The Emperor then said to me: "Allons, d'rauf los!" ("Now then, fire away!") I preluded, and played some variations. Then the Grand Duchess[ 33 ] produced some sonatas by Paesiello (in his own miserable manuscript),[ 34 ] of which I was to play the allegro and Clementi the andante and rondo. Then we each took a subject and carried it out on two pianofortes. By the way, I had borrowed the Countess Thun's pianoforte for myself, but only played upon it when I played alone. The Emperor wished it to be so. The other instrument was out of tune, and had three of its keys sticking. "Never mind," said the Emperor. I look upon it that the Emperor knows my musical powers and knowledge, and wishes to do me justice in the eyes of the foreigners. I know upon very good authority that he was thoroughly satisfied with me.

FIRST ATTEMPTS IN VIENNA.

Dittersdorf confirms this view, and extracts the following from a conversation with Joseph II.:[ 35 ]—

Emperor: "Have you heard Mozart?" Myself: "Three times already." Emperor: "How do you like him?" Myself: "As every connoisseur must like him." Emperor: "Have you heard Clementi also?" Myself: "I have heard him also." Emperor: "Some people prefer him to Mozart, which makes Greybig wild. What is your opinion? speak out." Myself: "In Clementi's playing there is merely art, but in Mozart's both art and taste." Emperor: "That is just what I said myself."

After the competition, the Emperor sent Mozart fifty ducats, "which were very acceptable at the time."

Clementi was delighted with Mozart's playing:—

I had never heard so delicate and graceful an execution. I was especially delighted with an adagio, and with several of his extemporised variations. The Emperor gave the subject, and we varied it, alternately accompanying each other.

On the other hand, Mozart's judgment of Clementi was sharp and severe:—

Clementi is a good player, and that is all one can say. He plays well as far as the execution of his right hand is concerned. His forte lies in passages in thirds. But he has not an atom of taste or feeling, in fact he is a mere mechanist.

When his sister in Salzburg had made acquaintance with Clementi's sonatas, he wrote to her (June 7, 1783):—