 Chapter 1 of Mozart, The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or how to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Mozart, The Man and the Artist as Revealed in His Own Words by Friedrich Kirst, translated by Henry Edward Cribill. Chapter 1, Brief Biographical Sketch The German composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791, was not only a musical genius, but was also one of the preeminent geniuses of the Western world. He defined in his music a system of musical thought and an entire state of mind that were unlike any previously experienced. A true child prodigy, he began composing at age five and rapidly developed his unmistakable style. By 18 he was composing works capable of altering the mind states of entire civilizations. Indeed, he and his predecessor Bach accomplished the Olympian feat of adding to the human concepts of civility and civilization. So these two were not just musical geniuses, but geniuses of the humanities. Mozart's music is civilization. It encompasses all that is humane about an idealized civilization. And it probably was Mozart's main purpose to create and propagate a concept of a great civilization through his music. He wanted to show his fellow Europeans with their garbage-polluted city streets, their violent monomaniacal leaders, and their stifling, nonhumane bureaucracies new ideas on how to run their civilizations properly. He wanted them to hear and feel a sense of civilized movement, of the musical expressions of man moving as he would if upholding the highest values of idealized societies. One only need listen to the revolutionary opening bars of his famous Einekleine Nachtmusik to see this. He was an extremely sophisticated and complex man. His letters reveal him as remarkably creative, fascinated by the arts, principled, religious, and devoted to his father. He had an energetic personality that was almost completely devoid of any cynicism, pessimism, or discouragement from creating music. While rumors suggest that he was a lascivious individual, there is no evidence of this at all in his letters. Quite the contrary, the evidence seems overwhelmingly to suggest the opposite, and that Mozart may not have had any relations with women except with his own wife. He was not as shrewd as he was civilized, however. He was peculiarly lax about profiting from his history-changing music. His promoters constantly shortchanged him. He died nearly penniless and in debt, and at his death, at age 35, an apathetic public took little notice of this man who had done so much in service to civilization. He was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave with few mourners. After his death, the bones of this great paragon of self-sacrifice for the sake of improving civilization were dug up and disposed of. His grave was then reused, and to this day no one knows where his bones lie. Perhaps they are in a catacomb somewhere in a huge bone pile containing thousands of anonymous cadavers. But the sounds he heard in his head live on stimulating millions in elevators, doctors' offices, train terminals, concert halls, and myriad other places to be more civilized, assuming that they pay attention to the music. End of Chapter 1 This recording by Aaron Elliott, St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 2 of Mozart, the man and the artist, as revealed in his own words. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or how to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Mozart, the man and the artist, as revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirst, is translated by Henry Edward Cribill. Chapter 2, Editors Note The purpose and scope of this little book will be obvious to the reader from even a cursory glance at its contents. It is, anyway, an autobiography of Mozart written without conscious purpose and, for that reason, peculiarly winning, illuminating, and convincing. All the outward things in Mozart's life are all but ignored in it, but there is a frank and full disclosure of the great musician's artistic, intellectual, and moral character made in his own words. The editor has not only taken the trouble to revise the work of the German author and compiler, but, for reasons which seemed to him imperative, has also made a new translation of all the excerpts. Most of the translations of Mozart's letters, which have found their way into the book's betray, want of familiarity with the idioms and colloquialisms employed by Mozart, as well as understanding of his careless, contradictory, and sprawling, epistolary style. Some of the intimacy of that style the new translation seeks to preserve, but the purpose has chiefly been to make the meaning plain. H.E.K. New York, June 7th, 1905. End of Chapter 2. This recording by Aaron Elliott, St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 3 of Mozart, the man and the artist, as revealed in his own words. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or how to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Mozart, the man and the artist, as revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirst, translated by Henry Edward Kreibel. Chapter 3. The Significance of Mozart. Mozart, what a radiance streams from the name. Bright and pure as the light of the sun, Mozart's music greets us. We pronounce his name and behold, the youthful artist is before us, the merry, light-hearted smile upon his features, which belongs only to true and naive genius. It is impossible to imagine an aged Mozart, an embittered and saddened Mozart, glowering gloomily at a wicked world which is doing its best to make his lot still more burdensome. A Mozart whose music should reflect such painful moods. Mozart was a child of the sun. Filled with a humor truly divine, he strolled unconstrainedly through a multitude of cares like Prince Tamino through his fantastic trials. Music was his talisman, his magic flute with which he could exorcise all the petty terrors that beset him. Has such a man and artist one who is completely resolved in his works and therefore still stands bodily before us with all his glorious qualities after the lapse of a century? Has Mozart still something to say to us who have just stepped timidly into a new century separated by another from that of the composer? Much, very much. Many prophets have arisen since Mozart's death, two of them have moved us profoundly with their evangel. One of them knew all the mysteries and nature took away his hearing lest he proclaim too much. We followed him into all the depths of the world of feeling. The other shook us awake and placed us in the hurly-burly of national life and striving, pointing to his own achievements. He said, if you wish it, you have now a German art. The one was Beethoven, the other Wagner. Because their music demands of us that we share with it its experiences and struggles, we are the guiding spirits of a generation which has grown up in combat and is expecting an unknown world of combat beyond the morning mist of the new century. But we are in the case of the man in the fairy tale who could not forget the merry tune of the forest bird which he had heard as a boy. We readily permit ourselves to be led occasionally out of the rude realities that surround us into a beautiful world that knows no care but lies forever bathed in the sunshine of the cloudless happiness, a world in which every loveliness of which fancy has dreamed has taken life and form. It is because of this that we make pilgrimages to the masterpieces of the plastic arts that we give heed to the speech of Schiller, listen to the music of Mozart. When wearied by the stress of life, we gladly hide to Mozart that he may tell us stories of that land of beauty and convince us that there are other and better occupations than the worries and combats of the fleeting hour. This is what Mozart has to tell us today. In spite of Wagner, he has an individual mission to fulfill which will keep him immortal. That of which Lessing convinces us only with expenditure of many words sounds clear and irresistible in the magic flute, the longing for light and day. Therefore there is something like the glory of daybreak in the tones of Mozart's opera. It is wafted towards us like the morning breeze which dispels the shadows and invokes the sun. Mozart remains ever young. One reason is because death laid hold of him in the middle of his