Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/409

MOZART. and really pleasing; it is easy to see who his master was (Haydn). It will be a good thing for music if Pleyel should in time replace Haydn.' When Beethoven came to Vienna for the first time in the spring of 1787, and found an opportunity of playing before Mozart, he is said to have observed to the bystanders, 'Mark him; he will make a noise in the world.' Of Thomas Linley, with whom, as we have seen, he made friends in Florence, he said, 'That he was a true genius, and had he lived would have been one of the greatest ornaments of the musical world.'

Mozart was short, but slim and well-proportioned, with small feet and good hands; as a young man he was thin, which made his nose look large, but later in life he became stouter. His head was somewhat large in proportion to his body, and he had a profusion of fine hair, of which he was rather vain. He was always pale, and his face was a pleasant one, though not striking in any way. His eyes were well-formed, and of a good size, with fine eyebrows and lashes, but as a rule they looked languid, and his gaze was restless and absent. He was very particular about his clothes, and wore a good deal of embroidery and jewelry; from his elegant appearance Clementi took him for one of the court chamberlains. On the whole he was perhaps insignificant-looking, but he did not like to be made aware of the fact, or to have his small stature commented upon. When playing the whole man became at once a different and a higher order of being. His countenance changed, his eye settled at once into a steady calm gaze, and every movement of his muscles conveyed the sentiment expressed in his playing. He was fond of active exercise, which was the more necessary as he suffered materially in health from his habit of working far into the night. At one time he took a regular morning ride, but had to give it up, not being able to conquer his nervousness. It was replaced by billiards and skittles, his fondness for which we have mentioned. He even had a billiard-table in his own house: 'Many and many a game have I played with him,' says Kelly, 'but always came off second best.' When no one else was there he would play with his wife, or even by himself. His favourite amusement of all however was dancing, for which Vienna afforded ample opportunities. This too Kelly mentions (i. 226), 'Mme. Mozart told me that great as his genius was, he was an enthusiast in dancing, and often said that his taste lay in that art, rather than in music.' He was particularly fond of masked balls, and had quite a talent for masquerading in character, as he showed at the Rathhaus balls in Salzburg. In 1783 he sent home for a harlequin's suit, to play the character in a pantomime got up by some friends for the Carnival Monday; Mme. Lange and her husband were Columbine and Pierrot, Merk, an old dancing-master who trained the company, was Pantaloon, and the painter Grossi the Dottore. Mozart devised the whole thing, and composed the music, which was of course very simple; thirteen numbers have been preserved (446).

In society Mozart found amusement of the highest kind, and inspiration, as well as affection and true sympathy. No house offered him so much of these as that of Countess Thun, 'die charmanteste, liebste Dame, die ich in meinem Leben gesehen,' of whom Burney, Reichardt, and George Forster, wrote in the highest terms. Other associates were the Countess's son-in-law and Mozart's pupil Prince Karl Lichnowsky, Hofrath von Born, Baron Otto von Gemmingen, Hofrath von Spielmann, Prince Kaunitz, Count Cobenzl, Field-marshal Haddik, Geheimrath von Kees, who had weekly orchestral concerts at his house, the botanist Jacquin, and his son and daughter [], Count Hatzfeld, an intimate friend who played in his quartets, Kaufmann Bridi, a good tenor who sung in 'Idomeneo,' the families Greiner, Martinez, and Ployer, all of whom had constant music, and van Swieten, who has been mentioned already. Another great admirer of his was Barisani the physician, 'that noble man, my best and dearest friend, who saved my life' (when seriously ill in 1784), and whose unexpected death in 1787 affected him much. One can quite understand that the refreshment of social intercourse was a real necessity after his hard brain-work. On such occasions he was full of fun, ready at a moment's notice to pour out a stream of doggrel rhymes or irresistibly droll remarks; in short he was a frank open-hearted child, whom it was almost impossible to identify with Mozart the great artist. His brother-in-law Lange says that he was most full of fun during the time he was occupied with his great works. It has been reiterated ad nauseam that Mozart was a drunkard, whose indulgence in this and cognate vices brought him to an early grave, but that such a charge was totally unfounded no one who has studied his life can doubt for a moment. That, like other people, he enjoyed a good glass of wine nobody can deny, but his laborious life and the prodigious number of his compositions convincingly prove that he was never given up to excess. Those who accused him of intemperance also magnified his debts tenfold when he died, and thus inflicted grievous injury on his widow. These 'friends' propagated the worst reports as to his domestic affairs and constant embarrassments. Undoubtedly his wife was a bad manager, and this was a serious defect in a household which only acquired a regular income (800 fl.!) in 1788, and whose resources before and after that time were most irregular. His wife's constant illnesses too were a great additional burden. Though naturally unfitted for anything of the kind, he made many serious attempts to regulate his expenses, and would every now and then keep