_Abridged from the Foreign Quarterly Review._
When we bring into one view all the qualifications of Mozart as a
composer and practical musician, the result is astounding. The same man,
under the age of thirty-six, is at the head of dramatic, sinfonia, and
piano-forte music--is eminent in the church style--and equally at his
ease in every variety, from the concerto to the country dance or baby
song: he puts forth about 800 compositions, including masses, motetts,
operas, and fragments of various kinds; at the same time supporting
himself by teaching and giving public performances, at which he executes
concertos on the piano-forte, the violin, or the organ, or plays
_extempore_. But when we learn that the infant Mozart, at four years of
age, began to compose, and by an instinct perception of beauty to make
correct basses to melodies; and also that he became a great performer on
two instruments, without the usual labour of practice, we cease to be
surprised at the mechanical dexterity of his fingers in after-life, when
composition and other pursuits had engrossed the time usually employed
in preserving the power of execution.
The father of Mozart held the situation of Vice Kapell-meister and
violinist in the chapel of the archbishop of Salzburg. In the service of
this haughty and ignorant nobleman, (who appears to have been a complete
feudal tyrant, and to have represented all the pride and insolence for
which the then beggarly-princes of Germany were remarkable), he was so
ill paid, that notwithstanding his utmost exertions as an instructor, it
was with difficulty he supported a wife and family. Anna Maria,[3] born
August 29, 1751, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, born January 27, 1756,
were the only two of seven children who survived. The sister made such
progress on the harpsichord, that in the first journeys which the father
took in order to display the talents of his children, she divided the
public attention with her brother. Wolfgang, however, not only profited
as a player, from the careful instruction which both the children
received from their parent, but began then to exhibit the extraordinary
precocity of his musical mind; the minuets and other little movements
which he composed from the age of four to seven show a consistency of
thought and a symmetry of design which promised a maturity of the
highest genius. Of the first expedition of Leopold Mozart with his son
and daughter, in January, 1762, little account is preserved, further
than that they visited Munich, and played concertos on the harpsichord
before the royal family. In the following autumn, (Wolfgang being then
in his seventh year), the father proceeded in the same company to
Vienna; the journey was made by water, and the family gave concerts at
the principal towns they passed, as occasion served. Leopold Mozart
writes, "On Tuesday we arrived at Ips, where two Minorites and a
Benedictine who accompanied us said mass,[4] during which our little
Wolfgang _tumbled about_ upon the organ and played so well, that the
Franciscan fathers, who were just sitting down to dinner with some
guests, left the table, and ran with all their company into the choir,
where they were filled with wonder." A little before, he says, "the
children are as merry as when they were at home. The boy is friendly
with every body, but particularly with military officers, as though he
had known them all his life. He is the admiration of all." At the Court
of Vienna the family was received with great favour, the Emperor Francis
I. being mightily pleased with "the little magician," as he used
playfully to call young Mozart. "There is nothing wonderful," said the
emperor one day, joking with him, "in playing with all the fingers, but
to play with _one_ finger and with the keys covered, would really be
surprising." Upon which the child instantly performed in this manner
with as much neatness and certainty as if he had long practised it. The
father writes, "you will scarcely believe me when I tell you how
graciously we have been received. The empress took Wolfgang on her lap,
and kissed him heartily."[5] It was at this time that Mozart began to
display the feeling of a great artist; just before he commenced a
concerto, seeing himself surrounded by people of the Court, he asked the
emperor--"is not M. Wagenseil here? _he_ understands these things."
Wagenseil was called forward to the harpsichord; "I am going to play one
of your concertos," said the boy, "will you turn over for me?"
[3] This lady is at present living in Salzburg, and in 1826 had
not entirely given up her occupation as an instructress in
piano-forte playing. Many pupils have been brought up under her,
who by a peculiar neatness and precision of performance, evince
the excellent tuition of Nanette Mozart.
[4] Probably at a convent.
[5] The following anecdote is recorded in the history of this
journey:--Little Mozart one day, on a visit to the empress, was
led into her presence by the two princesses, one of whom was
afterwards the unfortunate Queen of France, Marie Antoinette.
Being unaccustomed to the smoothness of the floor, his foot
slipped and he fell. One of the princesses took no notice of the
accident, but the other Marie Antoinette, lifted him up and
consoled him. Upon which he said to her, "you are very good, I
will marry you." She related this to her mother, who asked
Wolfang how he came to make this resolution. He answered, "from
gratitude--she was so kind to me--whereas her sister gave
herself no trouble."