career. While all the world was still gazing expectedly upon him, he vanished from the earth and left no hope deceived. His was the enviable fate of a Raphael, Schiller, and Korner. As the German Tischumann's utterance thinks of Beethoven when he speaks the word symphony, so the name of Mozart in his mind is associated with the conception of things youthful, bright, and sunny. Schumann was fully conscious of a purpose when he called out, do not put Beethoven in the hands of young people too early, refresh, and strengthen them with a fresh and lusty Mozart. Another time he writes, does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them? The more we realize that Wagner places a heavy and intoxicating draft before us, the more we shall appreciate the precious mountain spring which laves us in Mozart's music, and the less willing we shall be to permit any opportunity to pass unimproved which offers us the crystal cup. In the mind of Gerritus Genius, we summed up in the name of Mozart. In a prophetic ecstasy he spoke the significant words, what else is genius than the productive power through which deeds arise worthy of standing in the presence of God and nature, and which for this reason bear results and are lasting? All the creations of Mozart are of this class. Within them there is a generative force which is transplanted from generation to generation and is not likely soon to be exhausted or devoured. End of Chapter 3. This recording by Aaron Elliott, St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 4 of Mozart, the man and the artist as revealed in his own words. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or how to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Mozart, the man and the artist as revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirst, translated by Henry Edward Kreibel. Chapter 4, Chips from the Workshop. 1. If one has the talent, it pushes for utterance and torments one it will out and then one is out with it without questioning. And look you, there is nothing in his thing of learning out of books. Here, here and here, pointing to his ear, his head and his heart, is your school. If everything is right there, then take your pen and down with it. Afterward ask the opinion of a man who knows his business. To a musically talented boy who asked Mozart how one might learn to compose. 2. I cannot write poetically, I am no poet. I cannot divide and subdivide my phrases so as to produce light and shade, I am no painter. I cannot even give expression to my sentiments and thoughts by gestures and pantomime, I am no dancer. But I can do it with tones, I am a musician. I wish you might live till there is nothing more to be said in music. Manheim, November 8, 1777 in a letter of congratulation to his father who was born on November 14, 1719. Despite his assertion Mozart was an admirable dancer and passionately devoted to the sport. So says Herr Kirst, obviously misconceiving Mozart's words. It is plain to me that the composer had the classic definition of the dance in mind when he said that he was no dancer. The dance of which he was thinking was that described by Charles Kingsley. A dance in which every motion was a word and rest as eloquent as motion, in which every attitude was a fresh motive for a sculptor of the purest school and the highest physical activity was manifested not as in coarse pantomime in fantastic bounds and unnatural distortions, but in perpetual delicate modulations of a stately and self-sustained grace. H.E.K. 3. The poets almost remind me of the trumpeters with their tricks of handicraft. If we musicians were to stick as faithfully to our rules, which were very good as long as we had no better, we should make as worthless music as they make worthless books. Vienna, October 13, 1781 to his father. He is writing about the libretto of Die Untfrog Ostem-Serral by Stephanie. The trumpeters at the time still made use of certain flourishes which had been traditionally preserved in their guild. 4. I have spared neither care nor labor to produce something excellent for Prague. Moreover, it is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied. A remark to conductor Kouchars in Prague who led the rehearsals for Don Giovanni in 1787. 5. They are indeed the fruit of long and painstaking labor, but the hope which some of my friends aroused in me that my work would be rewarded at least in part has given me courage and the flattering belief that these my offspring will someday bring me comfort. From the dedication of the six quartets to Haydn in 1785. The quartets were sent back to the publisher Artaria from Italy because they contained so many misprints. The unfamiliar chords and dissonances were looked upon as printer's errors. Krasalkowicz, a Hungarian prince, thought his musicians were playing faultily in some of these passages and when he learned differently, he tore the music in pieces. 6. I cannot deny but must confess that I shall be glad when I receive my release from this place. Giving lessons here is no fun. You must work yourself pretty tired and if you don't give a good many lessons you will make but little money. You must not think that it is laziness, no, but it goes counter to my genius, counter to my mode of life. You know that, so to speak, I am wrapped up in music that I practice it all day long that I like to speculate, study, consider. All this is prevented by my mode of life here. I shall, of course, have some free hours but they will be so few that they will be necessary more for recuperation than work. Paris, July 31, 1778, to his father. 7. M. Lagros brought the symphony concertate of me. He thinks that he is the only one who has it, but that isn't so. It is still fresh in my head and as soon as I get home, I'll write it down again. Paris, October 3, 1778, to his father. And evidence of the retentiveness of Mozart's memory. In this instance, however, he did not carry out his expressed intention. Lagros was director of the concert's spirituals. 8. Melody is the essence of music. I compare a good melodist to a fine racer and counterpointists to hack post-horses. Therefore, be advised, let well-lone and remember the old Italian proverb. Cisapui mensosa. Who knows most, knows least. To the English tenor Michael Kelly, about 1786, in answer to Kelly's question whether or not he should take up the study of counterpoint. 9. One of the priests gave me a theme. I took it on a promenade and in the middle, the fugue was in G minor, I began in the major with something jacos, but in the same tempo, finally the theme again, but backwards. Finally, I wondered if I might not use the playful melody as a theme for a fugue. I did not question long, but made it at once, and it went as accurately as if Dassur had measured it for the purpose. The dean was beside himself. Augsburg, October 23, 1777, to his father. Dassur was a tailor in Salzburg. Ten, above us is a violinist, below us another, next door a singing teacher who gives lessons, and in the last room opposite ours, a haughtboyist. Merry conditions for composing, you get so many ideas. Milan, August 23, 1771, to his dearest sister. 11. If I but had the theme on paper, worked out of course, it is too silly that we have got to hatch out our work in a room. A remark to his wife while driving through a beautiful bit of nature and humming all manner of ideas that came into his head. 12. I'd be willing to work forever and forever if I were permitted to write only such music as I want to write and can write, which I myself think good. 13. You can do a thing of the kind. Written in 1789 to a baron who was his friend and who had submitted a symphony for his judgment. F. A. Hoffmeister was a composer and publisher in Vienna. 13. You can do a thing like this for the piano forte but not for the theatre. When I wrote this I was still too fond of hearing my own music and never could make an end. A remark to Roschlitz while revisiting and abbreviating the principal air in D. Infrung. 14. You know that I had already finished the first Allegro on the second day after my arrival here and consequently had seen Mademoiselle Kennebiche only once. Then came young Donner and asked me how I intended to write the Andante. 