II., p. 585). A notice of the performance says: "The music impressed us
+as being beautiful, rich in harmony, and artistically worked out. The
+melodies are pleasing, without being piquant. Some of the ensemble
+movements are of extreme beauty."]
+
+[Footnote 5: Schneider, Gesch, d. Oper in Berlin, p. 59.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Aus einer alten Kiste, p. 177. Meyer, L. Schroder, II., p. 55.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Sainte-Beuve, Causeries du Lundi, VI., p. 188.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Car. Pichler, Denkw., I., p. 103.]
+
+[Footnote 9: From Herder's Nachlass, III., p. 67.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The intellectual transformation which the French comedy underwent
+at Mozart's hands has often been insisted upon, e.g., by Beyle (Vies de
+Haydn, Mozart et de Métastase, p. 359), who, while recognising Mozart's
+excellence, is yet of opinion that Fioravanti or Cimarosa would perhaps
+have succeeded better in reproducing the easy cheerfulness of the
+original. Rochlitz also (A. M. Z., III., pp. 594, 595) and Ulibicheff
+(II., p. 48) appear to consider the remodelling of the piece as not
+altogether perfect. On the other hand, an enthusiastic article in the
+Revue des Deux Mondes (XVIII., p. 844, translated in A. M. Z., XLII.,
+p. 589), extols Mozart as the master who has given to Beaumarchais' work
+that which Mozart alone could have detected in the subject of it, viz.,
+_poetry_. Cf. Hotho Vorstudien fur Leben und Kunst, p. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In the very characteristic and amusing duet for the two quarrelling
+women in Auber's "Maurer" the realism of the musical representation is
+of some detriment to the grace of expression and delivery.]
+
+[Footnote 12: He declares that he so astonished Casti and Paesiello by his power
+of mimicry that, although he was very young, they intrusted him with the
+difficult part of Gafforio in the "Re Teodoro," in which he made a great
+sensation (Remin., I., p. 241).]
+
+[Footnote 13: Berl. Mus. Ztg. 1793, p. 138.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Bussani, who sang Bartolo and Antonio, had been in the Italian
+Opera in Vienna in 1772 but left it the following year. He was noted for
+his "resonant barn voice" (Müller, Genaue Nachr., p. 73).]
+
+[Footnote 15: Kelly, Reminisc., I., pp. 121, 196.]
+
+[Footnote 16: P. Scudo, Musique Ancienne et Moderne, pp. 22, 23.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Thus in Bartolo's air the close juxtaposition of major and minor
+at the words "è bassezza è ognor viltà," exactly expresses the
+intensification of his feeling of annoyance.]
+
+[Footnote 18: Rochitz, A. M. Z., III., p. 595.]
+
+[Footnote 19: A hasty sketch of the voice part shows only trifling alterations in
+the later melody. It is noteworthy that Mozart made many attempts before
+hitting upon a satisfactory conclusion.]
+
+[Footnote 20: A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 284.]
+
+[Footnote 21: She first appeared October 13, 1788, as Diana in Martin's "Arbore
+di Diana" (Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 83, Anh.).]
+
+[Footnote 22: Wien. Ztg., 1789, No. 76, Anh., announces, "Neues Rondeau von Mme.
+Ferrarese aus Le Nozze di Figaro, Giunse alfin Rec. Al desio Rondeau."
+The air is published with the character given, "La Contessa," without
+any further intimation. Mozart's autograph has disappeared, but André
+has a copy of the air with the recitative from Mozart's remains,
+both marked for "Susanna." This increases the difficulty which exists
+respecting it (Sonnleithner, Recensionen, 1865, p. 721).]
+
+[Footnote 23: In the original score of "Figaro" the conclusion of the secco
+recitative is followed by the words, "Segue Recit. instrumental con
+Rondo di Susanna." The present garden aria could scarcely be called a
+rondo, and this probably refers to another air, the design of which was
+abandoned.]
+
+[Footnote 24: It is printed in a pianoforte arrangement among the songs (Ouvr.,
+V., 20).]
+
+[Footnote 25: Written above it in a strange hand is, "Le Nozze di Figaro. 13
+Atto 2do," and the cue, "e pur n' ho paura." Counting the pieces this
+air is in the second act, No. 13, in G major, like the preceding one;
+if it is assumed that the opera is divided into two acts, the garden air
+would be No. 13 in the second act. The cues are not to be found in both
+places, so that an alteration must have been made in the dialogue. The
+cue agrees in sense with the words of the Countess before the dressing
+song, ( Miserabili noi, se il conte viene).]
+
+[Footnote 26: In the original terzet, when the parts went together, the highest
+was given to the Countess; Mozart afterwards altered it, wherever
+dramatic expression allowed, so that Susanna should sing the highest
+part; this has necessitated trifling modifications here and there in
+the disposition of parts. This alteration was no doubt undertaken with
+a view to the singers. In the two finales their relative position was
+settled before he proceeded to the working-out.]
+
+[Footnote 27: According to Beyle, it is only in this duet that Mozart has
+rendered the character of French comedy, and even here he takes Figaro's
+jealousy too seriously (Vies de Haydn, Mozart et de Métastase, p. 361).]
+
+[Footnote 28: Cramer, Magaz. f. Mus., 1788, II., p. 48. She first appeared on
+September' 24, 1784, with success (Wien. Ztg., 1784, No. 79, Anh.), and
+she appeared again after a pause in "Figaro" (Wien. Ztg., 1786, No. 35,
+Anh.).]
+
+[Footnote 29: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 134.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 111; cf. p. 135.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The fragment of a sketch in score for this air is identical in the
+first division; the words "solo ai nomi d'amor, di diletto," are
+treated differently. A pianoforte arrangement of the air with violin
+accompaniment, entirely in Mozart's handwriting, is in Jules Andre's
+collection.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Dohrn, N. Ztschr. Mus., XL, p. 168.]
+
+[Footnote 33: The duet has undergone three unnecessary abbreviations in the
+printing. The sketch of a few bars to serve as an introduction to
+another duet has the superscription "Atto 2do, Scena 3, invece del
+Duetto di Susanna e Cherubino." This was apparently never continued.]
+
+[Footnote 34: This connected construction of the different sections of the finale
+is seldom found; they are generally merely successive scenas, as, for
+instance, in Casti's "Re Teodoro."]
+
+[Footnote 35: Mozart has written above it, "Andante di molto," and not "Andante
+con moto" as it is printed; and it may further be noted that Susanna
+comes out of the closet "tutta grave."]
+
+[Footnote 36: Holmes says (Life of Mozart, p. 269) that Mozart wrote this finale
+in two nights and a day, without stopping; in the course of the second
+night he became unwell, and was obliged to desist when there only
+remained a few pages to instrumentalise.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Zelter, Briefw. m. Goethe, V., p. 434.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Basilio and Don Curzio being intrusted to one singer, as well
+as Bartolo and'Antonio, the score contains the names of the four
+characters, but only two musical parts; supernumeraries were brought on
+the stage in similar costumes when required.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 260.]
+
+[Footnote 40: At first he gave Susanna's charming melody to the bassoon and flute
+as well, but afterwards struck out both instruments, in order to allow
+the voice full play. The instrumentation throughout the sestet is very
+moderately treated.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Kelly, Reminisc., I., p. 260.]
+
+[Footnote 42: The running passages at the close of the air for the Countess (Act
+III., 2) were not originally written by Mozart, but were added later,
+probably at the wish of the singer.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Cf. Kossmaly to Ulibicheff, Mozarts Opern, p. 368.]
+
+[Footnote 44: This exquisite touch is completely lost in the German translation,
+where the Countess only begins to dictate after the ritornello.]
+
+[Footnote 45: A writer in the Deutsch. Mus. Ztg., 1862, p. 253, conjectures that
+an orchestral piece in D minor (101, Anh., K.) included among Mozart's
+remains, but unfortunately lost, may have been this middle movement.]
+
+[Footnote 46: The Emperor Joseph's remark has been already mentioned. Carpani
+(Le Haydine, p. 49; cf. p. 35) is of the same opinion. Grétiy's shrewd
+criticism in answer to a question by Napoleon: "Cimarosa met la statue
+sur le théätre et le piédestal dans l'orchestre; au lieu que Mozart met
+la statue dans l'orchestre et le piédestal sur le théätre," has been
+justly praised by Fétis (Biogr. Univ., IV., p. 106).]
+
+[Footnote 47: Carpani, Le Haydine, p. 202. Beyle, Vies de Haydn, Mozart et de
+Métastase, p. 362. Stendsal, Vie de Rossini, p. 40.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Südd. Zeitg. f. Mus., 1861, p. 24.]
+
+[Footnote 49: H. Berlioz (Voy. Mus., II., p. 267) characterises Mozart as the
+master who, above all others, followed in Gluck's footsteps.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Tieck, Dramaturg. Blatter, II., p. 325.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+MOZART  37
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVII. MOZART IN PRAGUE.
+
+THE success of "Figaro" did not materially improve Mozart's position in
+Vienna. He lived, it is true, in very pleasant intercourse with a large
+circle of friends, especially with the members of the Jacquin family
+(Vol. II., p. 357), but the necessity he was under of earning his living
+as a music teacher and virtuoso was very galling to him. "You happy
+man!" said he to Gyrowetz, who was setting out on a journey to Italy;
+"as for me, I am off now to give a lesson, to earn my bread."[1] A
+glance at the Thematic Catalogue of his compositions succeeding "Figaro"
+shows that they were probably suggested by his position as a teacher and
+in musical society:--
+
+1786. June 3. Quartet for piano, violin, viola, and violoncello, in E
+flat major (493 K.).
+
+June 10. Rondo for piano in F major (494 K.).
+
+June 26. Concerto for the French horn for Leutgeb in, E flat major (495
+K.).
+
+July 8. Terzet for piano, violin, and violoncello, in G major (496 K.).
+
+
+{MOZART IN PRAGUE.}
+
+(118)
+
+1786. August 1. Piano sonata for four hands in F major (497 K.).
+
+August 5. Terzet for piano, clarinet, and violin, in E flat major (498
+K.).
+
+August 19. Quartet for two violins, viola, and violoncello, in D major
+(499 K.).
+
+September 12. &Twelve variations for the piano in B flat major (500 K.).
+
+November. Variations for the piano for four hands in G major (501 K.).
+
+November 18. Terzet for piano, violin, and violoncello, in B flat
+major(502 K.).
+
+Then follow three compositions intended for the winter concerts:--
+
+1786. December 4. Pianoforte concerto in C major (503 K.).
+
+December 6. Symphony in D major (504 K.).
+
+December 27. Scena con rondo with pianoforte solo, for Mdlle. Storace
+and myself, in E flat major (505 K.).
+
+We cannot wonder that he turned a willing ear to the entreaties of his
+English friends, that he would leave Vienna in the autumn of 1786 (his
+wife having presented him on October 27, 1786, with their third son,
+Leopold, who died the following spring) and visit England; this plan
+was seriously considered, and only abandoned upon his father's strong
+opposition to it (Vol. II., p. 274). There soon after reached him
+an invitation from another quarter, giving still greater prospect of
+success and encouragement. "Figaro" made its way but slowly to most of
+the other great towns of Europe,[2] but in Prague, where the "Entführung"
+had left a very pleasing impression, it was performed at once, and with
+the greatest success.
+
+The national taste for music which early distinguished
+
+
+{MUSIC IN BOHEMIA.}
+
+(119)
+
+the Bohemians, and which they retain to the present day, arrived at
+a high stage of development during the last century.[3] The zealous
+attention bestowed upon church music both in town and country, and the
+cultivated taste of the nobility, gave to talent an easy recognition,
+and no available forces, either vocal or instrumental, were suffered to
+remain in neglect. It was the "custom and obligation" for every head of
+a school to write at least one new mass during the year, and to perform
+it with his scholars. Any youth who distinguished himself was placed
+in an institution where he was able to continue his musical education;
+there was no lack of patrons ready to support him until he found a
+situation in the musical establishment of a prince, a prelate, or a
+monastery.[4] "The families of Morzini, Hartiggi, Czemini, Mannsfeldi,
+Netolizki, Pachta, &c., were the patrons of many young men; they took
+them from the village schools on their territories and brought them to
+the capital to swell the ranks of their private musical establishments;
+they wore a livery, and formed part of their retinue of servants.
+Riflemen were not allowed to wear a uniform until they could blow the
+bugle perfectly. Many noble families in Prague required their livery
+servants to have a knowledge of music before being considered competent
+for service." Under these circumstances, music and all connected with it
+must have been held in high estimation at Prague, where the aristocracy
+were wont to congregate during the winter. A permanent Italian opera,
+especially intended for opera buffa, was founded by Bustelli, who had
+also obtained a license in Dresden in 1765. From that time until 1776 he
+gave performances at both places with a select
+
+
+{MOZART IN PRAGUE.}
+
+(120)
+
+company, and acquired great fame thereby.[5] His successor was Pasquale
+Bondini, who afterwards gave performances in Leipzig during the
+summer,[6] and who was able to uphold the ancient fame of the Italian
+opera in Prague. First-rate artists, such as Jos. Kucharz and Jos.
+Strobach were engaged as operatic conductors; and other distinguished
+musicians were engaged, as, for instance, Joh. Kozeluch (a relation of
+Mozart's opponent living in Vienna, Leopold Kozeluch), Wenzel Praupner,
+Vincenz Maschek, &c. There was, however, one artistic couple in Prague
+of peculiar interest from their influential position and their intimate
+friendship with Mozart. These were the Duscheks, whose name we have
+already had frequent occasion to mention.[7]
+
+Franz Duschek (born 1736 in Chotinborek), while still a poor peasant
+lad, attracted the notice of his feudal lord, Count Joh. Karl von
+Spork, by his uncommon talent. He was first sent to study at the Jesuit
+seminary at Königgràtz, but being obliged to give up study owing to an
+unfortunate accident, he devoted himself entirely to music, and was
+sent by the Count to Vienna, where he was educated into an accomplished
+piano-forte-player by Wagenseil.[8] As such he had long held the first
+rank in Prague, and not only did much by his excellent teaching to
+advance the art of pianoforte-playing, but exercised a decided and
+beneficial influence on musical taste in general. He was universally
+esteemed as an honest and upright man, and his influence with
+distinguished connoisseurs made him a powerful patron of foreign artists
+visiting Prague. His hospitable house formed a meeting-point both for
+foreign and native talent, and concerts were regularly given there on
+certain days in the week. The animating spirit at all these meetings was
+Duschek's wife Josepha (neé Hambacher),[9] who had received her musical
+education from
+
+
+{MADAME DUSCHEK.}
+
+(121)
+
+him. She played the pianoforte well enough to pass for a virtuoso, and
+made some not unsuccessful attempts as a composer; but her forte lay in
+singing. Her beautiful, full, round voice was admired equally with her
+delivery, which was especially fine in recitative; she accomplished the
+most difficult bravura passages with perfect ease, without neglecting
+the effect of a perfect _portamento_; she united fire and energy with
+grace and expression--in short, she maintained in every respect her
+claim to be ranked with the first Italian singers of her time. This
+claim was not, it is true, acknowledged by Leopold Mozart; when she was
+in Salzburg with her husband, in 1786, he wrote to his daughter (April)--
+
+Madame Duschek sang; but how? I cannot but say that she shrieked out an
+air of Naumann's with exaggerated expression, just as she used to do,
+only worse. Her husband is answerable for this; he knows no better, and
+has taught her, and persuades her that she alone possesses true taste.
+
+Her appearance did not please him either. "She seems to me to show signs
+of age already," he writes (April 13); "she has rather a fat face, and
+was very carelessly dressed." Schiller's unfavourable remarks upon her
+in Weimar, where she was in May, 1788, are quite in accordance with
+this.[10] She displeased him by her assurance (Dreistigkeit)--he would
+not call it impudence (Frechheit)--and her mocking manner, which
+caused the reigning Duchess to observe that she looked like a discarded
+mistress.[11] By favour of the Duchess Amalie she was allowed to
+give three concerts for the display of her talent and the general
+edification; Korner answers Schiller's account of her:[12]--
+
+The Duchess is not so wrong in what she said of her. She did not
+interest me very greatly. Even as an artist, I consider her expression
+caricatured. Gracefulness is, in my estimation, the chief merit of song,
+and in this she seems to me entirely wanting.
+
+
+{MOZART IN PRAGUE.}
+
+(122)
+
+Reichardt, who became acquainted with the Duscheks in 1773,[13] writes
+in 1808 from Prague:[14]--
+
+I have found a dear and talented friend of those happy youthful days in
+Madame Duschek, who retains her old frankness and love for all that is
+beautiful. Her voice, and her grand, expressive delivery, have been a
+source of true pleasure to me,
+
+She was a true friend also to Mozart. In 1777 the Duscheks were in
+Salzburg, where they had family connections who were acquainted with the
+Mozarts. Wolfgang took great pleasure in the society of the young lively
+singer, and if she showed a disposition to hold aloof from Salzburg folk
+in general, he too was "schlimm," as he called it, in this respect. Of
+course he composed several songs for her (Vol. I., p. 234). The Duscheks
+discovered Wolfgang's uncomfortable position in Salzburg; and the
+intelligence that he intended shortly to leave the town drew from
+them, his father says (September 28, 1777), expressions of the warmest
+sympathy. They begged Wolfgang, whether he came to Prague then or at
+any other time, to rely upon the most friendly welcome from them. In
+the spring of 1786 they came to Vienna, and were witness of the cabals
+against which Mozart had to contend before the performance of his
+"Figaro." They were quite able to judge for themselves what the
+opera was likely to be, and after the success which had attended the
+performance of the "Entführung" in Prague they found no difficulty in
+rousing interest there in the new opera:--
+
+"Figaro" was placed upon the stage in 1786 by the Bondini company, and
+was received with an applause which can only be compared with that which
+was afterwards bestowed on the "Zauberflote." It is a literal truth that
+this opera was played almost uninterruptedly during the whole
+winter, and that it completely restored the failing fortunes of the
+entrepreneur. The enthusiasm which it excited among the public was
+unprecedented; they were insatiable in their demands for it. It was
+soon arranged for the pianoforte, for wind instruments, as a quintet for
+chamber music, and as German dance music; songs from "Figaro"
+
+
+{PERFORMANCE OF "FIGARO."}
+
+(123)
+
+were heard in streets, in gardens; even the wandering harper at the
+tavern-door was obliged to strum out "Non più andrai" if he wanted to
+gain any audience at all.[15]
+
+Fortunately this enthusiastic approbation was turned to the profit of
+the one whom it most concerned. Leopold Mozart wrote to his daughter
+with great satisfaction (January 12, 1787):--
+
+Your brother is by this time in Prague with his wife, for he wrote to me
+that he was to set out last Monday. His opera "Le Nozze di Figaro" has
+been performed there with so much applause that the orchestra and a
+number of connoisseurs and amateurs sent him a letter of invitation,
+together with some verses that had been written upon him.
+
+He conjectured that they would take up their abode with Duschek, whose
+wife was absent on a professional journey to Berlin; but a greater
+honour was in store for them. Count Johann Joseph Thun, one of the
+noblest patrons of music in Prague, had placed his house at Mozart's
+disposal. He accepted the offer gladly, and on his arrival at Prague, in
+1787, he found the public enthusiastic for his music, and well-disposed
+towards himself. The account which he addressed to Gottfried von Jacquin
+(January 15, 1787) is written in the highest spirits:--
+
+Dearest Friend!--At last I find a moment in which to write to you; I
+intended to write four letters to Vienna immediately on my arrival, but
+in vain! only a single one (to my mother-in-law) could I attempt, and
+that I only wrote the half of; my wife and Hofer were obliged to finish
+it. Immediately upon our arrival (Thursday, the 11th, at noon) we had
+enough to do to be ready for dinner at one. After dinner old Count Thun
+regaled us with music performed by his own people, and lasting about
+an hour and a half. I can enjoy this true entertainment daily. At six
+o'clock I drove with Count Canal to the so-called Breitfeld Ball, where
+the cream of Prague beauty are wont to assemble. That would have been
+something for you, my friend! I think I see you after all the lovely
+girls and women--not running--no, limping after them. I did not dance,
+and did not make love. The first because I was too tired, and the last
+from my native bashfulness; but I was quite pleased to see all these
+people hopping about to the music of my "Figaro" turned into waltzes and
+country dances; nothing is talked of here but
+
+
+{MOZART IN PRAGUE.}
+
+(124)
+
+"Figaro," no opera is cared for but "Figaro," always "Figaro"--truly a
+great honour for me. Now to return to my diary. As I returned late from
+the ball, and was tired and sleepy from my journey, it was only natural
+that I should sleep long; and so it was. Consequently the whole of the
+next morning was _sine linea_; after dinner we had music as usual; and
+as I have a very good pianoforte in my room, you can easily imagine that
+I did not allow the evening to pass without some playing; we got up a
+little quartet _in caritatis camera_ (and the "schone Bandl hammera,"
+[Vol. II., p. 362] ) among ourselves; and in this way the whole evening
+again passed _sine linea._ I give you leave to quarrel with Morpheus on
+my account; he favoured us wonderfully in Prague; why, I cannot tell,
+but we both slept well. Nevertheless, we were ready at 11 o'clock to go
+to Pater Unger, and to give a passing glance at the Royal Library and
+at the Seminary. After we had looked our eyes out, we felt a small
+menagerie in our insides, and judged it well to drive to Count Canal's
+to dinner. The evening surprised us sooner than you would believe, and
+we found it was time for the opera. We heard "Le Gare Generose" (by
+Paesiello). As to the performance, I can say little, for I talked all
+the time; the reason I did so, against my usual custom, must have been
+because--but _basta_--this evening was again spent _al solito_. To-day
+I am fortunate enough to find a moment in which to inquire after your
+welfare and that of your parents, and of the whole family of Jacquin.
+Now farewell; next Friday, the 19th, will be my concert at the theatre;
+I shall probably be obliged to give a second, and that will lengthen my
+stay here. On Wednesday I shall see and hear "Figaro"--at least if I
+am not deaf and blind by that time. Perhaps I shall not become so until
+_after_ the opera.
+
+At the performance of "Figaro" Mozart was received by the numerous
+audience with tumultuous applause; he was so pleased with the
+representation, especially with the orchestral part of it, that he
+expressed his thanks in a letter to Strobach, who conducted it. The
+Prague orchestra was not strongly appointed,[16] nor did it shine
+through the names of celebrated virtuosi; but it contained clever and
+well-schooled musicians, full of fire and of zeal for what was good--the
+best guarantee of success. Strobach often asserted that he and his
+orchestra used to get so excited by "Figaro" that, in spite of the
+actual labour it entailed, they would willingly have played it all over
+again when they came to the end.[17]
+
+
+{CONCERTS AND COMMISSIONS.}
+
+(125)
+
+The two concerts which Mozart gave in Prague were also highly
+successful:--
+
+The theatre was never so full, and delight was never so strongly and
+unanimously roused as by his divine playing. We scarcely knew which
+to admire most, his extraordinary compositions or his extraordinary
+playing; the two together made an impression on our minds comparable
+only to enchantment.[18]
+
+We have already given an account of the enthusiasm excited by Mozart's
+extemporising (Vol. II., p. 438); the other compositions which he
+performed were all loudly applauded, especially the lately written
+symphony in D major. The pecuniary gain corresponded to the warmth of
+this reception, and Storace was able to announce to L. Mozart that his
+son had made 1,000 florins in Prague. The social distractions which
+Mozart describes so graphically to his friend appear to have continued;
+at least, he accomplished no musical work except the country dances
+which he improvised for Count Pachta (510 K.; Vol. II., p. 436), and
+six waltzes (509 K.), composed for the grand orchestra, probably for a
+similar occasion (February 6, 1787).[19] When, however, in the joy of his
+heart Mozart declared how gladly he would write an opera for an audience
+which understood and admired him like that of Prague, Bondini took him
+at his word, and concluded a contract with him by which Mozart undertook
+to compose an opera
+
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(126)
+
+by the beginning of the next season for the customary fee of one hundred
+ducats.[20]
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XXXVII.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Gyrowetz, Selbstbiogr., p. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 2: "Figaro" was first performed in Berlin, September 14, 1790
+(Schneider, Gesch. d. Oper, p. 59), and praised by the critics as a
+masterpiece, while the ordinary public preferred Martin and Dittersdorf
+(Chronik von Berlin, VIII., pp. 1229, 1244. Berl. Mus. Monatsschr.,
+1792, p. 137). "Figaro" had no greater success in Italy than others of
+Mozart's operas: "Mozart's operas, at the hands of the Italian comic
+singers and the Italian public, have met with the fate which would
+befall a retiring sober man introduced to a company of drunkards; the
+rioters would be sure to treat the sober man as a fool" (Berl. Mus.
+Ztg., 1793, p. 77). Thus, failure was reported from Florence (A. M. Z.,
+III., p. 182) and Milan (A. M. Z., XVII., p. 294). "Figaro" has
+lately been on the repertory of the Italian Opera in Paris; since the
+unfortunate experiment in 1792 (p. 77, note), the opera has been given
+in French at the Théätre Lyrique (1858), with the most brilliant success
+(Scudo, Crit. et Litt. Mus., II., p. 458). "Figaro" was first performed
+in London in 1813 (Catalani sang Susanna--Parke, Mus. Mem., II., p. 82),
+and kept its place as one of the most favourite of operas.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Jahrb. d. Tonk., Wien u. Prag, 1796, p. 108. A. M. Z., p. 488.
+Reichardt, Br. e. aufm. Reisenden, II., p. 123.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Gyrowetz, in his Autobiography (Wien, 1848), gives a description of
+such an education.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A. M. Z., I., p. 330; II., p. 494.]
+
+[Footnote 6: [Blümner], Gesch. des Theaters in Leipzig, p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Particulars concerning him and his wife may be found in Cramer's
+Mag. Mus., I., p. 997. Jahrbuch der Tonkunst, 1796, p. 113. A. M. Z.,
+I., p. 444.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Reichardt (Briefe eines aufmerks. Reisenden, I., p. 116) includes
+him among the best pianoforte-players of the time (1773): "who, besides
+a very good execution of Bach's music, has a particularly elegant and
+brilliant style."]
+
+[Footnote 9: She was born in Prague in 1756, and died there at an advanced age.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Schiller, Briefw. m. Körner, I., p. 280. She had given a concert in
+Leipzig on April 22 (Busby, Gesch. d. Mus., II., p. 668.)]
+
+[Footnote 11: We learn from L. Mozart's letters to his daughter, that Count
+Clamm, "a fine, handsome, amiable man, without cavalier pride," was the
+"declared lover" of Frau Duschek, and "kept her whole establishment."]
+
+[Footnote 12: Schiller, Briefw. m. Körner, I., p. 294.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p. 134.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Reichardt, Vertr. Briefe, I., p. 132.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Niemetschek, p. 34.]
+
+[Footnote 16: The violins were trebled, the violas and basses doubled (A. M. Z.,
+II., p. 522).]
+
+[Footnote 17: Niemetschek, p. 39. Holmes says (p. 278) that he heard the same
+remark made by the first bassoonist after a performance of "Figaro."]
+
+[Footnote 18: Niemetschek, p. 40.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Every "Teutsche" has its "Alternativo," and they are united into a
+connected whole, as Mozart especially remarks in a description of them.
+The close is formed by a somewhat lengthy coda, and they are for the
+most part lightly thrown together, with no pretension but to incite to
+the dance. He remarks at the end, "As I do not know of what kind the
+Flauto piccolo is, I have put it in the natural key; it can at any time
+be transposed." A pianoforte arrangement in Mozart's handwriting is in
+André's collection.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Niemetschek, p. 96. 1]
+
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 38
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXVIII. "DON GIOVANNI."
+
+MOZART had been so well satisfied with Da Ponte's libretto for "Figaro"
+that he had no hesitation in intrusting the new libretto to him, and
+immediately on his return to Vienna they consulted together as to the
+choice of subject. Da Ponte, fully convinced of the many-sidedness of
+Mozart's genius, proposed "Don Giovanni," and Mozart at once agreed to
+it. Da Ponte relates,[1] with an amusing amount of swagger, that he was
+engaged at one and the same time on "Tarar" for Salieri, on the "Arbore
+di Diana" for Martin, and on "Don Giovanni" for Mozart. Joseph II. made
+some remonstrance on this, to which Da Ponte answered that he would do
+his best; he could write for Mozart at night and imagine himself
+reading Dante's "Inferno"; for Martin in the morning, and be reminded
+of Petrarch; and in the evening for Salieri, who should be his Tasso.
+Thereupon he set to work, a bottle of wine and his Spanish snuffbox
+before him, and his hostess's pretty daughter by his side to enact the
+part of inspiring muse. The first day, the two first scenes of "Don
+Giovanni," two scenes of the "Arbore di Diana," and more than half of
+the first act of "Tarar" were written, and in sixty-three days the
+whole of the first two operas and two-thirds of the last were ready.
+Unfortunately we have no certain information either of the share taken
+by Mozart in the construction of the text, nor of the manner in which
+his composition was carried on. The warmth of his reception at Prague
+made the contrast of his position in Vienna all the more galling to
+him. On the departure of Storace, Kelly, and Attwood for England, in
+February, 1787, he had seriously entertained the idea of following them
+as soon as they had found a situation worthy of his acceptance
+
+
+{VIENNA, 1787--DITTERSDORF.}
+
+(127)
+
+in London. The bass singer Fischer, who was visiting Vienna,[2] wrote in
+Mozart's album on April 1, 1787, the following verses, more well-meaning
+than poetical:--
+
+     Die holde Göttin Harmonie Der Tone und der Seelen,
+     Ich dächte wohl, sie sollten nie
+     Die Musensöhnen fehlen,
+     Doch oft ist Herz und
+     Mund verstimmt;
+     Dort singen Lippen Honig,
+     Wo doch des Neides Feuer glimmt--
+     Glaub mir, es gebe wenig Freunde die den
+     Stempel tragen Echter Treu, Rechtschaffenheit.
+
+The lines throw a light on Mozart's relations to his fellow-artists,
+and the hint contained in Barisani's album verses, written on April 14,
+1787, that the Italian composers envied him his art (Vol. II., p. 306),
+leaves no doubt as to whose envy, in the opinion of himself and his
+friends, he had to dread. A musical connoisseur, visiting Vienna on his
+return from Italy in the spring of 1787,[3] found everybody engrossed
+with Martin's "Cosa Rara," which, Storace's departure having rendered
+its performance in Italian impossible, was being played in a German
+adaptation at the Marinelli theatre with success. Dittersdorfs success
+in German opera had also the effect of throwing Mozart completely into
+the shade.
+
+Dittersdorf (1739-1799)[4] came to Vienna during Lent, 1786,[5] to
+produce his oratorio of "Job" at the concerts of the Musical Society,
+and he afterwards gave two concerts in the Augarten, at which his
+symphonies on Ovid's "Metamorphoses" were performed. The genuine success
+of these compositions led to his being requested to write a German
+opera. Stephanie junior, theatrical director at the time, provided him
+with the incredibly dull libretto of the "Doctor und Apotheker," which
+was played for the first
+
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(128)
+
+time on July 11, 1786, and twenty times subsequently during the year.
+That which had not been attained by the success of the "Entführung,"
+happened in this case. Dittersdorf was at once requested to write a
+second opera, "Betrug durch Aberglauben," which was performed on October
+3, 1786, with not less applause than the first; it was followed by a
+third "Die Liebe im Narrenhause," also very well received on April 12,
+1787. On the other hand, an Italian opera by Dittersdorf, "Democrito
+Corretto," first performed on January 2, 1787, was a complete failure.
+Dittersdorf's brilliant triumph over such composers as Umlauf, Hanke,
+or Ruprecht, is not to be wondered at; his operas rapidly spread from
+Vienna to all the other German theatres, and he acquired a popularity
+far in excess of most other composers.[6] True merit was undoubtedly at
+the bottom of this; he was skilful in appropriating the good points both
+of opera buffa and of French comic opera, and his finales and ensemble
+movements are specially happy in effect; he was not only thoroughly
+experienced in the management of voices, but, being a fertile
+instrumental composer, he had learnt from the example and precedent of
+Haydn to employ his orchestra independently, and with good effect.
+His easy flow of invention furnished him with an abundance of pleasing
+melodies, a considerable amount of comic talent showed itself in
+somewhat highly flavoured jokes, and his music had an easy-going,
+good-tempered character, which, though often sinking into Philistinism,
+was, nevertheless, genuinely German. Far behind Grétry as he was in
+intellect and refinement, he decidedly excelled him in musical ability.
+Life and originality were incontestably his, but depth of feeling or
+nobility of form will be sought for in vain in his works. Each new
+opera was a mere repetition of that which had first been so successful,
+affording constant proof of his limited powers, which were rightly
+estimated by some of his contemporaries.[7] Joseph II.
+
+
+{COMPOSITIONS IN 1787.}
+
+(129)
+
+shared the partiality of the public for Dittersdorf's lighter style of
+music, and rewarded him munificently when he left Vienna in the spring
+of 1787. But the Emperor took no real interest in German opera--the
+company received their dismissal in the autumn of 1787, and the
+performances ceased in February, 1788.[8]
+
+Mozart's autograph Thematic Catalogue contains few important works
+between his return to Vienna and his second journey to Prague:--
+
+1787. March 11. Rondo for pianoforte, A minor (511 K.).
+
+March 18. Scena for Fischer, "Non sö d'onde viene" (512 K.).
+
+March 23. Air for Gottfried von Jacquin, "M entre ti lascio" (513 K.).
+
+April 6. Rondo for the horn, for Leutgeb (514 K.).
+
+April 19. Quintet for two violins, two violas, and violoncello, C major
+(Vol. III., p. 19) (515 K.).
+
+May 16. Quintet, G minor (Vol. III., p. 20) (516 K.).
+
+May 18, 20, 23, 26. A song on each (517-520 K.).
+
+May 20. A piano sonata for four hands, in C major (521 K.).
+
+June 11. A musical jest (Vol. II., p. 367, 522 K.).
+
+June 24. Two songs (523, 524 K.).
+
+August 10. Serenade (525 K.).
+
+August 24. Pianoforte sonata with violin, in A major (526 K.).
+
+These were probably all composed for social or teaching purposes; even
+the two quintets, which are worthy of the first rank, were no doubt
+written to order for a particular musical circle. Nor were these
+compositions to the taste of the Viennese public of the day. The
+traveller already mentioned notes as follows:[9]--
+
+Kozeluch's works hold their ground, and are always acceptable, while
+Mozart's are not by any means so popular. It is true; and the fact
+receives fresh confirmation from his quartets dedicated to Haydn, that
+he has a decided leaning to what is difficult and unusual. But on the
+other hand, how great and noble are his ideas--how daring a spirit does
+he display in them!
+
+The amount of industry with which Mozart worked at "Don Giovanni" is
+unknown to us. We may conclude that, if he followed his usual habit,
+he plunged eagerly into his new libretto at first, and afterwards
+procrastinated over
+
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(130)
+
+the actual transcription of his ideas. The received tradition represents
+him as bringing the unfinished opera to Prague in September, 1787,[10]
+and completing it, incited by intercourse with the intended
+performers and the stimulating society of his enthusiastic friends and
+admirers.[11] The impresario, who was bound to provide accommodation for
+the composer until after the performance, had lodged Mozart in a house,
+"bei drei Löwen" (on the market-place).[12] He preferred, however,
+the vineyard of his friend Duschek at Kossir (Kosohirz); and the
+summer-house and stone table are still shown at which he used to sit
+writing his score, with lively talk and bowl-playing going on round
+him.[13] All such stories as those of the delicate diplomacy with
+which Mozart apportioned the several parts to the satisfaction of the
+performers, of his having been obliged to appease L. Bassi, indignant at
+Don Giovanni having no proper grand air to sing; of his having
+composed "La ci darem la mano" five times before he could satisfy the
+singers,[14] repose on the same foundation as those of his
+
+{PERFORMANCE IN PRAGUE, 1787.}
+
+(131)
+
+love-making with the female performers.[15] As to this, we know his
+relations with the Duscheks; Teresa Saporiti is said to have expressed
+her surprise that so great an artist should be so insignificant in
+appearance; whereat Mozart, touched on his weakest point, diverted his
+attentions from her and bestowed them on Micelli or Bondini--there were
+no other female artists in Prague at that time. We are unfortunate in
+having no information as to the influence exerted on the details of
+the composition by the idiosyncracies of the singers and other
+circumstances. Two anecdotes obtained credence at the time, both
+relating to the rehearsals for which Da Ponte had also come from
+Vienna;[16] he was lodged at the back of the inn "Zum Platteis," and the
+poet and composer could converse with each other from their respective
+windows.
+
+In the finale of the first act Teresa Bondini as Zerlina failed to utter
+the cry for help in a sufficiently spontaneous manner. After many vain
+attempts, Mozart went himself on to the stage, had the whole thing
+repeated, and at the right moment gave the singer so unexpected and
+severe a push that she shrieked out in alarm. "That's right," he
+exclaimed, laughing, "that is the way to shriek!" The words of the
+Commendatore in the churchyard scene were originally, it is said,
+accompanied only by the trombones. The trombone-players failing to
+execute the passage, Mozart went to the desk, and began to explain how
+it might be done, whereupon one of them said: "It cannot be played in
+that way, nor can even you teach us how to do it." Mozart answered,
+laughing: "God forbid that I should teach you to play the trumpet; give
+me the parts, and I will alter them." He did so accordingly, and added
+the wood wind instruments.[17]
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(132)
+
+A good omen for the reception of the new opera was afforded by a
+brilliant performance of "Figaro" on October 14,[18] under Mozart's
+direction, in honour of the bride of Prince Anton of Saxony, the
+Archduchess Maria Theresa of Toscana, who was passing through Prague on
+her wedding tour.[19] Nevertheless, Mozart himself felt far from secure
+of the success of "Don Giovanni"; and after the first rehearsal, while
+taking a walk with the orchestral conductor Kucharz, he asked him in
+confidence what he thought of the opera, and whether it was likely to
+achieve so decided a success as that of "Figaro." Kucharz answered that
+he could entertain no doubt of the success of such fine and original
+music, and that anything coming from Mozart would meet with ready
+recognition from the Prague public. Mozart declared himself satisfied
+with such an opinion from a musician, and said he was ready to spare
+neither pains nor labour to produce a work worthy of Prague.[20]
+
+Thus approached the day of performance, October 29 (not November 4),
+1787; and on the previous evening the overture was still unwritten, to
+the great consternation of Mozart's assembled friends. We have already
+told (Vol. II., p. 414) how he parted late from the merry company, and
+sat down to write with a glass of punch before him, and his wife telling
+him stories by his side; how sleep overcame him, and he was obliged
+to lie down for several hours before completing his task; and how the
+copyist was sent for at seven o'clock in the morning, and the overture
+was ready at
+
+{SUCCESS IN PRAGUE}
+
+(133).
+
+the appointed time.[21] There was barely time to write out the parts
+before the beginning of the opera, which indeed was somewhat delayed
+on this account. The well-drilled and inspired orchestra played the
+overture at sight so well that, during the introduction to the first
+act, Mozart observed to the instrumentalists near him: "Some of the
+notes fell under the desks, it is true, but the overture went capitally
+upon the whole." The success of the first representation was brilliant.
+The theatre was full to overflowing, and Mozart's appearance as
+conductor at the piano was the signal for enthusiastic clapping and
+huzzas. The suspense with which the overture was awaited found vent in
+a very storm of applause, which accompanied the opera from beginning to
+end. The cast of this performance was as follows:--[See Page Images]
+
+The performance, though not including any virtuosi of the first rank or
+fame, was considered an excellent one; the inspiring influence of
+the maestro and the elevated mood of the public united to induce
+the performers to put forth all their powers, and stimulated them to
+extraordinary efforts. Guardasoni, who was associated with Bondini in
+the management of the theatre,[22] was so delighted with the success of
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(134)
+
+the opera that he announced it to Da Ponte (who had been obliged to
+hurry back to Vienna to put "Axur" upon the stage) in the words: "Evviva
+Da Ponte, ewiva Mozart! Tutti gli impresari, tutti i virtuosi devono
+benedirli! finchè essi vivranno, son si saprà mai, cosa sia miseria
+teatrale."[23] Mozart also communicated to' Da Ponte the happy result
+of their joint labours, and wrote to Gottfried von Jacquin (November 4,
+1787):--
+
+Dearest Friend,--I hope you have received my letters. On October 29,
+my opera, "Don Giovanni," was put in scena, with the most unqualified
+success. Yesterday it was performed for the fourth time, for my benefit.
+
+I intend to leave here on the 12th or 13th, and as soon as I arrive in
+Vienna you shall have the airs to sing. N.B.--Between ourselves--I only
+wish my good friends (particularly Bridi and yourself) could be here for
+a single evening to share in my triumph. Perhaps it will be performed in
+Vienna. I hope so. They are trying all they can here to persuade me to
+remain two months longer, and write another opera; but flattering as the
+proposal is, I cannot accept it.[24]
+
+Mozart met with constant and unequivocal proofs of esteem on all sides
+during his visit to Prague; an esteem, too, not of mere fashion or
+prejudice, but founded on a genuine love of art; he gave himself up
+unreservedly to the pleasure afforded him by intercourse with his
+friends and admirers; and many of these retained long after, as
+Niemet-schek says (p. 93), the memory of the hours passed in his
+society. He was as artless and confiding as a child, and overflowing
+with fun and merriment; it was difficult for
+
+{SONG FOR MADAME DUSCHEK, 1787.}
+
+(135)
+
+strangers to realise that they were in the society of the great and
+admired artist.
+
+Mozart had promised his friend, Madame Duschek, that he would compose a
+new concert air for her; as usual, however, he could not be brought to
+the point of transcribing it. One day she locked him into a summer-house
+on the Weinberg, and declared she would not let him out until he had
+finished the air. He set to work at once, but having completed his task,
+retorted that if she could not sing the song correctly and well at first
+sight, he would not give it to her.[25] In truth, the words: "Quest'
+affanno, questo passo è terribile," in the andante of this song ("Bella
+mia fiamma," 528 K., part 2) are rendered after a highly characteristic
+manner; and the intervals for the voice, not easy in themselves,
+become, by their harmonic disposition, a severe test of pure and correct
+intonation. Altogether, this is one of the most beautiful of Mozart's
+concert airs; it makes no great claims on the singer's powers of
+execution, but it requires a soprano voice of considerable compass and
+power, and a grand and expressive delivery. It is interesting to observe
+how this song, animated and energetic as it is in expression, yet
+differs essentially from the properly dramatic music of "Don Giovanni."
+Unconnected with any plot, and not designed for the stage, the situation
+adopts a modified character, the concert singer being in a totally
+different position from the actor; and the form in which the composer
+clothes his conception is suitably modified also. On November 15, 1787,
+immediately after Mozart's return to Vienna, Gluck died; and the success
+of "Don Giovanni" in Prague may have contributed to induce Joseph II.
+to retain Mozart in Vienna by appointing him Chamber-Musi-cian
+(Kammermusikus) on December 7, 1787. For the present, however, there was
+no prospect of a performance of "Don Giovanni" in Vienna.
+
+Salieri had produced his opera of "Tarar" in Paris, in June, 1787,
+Beaumarchais having spared no pains to create
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(136)
+
+an effect by a lively and exciting plot, by lavish decorations and
+costumes, and by political and philosophical allusions. The public was
+at first somewhat disappointed, and the music was considered inferior
+to that of the "Danaides," produced in 1774; but the extraordinary piece
+made in the end a great effect, and attracted large audiences.[26] The
+Emperor was exceedingly pleased with the music, and commissioned Da
+Ponte to prepare Italian words for it upon the occasion of the marriage
+of the Archduke Francis with the Princess Elizabeth. This Italian opera
+of "Axur" retained only the groundwork of the original, both the words
+and the music being completely remodelled. Da Ponte gave fresh proof
+of his dexterity, and Salieri, finding his task far more congenial than
+before, did not grudge the trouble of recomposition.[27] On January 8,
+1788, the Festival opera "Axur" was performed as a "Freispektakel," the
+betrothal of the distinguished pair by the Archduke Maximilian having
+taken place on January 6.[28]At first the audience were somewhat taken
+aback by the traces of the French "Tarar" in the Italian "Axur," but
+very soon they felt the lively, brilliantly appointed plot, and the
+freer development of musical forms to be additional charms bestowed on
+the essentially Italian music. Several representations, following in
+quick succession, increased the favour in which this opera came to be
+held in Vienna,[29] especially by the Emperor Joseph,[30] and very soon
+on every stage in Germany.[31]
+
+The present, therefore, was no time for "Don Giovanni." Mozart catered
+for the amusement of the Viennese by the dances (534-536 K.), which
+he wrote in January, 1788, for the balls in the Redoutensaale, and he
+indulged his patriotic feelings by a song on the Turkish war, which
+Baumann sang at the theatre in the Leopoldstadt (539 K.). He
+
+{PERFORMANCE IN VIENNA, 1788.}
+
+(137)
+
+appears also to have given a concert during Lent, for which he wrote his
+pianoforte concerto in D major (537 K.). But Joseph II. commanded the
+production of "Don Giovanni," and there was no more to be said; it
+was given on May 7, 1788,[32] and was a failure. Everybody, says Da
+Ponte,[33] except Mozart, thought it a mistake; additions were made,
+airs were altered, but no applause followed. Nevertheless Da Ponte
+took Mozart's advice, and had the opera repeated several times in quick
+succession, so that people grew accustomed to what was unusual, and the
+applause increased with every representation.[34] The cast of the opera
+in Vienna was as follows:--[See Page Image]
+
+There was no reason, as will be acknowledged, to ascribe the tardy
+success of "Don Giovanni" to the inferiority of its performance.[35] Da
+Ponte appears also to have
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(138)
+
+exaggerated with respect to the frequent alterations. Mozart's Thematic
+Catalogue contains three pieces for insertion written _before_ the
+first performance (April 24, 28, 30) and incorporated in the book of
+words.[36] Mdlle. Cavalieri, of whom it was said at the time[37] that,
+deserving to be placed in the first rank of Italian singers, and almost
+deified as she was in Italy, not a word in her praise was ever uttered
+in Vienna, insisted on having a grand scena in the part of Elvira, in
+order to maintain her reputation as a singer. This gave rise (April 30)
+to the magnificent air "Mi tradi quell' alma ingrata" (527, 25 K.).[38]
+Mozart could not indeed persuade himself to sacrifice so much to the
+"voluble organ of Mdlle. Cavalieri" as he had formerly done in the
+"Entführung" (Vol. II., p. 235), but even as it is, the dramatic
+interest has to yield to the vocal--the character of Elvira to the
+individuality of the singer. The tenor singer, Signor Francesco
+Morelia,[39] on the contrary, seems to have found Ottavio's grand air
+too much for him, and the air in G major "Della sua pace" (527, 27 K.),
+composed for him is more modest in every respect.
+
+A stronger effort after popularity was made by the duet between Zerlina
+and Leporello, "Per queste tue manine" (527, 28 K.). The situation is
+broadly comic, and has no proper connection with the plot; Leporello
+is roundly abused, and finally tied hand and foot by Zerlina. It was
+probably intended as a sacrifice to the taste of the audience, who
+expected an opera buffa to make them laugh heartily. We know that
+Benucci was an excellent comedian in every branch of his art, and this
+duet leads to the conclusion that Signora Mombelli's forte was buffa.
+Zerlina expresses her anger and revenge volubly enough, but her own
+special grace
+
+{CRITIQUES ON DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(139)
+
+and roguery have quite deserted her here. In a true opera buffa the
+duet would have been quite in keeping; but it is out of place in "Don
+Giovanni," because it brings Leporello and Zerlina to the foreground in
+a degree which does not accord with the plot, and places them both in a
+harsh light, false to their character as elsewhere displayed. Mozart was
+right, then, in his opinion that additions and alterations were not the
+means to make his opera gain favour; it was altogether too unusual a
+phenomenon to take immediate effect upon a Viennese audience. We have
+already seen how Haydn was constrained to put to silence the adverse
+criticisms of musicians and connoisseurs assembled at Count Rosenberg's,
+by declaring his conviction that Mozart was the greatest composer in the
+world. "Don Giovanni" first made its way upon the stages of Germany in
+German adaptations. It was given at Mannheim with extraordinary success
+in October, 1789,[40] and Schroder produced it in Hamburg at about the
+same time; Schink, while severely criticising the libretto of the opera,
+expresses himself enthusiastically in praise of the music--
+
+How can this music, so full of force, majesty, and grandeur, be expected
+to please the lovers of ordinary opera, who bring their ears to the
+theatre with them, but leave their hearts at home? The grand and noble
+qualities of the music in "Don Juan" will appeal only to the small
+minority of the elect. It is not such as to tickle the ear of the crowd,
+and leave the heart unsatisfied. Mozart is no ordinary composer. His
+music has been profoundly felt and thought out in its relation to the
+characters, situations, and sentiments of his personages. It is a
+study in language, treated musically. He never decks out his songs
+with unnecessary and meaningless passages. That is the way in which
+expression is banished from music: expression consisting not in
+particular words, but in the skilful and natural combination of sounds
+as a medium of real emotion. Of this method of expression Mozart is
+a consummate master. Each sound which he produces has its origin in
+emotion, and overflows with it. His expression is glowing with life and
+picturesqueness, yet without the taint of voluptuousness. He has the
+richest, and at the same time the most temperate imagination. He is a
+true virtuoso, never allowing his creative impulse to run away with his
+judgment; his inspiration is guided by reason, his impersonations are
+the result of calm deliberation.[41]
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(140)
+
+The Berlin criticism was not quite so favourable, the opera having
+been there performed for the first time in the presence of the King on
+December 20, 1790:[42]--
+
+If ever an opera was looked forward to with curiosity, if ever a
+composition of Mozart's was lauded to the skies before its performance,
+it was surely this "Don Juan." Every one will allow that Mozart is a
+great and admirable composer, but that nothing good or great has been
+written before this opera, or will be written after it, is a point on
+which we may be allowed to doubt. Theatrical music admits of no rules,
+of no appeal but to the heart, and its worth is in proportion to its
+effect thereon. No amount of art in heaping up instrumental effects will
+make a great musician or render his name immortal, unless he can give
+utterance to the passions and emotions of the heart. Grétry, Monsigny,
+and Philidor are instances to the point. Mozart has aimed at writing
+something extraordinary, something inimitably grand in his "Don Juan";
+the extraordinary is there, certainly, but not the inimitably grand.
+Vanity, eccentricity, fancy, have created "Don Juan," not the heart;
+and we should have preferred being called upon to admire the highest
+capabilities of music in one of his oratorios or solemn church
+compositions than in his "Don Juan."[43]
+
+The extraordinary success of the opera[44] is attested by a notice of
+it[45] which proceeds to prove that this musical drama satisfies the
+eye, enchants the ear, does violence to the intellect, offends against
+morals, and suffers vice to trample upon virtue and good feeling. The
+author of the criticism accounts for the popularity of the opera by the
+quality of the music, which is beyond all expression grand:--
+
+If ever a nation might be proud of one of its children, Germany may be
+proud of Mozart, the composer of this opera. Never was the greatness of
+the human mind more perceptible, never did music reach so high a level!
+Melodies which an angel might have conceived are accompanied by divinest
+harmonies, and those whose souls are in any degree susceptible to what
+is truly beautiful will agree with me in saying the ear is bewitched.
+
+At the same time he cannot refrain from the pious wish:--[See Page
+Image]
+
+{CRITIQUES ON DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(141)
+
+Oh, that he had not so wasted the energies of his mighty mind!--that his
+judgment had been brought to the aid of his imagination, and had shown
+him a less miry path to fame! How can it please him that his name should
+appear set in diamonds upon a golden tablet, and the tablet suspended on
+a pillory?
+
+Spazier, who acknowledged Mozart's "true, unborrowed, unartificial
+wealth of ideas,"[46] and said of "Don Giovanni" that some of its single
+airs were worth more than whole operas by Paesiello,[47] remarks on
+another occasion:[48]--
+
+The pleasure of seeing a genius strike out a new path with ease, which
+one feels would possess insurmountable obstacles to others, becomes pain
+and grief, which can only be turned to enjoyment again by minute study
+of the work, when such an artist puts forth his whole strength as Mozart
+has in "Don Juan," where he overwhelms his hearers with the vastness of
+his art, giving to the whole an almost boundless effect.
+
+His promise of a more minute description remained unfulfilled. The
+various notices of the work which followed its performance in other
+places were all of the same kind, both praise and blame recognising the
+fact that a novel and important phenomenon was being treated of.[49]
+After the performance in Weimar, Goethe wrote to Schiller (December 30,
+1797) ^
+
+Your hopes for the opera are richly fulfilled in "Don Juan"; but the
+work is completely isolated, and Mozart's death frustrates any prospect
+of his example being followed.[50]
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(142)
+
+The popularity of the opera with the general public spread rapidly,
+and very soon there was no stage in Germany where "Don Juan" had not
+acquired permanent possession. According to Sonnleithner's calculation,
+"Don Giovanni" had been performed 531 times at Vienna at the end of the
+year 1863; at Prague, Stiepanek asserts that 116 representations took
+place during the first ten years, and 360 before 1855;[51] at the
+celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of "Don Giovanni" at Berlin,
+in 1837, more than 200 performances were calculated to have taken
+place;[52] similar celebrations took place at Prague[53] and
+Magdeburg.[54] The opera was first introduced at Paris in 1805, in
+a fearfully distorted and mangled version, by C. Kalkbrenner; a
+characteristic instance was the masque terzet, where the words "Courage,
+vigilance, adresse, défiance, que l'active prudence préside à nos
+desseins" were sung by three gendarmes. Kalkbrenner also interpolated
+some of his own music, and, spite of it all, the fabrication pleased
+for a time.[55] In the year 1811 "Don Giovanni" was first given in its
+original form by the singers of the Italian opera, and ever since the
+most distinguished artists have retained Mozart's masterpiece upon
+this stage in an uninterrupted succession of performances.[56] A French
+translation of "Don Juan," by Castil-Blaze,[57] was given at Lyons in
+1822, at the Odéon in Paris in 1827, and at the Académie de Musique in
+1834, admirably cast and brilliantly appointed, besides being more true
+to the original;[58] a still newer adaptation has been performed at the
+Théätre Lyrique.[59] In London the great success of "Figaro" had paved
+the way for "Don Giovanni," which has ever since its
+
+
+{STATISTICS OF PERFORMANCES.}
+
+(143)
+
+first performance, in April, 1817, occupied a prominent place at the
+Italian opera of that city. The applause which followed the first
+Italian representation was so great that the lessee of Covent Garden
+theatre produced an English version in May of the same year, which was
+excellently performed, and with considerable success.[60]
+
+While "Don Giovanni" was thus becoming familiar to opera-goers in the
+north, and even in Petersburg, Stockholm, and Copenhagen, it had not met
+with any very warm or general sympathy in Italy, where repeated attempts
+to introduce it to the public had resulted only in a certain amount of
+respectful recognition from connoisseurs. "Don Giovanni" was first given
+in Rome in 1811, no pains having been spared in the rehearsals, and
+few alterations made in the opera. The audience was very attentive, and
+applauded loudly; the music was termed "bellissima, superba, sublime,
+un musicone"--but not altogether "del gusto del paese"; the many
+_stranezze_ might be "belissime," but they were not what people were
+accustomed to.[61] A more successful attempt was made in Naples in the
+following year, although not on so grand a scale; the audience were
+attentive, and seemed to accustom themselves to the _musica classica_,
+but even here the success was not lasting.[62] The first representation
+at Milan in 1814 provoked quite as much hissing as applause, but
+subsequent performances were more successful.[63] At Turin the
+opera appears to have pleased in 1815, in spite of its wretched
+performance.[64] A mangled version of "Don Giovanni" was given at
+Florence in 1818, and failed, but it was afterwards very well received
+in its true form;[65] in 1857, as a friend wrote to me, "the antiquated
+hyperborean music" was so emphatically hissed that it could not be
+risked again. In Genoa, too, in 1824, "Don Giovanni" pleased the
+learned, but not the public;[66] and at Venice, in 1833, it gained some
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(144)
+
+little popularity by slow degrees.[67] Quite lately a celebrated Italian
+singer exclaimed angrily at a rehearsal of "Don Giovanni": "Non capisco
+niente a questa maledetta musica!"[68] Against all this must be placed
+Rossini's charming answer when he was pressed to say which of his own
+operas he liked best: one person present suggested one, another the
+other, till at last Rossini exclaimed: "Vous voulez connaître celui de
+mes ouvrages que j'aime le mieux; eh bien, c'est 'Don Giovanni.'"[69]
+The fame of "Don Giovanni" did not long remain confined to the old
+world. When Garcia and his daughters were giving Italian operas at New
+York in 1825, at Da Ponte's suggestion they produced
+
+"Don Giovanni."[70] At the conclusion of the first finale everything
+went wrong; Garcia, who was playing Don Giovanni, exerted himself in
+vain to keep the singers and orchestra in time and tune, until at last,
+sword in hand, he came forward and, commanding silence, exclaimed that
+it was a shame so to murder a masterpiece. They began again, collected
+themselves and took pains, and the finale came happily to an end.[71]
+The applause of the public renewed Da Ponte's youth; he recounts the
+satisfaction with which he heard the assurance of a friend, whose custom
+it was to go regularly to sleep at the opera, that such an opera as that
+would keep him awake all night.[72] "Don Giovanni" brought him still
+further good fortune; he placed his unexpectedly large profits obtained
+therefrom in the lottery, and for the first time drew a prize.[73] "Don
+Giovanni," once having made its way, was soon unanimously pronounced
+first among all, Mozart's operas; he was said to have declared that he
+wrote
+
+{THE LIBRETTO.}
+
+(145)
+
+it not at all for Vienna, a little for Prague, but mostly for himself
+and his friends.[74] It is true that the libretto was formerly
+considered as a bungling fabrication only tolerated for the sake of the
+music; nevertheless, and especially after Hoffmann's clever vindication
+of its poetical meaning,[75] "Don Giovanni" gradually became the
+accepted canon of dramatic music, and the subject of wide-reaching
+discussion.[76] In "Figaro" Da Ponte had opened a new field to opera
+buffa, by representing the actual life of _bourgeois_ society; in "Don
+Giovanni" he raised opera buffa in another direction to an altogether
+higher sphere.[77] The legend on which the opera is founded had reached
+the people through the tradition of centuries, and, familiar upon every
+stage in Europe, it held the same place in the popular mind as the myths
+of Greek tragedy. The facts, in spite of their wonderful and fantastic
+character, offered a good groundwork to the dramatist, and the main
+conception and essential elements of the situations and characters being
+given, the fullest freedom of construction and development was permitted
+in the treatment of the legend.[78] Whether the legend current in
+Seville
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(146)
+
+of Don Juan Tenorio,[79] who invited to supper the statue of a warrior
+slain by him in a duel, and who, warned in vain to repent, was doomed to
+everlasting perdition, is of ancient origin or not, would be difficult
+to determine from the contradictory accounts given of it.[80] It is said
+to have been performed in monasteries from an early date, adapted by an
+unknown writer with the title of "El Ateista Fulminado:"[81] the first
+authentic dramatic version of the story being that by Gabriel Tellez,
+contemporary of Lope de Vega, monk and prior of a monastery in Madrid.
+His active ecclesiastical life did not prevent his acquiring, under the
+name of Tirso de Molina, an honourable place in Spanish literature as
+a dramatic poet.[82] His "Burlador de Sevilla y Convidado de Piedra"
+belongs, according to Schack, both in design and workmanship to his
+most fugitive pieces, but contains portions which could only have
+been written by a poet of the first rank.[83] The plot is briefly as
+follows:--
+
+First Day [The scene is laid in Naples].--The Duchess Isabella is having
+a parting interview with her lover, Duke Ottavio, when she discovers
+that Don Juan has stolen into her apartment in Ottavio's stead. Her
+cries for assistance bring the King, who gives Don Juan into the custody
+of his uncle, Don Pedro Tenorio, the Spanish
+
+{TIRSO DE MOLINA'S "CONVIDADO DE PIEDRA."}
+
+(147)
+
+Ambassador; the latter, discovering his relationship with his prisoner,
+allows him to escape, and denounces Don Ottavio to the King as
+Isabella's seducer. Don Pedro is thereupon commanded to arrest Don
+Ottavio, to whom, however, he declares that a man having been found with
+Isabella, she reported him to be Ottavio; the lover believes himself to
+be deceived and betrayed, and Don Pedro connives at his escape.
+[Coast scene in Tarragona.] Catalinon, Don Juan's servant, bears his
+shipwrecked master lifeless to shore, where they are discovered by
+Tisbea, a fisher-girl; Don Juan awakes to consciousness upon her bosom,
+and they fall violently in love with each other.[84] Their love-making
+is interrupted by a scene in which the Commandant, Don Gonzalo de Ulloa
+gives Don Albeso, King of Castile, an account of his diplomatic mission
+to Portugal. Then the story returns to Tisbea, who is deceived and
+deserted by Don Juan, and left to her passion of despair.
+
+Second Day [The scene is in Seville].--Don Diego Tenorio, Don Juan's old
+father, acquaints the King with the crime which his son has committed
+in Naples against Isabella and Ottavio; the King banishes Don Juan from
+Seville until he shall make reparation by marrying Isabella. Ottavio
+enters and puts himself under the protection of the King, who promises
+to demonstrate his innocence in Naples, and to give him the hand of
+Donna Anna, Ulloa's daughter, and Don Juan's fiancée. Don Juan appears,
+greets Ottavio in friendly fashion, and enters into a long conversation
+with the Marquis de la Mota, wherein they discuss the beauties of the
+day like the regular roués they are; finally the Marquis declares his
+love for Donna Anna. He has no sooner departed than a note is brought to
+Don Juan to be conveyed to the Marquis; he opens it, and finding that in
+it Donna Anna appoints an interview, determines to keep the appointment
+himself; and he acquaints De la Mota, who returns, with the invitation,
+but names a later hour. He is as indifferent to his father's sentence of
+banishment as to his repeated exhortations, and upon the arrival of the
+Marquis to serenade Donna Anna, he borrows his mantle, ostensibly to
+enable him to visit one of his many sweethearts, but really that he may
+gain access to Donna Anna herself. Discovering the deceit, she cries for
+help; her father stops Don Juan's way with drawn sword, and falls by
+his hand. The murderer flies; De la Mota enters for the rendezvous;
+the King, hurrying in with his guards, takes him for the murderer,
+and delivers him to judgment, commanding a magnificent funeral for
+the Commandant, and the erection of a monument in his honour. [Country
+scene.] Patricio is celebrating his wedding with Aminta, when Don Juan,
+journeying through, mingles with the guests, and placing himself close
+to the bride, excites the jealousy of the bridegroom.
+
+Third Day.--Don Juan prevails upon the jealous Patricio to renounce
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(148)
+
+Aminta by falsely representing that she was formerly seduced by him, and
+had summoned him to interrupt the wedding; he gains the consent of
+her father by means of a solemn promise of marriage, and after a long
+resistance, Aminta gives way. [The Sea-coast.] Isabella, arriving at the
+King's summons for her espousals with Don Juan, falls in with Tisbea,
+who complains of Don Juan's treachery, and repairs with Isabella to
+Seville to seek justice from the King. [Seville.] Don Juan, informed by
+Catalinon of how his victims are united to revenge themselves on him,
+sees the statue erected to the Commandant, with an inscription calling
+for vengeance on his murderer. This rouses his haughty insolence; he
+plucks the statue by the beard, and invites it to supper, that it may
+execute his vengeance. While Don Juan is entertaining his followers at
+table, the statue appears, to the consternation of all but Don Juan,
+and remains silent until the meal is over. Left alone with Don Juan,
+the Commandant invites him to supper in the chapel, and he accepts the
+invitation, after repressing an involuntary shudder. [The Palace.] The
+King promises Don Diego that he will create Don Juan Count of Lebrija,
+and bestow Isabella upon him, at the same time pardoning the Marquis
+at Donna Anna's request, and uniting the two in marriage. Don Ottavio
+requests the King's permission to fight a duel with Don Juan, his father
+proposing to judge between the two; the King commands a reconciliation.
+As he goes out, Aminta enters with her father, to acquaint the King with
+her claims on Don Juan's hand, and Ottavio promises her his support.
+[The Street.] Don Juan, pardoned by the King, and on the point of
+wedding Isabella, prepares to keep his appointment with the Commandant,
+and enters the church where Ulloa has spread a meal for him and
+Catalinon. The dishes contain scorpions and snakes, the wine is gall and
+verjuice, and the table music is a penitential psalm. After the meal,
+the Commandant grasps Don Juan's hand with a grip which cannot be shaken
+off;[85] "Thou art summoned to the eternal judgment-seat" exclaims the
+Commandant; "thy reward shall be fitted to thy deserts." Don Juan falls
+down lifeless and sinks below with the statue. [The Palace.] The King
+wishing to see the nuptials celebrated, Isabella, Aminta, and Tisbea
+come forward to make good their claims to Don Juan's hand, and the
+Marquis reveals the treachery practised on him by Don Juan. The King is
+in the act of promising justice, when Catalinon enters and makes known
+Don Juan's dreadful end. Thereupon Ottavio and Isabella, De la Mota and
+Donna Anna, Patricio and Aminta, are severally united, and "the story of
+the Marble Guest comes to an end."
+
+{TIRSO DE MOLINA'S "CONVIDADO DE PIEDRA."}
+
+(149)
+
+The drama, necessarily, in this rapid sketch, stripped of all the
+elegance and brilliancy of its poetical rendering, bears to an
+extraordinary degree the stamp of the time and nation to which it
+belongs. The freedom and unreserve with which the various love intrigues
+are treated and described are certainly peculiar to the age, and the
+story is distinguished by a dash of chivalric bravery all its own; the
+audience, while recognising a faithful representation of their own
+state of morals, were little inclined to take umbrage at the summary
+punishment of the sinner before them.[86] This point is, indeed,
+emphasised by various observations made in a truly catholic spirit; for
+instance, when Don Juan says to his stony guest, after having mockingly
+invited him to sup: "What will'st thou, vision, ghost? Dost thou suffer
+still the pains of purgatory? Dost thou demand satisfaction? What is
+thy will? I pledge my word to do as thou com-mandest. Why hast thou left
+God's throne? Do thy sins cause thee still to wander?" The effect is
+greatly heightened again by the reply of the statue when Don Juan is
+about to light him out: "Let be; God lights my path." And when Don Juan
+sees that all is over, he begs for a confessor, and the statue answers,
+"Too late, too late is thy contrition!" and Don Juan falls dead. The
+intricate plot is very unequally treated, and so indeed are also the
+characters. Among the female characters, Tisbea as a type of passion,
+and Aminta as a type of naïve simplicity, are both attractive and
+original; and among the men Don Juan, boldly and freely sketched, and
+his servant Catalinon, the inevitable "Gracioso" of the Spanish drama,
+are most remarkable. Catalinon in particular is treated with moderation
+and delicacy; neither his cowardice, his moralising, nor his wit is
+brought too prominently forward, and he always appears as the shadow of
+his master. Even in the spectre scenes he fails to rise to any grandeur
+of character. The influence of Spain upon the Italian drama[87]
+necessarily
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(150)
+
+brought Tirso's "Don Juan" to Italy. According to Ricco-boni, it first
+appeared upon an Italian stage soon after 1620.[88] The first printed
+translation known is that by Onofrio Giliberti, entitled "ü Convitato
+di Pietra," performed in 1652 at Naples; others followed with the same
+title by Giacinto Andrea Cicognini (1670) and Andrea Perucci (1678);[89]
+the subject was familiar on the Italian stage, and unfailingly
+popular.[90]
+
+The Italian dramatic company, who were naturalised in Paris at the
+theatre of the Hötel de Bourgogne, were accustomed to appoint one of
+their number to arrange the plan of the pieces which they performed, but
+the actual performance was improvised. In this fashion they played an
+improvised version of Giliberti's "Convitato di Pietra," which had an
+extraordinary run.[91] The chief situations of the Spanish drama, much
+simplified and coarsened, are compressed into five acts, and Arlecchino,
+who appears here as Don Juan's servant, is brought into the foreground
+and made the mouthpiece of a great deal of very questionable badinage:--
+
+The first act represents Isabella's seduction in Naples. Don Pedro, her
+father and Don Juan's uncle, agrees with her to denounce Ottavio, her
+lover, as her seducer, which causes the latter to take flight.[92] In
+the second act Don Juan and Arlecchino swim to shore [a very favourite
+scene, richly garnished with jokes], and Don Juan's love passages with
+the lovely fisher-maiden Rosalba take place. On her claiming his promise
+of marriage, he mockingly refers her to Arlecchino, who unrolls the long
+list of his master's mistresses. It was customary to allow the end
+of the roll to fall, as if by chance, into the pit, and the audience
+delighted themselves by looking for the names of their friends or
+connections in the list. Rosalba, in despair, casts herself into the
+sea.[93]
+
+{THE ITALIAN "CONVITATO DI PIETRA."}
+
+(151)
+
+The third act shows Ottavio in great favour at the court of Castile, on
+the point of marriage with Donna Anna. He is attended by Pantaloon, who
+carries on the usual by-play with Arlecchino. Don Juan intercepts the
+letter in which Donna Anna summons Ottavio, steals in to her, Arlecchino
+keeping watch outside, and slays the Commandant, her father, who
+surprises them. In the fourth act Donna Anna demands justice from the
+King; a reward of 6,000 thalers is placed upon the head of the murderer,
+and Arlecchino is greatly tempted to gain it, which gives rise to
+much jesting between him and Pantaloon. In the fifth act Don Juan
+is discovered before the statue of the Commandant, which he mocks.
+Arlecchino is made to invite it to supper, whereupon it nods, and,
+upon Don Juan's repetition of the invitation, answers him in words. Don
+Juan's supper gives opportunity for much comic display of greediness and
+cunning on the part of Arlecchino, continuing even after the appearance
+of the Commandant, who invites Don Juan and departs. The King, made
+acquainted with Don Juan's crimes, commands him to be seized and brought
+to justice. Before escaping he keeps his appointment with the Commandant
+in the church, and is dragged below by the spectre. The closing tableau
+shows Don Juan burning in hell, and expressing his torment and his
+remorse:--
+
+To which the demons answer: "Mai!"[94]
+
+This extravaganza was extraordinarily successful. In 1673 a second
+version, with additions and new scenery ("Aggiunta al Convitato di
+Pietra"), was announced.[95] The new Italian company of the Duke of
+Orleans replaced the improvised "Convitato di Pietra" upon the stage in
+1717, and it was revived in 1743.[96] This gave rise to a dispute with
+the French actors, who were not willing to renounce their claim to so
+taking a piece.[97] Dorimon first produced a translation of Giliberti's
+piece with the title of "Le Festin de Pierre,[98] ou le Fils Criminel,"
+at Lyons in 1658, when
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(152)
+
+Louis XIV. met the Princess of Savoy there, and it was performed again
+at the Théätre de la Rue des Quatre Vents, in Paris, during 1661. But
+De Villiers had been beforehand with him here, having produced his
+_tragi-comédie_ with the same title and almost verbal identity in 1659
+at the theatre of the Hötel de Bourgogne.[99] Don Juan's afflicted
+father, exposed to the insolence of his son and the mockery of the
+servant, appears quite at the beginning of the piece. Afterwards Don
+Juan changes clothes with his servant Philippin in order to elude
+justice, robs a monk of his cowl, and in this disguise slays Don
+Philippo (Ottavio), the lover of Amarillis (Donna Anna). After the
+Commandant has supped with him and invited him, Don Juan again seduces a
+newly married woman, and then repairs to the chapel, where he is struck
+by lightning as he sits at table.
+
+Molière did not neglect so promising a subject for the use of his
+company, and his "Don Juan, ou le Festin de Pierre" was first performed
+at the Palais-Royal on February 15, 1665. In contrast with the
+buffoonery of the Italians he has tried to raise the subject into the
+sphere of genuine comedy, and has thereby obliterated the last trace of
+the national-historical character of the drama in its Spanish form. Both
+sensual passion and chivalric boldness have disappeared. Molière's "Don
+Juan" is a cold-blooded egotist in his love and his want of faith, an
+enlightened rationalist, even when preserving his honour as a cavalier
+with personal bravery; his servant Sganarelle reasons as morally as his
+master immorally, but is quite as great an egotist, and a coward into
+the bargain. The striking situations, in which the original was so rich,
+are either merely related, as in the case of the seduction of Donna Anna
+and the murder of the Commenda-tore, or they have lost all their lively
+colouring by a new turn, as in the case of the adventures with the
+fisher-girl and the peasant; everything that might shock or injure the
+
+{MOLIÈRE'S "FESTIN DE PIERRE."}
+
+(153)
+
+refined tone of comedy was omitted. On the other hand, the interests of
+morality required that every opportunity for repentance and amendment
+should be given to Don Juan; the more he is preached at from every
+quarter, the more obstinate he becomes in his evil courses. The
+truthfulness of psychological development thus striven after makes the
+catastrophe all the more glaringly absurd; such a sinner as this could
+not be carried off by a ghost. As a compromise, Molière makes Don Juan
+to be warned by a spirit in the form of a woman, who is transformed into
+an appearance of Time with his scythe; this was an allegory quite after
+the taste of the time, and rendered the marble guest a superfluity. Some
+of the situations, such as the adventure in the country, or the scene
+with the merchant, are excellently rendered, and delicate traits of
+characterisation are always to be found; in fact, the better a point
+is, the less it is found to have to do with the original "Don Juan."
+Molière's "Don Juan" was not printed during his life, and was only
+played fifteen times. A versified adaptation of it by Thomas Corneille,
+given in 1677, was well received, and kept the stage until 1847, when
+Molière's comedy was again substituted.[100]
+
+Incited by Molière's example, Goldoni produced the "mauvaise pièce
+espagnole," which he could not contemplate without horror, at Venice in
+1736, in the worthier form of a regular comedy entitled "Don Giovanni
+Tenorio, ossia il Dissoluto":--
+
+In the first act, Donna Anna obeys her father against her will, and is
+betrothed to Don Ottavio. The second act shows Elisa, a peasant girl,
+taking leave of her lover Carino. Immediately after Don Juan appears,
+plundered by robbers, and gains her favour. Carino surprises them
+bidding farewell, but Elisa appeases his jealousy. Isabella, who has
+been deserted by Don Juan in Naples, follows him disguised as a man. In
+the third act she enters Seville with Ottavio, whom she has delivered
+from the hands of robbers on the way hither. When Donna Anna discovers
+her sex, she makes it the excuse for renouncing Ottavio's hand.
+Isabella, meeting Don Juan, forces him to fight with her; but, refusing
+from shame to give the standers-by any account of herself, she is
+pronounced by Don Juan to be a maniac. Elisa also
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(154)
+
+pursues Don Juan, but he is warned against her by Carino, to whom she
+has been faithless. Don Juan declares himself ready to give her up,
+but Carino will have none of her. In the fourth act, Don Juan makes
+declaration of love to Donna Anna, who is not unfavourably disposed
+towards him, but refers him to her father for consent. He seeks,
+however, with drawn sword to gain her favour on the spot; she calls for
+help; her father hastens in, and is slain by Don Juan, who then escapes.
+It is resolved to pursue him and to seek redress against him from the
+King. In the fifth act Elisa promises to liberate him, having relatives
+among the guards, if he will marry her. Isabella interposes and renews
+her challenge to him to fight. Donna Anna, in mourning robes, calls
+for vengeance, but Don Juan displays so much passion for her that she
+relents and pardons him. Thereupon comes a letter from the King of
+Naples, demanding Don Juan's punishment, and disclosing Isabella's
+secret. Don Juan, seeing himself hopelessly lost, beseeches Carino to
+slay him. A thunderbolt from the mausoleum of the murdered Commendatore
+strikes him dead.
+
+Goldoni asserts[101] that the public were astonished at first, and did
+not know "Ce que voulait dire cet air de noblesse que l'auteur avait
+donné à une ancienne bouffonnerie." But it soon became known that
+the coquettish Elisa was an actual portrait of the actress, Elizabeth
+Passalacqua, who played the part, and that Goldoni had chosen this way
+of being revenged on her for bestowing her favours simultaneously on
+him and on the actor Vitalba. This roused interest in the piece, and
+convinced people "que le comique raisonné était préférable au comique
+trivial." Rosimond looked at the subject from quite another point
+of view in his _tragi-comédie_ "Le Festin de Pierre, ou l'Athéiste
+Foudroyé," produced in 1669 at the Théätre du Marais. This theatre was
+then noted for its brilliant decoration and spectacle pieces, which
+often necessitated high prices of admission. Such a piece was this of
+Rosimond's, and he had been careful to lay the plot in heathen times,
+that his atheism might vaunt itself with impunity.[102] Again, in 1746,
+"Le Grand Festin de Pierre" was given in Paris as a pantomime,[103] and
+has always been popular on village and marionette stages.
+
+{DON JUAN IN ENGLAND AND GERMANY.}
+
+(155)
+
+In England also "Don Juan" was put on the stage at about the same time.
+Whether in his "Libertine Destroyed," which was produced in 1676, Thomas
+Shadwell followed the Spanish original or the French or Italian version,
+I cannot pretend to determine. The piece was very successful, but Don
+Juan's villainy was so dreadful, and the piece altogether so horrible,
+"as to render it little less than impiety to represent it on the
+stage."[104] In 1725 Antonio de Zamora, Chamberlain to King Philip V. of
+Spain, adapted the same subject under the title, "Non hay deuda que
+no se pague y convi-dado de piedra." "This adaptation, displaying much
+talent and skill, is cast almost in the same form as the opera; the
+earlier adventures of Don Juan in Naples are omitted, and Zamora,
+like the author of the libretto, begins with the murder of the
+Commandant."[105] In Germany, "Don Juan, oder das Steinerne Gastmahl,"
+belonged to the standing repertory of the improvising actor from the
+beginning of the eighteenth century. Prehauser, the celebrated buffoon
+of the Vienna Theatre, made his first dramatic attempt in 1716 as Don
+Philippo in the "Steinerne Gastmahl."[106] Schroder appeared in
+Hamburg, in 1766, as Sganarell in "Don Juan," and "surpassed all
+expectation."[107] This may have been a version of Molière's "Don Juan,"
+but as early as 1746 an afterpiece entitled "Don Juan" was on the
+repertory of Ackermann's Company,[108] and in 1769 the pantomime
+ballet of "Don Juan" was given by them.[109] At Vienna, up to 1772, an
+improvised "Steinerne Gastmahl" was regularly given during the octave of
+All Souls;[110] a proof that Don Juan's dissolute life was contemplated
+with pleasure, and that morality was considered as abundantly vindicated
+by his being carried off by the devil after a long penitential
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(156)
+
+speech.[111] The traditions of this burlesque degenerate into a mere
+puppet-show. "Hanswurst" becomes the chief personage, and Don Juan's
+love adventures are made subservient to his deeds of blood; both the
+names and situations point to the French version of the Italian piece as
+the principal source, but many additions have been made, and these, for
+the most part, not happy ones.[112]
+
+It was in Paris that the first attempt was made to treat "Don Juan"
+operatically. In the year 1713, Le Tellier produced "au jeu d'Octave,"
+a comic opera "Le Festin de Pierre," in three acts, and "en vaudevilles
+sans prose" at the Théätre de la Foire Saint-Germain.[113] It was well
+received, but exception being taken to the representation of hell at the
+conclusion of the opera, it was suppressed; but a few days after, we are
+told, "Le magistrat, mieux informé, révoqua cette sentence."[114] The
+piece followed the old lines, only a few new jokes were introduced; and
+the language of the couplets, judging by the specimens which are given,
+must have been tolerably free.
+
+A ballet of "Don Juan," with music by Gluck, was performed in Vienna
+in 1761.[115] The programme indicates four divisions, each of them
+containing an important situation, worked out and enlivened by means of
+different dances.
+
+{GLUCK'S BALLET, "DON JUAN."}
+
+(157)
+
+Unfortunately we have no hints as to the details of the music, which
+consists for the most part of short and unelaborated dance melodies:--
+
+In the first division, Don Juan serenades his mistress, Donna Anna, and
+is admitted by her; surprised by her uncle, he escapes into the street,
+and slays his pursuer. In the second division, Don Juan is giving a
+feast, at which Donna Anna is present, and dances, a _pas de deux_ with
+him; the appearance of the statue scares away the guests. After a short
+stay, the Commendatore invites Don Juan, who accepts, and conducts him
+to the door. In the meantime the guests reassemble, but seized with
+fresh terror, rush from the house; Don Juan prepares to seek the
+Commendatore alone, his servant, spite of threats and persuasions,
+refusing to accompany him. The third part takes place in the mausoleum;
+the Commendatore tries vainly to bring Don Juan to repentance, and
+finally plunges him into the abyss. In the last division, Don Juan is
+tormented by demons in the lower world; he strives in vain to escape or
+to resist, and at last, in despair, he resigns himself and is devoured
+by the flames.[117]
+
+Ten years before Mozart's "Don Giovanni," a _dramma tragicomico_,
+entitled "ü Convitato di Pietra, ossia il Dissoluto," was performed
+both at Vienna (first on August 21,1777) and at Prague; the composer was
+Vine. Righini.[118] The plot is briefly as follows:[119]--
+
+The fisher maiden Elisa, and her lover Ombrino, save Don Giovanni and
+his servant Arlechino from the waves. Don Giovanni, who has betrayed
+Isabella, daughter of the Duca d'Altamonte, in Naples, and is a fugitive
+in consequence, readily wins the love of the too-confiding Elisa. The
+Commendatore di Loioa, returning from victorious war, is greeted by Don
+Alfonso in the name of the King of Castile, who has erected a statue
+to his honour, and promises to wed his daughter Donna Anna to the Duca
+Ottavio. Donna Anna, in defiance of her father's threats, refuses the
+honour. Don Giovanni, whose crime and flight have been made known to
+Don Alfonso, enters with Arlechino the house of the Commendatore, where
+Donna Anna, having dismissed her maid Lisette, is preparing to retire
+to rest. He offers her violence, which she resists, and recognises him;
+thereupon enters the Commendatore and falls in
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(158)
+
+combat with Don Giovanni. Donna Anna vows vengeance on the murderer. In
+the second act Don Giovanni determines to flee, and orders Arlechino to
+be ready in the tavern, and to order a meal. Isabella, who has pursued
+Don Giovanni, extorts from Don Alfonso a promise of reparation. Don
+Giovanni, seized with remorse, takes refuge in the mausoleum, and falls
+asleep near the statue of the Commendatore. There he is found by
+the sorrowing Anna, whose love and pity he seeks in vain to kindle.