As yet Mozart had only played on keyed instruments, but on his return to
Salzburg he practised privately on a little violin which he had
purchased in Vienna, and, to the surprise of his father and some friends
who had met to play over some new trios, he performed the second violin
part, and then the first, with correctness, though without method. His
horror of the sound of the trumpet in childhood, and the early passion
he displayed for arithmetic, are well known; to the last he was fond of
figures, and was extremely clever in making calculations; though very
improvident in his pecuniary affairs. The peculiar delicacy of Mozart's
organization is displayed in the fine sense of hearing which he evinced
at a tender age. Schachtner, a trumpeter, who used to visit his father,
had a violin that Wolfgang was fond of playing upon, which he used to
praise extremely for its soft tone, calling it the "_butter fiddle_." On
one occasion, as the boy was amusing himself on his own little violin,
he said to Schachtner, "if you have left your violin tuned as it was
when I last played upon it, it must be full half-a-quarter of a note
flatter than mine." Those present laughed at a nicety of distinction,
upon which the most critical ear could hardly pronounce; but the father,
who had many proofs of the extraordinary memory and exquisite feeling of
his son, sent for the instrument, and it was found to be as the boy had
said. Although he daily gave fresh instances of his extraordinary
endowments, he did not become proud or conceited, but was always an
amiable and tractable child. The affection and sweetness which
characterize his airs were inherent in his disposition, and the
following anecdote accounts for the prevalence of those delightful
qualities in his vein of melody:--"Mozart loved his parents,
particularly his father, so tenderly, that every night before going to
bed he used to sing a little air that he had composed on purpose, his
father having placed him standing in a chair, and singing the second to
him. During the singing he often kissed his father _on the top of the
nose_, (the epicurism of childish fondness), and as soon as this
solemnity was over, he was laid in bed, perfectly contented and happy."
The young artist, in his eighth year, began to show a manly intellect.
It was in the third tour through Germany to Paris, London. &c. that the
fame of Mozart extended throughout Europe; but as many particulars of
this period of his life are already known, from the account published by
Daines Barrington in the Philosophical Transactions, the Letters of
Baron Grimm, and other sources, we shall only notice the newest and most
interesting incidents of this part of the Biography. From Wasserburg,
Leopold Mozart writes, "We went up to the organ to amuse ourselves,
where I explained the pedals to Wolfgang. He began instantly to make an
attempt with them, pushed back the stool and preluded standing, treading
the bass to his harmonies as if he had practised for months." The
violin-playing of Nardini, whom the party heard at Ludwigsberg, is much
praised by Leopold Mozart for the neatness of the execution, and the
beauty and equality of the tone. At Frankfort, Wolfgang one morning on
waking began to cry. His father asked him the reason. He said he was so
sorry at not being able to see his friends Hagenaur, Wenzl, Spitzeder,
and Reibl. Though the children performed before all the persons of
distinction they met on their route, yet as they were often rewarded
with costly presents, swords, snuff-boxes, trinkets, &c. instead of
money, the father had much anxiety on this account. He says, in a letter
from Brussels, "At Aix we saw the Princess Amelia, sister to the King of
Prussia, but she has no money. If the kisses which she gave my children,
especially to Master Wolfgang, had been louis d'ors, we might have
rejoiced." In Paris, little Mozart performed feats which would have done
honour to an experienced Kapellmeister, transposing at sight, into any
key whatever, any airs which were placed before him, writing the melody
to a bass, or the bass to a melody, with the utmost facility and without
premeditation. His deep acquaintance with harmony and modulation
surprised every one, and his organ-playing was particularly admired. A
very pleasant picture of the musical family was painted in Paris, of
which an engraving is given in the Biography. Mozart's sister relates,
that when they were at Versailles, Madame de Pompadour had her brother
placed upon a table, and that as he approached to salute her, she turned
away from him; upon which he said indignantly, "I wonder who she is,
that she will not kiss me--the empress has kissed me!" At Versailles the
whole court was present to hear the little boy of eight years play upon
the organ, and he was moreover treated by the royal family with great
distinction, particularly by the queen. When she dined in public, young
Mozart had the honour to stand near her, to converse with her
constantly, and now and then to receive some delicacy from her hand. The
father writes, "the queen speaks as good German as we do. As, however,
the king understands nothing of it, the queen interprets all that our
_heroic_ Wolfgang says."
_(To be concluded in our next.)_
* * * * *