15. I will make it fit the character of Mademoiselle Rose. When I played it it pleased immensely. I was right. She is just like the Andante. Manheim. December 6, 1777 to his father. Rose Kennebiche was a pupil of Mozart's aged 13 and very talented. She is very sensible for her age, has a staid manner, is serious, speaks little, but when she does speak it is with grace and amubility. It is also related of Beethoven that he sometimes delineated persons musically. Also Schumann. H.E.K. 15. I have composed a quintet for oboe, clarinet, horn, bassoon, and piano forte, which has been received with extraordinary favour. I myself think of the best thing I ever wrote in my life. Vienna. April 10, 1784 to his father. 16. As an exercise I have set the aria non sol di onde vien, which Bach composed so beautifully. I did it because I know Bach so well, and the aria pleases me so much that I can't get it out of my head. I wanted to see whether or not, in spite of these things, I was able to make an aria that should not be a bit like Bach's. It isn't a bit, not a bit like it. Manheim. February 28, 1778 to his father. The lovely aria is number 294 in Kershal's catalogue. The Bach, referred to, was Johann Christian, the London Bach. 17. I have it to single quiet hour here. I cannot write except at night, and consequently cannot get up early. One is not always in the mood for writing. Of course I could scribble all day long, but these things go out into the world, and I want not to be ashamed of myself when I see my name on them. And then, as you know, I become stupid as soon as I am obliged to write for an instrument that I cannot endure. Occasionally for the sake of a change, I have composed something else, piano forte duets with the violin, and a bit of the mass. Manheim. February 14, 1778 to his father. Mozart was ill-disposed toward the piano forte at the time. His love for Aloysia Weber occupied the most of his attention in time. 18. Herewith I am sending you a prelude and a three-voiced fugue, Kershal number 394. As awkwardly written, the prelude must come first and a fugue follow. The reason for its appearance is because I had made the fugue and wrote it out while I was thinking out the prelude. Vienna, April 20, 1782 to his sister Marianne. Here Mozart gives us evidence of his manner of composing. He worked out his compositions completely in his mind and was then able, even after considerable time, had elapsed to write them down in which proceeding nothing could disturb him. In the case before us, while engaged in the more or less mechanical labor of transcription, he thought out a new composition. Concerning the fugue and its origin, he continues to gossip in the same letter. 19. The cause of this fugue seeing the light of this world is my dear Constanze. Baron von Sweden, to whom I go every Sunday, let me carry home all the works of Handel and Sebastian Bach after I had played them through for him. Constanze fell in love with the fugues as soon as she had heard them. She doesn't want to hear anything but fugues, especially those of Handel and Bach. Having often heard me improvise fugues, she asked me if I had never written any down and when I said no, she gave me a good scolding for not being willing to write the most beautiful things in music and did not cease her begging until I had composed one for her and so it came about. I purposefully wrote the indication on Dante mestoso so that it should not be played too rapidly, for unless a fugue is played slowly, the entrance of the subject will not be distinctly and clearly heard and the piece will be ineffective. As soon as I find time and opportunity, I shall write five more. Vienna, April 20, 1782, to his sister Marianne. Consult number 93. Mozart's remark that he carried home all the works of Handel and Bach must of course be read as meaning all that were in print at the time. H.E.K. 20. I have no small amount of work ahead of me. By Sunday week I must have my opera arranged for military band or somebody will be ahead of me and carry away the profits and I must also write a new symphony. How will that be possible? You have no idea how difficult it is to make such an arrangement so that it shall be adapted to wind instruments and yet lose nothing of its effect. Well, I shall have to do the work at night. Vienna, July 20, 1782, to his father who had asked for a symphony for the Hefner family in Salzburg. The opera referred to is D.U.N.Throng aus dem Serrau. 21. I was firmly resolved to write the adagio for the clockmaker at once so that I might drop a few ducats into the hands of my dear little wife. And I began it but was unlucky enough because I hate such work not to be able to finish it. I write at it every day but have to drop it because it bores me. If the reason for its existence were not such a momentous one, rest assured I should let the thing drop. I hope, however, to force it through in time. Ah, yes, if it were a large clockwork with a sound like an organ, I'd be glad to do it. But as it is, the thing is made up of tiny pipes only which sound too shrill and childish for me. Frankfurt on the main. October 3, 1790. To his wife. A piece for an organ in a clock. Cursals catalog number 594. It was probably ordered by Count Diem for his waxworks museum on the occasion of the death of the famous field marshal, Loudon. The dominant mood of Serrau prevails in the first movement. The Allegro is in Handel's style. End of Chapter 4. This recording by Aaron Elliott, St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 5 of Mozart. The man and the artist as revealed in his own words. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or how to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Mozart, the man and the artist as revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirst, translated by Henry Edward Kreibil. Chapter 5. Concerning the Opera. When he was 22 years old, Mozart wrote to his father, I am strongly filled with the desire to write an opera. Often does he speak of this ambition. It was, in fact, his true and individual field as the symphony was that of Beethoven. He took counsel with his father by letter, touching many details in his earlier operas, wherefor we are advised about their origin and what is more to the purpose about Mozart's fine aesthetic judgment. His four operatic masterpieces are imperishable and a few words about them are in place, particularly since Mozart has left numerous and interesting comments on Die Unfrug aus dem Sural. This first German opera he composed with the confessed purpose of substituting a work designed for the national lyric stage for the conventional and customary Italian opera. Despite its Hispano-Turkish color, the work is so ingenious, so German in feeling, and above all so full of German humor that the success was unexampled and Mozart could write to his father, the people are daft over my opera. Here, at the very outset, Mozart's humor, the golden one of all the gifts with which Mother Nature had endowed him was called into play. With this work, German comic opera took its beginning. As has been remarked, although it has been imitated, it has never been surpassed in its musically comic effects. The delightfully falstaffian figure of Osmin, most ingenuously characterized in the music, will create merriment for all time and the opera acquires a new, personal, and peculiarly amiable charm from the fact that we are privileged to see in the lovejoy of Belmont and Constanzi the image of that of the young composer in his Stanze Earl. After Die Infraug, 1782, came Lenoze di Figaro, 1786, Don Giovanni, 1787, and Dysalberflot, 1791. It would be a vain task to attempt to establish any internal relationship between these works. Mozart was not like Wagner, a strong personality capable of devoting a fulsome of vital force to the carrying out of a chosen and approved principle. As is generally the case with geniuses, he was a child, a child led by momentary conditions, moreover a child of the Rococo period. There is therefore no cause of wonderment in the fact that Italian texts are again used in Lenoze di Figaro and Don Giovanni, and that another but this time a complete German opera does not appear until we reach Dysalberflot. Nevertheless, it is possible to note a development towards a climax in the four operas respecting Mozart's conception of the world. It has been denied that there is a single red thread in Mozart's life work. Nevertheless, our method of study will disclose to us an ever-growing view of human lift and a deeper and deeper glimpse into the emotional and intellectual life of man, his aims, and destiny. For the almost commonplace conditions of Die Unfrug, where a rascal sings in the best of humor of first beheading and then hanging a man, we reach a plane in the marriage of Figaro in which, despite the refinement and mitigation of Beaumarchet's indictment, we feel the revolutionary breeze freshly blowing. In Don Giovanni, we see the individual set up in opposition to God and the world in order that he fulfill his destiny or live out his life as the popular phrase goes today. Here, the tremendous tragedy which lies in the story has received a musical expression quite without parallel, notwithstanding the moderation exercised in the employment of means. In Die Zulberflot, finally, we observe the clarification which follows the fermentation. Here, we breathe the pure, clear atmosphere of heaven, the atmosphere within which he can live, who has freed himself from selfish desire, thus gaining internal peace and who recognizes his ego only in the happiness and welfare of others. 