MOZART
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MOZART
in 17G4, and there, according to Holmes, "the boy ex- hibited liis talents before the royal family, and under- went more severe trials than any to which he had been before sul>jectcd, throu,t;li wliich he passed in a most triumphant maimer. So much interest did he excite in that country that the Hon. Daines Barrington drew up an account of his extraordinary performances, which was read before the Koyal Society, and declared by the council of that body to be sufficiently important to be printed in the Philosophical Transactions, in the 60th volume of which it appears." In the G9th volume of the same work Dr. liurney remariis: "Of Mozart's in- fant attempts at music I was unable to discover the traces from the conversation of his father, who, though
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an intelligent man, whose education and knowledge of the world did not seem confined to music, confessed himself unable to describe the progressive improve- ments of his son during the first stages of infancy. However, at eight years of age I was frequently con- vinced of his great knowledge in composition bj' his writings; and that his invention, taste, modulation, and execution in extemporary playing were such as few professors arc possessed of at forty years of age." Sym- phonies of his own composition were produced in a public concert in London; and while there he com- posed and published six sonatas, and made accpiaint- ance with the works of Handel, recently deceased. In 1765 the Mozarts returned to the Continent, and, passing through Paris, went to Holland, and at the Hague, when not more than eight j'ears old, young Wolfgang com- posed a symphony for a fidl orchestra, on occasion of the installation of the prince of Orange. On their return to (Jermany shortly after, he again produced a sensation by his compositions for the religious service, and for a trumpet concert at the dedication of the Orphan House Church in Vienna, himself conducting the music in presence of the imperial court. After this the Mozarts went home to Salzburg, and Wolfgang was afforded ev- ery advantage for his musical training. He devoted himself most assiduously to the study of his art, and evinced liis mastery of the subject in 17G8, when, at the request of the emperor Joseph II at Vienna, he composed music to the opera -biifTa La Finta Semplice, which, though never performed, was approved of by all tlie masters and cognoscenti of the period. In 1769 young Mozart was nominated concert-master to the archbish- op of Salzburg, and thus gained a small compensation and a somewhat independent jiosition. We do not know exactly what his salary was wlien first appoint- ed, but in his twentieth year, we learn from his biog- rapher, Mozart earned the trifling smn of 8o per annum. We do not wonder, therefore, that tlie artist occasional- ly strayed from home to earn a few additional dollars. Thus in the very year of his appointment we find him starting for Italy, where he was most rapturously welcomed. His first performance in Italy was given at Jlilaii, where he was engaged to return and compose
the first opera for the carnival of 1771. At Bologna and Florence the reception he met with was equallj' flattering to the young musician. At Rome Mozart arrived in Passion Week, and on Wednesday went to the Sistine Chapel, where he heard for the first time the celebrated Miserere, which was prohibited to be copied, or in any manner published, on pain of excom- munication. On Good Friday the same Miserere was again performed, when Mozart was present with the MS. copy he had made from memory concealed in his hat, that he might have an opportunity of making cor- rections. This circumstance created an immense ex- citement at Home, because the peculiarities of the Mise- rere were thought impossible to be expressed by musi- cal notation; and when young Jlozart, in presence of some Sistine choristers, sang the composition in the very manner in which it was sung by those who had acquired it only after long practice, the professional singers expressed their astonishment in terms of un- measured admiration. The fame of ^lozart after this event was spread far and wide. His wonderful musi- cal talents and power of performing on the organ were attril)uted to a charm which it was supposed he carried in his ring. When the pope first heard him perform he conferred upon him the order of the Golden Spur; and at Bologna he was unanimously elected a member of the Philharmonic Society, which was at that time an honor rarely conferred even upon the greatest musicians, but yet well earned by this marvellous youth, who, at the age of sixteen, was acknowledged the first clave^inist in the world, and had produced two requiems and a stabat- mater, numerous offertories, hymns, and motets, 4 op- eras, 2 cantatas, 13 symphonies, 24 piano-forte sonatas, not to speak of a vast number of concertos for different instruments, trios, quartets, marches, and other minor pieces. In 1773 Mozart produced, among numerous other works, two Masses for the chapel of the elector of Bavaria, etc. In 1775, at the desire of the archduke Maximilian, he composed the cantata IlEePastore; and from that period till the year 1779 he continued to labor with his pen, though but few of its products then obtained, or ever will obtain, a celebrity at all equal to that which his siibse(iuent productions have so justly acquired. In 1775 his fame was so completely estab- lished and so widely known that he could have made choice of engagements in all the capitals of Europe. His father preferred Paris, and therefore, in 1777, he, with his mother, set out for a second journey to- wards that city. The death of his mother made Paris insujiportable, and he returned to his father at the be- ginning of the year 1779. Some time after this ilozart went to ]\Iunich, whence he went to Vienna; and in Nov., 1779, he finally settled in the latter city, the in- habitants and manners of which were very agreeable to him; and now, having reached his 24th year, he ex- hibited the rare example of one who had been astonish- ing as a child, had disappointed not even the most san- guine hopes, and became proportionately great as a man. Whatever the precocity of the child — and in that respect as avcII as in any other he was unlike other noted musical composers, for though Handel and Haydn and Beethoven all gave proofs of their musical powers in boyhood, none of them showed as children that full maturity of mind which distinguished Jlozart, and which only a few of those who witnessed it coidd ap- preciate— it was now in the maturity of life that he be- gan his career as composer, and gained that celebrity which will last to all time. Jlozart was now in the service of the emperor as composer to tlie court; but his office was rather honorary than lucrative, and he lived by concerts, musical tours, teaching music, and the small profits derived from the sale of his published works, fill an offer of a large salary made to him by the king of Prussia led the emperor to give him SOO florins a year; and though several tempting oflfers came to him after this time, and Mozart's pecuniary condition woidd have made greater compensation very desirable, ho re-