Category: Biographies
MOZART and his mother left Mannheim on March 14, and arrived in Paris on the 23rd, after a journey of nine days and a-half. "We thought we should never get through it," writes Wolfgang (March 24, 1778),[1] "and I never in my life was so tired. You can imagine what it was to le...
Mozart's sincere and upright love for his wife has been clearly demonstrated already; it was the talk of Vienna. One day, soon after his marriage, as he and his wife were walkin...
6. CHAPTER XXII. "IDOMENEO.to which he was forced to succumb at Salzburg, yet the severe discipline to which he was subjected must have been in many respects useful during his period of education. Since h...
2. CHAPTER XIX. PARIS, 1778.SUCH was the condition of musical affairs at the time of Mozart's arrival in Paris. The successes on either side, and the violence of partisan controversy, had, as might have be...
12. CHAPTER XXVIII. MOZART'S FAMILY AND FRIENDS.had been seriously affected by his marriage. It was not till after long opposition that Leopold Mozart voluntarily, although most unwillingly, gave his consent, and how deeply h...
5. part II), composed in the summer (July 9) of 1779, was evidentlythe results of "a pleased frame of mind"; it is a genuine product of Mozart's humour, lively, cheerful and full of grace and feeling. The second, a year later (August 29, 1780),...
17. CHAPTER XXXIII. MOZART'S PIANOFORTE MUSIC.THERE can be no reason to doubt what has often been asserted and maintained with proof, that Mozart was the greatest pianoforte-player of his time. Although, however, the fame o...
1. CHAPTER XVIII. FRENCH OPERA.MOZART and his mother left Mannheim on March 14, and arrived in Paris on the 23rd, after a journey of nine days and a-half. "We thought we should never get through it," writes W...
9. CHAPTER XXV. "DIE ENTFÜHRUNG AUS DEM SERAIL.who had waged incessant war against them throughout his career, had the satisfaction of chronicling the opera of "Atalanta," in Dresden, as the last of its kind[1] but they were...
8. CHAPTER XXIV. FIRST ATTEMPTS IN VIENNA.WHEN Mozart's withdrawal from the service of the Archbishop had become an established fact, the latter was anxious to show the world that it lay in his power to attract equally...
16. CHAPTER XXXII. MOZART AS AN ARTIST.OF those who realise the excitement and want of repose of Mozart's life in Vienna, and the variety of occupations and distractions which beset him, it must appear matter of wond...
14. 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 Ther...
13. CHAPTER XXIX. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.FIRST among the group of friends in intercourse with whom Mozart found entertainment and refreshment of the highest kind, must be named the Countess Thun, _née_ Uhlefeld. She wa...
7. CHAPTER XXIII. RELEASE.THE summons to Vienna appeared like the fulfilment of Mozart's ardent and long-deferred wish; but his relation to the Archbishop, among whose followers he was obliged to conside...
10. CHAPTER XXVI. COURTSHIP.between his own love affairs and those represented in the opera, with the view of accounting for the depth and truth of his expression of the tenderest of passions. It is true t...
3. CHAPTER XX. THE RETURN HOME.WOLFGANG'S father expected that he would perform his homeward journey without any unnecessary delay, and his anxiety became serious when day after day passed and he received no...
15. CHAPTER XXXI. MOZART AND FREEMASONRY.AN account of the circumstances which affected Mozart's social and artistic position in Vienna, as well as his moral and intellectual development, would be incomplete without so...
4. CHAPTER XXI. COURT SERVICE IN SALZBURG.MOZART was welcomed to the paternal roof with open arms; everything was prepared for his reception; "a convenient cupboard and the clavichord were placed in his room," the cook...