Mozart sometimes bestowed improvised compositions in the form of alms. One day a beggar accosted him in the MOZART'S CRITICISM ON FELLOW-ARTISTS. street and claimed a distant relationship with him. Mozart, having no money, went into the nearest coffee-house, wrote a minuet and trio, and sent the beggar with it to his publisher, who paid him what it was considered worth.[ 58 ]
His ever-ready good-nature must have made Mozart a great favourite among his fellow-artists, and yet he had only too often to complain of the ingratitude to which his very good-nature subjected him. Between him and the majority of Italian opera-singers there existed, nevertheless, an innate antagonism; they complained of his compositions as being far too difficult and not telling enough. There can be no doubt that he made many concessions to display of execution, but these were not considered extensive enough at the time, and Mozart, scorning so cheap and easy a way of gaining the applause of the public, sought to attain his end by other and better means.[ 59 ] It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that the Italians in Vienna for the most part objected to singing in Mozart's operas, the more so as their disinclination was fostered by outsiders; Mozart, on his part, disliked the then prevalent style of singing: "They rush at it, and shake and make flourishes," he said, "because they have not studied, and cannot sustain a note."[ 60 ]
He was fond of mocking in his sarcastic style at this kind of composition and performance, and used to imitate off-hand at the piano grand operatic scenas in the style of well-known masters, with the most telling effect.[ 61 ] Such exhibitions would not tend to increase the number of his friends. Mozart was "cutting" (schlimm), as we know, and took no pains to restrain his jesting moods, which were doubtless often taken in far worse part than they were meant. But he also pronounced many a sharp censure in earnest upon artists who felt the more bitter as his own MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS. superiority made itself incontestably felt.[ 62 ] Soon after his settlement in Vienna his father was informed that his boasting and criticisms were making him enemies among musicians and others, but this accusation Wolfgang indignantly repelled (July 31, 1782).
Nevertheless, we find him writing not long afterwards (December 23, 1782): "I should like to write a book—a short musical criticism with examples; but of course not in my own name." There was a rage at Vienna for the discussion and criticism of all imaginable subjects by means of pamphlets and brochures.[ 63 ] That which tempted Mozart to take pen in hand was the downfall of German opera, which was a serious blow to him. He was conscious of what he as a German might have accomplished for German art, and it pained him to see the universal preference for Italian art and artists.
From early youth he had been aware of the unworthy devices often employed in Italian music, and his aversion to "all Italians" continually betrays itself, but very seldom to the extent of making him unjust towards individual persons or performances. His healthy judgment and inexhaustible flow of human kindness preserved him from this danger. Jos. Frank relates[ 64 ] that, finding Mozart continually engaged on the study of French opera scores, he once asked him if he would not do better to devote himself to Italian music, which was then the fashion of the day in Vienna. Mozart answered: "As regards the melodies, yes; but as regards the dramatic effects, no; besides which, the scores that you CRITICISM ON FELLOW-ARTISTS. see here are by Gluck, Piccinni, Salieri, and, with the exception of those by Grétry, have nothing French in them but the words."[ 65 ] This was true, and we may allow that Mozart did not require to learn melody from the Italians. His judgments of various composers might offend at the time, but we are now ready to endorse them as not only striking but fair. We have already learnt his opinion of Righini (Vol. II., p. 251). Of Martin, the universal favourite, he said: "Much in his works is really very pretty, but ten years hence he will be quite forgotten."[ 66 ] How ready he was to acknowledge merit in any performance "which had something in it" is plainly shown in a letter to his father (April 24,1784):—
Some quartets have just appeared by a man named Pleyel; he is a pupil of Jos. Haydn. If you do not already know them, try to get them, it is worth your while. They are very well and pleasantly written, and give evidence of his master. Well and happy will it be for music if Pleyel is ready in due time to take Haydn's place for us.
This was just at the time when he was busy with his own quartets, where he showed how one master learns from another. When he found nothing original in any work he put it aside with the words, "Nothing in it," or vented his mocking humour on it. Rochlitz relates that once at Doles, he made them sing the Mass of a composer "who had evident talent for comic opera, but was out of place as a composer of sacred music," parodying the words in a very entertaining manner.[ 67 ]
The description which Mozart gives to his father of the celebrated oboist, J. Chr. Fischer (1733-1800), is characteristic of his sharp and involuntarily comic criticism. Fischer had come to Vienna from London, where he enjoyed an extraordinary reputation (April 4, 1787):[ 68 ]—
If the oboist Fischer did not play better when we heard him in Holland (1766) than he plays now, he certainly does not deserve the reputation which he has. But, between ourselves, I was then at an age incapable of forming a judgment. I can only remember that he pleased me, as he pleased all the world. It would be quite reasonable to contend that taste has altered since then to a remarkable degree, and that he plays after the old school—but no! he plays, in fact, like a miserable learner; young André, who used to learn from Fiala, plays a thousand times better. And then his concertos of his own composition! Every ritornello lasts a quarter of an hour—then enter the hero—lifts up one leaden foot after another, and plumps them down on the ground alternately. His tone is all through his nose, and his tenuto is like the tremulant stop on the organ. Could you have supposed all this? and yet it is nothing but the truth, the real truth, which I tell you.