Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/21

Rh M O Z M O Z 11 composed incessantly, played at numberless concerts, and was in greater favour than ever at court and Avith the nobility; but to the last day of his life his purse was empty. He had, however, many kind friends, not the least affectionate of vhom was the veteran Haydn, who was sincerely attached to him. With Gluck he was on terms of courteous intercourse only. Salieri detested him, and made no secret of his dislike. Mozart s next dramatic venture was a German singspiel in one act, Der Schauspieldirektor, produced at Schon- brunn, 7th February 1786. Not quite three months later, on 1st May, he produced his marvellous Le Nozze di Figaro, the libretto for which was adapted from Beaumarchais by the abbe Da Ponte. The reception of this magnificent Avork Avas enthusiastic. But Vienna was a hotbed of intrigue. Everything that could be done by jealous plotters to mar the composer s success was done, and that so effectively that Mozart declared he would never bring out another opera in the city Avhich treated him so meanly. Fortu nately, Figaro, like Die Entfiihrung, Avas repeated with brilliant success at Prague. Mozart went there to hear it, and received a commission to Avrite an opera for the next season, with a fee of 100 ducats. Da Ponte furnished a libretto, founded on Tirso de Molina s tale, El Convidado de Piedra, and entitled II Don Giovanni. By 28th October 1787 the whole was ready with the exception of the over ture, not a note of which was written on the evening before the performance. This circumstance has led to the idea that it was composed in haste, but it is certain that Mozart knew it all by heart and transcribed it during the night from memory, while his Avife told fairy tales to keep him aAvake. The opera was produced on 29th October with extraordinary effect, and the overture, though played Avith- out rehearsal, was as successful as the rest of the music. 1 Yet, when reproduced in Vienna, Don Giovanni pleased less than Salieri s comparatively Avorthless Tarare. On returning to Vienna Mozart Avas appointed kammer- compositor to the emperor Avith a salary of 800 gulden (80). He also conducted Baron van Swieten s concerts, and composed great quantities both of sacred and secular music, but continued miserably poor, AA^hib his wife had become a confirmed inA^alid. In April 1789 he accompanied Prince Lichnowski to Berlin, where King Frederick William II. offered him the post of &quot; kapellmeister &quot; with a salary of 3000 thalers (450). Though most unwilling to quit the emperor s service, he informed him of the offer and re quested leave to resign his appointment in Vienna. &quot;Are you going to desert me, then 1 &quot; asked the emperor ; and Mozart, wounded by the reproach, remained to starve. The emperor now commissioned Mozart to compose another Italian opera, Avhich was produced 26th January 1790 under the title of Cosl fan tutte. Though the libretto by Da Ponte was too stupid for criticism, the music was deli cious, and the opera would probably have had a long run but for the emperor s death on 7th February. The neAv em peror, Leopold II., Avas elected at Frankfort in September, and Mozart went thither in the hope of giving some con certs, but he was obliged to sell his plate to pay the expenses of the journey, and returned in December. In March 1791 Mozart consented to write a German opera upon an entirely new plan for Schikaneder, the manager of the little theatre in the Wieden suburb. The piece Avas addressed especially to the Freemasons and contained cease less allusions both in the Avords and music to the secrets of the brotherhood. Deeply interested in the affairs of a body of Avhich he Avas himself a member, 2 Mozart excelled 1 Michael Kelly, in his Reminiscences, has left a delightful account of the circumstances. 2 Freemasonry did not at that time involve the censure of the Catholic Church, or Mozart would certainly have renounced it, himself in this neAv work, for the overture of which he in vented a neAv art-form, that of the &quot; symphonic fugue.&quot; He Avas reAvarded for his labours by a brilliant artistic success, but Schikaneder alone reaped the financial benefit of the speculation. Before the completion of Die Zauberflote a stranger called on Mozart, requesting him to compose a Requiem and offering to pay for it in advance. He began the work under the influence of superstitious fear, believing that the messenger had been sent from the other world to foreAvarn him of his own approaching death. MeanAvhile he received a commission to compose an opera, La Clemenza di Tito, for the coronation of the emperor at Prague. He worked incessantly, and far beyond his strength. The coronation took place on 6th September, and its splendours threw the opera very much into the shade. Die Zauberfl ote was pro duced on 30th September and had a splendid run. But the Requiem still remained unfinished ; the stranger there fore made another appointment, paying a further sum in advance. Mozart Avorked at it unremittingly, hoping to make it his greatest work. His sacred music, though less florid than Haydn s, Avas even more voluptuously beautiful, i perfect in its kind, though shoAving no trace of the stern grandeur of Handel, or the devotional purity of Palestrina. In the Requiem he surpassed himself, but he Avas not permitted to finish it. When the stranger called the third time the composer was no more. The score of the Requiem was completed by Siissmayer, whose task, simplified by the instructions he had received from Mozart on his death-bed, was a purely mechanical one. It is now knoAvn that the Avork was commissioned by Count Walsegg, Avho Avished to perform it as his own. Mozart died 5th December 1791, apparently from fever, though he believed himself poisoned. His funeral was a disgrace to the court, the emperor, the public, society itself. On the afternoon of the 6th his body was hurried to a pauper s grave ; and because it rained Van SAvieten, Siissmayer, and three other &quot; friends &quot; turned back and left him to be carried to his last long home alone. Mozart s compositions, whether for the church, the theatre, or the concert-room, are pervaded by an individuality of style which can never be mistaken. Of the truthful expression of his dramatic music we have already spoken. Apart from its innate beauty, its artistic strength consists in its perfect adaptation to the situation for which it is designed. The same great quality characterizes his symphonies, his concertos, and his sonatas for the pianoforte and other solo instruments. Each work presents us Avith the logical and consistent development of a noble idea, of which we never lose sight for a moment. No trace of indecision or inconsequence is discernible in any part of the composition. Every note is fitted into its place with a definite purpose, and takes its share in the arrangement of the design Avith a certainty Avhich leaves no doubt as to the object for which it was introduced. The result of this well-considered symmetry is a degree of technical perfection which no composer, ancient or modern, has ever surpassed. But tech nical perfection does but supply the body into which true genius alone can breathe the living soul. And here it is that we must look for the inexpressible charm which Mozart s music never fails to exercise upon all who hear it. Its boundless wealth of melody is governed by a refinement of taste which excludes every subject, every phrase, every minutest cadence which is not both beautiful in itself and capable of enhancing the beauty of its fellow-phrases. Mozart himself has left us, in a letter to Baron V, a memorable description of the loving care he exercised in the selection of his charming phrases. He tells us that his ideas flowed best when he was alone and feeling cheerful. Having once conceived an idea he subjected it to a process of mental elaboration which continued until the composition was complete. Then, and not till then, he com mitted it to paper ; and hence it was that he was able to Avrite out the overture to Don Giovanni on the day of its first performance. . Von Kochel s Chronologischthematisches Verzeichniss, 1862, contains a com plete list of Mozart s works. (W. 8. R.) MOZDOK, a Russian toAA r n in the government of the Caucasus and province of Stavropol, lies on the left bank of the Terek, 465 feet above the level of the sea, in 43 41 N. lat. and 44 39 E. long., 58 miles north of Vladi-