Soon after Mozart's death there appeared a biographical article upon him in Schlichtegrolls Nekrolog for 1791. This is precise and trustworthy so far as it relates to the period of his childhood, and rests on the testimony of his sister; but the notices of his later years are superficial; and the judgment passed upon him as a man rests upon a preconceived and unfavourable opinion which then prevailed in Vienna partly on professional grounds, and which took such deep root that even at the present day I know not if I shall succeed in establishing the truth. It was not surprising that Mozart's widow, in order to stop the circulation of such injurious representations, should buy up an impression of this article which appeared under the title of Mozart's Life (Jos. Georg Hubeck: Gratz, 1794).
A biography which appeared the same year in Sonnleithner's Vienna Theater-Almanach (p. 94) is only an abridgment of the article in the Nekrolog; and a French translation was made by Beyle, under the noms de plume of Bombet and Stendhal, as "Lettres sur Haydn suivies d'une vie de Mozart" (Paris, 1814). An English translation of the article appeared in London, 1817, and a revised French version in Paris, 1817.
A "Life of the Imperial Kapellmeister Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart, compiled from original sources by Franz Niemet-schek" (Prague, 1798), is founded partly on communications by the family, especially the widow, partly on personal acquaintance with Mozart: I have made use of the second edition of this work (1808). Unfortunately it does not enter into details so much as might be wished, particularly in its later portions; but all that this excellent, well-informed, and devoted friend records of Mozart is trustworthy and accurate.
Something more was to be expected from Friedrich Rochlitz, who busied himself for a considerable time in writing a biography of Mozart. He had become acquainted with him during his stay in Leipzig in 1789, and moving much in musical circles with Doles and Hiller, he was so charmed with the genius and amiability of the master, LIFE OF MOZART. that he even then carefully noted whatever appeared remarkable in their interviews.
When he afterwards proposed to prepare a life of Mozart, both the widow and the sister supplied him with anecdotes and traits of character, and the widow further (as I gather from their letters) allowed him to make use of Mozart's correspondence.
Some of the anecdotes and particulars supplied by the widow and sister or resulting from his own observation were published in the "Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung" (A.M.Z., Vol. I., pp. 17,49,81,113,145,177,480; Vol. II., pp. 450, 493, 590), and Rochlitz often alluded in later issues to his acquaintance with Mozart; but there it remained, and I have failed to discover why he abandoned his idea of a biography. When Nissen's biography appeared he complained that he had not been called into counsel by Mosel, and was of opinion that "the widow must have changed very much in her old age, if she was not proved to have acted shabbily in this affair" (Vienna, A.M.Z., 1848, p. 209). I set on foot investigations as to whether Rochlitz had left behind any records or communications which, springing from now exhausted sources, might be of service to me in my work. This led to a discovery which, painful as it is to me to cast a slur on the memory of an otherwise deserving man, I must yet, in the interests of truth, reveal; I could not fail to observe that those particulars of Mozart's life which Rochlitz gives as the result of his own observation or as narrated to him by Mozart, are peculiar to himself in form and colouring, and that many of the circumstances which he relates with absolute certainty are manifestly untrue. I sought to account for these facts as slips of memory or the result of that kind of self-deception which confounds a logical inference with a fact springing from it. But my search led to the further discovery of a parallel (also printed in the A.M.Z.) between Mozart and Raphael, giving a detailed account of the circumstances of Mozart's marriage, and with express reference to Mozart's own narrative of the affair which Rochlitz was supposed to have written down the same night. Now for the period which is here treated of, that INTRODUCTION. is, between 1780 and 1783, Mozart's entire correspondence is preserved, and any error upon essential points is, as you will readily grant, impossible. All the statements of Rochlitz as to time, place, persons, and events are completely false. You will remember my consternation at this unwelcome discovery; no poetical license could account for it; unpleasant as it is, I consider it my duty to expose the affair, partly that it may teach caution, and partly that tedious and vexatious discussion may be avoided, should the narrative in question ever be printed.
These anecdotes from the A.M.Z., together with the information of Schlichtegroll and Niemetschek have formed the chief material for the more or less complete accounts of Mozart which afterwards appeared; what was added consisted partly of anecdotes, generally badly authenticated and often ill-turned, such as gain currency among artists, and partly of phrases, or turns of speech which, as Zelter says, every one makes for himself. I must not spare you the enumeration of some of the works of this class.
Cramer's "Anecdotes sur Mozart" (Paris, 1801), is a mere translation of the anecdotes; some of them, together with a general account, are also given by J. B. A. Suard,
"Anecdotes sur Mozart," in his "Mélanges de Littérature", (Paris, 1804), Vol. II., p. 337, as well as by Guattani, in the "Memorie Enciclopediche Romane" (Rome, 1806) Vol. I., pp. 107, 134. A work of more pretension is "Mozarts Geist. Seine kurze Biographie und äthetische Darstellung seiner Werke. Ein Bildungsbuch für junge Tonkünstler" (Erfurt, 1803). Zelter asked Goethe to tell him who was the author of this "short biography half dedicated to Goethe," which was "neither short nor aesthetic, nor a good likeness of the man," and was not a little surprised to learn that Goethe knew nothing either of the work or its author ("Correspondence," Vol. I., pp. 56, 67,65). It was, however, by J. E. F. Arnold, of Erfurt, whose subsequent publication, "Mozart und Haydn. Versuch einer Parallele" (Erfurt, 1810), was scarcely calculated to draw a more favourable expression of opinion from Zelter.
Of no greater intrinsic value are Hormayr's statements: LIFE OF MOZART. in the "Austrian Plutarch" (VII., 2, 15; Vienna, 1807), or Lichtenthal's "Cenni biografici intorno al celebre Maestro Wolfgango Amadeo Mozart" (Milan, 1816). I have not been able to procure the "Elogio' storico di Mozart del Conte Schizzi" (Cremona, 1817). The articles in Gerber's "Tonkünstlerlexicon" are carefully compiled, but not complete; and "Mozarts Biographie," by J. A. Schlosser (Prague, 1828; third edition, 1844), is a compilation altogether wanting in judgment.
