At this time Mozart's old friends, the Webers, had removed to Vienna, and the composer had resumed his intercourse with them. A mutual attachment had grown up between him and Constanze, a younger sister of Aloysia, who had jilted him. He wrote to his father asking his consent to his marriage; but Leopold, knowing that his son had no regular appointment, and that his income was precarious, strongly opposed the step, and for some time the course of true love by no means ran smooth.
Through the influence of a patroness of Mozart, the Baroness von Waldstadten, the obstacles were ultimately surmounted, and the marriage was celebrated at the Baroness's house on August 4, 1782. Though the union was, from one point of view, very happy, owing to the true affection that existed between husband and wife, it cannot be doubted that it was, to a great extent, the cause of much of Mozart's later troubles. Constanze, though endowed with many excellent qualities, was a bad housekeeper, while Mozart, besides being generous to a fault, had not the least capacity for business, nor even any idea of economy. No wonder, then, that when to the care and expense of a young family was added a long and severe illness of the wife, they were often in sore pecuniary difficulties. Jahn says that if Mozart had been as good a man of business as his father, he would have done very well in Vienna, for he earned a very good income. As a matter of fact, from this time to the end of his career, his life was one long struggle, and not always a successful one, to keep his head above water.
Mozart's chief source of income at this time seems to have been derived from his playing, for he was in great demand, not only at concerts, but in the houses of the nobility. According to the unanimous verdict of his contemporaries, he was the greatest pianist and (in the best sense of the term) virtuoso of his day. After his death, Joseph Haydn is reported to have said, with tears in his eyes: "I can never forget Mozart's playing; it came from the heart." The Emperor also highly appreciated the composer's genius, and it is probably only owing to the intrigues of the Italian musicians by whom he was surrounded that he did not confer some adequately paid appointment upon Mozart.
In July, 1783, shortly after the birth of his first child, Mozart took his wife to Salzburg to introduce her to his father and sister. He had, before his marriage, made a vow that, if ever Constanze became his wife, he would compose a new Mass for performance at Salzburg. The work was not quite completed, but he supplied the missing numbers from one of his earlier Masses. As the Archbishop of Salzburg refused permission for the Mass to be performed in the cathedral, it was given in St. Peter's Church, Constanze singing the principal soprano part. The Mass, which is in C minor, is laid out on a much larger scale than those which Mozart wrote for Salzburg, the "Gloria" being in seven movements, while two of the choruses are in five and one in eight parts. The work is a curious mixture; many of the choruses are quite elevated in style, and not unworthy of the "Requiem" itself. The solos are much lighter, and of a florid character. Mozart never finished the Mass, but he used the music two years later for his cantata, Davide Penitente.
During his visit to Salzburg Mozart began work on two new buffo operas, L'Oca del Cairo, the libretto by Varesco, who had written the text of Idomeneo, and Lo Sposo Deluso, by an unknown poet. Neither work, however, was completed.
After his return to Vienna in October, 1783, Mozart's time was fully occupied with concerts and composition. The year 1784 saw the birth of many of his finest works, which at this time were exclusively instrumental. Among them are several of his best piano concertos, which he wrote for his own performance at concerts in which he took part. The list also includes the great sonata in C minor for the piano, a work not without influence on Beethoven, and the beautiful sonata in B flat for piano and violin, composed for Mdlle. Strinasacchi, a young violinist for whose benefit concert, Mozart had promised to write a new work. Being pressed for time, Mozart had deferred writing the sonata till the day before the concert, when the young lady, with much trouble, obtained from him the violin part only. She practised it the next morning, and in the evening played it with the composer without any rehearsal. The Emperor was present at the concert, and, looking through his opera-glass, noticed that Mozart had a blank sheet of music-paper before him. After the sonata was finished, the Emperor sent a message that he wished to see the manuscript. The composer brought the blank sheet. "What, Mozart!" said Joseph, "at your tricks again?" "Please your Majesty," was the reply, "there was not a note lost." Only musicians will be able fully to appreciate the wonderful feat of memory which such a performance involved.
In 1785 Leopold Mozart returned his son's visit, and it was at this time that he made the acquaintance of Joseph Haydn, with whom Wolfgang was on intimate terms. Leopold met Haydn for the first time at a party at his son's house, where three of Mozart's recently composed quartetts were played. It was on that occasion that Haydn said to the proud father: "I declare to you before God, and as a man of honour, that your son is the greatest composer that I know; he has taste, and beyond that the most consummate knowledge of the art of composition."
In February, 1786, was produced the music to Der Schauspieldirector, a German comedy in one act, for some festivities given by the Emperor at Schönbrunn. Mozart's share of the work consisted merely of an overture and four vocal numbers. Though the music is extremely melodious, it adds nothing to the composer's fame. Far more interesting and important were the two piano concertos in A major and C minor, both written in March of the same year. But all other compositions of this time sink into insignificance by the side of the opera Le Nozze di Figaro, which was produced in Vienna on May 1, 1786. The libretto was adapted by Lorenzo da Ponte, a theatrical poet who was a favourite with the Emperor, from Beaumarchais' comedy, "Le Mariage de Figaro." The subject was suggested by the composer himself. As on so many previous occasions, there were violent intrigues against the piece; but, thanks probably in a great measure to the support of the Emperor, these were unsuccessful, and the Irish singer, Michael Kelly, who took the part of Basilio at the first performance, says in his "Reminiscences": "Never was anything more complete than the triumph of Mozart and his Nozze di Figaro, to which numerous overflowing audiences bore witness." Almost more enthusiasm was shown at Prague, where the opera was given a few months later. At the invitation of some of his friends, Mozart went to Prague to witness the success of his work. His reception there was overwhelming. Two concerts which he gave in the city realized a profit of 1,000 florins. At the first of these was produced the fine symphony in D known as the "Prague Symphony." At the same concert he extemporized, in his own masterly manner, for half an hour, after which, in reply to a call for "something from Figaro," he improvised variations on "Non più andrai." This visit had an important result. Mozart remarked to Bondini, the manager of the theatre, that, as the people of Prague appreciated him so much, he should like to write an opera for them, whereupon the manager took him at his word, and commissioned an opera from him for the following season.
