Читать книгу The Life of Mozart - Otto Jahn - Страница 20

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OUR examination of the development of Mozart's youthful genius, as it is to be traced in the multiplicity and variety of his studies, may fitly be concluded by a rapid survey of what he had accomplished and the position which he held at his entry into manhood.

At twenty-one years of age he could hold his own with the first masters of his time as a performer on the clavier, the organ, and the violin, and his powers as an executant were far surpassed by his accomplishments in every branch of composition. Remembering his numerous and successful contributions to theatrical music in serious and comic operas, to church music of every kind and description, to instrumental music, both concerted and solo, we are amazed at the ease and fertility of his producing powers not less than at the steady perseverance and earnestness of his studies. He never begins at random and breaks off short, never yields to chance impulses, to be abandoned before their object is attained; his will is always consciously fixed on a definite end, and to that end he bends all the force and energy of his mind.

No small share of the merit of this happy development must be accorded to his father, whose careful and well-digested educational plan, as earnest and conscientious as it was far-seeing and full of love, counteracted the son's easy and excitable nature, and concentrated his whole strength on his artistic cultivation. But the greatest share, after all, falls to the admirable organisation of Mozart himself. His nature was so genuinely artistic that musical perfection was the very germ of that inner being of which his works were the natural and inevitable expression.

The precocity of his talent, which had produced these works at an age when most minds are only beginning to put their thoughts into articulate form, had in it nothing forced, strained, or disturbed; he seized instinctively on what was in harmony with his genius, absorbed it completely, and made it the stepping-stone to his upward progress.

We have seen how he laboured to become absolute master of every kind of form in his art, and how, step by step, his labours were rewarded. But no amount of external readiness and skill would satisfy him unless he could also give due expression to what moved his innermost soul, and impelled him to production. And so it is that even in his earliest works we find no opposition between their form and their substance; so it is that they are always a whole—at first insignificant enough both in substance and treatment, but still a whole—contained in a definite expression of artistic form. Looking back at the history of an art which has been begotten and fostered by any nation, we see how it is now favoured, now hindered, by external circumstances, how it strives and struggles through the long ages, possessing itself here by fits and starts, there by easy transitions, of all the means and forms necessary for its perfect practice. When at last the spiritual and intellectual life of the nation has become free and impelled to artistic activity, the great master arises, who, disposing at will of the inheritance of knowledge and genius bequeathed to him by his fathers, accomplishes the highest task of art in his representations of ideal beauty. The glorious contemplation of the organic development of a gifted nature, turning all to good account, and rejecting what impedes its growth so soon as it has served its turn, is open for us in Mozart. To him it was given to master the external conditions of his art on every side without injury to his individuality and creative force. Artist and man grew together; the deeper the passion and the more intense the emotion, the more grand and impressive became the forms in which they were embodied. And it is in this that consists the successful cultivation of any art in youth: in this mastery of the means whereby the man in his maturity makes his genius felt without apparent effort. Whatever study and discipline could attain, Mozart had attained before he left Salzburg; it was time that he should emerge from his narrow surroundings, that he should win freedom and independence, both as a man and an artist, by contact with the world.

The position held by Mozart at Salzburg, disproportionate alike to his performances and their promise, could not but fail to satisfy him as soon as he became aware of his own powers.

His life would have been simply unendurable had it not been for the healthy family life which had been from earliest childhood the foundation of his moral and social existence.

He grew up in an atmosphere of conjugal and parental affection, of sincere religion and conscientious morality, and of well-ordered economy, which could not fail in its effect on his character. "After God, papa comes," was his motto as a boy and as a man; it was the keynote of the whole household, and we have seen, and shall see further, how fully Leopold Mozart deserved the trust reposed in him.

It was absolute confidence, not timid fear, which bound wife and children to him, and candour and truth ruled all the family intercourse. Not only the parents and children, but the brother and sister, were devoted to each other; the similarity of their talents, far from exciting emulation or jealousy, only bound them closer together; the sister witnessed the brilliant successes of her younger brother with pure delight, and bore his teasing with unfailing good-humour, sure, in her turn, of his ready and hearty sympathy in her joys and sorrows, whether great or small. Such a true family life as this, in which the servants 1 and even the pet animals 2 had their share, became all the firmer and heartier in proportion as circumstances narrowed the circle composing it.

