MOZART. 
greeable fituations. His income for feveral years had 
Seen very great; yet he left nothing to his children ex¬ 
cept the celebrity of his name. But, however thought- 
lefs in regard to the common concerns of life, as loon 
as he fat down to the harpfichord he appeared quite a 
different being. His attention was then directed to his 
favourite objeft; and fo much was his hand unfitted for 
its ufual offices by frequent practice on this inllrument, 
that it was with the greatell difficulty he was able to cut 
Bis meat at table. As mufic was the principal occupa¬ 
tion of his life, it formed alfo his mod agreeable amufe- 
ment. Solicitation was never necelTary to induce him to 
play; on the contrary, his friends had often reafon to 
apprehend that he would hurt his health by too clofe ap¬ 
plication. He was fondeft of playing in the evening; 
and, if he fat down to his harpfichord at nine, he never 
gave over till midnight, and even then he quitted it with 
reluftance. It.is a curious faft, that no compoler could 
lefs endure liberties to be taken with his works than 
Mozart. There is a ftory told of him in Mr. Gardiner’s 
tranllation of the Life of Haydn, which ftrongly illuftrates 
tins : When Mozart went to Berlin, he arrived in the 
evening. Scarcely had be alighted, when he alked the 
waiter of the inn whether there was any opera that even¬ 
ing, and was informed that one of his own operas was to 
be afted. He immediately fet out for the theatre, and 
placed himfelf at the entrance of the pit, that he might 
liften without being obferved; but fometimes he was fo 
pleafed with the execution of certain paffages, and at 
others fo diffatisfied with the manner or the time in which 
they performed, or with the embelliffiments added by the 
fingers, that, continually expreffing either pleaAlre or dif- 
approbation, he infenfibly got up to the orcheftra. The 
manager had taken the liberty of making fome altera¬ 
tion in one of the airs. When they came to it, Mo¬ 
zart, unable to reftrain himfelf any longer, called out 
aloud to the band in what way it ought to be played. 
Every body turned to look at the man in a great coat 
who was making all this nolle, and expefting he would 
foon be filenced or turned out. At length fome perfons 
recognized Mozart; and in an inftant the muficians, ac¬ 
tors, and audience, were informed that he was in the 
theatre; and in confequence the opera and its compofer 
were vociferoufly applauded. 
' Mozart’s vifit to England, in his early youth, feemed 
to have been forgotten; and during his greatell celebrity 
we knew nothing of his fludies or produftions, but from 
his harpfichord-leffons, which occafionally came over from 
Vienna; and in thefe he feems to have been trying expe¬ 
riments. They were full of new paffages, and new eft'efts j 
but were wild, capricious, and not always pleafing. We 
were wholly unacquainted with his vocal mufic till after 
his deceafe, though it is manifeft that by compofing for 
the voice he firil refined his tafle, and gave way to his 
feelings, as in his latter compofitions for the piano-forte 
and other inflruments his melody is exquifite, and che- 
rilhed and enforced by the mofl judicious accompani¬ 
ments, equally free from pedantry and caprice. 
The Requiem , of which we have given a brief hiftory, 
was performed at Covent-garden during the oratorio- 
feafon of 1801; and was well received. But the fame of 
Mozart, in this country, feems to reft, at prefent, on his 
Don Giovanni, though we believe the belt judges of mufic 
prefer the Clemenza di Tito to all his other works. Don 
Giovanni had, indeed, been very indifferently received at 
Prague and at Vienna when firft reprefented in 1787, and 
at Paris in 1794.; and only a few years ago, when it was 
performed at the Academic de Mufique, its character was 
fo imperfeftly comprehended, either on the ftage or in the 
orcheftra, that Garat, the celebrated finger, obferved, Don 
Juan a pant incognito H VOpera. Moreover the ftory had 
been reprefented, as a melo-drama, or tragic pantomime', 
at the Royalty-theatre, under the title of Don Juan, or 
the Libertine deftroyed, as long ago (1787) as the firft 
appearance of Don Giovanni, at Prague; and it was 
155 
turned into a pantomime-ballet at Drury-lane in 1790. 
