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20 MOZART lessons. In his fourth year his father began to teach him short pieces for the harpsichord. In his fifth year he composed little melodies with simple but correct harmonies, which his father wrote out. Though music was his chief delight, he displayed great aptitude for lan- guages and mathematics. In January, 1762, when Wolfgang was six years old, the elder Mozart took his two children to Munich, where they played before the elector and excited the deepest astonishment. In the autumn they vis- ited Vienna, and were at once summoned to Schonbrunn. In October the boy was seized with the scarlet fever, which interrupted their performances, and after a visit to Presburg they reached home in January, 1763. Mozart at this time played at sight the second violin part in six trios, which one of his father's pu- pils had written during his absence. Schacht- ner relates that one day Wolfgang, who was playing his own violin, said to him: "Your violin is tuned half a quarter of a note lower than mine here, if you have left it as it was when I last played it." Schachtner's violin was brought and found to be as Wolfgang had said. This extraordinary memory for pitch after- ward became conspicuous in Mozart's perform- ances. In the summer of 1763 another tour was undertaken, extending to Paris and Lon- don. The boy most astonished old musicians by his organ playing, and in Heidelberg this was commemorated by an inscription placed upon the organ. After performances before various German princes and in cities, they at length reached Frankfort. The following is an extract from the advertisement of their concert in that city, on Aug. 30: "The girl, now in her 12th, and the boy, in his 8th year, will not only play concertos upon the harpsi- chord (the girl indeed the most difficult pieces of the greatest masters), but the boy will also perform a concerto upon a violin, accompany in symphonies upon the harpsichord, cover the keys with a cloth and play as well as if they were in sight, and also designate any note or chord struck at a distance, whether upon - a harpsichord or any other musical instrument, or upon bells, glasses, musical clocks, &c. Finally, he will extemporize, not only upon the harpsichord, but also upon the organ, so long as any one desires, in all, even the most difficult keys that can be proposed, and thus prove that he understands the organ, which is totally different from the harpsichord in its treatment." After successful performances in Coblentz, Aix-la-Ohapelle, and Brussels, they reached Paris in November. Here they won additional fame. Mozart accompanied Italian and French airs at sight, transposing them when required to do so, a task then more difficult than now, as the accompanist had to read the full score or depend upon a figured base. At this time his first work was published, con- sisting of four sonatas for harpsichord and violin. In April, 1764, the family went to London, where they were received with even greater enthusiasm than in Paris. The queen accepted the dedication of six sonatas for pianoforte and violin from his pen, and the public crowded the concerts, in which he ap- peared in the new character of composer of symphonies for the orchestra. They returned through Holland up the Rhine, and through Switzerland to Salzburg, where they arrived in November, 1766. The elder Mozart now put both children to a systematic and thorough study of both instrumental execution and the theory of music. Wolfgang studied with un- flagging zeal Emanuel Bach, Hasse, Handel, and the old Italian masters. A German passion cantata and a Latin comcedia, " Apollo and Hy- acinth," attest his progress in contrapuntal study and composition in 1767. The emperor Joseph II. suggested the composition of an opera by young Mozart on the occasion of the marriage of an Austrian princess with King Ferdinand of Naples. An Italian opera buffa, La finta semplice, was selected, and Wolfgang was engaged to compose it on the usual terms, 100 ducats. The score was finished soon after Easter. It is still preserved, and is fully up to the standard of similar works of that period, but owing to the intrigues of jealous musicians it was never performed. At the request of Maria Theresa, he composed a mass and con- ducted it in presence of the empress, Dec. 7, 1768. He also produced an operetta, " Bas- tien and Bastienne." The pecuniary success of this visit to Vienna was limited, but Mo- zart's increased fame led the archbishop Sigis- mund to appoint him concert master. The year 1769 was devoted to severe study. Two masses of this date indicate the pains taken by the father that his son should become a con- trapuntist of the severest school, as the foun- dation for the future practice of free compo- sition. In December of this year his father took him to Italy. Concerts were given in Verona, Mantua, and other places, Wolfgang appearing as singer, composer, and performer on the harpsichord, organ, and violin. His extemporaneous compositions had the great- est weight with musicians, and that of several arias to words from Metastasio displayed so much talent that the composition of an opera for the next winter was offered him under very flattering auspices. In Lodi he composed his first string quartet; and in Rome he repro- duced Allegri's Miserere from hearing it in the Sistine chapel. Several weeks were next spent in Bologna, where Wolfgang had the advan- tage of much intercourse with Padre Martini, and where he became a member of the phil- harmonic society. He went thence to Milan, where he wrote his opera Mitridate, re di Pon- to. It was finished and rehearsed in less than two months, and on Dec. 26, 1770, successfully given, Wolfgang presiding at the harpsichord. It ran 20 nights, and when he left Milan the score remained behind, to fill orders for five copies. They visited Turin, Padua (where an oratorio was ordered from Wolfgang, prob-