MOWWUY. SIR ROGKR DE. 



MOZAHT, JOHANN. 



... tm 



wrote S*T ral 



of ' Deo Quixote,' sad subsequsatly to writ* seToral songs, 

 tad efjOemea, one of th* latter of which will be fonnd a* 

 I Vanbnii-h'. comedy of 'The Mi.Uke. 1 He also 

 isisslj : ' Th* Loves of Mar* snd Venn*,' London, 

 ieW. 4to; 'Beauty in ltm*,'a trsgedy, Lend., 169*, 4to; "Tbe 

 Tempi* of Love,' 170, 4to ; ' The Asjoroo* Misrr,' a ooowdy in S 

 seta, 1705, 4to; also a poem on Tea, 1722, Svo. with several French 

 works tnaslated from the Kaglith. With respect to the DOB Quixote 

 bowwrr it is Bscssssry to remark that it would appear from the title- 



Kef aa edit on of ' Don Quixote,' London, 1706, 4 vols. 8vo, that 

 evx wa* only the publisher, and that th* work waa translated by 

 seven! hands, sad printed for Samuel Buckley, at the Dolphin, Little 

 Britain : be has however been generally termed the translator, and 

 he probably was OB* of the several hands engaged in the work. 



MOW BRAT, SIR ROGER DE, of Barn bougie, son of Geoffrey 

 d* Moubray. lord ju-tickr of Lothian in the end of the 13th cen- 

 tury. Sir Roger was lord justiciar of Scotland from 1319 to 1321 ; 

 whssx having engaged in B conspiracy against King Robert Brace, he 

 wa* seized and put ia prison. He died here before trial ; but notwith- 

 > landing, process was led against him, and sentence pronounced on his 

 dead body. (Kordun xiii. 1.) 



MOZART, JOHANN CHRYSO'STOMUS - WOLFGANG-GOTT- 

 L1KB, was born at Salzburg. January 27, 1756. His father, Leopold, 

 the soB of a bookbinder, was pub-director of the chapel of the prince- 

 archbishop of Sslxhurg, and employed the hours not devoted to the 

 duties of hi* office in tesching the rules of musical composition, and also 

 in giving Vtssoos on the violin. His ' Vidinschule,' a work in quarto, 

 published at Augsburg, in 1769, waa much esteemed in its day, and 

 may still be profitably read by scientific students. He married Aimn- 

 Maria Peril, and what has been pointedly noticed by M. Schlictegroll 

 (wboe* 'Necrology' has proved highly useful to us in the present 

 intano*), will not perhaps be thought altogether unworthy of remark 

 by those who investigate moral and physical causes and effects. 

 namely, that this couple, the parents of one so admirably organised 

 for creating beautiful harmonies, were distinguished by personal 

 b<-auty of the rarest kind. They had several children, all of whom 

 died when but a few mouths old, except the subject of this notice 

 asjd s sister four year* hi. senior. The latter received instructions on 

 the harpiichord from her father when her brother had scarcely com- 

 pleted his third year, and at that early period the child evinced in the 

 moat decided manner the pleasure afforded him by combined sounds, 

 as well s* his aptitude for music generally. Hia amusement was to 



eok Ottt ***>'**^"' An ttiift instrument. ml hiii Htitwian wnft fnllnwpd Kv 



the 



third*' on this instrument, and his success was followed by 

 * demonstrations of infantile joy. 



When the young Mozart waa four years old, hit father, at first 

 l.ardly in earnest, taught him a few eavy minuets and Dimple lessons, 

 each of which be learnt in about half an hour. In less than two years 

 more appeared the first dawn of his talent for composition ; he 

 invenUti abort pieces of mimic, which hi. father noted down ; but. it 

 is to be regretted that not one of these curiosities wa* preserved. 