22. I have an unspeakable desire to compose another opera. In Italy, one can acquire more honor and credit with an opera than with a hundred concerts in Germany, and I am the happier because I can compose which, after all, is my one joy and passion. I am beside myself as soon as I hear anybody talk about an opera sit in a theater or hear singing. Munich, October 11, 1777. To his father, reporting an expectation of making a position for himself in Italy. 23. I beg of you, do your best that we may go to Italy. You know my greatest longing to write operas. Do not forget my wish to write operas. I am envious of every man who composes one. I could almost weep from chagrin whenever I hear or see an aria. But Italian, not German. Saria, not Bufa. Mannheim, February 2, 1778. To his father. Mozart wanted to go with the Weber family. He was in love with Aloysia, his future sister-in-law, to Italy while his father was desirous that he should go to Paris. 24. I am strongly possessed by the desire to write an opera. French rather than German, but Italian rather than either German or French. Wendlings associates are all of the opinion that my compositions would please extraordinarily in Paris. One thing is certain. I would not fear the test. As you know, I am able to assimilate and imitate pretty much all styles of composition. Mannheim, February 7, 1778. To his father. Wendling was a floutist in Mannheim. 25. I assure you that if I get a commission to compose an opera, I shall not be frightened. True, the French language is of the Devil's own making and I fully appreciate all the difficulties that composers have encountered, but I feel myself as capable of overcoming them as any other composer. I'll contraire. When I convince myself that all is well with my opera I feel as if my body were a fire, my hands and feet tremble with desire to make the Frenchman value and fear the German. Why is no Frenchman ever commissioned to write a grand opera? Why must it always be a foreigner? In any case, the most unendurable thing would be the singers. Well, I'm ready. I shall begin no dickerlings, but if I am challenged I shall know how to defend myself, but I should prefer to get along without a duel. I do not like to fight with dwarves. Paris, July 31, 1778. To his father. 26. Do you imagine that I would write an opera kamik in the same manner as an opera sariah? There must be as little learning and seriousness in an opera boufa as there must be much of these elements in an opera sariah, but all the more of playfulness and merriment. I am not responsible for the fact that there is a desire also to hear comic music in an opera sariah. The difference is sharply drawn here. I find that the buffoon has not been banished for music, and in this respect, the French are right. Vienna, June 16, 1781. To his father. Mozart draws the line of demarcation sharply between tragedy and comedy in opera. Shakespeare has taught us to accept an infusion of the comic element in plays of a serious cast, but Shakespeare was an innovator, a romanticist, and measured by old standards, his dramas are irregular. The Italians who followed classic models for a reason amply explained by the genesis of the art form rigorously excluded comedy from serious operas except as intermezzi until they hit upon a third classification, which they called opera semisariah, in which a serious subject was enlivened with comic episodes. Our dramatic tastes being grounded in Shakespeare, we should be inclined to put down Don Giovanni as a musical tragedy or haunted by the Italian terminology as opera semisariah, but Mozart calls it opera bufa, more in deference to the librettist's work I fancy than his own. How to Listen to Music, page 221, H.E.K. 27. In opera, willy-nilly, poetry must be the obedient daughter of music. Why do Italian operas please everywhere, even in Paris, as I have been a witness despite the wretchedness of their librettos? Because in them, music rules and compels us to forget everything else. All the more must an opera please in which the plot is well carried out and the words are written simply for the sake of the music and not here and there to please some miserable rhyme which, God knows, adds nothing to a theatrical representation but more often harms it. Versus are the most indispensable thing in music that rhymes for the sake of rhymes the most injurious. Those who go to work so pendantically will assuredly come to grief along with the music. It were best if a good composer who understands the stage and is himself able to suggest something and a clever poet could be united in one like a phoenix. Again, one must not fear the applause of the unknowing. The utterance is notable as showing Mozart's belief, touching the relationship between text and music, he places himself in opposition to Gluck whose ideas were at a latter day accepted by Wagner. It was my intention to confine music to its true dramatic province of assisting poetical expression and of augmenting the music without interrupting the action or chilling it with useless and superfluous ornaments for the office of music when joined to poetry seemed to me to resemble that of coloring in a correct and well-disposed design where the lights and shades only seem to animate the figures without altering the outline. Gluck, in his book, of Alsist to the Grand Duke of Tuscany. The error in the genre of opera consists herein that a means of expression, music has been made the end while the end of expression, the drama, has been made a means. Wagner, opera and drama. H-E-K. 28. Noto bene, what has always seemed unnatural in an aria, are the asides. In speech one can easily and quickly throw in a few words in an aside, but in an aria in which the words must be repeated, the effect is bad. Munich, November 8, 1780, to his father. Mozart had been invited to Munich to compose an opera, Idomeneo Redi Creta, for the Carnival of 1781. In contra distinction to the observations touching poetry and music in the preceding paragraph, this remark shows that he nevertheless had a sense of dramatic propriety. He accepted the form as he found it, but protested against the fact that he found it, but protested against the things which stood in the way of its vitalization. H-E-K. 29. The second duet will be cut out entirely more for the good than the harm of the opera. You shall see for yourself if you read over the scene that it would be weakened and cooled by an aria or duet, which, moreover, would be extremely annoying to the other actors who would have to stand around for nothing to do besides the magnanimous contest between Elia and Idomante would become too long and therefore lose in value. Munich, November 13, 1780, to his father. The reference is to the opera Idomeneo. 30. It will be better to write a recitative under which the instruments can do some good work, for in this scene, which is to be the best in the whole opera, there will be so much noise and confusion on the stage that an aria would cut but a sorry figure. Moreover, there will be a thunderstorm which is not likely to cease out of respect for an aria and the effect of a recitative between two choruses will be incomparably better. Munich, November 15, to his father. Mozart was at work on Idomeneo. 