332 Ch. 9 • Enlightened Thought And The Republic: Oi Letters
kapellmeister (orchestra director) for the fabulously wealthy Esterhazy
family of Hungary, why he had never written any quintets, he replied,
“Nobody has ordered any.”
In the early 1750s, Rousseau penned stinging attacks on French opera.
Readers understood his strident language as he intended—he was denounc
ing court and aristocratic taste itself. Rousseau compared the Royal Acad
emy of Musics monopoly on French music to a ruthless Inquisition that
stifled imagination. Rousseau’s critique generated a storm of controversy
because it seemed to be nothing less than a denunciation of the social and
cultural foundations of contemporary French society. Like his philosophi
cal works, Rousseau’s operatic compositions extolled the simple, unpreten
tious life of rural people.
In England, concerts were held at court or in the homes of wealthy fami
lies; in Italy, they were sponsored by groups of educated people who gath
ered to discuss science and the arts; and in Switzerland, concerts were
sponsored by societies of music lovers. The public concert also emerged in
some German cities early in the eighteenth century. Gradually public con
cert halls were built in the capitals of Europe. Handel began to perform his
operas and concerts in rented theaters, attracting large crowds. By the
1790s, Haydn was conducting his symphonies in public concerts in London.
The short, brilliant life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756—1791)
reflected the gradual evolution from dependence on court and aristocratic
patronage to the emergence of
the public concert. Mozart
began playing the harpsichord
at age three and composing at
five. In 1763, his father took
him and his sister on a tour of
European courts that would
last three years, hoping to make
the family fortune, with mixed
results. Mozart returned to
Paris in 1778 at his father’s
insistence that he “get a job or
at least make some money.” The
temperamental Mozart failed
to make his way in the social
world of Paris: “I would wish
for his fortune,” a contempo
rary wrote, “that he had half as
much talent and twice as much
tact.”
Thereafter Mozart resided
The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at a in his native Salzburg, where
pianoforte. he served as unhappy court