Ebenezer Prout

“ Our next question is, By which voice of the other pair (supposing the fugue to be for four voices) should the answer be given? If, for instance, the treble leads with the subject, should the alto or the bass have the answer? It is seldom difficult to decide this point, if we remember that it is generally best for the last entry in the exposition to be in an outer, rather than in a middle voice. The reason for this is that it is easier to distinguish the subject or answer when it is in an outer part, especially in fugues with four or five voices. ”

“ Very few musicians will be found who will place him, either as a symphonist or as a writer for the piano, by the side of Beethoven; but, on the other hand, the latter is far inferior to Mozart in his treatment of the voice. Again, Mozart's songs, taken as a whole, will not compare with those of Schubert, but as an operatic composer Schubert has written nothing to approach, still less to equal, Figaro or Don Giovanni. There is hardly one department of musical composition on which the genius of Mozart has not left its mark. ”

“ If a stretto is really an essential part of a fugue, then it is evident that more than half Bach's fugues must be badly written. The simple truth is, that it is not Bach's workmanship, but the rule that requires to be altered. Any rules regarding fugue, which will not fit the works of the greatest fugue-writer that the world has ever seen, carry their own condemnation on their face. ”

“ Without underestimating his remarkable natural gifts, it can hardly be doubted that Mozart's surroundings conduced not a little to the versatility of his genius. Both in Salzburg and in Vienna Italian music was in the ascendant; and in this the vocal element was of far more importance than the instrumental. With his extraordinary power of assimilating all that was best in whatever he heard, and the almost supernatural facility in composition which seems to have come to him instinctively, it is not surprising that his earliest works show strong traces of Italian influence. ”

“ As being the easier, we shall first speak of real answers. The rule for knowing when a subject can have a real answer is very simple, and may be thus stated:—Every subject in which there is no modulation to the dominant, either expressed or implied, [1] may have a real answer, excepting, first, when it begins on the tonic and leaps to the dominant either direct or with the third of the scale as an intermediate note ”

“ In the music of La Finta Giardiniera a great advance on any of Mozart's previous operas is to be seen. Not only is there a richness of melodic invention worthy to compare with that of his later and greater works, but there is more organic unity in the music as a whole. Though some of the airs now appear unduly spun out, it must be remembered that long solos were the fashion of the day. The orchestra is treated with more independence than hitherto, and the score abounds with beautiful effects of colouring, though in most numbers but few wind instruments are employed. ”

“ We have already seen that it is almost invariably answered by dominant—that is to say, by the tonic of the key in which the answer appears. The C here must therefore be considered not as the subdominant of G minor, but as the tonic of C minor. This choice of a key for the answer enables Bach to carry out the important general principal already mentioned, and of which we shall have more to say when we come to speak of tonal answers, that dominant harmony in the subject should be replied to by tonic harmony in the answer. ”

“ We managed the matter, and he had the opportunity of hearing his concerto played off by Wolfgang as if he knew it by heart. The astonishment of this composer and performer, the expressions which he used in his admiration, gave us all to understand what I have just been pointing out to you. At last he said: 'I can, as an honourable man, say nothing else than that this boy is the greatest man now living in the world; it was impossible to believe.'"
Isolated cases of this kind could do but little to stem the torrent of calumny and depreciation to which the young composer was exposed. ”

“ It is absolutely necessary that any one who begins to study fugue should have a thorough knowledge not only of Harmony and Counterpoint, but of Double Counterpoint and Canon. Without such knowledge any attempt to master fugal composition is a mere waste of time. ”

“ One of the most important points to be considered in the composition of a fugue is the choice of a good subject. It would be possible to write a fugue of some kind—or, to speak more correctly, a piece in fugal form, on almost any subject that might be selected; but it is by no means every melody that is adapted for fugal treatment; and it is no more possible to make a really good fugue on a bad subject than it would be to make a really good coat out of rotten cloth. In this chapter we shall endeavour to show what are the essentials of a good subject. ”

“ Flames of genius flashed forth here and there; but it is not yet the quiet fire on the altar which rises to heaven in clouds of incense—a perfume sweet to the gods. If Mozart is not a plant forced in a hot-house, he must become one of the greatest musical composers that has ever lived. ”

“ Beyond these general principles, it is impossible to teach the student how to write episodes for his fugues, excepting by showing him how the great masters have written them. It is here (just as with the "free fantasia" of a sonata or symphony) that the composer's imagination has the fullest scope. So long as he keeps within the bounds of the artistic and beautiful, he may in this part of the fugue do whatever seems good in his own eyes ”

“ This was no doubt to some extent modified by the journeys which, as a child, he made with his father to Paris and London, in which cities he learned to know much of both French and German music; but nearly to the end of his life his style, especially in his vocal music, was rather Italian than distinctively German.
One of the most striking features of Mozart's music is the perfect command of form seen in even his earliest works. He was never a great innovator in the sense in which that word may be applied to Haydn, Beethoven, or Schumann ”

“ Here we see from the answer given by Bach that he implies a modulation in the second bar, though a real answer would have been perfectly correct. Had he regarded E as the third of C, he would have answered it by B, the third of G; but he regards it as the sixth of G, and therefore answers it by A, the sixth of C. When a subject modulates to the key of the dominant, all that part which is in the tonic key is transposed in the answer a fifth higher, or a fourth lower; and that part which is in the key of the dominant is transposed a fourth higher, or a fifth lower. ”

“ At first he earned only a precarious livelihood by playing at fashionable parties and teaching the piano; but he looked forward with great hopes to obtaining an appointment with the Emperor Joseph II. But the monarch, though always affable and even cordial to the composer, preferred Italian music to the more solid style of Mozart, whom he esteemed as a pianist rather than as a composer. "He cares for no one but Salieri," said Mozart of him; and there can be no doubt that the influence of the Italian on the Emperor was very great. ”

“ There is, probably, hardly any other form of composition in which there is so much room for variation of detail as the fugue. Beyond the fact that all fugues contain an exposition, a middle section, and a final section, there is little or nothing that they necessarily have in common. The one point to realize is, that a fugue should be, so to speak, an organic growth, the materials of which are to be developed mainly from the subject and its accompanying counterpoints. ”

“ On October 30 Mozart and his mother arrived at Mannheim. The long stay of between four and five months which they made in this place had in more than one respect an important influence on Mozart's future. The orchestra at Mannheim was considered the finest in Europe, and the young composer writes of it to his father in enthusiastic terms. He was especially struck by the clarinets, which he here for the first time met with in the orchestra. He writes: "Ah, if we only had clarinets! You cannot believe what a splendid effect a symphony makes with flutes, oboes, and clarinets." ”

“ You know, there are a hundred without knowledge to every one connoisseur, so do not forget the so-called 'popular' that tickles even the long ears." Wolfgang replied: "Don't trouble yourself about the so-called 'popular,' for in my opera is music for all kinds of people—only not for the long ears."
Idomeneo was produced on January 29, 1781, with a success that must have satisfied not only the composer, but also his father and sister, who came over from Salzburg to hear it. In this opera we find Mozart in his full maturity. ”