But the crown of all the songs, by virtue of its touching expression of emotion and its charming perfection of form, is unquestionably Goethe's "Veilchen" (476 K.).[ 66 ] In other songs we discern musical genius divining and bringing to light the poetic germ which lies hidden in the words; here we have the impression made upon Mozart by true poetry. It may seem remarkable that so simple a lyrical poem should have been treated by Mozart as a romance, giving a certain amount of dramatic detail to the little story; and yet it must not be overlooked that the masterly touch which repeats the closing words: "Das arme Veilchen! es war ein herzigs Veilchen!" fully reasserts a genuine lyric element.[ 67 ] A tendency to dramatic effect was inherent in Mozart's nature as an artist, and Goethe's clear and plastic presentation of a simple image, true in every feature, could not fail to impress him deeply. The poem must have fallen into his hands by some accident; had he known others of them, he would certainly have preferred them to Weisse's. Why did he not seek them out? He does not seem to have sought out any poems for composition, but took what came, and Goethe had scarcely penetrated to the circle in which he lived. Had the springtime of German poetry been opened before his day, what inspirations might he not have drawn from its source!
Mozart's labours as a song composer are not by any means on a level with those in the other branches of his art, although even here his artistic nature could not fail to make itself felt. Beethoven followed him closely in his manner of song-writing, and walked steadily to the last in the path indicated by Mozart.
CHAPTER XXX. VAN SWIETEN AND CLASSICAL MUSIC.
OTTFRIED, Baron van Swieten, was a man who exercised, in more than one respect, an important influence on Mozart's career. He was born in 1734, the son of the Empress Maria Theresa's celebrated and influential physician Gerhard van Swieten, who had removed with his family from Leyden to Vienna in 1745. Gottfried devoted himself to the study of the law, and pursued a diplomatic career,[ 1 ] but from his youth up he had been passionately fond of music, and had turned his studies in the art to practical, MUSIC IN BERLIN. though not very successful account. In 1769 Favart's "Rosière de Salency" was produced in Paris with music by different composers; Van Swieten wrote several of the songs, but they failed to attract much praise.[ 2 ] He also composed eight symphonies "as stiff as himself," as Haydn said.[ 3 ] In 1771 Joseph II. appointed him ambassador to the Court of Prussia,[ 4 ] and there Nicolai made his acquaintance, and speaks of him as "an enthusiastic amateur and connoisseur, and even a composer."[ 5 ] His residence in Berlin was important for the development of his musical taste and the ideas which he afterwards undertook to introduce in Vienna.
In 1740, Frederick the Great had erected the Berlin Opera House, and produced the Italian opera seria of the time with all the brilliancy of first-rate performers and scenic accessories.[ 6 ] Grand operas (interrupted, however, by the Seven Years War) were regularly given; the King used to sit in the pit immediately behind the conductor, so as to be able to look over his score.[ 7 ] He held firm to his original principles of taste; would admit nothing but opera seria, and no new works except those of Hasse and Graun. The Kapellmeister Carl Heinrich Graun (1709-1759) was obliged to compose the operas (to which the King furnished libretti in French, to be turned into Italian[ 8 ]), and hurried over his uncongenial task; they were always submitted to the King, and what he disapproved of had to be altered.[ 9 ] He preferred Hasse's composition on account of his greater fire and passion, while Graun (highly prized as a singer by his royal master)[ 10 ] heard little but blame for his shortcomings as a composer.
Notwithstanding this, he had to produce his opera year VAN SWIETEN AND CLASSICAL MUSIC. after year, and matters continued unchanged.[ 11 ] Johann Friedrich Agricola (1720-1774), who succeeded Graun in 1760, wrote little himself, except some pieces for insertion in old operas, which are kept in the same style. The King would have nothing to say to any other composers, and received Reichardt with the advice: "Have a care of the new Italians; the fellows write like pigs."[ 12 ]
Reichardt, in applying for Agricola's post after the death of the latter in 1775, was obliged to support his claims by the production of an opera, "modelled on the pattern of Graun and Hasse";[ 13 ] as kapellmeister, he must not dream of striking out in any other direction. For the last ten years of his life the King took little interest in musical matters; Italian opera lingered on with the pieces of Graun and Hasse, but it sank lower and lower.[ 14 ]
Side by side with the opera, however, which followed so closely the Italian tradition, there arose in Berlin a peculiar form of instrumental music founded on the Saxon school. The King, as is well known, gave a private concert every evening, and performed on the flute pieces composed by himself or his master Quanz, who wrote over three hundred such for Frederick.[ 15 ] Johann Joachim Quanz (1697-1773)[ 16 ] to whom the King had been much attached from his earliest years, was supreme in all matters musical, and was nicknamed the "Pope of the Berlin music."[ 17 ] He was the only man who presumed to cry "Bravo!" to the King's playing.[ 18 ] Next after Quanz in Frederick's favour stood Franz Benda (1709-1786),[ 19 ] an artist of originality and a first-rate THE BACH SCHOOL IN BERLIN. violin-player; his manner of execution was peculiar to himself, and rested mainly on a pure and expressive delivery. His brother Joseph (1724-1804) and the sons of both followed in his footsteps, and the Concertmeister J. Gottlieb Graun (1698-1771) highly esteemed as a violin-player and instrumental composer, may be said to have belonged to the same school. By these distinguished artists the Berlin orchestra was formed and trained to a degree of excellence second only to that of Dresden, and not until later surpassed by Mannheim and Vienna.