The primary motive-power was the father's earnest devotion to duty, and his example gave weight to his unsparing demands on the labour and industry of his children. He considered the accomplishments of an artist as no mere pastime for hours of recreation, no passing breath of visionary inspiration; but as the ripe food of ceaseless labour, of untiring progress in moral and artistic self-knowledge. He was not content to recognise in the wonderful receptive and productive powers of his son a passport to easy indolence, but strove to make him consider them as deposits to be turned to the best account by study and cultivation. He accustomed his children to work from their youth up, and made it his first object that their outer circumstances should afford them no excuse for idle hours. "Custom." said he, "is an iron path." For this reason he gave up every occupation (except the duties demanded by his official position) which might withdraw him from his children, especially all lessons, thereby entailing a considerable pecuniary sacrifice, for which the profits of his first professional journey could only partially compensate. But he had so firm a confidence in Wolfgang's future, and he kept this object so clearly and continually in view, that nothing could divert him from it. In the boy himself there was no cause for anxiety; his trust in his father was unbounded, his nature was pliable, and his zeal for his art so great that it was never necessary to incite him to industry; indeed, his father often praises his energy and laboriousness. A further proof of the father's beneficial influence is the fact that Wolfgang did not yield to the temptation common to talented and lively youth in following momentary and one-sided impulses; but that he advanced step by step in a thorough and judicious cultivation of all his powers. The great number of his compositions of every kind which we have already noticed gives us no small idea of his industry; and we must remember that these performances were only possible as the result of continuous study and exercise, of which no outward sign remains. The father insisted on Wolfgang's making clear copies on quarto music paper, both of his own compositions and of examples of other composers. A long list of such exercise-books, in gray-blue covers, with every kind of composition in Mozart's handwriting, arranged and titled by his father, affords the most speaking proof of the industry and regard for order and neatness in which Wolfgang was trained.

Added to this was the continual hard practice on organ and clavier which made him the finished performer he was, then his official duties at court and church, his frequent engagements to play in private circles, and finally the lessons which he was obliged to give—one wonders in fact where he found time for it all in a day of only four-and-twenty hours. Nothing but the anomalous union of extraordinary genius with regularity and order could have produced so anomalous a result. Then again, L. Mozart was too far-seeing and cultivated a man to be satisfied with an exclusively musical education for his son. He took care that he should attain proficiency in foreign languages; he had learnt Latin in early youth (p. 61), and some knowledge of it was indispensable for sacred composition, on which account his father enjoins him (October 15, 1777) always to use a Latin prayer-book. He learnt to speak French and Italian fluently on his journeys, and his father was careful to keep up his knowledge of them. No opportunity was lost of acquiring "any kind of useful knowledge," as Leopold writes (December 18, 1777), "in order to cultivate the understanding by the reading of good books in different languages." Unfortunately we are not told what books Wolfgang read, nor in what direction his literary taste lay. It is characteristic of the father that both the children were obliged every evening to write a short account in a journal of what they had learnt and done throughout the day, in order to cultivate their observation of themselves and the things around them.

L. Mozart knew well that hot-house plants fade quickly, and was careful not to overtax the powers of his son, but to preserve him in healthy freshness, both of mind and body, by means of due diversion and recreation. He sought also to render him self-possessed and unconstrained in his intercourse with all classes of men, which Wolfgang's natural amiability rendered an easy task; it was far more difficult to impress him with the necessity for prudence and reserve, which not even the bitter experiences of after-life could teach him. Tied and hampered, as L. Mozart was, in all these endeavours by the conditions of his life in Salzburg, one support remained of which he could not be deprived; this was the beauty of the surrounding scenery. True, he makes no mention of it in his letters, but the dwellers in beautiful neighbourhoods seldom express enthusiastic admiration unless it is called forth by the observation of strangers. Whether consciously or not, however, the influence of rich and beautiful scenery must be felt by a finely organised mind, and the good fortune of a youth passed amid such impressions of surrounding nature is not less to be prized than any other happy dispensation which wakens to life the slumbering powers of the soul.