31. Don't you think that the speech of the subterranean voice is too long? Think it over carefully. Imagine the scene on the stage. The voice must be terrifying. It must be impressive. One must believe it real. How can this be so if the speech is too long, the length itself convincing the listener of the fictitiousness of the scene? If the speech of the ghost in Hamlet were not so long, it would be more effective. Vienna, November 29, 1780, to his father, who had made the following suggestions respecting the opera Idomeneo. Idomante and Elia have a short quarrel near the close of the opera in a few words of recitative which is interrupted by a subterranean noise whereupon the oracle speaks also from the depths. The voice and the accompaniment must be moving terrifying and most extraordinary. It ought to make a masterpiece of harmony. 32. In a word, far-fetched or unusual words are always out of place in an agreeable aria. Moreover, I should like to have the aria suggest only restfulness and satisfaction. And if it consisted of only one part, I should still be satisfied. In fact, I should prefer to have it so. Munich, December 5, 1780, to his father. Idomeneo is still the subject of discussion. 33. As to the matter of popularity, be unconcerned. There is music in my opera for all sorts of persons, but none for long years. Munich, December 16, 1780, to his father, who had expressed a fear that Mozart would not write down to the level of his public. On December 11, his father had written, I recommend you not to think in your work only of the musical, public, but also of the unmusical. You know that there are a hundred ignorant people for every ten true connoisseurs, so do not forget what is called popular and tickle the long ears. H.E.K. 34. I have had a good deal of trouble with him about the quartet. The oftener I fancy it performed on the stage, the more effective it seems to me. And it has pleased all who have heard it on the piano forte. Rafe alone thinks it will make no effect. He said to me in private, nonchida spianar la voce, it is too curt, as if we should not speak more than we sing in a quartet. He has no understanding of such things. I said to him simply, my dear friend, if I knew a single note which might be changed in this quartet, I would change it at once. But I have not been so completely satisfied with anything in the opera as I am with this quartet. When you have heard it sung together, you will talk differently. I have done my best to fit you with the two arias. We'll do it again with the third and hope to succeed. But you must let the composer have his own way in trios and quartets. Whereupon he was satisfied. Recently he was vexed because of one of the words in his best aria. Ryn Vigorir and Ryn Guavenir, particularly Vien Mi Ryn Vigorir, Five Eyes. It is true, it is very unpleasant at the conclusion of an aria. Munich, December 27, 1780, to his father. Reif was the principal singer in the opera Ido Mineo, which Mozart had been commissioned by the Elector for Munich. The observation shows how capable Mozart was of appreciating foreign criticism. 35. My head and hands are so full of the third act that it would not be strange if I were myself transformed into a third act. It has cost me more care than an entire opera for there is scarcely a scene in it which is not interesting. The accompaniment for the sub-training voice consists of five voices only, three trombones and two French horns, which are placed at the point from which the voice proceeds. At this moment the whole orchestra is silent. Munich, January 3, 1781, to his father, whom in the same letter he invites to Munich to hear the opera. 36. After the chorus of Morning, the king, the populace, everybody leaves the stage and the next scene begins with the directions Ido Mineo in Gina Chione, Nel Tempio, Idominius kneeling in the temple. That will never do. He must come with all his following. That necessitates a march and I have composed a very simple one for two violins, viola, bass, and two oboes, which is to be played a mezzavoce during which the king enters and the priests make the preparations for the sacrifice. Then the king sinks on his knees and begins his prayer. In Lectra's recitative, after the sub-training voice, the word partono, they go, should be written in. I forgot to look at the copy made for the printer and do not know whether or how the direction has been written in. It seems silly to me that everybody should hurry away only in order to leave Mademoiselle Electra alone. Munich, January 3, 1781, to his father. 37. I am glad to compose the book. The time is short. It is true, for it must be performed about the middle of September, but the circumstances connected with the performances and a number of other purposes are of such a character that they enliven my spirits in such a degree that are hurried to my writing desk and remain seated there with great joy. Vienna, August 1, 1781, to his father. The opera referred to is Die Unferrug Ostem Serei. The works were the court festivals which were to celebrate the coming of the Russian Grand Duke from which Mozart, as was his want, expected all manner of future benefits. 38. As regards the work of Stephanie, you are right, of course, but nevertheless the poetry is well-fitted to the character of the stupid chorus and malicious osmine. I know full well that the style of the verse is none of the best but it has so adjusted itself to the musical thoughts which were promenading in my brain in advance that the lines had to please me and I will wager there will be no disappointment at the performance. So far as the songs are concerned they are not to be despised. Belmont's aria, Ovi Angstlitz, could scarcely have been written better for music. Vienna, October 13, 1781 to his father. Stephanie was the author of the libretto of the Undfrag Ostem Serei. 39. An aria has been written for osmine in the first act. You have seen only the beginning and end of it which must be effective the range of osmine is made ridiculous by the use of Turkish music. In developing the aria I have given him, Fischer, a bass a chance to show his beautiful low tones. By the beard of the prophet remains in the same tempo but has quicker notes and as his anger grows continually when one thinks that the aria is come to an end the Allegro assai must make the best kind of an effect when it enters in a different measure and key. Here is the reason. A man who is in such a violent rage oversteps all order, all moderation he forgets himself and the music must do the same. In as much as the passions whether violent or not must never be carried in their expression to the verge of disgust and music even in the most awful situations must not offend the ear but always please consequently always remain music I have not chosen a key foreign to F i.e. the key of the aria but a related one not the nearest D minor but the more distant A minor. You know how I have given expression to Belmont's aria There is a suggestion of the beating heart the violins in octaves. This is the favorite aria of all who have heard it of myself as well and is written right into the voice of her. One can see the reeling and trembling one can see the heaving breast which is illustrated by a crescendo one hears the lispings and sighs expressed by the muted violins with flute in unison. The Janissari chorus is as such all that could be asked short and jolly written to suit the Viennese. Vienna September 26 1781 to his father. Concerning the composition of Die Undrung Mozart delivered himself at greater length and more explicitly than about any other opera. From the above excerpt one can learn his notions touching musical characterization and delineation. Turkish music or Janissari music is that in which the percussion effects of oriental music are imitated music utilizing the large drum symbols etc. H.E.K. 40 The close will make a deal of noise and that is all that is necessary for the end of an act. The noisier the better the shorter the better so that the people shall not get too cool to applaud. Vienna September 26 41 to his father. The trio at the end of the first act is the finale referred to. 41 My opera is to be performed again next Friday, but I have protested against it as I do not want it to be written to death at once. The public I may say are daft about this opera. It does a fellow good to receive such applause. Vienna 27 1782 to his father. 