I could realise the emotions of joy or sorrow which had prompted his words, the impressions which they had made on the recipients, and even the variations in the handwriting grew to have their own significance. It is my most earnest wish that some breath of this feeling may have passed into my own performance, but it would scarcely be possible to' reproduce the inspiration which contact with the letters awoke in myself. On the completion of this task, I made researches for any of Mozart's compositions which might still remain in Salzburg; I failed, however, to discover any. Although Mozart's sister, his widow, and her sister had lived in Salzburg within the last ten years, it had occurred to no one to make inquiries concerning their great countryman, or to preserve to posterity the rich treasures of family tradition which encircled his whole life; I found, when I inquired, that all was as completely forgotten, as irrecoverably lost as his grave. Nor had anything further been preserved in the way of family papers and documents. (After the death of Mozart's eldest son Carl, all that he possessed of letters--written during the journeys of 1762 to 1775--and other documents, were placed in the Mozarteum.) Treasure such as that correspondence I could scarcely expect to excavate elsewhere; but through the kindness of friends and well-wishers many letters have been placed at my disposal which have added to the interest, more particularly of Mozart's later years. I have no doubt that many {INTRODUCTION.} (xvii) documents are still hidden in autograph collections and elsewhere; perchance my book may open the eyes of the possessors to the true value of their treasures, and I shall consider it as a rich reward of my labours if they aid in bringing to light any such relics of Mozart.