+Arlechino summons him to the tavern, where all is prepared; he invites
+the statue to be his guest, and is sorely perplexed by the answer given.
+Arlechino in the tavern makes love to the hostess Corallina. Donna
+Anna receives from Don Alfonso the assurance of the speedy pursuit and
+punishment of Don Giovanni. The latter sups with Arlechino, waited upon
+by Corallina and Tiburzio; he toasts the approving audience, Arlechino
+and the pretty maids, in German verse! The statue appears, but does not
+eat, invites Don Giovanni and disappears; the meal is continued with
+the utmost composure. In the third act, Don Giovanni is the guest of the
+Commendatore in the mausoleum; he refuses to repent, and is cast into
+the abyss. Don Alfonso and Donna Anna are acquainted by Arlechino of
+this consummation. Don Giovanni is seen tormented by demons.
+
+The libretto differs neither in design nor execution from that of an
+ordinary opera buffa.
+
+In 1787 "Il Convitato di Pietra," by Gius. Gazzaniga, was given in
+Venice at the Teatro di S. Mosè, and was received with much applause.
+The opera was given in Ferrara, Bergamo,[120] and Rome, "every evening
+for a month, till no one was satisfied who had not seen Don Juan
+roasting in hell, and the late lamented Commandant rising to heaven as a
+disembodied spirit";[121] it was played in Milan, 1789; in Paris, 1791,
+where, however, in spite of the brilliant concluding scene, it was only
+moderately successful,[122] and in London (notwithstanding Da Ponte's
+contradiction) in 1794.[123] The libretto is lost, but fragments of a
+score which Sonnleithner discovered in Vienna[124] show that Da Ponte
+
+{GAZZANIGA's "CONVITATO DI PIETRA."}
+
+(159)
+
+must have made liberal use of this libretto,[125] if, indeed, the two
+have not a common source:--.
+
+Pasquariello is reluctantly keeping watch before the house of the
+Commandant, when Don Giovanni rushes out, and strives to free himself
+from Donna Anna, who snatches the mask from his face and calls her
+father to help; he appears and falls in combat, a terzet for the men
+closing the introduction [there is no overture]. After some little talk,
+Don Giovanni flies with Pasquariello. Donna Anna hastens in with her
+betrothed Duca Ottavio, and finds to her horror the corpse of her father
+[accompanied recitative]; more composedly she acquaints him with Don
+Giovanni's villany, and declares her intention of retiring to a
+nunnery until Ottavio shall have discovered and punished the murderer
+[air],[126] to which he consents sorrowfully [air]. Don Giovanni,
+waiting for Donna Eximena in a casino, converses with Pasquariello,
+when Donna Elvira enters in travelling guise; she has been deceived and
+deserted by Don Giovanni in Burgos, and has followed him hither [air].
+They recognise each other, Don Giovanni refers her to Pasquariello for
+the motives of his departure, and goes out. Pasquariello gives her the
+list of his master's mistresses [air]; she vows to gain justice or
+be avenged. Don Giovanni enters in loving converse with Eximena, and
+satisfies her jealous doubts of his fidelity [air]. A peasant couple,
+Biagio and Maturina, are celebrating their wedding [chorus and
+tarantella]. Pasquariello pays court to the bride, but on the entrance
+of Don Giovanni retires; and Don Giovanni treats the bridegroom so
+rudely that he finally goes off in dudgeon [air]. Don Giovanni befools
+Maturina by flattery and a promise of marriage. Two scenes are wanting
+here (14 and 15). Biagio enters in jealous mood, but is appeased by
+Maturina [scena and rondo]. Eximena questions Pasquariello concerning
+his master, and rejoices to learn that he is constant to her [air].
+Don Giovanni is besieged with questions by Donna Elvira, Eximena, and
+Maturina all at once, and satisfies each in turn by assuring her that
+love for him has turned the brains of the other two.[127] Duca Ottavio
+is discovered in the mausoleum adding the inscription to the statue
+which the Commandant had erected to himself in his lifetime. Don
+Giovanni enters with Pasquariello to view the monument, and obliges
+the latter to invite the statue [duet]. The cook Lanterna attends Don
+Giovanni; Elvira comes and meets him returning with Pasquariello; she
+exhorts him earnestly to repent, but he scornfully refuses, whereupon
+she leaves him
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(160)
+
+and retires to a nunnery. Don Giovanni proceeds to sup merrily
+[concertino]; Pasquariello eats with him, and Lanterna wait upon them;
+they toast the town of Venice and its lovely women.[128] A knock is
+heard, and, to the horror of the two servants, the Commandant appears.
+Don Giovanni bids him welcome, and orders Pasquariello to serve him;
+he accepts the Commandant's invitation, giving him his hand on it, but
+rejects his exhortation to repentance, and is delivered over to the
+demons.[129]
+
+A "Convitato di Pietra," by Tritto, is known to me only through Fétis,
+who places it in the year 1783.[130]
+
+A wealth of material, which made the task of selection difficult, left
+Da Ponte no necessity to task his invention for his libretto.[131]
+We have no means of ascertaining how deep or how extensive were his
+previous studies,[132] but even compared with Gazzaniga's libretto,
+which he closely followed for the greater part of the first act and
+the second finale, we cannot fail to recognise his superiority in the
+arrangement of the plot, in the delineation of character, and in
+the grouping of situations for musical treatment, especially in the
+ensembles. His discrimination in the selection of material was also very
+just. He saw clearly that if the spectral apparition was to have its
+due effect it must be set in vivid contrast with the representation
+of actual life, with all its impulses of passion, of love, hate, or
+despair, of humour and merriment. He cannot be said to have cast the
+magic of true poetry over his work, nor has it the knightly tone of the
+Spanish original, but he has endowed
+
+{DA PONTE'S LIBRETTO.}
+
+(161)
+
+his characters with the easy pleasure-loving spirit of the time; and the
+sensual frivolity of life at Venice or Vienna is mirrored in every
+page of his "Don Giovanni." The language displays a versatility almost
+amounting to gracefulness; and, remembering to what a low level of
+vulgarity the treatment of the subject had been brought, we shall be
+the more ready to recognise the effort to raise the dialogue to a more
+sensible and refined standard. Da Ponte was right in placing the main
+points on which the action turns upon the stage, and in furnishing the
+composer with a number of musically effective situations, in which the
+elements of tragedy and comedy, of horror and merriment, meet and
+mingle together. This curious intermixture of ground-tones, which seldom
+allows; expression to any one pure and unalloyed mood, is the special
+characteristic of the opera. Mozart grasped the unity of these contrasts
+lying deep in human nature, and expressed them so harmoniously as
+to open a new province to his art, for the development of which its
+mightiest forces were henceforward to be concentrated. Great as has been
+the progress of music in the expression of this inner life of man since
+Mozart's time, he has not yet been surpassed in his power of creating
+living forms instinct with artistic beauty, and endowed with perfect
+dramatic truth. When Goethe declared that Mozart would have been the man
+to compose his "Faust,"[133] he was thinking of "Don Giovanni"; but it
+could scarcely have been the merely external manipulation of the plot,
+however skilful, which directed his opinion. With the instinctive
+certainty of genius he felt the universality of Mozart's conception and
+representation of humanity, and acknowledged him as his equal on what
+was, in his judgment, a far more extensive field than this.
+
+The commencement of the opera[134] sets us at once in the midst of the
+action: the passionate intensity of the first
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(162)
+
+scene, the villainy which is practised before our eyes, prepare us
+for the deep shadow which is to fall on the picture of reckless
+pleasure-seeking, and for its horrifying conclusion; nor is the humorous
+element altogether absent:--
+
+Leporello is discovered keeping impatient watch for his master, who soon
+appears, pursued by Donna Anna, and vainly striving to break loose
+from her. Her cries for help bring the Commendatore, her father, who
+challenges the insolent intruder to fight, and falls by Don Giovanni's
+sword, to the consternation of the latter and of Leporello. Neither
+scorn nor mockery are expressed in the words, "Ah! gia cade il
+sciagurato," and the music is as far from such sentiments as the words.
+Da Ponte has sagaciously shown traits of natural human sentiment in Don
+Giovanni, and Mozart has not let these escape him. But he has no time to
+waste in regrets; he takes to flight, and immediately after Donna Anna
+returns with her affianced lover, Don Ottavio; she swoons at sight of
+the corpse, and as soon as she returns to herself makes Don Ottavio
+swear vengeance on the murderer.
+
+Don Giovanni, deaf to Leporello's reproaches, is confiding to him that
+he is in pursuit of a new adventure,[135] when a lady enters. This is
+Donna Elvira, whom he has deceived and deserted in Burgos, and who has
+followed him to claim his promise of marriage; he approaches her, and is
+consternated on seeing who she is. She overwhelms him with reproaches,
+and he refers her to Leporello for explanations and excuses, taking the
+opportunity of slipping away himself; Leporello, for her consolation,
+displays a list of his master's love intrigues, which he carries about
+with him. Enraged at this fresh insult, she resolves to sacrifice her
+love for her unfaithful lover to her thirst for vengeance.
+
+Masetto and Zerlina, with their village friends, are celebrating their
+wedding in the neighbourhood of Don Giovanni's casino, whither he
+has repaired by preconcerted arrangement. Zerlina's fresh loveliness
+attracts him; and, making acquaintance with the bridal party, he invites
+them all into his casino, but soon drives out Masetto, whose jealousy he
+has excited; and is on the point of winning Zerlina by his flattery and
+declarations of love when Elvira steps between them, warns Zerlina,
+and (spite of Don Giovanni's whispered protestation that she is a poor
+maniac in love with him and mad with jealousy) carries off the peasant
+maiden.[136] To Don Giovanni, thus left alone, enter Donna Anna and
+Ottavio, who greet him as a friend of the family, and claim his
+
+{DA PONTE'S LIBRETTO.}
+
+(163)
+
+assistance in discovering the murderer and bringing him to justice;
+while he is conversing with Donna Anna, Elvira again interposes and
+warns her that he is a hypocrite. He again secretly represents her as
+a maniac who must be humoured,[137] and goes out with her. Donna
+Anna's suspicions are aroused, and observing Don Giovanni closely, she
+recognises her father's murderer in him, acquaints Don Ottavio with the
+circumstances, and urges him to avenge her father's death. Unwilling
+to give easy credence to such a grave accusation, he decides to examine
+thoroughly into the affair, and to clear up the doubts as to Don
+Giovanni. The latter, disembarrassed of Donna Elvira, commands a banquet
+to be prepared in honour of the bridal party. Masetto, whom Zerlina has
+with difficulty appeased by her coaxing endearments, conceals himself
+when he sees Don Giovanni approaching; after some demure behaviour on
+Zerlina's part, Masetto comes forward, and Don Giovanni, with quick
+presence of mind, persuades them both to accompany him into the house
+for the banquet. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio enter with Elvira, who has
+explained everything to them, and at her instigation they all put
+on masks, in order to observe Don Giovanni without being recognised;
+Leporello, perceiving them, conveys the expected invitation to enter,
+which they accept. It was at that time customary in Venice to go about
+masked, and strangers thus disguised were invited to enter where
+any festivities were going on, thus heightening the frolic of the
+masquerade. As they enter the hall, there is a pause in the dance; the
+guests take refreshment, Don Giovanni devotes himself to Zerlina, and
+Masetto, his jealousy again aroused, seeks to warn her; then the masked
+strangers become the centre of observation, are politely greeted, and
+the dance begins again. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio tread a minuet, the
+dance of the aristocracy;[138] Donna Anna with difficulty restrains her
+conflicting emotions, which vent themselves in occasional interjections,
+while Don Ottavio exhorts her to remain calm. Elvira follows every
+movement of Don Giovanni; the latter invites Zerlina to dance, and
+Leporello forces Masetto to dance with him in order to distract his
+attention from Zerlina. At the right moment Don Giovanni carries off
+Zerlina. Leporello hurries after to warn him; her cries for help are
+heard, and all rush to her rescue. Don Giovanni meets them, dragging
+in Leporello, whom he gives out to be the culprit, and threatens with
+death; but he is surrounded on all sides, the masks are thrown off, and
+he finds himself in the midst of his victims,
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(164)
+
+intent on revenge. For one moment his presence of mind forsakes him
+and he is at a loss how to extricate himself, but his courage speedily
+returns, and he boldly and irresistibly makes his way through his
+enemies.
+
+This momentary dismay and confusion is psychologically correct, and
+brings an important feature into the situation, which Mozart has
+effectively seized in his musical characterisation of it. Don Giovanni
+and Leporello, with the storm of voices surging round them, sing _sotto
+voce_; and highly characteristic is the submission to Leporello's
+opinion to which Don Giovanni here condescends. Only with the words
+"Ma non manca in me corraggio" does he gather his senses together,
+and strike at once a different key, in which Leporello cannot follow
+him.[139]
+
+The first act must be allowed to have a well-constructed and interesting
+plot, but the second consists of situations without cohesion or
+connection, although capable of being made musically very effective. It
+wants a leading motive to hold the parts together, the incessant pursuit
+of Don Giovanni not by any means answering the purpose; the comic tone
+also degenerates into coarseness:--
+
+Don Giovanni, having appeased the incensed Leporello with money and
+fair words, confides to him that he is courting Elvira's pretty
+wait-ing-maid, and changes clothes with him in order to gain easier
+access to her. This is scarcely accomplished when Elvira appears at
+the window. In order to get out of the affair with a good grace, Don
+Giovanni renews his addresses to her with pretended passion, and she is
+weak enough to give ear to him. Leporello, in his disguise, accepts and
+answers her protestations of love, until Don Giovanni, making a noisy
+entrance, drives them both away; then with a tender song he strives
+to entice the waiting-maid to appear. Masetto then enters armed, with
+several friends, to call Don Giovanni to account; the supposed Leporello
+undertakes to put them on the right track, but cleverly contrives to
+disperse and dismiss them, wheedles Masetto out of his weapons, beats
+him soundly, and escapes. Masetto's cries bring Zerlina to the spot, and
+she seeks to console him with loving caresses.
+
+In the meantime Leporello and Elvira have taken refuge in an
+antechamber; Leporello tries to slip away, while Elvira beseeches him
+not to leave her alone in the dark. He is on the point of escaping when
+
+{DA PONTE'S LIBRETTO.}
+
+(165)
+
+Don Ottavio enters with Donna Anna, endeavouring to calm her sorrow;
+Elvira and Leporello each try to escape unobserved, but Zerlina and
+Masetto intercept them. The supposed Don Giovanni is taken to account
+on the spot; in vain does Elvira petition for him, to the general
+astonishment; at last Leporello discovers himself, and after many
+excuses and explanations makes good his escape. Don Ottavio, now no
+longer doubting that Don Giovanni is the murderer of the Com-mendatore,
+announces his intention of proceeding against him in a court of justice,
+and begs his friends to console his betrothed until he shall have
+accomplished his design.
+
+Don Giovanni awaits Leporello's arrival at the foot of the monument
+erected to the Commendatore, and laughingly relates his latest
+adventure; an invisible voice twice utters words of warning. He becomes
+aware of the presence of the statue, and makes Leporello read the
+inscription on it: "I here await the chastisement of my ruthless
+murderer." In arrogant contempt of Leporello's horror he forces the
+latter to invite the statue to supper; the statue nodding its head. Don
+Giovanni calls upon it to answer, and on its distinctly uttering the
+word "Yes" he hastens away in consternation.
+
+Don Ottavio strives anew to console Donna Anna, and at last begs for her
+hand in marriage: she explains that, though her heart consents to
+his prayer, her mourning for her father compels her to postpone its
+fulfilment. This scene gives rise to a suspicion of having been inserted
+in Prague after the completion of the opera, in order to give the singer
+a final air. The situation is repeated at the close of the finale, and
+is not here in accordance with Don Ottavio's previous appearances. Don
+Giovanni, seated at his richly appointed table, eats and jokes with the
+greedy Leporello. This scene, which was always made the occasion for
+broad jesting between master and servant, has been turned by Mozart into
+musical fun and by-play. Don Giovanni's private musicians play favourite
+airs from the newest operas. At the first bar Leporello cries "Bravi!
+'Cosa Rara!'" It is the last movement of the first finale from Martin's
+"Cosa Rara": "O quanto un si bel giubilo," which was then in every one's
+mouth; and the parody was a very happy one. Just as in Martin's opera
+the discontented lovers are contrasted with the more favoured ones, on
+whom their mistresses have been bestowed before their eyes, so here the
+hungry Leporello contrasts with the gormandising Don Giovanni, and the
+music might have been made for them. The second piece is greeted by
+Leporello with "Evvivano! 'I Litiganti!'" It is Mingone's favourite air
+from Sarti's opera, "Fra Due Litiganti il Terzo gode" (Act I., 8), the
+same on which Mozart had written variations (Vol. II., p. 345), the then
+familiar words of which--
+
+     "Come un agnello,
+     Che va al macello,
+     Andrai belando
+     Per la città"--
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(166)
+
+were comically appropriate to the snuffling Leporello.[140] The apparent
+malice which induced Mozart to parody favourite pieces from operas
+which were avowedly rivals of his own (the impression being immensely
+heightened by the humorous instrumentation caricaturing arrangements
+for harmony music), is rendered in some degree excusable by his having
+included himself in the joke. When the musicians strike up "Non più
+andrai," Leporello exclaims: "Questa poi la conosco pur troppo!"
+Thus Mozart expressed his gratitude to the people of Prague for their
+enthusiastic reception of "Figaro."[141]
+
+To this merry pair enters Elvira. She has overcome her love, and intends
+entering a cloister, but wishes to make one more effort to bring Don
+Giovanni to repentance; but her representation being met only with
+easy contempt, she angrily leaves him. She is heard to utter a shriek
+without. Leporello hastens after her, and returns in horror: the statue
+of the Commendatore is at the door; it knocks, and Don Giovanni has to
+go himself to open it, and to conduct his marble guest to a seat. The
+statue rejects all hospitality, and asks Don Giovanni if he is prepared
+to return the visit; on his answering in the affirmative, he grasps him
+by the hand, and calls upon him to repent. Don Giovanni repeatedly and
+defiantly refuses, and the statue leaves him; night comes on, flames
+burst from the earth, invisible spirit voices are heard, demons surround
+Don Giovanni, who sinks into the abyss. Don Ottavio and Donna Anna,
+Elvira, Masetto and Zerlina enter to drag the offender to justice,
+but find that human revenge has been anticipated; Leporello, who has
+witnessed the dreadful scene with every sign of horror, relates his
+master's fearful end. Relieved from anxiety, and restored to their
+natural relations, they unite in the words of the "old song"--
+
+     "Questo è il fin di chi fa mal,
+     E de' perfidi la morte
+     Alla vita è sempre ugual!"
+
+No doubt the serious moral appended to the gay and easygoing tone of
+the opera was a reminiscence of the custom of considering the piece,
+on account of its ready practical application, as a sort of religious
+drama; the music takes the same tone towards the end. We can scarcely
+conceive that it was with a view to the moral effect alone that Da Ponte
+so contrived the plot that Don Giovanni should fail in each
+
+{GERMAN ADAPTATIONS.}
+
+(167)
+
+of the love adventures in which he engages; there can be no question
+that the cheerful tone which runs through the whole opera depends
+chiefly on the repulses with which the hero is continually met on the
+field of his heroic deeds. It is true that some of the passionate force
+which distinguishes the Spanish drama is thereby sacrificed, but, on
+the other hand, the murders and low crimes which were heaped up in
+the German burlesques of "Don Giovanni" also disappeared, and the
+concentration of the action dispensed with a number of ill-connected
+and licentious scenes. Unfortunately the German adaptations have made
+a concession to the popular taste in retaining the accustomed Carnival
+frolic, which has nothing whatever in common with Da Ponte's "Don
+Giovanni"--to say nothing of Mozart. Only of late has this deformity
+been occasionally removed by the introduction of the original recitative
+in its stead.[142] But, apart from this, the current German version not
+only misses the easy, often striking and graceful style of the Italian
+verses, and spoils the melodious flow of the words; it even distorts the
+sense, and puts into the mouths of the singers sentiments foreign alike
+to the situation and to the music.[143]
+
+But whatever merit Da Ponte's libretto may claim, it claims chiefly as
+having given occasion to Mozart's music; (527 K.). One is accustomed to
+consider the libretto of an opera as the canvas on which the composer is
+to work
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(168)
+
+his embroidery; it might in this case almost be compared to the frame
+on which the sculptor erects and models his statue, so completely is the
+endowment of the opera with body and soul the actual and exclusive work
+of Mozart.[144] The very overture[145] shows at once that something more
+is to be expected than the usual fun of opera buffa. Mozart must have
+strongly felt the necessity for a grave and solemn introduction, and has
+therefore selected the usual French form of overture, consisting of a
+slow introduction followed by an allegro. The andante is taken from the
+opera itself. We have the principal subjects of the spectral apparition
+(as it were, the musical expression of the old title "Il Con-vitato di
+Pietra"), indicating at the very commencement the culminating point of
+the opera, and fixing its ground-tone.[146] After a few introductory
+chords, clear, solemn sounds are heard like an apparition from heaven,
+spreading around a feeling of disquiet and strangeness, swelling
+into fear and horror. It is interesting to note how the ascending and
+descending scales, which, like the mysterious rustling of the
+
+{THE OVERTURE.}
+
+(169)
+
+breeze, produce a kind of cold shudder in the hearer, were first brought
+clearly before Mozart's mind during the performance of the ghost scene.
+In the finale, where they first occur (p. 271), they were wanting in
+the original score; Mozart inserted them subsequently, and, room being
+scarce, wrote them in diminutive little notes, which often extend into
+the following bar; but the second time they occur, and in the overture,
+they are duly written down. The allegro is exclusively suggestive of the
+main features of the story; and an eager, irrepressible force, "which
+is intoxicated with the lust for enjoyment, and in enjoyment pines for
+lust," penetrates the whole, sometimes in accents of keen pain--[See
+Page Images] and hot desire, sometimes with exultation and wild
+delight.[147] The grave cry of warning which interrupts the eager
+movement--is answered, as if in frivolous mockery, by an easy playful
+passage--[See Page Images]
+
+and then the contrasting elements are worked out with a wealth of
+harmonious and contrapuntal detail. Mozart is said to have borrowed both
+the subject and its imitation from
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(170)
+
+a canon by Stölzel.[148] But a glance at the bars which are adduced to
+prove this--[See page Image]
+
+will show what a keen hunt after plagiarism is required to find any
+borrowed idea in this imitative disposition of parts, common to many
+old church compositions. But here again Mozart has turned one of the
+resources of musical construction into a development of a psychological
+idea. How deeply suggestive it is that the warning cries should be
+heard woven into the imitations, dying into tender, almost melancholy
+entreaty, and finally, as the mocker seems determined to treat it all
+as a jest, rising into an awful call to repentance, sounding again and
+again with a force that penetrates into the very marrow of one's bones!
+Again, how truly conceived is the harmonic transition at the close,
+by means of which this warning motif cuts short with the seventh the
+jubilation at its very highest pitch, then dies away into gentle notes
+of remonstrance, and so gradually calms the hearer, and prepares him for
+what is to follow![149]
+
+The opera begins by introducing us to the only really comic character it
+contains, and thus in a measure fulfils the anticipations excited by
+the overture. The typical character of the comic servant, which in "Don
+Juan" had passed through the successive stages of Gracioso, Arlecchino,
+Sganarelle, Hanswurst, and Kasperle, here attained to perfection as far
+as opera buffa is concerned. Leporello is a creation unique of its kind;
+but since in every branch of art gifted minds, however original, draw
+from a common source, so Leporello,
+
+{LEPORELLO.}
+
+(171)
+
+striking as is his individuality, is developed out of the traditions
+of opera buffa. The distinctive character of the opera depends upon
+his intimate connection with all the situations and all the persons. It
+would not suffice for the due blending of the contrasting elements that
+Leporello should scatter jests in season and out of season on every
+conceivable topic; it was only by rendering all his acts and expressions
+consistent with his character that they could be made to react upon
+the situations and persons which brought them forth. He has a distinct
+personality, with his own way of thinking and feeling, and his own way
+of expressing himself. The boldness with which his essentially comic
+nature is brought into conflict with passions and events which sound the
+very depths of the human heart transports us to the highest province of
+humour. This is especially observable in his relations to his master,
+with whom he is at once in sympathy and in striking contrast.
+
+He has the same desire for enjoyment and display, the same laxity of
+moral judgment, the same tendency to treat serious matters in a mocking
+spirit; he does not want ability either, but fails altogether in just
+those qualities which keep alive our interest in Don Giovanni--in
+strength and courage: his cowardice betrays itself on every occasion.
+While Don Giovanni is on the look-out for every adventure, however
+daring, and extricates himself from every peril, however imminent,
+Leporello is always pressed into the service, is utterly helpless in any
+contingency, and escapes finally only by virtue of his cowardice. This
+contradiction between his nature and his surroundings is all the more
+entertaining since he himself is perfectly aware of it. We learn his
+character from the very first. He is in high dudgeon at being forced
+to mount guard outside while his master is enjoying himself within, and
+marches impatiently up and down; but as he marches, proud thoughts
+of future grandeur take possession of his soul. "Voglio far il
+gentiluomo"--he might almost be taken for a cavalier. Suddenly he hears
+a noise. He is no longer the grand gentleman, but gives vent to abject
+fear in his terrified babble, as Don Giovanni wrestles with Donna Anna.
+When the danger grows serious, and the Commendatore falls, he is seized
+with horror, but
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(172)
+
+although the moral shock is great it is with actual physical fear that
+his teeth chatter. The whole sequence of characteristic expression
+in the scene receives its full significance only by contrast with
+Leporello's cowardice. Donna Anna's passion, which Don Giovanni is
+constrained to oppose with a force equal to her own; the dignified
+bearing of the Commendatore, forcing Don Giovanni at length reluctantly
+to draw the sword;[150] the duel[151] with its horrifying result--all
+these afford a rapid succession of exciting and harrowing points,
+scarcely leaving room for the comic element, which nevertheless is
+there, and kept actively before us without doing injury to the harmony
+of the whole. What a force of artistic expression is displayed in the
+eighteen bars of andante which close the introduction! The death which
+ends the pain of the Commendatore, the mingled pity and triumph of
+Don Giovanni, the horror and fear of Leporello, are blended into such
+harmony as to leave the mind--relieved from suspense--full of true
+emotion. The unusual combination of three bass voices seems as though
+expressly chosen for the serious tone of the situation; the stringed
+instruments accompany the voices in the simplest manner, with a few
+sustained notes for the horns and bassoons, and only in the concluding
+symphony do the oboes and flutes enter with a plaintive chromatic
+passage. Here burns truly the inextinguishable flame of genius![152]
+
+To return to Leporello. The various ways in which his timorous nature
+expresses itself in different situations give occasion for the most
+interesting characterisation. He has least to do in the first finale,
+but he stands close by his master, who shields him in their common
+danger; in the
+
+{THE SESTET--LEPORELLO.}
+
+(173)
+
+sestet, however, he shows himself in his full proportions. Willing as he
+is to take his master's place with Elvira, his fears do not suffer him
+to do it; and when he finds himself alone in the dark with her, in spite
+of her entreaties not to be left alone, his one anxiety is to escape.
+The contrast is excellently expressed between the bashfulness of Elvira
+and the terror of her cowardly interlocutor. Just as he is making off,
+Don Ottavio and Donna Anna enter, and he conceals himself. A rapid
+transition to another key, emphasised by the unexpected entry of drums
+and trumpets, transports us to a higher region, and an affectingly
+beautiful expression is given to the sorrow of a noble mind and the
+consolation of a loving heart. Elvira again takes part in the situation;
+she is full of anxiety for the supposed Don Giovanni, and the expression
+of her fear becomes more material, lowering her to the level of
+Leporello, who seeks anew to escape, and repeats his former motif, but
+more despondently, and in the minor key. Then Zerlina and Masetto enter
+and run against him, Don Ottavio and Donna Anna also become aware of his
+presence; and, to their intense surprise, Elvira interposes a petition
+for Don Giovanni. Her former motif expressive of anxiety is taken up and
+maintained by the orchestra, becoming the nucleus of the situation, the
+surprise of the other serving only to give light and shade. When her
+petition is finally rejected, Leporello throws off his disguise. His
+timidity has become mortal fear, he knows that his insignificance alone
+can shield him, and he cannot reiterate too strongly that he is in very
+truth Leporello, and not Don Giovanni. The general surprise at this
+discovery is of course expressed in far stronger fashion than that at
+Elvira's sudden change of mind. What is to be done? At first they are
+all at a loss. With regard to Leporello, though he has more or less
+injured some of them, their position is in common; he is not the Don
+Giovanni on whom they have vowed vengeance; their indignant amazement
+at the deceit practised on them unites them into a compact body, more
+occupied with their own feelings than anxious to punish Leporello. The
+latter thinks only of the
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(174)
+
+danger which threatens him, and, try as he may to collect himself, fear
+gets possession of him; he mumbles to himself, cries aloud, and makes a
+final appeal for mercy before he runs away. The perplexity which seizes
+them all at the discovery of Leporello is the point of union of the
+situation; the truth and energy with which the nature of each person
+is expressed giving it the stamp of life and power.[153] Leporello's
+position is totally different when Don Giovanni arrogantly orders him to
+invite the statue of the Commendatore to sup with them (Act II., 9).
+The mysterious sounds which he has just heard, and the marble figure,
+terrify him; but his master threatens with drawn sword; one fear
+overmasters the other, and he now persuades himself to address the
+statue--now turns in terror to his master. The musical expression of
+fear by means of intervals of sevenths--[See Page Image]
+
+but how characteristic is the difference between this cringing appeal
+for pity, and the former energetic cry extorted, as it might be, on the
+rack! The terror increases at each successive attempt to address the
+statue, while the energy of each address decreases, and dies away at
+last into a plaintive parlando. The orchestra at the same time adds the
+expression of insolent mockery, which is not less characteristic of the
+situation, in a playful but sharply accented
+
+{DUET--LEPORELLO}
+
+(175)
+
+passage, wherein the flutes are made especially effective.
+
+As soon as Leporello's fears are verified and the statue actually moves,
+he succumbs to his terror, and Don Giovanr^ steps forward. Fear is a
+stranger to him; he sees the statue nod its head, and demands a more
+distinct answer; he puts his question plainly and decidedly; the statue
+answers by "Si." Leporello behaves as though struck by a thunderbolt,
+and has no idea but flight; even Don Giovanni is affected, and feels
+the supernaturalness, but he retains his self-possession; and, in the
+expression of trembling haste with which it hurries on the conclusion,
+the orchestra mingles something of the humorous impression which is
+given by the unexpected _dénouement_ of the situation. The harmonic
+construction is here masterly in the extreme. From the beginning ^ to
+this point only the principal key and the one next related to it have
+been used; but now the interrupted cadence upon C major transports us
+to another atmosphere, and the altered movement of the orchestra is
+expressive of energetic activity.
+
+A few chords, however, lead Don Giovanni's questions at once back to the
+dominant of the principal key, and the forcible "Si" of the Commendatore
+answers with the tonic, the clear calm of which is destroyed at once by
+Leporello's C: the real conclusion is only arrived at circuitously. Very
+different in effect on both occasions is the occurrence of the same C in
+the bass. The first time, when C major follows decidedly on B major, it
+makes a fresh, elevating impression; the second time, when C follows the
+sustained E as the third below, and forms the basis for the chord of the
+third, fourth and sixth, it gives a shock to the ear. The vivid reality
+with which the two contrasting individualities are made to express
+themselves in so unusual a situation has necessitated the free form of
+the duet. Detached musical phrases, complete in themselves, follow the
+play of the emotions without the elaboration or repetition of any of
+the subjects; only Leporello's cry of terror recurs several times, and
+serves to a certain extent as a connecting link. Mozart has judiciously
+refrained from bringing the horror of a spectral apparition objectively
+before his hearers. Their imagination has been sufficiently worked upon
+by the
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(176)
+
+awful and imposing words of the Commendatore,[154] and their attention
+ought not to be diverted from Don Giovanni and Leporello. The freedom
+which permits of a playful treatment of Leporello's double fear and of
+Don Giovanni's consternation reposes mainly on the half-light in which
+the ghostly element is viewed. The spectator is impelled to accept the
+mixture of the horrible as a flavouring to the humorous; he is not in
+the least absorbed by horror. As soon as the ghost appears bodily, he
+comes to the foreground and gives tone and colour to all the rest; it
+is of advantage to the effect that none of the resources of musical
+delineation are employed to heighten this point. The true economy of an
+artist not only concentrates his resources on one point, but finds its
+truest expression in his appearing to disdain their use at another. The
+main point here was the audible voice of the statue, and Mozart gave
+it no support but the vibration of the horn note; this necessitated the
+greatest simplicity in the whole musical rendering of the situation.
+
+The appearance of the Commendatore in the last finale is led up to
+in truly masterly fashion. First we have the display of the luxurious
+living which has erased from Don Giovanni's mind all remembrance of what
+has passed. Leporello's greediness, with the jests upon it which were
+customary in this part of the piece, are made subservient to the more
+delicate humour of the table music. The entrance of Elvira heightens
+the situation, and the contrast of her deeply moved feelings and Don
+Giovanni's frivolous excitement introduces a new turn, and prepares for
+the catastrophe. Leporello feels, indeed, that Elvira is in the right,
+but dares not oppose his master, and so introduces no dissonant
+tone into the strongly marked character of this scene. But when the
+catastrophe draws near it is Leporello who, as he opened the action at
+the beginning of the opera, now announces the dread apparition at its
+close. All the
+
+{THE COMMENDATORE.}
+
+(177)
+
+terror he has hitherto been a prey to is as nothing compared with
+his mortal anguish at the sight of the marble guest, and even to the
+commands of his master he answers only with cries of terror; we feel
+that, ludicrous as the gestures of the cowardly fellow may be, something
+must have happened that would have alarmed any one, however courageous.
+Then there enters the Commendatore, accompanied by! soul-harrowing
+sounds.[155] No human passion, no anger, no pity speaks from his awful
+tones: the inflexible decree of an eternal law is embodied in all its
+sublimity in music. The warning words pursue their measured course,
+now tarrying upon one note with varied chords, now moving in forcible
+intervals, the heavy weight accumulating till it threatens to annihilate
+the culprit. The orchestra is calmer and quieter even than before, but
+adds many finely shaded touches to the image of the apparition. At one
+time it strengthens the weighty tread of the sustained sounds by the
+sharp rhythm of dotted notes--then again it falls in dissonant chords
+upon strongly accented notes, or gives expression to the curdling horror
+which seizes the hearer, by means of rapid ascending and descending
+scales. In face of this dread apparition Don Giovanni summons all
+his strength together. At first, indeed he is consternated, and the
+orchestra gives expression to his horror; but he soon collects himself,
+becomes more and more decided as the Commendatore continues to urge him,
+the call to repentance serving merely as a challenge to his defiance:
+his fall is inevitable. Again, as at the first, the two stand opposite
+each other in deadly struggle, but now it is Don Giovanni who is forced
+to yield, powerless against the forces of the unseen world. Mozart has
+endued the awe-struck sublimity
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(178)
+
+of this scene with noble beauty and force of climax, and has even
+ventured to invest it with something of a comic tone. Leporello's abject
+fear during such a conflict was a matter of course, but it would be
+foreign to his nature even under these circumstances, to be altogether
+silent. When, with chattering teeth and shaking limbs, he sings his
+triplets when, upon the Commendatore's question "Verrai?" he calls in
+deadly fear to his master--[See Page Image]
+
+every one must feel how wofully in earnest the poor wretch is, and how
+he is ludicrous not of his own free will, but because he cannot help it.
+Every-day life shows how easily the sublime or the awful passes into
+the ridiculous, and how the incongruous emotion thus produced only
+strengthens the impression of horror; the blending of these contrasting
+elements into a true and living representation in art can only be
+accomplished by a great genius. There is scarcely anything in dramatic
+music which can compare in this respect with this scene of "Don
+Giovanni."
+
+Leporello is not conscious of the ridicule he incurs by his cowardice,
+and in truth it forms but one feature in his character. His air (Act
+II., 7) following the sestet, in which he seeks to justify himself on
+all sides, looking out at the same time for an opportunity of escape,
+makes his cunning more apparent than his fear. He has collected his
+senses, and, convinced that once recognised he has nothing more to fear,
+he only seeks to fortify himself with excuses until he can escape.
+The air is therefore lighter and easier in tone, in strong contrasts,
+varying according to the quarters to which he addresses himself, but in
+no way elaborated, and coming to an end with a musical point charmingly
+expressive of the words. The moderated tone of the piece is of very
+good effect after the ponderous length of the sestet. Leporello is a
+dissipated, insolent fellow, but, little as his principles can stand
+before a threat or a bribe, he has not so completely emancipated himself
+from all moral restraint
+
+{LEPORELLO--AIRS.}
+
+(179)
+
+as has his master. He has little scruple, however, in accepting his part
+in the villainies planned by Don Giovanni, who makes use of him chiefly
+to get rid of Elvira. In the celebrated air (Act I., 4) in which,
+professedly by way of consolation, he unrolls the list of his master's
+amours, he does not conceal the pleasure which the remembrance of the
+love adventures and the thought of the trick he is playing on Elvira
+afford him. In the first part the enumeration of the long list is made
+parlando, only here and there the accent is somewhat raised for effect,
+as at the famous "Ma in Ispagna son già mille e trè"; but the orchestra,
+in lively motion all the time, betrays the reminiscence of jovial and
+licentious adventures which is passing through the mind of the speaker.
+He grows warmer over his description of his master's tastes and habits,
+and gives full expression to every detail, until his final malicious
+apostrophe, "Voi sapete quel che fa," is given with undisguised mockery.
+
+Those who have heard how Lablache sang--[See Page Image]
+
+Quel che fa under his breath, and a little through his nose, with an
+indescribable side glance at Elvira, can have an idea of the comic
+ill-nature which Mozart meant to throw into this conclusion.
+
+The characterisation, appropriate in every detail and inimitable in its
+rendering of Leporello's secret complacency,[156] can only be rightly
+appreciated with the Italian words; the German translation is most
+faulty where the musical treatment demanded the strictest accuracy;
+the mode of expression, too, is purely Italian, sometimes only
+comprehensible in conjunction with Italian pantomime. When indeed he
+extols "nella bionda la gentilezza, nella
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(180)
+
+bruna la costanza, nella bianca la dolcezza," the expression is
+universally applicable, and the _grande maestoso_ rises plainly before
+the minds of all; but when we come to--[See Page Image]
+
+the proper effect cannot be rendered in German. In the streets of any
+town in Italy it may be observed how, when anything is to be described
+as small, the person describing it repeats the word eight or ten times
+with great rapidity, lowering the hand by degrees nearer and nearer to
+the ground; and the action could not possibly be better indicated than
+in this place by Mozart. There is a similar effect in the terzet (Act
+II., 2) where Leporello cannot contain his laughter--[See Page Image]
+
+Se se-gui-ta-te ri-do, ri-do, ri-do, ri-do, ri-do, ri-do, ri-do,
+ri-do, ri-do, ri-do, and the silent internal chuckle of the Italian
+is musically expressed to perfection. More especially has the rapid
+utterance, one of the principal devices of opera buffa, a totally
+different signification in Italian and German. It is not natural to the
+German, and appears either exaggerated or vulgar; it should therefore
+be seldom and carefully employed as a means of characterisation. For
+an Italian, on the contrary, rapid speech, for which his language is
+so well adapted, is the natural expression of excitement, and the
+only question for him is whether he shall give vent to his feelings or
+exercise control over them. In Italian opera it is used without
+scruple, and without in itself aiming at making a comic impression; the
+circumstances, persons engaged, and manner employed give the character
+of the piece. In the part of Leporello the rapid parlando has a
+very different expression in different situations, and can always be
+justified on psychological grounds. But it is by no means exclusively
+the characteristic of comic persons. In the first finale (Act I., 13)
+Masetto's rapid outpouring of jealous rage, Zerlina's fear and distress,
+are not intended to move the
+
+{THE RAPID PARLANDO.}
+
+(181)
+
+audience to laughter; they merely give natural expression to their
+feelings, and it is the situation which produces the comic effect.
+These characters, it is true, belong to the lower classes, to whom some
+indulgence might be accorded in respect of good manners; but even Don
+Giovanni makes free use of his tongue when he ceases to exercise control
+over himself. In his intercourse with Leporello especially he allows
+much freedom to his servant, and lowers himself to the same level; this
+is of course made apparent in the musical expression, and various
+small indications of a free and easy tone of conversation have an
+extraordinary effect on the free and vivid conception of the whole. In
+the short duet (Act II., 1) in which he appeases the incensed Leporello,
+he expresses himself altogether after the manner of the latter, but it
+must be remembered that Leporello is really highly indignant, while Don
+Giovanni is only in joke all the time; in this contrast consists the
+comic point of the situation. Again, too, in the first finale, when he
+loses presence of mind for a moment, he falls into this rapid utterance
+with the words: "È confusa la mia testa," which, as soon as he has
+collected himself, ceases again with the words "ma non manca-in me
+coraggio." In the quartet (Act I.) the danger threatening him
+through Elvira excites him so greatly that in counselling her to be
+careful--"Siate un poco più prudente"--the rapidity of his address
+betrays his own loss of self-control. There is something of a comic tone
+in this, but the gravity of the situation does not allow it to go beyond
+a mere shade, and even this rapid parlando ought not to assume a really
+buffo character. Elvira herself, with the unbridled passion of her
+nature, gives vent to her anger in winged words, which are certainly not
+calculated to produce a comic effect. Donna Anna, on the other hand,
+and Don Ottavio, persons of high birth and breeding, never so far lose
+command over themselves as to fall into this hurried speech. The quartet
+just mentioned is one of the finest instances of the quality and extent
+of Mozart's genius. The conversation between Donna Anna, Don Ottavio,
+and Don Giovanni is most unexpectedly interrupted by the warnings of
+Elvira; the two first are amazed, and uncertain what to make of it,
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(182)
+
+while Don Giovanni, alarmed, seeks by deception to keep them in
+uncertainty, and to silence Elvira. All this gives rise to a genuinely
+musical variety of mood tinged with melancholy by the grief of Donna
+Anna and Don Ottavio. A most prominent feature of the whole is the
+skilful grouping. Donna Anna and Don Ottavio are inseparable, and form
+the nucleus of the piece; Elvira and Don Giovanni, though in opposition,
+are sometimes together, and sometimes in conjunction with the other two.
+The situation demands that Elvira shall be most frequently isolated,
+in contrast with the three remaining characters; and as her passionate
+excitement keeps her in the foreground, she gives the tone to the whole
+piece, and Don Giovanni is constrained to follow her, while Don Ottavio
+and Donna Anna only occasionally emerge from their mood of anxious
+contemplation. A touch of dramatic truth is the adoption by the
+orchestra and other voices of Elvira's motif to the words--[See Page
+Image]
+
+so that it seems to be the key to the riddle forcing itself on the
+ear and betraying Don Giovanni's guilt. The motif recurs after all the
+reproaches, questions, and appeals, and dies away in gentle but pained
+reproach when the true position of affairs is left unexplained. The
+suspicion which here enters the mind of Donna Anna prepares the way for
+the conviction which forces itself upon her that Don Giovanni is the
+murderer of her father. The grouping of the voices is treated primarily
+as a means of psychological characterisation. The entrance of Elvira
+in the second finale gives Leporello a moral shock which brings him
+musically _en rapport_ with Elvira, and their parts are therefore in
+correspondence; indeed, towards the end they are in close imitation[157]
+and opposed to that of Don Giovanni. In the
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(183)
+
+terzet again (Act II., 2), Leporello is first associated with Don
+Giovanni and afterwards with Elvira, whom he begins by reviling, but
+who later arouses his sympathy, while Don Giovanni holds aloof from
+them both. This power of grouping the parts so that they shall serve the
+purposes of psychological and dramatic characterisation as well as of
+musical construction, is observable in every one of the ensemble pieces.
+
+L. Bassi (1766-1825), who is described as an excellent and well-trained
+singer, and as a man of fine exterior and pleasing manners,[158] was, we
+are told, very much annoyed that, as the chief personage of the opera,
+he had no grand air to sing; this was probably felt by others as a
+blemish in the work. If the nature of Don Giovanni had at all resembled
+that of Faust, he could not have failed to give some expression to the
+mental conflict between sensuality and misanthropy on the one hand,
+and the impulses of his higher moral nature on the other; and such a
+conflict would have lent itself readily to musical representation.
+But Don Giovanni has no scruples of the kind; the gratification of his
+desires is his sole object, and to this he devotes himself in all the
+consciousness of his own strength. Danger entices him as calling forth
+his powers; he delights in jests which demonstrate his superiority to
+his victim, and sensual enjoyment is his only real object in life. He
+pursues it neither with the lust of a fiend nor with the passion of
+a strongly moved nature, but with a reckless abandonment to sensual
+impulses taking absolute possession of all his faculties, and so coming
+into momentary contact with the nobler capabilities which exist in every
+soul. Imposing strength, external refinement, a jovial and even humorous
+manner are, indeed, far from ennobling or dignifying such a character;
+but they render it less despicable, and reflect line for line the
+manners of the age which produced Tirso's "Don Juan" and Da Ponte's
+"Don Giovanni." Music, which in its very nature gives preference and
+expression to the emotional element of the human mind,
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(184)
+
+was the only fitting exponent of such a creation in the world of
+art.[159] A nature such as that of Don Giovanni does not express itself
+in monologue, but in action, and we learn to know him almost exclusively
+in his relations to others. It is only when he is directing Leporello to
+prepare a costly banquet, and abandoning himself to the anticipation of
+the enjoyment it will afford him, that he gives musical expression to
+his excitement in an air, or rather in a _Lied_ (Act I., 11). His mind
+is engrossed with the idea of the ball, and he predicts the situation
+which actually occurs in the finale; even the three different dances are
+mentioned by name:--
+
+     Senza alcun ordine
+     La danza sia
+     Chi l' minuetto
+     Chi la follia
+     Chi 1' alemanna
+     Farai ballar.
+
+Starting with this idea, Mozart has given him a simple and very lively
+dance song to sing, in which nothing of the higher passions and still
+less either of demoniacal lust or noble sentiment can be traced, but
+only a very powerful expression of sensual impulse in a sort of fleeting
+paroxysm. The very pleasing and impressive melody, the simple harmony,
+the marked rhythm, and especially the instrumentation, all combine to
+produce a happy effect. The flutes and violins, which lead the melody
+almost without interruption, maintain the dance-like character of the
+song, and the uniformly rapid movement of the accompaniment produces
+a singular degree of excitement, enhanced by the strong accents of the
+wind instruments. So again, the digression into the minor key, making
+the sting of
+
+{DON GIOVANNI--AIRS.}
+
+(185)
+
+unbridled passion to be felt in the very indulgence of it, is of very
+striking effect. The serenade (Act II., 3) is of a totally different
+character; Mozart has written _Canzonetta_ against it. Don Giovanni here
+pours out the whole warmth of his feelings towards the fair one whose
+heart he hopes to win. The Italian version of the song has a national
+character both in rhythm and language; it is of little consequence
+whether Don Giovanni is supposed to be singing a well-known song, or
+improvising one. The irresistible, insinuating flattery of this song,
+the state of voluptuous longing which it expresses, have the same sort
+of effect upon us as the dazzling colour and intoxicating perfume of
+some rare exotic flower; there is nothing, even in Mozart, which can
+be compared to it. The effect of the charming melody, and of the
+well-chosen harmonies, is much enhanced by the _pizzicato_ mandoline
+accompaniment supported by the stringed instruments. The tender,
+curiously vibrating tone of the metal strings of the mandoline seems
+inseparable from the sweet gracefulness of the song; the instrument was
+then in common use (Mozart has written several songs to the mandoline,
+Vol. II., p. 371, note), and its effect was thus all the more
+characteristic.[160]
+
+The only real air which Don Giovanni sings, he sings not as Don
+Giovanni; disguised as Leporello, he is giving Masetto and his
+companions directions for catching himself, and the musical
+characterisation must therefore approach burlesque. This air (Act II.,
+4), "Metà di voi qua vadano," belongs undoubtedly to those original
+conceptions which one admires without exactly understanding how they
+have been brought about. The situation in itself affords no proper
+musical impulse; it treats merely of the posting of scouts, of
+communication by signals, the speaker himself being thrown into a
+dubious light by reason of his disguise, and none
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(186)
+
+but a great genius could have found in this place a nucleus round which
+to develop a musical masterpiece. The character of the piece is of
+course buffo, not only because Don Giovanni is playing the part of
+Leporello, but because he is himself thoroughly enjoying the trick he
+is playing Masetto; these motives must therefore be blended. It is only
+necessary to compare this song with those of Leporello (Act I., 4; II.,
+7), to appreciate the essential difference in their style. The
+rapidly spoken passages give a tone of vulgarity, which is relieved by
+occasional involuntary expressions of greater dignity; passages such
+as--[See Page Image]
+
+could not have been sung by Leporello; they show us the cavalier
+beneath his disguise. In accordance with the situation the voice is
+kept parlando; and the orchestra to which the constructive detail is
+intrusted is so independently treated that it might without injury
+dispense with the voice, although each is in fact the necessary
+complement of the other. The mysterious importance and the apparent
+confidence of Don Giovanni, which form the fundamental motif of the
+situation when contrasted with the earnest attention and curiosity of
+the country people, are humorously conceived and the orchestra renders
+every turn of what is passing in the minds of all concerned. But, in
+spite of this, the musical characterisation can only be made fully
+effective by suitable pantomime on the part of all the characters, even
+of those who do not speak, except through the orchestra. Don Giovanni's
+true character, however, is not displayed until he comes in contact with
+the other, and more especially with the female, characters of the
+opera. His seductive powers are first practised towards Zerlina. She is
+represented as a simple village
+
+{ZERLINA.}
+
+(187)
+
+maiden; and the little duet (Act I., 5) which she sings with her
+affianced lover amid the joyful acclamations of their friends, expresses
+innocent gladness in the simplest possible manner and with quite a
+popular tone.[161] Don Giovanni is the first to arouse sentiments which
+have hitherto slumbered unsuspected in her bosom. The simple peasant
+girl becomes an easy prey to the elegant man of the world; her vanity
+is flattered by his condescension, and his way of expressing the tender
+emotions excited in him by sensual gratification impresses Zerlina's
+innocent mind with a conviction of truthfulness, and rouses so
+irresistible a love towards him that all other considerations are cast
+into the shade. This is the main idea expressed in the duet (Act I.,
+6), wherein Don Giovanni makes speedy conquest of Zerlina's heart. The
+feeling of mutual satisfaction to which they both yield, as it has
+been preceded by no strife of passions, gives rise to an expression of
+unalloyed happiness cradled in softest, warmest sunlight. The second
+part was indeed required to contain more of fire and passion, but the
+truth of the characterisation has probably suffered thereby. Zerlina's
+nature is neither deep nor passionate, but light and impressionable; and
+Don Giovanni's chief weapon is his power of assimilating himself to the
+woman whom he designs to attract. This point has been made admirable use
+of by Mozart.[162] Such a broad psychological fact is, however, easy
+to represent; that which can neither be analysed nor reproduced is the
+effect of the tender intensity of the simple notes, which penetrate the
+soul like the glance of a loving eye.
+
+At the second interview between the two the state of affairs is
+considerably modified. Zerlina has been warned by Elvira; she has just
+calmed Masetto's jealousy with some difficulty, and is aware that he
+overhears; she seeks, therefore, to repel
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(188)
+
+Don Giovanni, though conscious that he has lost none of his old
+attraction for her. He knows this, and answers her petition for
+mercy with her own motif, whereby the love-making is as delicately
+characterised as immediately afterwards his astonishment at finding
+Masetto in ambush, and the quick presence of mind with which he
+ceremoniously greets him, whereupon Don Giovanni's own phrase is
+mockingly repeated by Masetto. The orchestra, after accompanying the
+lovers with strains as tender as their own, here gives inimitable
+expression to suppressed scorn and resentment. The dance music is heard,
+however, and relieves the strain; all except Zerlina feel the relief,
+and hasten within. As the festivities proceed, and Zerlina, watched by
+Masetto's jealous eyes, endeavours to elude Don Giovanni's pursuit of
+her until he leads her to the dance and then carries her off,[163]
+the complicated situation is characterised, as a whole, with firm and
+distinct touches, and the individual points are allowed to fall into the
+background. When she has been delivered from Don Giovanni's hands her
+feelings for him have undergone a revulsion, and henceforward she is
+found among the number of his pursuers. Her passing inclination for the
+libertine has, however, roused into life a germ which is fostered and
+developed by her relations towards Masetto. At first her intercourse
+with her lover is unreserved and entirely happy. Masetto is represented
+as a course, jealous, but good-natured clown, and appears at a
+disadvantage when compared with Zerlina, Don Giovanni, or even with
+Leporello. Mozart has sketched his figure for us in simple graphic
+lines, never bringing him to the foreground, but always giving him his
+right place in the ensemble movements, to which he contributes his share
+of life and colour. He only asserts himself once in an air, when Don
+Giovanni is sending him away in order to be alone with Zerlina. This is
+of a decidedly buffo character, and, compared with the
+
+{MASETTO--ZERLINA.}
+
+(189)
+
+airs of Don Giovanni and Leporello, affords a totally distinct but
+equally faithful picture of character; His indignation, only restrained
+from respect for the great man, which would fain vent itself in ironical
+bitterness, his coarse sarcasm, which he intends to be so delicate
+and biting, are admirably characterised. The very first motif of the
+orchestra, where the ominous horns are again distinctly heard--[See Page
+Image]
+
+at which he exclaims, "Ho capito, signor si," shows by the monotonous
+repetition of increasingly emphatic bars how engrossed he is in the one
+idea which has taken possession of his mind. The two motifs with which
+he sarcastically addresses Zerlina and Don Giovanni are also admirably
+characteristic; and equally so the conclusion, where he does not know
+how to stop; and the syncopated rhythm adds not a little force to the
+expression of his perplexity.
+
+Zerlina's two airs are in vivid contrast to the coarse and boorish,
+but honest character of her lover. They express neither affection nor
+tenderness, but rather the consciousness of her own superiority, which
+her intercourse with Don Giovanni has revealed to her. Hers is one of
+those easy natures which are volatile without being actually untrue,
+whose feelings are the children of the passing moment, and whose charm
+is enhanced by the excitement of the moment. The master has inspired
+this lovely and graceful form with a breath of warm sentiment, without
+which she would be cold; and her roguish smile saves her from the
+reproach of mere sentimentality. The first air (Act I., 12) takes its
+tone from Zerlina's desire to pacify Masetto; but there is no trace of
+a need for forgiveness--of the consciousness of an unlawful love; she
+disarms her lover's wrath with caressing tenderness, and gives him
+glimpses of bliss which he is far too weak to resist.
+
+It would be impossible to conceive a more charming love-making, and no
+false note of sentimentality mars the graceful picture. The obbligato
+violoncello lends itself in a singular degree to the individual
+characterisation, its restless
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(190)
+
+movement and soft low sound standing in happiest contrast to the clear
+fresh voices; the accompaniment completes what the singer leaves unsaid.
+It portrays the anxious hesitation in the minds of both the lovers; and
+not until the second part does the motion flow free and full, till all
+resentment dies away in gentle murmurings. The second air (Act II.,
+5), corresponds to a different situation. Masetto has been beaten,
+and Zerlina tries to console him; if she were to put on an air of
+sentimental gravity it would appear absurd; the roguish playfulness with
+which Mozart has endowed the broader merriment indicated by the words is
+far more appropriate here, and gives the expression of pure and tender
+grace, which renders this one of the most attractive of songs. The
+clearness and brightness of the instrumentation compared with that of
+the first air is very striking.
+
+Very different is Don Giovanni's behaviour towards Elvira.
+
+This ungrateful part of a deserted mistress has for the most part been
+neglected. If a great artist, such as Schroder-Devrient, had conceived
+the idea of embodying on the stage the dignified character of Elvira
+as Mozart created it, the representation of the opera would have been
+placed on an altogether different footing. Elvira is in an outward
+position of equality with Don Giovanni. She is his superior in nobility
+of mind, and she has been deeply injured by him. Her first air (Act I.,
+3)[164] shows her as a woman of strong character and passionate feeling,
+as far from the ladylike reserve of Donna Anna as from the youthful
+grace of Zerlina. As unreservedly as she had given her love to Don
+Giovanni does she now yield to her thirst for revenge, and even this
+proceeds not so much from injured pride as from disappointed love,
+ready to burst in new flames from its ashes. The tone-colouring of the
+instrumentation in this air is in very striking contrast to that of
+the previous songs; clarinets are used for the first time, and with the
+horns and bassoons (no flutes) give a full and brilliant effect. Don
+Giovanni overhearing her, and sympathising with her while
+
+{ELVIRA.}
+
+(191)
+
+not recognising her, together with the running comments he makes on her
+to Leporello, add a mixture of humour to the scene which could not
+be more gracefully expressed. The laugh is unsparingly turned against
+Elvira, and is occasioned by the passionateness with which she has
+compassed her own discomfiture. The musical rendering clearly shows that
+in her proper person she remains unaffected by it. Resolved to pursue
+Don Giovanni, and defeat his machinations, she intercepts him as he
+is hastening into his casino with Zerlina, and exclaims to the deluded
+maid:--
+
+     Ah! fuggi il traditor!
+     Non lo lasciar più dir;
+     Il labbro è mentitor
+     E falso il ciglio!
+     Da' miei tormenti impara
+     A creder a quel cor
+     A nasca il tuo timor
+     Dal mio periglio!
+
+This air, unlike the rest of the opera, retains the form of the older
+school, then still frequently heard in church music.[165] Apparently
+Mozart made use of the severe, harsh form which at once suggests the
+idea of sacred music to the hearer, in order to give the impression of a
+moral lecture, and to emphasise the contrast with the "gay intoxication
+of self-forgetfulness" of the rest of the scene.[166] This mode of
+address was appropriately and suggestively employed towards the peasant
+maid; but Elvira adopts quite another tone when she returns and finds
+Don Giovanni in close converse with Donna Anna. In the quartet (Act I.,
+8) (likely 9, DW) her warning, in accordance with the exalted rank of
+the mourners, takes a plaintive tone, and her passion only flares up
+again when roused by Don Giovanni's duplicity. Then she comes forward,
+and her energetic tone predominates in the ensemble movements, although
+the silent power of true nobility and grief exerts a moderating
+influence on her expressions of passion. She makes a similar impression
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(192)
+
+in the first finale (Act I., 13). She has explained herself to Donna
+Anna and Don Ottavio, and they are leagued together to watch and to
+expose Don Giovanni. When they appear masked in front of the casino she
+encourages them to act boldly; Don Ottavio chimes in with her, but Donna
+Anna is seized with maidenly fears face to face with such an adventure.
+All this is expressed in the most admirable manner, and a few touches
+suffice to place the two women before us in all the dissimilarity of
+their natures. The accompaniment, too, is unusually characteristic.
+In sharp contrast to the cheerful excitement in which Don Giovanni,
+Zerlina, and Masetto make their exit stands the mournful accompaniment
+to Elvira, while Don Ottavio's powerful tenor notes are infused with
+additional energy by the accented passage? for the wind instruments. The
+accompaniment, without altering its essential character, adopts at Donna
+Anna's entrance an anxious plaintive tone expressive of the purity
+and elevation of her mind. After a short colloquy with Leporello, who
+invites them to enter, the three, confident in the justice of their
+cause, prepare for their difficult enterprise. After the restless energy
+of the previous scene this clear and composed expression of a deeper
+emotion diffuses a sense of calm beneficence. The construction of the
+movement places Donna Anna and Don Ottavio in close juxtaposition;
+Elvira is placed in opposition to them and, in accordance with her
+character, she is more animated and energetic. Here again the desired
+effect is much strengthened by the support of the orchestra. It was
+unusual to make use of the wind instruments alone in accompaniments; and
+in addition to this the full soft sound of the extended chords contrasts
+strikingly with the deep tones of the clarinets, heard now for the
+first time. What a contrast it forms, too, to the tone-colouring of
+the preceding movement; one feels for the moment transported to another
+world. Scarcely have the last echoes died away when the sharp attack of
+the orchestra on the following movement brings us down to earth again.
+In the scene which follows it is Elvira who is ever on the watch--who
+with Don Ottavio intercepts and
+
+{ELVIRA--TERZET.}
+
+(193)
+
+unmasks Don Giovanni; after that she falls into her place with the rest.
+Implacable as Elvira shows herself in her pursuit of revenge on Don
+Giovanni, her love for him has taken such deep root in her heart, his
+personality exercises such a magic power over her, that she is ready to
+forget all that is past, and to trust herself to him again. Poetry could
+only make this visible by means of a chain of connecting links; music
+is happier in its power of rendering the most hidden springs of human
+action; once let the right key be struck, and the state of mind to be
+represented is there. And seldom has a frame of mind incapable of verbal
+description been so truly and beautifully expressed as in this terzet
+(Act II., 2). A short ritomello places the hearer in a frame of mind
+which enables him to give credence to what he is about to learn. Elvira,
+alone in the twilight, comes to the window; old memories awaken old
+feelings, which, while she deplores them, she cannot escape. Don
+Giovanni, who is present, resolves to turn this softened mood to
+account; he wishes to drive Elvira away, and a fresh triumph over her
+affections is a satisfaction to his arrogant vanity. Leporello in his
+master's hat and cloak is made to advance, and Don Giovanni, concealed
+behind him, addresses Elvira tenderly in the very notes which have just
+issued from her mouth. Don Giovanni's appeal comes to her like an echo
+of her own thoughts. She interrupts him with the same lively reproaches
+which she has already uttered to herself, while he prays for her pity
+with the most melting tenderness. Elvira is overcome, and thereupon very
+appropriately the motif occurs with which Leporello first expressed his
+consternation at Elvira's appearance. Don Giovanni persists all the more
+urgently in the same tone, and the turn of expression just alluded to
+is developed, with a startling impetus produced by the transition to the
+key of C major, into a cantilene of entrancing beauty.[167]
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(194)
+
+He answers Elvira's violent reproaches ("con transporto e quasi
+piangendo," Mozart has noted them) with exclamations of increasing
+passion, and threatens to kill himself if she does not grant his prayer.
+The feeling that Elvira must yield to so passionate an outburst of
+the love towards which her heart impels her is mingled with a sense of
+Leporello's ludicrous situation, and we feel no incongruity in his fit
+of laughter. But when Elvira actually yields, even Leporello cannot
+withhold his sympathy from her, while Don Giovanni mockingly triumphs
+in his victory. In a certain sense the two have exchanged their parts as
+well as their clothes. This terzet may safely be cited as an example of
+how simplicity of design and regularity of construction may unite with
+perfect beauty and truth of expression into a piece of genuine dramatic
+characterisation; but who can express in words the tender fragrance of
+loving desire which breathes from the music like the perfumes from an
+evening landscape? If we are to infer Don Giovanni's character from
+the duet with Zerlina (Act I., 6), the serenade (Act II., 3), and this
+terzet, we have the picture of an engaging and amiable personality which
+strikes every tone of affection and desire with bewitching grace and
+delicacy, and with an accent of such true feeling that it is impossible
+for the female heart to withstand him. This is not the whole of Don
+Giovanni's character, however. When Elvira's weakness has betrayed her
+into an equivocal position, Don Giovanni's heartless insolence places
+her in a situation which only Leporello's comic character prevents from
+becoming an exceedingly painful one. The fear which takes undisputed
+possession of him during the interview reflects a comic light upon
+Elvira, but without interfering with her preconceived character. Mozart
+has succeeded admirably in the sestet (Act II., 6) in maintaining
+Elvira's dignity of deportment both towards the craven Leporello and her
+former allies; she never sinks below herself; but the consciousness of
+her weakness and of the dastardly trick played upon her has broken
+her spirit. There is no trace of the energetic, flaming passion of the
+earlier Elvira; Donna Anna's pure
+
+{ELVIRA--INSERTED AIR--FINALE.}
+
+(195)
+
+form rises high above her, and she no longer takes the lead in the
+expression of astonishment and indignation. After the sestet, when
+Leporello had escaped from the hands of Zerlina, there was inserted
+in Vienna an air for Elvira, in which the violence of her passion is
+moderated to a degree almost incredible. The softened mood in which the
+feeling of her inextinguishable love is expressed no longer as anger
+against the traitor, but as pity for the lost sinner, is, when rightly
+delivered,[168] most admirably represented; but the dignity and
+nobleness which have stilled the waves of sorrow and revenge are not
+really consistent with the fire and force of the true Elvira. Then,
+also, the accents of disappointed love, which Mozart knew how to evoke
+with such masterly insight, are scarcely present at all in this air.
+Nevertheless, considered musically it is of great beauty, and the voices
+are most effectively supported by obbligato solo instruments, which are
+never elsewhere used in exactly the same way by Mozart. This charming
+piece is not inappropriate in its own place, but it does not render
+either situation or character with the same breadth or accuracy which
+Mozart elsewhere displays in "Don Giovanni." Any idea of a closer
+connection with Don Giovanni being now out of the question, Elvira,
+feeling also that her own existence is rendered worthless, resolves to
+enter a convent. But her character and her undying affection forbid her
+to part for ever from Don Giovanni without calling him to repentance and
+amendment. Her entrance in the second finale interrupts the merriment of
+Don Giovanni and Leporello at table, and, like a landscape in changing
+lights, the whole tone of the music is altered at a stroke.[169] Her
+warning here is very different to that which she addressed to Zerlina.
+A stream of glowing words comes from the very depths of her love-tossed
+heart, and beats in vain against the overweening pride of her heartless
+betrayer. At first he seeks to treat her appeal as a jest, which may be
+humoured; and when her prayers, her tears, her dismay are thereby
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(196)
+
+redoubled, he mocks at her with all the frivolity of his
+pleasure-seeking nature. This is too much even for Leporello: he
+sympathetically approaches Elvira; and the effect is very fine, when
+the same notes which seemed to threaten annihilation by their weight at
+Elvira's entrance are heard from the mouth of Leporello. Don Giovanni's
+overbearing insolence increases and calls down upon him the fate to
+which, now that even Elvira has left him, he is doomed to hasten.
+This scene is again a very masterpiece of high dramatic art. A flow of
+passionate emotion, like a lava stream down the mountain side, succeeds
+to the loosely connected musical jests of the supper-table. The very
+change of tone-colouring is of the greatest significance. The first
+noisy and brilliant movement, with its trumpets and drums and lively
+passages for the stringed instruments, is succeeded by the arranged
+harmony music, against which the full orchestra, with the combined
+strength of wind and stringed instruments, stands in bold relief. Don
+Giovanni and Elvira are here for the first time opposed on equal terms.
+Her passionate emotion is purified and ennobled without any loss of
+strength or reality; and he displays an energy and keen enjoyment of
+life which would have something great in it if it were directed to
+higher aims, but which here excites only horror. It prepares us for
+the resistance which he is to make to the spectral apparition; but the
+insolent scorn with which he hardens himself against Elvira's prayers
+is more shocking to the feelings than his determined resistance to
+the horrors of the nether world, wherein we cannot but grant him our
+sympathy. Sharply accented as are the mocking tone of mind and the
+sensuality of Don Giovanni, we never find him vulgar or revolting. This
+is due to the combination of strength and boldness with beauty of form
+in the music allotted to him. What can be more impressive than the
+oft-repeated motif given to Don Giovanni:--[See Page Image]
+
+{DON GIOVANNI'S CHARACTER.}
+
+(197)
+
+with no support but a simple bass, in strong contrast to the rich
+accompaniment elsewhere employed? His good breeding is as characteristic
+of him as his love of enjoyment, and is shown at his first entrance
+in his behaviour towards Donna Anna and the Commendatore. There is no
+roughness in his struggle with her, and he would fain avoid violence, as
+also in the combat with her father; not until his honour as a cavalier
+has been touched to the quick does he draw his sword, and the result of
+the duel causes him genuine emotion. True, his nobler impulses are not
+of long duration; he is destitute of generosity or nobility of mind, and
+his highest quality is mere brute courage. In the churchyard scene, when
+his arrogance has brought matters to a crisis, and Leporello has
+made his terrified exit, the horror of his situation rouses all Don
+Giovanni's determination, and he passes the bounds of foolhardiness in
+his defiance of the spectre. This scene, however, in which the defiance
+of a mortal is forced to yield to the higher powers, is a necessary
+sequel to the preceding one with Elvira, in which the moral conflict has
+just been fought out. Its pathos redeems it from burlesque, and spreads
+an impression of horror which overmasters human reason. Mozart's success
+in the combination of these qualities into a whole of harmonious beauty
+has already been admired by us as the work of a genius. Gracious and
+winning manners and overflowing strength and animal spirits, combined
+with the refinement of good birth and breeding and the frankness of a
+jovial temperament, produce a picture of a man richly endowed by nature,
+but requiring to bend to moral restraint before he can be called great
+or noble. He attracts liking, he rouses sympathy, but he is doomed to
+final overthrow.
+
+Donna Anna,[170] as the representative of intellectual elevation and
+moral purity, is placed in strong contrast to this seductive being, who
+attracts and degrades all with whom he comes in contact. She triumphs
+over him from the first,
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(198)
+
+the magic of his presence being powerless to affect her pure spirit.
+But her maidenly pride resents his unworthy advances; the idea that an
+insult so great should remain unpunished rouses such passion within her,
+that she loses sight of all save her just revenge. The music gives a
+tone of nobility and elevation to her passionate excitement, stamping
+her at once as the superior nature to which Don Giovanni yields, not
+only that he may escape recognition, but because he cannot help himself.
+Her relation to him preserves this tone throughout, and there is no
+subsequent suggestion of any closer or more personal interest.
+
+Hoffmann's infelicitous idea that Donna Anna had been dishonoured by Don
+Giovanni is contradicted by Da Ponte's libretto, which emphasises
+her affection for Don Ottavio as repeatedly and decidedly as does the
+high-pitched ideality of the music. It is a grievous error to suppose
+that her "high-tragedy manner" towards her betrothed arises from the
+consciousness of shame and from falsehood and hypocrisy, and not rather
+from an elevated sense of pride and pure morality and from filial
+grief for her murdered father. Hoffmann's conception of the two
+chief characters, and their; relations to each other, though often
+quoted,[171] is in many respects a misleading one. A Don Giovanni, a
+very demon, who seeks in sensual love to satisfy his cravings for the
+supernatural; who, weary and satiated with earthly pleasures, despising
+mankind, and in utter scorn against nature and his Creator seeks to
+compass the ruin of every woman he meets, is as foreign to the age,
+the character, and the music of Mozart as a Donna Anna who, loving
+the greatness which originally existed in Don Giovanni, yields to him
+without resistance, only to feel doubly conscious of her abasement and
+absorbed in the desire for revenge.
+
+Upon her return with Don Ottavio she finds her father a corpse, and,
+after making the most pitiful lamentations, she becomes insensible.
+Coming to herself her first
+
+{DONNA ANNA.}
+
+(199)
+
+half-unconscious exclamation is for her father; she imagines that the
+murderer is before her, and beseeches him to slay her also. When the
+dread certainty has brought her to full consciousness, she collects
+all her forces for revenge. She makes Ottavio swear vengeance on the
+murderer, and her excitement rises to an unnatural joy at the prospect
+of the fulfilment of their gloomy task. The musical rendering of
+this state of mind is perfect. The high-pitched mood of Donna Anna is
+characterised with so much precision and delicacy, and the continuous
+climax is so consistent and well connected, chiefly by virtue of the
+musical construction, that we feel ourselves taken captive and prepared
+to accept what we hear as the involuntary outbursts of passion.[172]
+Even Don Ottavio's consolatory words, sharply as they contrast in their
+cantilene-like delivery with Donna Anna's broken interjections, betray
+in their restless accompaniment and changing harmonies the inner
+disquiet from which he cannot free himself. As soon, however, as the
+thought of revenge has been grasped, the two go together, and the voices
+are in close connection, while the orchestra (a chief factor in the
+musical rendering of the whole scene) contrasts with them in sharpest
+accents, now urging, now restraining; the long suspense of the detached,
+disconnected phrases is relieved by the stream of passion which seems to
+raise the weight from the hearts from which it flows. Don Ottavio, owing
+partly to the libretto, has acquired an unfavourable reputation that
+can scarcely be entirely overcome, even if the exaggerations which have
+become customary in his part should be discarded.[173] In real life we
+feel the highest esteem for a character which preserves calmness and
+clearness in the midst of heaviest trials,
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(200)
+
+and stands loyally and tenderly by the side of the afflicted; but we
+seldom find a poetic or passionate side to such a nature. Such an one
+is Don Ottavio. He preserves his composure amid the whirlwind of
+passion around him; his love imposes upon him the task of consoling and
+supporting his beloved one under the loss of her father, and he performs
+it in a manner at once tender and manly. He rises to greater strength
+in the summons to vengeance, when he shows himself in no way inferior
+to Donna Anna; and when the two next come upon the scene, it is he who
+exhorts Donna Anna to stifle her grief and to dream only of revenge. The
+unexpected appearance of Elvira, and Don Giovanni's behaviour inspire
+him with some degree of suspicion; but he and Donna Anna preserve in the
+quartet (Act I., 8) a dignified reserve towards the strangers, which
+has a depressing effect when united with their mournful contemplation of
+their own sorrow. Here they are entirely at one with each other, and so
+the music renders them; their superiority of birth and demeanour has its
+effect on the other two characters, and gives the tone to the whole. Don
+Giovanni's entrance, his glance and tone, inspire Donna Anna with the
+certainty of his being her father's murderer; the memory of that fearful
+event flashes across her, and the tumult of feeling which it arouses is
+expressed by the orchestra in pungent dissonances by means of opposing
+rhythm and harsh sounds produced especially by the trumpets, which have
+been silent since the overture until now. It is with difficulty that she
+composes herself sufficiently to acquaint her lover with the cause of
+her agitation.
+
+When she has told him all, she urges him again to revenge her father's
+death, in an air (Act I., 10) of which the delicate characterisation
+completes the perfect image of Donna Anna. This air, in comparison with
+the preceding recitative and with the duet, is temperate in tone. The
+renewed appeal for revenge is not the same involuntary outburst of
+passion which it was; it is the expression of conviction, and is
+therefore more composed, though not less forcible than before. A high
+and noble pride speaks in the first motifs (Vol. 11., p. 428)--[See Page
+Image]
+
+{DONNA ANNA--OTTAVIO.}
+
+(201)
+
+with inimitable dignity and force, while the plaintive sextoles of the
+violins and violas, the urgent figure for the basses, which turns to
+imitation at the second motif, and the gentle admonitory dialogue of the
+wind instruments represent the restless anxiety which has called forth
+her determination.[174]
+
+Donna Anna's elevation of mind raises the man of her choice, and her
+maidenly bashfulness gives her confidence a lover-like character.
+Ottavio, who has not been inspired with the same instinctive certainty
+of Don Giovanni's guilt, finds it hard to convince himself that a
+nobleman, and his friend, can be capable of such a crime; but he is
+quite ready to acknowledge the necessity for closely observing him. It
+was at this point that the air composed in Vienna was inserted (Anh. 3)
+to express Ottavio's devoted love for Donna Anna. It depicts exclusively
+the tender lover, and the heroic impulses which might be supposed to
+belong to the situation will be sought for in vain; the contrast with
+Donna Anna's high-spirited air is very striking. No doubt the insertion
+of the song was, in some measure at least, a concession to the
+individual singer and to the preference of the public for sentimental
+lovers. Granting this, however, it is simple and true in sentiment,
+tender without sickliness, and of purest melody. Besides the clear and
+lovely chief melodies, parts here and there, such as the transition to B
+minor and the return to D major at the words, "E non ho bene s' ella non
+l' ha," have a very striking effect. But the song
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(202)
+
+is below the level of the situation, and, for want of a counterbalancing
+force, it injures the conception of Don Ottavio's character. The masque
+terzet expresses in a very pure and noble manner the contrast between an
+affection based on moral constancy, such as that of Donna Anna and Don
+Ottavio, and the unwholesome passions of the other characters. Donna
+Anna, entering masked to play the spy on Don Giovanni, is seized
+with alarm at the danger which threatens them all, especially her
+lover--"Temo pel caro sposo" she sings with her own melting, plaintive
+tones--and she calms her fears with difficulty. In the ball-room, where
+noisy merriment is at its height, their dignified appearance gives the
+assembly a certain air of solemnity. Leporello and Don Giovanni greet
+them respectfully; they answer somewhat ceremoniously, and join in
+the cry: "Viva la libertà!" but with a sort of dignified reserve which
+stamps them as of superior rank to the crowd of country people round
+them. This is a faithful reflection of the manners of the time; so also
+is the subordination of the chorus in this scene: it was customary for
+country people to keep at a respectful distance before persons of
+rank. When the dance recommences, it is Donna Anna again who finds her
+feelings so hard to master that she almost betrays herself. Zerlina's
+cry for help is the signal for an outbreak of general excitement;
+and henceforth they are all avowedly ranged against Don Giovanni. Don
+Ottavio acts as the mouthpiece and champion of the women, and calls Don
+Giovanni to account for the murder of the Commendatore. But he makes no
+attempt to take the punishment of the crime into his own hands, and Don
+Giovanni is allowed to beat a retreat from the presence of his former
+friends and now determined opponents. No chorus is introduced in the
+last movement of the first finale, and indeed none is conceivable.[175]
+What would be gained in material sound-effects would be lost in true
+dramatic effect. The "buona gente" do not presume to take part in the
+
+{DONNA ANNA--OTTAVIO}
+
+(203)
+
+dispute of their lords; and, as the affair grows serious, the dancers
+and musicians leave the ball-room hastily, and the principal characters
+remain in possession of the scene.[176]
+
+Hitherto Don Ottavio has shown himself as a man deserving of Donna
+Anna's affection and confidence, loyal and devoted, cautious and
+determined, and preserving throughout the lofty demeanour which
+distinguishes him from Don Giovanni. But from this point we are in
+expectation that he will put his resolutions into action, and that the
+second act gives him no opportunity of doing so is a serious blemish.
+
+The loose and disconnected plot of the second act sacrifices Donna Anna
+and Don Ottavio in especial; Elvira, Zerlina, and Masetto are woven not
+unskilfully into its intricate meshes, but the other two are altogether
+left out. In the sestet (Act II., 6) the earlier motif of consolatory
+assurance is repeated without any definite occasion, and only the
+exalted purity of the music can cover this defect. Their presence is in
+no way necessary either to the exposure of Leporello's trickery; it is
+amply justified from a musical point of view, however, for the noble and
+dignified tone, which contrasts with Leporello's comic fright and gives
+the character of the ensemble, is the result of their participation.
+
+Don Giovanni's new villainy having removed all doubt of his guilt
+from Don Ottavio's mind, the latter no longer hesitates to call him to
+account. His conduct has rendered him unworthy of giving the ordinary
+satisfaction of a nobleman, and Ottavio resolves to deliver him over
+to justice, taking upon himself the risk of encountering so bold and
+formidable an adversary. As he turns to depart his thoughts naturally
+turn to Donna Anna, who has left the scene after the sestet, and he
+entreats his friends to console her during his absence, until he shall
+return with the tidings of a completed revenge. This feeling is natural
+and true, and the air (Act II., 8) expressing it is in every way
+appropriate.
