MOZART IN 1791.
(From an original at Salzburg.)
As the libretto of Figaro had suited him so well, it was only natural that Mozart should again apply to Da Ponte for a book for the new work. The subject chosen was the old legend of Don Giovanni, and in September, 1787, Mozart and his wife went to Prague in order that he might, as was his custom, be near the artists who were to sing in the work. Meanwhile his pen had been by no means idle. From the autograph catalogue of his works, which he began to keep in 1784 and continued till his last illness, we find that between Figaro and Don Giovanni he wrote thirty works, including some of the more important of his compositions in the domain of chamber music. Among these maybe specially named the string quintetts in C major and G minor, the two great pianoforte duet sonatas in F and C, the charming trio in E flat for piano, clarinet, and viola, and the sonata in A for piano and violin.
Arrived in Prague, Mozart first lodged at an inn, but later removed to the house of his friend Duschek, in the suburbs of the city. Here a great part of the opera was written, each number being sent to the singers as soon as it was completed. Visitors to Prague are still shown the summer-house with a stone table in the garden of Duschek's house, at which Mozart used to work at his opera while his friends were playing at bowls. It is said that he would leave his work from time to time to take his part in the game, and then resume it without having lost the thread of his ideas. The story has often been told how, on the night before the production of the opera, the overture was still unwritten. Mozart had parted late in the evening from his friends, and his wife mixed him a glass of punch and sat up with him while he wrote, telling him fairy tales to keep him awake. At last sleep overpowered him, and she persuaded him to lie down for an hour or two. At five she woke him, and when at seven the copyist came for the score the overture was ready. There was barely time to get the parts copied before the evening, and the excellent orchestra played it at sight without rehearsal. Mozart, who was conducting, said to the players near him: "A good many notes fell under the desks, but it went very well."
The first performance of Don Giovanni took place on October 29, 1787, and excited the utmost enthusiasm. Unfortunately, the composer's father was not able to witness his son's triumph, as he had died in the preceding May, after a long illness. Mozart returned to Vienna shortly after the production of his opera, but his success brought about but little improvement in his pecuniary circumstances. True, the Emperor appointed him "kammermusikus" in December, but the salary attached to the post—800 florins—was ridiculously small. His only duty was to write dance music for the masked balls of the Imperial Court; this caused him to make the bitter remark that his salary was too much for what he did, and too little for what he could do.
On May 7, 1788, Don Giovanni was given at Vienna. For this performance the composer had written three additional numbers, two of which were Don Ottavio's air, "Dalla sua pace," and Elvira's "Mi tradi quell' alma ingrata." The work, nevertheless, proved a failure; the style was too novel for the taste of the audience. The Emperor, after hearing it, said: "The opera is divine—perhaps even more beautiful than Figaro—but it is no food for the teeth of my Viennese." When this was repeated to Mozart, he said: "Let us give them time to chew it, then!" and, by his advice, the opera was repeated at short intervals until the public became accustomed to its beauties. The applause increased at each fresh performance.
The most important works composed in the year 1788 were the three great symphonies in E flat, G minor, and C major (generally known as the "Jupiter"), the last of forty-nine which Mozart wrote. In these he rises to a height which in his previous instrumental works he had seldom attained. The symphony in G minor, unquestionably the finest work ever written for a small orchestra, has never been surpassed in its combination of passion and pathos; while the finale of the "Jupiter" symphony, with its elaborate fugal counterpoint, still remains without a rival in its combination of the most consummate learning with the utmost profusion of melodic invention.
It was toward the close of this year that the Baron van Swieten, an enthusiastic lover of Handel's music, commissioned Mozart to arrange Acis and Galatea for performance at some concerts with which the Baron was connected, and of which he superintended the preparation. In Mozart's autograph catalogue, already spoken of, we find that the arrangement was made in November, 1788. In the course of the following year he made a similar arrangement of the Messiah, and, in 1790, of Alexander's Feast and the Ode for St. Cecilia's Day. Space will not allow a detailed criticism of these arrangements; it must suffice to say that, while often extremely beautiful, they are not always in accordance with Handel's spirit or intentions, the probable explanation being that Mozart, as we learn from Otto Jahn, knew but little of Handel's music till introduced to it by Baron van Swieten.
In 1789 Mozart accepted an invitation from his pupil and patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, to accompany him on a visit to Berlin. The composer, whose pecuniary position was still very precarious, no doubt hoped that he might find some post in the North of Germany which would be worthy of his acceptance and relieve him from his pressing embarrassments. Leaving Vienna on April 8, he arrived four days later at Dresden, where he played before the Court, receiving for his performance the sum of 100 ducats. Thence he proceeded to Leipzig, where he made the acquaintance of Rochlitz, who, in his "Für Freunde der Tonkunst," has preserved some interesting reminiscences of his visit. It was here also that, through Doles, the cantor of the Thomas-Schule, he learned to know the great motetts of Sebastian Bach, for which he expressed the highest admiration.
On his arrival at Berlin, Mozart was at once conducted by Prince Lichnowsky to Potsdam, to be presented to the King, Frederick William II., who was a great lover of music and a good performer on the violoncello. The King received him very warmly, and took special pleasure in hearing him improvise. Mozart, however, derived but little pecuniary advantage from his visit. The King, it is true, offered him the post of kapellmeister at his Court with a salary of 3,000 thalers, but the composer, with whom worldly considerations had little weight, declined the offer, saying: "Can I leave my good Emperor?" The only profit made by the tour was a present from the King of 100 friedrichs d'or, which was accompanied by a wish that Mozart should write some quartetts for him. Three string quartetts (in D, B flat, and F), in all of which the part for the violoncello is of more than usual prominence, were written for and dedicated to the King.
After his return to Vienna Mozart's embarrassments became more pressing than ever. The ill-health of his wife involved him in constant expense, and his income was at all times precarious. By the advice of his friends he informed the Emperor of the offer that had been made him by the King of Prussia. The Emperor asked if he were really going to leave him, and Mozart replied: "Your Majesty, I throw myself upon your kindness; I remain." No improvement, however, resulted in his position, though it was at the suggestion of the Emperor that he was commissioned to write a new opera for Vienna. This was the two-act opera buffa Cosi fan tutte, the libretto of which was again from the pen of Da Ponte, and which was produced on January 26, 1790. The first performances appear to have been successful; but the death of the Emperor in the following month caused the theatre to be closed for some time; in all it was given ten times, and then fell out of the repertoire. The plot of the opera is weak and improbable, and the indifferent quality of the libretto is without doubt the chief reason why the music is as a whole inferior to that of Don Giovanni and Figaro. Cosi fan tutte, nevertheless, contains some of its composer's best work, especially in the concerted movements, such as the trio "Soave sia il vento," the quintett and sextett in the first act, and the two finales. The orchestral colouring also is almost richer and more varied than in any of Mozart's preceding operas.