 That great sen.il. ility which almost invariably U a concomitant o! 

 gaBBBS, and which never forsook him, was apparent from the moment 

 he could express himself. ' Do you love me f ' was a question he fre- 

 quently put to those about him ; and when he was ironically answerec 

 in the negative, bis tears began to flow. In all hi* pursuits his ardour 

 was extraordinary. " While learning the elements of arithmetic, the 

 tables, th* .chairs, even the walla, bore in chalk the marks of hi* cal 

 cuUtiona. And it may not be irrelevant to state," says the author ol 

 his Memoir in 'The Gallery of Portraits,' "what we believe has 

 never yet appeared in print that his talent for the science of num 

 bers wa* only inferior to that for music : bad he not been distinguUhec 

 by geoiii* of a higher order, it i* probable that hia calculating powers 

 would have been sufficiently remarkable to bring him into genera 



J -- H 



Not long afUr be bad completed hia sixth year, the child excite< 

 of his father by the production of a harpaiohort 

 illy sad correctly written, and wholly unohjec 

 tioaebls, *X8st that it contained too many difficult passages. The 



appearance of such a phenomenon (for SB such it could only have been 

 viewed) determined the father to let the youthful prodigy be setu a 

 BOSS* of th* German court*. H* at fir-t took him to Munich, where 

 the elector received him and his family with every kind of enoourage- 

 sneot. la 1762 the party proceeded to Vienna, and performed before 

 the smperoc Francis L, who was not less pleased by the vivacity o 

 th* boy than stnascd by hi* power*. In the following year the Mos irt 

 isde an extensive European tour : in Paris they resided man] 

 where the youthful wonder performed on the organ in th 

 > du Ret, before th* wbol* court. There the party gave publi 

 , sad ia thai city, in the seme year, Moaart pul.li.bcd hi* tw 



family mad* an extensive European tour 



month., whore the 



CbspsU. du Hoi, 



concerts, sad ia that city, in th* same year, Mosart published 



first works, when he bad not finished hit eighth year! 



In 1764 the Mosart* arriv.d in London, and remained till the rum 

 n.er of 176i. " Here," aays th* above-mention, d memoir, "the bo 

 exhibited hi talent, before th* royal family; and underwent m 

 aoTer* trial* than any to which be had been before exposed, throng 

 which be passsd ia a mot triumphant manner. So much intern 

 did he excite in this country, that the Hop, Daiaes 

 *a sasMs* of bis extraordinary performaaon, which was read before 

 the My*l tocMty, 



nflici.otly important to be printed in the ' Philosophical Transactions,' 

 D the 60th volume of which it appear*," And in the 69th volume of 

 he same work, l>r Barney remarks: -"Of Morarfs infant attempts 

 t music I was nnable to dUcoTer the trace* from the conversatooa 

 f hi* father, who, though an intelligent man, whose education 

 nd knowledge of the world did not seem confined to miuio. con- 

 essed himself unable to describe the progressive improvements of 

 i* son during the first stage* of infancy. However, at eight year* of 

 age I was frequent! 4 convince..! of hia great knowledge in com;osition 

 y his writings ; and that hi* invention, taste, modulation, and ex-ou- 

 ion in extemporary playing, were such a* few professor* are possessed 

 f at forty years of age." During this residence is our metropolis, 

 o composed and published six sonatas, which he was permitted to 

 edicate to the queen of Great Britain. The family than returned to 

 be Continent. At the Hague, Mozart published six more sonata*. 

 n he party now paid a second visit to Paris, and returned to Salxburg 

 n 1768. In the same year Mozart, by desire of the emperor Joseph 

 I., composed an tire opera, ' La Finta SempHoe,' which was much 

 mnmended by Hasse, who was then in high repute, and by Metastasio, 

 >ut as it never was publicly performed, it i* now unknown either a* a 

 whole or in part, and probably it* chief merit was of a relative kind. 