+
+His appeal for the consolation of Donna Anna is made in one of the
+loveliest cantilene which has ever been written for a tenor voice; but
+the second part is not quite on the
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(204)
+
+same level. Mozart has rightly refrained from expressing the desire for
+revenge in a grand heroic movement, which would have introduced a false
+tone, but has limited it to a middle movement, rendered characteristic
+mainly by the rapid and forcible motion of the orchestra. The purely
+musical effect of this part is excellent, but the voice part has not
+force or brilliancy proportionate to the sweetness and fulness which it
+has just displayed. The idiosyncracies of the singer Baglione may, in
+some degree, have occasioned this treatment; he was specially celebrated
+for his artistic and finished delivery.[177]
+
+The course of the plot justifies Don Ottavio in his conduct towards Don
+Giovanni, and when the reprobate has been called before a higher than
+any earthly tribunal, Ottavio claims Donna Anna's hand, not as a tender
+lover, but as a faithful protector summoned by fate to her side. Donna
+Anna's postponement of their union until the year of mourning for
+her father shall have expired is a realistic trait, and reflects
+the ordinary rules of society and mode of thought then in vogue too
+faithfully to be at all poetic. But there can be no doubt of the
+intention to represent the love of Donna Anna and Don Ottavio as deep
+and sincere; and it argues a misapprehension of tragic ideality to
+consider the postponement either as an excuse to conceal her aversion
+to her lover, or as the result of her determination to renounce earthly
+love and seek refuge in a convent or the grave.[178] It is to the
+disadvantage of Don Ottavio, however, that he is made to re-enter
+and entreat Donna Anna to consent to an immediate union, without any
+previous intimation that he has carried out his design of bringing Don
+Giovanni to justice. This is uncalled for, and shows him in the light
+of an amorous weakling destitute of energy.[179] The scene was probably
+inserted later in order to separate the
+
+{DONNA ANNA--OTTAVIO.}
+
+(205)
+
+churchyard scene from the supper, and chiefly, no doubt, to supply
+Donna Anna with another air; the characterisation of Don Ottavio and
+the natural progress of the plot are sacrificed to these objects. On
+the other hand, the air itself (Act II., 10) is a grateful task for
+the singer; and affords important aid to the musical-dramatic
+characterisation of Donna Anna. Hitherto grief and revenge have inspired
+her utterances; her affection to Don Ottavio has been indicated by her
+intrusting to him her most sacred interests and duties. Here, at last,
+her love breaks forth without reserve, and although she still rejects
+his petition, it is with a maidenly coyness and an expression of regret
+which add a new and individual interest to her character. The air is
+introduced by a recitative, and consists of two independent movements in
+different tempi. In form and treatment, especially in the employment of
+wind instruments almost solo, and in the bravura voice passages, it more
+closely resembles the traditional Italian aria than any other of the
+original songs in Don Giovanni; but, in spite of this, it renders
+important service to the characterisation.[180] The regularity of the
+musical form corresponds very well to the refined and not only noble but
+well-bred demeanour of Donna Anna. Deep and sincere emotion is expressed
+with maidenly tenderness, infused with just the tinge of melancholy
+which invests the whole representation of her character.
+
+The characters which have been occupying our attention are so accurately
+and minutely delineated, and every detail is so admirably blended into
+the conception of the whole, that though a comparison with "Figaro"
+may doubtless show many superficial points of resemblance, a closer
+examination reveals the complete independence of the two works. No one
+figure resembles another even distantly; each has its own life, its own
+individuality, preserved in the minutest particulars, as well as in the
+general conception. Not less remarkable than this is the art with which
+the different
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(206)
+
+elements, in all their force of energy and truth, are combined into an
+harmonious and comprehensive whole.
+
+As regards the dramatic force and reality of the situations, especially
+in the ensembles, "Figaro" has the advantage over "Don Giovanni." The
+introduction to the first act is admirably planned, both musically and
+dramatically; in the quartet (Act I., 8) and terzet (Act II., 2) the
+situation and prevailing tone are simple, but well chosen and sustained;
+and the idea of giving Don Giovanni and Leporello a share in Elvira's
+first air (Act I., 3), is productive of excellent effect. The sestet
+(Act II., 6), on the other hand, is very loosely put together; the
+characters are grouped round Leporello suitably enough, it is true,
+but their encounter is not the natural result of the situation, and
+the climax is a purely external one. The finales in "Don Giovanni" are
+indeed far superior to the ordinary run, which even in good operas often
+consist of loosely strung scenes which might just as well be spoken
+as sung, but they are inferior to the well-combined, consistent*
+development of the plot which delights us in the finales in "Figaro."
+The first finale begins in lively style with the quarrel between
+Masetto, whose jealously is newly awakened, and the terrified Zerlina,
+who seeks to avoid an outbreak. The insidious ever-recurring motif for
+both voice and orchestra--[See Page Image]
+
+in contrast with the quickly uttered notes and sharp accents of anger,
+is highly expressive of suspicion. Suggestive in another way are the
+beating notes for the trumpets--
+
+which are interposed in Masetto's speech, and afterwards taken up by the
+flutes--
+
+{FIRST FINALE.}
+
+(207)
+
+when Zerlina asserts herself, rising gradually to impatient quavers for
+the violin--[See Page Image]
+
+while the principal subject pursues its quiet course. They are
+interrupted by the noisy merriment of Don Giovanni and his companions,
+who are repairing to the merry-making in the casino; the gradual dying
+away of the song of the retreating guests prepares us for the singularly
+tender and lovely scene between Zerlina and Don Giovanni, which,
+contrasted with the preceding duet with Masetto, first clearly shows
+the dangerous fascination of the seducer. After the inimitably expressed
+start of surprise at Masetto's reappearance the music alters altogether
+in character, and Don Giovanni assumes a cordial hospitality and
+cheerful gaiety which is partly accounted for by the sound of the dance
+music from the casino; this is made also a musical prophecy of what is
+to ensue, for the eight bars that are heard are taken from the second
+of the dances afterwards combined, and Mozart has omitted the two first
+bars, in order to put the hearer at once in the midst of the dance (Vol.
+II., p. 154 note). A lively figure for the violin expresses the desire
+of the three to join in the merriment. The figure is continued when
+Elvira, Donna Anna, and Don Ottavio appear, and several accompaniment
+figures are also retained, with important modifications. The minor key
+for the first time occurring, and the totally different treatment of the
+orchestra give an impression of a mysterious and gloomy shadow cast upon
+the noisy merriment of the scene. Leporello, opening a window by chance,
+sees the masks, and is ordered by his master to invite them to enter.
+The open window causes the dance music to be more plainly heard, and
+prepares for what is to follow; this time a minuet is played, which is
+heard entire, for as long as the window remains open the orchestra is
+silent, and conversation is carried on parlando. The unusual treatment
+of this scene prepares the way for the ball; but it is quite as
+consistent with the adagio which intervenes with surprising and profound
+effect.
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(208)
+
+The grave and elevated tone betokening the presence of higher moral
+forces is additionally impressive after the unquiet, passionate activity
+which precedes it. For the first time in this finale the voices put
+forth all their power and beauty, and they receive powerful assistance
+from the accompanying wind instruments. The voices seem to stand out
+from the dark background of the peculiarly deep notes of the clarinets,
+but the chords which follow are like gleams of light cast upon them, and
+the whole movement appears transfigured in the glory of a higher region.
+The scene changes, as was not unusual in finales, and we find ourselves
+in the ball-room. The dance ended, the guests disperse for refreshment,
+and Don Giovanni and Leporello, as hosts, Zerlina unable to escape Don
+Giovanni's observation, and Masetto, jealously watching her, come to the
+front. The orchestra plays the principal part in the lively movement,
+6-8, which portrays this situation. Rhythm, melodies, and instrumental
+colouring, all are stamped with voluptuous excitement, and we seem to
+breathe the heated air of the ball-room. The voices move freely, either
+joining in the orchestral subjects or going their own way in easy
+parlando or prominent melodies, grouped according to the requirements
+of the situation. The entrance of the masks gives, as has already
+been observed, a different tone to the scene; the stranger guests are
+courteously greeted, and Don Giovanni's summons to the dance places
+fully before the spectators the ball-room scene, which has so often
+been suggested. The real motive of the scene being musical, the dramatic
+representation is skilfully made the object of the musical construction.
+
+The company is a mixed one, and different dances are arranged to suit
+the taste of all; thus also Don Giovanni is provided with the means of
+freeing himself of those persons who come in the way of his design. His
+distinguished guests tread a minuet, he himself joins in the country
+dance with Zerlina, while Leporello whirls Masetto in the giddy waltz.
+The musical representation of the situation in the three different
+dances is thus made the chief point of the scene, the plot moving
+rapidly onward; none of the characters
+
+{DANCES.}
+
+(209)
+
+are in a position to express themselves fully, and the dance alone
+preserves the continuity of the whole. The combination of three dances
+simultaneously in varied rhythm and expression, offered to Mozart a
+task in counterpoint which he has accomplished with so much ease and
+certainty, that the untechnical listener scarcely believes in its
+difficulty. The arithmetical calculation that three bars in 2-4 are
+equal to two bars in 3-4, and one bar 3-8 represents a crotchet in a
+triplet, is easily made, and the system presents no difficulty. But the
+problem really consists in concealing the system beneath the melody
+and rhythm, and in causing the necessary coincidence of the phrasing
+to appear a natural and unstudied one, dependent on the individual
+character of each dance. One dance follows another as a matter of
+course. The minuet begins--the same which has been heard before. At the
+repetition of the second part, the second orchestra prepares to strike
+up, the open strings are struck in fifths, touched _pizzicato_, and
+little shakes tried, the violoncello joins in in the same way--and all
+falls naturally into the minuet, as it pursues its even course.[181] At
+last a gay country dance (2-4) strikes up, as different in melody and
+rhythm from the minuet as can be, although it is of course constructed
+on the same fundamental bass. At the second part, the third orchestra
+proceeds to tune up as the second had done before, and falls in with
+a fresh and merry waltz (3-8).[182] Before the minuet recommences,
+Zerlina's cry for help is heard, both dances and music break off
+suddenly, and the orchestra, which has hitherto been silent, strikes
+in with full force.[183] Zerlina's cry for help brings about a complete
+change of
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(210)
+
+mood and tone. All present, except Don Giovanni and Leporello, are
+inspired by one sentiment, and form a compact and solid mass opposing
+the two, either in unison or by means of a purely harmonious treatment
+of the voices. Only pit particular points, such as the unmasking, do the
+different characters stand out, and the imitation by means of which the
+parts are again united emphasises the impression of strict connection
+between them. This kind of grouping requires a broad, grand treatment,
+and a more forcible one both for the voices and the orchestra. Mozart
+has nevertheless happily avoided the adoption of a tragic tone, which
+would have been unsuited to the situation. The case is not, after
+all, too grave to allow of Don Giovanni and Leporello expressing their
+confusion and dismay comically, after their manner, and the humorous
+character of the opera is thereby preserved.[184] Still more simple is
+the construction of the second finale. The introduction of table music
+taken from different operas renders the supper scene a very masterpiece
+of musical fun; but the episode has no direct connection with the
+action.[185] This begins with the entrance of Elvira, with a gravity and
+an impulse which have been wanting since the beginning of the opera.
+In opposition to Elvira's glowing passion, to which her higher resolves
+lend nobler impulse than before, so that even Leporello is carried away
+by her energy, Don Giovanni's sensuality stands out in stronger
+relief, until it outrages man's noblest and most sacred feelings; the
+contradiction develops a depth of pathos
+
+{THE SECOND FINALE.}
+
+(211)
+
+which prepares for the approaching catastrophe. The force and fulness of
+musical expression in this scene are as remarkable as the deep truth of
+its characterisation. Compare the passionate expressions of Donna Anna
+with this outbreak of Elvira, and the fundamental difference of the two
+characters is clear; so also it is plain that, inimical to each other
+as they may be, Elvira and Don Giovanni are creatures of the same
+mould, having the same easily excited sensual impulses. Leporello's
+terror-stricken announcement of the Commendatore's approach comes as a
+relief to this highly wrought scene. In point of fact, the comic tone
+increases the suspense more than even Elvira's piercing cry; ludicrous
+as is the fear of Leporello, the main impression it produces is one
+of horror at its cause. The first fear-struck tones of the orchestra,
+collecting their forces for what is to come, the first simple, firm
+tones of the spectre's voice[186] transport us to the sphere of the
+marvellous. This sense of the supernatural is preserved by Mozart
+throughout the scene, and the hearer seems to himself to be standing in
+breathless suspense at the very verge of the abyss. It is produced by
+an uninterrupted climax of characteristically shaded movement; and the
+object which the master has kept steadily before him has been to produce
+at every point the expression of a grandeur and sublimity surpassing
+that of earth. To accomplish this, external means, such as the
+disposition of harmonies and instrumental colouring are employed with
+equal boldness and skill, but the true conditions of its extra-ordinary
+effect are the high conception and powerful inspiration which animate
+the whole. When to this it is added that Don Giovanni and Leporello,
+although under the spell of the supernatural apparition, act freely,
+each according to his individual nature, without for an instant
+prejudicing the unity of tone, it must be acknowledged that the union
+of dramatic truth and lofty ideal is here complete. After this prolonged
+and painful suspense the breaking of the storm
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(212)
+
+which is to deliver Don Giovanni into the power of the internal spirits
+comes as a long-expected catastrophe. The spirits themselves Mozart has
+wisely kept in the background. Invisible in the darkness, they summon
+their victim in few, monotonous, but appalling notes. This allows of
+a more animated expression to the torture of despair which seizes Don
+Giovanni, and to the terror of Leporello; while the orchestra depicts
+the tumult of all the powers of nature. This scene can only attain to
+its full effect when theatrical managers can make up their minds to
+allow the music to work on the imagination and feeling of the audience,
+unimpeded by a display of fireworks and demoniac masks.[187] This
+finale, after all that has preceded it, does not certainly produce a
+calming effect, but it relieves the suspense, and virtually brings the
+plot to an end. The entrance of the other characters to learn the fate
+of Don Giovanni from Leporello, and to satisfy the audience as to their
+own fate, is chiefly a concession to the custom of assembling all the
+chief persons on the stage at the close of the opera, which in this case
+seems justified by the necessity of concluding with a composing and
+moral impression. It is not, however, the true close of the plot, and
+the audience have already been quite sufficiently informed as to the
+fate of the characters.
+
+Regarded from a musical point of view, Leporello's
+narrative--interrupted by exclamations of astonishment from the
+others--is very fresh and spirited, and the surprise well and delicately
+expressed; the movement would be most effective in another place, but
+here it falls decidedly flat. The larghetto in which the duet between
+Don Ottavio and Donna Anna, with the short remarks of the others, is
+brought to a close is lovely, but not so weighty in substance as the
+situation demands. The closing movement is very fine, and Mozart has
+imparted such a clear and tender radiance to the church-music sort of
+form in which he has embodied the moral maxims, that a flush like that
+of dawn seems to rise
+
+{THE SECOND FINALE.}
+
+(213)
+
+from the gloomy horror which has buried the gay life of the drama in
+deepest night. It was soon felt that to preserve the interest of
+the audience after the spirit scene was impossible. An attempt at
+abbreviation was annexed to the original score, omitting the larghetto
+so far as it referred to personal circumstances. Whether this experiment
+was made in Prague or Vienna,[188] it appears not to have sufficed, and
+at the performance in Vienna the opera closed, as it almost invariably
+has later, with Don Giovanni's descent into the lower regions. At
+his fall all the characters enter and give a cry of horror, which is
+inserted in the score on the chord of D major. A few attempts have been
+made later, either on theoretical or practical grounds, to restore the
+original closing scene.[189] Attempts at a modification such as
+have been made are very objectionable. At a performance in Paris Don
+Giovanni's disappearance was followed by the entry of Donna Anna's
+corpse borne by mourners, and the chanting of the "Dies iræ" from
+Mozart's Requiem.[190] This idea suggested to Kugler[191] the further
+one of changing the scene after Don Giovanni's fall to the mausoleum
+of the Commendatore, and introducing the funeral ceremonies, the chorus
+singing from Mozart's Re-queim, "Lux perpetua luceat ei" (not _eis_,
+"because it is only for one person"), "Domine, cum sanctis tuis quia
+pius es," to be followed by the "Osanna in excelsis" as an appropriate
+conclusion. It is as difficult to comprehend how these two movements
+can be thus combined, as how reverence for the master can allow of his
+sacred music being thus tacked on to an opera without any regard to
+unity of style and workmanship. Viol,  supported by Wolzogen,
+adopted this idea so far as, instead of the usual conclusion, to insert
+the funeral service in the mausoleum, and have the closing movement of
+the opera sung there; but it appears
+
+{DON GIOVANNI.}
+
+(214)
+
+altogether out of place. Nothing can be more objectionable than to make
+use of separate parts of a work of art in a different sense to that
+intended by the master; omission is, on the whole, a less hurtful
+proceeding.
+
+A consideration of the finale proves what is borne out by the whole
+opera, that, though inferior in artistic unity of plot to "Figaro," it
+excels that work in the musical nature of its situations and moods. In
+"Figaro" we are amazed to find how, within the narrow limits of emotion
+presented to us, seldom rising to passion, never to a higher pathos, our
+minds are entranced by the grace and spirit of the representation.
+In "Don Giovanni," on the contrary, there is scarcely a side of human
+nature which is not expressed in the most varied shades of individuality
+and situation; through the checkered scenes of daily life we are led to
+the very gates of the spirit world, and the light of original wit and
+humour shines upon the work from beginning to end. The difficulty for a
+dramatically gifted author lay in moderation. Da Ponte having placed his
+"Don Giovanni" in the present, Mozart with ready wit draws upon reality
+where-ever possible for matters of detail and colouring. This freshness
+and fulness of realism distinguishes "Don Giovanni" from "Figaro,"
+without entailing any loss of ideality, for every subject drawn from
+real life is turned to the service of the artistic conception of the
+whole. The statues of the Parthenon or the figures of Raphael teach how
+the great masters of the formative arts follow nature in all and each
+of their creations; they teach, too, how the treasure which the eye of
+genius descries in the depths of nature must be first received into a
+human heart, thence to emerge as a complete and self-contained whole,
+appealing to the sympathies of all mankind. Nor is it otherwise with
+the great masters of sound, whatever be the impulse which urges them to
+expression, whether the words of the poet, the experiences of life, the
+impressions of form, colour, or sound;
+
+the idea of the whole, which inspires it with life and endows it with
+form and meaning, must come from the depths of his own spirit, and is
+the creative force, which is unceasingly active until the perfect work
+of art is produced. The ideal
+
+{WORKS IN VIENNA, 1788.}
+
+(215)
+
+of such a work is the perfection which is conceivable and visible to
+mankind in art alone; in it that which elsewhere appears as contrast or
+opposition rises to the highest unity. This once attained, we experience
+the satisfaction which for mortals exists in art alone. But our delight
+and admiration rise still higher when this harmony is maintained
+throughout a varied and many-sided composition, containing a wealth of
+interests and motives appealing to our most opposite sympathies, and
+stirring the very depths of our being--then it is that we feel the full
+and immediate inspiration of that Spirit Who looks upon the universe as
+the artist looks upon his work.
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XXXVIII.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2 p. 98.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Mozart wrote the beautiful air "Non sö d'onde viene" for him on
+March 18 (512 K., Vol. I., p. 422).]
+
+[Footnote 3: Cramer, Mag. Mus., 1788, II., p. 47.]
+
+[Footnote 4: His naïve and highly entertaining autobiography appeared in Leipzig
+in 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 228.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Gerber, A. M. Z., I., p. 307; ibid, III., p. 377. Cf. Biedenfeld,
+Die Komische Oper, p. 60.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Berl. Mus. Wochenbl., 1791, pp. 37, 54, 163.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Müller, Abschied, p. 277.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Cramer, Magaz. f. Musik, 1788, II., p. 53.]
+
+[Footnote 10: "Mozart auf der Reise nach Prag" is the title of a novel by Eduard
+Möricke (Stuttgart, 1856), written with the author's usual grace and
+delicacy. At the same time it is to be regretted that he has laid so
+much stress on the lighter, more worldly side of Mozart's character; and
+it is scarcely conceivable that a poet could have ascribed to Mozart a
+manner of composition which was as far as it was possible to be from his
+nature as an artist.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Particulars concerning this visit to Prague are given by J. R.
+Stiepanek in the preface to his Bohemian translation of "Don Giovanni"
+(Prague, 1825, German translation by Nissen, p. 515)* The Prague
+reminiscences are revived also in the "Bohemia" (1856, Nos. 21-24).
+Heinse gives some details communicated by L. Bassi (Reise--u.
+Lebensskizzen, I., p. 208), and J. P. Lyser draws from the same source
+in his Mozart-Album (Hamburg, 1856). These accounts are, however,
+wanting, not alone in aesthetic culture, but in the discernment of what
+is historically true. On a lower level still must be placed Herib. Rau's
+"Cultur-historischer Roman" "Mozart" (Frankfort, 1858), which has little
+in common either with culture or history; his description of the visit
+to Prague is in especial a more appalling calumny on Mozart's moral and
+artistic character than has been ventured on by any of his opponents.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Ost und West, 1839, No. 42, p. 172. A memorial tablet was
+afterwards placed on this house.]
+
+[Footnote 13: The vineyard is called Petranka (Smichow, No. 169), and belongs,
+according to the "Bohemia" (1856, p. 118), to the merchant Lambert
+Popelka.]
+
+[Footnote 14: In the autograph score the duet is written on smaller paper, and
+somewhat more hastily than the other numbers, as was the case with
+Masetto's air.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Castil-Blaze has accepted these professional fables as literal
+truth (Molière Musicien, I., p. 310).]
+
+[Footnote 16: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 103.]
+
+[Footnote 17: The recitative and these two passages are omitted from the
+autograph score, which prevents any identification of the alterations.
+In "Idomeneo" the Oracle is accompanied only by trombones and horns.
+Gugler throws doubt on the anecdote (Morgenbl., 1865, No. 33, p. 777).]
+
+[Footnote 18: At the wedding festivities in Vienna, on October 1, Martin's
+"Arbore di Diana" was performed (Wien. Ztg., 1787, No. 79, Anh.), and
+was repeated nine times in the same year.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Wien. Ztg., 1787, No. 84. "Don Giovanni" was to have been played
+for the first time on this occasion, and Sonnleithner informs me that
+a book of the words had actually been printed, with the title-page,
+"Da rappresentarsi nel teatro di Praga per l'arrive di S. A. R. Maria
+Teresa, Archiduchessa d' Austria, sposa del Ser. Principe Antonio di
+Sassonia l'anno 1787." Here the first act closes with the quartet
+(8); the second act is intact. The performance did not take place, the
+Princess leaving Prague on October 15.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Niemetschek, p. 87.]
+
+[Footnote 21: In Mozart's Thematic Catalogue the subject of the overture is
+entered under date October 28, with the title, "Il Dissoluto Punito,
+o il Don Giovanni: Opera buffa in 2 Atti--Pezzi di Musica 24." The
+overture is, as usual, written as a separate piece, hastily, but with
+scarcely any alterations.]
+
+[Footnote 22: A very unfavourable account of his greed for gain and
+unscrupulousness is given in the A. M. Z., II., p. 537.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 103. The fee which he received was fifty
+ducats.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Wien. Ztg. (1787, No. 91): "On Monday, October 29, Kapellmeister
+Mozart's long-expected opera, 'Don Giovanni, das steinerne Gastmahl,'
+was performed by the Italian opera company of Prague. Musicians and
+connoisseurs are agreed in declaring that such a performance has never
+before been witnessed in Prague. Herr Mozart himself conducted, and
+his appearance in the orchestra was the signal for cheers, which were
+renewed at his exit. The opera is exceedingly difficult of execution,
+and the excellence of the representation, in spite of the short time
+allowed for studying the work, was the subject of general remark. The
+whole powers, both of actors and orchestra, were put forward to do
+honour to Mozart. Considerable expense was incurred for additional
+chorus and scenery, which has been generously defrayed by Herr
+Guardasoni. The enormous audience was a sufficient guarantee of the
+public favour."]
+
+[Footnote 25: So the story was told on the authority of Mozart's son, in the
+Berl. Musikztg. Echo (1856, No. 25, p. 198).]
+
+[Footnote 26: L. de Loménin, Beaumarchais et son Temps, II., p. 399.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 98. Mosel, Salieri, pp. 98, 128.]
+
+[Footnote 28: Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 3. Müller, Abschied v. d. Bühne, p. 277]
+
+[Footnote 29: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 108. A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 284. In 1788
+"Axur" was performed twenty-nine times.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Mus. Korr., 1790, p. 30.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Berlin. Musik. Wochenbl., p. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 38. My friend Gabr. Seidl informs me that
+in the accounts of the theatre for 1788-1789 is the entry (pp. 45,127):
+"Dem da Ponte Lorenz fur Componirung der Poesie zur Opera il Don
+Giovanni, 100 fl."; and pp. 47, 137: "Dem Mozart Wolfgang fur
+Componirung der Musique zur Opera il Don Giovanni, 225 fl."]
+
+[Footnote 33: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 104.]
+
+[Footnote 34: "Don Giovanni" was performed fifteen times during this year.
+Lange's assertion, therefore, that it was withdrawn after the third
+representation rests upon an error. But after 1788 it was removed from
+the stage, and did not reappear until November 5, 1792, in a miserable
+German adaptation by Spiess. According to Da Ponte the Emperor
+exclaimed, after hearing "Don Giovanni": "The opera is divine, perhaps
+even more beautiful than 'Figaro.' but it will try the teeth of my
+Viennese." To which Mozart answered, on hearing the remark, "We will
+give them time to chew it." Joseph went into head-quarters on February
+28, 1788, and did not return to Vienna till December 5 (Wien. Ztg.,
+1788, No. 18); he can only, therefore, have been present at the last
+performance of the year, on Dec. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 35: A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 284.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The different pieces are numbered in the same order in the
+announcement of the pianoforte score (Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 42, Anh.).]
+
+[Footnote 37: Cramer, Magazin d. Mus., July, 1789, p. 47.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Cavalieri wished to sing it in E major instead of E flat
+major, and Mozart therefore made a transition into E at bar 19 of the
+recitative, and wrote over the air itself, "in E."]
+
+[Footnote 39: He first appeared at Easter, 1788, in the "Barber of Seville"
+(Wien. Ztg., 1788, No. 34, Anh.).]
+
+[Footnote 40: Journal der Moden, 1790, p. 50.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Schink, Dramaturgische Monate (1790), II., p. 320.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Schneider, Gesch. d. Berl. Oper, p. 59. A notice from Berlin in the
+Journal der Moden (1791, p. 76) says: "The composition of this opera is
+fine, although here and there it is very artificial, heavy, and overladen
+with instruments."]
+
+[Footnote 43: Chronik v. Berlin, IX., p. 132. Cf. XI., p. 878.]
+
+[Footnote 44: "Don Giovanni" was given five times within ten days.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Chronik v. Berlin, IX., p. 316.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 158.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Mus. Monatsschr., p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 19.]
+
+[Footnote 49: Jacobi wrote to Herder, in July, 1792: "We were terribly bored by
+yesterday's opera; it is an insupportable affair, this 'Don Juan'! A
+good thing that it is over." (Auserl. Briefw., II., p. 91.)]
+
+[Footnote 50: Briefw., 403,1., p. 432. Schiller had written (402, I., p. 431):
+"I have always had a certain amount of hope that the opera, like the
+choruses of the old hymns to Bacchus, would be the means of developing a
+nobler conception of tragedy. In the opera, a mere servile following of
+nature is forsaken, and the ideal, disguised as indulgence, is allowed
+to creep on the stage. The opera, by the power of music and by
+its harmonious appeal to the senses, attunes the mind to a higher
+receptivity; it allows of a freer play of pathos, because it is
+accompanied by music; and the element of the marvellous, which
+is suffered to appear in it, makes the actual subject a matter of
+indifference."]
+
+[Footnote 51: Bohemia, 1856, No. 23, p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 52: A. M. Z., XXXIX., p. 800.]
+
+[Footnote 53: A. M. Z., XL., p. 140.]
+
+[Footnote 54: A. M. Z., XXXIX., p. 810.]
+
+[Footnote 55: Castil-Blaze, L'Acad. Impér. de Mus., II., p. 98.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Castil-Blaze, Molière Musicien, I., p. 321. Cf. Siever's Càcilia,
+IX., p. 208. A. Schebest, a. d. Leben e. Künstlerin, p. 202.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Castil-Blaze, Molière Musicien, I., pp. 268, 323. L'Acad. Impér. de
+Mus., II., p. 241.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Leipzig, A. M. Z., 1866, p. 192.]
+
+[Footnote 59: "Don Juan," opéra en 2 actes et 13 tableaux. Édition du Théätre
+Lyrique.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Pohl, Mozart und Haydn in London, p. 149.]
+
+[Footnote 61: A. M. Z., XIII., p. 524. Stendhal, Vie de Rossini, p. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 62: A. M. Z., XIV., p. 786; XV., p. 531.]
+
+[Footnote 63: A. M. Z., XVI., p. 859.]
+
+[Footnote 64: A. M. Z., XVIII., p. 232.]
+
+[Footnote 65: A. M. Z., XX., p. 489.]
+
+[Footnote 66: A. M. Z., XXVI., p. 570.]
+
+[Footnote 67: A. M. Z., XXV., p. 639.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Scudo, Crit. et Littêr. Mus., I., p. 121. For similar remarks on an
+older Italian singer, see A. M. Z., XXV., p. 869.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Viardot, Manuscr. Autogr. du D. Giov., p. 10. It must be remembered
+that Rossini's arrival in Paris, in 1823, was the signal for a party
+warfare between the Mozartists and Rossiniists, similar to that waged
+by the Gluckists and Piccinnists. Cf. A. M. Z., XXV., p. 829.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Da Ponte, Mem., III., p. 43. Scudo, Crit. Littér. Mus., I., p. 178.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Castil-Blaze, Molière Musicien, I., p. 329.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Da Ponte, Mem., III., p. 54.]
+
+[Footnote 73: Da Ponte, Mem., III., p. 58.]
+
+[Footnote 74: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 51.]
+
+[Footnote 75: E. T. A. Hoffmann's "Don Joan, eine fabelhafte Begebenheit, die
+sich mit einem reisenden Enthusiasten zugetragen," written in September,
+1812 (Hitzig Hoffmann's Leben, II., p. 35), appeared in the first volume
+of his "Phantasie-stücke in Callot's Manier" (Bamberg, 1813). The novel
+and striking ideas contained in the article made a great impression at
+the time, and to Hoffmann is due the merit of adducing from the music
+the poetical and psychological truth of the opera.]
+
+[Footnote 76: I will here only mention H. G. Hotho, Vorstudien fur Leben und
+Kunst (Stuttgart, 1835), p. 1; Victor Eremita, Det Musikalsk-Erotiske,
+in Enten-Eller (Copenhagen, 1849), I., p. 25; and P. Scudo, Crit.
+et. Littér. Music., I., p. 150. Others will occur later on; but a
+compilation of all that has been written, to the purpose or not, on the
+subject of Don Juan would be a very tedious and not a very profitable
+labour.]
+
+[Footnote 77: The usual title of opera buffa is given to "Don Giovanni" by
+Mozart in his Thematic Catalogue; in the libretto it is called "dramma
+giocoso."]
+
+[Footnote 78: On the adaptations of this subject cf. Cailhave, De l'Art de la
+Comédie (Paris, 1785), III., ix t.; II., p. 175; Kahlert, Die Sage
+vom Don Juan (Freihafen, 1841), IV., 1, p. 113. Much serviceable
+information, together with some nonsense, may be found in Castil-Blaze,
+Molière Musicien, I., p. 189. A collection of Don Juan literature in the
+Russian language, by C. Swanzow, has been sent to me by the author.]
+
+[Footnote 79: The name and arms of the family of Tenorio (once distinguished in
+Seville, but long since died out) are given by Castil-Blaze (p. 276),
+from Gonzalo Argole de Molina's Nobleza de Andaluzia (Seville, 1588),
+p. 222. According to Favyn (Théätre d'Honneur et de Chevalerie, Paris,
+1620) Don Juan Tenorio was the companion of King Pedro (1350-1369) in
+his cruelties and lusts.]
+
+[Footnote 80: The legend is told by Castil-Blaze (p. 221), after Puibusque, Hist.
+Comparée des Littér. Espagn. et Franç. (Paris, 1843). Schack asserts
+that it is still current in Seville, and sold in the streets on loose
+sheets, in the form of a romanze.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Castil-Blaze, p. 222. Arnold (Mozart's Geist, p. 298) says that
+the true source is a political romance by a Portuguese Jesuit, entitled
+"Vita et mors sceleratissimi principis Domini Joannis."]
+
+[Footnote 82: Schack, Gesch. der dram. Litt. u. Kunst in Spanien, II., p. 552. L.
+Schmidt, Die vier bedeut Dramatiker der Spanier, p. 10. Tellez died
+in 1648, seventy-eight years old; in 1621 he had already written three
+hundred comedies.]
+
+[Footnote 83: An epitome of the piece, published in Eugenio da Ochoa's Tesoro del
+Teatro Espaniol (Paris, 1838, IV., p. 73), was given by Cailhava,
+II., p. 179. Kahlert and Castil-Blaze. It is now accessible in the
+translations of C. A. Dohrn (Spanische Dramen, I., p. 1) and L.
+Braunfels (Dramen aus u. n. d. Span., I., p. 1).]
+
+[Footnote 84: The part of Tisbea is very charmingly treated; Byron has made use
+of this part of the subject.]
+
+[Footnote 85: When Don Juan swears to marry Aminta, he says, with ambiguous
+mockery:--]
+
+     "Wird mein Wort je im geringsten
+     Falsch befunden--nun so mag mich
+     Eine Leichenhrnd vernichten."]
+
+[Footnote 86: Schack (II., p. 569), quoting from a license to publish Tirso's
+works, says that they contain nothing which could offend good manners,
+and that they present admirable examples to youth.]
+
+[Footnote 87: Schack (II., p. 679).]
+
+[Footnote 88: Riccoboni, Hist. du. Théätre Ital., I., p. 47.]
+
+[Footnote 89: Castil-Blaze (p. 263) has a list of the editions.]
+
+[Footnote 90: Goldoni, Mém., I., p. 163. Eximeno, L'Orig. d. Musica, p. 430.]
+
+[Footnote 91: Cailhava, in an analysis of the Convitato (II., p. 186), remarks
+that he has observed trifling alterations in different performances,
+but that in essentials the piece is always the same. A more detailed
+analysis of a later piece, differing somewhat in detail, is given by
+Castil-Blaze (I., p. 192).]
+
+[Footnote 92: Castil-Blaze's piece omits this adventure, and begins with Donna
+Anna and the murder of the Commendatore.]
+
+[Footnote 93: Castil-Blaze's sketch inserts the peasant wedding here.]
+
+[Footnote 94: This piece alone was in writing, all the rest was improvised.]
+
+[Footnote 95: Castil-Blaze, I., p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 96: Dictionnaire des Théätres de Paris, II., p. 539.]
+
+[Footnote 97: The French pieces are enumerated in the Dictionnaire des Théätres
+de Paris, II., p. 540.]
+
+[Footnote 98: This absurd title, arising from an error of translation (Convitato
+Convié), not only held its ground in France, even after its exposure
+by De Visé (Mercure Galant, 1677, I., p. 32), but it was rendered still
+more nonsensical in its German form, "Das steinerne Gastmahl," which was
+the usual title in the last century.]
+
+     "Placatevi d'Averno
+     Tormentatori etemi!
+     E dite per pietade
+     Quando terminaran questi miei guai?"]
+
+[Footnote 99: In the same year, 1659, Tirso's drama was played in Paris by
+Spanish actors (Castil-Blaze, p. 247).]
+
+[Footnote 100: Castil-Blaze, I., p. 246.]
+
+[Footnote 101: Goldoni, Mém., I., 29, p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 102: Cailhava, II., p. 193.]
+
+[Footnote 103: Dictionnaire des Théätres, II., p. 542.]
+
+[Footnote 104: Dav. Erskine Baker, Biographia Dramatica (London, 1782), II., p.
+188. Th. Shadwell, Poeta Laureatus under William III., lived 1640-1692.]
+
+[Footnote 105: Schack, III., p. 469.]
+
+[Footnote 106: Müller, Abschied, p. 63.]
+
+[Footnote 107: Meyer, L. Schroder, I., p. 153; Cf. II., 2, pp. 55, 144.]
+
+[Footnote 108: Meyer, II., 2, p. 44.]
+
+[Footnote 109: Meyer, II., 2, p. 179. Schütze, Hamburg. Theatergesch., p. 375.]
+
+[Footnote 110: [Oehler] Geschichte des ges. Theaterwesens zu Wien, p. 328.]
+
+[Footnote 111: Sonnenfels, Ges. Schr., III., p. 139. Pohl showed me a printed
+table of contents, without date or place: "Das steineme Gastmahl, oder
+die redende Statue sammt Arie welche Hanns-Wurst sin get, nebst denen
+Versen des Ere-miten und denen Verzweiflungs-Reden des Don Juans bey
+dessen unglücksee-ligen Lebens-Ende."]
+
+[Footnote 112: Three puppet plays from Augsburg, Strasburg, and Ulm have been
+published by Scheible (Das Kloster, III., p. 699); they are very
+mediocre. Molière's "Don Juan," as an opera for puppets, was played in
+Hamburg in 1774 (Schletterer, Deutsch. Singsp., p. 152).]
+
+[Footnote 113: Dictionnaire des Théätres, II., p. 540.]
+
+[Footnote 114: Mém. sur les Spectacles de la Foire, I., p. 153.]
+
+[Footnote 115: Schmid, Gluck, p. 83. Castil-Blaze conjectures (I., p. 265) that
+this ballet was written in Parma, in 1758. Sara Goudar, in her Remarques
+sur la Musique Italienne et sur la Danse (Paris, 1773), writes about
+Gluck: "Gluck, Allemand comme Hasse, l'imita [Jomelli]; quelquefois
+même le surpassa, mais souvent il fit mieux danser que chanter. Dans
+le ballet de Don Juan, ou Le Festin de Pierre, il composa une musique
+admirable" (Ouvr. Mèl., II., p. 12). Printed before Wollank's pianoforte
+score, and in Lobe's Flieg. Blàtt. f. Mus., I., p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 117: A ballet, "II Convitato di Pietra," was given in Naples in 1780
+(Signorelli, Stor. Crit. d. Teatri, X., 2, p. 172).]
+
+[Footnote 118: This opera was also performed in Braunschweig in 1782 (Cramer,
+Mag. f. Musik, I., p. 474).]
+
+[Footnote 119: The book of the words printed in Vienna has on the title-page "da
+rap-presentarsi ne' teatri privilegiati di Vienna l' anno 1777.]
+
+[Footnote 120: Castil-Blaze, I., p. 267.]
+
+[Footnote 121: Goethe, Briefw m. Zelter, II., p. 160.]
+
+[Footnote 122: Musik. Monatschr., p. 122.]
+
+[Footnote 123: Da Ponte, Mem., II., 1, p. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 124: The manuscript (perhaps autograph) in the archives of the Society
+of Musicians in Vienna bears the title, "ü Convitato di Pietra, Atto
+solo del Sgr. Giuseppe Gazaniga. In S. Moisè, 1787." The greater part of
+the recitative, five pieces in score, and four airs with voice part and
+bass, are preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 125: Recensionen, 1860, No. 38, p. 588.]
+
+[Footnote 126: The fact of her non-reappearance is proved by the same singer
+taking the part of Maturina.]
+
+[Footnote 127: Here, doubtless, was inserted the quartet, "Non ti fidar o
+misera," composed by Cherubini for the performance in Paris in 1792
+(Scudo, Crit. et Litt. Mus., I., p. 181). Not. de Manuscr. Autogr. de
+Cherubini, pp. 12, 101.]
+
+[Footnote 128: For a performance at Ferrara, Ferrara is substituted for Venezia.]
+
+[Footnote 129: _Atto solo_ is on the title-page instead of secondo, which is
+struck out; on the second scene is _Atto secondo_, and the finale
+is superscribed _Finale secondo._ On the other hand, the scenes are
+continuously numbered from 1 to 24. I can only suppose that an earlier
+version has been abridged for representation.]
+
+[Footnote 130: A "Don Giovanni" ascribed to Cimarosa is the result of a mistake;
+his opera, "ü Convito," composed in 1782, is an adaptation of Goldoni's
+"Festino," and has nothing to do with Don Juan (Castil-Blaze, p. 267).]
+
+[Footnote 131: When Sonnleithner had succeeded in obtaining the books of the
+words printed for the first performances in Prague and Vienna, he
+published a reprint of the first with the alterations and omissions of
+the second, together with all the scenic remarks written by Mozart on
+his score. "ü Dissoluto Punito, ossia il Don Giovanni. Dramma giocoso.
+Poesia di Lorenzo da Ponte." Leipzig, 1865.]
+
+[Footnote 132: I have, unfortunately, been unable to obtain Zamora's drama.]
+
+[Footnote 133: Eckermann, Gespräche mit Goethe, I., p. 64.]
+
+[Footnote 134: The scenic order, for which the books of the words give important
+data, has been the subject of much recent controversy. Cf. Recensionen,
+1859, No. 25. A. von Wolzogen über d. seen. Darstellung von Mozart's
+"Don Giovanni" (Breslau, 1860). Bitter, Mozart's "Don Juan," p. 62.
+Sonnleithner, Recensionen, 1865, No. 48. Woerz, Wien. Ztg., 1866, No.
+293, &c.]
+
+[Footnote 135: Gazzaniga's "Eximena" is wisely omitted.]
+
+[Footnote 136: Zerlina owes to Goldoni's "Elisa" a strong tinge of frivolity; and
+the credulity and inexperience of the peasant maid are not without an
+alloy of sensuality. She is, however, at the same time endowed with a
+natural charm that enables Mozart to represent her with full consistency
+as a very lovable creature.]
+
+[Footnote 137: This shows the progress made upon Gazzaniga's work. That which
+was a mere comic by-play is here used as a motive for giving a common
+interest to the characters, and leads to the recognition of Don
+Giovanni, and to the climax of the finale.]
+
+[Footnote 138: At Hamburg, members of noble families required that minuets should
+be played alternately with the country dances, "that they might not be
+obliged to mix with the crowd" (Meyer, L. Schroder, I., p. 150).]
+
+[Footnote 139: Gugler's idea (Morgenbl., 1865, p. 775) that Don Giovanni feigns
+his alarm, as if saying to his captors, "Your unexpected and unfounded
+accusations have altogether upset me," has not convinced me.]
+
+[Footnote 140: The air is given in the Niederrhein. Mus. Ztg., II., p. 413.
+Mozart has changed the original key (A major) and somewhat condensed the
+whole, to its decided advantage.]
+
+[Footnote 141: How far superior to the senseless toasts in Righini's and
+Gazzaniga's versions.]
+
+[Footnote 142: O. Gumprecht, Deutsch. Theater-Archiv, 1859, Nos. 2, 3.]
+
+[Footnote 143: The earliest translation is that by Bitter, mentioned by E. G.
+Neefe (1789). Don Giovanni is called Herr von Schwänkereich; Leporello,
+Fickfack. It circulated in manuscript, and was the foundation of most
+of the earlier German versions, as well as of those by Schroder and
+Rochlitz (Leipzig, 1801), which cannot be adjudged free from the faults
+of their predecessors. Kugler showed by his own attempt how difficult a
+task it was (Argo, 1859, p. 353). A great advance has been made in the
+recent versions of W. Viol ("Don Juan": Breslau, 1858); L. Bischoff, in
+Simrock's pianoforte score (Cf. Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1858, p. 397; 1859,
+p. 88); A. von Wolzogen (Deutsche Schaub., IX., 1860); C. H. Bitter
+(Mozart's "Don Juan" u. Gluck's "Iphigenia in Tauris," Berlin, 1866).
+Lyser's announcement of a translation by Mozart himself (N. Ztschr.,
+XXI., p. 174), of which he quoted fragments, was unquestionably the
+result of a mystification, in spite of Lyser's repeated declaration that
+he had copied from the autograph original in the possession of Mozart's
+son (Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1845, p. 322), where Al. Fuchs did not find it
+(Ibid., p. 343).]
+
+[Footnote 144: G. Weber makes a statement with regard to Mozart's autograph
+score (Cäcilia, XVIII., p. 91) which places the question of the inserted
+pieces in a very clear light. The treasure, which could find no place
+in any public collection of Germany, came into the possession of
+Madame Pauline Viardot; a new account of it is given by Viardot in the
+"Illustration" of the year 1855 (Deutsch. N. Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1856, V.,
+No. 9). He relates at the close that Rossini called upon him saying: "Je
+vais m'agenouiller devant cette sainte relique"; and after turing over
+the score exclaimed: "C'est le plus grand, c'est le maître de tous;
+c'est le seul qui ait eu autant de science que de génie et autant de
+génie que de science."]
+
+[Footnote 145: The character and meaning of this remarkable and much-discussed
+piece of music are so distinctly marked that they cannot fail to be
+apprehended. CL Hoffmann's suggestions (Fantasiestücke, I., 4,
+Ges. Schr., VII., p. 92), Ulibicheff (Mozart, III., p. 105), Krüger
+(Beitrage, p. 160), and the elaborate analysis by Lobe (A. M. Z.t XLIX.,
+pp. 369, 385, 417, 441), where the effort to trace everything back to a
+conscious intention has led to some singular mis* apprehensions.]
+
+[Footnote 146: In the overture to "Cosi fan Tutte" also, Mozart has made a
+humorous use of a motif from the opera; and in both cases has made
+it introductory to the principal subject of the overture, which is an
+altogether independent composition. The superficial device of making
+the whole overture an embodiment of different subjects from the opera, a
+custom introduced by Weber, would not occur to artists whose aim was to
+produce a consistent whole, working from within outwards.]
+
+[Footnote 147: In the printed score, the B of the last bar is B flat; the
+original has this B flat only in the last bar but one. The position
+of this chord with C sharp above B natural is unusual, but not
+unprecedented. Mozart has left the chief melody undisturbed to the first
+violins, the B flat of the second violins corresponding to the C of the
+flutes. The repetition of the passage in the second part of the overture
+is not written out.]
+
+[Footnote 148: Marpurg, Von der Fuge, II., p. 77. Kirnberger, Kunst des reinen
+satzes, II., 2, p. 18. It will be found in the Kyrie of Stolzel's Missa
+Canonica.]
+
+[Footnote 149: Nägeli, who finds great fault with Mozart's "exaggerated and
+licentious contrasts" (Vorlesungen, pp. 157, 160), asserts that the
+allegro of the overture contains a bar too much, and that the rhythm is
+thereby destroyed; a reproach which was thoroughly refuted by Kahlert
+(N. Ztschr. f. Mus., XIX., p. 97).]
+
+[Footnote 150: Mozart has suggested this train of ideas independently of Da
+Ponte. To the Commendatore's reproach: "Cosi pretendi da me fuggir?" Don
+Giovanni answers in the act of going, _sotto voce_, "Misero!" then to
+the renewed exclamation, "Battiti!" he repeats, _piu voce_, "Misero!"
+and not until the Commendatore has come close to him does he break out
+with "Misero attendi!"]
+
+[Footnote 151: The duel is simply and appropriately rendered by the answering
+_whizzing_ passages for the violins and bass; very similar to Gluck's
+ballet, only more elaborated.]
+
+[Footnote 152: Gazzaniga has made a tolerably long piece of it, not without
+expression, and the best in his opera--but how far apart from Mozart!]
+
+[Footnote 153: Schaul (Briefe üb. d. Geschmack in der Musik, p. 51) cites this
+sestet as an instance of Mozart's sins against sound sense, because it
+is written in tragic instead of melodramatic style.]
+
+[Footnote 154: The musical treatment of the words of the Commendatore has been
+visibly influenced by Gluck's "Alceste." A comparison of the two will
+show how skilfully Mozart introduced more delicate touches of detail
+without injuring the imposing effect of the whole.]
+
+[Footnote 155: A force and brilliancy are given to the wind instruments by means
+of the trombone such as was never before dreamed of. Mozart's sheet with
+the wind instruments is lost, but an old copy has the trombones.
+They are not used in the overture, because he meant it to be merely
+suggestive, and wished neither to lessen the impression of the actual
+apparition, nor to disturb the tone character of the overture. Gugler
+seeks to prove that the trombones were added later by Süssmayer
+(Leipzig, A. M. Z., 1867, No. 1-3), which I am not prepared to allow.]
+
+[Footnote 156: An instance is Leporello's confidential whisper to Elvira
+(intensified in effect by the interrupted cadence on B flat and
+the wonderful bassoon notes): "Sua passion predominante è la giovin
+principiante]
+
+[Footnote 157: The distinguishing form of imitation appears to be always
+justified psychologically by its appropriateness to the particular
+character; in the quartet, for instance, Donna Anna and Don Ottavio have
+the imitation; in the first finale it is given to Zerlina and Masetto.]
+
+[Footnote 158: A. M. Z., II., p. 538.]
+
+[Footnote 159: Beethoven declared he could not write operas like "Figaro' and
+"Don Juan"; they were repulsive to him (Rellstab, Aus meinem Leben, II.,
+p. 240. Cf. Beethoven's Studien, Anh., p. 22). The pure morality of
+the great man, both in his life and his art, must be reverently
+acknowledged; at the same time, without allowing art to stray beyond
+the bounds of morality, we would not willingly see it excluded from the
+representation of this phase of human nature.]
+
+[Footnote 160: There is no truth in the remark in the Fliegende Blättem f. Musik
+(I., p. 184) that the song shows Don Giovanni as he wished to appear,
+while the accompaniment indicates what he really was. Don Giovanni
+expresses his real feelings, and the song is not mere hypocrisy. The
+peculiar character of the accompaniment is brought about simply by the
+nature of the instruments.]
+
+[Footnote 161: This little duet and chorus is written on different paper, like
+Masetto's air (Anh. 2). The two were not inserted later, but written in
+Prague, during the rehearsals, when the whole of this part seems to have
+been revised.]
+
+[Footnote 162: In the autograph score the second part has no new tempo marked;
+Mozart intended to denote the climax by the change of beat; not by
+accelerated tempo. The chromatic interlude, which Ulibicheff looks
+upon as a moral warning (Vol. II., p. 125), gives me the impression of
+sensual longing.]
+
+[Footnote 163: The words which are given to Don Giovanni after the recommencement
+of the minuet, "Meco tu dei ballare, Zerlina vien pur qua," are not in
+the original score, nor in the libretto; later on, when he leads her to
+the country dance, he says: "Il tuo compagno io sono, Zerlina vien pur
+quà."]
+
+[Footnote 164: Mozart rightly calls the piece not terzetto, but aria, for Don
+Giovanni's and Leporello's interruptions are only peculiarly constructed
+ritornellos, and do not alter the very simple aria form of the piece.]
+
+[Footnote 165: The assertion that Mozart wrote above the air "Nello stile di
+Haendel" (Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 116) is unfounded.]
+
+[Footnote 166: Ambros, "Grànzen der Musik und Poesie," p. 61.]
+
+[Footnote 167: In the Fliegenden Blättern fur Musik (III., p. n.) it is pointed
+out that the beginning of this melody is identical with the serenade,
+and this is adduced as an instance of refined characterisation, meant
+to indicate Don Giovanni's treachery to Elvira, whom he is addressing,
+while he is thinking of the waiting-maid; there is no foundation for the
+idea, however.]
+
+[Footnote 168: Gumprecht's remarks on this are instructive (Klass. Sopran-album,
+p. 8).]
+
+[Footnote 169: Gazzaniga places it in recitative before the finale.]
+
+[Footnote 170: It is an oft-repeated mistake that this part was written by Mozart
+for Campi, who was born in Lublin, 1773, and had been a main support to
+Guardasoni's company since 1791 (A. M. Z., II., p. 537).]
+
+[Footnote 171: Marx, Berl. Mus. Ztg., I., p. 319. Rellstab, Ges. Schr., VI., p.
+251. Genast says (Aus d. Tageb. e. alten Schausp., III., p. 171)
+that Bethmann rendered Donna Anna in this sense, and that upon his
+representation Schröder-Devrient copied it. Cf. A. von Wolzogen, Wilh.
+Schroder-Devrient, p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 172: It is a great improvement on Gazzaniga's libretto that Donna Anna
+does not disappear after her first entrance, but takes the place in the
+plot of the meaningless Eximena; but to invent new motives for her was
+beyond Da Ponte's power.]
+
+[Footnote 173: Ulibicheff (III., p. 113), Lobe (Flieg. Blätt. f. Mus., I., p.
+221), Vincent (Leipz. Theat. Ztg., 1858. Cf. Deutsche Mus. Ztg., 1860,
+pp. 222, 231), have taken a right view of Don Ottavio's character.]
+
+[Footnote 174: Marx considers the voice parts and the whole spirit of the aria
+powerful and grand, but the instrumentation trivial (Kompositionslehre,
+IV., p. 529); he conjectures that it may have been worked out by
+Sussmayer. This conjecture is contradicted by the autograph score; and
+we may rather believe that Mozart was actuated by consideration
+for Saporiti's voice, and refrained from overpowering it by the
+instrumentation.]
+
+[Footnote 175: Even at the beginning of the finale there is no chorus of
+villagers. Don Giovanni enters with several servants, who echo his
+greeting to the guests: "Su corraggio, o buona gente!"]
+
+[Footnote 176: Cf. Gugler, Morgenbl., 1865, No. 32, p. 749.]
+
+[Footnote 177: Da Ponte, Mem., III., i p. 80. A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 301. Cf. A.
+Schebest, Aus d. Leben e. Kunstlerin, p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 178: Bitter, Mozart's "Don Juan," p. 82.]
+
+[Footnote 179: The substitution of a letter in his stead, written by him to Donna
+Anna, confuses the situation without helping out Don Ottavio. Gugler,
+Morgenbl., 1865, No. 33, p. 780.]
+
+[Footnote 180: Whoever has heard this air sung by a true artist will have been
+convinced that the often-abused second movement of it is a necessary
+element of the characterisation.]
+
+[Footnote 181: The same jest has been introduced by Weber in the first act of
+"Der Freischütz," when the village musicians fall into the ritornello
+after the mocking chorus.]
+
+[Footnote 182: The second and third orchestra consist only of two violins and
+bass, the wind instruments of the first doing duty for all; Mozart
+apparently wished to avoid a multiplication of effects.]
+
+[Footnote 183: It is remarkable that there is in the music of "Don Giovanni" no
+trace of national characterisation. In this dance-music, where it
+might have occurred, in the table music of the second finale and in
+the serenade, Mozart has drawn his inspiration from his immediate
+surroundings, and has reproduced this directly upon the stage.]
+
+[Footnote 184: The first idea which must occur to them on the breaking out of the
+storm: "How differently this fête began," is humorously suggested in
+the words--[See Page Image] an echo of Don Giovanni's exclamation: "Sù
+svegliatevi da bravi!"]
+
+[Footnote 185: It has been said that the whole of the table music was inserted in
+Prague during the rehearsal, and it bears all the traces of a happy and
+rapidly worked-out inspiration.]
+
+[Footnote 186: A musical friend in 1822, forestalling Meyerbeer, proposed to
+sing the part of the Commendatore through a speaking-trumpet behind the
+stage, while an actor was going through the gestures on the stage. A. M.
+Z., XXIV., p. 230.]
+
+[Footnote 187: At Munich the close of the finale was formerly followed by the
+chorus of Furies from Vogler's "Castor und Pollux," which is in the key
+of A flat major! (A. M. Z., XXIII., p. 385.)]
+
+[Footnote 188: Gugler conjectures that the abbreviation proceeds from Sussmayer
+(Leipzig, A. M. Z., 1866, p. 92), which appears to me improbable.]
+
+[Footnote 189: Gugler, Morgenbl., 1865, No. 32, p. 745.]
+
+[Footnote 190: Castil-Blaze, Molière Musicien, I., p. 338.]
+
+[Footnote 191: Argo, 1854, I., p. 365. Cf. Gantter, Ulibicheff, Mozart, III., p.
+361. Viol, "Don Juan," p. 25.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 39
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XXXIX. OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.
+
+
+FROM a practical point of view, Mozart's "Don Giovanni" did no more
+than his "Figaro" towards improving his position in Vienna. His painful
+pecuniary circumstances may be gathered from his letters to Puchberg
+in June, 1788. A glance at the catalogue of his compositions after his
+return from Prague is sufficient to indicate the fact of their having
+been produced at the pleasure of pupils or patrons:--
+
+1787. December 11. Lied, "Die kleine Spinnerin" (531 K.).
+
+1788. January 3. Allegro and andante for pianoforte in F major (533 K.).
+
+January 14, 23, 27. Tänze (534-536 K.).
+
+February 24. Pianoforte concerto in D major (537 K., part 20). March
+4. Air for Madame Lange, "Ah se in ciel" (538 K.). March 5. Teutsches
+Kriegslied for Baumann (539 K.).
+
+March 19. Adagio for pianoforte, B minor (540 K.).
+
+March 24, 28, 30. Pieces for insertion in "Don Giovanni" (525, 527, 528
+K.).
+
+In May. Arietta for Signor Albertarelli, "Un bacio di mano" in the opera
+of "Le Gelosie Fortunate" (541 K.).
+
+June 22. Terzet for piano, violin, and violoncello, E major (542 K.).
+
+{OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.}
+
+(216)
+
+1788. June 26. Symphony, E flat major (543 K.).
+
+A short march for violin, flute, viola, horn, and violoncello, in D
+major, unknown (544 K.).
+
+A short pianoforte sonata for beginners in C major (545 K.).
+
+A short adagio for two violins, viola, and bass, to a fugue in C minor
+(546 K.).
+
+July 10. Short pianoforte sonata for beginners, with violin, F major
+(547 K.).
+
+July 14. Terzet for piano, violin, and violoncello, in C major (548 K.).
+
+July 16. Canzonette a 2 soprani e basso, "Più non si trovano" (549 K.).
+
+July 25. Symphony in G minor (550 K.).
+
+August 10. Symphony in C major (551 K.).
+
+August 11. Ein Lied beim Auszug ins Feld, unknown (552 K.).[1]
+
+September 2. Eight four-part and two three-part Canoni (553-562 K.).
+
+September 27. Divertimento for violin, viola, and violoncello, in E flat
+major (563 K.).
+
+October 27. Terzet for piano, violin, and violoncello, in G major (564
+K.).
+
+October 30, December 6, December 24. Tänze (565, 567, 568 K.).
+
+1789. January. German air, "Ohne Zwang aus freiem Triebe" (569 K.).
+
+February. Pianoforte sonata in B flat major (570 K.).
+
+February 21. Tänze (571 K.).
+
+The symphonies in E flat major, G minor, and C major, written in the
+three summer months of 1788, show that the inner strength was not
+slumbering; but Mozart's appointment as chamber-composer to the Emperor
+gave him no impulse to composition, and his official duties were
+limited to the preparation of music for the masked balls in the imperial
+Redoutensale.[2]
+
+These Redoutensale are situated in the wing of the Hof-burg, which forms
+the right side of the Josephsplatz, and originally contained a theatre,
+where, upon festive occasions, operas and ballets were performed before
+the court; after the erection of the Burgtheater, in 1752, the old
+Hoftheater was
+
+{MASKED BALLS.}
+
+(217)
+
+converted into the large and small Redoutensaal now existing, and
+concerts, balls, and other entertainments given there. The balls were
+masked, and took place on every Carnival Sunday, on Shrove-Tuesday, and
+on the three last days of Carnival. Joseph II. favoured them as a means
+of drawing different classes together, and frequently appeared at them
+with his court; all ranks mixed freely, and considerable license was
+allowed. The usual dances were minuets, country dances, and waltzes,
+in the last of which only the lower classes joined, on account of the
+crowding--just as is the case in "Don Giovanni" (p. 163). The
+management of the Redoute was generally in the same hands as that of the
+Opera-Theatre, the two being farmed out together. The court monopolised
+the Opera-Theatre in 1778 and the Kàrnthnerthortheater in 1785, and kept
+the control over them until August, 1794. Thus it came about that the
+court theatrical-director ordered the dance music, and although the
+pay was only a few ducats for a set of dances, the services of good
+composers were claimed for the purpose; Haydn, Eybler, Gyrowetz, Hummel,
+and Beethoven all composed for the Redoute, as well as Mozart.[3] During
+the years succeeding his appointment--1788, 1789, 1791--Mozart composed
+a number of different dances for the masked balls:--
+
+1788. January 14. Country dance "Das Donnerwetter" (534 K.).
+
+January 23. Country dance, "Die Bataille" (535 K.).
+
+January 27. Six waltzes (536 K.).
+
+October 30. Two country dances (565 K.).
+
+December 6. Six waltzes (567 K.).
+
+December 24. Twelve minuets (568 K.).
+
+1789. February 21. Six waltzes (571 K.).
+
+December. Twelve minuets (585 K.).
+
+Twelve waltzes. N.B.--A country dance, "Der Sieg vom Helden Coburg"
+(against the Turks, October, 1789) (586, 587 K.).
+
+1791. January 23. Six minuets for the Redoute (599 K.).
+
+January 29. Siz waltzes (600 K.).
+
+February 5. Four minuets and four waltzes (601, 602 K.).
+
+Two country dances. (603 K.).
+
+
+{OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.}
+
+(218)
+
+1791. February 12. Two minuets and two waltzes (604, 605 K.).
+
+February 28. Country dance, "II. Trionfo delle Donne" (607 K.).
+
+March 6. Country dance, "Die Leyer" (610 K.).[4]
+
+Waltz with Leyer-trio (611 K.).[5]
+
+No dances are chronicled in 1790, the illness and subsequent death of
+the Emperor (February 20) having doubtless put a temporary stop to such
+entertainments. Those in the list are for the most part composed for
+full orchestra, and those with which I am acquainted make no claim to be
+considered otherwise than as actual dance music, with pleasing melodies
+and fresh rhythm--innocent recreations, betraying the master's hand in
+touches here and there.[6] As the only musical task imposed upon him
+by virtue of his office, they might well give rise to his bitter remark
+that his salary was too high for what he did, too low for what he could
+do (Vol. II., p. 276).
+
+A commission more worthy his fame was intrusted to him by Van Swieten,
+who, having brought with him from Berlin an enthusiastic admiration for
+Handel's oratorios, sought to introduce them in Vienna. He not only gave
+frequent concerts at his residence in the Renngasse, for the exclusive
+performance of classical music, but he arranged grand performances of
+Handel's oratorios, supported by all the vocal and instrumental forces
+at his command. He induced several art-loving noblemen (among them the
+Princes Schwarzen-berg, Lobkowitz, and Dietrichstein, Counts Appony,
+Batthiany, Franz Esterhazy, &c.) to cover by a subscription the cost of
+these performances. They took place generally in
+
+
+{ARRANGEMENT OF HANDEL'S ORATORIOS.}
+
+(219)
+
+the great hall of the Court Library (of which Van Swieten was chief
+director); sometimes at the palace of one or other of the patrons, and
+always in the afternoon, by daylight. There was no charge for admission,
+the audience being invited guests. The performances were arranged
+according to circumstances, taking place generally in the spring, before
+the nobility left Vienna for their country estates. The performers were
+principally members of the Court-Kapelle and of the operatic orchestra,
+and the preparation was undertaken entirely by Van Swieten, in whose
+house the rehearsals took place. He himself arranged "Athalia," and very
+probably also "The Choice of Hercules," for a performance after Mozart's
+death. The conductorship was at first intrusted to Joseph Starzer, who
+had arranged "Judas Maccabæus";[7] after his death, on April 22,
+1787, Mozart took his place, and young Joseph Weigl accompanied on the
+pianoforte.[8]
+
+"Acisand Galatea" was first performed, Mozart's arrangement of it
+appearing in his own catalogue, in November, 1788; Caroline Pichler
+retained in her old age a lively recollection of the impression made on
+her by this performance.[9] It was followed by the "Messiah," in March,
+1789.[10] Great expectations were excited by this oratorio, by reason
+of the magnificent performances of it which had been given at the London
+Handel festivals in 1784 and 1785,[11] at the cathedral
+
+
+{OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.}
+
+(220)
+
+in Berlin, by Hiller, on May 19, 1786 (with Italian words),[12] at the
+University Church in Leipzig,[13] on November 3,1786, and May 11,1787,
+and at Breslau[14] on May 30,1788. Finally, in July, 1790, Mozart
+arranged the "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" and the "Feast of Alexander."
+It was considered necessary, in order not to distract the attention of
+the public by the unusual effects of Handel's orchestra, to modify
+the instrumentation.[15] Even Hiller remarks (Nachricht, p. 14), "Many
+improvements may be made in Handel's compositions by the employment of
+the wind instruments, according to the fashion of the present day. In
+the whole of the 'Messiah,' Handel appears never to have thought of the
+oboes, flutes, or French horns, all of which are so often employed to
+heighten or strengthen the effect in our present orchestras. I need not
+remark that the alterations must be made with care and discretion." But
+he went far beyond these "innocent" views; he shortened and altered the
+composition itself, especially in the airs and recitatives, and wrote
+"an entirely new score, as far as may be what Handel would himself have
+written at the present day" (Betracht-ungen, p. 16). He was convinced
+that "only a pedantic lover of old fashions, or a pedantic contemner
+of what is good in the new ones" would find fault with this proceeding
+(Betracht-ungen, p. 18). The object with which Mozart undertook to
+rearrange the instrumentation of Handel's works was the strengthening
+and enriching of the orchestra to enable it to dispense with the organ
+or harpsichord, to which the working-out of the harmonies had originally
+been intrusted. This was principally effected by the introduction of
+wind
+
+
+{ARRANGEMENT OF HANDEL'S ORATORIOS.}
+
+(221)
+
+instruments. Mozart's autograph scores of "Acis and Galatea" (566 K.),
+of "The Ode for St. Cecilia's Day" (592 K.),[16] and of the "Feast of
+Alexander" (591 K.),[17] preserved in the Royal Library in Berlin, show
+how he set about his task. The voice parts and stringed instruments have
+been transferred to his score, and left as Handel wrote them, with the
+exception that where Handel has provided a violin part, Mozart
+employs the second violin and viola to fill in the harmonies. The wind
+instruments have been altogether omitted by the copyist in order
+to leave Mozart free play. Wherever Handel has employed them
+characteristically, they are so preserved, but when, as often happens,
+the oboes are the sole representatives of the wind instruments, Mozart
+has proceeded independently, sometimes replacing them by other single
+instruments, frequently clarinets--flutes only very occasionally,
+sometimes introducing the whole body of wind instruments. This he does
+also in some places where Handel has not even employed oboes, if it is
+needed to give force or fulness to the whole.
+
+The frequent introduction of the clarinets replaced the full and
+powerful organ tones, but without any express imitation of that
+particular sound-effect by Mozart. The whole character of the
+instrumentation was necessarily modified, and even the portions which
+were literally
+
+
+{OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.}
+
+(222)
+
+transcribed from Handel's original have a very different effect in their
+altered surroundings. Mozart has proceeded quite as independently in
+dealing with the harpsichord parts. Not content with filling in the
+prescribed or suggested harmonies and regulating the due succession of
+chords, he has also made an independent disposition of the middle
+parts and given them free movement. The subjects employed by Handel are
+further developed, and sometimes a new motif has occurred to him as
+an enlivenment to the accompaniment, in which case the additional wind
+instruments are employed to advantage. The harpsichord is treated, in
+the main, as might be expected from a first-rate organist of that time,
+and it is difficult at the present day to reproduce what so much depends
+upon the free co-operation of the performer.[18] The objection
+which may be raised against the alteration and partial remodelling of
+a carefully thought-out and finished work by a strange hand is
+unanswerable. The most loving and intelligent treatment cannot avoid
+inequality and incongruity; compared with what has been literally
+transmitted, every modification reflects, both in kind and degree, the
+individual learning and taste of the adapter. On the whole, however,
+Mozart's arrangements evince the greatest reverence for Handel, combined
+with a masterly use of all available resources, and they afford a
+proof as interesting as it is instructive of the study which Mozart had
+bestowed upon Handel, of the spirit in which he undertook his task, and
+of his thorough and delicate apprehension of foreign creations.
+
+Mozart had heard the "Messiah" in 1777 at Mannheim, but apparently it
+had made no more lasting impression upon him than upon the public. Now,
+however, he approached the masterpiece with far other predilections,
+and the adaptation opened to him many points of interest. The three
+oratorios already mentioned were so moderate in length as to be suited
+for performance entire, but the greatly
+
+
+{THE "MESSIAH."}
+
+(223)
+
+disproportionate length of the "Messiah" made its curtailment a
+necessary part of its adaptation (572 K.). Several pieces were omitted,
+and others were shortened; but a proof that other and more important
+alterations were contemplated is afforded by a letter from Van Swieten
+to Mozart (March 21, 1789), given by Niemetschek (p. 46): "Your idea
+of turning the words of the unimpassioned air into a recitative is
+excellent; and in case you should not have retained the words, I have
+copied and now send them to you. The musician who is able to adapt and
+to amplify Handel's work so reverently and so judiciously, that on
+the one side he satisfies modern taste, and on the other preserves the
+integrity of his subject, has appreciated the great master's work, has
+penetrated to the source of his inspiration, and will doubtless draw
+from the same well himself. It is thus that I regard what you have
+accomplished, and I need not therefore again assure you of my entire
+confidence, but only beg you to let me have the recitative as soon as
+possible." Nevertheless, this idea, judging from the published score,
+was not carried out. In the arrangement of the orchestra, Mozart has
+gone further than in the previous works. Sometimes there has been an
+external necessity for altering even characteristic instrumentation,
+as in the air, "The trumpet shall sound" (No. 44). There were no solo
+trumpeters such as existed in Handel's time, and an attempt was made to
+preserve the effect as far as possible by rearrangement. He has altered,
+however, even without such occasion as this, and many instances of
+instrumental arrangement might be cited as far transgressing the bounds
+within which interference with a work of art is justifiable.[19]
+In themselves these same portions are admirable alike in their
+sound-effects and musical treatment, and in the delicate discrimination
+with which Mozart has made his additions appear as the natural
+development of Handel's ideas; we can see how the fascination of
+continuing the weaving of the threads from the master's hands has
+tempted
+
+
+{OFFICIAL AND OCCASIONAL WORKS.}
+
+(224)
+
+him to overstep the boundary. In doing so, however, the connection of
+the parts has been lost, and the unity of the whole has been disturbed.
+One of the most remarkable examples is the air, "The people that walked
+in darkness," in which the wind instruments added by Mozart are foreign
+to Handel's purpose, but nevertheless of very fine effect, and certainly
+not deserving of the reproach of "doleful sound-painting" ("betrübter
+Malerei").[20] It was to be expected that Mozart's adaptation should
+attract both praise[21] and blame,[22] while those, such as Rochlitz[23]
+and Zelter,[24] who went deeper into the subject found much that was
+excellent and also much that was faulty in the work, at the same time
+that they gave due consideration to the occasion that called it forth
+and the design with which it was undertaken.
+
+It must not be forgotten that these adaptations were undertaken by
+Mozart solely for Van Swieten's performances, and that his individual
+taste and the exigences of the representation must have exercised
+considerable influence upon them. He must certainly not be credited with
+the wish to improve upon Handel;[25] his intention has rather been so to
+popularise his works as to bring them home to the
+
+
+{ADAPTATIONS OF EARLIER WORKS.}
+
+(225)
+
+public, without altering any of the more important parts. That the
+adaptations should have been published and accepted as regular improved
+editions of the original was not his fault, though he has often had to
+do penance for it. It must be remembered also that the historic theory
+which holds that every work of art should be carefully preserved in the
+form wherein its author has embodied it was then non-existent.
+
+The majority of compositions have been directly the result of
+circumstances determining the direction of the artist's energies; they
+laboured for the future while seeking to satisfy the present. They
+therefore made free use of their works for subsequent elaboration,
+altering what was needful, and adapting them to the particular occasions
+on which they were performed by means of additions, omissions, and
+alterations. The same freedom was thought allowable with the works of
+other masters, especially those of an earlier time, so that the public
+might the more easily and comfortably enjoy what was set before it. A
+knowledge of what was then thought excusable in this direction[26] will
+serve to increase our respect for the artistic spirit in which Mozart
+performed his task.[27] The scientific and historic ideas which have
+permeated the cultivation of our times require the enjoyment of a work
+of art to be founded upon historical insight and appreciation, and to
+this end it must be represented exactly as the artist has produced it.
+But this principle, true as it is in itself, can only be applied with
+considerable practical limitations, and it is doubtful how far the
+general public is capable of apprehending and approving it; in any case
+it is much to be desired that the fashion in such matters should not be
+set by pedants.[28]
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XXXIX.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Wien. Ztg., 1789, No. 69, Anh., advertises Frûhlingslied and
+Kriegslied by Mozart.]
+
+[Footnote 2: In the grand pasticcio arranged by Da Ponte, "L'Ape Musicale," a
+couple of airs by Mozart are inserted (Wien. Ztg., 1789, No. 23, Anh.).]
+
+[Footnote 3: I owe these particulars to the courtesy of Sonnleithner.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Wien. Ztg., 1791, No. 44, Anh., announces thirteen German
+waltzes, thirteen trios and coda, among which are the "Leyer" and
+"Schlittenlahrt."]
+
+[Footnote 5: André's Catalogue includes, besides five minuets signed "Di
+Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart, Vienna, 1784" (461 K.), and the Prague
+"Teutschen" (509 K.) already mentioned (Vol. III., p. 125), several
+other dances, certainly belonging to an earlier date. Printed and
+written collections of dances in the most varied arrangements have been
+circulated under Mozart's name, although of very doubtful authenticity.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Under Mozart's name an "Anleitung soviel Walzer oder Schleifer
+mit zwei Wurfeln zu componiren, soviel man will, ohne musikalisch zu
+verstehen," was published in four languages by Hammel (Amsterdam, Berlin
+and elsewhere). I am not aware whether he had any share in it.]
+
+[Footnote 7: The often-expressed opinion that Mozart arranged "Judas Maccabæus"
+(A. M. Z., XXII., p. 30) has been corrected by Sonnleithner (Cäcilia,
+XVIII., p. 242). "Judas Maccabæus" was performed as early as 1779, at
+the Concert for the Pensionsinstitut (Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 70).]
+
+[Footnote 8: These particulars, communicated to me by Sonnleithner, rest partly
+on the testimony of the University Apparitor, Joh. Schönauer, who had
+assisted at these performances as a boy.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Car. Pichler, Denkw., IV., p. 21. Schönauer said that Mozart gave
+a benefit performance of "Acis and Galatea" in Jahn's Hall, at which
+Mdlle. Cavalieri, Adamberger, and Gsur sang the solo parts.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Carpani mentions a performance of the "Messiah" in the
+Schwarzenberg Palace; perhaps a later one (Hayd., p. 64).]
+
+[Footnote 11: Burney's "Nachricht," translated by Eschenburg (Berlin, 1785). The
+first time there were over 500, the second time over 660 performers. In
+consequence of this the "Messiah" was performed in Copenhagen in March,
+1786. (Cramer, Mag. f. Mus., II., p. 960.)]
+
+[Footnote 12: J. A. Hiller, Nachricht von der Auftuhrung des Händelschen Messias
+(Berlin, 1786, 4), with Hiller's portrait. There were about 300
+performers.]
+
+[Footnote 13: This again gave rise to some explanatory pamphlets from Hiller:
+Fragment aus Handel's Messias; Ueber Alt und Neu in der Musik; Der
+Messias von Handel nebst angehängten Betrachtungen darûber. On this
+occasion there were more than 200 performers; the enthusiasm of the
+audience was great, as was testified by a then youthful member of it
+(Reichardt's Mus. Ztg., I., p. 126. Cf. Rochlitz, Für Freunde der Tonk.,
+I., p. 22. A. M. Z., XXX., p. 491).]
+
+[Footnote 14: Hiller gave explanatory comments on the words. They were published
+in the Schles. Provinzial-Blätter, 1788, p. 549. Particulars are given
+by Baumgart, Abh. d. Schles. Ges. Phil. hist. Abth., 1862, I., p. 46.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The pastoral, "Acis and Galatea," was composed by Handel at Cannons
+in 1720 (Chrysander, Handel, I., p. 479).]
+
+[Footnote 16: In pursuance of an old custom of celebrating St. Cecilia's Day by
+music, a musical society had been founded in London, which instituted
+a grand performance on that day; the music and words were expressly
+written for the occasion, and the praise of music formed the subject. A
+long list of celebrated poems and compositions by the first masters was
+the result. W. H. Husk (An Account of the Musical Celebrations on St.
+Cecilia's Day, London, 1857. Chrysander, Handel, II., p. 412. Pohl.
+Mozart u. Haydn in London, p. 12). Dryden's Song for St. Cecilia's Day,
+"From harmony, from heavenly harmony, this universal frame began," was
+written in 1687, and set to music by Draghi; Handel composed the same
+poem in the autumn of 1739. (Chrysander, Handel, II., p. 430.)]
+
+[Footnote 17: Dryden's "Alexander's Feast" was written in 1697, and performed
+with Jer. Clark's music. Handel composed it in 1736; at the second
+performance in 1737, a duet and chorus, the words by Newburgh Hamilton,
+were added, but are not included in Mozart's arrangement. (Chrysander,
+Handel, II., p. 413).]
+
+[Footnote 18: The excellent pianoforte arrangement, which is published by the
+German Handel Society with the score of "Acis and Galatea," shows
+throughout a similar working-out and arrangement.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Mozart is not answerable for all that stands in the printed score.
+The air, "If God is for us" (No. 48), with bassoon accompaniment, is, as
+Baumgarten has proved (Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1862, No. 5, p. 35), taken
+from Hiller's arrangement.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Thibaut, Ueb. Reinheit d. Tonk., p. 66.]
+
+[Footnote 21: In Fr. Th. Mann's musik. Taschenb. for 1805, we read (p. 3): "Der
+genielle Mozart erhob jene bis zur Manier getriebene Simplicitat, jene
+lang-weilige ermüdende Leere durch Ausfullung der Begleitung. Göttliche
+Zierden sind es, die Mozart aus der Fülle seiner Harmonie hier zusetzte,
+die aber bei diesem fur solche Schönheit unorganisirten Werk so isolirt
+stehen, dass sie einen zweiten Bestandtheil ausmachen!"]
+
+[Footnote 22: A notice from Hamburg (Reichardt's Mus. Ztg., I., p. 197) says
+of Mozart's arrangement: "Michel Angelo's Gemälde muss kein David
+über-malen wollen." Setzte doch Handel zu Mozart's Opern keine Orgel u.
+s. w. oder vielmehr strich keine--weg"; whereupon Reichardt remarks that the
+omitted word is illegible in the "esteemed correspondent's" handwriting.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Jen. Allg. Litt. Ztg., 1804, I., p. 601. Rochlitz names himself as
+the author of the detailed review (Fur Freunde der Tonk., I., p. 259).
+Cf. A. M. Z., IX., p. 476; XV., p. 428; XXIX., p. 692.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Reichardt's Mus. Ztg., I., p. 41. Zelter, who owns to this review
+to Goethe (Briefw., II., p. 302; III., p. 418), used to perform the
+"Messiah" in Mozart's version, with alterations and omissions (Berl.
+Allg. Mus. Ztg., 1824, p. 427).]
+
+[Footnote 25: Cf. Parke, Mus. Mem., II., 76.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Thus Hiller not only rearranged the instrumentation of Pergolese's
+"Stabat Mater," but adapted it partially as a four-part chorus; J. A.
+Schulze turned six instrumental adagios, by J. Haydn, into a cantata,
+"Der Versöhnungstod," for chorus and orchestra. And how was Mozart's
+church music treated! (App. 2.)]
+
+[Footnote 27: Gerber undertook, in all seriousness, to perform the choruses of
+the "Messiah" in Mozart's version, but to have all the airs recomposed
+by approved composers (A. M. Z., XX., p. 832).]
+
+[Footnote 28: The conclusion to Gluck's overture to "Iphigenie in Aulis," which
+has been, without proof, ascribed to Mozart, is, according to Marx
+(Gluck, II., p. 71), by J. P. Schmidt.]
+
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 40
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XL. A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.
+
+MOZART'S unsatisfactory position in Vienna, both from a pecuniary and a
+professional point of view,[1] doubtless inclined him for a professional
+tour, to which the immediate inducement was an invitation from Prince
+Karl Lichnowsky, husband of the Countess Thun, a zealous musical
+connoisseur and a pupil and ardent admirer of Mozart. His estates
+in Schleswig and his position in the Prussian army necessitated his
+residence from time to time in Berlin; and, being on the point of
+repairing thither in the spring of 1789, he invited Mozart to accompany
+him. The musical taste and liberality of Frederick William II. augured
+well for the expedition, and Lichnowsky's support was likely to prove a
+valuable aid. Accordingly on April 8, 1789, they set out.[2] At Prague,
+where they remained only one day, a contract with Guardasoni for an
+opera to be written in the autumn was "almost settled"; unfortunately
+only _almost_, for it does not appear to have gone further. Mozart was
+especially delighted with the news brought to him from Berlin by his old
+friend Ramm, that the King, having been informed of his intended visit,
+had asked repeatedly if the plan was likely to be carried out.
+
+At Dresden, where they arrived on April 12, Mozart's first care was to
+seek out his friend Madame Duschek, who was visiting the Neumann family;
+he was soon quite at home with these "charming people." Joh. Leop.
+Neumann, Secretary to the Military Council, was highly esteemed for his
+literary and musical activity. He translated for his intimate friend
+Naumann the operas "Cora" and
+
+{DRESDEN, 1789.}
+
+(227)
+
+"Amphion," and in 1777 he founded a musical academy;[3] his wife was
+considered a first-rate pianoforte-player.[4] Through them Mozart was
+introduced to the musical world of Dresden--among others to Körner,
+an interesting proof of whose friendship remains in a crayon sketch
+of Mozart drawn by Komer's sister-in-law, Dora Stock, in 1789.
+Kapellmeister Naumann--a Mass composed by whom he heard and thought very
+"mediocre"--inspired him with instantaneous dislike; and the feeling
+appears to have been mutual, if, as tradition reports, Naumann used to
+call Mozart a musical _sans culotte_.[5]
+
+A summons to play before the court on April 14 was regarded as an
+unusual honour, and was followed by a present of 100 ducats.[6]
+Elsewhere he played with his usual readiness and good nature; and the
+interest which was felt in him was increased by a competition in which
+he came off with flying colours. His rival was Hàssler of Erfurt,[7] who
+happened to be in Dresden at the time, and was considered a pianoforte
+and organ-player of the first rank. Much was said in praise of his
+astonishing executive powers, of his brilliant and fiery delivery,[8]
+of his singular gift "of putting expression into the most rapid
+prestissimo--so that in softness and pathos it was equal to an
+adagio"[9]--and of his wonderful memory, enabling him to play the
+most difficult compositions without the notes. As an organ-player his
+dexterity with the pedal was specially admired.[10] He had an
+
+{A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.}
+
+(228)
+
+excellent opinion of himself; and when in the summer of 1788 he was in
+Dresden, "exciting the liveliest astonishment in all who heard him
+by his inexpressibly affecting playing," he let it be known that he
+intended to proceed to Vienna, "in order to prove to the Vienna public
+in competition with the great Mozart, that strong as the latter may be
+upon the pianoforte, he cannot play the clavichord."[11] To Mozart he
+appeared no formidable antagonist; he gave him credit for his dexterity
+in the use of the pedal, but placed him below Albrechtsberger as an
+organ-player, and compared him to Aurnhammer as a pianist.