Intercourse with cultivated and art-loving men, so indispensable to a liberal education, was not easy of attainment in Salzburg. Such men were few, and almost exclusively belonged to the higher nobility. Two Counts Firmian, brothers to the Governor-General of Lombardy (p. no), were men of a lively interest in and appreciation of science and art. While still at the university they had founded a literary society which had considerable influence in spite of the strong opposition which its free scientific tendencies drew upon it. 3 One of the brothers, Vigilius Maria, who was provost of the cathedral, possessed a carefully selected library, and was familiar with the literature of all the European countries; the other, Franz Lactantius, Lord High Chamberlain to the Archbishop, was a connoisseur of painting and possessed an excellent collection of pictures. But he seems to have had little idea of music; for although he was extremely well disposed towards Wolfgang, the latter writes to his father (July 9, 1778) that nothing can be done for music in Salzburg until it is altogether left to the kapellmeister, so that the Lord High Chamberlain may have no power to interfere: "for you cannot make a kapellmeister out of a cavalier, although you may make a cavalier out of a kapellmeister." Canon Count Anton Wilibald Wolfegg had travelled extensively in order to make himself acquainted with manufactures and industries, and had specially studied architecture. The Master of the Horse, Count Leopold Joseph Küenberg, was a well-read and accomplished man; the Bishop of Chiemsee, Count Ferdinand von Zeil, was as distinguished for intellect and cultivation as for nobility of disposition. 4 We may gather that all these men were well disposed towards Mozart. The Chamberlain, Count George Anton Felix von Arco, the Court Marshal, Count Nicolaus Sebastian von Lodron, and the Captain of the Body-Guard, Count Leopold von Lodron, were also among his patrons. He had free entry into their houses, played at their entertainments, and gave lessons to their daughters, all the ladies, old and young, vying with each other in attentions to the distinguished virtuoso. Wolfgang sends a respectful kiss of the hand from Milan (February 17, 1770) to her Excellency Countess Arco, and thanks her for the kiss she had sent him, which he prized more highly than many a salute from a younger person. Differences of rank, however, and of personal circumstances rendered difficult any such friendly intercourse as would have been of advantage to Mozart both socially and professionally.

The circle was not an artistic one. Wolfgang praises Count Salem in Munich (October 2, 1777), and calls him a true connoisseur. "He says 'Bravo!' when the other cavaliers take a pinch of snuff, or blow their noses, or cough, or begin a conversation."

The smaller or, as it was called, the "wilde" nobility lived for the most part on the numerous smaller court offices, the incomes of which did not enable them to make a show in proportion to their rank; they strove to indemnify themselves by pride and haughtiness, although there were some few cultivated families among them. 5 With some of these, and more particularly with their younger members, we find Wolfgang in close intercourse, but the friendship was in most instances a superficial one, which did not stand the test of years and absence. Herr von Mölk, son of the Court Chancellor, is mentioned as a friend of Wolfgang's, and an unsuccessful suitor of his sister Marianne; it was he who was so amazed and delighted with the performance of the opera at Munich that the Mozarts were ashamed of him, because it was evident that he had seen nothing all his life but Salzburg and Innspruck. 6 Mozart was more attached, at least in his early years, to Fräulein W. von Mölk, to whom he sends a message that he would like the same reward from her that he had for the last minuets; she knows what that is. That his heart was somewhat susceptible of impression in youth is evident from the mysterious allusions which Wolfgang makes in his letters to his sister; she is to visit—she knows whom—to give tender messages, &c. When he went to Italy in 1772, an expression in a letter from his father points to a daughter of Dr. Barisani as his reigning goddess. Other friends of Mozart's youth were Herr von Hefner, son of the town syndic; Herr von Aman, of whom he was very fond as a boy, though the intimacy afterwards died out, and Joachim von Schiedenhofen, who disgusted Mozart by marrying for money. Von Schiedenhofen kept in his youth a "diary of his own doings," extracts from which, relating to the years 1774–1777, take note of all the visits of the Mozart family. These extracts prove that the Mozarts were on friendly terms with many other court officials. They visited each other in the afternoons and evenings, and either played cards or had music. Regular entertainments are mentioned, such as meetings for the bolt-shooting which we shall presently describe, and a card club; the friends also went to concerts and masquerades together.

Intercourse with families of the citizen class, which could not fail to result from the position held by the Mozarts, and from their many years residence in the place, was more of a recreation for idle hours than a means of intellectual improvement; occasional allusions to Salzburg society are not of a favourable nature. 7 Among their intimate friends was our old acquaintance Hagenauer, a merchant, and for many years their landlord. We may gather from the confidential letters addressed to him by L. Mozart on the first journey that he was not only sincerely attached to them and always ready with advice and help, but that he had cultivation and tastes in advance of his surroundings. His wife, judging from some remarks of L. Mozart, was somewhat bigoted and fond of priestly intercourse. The closest friend of the family, however, who possessed the confidence both of father and children, was Jos. Bullinger, a priest, who had been educated at the Jesuit seminary in Munich and was tutor in the family of Count Arco at Salzburg. "The faithful Bullinger" was "always a chief person" in the Mozarts' house; in Wolfgang's letters home he not only always sends messages to his "good friend Bullinger," but he begs that his letters may be read to him, and sometimes that important secrets may be told to no one but Nannerl and Bullinger. After the mother's death in Paris, Wolfgang intrusted him with the mournful task of breaking the news gently to his father, which Bullinger did with equal tact and sympathy; and when Wolfgang was forced, much against his will, to return to Salzburg, it was to his friend Bullinger that he poured out his heavy laden heart (August 7, 1778). And the attachment was mutual. When Wolfgang was on his way home from Paris, and his father and sister, anxious for news of him, confessed and communicated with many prayers for the preservation of their dear one, "the faithful Bullinger" also "prayed for him daily in the holy mass" (October 19, 1778). The father, too, had good cause to declare that Bullinger was his best and truest friend, from whom he had received "much courtesy and kindness," and who, when he was in embarrassment during Wolfgang's journey, assisted him by a considerable loan.