42 My opera was performed again yesterday this time at the request of Gluck. Gluck paid me many compliments on it. I am to dine with him tomorrow. Vienna August 7 1782 to his father. How Mozart and Gluck differed in principle on the relation between text and music the reader has already had an opportunity to learn. H.E.K. 43 The most necessary thing is that the whole be really comical, then if possible there should be two equally good female parts one Seria, the other Mezzo Caratteri, but one must be as good as the other. The third woman may be all Bufa, also all the men if necessary. Vienna May 7 1783 to his father in Salzburg where the Abe Viresco was to write an opera libretto. 44 It would be a pity if I should have composed this music for nothing that is to say if no regard is to be shown for things that are absolutely essential. Neither you nor Abe Viresco nor I reflected that it be a bad thing that the opera will be a failure in fact if neither of the principal women appears on the scene until the last minute, but both are kept promenading on the bastion of the fortress. I credit the audience with patience enough for one act, but it would never endure the second. It must not be. Vienna December 6, 1783 to his father the opera in question entitled La Oca del Cairo was never finished. 45 Abe Viresco has written over the cavatina for Levina a qui servira la musica de la cavatina an sedente that is the cavatina of Celadora, but that will never do. In Celadora's cavatina the words are comfortless and hopeless while in Levina's cavatina they are full of comfort and hope. Moreover, it is hackneyed and no longer customary habit to let one singer echo the song of another. At best it might only be done by a subret and her sweetheart at Ultimi Parti. Vienna December 24, 1783 to his father the Italian phrase is a direction that the music of a preceding cavatina might be used for a second cavatina. 46 It is much more natural since they have all come to an agreement in the quadreto to carry out their plan of attack that the men leave the stage to gather their helpers together and the women quietly retire to their retreat. This is one of the few lines of recitative Vienna December 24, 1783 to his father the situation referred to us in Varresco's opera which never reached completion 47 At 6 o'clock I drove with Count Canal to the so-called Breitfeldischen Ball where the pick of the beauties of Prague are in the habit of walking. That would have been something for you my friend, I fancy seeing you not walking but limping after all the pretty girls and women. I did not dance neither did I spoon the first because I was too tired the second because of my congenital bashfulness. But I saw with great pleasure how all these people hopped about delightedly to the music of my Figaro. Here nothing is talked about except Figaro. Nothing played, piped, sung or whistled except Figaro. No opera is attended except Figaro always Figaro. Certainly a great honor for me. Prague, January 15, 1787 to a friend whose name is unknown. 48 Don Giovanni was not written for my knees, rather for the people of Prague but most of all for me and my friends. Reported by Nissen who also relates that Mozart often said the Bohemians are the ones who understand me. When Lenoxy de Figaro received an enthusiastic reception in Prague Mozart said because the Bohemians understand me so well I must write an opera for them. The opera was Don Giovanni. 49 I am just home from the opera it was as crowded as ever. The duet Man und Wiebe and the bells in the first act were repeated as usual also the trio of the boys in the second act but what delights me most is the silent applause. It is easy to see how this opera is ever rising. Vienna October 7 1791 to his wife the opera was De Zauberflot End of Chapter 5 this recording by Aaron Elliott, St. Louis, Missouri. Chapter 6 of Mozart the man and the artist as revealed in his own words this is a Libervox recording all Libervox recordings are in the public domain for more information or how to volunteer please visit Libervox.org Mozart the man and the artist as revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirsch translated by Henry Edward Kreibo Chapter 6 Musical pedagogics 50 Erstein is completely left on the subject of his daughter she is eight years old and learns everything by heart something may come of her for she has talent but not if she goes on as she is doing now she will never acquire velocity because she purposefully makes her hand heavy she will never learn the most necessary most difficult and principal thing in music that is time because from childhood she has designedly cultivated the habit of ignoring the beat Augsburg October 23 1777 to his father Nanette Stein afterward married Andrea Straiture who was Schiller's companion in his flight to Franconia as Frau Straiture she became Beethoven's faithful friend and frequently took it upon herself to straighten out his domestic affairs 51 if she does not get some thoughts and ideas for now she has absolutely none it will all be in vain for God knows I cannot give her any it is not her father's intention to make a great composer out of her she shall, he says, not write any operas or arias or symphonies but only great sonatas for her instrument and mine I gave her her fourth lesson today and so far as the rules of composition and her exercises are concerned I am pretty well satisfied with her she wrote a very good base to the first minuet which I set her and has already begun to write in three parts it goes but she gets bored too quickly I cannot help her progress is impossible too young even if she had talent unfortunately she has none she must be taught artificially she has no ideas there are no results I have tried in every sort of way among other things it occurred to me to write down a very simple minuet and to see if she could write a variation on it in vain well thought I it is because I then began a variation of the first measure and told her to continue it in the same manner that went fairly well when she had made an end I asked her to begin something of her own only the first voice a melody she thought a quarter of an hour and nothing came there upon I wrote four measures of a minuet and said to her now look what an ass I am I have begun a minuet and can't finish the first part be good enough to finish it for me she thought it impossible at length she produced a little something to my joy then I made her finish the minuet i.e. only the first voice for her homework I have given her nothing to do except to alter my four measures and make something out of them to invent another beginning to keep to the harmony if she must but to write a new melody we shall see what comes of it tomorrow Paris May 14 1778 to his father the pupil was the daughter of the Duke de Geens an excellent flautist she plays the harp magnificently writes Mozart in the same letter has a great deal of talent and genius and an incomparable memory she knows 200 pieces all by heart when it came to playing Mozart for the lessons the Duke was anything but a nobleman 52 the andante is going to give us the most trouble for it is full of expression and must be played with taste and accurately as written in the matter of forte and piano she is very clever and learns quickly the right hand is very good but the left utterly ruined I can say that I often pity her when I see that she is obliged to labor till she gasps not because she is unapped but because she can't help it she is used to playing so nobody ever taught her differently I said to her mother and her that if I were her regular teacher I would lock up all her music cover the keyboard with a handkerchief and make her practice both hands at first slowly on nothing but passages trills, mordents, etc. until the difficulty with the left hand was remedied after that I am sure I can make a real clavier player out of her it is a pity she has so much genius reads respectably has a great deal of natural fluency and plays with a great deal of feeling Mannheim November 16 1777 to his father was Rose Canabish to whom the sonata referred to is dedicated her father whom Mozart admired greatly as an able conductor was chapelmeister of the excellently trained orchestra at Mannheim he lived from 1731 to 1798 the andante from which trouble was expected was that which Mozart wrote with the purpose that it should reflect the character of Rose Canabish a lovely and amiable girl according