ents were noted for their good looks, were, moreover, of strong
character and highly respectable in every way. Among their
several children two early exhibited unusual precocity—Maria
Anna, born in 1751, and Wolfgang, still more highly gifted.
The stories of the boy’s skill and general delicacy of perception
may be exaggerated, but we have sufficient valid evidence to
convince us that he was a phenomenon absolutely “sui generis.”
Thus, he began to improvise between three and four, actually
to compose little pieces (which we have), when he was five, and
to perform in public when he was six! In that very year and
continuing for nineteen years (until Mozart had reached the age
of twenty-five) began the memorable series of concert tours—
eleven in all—comprising Vienna, all the chief cities of Italy
and Germany, even Paris and London. These tours the father
planned and carried through with the utmost solicitude and
self-sacrifice—not to exploit the talented children, but to give
them a comprehensive education and artistic experience, and
eventually to secure for his son some distinguished post worthy
his abilities. It is quite impossible to rehearse all the details of
these trips. For one who wishes to investigate for himself they
truly make fascinating reading. A single incident, however, will
show how clearly defined were the two personalities which made
up the complete Mozart; and of which one or the other was in
the ascendant throughout his life. As a man, Mozart was light-
hearted, witty—even volatile—fond of society, dancing, and a
good time generally; not of the strongest intellectual power,
judged by modern standards, but, as shown by his marvellous
dramatic insight, by no means the debonair light-weight he is
often represented. Yet whenever music was under consideration
he was a changed being; he became instantly serious, and would
suffer no disrespect to himself or to his art. During the last sad
years of his career in Vienna, when he was in actual want for
the bare necessities of life, a publisher once said to him, “Write
in a more popular style, or I will not print a note of your music
or give you a kreutzer.” “Then, my good sir,” replied Mozart, “I
have only to resign myself and die of hunger.”
[Footnote 120: Amadeus (the beloved of God).]
[Footnote 121: We may appropriately state that in regard to
ancestry and environment all four of the so-called Viennese mas-
ters, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert are distinct refu-
tations of the claims so persistently made by German scholars