In 1769 Moaart, at the age of fourteen, waa appointed director of 

 .he archbishop of Salzburg's concerts. Soon after he went with hia 

 ather to Italy, and at Rome gave a remarkable proof of the power he 

 XMHessed of fixing his attention, and of memory, by noting down the 

 amous ' Miserere ' of Allegri, after hia return from the pontifical chapel, 

 where he had heard it performed. At Bologna he was introduced to 

 be celebrated Padro Martini, who, after testing the youth's abilities, 

 le.-ame one of his warmest admirers. While in that city, ha waa 

 unanimously elected a member of the Academia FiUrmonica; and at 

 tome the pope conferred on him the order of the Golden Spur. At 

 Ailan, 1770, he wroto and brought out his second opera, ' Mitridatc,' 

 vliich waa performed twenty nights consecutively. In 1773 appeared 

 lia ' Lucia Sills,' which bad twenty-nix successive representations. In 

 the same year he produced other works, among which were, an opera 

 )uff, ' La finta Giardiniera,' two Masses for the chapel of the elector 

 of Bavaria, Ac. In 1775, at the desire of the archduke Maximilian, 



composed the cantata ' II Re Paatore; ' and from that period till 

 the year 1779 he continued to labour with his pen, though but faw of 

 u products then obtain e I, or ever will obtain, a celebrity at all equal 

 to that which his subci '.notions have so justly acquired. 



In Xovemb r 177'.i Mo/art finally settled in Vienna, the inhabitant* 

 and manners of which city were very agreeable to him ; and now, 

 laving reached his twenty-fourth year, he exhibited the ran example 

 >f one who had been astonishing as a child, hail disappointed not even 

 the most sanguine hopes, and become proportionately great as a man. 

 " In his twenty-fifth year he was captivated by the charms of Madlle. 

 Constance Weber, a very amiable person, and an accomplished, cele- 

 brated actress, to whom he soon made a proposal of marriage. This 

 was courteously declined by her family, on the ground that his 

 reputation wan not then sufficiently established. Upon this ho com- 

 posed his ' Idomene >,' in order to prove what means were at his 

 command, and, animated by the strongest passion that ever entered 

 his heart, produced an opera which he always considered ns his highest 

 effort : certainly it was the first that showed Ids matured and positive 

 strength. Portions of it are in his moet original and grandest manner, 

 but parts show that he had not quite emancipated himself from the 

 thraldom of custom. Some of the airs, though far superior to those 

 of his contemporaries, are too much iu the opera style then prevailing, 

 a style now become nearly obsolete. ... To Madlle. Weber, on 

 whom the composer's affections were unalterably fixed, was ai-- 

 thc principal character in the opera ; and the high reputation which 

 the author acquired by his work having immediately silenced the 

 objections of Constance's family, her hand was shortly after the reward 

 of bis efforts." (' Gallery of Portraits.') The union proved a happy 

 on : in his wife h found an affectionate, active, zealous friend, a useful 

 counsellor, and, when his health began to decline, a patient, unwearied, 

 devoted attendant 



In 1782 Mo/art produced ' Die Kntfiihrung aus deui Serail ' (' L'Kii- 

 Idvementdu Kdrau"). Itwasata rehearsal of this opera that Joseph II. 

 mid to the composer, "My dear Mozart, this is too fine for our ears ; 

 it baa too many notes." " 1 beg your majesty's pardon," replied Moaart, 

 with his characteristic independence, " there are precisely as many notes 

 aa are necessary, and no more." Joseph said nothing, though evidently 

 embarrassed by the reply ; but when the opera was performed and 

 beard in a perfect state, he loaded it with praises. ' Le Nozze di 

 1- U'l'V the libretto of which i* well abridged from Beaumarchais's 

 admirable comedy, was produced in 1786 by command of the emperor. 

 In the same year waa brought out hia ' Schauspiel Uirektor ' (' Director 

 of the Comedy '), a short opera, possessing little merit. 



In 1787 appeared at Prague the chef-d'oeuvre of Mozart, his ' Don 

 liiovanni,' the libretto made up, with considerable ability, by Lorenzo 

 I >.i 1'onte, from the many dramas founded on the same popular subject. 

 This was rece.vei with enthusiasm by the Bohemian*, but w 

 above the comprehension of the Viennese. Indeed the composer, 

 aware of it* superiority, and conscious that it would prove ' caviare to 

 the general,' said, " I hvo written this opera to pleane myself and my 

 friends." And when it was performed, more thiiu thirty years after- 



