152 ([return])
[ Gazzaniga has made a tolerably long piece of it, not without expression, and the best in his opera—but how far apart from Mozart!]
153 ([return])
[ Schaul (Briefe üb. d. Geschmack in der Musik, p. 51) cites this sestet as an instance of Mozart's sins against sound sense, because it is written in tragic instead of melodramatic style.]
154 ([return])
[ The musical treatment of the words of the Commendatore has been visibly influenced by Gluck's "Alceste." A comparison of the two will show how skilfully Mozart introduced more delicate touches of detail without injuring the imposing effect of the whole.]
155 ([return])
[ A force and brilliancy are given to the wind instruments by means of the trombone such as was never before dreamed of. Mozart's sheet with the wind instruments is lost, but an old copy has the trombones. They are not used in the overture, because he meant it to be merely suggestive, and wished neither to lessen the impression of the actual apparition, nor to disturb the tone character of the overture. Gugler seeks to prove that the trombones were added later by Süssmayer (Leipzig, A. M. Z., 1867, No. 1-3), which I am not prepared to allow.]
156 ([return])
[ An instance is Leporello's confidential whisper to Elvira (intensified in effect by the interrupted cadence on B flat and the wonderful bassoon notes): "Sua passion predominante è la giovin principiante]