+
+Mozart's visit to Leipzig left behind a strong and pleasant impression.
+Fr. Rochlitz, then a young man, became intimate with him at the house
+of their common friend Doles,[12] and preserved a number of interesting
+traits, characteristic both of the man and the artist. He was cheerful
+and amiable in society, outspoken in his judgments of art and artists,
+and responsive to any display of interest in music; "not niggardly of
+his art, as so many musicians are." Almost every evening during his stay
+in Leipzig he took part in musical entertainments at different houses,
+and when quartets were played he took the piano or tenor part. The
+violinist Berger, who was generally of the party, used, as an old man,
+when any of these pieces were brought forward, to whisper to a friend
+with tender emotion, "Ah, I had once the honour of accompanying the
+great Mozart himself in that piece."[13] An ear-witness gave the
+following account:--
+
+On April 22 he played the organ of the Thomaskirche, without previous
+notice, and gratuitously. He played very finely for an hour to a large
+audience. The then organist, Gorner, and the cantor, Doles, sat near
+him and pulled the stops. I saw him well; a young, well-dressed man
+of middle height. Doles was quite delighted with the performance, and
+declared that his old master, Sebastian Bach, had
+
+{LEIPZIG--POTSDAM, 1789.}
+
+(229)
+
+risen again. Mozart brought to bear all the arts of harmony with the
+greatest ease and discrimination, and improvised magnificently on every
+theme given--among others on the chorale, "Jesu meine Zuversicht."[14]
+
+Doles in return made his Thomaner scholars sing for Mozart Bach's
+motett, "Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied," and we have already seen
+how intensely delighted he was, and how eagerly he at once set about
+studying Bach's other motetts (Vol. II., p. 416). Shortly after this,
+and apparently without having given a concert, Mozart continued his
+journey to Berlin, and thence immediately proceeded to Potsdam, where
+Lichnowsky presented him to the King. Frederick William II. possessed
+remarkable talent and love for music. He played the violoncello
+well, not only as a soloist, but frequently also in the orchestra
+at rehearsals.[15] Even before his accession to the throne he had
+maintained a well-appointed and excellent Kapelle under the leadership
+of the violoncellist Duport senior (1741-1818); concerts were regularly
+performed before him, and he was fond of hearing foreign virtuosi.[16]
+Reichardt credits him with great universality of taste,[17] which was
+of special advantage to music after Frederick the Great's bigoted
+prejudice. It was at the King's instigation that Reichardt organised his
+Concerts Spirituels, at which the older Italian music was principally
+performed; he esteemed highly both Handel and Gluck, and both at his
+concerts and on the stage showed equal favour to Italian, French, and
+German music; the improved instrumental music called into being by Haydn
+found a sympathetic patron in him. After his accession, in 1786, musical
+enterprise had still more cause to rejoice in the royal favour.
+He united his own with the royal Kapelle and placed Reichardt as
+Kapellmeister at their head. The grand Italian opera given at the
+Carnival was brilliantly appointed, and Naumann's services as a composer
+were retained, together with those of Alessandri
+
+{A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.}
+
+(230)
+
+and Reichardt. The hitherto little-esteemed German drama was elevated to
+the rank of a national theatre, and a regular support was secured to it,
+which had great weight in the elevation of German opera. Nor were opera
+buffa or the French opera neglected; on one evening, during a court
+festival, in the summer of 1789, Cimarosa's "Falegname," Dalayrac's
+"Nina," and Reichardt's "Claudine von Villa-bella" were performed. The
+King's concerts were conducted in the same manner as before, remaining
+under Duport's leadership.
+
+The King welcomed foreign artists not only liberally in point
+of payment, but with the utmost kindness and freedom of personal
+intercourse, so that it is not surprising that they should have held
+him in great reverence, and approached him with large expectations.[18]
+Mozart's best introductions to the King's favour were his instrumental
+compositions, especially his quartets, and the very successful
+performance of his "Entführung" which had taken place in Berlin; there
+can be little doubt that he confirmed the good opinion conceived of him
+by his accomplishments as a virtuoso and by his general demeanour. But
+he found a powerful opponent in the haughty and intriguing Duport.[19]
+At Mozart's first visit he insisted on speaking French, which Mozart,
+although familiar with the language, decidedly declined doing. "The
+grinning mounseer," said he, "has been long enough making German money,
+and eating German bread, to be able to speak the German language, or to
+murder it as best he may, with his French grimaces."[20] Duport did not
+forgive him, and did all he could to prejudice the King against him,
+although Mozart paid him the compliment of composing variations (573
+K.) to a charming minuet of Duport's (April 29, 1789), and of performing
+them himself. But the King was proof against
+
+{OFFER OF THE KING OF PRUSSIA.}
+
+(231)
+
+Duport's ill-nature, invited Mozart regularly to his concerts, and
+was fond of hearing him play. When he asked him what he thought of the
+Berlin Kapelle, Mozart answered frankly, that it contained the best
+performers in the world, but that if the gentlemen would play together
+it would be an improvement.[21] This implied disapprobation of the
+Kapellmeister Reichardt, whose direction had indeed been found fault
+with by others.[22] We hear of no intercourse between the two artists;
+perhaps some such sharp expressions as the above were the cause of
+the grudging notices of Mozart by Reichardt and the journals under his
+influence, which we cannot fail to remark.[23] No two natures could well
+be more dissimilar. Reichardt was undoubtedly a distinguished man; he
+had musical talent, a keen intellect, varied cultivation, and great
+energy; but ambition, vanity, and a passionate temper seldom allowed him
+to arrive at a calm judgment, and he was in continual search of some new
+way in which to bring himself forward. The journalist and the musician,
+the critic and the composer, trod close on each other's heels; and while
+always seeking to gain credit for originality of style, his greater
+compositions are in truth uncertain and unequal, and seldom produce the
+desired effect. No wonder that he failed to understand a nature such as
+Mozart's, which, undisturbed by external considerations, followed its
+creative impulses from sheer inner necessity; no wonder, either, that so
+failing, he should have sought to justify his aversion to his rival on
+polemical grounds.[24] Mozart's remark must have made some impression
+on the King, since he soon after offered him the post of Kapellmeister,
+with a salary of 3,000 dollars. This offer, however, consideration for
+the Emperor Joseph induced Mozart to decline.[25]
+
+{A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.}
+
+(232)
+
+During his stay in Potsdam, Mozart resided in the house of the
+well-known hom-player Thùrschmidt, with whom he had become acquainted in
+Paris; he was a constant guest also of the hospitable and music-loving
+Sartory, an artist of architectural ornament, who had been much in
+Italy, and welcomed all who took interest in his favourite art; Mozart's
+playing and sociability made him, as may be imagined, the centre of this
+cheerful society.[26] Another of his friends was the charming singer
+Sophie Niclas, sister to the Kammer-musikus Semler, who had made a very
+successful appearance as Constanze in the "Entführung" in 1784:[27]--
+
+On one occasion, at her house, he was asked to improvise something.
+Readily, as his custom was, he complied, and seated himself at the
+piano, having first been provided with two themes by the musicians who
+were present. Madame Niclas stood near his chair to watch him playing.
+Mozart, who loved a joke with her, looked up and said, "Come! haven't
+you a theme on your mind for me too?" She sang him one, and he began the
+most charming fantasia, now on the one subject, now on the other,
+ending by bringing them all three together, to the intense delight and
+amazement of all who were present.[28]
+
+Arrangements were made during Mozart's stay in Berlin for a return visit
+to Leipzig, where in the meantime a concert for his benefit was being
+organised; he arrived there on May 8. At the rehearsal for this concert
+he took the tempo of the first allegro of his symphony so fast that the
+orchestra was very soon in inextricable confusion. Mozart stopped, told
+the players what was wrong, and began again as fast as before, doing all
+he could to keep the orchestra together, and stamping the time with his
+foot so energetically that his steel shoe-buckle snapped in two.[29] He
+laughed at this, and as they still dragged, he began a third time; the
+musicians,
+
+{CONCERT IN LEIPZIG, 1789.}
+
+(233)
+
+grown impatient, worked in desperation, and at last it went right. "It
+was not caprice," he said afterwards to some musical friends, whom he
+had lectured only a short time before on the subject of too rapid tempo,
+"but I saw at once that most of the players were men advanced in years;
+there would have been no end to the dragging if I had not worked them up
+into a rage, so that they did their best out of pure spite." The rest
+of the symphony he took in moderate time, and after the song had been
+rehearsed he praised the accompaniment of the orchestra, and said
+that it would be unnecessary to rehearse his concerto: "The parts are
+correctly written out, you play accurately, and so do I"; and the result
+showed that his confidence was not misplaced.[30]
+
+The concert[31] was poorly attended, and scarcely paid the expenses of
+Mozart's journey to Leipzig. Almost half the audience had free tickets,
+which, with his usual liberality, Mozart gave away to every one he
+knew. He required no chorus, and the fairly numerous chorus-singers
+were therefore excluded from their usual free admission. Some of them
+inquired at the ticket-office whether this was really to be the case;
+and as soon as Mozart heard of the inquiry he gave orders that the
+good folks should all be admitted: "Who would think of enforcing such
+a rule?" The poor audience had not the effect of damping his musical
+enthusiasm or good humour. His own compositions only were performed; he
+conducted two symphonies, as yet unpublished, and then Madame Duschek
+sang the air composed for Storace with obbligato pianoforte (505 K.); he
+himself played two concertos, one of them the great C major (467 K.), as
+usual without notes. He complied with ready goodwill to the request for
+an improvisation at the close of the concert; and after it was over, as
+though he were then just warming to
+
+{A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.}
+
+(234)
+
+his work, he took his friend Berger into his room and played far into
+the night.[32]
+
+Mozart returned to Berlin[33] on May 19, and his "Entführung" was
+performed the same evening "by general desire."[34] He went to the
+theatre, seated himself close to the orchestra, and attracted the
+attention of his immediate neighbours by his _sotto voce_ remarks on
+the performance. In Pedrillo's air at the words "nur ein feiger Tropf
+verzaget," the second violins played D sharp instead of D, whereupon
+Mozart angrily exclaimed, "Damn it, play D, will you!" Every one looked
+round astonished, and the orchestra recognised him. Madame Baranius, who
+was playing Blondchen, refused to make her exit until Mozart went on
+to the stage, complimented her, and promised to study the part with her
+himself.[35] This promise, according to old tradition in Berlin,[36]
+involved him in a questionable adventure. Henriette Baranius (_née_
+Husen) made her appearance at a very early age in Berlin in 1784, and
+became the darling of the public, more from her remarkable beauty and
+grace than from her talents as an actress and a singer, although these
+were by no means inconsiderable.[37] She was much talked of, and the
+theatrical critics of the time were never tired of admiring her costly
+and tasteful dresses, which in defiance of all precedent she insisted
+upon wearing in parts to which they were unsuited.[38] She was accused
+of making the most of her attractions in private as well as in public,
+and Mozart, it was said, became so deeply involved with her that it
+cost his friends much trouble to extricate him. His letters to his wife
+during this period make the story almost incredible.
+
+Another and more innocent encounter took place in the
+
+{LUDWIG TIECK AND MOZART.}
+
+(235)
+
+theatre. Ludwig Tieck, as a youth, was frequently at the house of
+Reichardt, and there first began "to divine the mysteries of music in
+classical works":--
+
+Led by his own inclination, and in opposition to the prevailing taste,
+he addicted himself to Mozart's great compositions, uninfluenced by
+contemporary critics, or even by so powerful an opinion as that of
+Reichardt. Mozart's victorious rival was Dittersdorf, whose comic operas
+were played in Berlin to crowded audiences. The "Doctor und Apotheker"
+was preferred to "Figaro" or "Don Juan," and "Die Liebe im Narrenhause"
+was in the public estimation the greatest of musical works. Ludwig's
+veneration for Mozart was destined to receive an unexpected reward. One
+evening during the year 1789, entering the theatre, as his custom was,
+long before the performance began, and while it was still empty and
+half-lighted, he perceived a strange man in the orchestra. He was
+short, quick, restless, and weak-eyed--an insignificant figure in a grey
+overcoat. He went from one desk to another, and appeared to be hastily
+looking through the music placed on them. Ludwig at once entered into
+conversation with him. They spoke of the orchestra, the theatre, the
+opera, the public taste. He expressed his opinions without reserve, and
+declared his enthusiastic admiration of Mozart's operas. "Do you really
+hear Mozart's works often, and love them?" asked the stranger--"that is
+very good of you, young sir." The conversation continued for some time
+longer; the theatre began to fill, and at last the stranger was called
+away from the stage. His talk had produced a singular effect upon
+Ludwig, who made inquiries concerning him, and learnt that it was Mozart
+himself, the great master, who had conversed with him, and expressed his
+obligation to him.[39]
+
+Hummel, who, as Mozart's pupil, had played in Dresden on March 10 with
+great success,[40] was giving a concert in Berlin, without being aware
+of Mozart's presence. When the boy descried him among the audience, he
+could scarcely contain himself, and as soon as his piece was ended, he
+pushed his way through the audience and embraced him with the tenderest
+expressions of joy at seeing him.[41] During this
+
+{A PROFESSIONAL TOUR.}
+
+(236)
+
+second visit to Berlin, on May 26, Mozart played before the Queen, which
+was considered a politic step, without any expectation of a handsome
+present in return. Following the advice of his friends, he did not
+attempt a public concert, seeing that there was no chance of a large
+profit, and the King was averse to it. The latter, however, sent him
+a present of 100 friedrichsdor, and expressed a wish that Mozart would
+write some quartets for him. This was the whole result of the tour,
+diminished by a loan of 100 florins which Mozart thought it incumbent on
+him to make to a friend; he might well write to his wife that she must
+be glad to see him, not the money he was bringing.
+
+Very different was the career of Dittersdorf, who came to Berlin in July
+of the same year. He had chosen the time when the visit of the Governess
+of the Netherlands occasioned festivities of every kind, and he
+refreshed the memory of the King, who had seen and invited him at
+Breslau, by the presentation of six new symphonies. Immediately upon
+his arrival he managed to ingratiate himself with Reichardt, was by him
+presented to Madame Rietz, afterwards Countess Lichtenau, and was
+very soon commanded by the King to put his "Doctor und Apotheker" in
+rehearsal, and to conduct it at a court festival at Charlottenburg;
+he also received permission to produce his oratorio of "Job" in the
+opera-house (hitherto only used by the court), with the resources of the
+royal Kapelle at his disposal. This, with additions from other sources,
+increased his _personnel_ to 200, and the performance was highly
+successful, Dittersdorf quitting Berlin rich in money and honours.[42]
+
+On May 28 Mozart set out on his homeward journey by way of Dresden and
+Prague, where he made a stay of a few days.
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XL.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: A proof of this is a note of hand for 100 florins, dated April 2,
+1789. Cf. O. Jahn, Ges. Aufs., p. 234.]
+
+[Footnote 2: The principal sources of information for this journey are Mozart's
+letters to his wife.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Heymann, Dresden's Schriftsteller u. Kunstler, p. 280. Meissner,
+Biqgr. Naumanns, II., p. 267.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Cf. Goethe's Br. an Frau v. Stein, II., p. 280.]
+
+[Footnote 5: And yet Mannstein says (Gesch. Geist u. Ausübung des Gesanges, p.
+89) that when Naumann heard the passage "Tu sospiri, o duol funesto" in
+the air composed for Storace (505 K.), he exclaimed: "That is a divine
+idea I Who has taught this man to express sympathy with the sorrows of
+others as well as those of his own heart in these few notes?"]
+
+[Footnote 6: Wien. Abendpost, 1866, p. 835. Cf. Mus. Real-Ztg., 1789, p. 191.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Joh. Wilh. Hassler (1747-1822) has prefixed his autobiography to the
+second part of his six easy sonatas (Erfurt, 1786).]
+
+[Footnote 8: Cramer, Mag. f. Mus., II., p. 404. Schiller, Briefw. m. Körner, I.,
+p. 154. Car. v. Wolzogen, Litt. Nachl., I., p. 203.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Meyer, L. Schroder, II., 1., p. 360.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Musik. Wochenbl., p. 71.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Mus. Real-Ztg., 1788, p. 56.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Doles dedicated his cantata "Ich komme vor dein Angesicht" (1790),
+"to two of his most esteemed patrons and friends, Herr Mozart and Herr
+Naumann, as a token of his distinguished regard."]
+
+[Footnote 13: Rochlitz, Fur Freunde der Tonk., III., p. 222..]
+
+[Footnote 14: Reichardt, Mus. Ztg., I., p. 132.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Naumann's Leben, p. 183. Meissner, Biogr. Naumanns, II., p. 199;
+cf. 212.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Wolf, Auch eine Reise, Weim., 1784, p. 10.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Reichardt, Musik. Monatsschr., p. 70. Mus Ztg., I., p. 2. Cf.
+Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p. 453. Schneider, Gesch. der Oper, p. 52.]
+
+[Footnote 18: The accounts of Dittersdorfs (Selbstbiogr., p. 248) and Naumann's
+(Meissner's Biogr., II., p. 189; Naumann's Leben, p. 267) personal
+intercourse with Frederick William II. are very interesting.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Mus. Monatsschr., p. 20. Cf. Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p. 457.
+Schneider, Gesch. der Oper Beil., XXXVI., pp. 15, 16.]
+
+[Footnote 20: So says the Berlin musical Veteran (Neue Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1856, p.
+35).]
+
+[Footnote 21: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., IM p. 22.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 267.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Cf. Rochlitz, A. M. Z., XXX., p. 491.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Cf. Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p. 638.]
+
+[Footnote 25: My researches in the Royal Library and archives for some trace
+of négociations accompanying this offer have proved fruitless. It must
+therefore have been at once refused at Mozart's personal interview with
+the King; the way in which Mozart writes to his wife, that she has cause
+to be satisfied with the favour in which he stands with the King, seems
+to refer to some definite proposal.]
+
+[Footnote 26: So ways the Veteran. The tradition, according to which Mozart wrote
+the "Ave verum" in Potsdam, is quite untrustworthy.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Berl. Litt. u. Theal.-Ztg., 1784, II., p. 160.]
+
+[Footnote 28: So says Semler, Voss. Ztg., 1857, March xi; Beil., p. 7.]
+
+[Footnote 29: The scene made such an impression that a viola-player marked the
+place on his part where Mozart stamped the time till his shoe-buckle
+snapped. Griel, the old orchestra attendant at Leipzig, had picked it up
+and showed it as a token.]
+
+[Footnote 30: A. M. Z., I., pp. 85, 179.]
+
+[Footnote 31: The notice in the Leipz. Ztg., 1789, Nos. 91 and 93 runs; "Heute
+als den Mai wird Herr Capellmeister Mozart, in wirklichen. Diensten Sr.
+K. K. Maj. eine musikalische Akademie in dem grossen Conzertsaale zu
+seinem Vortheil geben. Die Billets sind fur 1 Gulden bei Hrn. Rost in
+Auerbachs Hofe und bei dem Einlasse des Saales zu bekommen. Der Anfang
+ist um 6 Uhr."]
+
+[Footnote 32: On May 17, at Leipzig, he composed the charming little Gigue (574
+K.) for the court-organist, Engel.]
+
+[Footnote 33: He stayed in the house at the Gensdarmenmarkt with Moser, to whom
+he presented an elegant copy of the six quartets (421 K.).]
+
+[Footnote 34: Journ. d. Moden, 1789, p. 394.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., I., p. 20.]
+
+[Footnote 36: N. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1856, p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 37: An enthusiastic description of her beauty is given by Rahel (I., p.
+62).]
+
+[Footnote 38: Meyer, L. Schroder, II., 1, p. 93. Schletterer, Reichardt, I., p.
+511.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Köpke, L. Tieck, I., p. 86. It is well known that in 1789 the
+"Entfuh-rung," alone of Mozart's operas, was given in Berlin, "Figaro"
+and "Don Giovanni" not appearing on the stage there until November and
+December, 1790. This is a fresh proof of how youthful memories are
+confounded with later reminiscences.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Mus. Real-Ztg., 1789, p. 156.]
+
+[Footnote 41: So Hummel's widow told me at Weimar, in 1855.]
+
+[Footnote 42: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 253. Cf. Mus. Monatsschr., p. 41.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+MOZART 41
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLI.  "COSÌ FAN TUTTE,"
+
+UPON his arrival in Vienna on June 4, Mozart at once set to work upon a
+quartet for Frederick William II.; the Quartet in D major (575 K.) was
+completed in the same month, and in return for it, according to
+the Berlin Veteran, he received a valuable gold snuff-box with
+100 friedrichsdor, and a complimentary letter.[1] But this did not
+materially affect his embarrassed circumstances; the precarious state
+of his wife's health kept him in a state of perpetual anxiety, and the
+expenses it involved brought him into serious difficulties: "I am most
+unhappy!" he wrote on July 17 to his friend Puchberg. The confident
+expectation of a permanent improvement in his outward position, which he
+expressed in his letters to this constant friend, were grounded, as it
+seems, upon the overtures which had been made to him in Berlin; he had
+informed the Emperor of them, and thought himself entitled to look for
+a compensation for his refusal. But circumstances were not then
+favourable, and Mozart was not the man to push a claim of the kind.
+The effect of his depression is clearly visible in the want of musical
+productivity during this period. His own catalogue contains only the
+following compositions belonging to this year:--
+
+1789. June. A quartet for his majesty the King of Prussia, in D major
+
+July. Sonata for pianoforte alone, D major (576 K.). Rondo in my opera
+of "Figaro" for Madame Ferraresi del Bene, "Al desio (577 K.).
+
+August. Aria in the opera "I Due Baroni," for Mdlle. Louise Villeneuve,
+"Alma grande e nobil core" (578 K.).
+
+September 17. Aria in the opera "Der Barbier von Seviglien," for Madame
+Hofer, "Schon lachtder holde Frühling" (580 K.). (575 K.).
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(238)
+
+September 29. Quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola, and violoncello,
+in A major (581 K.); first played in public at the concert for the funds
+of the Pension, December 22, 1789.[2]
+
+October. Aria in the opera "ü Burbero," for Mdlle. Villeneuve, "Chi sà,
+chi sà quai sia" (582 K.).
+
+Ditto, "Vado! ma dove?" (583 K.).
+
+December, An air which was intended for Benucci in the opera "Cosi fan
+Tutte," "Rivolgete à me lo sguardo" (584 K.). Twelve minuets (585 K.)
+and twelve waltzes (586 K.).
+
+The prospect which was known to have been opened to him in Berlin may
+have had some effect in causing "Figaro" to be again placed on the stage
+in August. At the request of the prima donna, Madame Adriana Ferraresi
+del Bene, who had made her first appearance on October 13, 1788, Mozart
+wrote the grand air (577 K.).[3] For Louise Villeneuve he composed,
+during the following month, three airs for insertion in different operas
+(578, 582, 583, K.), perhaps with some view to his own new opera, in
+which Mdlle. Villeneuve was to appear. The approbation with which the
+revival of "Figaro" was received[4] no doubt suggested to the Emperor to
+commission Mozart to write a new opera. "It was not in his power," says
+Niemetschek (p. 43), "to decline the commission, and the libretto was
+provided him without consultation of his wishes."[5] It was "Cosi fan
+Tutte, osia la Scuola degli Amanti," by Da Ponte.[6] Mozart was busily
+engaged on it in December, 1789; and in January, 1790, it is entered in
+his catalogue as completed; it was first performed on January 26, with
+the following cast:[7]--
+
+{CHARACTERS AND PLOT.}
+
+(239)
+
+It appears to have been successful,[8] although it did not remain long
+on the repertory.[9] Unfortunately, we have no detailed information as
+to the preparation and performance of this opera. Da Ponte's achievement
+as the writer of an original libretto[10] serves to show more clearly
+than ever how much he had hitherto owed to his predecessors. Neither
+invention nor characterisation are anywhere visible, only a certain
+amount of dexterity in the handling of his subject.
+
+The plot in its main points is as follows:--
+
+Two young Neapolitan[11] officers--Ferrando (tenor) and Guillelmo
+(bass)--who are betrothed to the sisters Dorabella and Fiordiligi, are
+discovered seated in a _café_ in lively dispute with their friend Don
+Alfonso, an old cynic, who maintains that their two _fiancées_ would
+fail under any trial of their constancy. Upon their challenge to
+make good his words at the point of the sword he retorts with the old
+proverb, that woman's faith is like the phoenix--never seen.[12] Each of
+the lovers
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(240)
+
+declares his bride to be the phoenix. At last they agree to a wager. The
+two lovers promise on their word as officers to do nothing during the
+next four-and-twenty hours but what they are directed by Don Alfonso,
+who thereupon undertakes within that time to prove the fickleness of the
+two maidens. The young men, confident beforehand of victory, determine
+on celebrating it by a grand banquet in honour of their mistresses.
+
+Fiordiligi and Dorabella are discovered in their garden by the seashore,
+awaiting the arrival of their lovers and lovingly contemplating their
+portraits; each declares her lover to be the handsomest and best.
+Alfonso entering, brings the direful news that Ferrando and Guillelmo
+have been ordered to proceed at once to the field with their regiment.
+The lovers enter with melancholy mien to bid adieu, and the two ladies
+give vent to heartrending expressions of grief and love. The lovers
+express satisfaction thereat to Don Alfonso, who bids them wait for the
+end. A military march with a lively chorus is heard in the distance;[13]
+the lovers yield themselves to a last fond embrace with sobs and tears,
+at which Don Alfonso can hardly keep his countenance. The march again
+summons the officers to depart, and the two ladies join with Don Alfonso
+in waving their adieux to the retreating bark.
+
+Despina, the waiting-maid of the two ladies, waits for them impatiently
+with their chocolate.[14] She is amazed at their entrance in a condition
+of violent sorrow, which is expressed by Dorabella more especially in
+high tragic style. Her astonishment increases on hearing the cause, and
+she advises her mistresses to take the matter easily, and do all they
+can to divert their thoughts. The serious reproof with which this
+advice is met is answered by her in a tirade on the fickleness of men
+in general, and soldiers in particular, whom she declares to deserve no
+better treatment.
+
+Don Alfonso, in pursuance of his design, now seeks to gain over Despina.
+A few gold pieces and the prospect of a rich reward speedily gain her
+promise to admit two friends whom he declares to be madly in love with
+her mistresses. He at once introduces Ferrando and Guillelmo in the
+garb of wealthy Albanians, and so disguised by great beards as to be
+unrecognisable by Despina, who regards them as veritable "antidoto d'
+amor." While they are ingratiating themselves with the waiting-maid the
+two ladies enter. Their consternation at the presence of strangers turns
+to violent indignation when the pretended Albanians proceed without
+preface to fall on their knees and make declarations of
+
+{LIBRETTO.}
+
+(241)
+
+love. Don Alfonso, entering to prevent actual scandal, feigns to
+recognise old friends in the Albanians, and endeavours to act as
+mediator. The strangers continue their bold suit, but Fiordiligi proudly
+declares her faith as firm as a rock, and is immovable. The consequence
+is that upon Guillelmo renewing his entreaties the two ladies decline to
+hear him out, and make their exit. No sooner are they gone than the two
+break into loud laughter, which Don Alfonso with difficulty induces
+them to moderate. The first attack, which was to carry all by storm, has
+failed, and Don Alfonso retires to concoct a new plot with Despina.
+
+Fiordiligi and Dorabella are again discovered in the garden lamenting
+bygone happy hours, when the two Albanians rush in. They declare their
+resolution to take poison, spite of Don Alfonso's earnest dissuasions.
+Before the eyes of the cruel fair ones they swallow the contents of two
+vials, and sink in convulsions upon a bank of turf. The two horrified
+ladies call for Despina, who hurries off with Don Alfonso in search of
+a doctor, enjoining the ladies to support the sufferers during their
+absence. This, however, they dare not do, but contemplate the men from
+a distance in great agitation, which causes intense amusement to the
+disguised lovers. They gradually come nearer, and begin to express an
+interest which turns the amusement into disquiet. Don Alfonso returns
+with Despina, disguised as a doctor, a charlatan of the latest fashion,
+_à la_ Mesmer, who promises to work miracles by means of magnetism. The
+terrified maidens are forced to submit to his behests, and to hold the
+heads of the sufferers, while he magnetises them back to life.
+Finding themselves in the arms of the fair ones, they begin to rave
+ecstatically; the ladies, regarding this as the commencement of the
+cure, allow it to continue, though not without uneasiness, until the
+patients demand a kiss from them. This rouses the pride of the ladies,
+and they break into a rage so violent in its demonstrations that the
+others begin to be doubtful of their sincerity; the first finale closes
+amid general confusion.
+
+At the beginning of the second act, Despina seeks to reason her ladies
+out of their exaggerated ideas of constancy and their dread of a
+love-adventure such as offers itself; she places before them the image
+of a maiden who treats men lightly for her amusement, and remarks with
+satisfaction that her words have made some impression. In fact, when
+the sisters are left alone, Dorabella first declares her inclination to
+hearken to Guillelmo's suit, and Fiordiligi pronounces herself ready to
+put the new ideas into practice with Ferrando. In this favourable mood
+Don Alfonso invites them to a garden-party, where the lovers receive
+them with a serenade. They now show themselves as bashful and modest as
+they were formerly urgent and bold; Don Alfonso has to speak for them,
+Despina answers for the ladies, and reconciliation is sealed by a
+pressure of the hand. After some general conversation Ferrando and
+Fiordiligi go off together. Guillelmo expresses himself
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(242)
+
+more tenderly to Dorabella, and offers her a valuable gold heart as a
+gift; she takes it without more ado, declares that she cannot offer
+him her heart in exchange, since he already possesses it, allows him
+to loosen Ferrando's portrait from her bosom, and gives way to the
+tenderest endearments. Ferrando returns with Fiordiligi, who rejects him
+with apparent severity, but lets it be felt that she is not altogether
+indifferent to his suit; he ventures upon a tender declaration of love,
+and, finding it still unheeded, goes out in despair. Left alone, she
+declares her heart to be affected, but adheres to her resolve to resist
+the temptation and keep faith with her lover.
+
+Ferrando joyfully communicates Fiordiligi's steadfastness to Guillelmo,
+but is consternated to hear from him how easily Dorabella has been won,
+and has to submit to some triumph on the part of his friend. He feels
+all the acuter pain that his love to the faithless one is not yet
+stifled. Guillelmo now regards the wager as lost, but Don Alfonso
+demands that one more attack shall be made on Fiordiligi.
+
+Fiordiligi reproaches her sister in unmeasured terms for her
+thoughtlessness, whereupon the latter with extreme frankness declares
+that she neither can nor will control her inclinations. Horrified at
+this, Fiordiligi determines upon escaping from her own weakness by
+donning man's attire and following her lover to the wars. She has a
+uniform brought in, puts on the helmet, takes the sword in her hand,
+when Ferrando rushes in and conjures her to slay him rather than desert
+him. This is too much; she cannot withstand his anguish, and sinks upon
+his breast overcome. It is now Guillelmo's turn to be beside himself.
+The two are bent upon forsaking their faithless mistresses, until Don
+Alfonso gradually succeeds in making them regard the affair from his own
+philosophical point of view: "Cosi fan tutte!" They decide therefore on
+espousing their brides, but not before they have punished them for their
+want of faith. Despina enters with the news that the two ladies have
+determined to wed their new lovers the same evening, and have sent her
+to fetch the notary. The two couples enter the gaily decorated room, and
+are received by Despina and Don Alfonso and the congratulatory chorus
+of friends and servants. Amid cheerful converse they place themselves at
+table. Despina enters as a notary, and reads the marriage contract. It
+is scarcely subscribed when the chorus and march of the first act are
+heard in the distance. Don Alfonso enters terrified with the news
+that the regiment has been suddenly recalled, and the old lovers
+are approaching the house. The Albanians and the notary are hastily
+concealed, and the ladies, in mortal fear and embarrassment, receive
+their lovers returning full of joy. Don Alfonso, acting as mediator,
+causes the notary to be discovered; but Despina declares herself, and
+asserts that she is returning from a masked ball. But the marriage
+contract falling into the hands of Guillelmo, the ladies are obliged
+to confess their guilt to their enraged lovers, whereupon the latter
+discover themselves as the Albanians, while Guillelmo returns the
+
+{PERFORMANCES OF THE OPERA.}
+
+(243)
+
+portrait to Dorabella, mockingly repeating the melody of the duet.
+Confessions ended, Don Alfonso exhorts them to make peace, and brings
+the couples together; finally, they all unite in the moral:--
+
+     "Fortunato l' uom, che prende
+     Ogni cosa pel buon verso,
+     E tra i casi e le vicende
+     Da ragion guidar si fà.
+     Quel che suole altrui far piangere
+     Fia per lui cagion di riso,
+     E del mondo in mezzo i turbini
+     Bella calma troverà."
+
+The opera was not again performed in Vienna in Italian until 1858, but
+it was produced at the Theater an der Wien in a German translation by
+Gieseke, in 1794, with the title of "Die Schule der Liebe"; in 1804 it
+was played at the Imperial Hoftheater as "Màdchentreue"; again at
+the Theater an der Wien in 1814, in Treitschke's adaptation, "Die
+Zauberprobe"; in 1819 and 1840 at the Hoftheater in the earlier
+translation, and in 1863 in Schneider's adaptation. In Berlin also,
+where it was first given on August 6, 1792, with the title "Eine machts
+wie die Andere,"[15] it was again attempted in 1805 in the translation
+by Bretzner, "Weibertreue, oder die Mädchen sind von Flandem" (Leipzig,
+1794),[16] followed in 1820 by Herklot's adaptation "Die verfängliche
+Wette." Nevertheless the older adaptation was preferred for the revival
+of the opera in 1826 at the Königstadt theatre;[17] this gave way to
+one by an anonymous author in 1831,[18] which was employed for the
+representations of 1832 and 1835, but abandoned for L. Schneider's
+adaptation in 1846.[19] At Prague, Guardasoni at once placed "Cosi
+fan Tutte" on his repertory; and in 1808[20] it was performed there
+in German as "Màdchentreue," in 1823 as "Zauberprobe,"[21] in 1831 in
+Bohemian,[22] and in 1838 in Italian by the
+
+{COS! FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(244)
+
+pupils of the Conservätorium.[23] Guardasoni also introduced the opera
+at Leipzig, where it was several times performed in German during
+1805,[24] and by the Dresden Italian opera company in 1830.[25]
+Curiously enough "Cosi fan Tutte" was the first opera by Mozart
+performed in Dresden, in 1791, and kept its place in the repertory,
+although in 1812 it was still the only one.[26] In Italy it took no
+firmer hold than the others, and was only given on single occasions at
+Milan in 1808 and 1814,[27] and at Turin in 1816.[28] In Paris "Cosi
+fan Tutte" was given by the Italian opera company at the Odéon in 1811,
+1817, and 1820;[29] and in London it was first played in an English
+translation by Arnold in 1811,[30] and again in 1828; in 1842 it was
+included among the Italian operas, and received with great applause.[31]
+
+The wide-spread reputation of "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" had prepared
+the public mind to receive Mozart's music to this opera (588 K.)[32]
+with the favour which it deserved;[33] but the libretto was universally
+pronounced to be one of the worst of its kind;[34] nor has the judgment
+of
+
+{ALTERATIONS IN THE LIBRETTO.}
+
+(245)
+
+posterity reversed the verdict passed upon it.[35] Two reproaches were
+more especially brought forward. One was the extreme improbability
+that neither the lovers nor Despina in their disguises would have been
+recognised by the two ladies, and the other the outrage committed on the
+moral sense by the frivolity of the test imposed, and if possible still
+more by the ease with which, after the unfortunate issue of the trial,
+the lovers all adopt a philosophic toleration towards each other. These
+two blemishes, however, will scarcely account for the fact that, even
+where attempts have been made to remove them by adaptation, the opera
+has never maintained its place on the stage.[36] Unquestionably,
+the device of the disguise is trivial, and in itself not at all
+entertaining, but the number of popular comedies the main point of which
+consists in disguise prove that the public in this respect is not hard
+to please. It makes no undue call on the imagination of the spectators
+to proceed on this supposition, although in every drama deviations more
+or less important must thereby be made from reality. But the imagination
+refuses to accept these improbabilities unless they are made to serve
+as external manifestations of events and actions which seem thus to be
+taking their regular course. If they are made the foundation for events
+which are manifestly false to nature, the revulsion in the spectator's
+mind is extended to the improbable representation itself. Treitschke
+hit upon the most unfortunate device for obviating the difficulty, by
+turning Alfonso into a magician and Despina into a sprite, and thereby
+not only producing glaring inconsistencies, but completely nullifying
+the musical characterisation. Another attempt was made by Krebel in
+an adaptation called "Màdchen sind Màdchen," performed in Stuttgart in
+1816, where the lovers return home after a lengthened absence and
+
+{COSÏ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(246)
+
+before appearing to their brides undertake and carry out the trial of
+their constancy; Despina undertakes the cure in her own person, and
+in the last finale a real notary is brought on, whom she afterwards
+declares to be her lover. The progress of the plot is completely
+changed, almost all the songs are transformed and taken from their
+proper connection. Herklot's alterations in "Die verhangnissvolle Wette"
+went still deeper.[37] The ladies are not put to the test by their own
+lovers, but, with the connivance of the latter, by two of their friends,
+whose servant Pedrillo takes part in the intrigue as the doctor and the
+notary. Not to mention the injury which the musical characterisation
+suffers thereby, the clumsiness of the test imposed is made still
+more apparent, and the final reconciliation becomes more unreal and
+revolting.
+
+Da Ponte has made no effort to soften the awkwardness of the situation;
+it is indeed very much increased by the exchange of lovers made during
+the trial, as if the right choice was that which is then made. G.
+Bernhard (Gugler), who has done honour both to words and music by
+his excellent edition of the opera,[38] removed this obstacle in his
+adaptation, "Sind sie treu?" (Stuttgart, 1858). Here each lover
+proves his own mistress, and the plot and its development are modified
+accordingly.[39] Da Ponte sacrificed the excuse this would have afforded
+to the two ladies--who might be supposed unconsciously drawn towards
+the true object of their affections--to the dramatic effect of the
+embarrassing position of the men on either side. Attempts to remedy this
+defect led to other and greater ones.[40] In an old adaptation, "Die
+Wette, oder Màdchen-List und -Liebe," the author
+
+{CRITICISM OF THE LIBRETTO.}
+
+(247)
+
+(whose name is unknown to me) has hit upon the device of making the
+waiting-maid betray Don Alfonso's plot to the sisters before the
+entrance of the pretended friends, so that they are supposed to be
+hoaxing their lovers all the time, and the latter have to sue for pardon
+at the end. Despina's disguise as the doctor is retained, but a real
+notary is brought in for the last finale. Arnold proceeded similarly in
+his English version, "Tit for Tat."[41] L. Schneider, too, has made the
+same alteration, with the difference that Despina does not betray to her
+mistresses the plot against them until the second act, from which time
+they feign the weakness with which they mean to chastise their lovers.
+But this alteration implies a coarseness of conduct in the two sisters
+which is scarcely less reprehensible than their fickleness. The musical
+characterisation also is destroyed, since they are now supposed to feign
+the sentiments which they were originally intended to express in all
+seriousness; the inconsistency is sometimes unendurable. Added to this,
+the second finale is nullified by the altered catastrophe, and the
+charming part omitted where the men recall the characters assumed by
+them.[42]
+
+It would have been necessary to bring the psychological interest of the
+drama into the foreground in order to conceal what was objectionable in
+the situations. Ingenuity and delicacy of invention might have turned
+the subject into an interesting drama, with the guilt and mishaps so
+evenly balanced that the whole might naturally come to a cheerful
+and pacifying conclusion. Da Ponte's text in no way fulfils these
+requirements; he takes his stand on the level of the ordinary opera
+buffa, and demands to be measured by that standard. He makes some
+attempt at more delicate characterisation in his Fiordiligi, in which
+Ferrando partakes, but the remaining characters are all of the usual
+opera buffa type, and only receive their individual stamp by virtue of
+the music. Nor do the situations
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(248)
+
+display much more of original invention. The only animation afforded
+to the play, consisting of the pretended poisoning and the entrance of
+Despina as doctor, is neither new nor refined, and the plot proceeds
+without exciting either interest or suspense. But it gives occasion for
+a succession of musical situations which, considered apart, have been
+skilfully treated by Da Ponte. The parting scene, the sestet, and
+especially the first finale, are thoroughly musical in design, and
+Da Ponte's verses are easy and flowing, often not devoid of wit.
+Unfortunately his energies are almost all exhausted in the first act.
+While this contains a wealth of ensemble movements and contrasting
+situations scarcely to be found in any other opera, the monotony of the
+second act is strikingly apparent. It does not seem to have occurred
+to Da Ponte to develop his plot by means of an artistic arrangement of
+ensemble pieces. His sole care has evidently been to apportion the airs
+and duets indispensable to the chief characters in opera buffa with a
+due regard to dramatic contrast.[43]
+
+Mozart therefore found himself once more engaged upon an opera buffa
+in the strict sense of the term. The plot is without meaning, the
+characters without individuality, deriving what effect they have by
+means of the ordinary resources of low comedy and exaggeration. Passion
+and feeling rarely assert themselves without the disturbing elements
+of hypocrisy and deceit; and thus the source of Mozart's own peculiar
+conception of musical representation is virtually closed to him.
+Then, in addition, the demands of the artists had to be taken into
+consideration. We can only wonder, under the circumstances, at Mozart's
+power of seizing every point which could be turned to the service of his
+artistic conceptions; the work reveals a side of his nature which has
+not hitherto appeared.[44]
+
+The unreserved expression of emotions throughout the
+
+{THE MUSIC--ENSEMBLES.}
+
+(249)
+
+opera affords a not ungrateful field for musical representation. The
+awkwardness of having three terzets for male voices following each other
+disappears under Mozart's treatment, since he makes each the natural
+outcome of the situation, and they serve as joint members of one
+organism to produce a natural climax. The first terzet takes its tone
+from the excited mood of the young officers, which Don Alfonso seeks
+with easy playfulness to moderate. In the second, Don Alfonso comes to
+the foreground with his old song about the phoenix and woman's faith,
+which he sings in a tone of good-humoured irony, exceedingly well
+supported by the orchestra, while the other two try mainly to interpose
+and stop him; it is a most original piece of music, full of excellent
+humour. The third terzet displays the high spirits of the lovers, raised
+to a pitch of great excitement, and the music brings the merry feast
+to which they are already looking forward vividly before the mind. The
+light and cheerful, somewhat superficial tone which here prevails, fixes
+the ground-tone of the opera. The young men are characterised generally,
+without accentuating their individualities; they stand opposed to Don
+Alfonso, whose contrasting character comes out all the more sharply. The
+duet for the two sisters (4) is more elevated in tone, to accord with
+the situation. They are melting in tender emotion as they gaze on the
+images of their lovers, and the expression of the music is full of
+life and sensuality, but more animated than warm, with no echo of those
+gentle accents in which Mozart elsewhere so inimitably characterises
+the hidden longings of the soul. The unanimity of sentiment here again
+obscures individual character, and the modifications are more musical
+than dramatic in their nature. Don Alfonso's
+
+{COSI FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(250)
+
+short air (5), where he appears to urge composure, characterises not
+his true nature, for he is feigning all the time, but the situation, and
+that with a degree of exaggeration which comes out in striking relief to
+his otherwise calm and equable nature. The tone and delivery of the
+air are correctly indicated by Don Alfonso's words: "non son cattivo
+comico"; the deceit is conscious and evident throughout, and it is
+rendered easy for the performer to let an ironical tone occasionally
+peep through. The following quintet (6) carries us to a height hitherto
+unsuspected. The grief of the sisters at the prospect of separation from
+their lovers is expressed with ever-increasing passion, while conscious
+dissimulation imposes a certain restraint on the men, though the emotion
+they express is in itself genuine enough; the softer nature of Ferrando
+betrays itself in his gradually increasing sympathy with the sorrowing
+women. The ironical element introduced by Don Alfonso, just at the point
+when the passionate lamentation of the sisters is making the greatest
+impression on their lovers, prevents the situation from passing
+altogether into the pathetic vein. This quintet undoubtedly belongs in
+every respect to Mozart's highest achievements. The short duet (7) on
+the other hand, in which Ferrando and Guillelmo seek to console
+their trembling fair, ones is poor both in musical substance and
+characterisation, being an easily constructed piece of the kind which
+the general public loved. The march with chorus (8), which comes next,
+is simple, but very fresh and pretty, well suited both to the situation
+and the character of the opera. The farewell scene (9) takes place
+at the same time--indicated in the autograph score as "Recitativo
+coi stromenti"--and is a perfect masterpiece of beauty and delicate
+characterisation. The broken sobs of the afflicted women have something
+of the same comic effect as the infinite sorrow of childhood, and the
+men seem, half involuntarily, to imitate them; but when the last adieux
+have been exchanged they give vent to such a sweet and touching sound of
+lamentation that even the lovers are touched by it, and Don Alfonso
+is silenced. The repetition of the chörus interrupts the tender
+leave-taking just at the right time, and endows the scene with fresh
+life and animation. It finds an appropriate conclusion in the
+
+{TERZET.}
+
+(251)
+
+tones and gestures of the two maidens as they wave their adieux from the
+shore, while Don Alfonso appears to share their feelings with a sort of
+ostentation of sympathy. This terzettino (10) shows Mozart's power of
+displaying endless shades of one and the same feeling. The farewells
+wafted from the shore are more composed than the lamentations called
+forth by the idea of separation, or even by the separation itself; they
+are more pure also, more intense, and transfigure all that has gone
+before with the light of a tender and harmonious grace finding its
+expression in separate sharp suspensions, and especially in the
+unexpected dissonance which occurs upon "desir--[See Page Image]
+
+The murmuring accompaniment of the muted violins, combined with the
+soft full chords of the wind instruments, suggesting the idea of
+the sea-voyage, contribute to the colouring of this gem of musical
+expression. The instrumentation throughout this first division of the
+opera is carefully and admirably managed. The first terzet is simple,
+the lively figures for the stringed instruments denoting its character,
+while the oboes, bassoons, and horns strengthen the lights and shades;
+it is quite otherwise in the second, where the stringed instruments have
+a gentle accompanying passage, while a flute and a bassoon carry on
+the melody of the song; the third is brilliant with trumpets and drums,
+shrill oboes and rapid violin passages. During the whole of the love
+scene the clarinets are kept in the foreground, the combined orchestra
+is full and soft, but milder and more sparkling in the last terzet,
+where flutes come in; the contrasting clang of the lively and vigorous
+march is highly effective. Thus far all has taken a natural course, and
+we
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(252)
+
+have met with no unusual characters, no startling situations; the
+emotions represented have been true and simple, and have been the
+necessary consequences of the events composing the easily comprehended
+plot. The musical depicting of such emotions is a grateful task; if it
+is true in itself and a faithful rendering of the given situation
+it cannot fail of its effect. And Mozart has here combined truth of
+characterisation with a beauty of form and a charm of sweet sound which
+almost overpower the ear, and are scarcely to be found in such fulness
+in any other of his operas. The further development of the plot leads to
+a sharper characterisation of individuals. Dorabella first unfolds her
+grief in a grand air (n) introduced by an accompanied recitative.
+It consists of one movement (allegro agitato) which receives its
+distinctive character from the sextole passage for the violins--[See
+Page Image] which does not cease for one bar until just before the end;
+an unsteady trembling movement is imparted to it by varied harmonic
+transitions, and an occasional sharper accentuation by the full chords
+of the wind instruments. The simple sustained voice-part moves above
+this accompaniment in short expressive phrases, rising now and then to
+a tone of passionate appeal, and at the close to an unexpected pathos.
+Both in musical treatment and emotional expression the air takes a high
+rank; but none the less is it in striking contradiction to the character
+of Dorabella as it is afterwards developed. It is she who proposes to
+her sister to coquet with the new lovers, and in the duet (20) in which
+they agree to do so it is she who takes the initiative. In the duet with
+Guillelmo (23)[45] she shows herself so easily persuaded and so full of
+amorous passion that it appears the revelation of her true nature. It
+renders superfluous her subsequent expression of opinion in an air (28)
+that love rules over all hearts, and it is but folly to resist his sway.
+This air has a certain resemblance to the first in the simplicity of the
+
+{DORABELLA.}
+
+(253)
+
+voice-part and the moderation of the expression, although the feelings
+inspiring it are of such a different nature. The accompaniment again
+bestows upon the song its peculiar colouring; and the great prominence
+given to the wind instruments adds an insinuating and specious tone to
+the whole. But a closer examination reveals the evident contrast of
+the two songs. Dorabella is a woman of lively but not deep feeling;
+excitement is necessary to her, even though it may be of a painful
+nature--she cannot live without it. Her expressions of sorrow increase
+in intensity, and the orchestra is markedly toned down to allow her to
+display her true, somewhat shallow nature. Besides this, the exaggerated
+tone of her grief, displaying its want of perfect sincerity, is strongly
+marked by the words, e.g.--
+
+     Esempio misero d' amor funesto
+     Darö all' Eumenidi, se viva resto,
+     Col suono orribile de' miei sospir--
+
+and the music takes the cue therefrom. While borrowing the pathetic tone
+and form of the opera seria, she turns them into a parody like that
+of the text, invoking the furies with all the rhetorical apparatus of
+tragedy; this is especially noticeable towards the close:--[See Page
+Image]
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(254)
+
+The parody facilitates the difficult task of carrying the musical
+expression of emotion to an exaggerated degree without making it ugly
+and unnatural. The refined delivery of the vocalist, and the ready
+apprehension of the audience, must always be presupposed. In the
+character of Fiordiligi Da Ponte has unquestionably kept Ferraresi del
+Bene in view; he was said to stand in tender relations towards her.[46]
+According to him she had a fine voice and an original and affecting
+delivery, and this opinion was confirmed by the London critics, although
+she was never considered there as a true prima donna;[47] and Mozart
+himself remarked that it was not saying much to pronounce Allegrandi
+far superior to Ferraresi. She had not a good figure, and was but an
+indifferent actress; but she had beautiful eyes and a charming
+mouth, and was in great favour with the public. It is not surprising,
+therefore, that Fiordiligi should have been placed on a higher level
+than her sister, both musically and dramatically.[48] Her very first air
+(14) places her in a far more favourable light. The disguised lovers,
+after a decided repulse, renew their shameless attack. Fiordiligi's
+condescending to answer them and to assert her inflexible constancy may
+not, indeed, be a proof of fine feeling on her part, but it demands an
+energetic and emphatic tone and strong and appropriate colouring. We
+therefore have a bravura air in two movements, an andante and allegro,
+closed by a long coda in accelerated tempo. The comic effect again rests
+on the element of parody, which is even more strongly marked than in
+Dorabella's air; the bravura passages, intervals of octaves, tenths and
+twelfths, the roulades which she flings at her opponents, the bass-like
+passages in the deeper register of the voice, all characterise
+Fiordiligi's Amazon-like haughtiness in an exaggerated manner.
+Afterwards, it is true, she
+
+{FERRANDO.}
+
+(255)
+
+is induced by her more thoughtless sister to coquet with the new lover,
+but Dorabella's lover presents himself after a fashion calculated to
+make a strong impression upon her. Guillelmo is always light-hearted and
+cheerful; while, even in the parting scene, Ferrando has shown himself
+to be a man of softer mould. His air (17), after the first repulse
+of his suit, leaves no doubt as to his nature. It renders the vapid
+sentimentality of the words with remarkable tenderness and delicacy, but
+this kind of sentimentality being quite foreign to the southern nature,
+the portrayal of it would rouse more ridicule than sympathy. Such a
+character cuts a comic figure upon the 'stage--a circumstance which must
+be borne in mind in considering this opera. Even in his feigned wooing
+he expresses his feelings with warmth and animation, his eccentricities
+being indeed heightened by the difficulties of the situation. This is
+just the demeanour calculated to make an impression on Fiordiligi, and
+she soon begins to waver. Perceiving this, he expresses his delight
+with an extravagance which a man of calmer temperament would have been
+incapable of dissembling;[49] it is evident that his fancy gets the
+better of his excited feelings. So apprehended, this air (24) not only
+entrances our minds by its continuous flow of lovely melody, but gives
+us a sense of natural fitness for the situation and characters. It would
+have been an impossible task for music to represent Ferrando as singing
+this song with coolly calculated dissimulation; for the exaggeration
+of caricature is only appropriate when no conviction is required to
+be brought home to us, whereas here the impression experienced
+by Fiordiligi must be shared by the audience before it can become
+intelligible. The music must therefore express a feeling by which a man
+of excitable nature would be likely to be carried away.
+
+In this way only can we justify the deep impression made upon the
+equally excitable Fiordiligi, when, left alone, she reproaches herself
+doubly for having coquetted with Ferrando, and been false at heart to
+her lover. The feeling
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(256)
+
+of remorse, and of newly strengthened fidelity which the memory of her
+absent lover inspires, is charmingly expressed in the lovely air (25),
+"Per pietà, ben mio, perdona." This is genuine emotion, springing from
+the heart, and the music expresses it with all the charm of pure
+melody. This important air, in two elaborate movements--adagio and
+allegro--gives ample opportunity for display to the singer and an
+independent part to the wind instruments, especially the horns, without
+doing injury to truth of expression. It is undeniably akin to the great
+air in "Figaro" (p. 92) composed for the same Ferraresi, although they
+differ both in tone and colouring. Probably the individuality of the
+singer, distinctly recognisable in the three songs, exerted considerable
+influence over their composition; and it may also be remarked that too
+vivid a representation of such a mood as this would have exceeded the
+limits of opera buffa; even as it is it suggests almost too serious a
+complication and solution of the situation. Ferrando, on learning
+the faithlessness of his Dorabella, breaks at first into violent
+indignation; but this soon gives way to softer feelings, which he cannot
+overcome. In his lovely cavatina (27)--so Mozart has entitled it--his
+anger is only faintly suggested, while the memory of his still-loved
+Dorabella shines forth from the darkness of the soul.[50] While he is
+yet in this sentimental mood he is urged by Don Alfonso to make one more
+attack upon Fiordiligi's heart. With this intent, he surprises her in
+the act of putting into effect her romantic determination to escape from
+her own weakness by donning man's attire and following her lover to the
+wars. The duet which ensues (29) is of singular design and unusually
+rich elaboration. In contrast with Fiordiligi's grandiloquent
+sentiments, as she fancies herself again by the side of her lover, comes
+the melancholy plaint, the urgent petition of Ferrando; her resistance
+grows weaker as his entreaties grow more earnest--until at last she
+sinks into
+
+{FERRANDO--GUILLELMO.}
+
+(257)
+
+his arms. This scene consists of a regularly worked-out duet in two
+movements, but the long suspense requires a corresponding length of
+reaction from it, and we have to all intents and purposes a second duet,
+with two movements expressive of the happiness of the lovers. Here
+again the expression of feeling is so direct and true that we cannot
+but imagine Ferrando carried away by the impulse of the moment. In fact,
+these two characters and their relations to each other are somewhat out
+of keeping with the rest of the opera. Da Ponte failed in giving due
+effect to the deeper psychological interest of the characters; Mozart
+has clothed them in flesh and blood, but even he has failed to endow
+them with the distinct and vivid personality which is to be found in
+"Figaro" and "Don Giovanni."
+
+No doubt the idiosyncrasies of the performers, who were for the most
+part more of singers than actors, and had apparently not much talent
+for comedy, had considerable influence on the plan of the piece;[51]
+the part of Guillelmo was written for the excellent buffo Benucci (Vol.
+III., pp. 51, SS).[52] He first comes forward independently, when, in
+his disguise as an Albanian, his first attack has been repulsed and,
+Fiordiligi having expressed her haughty indignation, he boldly ventures
+on a fresh declaration of love. Here he had originally an air (584 K.)
+of the most decided buffo type, which opposed to the exaggerated pathos
+of Fiordiligi an extravagance of a different kind, and expressed in
+strong caricature the confidence of the new wooers in the ultimate
+success of their
+
+     (To Fiordiligi.)
+
+     Rivolgete à lui lo sguardo
+     E vedete come stà;
+     Tutto dice, io gelo, io ardo,
+     Idol mio, pietà, pietà.
+
+
+
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(258)
+
+
+
+     (To Dorabella.)
+
+     E voi, cara, un sol momento
+     Il bel ciglio à me volgete,
+     E nel mio ritroverete
+     Quel che il labbro dir non sà.
+     Un Orlando innamorato
+     Non è niente in mio confronto,
+     Un Medoro il sen piagato
+     Verso lui per nullo io conto.
+     Son di foco i miei sospiri,
+     Son di bronzo i suoi desiri.
+     Se si parla poi di merto,
+     Certo io son ed egli è certo,
+     Che gli uguali non si trovano
+     Da Vienna al Canadà.
+     Siam due Cresi per richezza;
+     Due Narcissi per bellezza;
+     In amori i Marcantoni
+     Verso noi sarian buffoni;
+     Siam più forti d'un Ciclopo,
+     Letterati al par di Esopo;
+     Se balliam, il
+     Pick ne cede,
+     Si gentil e snello è il piede,
+     Se cantiam, col trillo solo
+     Facciam torto al uscignolo,
+     E qualche altro capitale
+     Abbiam poi, che alcun non sà.
+
+Mozart has turned this into a comic air in the grand style, worthy
+to rank with those of Leporello, although the delicate malice which
+characterises the latter would be out of place here. The various points,
+not only where the mention of dancing and singing suggest musical
+freaks, but throughout, are made effective in the happiest musical
+contrasts, without disturbing the flow and consistency of the whole
+song. Towards the close especially, the climax is inimitable. After the
+transition into D minor on "trillo" and "uscignolo"--[See Page Image]
+
+{GUILLELMO'S AIR.}
+
+(259)
+
+the wind instruments sound a mocking fanfare to the violin quavers on
+"qualch' altro capitale"--[See Page Image]
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(260)
+
+whereupon Guillelmo, after the exit of the sisters, breaks out with the
+whole strength of his voice into a triumphant allegro molto--[See Page
+Image]
+
+but stops suddenly, as if afraid of being overheard, and sings his joy
+sotto voce to Don Alfonso. This air, which afforded abundant opportunity
+for the display of voice and art to the happiest advantage, was laid
+on one side, no doubt with the conviction that so evident a caricature
+could not be maintained throughout the love-test without wedding
+internal to external improbabilities, and displaying Guillelmo in
+two distinct characters. Another air (15) was therefore substituted,
+expressing Guillelmo's character as a cheerful man of the world who
+takes serious matters lightly, and comports himself with ease and
+freedom. He turns half confidently, half jokingly to the ladies, the
+secret pleasure which their rejection of his suit affords him increasing
+his cheerfulness, and even giving it a tinge of irony. The music is
+quite simple, tuneful, light and pleasing, in direct contrast to the
+previous grand air. His second air (26) in which, after his adventure
+with Dorabella, his good opinion of women is considerably modified, is
+in perfect harmony with the first. The feeling that he has the advantage
+over Ferrando, the
+
+{GUILLELMO.}
+
+(261)
+
+assurance of Fiordiligi's unalterable faith, give him an air of
+overweening security, and cause him to express himself with a lightness
+which he would certainly have refrained from had he known how nearly the
+matter affected himself. This is a truly comic situation, and Mozart
+has given effect to it mainly by the tone of easy merriment which he
+has caught so admirably, and which never passes the bounds of friendly
+good-humour. The air is long, singer and orchestra vying with each other
+in rapid animation, and the jovial, easy character of the man is fully
+and pleasantly expressed.[53] His intercourse with Dorabella corresponds
+with this view. The easy, half-jesting gallantry with which he
+approaches her in the duet (23) belongs to his nature, and the part he
+is playing is no effort to him. It is more than once made plain that
+Dorabella is more strongly affected than he; after she has once met his
+advances with favour he merely seconds her, as being pledged to do so;
+but he does it with the same ease and confidence that he has displayed
+throughout.
+
+Mozart has shown correct judgment in making Guillelmo' a natural,
+good-humoured character, instead of a caricatured buffo figure. But
+a motive seems to have been at work here which appears throughout the
+whole of "Cosi fan Tutte." It is evident that Mozart has sought to clear
+himself from the reproach that his music was too heavy, too serious for
+a comic opera, and to satisfy the taste of the public for what was light
+and entertaining. This demand was met in the two male duets, the first
+(7) being light and superficial, and the second a serenade (21), which
+(accompanied, according to custom, only by wind instruments) follows
+a striking chorus with a melodious and pleasing effect, but without
+individual character. The same motive is even more evidently at work in
+the character of Despina. She never betrays a particle of true feeling.
+She has no sympathy
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(262)
+
+either for her mistresses, or for their lovers, or for Don Alfonso, and
+she has no love affair of her own. The only visible motive of action
+with her is selfishness, which triumphs even over her love of intrigue;
+every expression of hers shows giddy thoughtlessness, not always of the
+most refined kind. Her two songs are both addressed to her ladies. The
+first (12) is in answer to Dorabella's pathetic burst of sorrow, and
+scoffs at her belief in the constancy of men, while urging her to
+reward inconstancy with inconstancy. The second (19) exhorts the still
+undecided fair ones to adopt coquetry as the true rule of life for the
+female sex. In the first air the gaiety, lightly tinged with humour
+in the short introductory allegretto, is light and easy, and has a
+forwardness about it not quite maidenly, but so pretty and winning that
+the whole person is invested with a certain interest and attractiveness.
+In the second air Despina appears as the temptress; therefore the action
+is more careful, the expression more delicate; insinuating persuasion
+takes the place of her former pertness, and the comic element only
+asserts itself once in the strongly accented:--
+
+    E qual regina
+    Dali' alto soglio
+    Coll posso e voglio
+    Farsi ubbidir.
+
+This air reminds us in many points of Zerlina, but it serves also
+to prove how many touches of detail and delicate shades of musical
+expression are wanting when true feeling is not at the root of the
+conception. Spite of its commonplace tone, its lively gaiety gives it
+a certain charm, just as in everyday life we often meet with people
+commonplace in their nature, but attractive from their youthful
+freshness and cheerfulness. But Despina is in her element when she
+herself is playing some extravagant prank, and she adopts her various
+disguises with much boldness and gay humour. The scene where she enters
+as a doctor in the first finale belongs indisputably to the wittiest
+performances of comic music. After the long suspense, the animation
+caused by the entrance of the doctor has an excellent effect, and the
+
+{DESPINA.}
+
+(263)
+
+boastful loquacity and solemn conceit of the charlatan stand out from
+the surroundings without the need of any special medium for their
+expression. Every phrase is pronounced simply but with telling effect;
+exaggeration, which at this point of the situation would only do harm,
+is carefully avoided, and the general impression of unclouded gaiety
+is heightened by the intensity with which the other characters express
+their feelings.[54] The notary in the second finale is quite as
+humorously depicted. After an elaborate greeting, the polite elegance of
+which is mockingly expressed by the figure in the accompaniment, given
+to the second violins, the notary begins to read the marriage contract
+in a monotone (_pel naso_, Mozart directs), which is the most comic
+imitation of reality in its five times repeated phrase--[See Page Image]
+twice with additional emphasis:--
+
+The accompaniment of the violins is different for each clause (the
+basses remaining the same), and increases in speed, thus producing a
+climax provoked by the impatient exclamations of the bridal party.
+The whole conception of the part of Despina may be referred to the
+individuality of its first performer, Signora Bussani, whose reputation
+was
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(264)
+
+rather for spirit and audacity than for delicacy of expression (Vol.
+III., p. 97). Another example of perfect gaiety is the terzet for the
+three male voices (16). After the angry exit of the sisters, Guillelmo
+and Ferrando begin to laugh,[55] thereby increasing the discomfiture of
+Don Alfonso, who with difficulty persuades them to desist. The merriment
+of the young men, the annoyance of the old one, the laughter which
+they vainly endeavour to suppress, are so admirably expressed, and the
+triplet passage of the accompaniment adds so strikingly to the effect,
+that we feel the same irresistible inclination to merriment that is
+inspired by the countenance of an antique laughing satyr.
+
+The counterpart to Despina is Don Alfonso,[56] who displays throughout
+the plot no single impulse of sympathy or good-nature, and at the same
+time fails to inspire interest as a purely comic character. Paltry
+scepticism without humour or good-temper, cold rationalism without
+any tinge of geniality, are not attractive in themselves, and are
+essentially unmusical; they can only be effective by virtue of contrast,
+and Don Alfonso therefore appears principally in ensembles. In the first
+male terzet his cool demeanour stands in excellent relief against the
+excitement of the young men, and Mozart has given an irresistibly droll
+expression to the little ballad which he mockingly sings to them (2).
+His sympathy in the parting scene has more delicacy of characterisation;
+here he keeps in the background, but the quiet remarks which he
+interposes add just the ingredient to the melting sentiment of the
+ladies which is required for the production of the right effect on the
+audience. As a rule, however, Don Alfonso does not express his true
+sentiments, and his dissimulation induces an exaggeration which is not
+without comic effect, but requires great refinement of delivery. It
+belongs to the conception of such a character that he should abstain
+from asserting himself independently, and therefore
+
+{DON ALFONSO.}
+
+(265)
+
+no grand air is assigned to him; this may be partly owing, however, to
+the deficiencies of the first performer, for Bus-sani does not appear to
+have been much of a singer.
+
+His two most important solo pieces are purposely so arranged as to admit
+of an amount of sentiment which is foreign to his true character. In
+the first he expresses with evident exaggeration the consternation which
+fills him at the afflicting intelligence which he is bringing to the
+sisters; it is as characteristic of the person as of the situation, and
+expresses at once the state of excitement which prevails throughout the
+following scene. Of more original design is the short ensemble
+movement (22) in which Don Alfonso and Despina bring the two couples
+together.[57] By undertaking to be the mouthpiece of the bashful
+lovers, Don Alfonso gains an opportunity of expressing himself with more
+feeling, and yet his position does not admit of any very deep or serious
+expression on his part. The device of making the two lovers strike
+in like an echo is a happy one; but Da Ponte has not turned it to the
+advantage of which it was capable. It is quite right that Fiordiligi and
+Dorabella should not join in in the same way when Despina answers for
+them; but to leave them quite out of the question, and to make the
+interest of the situation centre in the by-play of Don Alfonso and
+Despina, destroys the significance which this scene might have had.
+A teasing, jesting tone predominates throughout the movement, and is
+indeed in keeping with the whole opera; but we long for a little more
+energy and fulness of expression at the more important points. In order
+to place Don Alfonso in the right light, he should be shown in real
+perplexity, and brought thereby into the
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(266)
+
+foreground. The laughing terzet passes too quickly to make this motive
+effective. Besides the terzet, he has only two short movements wherein
+to express his views on the inconstancy of women, and these in a sort
+of accompanied recitative suggest very vividly his exalted and pedantic
+turn of mind. In the latter of the two he proceeds through a very simple
+but suggestive climax to point his closing moral--[See Page Image] and
+the converted but appeased lovers join in at his desire:--
+
+As has already been remarked, Mozart took this phrase as the motto for
+his overture. It is introduced by a short andante, which, after
+two quick chords, begins with a tender motif for the oboe; this is
+interrupted by repeated chords, but starts again, whereupon first the
+bass, and then the full orchestra, give out the "Cosi fan tutte" as
+above,[58] and immediately lead into the presto which is to demonstrate
+the significance of the phrase. A short cursory phrase--rises in rapid
+crescendo for the violins through two octaves; and then all the parts,
+in syncopated rhythm--[See Page Image]
+
+{THE OVERTURE--ENSEMBLES.}
+
+(267)
+
+seem to stop the way for some moments, only to give place to a light
+running passage--[See Page Image]
+
+which the wind instruments take up by turns. These are the elements
+which in rapid and incessant alternation chase each other through the
+overture like feather balls tossed from hand to hand, until the merry
+game is interrupted by the phrase which gave birth to it: "Cosi fan
+tutte!" Again the crescendo rises to its highest pitch, and closes
+with a few powerful chords. The gay and wanton tone of the opera could
+scarcely be better suggested, the overture being in very truth the most
+perfect expression of careless gaiety. In the clear flow of its lively
+frolic we see some resemblance to the overture to "Figaro," but the
+deep, fine feeling which shines through the tumult of the earlier work
+would be out of place, and may be sought for in vain in the overture
+before us.
+
+The characters presented to us in this opera lend themselves best to
+musical treatment when they join in ensemble pieces.[59] The definite
+situations give strength to the characterisation, which is further aided
+by the contrast of the persons concerned; and the dramatic motive adds
+variety and energy of expression. The sestet in the first act (13) is
+very simple in design, but effective from its well-placed contrasts
+and judicious climax. The introduction of the friends has a marchlike
+character. Don Alfonso recommends them to Despina's favour, and they
+add more lively entreaties, in accordance with their assumed characters;
+Despina's mirth
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(268)
+
+is excited by the extraordinary figures before her, while they are
+delighted to find that she does not recognise them.
+
+The action begins with the entrance of the two ladies. The urgent suit
+of the lovers is now opposed to the strong displeasure of the sisters,
+Despina making common cause with the former. The declaration of love is
+emphasised in an unusual fashion by the transition of the harmony into
+a minor key,[60] by the chromatic movement of the parts, and by the
+clarinet, bassoon, and violoncello accompaniment. The astonishment of
+the two ladies at first gives a painful tone to the expression, but
+as soon as they have recovered sufficiently to give vent to their
+indignation the situation changes. The lovers rejoice in silence over
+this proof of fidelity, while Despina and Don Alfonso affect to find
+some grounds for suspicion in the very violence of the resentment
+displayed by the sisters. The grouping of the characters is also
+changed. Fiordiligi and Dorabella, divided between anger at the
+intruders and the remembrance of their absent lovers, stand together;
+on the other side the lovers join issue, and Despina and Don Alfonso
+observe the course of affairs together; it is with right judgment
+that the two latter are put prominently forward, especially at the
+passage--[See Page Image] for they command the situation, and this
+passage throws a light upon the tumult and confusion which prevail.
+Mozart's temperate discrimination in the use of means has here again
+enabled him to mould all this into a musical whole of perfect unity. The
+situation of the first finale is nearly allied to this, but more vividly
+characterised in the details, and more elaborately worked out. It begins
+with a very amorous
+
+{THE FIRST FINALE.}
+
+(269)
+
+duet for the forsaken fair ones, introduced by a long ritornello and
+worked out in independent style; a counterpart to the first duet, only
+that here the expression is naturally more fond and languishing. The
+sensual, dreamy mood thus represented is broken in upon by the harsh
+dissonances and disjointed rhythm of the poisoning scene, and ends with
+a pathetic ensemble and the swooning of the lovers. During the absence
+of Don Alfonso and Despina in quest of aid, a calmer tone is adopted,
+which grows gradually more animated as the sisters express their terror
+and anxiety, and the lovers their satisfaction at the state of affairs,
+and enjoyment of the comic scene in which they are playing the chief
+parts. But when the sympathy displayed by the ladies at the sight of
+their apparent sufferings gradually becomes so demonstrative that there
+seems some danger of pity being transformed to love, the tables are
+turned, the lovers begin to be anxious, and a state of painful suspense
+overmasters them all. At this point there occurs one of those deeper and
+more delicate psychological manifestations which Mozart so well knew how
+to render, and in which, as usual, the orchestra co-operates. At first,
+two characteristic motifs which go through the whole movement, a triplet
+figure--[See Page Image] and an interrupted one of quite a different
+character-- combine together, but then there enter two others-- to
+express the painful sensations of the poisoned lovers. The orchestra
+carries this idea out in manifold combinations, and thus affords a
+characteristic groundwork for the expressions of gradually augmenting
+compassion. The lovers, become suspicious, now express their anxiety,
+and they finally all concur in a distrustful uncertainty, plaintively
+
+{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(270)
+
+rendered by imitative chromatic passages. The entertaining and truly
+comic element of the situation consists in the fact that the merry trick
+which Ferrando and Guillelmo hoped to play takes so doubtful a turn,
+and that the emotions, on both sides genuine, spring from quite other
+sources, and take quite different directions from those which are
+outwardly indicated. Mozart has seized the situation with ready humour,
+and, as usual, the right apprehension of the dramatic part of the work
+has improved the conception and treatment of the musical element; this
+movement is in every respect a masterpiece, and belongs to Mozart's most
+exquisite compositions. The scene changes completely with the entrance
+of the disguised physician, and the key of the dominant G major,
+following the close in C minor, makes the same impression of freshness
+as the introduction of an entirely new element.[61] All is now animation
+and life--question and answer are rapidly exchanged, help is asked for
+and given, and in the midst stands the charlatan playing out the farce
+with due solemnity, and infusing the whole scene with wit and humour.
+
+After the completion of the pretended cure, the lovers again come to
+the foreground and express their passion in extravagant ravings; the
+reluctance of the ladies, in spite of Despina's and Don Alfonso's
+persuasions, again gives a comic tone to the situation, contributing to
+the production of an ensemble singularly rich in contrasting sentiments.
+The orchestra again serves as a groundwork, and an original and
+persistent violin figure gives the andante a strange, somewhat solemn
+character, with which the voices frequently contrast in a manner highly
+suggestive of the situation. The instrumentation also lends its aid. Not
+only are the stringed instruments here employed so differently to the
+preceding movement that they scarcely seem the same instruments; but,
+whereas oboes with flutes and bassoons
+
+{THE SECOND FINALE.}
+
+(271)
+
+predominated in the former case, here clarinets and bassoons are
+reinforced by trumpets with highly original effect. The tone-colouring
+alters completely at the commencement of the allegro. The flutes in
+unison with the violins, and the tremolo quaver accompaniment, express
+a decree of sensual excitement which contrasts strikingly with the calm,
+exalted tone of the andante. The lovers awaking from their trance and
+demanding a kiss, the sisters are transported with an indignation far
+more intense than that excited by the first encounter. Don Alfonso and
+Despina seek to pacify them, and an unwilling suspicion that the
+very violence of the resentment argues against its absolute sincerity
+modifies in the minds of the lovers the comic impression of the whole
+scene. The dramatic characterisation of all these opposing elements, the
+well-defined grouping of the characters, the force and fire with which
+the climax is worked up, and the tumult of excited emotions with which
+the finale ends, give it a place above the corresponding first finale in
+"Figaro," and on a level with that in "Don Giovanni."
+
+The second finale begins with the wedding ceremony, which is charmingly
+and graphically depicted. Despina, who is joined by Don Alfonso, gives
+directions to the servants for the reception of the bridal party, and
+the whole of the first movement sparkles with life and gaiety, preparing
+the way for the festive chorus in which the two couples are presently
+welcomed. Then follows the endearing talk of the lovers, who seat
+themselves at table, drink to each other, and finally join in an amorous
+canon. This is a trait taken from the social manners of the time (Vol.
+II., p. 362), just as the independent treatment of the wind instruments
+during the whole scene represents the customary table music.[62]
+A startling enharmonic transition (from A flat major to E major)
+transports us out of this lovesick mood, and the scene which follows
+with the notary is as full of humour as that with the physician,
+although the context
+
+{COSÎ FAN TUTTE.}
+
+(272)
+
+necessitates greater moderation of tone; it is effectively interrupted
+by the distant chorus proclaiming the return of the warriors. The
+consternation and confusion which ensue have no real interest for the
+audience, who are aware of what the issue must be; the plot is therefore
+hurried rapidly to an end, and does not admit of any connected musical
+treatment. The composer has been forced to content himself with bringing
+out certain points, such as the feigned terror of Don Alfonso, the real
+alarm of the ladies, and the joyful greetings of the returning lovers.
+The situation becomes more piquant when Despina unmasks, and when the
+lovers discover themselves as the pretended Albanians; and Mozart has
+rendered both these points with true musical humour. But the purely
+musical interest does not reassert its sway until the reconciliation has
+taken place, and a feeling of peace and happiness is diffused around.
+The last movement more especially is full of such calm and melodious
+beauty that we feel lifted above the vanity and triviality of so much
+that has gone before, and left with an impression of heartfelt gaiety
+and satisfaction.
+
+A nearer examination of the opera shows that the libretto, never rising
+above the ordinary opera buffa, has not seldom dragged the music down
+to its own level. The caricature and exaggeration indispensable to
+this species of comic drama have indeed been made by Mozart, as far as
+possible, the natural outcomes of the situations and characters, and are
+thus justified as an artistic element of the work, but he has not been
+able altogether to avoid the substitution of external stage devices for
+psychological truth. The attempt is more visible in this work than in
+any other to render the meaning of the words through the senses; the
+accompaniment is especially rich in detail-painting, instead of being,
+as in Mozart's other works, called upon to add the more delicate
+shades of emotional characterisation. In the duet between Guillelmo and
+Dorabella (23) the orchestra gives the heart-beats which are made the
+chief point of the words; in the lovely terzet (10) the raging of wind
+and waves, and in the preceding quintet (9) the sobs, are distinctly
+expressed. Even subordinate ideas are represented
+
+{GENERAL CRITIQUE.}
+
+(273)
+
+after the same realistic manner, as, among others, the drawing of the
+swords in the first terzet, the flourish of trumpets and clinking of
+glasses in the third, the piping and cannon reports in the war chorus
+(8), the beating of the heart in Dorabella's air (28) suggested by the
+quavers on the oboe, and the general clinking of glasses in the last
+finale by the pizzicato of the violins.[63] These are all pleasing
+touches, introduced without injury to more important features, but they
+do not reach to the same height of psychological characterisation which
+we are wont to admire in Mozart's operas. Other devices of opera buffa
+are more constantly employed here than elsewhere, especially rapidity
+of speech; but, on the other hand, there is no trace of any attempt at
+imitating national peculiarities, even when the disguises assumed might
+have given rise to it; Mozart could not but feel that a musical disguise
+of the kind would very soon, fatigue the audience. The effort to cater
+to the taste of the public goes hand in hand with submission to the
+dictates of the singers, and we find their influence far more visible in
+"Cosi fan Tutte" than in "Figaro" or "Don Giovanni." There is an evident
+effort to please individual taste in the concerted airs, and in the
+unusually light and pleasing melodies; such concessions cause this
+opera, more than any other, to resemble the best works of Italian
+masters.
+
+The peculiar qualities of Mozart's nature, his refinement and nobility
+of thought, his wealth of productivity, and his marvellous technical
+knowledge, are as distinctly marked in this opera as elsewhere. The
+planning, the construction, the grouping of parts, are so firm, so
+transparently clear, that we follow even the most complicated movements
+with ease. The freedom and pliancy of the disposition of parts, where
+there occurs a combination of different characteristic melodies, the
+easy dexterity displayed in the employment of contrapuntal forms,
+co-operate to excite and rivet the attention of the hearer, without
+causing him any sense of effort.
+
+The quality, however, which delights us more than any other in this
+opera is its delicate sense of beautiful sound,
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(274)
+
+and the ease with which this sense is made evident throughout. It is
+a quality, no doubt, inseparable from inventive power and a talent for
+construction, but it is not universally effective in the same degree,
+and it is rare to find such a union of the forces which regulate the
+impression made by musical beauty upon the senses. Even the orchestra,
+although deficient in the delicate detail of "Figaro" and "Don
+Giovanni," is in other respects fuller, more brilliant, and richer in
+separate instrumental effects. The wind instruments are brought more
+forward, in more varied combinations and finer shades of tone-colouring.
+The clarinets are made effective, and a characteristic distinction made
+between their employment and that of the oboes. An original use is
+made of the trumpets: apart from drums they are not trumpet-like in the
+ordinary sense, but are used in place of the horns (not in combination
+with them), and mostly in the lower registers, in order to give
+freshness and force to the tone-colouring. Similar observations might
+be extended to show in detail with what refined penetration and correct
+judgment of effect the forces of the orchestra are made to conduce to
+the euphonious charm of the opera. That "Cosi fan Tutte," considered as
+a whole, and in respect of importance and detail of characterisation, is
+inferior to "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," no competent critic will deny.
+Nevertheless many separate portions of the work, and the large majority
+of the characters, display Mozart's genius and mastery of his art in
+full measure of originality and brilliancy, and in many respects this
+opera may be held to indicate an important step in advance of all that
+has gone before it.
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLI.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: N. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1856, No. 5, p. 35.]
+
+[Footnote 2: N. Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1852, No. 35.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Wien. Ztg., 1788, October 15, No. 83, p. 2,541.]
+
+[Footnote 4: From August 29, when "Figaro" was first placed on the stage, it was
+given eleven times (August 31; September 2, 11, 19; October 3, 9, 24;
+November 5, 13, 27); fifteen times in 1790, and three times in 1791.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Fr. Heinse (Reise-und Lebensskizzen, I., p. 184) mentions a rumour
+that a story current in Vienna at the time concerning two officers and
+their mistresses furnished the subject for the opera, which was adopted
+by the express desire of the Emperor.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Da Ponte mentions it only briefly (Mem., II., p. 109).]
+
+[Footnote 7: In the Wien. Ztg., 1790, No. 9, Anh., the date is printed,
+"Mittwoch, 16 Januar."]
+
+[Footnote 8: Joum. des Luxus u. d. Moden, 1790, p. 148: "I have again to announce
+a new and excellent work by Mozart acquired by our theatre. It was
+performed yesterday for the first time at the Imp. Nat. Theatre. It is
+entitled,'Cosi fan Tutte, osia la Scuola degli Amanti.' Of the music, it
+is sufficient to say that it is by Mozart."]