He placed the fullest confidence in Bullinger, shared with him all his plans for Wolfgang, and took counsel with him on many occasions. The friendship between them was well known in Salzburg; and in the efforts that were made to recall Wolfgang from Vienna Bullinger was employed as a go-between. He seems to have had some taste for music; at least, we hear of his taking part in some private concerts, which were held every Sunday at eleven o'clock; and Wolfgang writes, after his departure (October 11, 1777), begging him to "hold an official discourse, and give his compliments to all the members of the Academy."

Opportunities for social gaiety were more freely afforded to pleasure-loving Salzburg under Archbishop Hieronymus than under his predecessor Sigismund, whose tastes were not nearly so cheerful nor so liberal. 8 Salzburg society was characterised as follows: "The country gentlemen hunt and go to church; those next below them go to church and hunt; the next lower rank eat, drink, and pray; and the lowest of all pray, drink, and eat. The two latter classes conduct their love affairs in public, and the two former in private; all alike live in sensual indulgence."

In 1775 a spacious hall, with some side apartments, were added to the town hall, and there, during the carnival, masked balls were given under the supervision of the magistrate, as well as concerts and other entertainments. Mozart, who was fond of dancing and jokes, excelled in masquerading; Schiedenhofen mentions his having amused every one as a peasant bridegroom, and another time as a young dandy.

But even in Salzburg the most popular entertainment was the play; a theatre was built expressly for the court on the right bank of the Salzach, and there in winter performances were given by the Munich or some other travelling company, 9 sledge parties and others being formed for the purpose of attending. In summer, excursions were made to the numerous objects of interest in the neighbourhood, a very favourite one being to the royal park of Hellbronn. 10 The Mozarts rarely participated in these pleasures.

Although the father was able to write to his son (February 12,1778): "Consider whether I have not always helped you to procure every possible pleasure that was harmless and sensible, often at the cost of great personal inconvenience," yet his limited circumstances prohibited any very frequent indulgence in such pleasures.

The increasing expenses, which he justly ascribed to the parsimonious system of the government, 11 necessitated the strictest economy on his part. He laid these circumstances clearly before his son (February 16, 1778):—

It has been very hard work for me ever since your birth, and even before, to support a wife and seven children, besides your grandmother and several others, on twenty florins a month, taking into account child-births, deaths, and illnesses. If you calculate these expenses you will readily believe that not only have I never had a kreutzer to spend on my own pleasure, but that it has only been by the grace of God and hard work that I have kept free from debt. I have sacrificed my whole time to you two children in order that when the time came you might be able both to maintain yourselves, and also provide me with the means of spending a peaceful old age, occupied only with thoughts for the safety of my soul, and preparations for a happy death."

But L. Mozart's economy was judicious. "Buy nothing that is bad," he wrote to his wife (October 26, 1771), "there is no saving in buying bad things." The simplicity of the manners of the household, and the modest nature of the enjoyments, may be proved by the extreme and constant popularity among the whole circle of a game called "bolt-shooting" (bölzelschiessen). A number of intimates formed themselves into a sort of little guild, and met every Sunday at the various houses of the members. Each player in turn threw a bolt or quoit, and numerous were the jokes to which the game gave rise. A sort of rivalry grew up in the furnishing of each quoit with inscriptions bearing on the foibles and peculiarities of the different players, and the tendency to joking and sarcasm of the good Salzburgers was thereby encouraged and indulged. A pleasant sociable kind of intercourse grew out of these constant meetings. The following instance will show the kind of pleasantry that was allowable on such occasions. Leopold tells his son (November 11, 1780) how one of the lady members, who was a little bit of a coquette, happened one day to trip on the step of a shop she was entering in full daylight, and to fall in a very inelegant posture. This was duly portrayed with appropriate verses on the quoit, to the uncontrollable merriment of the whole party. The bolt-shooting is never forgotten in the family correspondence; amusing quoit pictures are forwarded to absent members, and their share of the winnings received by their proxies. Mozart writes to his sister from Vienna (July 4, 1781) : "Is it not about time for the shooting supper? Pray do not forget to drink the health of a faithful shooter with due honours, and tell me when it comes to my turn, that I may paint a quoit."