to all accounts H.E.K 53 this E is very forced one can see that it was written only to go from one consonants to another in parallel motion just as bad poets write nonsense for the sake of a rhyme from the exercise book of the cousin of Abbey Stotler who took lessons in thorough base from Mozart in 1784 it is preserved in the court library in Vienna 54 my good lad you ask my advice and I will give it you candidly had you studied composition when you were at Naples and when your mind was not devoted to other pursuits you would perhaps have done wisely but now that your profession of the stage must and ought to occupy all your attention it would be an unwise measure to enter into a dry study you may take my word for it nature has made you a melodist and you would only disturb and perplex yourself reflect a little knowledge is a dangerous thing should there be errors in what you write you will find hundreds of musicians in all parts of the world capable of correcting them therefore do not disturb your natural gift to Michael Kelly the Irish tenor to whom Mozart assigned the parts of Basilio and Don Curzio at the first performance of Leonardo de Figaro in 1786 Kelly had asked Mozart whether or not he should study counterpoint three years later Kelly returned to England began his career as composer of musical pieces for the stage he was fairly prolific but failed to impress the public with the originality of his creative talent he went into the wine business which fact led Sheridan to make the witty suggestion that he inscribe over his shop Michael Kelly composer of wines and importer of music he was born in 1764 and died in 1826 H.E.K 55 this is generally the case with all who did not taste the rod or feel the teacher's tongue when boys and later think that they compel things to their wishes by mere talent and inclination many succeed fairly well but with other people's ideas having none of their own others who have ideas of their own do not know what to do with them that is your case in a letter written in 1789 to a noble friend criticizing a symphony 56 do not wonder at me it was not a caprice I noticed that most of the musicians were old men there would have been no end of dragging if I had not first driven them into the fire and made them angry out of pure rage they did their best reported by Rochelitz Mozart was rehearsing the Allegro of one of his symphonies in Leipzig he worked up such a fit of anger that he stamped his foot and broke one of his shoelaces his anger fled and he broke into a merry laugh right! that's the way to shriek at a rehearsal of Don Giovanni the representative of Zerlina did not act realistically enough to suit Mozart thereupon he went unnoticed on the stage and at the repetition of the scene grabbed the singer so rudely and unexpectedly that she involuntarily uttered the shriek which the scene called for the singer was Teresa Bondini the place Prague and the time before the performance of the opera which took place on October 29, 1787 H.E.K End of Chapter 6 this recording by Aaron Elliott St. Louis, Missouri Chapter 7 of The Man and the Artist as Revealed in his own words this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or how to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Mozart The Man and the Artist as Revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirst translated by Henry Edward Cribill Chapter 7 Touching Musical Performances 58 H.E.K sees and hears that I am more of a player than Beak that without making grimaces of any kind I play so expressively that according to his own confession no one shows off his piano forte as well as I that I always remain strictly in time surprises everyone they cannot understand that the left hand should not in the least be concerned in a temple rubato when they play the left hand always follows Augsburg October 23 1777 to his father we have here a suggestion of the temple rubato as played by Chopin according to the testimony of Mikuli who said that no matter how free Chopin was either in melody or arabesque with his right hand the left always adhered strictly to the time Mozart learned the principle from his father who in his method for the violin condemned the accompanists who spoiled the temple rubato of an artist by waiting to follow him H.E.K 59 whoever can see and hear her the daughter of Stein play without laughing must be a stone like her father she sits opposite the treble instead of in the middle of the instrument so that there may be greater opportunities for swaying about and making grimaces then she rolls up her eyes and smirks if a passage occurs twice it is played slower the second time if three times still slower when a passage comes up goes the arm and if there is to be an emphasis it must come from the arm heavily and clumsily not from the fingers but the best of all is that when there comes a passage which ought to flow like oil in which there necessarily occurs a change of fingers there is no need of taking care when the time comes you stop by the hand and nonchalantly begin again this helps one the better to catch a false note and the effect is frequently curious Augsburg October 23 1777 the letter is to his father and the young woman whose playing is criticized is the little miss of eight years Nenet Stein 60 when I told Hairstein that I would like to play on his organ and that I was passionately fond of the instrument he marveled greatly and said, what? a man like you so great a piano player want to play on an instrument which has no decor no expression neither piano nor forte but goes on always the same but all that signifies nothing to me the organ is nevertheless the king of instruments Augsburg October 171777 to his father 61 I have the pleasure to hear Herr Frausel whose wife is a sister of Madame Canabiche play a concerto on the violin he pleases me greatly you know that I am no great lover of difficulties he plays difficult things but one does not recognize that they are difficult questions that one could do the same thing at once that is true art he also has a beautiful round tone not a note is missing one hears everything everything is well marked he has a fine staccato bow up as well as down and I have never heard so good a double shake as his in a word though he is no wizard he is a solid violinist Manheim November 22 1777 to his father 62 wherein consists the art of playing prima vista in this to play in the proper tempo give expression to every note appogiatura etc tastefully and as they are written so as to create the impression that the player had composed the piece Manheim January 17 1778 to his father Mozart had just been sharply criticizing the player of Abe Vogler C number 66 63 I am at Heravon Aranhammers after dinner nearly every day the young woman is a fright but she plays ravishingly though she lacks the true singing style in the catabile she is too jerky Vienna June 27 1781 to his father Beethoven found the same fault with Mozart's playing that Mozart here condemns 64 Herr Richter plays much and well so far as execution is concerned but as you will hear crudely, laboriously and without taste or feeling he is one of the best fellows in the world and without a particle of vanity whenever I played for him he looked immovably at my fingers and one day he said my god how I am obliged to torment myself and sweat and yet without obtaining applause and for you my friend it is mere play yes said I had to labor once in order not to show labor now Vienna April 28 1784 to his father in Salzburg whether the pianist Richter whom he recommends to his father is going on a concert trip 65 Meisner as you know has the bad habit of purposefully taking his voice tremble marking thus entire quarter and eighth notes I never could endure it in him it is indeed despicable and contrary to all naturalness in song true the human voice trembles of itself but only in a degree that remains beautiful it is in the nature of the voice we imitate it not only on wind instruments but also on the viols and even on the clavier but as soon as you overstep the limit it is no longer beautiful because it is contrary to nature Paris June 12 1778 to his father the statement that the tremolo effect could be imitated on the clavier seems to require an explanation Mozart obviously had in view not the piano forte which was just coming into use in his day but the clavichord this instrument was