+
+[Footnote 9: It was repeated after the first performance, on January 28,30;
+February 7, 11. After the death of Joseph II. (February 20) the theatre
+was closed until April 12; Mozart's opera was given again June 6, 12;
+July 6, 16; Aug. 17; in all, therefore, ten times; then it was allowed
+to drop.]
+
+[Footnote 10: The first book of the words, "Cosi fan Tutte, osia la Scuola degli
+Amanti. Dramma giocoso in due atti, da rappresentarsi nel Teatro di
+Corte l' anno 1790," was shown to me by Sonnleithner.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In the original recitative (Act I., sc. 9), Trieste was written,
+and altered into Naples; Venezia is in the printed score.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The words with which Don Alfonso begins the second terzet-- "È la
+fede delle femine Come l' Araba fenice: Che vi sia, ciascun lo dice Dove
+sia, nessun lo sà"--are borrowed from Metastasio's "Demetrio" (Act II.,
+sc. 3), and were composed by himself as a canon (where it runs, "La fede
+degli amanti, &c.). It is therefore an old familiar song that Alfonso
+sings to them.]
+
+[Footnote 13: According to the original score the march is first played by the
+orchestra alone, piano at the beginning, and _crescendo_ from the second
+part; at the repetition the chorus joins in _forte_.]
+
+[Footnote 14: This scene was originally introduced by a Cavatina for Despina;
+after the recitative is written, _Dopo la cavatina di' Despina._ Mozart
+afterwards crossed out these words, probably because a better place was
+found for Despina's air.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Schneider, Gesch. d. Oper, p. 61.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Schneider, Ibid., p. 76.]
+
+[Footnote 17: A. M. Z., XXVIII., p. 26. Berl. Mus. Ztg., III., p. 12.]
+
+[Footnote 18: A. M. Z., XXXIII., p. 550.]
+
+[Footnote 19: A. M. Z., XLVIII., p. 870.]
+
+[Footnote 20: A. M. Z., X., p. 409.]
+
+[Footnote 21: A. M. Z., XXV., p. 428.]
+
+[Footnote 22: A. M. Z., XXXIII., p. 222.]
+
+[Footnote 23: A. M. Z., XL., p. 440.]
+
+[Footnote 24: A. M. Z., VII., p. 240.]
+
+[Footnote 25: A. M. Z., XXXII., p. 375. Fr. Heinse, Reise-und Lebensskizzen, I.,
+p. 183.]
+
+[Footnote 26: A. M. Z., XIV., p. 189. Cf. XVI., p. 154.]
+
+[Footnote 27: A.M.Z., XII., p. 500; XVI., p. 451.]
+
+[Footnote 28: A. M. Z., XVIII., p. 895.]
+
+[Footnote 29: A. M. Z., XIII., pp. 526, 720; XIX., p. 550; XXII., p. 813.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Pohl, Mozart u. Haydn in London, p. 146. Parke, Mus. Mem., II., p.
+259.]
+
+[Footnote 31: A. M. Z., XLIV., p. 750.]
+
+[Footnote 32: The autograph score is arranged and written quite in Mozart's usual
+manner. The recitative of the scena (XI. and XII.), [the duet (29),
+completed by a strange hand, exists in Mozart's manuscript], the
+serenade (21), the accompanied recitative for Fiordiligi before the air
+(25), and the whole of scena (XIII.) of the second act, besides some
+extra sheets for the wind instruments, are wanting.]
+
+[Footnote 33: B. A. Weber declared after the performance in Berlin (Mus.
+Monatsschr., 1792, p. 137): "After the 'Marriage of Figaro,' this opera
+is indisputably the finest. The concerted pieces more especially have a
+beauty and an expression which can be rather felt than described."]
+
+[Footnote 34: Journ. d. Mod., 1792, p. 504: "The opera in question is the most
+absurd stuff in the world, and only sought after on account of the
+excellence of the music."]
+
+[Footnote 35: In a Musikalischer Briefwechsel (Berlin Mus. Ztg., 1805, p. 293)
+the opera, both words and music, are severely criticised by "Arithmos,"
+who is then in his turn ridiculed as a Philistine by "Phantasus," and
+the opera praised as a model of genuine irony. E. T. A. Hoffmann, too,
+who places the essence of comic opera in the fantastical, considers
+that the much-abused text of "Cosi fan Tutte' is genuinely operatic
+(Serapionsbrüder, I., 2, 1, Ges. Schr., I., p. 120).]
+
+[Footnote 36: Cf. A. von Wolzogen, Deutsche Mus. Ztg., 1861, p. 137.]
+
+[Footnote 37: In this form the opera was performed in Berlin, and again in 1822
+at Braunschweig (A. M. Z., XXIV., p. 378), in 1823 at Cassel (A. M. Z.,
+XXV., p. 450), and in 1824 at Munich (A. M. Z., XXVI., p. 588).]
+
+[Footnote 38: Morgenblatt, 1856, No. 4, p. 75.]
+
+[Footnote 39: This has occasioned the displacement of some of the songs, not
+always to their disadvantage. This version is not only far superior to
+all that preceded it, but is excellent in itself by reason of its taste
+and cleverness and careful regard for musical requirements.]
+
+[Footnote 40: A Danish translation by Oehlenschläger, with which I am
+not acquainted, appears to have altogether transformed the plot
+(Oehlenschläger, Lebenserin-nerungen, I., p. 121; IV., p. 43).]
+
+[Footnote 41: Hogarth, Mem. of the Opera, II., p. 188.]
+
+[Footnote 42: These pseudo improvements have been adopted at the more recent
+performances of the opera at Leipzig, Dresden, Munich, Vienna, and even
+at Karlsruhe,by Ed. Devrient (1860).]
+
+[Footnote 43: In the second act there are six airs, four duets, the so-called
+quartet and Alfonso's short scena; in the first there are six airs, two
+duets, five terzets, and one quintet, besides a sestet and the great
+scena with the chorus.]
+
+[Footnote 44: "Oh, how inexpressibly I prize and honour Mozart," says Richard
+Wagner (Oper u. Drama, I., p. 54), "in that he found it impossible to
+write the same kind of music for 'Titus' as for 'Don Juan,' for 'Cosi
+fan Tutte' as for 'Figaro' I How music would have been debased thereby!
+A sprightly, frivolous poet handed him his airs, duets, and ensembles
+to compose, and according to the warmth with which they inspired him, he
+set them to the music which would endow them with the fullest amount of
+expression that they were capable of." Hotho (Vorstudien f. Leben und
+Kunst, p. 76) is of opinion that in "Cosi fan Tutte" the female parts
+are thrown into the shade by the male, while the contrary is the case in
+"Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," and accounts for this fact by saying that
+Mozart was always attracted by that side of his subject which was mostly
+suggestive of melody.]
+
+[Footnote 45: It is advertised in the Wien. Ztg., 1790, No. 16, Anh., as the most
+beautiful duet of the new opera.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Da Ponte, Mem., II., pp. 108,117.]
+
+[Footnote 47: Parke, Mus. Mem., I., p. 48.]
+
+[Footnote 48: The first part was originally given to Dorabella, the second to
+Fiordiligi, as far as the first finale; this was afterwards altered by
+Mozart. It can only have arisen from an exchange of names, for that the
+first part was always intended for Ferraresi is clear from the manner in
+which the low notes are made use of, evidently to suit her voice.]
+
+[Footnote 49: It is suggestive for the execution that _lietissimo_ is the
+direction at the beginning of the voice part.]
+
+[Footnote 50: An excellent effect is given by the alternations of the keys of
+E flat major and C major in the second theme, and the interchange of
+clarinets and oboes connected therewith.]
+
+[Footnote 51: The tenor, Vincenzo Calvesi, who made his first appearance with his
+wife in April, 1785 (Wien. Ztg., 1785, No. 33, Anh.), is the same for
+whom, in 1785, the inserted piece, "Villanella rapita," was written
+(Vol. II., p. 331), and who, in 1786, took the part of one Antipholus in
+Storace's "Gli Equivoci," while Kelly took the other (Kelly, Reminisc.,
+I., p. 237).]
+
+[Footnote 52: Bassi distinguished himself subsequently in Dresden in the part of
+Guillelmo (A. M. Z., X., p. 410; XIII., p. 730; XIX., p. 649).]
+
+[Footnote 53: Here again an alteration must have been made. The preceding
+recitative ended originally after Ferrando's words, "Dammi consiglio!"
+in C minor, whereupon the direction follows: _Segue Varia di Guillelmo_.
+Afterwards the two last bars were crossed out, and the recitative
+was continued on another sheet, as it is now printed, with the same
+direction at the end.]
+
+[Footnote 54: The repetition by the wind instruments of the passage of such
+irresistibly comic gravity--[See Page Image] is wanting in the original
+score, and is written by the hand of a copyist on a separate sheet for
+flutes and bassoons only; nor do the references appear to me to be by
+Mozart. The insertion, however, was unquestionably in accordance with
+his intentions.]
+
+[Footnote 55: In both versions, Guillelmo's air breaks off on the chord of the
+seventh, and is immediately followed by the terzet. At the beginning of
+the latter is written _ridono moderatamente (not fortissimo_).]
+
+[Footnote 56: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., III., p. 592.]
+
+[Footnote 57: This appears to be a later alteration. The preceding recitative
+ended originally at--[See Page Image] and the direction followed _Segue
+V aria di Don Alfonso;_ the d was crossed out, and attacca written
+against it. Even if Mozart did not look upon the ensemble as a regular
+quartet, he could scarcely have denominated it "Aria di Don Alfonso";
+such an aria must therefore have been projected, and afterwards changed
+for the ensemble.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Rochlitz, A. M. Z., III., p. 593. Cf. Ambros, Culturhistor.
+Bilder., p. 191.]
+
+[Footnote 59: One can hardly credit Schroder's remark, on seeing the opera,
+rechristened by Stegmann "Liebe und Versuchung," May 1, 1791, at
+Frankfort: "Wretched! Even Mozart's music is only good in the second
+act." (Meyer, L. Schroder, II., i., p. 68.)]
+
+[Footnote 60: The minor key is employed only in Don Alfonso's caricatured air (5)
+in the poisoning scene of the second movement of the first finale, and
+very cursorily in Ferrando's air (27).]
+
+[Footnote 61: The change of key, simple though it is, is more marked than in the
+first finale of "Figaro " and "Don Juan." G minor follows D major, then
+E flat major, C minor, G major, then immediately B flat major, and again
+without transition D major.]
+
+[Footnote 62: The canon was originally more spun out, and Guillelmo, having
+vented his wrath in parlando, was to take up the theme against
+Dorabella; but Mozart rightly gave up the idea, and struck out the bars
+he had already written.]
+
+[Footnote 63: Cf. Gugler, Morgenblatt, 1856, No. 4, p. Si.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 42
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLII. LABOUR AND POVERTY.
+
+THE accession of Leopold II. to the Imperial throne (March 13, 1790) was
+not an event of good omen for music and the opera. Up to the month of
+July he had not entered the theatre, nor had any private concerts, nor
+
+{MOZART'S POSITION AT COURT, 1790.}
+
+(275)
+
+displayed any sort of partiality for music; his consort, the Empress
+Louise, visited the opera and laid claim to some musical knowledge,
+although she expressed herself dissatisfied with the state of music
+in Vienna; the young princes, too, were instructed in music.[1] The
+difference between Joseph and his successor in point of taste was very
+soon manifested by the reintroduction of ballets, and by the favour
+bestowed on opera seria as well as opera buffa. It was rumoured that
+a new court theatre was to be built, in which the boxes were to
+be arranged for card-playing, and that Salieri had determined in
+consequence to resign his post, which was to be filled by Cimarosa.[2]
+Those individuals who had enjoyed the esteem of Joseph had little favour
+to hope for from Leopold; a fact which soon became evident in matters
+theatrical. Count Rosenberg was removed from the management, which was
+intrusted to Count Ugarte;[3] Da Ponte and Madame Ferraresi fell
+into disfavour;[4] Salieri thought it advisable to retire from the
+conductorship of the opera, and his place was filled by Jos. Weigl,
+"that the master might be reverenced in the pupil."[5] Mozart had stood
+too high in the favour of Joseph to be able to expect much from Leopold
+II.; his candidature for the post of second kapellmeister was as little
+successful as his request to be honoured with the musical instruction
+of the princes. Proof positive of the low esteem in which he was held
+by the court was afforded to him on the occasion of the visit of King
+Ferdinand of Naples, who came to Vienna (September 14) with his Queen,
+Caroline, to celebrate the marriages of his daughters, Maria Theresa and
+Louise, with the Archdukes Francis and Ferdinand. Ferdinand's
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(276)
+
+two passions were music and the chase;[6] and the instrument which he
+most affected was the lute. In his honour a new opera by Weigl ("La
+Cafetiera Bizarra") was performed (September 15);[7] the Emperor made
+his first appearance at the opera with King Ferdinand, when Salieri's
+"Axur" was played (September 21); in honour of the weddings, open table
+was held in the great Redoutensaal, and a concert performed in the
+gallery under Salieri's direction, in which Cavalieri and Calvesi and
+the brothers Stadler took part, and a symphony by Haydn was performed
+which the King knew by heart, and sang out loud as it was played; Haydn
+was introduced to him, invited to Naples, and honoured with commands for
+compositions;[8] and all this time Mozart remained unnoticed, and was
+not even summoned to play before the King of Naples, a neglect which
+wounded him deeply. His condition was painful in the extreme; his
+wife's delicate health showed no signs of improving; and as his expenses
+increased his income gradually diminished. In May he had only two
+pupils, and was obliged to appeal to his friends to assist him in
+raising the number to eight. His continual and pressing embarrassments
+exhausted even the resources of his ever-generous friend Puchberg, and
+he was obliged to apply to money-lenders, and to embark in speculations
+which did but hasten his financial ruin (Vol. II., p. 301). The weight
+of these cares crippled his energies for work, as he himself complains,
+and no period of his life is so poor in artistic production as this
+year. His own catalogue contains, after the completion of "Cosi fan
+Tutte" in January, 1790, only:--
+
+May. Quartet for two violins, viola and violoncello in B flat major (589
+K.).
+
+June. Quartet in F major (590 K.).
+
+July. Handel's "Cecilia" and "Alexander's Feast," arranged (591, 592
+K.).
+
+{EXPEDITION TO FRANKFORT, 1790.}
+
+(277)
+
+In the hope of improving his circumstances, Mozart resumed his plan of
+taking a professional tour; the coronation of Leopold II. in Frankfort,
+on October 9, attracted a large number of strangers to that city, and
+seemed to render it a favourable place for the experiment. Salieri, as
+court kapellmeister,[9] Ign. Umlauf as his deputy, and fifteen chamber
+musicians, were sent to Frankfort among the retinue of the Emperor.[10]
+Mozart was not included among the number, and thus was deprived of the
+advantage of the imperial patronage. On September 23 he set off, after
+pawning his silver plate to defray the expenses of his journey (Vol.
+II., p. 301) in company with his brother-in-law, the violinist Hofer,
+whom he took with him out of compassion, and with the intention of
+sharing the expected profits together; they travelled in their own
+carriage, and, arriving in Frankfort on the 23rd, had considerable
+difficulty in finding a lodging, owing to the overflow of strangers
+into the town. On October 14, at noon, Mozart gave a concert in the
+Stadt-theater.[11] The contrabassist Ludwig, long since dead, who took
+part in the concert, used to tell how the piano stood upon the stage,
+and how during the rehearsal the restless, agile little man was
+continually leaping over the prompter's box into the orchestra to chat
+in a friendly way with the various performers, and then climb back again
+on to the stage. Mozart's own compositions were exclusively performed
+at this concert; he played the concertos in F major (459 K.) and D major
+(537 K.). Margarethe Hamel, afterwards Frau Schick, was the vocalist,
+and so charmed Mozart by her voice and delivery that he is said to have
+exclaimed repeatedly: "I never wish to hear any other singing
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(278)
+
+than this."[12] It is also said that he played a pianoforte concerto as
+a duet with old "Papa Beecké" (Vol. I., pp. 151,368), whom he met again
+here.[13] He acquaints his wife with the friendly reception accorded
+him, and tradition has it that he struck up a friendship with the
+concertmeister Hoffmann, and generally spent the evening with him
+at Gran's tavern in the Bleidenstrasse. Hesse became acquainted in
+Frankfort, as he tells us,[14] with an old superannuated organist of the
+Katharinenkirche, who in 1790 had been the pupil of his predecessor; the
+old man said:--
+
+One Sunday, after service, Mozart came into the choir at St Katharine's,
+and begged the old organist to allow him to play something. He seated
+himself on the stool and gave the reins to his fancy, when the organist
+suddenly pushed him off the stool in the rudest manner, and said to the
+pupil standing by: "Mark that last modulation which Herr Mozart made;
+how can he profess to be a musician and commit such grave offences
+against correct composition?"
+
+The pupil had remembered the modulation, and Hesse thought it a fine
+one, and not even unusual.
+
+From Frankfort Mozart proceeded to Mayence. Here rumour assigned him a
+touching love intrigue, which was supposed to have suggested the
+song "Io ti lascio," the said song having been in reality composed by
+Gottfried von Jacquin in Vienna, and not by Mozart at all (Vol. II.,
+p. 361). On his way back to Frankfort, Mozart stayed at Mannheim, and
+renewed the memory of former days with as many of the old friends as
+still survived. He arrived just in time for the first performance of his
+"Figaro," which took place on October 24. The actor Backhaus notes in
+his Tagebuch der Mann-heimer Schaubühne: "I got into great disgrace with
+Mozart. I was standing at the door while our rehearsal was going on. He
+came and asked me about it, and whether he might hear it. I took him for
+a little journeyman tailor, and refused to let him in. 'You will surely
+allow Kapellmeister Mozart to hear the rehearsal?' So I was in a scrape
+most decidedly."[15]
+
+{RETURN JOURNEY TO VIENNA, 1790.}
+
+(279)
+
+The late organist of the Trinitatiskirche, Schultz, delighted as an
+octogenarian to recall how Mozart, who visited his father and played the
+organ with him, censured the slow tempi of the Kapellmeister Fränzel at
+the rehearsal in the theatre, and gave it himself with more animation.
+Otherwise, Mozart pronounced himself highly satisfied with the cast and
+the performance.[16]
+
+At Munich, where Mozart arrived on October 29, and took up his quarters
+with his old friend Albert,[17] he found still more of the old set, and
+his letters to his wife show the pleasure he took in their society. Here
+at last he had the gratification of being requested by the Elector to
+play at the concert which was given at court to the King of Naples,
+who was staying at Munich for two days[18] on his return journey from
+Frankfort. "Highly creditable to the Vienna court," he writes, "that the
+King should hear me in a foreign country." Shortly after Mozart's return
+to Vienna Salomon arrived from London, and made what might at that time
+be considered brilliant proposals to Haydn to accompany him to England,
+and produce that series of compositions for the Philharmonic Society
+which were destined to lay the foundation of Haydn's fame and
+prosperity. Salomon made repeated propositions to Mozart also to
+undertake the journey to London under similar conditions, as soon as
+Haydn should return. It was with a heavy heart that Mozart bade adieu to
+his dear "Papa Haydn," the only artist in Vienna who really understood
+him and wished him well.
+
+It may safely be asserted that Mozart did not return to Vienna with a
+full purse, nor did his other financial operations secure for him that
+for which he so touchingly expresses to his wife his ardent longing:
+a mind free from anxiety, and permission to work--only to work. He did
+work, though,
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(280)
+
+after his return, and the last year of his life displays an activity
+which passes belief. His own list contains:--
+
+1790. December. A quintet for two violins, two violas, and violoncello D
+major (593 K.).
+
+1791. January 5. A pianoforte concerto, B flat major (595 K.).
+
+January 14. Three German songs (596 K.).
+
+January 23, 29; February 5, 12, 28; March 6. Dances (599-607, 609-611
+K.).
+
+March 3. A piece for clockwork, in F minor (608 K.).
+
+March 8. A bass air with obbligato double-bass, for Hrn. Görl and
+Pischlberger, "Per questa bella mano" (612 K.). Variations for the piano
+on the song "Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding" (613 K.).
+
+April 12. A quintet for two violins, two violas, and violoncello, in E
+flat major (614 K.).
+
+April 20. Final chorus in the opera "Le Gelosie Villane," by Sarti, for
+amateurs, "Viviamo felici in dolce contento" (615 K., unknown).
+
+May 4. Andante for a waltz on a small barrel-organ, in F major (616 K.).
+
+May 23. Adagio and Rondo for harmonica, flute, oboe, viola and
+violoncello in C minor (617 K.).
+
+June 18. In Baden "Aveverum corpus" (618 K.).
+
+July. A short German cantata for solo voice and pianoforte, "Die ihr des
+unermesslichen Weltalls Schopfer" (619 K.).
+
+A glance at this catalogue is sufficient to prove that he wrote whatever
+he was requested, either by commission or to please his friends.
+
+For his own playing, no doubt at a concert, he wrote the pianoforte
+concerto in B flat major, which like most of the compositions of this
+period, is distinguished by its mild and earnest tone and charming
+euphony. The two fine quintets for stringed instruments were written "at
+the earnest solicitation of a musical friend" (Vol. III., p. 18) who
+was no doubt acquainted with Mozart's poor circumstances, and wished
+to afford him a worthy opportunity of turning his art to account. The
+spirit in which Mozart undertook commissions which were often of a very
+subordinate nature may be best seen in his composition for a mechanical
+timepiece which was ordered by Count Deym for Müller's art-collection,
+then attracting great attention. The serious temper which it displays,
+and
+
+{BADEN, 1791--STOLL.}
+
+(281)
+
+the thoroughly technical treatment of the composition, betray no
+evidence of a work merely done to order. Another occasional composition
+is the beautiful chorus with stringed quartet accompaniment, "Ave verum
+corpus." Mozart's wife was staying at Baden for the waters in the summer
+of 1790, and again in 1791, in company with her sister Sophie. There
+Mozart became acquainted with the schoolmaster and choirmaster Stoll, an
+ardent admirer, who took pleasure in making himself useful to Mozart
+and his wife. That Stoll could appreciate the fun of Mozart, in his
+unrestrained moods, is shown by the superscription of a note (July 12,
+1791)--
+
+     Liebster Stoll!
+     Bester Knoll!
+     Grösster Schroll!
+     Bist Stemvoll!
+     Gelt das Moll!
+     Thut dir wohl!
+
+or by his assurance in another letter: "This is the stupidest letter
+which I ever wrote in my life; but it is just fitted for you." On the
+other hand, Mozart was of use to him with his compositions, and lent
+him, among others, his Masses in B flat major (275 K.) and C major (317
+K.) for performance. On one of these occasions the soprano singer turned
+obstinate, and would not obey Mozart's directions. He sent her away, and
+gave the part to his little favourite, Antonia Huber, a child of ten or
+eleven years old, who was often with her brother-in-law Stoll and met
+Mozart at his house. He practised with the child for a week, and her
+industry and attention were so great that she performed her part to
+admiration, and was rewarded by Mozart with "Brav, Tonerl, recht brav!"
+together with a kiss and a ducat. He used to say to her, "Tonerl, make
+haste and grow big, and I will take you with me to Vienna."[19] The "Ave
+verum corpus" was no doubt composed at Stoll's suggestion during one
+of these visits to Baden. It bears tokens of haste, but is so full of
+childlike piety, winning simplicity, and entrancing harmony,
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(282)
+
+that one seems for the moment transported from all earthly doubts and
+cares into a region of heavenly calm and peace.
+
+A very different impression is made by the bass air with obbligato
+double-bass, composed by Mozart for two professional friends. The
+celebrated double-bass player, Pischlberger, was in Schikaneder's
+orchestra, and Gerl and his wife (formerly Mdlle. Reisinger) sang at
+the same theatre. Contemporaries affirmed that the very pretty and
+attractive woman had completely entangled Mozart in her coils. Be that
+as it may, this composition was the cause of a connection between Mozart
+and Schikaneder which was fertile in results to the former.
+
+Emanuel Schikaneder was born in poor circumstances at Regensburg
+in 1751. He was obliged as a boy to earn his living as a wandering
+musician, and in 1773 was so inspired by the performances of a wandering
+troupe of actors at Augsburg that he joined them. He afterwards married
+Eleonore Artim, the adopted daughter of his manager, and undertook the
+management. He had considerable skill and audacity, not only as an actor
+and singer, but also as a dramatic poet. His company visited by turns
+Inspruck, Laibach, Gratz,[20] Pressburg, Pesth, and Salzburg, where he
+had become acquainted with the Mozarts in 1780, and had suggested some
+compositions to Wolfgang (Vol. II., p. 102). His want of refinement in
+the choice of means of attraction is sufficiently proved by his having
+on one occasion at Salzburg, when "Agnes Bernauer" was performed, made
+the public announcement: "The Vidame will this day be thrown over the
+bridge "--which concession to the moral feelings of his audience was
+duly made the same evening.[21] He acquired a considerable competence,
+but an unlucky speculation in Pressburg ruined him. He had written a
+piece in which a goose played the principal part, and all the others
+were cocks and hens. The expenses for scenery and costumes were very
+great, and, as it was a complete failure, his finances were
+
+{SCHIKANEDER.}
+
+(283)
+
+irretrievably injured. In November, 1784, he gained access for his
+company to the stage of the Karnthnerthortheater in Vienna, where he
+gave German operas and plays, at which the Emperor was occasionally
+present.[22] He appeared on April 1, 1785, in the part of Schwindel in
+Gluck's "Pil-grimmen von Mecca"; but attempting greater parts in serious
+drama, he was hissed off the stage, and in February, 1786, was forced
+to leave Vienna.[23] He then took the town theatre in Regensburg, and
+endeavoured to satisfy the taste of the populace for low comedy; but
+this did not last long, and in the summer of 1787 he threw up the
+undertaking[24] and returned to Vienna. His wife had in the meantime
+remained at the theatre in the "Freihause auf der Wieden,"[25] and
+had taken the management of it from Friedel. This now passed into
+Schikaneder's hands, and in these confined premises--little better than
+a barn--he succeeded in delighting the Viennese public with performances
+expressly designed to attract them, especially comic operas, of which
+many were highly successful.[26] What he wanted in cultivation (he could
+barely write or reckon) he made up for in sound mother-wit, practical
+experience, and knowledge of stage routine. His audacity was equal to
+his frivolity, and he found a way out of every dilemma. He was addicted
+to sensual gratification, a parasite and a spendthrift; and in spite of
+his large income was often hard pressed by his creditors.[27]
+
+During one of these periods of embarrassment, in the spring of 1791[28]
+(May 7 is given as the date), he had recourse
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(284)
+
+to Mozart, with whom he had renewed the old acquaintance, and
+representing to him that he was lost unless he could produce an opera
+of great attractive power, he assured him that he had discovered an
+excellent magic subject for an opera, which Mozart was just the man to
+compose. Mozart's irresistible inclination for operatic composition, his
+natural good-nature and regard for a brother Freemason, and, as it was
+said, the influence of Madame Gerl, all combined to induce him to make
+the attempt: "If we make a fiasco, I cannot help it, for I never wrote
+a magic opera in my life." Schikaneder gave him the first sketch of the
+"Zauberflöte," and, knowing how difficult it was to bring Mozart to the
+point of writing, he arranged a little garden-house in the courtyard of
+the Freihaus for his use, so as to keep him under his own eye. Here, and
+in Josephsdorf, on the Kahlenberg (where his room in the casino is
+still shown),[29] Mozart wrote the greater part of the "Zauberflöte";
+Schikaneder was at hand to discuss points of detail, to make necessary
+alterations, and above all to have his own part written to his mind. He
+had a poor bass voice, was uncultivated, but not unmusical, and could
+execute his songs in a dashing and effective manner. He knew perfectly
+in what consisted his best effects, and insisted on having simple,
+popular melodies, which Mozart was compliant enough to go on altering
+until Schikaneder was satisfied. The song "Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen,"
+after many attempts, was, it is said, suggested by a melody hummed
+by Schikaneder himself. It has been remarked that the beginning is
+identical with the seventh and eighth lines of Scandelli's (d. 1580)
+chorale, "Nun lob mein Seel den Herren"--[See Page Image] is sung to the
+same melody[30]--a sure proof of its popularity. The duets "Bei Männern
+welche Liebe fühlen," and
+
+{COMPOSITION OF THE "ZAUBERFLOTE."}
+
+(285)
+
+"Papageno" were repeatedly rearranged in deference to Schika-neder's
+wish. His want of any hesitation in the matter is proved by the
+following note from him, preserved by Al. Fuchs in his collection:--
+
+Dear Wolfgang,--Herewith I return your "Pa-Pa-Pa-," which I like fairly
+well. It will do, at any rate. We shall meet this evening at the usual
+place.--Yours, E. Schikaneder.
+
+But Schikaneder took care to keep his composer in good humour by
+frequent invitations to his table; where both eating and drinking were
+of the best, and by introductions to the jovial and free-living society
+in which he himself moved, and which also included A. Stadler, the man
+who so shamefully abused Mozart's good nature (Vol. II., p. 309). The
+pressure of external circumstances, of growing domestic troubles, and
+the bitter feeling of failure and disappointed hope, combined with
+his own excitable nature to cause Mozart to seek for distraction and
+forgetfulness in the whirl of a pleasure-loving life. His wife was at
+Baden, where his youngest son Wolfgang was born on July 26; her absence
+deprived his home life of any comfort, and drove him to take refuge
+among his theatrical friends. Folly and dissipation were the inevitable
+accompaniments of such an existence, and these soon reached the public
+ear, combining with the exaggerated accounts current of the loose life
+led by Schikaneder and his associates to cover Mozart's name for several
+months with an amount of obloquy beyond what he deserved (Vol. II., p.
+270). While the "Zauberflöte" was in course of composition, Da Ponte,
+who was obliged to leave Vienna, tried to persuade Mozart to accompany
+him to London, and there take an active part in the production of
+Italian opera. Mozart turned a favourable ear to the project, but
+demanded a delay of six months for the completion and performance of his
+opera, to which Da Ponte could not agree.[31] In July, 1791, the
+work was so far advanced that he was able to insert the opera in his
+catalogue as virtually complete; the rehearsals had begun as
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(286)
+
+soon as the voices and bass parts were ready, the working-out of the
+instrumentation being left, as usual, to the last.
+
+It was at this juncture that Mozart received an unexpected commission in
+a very singular manner.[32] A stranger, a tall, thin grave-looking
+man, dressed from head to foot in grey, and calculated from his very
+appearance to make a striking and weird impression, presented him one
+day with an anonymous letter begging him with many flattering allusions
+to his accomplishments as an artist to name his price for composing a
+Requiem, and the shortest time in which he could undertake to complete
+it. Mozart acquainted his wife with the circumstance, and assured her
+that it gave him great satisfaction, since he had long wished to try his
+powers once more on this species of composition, and to produce a work
+that both friends and foes might admire and study after his death. The
+innovations in church music introduced by the Emperor Joseph had been
+swept away by his successor, and the services of the Church were once
+more performed after the old fashion. Mozart was anxious therefore
+to impress upon the Emperor Leopold II., as the supreme arbiter, his
+familiarity with the orthodox church style, and the present seemed a
+favourable opportunity for the purpose. After consultation with his
+wife he announced his readiness to undertake the commission, but without
+fixing a term for its completion, and naming as his price 50 (some say
+100) ducats; whereupon the messenger again appeared, paid the stipulated
+sum, and promised an addition on the delivery of the finished work.
+Mozart was enjoined to compose the Requiem according to his own will and
+pleasure, and to make
+
+{COMMISSION FOR THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(287)
+
+no endeavour to discover his mysterious patron, an endeavour which would
+certainly prove in vain.
+
+It is now proved beyond doubt that Count Franz von Wal-segg of Stuppach
+was the patron in question, and that he ordered the Requiem in memory
+of his late wife, Anna Edlen von Flammberg; the mysterious messenger was
+his steward Leutgeb, whose personal appearance has been described to
+me by Grillparzer. Count Walsegg was a zealous lover of music, a good
+flautist, and a moderately good violoncello-player; he had quartet
+parties every Tuesday and Thursday, and theatrical performances every
+Sunday, in which his family and retainers took active part. But he was
+also ambitious to figure as a composer. He used to order quartets from
+different composers, always anonymously and with the offer of handsome
+payment;[33] these he would then copy with his own hand, and have the
+parts written out from this score. After performance he would set the
+players to guess the composer; they, fully aware of the mystification,
+invariably flattered his weakness by guessing himself, and he with a
+deprecating smile would tacitly admit the imputation. This explains the
+mysterious origin of the Requiem. He rewrote Mozart's score, gave
+the parts to be copied from his duplicate (with the title of "Requiem
+composto del Conte Walsegg"), and himself directed the performance of it
+on December 14, 1793.
+
+Before Mozart had set himself in earnest to this task, he received in
+the middle of August a fresh commission which brooked of no delay. A
+festival opera was to be performed at the approaching coronation
+of Leopold II. as King of Bohemia in Prague. The subject chosen was
+Metastasio's "Clemenza di Tito," and again it was the people of Prague
+who made good the deficiencies of the Viennese: the States called upon
+Mozart to compose the opera. For reasons which do not appear their
+decision was so long delayed that there remained only a few weeks for
+the composition and rehearsal
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(288)
+
+of the opera. After making all preliminary arrangements, Mozart set
+out for Prague. As he was in the act of stepping into the
+travelling-carriage with his wife, the mysterious messenger appeared,
+and touching his wife on the arm, asked how it would fare with the
+Requiem now. Mozart excused himself by alleging the necessity of his
+present journey, and the impossibility of acquainting his unknown patron
+with it, and promised that it should be his first work on his return
+if the delay were granted him; with this the messenger declared himself
+satisfied.
+
+Mozart worked at his opera during the journey, making sketches in the
+carriage, and working them out at the inn where they stopped for the
+night. He must have intended the part of Sextus to be taken by a tenor,
+for in two sketches of the duets with Vitellia (i) and Annius (3) Sextus
+is a tenor, which of course necessitated a plan and treatment altogether
+different. He cannot have received definite instructions as to the cast
+of the opera until he was in Prague; but then he set to work with so
+much ardour that in the course of eighteen days the opera was finished
+and in rehearsal.[34] He called in the assistance of a young composer
+named Franz Süssmayr, one of his pupils, who is said to have written the
+secco recitatives; what makes this the more probable is the fact that in
+the original score there is no secco recitative at all. But the further
+assertion that Süssmayr composed the airs for Servilia, Annius, and
+Publius, and arranged the instrumentation of some other pieces,[35]
+is disproved by the existence of almost all the numbers in Mozart's
+handwriting.[36]
+
+{FIRST PERFORMANCE OF "TITUS," 1791.}
+
+(289)
+
+The opera was performed with great magnificence[37] on September 6,
+the coronation day, after the banquet, before the royal family and
+an invited audience, in the National Theatre.[38] The cast was as
+follows:--[See Page Image]
+
+The Empress is said to have expressed herself very disdainfully
+concerning the "porcheria" of German music; and it is certain that
+the first performance of "Titus" was far from being a success.[39]
+Niemetschek is of opinion (p. 112) that the public were too excited
+by the gorgeous coronation festivities to be disposed to listen to
+the calmer beauties of Mozart's music. Mozart, accustomed to find
+consolation for so much slighting indifference in the enthusiastic
+applause of the Prague audiences, was thoroughly cast down by his
+failure; the more so as he was unwell when he arrived, and his
+indisposition had been increased by his extraordinary exertions. He was
+continually taking medicine and looked pale and depressed, although, as
+Niemetschek says, his gaiety shone forth bright as ever in the congenial
+society of his Prague friends; at his parting from the familiar circle
+he was so overcome as to shed tears.[40]
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(290)
+
+If it be true that "Cosi fan Tutte" is in all essential points an
+opera buffa, it is no less certain that "Titus" may take its stand as a
+veritable opera seria. Metastasio wrote "La Clemenza di Tito" in 1734,
+and it was performed with Caldara's music on the name-day of Charles
+VI.; it was subsequently set to music by several distinguished
+composers.[41] It is true that the public taste had so far altered that
+it was scarcely feasible to present it in its original form; but the
+improvements in the libretto, made by Caterino Mazzola, the Saxon court
+poet,[42] did not affect the character of the opera in any important
+degree. The principal change was the compression of the original three
+acts into two, and the omission of a not very happy episode, in which
+Annius, by a change of mantle, is taken for the guilty person. The
+course of the plot is thereby simplified; but it would be impossible by
+means of alterations to endow it with any lively dramatic interest. Nor
+is it rich in good musical situations; of all the characters Vitellia is
+the only one who displays the least passion; and the excessive amount
+of virtue and generosity depicted affords no field either for musical or
+dramatic interest. Further condensations were made of the numerous and,
+for the most part, rhetorically sententious solo airs, and ensemble
+movements were introduced at suitable points. This was accomplished
+with all possible deference to the original design and to Metastasio's
+verses, so that the character and colouring proper to a court festival
+piece was well preserved.[43] The following is a brief abstract of the
+plot:--(23); the duets (1, 3, 7), terzets (10, 14,18), the quintet (12),
+sestet (26), and the chorus (15); they retain for the most part
+Metastasio's ideas, and often his verses and turns of expression.
+
+{PLOT OF "TITUS."}
+
+(291)
+
+Vitellia, daughter of Vitellius, who has been deposed by Vespasian,
+has nourished the hope of a union with Titus, but finding herself
+disappointed, she wishes young Sextus, who is passionately in love with
+her, to form a conspiracy against his friend Titus, and by his overthrow
+to gain her hand. At the beginning of the opera she is urging her
+wavering lover to action, when Annius brings the unexpected tidings that
+Titus has banished his mistress Berenice from Rome. He entreats Sextus
+to obtain the consent of Titus to his union with Servilia, the sister of
+Sextus, who willingly promises his aid. After a magnificent assembly of
+the people, in which the generosity of Titus is publicly displayed, the
+Emperor himself demands from Sextus the hand of his sister Servilia;
+Sextus is confused and silent, but Annius, by his generous praise of the
+virtues and beauty of Servilia, strengthens the Emperor in his decision.
+Servilia, however, informed by Annius of the honour in store for her,
+assures him of her unalterable love, and, hastening to Titus, confesses
+to him the whole truth, whereupon he generously resigns her, and unites
+her to Annius. Vitellia, incensed to the highest degree by the proposed
+elevation of Servilia, directs Sextus and his coconspirators to proceed
+at once to action. He obeys, but has scarcely left her presence, when
+Publius, leader of her body-guard, enters, and summons her to the palace
+to bestow her hand upon Titus; she hastens to the palace in the utmost
+dismay and consternation. There is a general encounter in front of
+the capitol, which has been set on fire by the conspirators; great
+excitement prevails, and turns to grief and horror at the tidings
+brought by Sextus of the death of the Emperor, whom he believes himself
+to have slain.
+
+In the second act, Sextus, a prey to remorse, confesses his guilt to
+Annius, who counsels flight, and is supported by Vitellia with an eye
+to her own safety; Publius enters and arrests Sextus on the testimony of
+some imprisoned conspirators. At a meeting of the senators, who bewail
+the death of Titus, the latter steps forth from among the people, throws
+off the disguise in which he had saved himself, and is recognised amid
+general rejoicings.[44] He knows that Sextus intended to assassinate
+him, and has been condemned to death by the senate, but summoning him
+to his presence, he offers him a free pardon in return for a full
+confession. Sextus, unwilling to inculpate Vitellia, maintains an
+obstinate silence, and Titus finally ratifies the sentence of death.
+Vitellia yields to the entreaties of Servilia to intercede with the
+Emperor for Sextus, renounces her hopes, and resolves to save him by
+confessing her own guilt. All being prepared in the amphitheatre for the
+execution of Sextus, it is about to take place, when Vitellia rushes in,
+and denounces herself as the originator of the revolt; Titus pardons her
+a well as Sextus and the conspirators; all present extol his clemency.
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(292)
+
+Both the plot and the characters are absolutely devoid of dramatic
+interest. The abstract goodness of Titus, who is ready on every occasion
+to pardon and to yield, rouses no sympathy,[45] and is dramatically
+mischievous in its effects, since it destroys any sort of suspense.
+Publius, Annius and Servilia are mere props in the plot, characters
+without any individuality. Sextus is a purely passive instrument,
+wavering between love and remorse, without force or decision. We should
+sympathise with him if his love for Vitellia were returned, and if a
+healthy passion gave an impulse to his crime; but his weakness, which
+prevents his being aware that he is only the instrument of her selfish
+passion, deprives him of all sympathy, while Vitellia repels us by her
+barefaced ambition, to which she is ready to sacrifice every sentiment
+and every duty; her remorse comes too late to appear anything but
+a dissonance leading to the inevitable conclusion of the plot. This
+internal weakness in the characters is emphasised by Metastasio's
+poetical treatment of the plot. His dainty style was specially suited
+for court poetry and its corresponding musical expression, and his
+dexterity in the handling of the accepted forms of composition made his
+task a comparatively easy one. But even without taking into account
+the revolution which had taken place in the drama, we may judge from
+"Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" that what in Metastasio's time was of
+advantage to the composer had now become fetters binding him to forms
+and dogmas which were virtually obsolete. We find traces throughout of
+the opera seria, which Mozart had abandoned long ago, but which he was
+constrained here to resume. Metastasio's graceful daintiness of style,
+too, was even more injurious in the taste it encouraged for mere
+amusement of the trifling kind that was looked for at the opera at that
+time, giving an unseemly effeminacy of tone to the opera seria, and
+running an equal risk of degenerating into mere trifling or empty
+pomp and show. If, in addition to this, it be remembered that Mozart's
+express directions were to compose an occasional, a festival opera, for
+which two singers had
+
+{TITUS OVERTURE--ENSEMBLES.}
+
+(293)
+
+been summoned from Italy, and would demand to be shown at their best,
+and that he composed the opera against time, and struggling with
+illness, it will scarcely be expected that an unqualified success should
+follow such a combination of untoward circumstances. The character of
+a brilliant festal piece is at once suggested by the overture, which
+begins appropriately by a solemn intrada, with a long-drawn climax.
+The first bars recall the overture to "Idomeneo," which, however, in
+earnestness and dignity of tone, and originality of invention, far
+surpasses that to "Titus." The second theme so announced falls short of
+expectation, being weak and trifling,[46] and even the subject selected
+for harmonic contrapuntal treatment--[See Page Image] skilful and
+brilliant as the treatment is, has in itself no special interest,
+so that when the prelude recurs to form an effective conclusion, the
+principal impression remaining is one of brilliant display.
+
+The march (4) and the choruses (5, 24) as well as the finale (26)
+_Sestetto con coro_, in which short solo passages alternate with the
+chorus, maintain this festive character. They are brilliant and flowing,
+pleasing and melodious, and answer for their purpose and the situation
+without laying claim to original invention or characterisation. Only the
+chorus with which Titus is received before he pronounces judgment upon
+Sextus (24) has a fine expression of solemn dignity, suggested not so
+much by the words, which are trivial enough, as by the character of the
+situation. It was a happy touch to make the chorus, after the unexpected
+deliverance of Titus (15), express delight, not with jubilant outcries,
+but with the suppressed joy of bewildered amazement. Nevertheless this
+chorus is too light and fugitive for the situation.
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(294)
+
+The tenor part of Titus displays most clearly the influence of the old
+opera seria, Metastasio's words, consisting of general axioms, being
+retained for all his three airs (6, 8, 20). The two first are short and
+melodious, but not deeply suggestive;[47] the last retains the old
+aria form with a long middle movement and return to the first allegro,
+together with bravura passages quite in the old style. The report that
+the tenor Baglione found that Mozart and not an Italian composer
+had been engaged to write the opera, and that they quarrelled in
+consequence,[48] is the more improbable since Baglione was the same
+singer for whom Mozart had written Don Ottavio.
+
+Servilia's air (2) indicated, after the old style, with tempo di
+menuetto, the two airs for Annius (13, 17)[49] and that for Publius
+(16), are all both in design and treatment proper to secondary parts,
+without musical significance or individual characterisation. The main
+weight, therefore, fell according to custom upon the two prime donne,
+who played Sextus and Vitellia. The fact that the parts of the lovers,
+Sextus and Annius, were soprano, was an objectionable relic of the old
+opera seria, and that Sextus should have been played by a female and
+not a male soprano was a progress indeed for humanity, but not for the
+drama. True characterisation is impossible when a woman in man's clothes
+plays the lover, and the case is not improved by the weak, womanish
+character of Sextus. His passion for Vitellia becomes a thing contrary
+to nature, and the deeper the dramatic conception of the part the more
+repulsively does this appear. Of necessity, therefore, vocal execution
+comes to the foreground. The first air of Sextus, "Parto I" (9), fails
+at once in dramatic interest from his having already repeatedly assured
+Vitellia of his blind obedience, if she will only bestow upon
+
+{TITUS--SEXTUS.}
+
+(295)
+
+him one glance of love. The musical design and working-out are those of
+a grand bravura air. Tenderness, tinged with only an occasional dash of
+heroism, prevails throughout the two movements (adagio 3-4 and allegro
+4-4). An obbligato clarinet goes with the voice, and the strictly
+concertante treatment of this instrument gives its chief interest to
+the musical working-out of the song. Considered as a concert air
+which treats the given situation only as a general foundation for
+the development of musical forces, it is of extraordinary beauty, the
+melodies being noble and expressive, the sound-effects of the voice and
+clarinet admirable, and the only concessions to brilliancy of effect the
+triplet passages and the long-drawn-out conclusion.
+
+The second air (19) is more definitely characterised by the situation.
+Sextus, having with difficulty withstood Titus's friendly entreaties,
+is overpowered by his feelings when the Emperor turns coldly away, and
+leaves him to be led to death. This air is also in two movements; Sextus
+expresses his grief for the loss of Titus's confidence in an adagio, and
+his despair at the death awaiting him in an allegro. Metastasio's text
+expressed only the latter feeling, and Mazzola formed the first part
+of the air out of the words of the dialogue.[50] The expression of the
+first movement is fervent and true, and the softness characterising
+it belongs to the character and the situation; the second movement
+expresses a certain amount of passion in some parts, but is as a whole
+wanting in energy, and its chief motif, even for a female Sextus, is
+too soft and tender. Schaul adduces as a proof of Mozart's frequent sins
+against good sense that Sextus, tortured by remorse, should express
+his agony to Titus in a rondo.[51] "If it were a rondo by Pleyel or
+Clementi," remarks C. M. von Weber in answer,[52] "it might indeed
+produce a ludicrous effect; but let the critic only note the heartfelt
+fervour of the song, the depth and beauty of expression in such places
+as 'pur saresti men
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(296)
+
+severo, se vedesti questo cor, and all such petty fault-finding will
+cease to be heard." Mozart had originally sketched another allegro,
+the first bars of which, still existing in autograph, are rather more
+decided in character:--[See Page Image]
+
+The page ends here, and the present allegro is begun on a fresh one;
+it cannot be determined whether the first allegro was finished or only
+commenced, but in any case the instrumentation was not worked out.
+
+Vitellia is the only character in the opera displaying anything like
+passion or strength of feeling. The singer Maria Marchetti (b. 1767),
+married to the tenor Fantozzi in 1788, had acquired great renown in
+Italy and Milan, whence she was summoned to Prague; she possessed a
+fine, full voice, and excellent execution and action, enhanced by a
+pleasing exterior and dignified bearing.[53] In her first air (2) there
+is indeed no passion, Metastasio's words, consisting of frigid
+moral observations, scarcely allowing of any characteristic musical
+expression. The air is divided into the traditional two movements,
+neither of them distinguished by originality,
+
+{TITUS--VITELLIA.}
+
+(297)
+
+and even the bravura part is insignificant; the whole effect is so dry
+and commonplace as involuntarily to suggest Süssmayr. Vitellia's
+second air, on the contrary (22, 23), is the gem of the opera, and
+incontestably one of the most beautiful songs ever written. At the
+decisive moment Vitellia rises to the resolution of renouncing her
+dearest hopes, of sacrificing her very life to the nobler instincts
+of her soul, which have too long been made to yield to her ambitious
+striving after false greatness.
+
+The musical characterisation grasps this situation, and develops from it
+a psychological picture complete in itself, and only loosely connected
+with the earlier conception of Vitellia's character in the opera. The
+song seems thus to be detached from the framework of the opera, and
+to belong rather to the province of concert music. This idea is
+strengthened by the design, treatment, and compass of the two movements,
+as well as by the introduction of the obbligato basset-horn, which
+is treated so as to accord with the voice part, without any brilliant
+bravura.[54] Every element of the song is blended into such perfect
+unity, such charm of melody, such beauty of musical form; the sharp
+contrasts of the different motifs are so admirably expressive of the
+general character of which they form the details, and the whole work is
+so permeated by the breath of poetic genius, that our satisfaction in
+contemplating a perfect work of art leads us to forget how it stands
+forth as something foreign to the context.
+
+Even the introductory recitative is a masterpiece of telling expression,
+and in the air itself the noble beauty of the different motifs is tinged
+with a sadness amounting to gloom, but so sublime as to inspire the same
+emotions with which we gaze at the Niobe. The ensembles with which the
+opera is provided are only in part of any dramatic significance, and
+where this is wanting the musical interest also suffers; the duets
+especially are not important either in length or
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(298)
+
+substance. Passing over the duettino (3) between Sextus and Annius,
+which became popular owing to its easy and pleasing tone, but which in
+no way corresponds to the character of an heroic opera, we may notice
+the first duet between Sextus and Vitellia as better defined, especially
+in the first movement; although even here the wish to attract is very
+apparent, and gains quite the upper hand in the triplet passages and
+easy imitations of the allegro. An expression of tender feeling is
+more appropriate to the short duet between Annius and Servilia, and the
+loveliness of the music makes up for the absence of tragic seriousness.
+
+The three terzets are better placed, and more suitable to their dramatic
+situations, but even they fail to elicit dramatic contrasts by giving to
+each character an equal and characteristic share in the piece. Thus, in
+the first terzet, Vitellia alone is inspired with lively emotion, Annius
+and Publius being mere passive spectators. It is at the moment When she
+has dispatched Sextus to the murder of Titus that she is informed of the
+Emperor's choice of her as his consort; in vain she strives to recall
+Sextus, she feels that she herself is the destroyer of her happiness.
+An agitated violin passage, with rapid changes of harmony intensified
+by suspensions, expresses the excitement and consternation to which she
+gives vent in detached and broken exclamations; but the calm observation
+of the two others--
+
+     Ah, come un gran contento,
+     Come confonde un cor!--
+
+chills the expression of Vitellia's emotion, so that the combination
+of the voices, instead of producing a climax as it ought, weakens the
+passion of the movement and prevents its rising to more than a
+momentary prominence. The second terzet (14) was suggested by an air
+of Metastasio, "Se mai senti spirarti sul volto," which was a favourite
+subject with the old composers.[55] It begins with the tender
+
+{TITUS--ENSEMBLES.}
+
+(299)
+
+farewell of Sextus to Vitellia, stricken with shame and dismay. This
+contrast would have made an excellent opportunity for musical effect if
+Publius had supplied the connecting link by the addition of a new and
+important element in the situation; instead of this, he remains a mere
+passive spectator, and does not increase the pathos of the situation at
+all. Sextus gives the tone here, as Vitellia in the previous terzet, and
+the tender softness of his farewell scarcely allows expression to the
+true significance of the situation; otherwise, however, this terzet is
+superior to the first in the freer development of the voice parts.'" The
+third terzet (18) has a beautiful and expressive first movement, but its
+second movement is too slight in design and too little worked out for
+its situation.
+
+The opera contains one movement, however, altogether worthy of Mozart,
+and this is the first finale. It is true that even this is far from
+possessing the greatness of design or the wealth of elaboration of the
+finales of the earlier operas; it does not pretend to be more than a
+representation of the situation; but it is earnest and weighty in
+tone, and possesses features of unsurpassed loveliness. The finale is
+introduced by a soliloquy for Sextus, in which he pours out the doubt
+and self-reproach which torture his mind; an unaccompanied recitative
+expresses this condition with an amount of truth and energy elsewhere
+entirely wanting to the part of Sextus. When he sees the capitol in
+flames, and is convinced that his repentance comes too late, he becomes
+more collected, and the quintet begins with his finely expressed wish
+to save Titus or to die with him; then he has to evade the questions of
+Annius, who hurries in full of sympathy--Servilia, Publius, and Vitellia
+enter in quick succession, full of anxiety and horror; a characteristic
+orchestral motif gives the clue to the development of the movement, and
+the separate exclamations of the invisible chorus interposed in rising,
+dissonant chords, form the pivots on which the progressive harmonies
+turn; the re-entry of Sextus brings the symmetrically constructed
+movement to a close. A short recitative, in which Sextus announces the
+assassination of Titus, leads into the andante, which ends
+
+{LABOUR AND POVERTY.}
+
+(300)
+
+the finale. All present are united in one feeling of sorrow and horror
+at the crime which has been committed, and the chorus has approached
+near enough to join in lamentation with the solo voices; the impression
+thus produced is dignified and beautiful in the extreme. Here we may
+perceive to what a height opera seria was capable of rising by a liberal
+development of its original elements; but unfortunately this movement
+is the only one of the kind in "Titus." A backward glance of comparison
+upon "Idomeneo"[56] results to the advantage of the earlier opera in
+many and important points. It is true that the conventional forms of
+the opera seria are there more strictly preserved, but a fresh vigorous
+effort is at the same time made to give them meaning and substance,
+and pass their narrow bounds wherever possible,. while in "Titus" the
+composer has been content to compromise the matter by preserving the
+semblance of form, but no more. Thus forms intended to be largely
+treated, such as the division into two movements, are often so lightly
+and vaguely treated as to lose all dramatic interest, and still more
+marked is the tendency of the tragic and serious conception of the opera
+to degenerate into mere pleasing gracefulness. The advantages of the
+later work in a freer and easier flow of melody, in a more mature and
+cultivated taste, were more than counterbalanced by the loss of
+depth and force of musical construction, a loss which is all the more
+perceptible from the grandeur of the background afforded by a subject
+taken from the Roman imperial age, which even in Metas-tasio's
+adaptation was not wholly obscured, and under happier circumstances
+would have sufficed to inspire Mozart to a nobler creation. The
+treatment of the orchestra is indicative of the whole tone of the opera,
+displaying occasionally the full splendour with which Mozart has endowed
+it, and raising and supporting the musical representation wherever it
+attains to dramatic significance, but for the most part not going beyond
+an easy accompaniment of the voices.
+
+{CRITICISMS ON "TITUS."}
+
+(301)
+
+In brilliancy and delicacy of orchestral treatment "Titus" can sustain
+no comparison with "Idomeneo," or even with "Cosi fan Tutte."
+
+Opinions on this opera were widely diverse. According to Niemetschek
+(p. 111) "Titus" ranks from an aesthetic and artistic point of view as
+Mozart's most perfect work:--
+
+Mozart mentally grasped the simplicity, the quiet dignity of the
+character of Titus and of the whole plot, and embodied them in his
+composition. Every part, even the very moderate instrumental parts, bear
+this stamp, and combine into perfect unity.
+
+He is of opinion that full maturity of taste is nowhere more finely
+displayed than in this opera (p. 105), which is also the best example of
+Mozart's admirable dramatic characterisation (p. 72). An article showing
+the shortcomings of Metastasio's libretto praises the excellence of the
+musical characterisation which endows Titus with the character of gentle
+amiability, Vitellia with force and dignified purity, and the friendship
+between Sextus and Annius with quite an ideal tenderness.[57] Schaul, on
+the contrary (Brief üb. d. Gesch-mack, p. 59), maintains that with the
+exception of a few pieces the opera is so dry and tiresome that it might
+rather be taken for the first attempt of budding talent than for
+the product of a mature mind. He quotes the criticism of an Italian,
+considered one of the best judges in Naples, that flashes of genius
+shone out here and there in the more serious airs, which showed what
+Mozart would have been capable of under happier guidance. "Titus" was
+criticised in Berlin, in 1796, with the greatest harshness and
+severity in two articles which excited indignation on account of
+their disrespectful tone, although the blame bestowed was not without
+foundation.[58] With a juster regard to circumstances Rochlitz
+says:[59]--
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(302)
+
+Being only human, he was constrained either to produce an altogether
+mediocre work, or one of which the principal movements were very good,
+and the minor ones light and easy, and suited to the taste of the
+multitude; with right judgment he chose the latter.
+
+It was perhaps this accommodation of the music to the taste of the
+public, and the concessions made to the popular love of gorgeous scenery
+and spectacular effects, which gained for "Titus" an enduring place on
+the German stage, although it was never received with the same favour as
+"Don Giovanni," "Figaro," and the "Zauberflöte." The opera was
+produced for the first time in London in 1806 for the benefit of Madame
+Billington, being the first of Mozart's operas performed in England;[60]
+it was given successfully in Paris in 1816,[61] and in Milan at the
+Teatro Rè in the following year.[62]
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLII.
+
+[Footnote 1: Mus. Corresp., 1790, p. 30.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 15. Cf. Lange, Selbstbiogr., p. 167.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Muller, Abschied, p. 286.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 114.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Mosel, Salieri, p. 138. Mus. Wochenbl., p. 62. Leopold's most severe
+remarks upon Salieri are quoted by Da Ponte (Mem., II., p. 135):
+"So tutte le sue cabale e so quelle della Cavalieri. É un egoista
+insopportabile, che non vorrebbe che piacessero nel mio teatro che le
+sue opere e la sua bella; egli non è solo nemico vostro, ma lo è di
+tutti i maestri di capella, di tutte le cantanti."]
+
+[Footnote 6: An official table was published, showing that during the King's stay
+in the imperial dominions, from September 3,1790, to March 18,1791, he
+followed the chase thirty-seven times, and himself shot 4,110 head of
+game (Wien. Ztg., 1791, No. 29).]
+
+[Footnote 7: Wien. Ztg., 1790, No. 75, Anh.]
+
+[Footnote 8: Mus. Corresp., 1790, p. 145. Griesinger, Biogr. Not., p. 36.]
+
+[Footnote 9: Mus. Corresp., 1790, p. 146. Mosel, Salieri, p. 138.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Wahl-und Krönungs-Diarium, 2 Anh., p. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 11: In the Councillors and Deputy-Councillor's Register for the
+imperial town of Frankfort on the election and coronation of the Emperor
+Leopold II., is the following entry (p. 400): "Mittwoch, 13 October,
+1790. Als vorkame, dass der Kayseri. Conzert-Meister Mozart um die
+Erlaubniss nachsuche Morgen Vor-mittag im Stadtschauspielhaus ein
+Concert geben zu dörfen: sol le man ohne Consequenz auf andere Falle
+hierunter willfahren." I am indebted for this, as for other information,
+to my friend W. Speyer.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Lewezow, Leben und Kunst der Frau Schick, p. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 13: Lipowsky, Baier. Mus. Lex., p. 16.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Breslau Ztg., 1855, No. 240, p. 1366.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Nohl, Musik. Skizzenb., p. 190.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Koffka, Iffland und Dalberg, p. 185.]
+
+[Footnote 17: So it is stated in the Kurfürsl. gnädigst privil., Münchner
+Wochen-und Anzeigeblatt, 1790, No. 44.]
+
+[Footnote 18: According to the Kurfürstl. gnädigst privil. Münchner Ztg., 1790,
+Nos. 173-175, the arrival of the King of Naples, on November 4, was
+celebrated by a court gala and concert, and on the following day by a
+court hunt, and a theatrical performance and supper.]
+
+[Footnote 19: The story rests on the authority of Tonerl herself, now Frau
+Haradauer of Graz (Wien. Fremdenbl., January 22, 1856).]
+
+[Footnote 20: At this place he had a performance of "Count Waltron" upon the
+ramparts, in a camp of 200 tents (Wien. Ztg., 1782, No. 68).]
+
+[Footnote 21: Berliner Litt. u. Theat. Ztg., 1783, I., p. 94.]
+
+[Footnote 22: Wien. Ztg., 1784, No. 102, Anh.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Müller, Abschied, p. 273. Berl. Litt. und Theat. Ztg., 1785, I., p.
+304.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Mettenleiter, Musikgesch. d. Stadt Regensburg, p. 265.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Hormayr, Wien., VI., p. 75. Castelli, Memoiren, I., p. 46.]
+
+[Footnote 26: Journal der Moden, 1790, p. 149. Theaterkal., 1789, p. 202. Cf.
+Varn-hagen, Denkw., VIII., p. 57.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Seyfried gives this description, which can scarcely be exaggerated,
+since it has an apologetic tendency (N. Zeitschr. fur Mus., XII., p.
+380). Schikaneder died in poverty, and insane, 1812 (Südd. Mus. Ztg.,
+1860, p. 21).]
+
+[Footnote 28: Treitschke gives many particulars of the composition and first
+performance of the "Zauberflöte" (Orpheus, Mus. Taschenb., 1841, p. 242)
+in the Illustr. Familienbuch des österr. Lloyd (1852, II., p. xig), and
+in the Monatsschrift fur Theater und Musik (September 1857, p. 444);
+valuable old traditions are paixed with demonstrable falsehoods.]
+
+[Footnote 29: Allg. Wiener Mus. Ztg., 1841, p. 128.]
+
+[Footnote 30: C. F. Becker, N. Ztschr. fur Mus., XII., p. 112.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Da Ponte, Mem., I., 2, p. 124.]
+
+[Footnote 32: The story of the Requiem is familiar in all its details, and has
+been deprived of every trace of mystery or uncertainty. Niemetschek's
+simple account (p. 40), and Rochlitz's more highly coloured one (A. M.
+Z., I., pp. 149, 177), are both founded on statements by Frau Mozart.
+Full light has been thrown on the other side by the communications of
+the musicians J. Zawrzel (André, Vorber. zu Mozarts Requiem, Cäcilia,
+VI., p. 212), Krüchten (Cäcilia, VI., p. 217), Herzog (Köchel,
+Recensionen, 1854, No. 48, p. 753), who were all acquainted with Count
+Walsegg, and are trustworthy on the whole, although they differ from
+each other in matters of detail. Some facts, which it was thought
+unadvisable to publish, were vouched for to me in Vienna by A. Schmid
+and Al. Fuchs.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Niemetschek (p. 52) saw a short note from the Unknown, in which
+Mozart is urged to send the Requiem, and to name a sum for which he
+would undertake to supply annually a certain number of quartets.]
+
+[Footnote 34: The entry in the Autograph Catalogue is as follows: "September 5
+(performed in Prague, September 6), La Clemenza di Tito, opera seria in
+due atti, per I' incoronazione di sua Maestà l' imperatore Leopoldo II.,
+ridotta a vera opera dal Sgre Mazzoli, poeta di sua A. S. l' Elettore di
+Sassonia--24 pezzi." (In the printed score there are twenty-six pieces,
+not counting the overture; but the obbligato recitatives are counted
+separately here, and not in the original score.)]
+
+[Footnote 35: Seyfried, Càcilia, IV., p. 295.]
+
+[Footnote 36: Nothing is omitted but the duettino (3) (which, however, is
+included in "A Revised Copy of Mozart's Original," by Abbe Stadler) and
+the accompanied recitative (25).]
+
+[Footnote 37: The first three scenes were by P. Travaglia, in the service of
+Prince Ester-hazy, the fourth was by Preising of Coblenz, and the
+costumes were by Chérubin Babbini of Mantua.]
+
+[Footnote 38: J. Debrois, Urkunde uber die Krönung Sr. Maj. des Königs von
+Bohmen, Leopolds II., p. no.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Musik. Wochenbl., pp. 70, 94.]
+
+[Footnote 40: According to an anecdote in the Bohemia (1856, No. 23, p. 122)
+there was in Prague an old harpist named Hoffman, a familiar figure in
+every coffee-house. Mozart had him up in his room when he was living at
+the "Neuwirthshaus" (now "Der goldene Engel"), and played an air to him
+on the pianoforte, desiring him to improvise variations upon it. This he
+did, to Mozart's satisfaction. Ever after, this theme was the show-piece
+of the harpist, and he would never play it except by special desire;
+then he would go off into reminiscences of Mozart, and nothing would
+shake his firm persuasion that the great man must be a native of
+Bohemia.]
+
+[Footnote 41: It was composed, among others, by Leon. Leo, 1735; by Hasse, 1737;
+by Jomelli; by Perez, 1749; by Gluck, 1751; by Jos. Scarlatti, 1760; by
+Nau-mann, 1769.]
+
+[Footnote 42: It would be ascribing to Mozart a merit to which he has no claim
+to credit him with the reconstruction of the libretto (A. M. Z., I., p.
+151. Cäcilia, XX., p. 191).]
+
+[Footnote 43: The numbers taken unaltered from Metastasio are: 2,5, 6, 8,
+9,11,16, 20, 21, 25, and the obbligato recitatives, n, 17, 22, 24. Those
+for which new words were written are the songs for Annius (13, 17), for
+Sextus (19), and for Vitellia]
+
+[Footnote 44: This scene is all Mazzola's invention, but it does not form one of
+the longer ensemble movements.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Zelter, Briefw. m. Goethe, III., p. 26.]
+
+[Footnote 46: Curiously enough this very motif has become a type for a long list
+of overtures and symphonies by Mozart's immediate successors, and
+may even be recognised in Beethoven's first symphony and Prometheus
+overture.]
+
+[Footnote 47: The second air (8) is apparently of later composition, for it is
+not included in the consecutive numbering, and the score is written
+on the same paper as the march (3), the obbligato recitative, and the
+overture, all composed after the completion of the other pieces, which
+are written on one kind of paper.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Seyfried, Càcilia, XX., p. 193.]
+
+[Footnote 49: The second air (17), with Mazzola's words, was inserted
+subsequently, and numbered 13 1/2.]
+
+[Footnote 50: The ritomello is added on a separate page by a copyist; so is
+the concluding ritornello. Probably the air originally passed into an
+accompanied recitative for Titus, which is not preserved.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Schaul, Briefe üb. d. Geschmack, p. 51.]
+
+[Footnote 52: C. M. von Weber, Lebensbild, III., p. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Gerber, N. Lex., II., p. 75. Cf. A. M. Z., IV., p. 318. Reichardt,
+Mus. Ztg., 1805, I., p. 112. In a notice from Berlin of the year 1799 it
+is described as a caricature (A. M. Z., I., p. 348).]
+
+[Footnote 54: The fact that the clarinet and basset-horn alone were employed as
+obbligato instruments, and that with an evident supposition of great
+proficiency, would lead to the inference that Stadler had come to Prague
+for the coronation.]
+
+[Footnote 55: A striking organ point in Gluck's composition gave rise to much
+debate; he employed it afterwards in "Iphigenie en Tauride," in the last
+air of the second act (Schmid, Gluck, pp. 48, 353).]
+
+[Footnote 56: The alleged reminiscence in the first finale in "Titus" of the
+great scene in "Idomeneo" (24) (A. M. Z., I., pp. 54, 152) is not
+supported by a closer examination.]
+
+[Footnote 57: A. M. Z., IV., p. 822.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Deutschland, I., p. 269; II., p. 363. Reichardt, to whom this
+article was ascribed (Mus. Ztg., 1805, I., p. 6), declared that the
+criticism on Mozart's arrangement of the "Messiah," which had been
+attributed to Reichardt, was no more by him than many other reviews of
+Mozart's works for which he had been attacked during many years past
+with great acrimony.]
+
+[Footnote 59: A. M. Z., I., p. 154.]
+
+[Footnote 60: Reichardt, Mus. Ztg., II., p. 123. Parke, Mus. Mem., II., p. 3.
+Pohl, Mozart u. Haydn in London, p. 145.]
+
+[Footnote 61: A. M. Z., XVIII., p. 463.]
+
+[Footnote 62: A. M. Z., XIX., pp. 174, 190.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 43
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIII. "DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE"
+
+DISAPPOINTED and suffering, Mozart returned to Vienna in the middle of
+September. While his wife again repaired to Baden, he divided his time
+between the labours involved in the completion and scenic arrangements
+of the "Zauberflöte" (620 K.) and the Requiem. The chorus "O Isis und
+Osiris," Papageno's song, which Schikaneder had stipulated for, and
+the second finale, must have been written after September 12;[1] on
+September 28 he completed the overture and the march which formed
+the introduction to the second act. After many rehearsals under the
+conductorship of the Kapellmeister Henneberg, then still a very
+
+{DRAMATIS PERSONÆ.}
+
+(303)
+
+young man, the first performance took place on September 30. Mozart
+conducted at the piano, and Süssmayr turned over for him. The playbill
+ran as follows:[2]--[See Page Image]
+
+This day, Friday, September 30, 1791, the Company of the Imperial
+Theatre auf der Wieden have the honour of performing for the first time
+Die Zauberflöte.
+
+Grand Opera in Two Acts, by Emanuel Schikaneder.
+
+The music is by Herr Wolfgang Amade Mozart, Capellmeister and Imperial
+Chamber Composer. Esteem for an appreciative public and friendship
+for the author of the work have induced Herr Mozart to consent on this
+occasion to conduct the orchestra in person.[3]
+
+Books of the opera, with two copper-plate engravings, representing
+Herr Schikaneder in his actual costume as Papageno, may be had at the
+box-office, price thirty kreutzers.
+
+The scenery and stage accessories have been intrusted to Herr Gayl and
+Herr Nessthaler, who flatter themselves that they have performed their
+task with all due regard to the artistic requirements of the piece.
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(304)
+
+The success was not at first so great as had been expected, and after
+the first act Mozart rushed, pale and excited, behind the scenes to
+Schikaneder, who endeavoured to console him. In the course of the second
+act the audience recovered from the first shock of surprise, and at the
+close of the opera Mozart was recalled. He had hidden himself, and when
+he was found could with difficulty be persuaded to appear before the
+audience, not certainly from bashfulness, for he was used by this time
+to brilliant successes, but because he was not satisfied with the way in
+which his music had been received. The story that Haydn consoled Mozart
+by his approbation is untrue,[4] for he was in London at the time. But
+Schenck relates in his manuscript autobiography that he had a place in
+the orchestra at the first performance, and that after the overture,
+unable to contain his delight, he crept along to the conductor's stool,
+seized Mozart's hand and kissed it; Mozart, still beating time with his
+right hand, looked at him with a smile, and stroked his cheek. At
+the second performance on the following day he again conducted, but
+afterwards resigned the conductorship to Henneberg. On October 9 notice
+was sent to Berlin:--
+
+The new spectacular drama, "Die Zauberflöte," with music by our
+kapellmeister, Mozart, has been performed at great expense and with much
+magnificence of scenery, &c.; but it has not attained the success
+hoped for, owing to the inferiority of the subject and diction of the
+piece.[5]
+
+Schikaneder, however, persevered, and with every repetition the applause
+increased; Mozart's pleasure thereat, and more especially at the
+approbation expressed by Salieri and Cavalieri, may be gathered from his
+letters to his wife. The "Zauberflöte" soon became the most popular of
+operas. It was performed twenty-four times in October; on November 23,
+1792, Schikaneder announced the hundredth, and on October 22,1795, the
+two hundredth performance of the opera.[6]
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(305)
+
+Schikaneder[7] had long varied his favourite farcical pieces by the
+production of operas, either adaptations of earlier ones or works
+expressly composed for him,[8] and in 1791 he had achieved a great
+success with the romantic-comic opera "Oberon, König der Elfen," adapted
+by Gieseke from Wieland, and composed by Wranitzky (1756-1808).[9]
+The brilliant appointments of scenery, costume, and machinery, and the
+satisfaction with which the dramatisation of Wie-land's universally
+popular poem was viewed by the public, heightened the interest in the
+opera to a degree far beyond the deserts of the light and popular music.
+It was first performed in Frankfort during the coronation festivities
+in 1790, and, rapidly spreading over the whole German stage, shared, and
+for a short time rivalled, the popularity of the "Zauberflöte."[10] In
+order to assure himself of a repetition of this success, Schikaneder
+selected as a subject for his new opera the tale of Lulu, oder die
+Zauberflöte, from Wieland's Dschinnistan.[11] The story is briefly as
+follows:--
+
+In the kingdom of Chorassan there dwelt in an old magician's castle
+the good fairy Perifirime, called the "radiant fairy." Hunting in the
+neighbourhood, Prince Lulu, son of the King of Chorassan, enters the
+usually avoided castle, and the fairy, appearing to him in her full
+radiance, promises him rich reward if he will obey her behests. She
+discloses to him that the wicked magician Dilsenghuin, with the help of
+her faithless
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(306)
+
+attendant Barsine, has deprived her of her precious talisman, a golden
+fire-steel, which is obeyed by the spirits of the elements and of all
+earthly regions, every spark struck from it becoming a powerful spirit,
+subject to the possessor; none but a youth whose heart is as yet
+untouched by love can regain the talisman for her by stratagem. She
+designates Lulu as her deliverer, and promises him the best gift that
+she has if he will undertake the task. This is none other than the
+beautiful Sidi, daughter of Perifirime and Sabalem, King of Cashmere,
+whom the magician keeps in his power, making tender advances to her
+which she is only able to resist owing to her magic power of repelling
+attacks so long as her heart is untouched by love. The fairy dispatches
+Lulu with two magic gifts--a flute which has the power of winning all
+hearts, and of exciting and appeasing every passion at will; and a ring,
+by turning which the wearer can assume any form, and by throwing it away
+can summon the fairy herself to his aid.
+
+Thus provided, Lulu approaches the magician's stronghold in the form of
+an old man, and by his flute-playing entices first the forest beasts,
+and then the magician, who takes him into the fortress to try his art
+upon the obdurate beauty. Lulu gains the confidence of the magician and
+his son, with Barsine and the dwarf Barka; the love of the beautiful
+Sidi is also soon his. He succeeds in throwing the magician and his
+companions into a deep sleep during a banquet, and possesses himself of
+the talisman. By the aid of the genü now subject to him, and finally by
+the appearance of the fairy, he overcomes all the dangers and obstacles
+prepared for him by the magician, who is finally changed into an owi,
+and flies away with his son, similarly transformed. The fairy
+destroys the fortress and carries the lovers to her castle upon her
+cloud-chariot; there the Kings of Chorassan and Cashmere bless their
+union.[12]
+
+This story was treated as follows in Schikaneder's opera:--
+
+The "Japanese" Prince, Tamino, while hunting, is pursued by a great
+serpent, and falls in a swoon; three ladies of the Queen of Night slay
+the monster.. On the awaking of the Prince there enters the bird-catcher
+Papageno, the comic character of the opera, contrasting in the
+traditional manner with the grave heroic lover (who does not,
+however, display any great daring here). Papageno is a good-tempered,
+pleasure-loving, loquacious poltroon, whose feather costume is a sort
+of reminiscence of Schikaneder's bird comedies. He gives himself out to
+Tamino as the slayer of the dragon, but is punished for his boasting by
+the veiled ladies, who reappear and fasten up his mouth with a padlock,
+at the same time presenting the Prince with the portrait of a beautiful
+damsel, of whom he instantly becomes deeply enamoured. Hearing that the
+original of the portrait is Pamina, daughter of the Queen of
+
+{THE LIBRETTO-RIVAL THEATRES.}
+
+(307)
+
+Night, and that she has been carried away by a wicked demon, he swears
+to free her from the power of the enemy, whereupon the Queen herself
+appears and promises him the hand of her daughter as the reward of his
+success. The ladies then command Papageno, from whose mouth they remove
+the padlock, to accompany Tamino to the castle of the magician Sarastro,
+which he is reluctantly obliged to do. They provide Tamino with a magic
+flute, Papageno with a chime of bells, and promise that "three boys,
+young, beautiful, pure, and wise," shall hover round them as guides.[13]
+
+In Sarastro's castle Pamina, who has endeavoured by flight to escape
+the hated advances of her jailer and tormentor, the Moor Monostatos, has
+been recaptured and is kept in bondage. Papageno makes good his entry;
+he and the Moor are mutually alarmed at each other's appearance, and run
+away in opposite directions. Papageno, venturing in again, finds Pamina
+alone, and acquainting her with Prince Tamino's commission from her
+mother to liberate her, they hasten to seek for him together.
+
+So far the original story has been followed in its essential parts. The
+modifications which have been made in the characters and situations to
+enhance the dramatic interest are such as would occur naturally in the
+development of the story. But when Schikaneder had proceeded thus far
+in his adaptation he learnt that an opera founded on the same story was
+finished and about to be produced at the Leopold-stàdter Theatre, which
+often placed itself in competition with his.
+
+It was in 1781 that Marinelli opened his newly erected theatre in the
+Leopoldstadt.[14] He produced operas, among which the "Sonnenfest der
+Braminen" had a great run, and after the brief span of popularity which
+German opera had enjoyed at the National Theatre, the suburban theatre
+became a formidable and finally a successful rival. But the proper
+element of this theatre was in popular farces. The comic actor Laroche
+had created the part of Kasperl, the direct descendant of Hanswurst,
+and the people were never tired of seeing him play his coarse tricks and
+antics in the most widely different situations. It had been the custom
+to bring Hanswurst into contact with witches and magicians,
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(308)
+
+and Kasperl was consequently introduced to the same society, with some
+differences in colouring, due to French taste and to the Eastern fairy
+tales disseminated mainly by Wieland. Popular songs played their part in
+these "Kasperliads," and out of modest vaudevilles, such as "Kasperl's
+Ehrentag," a fairy tale by Hensler (1789), in which the music was
+confined to some short choruses and an accompaniment to the supernatural
+apparitions, arose gradually comic magic operas. The Leopoldstàdter
+Theatre had possessed since 1786 a fruitful composer in Wenzel
+Müller,[15] whose place as a comic popular musician was somewhat
+similar to that of Laroche as an actor. On May 3, 1791, "Kasper der
+Vogelkràmer," by Hensler, was performed with his music, followed on
+June 8 by "Kasper der Fagottist, oder die Zauberzither," a vaudeville in
+three acts, the words adapted from "Lulu" by Joach. Permet.[16] The piece
+follows the plot of the original pretty closely, and the dialogue is as
+far as possible verbally transcribed; nevertheless the whole effect is
+that of a travesty, and the text of the "Zauberflöte" displays a decided
+superiority in comparison with it:--
+
+Prince Armidoro, attended by Kaspar Bita, loses himself in the chase,
+and comes upon the fairy Perifirime, who despatches them to the magician
+Bosphoro, bestowing on the prince a guitar with the same virtues as
+the magic flute, and on Kaspar (through the little sprite Pizichi,
+who frequently reappears in time of need) a magic bassoon, which gives
+occasion to some very questionable pleasantry. The magic power of the
+ring, which enables the Prince to assume at will the form of an old man
+or of a youth, is very naively employed, the fancy of the audience
+being alone called in to represent the metamorphosis. The magician has a
+swaggering boon companion, Zumio, who guards the damsels and is in love
+with Palmire, playmate of the beautiful Sidi, afterwards in a similar
+relation with Kaspar. Having conciliated Bosphoro and Zumio by means of
+their magic instruments, and gained entrance into the castle, they
+win the love of the damsels, but not without exciting the mistrust
+and jealousy of the magician and his companion, who seek to possess
+themselves of the instruments. They are saved by Perifirime from a storm
+raised by the spirits subject to Bosphoro; an attempt to poison them
+fails through Pizichi's warning; finally they are all put to sleep at
+
+{KASPAR DER FAGOTTIST.}
+
+(309)
+
+supper by the magic instruments, and Armidoro possesses himself of the
+talisman which makes the spirits subject to him. Perifirime appears,
+punishes Bosphoro, and carries the lovers back to her palace.
+
+Apart from Kaspar's broad jokes, the opera is not wanting in effective
+situations, both dramatic and comic, and now and then the music takes
+a more ambitious flight. Thus, the opera opens with a grand hunting
+chorus, and the first act closes with the sprites tormenting the
+followers of the Prince, who are in search of him; the spinning song,
+the boat scene with the storm, and the sprites playing at ball with
+Zumio, all form good musical situations. The composer rises above the
+level of the librettist. In some of the songs and dances he has caught
+the popular tone very well, but has failed in the fresh humour which he
+elsewhere displays. In spite of all defects, or rather in great
+measure because of them, the opera, the music, and the _mise en scène_
+completely hit the popular taste, and 125 representations took place in
+the course of a very few years. As a consequence of this success
+there appeared in 1792 "Pizichi," or the continuation of "Kaspar der
+Fagottist," by Perinet and Wenzel Müller, which had an equally brilliant
+reception, and was dedicated by the author "To the illustrious public,
+as a token of gratitude." Schikaneder could not hope to rival such a
+success as this with an opera on the same subject. He resolved therefore
+to transform the piece as much as possible, while utilising what had
+already been done on it, and to turn the wicked magician into a noble
+philosopher who wins Tamino to be his disciple, guides him to higher
+wisdom and virtue, and rewards him with the hand of Pamina. The idea was
+capable also of being turned to account in the interests of Freemasonry.
+The change in the political views of the government under Leopold II.
+had been unfavourable to Freemasonry, which began to be regarded with
+much distrust as the organ of political and religious liberalism. A
+glorification of the order upon the stage, by a performance which would
+place its symbolical ceremonies in a favourable light and justify its
+moral tendency, would be sure to be well received as a liberal party
+demonstration compromising neither the order as a body nor
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(310)
+
+its individual members. The effect was heightened by the consciousness
+of a secret understanding among the initiated, while the uninitiated
+could not fail to suspect a deeper meaning behind the brilliant
+display of spectacular effects.[17] Whether Schikaneder, himself a
+Freemason,[18] was the author of this idea, or whether it was suggested
+by the order, we have no means of ascertaining; the execution of it
+was principally due to Joh. Georg Karl Ludw. Gieseke. He was born
+in Braunschweig, studied at the university of Halle, and joined
+Schikaneder's troupe to earn his living as an actor and a chorus-singer.