Under these circumstances, the encouragement which Wolfgang needed to render his arduous labours pleasant and satisfactory could only be looked for from the sympathy of his colleagues, and the favour with which his performances were received. But, unfavourable as the state of things was in Salzburg in other respects, on this point it was simply intolerable. Individual musicians, such as the faithful Schachtner, who were free from envy, and had cultivation and industry enough to appreciate intercourse with the Mozart family, formed a close and constant friendship with them. But, with the majority, intimacy was on many accounts out of the question, even when, as in the case of Michael Haydn and Adlgasser, they deserved all recognition as artists. 12 It was in contrast to Salzburg that L. Mozart praises the orchestra at Mannheim as "young men of good morals, neither tipplers nor gamblers, nor miserable blockheads, whose conduct and performances are alike admirable" (July 19, 1763). Wolfgang made similar observations in after years, and wrote to his father from Paris (July 9,1778) how businesslike everything was under Cannabich's conductorship, how implicitly he was obeyed, and what much better lives the musicians lived there than at Salzburg. "One of my chief reasons for detesting Salzburg is the impossibility of associating, as an honest man, with the coarse, stupid, dissolute musicians belonging to the court; one is quite ashamed of them, and it is they who bring music generally into disfavour." We can well understand how frequently the Mozart family would give offence to men of small cultivation and ill-regulated tastes. As a childish prodigy Mozart had amused them by his childlike candour and engaging confidence; but as a growing youth his performances became an intolerable source of annoyance and envy to them, not lessened by the brilliant recognition which he met with outside the walls of his native town. Their ill-will was doubtless also increased by the reserve of the Mozarts, their claims to superior cultivation, and the justification sometimes accorded to these claims; and although the father's prudence and the mother's good nature would prevent any open rupture with their colleagues, yet a tendency to severe criticism, sometimes jokingly, sometimes sarcastically expressed, is common to all the Mozarts. If we may judge of the tone of their actual intercourse by the numerous allusions in their letters (and Wolfgang's forte was certainly not prudent reserve), then, indeed, Salzburg might well dread the sharpness of the Mozart tongue.

The family were on least friendly terms with the Italians attached to the service of the Archbishop. Almost everywhere in Germany the idea was firmly rooted that the reputation of the musical establishments could only be upheld by summoning composers and virtuosi from Italy. When Wolfgang wrote to his father from Munich (September 29, 1777): "So it is! All the great people have a rage for foreigners!" His father consoled him by answering (October 4,1777): "The rage for Italians is almost confined to Munich; it exists in an exaggerated degree. In Mannheim, everything is German, except a couple of male sopranos. At Trêves, under the Elector, Prince Clement of Saxony, the Maestro alone is Italian; Mayence is altogether German; and at Würzburg the only foreigner is Signor Fracassini, a violinist, now, I believe, kapellmeister, and that only for the sake of his German wife, a vocalist and a native of Würzburg. There are no foreigners at any of the smaller Protestant courts." Notwithstanding, however, the reduction of the operatic and court establishment of Stuttgart in 1768, by the dismissal of some of its chief members, the taste and feeling, as well as the majority of the personnel, continued to be purely Italian; 13 and at Bonn many Italians belonged to the court establishment, under the leadership of Lucchesi. 14 L. Mozart does not allude to North Germany, since it lay out of Wolfgang's projected path. The natural consequence of the intrusion of foreigners was ceaseless contention between the German musicians, who saw themselves slighted and aggrieved, and the Italians, who made their superiority most offensively felt. 15 Mozart had to suffer from foreign intrigues not only in Milan while composing his opera (p. 130), but perhaps also in Munich, and certainly in Salzburg. Archbishop Hieronymus, who set a low value on anything belonging to Salzburg, although he paid a high price for many a native manufacture bearing a foreign stamp, 16 introduced Italians into his band, because it had been blamed as "rough and rapid in execution, and not delicate nor in the best taste." 17 The kapellmeister Lolli, having become old and incapable, was replaced by Fischietti in 1772; this was a disappointment to L. Mozart, whose claims to the office were well founded, since he was considered to have placed music on its then excellent footing. 18 Among the soloists Brunetti was appointed to the violin, Ferrari to the violoncello, Ferlendi to the oboe, and Ceccarelli was male soprano. These Italians were not only better paid than native artists, but the "foreign asses," as Michael Haydn called them, relying on the favour of the Archbishop, conducted themselves with insolence and ill-breeding. 19 There can be no question that the annoyance to the two Mozarts was great at seeing strangers, far below them in social position and talent, preferred before them, while all the hard labour devolved upon themselves. Fischietti's compositions were few and far between; Wolfgang was always ready to compose operatic or sacred, vocal or instrumental music, as occasion arose. All this implanted a rooted dislike to foreigners in Mozart's young mind which the experiences of his later years did much to confirm. But the artistic element of his nature was far too strong and too pure to allow personal consideration to influence his judgment on Italian music; his heart was so sound and good that he could overcome his dislike to the nation in his intercourse with individuals: it only transpires every now and then.

