"It was wonderful that he could do so much with them, particularly in left-hand stretches. A great deal of his perfection must be ascribed to the admirable fingering, which according to his own acknowledgment he owed to a diligent study of Bach's works."[ 1 ] Mozart certainly appears to have played Bach's clavier music from a very early age (in his MOZART'S PIANOFORTE MUSIC. letters to Breitkopf the father frequently orders Bach's last compositions); and once at a party at Doles', when the conversation fell upon Bach's playing, Mozart declared: "He is the father; we are the lads. Those of us who can do anything owe it to him; and whoever does not admit that is a ———."[ 2 ]
Mozart's criticisms on the playing of Nanette Stein (Vol. I., p. 361) and Vogler (Vol. I., p. 387) prove the value he attached to good fingering as the foundation of firm and expressive execution. It is well known that Ph. Em. Bach's[ 3 ] practical development of his father's principles[ 4 ] laid the foundation of the present system of the art of fingering, and it is equally certain that Mozart, and with and after him Clementi, were the first to tread in the path so marked out.[ 5 ] He insisted mainly that the player should have a "quiet, steady hand," the natural ease, flexibility, and smooth rapidity of which should be so cultivated that the passages should "flow like oil" (Vol. I., p. 361); he did not counsel the practice of tours de force which might be prejudicial to these qualities. His first requirements were the delivery of "every note, turn, &c., correctly and decidedly, and with appropriate expression and taste" (Vol. I., p. 387). He cautions players against over-rapidity of execution, not only of passages where the harmony is strictly connected, but also of those where offences against strict time seem more allowable. He was strongly opposed to violations of time.[ 6 ]He believed (Vol. I., MOZART AS A VIRTUOSO. p. 361) that Nanette Stein would never acquire the power of playing in time, because she had not been accustomed to it from childhood. His own playing always excited admiration from his accurate time, never giving way to a tempo rubato in the left hand, while at the same time playing with perfect expression and deep feeling—and without making grimaces, to which he had a great aversion (Vol. I., p. 361).
He placed correctness first in the list of qualities essential to first-rate playing, and included among them ease and certainty in the execution of unusual technical difficulties, delicacy and good taste in delivery, and, above all, that power of breathing life and emotion into the music and of so expressing its meaning as to place the performer for the moment on a level with the creator of the work before him. We must be content to accept the enthusiastic testimony of the public, of connoisseurs, and of accomplished fellow-artists,[ 7 ] who all agreed that Mozart indisputably ranked highest among virtuosi, by virtue of his fulfilment of all these conditions.[ 8 ] When we find Clementi declaring that he never heard any one play so intellectually and gracefully as Mozart, Dittersdorf finding art and fine taste united in his playing, and Haydn asserting with tears in his eyes that he could never forget Mozart's playing, because it came "from the heart" (Vol. II., p. 350), the simple expressions of such men are more eloquent than the most emphatic hyperbole.
The union in Mozart of the virtuoso and the composer caused his performances as a virtuoso to be more directly influenced by his compositions than was usually the case. His pianoforte compositions have left us only an imperfect image of these combined accomplishments, partly because MOZART'S PIANOFORTE MUSIC. the living breath of genius cannot be reproduced, partly because the greater number of these works were written under the influence of external circumstances, which denied free scope both to the composer and the performer.[ 9 ]
Variations upon a well-known theme were at that time a favourite form of improvisation, so much so that varying and improvising were terms often used synonymously.[ 10 ] It is easy to understand the interest which even a less educated public took in this form. A simple theme, either familiar or of a kind to be easily understood, gives the hearers something to be laid hold of, and it amuses them to recognise and follow the air in its manifold disguises. The regular development and elaboration of a motif, obliging constant attention from the hearers in order to trace the connection of its different parts, was not expected in these fashionable variations. What was looked for was such a prominence given to some characteristic elements of the subject (whether in the harmonic succession, in the rhythm or the melody) as should serve constantly to suggest it to the mind, while affording a basis for a free play of musical fancy. Such variations on a given subject may be in some measure compared with arabesque and similar ornamentations in architecture, which display complex and fantastic varieties of animal and vegetable forms, but behind their apparent irregularities maintain a constant reference to the constructive design.
Mozart never cultivated any other than this easy style of variation; and we find a contemporary critic expressing the wish that he would write, "not only these florid variations, but others in the style of the two Bachs, with scientific inversions and imitations, and in counterpoint."[ 11 ] But amateurs were fond of the easier form, and he found frequent occasion to write variations for his pupils or other friends. He did not care about them himself, and took no pains to have them published. But finding favour with PIANOFORTE VARIATIONS. the public, they were eagerly sought after and published,[ 12 ] often with many inaccuracies; nor were all genuine that appeared under the name of Mozart.[ 13 ] The following variations belong to the Vienna period, and probably to the year 1784:
1. "Unser dummer Pöbel," from Gluck's "Pilgrims of Mecca" (Vol. II., p. 285, 455 K.)
2. "Come un agnello," from Sarti's "Fra Due Litiganti" (Vol. II., p. 345, 460 K.).
In 1785 were composed:—
3. September 12 (500 K.)