+He had tried his hand already as an author, having prepared the text for
+Wranitzky's "Oberon," and enriched Schikaneder's repertory with a number
+of pieces in part translated and in part original. Schikaneder, never
+averse to accepting foreign aid,[19] made use of Gieseke's labours as
+a groundwork, which he altered to suit his purpose, inserting, for
+instance, the characters of Papageno and Papagena, and giving
+himself out as the sole author of the piece.[20] We have no means of
+ascertaining how far this alteration in the plan of the opera affected
+the first part; points here and there may have been retouched, but no
+important corrections were made, or some very striking contradictions
+would certainly have been removed. With the first finale we find
+ourselves in an altogether new new world:--
+
+The three boys lead Tamino into a thicket, where stands the temple of
+wisdom, knowledge, and nature, exhort him to be steadfast, enduring,
+and silent, and leave him alone. He learns from a priest that Sarastro
+reigns in the temple of wisdom, and that Pamina has been taken from
+
+{THE LIBRETTO.}
+
+(311)
+
+her mother for certain good reasons, which must remain concealed from
+him until all shall be revealed--
+
+     "Sobald dich fuhrt der
+     Freundschaft Hand
+     Ins Heilightum zum ew' gen Band."
+
+After being encouraged by invisible voices, and assured that Pamina
+still lives, he joyfully seizes his magic flute, whose tones have power
+to draw all living beings to him. At Papageno's signal he hastens
+in search of him. Papageno enters with Pamina; they are surprised by
+Monostatos and his slaves; Papageno has recourse to his bells, which set
+all who hear them singing and dancing. Scarcely are they free from the
+intruders when Sarastro is heard returning from the chase in his chariot
+drawn by six lions, and accompanied by a solemn march and chorus.
+Pamina, kneeling, informs him that she seeks to escape the love advances
+of the Moor, and implores him to allow her to return to her mother; this
+Sarastro refuses, but pardons her with the aphorism:--
+
+     "Ein Mann muss eure Herzen leiten,
+     Denn ohne ihn pflegt jedes
+     Weib Aus ihrem Wirkungskreis zu schreiten."
+
+In the meantime Monostatos enters, having captured Tamino; as soon
+as the latter perceives Pamina, he rushes to her, and they embrace
+tenderly. The Moor, to his consternation, is rewarded by Sarastro
+with "seventy-seven strokes of the bastinado," and the strangers are
+conducted into the temple of expiation, that their heads may be covered
+and they may be purified.
+
+Here we may still trace the original design, for the magic instruments,
+the wicked Moor, and the chariot drawn by lions, have little affinity
+with the temple of wisdom; but with the second act we set forth on
+altogether fresh ground:--
+
+In the assembly of the eighteen (3x6) attendants dedicated to the great
+gods Isis and Osiris,[21] Sarastro announces that the virtuous Prince
+Tamino stands at the gate of the temple, seeking permission to gaze
+on the "great lights" of the sanctuary; questioned by the devotees, he
+assures them of the Prince's virtue, discretion, and benevolence; and,
+on the assembly giving their consent with a thrice-repeated blast of
+trumpets, he thanks them with emotion in the name of humanity. For,
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(312)
+
+when Tamino, united with Pamina, shall become one of the devotees of
+wisdom, he will destroy the empire of the Queen of Night,[22] who by
+superstition and imposture seeks to undermine their power; and virtue
+shall triumph at the overthrow of vice. The Orator warns him of the
+severity of the probation that he must pass through--but he is a prince,
+"nay more, he is a man"; he is able to endure all, "and once devoted
+to Osiris and Isis, he will feel the joys of the gods sooner than we."
+Tamino and Papageno are to be led into the antechamber of the temple,
+and there the Orator, in virtue of his "holy office" as "dispenser of
+wisdom," shall acquaint them both with the duty of man and the power
+of the gods. A solemn appeal to Isis and Osiris to endow the pair with
+wisdom, and to strengthen and protect them in the hour of trial closes
+this scene, which bears the impress of Freemasonry throughout.
+
+The tests begin, after Tamino has declared that, impelled by love, he is
+ready for any trial to acquire wisdom and gain Pamina, and Papageno has
+agreed to make the attempt to win the love of Papagena, a pretty little
+woman, just suited to him. The impression here intended to be conveyed
+is evidently that of the higher nature and strivings of man in Tamino
+and of the limited and purely sensual side of his nature in Papageno.
+The first trial is that of silence. They are scarcely left alone in the
+darkness when the three Jadies of the Queen of Night enter and strive to
+excite their terrors, which is easily accomplished as far as Papageno is
+concerned, the steadfast Tamino with difficulty restraining his cries.
+The ladies disappear upon the summons of the priest; the Orator praises
+Tamino, and again covers his head that he may continue his "pilgrimage."
+Monostatos finds Pamina asleep in the garden, and is on the point of
+kissing her, when the Queen of Night appears, gives Pamina a dagger, and
+commands her to avenge her wrongs on Sarastro, to whom Pamina's father
+had bequeathed the omnipotent talisman which she had hoped to possess;
+by Sarastro's death Pamina will gain her freedom, Tamino's life, and
+her mother's love. Monostatos, who has overheard, takes the dagger from
+Pamina, and threatens to betray her unless she will grant him her love;
+on her refusal, he tries to kill her, when Sarastro enters, liberates
+Pamina, and promises to wreak a noble vengeance on her mother by
+securing her daughter's happiness.
+
+Tamino and Papageno are conducted into a hall, to remain there in
+
+{THE LIBRETTO.}
+
+(313)
+
+silence until they hear a trumpet sound. Papageno cannot refrain from
+chattering to an old woman who brings him a glass of water and, to his
+horror, claims him as her lover; a fearful thunder-clap terrifies him,
+and he only recovers when the three boys bring him a richly furnished
+table, and, reiterating the warning to silence, restore the magic
+instruments. While they are eating, Pamina enters, and construes
+Tamino's silence into a proof of his want of love for her; not even
+her lamentations, however, can tempt him to speak. After this proof of
+steadfastness, he is conducted to the assembly, and informed by Sarastro
+that two paths of danger still remain to be trodden; Pamina is brought
+in to bid him farewell, and, to her despair, he still refuses to utter a
+word to her.
+
+Papageno is informed by the Orator that he shall be excused the
+punishment for his loquacity, but that he is never to feel "the divine
+joys of the initiated." He declares himself quite content, and only
+wishes for a cup of wine and "ein Mädchen oder Weibchen"; the old woman
+appears, and is changed into the youthful Papagena, but only to vanish
+again the same instant.
+
+Pamina, plunged in deep melancholy by Tamino's apparent aversion, is on
+the point of stabbing herself, but is restrained by the three boys, who
+promise to restore Tamino to her. Tamino is just then conducted to the
+gates of horror by two men in armour, with the injunction--
+
+     "Der welcher wandelt diese Strasse voll Beschwerden,
+     Wird rein durch Wasser, Feuer, Luft und Erden;
+     Wenn er des Todes Schrecken überwinden kann,
+     Schwingt er sich aus der Erde himmelan.
+     Erleuchtet wird er dann im Stande sein,
+     Sich den Mysterien der Isis ganz zu weihn"--
+
+and left to tread the path of danger through fire and water, when Pamina
+rushes in, resolved to endure this trial in company with him. They
+sustain it happily to the sound of the magic flute, and are received
+with solemn rejoicings by the assembly in the temple. Papageno, in
+despair at the loss of his Papagena, whom he calls in vain to return, is
+about to hang himself, when the three boys appear, and remind him of
+his bells: at the sound of them Papagena returns, and his happiness
+is complete. In the meantime the Queen of Night, with her ladies, has
+gained admittance into the sanctuary by the help of Monostatos, and
+promises him her daughter's hand, if he aids her to victory; but a
+fearful storm drives them back, and Tamino and Pamina are united with
+priestly pomp by Sarastro in the circle of the temple votaries:--
+
+     "Die Strahlen der Sonne vertreiben die Nacht,
+     Zernichten der Heuchler erschlichene Macht."
+
+It would be superfluous to criticise this libretto. The small interest
+of the plot, the contradictions and improbabilities in the characters
+and in the situations, are clear
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(314)
+
+to all; the dialogue is trivial, and the versified portions wretched
+doggerel, incapable of improvement by mere alteration. Nevertheless, a
+certain amount of stage dexterity is not to be denied to it. Schikaneder
+knew how to excite and sustain the interest of his audience by
+theatrical effects of combination and alteration. On this point the
+testimony of Goethe[23] is added to the lasting and wide-spread
+approval of the public; he declares that the "Zauberflöte" is "full of
+improbabilities and of jokes that it is not easy to appreciate or to
+enjoy; but it must be allowed that the author has thoroughly grasped
+the idea of contrast and of producing grand theatrical effects"; he
+undertook a translation of the piece, and was for some time seriously
+occupied with it.[24] Undeniable as it is that the opera owes to
+Mozart's music the charm that it exercises over young and old,
+cultivated and uncultivated, it must be acknowledged that the piece,[25]
+poor from a dramatic point of view, affords many and good opportunities
+for the production of musical effects.[26] Whether
+
+{THE OVERTURE.}
+
+(315)
+
+we think much or little of the Masonic views which are here seen
+embodied in the mysteries of Isis,[27] Mozart at any rate was inspired
+by the zeal of a partisan in giving them utterance.
+
+The dignity and grandeur with which the music reveals the symbolism of
+these mysteries certainly have their root in his intense devotion to the
+Masonic idea.
+
+A clear indication of this devotion was given to the initiated in the
+overture,[28] but in a way that showed how well he distinguished Masonic
+symbolism from artistic impulse. It opens with a short adagio,
+whose solemn accents raise the expectation of an apparition of grave
+importance, The trumpets, which are added to the full choir of wind
+instruments, give a fulness and brilliancy to the chords which had not
+at that time been heard before. The allegro; begins with a regular fugue
+on the theme--[See Page Image] the first bars reminding us of dementi's
+sonata, played before the Emperor Joseph (Vol. II., p. 199):--
+
+The reminiscence may have been conscious or unconscious.
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(316)
+
+But the first glance at the subject of an overture to J. H. Collo's
+cantata, "Lazarus Auferstehung" (Leipzig, 1779)--[See Page Image] shows
+a considerable similarity to the motif of the overture before us,[29]
+with which it cannot have had anything to do, since Mozart in all
+probability never knew the cantata.
+
+After the regular fourth entry of the whole motif, a free fantasia
+begins with the separate parts of it and the counter motif, in the
+most varied shades of expression, with an ease and elegance which lets
+nothing appear of the technicalities of counterpoint, and displays an
+animation and liveliness of truly sparkling brilliancy. After the close
+of the movement on the dominant with a marvellous crescendo, there
+follow three chords three times repeated, with pauses between, given out
+by the wind instruments alone, with powerful effect of climax:[30]--[See
+Page Image]
+
+They are the same that occur in the temple assembly as a sign that
+Tamino is accepted and appointed to undergo the itests, and were
+suggested by the knocking or other rhythmical sounds to which members
+were admitted to be initiated in the mysteries of the Masonic lodge.
+This does away with the frequent suggestion that the second and third
+chords are
+
+{THE OVERTURE.}
+
+(317)
+
+intended to baboimd,[31] indeed André declares in the preface! to his
+edition that this solemn introduction, "uncomprehended of a profane
+public," to the mystic work which follows would be quite spoilt by the
+binding of these chords! Winter has accentuated the rhythm still more
+sharply in the "Labyrinth," the second part of the "Zauberflöte," the
+overture of which begins with the chords--[See Page Image] which are
+repeated several times. The chords suggest to the musical mind only the
+solemn warning sound calling attention to what is to follow, but to the
+initiated they recall the probation which must be undergone by those who
+engage in the search for a higher light. In the allegro which follows
+the first theme is taken up again, not in regular fugal form, but
+working out the different motifs with unusually elaborate contrapuntal
+treatment, for the most part in the stretto. The very form of thematic
+treatment gives an impression of force, but of force opposed by many
+obstacles and hard to overcome; this is strengthened by the use of the
+minor key and by the startling harmonic progressions which intensify the
+character of gloom, until it amounts to horror. Serenity returns only
+with the recurrence of the principal key, and gradually rises to a
+glorious radiance, troubled only towards the close by a few startling
+chords, and shining out again with all the purer beauty, till one seems
+to float in a very sea of light.[32] Let the contrapuntist admire in this
+inimitable masterpiece of German instrumental music the science and
+intellectual mastery which it displays; let the Freemason delight in the
+refinement with which his mystical ideas are clothed in a musical dress;
+the true triumph of genius consists in having created a work which,
+quite apart from
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(318)
+
+scholarship or hidden meaning, produces by its perfection an effect
+on the musical mind which is quite irresistible, animating it to
+more active endeavour, and lifting it to an atmosphere of purest
+serenity.[33]
+
+The belief that Mozart selected the severer musical forms for his
+overture in order to prefigure the serious mood in which he approached
+the opera, obtains confirmation from his employment of them again at the
+solemn moment of trial. The entrance of the men in armour, who fortify
+Tamino with the words quoted above, before he proceeds on his dangerous
+voyage through the elements, is announced by an imitative passage for
+the strings--[See Page Imge] following a few solemn introductory bars,
+and retained in the subsequent working-out as a figured accompaniment to
+the song of the two men. The Cantus firmus, however, which they sing in
+unison, in octave, supported by flutes, oboes, bassoons, and trombones,
+is the old chorale "Ach Gott vom Himmel sieh darein,"[34] unaltered
+except in the division of the crotchets into quavers, where the words
+
+{ACH GOTT VOM HIMMEL.}
+
+(319)
+
+require it, and in the closing line added by Mozart.[35] He learnt the
+melody no doubt from Kirnberger, who often made use of it as an example,
+and twice worked it into a Cantus firmus.[36] This may be gathered from
+the fact that Kirnberger as well as Mozart raised the second line by
+a third, and that a motif interwoven with it by Mozart is an evident
+reminiscence[37] of one employed by Kirnberger in the working out of the
+chorale "Es woll uns Gott genàdig sein":--[See Page Image]
+
+The attraction which the melody had for him as a Cantus firmus for
+contrapuntal elaboration is proved by a sketch preserved in the Imperial
+Library at Vienna, which contains the beginning of another four-part
+elaboration of the theme, adhering still more closely to Kirnberger.
+According to Al. Fuchs,[38] this was the first of Mozart's drafts for
+the opera, to which it can only be said that in that case he made use
+of an earlier contrapuntal study. In the autograph score the movement
+is written continuously in connection with the whole finale, but the
+handwriting, at first neat, afterwards more and more hasty, shows
+clearly that it was copied from an earlier sketch.[39] Even those who
+are incapable of appreciating the contrapuntal art with which this
+movement is worked
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(320)
+
+out,[40] and who have no suspicion that they are listening to an old
+church melody,[41] will receive an impression of mystery and solemnity
+admirably expressive of the dramatic situation to which Mozart strove to
+give effect.
+
+Mozart has throughout the opera given to the music which touched on the
+mysteries and the initiation into them a peculiarly solemn character,
+and this is consistently maintained through every shade of feeling, from
+mild gravity to inspired ecstasy. To this sphere belong the three boys,
+who, although emissaries of the Queen of Night, are represented in
+the course of the plot as the visible genü of the secret bond. In the
+quintet (6) the announcement of the guidance they offer to Tamino and
+Papageno is accompanied by a peculiar fexpression in the music, produced
+by a change in the harmonic and rhythmic construction[42] and in the
+instrumentation. The marchlike movement to which they lead Tamino to the
+gates of the sanctuary fulfils to admiration the expectation which has
+been raised. The sound-effects also are very uncommon. The clear boys'
+voices, supported by the stringed instruments without the double-bass,
+are sustained by the full, lightly touched chords of the trombones and
+muted trumpets and drums; and a long-sustained G for the flutes and
+clarinets sheds a mild radiance like a nimbus over the whole. The
+thrice-repeated warning "Sei standhaft, duldsam und verschwiegen," taken
+up by the firm tones of the wind instruments, raises the march whose
+solemn course it interrupts to a higher dignity and force; the few bars
+sung by Tamino throw into greater prominence the unusual character of
+the apparition, and the repetition of the boys' song strengthens the
+impression which has been given of the higher world to which we now have
+access. Such an introduction as this was essential to give the right
+tone and
+
+{TAMINO.}
+
+(321)
+
+groundwork for the long recitative which follows, in which Tamino,
+prejudiced against Sarastro's wisdom and virtue, is gradually confounded
+and half-convinced by one of the priests of the temple. In liveliness
+of dramatic expression and successful rendering of the contrasts of
+animated conversation, combined with the seriousness proper to the
+surroundings and to the dignity of the priest, this recitative stands
+alone. The climax of the scene is reached in the consolatory assurance
+of the priest that all shall be made plain--[See Page Image] which is
+twice repeated by invisible male voices, accompanied by trumpet chords.
+A solemn expression, in which emotion and exaltation are united,
+betokens the announcement of an oracle. The requirements of musical
+climax, of dramatic effect, and of mystic symbolism are here again at
+one.
+
+Meanwhile we are conducted to the temple portals; Tamino is consoled and
+reanimated by the intelligence that Pamina still lives, and, still far
+from having attained the philosophic calm of the votaries, he has no
+thought but for his love. As soon as he begins to express this purely
+personal and human emotion, the music becomes freer and lighter, and
+solemn seriousness gives place to cheerful geniality. The part taken
+at this juncture by the magic flute in assembling the listening animals
+round Tamino has no connection with the situation nor with the symbolism
+of the piece; it is a relic of the old fable. It was probably owing
+to Mozart's aversion to the flute (Vol. I., p. 385), as well as to the
+moderate proficiency of the tenor Schack, who played it himself, that
+the flute is brought so little forward as a solo instrument; another
+reason being that, as Tamino played it himself, it could only be
+inserted in the pauses of his songs. In this place it is a ballad-like
+cantilene to which the flute supplies the prelude and interlude;
+afterwards, during the visit to the dark cave, Mozart has left the flute
+part to the fancy of the flautist. During the fire and water ordeal, the
+flute has the melody of a slow march, and the peculiar accompaniment of
+low chords for the trombones,
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(322)
+
+horns, trumpets and drums give it a curious, weirdlike character.[43]
+
+The three boys, or genü, in accordance with the numerical symbolism
+pervading the whole, appear three times. After acting as guides to
+Tamino, they appear to him and Papageno as they wait in silence within
+the gloomy cavern, and bring them for their consolation meat and drink,
+as well as the magic flute and bells. The musical characterisation is
+therefore lighter and more cheerful. Mozart, hopeless of making
+anything out of the nonsensical words, has kept to the delineation of
+an attractive ethereal apparition, and has created a short movement of
+marvellous grace and charm (17) endowed, as it were, with wings by the
+lovely violin passage which accompanies it.
+
+The third appearance is again of a solemn character. The boys announce
+that soon "superstition shall disappear and wisdom shall triumph."
+The character of the melody and rhythm approaches that of the first
+movement, the instrumentation, as befits the situation, being less
+brilliant, although the tone-colouring of the combined clarinets, horns,
+and bassoons has a significance all its own.[44] The object here is to
+restrain Pamina from suicide and to offer her consolation; thus, while
+the boys are interwoven in the plot, they stand necessarily outside of
+the narrow circle of allegorical personages, and become, as it were,
+human; besides this, the exigences of the music require that they should
+be subordinate to Pamina. In the course of this scene, therefore, they
+lay aside their proper character to some extent, and become more pliant
+and less reserved. Mozart has rightly avoided too close an adherence to
+any external characterisation of the boys, and has adopted such means
+of expression as were best suited to each situation, not forgetting,
+however, to assert their individualities at every appropriate point.
+Pamina, on her side, is brought
+
+{CHORUSES.}
+
+(323)
+
+into closer contact with the boys from the moment when she yields to
+their persuasions, and thus the ensemble with which the scene closes is
+endowed with a nobler, more exalted expression than that of the purely
+subjective emotion of Pamina's longing for her lost lover. A solemnity
+of a more exalted order belongs to those scenes in which Sarastro and
+the temple priests take part. This is at once manifest in the first
+finale, which has an altogether exoteric character. The march and chorus
+with which Sarastro is received, the closing chorus which celebrates his
+virtue and justice, combine force and dignity with a perfect radiance
+of beauty; they correspond to the choruses at the end of the opera when
+Tamino and Pamina, having withstood every ordeal, are welcomed within
+the temple and crowned with glory and wisdom. They are distinguished
+above the ordinary operatic choruses of the day as much by their dignity
+of expression as by their construction and mode of treatment; and the
+wealth of the instrumentation, more especially the introduction of the
+trumpets, gives a character of solemnity and magnificence then unknown
+in operatic music. Nevertheless they do not obtrude beyond the natural
+framework of the opera, and the limits of a work of art are never
+exceeded in the effort to express a higher meaning in the music. The
+analogy of the choruses with those in "König Thamos" has already been
+pointed out (Vol. II., p. 111). There they are treated very elaborately
+as independent pieces of music, while here the greater concentration of
+musical forces and the maturer, more elevated forms of beauty, display
+the mastery of a finished artist.
+
+The esoteric character of the mysteries is brought to view in the second
+act. A solemn, slow march (10) introduces. the assembly of the priests
+in the most appropriate manner. It is said that in answer to the
+accusation of a friend that he had stolen this march from Gluck's
+"Alceste" (Act I., sc. 3), Mozart laughingly replied that that was
+impossible, as it still stood there. It was perhaps the best answer to
+such an impertinence. The similarity to Gluck's march, as well as to
+the last march in "Idomeneo" (25), consists entirely in the fitting
+expression of closely related moods.
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(324)
+
+But the special points in the conception are altogether new and
+original. A presageful mood, tinged with a gentle melancholy, rising to
+greater energy towards the close, transfuses this wonderful movement,
+the very tone-colouring of which is affecting. The soft muted tones of
+the basset-horn and bassoons are made clearer and purer by the addition
+of a flute, while the full chords of horns and trombones and the
+stringed instruments bind these elements into unity. The same
+tone-colouring, only several shades deeper (the flute being omitted, and
+of the strings only violas and violoncelli retained), is continued
+in the prayer (11) which follows, addressed to Isis and Osiris in a
+mysterious twilight, from which the simple impressive melody for
+the bass voice sounds forth with majestic and soothing effect. The
+repetition of the closing passage by the male chorus is of quite
+indescribable effect, when Sarastro's characteristic passage--[See Page
+Image] is given an octave higher. The earnest religious conception which
+underlies this prayer shows the spirit in which the symbols and rites of
+Freemasonry were approached by Mozart, who once thanked God that
+through Freemasonry he had learnt to look upon death as the gate of true
+happiness (Vol. II., p. 323).
+
+The duet for the two priests (12)--a warning against feminine
+malice--does not come up to the same high standard, and only becomes at
+all imposing at the closing bars, "Tod und Verzweiflung war sein Lohn."
+The words could not be delivered with gravity without producing too
+comic an effect; Mozart has therefore treated them as a piece of
+friendly counsel, not as a priestly admonition, The second chorus of
+priests (19), which greets Tamino at the successful issue of his first
+trial, has, on the other hand, quite the dignity and solemnity of the
+first; although doubt and anxiety are for the present at an end, there
+is as yet none of the jubilant delight with which the victor is hailed
+at the final victory. A character of purity and elevation is expressed
+with a manly confidence differing from the
+
+{SARASTRO--AIR--TERZET.}
+
+(324)
+
+intense sympathy of the first chorus, and the instrumentation is
+modified accordingly. Trombones and horns give an imposing tone,
+lightened by trumpets, flutes and oboes, instead of basset-horns, while
+the prevailing low position of the stringed instruments supplies force
+and gravity to the movement. The moderate length of this chorus, as of
+all the movements which have the same solemn and mystic tone, is a fresh
+proof of Mozart's sure insight. The powerful impression is made, the
+excited mood is appeased, without fatiguing the mind or dulling the
+charm of the unusual characterisation.
+
+Sarastro never descends altogether from his high priestly eminence, but
+he shows a genial side to his character, and sometimes, as on his first
+appearance in the finale, a fatherly one. This more genial nature is
+expressed in the air (16),
+
+"In diesen heiligen Hallen," which, as with so many other pieces
+from the "Zauberflöte," we have first to forget having so often heard
+maltreated before we can realise the original impression made by it. The
+simple instrumentation and the easy treatment of the cavatina shows at
+once that the priestly character is not meant to be maintained here:
+it is the paternal friend speaking words of comfort to the maiden who
+confides in him.[45] Mozart, convinced that Freemasonry is the key to
+true philanthropy and friendship, has not contented himself with merely
+setting the trivial words before him to music, but has given expression
+with all the warmth and intensity of his nature to the highest and
+noblest feelings of the human heart. The beautiful terzet (20) gives a
+peculiarly elevated calm to Sarastro's sympathy in a situation which is
+more dramatic and musical than almost any other in the opera. Pamina
+is led in to bid farewell to Tamino before he sets forth for his final
+ordeal. This in itself is a test of his fortitude, for he is constrained
+to oppose reserve to her excitement, and to endure her reproaches
+for his apparent want of tenderness in silence. Between them stands
+Sarastro, consoling and
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLöTE.}
+
+(326)
+
+exhorting them, like a higher power holding the fate of them both in his
+hand.[46]
+
+It was Mozart's task to blend into one these conflicting elements of
+passionate grief, of deep emotion restrained by an inflexible will,
+and of unyielding earnest exhortation. It was comparatively easy
+to accentuate the contrasts. Pamina and Sarastro are in absolute
+opposition, and Tamino, joining issue now with one, now with the other,
+forms a natural middle point. It is fortunate, from a musical point of
+view, that the arrangement of the parts falls in with these conditions,
+land that the natural course of the emotions depicted lends itself to a
+musical climax. The simplicity of the orchestral means here made use
+of by Mozart shows how much he was able to accomplish with very little,
+especially in the accompaniment passage, which renders so marvellously
+the agitation of the situation.[47] It may at first sight appear
+fcommonplace; but the unusually low position of the violas, violoncelli,
+and bassoons gives it a striking expression of power and of breathless
+urgency.[48]
+
+The part of Sarastro taxed all the resources of a deep bass voice, such
+as that for which Franz Gerl, the original supporter of the part, was
+celebrated.[49] It was in another way as original a conception as that
+of Osmin. The latter may be said to have had a predecessor in the buffo
+of the Italian opera, but Sarastro is the first of his kind, and can
+as little be compared to the regulation bass parts of Italian opera as
+Almaviva and Don Giovanni to the baritones. The dignity and calm of
+the philosopher to whom passion is unknown would have afforded little
+opportunity for musical characterisation had not Mozart's genuinely
+German nature gone down to the intellectual depths of the character. For
+
+{TAMINO.}
+
+(327)
+
+Sarastro's good temper and amiability, which might so easily do violence
+to the idealism of the conception, show their German origin unaffected
+by the symbolism around them. Mozart sought and found in the powerful
+sonorous tones of the bass voice the musical organ for the expression of
+a nature passionless indeed, but open to all that is good and noble,
+and possessing the benevolence and truthfulness of a mind matured in the
+graver experiences of humanity.
+
+The intrusion of Masonic mysteries into the plot has had a bad effect
+upon the treatment of the characters, Tamino especially being injured by
+it. At first he scarcely presents an heroic appearance--rather that of
+a susceptible and generous youth longing to meet danger and strife that
+the right and his love may prevail. The original course of the plot
+leads him into dangers which he has to overcome by strength and courage;
+here, for some incomprehensible reason, he is to be converted to a
+belief in Sarastro. The fact of his probation taking place for the most
+part in silence is of disadvantage to him, both as a tenor and a
+lover; the dark cave and the wandering through fire and water are
+not particularly terrifying to the spectators, and his praiseworthy
+endeavours after virtue are too abstract to be interesting. And yet
+Mozart has filled in this colourless outline with the warm tints of
+youthful enthusiasm for all that is noble in life and in love. The first
+air (4) strikes the tone which is to prevail throughout. We may trust
+the word of the poet, that the sight of a lovely woman is sufficient to
+inspire the heart with a love that is irresistible, and to rouse it to
+a new and blissful life; but the musician alone has the power of so
+realising the miracle to the mind of the hearer that he feels it working
+in himself; and such a musician is Mozart. After a twice-repeated sort
+of sigh from the orchestra, there streams forth from an overflowing
+heart:--[See Page Image]
+
+More agitated feelings follow this first glad expression of love,
+and the development of strong emotion is expressed by the form of the
+musical representation which follows every
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLöTE.}
+
+(328)
+
+turn of thought, breaking off the threads and joining them again without
+any connected flow of melody. The whole piece is a well-constructed
+cantilene, formed from separate symmetrical phrases, and recurring at
+the close with the words, "und ewig ware sie dann mein," to the same
+melody which followed the first exclamation with "mein Herz mit neuer
+Regung füllt."
+
+Stormy passion and fierce longing are the proper accompaniments to all
+youthful love, and the moderation with which Tamino keeps them in check
+gives at once the keynote to his character. His enthusiasm for an
+ideal, and his noble and intelligent mind, are opened to us in the fine
+recitative, and the calmer expression of love which follows completes
+the picture of character.
+
+Benedict Schack, the original Tamino (b. 1758) was both musically and
+intellectually a cultivated man. He was a good flautist, and composed
+several operas for Schikaneder's company, which he joined as a vocalist
+in 1784. He had become very intimate with Mozart in Vienna. When the
+latter called for him, as he often did, to take a walk, he used, while
+Schack was dressing, to seat himself at his writing-table and compose
+little bits of the opera which lay there. Schack was equally famed for
+his flexible and metallically pure tenor voice and his artistic and
+refined execution, but he.was a very inferior actor.[50]
+
+As the piece proceeds the love intrigue takes a peculiar tone from its
+association with the mysteries and with the ordeals belonging to them.
+Many allusions are made to the dignity of marriage as the consummation
+of righteous love, and this is apparently the sense intended to be
+conveyed by the oft-quoted ludicrous doggerel:--
+
+     Ihr (der Liebe) Zweck zeigt deutlich an,
+     Nichts edlers sei als Weib und Mann;
+     Mann und Weib, und Weib und Mann,
+     Reichen an die Gotter an.
+
+The main points, how Tamino is to win Pamina by his
+
+{PAMINA.}
+
+(329)
+
+initiation into the mysteries, and how Pamina comes to share his ordeals
+with him, are not made clear, since the love intrigue has originally
+nothing to do with them. Pamina,[51] at first contrasting with Papagena
+only as a gay, lively young girl whose higher nature has had no
+opportunity for development, shows herself in her true proportions when
+she approaches Sarastro with the pride and self-possession which denote
+her as his equal in dignity and sentiment. It is but for one short
+moment that the lovers first see each other, and by an irresistible
+impulse rush into each other's arms. This outbreak of passion falls so
+naturally into the rest of the movement, essentially different as it is
+in tone, that one is amazed that such simple notes can give so powerful
+an impression of jubilant emotion. Tamino and Pamina are separated at
+once, and are not reunited until near the end of the opera.
+
+If Tamino may be said to be the expression of the enthusiasm of love
+as it awakes in the bosom of youth, Pamina may, on the other hand, be
+considered as the embodiment of the torment excited in a loving heart
+by doubt of the loved one's constancy. The spark which is kindled in her
+bosom by the sight of Tamino rises into an inextinguishable flame, and
+when his obstinate silence causes her to doubt his love, every hope of
+joy vanishes from her breast. It is not a difficult task for music to
+render the anguish of a broken heart, and the keener the pangs to be
+conveyed the easier it becomes. But to express with the utmost truth
+and intensity the deep grief of a maiden who has learnt to know her own
+heart by the first mighty pulsation of love, at the very moment when her
+hope is to be rudely dashed to the ground--this is the work of such a
+master only as the composer of the air (18) "Ach ich fühls."[52] Bitter
+pain
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(330)
+
+speaks here--pain without hope of solace; the memory of a vanished
+happiness has not yet softened into regretful melancholy, nor is it
+sharpened by the lingering pangs of conflict and torment overcome; it is
+a pain as yet unconscious of its own force and intensity. All feelings
+are swallowed up in the one: "He loves me not, and happiness is flown!"
+When to this open and truthful expression of the anguish endured by
+an innocent heart is united the charm of budding maidenhood, we feel
+ourselves in the presence of a beauty which moves our inmost being, and
+which Mozart alone of all musicians is capable of rendering in song. The
+form and means of effect employed are of the simplest kind. The music
+follows the course of the emotions in a continuous flow, without
+allowing any definite motif to predominate. It is a very delicate touch
+which makes the same expressive phrase occurring in the major to the
+words, "nimmer kehrt ihr Wonnestunden meinem Herzen mehr zurück," recur
+in the minor at the close to the words, "so wird Ruh im Tode sein." The
+voice part is put very prominently forward, the stringed instruments
+maintaining the harmonies and the rhythm in the simplest manner, while
+different wind instruments (flutes, oboes, bassoons) give a sharper
+accent here and there. The orchestra becomes independent only in the
+closing symphony, expressing deep sorrow very effectively by means of
+its syncopated rhythm and chromatic passages. This air forms a decided
+contrast to the garden air in "Figaro" (Vol. III., p. 91), and yet there
+is a deep-seated relationship apparent in them. In "Figaro" we have the
+purest expression of happy love, flowing from a human heart without a
+disturbing thought. Here it is the unmingled expression of sorrow for
+departed love. The one has the soft warm glow of a fragrant summer
+night; the other is like moonlight shining on rippling waters; but
+in truth, purity, and beauty of musical rendering, the two songs
+unmistakably betray the mind and hand of one and the same musician.
+
+Before the painful impression has had time to die away there follows the
+brief interview of the lovers in presence of Sarastro and the Initiated,
+as represented in the terzet (20).
+
+{PAMINA--TERZET.}
+
+(331)
+
+Pamina, in her anxiety and doubt as to whether Tamino's love will stand
+the test imposed upon it, gives the tone to the whole piece. Her concern
+is not appeased by Sarastro and Tamino's consoling assurances, and not
+until the time for farewell has really arrived do the two lovers' parts
+unite and contrast with that of Sarastro. Then the expression of emotion
+is raised and purified, and indicated by touches of extraordinary
+delicacy and depth, as when Pamina's passionate outbreak--[See Page
+Image]
+
+deprives Tamino of self-control, and he too gives vent to the anguish
+of parting, while she appeals to him in mingled joy and sorrow, and
+Sarastro remains inexorable; or when at the inimitably beautiful passage
+at the close the hearts as well as the voices of the lovers seem to
+mingle and flow into one. Here again we may admire the skill with which
+the ordinary resources of musical representation are employed to produce
+extraordinary effects.[53] Instead of feeling her anxiety set at rest by
+this interview, Pamina is more violently agitated than before. She now
+no longer doubts that Tamino has ceased to love her, and, deprived of
+all hope, she seizes the dagger which her mother has given to her to
+murder Sarastro, and prepares to plunge it in her own bosom. Thus, at
+the beginning of the second finale, we find her "half-frantic" under the
+protection of the three boys. Their presence has a moderating effect on
+her passion of despair, and Mozart has carefully refrained from giving
+to the thoughts of suicide excited in a maiden's breast by her first
+disappointment in love the same kind of expression as would belong to
+one who, exhausted by long strife with the world, had resolved to rid
+himself of life and his sorrows
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(332)
+
+together. Thus, bold and energetic as the musical expression is, it
+never causes any distortion in the picture of a charming innocent girl,
+and this has a more tranquillising effect on the minds of the audience
+than the support of the three boys. In accordance with the situation
+the movement of the voices is quite free, generally declamatory, the
+interjections of the three boys holding the whole movement firmly in
+its groove. Pamina gives ready ear to the reassurance of the three boys,
+but, instead of breaking into loud exultation, her mind recurs lovingly
+to Tamino, and the music gains that soft pathetic tone which belongs
+to modern music. The supernatural element of the scene idealises it, and
+prepares the way for the solemn ordeal which is immediately to follow.
+Tamino, who has determined to tread the path of danger, but has believed
+he was to tread it alone, is agreeably surprised to find Pamina at his
+side. The reunion of the lovers is deprived, in face of the dangers
+which they are to overcome together, of every trace of sensual passion.
+Not until they are initiated into the mysteries for which they are
+undergoing probation can their love be justified or its enjoyment
+assured. The tone of the scene therefore is a serious one, rendered even
+solemn by the participation of the grave guardians of the sanctuary,
+who have just enunciated its ordinances. But the human emotion which
+irresistibly breaks forth adds a pathos to the solemnity and a charm
+to the youthful pair, filling us with renewed admiration for the genius
+which blends all these diverse elements into a living and harmonious
+whole.
+
+Such a pair of lovers as this, so ideal, so sentimental (schwarmerisch)
+in their feelings and mode of expression, betray at once their German
+origin and character; there is nothing analogous in Mozart's Italian
+operas; even Belmont and Constanze, though of the same type, display
+more human passion. To the representatives of noble humanity, Sarastro,
+Tamino, and Pamina, stands opposed the antagonistic and vindictive
+principle, in the person of the Queen of Night. The manner of her
+representation leaves distinct traces visible of the different part she
+was originally intended to fill. At the beginning, when she appears as
+the
+
+{THE QUEEN OF NIGHT.}
+
+(333)
+
+deeply injured mother, with all the magnificence of her regal state,
+there is nothing in the musical characterisation to indicate her
+gloomy and vindictive nature, which is thus proved to have been an
+afterthought. A solemn introduction, rising into a powerful crescendo,
+announces the coming of the Queen, while "the mountains are cleft
+asunder." It has been pointed out[54] that this ritornello has
+considerable resemblance to the passage in Benda's "Ariadne," which
+accompanies the setting of the sun:--[See Page Image]
+
+Mozart knew and admired Benda's "Ariadne," and this passage may have
+been in his mind; but it is scarcely to be imagined that he consciously
+imitated it, and in any case he has rendered it far more effectively.
+A short recitative is followed by an air in two movements (5), the only
+one so
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(334)
+
+elaborate in form of the whole opera, the result doubtless of the
+traditional conception of the character of the Queen. The first movement
+expresses a mother's grief simply and pathetically, but without any
+tinge of the supernatural to characterise her either as the good fairy
+or as the Queen of Night. The allegro is far weaker, going off after
+a few energetic bars into long runs and passages quite instrumental in
+character, with nothing striking in them but the presupposition of an
+extraordinary soprano voice in the high--[See Page Image]
+to which they rise. This is apparently another concession made by Mozart
+to the "voluble throat" of his eldest sister-in-law, Madame Hofer (Vol.
+II., p. 330). There can be no difficulty in accrediting a sister of
+Aloysia Weber with the possession of a fabulously high voice; but it is
+remarkable that Schroder, who saw her in the same year (1791) as Oberon,
+should have said of her (Meyer, L. Schroder, II., 1, p. 85): "A very
+unpleasing singer; her voice is not high enough for the part, and she
+squeaks it, besides which she opens her mouth with a gape like the elder
+Stephanie." Nevertheless, she set no small store on herself, and must
+have been admired by a portion of the public; Mozart has made a still
+greater sacrifice to her in the second air, in which the Queen of Night
+commands her daughter to wreak vengeance on Sarastro. In design it is
+free and bold, in passionate expression of resentment very powerful; the
+two chief parts are both musically and dramatically striking, the close
+is genuinely pathetic, and the uniformly high position of the voice
+in conjunction with the forcible and somewhat shrilly toned
+instrumentation, is of very singular effect. All this notwithstanding,
+Mozart has allowed himself to be persuaded to ruin an aria which
+might have been a model of pathetic declamation by two long ornamental
+passages inserted between the parts of the air, which are not only
+destructive of proper effect, but also unnatural, and wanting in taste
+themselves. The Queen is attended by three ladies, who, however, have
+none of the vindictive qualities which distinguish her. Not
+
+{THE THREE LADIES.}
+
+(335)
+
+only do we find unmistakable proofs of their original conception as good
+fairies, but the way in which they are treated in the opera has a spice
+of the drollery of Musäus or Wieland, although without their grace and
+refinement; the merit which they possess is entirely due to Mozart.
+They show themselves in their true colours from the first introduction.
+Tamino enters in terrified flight from a serpent,[55] which is
+well-expressed by the orchestra; at the moment when he is falling into a
+swoon, the three ladies appear and slay the monster. As they gaze on the
+beautiful youth, tender promptings fill their breasts; each wishes to
+remain with him and to send her companions with tidings to the Queen;
+a dispute arises which ends by their all three going, after a tender
+farewell to the insensible Tamino. The situation is represented with
+vivacity and humour in three well worked-out and varying movements, and
+although the ladies never display any lofty emotions, they move with
+so much natural grace that the not very refined situation makes an
+impression of unclouded cheerfulness. A long cadenza for the three
+voices, with which the movement originally closed, was judiciously
+struck out by Mozart himself.[56]
+
+The ladies express themselves in similar fashion, though not quite so
+openly, seeing that they are not alone, in the quintet (6) when they
+deliver Papageno from his padlock, present him and Tamino with the flute
+and bells, and promise the companionship of the three boys. Here
+too, they are benevolent beings, bringing miraculous gifts, but not
+displaying any higher nature except when they mention the three boys,
+and even then the mysterious tone adopted belongs rather to the latter
+and the mysteries connected with them. Indeed, the teasing familiarity
+of the ladies to Papageno, and their coquettish politeness to Tamino,
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(336)
+
+give them quite a _bourgeois_ character, supported by the genial, jovial
+tone of the music, which is fresh, natural, and full of euphonious
+charm.
+
+In the second quintet (13) the same ladies appear as opponents of the
+initiated, but their character has been already so clearly indicated
+that they cannot consistently turn into vindictive furies. They have
+the appropriate feminine task of inveigling Tamino and Papageno into
+breaking the silence which has been imposed on them, and, while easily
+accomplishing this, as far as Papageno is concerned, they find that
+Tamino is inflexible himself, and recalls Papageno to his duty. The
+object of the music, therefore, is not to bring a dismal or gloomy
+image before the mind, but to emphasise, without exaggerating, the comic
+element of the situation. The central point of interest is of course
+Papageno, who displays all the cowardice and loquacity of his nature to
+the ladies, and is only kept within bounds by his respect for Tamino;
+the ladies treat the interview almost as a joke, and even Tamino's
+steadfast determination acquires from its surroundings an involuntarily
+comic tone. The whole quintet is light and pleasing, destitute of any
+higher feeling, such as that of the first quartet; all the more striking
+is the effect of the powerful closing chords, to which the ladies,
+pursued by the initiated, depart with a cry of terror, while Papageno
+falls to the ground. The peculiar musical effect of this piece depends
+mainly upon the skill with which the female voices are employed;[57]
+where the male voices come in they are made to add to the combinations
+partly in contrast and partly in union with the female voices. The
+instrumentation is for the most part easy; in order to afford a firm
+foundation the two violins frequently go with the third voice instead
+of the bass, while wind instruments support the upper voices, which
+produces a clear, light, and yet powerful tone-colouring. The allegretto
+(6-8) in the introduction, in comparison with the two other movements of
+the
+
+{THE MOOR--PAPAGENO.}
+
+(337)
+
+same, or the passages in the first quintet, "bekamen doch die
+Lügner allé," "O so eine Flöte," "Silberglöckchen," and finally the
+announcement of the three boys may serve as examples of the union of
+orchestra and voices to produce a climax of novel and melodious effect.
+
+The Moor Monostatos may also be considered as a follower of the Queen of
+Night, only left in attendance on Sarastro through the inconsistency
+of the adaptation, and made a renegade in order that the figure of a
+traitor to the order might not be omitted. He is never brought to the
+front, neither in the terzet, where he threatens Pamina and then runs
+away from Papageno, nor in the first finale, where he is made to dance
+by Papageno, and then bastinadoed by order of Sarastro. But in the
+second act, when he surprises Pamina asleep, he has a little song to
+sing (14) which is a miniature masterpiece of psychological dramatic
+characterisation.[58]
+
+The kingdom of Night is most strikingly characterised when the Queen and
+her ladies are introduced into the sanctuary by Monostatos to plot their
+revenge. The motif on which the movement rests--[See Page Image]
+
+is graphically descriptive of the stealthy entry; the summons to the
+Queen of Night takes an expression of gloomy solemnity which stands in
+characteristic contrast to the dignified gravity of the priests.
+
+Papageno adds a third element to the temple priests and the kingdom of
+Night. Even the inevitable character of the comic servant received
+a novel colouring from the introduction of Masonic relations. The
+qualities of sensuality, cowardice, and loquacity, on which the comic
+effect depends, are here made typical of the natural man, who, destitute
+of the nobler and more refined impulses of the initiated, aspires to
+nothing beyond mere sensual gratification. This it maybe which causes
+Papageno to appear far less vulgar and offensive
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLöTE}
+
+(338)
+
+than most of his fellows. It is true that his wit is destitute of
+refinement or humour, but his jokes, though silly, are healthy and
+natural to one side of the German character, which explains the fact
+of Papageno having become the favourite of a large part of the public.
+Although Schikaneder had doubtless a share in this popularity (he made
+the part to his own liking, and when he built his new theatre with the
+proceeds of the "Zauberflöte," he had himself painted on the drop-scene
+as Papageno), all the essential merit of it is Mozart's own. To whatever
+extent Schikaneder may have helped him to the melodies, that he came to
+the aid of Mozart's inventive powers will be imagined by none, least of
+all by those who know that the simplest song requires science for its
+perfection, and that truth and beauty are made popular, not by debasing,
+but by simplifying them.
+
+Papageno's songs are genuine specimens of German national music--gay and
+good-humoured, full of enjoyment of life and its pleasures. The first
+song (3), "Der Vogel-fänger bin ich ja," is unusually simple, with an
+extremely happy, sympathetic melody; the addition of horns, with
+the tones and passages natural to them, gives a freshness to the
+accompaniment; and the by-play on the reed-pipe (ever since called
+Papageno's flute)--[See Page Image]
+
+with the answer of the orchestra, has a really funny effect. The second
+song (21) is in two parts, differing in time and measure, but resembles
+the first in the tone of merry content which lies at the root of its
+popularity. Schikaneder may have given just the suggestion to the
+musical conception (Vol. III., p. 284), but the precise and well-rounded
+working-out is due to Mozart alone. Papageno's bells give a peculiar
+tone to the accompaniment, "eine Maschine wie ein holzemes Gelàchter,"
+they are called in the libretto, and "istromento d' acciajo" by Mozart
+in the score; they were brought in for the ritornellos and interludes
+with easy variations in the different verses. The celebrated double-bass
+player Pischl-berger or, according to Treitschke, Kapellmeister
+
+{PAPAGENO.}
+
+(339)
+
+Henneberg "hammered" the instrument behind the scenes. Mozart wrote to
+his wife at Baden how he had once played the bells himself behind the
+scenes:--
+
+I amused myself by playing an arpeggio when Schikaneder came to a pause.
+He was startled, looked round, and saw me. The second time the pause
+occurred I did the same; then he stopped and would not go on; I guessed
+what he was after, and made another chord, upon which he tapped the
+bells and said: "Hold your tongue!" ("Halts Maul!"), whereupon everybody
+laughed. I fancy this was the first intimation to many people that he
+did not play the instrument himself.
+
+The instrument occurs first in the first finale, when Papageno makes the
+slaves of Monostatos dance and sing to it.
+
+Here it is brought prominently forward, supporting the melody alone,
+accompanied only _pizzicato_ by the stringed instruments, and in a
+measure by the chorus; the whole is most innocently simple, and of
+charming effect.[59] The bells exercise their power a third time (the
+magic flute is also; played three times) in the last finale, where the
+magic instrument aids the despairing Papageno to recall his Papagena,
+and is treated simply as befits its nature.[60]
+
+Papageno's chief scene is in the last finale, when he resolves to die
+for the love of his lost Papagena, and it forms a counterpart to the
+pathetic scene of Pamina's despair. An expression of good-humour and of
+true, if not very elevated, feeling prevents the comic situation from
+becoming farcical.
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLöTE.}
+
+(340)
+
+Papageno's grief is like that of a child, expressed in genuine earnest,
+yet of a nature to raise a smile on the lips of grownup people.
+This double nature is well expressed, for example, in the violin
+passage--[See Page Image]nwhich has something comic in its very accents
+of grief. The form of this lengthy scene is altogether free. Without
+alteration of time or measure the music follows the various points of
+the scene, declamatory passages interrupting the long-drawn threads of
+melody sometimes with great effect, and descriptive phrases repeated
+at suitable places to keep the whole together. Thus the characteristic
+passage--occurs three times to the words: "Drum geschieht es mir schon
+recht!" "Sterben macht der Lieb' ein End," and "Papageno frisch hinauf,
+en.de deinen Lebenslauf!" At the close, when he seems really on the
+point of hanging himself, the time becomes slower, and a minor key
+serves to express the gloom of despair. But the three boys appear and
+remind him of his bells; at once his courage rises, and as he tinkles
+the bells he calls upon his sweetheart to appear with all the confidence
+and joy of a child. At the command of the boys he looks round, sees her,
+and the two feather-clothed beings contemplate each other with amazement
+and delight, approaching nearer and nearer, until at last they fall
+into each other's arms. The comic point of the stammering "Pa-pa-pa-,"
+uttered by them both, slowly at first, then with increasing rapidity
+until they embrace with the exclamation, Papageno!" and "Papagena!" was
+due to Schickaneder's
+
+{LOVE OF MAN AND WIFE.}
+
+(341)
+
+suggestion.[61] That the happiness they feel at their reunion should
+find expression in anticipating the advent of numerous little
+Papagenos and Papagenas is not only intended as a trait of human nature
+unrestrained and unrefined in thought and word, but serves to point
+to the parental joys springing from wedlock as "the highest of all
+emotions." The duet originally ended with the words (which Mozart did
+not set to music):--
+
+     Wenn dann die Kleinen um sie spielen
+     Die Eltern gleiche Freude fühlen,
+     Sich ihres Ebenbildes freun
+     O, welch ein Gluck kann grosser sein?
+
+The words with which the boys lead Papagena to Papageno--
+
+     Komm her, du holdes, liebes Weibchen!
+     Dem Mann sollst du dein Herzchen weihn.
+     Er wird dich lieben, süsses Weibchen,
+     Dein Vater, Freund und Brader sein
+     Sie dieses Mannes Eigenthum!
+
+were also omitted by Mozart, because serious exhortations and moral
+reflections would have been out of place here. He has instead succeeded
+in producing so lively and natural an expression of childlike delight,
+untouched by any taint of sensual desire, that the hearer feels his own
+heart full of happiness for very sympathy. The companion piece to this
+duet is that which Papageno sings with Pamina, after informing her that
+Tamino, fired with love, is hastening to her release (8). There can be
+no doubt that Mozart's wish has been to express the loftiest conception
+of the love of man and wife as an image, however faint and imperfect, of
+heavenly love; but here again Schikaneder has interposed, and insisted
+on something popular. We cannot blame him, for Papageno's sphere is that
+of natural, simple sentiment, not of enlightened morality, and Pamina is
+an inexperienced girl, who follows her own feelings, and is ready enough
+to fall into Papageno's vein.
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(342)
+
+Mozart did not find it easy to satisfy Schikaneder, who called each
+fresh attempt fine, but too learned; not until the third, or as some
+say, the fifth version,[62] did Mozart hit on the simple tone of warm
+feeling which Schikaneder believed would win every ear and every heart.
+His judgment proved correct; at the first performance this was the
+first piece applauded, and an angry critic complained in 1793 that the
+"Mozartites" were passing all bounds, and that "at every concert the
+ladies' heads went nodding like poppies in the field when the senseless
+stuff was sung: 'Mann und Weib, und Weib und Mann (which makes four, by
+the way), reichen an die Gottheit an.'"[63] According to Kapellmeister
+Trüben-see, of Prague, who was engaged as oboist in Schikaneder's opera,
+a rejected composition of this duet in the grand style was afterwards
+made use of alternately with that now known, and indicated on the
+playbill, "with the old duet" or "with the new duet."[64] At the first
+performance of the "Zauberflöte" in the new Theater an der Wien in 1802,
+Schikaneder' made the following announcement on the bill:--
+
+Having been so fortunate as myself to possess the friendship of Mozart,
+whose affection for me led him to set my work to music, I am in a
+position to offer the audience on this occasion a gratifying surprise
+in the form of two pieces of Mozart's composition, of which I am sole
+possessor.[65]
+
+One of them may have been the duet in question; what the other was we
+cannot even conjecture.[66] An individuality such as Papageno's is
+sure to impart some of its naïve good humour and joviality to the other
+characters with whom he comes in contact, and the impression thus made
+cannot
+
+{ENSEMBLES.}
+
+(343)
+
+fail to appear in the music; whenever Papageno enters, whether he is
+merry or whether he is sad, an irresistible tone of good humour takes
+possession of the stage. Next to him in want of reserve and self-control
+stands Pamina, who only gradually attains a consciousness of her higher
+and nobler nature. Neither in the duet nor in the flight does her
+expression of the feelings they are both experiencing differ in tone
+from Papageno's; any marked distinction here would have marred the total
+impression without assisting psychological truth. But on the approach
+of Sarastro they draw apart; Pamina entrenches herself in proud reserve,
+while Papageno gives vent to his terror with the same energy as in the
+first quintet (6) when he is ordered to accompany Tamino to the castle.
+In the second quintet (13) his fright is kept in check by Tamino's
+presence, and his disgust at not daring to speak, and not being able
+to keep silence, gains the upper hand and gives the tone to the whole
+piece.
+
+Such a consideration as we have given to the principal characters of the
+"Zauberflöte," to its intellectual and musical conception, and to the
+prevailing freedom of its form, serves to stamp its character as a
+genuinely German opera. What was begun in the "Entführung," which
+undertook to raise German vaudeville to the level of opera proper,
+is carried further in the "Zauberflöte," which succeeds in gaining
+recognition for the simplest expression of feeling, and for full freedom
+of form of dramatic characterisation. The opera contains no airs of
+the traditional stamp, except the two airs of the Queen of Night; and
+a comparison of the way in which the aria form is treated in "Cosi fan
+Tutte" and "Titus" will show an organic change in the airs, now that
+they are developed from the simple Lied. This freedom of construction is
+still more apparent in the ensembles, in the beautiful terzet (20), and
+more especially in the first quintet (6). The second quintet (13) is
+more precise in form, the ladies tempting Tamino and Papageno to break
+silence forming the natural middle point of the musical construction.
+But the freedom of movement strikes us most of all in the finales, which
+are admirable examples of
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(344)
+
+the art, so praised by Goethe, of producing effect by means of contrast.
+In dramatic design they are inferior to the finales of "Figaro," "Don
+Giovanni," or "Cosi fan Tutte." Instead of a plot proceeding from one
+point, and developing as it proceeds, we have a succession of varied
+scenes, lightly held together by the thread of events, and interesting
+us more from their variety than their consistent development. In order
+to follow this rapid movement great freedom of musical construction was
+necessary; opportunities of carrying out a definite motif till it forms
+a self-contained movement, which are so frequent in Italian finales,
+occur here but seldom, one instance being the allegro of the first
+finale, when Monostatos brings in Tamino, and the movement of the second
+finale to which the Queen of Night enters. This essential difference of
+treatment fills us with renewed admiration of Mozart's fertility in the
+production of new suggestive and characteristic melodies, which seem
+ready at command for every possible situation. Those who descend to
+details will be amazed to find how seldom Mozart is satisfied with
+a mere turn of expression, how lavish he is of original fully formed
+musical subjects, and how all the details of his work are cemented into
+a whole by his marvellous union of artistic qualities.
+
+This leads us to the consideration of a second point in which the
+"Zauberflöte" surpasses the "Entführung." The latter is confined to a
+narrow circle of characters, situations, and moods, while the former has
+a large and varied series of phenomena. The story from which the plot is
+derived opens the realm of fairies and genü, personified in the Queen
+of the Night and her ladies, and, as regards his outward appearance, in
+Papageno. In addition to this there is the mystical element which
+takes the first place both in the dramatic conception and the musical
+characterisation of the opera. Mozart had no intention of representing
+a fantastic fairy land, such as was called into existence by Weber and
+Mendelssohn. The fabulous was not then identified with the fantastic,
+but was often consciously made a mirror for the reflection of real life,
+with its actual sentiments and views. Therefore the Queen of Night is
+depicted as a queen,
+
+{FANTASTIC AND MYSTIC ELEMENTS.}
+
+(345)
+
+as a sorrowing mother, as a revengeful woman; her ladies have their
+share of coquetry and gossip, and these feminine qualities predominate
+over the supernatural. The musical task of combining three soprano
+voices into a connected whole, while preserving their individuality,
+calls for great peculiarity of treatment, entailing further a special
+turning to account of the orchestral forces at command, at the same time
+that no special forms of expression are made to serve as typical of the
+fairy element of the piece.
+
+On the other hand the apparition of the three boys is accompanied by
+every means of musical characterisation. They form the link with the
+region of mysticism indicated awkwardly enough in the libretto. We
+recognise something more than individual taste and inclination in
+Mozart's efforts to invest them with a character of grave solemnity. A
+universal and deep-rooted sympathy with Freemasonry was a characteristic
+sign of the times, and the German mind and disposition are well
+expressed in the efforts that were made to find in Freemasonry that
+unity which intellectual cultivation and moral enlightenment alone could
+bestow. Mozart was therefore at one in intention and aim with all that
+was highest and noblest in the nation, and the more deeply his own
+feelings were stirred the more sure he was to stamp his music with all
+that was truly German in character. It was not without design that he
+selected an old choral melody to mark a point of most solemn gravity, or
+that he treated it in the way with which his fellow-countrymen were most
+familiar. This passage is also significant as showing the marvellous
+element in a symbolic light, and bringing the supernatural within the
+domain of the human sphere. In this respect the representation of
+the marvellous in the "Zauberflöte" differs widely from that in "Don
+Giovanni." There the appearance of the ghost is a veritable miracle, a
+fact which must be believed to be such, and rendered to the minds of
+the spectators by means of the musical representation of terror in the
+actors. In the "Zauberflöte," on the contrary, the marvellous element is
+suggested only by the mystery hidden beneath it, and the mind is attuned
+to a mood of awe-struck wonder.
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(346)
+
+It cannot be denied that the deeply rooted symbolism of the opera has
+dulled the edge of individual characterisation. Actions lose their
+reality and become mere tests of virtue; the choruses of the priests
+express generalities; neither the three ladies nor the three boys are
+independent characters, but each group forms an individual, which
+again represents an idea; even the principal characters, owing to the
+concentration of all upon one idea, have more of a typical character
+than is desirable in the interests of dramatic characterisation.[67]
+In spite of these drawbacks Mozart has depicted both his situations and
+characters naturally and vividly. No one will attempt to deny that both
+the subjects and treatment of "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni," and in some
+degree also of "Cosi fan Tutte," present far more occasions for the
+expression of passion, for delicate detail, and for the emphasising of
+special features, than is the case with the "Zauberflöte," where the
+effect depends mainly on the general impression left by the whole work;
+but that this is the case affords only another proof of Mozart's power
+of grasping the strong points of every problem that was set before him.
+"In Lessing's 'Nathan,'" says Strauss,[68] "we are as little disposed
+to complain of the want of that powerful impression produced by his
+more pungent pieces, as we are to wish the peaceful echoes of Mozart's
+'Zauberflöte' exchanged for the varied characterisation and foaming
+passion of the music of 'Don Juan.' In the last work of the musician, as
+in that of the poet, wide apart as they stand in other respects, there
+is revealed a perfected spirit at peace with itself, which having fought
+and overcome all opposition from within, has no longer to dread that
+which comes from without."
+
+The fact that the words of the opera were in German had doubtless an
+important influence on the musical expression. Wretched as the verses
+are, so much so that it is difficult sometimes to find the sense
+necessary for the proper understanding of Mozart's rendering of them,
+they nevertheless
+
+{THE ORCHESTRA.}
+
+(347)
+
+form the basis of the musical construction. Italian operatic poetry,
+long since stereotyped in form, fettered the composer's fancy, while the
+German verses, from their very want of finish, left him freer scope
+for independent action. It is worthy of note that instrumental
+tone-painting, so frequently employed in Italian opera as a means of
+giving musical expression to the poetry, is but little resorted to in
+the "Zauberflöte." Apart from the difference of poetical expression in
+Italian and German, the sensuous sound of the Italian language was far
+more provocative of musical expression; and the declamatory element of
+correct accentuation and phrasing was at the root of the correct musical
+expression of German words. In this respect also the "Zauberflöte" is
+far superior to the "Entführung." A comparison of the text with the
+music will show what pains Mozart has taken to declaim expressively
+and forcibly. Sometimes the effort is too apparent, as in Sarastro's
+well-known "Doch"; but as a rule Mozart's musical instinct prevents
+the declamatory element from intruding itself to the detriment of the
+melodious.
+
+In the treatment of the orchestra also the "Zauberflöte" stands alone
+among Mozart's operas. It is not, as in "Figaro" and "Don Giovanni,"
+employed for delicate details of characterisation, nor is it, as in
+"Cosi fan Tutte" replete with euphonious charm. It has here a double
+part: in that portion of the opera which represents purely human emotion
+the orchestra is free and independent in movement, but easy and simple
+in construction; while for the mystic element of the story it has quite
+another character: Unusual means, such as trombones and basset-horns,
+are employed for the production of unusual and weird effects, while
+through all the delicate gradations of light and shade, from melancholy
+gravity to brilliant pomp, the impression of dignity and solemnity is.
+maintained, and the hearer is transported to a sphere beyond all earthly
+passion. Not only are the hitherto unsuspected forces of the orchestra
+here brought into play, but its power of characterisation is for the
+first time made _fully_ manifest, and the "Zauberflöte" is the point of
+departure for all that modern music has achieved in this
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(348)
+
+direction. It must not, however, be forgotten that instrumental
+colouring is always to Mozart one means among many of interpreting
+his artistic idea, and never aspires to be its sole exponent, or to
+overshadow it altogether.
+
+That which gives the "Zauberflöte" its peculiar position and importance
+among Mozart's operas is the fact that in it for the first time all the
+resources of cultivated art were brought to bear with the freedom of
+genius upon a genuinely German opera.[69] In his Italian operas he had
+adopted the traditions of a long period of development, and by virtue
+of his original genius had, as it were, brought them to a climax and a
+conclusion; in the "Zauberflöte" he stepped across the threshold of the
+future, and unlocked the sanctuary of national art for his countrymen.
+And they understood him; the "Zauberflöte" sank directly and deeply
+into the hearts of the German people, and to this day it holds its place
+there. The influence which it has exerted in the formation of German
+music can be disregarded by no one who has an eye for the development of
+art.
+
+Evidence of the rapid popularity of the "Zauberflöte" is afforded by the
+imitations of it which were produced at the theatres Auf der Wieden and
+Leopoldstadt:--
+
+Everything is turned to magic at these theatres; we have the magic
+flute, the magic ring, the magic arrow, the magic mirror, the magic
+crown, and many other wretched magic affairs. Words and music are
+equally contemptible (except the "Zauberflöte"), so that one knows not
+whether to award the palm of silliness to the poet or the composer.
+Added to this, these miserable productions are still more miserably
+performed.[70]
+
+Schikaneder's opera, "Babylons Pyramiden," the first act composed by
+Gallus, the second by Winter, first produced October 23, 1797, bore a
+striking resemblance to the
+
+{PERFORMANCES AND IMITATIONS.}
+
+(349)
+
+"Zauberflöte."[71] In the following year appeared "Das Labyrinth,
+oder der Kampf der Elemente," announced as a continuation of the
+"Zauberflöte," by Schikaneder and Winter;[72] it was performed in Berlin
+with great magnificence in 1806.[73] Goethe's design of continuing the
+"Zauberflöte" has been already mentioned (Vol. III., p. 314, note). It
+would be superfluous to enumerate the performances of the "Zauberflöte"
+in Germany. It soon took possession of every stage in Vienna. In 1801 it
+was given at the Karnthnerthortheater with new scenery by Sacchetti.[74]
+Schikaneder was not mentioned, which gave rise to some coarse pamphlets
+in doggerel verse.[75] Schikaneder's answer was a brilliantly appointed
+performance of the "Zauberflöte" in his new theatre An der Wien, which
+he recommended to the public in some doggerel lines as Papageno, not
+failing also to parody the defective machinery of the other theatre.[76]
+The run was extraordinary,[77] but he had taken so many liberties with
+the work--omitting the quintet, for instance, and inserting an air
+for Mdlle. Wittmann--that he did not escape criticism in more doggerel
+verses.[78]
+
+From Vienna the opera spread rapidly to every theatre in Germany, great
+and small.[79] In Berlin it was first given on May 12,1794, with a
+success[80] that testified to the preference for German rather than
+Italian opera there;[81] the jubilee of this performance was celebrated
+on May 12, 1844.[82]
+
+{DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE.}
+
+(350)
+
+At Hamburg "the long-expected 'Zauberflöte'" was first put on the stage
+on November 12,1794, and soon usurped the popularity of "Oberon" and
+"Sonnenfest der Braminen."[83] It may be mentioned as a curiosity
+that the "Zauberflöte" was played in a French translation[84] at
+Braunschweig* and in Italian at Dresden,[85] until the year 1818,[86]
+when C. M. von Weber first produced it in German with great care, and
+quite to his own satisfaction.[87]
+
+The "Zauberflöte" rapidly gained popularity for Mozart's name,
+especially in North Germany. How universal was the favour with which
+it soon came to be regarded may be testified by Goethe, who makes his
+Hermann, describing a visit to his neighbour in their little country
+town, say:--
+
+     Minchen sass am Klavier; es war der Vater zugegen,
+     Hörte die Tochterchen singen, und war entzückt und in Laune.
+     Manches verstand ich nicht, was in den Liedern gesagt war;
+     Aber ich hörte viel von Pamina, viel von Tamino,
+     Und ich wollte doch auch nicht stumm sein! Sobald sie geendet,
+     Fragt' ich dem Texte nach, und nach den beiden Personen.
+     Aile schwiegen darauf und lächelten; aber der Vater
+     Sagte: nicht wahr, mein Freund, er kennt nur Adam und Eva?!!!
+
+Even to this day Sarastro and Tamino are regular starring and trial
+parts; unhappily, so is the Queen of Night for singers who possess the
+high F; and though the novelty and splendour of the scenery and
+stage accessories have been long since surpassed, and the interest in
+Freemasonry has died away, yet the "Zauberflöte" is still popular in the
+best sense of the word. It has been successfully performed in Dutch,[88]
+Swedish,[89] Danish,[90] and Polish;[91] but, as might have been
+expected, the "_musica scelerata_ without any melody" was even less to
+the taste of the Italians than Mozart's
+
+{PERFORMANCES AND IMITATIONS.}
+
+(351)
+
+other operas.[92] It is not surprising either that it was only
+moderately successful in London, where it was first performed in
+Italian[93] in 1811, then in English in 1837,[94] and in German by a
+German company in 1840;[95] but the songs and other pieces of the opera
+have always been well known and popular.[96]
+
+The "Zauberflöte" was given in Paris in 1791 curiously transformed by
+Lachnith under the title of "Jes Mystères d'Isis."[97] The piece was
+irrecognisable; everything miraculous, including the magic flute itself,
+and everything comic was omitted, Papageno being turned into the wise
+shepherd Bochoris; this, of course, involved the parodying of a great
+part of the music, and much was omitted even without this excuse. The
+omissions were made good by the insertion of pieces out of other operas
+by Mozart, e.g., the drinking-song from "Don Giovanni" arranged as a
+duet, an air from "Titus," also as a duet, and more of the same kind.
+Great liberties were taken with the music itself. The closing chorus,
+with Sarastro's recitative, formed the beginning of the opera; then
+followed the terzet "Seid uns zum zweiten-mal willkommen," sung by six
+priestesses; then a chorus from "Titus" (15); and then the original
+introduction. Monostatos' song was given to Papagena (Mona), the first
+air of the Queen of Night to Pamina, and the duet "Bei Mannern" was
+turned into a terzet. It can easily be imagined how distorted Mozart's
+music was by all these additions, erasures, and alterations. The
+performance called forth lively protests from the critics and
+connoisseurs,[98] French as well as German;[99] its defence was
+undertaken, curiously
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(352)
+
+enough, by Cramer.[100] The opera was nicknamed "Les Misères d'Ici," and
+"l'opération" of the "dérangeur" Lachnith was discussed.[101] But all
+were agreed as to the excellence of the scenery and ballet, of the
+arrangement of particular scenes, and of the admirable performance
+of the orchestra and chorus, which may account for the fact that this
+deformity was one hundred and thirty times performed in Paris up to
+1827.[102] On February 23, 1865, the unmutilated "Zauberflöte" was, for
+the first time, placed on the stage of the Théätre-Lyrique, translated
+by Nuitter and Beaumont, and had a brilliant success.[103]
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLIII.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: Treitschke, Orpheus, 1841, p. 246. Monatsschr. f. Theat. u. Music,
+1857, p. 445.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Al. Fuchs, Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 57. A. M. Z., XLIV., p. 366.]
+
+[Footnote 3: The three Genü were played by Nanette Schikaneder, afterwards Madame
+Eikof (Südd. Mus. Ztg., 1866, p. 191), Matth. Tuscher and Handlgruber,
+but Frz. Maurer appeared instead of the second, the same who sang
+Sarastro four years afterwards. The names in brackets rest on a
+communication from Treitschke (Orph., p. 246); apparently these parts
+were sometimes changed.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 58.]
+
+[Footnote 5: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 79. This must have been the fault of the
+performance; at least, in 1793, "Mozart's admirable music was so mangled
+at Schikaneder's theatre, that one would fain have run away." (Berlin,
+Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 142).]
+
+[Footnote 6: Treitschke (Orph., p. 248) remarks that, at the time he wrote, the
+"Zauberflöte" had been performed for the hundred and thirty-fifth time.]
+
+[Footnote 7: I have to thank my friend Dr. L. von Sonnleithner for much
+information on these points.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The new operas for Schikaneder's theatre were: 1789, "Una Cosa
+rara," second part, music by B. Schack; "Das unvermuthete Seefest,"
+music by J. Schenck; 1790, "Das Schlaraffenland," music by Schack
+and Gerl; "Das Singspiel ohne Titel," music by J. Schenck; "Die
+Wienerzeitung," music by Schack; 1791, "Oberon," music by Paul
+Wranitzky; "Der Erndtekranz," music by Joh. Schenck; "Die Zauberflöte."]
+
+[Footnote 9: Cf. Riehl, Mus. Charakterköpfe, I., p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 10: Schroder saw this opera during his tour in the spring of 1791, at
+Frankfort, Mannheim, and Vienna; and it was given at Hamburg in October
+(Meyer, L. Schröder, II., pp. 64, 76, 85, 97). In Berlin it was put
+upon the stage in February, 1792, and was severely criticised (Mus.
+Wochenbl., p. 157). It was sometimes performed later, and older
+dilettanti preferred it to Weber's "Oberon" (A. M. Z., XXXI., p. 643).]
+
+[Footnote 11: The third volume of this collection of tales appeared in 1789. The
+preface declares the author of "Lulu" and the "Palmblatter" to be the
+same, and consequently (since it cannot be Herder) Liebeskind.]
+
+[Footnote 12: The tale was afterwards turned into a Danish opera, "Lulu," by
+Güntel-berg, and composed by Kuhlau (A. M. Z., XXX., p. 540).]
+
+[Footnote 13: These three helpful boys, with their aphorisms, are borrowed from
+another tale in the third part of the Dschinnistan, "Die klugen Knaben."]
+
+[Footnote 14: Devrient, Gesch. der deutschen Schauspielkunst, III., p. 141.]
+
+[Footnote 15: Riehl, Musik. Charakterköpfe, I., p. 3.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Castelli, Memoiren, I., p. 111.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Goethe says of his "Helena" (Gespr. m. Eckermann, I., p. 317):
+"Granted that the majority of spectators care for nothing but what meets
+the eye, the initiated will not fail to grasp the higher meaning, as is
+the case with the 'Zauberflöte' and some other works."]
+
+[Footnote 18: Lewis, Gesch. d. Freimaur. in Oesterreich, p. 40.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Pater Cantes is said to have composed the songs to Schikaneder's
+operas from friendship (Monatsschr. f. Theat. u. Mus., III., p. 444).]
+
+[Footnote 20: Gieseke himself told Cornet that he had the principal share in
+the words of the "Zauberflöte" (Die Oper in Deutschl., p. 24. Illust.
+Familienbuch des öst. Lloyd, II., p. 19); and Neukomm confirmed his
+statement to me, having known Cornet as an actor at the Theater auf der
+Wieden.]
+
+[Footnote 21: The most important features of the ceremonial, the tests of secrecy
+and silence, the wandering through fire and water, &c., are to be found
+in Apuleius' account of the initiation of Lucius into the mysteries of
+Isis (Met., IX., 21). It is well known that the origin of Freemasonry
+has been found in the Egyptian mysteries, and various symbols have
+thence made their way into some of the lodges (Cf. Born in the Journal
+fur Freimaurer, 1784, I., 3. Berlioz, Litt. u. Theater-Zeitg., 1783, p.
+741).]
+
+[Footnote 22: The Masonic tendencies are visible in the frequent allusions to the
+opposition between light and darkness, and in the subordinate
+position of the women, who are "not to pry into mysteries which are
+incomprehensible to the female mind," and which can only be solved under
+the guidance of wise men. Cf. a "treatise on the uses of secrecy" read
+at a lodge held for women, setting forth why the order was, and must
+remain, closed to them (Teutsch. Mercur, 1786, III., p. 59).]
+
+[Footnote 23: Eckerxnann, Gespräche mit Goethe, III., p. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Goethe made the following announcement on the subject to Wranitzky
+(January 24, 1796): "The favour with which the 'Zauberflöte' has been
+received, and the difficulty of writing a piece which could compete with
+it, have suggested to me the idea of finding in itself the subject of
+a new work, so as to meet the preference of the public half way, as it
+were, and to simplify the performance of a new and complicated piece
+both to the actors and the theatrical management. I believe I shall best
+attain this object by writing a second part to the 'Zauberflöte' the
+characters are all familiar, both to the public and to the actors, and
+it will be possible, having the earlier piece before one, to heighten
+the climax of the situations and events without exaggerating them, and
+to give life and interest to the whole piece." He writes to Wranitzky,
+further, that it will please him to be associated with so talented a
+man, and that he has endeavoured to "open a wide field to the composer,
+and to touch upon every department of poetry, from the most elevated
+emotions to the lightest pleasantry" (Orpheus, 1841, p. 252. Cf. Briefw.
+zw. Schiller u. Goethe, 468. Briefw. m. Zelter, I., p. 16; II., pp. 93,
+166).]
+
+[Footnote 25: Herder lays stress on the predominating idea of the struggle
+between light and darkness as a main reason for the great success of the
+"Zauberflöte" (Adrastea, II., p. 284).]
+
+[Footnote 26: Reichardt writes to Tieck (March 17, 1812): "Thus numberless
+mongrel and prodigious creations have taken form, round which music has
+been developed and almost perfected. Mozart's highest performances owe
+their existence to Schikaneder and Co. Without the 'Zauberflöte' and
+'Don Juan,' one side of Mozart's genius would have remained unknown to
+us" (Briefe an L. Tieck, III., p. no).]
+
+[Footnote 27: An interpretation from the Masonic point of view is given by L. v.
+Batzko (Journ. d. Lux. u. d. Mod., 1794, p. 364). A ludicrous allusion
+to the Revolution was imputed to the "Zauberflöte" by a pamphlet,
+Geheime Gesch. d. Verschworungssy stems d. Jacobiner in d. österr.
+Staaten, 1795.]
+
+[Footnote 28: André has published the score of the overture, so that the
+alterations and additions can be recognised as such. The autograph of
+the opera is complete (N. Ztschr. fur Mus., XLV., p. 41).]
+
+[Footnote 29: Cäcilia, XX., p. 132.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Cf. Marx, Lehre v. d. mus. Kompos., IV., p. 181.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Allg. Wiener Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 521. Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1856,
+pp. 68,89. N. Ztschr. f. Mus., XLV., p. 41.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Ulibicheff, who has devoted careful study to this overture,
+continually, and with justice, recurs to the idea of light and
+brilliancy, which is irresistibly brought home to the hearer, as Mozart
+no doubt fully intended.]
+
+[Footnote 33: Koch, Journal der Tonkunst (1795, I., p. 103).]
+
+[Footnote 34: The use made of the old choral melody was first remarked by
+Rochlitz, but he calls the chorale, "Aus tiefer Noth schrei ich zu dir"
+(A. M. Z., I., p. 148), while Gerber (N. Lex., III., p. 496) calls it,
+"Christ unser Herr zum Jordan kam," and Zelter (Briefw., III., p.
+415; IV., p. 354), "Wenn wir in hochsten Nöthen"--variations which are
+capable of explanation, and sometimes of justification (Càcilia, VIII.,
+p. 134. A. M. Z., XLVIII., p. 481).]
+
+[Footnote 35: The antiquated melody treated by Mozart is the song, "Ach Gott vom
+Himmel sieh darein," in use from 1524 (Winterfeld, Evang. Kirchengesang,
+I., Beil. 14; II., p. 7. Tucher, Schatz des evang. Kirchengesanges Mel.,
+236).]
+
+[Footnote 36: Kirnberger, Kunst d. reinen Satzes, I., p. 237.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Kirnberger, I., p. 243. Cf. Stadler, Nachr., p. 12.]
+
+[Footnote 38: Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 58.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Two choral melodies, "O Gottes Lamm," and "Als aus Egypten," with
+partially figured bass, are written by Mozart upon one sheet (343 K.),
+perhaps with a similar object.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Cf. Marx, Lehre v. d. mus. Kompos., II., pp. 536, 568.]
+
+[Footnote 41: Whether any special Masonic wisdom lurks in the choice of this song
+I cannot say; it is worthy of remark that even in the Masonic funeral
+music a figured Cantus firmus is made use of (Vol. II., p. 411).]
+
+[Footnote 42: The resemblance traced by C. F. Becker (Hausmusik, p. 37) to a
+passage from Joh. Kuhnau's "Frisch e Clavierfrüchte".(1696) has been
+proved illusory by Faiszt (Cäcilia, XXV., p. 150).]
+
+[Footnote 43: This curious combination recalls to mind the piece for trumpets and
+flutes which Mozart formerly wrote in Salzburg (Vol. I., p. 308).]
+
+[Footnote 44: It is not without purpose that they are made to accompany Tamino's
+words, "Der Lieb' und Tugend Heiligthum" in the recitative of the
+first finale where Mozart first selected flutes, but then changed to
+clarinets, which only recur in this place.]
+
+[Footnote 45: This is pointed out in an article on the characteristics of
+different keys (A. M. ZM XXVII., p. 228).]
+
+[Footnote 46: The last words which Mozart wrote to his wife at Baden contained
+an allusion to this terzet: "Die Stunde schlägt--leb wohl--wir sehen uns
+wieder."]
+
+[Footnote 47: Mozart, as an ear-witness noted (A. M. Z., XVII., p. 571), accented
+the first quaver of this figure, and took the tempo of the terzet almost
+as quick as it has since been played, following the direction _andante
+moderato_. In Mozart, as in other older composers, andante ("going") by
+no means exclusively implies a slow tempo.]
+
+[Footnote 48: Siebigke gives an elaborate analysis of this terzet (Mozart, p.
+38).]
+
+[Footnote 49: Meyer, L. Schroder, II.; I., p. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 50: Lipowsky, Baier. Musik-Lex., p. 297. A. M. Z., XXIX., p. 519.
+Meyer, L. Schroder, II.; I., p. 85.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Anna Gottlieb, born in Vienna, 1774, sang Barberina in "Figaro"
+in 1786, and was then engaged by Schikaneder; in 1792 she went as prima
+donna to the Leopoldstadt Theater. She took part in the Mozart Festival
+at Salzburg in 1842, and in the Jubilee of 1856, and died there soon
+afterwards.]
+
+[Footnote 52: G. Weber's remark (A. M. Z., XVII., p. 247) that the tempo of this
+air is generally taken too slow, is confirmed by the contemporary of
+Mozart already mentioned, with a reference to his own directions (Ibid.,
+p. 571). Here again the direction andante was misleading.]
+
+[Footnote 53: It is interesting to note how the rhythmic movement of the
+beginning--[See Page Image] gives the impulse to the whole of the music.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Cäcilia, XX., p. 133.]
+
+[Footnote 55: The original words were: "Dem grimmigen Löwen zum Opfer
+erkoren--schon nahet er sich." Mozart substituted the poisonous serpent
+later. In the Fliegende Blatter fur Mus. (I., p. 441), the description
+of this serpent is compared with that in Weber's "Euryanthe."]
+
+[Footnote 56: The autograph score shows traces of abbreviation, the complete
+cadenza having been made known by Al. Fuchs from an old copy (Allg.
+Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1841, p. 244).]
+
+[Footnote 57: The parts of the three boys are treated in similar fashion, only
+that the working-out is appropriately much simpler.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Marx, Kompositionslehre, IV., p. 541.]
+
+[Footnote 59: In the Parisian travesty of the "Zauberflöte" the virtuous shepherd
+Bochoris sings this song to induce the guard to liberate Pamina, and
+by this means gradually works up the twelve Moorish slaves and the guard
+into such a state of comic and exhilarated emotion that they form
+round him during his song, and execute an exceedingly characteristic
+pantomimic dance, expressive of curiosity and delight. Then the chorus
+of the guard falls in, interspersed with Lais' lovely singing,
+which continues until the chorus sink at his feet in delight. "It is
+impossible," adds Reichardt, in describing this scene (Vertraute Briefe
+aus Paris, I., p. 438), "to imagine anything more piquant or perfect.