It was not very likely that the Mozarts—father or son—would be in high favour at court. We do not know much of their dealings with Archbishop Sigismund; but the difficulty L. Mozart had in renewing his leave of absence proves that the Archbishop was not overpleased with his repeated and lengthened stays abroad. 20 Wolfgang received an official post and the title of Concertmeister some time before 1770, but no salary; and even after the production of "Ascanio in Alba" L. Mozart was in doubt as to whether the Archbishop would remember his son if any vacancy occurred (p. 134). It is not known whether the salary of 150 gulden a year which he drew as Concertmeister had been granted to him by Sigismund; in any case it was not raised until 1777 by his successor, whose own sister, the Countess Schönborn, as Wolfgang writes (September 26, 1777), "positively refused to believe that he had had a monthly keepsake of twelve florins thirty kreutzers."

Mozart's position was still more unfavourable under Hieronymus, who never forgave the inhabitants of Salzburg their strongly expressed opposition to his election as Archbishop. 21 He knew himself to be unpopular, and, instead of courting popularity, openly displayed his contempt for his subjects. 22 He was a man of acute and enlightened intellect, and carried out some important reforms in his government with a firm hand; but he was self-willed, parsimonious, and unscrupulous. 23 He seldom expressed satisfaction with his officials. His disdainful mode of address to all but those of the highest nobility, and the irritable tone of his conversation, kept all about him in timid subordination. Even his appearance (although he was of mean stature and sickly complexion)—the sharp glance of his grey eyes, the left eye rarely fully open, and the decided lines round his mouth—commanded respect and fear. 24 There were other circumstances besides their German extraction and Salzburg birth which rendered the two Mozarts obnoxious to the Archbishop. Count Ferdinand von Zeil, afterwards Bishop of Chiemsee, to whose generous withdrawal Hieronymus owed his election, 25 was one of Mozart's warmest and most constant supporters, and for him Mozart, like all Salzburg, felt the deepest love and respect. This was not the way to the favour of Hieronymus. L. Mozart's independent demeanour, doing his duty and going his way without obsequiousness or flattery, and Wolfgang's open-mouthed candour, causing him occasionally to forget his official position and the reserve it should have entailed, were so many reasons for additional tyranny on the part of the Archbishop. Added to this was the fact that Mozart, with his slender figure and boyish countenance, made a poor personal impression on Hieronymus, who was singularly apt to be imposed upon by men of commanding height and appearance. 26 He refused any recognition of Wolfgang's musical accomplishments, and was unsparing in his criticism of them, 27 telling him—as Leopold wrote to Padre Martini (December 22, 1777)—that he knew nothing of his art, and should go and study at the Naples Conservatoire that he might learn something; a sufficiently unreasonable proposal to an academician of Bologna and Verona—to a young man who had traversed Italy in triumph as a composer and virtuoso. True, Mozart had no great respect for the Archbishop's critical judgment, but in the mouth of his Prince such an expression of opinion was of very unpleasant significance; for, in point of fact, Hieronymus was well aware of Mozart's genius, and never failed to honour him with commissions when any new composition was required, for which he never paid him a penny. Even if otherwise, those around him would have put him right on the point; it was of set purpose that he gave vent to these insults. He imagined that contemptuous expressions of opinion as to his performances would be the most effectual means of preventing the younger Concertmeister from preferring his claim to a higher salary than 150 gulden a year.

