MOZART
as
MOZDARIANS
fused to quit his emperor's side. His great opera of Idomeneo was composed in 1780, with a view to induce the family of Mademoiselle Constance Weber, after- wards his wife, to consent to the marriage, which they had declined on the ground that his reputation was not sufficiently established. This opera forms an epoch not in the composer's life only, but in the history of music. In construction, detail, instrumentation, and every im- aginable respect, it was an enormous advance on all previous works of the kind, and established his reputa- tion as the greatest musician whom the world had seen. His other principal works, composed about and after this time, are Cost Fan Tutti: — UEidevement du Serail: — Nozze de Fir/aro: — Bon Giovanni: — Zauherflole: — Clemenza di Tito .-—and last, but not least, his Avorld- renowned Requiem— one, of the most perfect sacred mu- sical compositions, if not the most perfect — in which, while the sacred character is maintained throughout, the airs have all the requisite grace and freedom, the instrumentation all the resources of modern refine- ment, and the whole exhibits in a perfect manner the blending of the varied powers of the orchestra with the voice, without ever allowing the former to encroach on the latter. The story of his composing the Requiem deserves mentioning here. IMozart's intense applica- tion to keep the wolf from his doors, and to avoid trouble on account of the many papers that came to him show- ing " res angusta dorai" (warrants for debt), had brought on a state of melancholy from which nothing could arouse him, and he was full of terror at his approach- ing end. One day, while plunged in a profound reve- rie, a stranger of dignified manners was announced, who communicated the wishes of some unknown person of exalted rank that he should compose a solemn mass for the repose of the soul of one tenderly beloved, whom he had just lost. An air of mystery pervaded the inter- view; the composer was exhorted to exercise all his genius ; and he engaged to finish his work in a month, when the stranger promised to return. He disappeared, and Mozart instantly commenced writing. Day and night were uninterruptedly occupied ; but he was con- sumed by gloomy presages, and at length exclaimed ab- ruptly to his wife, in great agitation, " Certainly I am composing this requiem for myself^t will serve for my own funeral." Though his strength continued to fail, bis assiduity was unabated, and at length he was obliged to suspend the undertaking. At the appointed time the stranger returned. " I have found it impossible to keep my word," said Mozart; to which the stranger answered, " Give yourself no uneasiness. What longer time do you require?" Mozart replied, "Another month." The stranger now insisted on doubling the covenanted price, which he had paid down at the out- set, and retired. It was in vain that Mozart endeav- ored to trace him, and this, conjoined with other circum- stances, corroborated his belief that he was some su- pernatural being sent to announce the close of his mortal career. Nevertheless his labors were renewed, and the work at last was nearly completed within the stipulated period, when the mysterious stranger again returned ; but 3Iozart was no more. He died Dec. 5, 1791. In the intervals of his greater works, Mozart composed the majority of the orchestral symphonies, quartets, and quintets which are an almost indispen- sable part of the programme of every concert in the present day, besides masses as familiar in England and America as in Catholic Europe, innumerable piano-forte concertos and sonatas and detached vocal compositions, all of the most perfectly finished description. "The genius of IMozart in music," says Hogarth, " was sub- lime. By the number, variety, combination, and effect of his works he ranks in the highest class of modern masters. An air of delicacj^ and sentiment pervades the whole. Full and harmonious, they are altogether free from that meagreness and those capricious eccentrici- ties which betray the sterility of invention too common among musicians. The taste which they exhibit shows
that vulgar images were incompatible with his mind; it seems as if he knew that such a deformity is alike pernicious to science and the arts. . , . Mozart has been most successful in gloomj' passages, or those of rising grandeur; they according better with the ordinary train of his feelings. On almost all occasions he is more serious than comic in endeavoring to portray the pas- sions; and his love, it has been remarked, is rather sentimental than sportive. However simple the theme, however intricate its variations, his return is always natural, and the finale appropriate. Perhaps the celeb- rity of Mozart's music partly arises from the skilful management of his finales, for they invariably leave an agreeable impression. No one has surpassed him in the suitable distribution of the parts of his concerted pieces; for, understanding the precise qualities of every different instrument, nothing is appointed to any which is inconsistent with its character." "No composer has ever combined genius and learning in such perfect pro- portions ; none has ever been able to dignify the light- est and tritest forms by such profound scholarship, or at the moment when he was drawing most largely on the resources of musical science, to appear so natural, so spontaneous, and so thoroughly at liis ease" (Hullah). To Haydn Mozart always acknowledged his obligations ; but Haydn's obligations to Jlozart are at least as great. Haydn, though born twenty-four years earlier, survived Mozart eighteen years, and all his greatest works written after Mozart's death bear manifold traces of his influ- ence. Mozart is the first composer in whose works aU signs of the old tonality disappear; he is the father of the modern school. " Mozart," says Prof. J. K. Paine, "is rightly considered as the universal master. This universality is not only evinced in his complete mastery of every form of music, from a song to a symphony, from a simple dance to a solemn requiem, but in the rare adaptation of the national peculiarities of style— Italian, French, and German — to his own individuality. It was his mission to unite harmoniously and beautify these national elements. In his immortal works European music attained its concentration for the first and only time in history" (Lectures on jMusic, at the Boston Uni- versity, in 1874). In person Mozart did not exceed the middle size; he was thin and pale, and his health was always delicate. The expression of his countenance, without anj'thing striking, was exceedingly variable, and rather that of an absent-minded man. His habits were awkward, and his hands had been accustomed so incessantly to the piano that they seemed incapable of application to anything requiring address. He was of a mild and affectionate disposition : his mind was not un- cultivated, and the number of his works is a sufficient proof of his industry. His opinions of other composers were liberal, and he entertained the highest respect for Haydn in particular. " Believe me, sir," said he to an officious critic, who sought to demonstrate certain errors of that great master — " believe me, sir, were you and I amalgamated together, we should not afford materials for one Haydn." He was not insensible of the beauties of his own compositions ; and on the very day of his decease, calling for the Requiem, he had some parts of it performed by his bedside. See Holmes, The Life of Mozarf, including kis Correnpondence (Lond. 1845, 2 vols. 8vo) ; Jahn, Mozarfs Lehen (Leips. 1856, 4 vols. 8vo ; 2d ed. 18G7) ; Diiring, Mozart (Leips. and Paris, 1860) ; Nohl, Mozart's Briefe (Salzb. 1865 ; English version by Lady Wallace [Loiid. and N. Y. 1865, 2 vols. 18mo]); Oubilicheff, Mozart's Lehen u. Werke (Leips. 1873, 3 vols. 8vo) ; Hogarth's Musical Histoi-y, Biof/raphy, and Crit- icism (Lond. 1835, 12mo) ; Jiiger, Gallery of Gei-man Com^Msers, with Biographical and Critical Notices by E. F. Rimbault, LL.b. (Lond. 1875) ; For. Qu. Rev. Jan. 1846 ; Blachvood's Magazine, Nov. 1845, art. v ; Edinb. Rei: Apr. 1836, art. ii ; Edinb. Cyclop, s. v. ; Chambers's Cyclop, s. V. ; English Cyclop, s. v.