Scan 97
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
12 lines. Read by computer on 8 September 2026. Printed page 77. See the scan on archive.org.
1Mozart
2finest symphonies, those in E flat, G minor and C. During 1788 he conducted a series of concerts organized by van Swieten, for whom he added wind parts to Handel's Messiah, Ode to St. Cecilia's Day, and Acis and Galatea.
4In 1789 he accepted an invitation from Prince Karl Lichnowsky to go to Berlin. On arriving there he was taken to Potsdam and presented to the King, who showed his appreciation of Mozart's genius by offering him the position of chapelmaster, which he refused because he did not wish to leave his Emperor. He gave a concert in Leipsic, played before the Queen in Berlin, and returning in June to Vienna set to work to write some quartets ordered by the King. Receiving a commission from the Emperor he began Così fan tutti, of Da Ponte's, but before it was finished the Emperor died. On the coronation of his successor, Leopold II., at Frankfort, Mozart made his last professional tour. He gave a concert at the Frankfort Stadttheatre and afterward played before the King of Naples and the Elector at Munich; but these concerts brought him no commission and he returned to Vienna greatly discouraged. Soon after he bade goodbye to Haydn, whom he had met in 1781, and whose friendship had been of the greatest benefit to him. He worked very hard during this time and produced a beautiful motet, Ave Verum, a forerunner of the Requiem and the Magic Flute. He wrote The Magic Flute to aid Schikaneder, who had a little theatre in the suburb of Wieden, and while hard at work on it received a commission to write a requiem from a mysterious personage who enjoined secrecy. Soon after he was asked to write an opera for the coronation of Leopold II., at Prague, in which city he composed and conducted La Clemenza de Tito, performed on the evening of the coronation, when it received but little attention from the Court audience. Disappointed and ill, Mozart returned home and finished The Magic Flute, which was introduced in September and after a few performances became very popular. He now turned his attention to the Requiem, but illness and disappointment had induced a state of deep dejection and he was unable to proceed. Seized with a haunting belief in his approaching death, the Requiem score was taken away from him. Then for a time he rallied, composing and even conducting a cantata for his lodge, but soon after relapsing and finally taking to his bed. About this time brighter prospects appeared for him; the nobles of Hungary raised a fund guaranteeing him a certain annuity, and the people of Amsterdam took a subscription to have him write some compositions for them. But it was too late. He tried vainly to proceed with the Requiem, and on December 4 attempted to sing it through with Hofer, Shack, and Gerl, but on reaching the Lacrimosa burst into tears and put it by. He died Dec. 5, 1791, and was buried in a pauper's grave, the location of which is unknown.
6His life was one of struggle and disappointment, for through appreciation of his work did not come until after his death. He was unfailingly industrious, and in the short time that he lived he wrote many compositions. His religious writings comprise fifteen masses, four litanies, four Kyries, and many other sacred vocal compositions, of which may be mentioned as important his Litania de Venerabili, Laurentanæ; two Litanie de Venerabili in B flat and E flat; two vespers in C; the motet, Misericordias Domine Venite populi; the marvelous Ave Verum; the mass in C minor; and the unfinished Requiem, greatest of all. Of his forty-nine symphonies the best known are the dreamy one in E flat, the one in G minor, the Jupiter symphony, vigorous and dignified. His many beautiful quartets are equaled only by those of Haydn and Beethoven. Of his operas, Idomeneo; Figaro; Don Giovanni; and The Magic Flute are the most important. Besides these he has written chamber-music, songs, and many beautiful sonatas. Throughout all his compositions there is a purity of conception, a wealth of beauty such as is found only in works of genius. In whichever of the many branches of composition he worked we see the greatest technical knowledge linked to loftiness and purity of thought.
8BIBLIOGRAPHY.
9Breakspear, E. J. — Mozart.
10Jahn, Otto — W. A. Mozart. 3 vols.
11Kerst, Friedrich, comp. — Mozart, the man and the artist.
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