Thefe two pieces, however, are laid in the Biographia 
Dramatica, to have been taken from Shadwell’s tragedy 
of the Libertine, firft afted in 1696; and in all thefe the 
fpeftre is on foot. At length, on the 12th of April, 1817, 
Don Giovanni, or the Speftre on Horfeback, was brought 
out at the opera-houfe in the Haymarket, and ran through 
the whole feafon with the greatell applaufe, proving the 
mofl profitable fpeculation that houfe had entered into 
for many years. This circumflance, having made Mozart 
and his works a general theme of converfation and admi¬ 
ration, has induced us to enter more at large into the 
particulars of his life than we fhould otherwife have done, 
and alfo to prefent our readers with a portrait of him. 
We cannot refrain from fubjoining a ffiort account of this 
piece, and of its reception, from the dramatic reporters of 
the day. 
This opera is at once (fays the Morning Chronicle) 
the greateft work of Mozart, and the fineft fpecimen that 
exifls of dramatic mufic. Its efreft upon the ftage, which 
is inconceivable to thofe who have not witneffed it, is 
fufficient to (how the power of harmony in expreffing paf- 
fion and exciting fympathy. There is fome thing of fo 
high an intelleftual nature in the whole of its formation, 
that the author by this compofition has placed his art in 
a more exalted fphere than it ever reached before. The 
feene is in Spain, and the ftory is well known in this 
country. Don Giovanni is a profligate young nobleman, 
who endeavours to feduce every female that he fees. He 
kills Don Pedro, who had flown to the aid of his daugh¬ 
ter. The mofl; ltriking feenes in'the drama are thofe in 
which the flatue of the murdered Pedro fpeaks. In the 
firft of thefe, Giovanni invites, with audacious courage, 
the Hone effigy to fup with him, and the figure fays Yes, 
In the laft, the flatue performs his prornife, and enters the 
faloon where Don Giovanni is at fupper. Here he ex¬ 
horts him to repentance; but the reprobate is bold and 
obftinate, and finally is carried to the infernal regions by 
furies. From a work like this, where nothing but ex¬ 
cellence is to be found, it is not eafy to fele6l parts for 
diftinft praife. The firft trio between Don Giovanni, 
Leporello, and Don Pedro, where the latter is mortally 
wounded, is in the highefl degree pathetic ; and the duet 
that foon fucceeds, for Donna Anna and Don Oftavio, is 
equally well calculated for dramatic effeft, and at the 
fame time is one of the fineft mufical compofitions known. 
The palloral duet, Giovinctte, fo limply elegant and full 
of melody, was encored; fo was alfo the duet, which all 
amateurs know and admire, La ci daretn. An air for 
Zerlina, Vedrai carino, and one for Don Giovanni, Finche 
dal vino, were repeated; and we are perfuaded that, but 
for the length of the opera, more than half the pieces 
would have been called for over again. The extremely 
difficult feftett, Sola, fola, was performed with an afto- 
nifhing degree of accuracy. It is not in the power of 
words to deferibe the merit of this beautiful and elaborate 
compofition. The finale to the firft aft, in which there 
is fo much variety, went off & mcrveille. In this are in¬ 
troduced three different lpecies of dances, performing at 
the fame moment; and alfo three diltinft orcheftras, each 
playing a different piece of mufic, and all in oppofing 
meafures. The two airs fung by Oftavio are exquifitely 
beautiful; and the laft bravura by Donaa Anna combines 
the two qualities fo feldom united, of the pleafing and 
the furprifing. The mufic in the feenes where the llatue 
fpeaks, is quite marvellous. Mozart, who knew well the 
power of affociation, has, in the firft of thefe, imitated the 
chant of the catholic church, and the effeft is folemnly 
iublime. In the Jail feene, the burft of the whole orchef¬ 
tra upon the entrance of the ftone figure is tremendous; 
which,“-with the wind-inftruments afeending the mufical 
fcale in various keys, in myfterious progreffions and wail¬ 
ing founds, renders the effeft almoft petrifying. The 
whole of the performers executed their arduous talk 
with the utmoft accuracy. The feenery was chiefly new, 
and 
