At the eighth bar Mozart saw that this was incorrect, and altered the first bars—
and continued it so. There is an exactly similar case in the duet in the "Zauberflote" (8) which Mozart wrote at first thus— ALTERATIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS. and did not find out his mistake until quite the end, when he carefully scratched out all the bar lines and put in the correct ones:—[See Page Images]
Again, in Sesto's air in "Tito" (19), the adagio originally began—
but the bar lines were afterwards erased and fresh ones supplied in red chalk, making the first bar full. Another very singular mistake in the duet in the "Zauberflöte" consists in the omission in the second and third bars of the two chords for clarinets and horns, which Mozart has evidently merely forgotten to transcribe. Now and then, but very rarely, important alterations are made in the instrumentation of his works. One instance occurs in the introduction to the "Zauberflöte," at the beginning of which the trumpets and drums were in C, and were so carried on to the entrance of the three ladies; then Mozart seems to have thought that trumpets and drums could be used with effect as accompaniment, and he has struck through all that he had previously written, and noted the trumpets and drums upon a loose sheet in E flat; he has then continued them for seven bars as an accompaniment to the opening trio. At the beginning of Leporello's great songs in "Don Giovanni" (1,4) trumpets and drums were indicated, but they were afterwards struck out when it came to be performed. In a long comic air, which was intended for "Cosi fan Tutte" (584 K.), he has struck out the horn part, after writing the whole of it. In Dorabella's air (28) the fundamental bass of those parts where only wind instruments are now employed was intrusted to the double-bass; Mozart afterwards struck this out, and expressly noted "senza basso." In the second finale MOZART AS AN ARTIST. of the "Zauberflöte" the piano chords which follow Pamina's words, "Ich muss ihn sehen" were first given by the strings, but flutes and clarinets were afterwards substituted. In the G minor symphony he at first intended to have four horns, but after a few bars he struck them out, and limited himself to two. In the terzet in the "Zauberflöte" (20), the first bar of the accompaniment was given to the violins, thus—[See Page Image]
which was afterwards erased, and a single crotchet used on the unaccented part of the bar, with great gain to the effect. But these are solitary instances. The individual tone-colouring of the instruments is an essential element of musical construction, which cannot be added afterwards, but is contemporaneous with the conception, and has its own share in the working-out of the musical idea. When, therefore, the composer develops his work in his own mind, he hears not only certain abstract sounds, but definite individual tones embodied in the voices and instruments; the whole image glows with vivid colouring in his mind, and only needs to receive its outward form. Besides, it must be remembered that Mozart himself created the orchestra as it was employed with increasing effect from "Idomeneo" onwards; the full use of wind instruments, their combination with each other and with the strings; the consequent radical change of colouring in the instrumentation as a whole, and the wealth of charming detail in the blending of the tone-colours, are all due to Mozart.[ 20 ] He had never heard the effects he strove to produce; they existed in the orchestra, it is true, as the statue exists in the marble; but just as the sculptor must have seen with his spiritual eye what he strives to reproduce in the stone, so Mozart can have heard only with his spiritual ear the sounds which he drew from his orchestra.[ 21 ]
The alterations which have been mentioned are not to be considered as selected from among many similar instances, they are the only ones of any consequence with which my researches have acquainted me. In forming our idea of Mozart's method of writing his score, we may remark further, that he did not content himself with such hasty outlines beforehand as might suggest the course of the whole by a few touches, but sketched out fully those parts where he thought well to give particular attention to the details. Canons, fugues, passages in counterpoint, with a complicated disposition of parts or some other difficulty, were worked out upon scraps of music paper or sheets which had been previously used but not quite filled, and then transferred to the score. An accurate sketch for the first finale in "Don Giovanni," for instance, where the three dance melodies occur together in different measures, was shown to me by Al. Fuchs, who had procured one such sketch from each of Mozart's great operas. There was another also of the three-part canon in the second finale of "Cosi fan Tutte," in which only the canon, not the voice part belonging to it, was noted. There exists also, in addition to the rough draft of the score of "L' Oca del Cairo," sketches of those parts of the quartet (6) and finale (7) which demand particular attention on account of the contrapuntal disposition of the parts. Unfortunately but few of these sketches have been preserved, but those few show Mozart's method very clearly, and leave no doubt that they were made in order that his conception might be fully developed and arranged in his own mind before its final reduction to writing. They testify, too, of the thoughtfulness and deliberation with which he worked, of the severe demands which he made upon himself, and the conscientiousness which prevented his trusting to the lucky inspiration of the moment or to his own well-tried readiness of resource. Our idea of Mozart as an artist is no longer that which has been so commonly received and admired, and which shows us a spendthrift of his artistic powers, who was only driven by dire necessity to collect the fruits which his genius cast unbidden into his lap. The prerogative of genius is not a dispensation from labour and painful exertion, but MOZART AS AN ARTIST. the power of attaining the highest aims of such labour, and of obliterating every trace of effort in the perfection of the work.
The external characteristics of Mozart's scores show also great care for order and clearness. His handwriting was small, but though often rapid, and sometimes hasty, always clear, decided, and individual.[ 22 ] The smaller details, in which copyist's errors might easily creep in, are specially cared for; all the instructions for delivery are carefully given in each part. In short, Mozart's scores leave an impression, not of pedantry, which magnifies what is unimportant and loses time in an exaggerated regard for method and uniformity, but of a well-considered order and careful arrangement of details in their due relation to the whole work.
Admirably illustrative of Mozart's method, as we have endeavoured to portray it, are the numerous unfinished compositions of which frequent mention has been made; many of these were found after his death,[ 23 ] and some are preserved in the Mozarteum at Salzburg. Among these rough draughts of scores are several beginnings of masses belonging to his Salzburg days, as also some songs and many unfinished instrumental compositions, but by far the greater part were written in Vienna. Among them we may note:—
6 fragments of string quintets.