proved to him that he might find appreciation, without the long journey proposed to him by his English friends; and he accordingly visited the Bohemian capital in the spring of 1787. Never, since he had ceased to be an infant wonder, had he been so cordially welcomed as now; in private, the highly cultivated dillettanti vied with the artists in acknowledgments of Mozart's genius. He seems never to have felt so happy as at this time, when he first knew himself to be thoroughly understood; and he joyfully accepted a commission to write an opera for the theatre, where he was sure that equal justice would be done to him before and behind the curtain, and he set to work on his dramatic masterpiece with a confidence of success, such as he can have felt on no other occasion. "Il Don Giovanni, ossia il Dissoluto punito" was here first performed, October 29, 1787, and its reception was worthy of the work that was to stand at the head of all dramatic music. The story is well accredited of the overture having been written during the night prior to the production of the opera; and this proves Mozart's strong aversion to the act of writing, which induced him to postpone till the latest moment the putting his ideas on paper, and it confirms the account, already given, of his habit of completing every composition in his mind before he wrote a note of it. The fame of this triumph preceded him to Vienna, and it may have been in consequence of so great an accession to his renown, that the emperor gave him the appointment of chamber musician, in December, which, however, carried but a salary of eight hundred florins. "Don Giovanni" was reproduced in Vienna, May 11, 1788; and for this occasion, partly to conciliate the singers, partly to meet the public taste, Mozart wrote most, if not all of the pieces, which form the Appendix to the first edition of the opera. His evil genius seems to have hovered over the Italian theatre in Vienna, for now again he was unsuccessful, though the great work which failed in the Austrian capital, had already elicited, in several other German cities, such applause as may be said to have prognosticated its universal and deathless popularity. Mozart's elastic nature rendered him insusceptible of discouragement; thus, the multiplicity of his productions in the course of this year, each a masterpiece in the department of art to which it belongs, exceeds anything ever accomplished within the same time. Especially must be noticed the composition of the three symphonies in E flat, in G minor, and in C (named "Jupiter" in England), completed within the period of six weeks, between June and August; and these, which may be classed respectively as the loveliest, the most impassioned, and the grandest works in instrumental music, were not the only achievements of his genius during the brief interval in which, amazing to relate, he also produced several smaller pieces. They were written, as were other of his symphonies, his concertos, and many of his detached arias, for his concerts; these consisted almost wholly of his own music, generally included a new composition, and always terminated with an extemporaneous performance, to which Mozart's neverfailing invention, his limitless command of a composer's resources, and his singular mechanical facility on the pianoforte, gave surpassing interest.
Baron van Swieten, a distinguished lover of music, whose name is also conspicuous in the biographies of Haydn and Beethoven, was at this time enthusiastic for the introduction of Handel to the public of Vienna. With the co-operation of other noblemen, he organized a series of gratuitous performances of the master's works, and as these were given in a hall in which there was no organ, he justly deemed it necessary to make some substitution for the extempore part on this instrument, that was a prominent feature when the compositions were played under the author's direction. He accordingly engaged Mozart to write additional orchestration, that should supply the place of the organ, for "Acis and Galatea," which was performed in November, 1788; for "Messiah," which was brought out in March, 1789; and for the "Ode for St. Cecilia's day," and "Alexander's Feast," both of which were played in July, 1790. The treatment is admirable of all of these, but in the case of "Messiah," it is such an inspiration as betokens one of the happiest moments of a master, capable in every respect of making such descant upon the mighty original. After the production of "Messiah," Mozart accepted the invitation of Prince Lichnowsky (famous as Beethoven's patron), to accompany him to Prague, Dresden, Leipsic, and Berlin. Passing over his success in the other towns, his reception at Leipsic must particularly be noted, as also the rapture with which he examined some of the vocal compositions of Bach, which were shown to him at St. Thomas' church, and with which he then first made acquaintance. At Berlin, Frederick William II. gave him the kindliest welcome, heard him play many times, and sought to attach him to. his court as kapellmeister, with a salary of three thousand thalers. This must have been a dazzling offer to Mozart, whose means of existence were so precarious as to keep him in ceaseless anxiety; still, considering himself bound to Joseph II. by the favours he had experienced, he refused the king's offer, who would not however be denied, and gave him a year to reconsider his answer. On his return to Vienna in June, Mozart wrote, and sent to the king, the quartet in D (the first of the three remarkable for the prominence of the violoncello part, on which instrument Frederick William II. was a proficient), who acknowledged the attention by remitting a munificent present to the composer. With some difficulty, Mozart was persuaded to represent to the emperor the liberality of the Prussian king, in the hope thus to elicit a lucrative engagement in Vienna; but he was so little of a diplomatist, that he returned from his imperial audience empty-handed as he went to it. It was by the emperor's command, however, that he composed "Cosi fan Tutte," which was performed January 26, 1790, when it met with much the same fortune as Mozart's previous Italian operas in the Austrian capital. The death of the emperor Joseph and the succession of Leopold II. to the throne, made a signal difference to the artists who had been favoured by the former, and Mozart seriously felt the change. The almost constant ill-health of his wife, not only induced disorder in his domestic economy, but involved him in endless expenses that were far beyond his ability to meet, and thus caused him a twofold never-ceasing anxiety. Hoping so to be relieved from his pecuniary embarrassment, he applied for the offices of instructor to the imperial princes, and second kapellmeister, and was refused them both. Subsequently, however, he obtained the appointment of organist to St. Stephen's cathedral, but too late for him to derive benefit from its emolument. His cares so preyed upon his spirits as to stifle his creative power. He went to Frankfort at the time of the new emperor's coronation there in October, thinking that the general excitement might conduce to the success of a concert, at which, however, he gained nothing but admiration, and he won no more solid advantage at either Mannheim or Munich, which he visited on his way home. At the beginning of 1791, Salaman the violinist, proposed to Mozart and Haydn to come to London, to compose for the Professional Concerts, which he directed; and it was arranged between the three, that Haydn, because of his more advanced age, should first visit this country, and that Mozart should succeed him in the following year. Bitter was Haydn's grief, when he here received the sad tidings that told of the frustration of this arrangement.
The time arrived which was to close the season of Mozart's comparative inactivity. Some Hungarian noblemen now subscribed to allow him a pension of one thousand florins, on condition that he supplied them annually with a certain number of compositions; and this he felt to be the dawning of a better fortune to him than he had ever enjoyed, since it would secure him from want, and insure him appreciation of his works. In July, 1791, Schikaneder, manager of the Theater an der Wien, in which he was also an actor, besought him to compose a German opera; and that he might the more control him in the conduct of the work, prevailed on him to reside with him while engaged upon it. The society Schikaneder kept, and his manner of life, were extremely licentious; and Mozart's temporary abode in such questionable quarters gave rise to the otherwise groundless statements of his dissipated habits. The opera composed under these circumstances was "Die Zauberflöte;" the design of the libretto was to s ymbolize the principles and customs of freemasonry, and this gave the task of its production a peculiar interest to Mozart, whose attachment to the order was, as has been shown, like a second religion in him. Thus incited, he brought his profoundest thoughts to bear upon the subject, which accounts for the elaborate character, distinct from that of his other dramatic music, which pervades the work. On the other hand, the manager-actor was despotic in respect of all the music of the part of Papageno, to be sustained by himself, which he insisted should be in the lightest possible style; and he compelled the yielding composer to rewrite several of the pieces many times, before he was satisfied of their simplicity. This opera was still in progress, when Mozart was visited by the intendant of Count Walsegg, a nobleman who desired the reputation of being a composer; the
