7 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 7The Last Travels
On his return from Prague in mid-November 1787, Mozart
was at last appointed to a court post, as Kammermusicus.
The salary of 800 gulden seems to have done little to
relieve the Mozarts’ chronic financial troubles. Their
debts, however, were never large; their anxieties were
more a matter of whether they could live as they wished
than whether they would starve. Nevertheless, Mozart
was deeply depressed during the summer, writing of
“black thoughts.”
During the time of this depression Mozart was working
on a series of three symphonies, K 543, K 550, and K 551 (the
Jupiter; these, with the work written for Prague (K 504),
represent the summa of his orchestral output.
The summer of 1789 saw the composition of the clarinet
quintet, and thereafter Mozart concentrated on completing
his next opera commission; the third of his Da Ponte
operas, Così fan tutte was given on Jan. 26, 1790. This opera,
the subtlest, most consistent, and most symmetrical of the
three, was long reviled on account of its subject, female
fickleness; but a more careful reading of it reveals that it
is no frivolous piece but a penetrating essay on human
feelings and their mature recognition. Features of the
music of Così fan tutte—serenity, restraint, poise, irony—
may be noted as markers of Mozart’s late style. The
remainder of the year was difficult and relatively
unproductive.
The Last Year
Music was flowing again in 1791: for a concert in March
Mozart completed a piano concerto (K 595), reeled off
numerous dances, and wrote two new string quintets. He