sounded by striking the strings with bits of brass placed in the farther end of the keys which were simple and direct levers the tangents as they were called had to be held against the strings as long as it was desired that the tone should sound and by gently repeating the pressure on the key a tremulousness was imparted to the tone which made the clavichord a more expressive instrument than the harpsichord or the early piano forte the effect was called beibung in germany and balasment in french h e k 66 before dinner Herr Vogler dashed through my sonata prima vista he played the first movement prestissimo the andante allegro prestissimo with a vengeance as a rule he played a different bass than the one I had written and occasionally he changed the harmony as well as the melody that was inevitable for at such a speed the eyes cannot follow nor the hands grasp the music such playing at sight and are all one to me the hearers can say nothing more that they have seen music and cleaver playing you can imagine that it was all the more unendurable because I did not dare to say to him much too quick moreover it is much easier to play rapidly than slowly you can drop a few notes in passages without anyone noticing it but is it beautiful at such speed you can use the hands indiscriminately but is that beautiful Manheim January 17 1778 to his father 67 they hurry the temple trill or pile on the adornments because they can neither study nor sustain a tone recorded by Rochelitz as a criticism by Mozart of Italian singers in 1789 68 it is thus they think that they can infuse warmth and ardor into their singing if there is no fire in the composition you will surely never get it in by hurrying it according to Rochelitz Mozart used these words while complaining of the manner in which his compositions were ruined by exaggerated speed in the tempi End of Chapter 7 this recording by Aaron Elliott St. Louis, Missouri Chapter 8 of Mozart the man and the artist as revealed in his own words this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or how to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Mozart the man and the artist as revealed in his own words by Friedrich Kirst translated by Henry Edward Cribill Chapter 8 Expressions Critical 69 we wish that it were in our power to introduce the German taste in minuettes in Italy minuettes here last almost as long as whole symphonies Bologna September 22, 1770 to his mother and sister Mozart as a lad was making a tour through Italy with his father there might be a valuable hint here touching the proper tempo for the minuettes in Mozart's symphonies of late years the conductors of the Wagnerian school more particularly reflected on the belief that the symphonic minuettes of Mozart and Haydn must be played with the stately slowness of the old dance Mozart himself was plainly of another opinion H.E.K. 70 Beek told me and it is true that music is now played in the cabinet of the emperor Joseph II bad enough for the dogs are running I remembered that unless I quickly escape such music I get a headache it doesn't hurt me in the least bad music leaves my nerves unaffected but I sometimes get a headache from good music then I thought to myself yes such a shallow pate as you feels a pain as soon as he hears something which he cannot understand Mannheim No. 13 1777 to his father Beek was a conceited pianist 71 nothing gives me so much pleasure in the anticipation as the concert spiritual in Paris for I fancy I shall be called on to compose something the orchestra is said to be large and good and my principal favorites can be well performed there that is to say choruses and I am right glad that the Frenchman are fond of them here to for Paris has been used to the choruses of Gluck depend on me I shall labor with all my powers to do honor to the name of Mozart Mannheim February 28 1778 to his father on March 7 he writes I have centered all my hopes on Paris for the German princes are all niggers 72 I do not know whether or not my symphony pleases and to tell you the truth I don't much care whom should it please I warrant it will please the few sensible Frenchman who are here to be no great misfortune if it fails to please the stupids still I have some hope that the asses too will find something in it to their liking Paris June 12 1778 to his father the symphony is that known as the Parisian number 297 it is characterized by and wealth of melody 73 the most of the symphonies are not to the local taste if I find time I shall revise a few violin concertos shorten them for our taste in Germany is for long things as a matter of fact short and good is better Paris September 11 1778 to his father to his father in Salzburg in the same letter he says I assure you that the journey was not unprofitable to me that is to say in the matter of composition 74 if only this damned French language were not so ill-adapt to music it is abominable German is divine in comparison and then the singers men and women they are unmentionable they do not sing Greek they howl with all their might through throat nose and gullet Paris July 9 1778 to his father Mozart was thinking of writing a French opera 75 ah if we too had clarinets you can't conceive what a wonderful effect a symphony with flutes oboes and clarinets makes at the first audience with the archbishop I shall have much to tell him and probably a few suggestions to make alas our music might be much better and more beautiful if only the archbishop were willing Mannheim December 3 1778 to his father Mozart was on his return to Salzburg where he had received an appointment in the Archipiscopal Chapel it seems that woodwind instruments were still absent from the symphony orchestra in Salzburg 76 others know as well as you and I that tastes are continually changing and that the changes extend even into church music this should not be but it accounts for the fact that the true church music is now found only in the attic and almost eaten up by the worms Vienna April 12 1783 to his father who was active as court chapelmeister in Salzburg and who had been asked by his son in the same letter when it grew a little warmer to look in the attic and send some of your his church music the themes pleased me most in the symphony yet it will be the least effective for there is too much in it and a fragmentary performance of it sounds like an ant hill looks that is as if the devil had been turned loose in it in a letter written in 1789 to a nobleman who was a composer and had submitted a symphony to Mozart for criticism 1778 so far as melody is concerned, yes for dramatic effect no moreover the scores which you may see here outside those of Gretzry are by Gluck, Piscini, and Salieri and there is nothing French about them except the words a remark made to Joseph Franck whom Mozart frequently found occupied with French scores and who had asked whether the study of Italian scores were not preferable 79 the ode is elevated, beautiful, everything you wish but too exaggerated and bombastic for my ears but what would you the golden mean the truth is no longer recognized or valued to win applause one must write stuff so simple that a coachman might sing it after you or so incomprehensible that it pleases simply because no sensible man can comprehend it but it is not this that I wanted to discuss with you but another matter I have a strong desire to write a book a little work on musical criticism with illustrative examples and be not under my name Vienna December 28 1782 to his father I was working on a very difficult task a bardic song by Deniz on Gibraltar it is a secret for a Hungarian lady once thus to honor Deniz when Gibraltar was gallantly defended against the Spaniards Mozart's father wrote to him calling his attention to the victory Mozart replied yes I have heard of England's triumph and indeed with great joy for you know well that I am a rich Englishman the little book of criticism never appeared 80 the orchestra in Berlin contains the greatest aggregation of virtuosy in the world I never heard such quartet playing as here but when all the gentlemen are together they might do better to King Friedrich William II in 1789 when asked for an opinion on the orchestra in Berlin the king asked Mozart to transfer his services to the court at Berlin Mozart replied shall I forsake my good emperor end of chapter 8 this recording by Aaron Elliott St. Louis