YOUTH OF MOZART.
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?"
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.)