Such were the continual insults and opposition borne by the father and son, each on behalf of the other. "I hope" wrote Wolfgang, "that you are less annoyed than when I was in Salzburg, for I must acknowledge that I was the cause of it. I was badly treated; I did not deserve it. You naturally took my part, but too strongly; I assure you that was the chief reason that I hurried out of Salzburg." To this his father answers (November 17, 1777): "You are quite right as to my extreme annoyance at the tyrannical treatment you received; it gnawed at my heart, and prevented my sleeping; it was always in my thoughts, and would in the end have destroyed me. My dear son, when you are happy, I am happy; and your mother and sister—we are all happy; and this happiness I hope for, by the grace of God and my confidence in your own good sense." L. Mozart saw from the beginning that Wolfgang would never fill a position worthy of him in Salzburg; and he exerted himself in vain to procure a post for him at some other court. The greatest caution was necessary to keep his negotiations a secret at Salzburg; for his enemies would not fail to seize the opportunity of injuring him, perhaps of displacing him altogether. Aware of the folly of endangering his assured position, uncomfortable though it might be, he strove to allay the growing impatience of his son. The latter desired that the whole family should gain their livelihood by a grand professional tour, until they could find a secure and happier position in some place or other. His father, wiser and more experienced, pointed out to him (December 18, 1777) how entirely their circumstances had altered since his childhood, how hard it would be to gain subsistence for a whole family journeying about, how uncertain their means of maintenance would be; Leopold duly appreciated also the cares and dangers of a nomadic life. Nor was he more inclined to trust his son entirely alone. He knew Wolfgang's incapacity in all the concerns of practical life, particularly in travelling, since he "did not know the differences of coinage, and had no conception of packing up, or anything of that sort." He saw the hindrances which envy and mistrust would be sure to lay in the path of a young man who was striving to win his way by surpassing talent and great doings. Above all, he feared the temperament of his son, knowing that his careless frankness and good nature, coupled with his excitability and proneness to hasty rejoinder, would make him the easy prey of any one who might wish to use or to injure him. He addresses Wolfgang in words of warning (February 16, 1778):—

My dear Son—You are too hot and hasty in all your affairs. Your character has entirely changed since your childhood and boyhood. You were grave and earnest as a child; and when you were busy over your music, no one might venture the least jesting with you. Even your countenance was so grave that many people in different countries believed that your precocious talent and serious face betokened an early death. Now, on the contrary, it appears to me that you are far too ready to answer jestingly on every occasion, which is the first step to a kind of familiarity which one should eschew if one desires to win respect in the world. It is your good heart which causes you to see no fault in a man, to give him your full confidence, provided he only extols you to the skies; whereas, as a boy, your excess of modesty made you cry when people praised you too much.

L. Mozart knew also that Wolfgang would be so engrossed in his art as to forget everything else, more especially whatever would be to his own advantage. He trembled for the dangers which would beset the inexperienced youth, leaving the narrow sphere of provincial life to encounter the temptations of the great world. He strove with all his might, therefore, to instil patience into his son, and represented to him that his probation in Salzburg was a necessary preparation for the tour, which would have far more certainty of success when he was somewhat maturer in age and education.

But even this patience had its limits. Wolfgang had not left Salzburg since he had produced the "Finta Giardiniera" at Munich, in 1775; if he did not wish to be altogether forgotten, he must again display his powers as a composer and executant. He had prepared himself for such a tour as he proposed by prolonged study and solo compositions. The numerous fair copies in the little books we have named had been made with the same object in view; they could be readily packed, and always at hand for performance, or to be copied again as presents. When everything was ready, the father and son applied to the Archbishop for permission to travel; this, as well as a petition for an increase of salary, was roundly refused; the Archbishop giving as his reason that he would not have his subjects "going on begging expeditions."

But the cup was now full to overflowing; Wolfgang begged leave to resign his post at Salzburg, and the Archbishop, enraged at having the tables turned upon him, accepted the resignation in the most ungracious manner. It was even expected that his anger would extend to the father, and that he had given orders to strike L. Mozart's name off the list of his musicians. This, however, was not the case; with an ungracious remark the Archbishop allowed him to retain his place.

Wolfgang's resignation excited much notice in Salzburg; and the universal regret was shared even by those immediately round the Archbishop. Count von Firmian, who was extremely fond of Wolfgang, was rejoicing on his return from a journey (as L. Mozart relates, October 4, 1777) in the pleasure that a riding-horse he had purchased for him would give his young friend, when he was met by the lamentable intelligence. When he paid his respects to the Archbishop, the latter remarked: "We have one musician less since you left." He answered, "Your Grace has lost a great performer." "How so?" "He is the greatest clavier-player that I ever heard in my life; he has done your grace good service on the violin, and he is a first-rate composer." Whereupon the Archbishop was silent. Canon Count Jos. Starhemberg too, declared later (June 29, 1778) that Mozart's complaints were fully justified, and that all visitors to Salzburg had admired young Mozart, by whom he himself was quite captivated.

