"His Royal Majesty of Prussia, etc., our most gracious Lord, cannot persuade himself that the announced work of the Princely Chamber-musician Kirnberger, in Berlin, contains anything new, or particularly useful for the art of music, or for musical composition, considering that Thorough Bass was already brought to a certain perfection many years ago. This is, therefore, not to be withheld from the said Kirnberger, in reply to his solicitation of the day before yesterday.
Friederich.
Potsdam, February 25th, 1781."
The Princess Amalia, a pupil of Kirnberger, was a great upholder of the rules of Thorough Bass, and a sharp critic. As Gluck did not care much about many of those dry rules, it is perhaps not surprising that the Princess Amalia did not care much about Gluck. What she thought of him she has expressed forcibly enough in the following extract from a letter to Kirnberger, who had sent her the opera 'Iphigenia in Tauris':—
"Mr. Gluck will, in my opinion, never pass for a clever man in musical composition. He has, firstly, not the least invention; secondly, a bad, miserable melody; and thirdly, no accent, no expression,—it is all alike. He is very different from Graun and Hasse, but very similar to.... The introductory piece ought to be a kind of overture; but the good man does not like Imitations, and he is right, for they require labour. However, he is more fond of Transposition. This is not altogether objectionable; for, if a bar is often repeated, the hearer will all the more easily remember it; but Gluck appears to transpose the same idea from want of a new one. Finally, regarded in its entirety, the opera is very miserable. Now, this is in the new taste which has a great many adherents. However, I thank you for having sent it me. Through the faults of others one learns to know one's own. Be so kind as to procure for me the words of the whole opera; but, as regards the musical notation, I am not yet wise enough to find it beautiful."
If the letters of musicians to princes are often sadly devoid of sincerity, those of princes to musicians possess generally at least the negative merit of not containing intentional misrepresentations, since a prince has seldom a motive for disguising his likes and dislikes in music. Whether the estimable Kapellmeister Schulz had committed the indiscretion of suggesting to Princess Amalia that she was still capable of some improvement as a musical composer is uncertain, but appears probable, to judge from the following letter which she wrote to him after he had sent her the manuscript of his choruses to 'Athalia,' with the humble request for permission to dedicate them to her,—or, as he expressed himself, "to preface the work with the adorable name of so illustrious a connoisseur."
The reply he received from her is here translated from the German as literally as possible.
"To the Kapellmeister Schulz in Rheimsberg.
I surmise, Mr. Schulz, that by an oversight you have sent me, instead of your own work, the musical bungling of a child, since I cannot discover in it the least scientific art; on the contrary, it is throughout faulty from beginning to end, in the expression, sentiment, and meaning of the language as well as in the rhythm. The motus contrarius has been entirely neglected; there is no proper harmony; no impressive melody; the interval of the Third is often entirely omitted; the key is never clearly indicated, so that one has to guess in what key the music is meant to move. There are no canonic imitations, not the least trace of counterpoint, but plenty of consecutive fifths and octaves! And this is to be called music! May heaven open the eyes of those who possess such a high conceit of themselves, and enlighten their understanding to make them comprehend that they are but bunglers and fumblers. I have heard it said that the work ought to praise the master; now-a-day everything is reversed and confused, the masters are the only ones who praise themselves, even if their works are offensive. Enough of this.
Amalia.