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[ O. Gumprecht, Deutsch. Theater-Archiv, 1859, Nos. 2, 3.]
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[ The earliest translation is that by Bitter, mentioned by E. G. Neefe (1789). Don Giovanni is called Herr von Schwänkereich; Leporello, Fickfack. It circulated in manuscript, and was the foundation of most of the earlier German versions, as well as of those by Schroder and Rochlitz (Leipzig, 1801), which cannot be adjudged free from the faults of their predecessors. Kugler showed by his own attempt how difficult a task it was (Argo, 1859, p. 353). A great advance has been made in the recent versions of W. Viol ("Don Juan": Breslau, 1858); L. Bischoff, in Simrock's pianoforte score (Cf. Niederrh. Mus. Ztg., 1858, p. 397; 1859, p. 88); A. von Wolzogen (Deutsche Schaub., IX., 1860); C. H. Bitter (Mozart's "Don Juan" u. Gluck's "Iphigenia in Tauris," Berlin, 1866). Lyser's announcement of a translation by Mozart himself (N. Ztschr., XXI., p. 174), of which he quoted fragments, was unquestionably the result of a mystification, in spite of Lyser's repeated declaration that he had copied from the autograph original in the possession of Mozart's son (Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1845, p. 322), where Al. Fuchs did not find it (Ibid., p. 343).]
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[ G. Weber makes a statement with regard to Mozart's autograph score (Cäcilia, XVIII., p. 91) which places the question of the inserted pieces in a very clear light. The treasure, which could find no place in any public collection of Germany, came into the possession of Madame Pauline Viardot; a new account of it is given by Viardot in the "Illustration" of the year 1855 (Deutsch. N. Wien. Mus. Ztg., 1856, V., No. 9). He relates at the close that Rossini called upon him saying: "Je vais m'agenouiller devant cette sainte relique"; and after turing over the score exclaimed: "C'est le plus grand, c'est le maître de tous; c'est le seul qui ait eu autant de science que de génie et autant de génie que de science.">[
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[ The character and meaning of this remarkable and much-discussed piece of music are so distinctly marked that they cannot fail to be apprehended. CL Hoffmann's suggestions (Fantasiestücke, I., 4, Ges. Schr., VII., p. 92), Ulibicheff (Mozart, III., p. 105), Krüger (Beitrage, p. 160), and the elaborate analysis by Lobe (A. M. Z.t XLIX., pp. 369, 385, 417, 441), where the effort to trace everything back to a conscious intention has led to some singular mis* apprehensions.]
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[ In the overture to "Cosi fan Tutte" also, Mozart has made a humorous use of a motif from the opera; and in both cases has made it introductory to the principal subject of the overture, which is an altogether independent composition. The superficial device of making the whole overture an embodiment of different subjects from the opera, a custom introduced by Weber, would not occur to artists whose aim was to produce a consistent whole, working from within outwards.]