This concludes the list of the more important of the chamber music works of this great master.
Wagner on Mozart
In the words of Richard Wagner: “The life of Mozart was one of continuous struggle for a peacefully-assured existence against the most unequal odds. Caressed as a child by the half of Europe, as youth he finds all satisfaction of his sharpened longings made doubly difficult, and from manhood onwards he miserably sickens towards an early grave.... His loveliest works were sketched between the elation of one hour and the anguish of the next.”[18]
Mozart’s Letter to his Father
But while this was so, it is pathetically interesting to read what he writes to his father when he first heard of his illness, for it shows clearly that amid the hardships and trials which beset him, Mozart never, at heart, repined, but sustained himself with a deep and far-reaching philosophy of human life. “As death,” he says, “strictly speaking, is the true end and aim of our lives, I have for the last two years made myself so well acquainted with this true, best friend of mankind that his image no longer terrifies, but calms and consoles me. And I thank God for giving me the opportunity of learning to look upon death as the key which unlocks the gate of true bliss. I never lie down to rest without thinking that, young as I am, before the dawn of another day I may be no more; and yet nobody who knows me would call me morose or discontented. For this blessing I thank my Creator every day, and wish from my heart that I could share it with all my fellow-men.”
BEETHOVEN.
CHAPTER V.
BEETHOVEN.