+It made such an impression that it had to be repeated, a thing which had
+never happened there before" (A. M. Z., IV., p. 72). The rearrangement
+of the music necessitated is described in A. M. Z., IV., Beil. I.]
+
+[Footnote 60: At a performance of the "Zauberflöte" at Godesberg, in June, 1793,
+a steel keyed instrument was substituted for the bells with good effect
+(Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 151).]
+
+[Footnote 61: Castelli (111. Familienbuch, 1852, p. 119), quoting from the
+bass-player Seb. Mayer.]
+
+[Footnote 62: "Herr Schikaneder has made it his habit to dabble in all the operas
+composed for him, altering the keys and sometimes striking out the
+best-passages and substituting bad ones. Even Mozart had to submit to
+his criticism in the composition of the 'Zauberflöte,' and underwent not
+a little annoyance in consequence. For instance, the duet 'Bei Männern'
+had to be composed five times before it pleased him" (A. M. Z., I., p.
+448.)]
+
+[Footnote 63: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 148.]
+
+[Footnote 64: N. Ztschr. fur Mus., XLV., p. 43.]
+
+[Footnote 65: Allg. Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 58.]
+
+[Footnote 66: A duet composed by Mozart (625 K.) for Schikaneder's "Stein der
+Weisen," performed in 1792, is not known.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Cf. Hotho, Vorstudien, p. 79.]
+
+[Footnote 68: Strauss, Lessing's Nathan d. Weise, p. 77.]
+
+[Footnote 69: Beethoven, according to Seyfried (Beethoven's Studien, Anhang, p.
+21), declared the "Zauberflöte" to be Mozart's greatest work, for in it
+he first shows himself as a _German_ composer. Schindler adds (Biogr.,
+II., pp. 164, 322) that he thought so highly of it because it contained
+every species of song, even to the chorale and the fugue. If we reflect
+that this praise from Beethoven can only refer to the intellectual power
+which succeeded in combining the most varied forms into an artistic
+whole, born of one conception, we shall be convinced how deep was his
+appreciation of that power.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1793, p. 142.]
+
+[Footnote 71: A. M. Z., I., pp. 73, 447.]
+
+[Footnote 72: A. M. Z., II., p. 811.]
+
+[Footnote 73: A. M. ZM V., pp. 778, 794. Zelter, Briefw., I., p. 74.]
+
+[Footnote 74: A. M. Z., III., p. 484. Ztg. fur d. Eleg. Welt, 1801, No. 40, p.
+315.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Mozart und Schikaneder, ein theatralisches Gespräch uber die
+Auffuhrung der Zauberflöte im Stadttheater, in Knittelversen von * *.
+Wien, 1801 (Ztg. fur d. Eleg. Welt, 1801, No. 41, p. 326). Mozart's
+Traum nach Anhörung seiner Oper die Zauberflöte im Stadttheater,
+Jupitern und Schikanedem erzahlt im Olymp in Knittelversen von F. H. von
+TZ. Wien, 1801.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Treitschke, Orpheus, p. 248. A. M. Z., III., p. 484.]
+
+[Footnote 77: Jupiter, Mozart und Schikaneder nach der ersten Vorstellung der
+Zauberflöte im neun Theater an der Wien (Wien, 1802).]
+
+[Footnote 78: A. M. Z., XII., p. 1057.]
+
+[Footnote 79: A. M. Z., XIV., p. 558. Treitschke, Orpheus, p. 249.]
+
+[Footnote 80: Reichardt, Vertr. Briefe aus Paris, I., p. 163.]
+
+[Footnote 81: Schneider, Gesch. d. Oper, p. 63.]
+
+[Footnote 82: A. M. Z., XLVI., p. 443. Rellstab, Ges. Schr., XX., p. 379.]
+
+[Footnote 83: Meyer, L. Schroder, II., i, p. 115.]
+
+[Footnote 84: A. M. Z., VII., p. 208.]
+
+[Footnote 85: A. M. Z., I., p. 341.]
+
+[Footnote 86: Treitschke, Orpheus, p. 250.]
+
+[Footnote 87: A. M. Z., XX., p. 839. Cäcilia, VIII., p. 170.]
+
+[Footnote 88: A. M. ZM XIV., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 89: A. M. Z., XIV., pp. 593, 804, 864.]
+
+[Footnote 90: A. M. Z., XXXI., p. 820.]
+
+[Footnote 91: A. M. Z., XIV., p. 327.]
+
+[Footnote 92: An attempt at Milan, in 1886, had a doubtful success (A. M. Z.,
+XVIII., pp. 346, 485), and a second in Florence, 1818, was a decided
+failure (A. M. Z., XXI., p. 42).]
+
+[Footnote 93: Pohl, Mozart u. Haydn in London, p. 147.]
+
+[Footnote 94: Hogarth, Mem. of the Opera, II., p. 193.]
+
+[Footnote 95: A. M. Z., XLII., p. 736; XLIV., p. 610.]
+
+[Footnote 96: A. M. Z., III., p. 335.]
+
+[Footnote 97: A closer analysis by a German musician is to be found in A. M. Z.,
+IV., p. 69.]
+
+[Footnote 98: A. M. Z., IV., p. 47.]
+
+[Footnote 99: Reichardt, Vertr. Briefe aus Paris, I., pp. 162, 457. Solger,
+Nachgel.Schr., I., p. 69. Engel, Journal de Paris, 1801, No. 346.
+Schlegel, Europa, II., I., p. 178.]
+
+[Footnote 100: Cramer, Anecd. sur Mozart, p. 18. Cf. Ztg. f. d. eleg. Welt, 1801,
+No. 101.]
+
+[Footnote 101: Castil-Blaze, L'Acad. Imp. de Mus., II., p. 86.]
+
+[Footnote 102: A. M. Z., XX., p. 858; XXXIII., pp. 82, 142. In the year 1829, the
+German performance of the "Zauberflöte" was very successful in Paris.
+(A. M. Z., XXXI., p. 466.)]
+
+[Footnote 103: Niederrhein. Mus. Ztg., 1865, p. 68. Berl. Mus. Ztg., Echo, 1865,
+p. 73. Henry Blaze de Bury, Revue des Deux Mondes, 1865, LVI., p. 412.]
+
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 44
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV. ILLNESS AND DEATH.
+
+NO sooner was the "Zauberflöte" completed and performed than Mozart set
+to work with restless eagerness upon his still unfinished Requiem.[1]
+His friend, Jos. von Jacquin, calling upon him one day to request him to
+give pianoforte lessons to a lady who was already an admirable performer
+on the instrument, found him at his writing-table, hard at work on the
+Requiem. Mozart readily acceeded to the request, provided he might
+postpone the lessons for a time; "for," said he, "I have a work on hand
+which lies very near my heart, and until that is finished I can think of
+nothing else."[2] Other friends remembered
+
+{SAD FOREBODINGS.}
+
+(353)
+
+afterwards how engrossed he had been in his task up to a very short time
+before his death.[3] The feverish excitement with which he laboured at
+it increased the indisposition which had attacked him at Prague. Even
+before the completion of the "Zauberflöte" he had become subject to
+fainting fits which exhausted his strength and increased his depression.
+The state of Mozart's mind at this time may be gathered from a curious
+note in Italian, written by him in September, 1791, to an unknown friend
+(Da Ponte? cf.,
+
+Affmo Signore,--Vorrei seguire il vostro consiglio, ma come riuscirvi?
+ho il capo frastemato, conto a forza e non posso levarmi dagli occhi
+1' immagine di questo incognito. Lo vedo di continuo, esso mi prega,
+mi sollecita, ed impaziente mi chiede il lavoro. Continuo perché il
+comporre mi stanca meno del riposo. Altronde non ho più da tremere. Lo
+sento a quel che provo, che l' ora suona; sono in procinto di spirare;
+ho finito prima di aver goduto del mio talento. La vita era pur si
+bella, la camera s' apriva sotto auspici tanto fortunati, ma non si puö
+cangiar il proprio destino. Nessuno micura [assicura] i propri giomi,
+bisogna rassenarsi, sarà quel che piacerà alla providenza, termino ecco
+il mio canto funebre, non devo lasciarlo imperfetto.
+
+It was in vain that his wife, who had returned from Baden, sought to
+withdraw him from his work, and to induce him to seek relief from gloomy
+thoughts in the society of his friends.[5] One beautiful day, when they
+had driven to the Prater, and were sitting there quite alone, Mozart
+began to speak of death, and told his wife, with tears in his eyes,
+that he was writing his Requiem for himself. "I feel it too well," he
+continued; "my end is drawing near. I must have taken poison; I cannot
+get this idea out of my mind."[6] Horrified at this disclosure, Frau
+Mozart sought,
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(354)
+
+by every possible argument, to reason him out of such imaginations.[7]
+Fully persuaded that the assiduity with which he was working at the
+Requiem was increasing his illness, she took the score away from him and
+called in a medical adviser, Dr. Closset.
+
+Some improvement in Mozart's state of health followed, and he was able
+to compose a cantata written by Schikaneder for a Masonic festival (623
+K.), which was finished November 15, and the first performance conducted
+by himself. He was so pleased with the execution of this work, and
+with the applause it received, that his courage and pleasure in his
+art revived, and he was ready to believe that his idea of having taken
+poison was a result of his diseased imagination. He demanded the score
+of the Requiem from his wife, who gave it to him without any misgiving.
+The improvement, however, was of short duration, and Mozart soon
+relapsed into his former state of melancholy, talked much of having been
+poisoned, and grew weaker and weaker. His hands and feet began to swell,
+and partial paralysis set in, accompanied by violent vomiting. Good old
+Joseph Deiner (Vol. II., p. 300) used to tell how Mozart had come to
+him in November, 1791, looking wretched, and complaining of illness.
+He directed him to come to his house next morning to receive his wife's
+orders for their
+
+{SERIOUS ILLNESS.}
+
+(355)
+
+winter supply of fuel. Deiner kept the appointment, but was informed by
+the maid-servant that her master had become so ill during the night that
+she had been obliged to fetch the doctor. The wife called him into the
+bedroom where Mozart was in bed. When he heard Deiner he opened his
+eyes and said, almost inaudibly, "Not to-day, Joseph; we have to do with
+doctors and apothecaries to-day."[8] On November 28 his condition was
+so critical that Dr. Closset called into consultation Dr. Sallaba, chief
+physician at the hospital. During the fortnight that he was confined to
+bed consciousness never left him. The idea of death was ever before his
+eyes, and he looked forward to it with composure, albeit loth to part
+with life. The success of the "Zauberflöte" seemed likely at last to
+open the door to fame and fortune; and during his last days of life he
+was assured of an annual subscription of one thousand florins from
+some of the Hungarian nobility, and of a still larger yearly sum
+from Amsterdam, in return for the periodical production of some few
+compositions exclusively for the subscribers.[9] It was hard to leave
+his art just when he was put in a position to devote himself to it,
+unharassed by the daily pressure of poverty; hard, too, to leave his
+wife and his two little children to an anxious and uncertain future.[10]
+Sometimes these ideas overpowered him, but generally he was tranquil and
+resigned, and never betrayed the slightest impatience. He unwillingly
+allowed his canary, of which he was very fond, to be removed to the next
+room, that he might not be disturbed by its noise. It was afterwards
+carried still farther out of hearing. Sophie Haibl says:--
+
+When he was taken ill we made him night-shirts which could be put on
+without giving him the pain of turning round; and, not realising how
+ill he was, we made him a wadded dressing-gown against the time that he
+should be able to sit up; it amused him very much to follow our work as
+it proceeded. I came to him daily. Once he said to me,
+
+(ILLNESS AND DEATH.)
+
+(356)
+
+"Tell the mother that I am going on very well, and that I shall be
+able to come and offer my congratulations on her fête-day (November 22)
+within the week."
+
+He heard with intense interest of the repetition of the "Zauberflote,"
+and when evening came he used to lay his watch beside him, and follow
+the performance in imagination: "Now the first act is over--now comes
+the mighty Queen of Night."[11] The day before his death he said to
+his wife: "I should like to have heard my 'Zauberflote' once more,"
+and began to hum the birdcatcher's song in a scarcely audible voice.
+Kapellmeister Roser, who was sitting at his bedside, went to the piano
+and sang the song, to Mozart's evident delight.[12] The Requiem, too,
+was constantly in his mind. While he had been at work upon it he used to
+sing every number as it was finished, playing the orchestral part on the
+piano. The afternoon before his death he had the score brought to his
+bed, and himself sang the alto part.[13] Schack, as usual, took the
+soprano, Hofer, Mozart's brother-in-law, the tenor, and Gerl the bass.
+They got as far as the first bars of the Lacrimosa when Mozart, with
+the feeling that it would never be finished, burst into a violent fit of
+weeping, and laid the score aside.[14]
+
+When Frau Haibl came towards evening her sister, who was not usually
+wanting in self-control, met her in a state of agitation at the door,
+exclaiming: "Thank God you are here! He was so ill last night, I thought
+he could not live through the day; if it comes on again, he must die in
+the night." Seeing her at his bedside, Mozart said: "I am glad you are
+here; stay with me to-night, and see me die." Controlling her emotion,
+she strove to reason him out of such thoughts, but he answered: "I have
+the flavour of death on my
+
+{THE END.}
+
+(357)
+
+tongue--I taste death; and who will support my dearest Constanze if you
+do not stay with her?" She left him for a moment to carry the tidings to
+her mother, who was looking anxiously for them. At her sister's wish she
+went to the priests of St. Peter's, and begged that one might be sent
+to Mozart as if by chance; they refused for a long time, and it was
+with difficulty she persuaded "these clerical barbarians" to grant her
+request. When she returned she found Süssmayr at Mozart's bedside in
+earnest conversation over the Requiem. "Did I not say that I was writing
+the Requiem for myself?" said he, looking at it through his tears. And
+he was so convinced of his approaching death that he enjoined his wife
+to inform Albrechtsberger of it before it became generally known, in
+order that he might secure Mozart's place at the Stephanskirche, which
+belonged to him by every right (Vol. II., p. 277, note). Late in the
+evening the physician arrived, having been long sought, and found in
+the theatre, which he could not persuade himself to leave before the
+conclusion of the piece. He told Süssmayr in confidence that there was
+no hope, but ordered cold bandages round the head, which caused such
+violent shuddering that delirium and unconsciousness came on, from which
+Mozart never recovered. Even in his latest fancies he was busy with
+the Requiem, blowing out his cheeks to imitate the trumpets and drums.
+Towards midnight he raised himself, opened his eyes wide, then lay down
+with his face to the wall, and seemed to fall asleep. At one o'clock
+(December 5) he expired.[15]
+
+At early morning the faithful Deiner was roused by the maid-servant
+"to come and dress" her master; he went at once and performed the last
+friendly offices for Mozart. The body was clothed in a black robe and
+laid on a bier, which was carried into the sitting-room and deposited
+near the piano. A constant flow of visitors mourned and wept as they
+gazed on him; those who had known him intimately loved him; his fame as
+an artist had become universal, and his sudden death brought home to all
+men the extent of their
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(358)
+
+loss. The "Wiener Zeitung" (1791, No. 98) made the following
+announcement:--
+
+We have to announce with regret the death of the Imperial Court
+Composer, Wolfgang Mozart, which took place between four and five
+o'clock this morning. Famous throughout Europe from earliest childhood
+for his singular musical genius, he had developed his natural gifts,
+and by dint of study had raised himself to an equality with the greatest
+masters; his universally favourite and admired compositions testify
+to this fact, and enable us to estimate the irreparable loss which the
+musical world has sustained in his death.
+
+A letter from Prague, of December 12, 1791, announced:[16]--
+
+Mozart is--dead. He returned from Prague in a state of suffering, which
+gradually increased; dropsy set in, and he died in Vienna at the end of
+last week. The swelling of his body after death led to the suspicion of
+his having been poisoned. His last work was a funeral Mass, which was
+performed at his obsequies. His death will cause the Viennese to realise
+for the first time what they have lost in him.[17] His life was troubled
+by the constant machination of cabals, whose enmity was doubtless
+sometimes provoked by his _sans souci_ manner. Neither his "Figaro" nor
+his "Don Juan" were as enthusiastically received in Vienna as they were
+in Prague. Peace be to his ashes!
+
+Mozart's wife, who had been so unwell the day before his death that the
+physician had prescribed for her, was rendered completely prostrate in
+mind and body by his death. In her despair she lay down upon his bed,
+desiring to be seized with the same illness, and to die with him. Van
+Swieten, who had hastened to bring her what consolation and assistance
+he could, persuaded her to leave the house of death, and to take up her
+abode for the present with some friends living near. He undertook the
+care of the funeral, and having regard to the needy circumstances of
+the widow, he made the necessary arrangements as simply and cheaply
+as possible. The funeral expenses (on the scale of the third class)
+amounted to 8 fl. 36 kr., and there was an additional charge of 3 fl.
+for the hearse. Rich man and distinguished patron
+
+{INTERMENT AND GRAVE.}
+
+(359)
+
+as he was, it seems never to have occurred to Van Swieten that it would
+have been becoming in him to undertake the cost as well as the care of
+a fitting burial for the greatest genius of his age. At three o'clock
+in the afternoon of December 6 the corpse of Mozart received the
+benediction in the transept chapel on the north side of St. Stephen's
+Church. A violent storm of snow and rain was raging, and the few friends
+who were assembled--among them Van Swieten, Salieri, Süssmayr, Kapellm.
+Roser, and the violoncellist Orsler[18]--stood under umbrellas round
+the bier, which, was then carried through the Schulerstrasse to the
+churchyard of St. Mark's. The storm continued to rage so fiercely
+that the mourners decided upon turning back before they reached their
+destination,[19] and not a friend stood by when the body of Mozart was
+lowered into the grave. For reasons of economy no grave had been bought,
+and the corpse was consigned to a common vault, made to contain from
+fifteen to twenty coffins, which was dug up about every ten years and
+filled anew: no stone marked the resting-place of Mozart. Good old
+Deiner, who had been present at the benediction, asked the widow if she
+did not intend to erect a cross to the departed; she answered that there
+was to be one. She no doubt imagined that the priest who had performed
+the ceremony would see to the erection of the cross. When she was
+sufficiently recovered from her first grief to visit the churchyard, she
+found a fresh gravedigger, who was unable to point out Mozart's grave;
+and all her inquiries after it were fruitless. Thus it is that, in spite
+of repeated attempts to discover it, the resting-place of Mozart remains
+unknown.[20]
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(360)
+
+Poor Constanze and her two children were now placed in the saddest
+possible position. Not more than sixty florins of ready money were
+available at Mozart's death; to this might be added 133 fl. 20 kr. of
+outstanding accounts, the furniture, wardrobe, and scanty library, which
+were valued at less than 400 florins. But there were debts to be
+paid, not only to generous creditors like Puchberg, who rendered every
+assistance in settling the affairs of his deceased friend without any
+thought of his own claim, but to workmen and tradesmen, who must be paid
+at all costs; the doctor's bill alone amounted to 250 florins.[21]
+In this emergency, Constanze appealed first to the generosity of the
+Emperor. One of Mozart's attached pupils informed her that the Emperor
+had been very unfavourably disposed towards her, in consequence of
+the calumnies spread abroad by Mozart's enemies to the effect that his
+dissipation and extravagance had involved him in debts amounting to
+more than 30,000 florins; and she was advised to make her application
+in person, so as to persuade the Emperor of the falsehood of such
+reports.[22] At the audience which was granted to her, she boldly
+declared that Mozart's great genius had raised up enemies against him,
+who had embittered his existence by their intrigues and calumnies. These
+slanderers had multiplied tenfold the amount of his debts, and she was
+prepared to satisfy all claims with a sum of 3,000 florins. Even this
+amount of liability was not the result of thoughtless extravagance,
+but had been inevitably incurred by the uncertainty of their income, by
+frequent illnesses and unforeseen calls on their resources. Appeased by
+Frau Mozart's representations, the Emperor encouraged her to give a
+concert, in which he took so generous an interest that the proceeds
+enabled her to pay all her husband's debts.
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The narrative which follows is founded chiefly upon the widow's
+statements in Niemetschek (p. 50. Nissen, p. 563), which agree with
+those made by her to an English lady at Salzburg in 1829 (The Musical
+World, 1837, August and September. Hogarth, Mem. of the Opera, II., p.
+196), and upon a letter from Sophie Haibl (April 7, 1827), extracts from
+which are given by Nissen (p, 573), and of which Köchel has sent me a
+copy in full.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Mosel, Ueb. d. Orig. Part, des Requiem, p. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Stadler, Nachtr., p. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 4: In the possession of Mr. Gouny [? Young], of London, copied from the
+original by Köchel.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A. M. Z., I., p. 147.]
+
+[Footnote 6: This idea was very prevalent, and was not altogether rejected by
+Niemetschek, who, remarking on his early death, adds: "if indeed it was
+not purposely hastened" (p. 67). Detouche relates it to Sulp. Boisserée
+(I., p. 292. Mar. Sessi was convinced of its truth. N. Berlin Mus.,
+1860, p. 340). Even the widow says in a letter to Reg. Rath Ziegler, of
+Munich (August 25, 1837', that her son giving no signs of his father's
+greatness, would therefore have nothing to fear from envious attempts on
+his life. p. 285):[4]--]
+
+[Footnote 7: Mozart's diseased fancies were made the grounds for shameful
+suspicions of Salieri, who was said to have acknowledged on his deathbed
+having administered poison to Mozart (cf. A. M. Z., XXVII., p. 413).
+Carpani exonerated Salieri in a long article (Biblioteca Italiana,
+1824), and brought forward medical testimony that Mozart's death was
+caused by inflammation of the brain, besides the assertions of Salieri's
+attendants during his last illness, that he had made no mention of any
+poisoning at all. Neukomm also, relying on his intimacy both with the
+Mozarts and with Salieri, has energetically protested against a calumny
+(Berlin, allg. mus. Ztg., 1824, p. 172) which no sane person would
+entertain. The grounds on which the rumour was discredited by
+Kapellmeister Schwanenberg of Braunschweig, a friend of Salieri, are
+peculiar. When Sievers, then his pupil, read to him from a newspaper
+the report of Mozart's having been the victim of the Italian's envy, he
+answered: "Pazzi! non ha fatto niente per meritar un tal onore" (A. M.
+Z., XXI., p. 120. Sievers, Mozart u. Sussmayr, p. 3). Daumer has striven
+to support the untenable conjecture that Mozart was poisoned by the
+Freemasons (Aus der Mansarde, IV., p. 75). Finally, the report of the
+poisoning furnished the subject of a dreary novel, "Der Musikfeind," by
+Gustav Nicolai (Arabesken für Musikfreunde, I. Leipzig, 1825).]
+
+[Footnote 8: Wiener Morgen-Post, 1856, No. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This is on the authority of the widow's petition to the Emperor.]
+
+[Footnote 10: He had prophesied of his little son Wolfgang at four months old
+that he would be a true Mozart, for that he cried in the same key in
+which his father had just been playing (Niemetschek, p. 41).]
+
+[Footnote 11: A. M. Z., I., p. 149.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Monatsschr. für Theat. u. Mus., 1857, p. 446.]
+
+[Footnote 13: He had a tenor voice, gentle in speaking, unless when he grew
+excited in conducting; then he spoke loud and emphatically (Hogarth,
+Mem. of the Opera, II., p. 198).]
+
+[Footnote 14: So says the unquestionably trustworthy account of Schack (A. M. Z.,
+XXIX., p. 520. Nissen, Nachtr., p. 169).]
+
+[Footnote 15: So also says the Joum. d. Lux. u. d. Mode, 1808, II., p. 803.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 94.]
+
+[Footnote 17: A contemporary musician (Salieri must be meant) did not scruple to
+say to his acquaintance: "It is a pity to lose so great a genius, but a
+good thing for us that he is dead. For if he had lived much longer,
+we should not have earned a crust of bread by our compositions"
+(Niemetschek, p. 81).]
+
+[Footnote 18: Monatsschr., 1857, p. 446. Schikaneder was not present; the news
+of Mozart's death had affected him most deeply; he walked up and down,
+crying out: "His spirit follows me everywhere; he is ever before my
+eyes!" (Nissen, p. 572).]
+
+[Footnote 19: Wiener Morgen-Post, 1856, No. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Journ. d. Lux. u. d. Moden, 1808, II., p. 801. Al. Fuchs related
+the negative result of his careful inquiries in Gräffer's Kl. Wiener
+Memoiren (I., p. 227). Ritter von Lucam has at last (Die Grabesfrage
+Mozart, Wien, 1856) elicited by inquiries from two old musicians who had
+known Mozart, Freystadter and Scholl, that the grave was on the right of
+the churchyard cross, in the third or fourth row of graves. This agrees
+with the statement of the gravedigger in Nissen (p. 576), and inquiries
+officially set on foot in 1856 make it probable that it was in the
+fourth row to the right of the cross near a willow-tree (Wien. Blatter
+Mus. Theat. u. Kunst, 1859, No. 97).]
+
+[Footnote 21: The list of effects--which owing to the kindness of my friends,
+Karajan and Laimegger, lies before me--is copied in the Deutsche Mus.
+Ztg., 1861, p. 284. It is affecting to see from it how simple, even
+poverty-stricken, was the whole _ménage_. The collection of books and
+music is valued at 23 fl. 41 kr.; and among the bad debts is one of
+300 fl. to Frz. Gilowsky, who was advertised in July, 1787, as having
+absconded insolvent; 500 fl. are put down as borrowed by Ant. Stadler
+(Posttägl. Anzeig., 1787, No. 35).]
+
+[Footnote 22: On a malicious rumour of the kind see O. Jahn, Ges. Aufs. über
+Musik, p. 230.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+
+
+MOZART 44
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLIV. ILLNESS AND DEATH.
+
+NO sooner was the "Zauberflöte" completed and performed than Mozart set
+to work with restless eagerness upon his still unfinished Requiem.[1]
+His friend, Jos. von Jacquin, calling upon him one day to request him to
+give pianoforte lessons to a lady who was already an admirable performer
+on the instrument, found him at his writing-table, hard at work on the
+Requiem. Mozart readily acceeded to the request, provided he might
+postpone the lessons for a time; "for," said he, "I have a work on hand
+which lies very near my heart, and until that is finished I can think of
+nothing else."[2] Other friends remembered
+
+{SAD FOREBODINGS.}
+
+(353)
+
+afterwards how engrossed he had been in his task up to a very short time
+before his death.[3] The feverish excitement with which he laboured at
+it increased the indisposition which had attacked him at Prague. Even
+before the completion of the "Zauberflöte" he had become subject to
+fainting fits which exhausted his strength and increased his depression.
+The state of Mozart's mind at this time may be gathered from a curious
+note in Italian, written by him in September, 1791, to an unknown friend
+(Da Ponte? cf.,
+
+Affmo Signore,--Vorrei seguire il vostro consiglio, ma come riuscirvi?
+ho il capo frastemato, conto a forza e non posso levarmi dagli occhi
+1' immagine di questo incognito. Lo vedo di continuo, esso mi prega,
+mi sollecita, ed impaziente mi chiede il lavoro. Continuo perché il
+comporre mi stanca meno del riposo. Altronde non ho più da tremere. Lo
+sento a quel che provo, che l' ora suona; sono in procinto di spirare;
+ho finito prima di aver goduto del mio talento. La vita era pur si
+bella, la camera s' apriva sotto auspici tanto fortunati, ma non si puö
+cangiar il proprio destino. Nessuno micura [assicura] i propri giomi,
+bisogna rassenarsi, sarà quel che piacerà alla providenza, termino ecco
+il mio canto funebre, non devo lasciarlo imperfetto.
+
+It was in vain that his wife, who had returned from Baden, sought to
+withdraw him from his work, and to induce him to seek relief from gloomy
+thoughts in the society of his friends.[5] One beautiful day, when they
+had driven to the Prater, and were sitting there quite alone, Mozart
+began to speak of death, and told his wife, with tears in his eyes,
+that he was writing his Requiem for himself. "I feel it too well," he
+continued; "my end is drawing near. I must have taken poison; I cannot
+get this idea out of my mind."[6] Horrified at this disclosure, Frau
+Mozart sought,
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(354)
+
+by every possible argument, to reason him out of such imaginations.[7]
+Fully persuaded that the assiduity with which he was working at the
+Requiem was increasing his illness, she took the score away from him and
+called in a medical adviser, Dr. Closset.
+
+Some improvement in Mozart's state of health followed, and he was able
+to compose a cantata written by Schikaneder for a Masonic festival (623
+K.), which was finished November 15, and the first performance conducted
+by himself. He was so pleased with the execution of this work, and
+with the applause it received, that his courage and pleasure in his
+art revived, and he was ready to believe that his idea of having taken
+poison was a result of his diseased imagination. He demanded the score
+of the Requiem from his wife, who gave it to him without any misgiving.
+The improvement, however, was of short duration, and Mozart soon
+relapsed into his former state of melancholy, talked much of having been
+poisoned, and grew weaker and weaker. His hands and feet began to swell,
+and partial paralysis set in, accompanied by violent vomiting. Good old
+Joseph Deiner (Vol. II., p. 300) used to tell how Mozart had come to
+him in November, 1791, looking wretched, and complaining of illness.
+He directed him to come to his house next morning to receive his wife's
+orders for their
+
+{SERIOUS ILLNESS.}
+
+(355)
+
+winter supply of fuel. Deiner kept the appointment, but was informed by
+the maid-servant that her master had become so ill during the night that
+she had been obliged to fetch the doctor. The wife called him into the
+bedroom where Mozart was in bed. When he heard Deiner he opened his
+eyes and said, almost inaudibly, "Not to-day, Joseph; we have to do with
+doctors and apothecaries to-day."[8] On November 28 his condition was
+so critical that Dr. Closset called into consultation Dr. Sallaba, chief
+physician at the hospital. During the fortnight that he was confined to
+bed consciousness never left him. The idea of death was ever before his
+eyes, and he looked forward to it with composure, albeit loth to part
+with life. The success of the "Zauberflöte" seemed likely at last to
+open the door to fame and fortune; and during his last days of life he
+was assured of an annual subscription of one thousand florins from
+some of the Hungarian nobility, and of a still larger yearly sum
+from Amsterdam, in return for the periodical production of some few
+compositions exclusively for the subscribers.[9] It was hard to leave
+his art just when he was put in a position to devote himself to it,
+unharassed by the daily pressure of poverty; hard, too, to leave his
+wife and his two little children to an anxious and uncertain future.[10]
+Sometimes these ideas overpowered him, but generally he was tranquil and
+resigned, and never betrayed the slightest impatience. He unwillingly
+allowed his canary, of which he was very fond, to be removed to the next
+room, that he might not be disturbed by its noise. It was afterwards
+carried still farther out of hearing. Sophie Haibl says:--
+
+When he was taken ill we made him night-shirts which could be put on
+without giving him the pain of turning round; and, not realising how
+ill he was, we made him a wadded dressing-gown against the time that he
+should be able to sit up; it amused him very much to follow our work as
+it proceeded. I came to him daily. Once he said to me,
+
+(ILLNESS AND DEATH.)
+
+(356)
+
+"Tell the mother that I am going on very well, and that I shall be
+able to come and offer my congratulations on her fête-day (November 22)
+within the week."
+
+He heard with intense interest of the repetition of the "Zauberflote,"
+and when evening came he used to lay his watch beside him, and follow
+the performance in imagination: "Now the first act is over--now comes
+the mighty Queen of Night."[11] The day before his death he said to
+his wife: "I should like to have heard my 'Zauberflote' once more,"
+and began to hum the birdcatcher's song in a scarcely audible voice.
+Kapellmeister Roser, who was sitting at his bedside, went to the piano
+and sang the song, to Mozart's evident delight.[12] The Requiem, too,
+was constantly in his mind. While he had been at work upon it he used to
+sing every number as it was finished, playing the orchestral part on the
+piano. The afternoon before his death he had the score brought to his
+bed, and himself sang the alto part.[13] Schack, as usual, took the
+soprano, Hofer, Mozart's brother-in-law, the tenor, and Gerl the bass.
+They got as far as the first bars of the Lacrimosa when Mozart, with
+the feeling that it would never be finished, burst into a violent fit of
+weeping, and laid the score aside.[14]
+
+When Frau Haibl came towards evening her sister, who was not usually
+wanting in self-control, met her in a state of agitation at the door,
+exclaiming: "Thank God you are here! He was so ill last night, I thought
+he could not live through the day; if it comes on again, he must die in
+the night." Seeing her at his bedside, Mozart said: "I am glad you are
+here; stay with me to-night, and see me die." Controlling her emotion,
+she strove to reason him out of such thoughts, but he answered: "I have
+the flavour of death on my
+
+{THE END.}
+
+(357)
+
+tongue--I taste death; and who will support my dearest Constanze if you
+do not stay with her?" She left him for a moment to carry the tidings to
+her mother, who was looking anxiously for them. At her sister's wish she
+went to the priests of St. Peter's, and begged that one might be sent
+to Mozart as if by chance; they refused for a long time, and it was
+with difficulty she persuaded "these clerical barbarians" to grant her
+request. When she returned she found Süssmayr at Mozart's bedside in
+earnest conversation over the Requiem. "Did I not say that I was writing
+the Requiem for myself?" said he, looking at it through his tears. And
+he was so convinced of his approaching death that he enjoined his wife
+to inform Albrechtsberger of it before it became generally known, in
+order that he might secure Mozart's place at the Stephanskirche, which
+belonged to him by every right (Vol. II., p. 277, note). Late in the
+evening the physician arrived, having been long sought, and found in
+the theatre, which he could not persuade himself to leave before the
+conclusion of the piece. He told Süssmayr in confidence that there was
+no hope, but ordered cold bandages round the head, which caused such
+violent shuddering that delirium and unconsciousness came on, from which
+Mozart never recovered. Even in his latest fancies he was busy with
+the Requiem, blowing out his cheeks to imitate the trumpets and drums.
+Towards midnight he raised himself, opened his eyes wide, then lay down
+with his face to the wall, and seemed to fall asleep. At one o'clock
+(December 5) he expired.[15]
+
+At early morning the faithful Deiner was roused by the maid-servant
+"to come and dress" her master; he went at once and performed the last
+friendly offices for Mozart. The body was clothed in a black robe and
+laid on a bier, which was carried into the sitting-room and deposited
+near the piano. A constant flow of visitors mourned and wept as they
+gazed on him; those who had known him intimately loved him; his fame as
+an artist had become universal, and his sudden death brought home to all
+men the extent of their
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(358)
+
+loss. The "Wiener Zeitung" (1791, No. 98) made the following
+announcement:--
+
+We have to announce with regret the death of the Imperial Court
+Composer, Wolfgang Mozart, which took place between four and five
+o'clock this morning. Famous throughout Europe from earliest childhood
+for his singular musical genius, he had developed his natural gifts,
+and by dint of study had raised himself to an equality with the greatest
+masters; his universally favourite and admired compositions testify
+to this fact, and enable us to estimate the irreparable loss which the
+musical world has sustained in his death.
+
+A letter from Prague, of December 12, 1791, announced:[16]--
+
+Mozart is--dead. He returned from Prague in a state of suffering, which
+gradually increased; dropsy set in, and he died in Vienna at the end of
+last week. The swelling of his body after death led to the suspicion of
+his having been poisoned. His last work was a funeral Mass, which was
+performed at his obsequies. His death will cause the Viennese to realise
+for the first time what they have lost in him.[17] His life was troubled
+by the constant machination of cabals, whose enmity was doubtless
+sometimes provoked by his _sans souci_ manner. Neither his "Figaro" nor
+his "Don Juan" were as enthusiastically received in Vienna as they were
+in Prague. Peace be to his ashes!
+
+Mozart's wife, who had been so unwell the day before his death that the
+physician had prescribed for her, was rendered completely prostrate in
+mind and body by his death. In her despair she lay down upon his bed,
+desiring to be seized with the same illness, and to die with him. Van
+Swieten, who had hastened to bring her what consolation and assistance
+he could, persuaded her to leave the house of death, and to take up her
+abode for the present with some friends living near. He undertook the
+care of the funeral, and having regard to the needy circumstances of
+the widow, he made the necessary arrangements as simply and cheaply
+as possible. The funeral expenses (on the scale of the third class)
+amounted to 8 fl. 36 kr., and there was an additional charge of 3 fl.
+for the hearse. Rich man and distinguished patron
+
+{INTERMENT AND GRAVE.}
+
+(359)
+
+as he was, it seems never to have occurred to Van Swieten that it would
+have been becoming in him to undertake the cost as well as the care of
+a fitting burial for the greatest genius of his age. At three o'clock
+in the afternoon of December 6 the corpse of Mozart received the
+benediction in the transept chapel on the north side of St. Stephen's
+Church. A violent storm of snow and rain was raging, and the few friends
+who were assembled--among them Van Swieten, Salieri, Süssmayr, Kapellm.
+Roser, and the violoncellist Orsler[18]--stood under umbrellas round
+the bier, which, was then carried through the Schulerstrasse to the
+churchyard of St. Mark's. The storm continued to rage so fiercely
+that the mourners decided upon turning back before they reached their
+destination,[19] and not a friend stood by when the body of Mozart was
+lowered into the grave. For reasons of economy no grave had been bought,
+and the corpse was consigned to a common vault, made to contain from
+fifteen to twenty coffins, which was dug up about every ten years and
+filled anew: no stone marked the resting-place of Mozart. Good old
+Deiner, who had been present at the benediction, asked the widow if she
+did not intend to erect a cross to the departed; she answered that there
+was to be one. She no doubt imagined that the priest who had performed
+the ceremony would see to the erection of the cross. When she was
+sufficiently recovered from her first grief to visit the churchyard, she
+found a fresh gravedigger, who was unable to point out Mozart's grave;
+and all her inquiries after it were fruitless. Thus it is that, in spite
+of repeated attempts to discover it, the resting-place of Mozart remains
+unknown.[20]
+
+{ILLNESS AND DEATH.}
+
+(360)
+
+Poor Constanze and her two children were now placed in the saddest
+possible position. Not more than sixty florins of ready money were
+available at Mozart's death; to this might be added 133 fl. 20 kr. of
+outstanding accounts, the furniture, wardrobe, and scanty library, which
+were valued at less than 400 florins. But there were debts to be
+paid, not only to generous creditors like Puchberg, who rendered every
+assistance in settling the affairs of his deceased friend without any
+thought of his own claim, but to workmen and tradesmen, who must be paid
+at all costs; the doctor's bill alone amounted to 250 florins.[21]
+In this emergency, Constanze appealed first to the generosity of the
+Emperor. One of Mozart's attached pupils informed her that the Emperor
+had been very unfavourably disposed towards her, in consequence of
+the calumnies spread abroad by Mozart's enemies to the effect that his
+dissipation and extravagance had involved him in debts amounting to
+more than 30,000 florins; and she was advised to make her application
+in person, so as to persuade the Emperor of the falsehood of such
+reports.[22] At the audience which was granted to her, she boldly
+declared that Mozart's great genius had raised up enemies against him,
+who had embittered his existence by their intrigues and calumnies. These
+slanderers had multiplied tenfold the amount of his debts, and she was
+prepared to satisfy all claims with a sum of 3,000 florins. Even this
+amount of liability was not the result of thoughtless extravagance,
+but had been inevitably incurred by the uncertainty of their income, by
+frequent illnesses and unforeseen calls on their resources. Appeased by
+Frau Mozart's representations, the Emperor encouraged her to give a
+concert, in which he took so generous an interest that the proceeds
+enabled her to pay all her husband's debts.
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLIV.
+
+
+[Footnote 1: The narrative which follows is founded chiefly upon the widow's
+statements in Niemetschek (p. 50. Nissen, p. 563), which agree with
+those made by her to an English lady at Salzburg in 1829 (The Musical
+World, 1837, August and September. Hogarth, Mem. of the Opera, II., p.
+196), and upon a letter from Sophie Haibl (April 7, 1827), extracts from
+which are given by Nissen (p, 573), and of which Köchel has sent me a
+copy in full.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Mosel, Ueb. d. Orig. Part, des Requiem, p. 5.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Stadler, Nachtr., p. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 4: In the possession of Mr. Gouny [? Young], of London, copied from the
+original by Köchel.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A. M. Z., I., p. 147.]
+
+[Footnote 6: This idea was very prevalent, and was not altogether rejected by
+Niemetschek, who, remarking on his early death, adds: "if indeed it was
+not purposely hastened" (p. 67). Detouche relates it to Sulp. Boisserée
+(I., p. 292. Mar. Sessi was convinced of its truth. N. Berlin Mus.,
+1860, p. 340). Even the widow says in a letter to Reg. Rath Ziegler, of
+Munich (August 25, 1837', that her son giving no signs of his father's
+greatness, would therefore have nothing to fear from envious attempts on
+his life. p. 285):[4]--]
+
+[Footnote 7: Mozart's diseased fancies were made the grounds for shameful
+suspicions of Salieri, who was said to have acknowledged on his deathbed
+having administered poison to Mozart (cf. A. M. Z., XXVII., p. 413).
+Carpani exonerated Salieri in a long article (Biblioteca Italiana,
+1824), and brought forward medical testimony that Mozart's death was
+caused by inflammation of the brain, besides the assertions of Salieri's
+attendants during his last illness, that he had made no mention of any
+poisoning at all. Neukomm also, relying on his intimacy both with the
+Mozarts and with Salieri, has energetically protested against a calumny
+(Berlin, allg. mus. Ztg., 1824, p. 172) which no sane person would
+entertain. The grounds on which the rumour was discredited by
+Kapellmeister Schwanenberg of Braunschweig, a friend of Salieri, are
+peculiar. When Sievers, then his pupil, read to him from a newspaper
+the report of Mozart's having been the victim of the Italian's envy, he
+answered: "Pazzi! non ha fatto niente per meritar un tal onore" (A. M.
+Z., XXI., p. 120. Sievers, Mozart u. Sussmayr, p. 3). Daumer has striven
+to support the untenable conjecture that Mozart was poisoned by the
+Freemasons (Aus der Mansarde, IV., p. 75). Finally, the report of the
+poisoning furnished the subject of a dreary novel, "Der Musikfeind," by
+Gustav Nicolai (Arabesken für Musikfreunde, I. Leipzig, 1825).]
+
+[Footnote 8: Wiener Morgen-Post, 1856, No. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 9: This is on the authority of the widow's petition to the Emperor.]
+
+[Footnote 10: He had prophesied of his little son Wolfgang at four months old
+that he would be a true Mozart, for that he cried in the same key in
+which his father had just been playing (Niemetschek, p. 41).]
+
+[Footnote 11: A. M. Z., I., p. 149.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Monatsschr. für Theat. u. Mus., 1857, p. 446.]
+
+[Footnote 13: He had a tenor voice, gentle in speaking, unless when he grew
+excited in conducting; then he spoke loud and emphatically (Hogarth,
+Mem. of the Opera, II., p. 198).]
+
+[Footnote 14: So says the unquestionably trustworthy account of Schack (A. M. Z.,
+XXIX., p. 520. Nissen, Nachtr., p. 169).]
+
+[Footnote 15: So also says the Joum. d. Lux. u. d. Mode, 1808, II., p. 803.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Mus. Wochenbl., p. 94.]
+
+[Footnote 17: A contemporary musician (Salieri must be meant) did not scruple to
+say to his acquaintance: "It is a pity to lose so great a genius, but a
+good thing for us that he is dead. For if he had lived much longer,
+we should not have earned a crust of bread by our compositions"
+(Niemetschek, p. 81).]
+
+[Footnote 18: Monatsschr., 1857, p. 446. Schikaneder was not present; the news
+of Mozart's death had affected him most deeply; he walked up and down,
+crying out: "His spirit follows me everywhere; he is ever before my
+eyes!" (Nissen, p. 572).]
+
+[Footnote 19: Wiener Morgen-Post, 1856, No. 28.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Journ. d. Lux. u. d. Moden, 1808, II., p. 801. Al. Fuchs related
+the negative result of his careful inquiries in Gräffer's Kl. Wiener
+Memoiren (I., p. 227). Ritter von Lucam has at last (Die Grabesfrage
+Mozart, Wien, 1856) elicited by inquiries from two old musicians who had
+known Mozart, Freystadter and Scholl, that the grave was on the right of
+the churchyard cross, in the third or fourth row of graves. This agrees
+with the statement of the gravedigger in Nissen (p. 576), and inquiries
+officially set on foot in 1856 make it probable that it was in the
+fourth row to the right of the cross near a willow-tree (Wien. Blatter
+Mus. Theat. u. Kunst, 1859, No. 97).]
+
+[Footnote 21: The list of effects--which owing to the kindness of my friends,
+Karajan and Laimegger, lies before me--is copied in the Deutsche Mus.
+Ztg., 1861, p. 284. It is affecting to see from it how simple, even
+poverty-stricken, was the whole _ménage_. The collection of books and
+music is valued at 23 fl. 41 kr.; and among the bad debts is one of
+300 fl. to Frz. Gilowsky, who was advertised in July, 1787, as having
+absconded insolvent; 500 fl. are put down as borrowed by Ant. Stadler
+(Posttägl. Anzeig., 1787, No. 35).]
+
+[Footnote 22: On a malicious rumour of the kind see O. Jahn, Ges. Aufs. über
+Musik, p. 230.]
+
+===
+
+
+
+MOZART 45
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLV. THE REQUIEM.
+
+
+
+ONE of the first cares of Mozart's widow was the Requiem (626 K.).[1]
+Mozart having left it unfinished, she could not but fear that the
+Unknown would not only refuse to complete the stipulated payment, but
+would demand the return of what had been already paid. In this dilemma,
+she called various friends into counsel, and hit upon the idea of
+continuing such portions of the work as Mozart had left, and of
+presenting it entire to the Unknown. The completion was first intrusted
+to Joh. Eybler;[2] witness the following certificate from him:--
+
+The undersigned hereby acknowledges that the widow Frau Konstanze
+Mozart has intrusted to him, for completion, the Requiem begun by her
+late husband. He undertakes to finish it by the middle of the ensuing
+Lent; and also gives his assurance that it shall neither be copied nor
+given into other hands than those of the widow.
+
+Joseph Eybler.
+
+Vienna, December 21, 1791.
+
+He began his task by filling in the instrumentation in Mozart's
+manuscript as far as the Confutatis,
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(362)
+
+and writing two bars of a continuation of the Lacrimosa,[3] but he then
+abandoned the work in despair. Other musicians seem to have declined
+it after him until it finally fell to the lot of Süssmayr. He had been
+Mozart's pupil in composition, had lent a hand in "Titus" (p. 288),
+and had often gone over the parts of the Requiem already composed with
+Mozart, who had consulted him as to the working-out of the composition
+and the principal points of the instrumentation. The widow, at a later
+time, said to Stadler:
+
+As Mozart grew weaker Süssmayr had often to sing through with him and
+me what had been written, and thus received regular instruction from
+Mozart. I seem to hear Mozart saying, as he often did: "Ah, the oxen are
+on the hill again! You have not, mastered that yet, by a long way."[4]
+
+This expression was also well remembered by her sister Sophie, and we
+can enter into it, remembering the manner in which Mozart himself wrote
+and developed his compositions (Vol. II., p. 423).
+
+The first two movements, Requiem and Kyrie, were finished and written
+out in full score by Mozart; there can be no question about them.[5] The
+Dies iræ was sketched out in his usual way, the voice parts completely
+written out, together with the fundamental bass--sometimes figured--and
+the instrumental parts where they had to go without the voices; where
+the accompaniment was at all independent the subject was indicated
+sufficiently clearly to be carried on and filled in subsequently. The
+score was left in this state as far as the last verse of the Dies iræ;
+Mozart stopped at the words:--
+
+     Qua resurget ex favilla
+     Iudicandus homo reus.
+
+{SUSSMAYR'S WORK.}
+
+(363)
+
+He had not set himself, however, to compose the Requiem straight
+through, but had thrown off different parts of it according to the
+mood he happened to be in. Thus before the Dies iræ was finished he
+had composed the Offertorium, of which the two movements, Domine Jesu
+Christe and Hostias, were left virtually complete in the same state as
+those mentioned above.
+
+It will now be understood how Mozart, going through the score, either
+at the piano or the desk with his pupil Süssmayr, would discuss the
+various points of the instrumentation, would encourage him to make
+suggestions, and explain his own ideas and intentions, so that Süssmayr
+would in many respects have formed a lively image in his mind of what
+the completed score would be, and would often be able faithfully to
+reproduce Mozart's own intentions. Of the remaining movements, Sanctus,
+Benedictus, and Agnus Dei, there were no such sketches in existence.
+
+Süssmayer's first care was to copy out all that Mozart had left
+imperfect, "that there might not be two handwritings together," as the
+widow wrote to André (Càcilia, VI., p. 202)--she must have had Eybler's
+promised completion in her mind--and then to fill in the instrumentation
+according to Mozart's apparent design. Pages 11-32 of Mozart's original
+manuscript, containing the Dies iræ as far as the Confutatis, fell
+into the hands of the Abbé Stadler, and were by him bequeathed to the
+Imperial Library in Vienna. The remaining sheets (33-45) containing the
+Lacrimosa, Domine, and Hostias, belonged to Eybler, who presented them
+to the same library. That Mozart had contemplated carrying them out, and
+uniting them into one score with the Requiem and Kyrie is proved by the
+continuous numbering of the pages in his own handwriting; there is no
+instance to be found of his having recopied a score so sketched out when
+filling it in.[6]
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(364)
+
+Süssmayr's appointed task, therefore, was the composition "from his own
+head" (ganz neu) of the concluding part of the Lacrimosa, the Sanctus,
+Benedictus, and Agnus Dei; only "in order to give the work more unity"
+he repeated the fugue of the Kyrie with the words "cum sanctis." The
+Requiem thus completed--the two first movements in Mozart's handwriting,
+the remainder in Süssmayr's--was delivered over to the owner.[7] If it
+was intended that the latter should accept the whole composition as by
+Mozart, appearances were certainly not calculated to undeceive him. The
+score in question passed in 1838 into the possession of the Imperial
+Library.[8] The first impression of every one who sees it, and who is
+familiar with Mozart's handwriting, must be that the whole of it was
+written by him, and that the autograph of Mozart's Requiem in its
+entirety is before him.[9] Closer examination and comparison raise
+suspicion, many discrepancies are discovered, although perhaps only
+trifling ones, and the fact must be borne in mind that, to a question
+addressed to her on the subject, Mozart's widow answered (February 10,
+1839) that a full score of the Requiem in Mozart's handwriting could not
+exist, since it was finished not by him but by Süssmayr.
+
+A comparison of the manuscript with several scores undoubtedly written
+by Süssmayr--a terzet and bass air, composed by him in 1793 for
+insertion in the "Serva Padrona"--solved the riddle. It was the same
+handwriting, closely resembling that of Mozart, with the same deviations
+from it which had been pointed out in the Requiem. There could
+
+{SÜSSMAYR'S WORK.}
+
+(365)
+
+no longer be any doubt that Süssmayr had written the score from the Dies
+iræ--the paging begins afresh, starting with page 1 at the Sanctus. In
+one place the transcriber betrays himself by a mistake. The closing bars
+of the Tuba mirum are noted for the stringed instruments by Mozart, as
+follows:--[See Page Image]
+
+In his copy Süssmayr has omitted the octave passage for the violins, and
+the characteristic instrumentation for the violas, and has filled up the
+omission in a way which is certainly no improvement on the original.[10]
+
+Süssmayr, it is clear, had so modelled his handwriting on that of Mozart
+that the two could only be distinguished by trifling idiosyncrasies.
+There are other instances of the same kind--Joh. Seb. Bach's second
+wife, for instance, writing a hand which only an expert could
+distinguish from her husband's, and Joachim's manuscript being, at one
+time at least, almost identical with Mendelssohn's. As far as the score
+of the Requiem was concerned, the wish to persuade the owner of the
+Requiem that he was possessed of a composition exclusively by Mozart may
+have come to the aid of
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(366)
+
+custom and natural aptitude. There is no doubt that Count Walsegg
+accepted the score as having been completed and written by Mozart at
+least as far as the Sanctus.[11] Whether this was expressly stated, or
+merely taken for granted by him, does not appear, and the fact that
+the composition had been ordered by him with a view to a deception of
+another kind is a curious coincidence, but does not make the case any
+the better.
+
+Under these circumstances it was to the interest of the widow to
+maintain that the Requiem had been completed by Mozart. This explains
+the assertion of Rochlitz[12] (who according to his own account had
+questioned Mozart's widow at Leipzig in 1796 concerning the whole
+story of the Requiem) that Mozart had completed the Requiem before his
+death.[13] But a secret known to so many could hardly be long kept.
+The widow had retained a copy of the work, and a performance of it
+took place soon after in Jahn's Hall at Vienna, the hall being densely
+crowded. It was pretty well known to the performers what portions were
+by Mozart and what by Süssmayr,[14] and the knowledge was not slow to
+spread. It reached Munich[15] and Prague, where at the first performance
+of the Requiem no secret was made of the fact that the Sanctus was
+composed by Süssmayr.[16] The widow sold manuscript copies of the
+Requiem to various noblemen,[17] and allowed others to make copies of
+it;[18] Hiller copied the
+
+{PUBLICATION.}
+
+(367)
+
+score note for note with his own hand, and wrote on the title-page
+"Opus,summum viri summi," expressing no doubt whatever as to the
+whole work being that of Mozart.[19] Not content with the profits thus
+accruing from the Requiem, the widow turned her attention towards
+its publication. The idea occurred to her that a public appeal to the
+Unknown might induce him to forego his claim on the composition.[20] The
+appeal, however, was not made, for the publishers, Breitkopf and Hàrtel,
+not conceiving themselves to be bound by the agreement made with Mozart,
+resolved on bringing out the work from the several transcripts of it
+which had fallen into their hands. Desirous, however, that the work
+should be produced with all possible correctness, they applied to the
+widow for her copy, with which, having no power to stop the publication,
+she saw no objection to furnishing them. To their question (prompted
+by the reports current as to the authorship of the work) whether
+the Requiem was wholly and solely composed by Mozart, she answered
+explicitly as follows (March 27, 1799):--
+
+As to the Requiem, it is true that I possess the celebrated one, written
+shortly before his death. I know of no Requiem but this, and declare all
+others to be spurious.[21] How far it is his own composition--it is
+so to near the end--I will inform you when you receive it from me. The
+circumstances were as follows: Seeing his end approaching, he spoke with
+Herr Süssmayr, the present Imperial Kapellmeister, and requested him, if
+he should die without completing it, to repeat the first fugue in
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(368)
+
+the last part, as is customary; and told him also how he should develop
+the conclusion, of which the principal subjects were here and there
+already carried out in some of the parts. And this Herr Süssmayr
+actually did.
+
+On being pressed for further information she referred the publishers to
+Süssmayr himself, who answered in the letter already mentioned (February
+8, 1800). He nowhere asserts having received a decided commission from
+Mozart, nor does he mention the concluding fugue, so that it is plain
+that the widow turned her not very clear recollection of the transaction
+as far as possible in favour of the integrity of the Requiem. Count
+Walsegg, who had already given himself out as the composer of the
+Requiem, must have felt considerable annoyance at its wide dissemination
+as Mozart's work; but as yet he had made no sign. When however, in
+1799, Breitkopf and Hàrtel announced the publication of the Requiem
+from the manuscript in the possession of Mozart's widow, he thought it
+time to put forward his claim. He sent his own copy of the score to his
+advocate, Dr. Sortschan, at Vienna, and through him demanded explanation
+and compensation from the widow. Stadler and Nissen negotiated with the
+advocate in her name. Stadler pointed out which parts had Mozart and
+which Süssmayr for their author, and the advocate wrote down all that
+he said for the information of the Count, to whom he returned his
+score.[23] As to compensation, the widow wrote to Hàrtel (January 30,
+1800) that the Count had demanded the restitution of fifty ducats, but
+that he would perhaps be satisfied with receiving a number of copies of
+the work. Nissen at length induced the Count "with much difficulty
+and after many threats" to accept as payment transcripts of several
+unpublished compositions by Mozart,[24] and even to allow the widow to
+revise the printed score by a comparison of it with his own.[25]
+
+{SÜSSMAYR'S SHARE IN THE WORK.}
+
+(369)
+
+As the result of this unsatisfactory transaction to all concerned in it,
+we may conclude that the Requiem and Kyrie are the work of Mozart as we
+have them, that the movements from the Dies iræ to the first eight bars
+of the Lacrimosa, also the Domine Jesu and Hostias, were finished by
+Mozart in the voice part and the bass, and that the principal points of
+the instrumentation were also indicated by him, leaving only the details
+to be elaborated. This, however, is not by any means so easy and purely
+mechanical an undertaking as has been supposed, and Mozart's verbal
+suggestions must not be underrated. As regards the last three numbers,
+Süssmayr's statement that they had been "composed (verfertigt) entirely
+afresh" by him offers no decided testimony on the point. Stadler's
+account[26] ("the widow told me that after Mozart's death a few scraps
+of paper with music on them had been found on his writing-desk, and
+had been handed over to Herr Süssmayr; what they contained, or what use
+Süssmayr made of them, I do not know") admits the possibility, but
+only the possibility, that these scraps were sketches for the last
+movements.[27] The repeatedly expressed doubt as to whether "these
+flowers really grew in Süssmayr's garden" can only be supported upon
+internal evidence.
+
+The serious spirit in which Mozart undertook the composition of his
+Requiem, the intensity of his absorption in it, and the artistic labour
+which he bestowed upon it, are best evidenced by the work itself.[28]
+It is remarkable that towards the close of his life, when increasing
+illness disposed his mind to serious reflection, his musical labours
+should have been calculated to turn his thoughts upon death and the
+grave. On the one hand his views as a Freemason, which were both earnest
+and sincere, found their expression in the "Zauberflote"; and, on the
+other, his religious convictions
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(370)
+
+asserted for the last time in the Requiem the sway over his mind
+and conscience which they had never lost.[29] The two sets of mental
+activities thus roused found their common centre in Mozart's mind, and
+impelled him to the production of his most powerful and most important
+works. The similarity of thought and tendency displayed in the Requiem
+and the "Zauberflöte" is observable even in the combinations of external
+means in corresponding parts of the two works. The combination of
+basset-horns, bassoons, and trombones, and here and there of trumpets
+and drums, with the stringed instruments, which gave so singular
+an expression of earnest solemnity to the tone-colouring of the
+"Zauberflöte," is made use of again in the Requiem.
+
+But the tone-blending of the latter work is nevertheless limited,
+the clearer wind instruments--flutes, oboes, clarinets and the
+softer horns--being left out altogether, and the frequent orchestral
+characterisation depending altogether upon the varied combinations of
+the instruments named above.
+
+The view upheld in the opera that serious ideas must be expressed in
+corresponding severity of form is even more decided in the Requiem,
+in so far as Mozart must have regarded as natural and inevitable the
+identification of certain fixed forms with the musical expression of
+religious emotion in an act of worship. The praiseworthy feeling which
+leads an artist, who believes himself to be offering his work for the
+service of the Most High, to bestow his best thoughts and his best
+workmanship upon it, cannot fail also to have influenced him. The
+pleasure which, after his study of Handel's oratorios and the strong
+impression made on him by Bach's motetts, Mozart took in the severely
+contrapuntal style of composition is evinced both in the "Zauberflöte"
+and in the two organ pieces composed in December, 1790, and March, 1791.
+But the main inducement to this form was doubtless the facility with
+which it expressed a serious, controlled and concentrated frame of mind,
+allowing at the same
+
+{KYRIE--INTROITUS.}
+
+(371)
+
+time much freedom of characteristic and individual expression. The chief
+significance of the Requiem rests herein, that it proves these forms,
+with their fixed laws and strongly marked features, to have more than a
+merely abstract or historical value; it proves them to be in fact, when
+artistically conceived and scientifically handled, capable of giving
+appropriate expression to the deepest emotion in which the human heart
+finds vent.[30]
+
+In considering the Requiem, a distinction must be made between the
+different parts of this kind of Mass and the different degrees of
+importance which they receive in relation to the act of worship with
+which they are associated.
+
+The Kyrie is preceded by the Introitus, beginning with a prayer for the
+departed. The bassoons and basset-horns, in successive imitation, give
+utterance to the soft, sustained melody of the prayer, supported by a
+simple accompaniment on the stringed instruments; it is interrupted by
+four clashing trumpet chords announcing the approach of judgment, and
+not again recurring until the day of doom is there. Thereupon the voices
+immediately enter, falling in from the bass upwards; but a syncopated
+figure for the violins gives the petition for repose an expression
+of painful unrest, called forth by the contemplation of death and the
+coming judgment; soon, however, the clouds are pierced by the divine
+light which is finally to disperse them, and the movement comes to a
+peaceful end after an outburst of confidence and strength rendered by
+the orchestra. After a short transition passage come the words of the
+psalm, "Lord, we will magnify Thee upon Zion, and pay our vows unto
+the Most High." In order to emphasise these as the words of Scripture,
+Mozart has set them to an old chorale melody and given them to a soprano
+voice, which utters them in clear, pure tones, like consolation from
+above. The chorale, as has been already remarked (Vol. I., p. 200), is
+the two-part _tropus_ of the ninth church mode to the psalm "In exitu
+Israel de Ægypto," and had previously been made use of by Mozart as a
+Cantus firmus
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(372)
+
+in his "Betulia Liberata"; but what a difference between the work of the
+youth and that of the matured master![31] While the soprano chorus takes
+up the same melody firmly and forcibly with the words "Thou that hearest
+prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come!" the other voices fall in in
+animated movement, and an energetic figure for the violins increases the
+force of the expression. Then the petition for eternal rest is renewed
+with a stronger expression of confidence, but still with the ground-tone
+of painful agitation, rendered, by the union with the first motif of a
+second, more animated and more forcible. This second subject has already
+been hinted at in the transition passage to the psalm texts, from which
+also the passage accompanying the texts is taken, and here first fully
+asserts itself, the psychological development thus coinciding with the
+musical climax. The climax reaches its highest point in the petition for
+eternal light, which the divided voices utter alternately and repeat in
+concert with tender, pleading supplication.
+
+The ejaculations "Kyrie eleison!" and "Christe eleison!" are bound
+together as the two themes of a double fugue (the first strong and firm,
+the second agitated and impulsive), which are carried out together in
+inextricable entanglement--their expression heightened by the chromatic
+construction towards the close, until in constantly increasing climax
+they come to a pause on a harshly dissonant chord, and then, as it were,
+collect themselves and unite in quiet composure. This fugue[32] has
+given rise to the extremes of criticism, laudatory and the reverse;[33]
+G. Weber could not bear to believe that Mozart
+
+{KYRIE.}
+
+(373)
+
+could have written such "Gurgeleien" as the chromatic passages of
+the Christe eleison,[34] and others have looked in vain for the pious
+humility of expression proper to such a solemn appeal to the mercy of
+the Redeemer.[35] Whether the treatment of the keys adopted in this
+movement is in accordance with the requirements of a strict fugue, must
+be decided by the masters of the school; it is undeniable that on it
+depends the character and effect of the movement, and that the essential
+laws of counterpoint are here apprehended and turned to account with
+deep insight into their true nature.[36]
+
+The execution of the chromatic passages is difficult certainly; but,
+apart from the fact that both older and contemporary masters, who
+wrote for trained choirs--Bach, for instance, or Handel, or Haydn--made
+similar demands on the skill of their performers, they are perfectly
+possible if taken in the right time, and the effect produced by them is
+probably that which Mozart intended. The conception of the movement is
+clearly expressed, and requires neither explanation nor apology.[37]
+The exclamation, "Lord, have mercy upon us!" is capable of very varied
+expression; in the mouth of one in the agony of death, burdened with sin
+and about to appear before the Judge of all men, it becomes an agonising
+appeal for mercy. This state of mind has already been expressed, and
+rises at the close of the Requiem into such an intensity of longing
+after eternal light, that the anguished yet not despairing cry of the
+Kyrie is perfectly naturally led up to. The two feelings are expressed
+in the two themes of the fugue, although, in accordance with the
+character of the
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(374)
+
+Mass, even the confidence is penetrated with a feeling of grief. In such
+a mood the element of agitation naturally rises higher and higher, until
+at length the anguish of suspense finds vent in the heartrending cry for
+mercy which leads to composure and resignation. The two movements of the
+Requiem and the Kyrie are thus formed into a whole of perfect harmonic
+unity, and lead the way to the Dies iræ.
+
+In view of this unmistakable unity of conception and construction it
+appears strange that decided traces of Handel's influence should appear
+in the principal subjects. Stadler remarks that Mozart has borrowed
+the motif of the Requiem from the first motif of Handel's "Dirge on
+the death of Queen Caroline"--"as some loose sheets among his retrains
+show"--and has worked it out after his own manner.[38] This can only
+allude to the preliminary sketches of this portion of the Requiem such
+as Mozart was accustomed to make for contrapuntal work before writing
+the score (Vol. II., p. 433), and of such there must have been a great
+number during the composition of his Requiem. Stadler's conjecture that
+they were vestiges of Mozart's youthful studies is unfounded; he was
+not acquainted with Handel's works in his youth, nor until they were
+introduced to him by Van Swieten (Vol. II., p. 386), under whose
+direction he rearranged Handel's oratorios between 1788-1790 (p. 218).
+Before this, the anthem in question cannot have been known to him. In
+this beautiful work, composed in December, 1737,[39] Handel has taken
+the Chorale, "Herr Jesu Christ, du wahres Gut," or, "Wenn mein Stündlein
+vorhanden ist',[40] as Cantus firmus to the first chorus, and has made
+further use of the same theme in the fugued concluding chorus. It is
+very unlikely that Mozart deliberately chose out the subject in order
+to work it out in a different way to Handel; it was more probably so
+stamped on his memory as to have suggested itself naturally as suited to
+the words before him, and to have then
+
+{HANDEL'S INFLUENCE.}
+
+(375)
+
+been quite independently worked out by him. Stadler also points out that
+Mozart has taken the motif to the Kyrie from one of Handel's oratorios.
+The chorus "Halleluja! we will rejoice in Thy salvation." from Handel's
+"Joseph," contains both the themes of Mozart's Kyrie, but in the major
+key; again, the principal subject of the Kyrie eleison has been carried
+out as a fugue in the minor in the well-known and beautiful chorus of
+the Messiah, "By His stripes." A comparison of this fugue with that of
+the Requiem, shows that the adaptation has not merely consisted in the
+change from a major to a minor key, and that the actual motif, a very
+favourable one for treatment in counterpoint--[See Page Image]
+
+and one constantly occurring in the fugal movements of every age, here
+serves only as a nucleus from which the master proceeds to develop his
+own independent creation. The essential principle in the construction
+of a double fugue is the combination of two themes, each bearing a
+necessary relation to the other. In the chorus in "Joseph" are two
+motifs exactly answering to each other; and it can scarcely be doubted
+that Mozart was struck with the combination and adopted it, although,
+as the examples adduced will show, his working-out of the motifs
+is essentially his own. Handel only really worked out the second
+motif--one, by the way, which often recurs in others of his works--and
+this in very free treatment; the first only occasionally emerges from
+the passages which play around it, like a huge rock almost overwhelmed
+by the billows. Mozart has undertaken such a fugal elaboration of both
+motifs as presupposes a radically different treatment impossible
+without a new intellectual conception of the task before him. Still more
+essential does this reconception appear when it is remembered that the
+supplication of a sinner for mercy was to take the place of a joyful
+offering of praise and thanksgiving. The transposition to a minor key
+involves at the outset so complete a reconstruction of the harmonic
+treatment as to point to a new creation
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(376)
+
+rather than an adaptation. We here stand in the presence of one of
+the mysteries of music; how it is that one and the same musical idea,
+embodied in one definite form, should be capable by means of artistic
+arrangement of expressing different and even totally opposite emotions.
+It is true, doubtless, that invention is the characteristic gift of
+genius, but absolute novelty is not to be considered as altogether
+indispensable to invention. In music, as in every other art, the
+creation of an individual becomes common property for his successors,
+whose task it is so to develop and carry it on as in their turn to
+create and construct an original and undying work. Richly endowed
+natures, in the consciousness of their power of producing what is
+perfectly original from?any given point, often undisguisedly follow the
+impulse given by a predecessor to their imagination. A striking proof
+of this is given by Haydn, who has written a double fugue as the last
+movement of his Quartet in F minor, which might appear a deliberate
+attempt at rivalry, but which has in reality every claim to
+independence. To what extent Handel himself has employed, retouched,
+and re-elaborated melodies, not only of previous occurrence in his own
+works, but borrowed from other musicians, has lately been pointed out
+by Chrysander; and one of the most striking examples of such musical
+plagiarism is Gluck's expressive air from "Iphigenie in Tauris," "Je
+t'implore, et je tremble," which was unmistakably suggested by the
+beautiful Gigue in Seb. Bach's Clavier Studies (I., part I.).[41]
+Neither of these two great masters could be suspected of borrowing ideas
+for lack of invention.[42]
+
+A curious part of the Requiem, of special prominence in the musical
+construction of the Mass, is the old Latin hymn,
+
+{DIES IRÆ.}
+
+(377)
+
+Dies iræ, which is generally not quite accurately described as a
+Sequence.[43] It had grown into a custom in the service of the Mass that
+at the Alleluja of the Gradual in High Mass, which was repeated by the
+congregation, and then again by the choir, the last syllable "ja"
+should be extended into a jubilus, upon which long-drawn-out florid
+progressions (_sequentæ_) were sung, of different forms for different
+festivals. Gradually these became so elaborate as to offer great
+difficulties in execution and to require special practice, and the
+idea arose of providing these merely vocalised melodies (_neumæ_, or
+divisions) with words which were called _prosæ_, because they were
+confined to no particular metre or rhythm, but followed the melody, a
+syllable to every note. The greatest development of these _prosæ_, which
+were now called _sequentiæ_, was made in the ninth century by Notker the
+Stammerer for his scholars and successors in the musical school of
+St. Gall.[44] If he did not actually invent them, he gave them their
+essential form. Proceeding from the old alleluja jubilation, he founded
+upon it a fixed form, consisting partly in regularly recurring cadences,
+partly in the twofold repetition of each melodic progression, with
+the frequent employment of a kind of refrain. This gave to the words a
+certain amount of regularity, still however far from any strictness of
+rhythm or metre. These Sequences introduced a fresh element of animated
+movement into the rigid uniformity of the ritual, and, coming in the
+place of the responses, gave the congregation an effective share in the
+service. They had therefore a reciprocal effect on the national poetry,
+and were developed side by side with it. In process of time rhyme, at
+first only occasionally appearing, became general. The two lines set to
+the corresponding melodic choral progressions were connected by rhyme,
+as well as the lines of the refrain. Then they were united into
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(378)
+
+verses, and gradually the number of syllables in each line was made
+equal. The Sequences, which allowed of very great variety of form, were
+extremely popular in Germany, France, and England--less so in Italy; and
+so many were written, often set to well-known melodies, that they seemed
+to imperil the strictly conventional character of the Mass. The Church
+therefore forbade the use of all but three--"Victimæ Paschali," "Veni,
+sancte Spiritus," and "Lauda Sion salvatorem"--which alone are included
+in the revised Breviary after the Council of Trent in 1568.
+
+There can be no Sequence properly so-called in a Requiem, because there
+is no Alleluja to which it can serve as the supplement; but, following
+the analogy of the Sequence, a hymn on the last judgment was added to
+the Tractus, which follows the Gradual, as a preparation for the reading
+of the Gospel. The date of the introduction of this hymn is uncertain,
+but it is mentioned as an integral portion of the Requiem by Barthol.
+Albizzi in 1385, and was acknowledged and retained as such, together
+with the three Sequences named above. The author of the hymn is not
+certainly identified, but it was most probably the Franciscan Thomas, of
+Celano, who was living in 1255.[45]
+
+The importance of the Dies iræ from a musical point of view is
+determined by the fact that it takes the place of the Gloria and
+the Credo, which are not sung in the Requiem. Instead of the joyful
+confidence of these movements, the reflections of sinful man in the
+presence of judgment here find their expression, and this obviously
+determines the tone of the whole. The euphonious force and beauty of the
+hymn, which have not been attained in any of the numerous translations
+made of it, distinguish it as made for music,[46] the subject being
+also very favourable to composition. With graphic force the terrors of
+judgment are painted with all ecclesiastical severity, and with constant
+reference to the actual words of Scripture, while the mercy and
+
+{DIES IRÆ.}
+
+(379)
+
+loving-kindness of the Redeemer are dwelt on with equal emphasis. The
+fear of damnation is tempered by the hope of salvation, and from the
+waitings of remorse rises the prayer of the trusting believer. Intense
+and varied emotions are thrown into relief by strong contrast. Brief
+but pregnant suggestions give occasion for powerful musical
+characterisation, favoured also by the isolated position of the hymn in
+the service. Just as the preacher addresses his solemn warning to the
+congregation with more of individual emphasis than the priest who offers
+the sacrifice of the Mass, so the composer who depicts the terrors of
+the last judgment, so as to bring them home to the imagination of his
+hearers, has freer individual scope than if he were merely following the
+different acts of worship. In the Dies iræ, therefore, we have a freer
+style, a more vivid expression than elsewhere. Nor is it so bound by the
+usages of tradition as the other parts of the Mass, although a division
+of the hymn into particular sections is indicated by the arrangement of
+the subject, and necessitated by the conditions of musical construction.
+
+The hymn begins by representing the destruction of the world, which is
+to precede the coming of the Lord, and the expression must therefore be
+forcible and animated even to excess. Here, then, for the first time
+the chorus enters as a compact mass, only dividing once, when the
+basses exclaim: "Quantus tremor est futurus!" the only attempt at
+tone-painting, while the other voices wail: "Dies iræ! dies illa!" until
+they all unite to express the fearful majesty in which the Judge shall
+appear. The effect of this chorus in contrast to what has gone before
+rests in great measure on the high position of the voices; their shrill,
+clear tone, heightened by the string accompaniment of semiquavers or
+syncopated notes, is expressive of strong agitation. Without having
+recourse to any new devices--trombones are omitted here that the shrill
+effect may not be impaired--an altered tone-colouring transports the
+hearer to an altogether new region of ideas. The harmonising adds to
+the effect by the occurrence of harsh, rugged chords--especially by the
+transition from E major to C minor at the repetition of the "Quantus
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(380)
+
+tremor" and the return to A major; not to mention other striking
+features, such as the imitative passage for the tenor at the first
+"Quantus tremor," which expresses amazement in the most vivid manner.
+
+After bringing before the mind of the hearers the tumult and horror of
+the destruction of the world, the judgment begins--the trumpets call all
+created beings before the throne of the Judge. A tenor trumpet makes the
+announcement in a simple passage, which is taken up by a bass voice,
+and the two unite with a solemn and dignified effect.[47] Then one after
+another a tenor, alto, and soprano voice describe the judgment and its
+unmitigated severity, and at last combine in trembling supplication at
+the words, "Cum vix iustus sit securus." Mozart has here, apparently,
+intentionally refrained from emphasising the terrors of judgment,
+wishing to heighten the contrast of the destruction of the world with
+the appearance of the Judge, and its effect on the conscience as well as
+the senses of mankind; he aimed at expressing this effect by means of
+a soul-elevating calm; but he has fallen short of his endeavours. The
+movement is in itself expressive, dignified, and full of euphonious
+beauty, especially towards the close, but it fails to rouse in us a
+sense of the grandeur and elevation which belong to the subject.[48]
+
+The idea that no created being is justified before God recalls the
+conception of the Judge throned in His awful glory, which is expressed
+with terrible force in the chorus that follows. The plan of it shows
+clearly the influence of the words on the musical conception. The
+thrice-repeated exclamation "Rex!" and then "Rex tremendæ majestatis,"
+makes, even when spoken, a strong impression, but when sung by the whole
+strength of the chorus in simple, powerful chords, supported by the wind
+instruments, the effect is almost overpowering, and is heightened by the
+strongly
+
+{DIES IRÆ.}
+
+(381)
+
+punctuated passage for the strings, sinking, as it were; into terrified
+silence at each recurrence of the exclamation. The idea of the mercy of
+the Redeemer is at first subordinate to this impression: while sopranos
+and altos in strict imitation repeat the "Rex tremendae majestatis," and
+the stringed instruments elaborate their figure in two-part imitation,
+the tenors and basses announce "Qui salvandos salvas gratis" with a
+characteristic motif, also in strict imitation; and this is repeated,
+with alternations of the upper and lower parts, until they all four
+unite in the whole sentence, forming a movement of concisest strength
+and severity. The declaration of mercy calls forth the prayer, beginning
+with the single appeal, "Salva me!" repeated to the gradually dying
+passage for the stringed instruments, and finally concentrating all its
+strength and intensity of emotion in the prayer:[49] "Salva me, Fons
+pietatis!"[50]
+
+And now the idea gains ground of the merciful Saviour and His work in
+reconciling mankind with God; Him we beseech to intercede for souls
+conscious of their sinfulness. The verses which are devoted to this
+division of the subject are given to a quartet of solo voices, as
+appropriate to the gentler and more individual tone of the emotions
+depicted. The quartet in question is one of the longest and most
+elaborate movements of the Requiem, and in its plan and arrangement, in
+the wealth and importance of its different motifs, in the delicacy of
+its detail, and the spirit which breathes from it throughout, it is
+perhaps the finest of them all; nor is it too much to say that no more
+beautiful and noble piece of music of the kind has ever been written.
+Mozart himself recognised the fact, telling his wife, after writing down
+the Recorders, that if he were to die before finishing the Requiem it
+was of the greatest importance that
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(382)
+
+this movement should have been completed.[51] The chief part of the
+movement, after its introduction by the ritornello, is formed by a motif
+given by two voices in imitation at the beginning, the middle, and
+again towards the close, the fervent expression of which is tinged with
+severity by means of suspensions of the second. It is supported by a
+figured bass, the first bar of which--[See Page Image]
+
+contains the germ from which most of the motifs of the accompaniment
+and the interludes are developed, and finally winds up the ritornello in
+two-part canonic imitation on the violins, with a figure for the
+violas in counter-movement to an organ point on the bass. This two-part
+movement having been executed first by the alto and bass, then by the
+soprano and tenor, the four unite in free movement to bring the whole
+to an expressive close with the supplicating appeal, "Ne me perdas illa
+die!" In the first episode the parts are at first divided into short
+responding phrases, held together by the figured bass, and coming to a
+close together, whereupon the first movement, abbreviated, is repeated.
+Then there occurs a new motif of essentially harmonic character, the
+effect of which depends upon the thrice-heightened climax of the chords,
+intensified by the contrast of the high and low voices. Then the parts
+divide again and lead the way for the last entry of the first movement,
+which is repeated with a short parenthesis inserted; the final close is
+brought about in a very interesting and satisfying manner by the fine
+successive or parallel motion of the different parts. But we despair of
+reproducing in words anything but a mere skeleton of the beauty of this
+wonderful quartet--a beauty whose peculiar charm consists in the union
+of loveliest grace with chaste severity and earnest depth of thought.
+This charm it owes to the simplicity and truth of feeling which led the
+master to seek and to find the best expression
+
+{DIES IRÆ.}
+
+(383)
+
+for what was in his mind; and never in any art, be it what it may, has
+the comforting feeling of pious trust in the mercy of God, arising from
+the consciousness of human weakness, been more truly and beautifully
+expressed than in this Recordare.
+
+The verse which follows contrasts the torments of the damned with the
+hopes of believers, and could not therefore be suitably rendered with
+the same composure of tone. It had become customary to emphasise the
+contrast very strongly, depicting the torments of hell as graphically as
+the joys of Paradise. In this movement, therefore, the men's voices are
+opposed to the women's, and describe the torments in short, imitative
+phrases, emphasised when repeated by rapid changes from major to minor
+and sharp suspensions and rendered still more forcible by a frequent
+pregnant rhythmical figure borne by the stringed instruments in unison.
+The women's voices, supported only by a quiet violin passage, express
+a low and fervent appeal for redemption, intensified upon repetition by
+some suspensions.[52] All the emotions and reflections represented so
+far have tended to turn the thoughts inwards, with such feelings of
+remorse and repentance as alone can lead to the trust in divine mercy,
+and it is with the feeling of deep self-abasement that the supremest
+point of the hymn is approached. The voices unite soft and low in a
+succession of harmonies such as no mortal ear had ever heard:--[See Page
+Image]
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(384)
+
+Involuntarily we bow before the declaration of a mystery which no mouth
+may utter; irresistibly impelled by the stream of harmony, we feel our
+spirits loosed from the bondage which has held them, and born again to
+life and light; we feel a breath of the immortality which had already
+touched the brow of the master as he wrote. To the contrite and broken
+spirit the Day of Wrath becomes a day of mourning, and so the "Lacrimosa
+dies illa" begins with a gentle plaint hushed by the terrifying
+representation of the rising of the dead from their graves, which is
+grandly expressed in a powerful crescendo, brought about by the rising
+climax of the melody and the onward motion of the harmonies. With the
+anguished cry of "Homo reus!" the pen dropped from the hand of the
+master; the emotion which shook his whole being was too strong for
+expression: "Huic ergo parce Deus, pie Jesu Domine!"
+
+How far Süssmayr's continuation has fulfilled Mozart's intentions cannot
+of course be absolutely decided; he has rightly taken up and carried out
+the suggestion of the first few bars, and his conclusion has an imposing
+solemnity. It is worthy of note that henceforward the trombones are much
+more frequently employed than heretofore. When we compare the scanty and
+peculiar use made of them in the Requiem and the Tuba mirum, with their
+characteristic occurrence in the "Zauberflote," it appears doubtful
+whether Mozart himself would so often have introduced them as supports
+to the voices; although this was no doubt the custom in contemporary
+church music.
