After enjoying to their close the pleasures of the Carnival, which
lasted too long for the father, they returned to Salzburg on March
7,1775. In April the Archbishop of Salzburg was honoured by a visit
from the Archduke Maximilian, youngest son of Maria Theresa (b. 1749),
afterwards Archbishop of Cologne; he had been spending the Carnival
in Paris, where his want of tact had placed the Queen in considerable
embarrassment,[13] and had also paid a short visit to Munich. Court
festivities were arranged, chiefly consisting of musical performances,
for which the singer Consuoli and Becke, the flautist, were summoned
from Munich. A serenata by Fischietti was performed on April 22, and on
the following day Mozart's "Re Pastore," which had been very hurriedly
composed. On April 24, according to the report of one of the Archduke's
suite, "Music was the entertainment provided, as on the preceding days;
at the conclusion of the performance, young Mozart placed himself at
the piano and played various pieces from his head, with equal skill and
grace." Whether he appeared as a violinist we do not know; he had, at
any rate, composed his first violin concerto on April 14 (207 K.), and
the fact that this was followed by four others in the same year (211,
216, 218, 219, K.) is a proof that he was applying himself energetically
to the violin; possibly because it would be easier to find a good
situation if he were an accomplished violin-player.
The next two years passed quietly and busily at Salzburg. Extracts from
a diary kept by young Schiedenhofen show how
{CHURCH MUSIC--"HAFFNER-MUSIK," 1776.}
(153)
limited their circle of friendly intercourse was, and Wolfgang's
authentically dated compositions afford proofs of his activity and
progress.
The year 1776 was especially rich in church music; four masses (257,
258, 259,261, K.) fall in this year, three of them in its last quarter,
while in March a Grand Litany in E flat major (243 K.) was written,
besides an Offertory, "Venite populi," for two choirs (260 K.). To
1777 belong a Mass (275 K.), and a Graduale, "Sancta Maria" (273 K.). A
series of organ sonatas were furnished for the services of the church,
and for the court a number of divertimenti for wind instruments,
probably as table music. In other respects, doubtless in consequence of
the ill-will of the Archbishop, Wolfgang appears to have held aloof from
the court concerts; no symphonies belong to this time. The serenatas
were written for other occasions. On wedding-days, fête-days, or the
like, these nocturnal pieces were usually performed in the street, not
excepting the solos;[14] they were introduced by a march, in which any
of the company who could handle a bow might take part; the rest listened
from the windows above. Such music was either ordered and paid for, or
offered as a tribute of esteem.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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