Page:Pratt - The history of music (1907).djvu/385

 *cessive influences that affected him, at first conforming without much revolt to the conventions of the Neapolitans, then being distinctly influenced by Gluck's later masterpieces, and finally catching a fresh flavor from the newly-revived German singspiel. But in them all, especially after 1781, are features of powerful originality. Of these the most conspicuous is the overflowing wealth of musical charm—lovely melodies, delicious combinations of movement, form and color, and masterly construction, both vocal and instrumental. The opera for Mozart was first of all a musical opportunity of the highest order. Herein he showed his kinship with the strongest of his Italian predecessors, though he far surpassed them in abundance and richness of ideas. But he also resembled Gluck in his keen sense of dramatic values. Yet, while Gluck strove after severely ideal total effects with a seriousness that verged upon austerity, Mozart's mind fastened rather upon the finish and effectiveness of single scenes and passages, and preferred the light and humorous. Gluck's theory centred upon the intellectual importance of plot and text, such as he found in tragedies upon Greek themes, while Mozart was notoriously reckless about his librettos, sometimes using absolutely preposterous conglomerations. But Mozart was singularly felicitous in his characterization of personages, however senseless in themselves, so that several of them stand out as monumental artistic creations. And his capacity for sustaining interest and building it up into fine climaxes by sheer musical skill was unique.

Mozart's operas fall naturally into two distinct periods—those of his youth, beginning with La finta semplice (1769, Salzburg) and the German operetta Bastien und Bastienne (both written in 1768, Vienna), and ending with La finta giardiniera and Il rè pastore (both 1775, the one at Munich, the other at Salzburg); and those of his maturity, which (including several only sketched) numbered at least ten. Of these last Idomeneo (1781, Munich), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782, Vienna), Le nozze di Figaro (1786, Vienna), Don Giovanni (1787, Prague) and Die Zauberflöte (1791, Vienna) were much the strongest. All the earlier works, with his oratorio La Betulia liberata (1772), are clearly shaped upon current Italian patterns, with the exception of Bastien und Bastienne, which is a true singspiel. In the later works the underlying type is more or less definitely Italian, but the treatment is increasingly original and free, certainly until the climax reached in Don Giovanni. The influence of Gluck first becomes noticeable in Idomeneo. Ideas connected with Freemasonry play a part in the striking romanticism of The Magic Flute.