+
+The Offertorium belongs again to the service, and requires on that
+account another and a more conventional character in the music than the
+Dies iræ. It falls into two sections, of which the first (Domine Jesu
+Christe) prefers the petition that the soul of the departed may not go
+down into hell, but
+
+{OFFERTORIUM.}
+
+(385)
+
+may be carried into light by the Archangel Michael. The earnest and
+affecting character of the music is tinged with a certain amount of
+harshness and unrest, arising from the constant recurrence of the
+mention of hell and its torments, which distinguishes the movement from
+the otherwise similar one of the Requiem. The vivid contrasts of the
+words are accentuated by the music, and the result is a succession of
+short phrases, combining into larger groups, which correspond with each
+other. The words "ne absorbeat eas Tartarus" are worked out into a short
+fugue, which has an unusually harsh effect owing to the characteristic
+sevenths of the theme and the powerful semiquaver passage carried out by
+the stringed instruments in unison. The gentle melody, supported by the
+solo voices in canonic imitation, "sed sanctus signifer Michael," has,
+on the contrary, a soothing effect, and is the only ray of light which
+is allowed to shine through the surrounding gloom. The whole movement
+closes with the words "Quam (lucem sanctam) olim Abrahæ promisisti"
+in an elaborate fugue, the effect of which is heightened by the
+accompaniment which carries out a motif of its own in close imitation.
+G. Weber found fault with this fugue, with its aimless elaboration of
+a subordinate idea and superfluous repetition of the same unimportant
+words;[53] and Seyfried defended it on the ground that a fugue was
+considered indispensable at this point,[54] and indeed was not unsuited
+to it. The idea is, in truth, not a subordinate one, it is the ground
+of the confidence with which the prayer is offered, and so becomes
+the basis of the whole movement. The fugue is the form best fitted for
+short, pithy sentences, and the one in question has the same singular
+mixture of trust in the divine mercy and tortured anxiety at the thought
+of death which was expressed in the first movement of the Requiem,
+although it there assumed a milder form. Separate passages are of great,
+though somewhat rugged beauty, as befitted the movement; more especially
+the closing passage, "de profundo lacu, in obscurum, et semini eius."
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(386)
+
+The second part (Hostias et preces) has a much more composed character,
+as becomes the offering by the spirit of its sacrifice to the Almighty.
+The idea, therefore, of still lingering disquiet is left to be expressed
+by the syncopated passage for the violins, the voices going together
+almost throughout the movement, and declaiming the words with strikingly
+appropriate expression. The very simplicity of this movement reveals the
+hand of the master, and gives it an individuality especially noticeable
+at the words "tu suscipe pro animabus illis, quarum hodie memoriam
+facimus." Thus far a reference to Mozart's own manuscript suffices
+to determine how much was left to Süssmayr's carrying out. Although
+sufficient indications were given even of the more elaborate and
+independent instrumental parts to serve as a guide to a well-educated
+musician, yet the example adduced above shows how much freedom in
+matters of detail was left for the further elaboration; and, not to
+mention various oversights, it is probable that had Mozart completed
+the composition many delicate touches would have been added to the
+accompanying parts which cannot now be even conjectured. Very few
+indications are given for the wind instruments, and even if Mozart gave
+verbal instructions concerning them, much must still remain in doubt. It
+must be allowed, however, that Süssmayr's share in the work has been on
+the whole successfully performed; it is quite in keeping with the
+rest, and he has plainly refrained from making any alterations or
+surreptitious interpolations. With the last three movements we enter
+the domain of conjecture, if we are to reject the positive testimony of
+Süssmayr, supported by Mozart's widow, as to the share of the former in
+the work. Rochlitz, reviewing Süssmayr's letter on the subject, remarks
+that "the works already known to be by Herr Süssmayr subject his
+claim to an important share in this great composition to considerable
+doubt";[55] and he expressed his suspicions more decidedly at a later
+time.[56] G. Weber, who failed to recognise Mozart in many
+
+{SÜSSMAYR'S SHARE IN THE WORK.}
+
+(387)
+
+parts of the first movements, has, on the contrary, assigned to him a
+distinct share in the last movements.[57] Marx emphatically expressed
+his conviction that the principal subjects throughout showed traces of
+Mozart's handiwork.[58] This view is founded on the assumption that the
+movements are worthy of Mozart, and are such as Süssmayr himself could
+not have produced; but the critic must be careful not to bring forward
+on aesthetic grounds alone accusations which involve so much of grave
+moral delinquency.
+
+Seyfried's assertion that,[59] according to the generally accepted
+opinion in Vienna, Süssmayr found note-books containing sketches of
+these movements, and showing Mozart's intention of elaborating the
+Osanna fugue after the Benedictus, as well as the new theme for the
+concluding fugue, Cum sanctis, has scarcely been investigated with the
+care which it demands. One circumstance has, as far as I know, been
+left altogether out of account. If the last three movements had been
+altogether wanting at Mozart's death, it would have appeared, one would
+think, both easier and simpler to supply them from one of his manuscript
+Masses, which were entirely unknown, than to commission Süssmayr to
+write them afresh; and such a proceeding would doubtless have been
+far more capable of justification to the owner of the work. But the
+confusion and embarrassment in which Mozart's death threw his widow and
+her affairs may have occasioned many things to be done which would not
+otherwise have taken place.
+
+Frz. Xav. Süssmayr, who, as a young man of twenty-seven, enjoyed the
+friendship of Salieri[60] and Mozart, became so intimate with the
+latter[61] that he was, as Seyfried
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(388)
+
+expresses it, "the inseparable companion of the immortal Amphion." He
+adopted Mozart's style of writing with such success that, although his
+ideas often fell far short of his master's, many of his works in the
+serious style might, Seyfred maintains, be taken for Mozart's, did we
+not know that they were Süssmayr's;[62] Hauptmann has informed me of
+instrumental works by him which show quite Mozart's manner of work, and
+might pass for lighter compositions by the latter.
+
+Sievers, who warmly espoused Süssmayr's cause, speaks of his "Spiegel
+von Arkadien," which he ranks with the "Zauberflote,"
+
+and of various pieces which may serve as models of the graceful
+and characteristic as well as of the tragico-serio styles of
+composition.[63] I have carefully examined his operas, "Der Spiegel
+von Arkadien" (1794) and "Soliman II." (1800), as well as some of his
+lighter church compositions, and find nothing in them beyond an easy but
+superficial inventive power, a smooth practised workmanship, and almost
+throughout an obvious imitation of Mozart's manner.
+
+The Sanctus and Osanna are scarcely of a kind to admit of a decided
+opinion as to their authorship. The brevity and conciseness of the
+Sanctus do not by any means prove it not to have been by Mozart, for all
+the movements of the Requiem, when not lengthened by a fugal treatment,
+are similarly compressed. Nor must an unpleasing progression for the
+violins be taken as decisive against his authorship, for the working-out
+is in any case not his. On the other hand, it must not be concluded that
+because the movement has a general character of dignified grandeur, and
+the commencement of the Pleni sunt is truly majestic, that therefore
+Süssmayr could not have written it. It is not on the whole equal to
+the best of the preceding movements. The short fugue of the Osanna is
+animated, vigorous, and faultlessly concise; there is nothing against
+the supposition that Mozart might have written it; but, on the other
+hand, it would be difficult to prove with certainty that it might not
+have been
+
+{SÜSSMAYR'S SHARE IN THE WORK.}
+
+(389)
+
+the work of a musician with the amount of talent and cultivation
+unquestionably possessed by Süssmayr.
+
+The case is somewhat different with the Benedictus, where, according to
+custom, solo voices are introduced in a long and elaborate quartet of
+pleasing character. Zelter says of it: "The Benedictus is as excellent
+as it can be, but the school decides against it being by Mozart.
+Süssmayr knew Mozart's school of music, but had not been trained in it
+from early youth, and indications of this may be found here and there
+in the beautiful Benedictus."[64] He is doubtless right. The first motif
+for the alto, and the idea of making the several voices reply to each
+other, might very well be Mozart's; but certainly not the working-out.
+The motion is obviously interrupted when the soprano, after the alto,
+again enters in the tonic; and the passage into the dominant is very
+lame. Still lamer, after the conclusion of the first part, are the
+laborious continuance in F major, and (instead of the development
+naturally expected here) the immediate return by the chord of the
+seventh to the first part, which is then repeated in its entirety.
+Neither the design nor the execution is worthy of Mozart; nor is
+it credible that in the interlude he would have copied the "et lux
+perpetua" from the Requiem in such a strange fashion as it has here been
+done, without any reason for an allusion to that place.
+
+The abnormally thick and full instrumentation must also be taken into
+consideration. The instrumentation has, it is true, not been worked out
+by Mozart in the other movements, but here it can scarcely be separated
+from the general design, and it is distinguished from that of all the
+other movements by the use of two trombones, which Mozart never employed
+elsewhere, and which here supply the place of horns. Finally, the
+character of the movement is in many passages soft and effeminate,
+contrasting in this respect with the earnestness of the other movements,
+even of the Tuba mirum.[65] The
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(390)
+
+Osanna is, according to custom, an exact repetition of the previous one,
+only that the voices are transposed on account of the altered key.
+
+The Agnus Dei transports us to quite a different region. Here we find
+the depth and intensity of feeling, the noble beauty and the originality
+of invention, which we admire in the first movements of the Requiem. The
+fine expressive violin figure of the first period--[See Page Image]
+is full of vigour, and is admirably enhanced by its harmonic treatment,
+and the gentle counter-phrase in its peaceful motion brings about a
+soothing conclusion. The twofold repetition is effectively varied,
+and the close is emphasised by a novel and beautiful turn. The whole
+displays the perfect mastery of a musician. "If Mozart did not write
+this," says Marx,[66] "well, then he who wrote it is another Mozart!"
+
+I have seen nothing in Süssmayr's works which can justify me in
+ascribing to him the conception of this movement; much, on the contrary,
+to convince me that the chief ideas at least are Mozart's, and that
+Süssmayr can hardly have had a more important share in this movement
+than in the earlier ones. His whole statement loses, no doubt, its full
+credibility if a well-grounded doubt can be thrown on any one point;
+but I should not like to assert with confidence that in the Sanctus and
+Benedictus Süssmayr must have availed himself of sketches by Mozart.
+
+The repetition of the first movement at the conclusion of the Mass was
+not unusual at the time. Hasse in his Requiem intones the Lux æterna to
+the same chorale as the Te decet, and then repeats the Requiem; Zelenka
+does the same; Jomelli repeats the Requiem, but adds a fresh conclusion
+to it. Contemplating that portion of the Requiem which Mozart completed,
+or which he left in such a state that to the initiated it is easy to
+distinguish his handiwork,
+
+{GENERAL REVIEW OF THE WORK.}
+
+(391)
+
+we have no hesitation in placing this work on the pinnacle of that
+artistic perfection to which the great works of Mozart's later years
+had attained.[67] We see revealed the depth of feeling, the nobility
+of beauty, the mastery of form, the complete spiritual and mental
+absorption in the task before him which have combined to produce this
+marvellous creation. A comparison of the Requiem with other similar
+compositions, both by Mozart himself and his contemporaries, serves to
+emphasise the vast superiority of the former;[68] for Mozart even here
+does not absolutely reject the forms hallowed by long tradition; he
+shows his individual genius all the more strongly by keeping within
+them. Still less does he run counter to the views which the Requiem, by
+virtue of its position in the Catholic ritual, is meant to express,
+by any endeavour of his own to go further or to introduce something
+peculiar to himself; that full, unfettered devotion which is the
+indispensable condition of genuine artistic production is never
+disturbed, but human emotion, religious belief, and artistic conception
+go hand in hand in fullest harmony. On this unity rests the significance
+of the Requiem, for on this ground alone could Mozart's individuality
+arrive at full expression, and--working freely and boldly, yet never
+without consciousness of the limits within which it moved--produce the
+masterpiece which reveals at every point the innermost spirit of its
+author. In this sense we may indorse his own expression, that he wrote
+the Requiem for himself; it is the truest and most genuine
+
+{THE REQUIEM.}
+
+(392)
+
+expression of his nature as an artist; it is his imperishable
+monument.[69]
+
+The Requiem met with immediate recognition and approval. "If Mozart had
+written nothing except his violin quintets and his Requiem," Haydn used
+to say, "they would have rendered his name immortal."[70] It was more
+especially received with enthusiasm in North Germany, where church
+music, unmindful of J. S. Bach, had degenerated into all the triviality
+and insipidity which a slavish adherence to form could produce. It was
+with delight and astonishment that men recognised the union of classical
+severity of form with depth of poetic feeling--an oasis in the desert
+to those who had long wandered in a waste of sand. The old organist,
+Kittel, at Erfurt, a pupil of Sebastian Bach, received one day the organ
+part of a Requiem which he did not know; the further he proceeded in it,
+the more entranced he became, and on inquiring the composer's name, and
+hearing that it was Mozart, he could scarcely believe his ears, having
+been accustomed to regard Mozart only as the composer of popular operas
+which he knew nothing about. He procured the operas however, and was
+unprejudiced enough to recognise and admire in them the composer of the
+Requiem. So I was told by my music-master, Apel, Kittel's pupil.
+
+Hiller, grown grey in reverence for Hasse and Graun, lifted his hands
+in amazement on first hearing the Requiem, and soon brought it to
+performance at Leipzig.[71] At Berlin the Singakademie produced the
+Requiem at their first public performance, October 8; 1800,[72] in
+memory of their founder, Fasch, who had lately died; it has ever since
+been chosen, both there[73] and elsewhere, when it is sought to honour
+the memory of great men, especially of musicians,[74] and Zelter
+
+{SYMPATHY FOR THE FAMILY.}
+
+(393)
+
+expressed his opinion that the Requiem would never be brought into
+disfavour either by adverse criticism or mediocre performance.[75]
+Cherubini[76] produced the Requiem in Paris in the year 1804,[77] and
+it has comforted and sustained innumerable mourners,[78] not only
+throughout Europe, but in the New World.[79]
+
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLV.
+
+[Footnote 1: The more detailed accounts of the composition and completion of the
+Requiem have been given chiefly on the authority of Süssmayr (A. M.
+Z., IV., p. 2) and Stadler (Vertheidigung der Echtheit des Mozartschen
+Requiems, mit zwei Nachtr.; Wien, 1827), and they have been verified
+and elucidated by the discovery of the score delivered over to Count
+Walsegg. Cf. Deutsche Mus. Ztg., 1861, p. 380. The narrative in
+the text, therefore, is given without regard to the dust-clouds of
+controversy in which a dispute carried on with so much animosity on all
+sides was sure to envelop the facts of the case.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Mozart made the following declaration, May 30, 1790: "I, the
+undersigned, hereby declare that I consider the bearer of this,
+Herr Joseph Eybler, to be a worthy pupil of his famous master,
+Albrechtsberger, a thoroughly learned composer both in chamber and
+church music, experienced in the art of composition, and also an
+accomplished organ and pianoforte-player; in short, it is only to be
+regretted that young musicians of his talents and attainments are so
+seldom to be met with" (N. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1858, p. 244).]
+
+[Footnote 3: Köchel, Recensionen, 1864, p. 753.]
+
+[Footnote 4: Stadler, Nachtr., p. 40.]
+
+[Footnote 5: These two movements are written on five sheets of twelve-line
+Italian music-paper in quarto, which Mozart generally used, and are,
+according to his custom _folioed_, not _paged_, from one to ten, the
+last three pages being left blank. The signature is "Di me W. A. Mozart,
+1792." This mistake, or anticipation of the date, was destined to give
+rise to much confusion.]
+
+[Footnote 6: An accurate copy of these sheets by Mozart was published by André
+in 1829, with the title: "Partitur des Dies iræ welche Abbé Stadler bald
+nach Mozart's Tode fur sich copirt hatte,--Hostias von W. A. Mozart's
+Requiem, so wie solche Mozart eigenhändig geschrieben und Abbé Stadler
+in genauer Uebereinstimmung mit dem Mozartschen Original copirt hat,
+nebst Vorschrift und Anhang." The "Anhang" is a similar sketch of the
+Requiem and Kyrie, evolved by André himself--a curious idea and a very
+useless labour.]
+
+[Footnote 7: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 13.]
+
+[Footnote 8: The sister and heiress of Count Walsegg, the Countess Sternberg,
+sold his collection of music to his steward, Leitner, from whom the
+score of the Requiem was obtained by his clerk, Karl Haag; it was
+bequeathed by the latter to Katharina Adelpoller. Commissary Novak, of
+Schottwien, who had formerly been steward to Count Walsegg, drew the
+attention of Count Moritz von Dietrichstein, Imperial Librarian, to the
+existence of the treasure, and it was purchased for fifty ducats and
+placed in the Library.]
+
+[Footnote 9: A. M. Z., XLI., p. 81. N. Ztschr. f. Mus., X., p. 10. Cäcilia, XX.,
+p. 279.]
+
+[Footnote 10: J. F. von Mosel, Ueber die Original-Partitur de Requiem von W. A.
+Mozart (Wien, 1839). Cf. A. M. Z., XLI., p. 317.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Niemetschek, who had his information from the widow, says that
+directly after Mozart's death the messenger demanded and received the
+work, "incomplete as it was" (p. 52). The Count himself signified that
+the Requiem was only Mozart's as far as the Sanctus.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Càcilia, IV., p. 288.]
+
+[Footnote 13: A. M. Z., I., p. 178.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Stadler, Nachtr., p. 6.]
+
+[Footnote 15: A. M. Z., XXIX., p. 520.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Càcilia, IV., p. 308. The singer, Mariottini, of Dresden, made a
+copy of the Requiem, Kyrie, and Dies iræ, and appended the following
+observation: "L' Offertorio, il Sanctus e l' Agnus Dei non gl' ho
+transcritti, perche non mi anno parso essere del valore del precedente,
+ne credo ingannarmi nel crederli opera di un' altra penna" (Càcilia,
+VI., pp. 303, 310).]
+
+[Footnote 17: Frederick William II. paid her 100 ducats for one (Càcilia, VI., p.
+211).]
+
+[Footnote 18: Hàfer relates that a "Thomaner" Jost, who wrote music very
+well, copied the score twice for the widow during her stay in Leipzig
+(Càcilia, IV., p. 297).]
+
+[Footnote 19: Rochlitz, Für Freunde der Tonk., I., p. 25.]
+
+[Footnote 20: In a letter to Härtel (October 10, 1799) she sends him a draft of
+such an appeal: "The noble Unknown, who, a few months before Mozart's
+death, commissioned him to compose a Requiem, not having declared
+himself during the seven years which have elapsed since that time, the
+widow of the composer gratefully accepts this silence as a permission
+to her to publish the work to her own advantage. At the same time she
+considers it as safer for herself, and more in accordance with the
+sentiments inspired in her by the noble patron of her late husband, to
+call upon him to express his wishes on the subject to her within three
+months through the Wiener, Hamburger, or Frankfurter Zeitung, at
+the expiration of which time she will consider herself justified in
+publishing the Requiem among the collected works of her late husband."]
+
+[Footnote 21: The "Requiem Brevis" in D minor (237, Anh., K.), published by
+Simrock, of Bonn, under Mozart's name, may be at once pronounced
+spurious, having neither external nor internal credibility.]
+
+[Footnote 23: A. M. Z., I. Int. Bl., p. 97. Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 14.]
+
+[Footnote 24: Nissen, Nachtrag, p. 169.]
+
+[Footnote 25: There were only a few emendations in the score published by
+Breitkopf and Hàrtel in 1800, and these had been communicated to Hàrtel
+by the widow (August 6, 10, 1800; cf. A. M. Z., IV., p. 30). The revised
+copy served as a foundation for André's pianoforte arrangement, and his
+edition of the score (1827). In this the letters M. and S. distinguish
+what is Mozart's and what Sussmayr's. The preface was reprinted in the
+Càcilia (VI., p. 200).]
+
+[Footnote 26: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 46.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Even Seyfried only conjectures this (Càcilia, IV., p. 296).]
+
+[Footnote 28: A searching notice, written by Schwencke and revised by Rochlitz,
+appeared after the publication of the score (A. M. Z., IV., p. 1). It
+was soon after translated into French in the Journal de Paris, and then
+noticed in the German papers as an example of French criticism (A. M.
+Z., XXX., p. 209).]
+
+[Footnote 29: The minor compositions of the "Ave verum corpus" (Vol III., p. 281)
+and the Freemasonic Cantata (Vol. II., p. 408) complete this parallel.]
+
+[Footnote 30: Cf. Lorenz, Deutsche Mus. Ztg., 1861, p. 257. A. Hahn, Mozart's
+Requiem (Bielef., 1867). Kriebitzsch, Fur Freunde d. Tonk., p. 61.]
+
+[Footnote 31: Mich. Haydn has introduced the same into his unfinished Requiem, at
+the words "Te decet hymnus"; according to Rochlitz (A. M. Z., IV., p.
+7) and Zelter (Briefw. m. Goethe, IV., p. 353 ) the chorale "Meine
+Seel erhebet den Herrn," is sung to this melody. The treatment of this
+passage is decided by the ritual. In Jomelli's Requiem both verses of
+the Psalm are intoned, in Hasse and Zelenka the first ("Te Jerusalem"
+in Asola; Proske's Musica Divina) only the words "Te decet hymnus in
+Sion in Pitoni both verses are freely composed.]
+
+[Footnote 32: Rochlitz, Fur Freunde der Tonknnst, I., p. 159. A detailed analysis
+is given by Lobe (Compositionslehre, III., p. 195).]
+
+[Footnote 33: According to Kàgeli the violent changes of key and arbitrary
+alternations of major and minor have turned the fugue into a barbarous
+confusion of sounds (Vorlesungen üb. Musik., p. 99).]
+
+[Footnote 34: Cäcilia, III., p. 216.]
+
+[Footnote 35: Schwencke, A. M. Z., IV., p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 36: The theme stands with its counter-theme in doubled counterpoint of
+the twelfth. It is perhaps worthy of note that the Christe begins in
+the minor passages a third above the Kyrie, and in its major passages a
+third below the Kyrie--an arrangement not wanting in original effect.]
+
+[Footnote 37: Marx remarks, in answer to Weber's criticism (Lehre v. d. Mus.
+Compos. III., p. 500), that "here--following the whole spirit of the work--the
+point to be considered was not so much a literally faithful expression
+of the words as a thoroughly religious and solemn rounding and balancing
+of a whole section of the service, the prayer for the departed in all
+its amplitude of detail" (Cf. Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1825, p. 881).]
+
+[Footnote 38: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 17.]
+
+[Footnote 39: Chrysander, Händel, II., p. 436.]
+
+[Footnote 40: Tucker, Schatz d. evang. Kirchenges., II., p. 151, No. 282.]
+
+[Footnote 41: This has been already pointed out by Cramer (Anecd. sur Mozart, p.
+26), whose attention was drawn to it by J. A. P. Schulz.]
+
+[Footnote 42: G. C. P. Sievers says (Mozart u. Süssmayr, p. 15) that a
+kapellmeister at Ferrara told him that in one of Mozart's Masses a whole
+piece was copied from an early Italian master, which was confirmed by
+Santini; Sievers had forgotten the key of the Mass and the name of the
+ill-used composer. That Mozart should have inserted a strange piece in
+a Mass written for Salzburg Cathedral under the eye of his father is
+incredible. A. Schiffner asserted (A. M. Z., XLV., p. 581) that Handel
+and Mattheson, Telemann and Mozart, had all stolen from Reinhard Keiser.
+Al. Fuchs (Cäcilia, XXIII., p. 95) called on him for proof; Schiffner,
+who probably knew as little of Reiser's scores as did Mozart, made no
+response to the challenge.]
+
+[Footnote 43: Ferd. Wolf, Ueb. die Lais, Sequenzen und Leiche, pp. 29, 76, 91.]
+
+[Footnote 44: Schubiger, Die Sàngerschule St. Gallens, p. 39.]
+
+[Footnote 45: Mohnike, Kirchen-u. litterar-histor. Studien u. Mittheilungen, I.,
+p. 3.]
+
+[Footnote 46: The translations have been collected by F. G. Lisco (Dies iræ,
+Hymnus auf das Weltgericht, Beitrag zur Hymnologie. Berlin, 1840).]
+
+[Footnote 47: Hiller, in consequence of the unsatisfactory trombone-players,
+transposed the solo after bar 5 to the bassoons, which was copied in the
+printed score (Cäcilia, VIII., p. 54. Cf. A. M. Z., IV., p. 10).]
+
+[Footnote 48: In this a very enthusiastic admirer of the Requiem (A. M. Z., XVI.,
+p. 617) and (as to the close) Ulibicheff agree (I., p. 252).]
+
+[Footnote 49: Indescribably beautiful is the occurrence here of the chord of the
+minor sixth on G, instead of the minor common chord which one expects.]
+
+[Footnote 50: The close in D minor of the movement in G minor appeared so
+striking to Schwencke (A. M. Z., IV., p. 11), that he conjectured that
+Mozart must have intended a further revision of these choruses. But
+the different movements of the Sequence, although detached, are yet in
+immediate relation with each other; and Mozart made the transition into
+D minor because the following movement is in F major.]
+
+[Footnote 51: Hogarth, Mem. of the Opera, II., p. 199.]
+
+[Footnote 52: G. Weber could not bring himself to attribute to Mozart a treatment
+which "emphasises, _con amore_, the egotistical baseness of the words,
+and by the ferocious unison of the stringed instruments maliciously
+incites the Judge of the World to hurl the cursed crowd of sinners into
+the deepest abyss, and then to call the singers to all the joys of the
+blessed" (Càcilia, III., p. 220). He has clearly misunderstood both
+the words and the intention of the composer so to bring before the
+imagination the torments of the damned as to lead to an intenser longing
+for the mercies of Redemption.]
+
+[Footnote 53: Cäcilia, III., p. 222.]
+
+[Footnote 54: Cäcilia, IV., p. 296.]
+
+[Footnote 55: A. M. z., IV., p. 4.]
+
+[Footnote 56: Cäcilia, IV., p. 289. A. M. Z., XXV., p. 687.]
+
+[Footnote 57: Cäcilia, III., p. 226; IV., p. 279.]
+
+[Footnote 58: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1825, p. 378.]
+
+[Footnote 59: Cäcilia, IV., p. 307.]
+
+[Footnote 60: The Wiener Zeitung announces that the music of the opera "L'
+Incanto Superato," first performed July 8,1793, is arranged by Herr
+Franz Siessmayr, "pupil of Herr Salieri."]
+
+[Footnote 61: Jahrb. d. Tonk., 1796, p. 61: "It is no small recommendation to him
+that he was a pupil of Mozart, and very highly thought of by him. He has
+also completed some works left unfinished by this great genius"--which
+can only refer to the Requiem.]
+
+[Footnote 62: Cäcilia, III., p. 295.]
+
+[Footnote 63: G. L. P. Sievers, Mozart u. Sussmaier, p. 8.]
+
+[Footnote 64: Zelter, Briefw. m. Goethe, IV., p. 353.]
+
+[Footnote 65: A correspondent of G. Weber had heard that André possessed MSS.
+which would prove that every note of the Benedictus was an adaptation of
+an earlier and favourite air of Mozart (Cäcilia, IV., p. 292). It need
+scarcely be said that there is not a word of truth in this.]
+
+[Footnote 66: Berl. Mas. Ztg., 1825, p. 379.]
+
+[Footnote 67: Zelter (Briefw. m. Goethe, IV., p. 353) pronounces the Requiem to
+be "disjointed, unequal; some of the pieces might be inserted, and it
+would be a mistake to consider it as a whole; the same thing is the case
+with many excellent composers; and though the Requiem consists entirely
+of detached pieces, it is the best production that I know of the last
+century." The story of the Requiem may have had some influence on this
+judgment.]
+
+[Footnote 68: A. M. Z., XVI., p. 812: "Mozart has disclosed his whole inner being
+in this one sacred work, and who can fail to be affected by the fervour
+of devotion and holy transport which streams from it? His Requiem is
+unquestionably the highest and best that modern art has to offer for
+sacred worship." Unfavourable criticism was not wanting. "I should be
+without feeling," says Ernst, in Tieck's Phantasus (Schriften, IV., p.
+426), "if I failed to love and honour the marvellous depth and richness
+of Mozart's mind--if I failed to be carried away by his works. Only, let
+me have none of his Requiem."]
+
+[Footnote 69: Cf. O. Lindner, Zur Tonkunst, p. 176.]
+
+[Footnote 70: Stadler, Vertheidigung, p. 27.]
+
+[Footnote 71: Rochlitz, Für Freunde d. Tonk., I., p. 25. Häser, Cäcilia, IV., p.
+297.]
+
+[Footnote 72: Zur Geschichte der Singakademie, p. 15.]
+
+[Footnote 73: It was performed in memory of the Queen in 1805; of the
+Akademie-director Frisch in 1815; of Prince Radziwill in 1833; of Count
+Brühl in 1837; of Frederick William III. in 1840; and of Frederick
+William IV. in 1861.]
+
+[Footnote 74: At Leipzig, in memory of Schicht, in 1823; at Berlin, in memory of
+Andr. Romberg, in 1821; of Bemh. Klein, in 1832; of Ludwig Berger, 1839;
+in Vienna, in memory of C. M. von Weber and Beethoven; and in Munich,
+1867, in memory of P. von Cornelius.]
+
+[Footnote 75: Zelter, Briefw. m. Goethe, VI., p. 243.]
+
+[Footnote 76: Rochlitz has attempted to prove (A. M. Z., XXV., p. 685) how
+Vogler, in composing his Requiem, had Mozart's always in view, in order
+to avoid imitating it; a similar negative influence is apparent in
+Cherubini's magnificent Requiem in C minor, with which the second in D
+minor is quite in keeping (Cf. Gum-precht, Recensionen, 1864, No. 21).]
+
+[Footnote 77: Berl. Mus. Ztg., 1805, p. 26.]
+
+[Footnote 78: A lover of music in Venice left a considerable legacy for the
+performance annually of three Requiems, of which one was to be Mozart's
+(A. M. Z., XLII., p. 54). A society was founded at' Senftenberg in
+Bohemia, 1857, in order to perform Mozart's Requiem annually on June 18
+(N. Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1857, p. 167; Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1857, p. 343).]
+
+[Footnote 79: Neukomm mentions an excellent performance in Rio Janeiro in 1819
+(A. M. Z., XXII., p. 501).]
+
+
+
+===
+
+
+
+MOZART 46
+
+BY DAVID WIDGER
+
+
+
+CHAPTER XLVI. AT THE GRAVE.
+
+MOZART'S early and unexpected death, removing him from the eyes of the
+world at the moment when he might seem to have attained the height of
+his artistic greatness, had the effect of silencing the detractions and
+the envy of the few who were blinded by jealousy to his merits, and
+of exalting his works in the minds of those who felt his loss to be
+an irreparable one. Public feeling took the form of sympathy for his
+bereaved family, who were left in pressing need; and they found generous
+support, not in Vienna and Prague alone, but in many other places to
+which the widow made professional visits. When she was in Berlin, in
+1796, Frederick William II. allowed her the use of the opera-house and
+the royal musicians for a benefit concert, at which she
+
+{AT THE GRAVE.}
+
+(394)
+
+appeared as a vocalist (February 28). The King, as was stated in the
+programme (Niemetschek, p. 63), "took great pleasure in thus proving to
+the widow how highly he esteemed the talent of her late husband, and how
+much he regretted the unfortunate circumstances which had prevented his
+reaping the due reward of his labours." But such efforts as these
+could not assure her a livelihood for any length of time; nor would the
+manuscripts left by Mozart realise, as matters then stood, anything like
+a sum sufficient for her future needs. His compositions might be spread
+abroad, either in MS. or in print, without her consent or authorisation.
+Indeed, when reference was made to her, she considered it as a
+favour,[1] and was well pleased when, in 1799, André purchased from her
+all the manuscripts in her possession for a sum of one thousand ducats.
+
+Some of Mozart's manuscripts had been lost before his death, others have
+been made over to other people by André himself, and the remainder are
+included in the "Thematic Catalogue of Mozart's Original Manuscripts
+in the Possession of Hofrath André of Offenbach" (Offenbach, 1841).
+Unhappily, no public library has been able to obtain this most important
+collection, and its dispersion, owing to testamentary dispositions, must
+be a source of regret to all musicians.
+
+Mozart's widow found a means of secure and untroubled existence in her
+second marriage. Georg Nic. Nissen (b. 1765) made her acquaintance,
+in 1797, at Vienna, where he was attached to the diplomatic service
+of Denmark, and rendered her great service in the arrangement of her
+affairs, as the numerous letters written by him in her name sufficiently
+show. He appears to have been a tiresome, but an upright and honourable
+man, and to have acted well towards Constanze and her children from the
+time of their marriage in 1809. After resigning his state service, in
+1820, he lived with her in Salzburg, where also Mozart's sister resided
+(App. I.). He died in 1826, and was followed by his widow on
+
+{COMMEMORATIONS.}
+
+(395)
+
+March 6, 1842, a few hours after the arrival of the model for Mozart's
+statue; after Nissen's death she had lived with her widowed sister,
+Sophie Haibl.[2]
+
+Karl, the elder of Mozart's two surviving sons, began life as a
+merchant, then tried music,[3] and finally embraced an official career.
+He was a good pianist, and conducted musical performances, first at
+the house of Colonel Casella, afterwards at his own;[4] he died in a
+subordinate official post at Milan in 1859. The younger son, Wolfgang,
+became a musician. He first appeared in public in 1805,[5] made repeated
+professional tours, and after 1814 lived as musical director, first
+at Lemberg, afterwards in Vienna; he died at Carlsbad in 1844. He was
+esteemed both as a pianist and composer, but the greatness of his name
+prevented his attaining to more.[6]
+
+Appreciation and honour had not been wanting to Mozart in his lifetime,
+but they had been far from unalloyed; after his death they were showered
+in fullest measure on his memory.[7] His loss was commemorated in many
+places by the performance of his own works or of specially composed
+funeral cantatas,[8] and the anniversaries of his birth and of his death
+are still kept, both in private musical circles[9] and publicly, by
+concerts. The hundredth anniversary of his birth, which in 1856 caused
+all Germany to ring with Mozart's name and Mozart's music, united every
+voice into a chorus of praise and honour, and gave a new impulse to the
+study of his works.[10]
+
+Mozart's personal appearance has become so familiar by means of
+well-known portraits that he may in this respect
+
+{AT THE GRAVE.}
+
+(396)
+
+be compared to Frederick the Great or Luther; his music and his
+countenance have alike become common property (App. III.).
+
+In the year 1799 the Duchess Amalie of Weimar placed a memorial of
+Mozart in the park of Siefurt; it is in terra cotta: a lyre on a
+pedestal, and leaning on it a tragic and a comic mask.[11] Bridi (Vol.
+II., p. 359), in the "Temple to Harmony" which he erected in his garden,
+has given to Mozart the first place among the seven musicians there
+represented, and has placed a monument dedicated to him in a melancholy
+grotto, with the inscription, "Herrscher der Seele durch melodische
+Denkkraft."[12] The same inscription is on the reverse of a medal by
+Guillemard together with a muse playing a lyre and a Cupid with a flute;
+the other side has a portrait of Mozart. A medallion by Bàrend has also
+a portrait in front, the reverse representing Orpheus and a captive
+lion, with the inscription, "Auditus saxis intellectusque ferarum
+sensibus." The design for a medallion by Böhm, which was never struck,
+was shown to me by my friend Karajan. It consists of a refined and
+intellectual representation of Mozart's profile.
+
+In 1835 the idea took shape of erecting a statue to Mozart in Salzburg.
+An appeal for subscriptions was made in September, 1836,[13] and the
+cast of the statue was completed on May 22, 1841. The ceremony of
+unveiling the figure took place on the Michaelsplatz, September 4,
+1842.[14] Unhappily it cannot be said that Schwanthaler has succeeded
+in investing the accepted idea of Mozart as an artist and a man with any
+ideal force and dignity. He is represented clothed in the traditional
+toga, standing with his head turned sidewards and upwards, and in his
+hand a scroll with the inscription, "Tuba mirum." In bas-relief on
+the pedestal are allegorical representations of church, concert, and
+dramatic music, and an eagle flying heavenwards with
+
+{MEMORIALS OP MOZART.}
+
+(397)
+
+a lyre. The simple inscription is "Mozart."[15] In 1856 the city of
+Vienna determined upon erecting a monument to Mozart in the churchyard
+of St. Mark's. It was designed by Hans Gasser, and solemnly unveiled
+December 5, 1859. A mourning muse reposes on a granite pillar, holding
+in her right hand the score of the Requiem, and resting her left, with a
+laurel wreath, on a pile of Mozart's works. On the pedestal are Mozart's
+portrait and the Vienna arms, with a short inscription.[16]
+
+Mozart's name has been more worthily honoured by the foundation of
+various institutions. The Salzburg Mozarteum, founded in 1842, not only
+preserves the most important family documents and interesting relics
+which were in the possession of Mozart's sons; it has the further aim
+of fostering and advancing music, and more especially church music, in
+Mozart's native town.[17] The Mozart Institution at Frankfort, founded
+in 1838, encourages talent by means of prizes and scholarships;[18]
+and a Mozart Society, founded in 1855, undertakes to assist needy
+musicians.[19]
+
+But after all that may be accomplished in honour of Mozart by the most
+enthusiastic of his admirers, his true and imperishable fame rests upon
+his works. A history of modern music will be concerned to show how his
+influence has worked upon his successors, displaying itself sometimes
+in conscious or slavish imitation, sometimes in the freer impulse it has
+given to closely allied natures; and it may truly be said that of all
+the composers who have lived and worked since Mozart there is not one
+who has not felt his inspiration, not one who has not learnt from him,
+not one who at some time or another has not encroached upon his domain.
+Like all great and original geniuses, he belongs to two ages which it
+was his mission to bring together; while quickening and transforming all
+that his own age can offer him as the
+
+{AT THE GRAVE.}
+
+(398)
+
+inheritance of the past, he leaves to posterity the offspring of his
+individual mind to serve as a germ for new and more perfect life.
+
+It would be presumptuous to attempt to summarise in a few phrases the
+result of a life of ceaseless mental activity, and of strongly marked
+individuality. In view of this difficulty many biographers take refuge
+in a comparison of the subject of their work with other great men, and
+thus emphasise the points of resemblance or divergence which exist in
+their natures. No such parallel appears to me more justifiable than one
+between Mozart and Raphael.[20] The majestic beauty which appears to
+absorb all the other conditions of art production, and to blend them
+into purest harmony, is so overpoweringly present in the works of both
+masters that there is no need to enforce the comparison by dwelling on
+the many points of resemblance in their career both as men and artists,
+and in their moral and intellectual natures. Such a comparison, however,
+is not profitable unless it can be shown how and under what conditions
+this beauty, so varied in its manifestations, so similar in its effects,
+is produced.[21] Although it will readily be acknowledged that Mozart is
+closely related to Shakespeare[22] in fertility, force, and reality
+of dramatic invention and in breadth of humour, and to Goethe[23] in
+simplicity and naturalness of human sentiment and in plastic clearness
+of idea, yet here again we are confronted with the distinguishing
+qualities of great artists in different provinces of art, and Mozart's
+individuality in his own art is as far as ever from explanation. The
+frequently attempted parallels with great
+
+{CONCLUSION.}
+
+(399)
+
+musicians, with Haydn[24] or Beethoven,[25] bring out still more clearly
+the characteristics which distinguish him from all others; and it is to
+be feared that the more ingeniously these comparisons are carried out in
+detail the more the images are distorted and the judgment biassed.
+
+With whatever feelings, and from whatever point of view, we regard
+Mozart, we are invariably met by the genuine purity of an artist's
+nature, with its irrepressible impulses, its inexhaustible power of
+production, its overflowing love; it is a nature which rejoices in
+nothing but in the manifestation of beauty which is inspired by the
+spirit of truth; it infuses all that it approaches with the breath of
+its own life, and, while conscientious in serious work, it never ceases
+to rejoice in the freedom of genius. All human emotions took a musical
+form for him, and were by him embodied in music; his quick mind grasped
+at once all that could fittingly be expressed in music, and made it
+his own according to the laws of his art. This universality, which is
+rightly prized as Mozart's distinguishing quality, is not confined to
+the external phenomena which he has successfully portrayed in every
+region of his art--in vocal and instrumental, in chamber and orchestral,
+in sacred and secular music. His fertility and many-sidedness, even from
+this outward point of view, can scarcely indeed be too highly extolled;
+but there is something higher to be sought in Mozart: that which makes
+music to him not a conquered territory but a native home, that which
+renders every form of musical expression the necessary outcome of his
+inner experience, that by means of which he touches every one of his
+conceptions with the torch of genius whose undying flame is visible to
+all who approach his works with the eyes
+
+{AT THE GRAVE.}
+
+(400)
+
+of their imagination unbound. His universality has its limits only
+in the limits of human nature, and consequently of his own individual
+nature. It cannot be considered apart from the harmony of his artistic
+nature, which never allowed his will and his power, his intentions and
+his resources, to come into conflict with each other; the centre of his
+being was the point from which his compositions proceeded as by natural
+necessity. All that his mind perceived, or that his spirit felt, every
+experience of his inner life, was turned by him into music; from his
+inner life proceeded those works of imperishable truth and beauty,
+clothed in the forms and obedient to the laws of his art, just as the
+works of the Divine Spirit are manifested in the forms and the laws of
+nature and history.[26]
+
+And, while our gaze is lifted in reverence and admiration to the great
+musician, it may rest with equal sympathy and love upon the pure-hearted
+man. We can trace in his career, lying clear and open before us, the
+dispensation which led him to the goal of his desires; and, hard as
+he was pressed by life's needs and sorrows, the highest joy which is
+granted to mortals, the joy of successful attainment, was his in fullest
+measure.
+
+"And he was one of us!" his countrymen may exclaim with just pride.[27]
+For, wherever the highest and best names of every art and every age are
+called for, there, among the first, will be the name of Wolfgang Amade
+Mozart.
+
+{MARIANNE MOZART.}
+
+(401)
+
+
+
+
+APPENDIX I. MARIANNE MOZART.
+
+OLFGANG MOZART'S sister, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia, known to her
+family and friends as Nannerl, was born July 30, 1751, and was thus
+five years older than her brother. She early showed a decided talent for
+music, and made extraordinary progress under her father's tuition. She
+made her appearance as a clavier-player during the early professional
+tours of the Mozart family in 1762, 1763-1766, and 1767, competing
+successfully with the first performers of the day, and overshadowed
+only by the accomplishments of her younger brother. Her father writes
+(London, June 8, 1764): "It suffices to say that my little lass at
+twelve years old is one of the most accomplished players in Europe";
+and independent accounts which have come down to us coincide in this
+expression of opinion. During their stay at the Hague in October, 1765,
+she was seized with a serious illness and brought to the brink of the
+grave; her recovery, which had been despaired of by her parents, was
+hailed by them with delight. In November, 1767, she and Wolfgang were
+both struck down by smallpox at Olmütz; this also she happily recovered.
+
+She did not accompany her father and brother in their subsequent
+journeys to Italy, but remained at home with her mother. Nevertheless
+she continued her studies as a clavier-player, and made good her claim
+to be considered a virtuoso; as such she was recognised by Burney's
+informant in 1772 (Burney, Reise, III., p. 262). She owed much, as she
+was the first to acknowledge, to the example and instruction of her
+brother, who threw himself eagerly into her studies whenever he was
+in Salzburg. Leopold writes to his son (January 26, 1778) that the
+violinist Janitsch and the violoncellist Reicha of the Wallerstein
+Capelle, who were giving a concert in Salzburg, "absolutely insisted
+upon hearing Nannerl play. They let out by their great anxiety to hear
+your compositions that their object was to judge from her _gusto_ of
+your way of playing. She played your Mannheim sonata excellently well,
+with charming expression. They were delighted both with her playing and
+with the composition. They accompanied Nannerl in your trio in B flat
+(254 K.) exceedingly well." He goes on to tell Wolfgang of the high
+opinions formed by these musicians both of his compositions and of
+Nannerl's style of playing; and how she always repeated: "I am but
+the pupil of my brother." Wolfgang used in after years, when they were
+separated, to send her his pianoforte compositions, and set great store
+on her
+
+{APPENDIX I.}
+
+(402)
+
+judgment, frequently also giving her his own opinions and criticisms on
+music and musicians--as, for instance, on Clementi.
+
+Marianne made some few attempts at composition; a song which she sent to
+her brother in Rome excited Wolfgang's astonishment at its excellence,
+and she wrote exercises in thorough-bass which were quite free from
+mistakes, and gave him great satisfaction. Her father remarks at a later
+date (February 25, 1778) that she had learnt to play thoroughbass and to
+prelude exceedingly well, feeling that she would have to support herself
+and her mother after his death. Once (July 20, 1779) when Wolfgang
+sent her from Paris a prelude--"a sort of capriccio to try the piano
+with"--as a birthday greeting, she jokingly put her father to the test.
+She received it at four o'clock in the afternoon, and at once set to
+work to practise it till she knew it by heart. When her father came
+in at five she told him that she had an idea, and that if he liked
+she would write it down, and thereupon began the prelude. "I rubbed my
+eyes," says Leopold Mozart, "and said, 'Where the deuce did you get that
+idea?' She laughed and drew the letter from her pocket."
+
+She early began to give lessons on the clavier, her father writing from
+Milan (December 12, 1772): "Tell Nannerl that I wish her to teach
+little Zezi carefully and patiently; it will be to her own advantage to
+instruct another person thoroughly and with patience; I know what I am
+saying." These lessons afterwards became a source of income which could
+hardly have been dispensed with in the needy circumstances of the Mozart
+family; they enabled her to support herself as long as she lived at
+home, and thus lightened her father's pecuniary anxieties. She was
+considered even by her own family as somewhat parsimonious, and her
+father was agreeably surprised at hearing her exclaim, when told of
+Wolfgang's difficulties on his Parisian journey: "Thank God that it is
+no worse!" although she well knew that her own interests would have to
+be sacrificed to help her brother out of his scrape. But there is in
+fact every reason to believe that her heart was a tender one, and
+easily touched; she felt the loss of her mother very deeply, and had the
+warmest sympathy for her brother; sometimes indeed this took a livelier
+form than he cared for, and we find him once writing with ill-humour
+(Mannheim, February 19, 1778): "My best love to my sister, and pray tell
+her not to cry over every trifle, or I shall take good care never to
+come back"--an expression which did not fail to call down a reproof from
+his father. The relation of the brother and sister to each other was
+from childhood of the tenderest and closest description. The severe
+discipline to which they were both subjected, the journeys they took
+together, and above all the concentration of all the thoughts and
+energies of both upon music, increased their natural affection, in
+which there was not a trace of envy or jealousy on either side. Wolfgang
+vented his love of joking and teasing upon his "Schwester Canaglie";
+and the letters which he wrote to her while on his Italian tour give
+abundant proofs of their unrestrained and innocent intercourse. The
+joking tone of
+
+{MARIANNE MOZART.}
+
+(403)
+
+Wolfgang's correspondence with his sister was not entirely dropped even
+when they had passed their childhood, but they also shared the more
+serious concerns of life together in fullest sympathy. We have seen how
+unendurable life at Salzburg became to Wolfgang as he grew up, and his
+sister's position was in no way a more enviable one. When her mother and
+brother left home for their journey to Paris, she remained to keep
+house for her father, who praised her for her attention, economy, and
+industry, and for her good management of the maid-servant, who was both
+dirty and untruthful. After her mother's death she continued her care
+of the household, which was occasionally increased by their receiving
+boarders. Pianoforte practice, generally with her father for some hours
+in the evening, and lessons to various young ladies, filled up her time.
+She was much liked as a teacher, and her pupils were distinguished for
+precision and accuracy of playing. When Wolfgang was at home, the house
+was full of life, her father was cheerful, and she had a companion with
+whom to share her joys and sorrows; but if he was away, the father, who
+could scarcely live without him, was often gloomy and preoccupied, and
+not even her tender ministrations could compensate him for the absence
+of his son. Marianne had but few distractions from her quiet domestic
+life in the form of gaiety or company; she took a lively interest in
+the persons and concerns of her few acquaintances, an interest which
+was shared by Wolfgang even when he had left Salzburg. "Write to me
+often--that is, of course, when you have nothing better to do," he
+writes from Vienna (July 4, 1781) "for a bit of news is a great treat
+to me, and you are the veritable Salzburg Intelligencer, for you write
+about everything that ever happens, and sometimes, no doubt to please
+me, you write the same thing twice over." Their father had impressed
+upon them the importance of keeping a regular diary, and this Wolfgang
+did in his earlier years; Marianne continued the habit much longer.
+Fragments of her diary still exist, and among her letters to her brother
+are two which contain very detailed accounts of the performances of
+Schikaneder's theatrical company at Salzburg.
+
+Towards the end of 1780, while Wolfgang was at Munich busy with his
+"Idomeneo," Marianne was seized with an illness which for a time
+threatened to turn into consumption; it was long before she completely
+recovered. It appears probable that an attachment which did not turn out
+happily had something to do with this illness. Marianne, who had been
+a pretty and attractive child, became, as the family picture in the
+Mozarteum shows, a handsome woman, to whom suitors would not be
+wanting. Wolfgang's jokes about Herr von Mölk, an unfavoured admirer of
+Marianne's, as well as other mysterious allusions in his letters, prove
+that the brother and sister shared with each other their tenderest
+feelings. When Mozart was finally settled in Vienna, he lost no
+opportunity of being useful to his sister: "Ma très chère soeur,"
+he writes (Vienna, July 4, 1781)--"I am very glad that you liked the
+ribbons, and will inquire as to the price of them; at
+
+{APPENDIX I.}
+
+(404)
+
+present I do not know it, since Fr. von Auerhammer, who was so kind as
+to get them for me, would accept no payment, but begged me to say all
+that was nice to you from her as a stranger, and to assure you that
+it gives her very great pleasure to be of any service to you; I have
+already expressed your acknowledgments to her for her kindness. Dearest
+sister! I have already told our father that if you would like anything
+from Vienna, whatever it may be, I will get it for you with the utmost
+pleasure; this I now repeat to you, with the addition that I shall be
+extremely vexed if I hear that you have intrusted your commissions to
+any one else in Vienna." Constanze was always ready at a later time to
+perform the same sort of service for her sister-in-law. But Wolfgang's
+sympathy with his sister was displayed in more serious matters. On July
+4, 1781, he writes: "And now I should like to know how it stands with
+you and our very good friend? Write and tell me about it. Or have I lost
+your confidence in this affair?" This good friend was Franz D'Yppold,
+captain in the imperial army, who came to Salzburg as Governor to
+the Pages, and was made Councillor of War in 1777. He conceived an
+attachment to Marianne, which she returned, but his circumstances did
+not allow him to marry. Mozart, seeing that his sister's health and
+happiness were at stake, represented to her that there was nothing
+to hope for in Salzburg, and begged her to induce D'Yppold to try his
+fortune in Vienna, where he, Wolfgang, would do his utmost to advance
+his prospects. She would be able to earn far more by giving lessons in
+Vienna than in Salzburg, and there could be no doubt they would soon be
+able to marry; then the father would be obliged to give up his service
+at Salzburg, and join his children in Vienna. Unfortunately these
+promising plans remained unfulfilled; and as there appeared to the
+lovers no prospect of a possible union, the connection between them
+ceased. D'Yppold never ceased to be on friendly terms with L. Mozart,
+and always testified great sympathy and esteem for Marianne herself. He
+was very fond of her little son, who lived with his grandfather; and,
+during an absence from home of L. Mozart, he came to the house every day
+to see how the child was getting on.
+
+Marianne returned in kind her brother's interest and sympathy in her
+love affairs. To her he poured out his complaints of the hard fate of
+himself and his Constanze, and the latter began a correspondence with
+her long before her father had reconciled himself to the connection.
+Correspondence between the brother and sister naturally flagged somewhat
+when Wolfgang became engrossed in his life and occupation at Vienna. He
+justifies himself against her reproaches (February 13, 1782): "You must
+not think because I do not answer your letters that I do not like to
+have them. I shall always accept the favour of a letter from you, my
+dear sister, with the utmost pleasure; and if my necessary occupations
+(for my livelihood) allow of it, I will most certainly answer it. You do
+not mean that I never answer your letters? You cannot suppose that
+
+{MARIANNE MOZART.}
+
+(405)
+
+I forget, or that I am careless--therefore they must be real hindrances,
+real impossibilities that come in the way. Bad enough, you will say!
+But, good heavens I do I write any oftener to my father? You both know
+Vienna t How can a man without a penny of income do anything here but
+work day and night to earn a living? My father, when his church service
+is over, and you, when you have given a couple of music lessons, can
+sit down and write letters all day if you choose; but not I.... Dearest
+sister, if you could imagine that I should ever forget my best and
+dearest father or yourself, then--but no! God knows, and that is enough
+for me--He will punish me if it should ever happen."
+
+In 1784 Marianne married Johann Baptist, Baron von Berchthold, of
+Sonnenburg, councillor of Salzburg and steward of St. Gilgen. Wolfgang
+wrote on her marriage (August 18, 1784): "Ma très chère soeur,--_Potz
+Sapperment!_ it is time that I write to you if my letter is to find you
+still a virgin! In a couple of days it will be all over! My wife and I
+wish you all manner of happiness and good fortune in your new life, and
+are full of regret that we cannot be present at your wedding; but we are
+in hopes of meeting you and your husband next spring at Salzburg, and
+perhaps also at St. Gilgen. We regret nothing now but the solitude in
+which our father will be left. True, you will be near him, and he
+can often walk over to see you, but he is so tied to that confounded
+Kapelle! If I were in my father's place, this is what I should do: I
+should ask the Archbishop in consideration of my long service to set
+me free--and I should take my pension and go and live quietly with my
+daughter at St. Gilgen; if the Archbishop refused, I should hand in my
+resignation and join my son in Vienna. And to this I wish you would
+try every means of persuading him. I have written the same thing in my
+letter to him to-day. And now I send you a thousand good wishes from
+Vienna to Salzburg, summed up in the hope that you two may live as
+happily together as we two. Your loving brother, W. A. Mozart."
+
+A long list of letters from L. Mozart to his daughter testify to his
+care for her welfare. He is indefatigable in his attention to household
+matters, and occasionally receives from her presents of game or fish; he
+also keeps her constantly informed of what is going on in town. He is,
+as may be supposed, always ready with advice or remonstrance, both to
+his daughter and her husband, whom he considers "too absorbed in the
+spirit of economy"; he makes plenty of sarcastic remarks, but is, on
+the whole, under more restraint with them than with Wolfgang. His
+keen glance and shrewd sense never fail him. His son-in-law's hasty
+application for the stewardship of Neumark drew from him serious advice
+to weigh everything well beforehand, and then to be resigned to what
+should happen. "I write all this," he adds (November 20, 1786), "because
+I can easily imagine how many useless and vexatious ideas and remarks
+will be let fall upon the subject; whereas, if it is to be, the course
+of Providence cannot be withstood." Report said that Marianne
+
+{APPENDIX I.}
+
+(406)
+
+had not always an easy time of it with her husband; and five
+stepchildren cannot have left her much leisure for repining. L. Mozart
+describes them as naughty, ill brought up, and ignorant; one of the
+boys, Wolfgang, was heard to boast that "he had got the better of his
+second mamma, and, when he was naughty, papa always laid the blame on
+her and the servants, and blew them up."
+
+In June, 1785, she came to Salzburg to be confined in her father's
+house. As her health long remained delicate, L. Mozart kept his little
+grandson, bestowing upon it the tenderest care, and informing his
+daughter of the child's well-being in every letter. "I can never look at
+the child's right hand without emotion," he writes (November 11,1785);
+"the cleverest pianist could not place his hand upon the keys more
+charmingly than he holds his little hand; whenever he is not moving his
+fingers they are all in position for playing, and when he is asleep the
+tiny fingers are bent or stretched exactly in the right proportion,
+as if they were resting on the keys; in short, it is the most charming
+sight in the world. It often makes me sad to see it, and I wish he were
+three years old, so that he might begin to play at once." He could not
+persuade himself to part with the child, and although he often abused
+the father for never coming to see it, he declared himself: "I tell you
+I mean to keep little Leopold as long as I live."
+
+After their father's death Wolfgang wrote to Marianne (June 16, 1787):
+"Dearest Sister,--I am not at all surprised at your not writing to me
+yourself the sad and totally unexpected news of our dear father's death;
+I can readily imagine the cause of your silence. May God receive him to
+Himself! Be assured, my darling, that if you are in need of a faithful,
+loving brother, you will find one in me. My dearest sister, if you were
+still unprovided for, there would be no need of all this. I would, as
+I have intended and said over and over again, have left all to you with
+the greatest pleasure; but as it is, one may almost say, useless to you,
+while to me, on the contrary, it would be of the greatest advantage, I
+think it my duty to consider my wife and child."
+
+This letter affords no clue to the share of his father's inheritance
+claimed by Mozart, and it is not known how the matter was arranged. It
+was doubtless not without some reference to this that a letter written
+soon after by Mozart to his sister (August, 1787) treated of his
+pecuniary position. "In answer to your question as to my service," he
+says, "the Emperor has taken me into the household, and I am formally
+appointed, but have only 800 florins--this is more, however, than any
+other member of the household. The announcement of my Prague opera 'Don
+Giovanni' (which is to be given again to-day) ran: 'The music is by Herr
+Mozart, Kapellmeister in the actual service of his Imperial Majesty.'"
+
+I do not know of any later letters. Marianne kept up no correspondence
+with her brother's widow; from a letter to Sonnleithner (July 2, 1819),
+we gather that she had not heard from her sister-in-law
+
+{ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.}
+
+(407)
+
+since 1801, that she knew nothing of the children, and had only heard of
+her second marriage by chance.
+
+In 1801 the Baron von Sonnenburg died, and his widow retired with her
+children to Salzburg, where she lived in comfort, if not in wealth.
+She returned to her old occupation, and gave music lessons--for money
+certainly, but not from need, since her simple and frugal way of life
+enabled her even to lay by a portion of her income. She was always much
+respected and liked in Salzburg. In 1820 she became blind, a misfortune
+which she bore with equanimity, and even cheerfulness, as the
+following anecdote will show: Receiving a visit from a lady whom she
+disliked--people who were fond of her paid her frequent visits to afford
+her amusement in her misfortune--she exclaimed, when at last the visitor
+had departed, "What an infliction to be obliged to converse with that
+person! I am glad that I cannot see her!"
+
+She died at an advanced age in her native town, October 29, 1829.
+
+APPENDIX II. ARRANGEMENTS OF MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.
+
+EVEN cantatas which appeared under Mozart's name (Leipzig: Breitkopf and
+Hartel, and elsewhere) are perhaps, after his operas, the most widely
+known of his works, and upon them in a great measure rests his fame as
+a composer of church music. Of these cantatas, however, only one, the
+second (and that with altered words), was left in its present state by
+Mozart; the others were all put together after his death from separate
+portions of various church compositions, often widely differing in
+the time, the object and the style of their composition, and having
+undergone arbitrary alterations and additions. Nothing but the newly
+adopted words holds them together, and these are generally trivial,
+often in direct contradiction to the spirit of the original words.
+
+The parody of Goethe's song "Der du Leid und Sehnsucht stillest," which
+in Cantata III. replaces the original "Alma redemptoris," may serve as
+an example. This double injustice done to the composer may be explained
+as arising from the tendency of an age which turned to its own immediate
+convenience any music which came to hand, with little feeling for the
+work of art as a whole and little respect for the right of the author to
+the integrity of his work or for the claims of historical accuracy.
+
+The following is the result of a survey of the cantatas and their
+component parts (Anh., 124-130 K.):--[See Page Image]
+
+{APPENDIX II.}
+
+(408)
+
+Cantata I. consists of the Kyrie (p. i), Panis omnipotent!ae (p. 10),
+Viaticum (p. 15), and Pignus futurz gloriae (p. 16) of the Litany 125 K-
+
+Cantata II. is the Litany 109 K.
+
+Cantata III. is pot together from the Sanctus of the Mass 259 K. (p. 3);
+the Benedictus of the Mass 220 K.; the Gloria of the Mass 259 K. (p. 9);
+the Offertorium 72 K. (p. 15); and the Credo of the Mass 259 K. (p. 25).
+
+Cantata IV. consists of the Kyrie and Gloria of the Mass 220 K. (p. 3);
+Motetto 277 K. (p. 12); Gratias (p. 19); and Domine (p. 21) of the
+Mass in C minor 427 K. [employed in the "Davidde Penitente" 469 K. as
+Chorus 4» "Si pur sempre," and Duet 5, "Sorgi o Signore **]; Magnificat
+of the Vesper 193 K. (p. 26).
+
+Cantata V. is formed of the Kyrie (p. 1), Et incarnatus, to the close of
+the Credo (p. 6), Benedictus (p. 12), Agnus Dei (p. 20), and Gloria (p.
+25) of the Mass 258 K.
+
+Cantata VI. contains the Dixit of the Vesper 193 K. (p. 1); Laudate
+Dominum (p. 13) and Magnificat (p. 20) of the Vesper 321 K. Cantata VII.
+is put together from the Kyrie (p. 1) and Benedictus (p. 5) of the Mass
+259 K.; an air from "Davidde Penitente" (469 IL, 3) "Lungi le cure
+ingrate" (p. 14); the Agnus Dei (p. 26) and Dona nobis (p. 29) of the
+Mass 259 K.; and the Dixit of the Vesper 321 K. (p. 33).
+
+After this, it was not surprising that the choruses from "Konig
+Tham os" should have been used as sacred music, or that the
+"Frei-maurercantaten" (429,471 K.) should have been treated in the same
+way (Vol. II., p. 407). Nor was it unusual to find an altered text
+(church-like in character) supplied to sacred compositions. But secular
+music was also appropriated by the Church. The beautiful adagio of the
+grand serenata for wind instruments (361 K.) has been turned into an
+offertory, "Quis te comprehendat" (Anh., 110 K.). The air for Nancy
+Storace (405 K.),"Ch' io mi scordi di te," has been fitted to the
+words "In te domine speravi," and the obbligato piano part transferred
+to the organ (Anh., 120 K.). The air from "Titus" (19),"Deh per
+questo istante," with the words "O Deus, ego te amo" (Anh., 112 K.),
+and Adamberger's air, "Per pietà non ricercate" (420), with the words
+"Omni die die Mariae" (Anh., hi K.), are both used as offertories. V.
+Novello published the wonderful ensemble from the second finale in
+"Figaro" "Più docile io sono e dico di si," with the words "O Jesu
+mi, miserere nobis!" as a motett with organ accompaniment, and has
+appended the remark: "This motett may be used at Benediction." It is to
+be hoped that there is no truth in the report that Leparello's "Notte
+e giorno faticar" and Don Giovanni's "Fin che dal vino," have been
+travestied as a "Docti sacris" and a "Lauda Sion."
+
+{ARRANGEMENTS OP MOZART'S CHURCH MUSIC.}
+
+(409)
+
+Further than this, however, whole Masses have been arranged from
+Mozart's operas; and at the beginning of this century a "Missa di
+Figaro. Don Giovanni" was not unknown to church choirs. One example of
+the kind may be described as evidence of the fact. In the collection
+of K. Zulehner of Mayence there was preserved a "Coronation Mass" in C
+major, with Mozart's name as composer, of which a copy was sent to me
+by Herr Schott of Mayence. All the movements, with the exception of the
+Credo, are identical with whole movements or smaller portions of "Cosî
+fan Tutte," with alterations of key and instrumentation, and here and
+there the addition or omission of a part, as follows:--
+
+The Kyrie is the terzet (10) "Soave sio il vento," transposed into C
+major and turned into a four-part chorus by the addition of a tenor
+part, and with two flutes to fill in the harmonies. Christe eleison is
+the first movement of the duet (4), "Ah guarda sorella," transposed into
+G major, for soprano and tenor, with two oboes and two horns, shortened
+here and there, and the ritomello placed at the end. At the beginning
+of the Gloria, after a few unimportant bars by the adapter, the motif
+of the first chorus of the second finale is made use of (p. 230); then
+follow for the Gratias agimus the first seventy bars of the air (11)
+"Smanie implacabile" as a soprano solo in F major. The Qui tollis
+consists of seven bars not borrowed, but at the Miserere occur four bars
+from the first finale (p. 115), "Ed il polso," and after the repetition
+of the original Qui tollis at the word "suscipe," the first finale (p.
+115), "Ah se tardo," is continued to the end of the movement. "Quoniam
+tu solus" to the end of the Gloria is the terzet (3) "Una bella
+serenata," unaltered up to the addition of the fourth part in the tutti
+passages; the closing ritornello is omitted. In the Gloria, flutes,
+oboes, horns, and drums and trumpets are employed in the customary
+alternations. Sanctus and Osanna are the andante of the first finale
+shortened by six bars, transposed into C major, and the parts rather
+differently arranged to suit the words. Benedictus is the duet and
+chorus (21) "Secondate," transposed into F major, and accompanied by
+stringed instruments flutes, and oboes; the chorus enters at "Osanna."
+Agnus Dei begins with eleven original bars, then follows "Idol mio" from
+the second finale, with the part of Despina omitted. Dona nobis is the
+closing ensemble of the opera. I gather from a letter addressed to G.
+Weber that Zulehner was of opinion that Mozart wrote the Mass before
+the opera; that, on the contrary, the Mass was pieced together from
+the opera by some church musician, no external evidence is required to
+prove.
+
+APPENDIX III. PORTRAITS OF MOZART.
+
+HE earliest portrait of Mozart, a half-length in oils, now in the
+
+{APPENDIX III.}
+
+(410)
+
+Mozarteum, lithographed in Nissen, represents him as a boy of seven
+years old, standing near the clavier, clad in the violet gold-laced
+court dress of the Archduke Maximilian, which had been presented to
+him in 1762 (Vol. I., p. 28). His hair is frizzed and powdered, his hat
+under his arm, his sword by his side; his left hand is thrust into his
+vest; his right on his side. The round good-humoured boyish face, with
+its candid eyes, looks out as if from a disguise. During the stay of
+the Mozart family in Paris in 1763, an accomplished admirer, L. C.
+de Carmontelle, painted them in a group; the picture was engraved by
+Delafosse in small folio, with the title under:--
+
+"LEOPOLD MOZART, Père de MARIANNE MOZART, Virtuose ägée de onze ans, et
+de J. G. WOLFGANG, Compositeur et Maître de Musique ägé de sept ans."
+
+Wolfgang, finely dressed and frizzed, is sitting at the harpsichord in
+a pillared hall, apparently open to the air, and playing from some open
+music. The little head is evidently a good likeness, and there is a
+charming expression of earnest attention. His father stands close behind
+him, and accompanies on the violin; the sister is standing on the other
+side of the harpsichord, turning towards her brother and singing from
+some music. In the same year a small oil picture, containing many
+figures, was painted; it was formerly in the gallery of the Duke of
+Rohan-Chabot at Schloss-Rurik, and is now in the Museum at Versailles.
+Mozart is seated at the clavier, on which a "basse de viole" is lying,
+and playing or singing; he is accompanied on the guitar by the opera-singer
+Veliotte. The Prince de Beauveau, in a cherry-coloured coat
+decorated with the blue Grand Cross, is seated behind the young
+musician, glancing absently at a paper which he holds in his left hand.
+The Chevalier de la Laurency, gentilhomme to the Prince de Conti, is
+standing in a black velvet coat behind Mozart's chair; the Prince de
+Conti is talking to M. de Trudaine; Mdlle. Bagaroty is standing before
+a group of ladies, viz.: Madame la Maréchale de Mirepoix, Madame de
+Viervelle, Madame la Maréchale de Luxembourg, and Mdlle. de Boufflers,
+afterwards Duchesse de Lauzun. The Prince d'Henin is preparing tea,
+while listening attentively to Mozart's music. In another group are
+Dupont de Velse, brother to M. d'Argentai; the Countesses Egmont, mother
+and daughter, and President Henaut at the fireplace.
+
+{PORTRAITS OF MOZART.}
+
+(411)
+
+The last group shows us the Comtesse de Boufflers standing before a
+well-spread table; by her side is the Comte de Chabot (Duc de Rohan)
+in conversation with the Comte de Jarnac. The Maréchal de Beauveau is
+pouring out a glass of wine for Bailli de Chabrillant; Meyrand, the
+famous geometrician, stands sidewards. The picture is full of life and
+expression. All the company are listening in amazement and delight to
+Mozart's bewitching tones. He is in an apple-green silk coat with knee
+breeches, and his feet do not touch the floor. His countenance is fresh,
+his look full of expression, and the little powdered perruque gives him
+a somewhat pedantic look, at which the spectators are evidently amused.
+
+Wolfgang was painted several times during his Italian tour. At Verona
+Lugiati made a life-size portrait of him in oils, in two sittings,
+as his father writes home. "La dolce sua effigie mi è di conforto ed
+altresi di eccitamento a riprendere qualche fiata la musica," he writes
+to the mother (April 22, 1770). Sonnleithner, who discovered the picture
+by the aid of the Imperial Sectionsrath W. Booking, gives a detailed
+account of it. Mozart is seated playing the clavier, somewhat to
+the left of the spectator, in a carved arm-chair; his youthful and
+intellectual countenance is turned towards the spectator. He wears a red
+court dress embroidered in gold, and has a diamond ring on the little
+finger of his left hand. Upon the clavier, above the keyboard, is
+written: "Joanni Celestini Veneti, MDLXXXIII." Upon the open music-book
+can be distinctly read:--[See Page Image]
+
+{APPENDIX III.}
+
+(412)
+
+This piece, therefore, must have possessed some peculiar interest for
+the Veronese. Below, in the centre of the narrow, beautifully carved
+gold frame, there is a white plate with the following inscription:--
+
+Amadeo Wolfgango Mozarto Salisburgensi puero duodenni
+
+In arte musica laudem omnem fidemque prætergresso eoque nomine Gallorum
+Anglorumque regi caro Petrus Lujatus hospiti suavissimo effigiem in
+domestico odeo pingi curavit anno MDCCLXX.
+
+In the same year the celebrated artist Pompeo Battoni of Rome painted a
+life-size head of Mozart, which came into the possession of Mr. Haydon
+of London; it is now the property of J. Ella, who has placed it in the
+South Kensington Museum, and rendered it familiar in an engraving by H.
+Adlard. The head is turned almost full-face towards the spectator, the
+right-hand holding a roll of music-paper. The animated countenance has
+an évident resemblance to the Verona portrait, but with more of a view
+to
+
+{PORTRAITS OF MOZART.}
+
+(413)
+
+effect, being in fact what is called idealised. After his return from
+Italy in 1772, a portrait of Wolfgang was painted which his sister
+possessed; it is the one of which she wrote to Sonnleithner (July
+2, 1819) that he looked yellow and sickly in it, having only lately
+recovered from a severe illness. Before Mozart left Salzburg in 1777, a
+portrait was painted which, according to his father (November 27, 1777),
+was highly successful. Padre Martini, having begged for a likeness of
+Wolfgang for his collection, the father had a copy of this one made and
+sent it to him in the beginning of December, 1777, "in a black frame,
+with a handsomely gilt edge." "I delayed complying with your request
+until now," he writes to the Padre (December 22,1777), "for want of a
+skilful artist. There is, in fact, none such residing in our town; and
+I have always been in hopes that, as does sometimes happen, a clever
+artist might visit Salzburg--I therefore postponed it from time to time.
+At last, however, I was forced to commission a local artist to undertake
+the portrait. As a painting it is of little worth, but, as regards the
+likeness,
+
+I assure you that it resembles him exactly. I have written his name
+and age behind the picture." In the library of the Liceo Filarmonico
+at Bologna there is an oil picture from Padre Martini's collection, of
+which Dr. Zangemeister sent me a photograph and a minute description. At
+the top of the frame, in white letters, stands:--
+
+CAV. AMADEO WOLFGANGO MOZART ACCAD.
+
+FILARMON. DI BOLOG. E DI VERONA.
+
+On the back is written (probably by an Italian, not by L.
+Mozart):--Joannes Crisostomus Wolfgangus Amadeus Mozart Salisburgensis
+Teuto, auratæ Militiæ Eques
+
+Bonnoniensis Veronensisque Accademicus Natus 27 Ianuarü 1756: Ætatis suæ
+21.
+
+The portrait represents a man in a brown coat, with the gold cross on
+a red ribbon round his neck; to the right is a stool, to the left a
+clavier with black under notes and white over notes; on the desk is
+a piece of music. But it is impossible to recognise Wolfgang in the
+portrait; it is that of a man of middle age, stiff in demeanour, and
+with no resemblance to Mozart. It might be meant for his father, who had
+promised (August 21, 1778) to send Padre Mardini his own portrait; but
+this is contradicted by the cross of the order. Probably some confusion
+has taken place in the arrangement of the collection. Wolfgang took with
+him on his journey a little medallion as a present to his cousin, among
+whose remains it was pointed out to me. He is in a red coat, his hair
+simply arranged, and the very youthful face with its
+
+{APPENDIX III.}
+
+(414)
+
+intelligent eyes has an open light-hearted expression. Before Mozart
+went to Munich in 1780 the painter Della Croce at Salzburg began a large
+family group, and Wolfgang's portrait was fortunately finished before
+his departure. This large oil-painting, now in the Mozarteum at
+Salzburg, represents the brother and sister seated at the harpsichord
+playing a duet. Wolfgang is in a red coat with a white vest and
+neckcloth, Marianne in a dark rose-coloured dress trimmed with lace, and
+a red ribbon in her high coiffure; the father, in black, with a white
+vest and neckcloth, is seated behind the harpsichord, his left hand
+holding a violin, his right with the bow resting on the harpsichord.
+On the wall hangs an oval portrait of the mother, with a blue
+neckhandkerchief, and a blue ribbon in her hair. Wolfgang's sister
+considered this portrait very like him; and it does in fact give one an
+impression of individuality. The face is young for his age, but not
+so gay and animated as in earlier pictures; it has rather a depressed
+expression, corresponding very well to his mood at the time. After
+his marriage he had himself painted with Constanze, and sent the two
+miniatures to Salzburg. "I only hope," he writes (April 3, 1783), "that
+you may be pleased with them; they seem to me to be both good, and all
+who have seen them are of the same opinion." Mozart's brother-in-law,
+the actor Lange, who was an enthusiastic artist, began a portrait of
+him, seated at the piano, in a light brown coat and white neckcloth, and
+strove to render the expression of the artist absorbed in his reveries.
+The picture was only finished as far as the bust, and is now in the
+Mozarteum at Salzburg; Carl Mozart considered it very like. Mozart's
+short stay in Dresden in April, 1789, was utilised by Dora Stock,
+Korner's talented sister-in-law, in taking his portrait in crayons
+with much delicacy and animation; it was engraved in Berlin by E.
+H. Schroder, and published by Ed. Mandel. The conception of Mozart's
+appearance, which afterwards became typical, was formed from a small
+medallion carved in boxwood in relief by Posch, and now preserved in the
+Salzburg Mozarteum. This was engraved in octavo by J. G. Mans-feld, 1789
+(Viennæ apud Art aria Societ.) with the inscription: "Dignum laude virum
+Musa vetat mori." On the lower edge of the medallion, among instruments
+and laurel branches, is a sheet of music with "An Chloe" written on
+it. This engraving is the foundation of most of the later ones; it was
+engraved afresh from the medallion by Thäter (Leipzig: Breitkopf und
+Hartel).
+
+The last portrait of Mozart is a bust, life size, painted by Tischbein
+during his stay in Mayence in October, 1790. C. A. André discovered and
+obtained possession of it at Mayence in 1849; it was among the remains
+of the Electoral court violinist Stutzl. Two men who had themselves seen
+Mozart--Professor Arentz, of Mayence, and the former court organist,
+Schulz, of Mannheim, on being shown the picture, and asked whom
+it represented, recognised their beloved Mozart without a moment's
+hesitation. At the same time this likeness differs
+
+{PORTRAITS OF MOZART.}
+
+(415)
+
+considerably from the others current, and it can scarcely be doubted
+that Tischbein has idealised the features, especially the nose; but the
+expression of the eyes and mouth has a mixture of sensuousness, roguery,
+and gentle melancholy, which testify to the artist's intellectual
+apprehension; while Posch is probably more accurate in outline, but
+more Philistine in conception. It has been engraved by Sichling in the
+"Bildnissen berühmter Deutschen" (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hàrtel), and
+afterwards diminished for this book.
+
+I consider as apocryphal a small medallion in the possession of Karajan,
+representing a slender well-dressed youth, inscribed as "Mozart's
+Portrait;" also a round miniature, belonging to Frz. Henser, of Cologne,
+of a full-grown man in a grey coat, his hand in his vest, which seems
+to me to have no resemblance to Mozart. It is signed "Jac. Dorn, pinx.,
+1780."
+
+APPENDIX IV. (To the English Edition.)
+
+A LIST OF MOZART'S WORKS,
+
+COMPILED FROM THE FIRST COMPLETE
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(416)
+
+AND CRITICALLY REVISED EDITION, NOW BEING PUBLISHED BY BREITKOFF AND
+HARTEL, LEIPZIG.
+
+[See Page Image]
+
+VOCAL MUSIC.
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(417)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(418)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(419)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(420)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(421)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(422)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(423)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(424)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(425)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(426)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(427)
+
+{APPENDIX IV.}
+
+(428)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(429)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(430)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(431)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(432)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(433)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(434)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(435)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(436)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(437)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(438)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(439)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(440)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(441)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(442)
+
+{INDEX.}
+
+(443)
+
+
+
+FOOTNOTES OF CHAPTER XLVI.
+
+[Footnote 1: Breitkopf and Hartel's edition of the "Ouvres" was prepared in
+concert with the widow, and from the autograph originals furnished by
+her; concerning which the entire correspondence lies before me.]
+
+[Footnote 2: Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1842, p. 150.]
+
+[Footnote 3: Reichardt, Briefe aus Wien., I., p. 244.]
+
+[Footnote 4: A. M. Z.f XX., p. 512.]
+
+[Footnote 5: A. M. Z., VII., pp. 427, 502.]
+
+[Footnote 6: Cf. N. Ztschr. fur Mus., XXI., p. 169.]
+
+[Footnote 7: A solemn funeral mass was celebrated at Prague, December 14, 1791
+(Wien. Ztg., 1791, No. 103).]
+
+[Footnote 8: Wessely in Berlin (Mus. Wochenbl., p. 191), and Cannabich in Munich,
+composed funeral cantatas on Mozart's death (Niemetschek, p. 66).]
+
+[Footnote 9: A. M. Z., II., p. 239.]
+
+[Footnote 10: It does not appear that any complete statement of all the
+ceremonies by which this jubilee was kept has been made.]
+
+[Footnote 11: Journ. d. Lux. u. d. Mod., November, 1799. A. M. Z., II., pp. 239,
+420.]
+
+[Footnote 12: Bridi, Brevi Cenni, p. 63. A. M. Z., XXVI., p. 92.]
+
+[Footnote 13: A. M. Z., XXXIX., p. 309.]
+
+[Footnote 14: Cf. L. Mielichhofer, Das Mozart-Denkmal zu Salzburg und dessen
+Enthüllungsfeier (Salzburg, 1843). The amount subscribed was nearly
+25,000 fl.]
+
+[Footnote 15: The monument is familiar in Amsler's fine engraving.]
+
+[Footnote 16: Zellner, Blätt. f. Mus., Theat. u. Kunst, 1859. No. 97.]
+
+[Footnote 17: Since 1843 the Mozarteum has issued annual reports of its doings.]
+
+[Footnote 18: A. M. Z., XLII., p. 735. The Mozart Institution also issues regular
+reports.]
+
+[Footnote 19: Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1855, p. 398; 1856, pp. 296, 303; 1857, p.232.]
+
+[Footnote 20: Rochlitz, Raphael u. Mozart (A. M. Z., II., p. 641). Alberti,
+Raphael u. Mozart: eine Parallele (Stettin, 1856).]
+
+[Footnote 21: The different conceptions that are here possible is seen from
+Carpani's having bracketed in a comparison of Painters and Musicians (Le
+Haydine, p. 215) Pergolese and Raphael, Mozart and Giulio Romano. Beyle
+compares Mozart with Domenichino (Vie de Haydn, p. 260).]
+
+[Footnote 22: Fr. Horn, A. M. Z., IV., p. 421.]
+
+[Footnote 23: Th. Kriebitzsch, Poeten u. Componisten (A. M. Z., L., p. 545; Für
+Freunde d. Tonk., p. 52). He puts down the "Messiah" as Mozart's--no
+doubt without reflection.]
+
+[Footnote 24: [Arnold] W. A. Mozart u. J. Haydn. Versuch einer Parallele (Erfurt,
+1810). G. L. P. Sievers, Characteristik d. deutschen. Mus., A. M. Z.,
+IX., p. 698.]
+
+[Footnote 25: Graham, Account of the First Edinburgh Musical Festival, p. 121
+(A. M. Z., XVIII., p. 635. My readers will be familiar with Reichardt's
+comparison of the three masters as quartet composers: Haydn, he says,
+built a charming fanciful summer-house, Mozart transformed it into a
+palace, and Beethoven crowned the edifice with a bold defiant tower
+(Briefe aus Wien., I., p. 231). E. T. A. Hoffmann finds in Haydn's
+instrumental works a childlike gaiety, while Mozart leads him into the
+depths of the spirit-world, and Beethoven into the region of prodigies
+and boundless space (Phantasiestucke, I., 4 Ges. Schr., VII., p. 55).]
+
+[Footnote 26: O. Lindner, Zur Tonk., p. 173.]
+
+[Footnote 27: Oehlenschläger, Erinnerungen, IV., p. 225.]
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's Life Of Mozart, Vol. 3 (of 3), by Otto Jahn
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43413 ***