But this turn of affairs gave L. Mozart the deepest anxiety; all the difficulties and objections to the journey pressed upon him with redoubled force now that it was to be undertaken under such unfavourable circumstances. It was, however, rendered inevitable. It would be incompatible with pride or self-respect to purchase Wolfgang's continuance in his office at the cost of abject submission to the Archbishop. It only remained, by energy and foresight, so to make use of circumstances as to preserve their honour with the Archbishop, and to insure a fixed position for Wolfgang. The visits must be arranged to the larger towns, especially residences, where concerts might cover the cost of the journey, and commissions for compositions might render possible a lengthened stay, ending, perhaps, in a settled engagement. The tour was planned with these ends in view, and Leopold was never weary of impressing upon his son that his sole endeavour must be to win a name, to make money, and to obtain a position; personal gratification and mere amusement must be kept altogether in the background. "Money-making," he writes (October 15, 1777), "must engross all your attention, and economy must be all your care, otherwise a journey is of no profit; on the contrary, it brings a man into debt." And again (November 27, 1777): "The object of the journey is, was, and must be the acquirement of a fixed position and the making of money." His extensive connections and great local knowledge enabled him to trace his son's path out, and to gain him excellent introductions, and his zeal and activity were indefatigable. Wolfgang was enjoined to become acquainted with persons and events, to grasp quickly his probable prospects in any place, and either at once to turn them to good account, or if unfavourable, to leave the place. But Wolfgang had neither the experience nor the practical shrewdness of his father; he felt secure of his art, in which alone he lived, and imagined the rest would come of itse(l)f. The prospect of at last escaping from detested Salzburg was apparently too engrossing to allow him to pay much heed to his father's warnings. The father knew all this, and knew that he must not go alone; he could not accompany him himself, and he therefore took the hard resolve of parting with his wife and sending her forth with their son.

He was quite aware that, as a woman, she could not occupy the same position towards Wolfgang as he himself; and he must have felt, too, that intense as her love for Wolfgang was, she had not the energy or superiority of intellect necessary to guide him. But she knew the world, and was an experienced traveller, and so he hoped that she would supply the carefulness and economy which Wolfgang lacked; she was specially enjoined to keep an exact account, and at once to inform her husband of any propositions that were made, that he might advise and direct. She does not seem, however, to have quite answered his expectations, partly because she could not always withstand her son's impatient restlessness, and partly because she yielded to her own inclinations, although she often declared "she was ready to drop with the fatigue of packing-up." But Leopold could rely on her influence on the most important point of all. The mother's presence was a guarantee that her tenderly reared and devoted son would be careful of his health. He hoped, too, that her presence would preserve him from any dangerous or immoral intercourse, on which point he gives Wolfgang the benefit of his own experience (February 16, 1778):—

I sought only the acquaintance and friendship of persons of the higher classes, and even among them I avoided idle young fellows, whatever their rank. I invited no one to visit me frequently, and always preferred visiting others when I pleased. For if I do not care for a man, or am busy or engaged, I can stay away; but if he comes to me, I am at a loss to get rid of him; and, even if a pleasant visitor, he may hinder me at my work. You are a young man of twenty-two, so that it is not the gravity of your years which will prevent worthless fellows, old or young, from making your acquaintance and endeavouring to entice you to follow their example. One is led on irresistibly, and finds, when too late, that there is no return.

I will not enter on the subject of women, wherein nature herself is our enemy, and he who does not strenuously resist at first will strive in vain to escape from the labyrinth, and will find no release but death. How blindly one is often led on by jokes, flattery, &c., until returning sense awakens one to shame, you may have, perhaps, already experienced in some degree. I do not mean to reproach you. I know that you love me not as your father alone, but as your closest and surest friend.

Separation from his wife was not the only sacrifice made by the father to the well-being of his son. He foresaw that the profits of the journey would hardly cover its expenses, and that he must arrange to have a sum always in hand in case of emergencies. He had no private property; the profits of the first journey had already disappeared; he was obliged to borrow, and debt was abhorrent to so conscientious a man; but his friends Hagenauer and Bullinger readily came to his assistance. He not only cut down to their lowest point the expenses of his housekeeping with Nannerl, but he undertook once more "the very uncongenial work of giving lessons," badly paid and fatiguing as it was. A father who made such sacrifices for his son had a right to demand in return, not indeed filial love, and the gaining of artistic fame—that came freely and spontaneously—but a degree of prudence and forethought which should suffice for the demands of practical life. "I have, my dear Wolfgang," he says (February 16, 1778), "not only not the smallest mistrust in you, but I place all confidence and all hope in your future. It all depends on the sound good sense which you certainly possess, if you would only pay heed to it, and on fortunate circumstances. These last are not to be forced, but you can always take sense to your counsel, and that I hope and pray you will."

Thus was everything planned and prepared, the necessary means were provided, the outfit purchased, and a carriage in readiness which would contain the two travellers and their luggage, clothes, and instruments. This was the approved method of travelling at that time, and Leopold Mozart was determined to send his son forth into the world, not as an itinerant musician, but as an artist commanding respect and honourable treatment, even from his outward surroundings.