him to overstep the boundary. In doing so, however, the connection of the parts has been lost, and the unity of the whole has been disturbed. One of the most remarkable examples is the air, "The people that walked in darkness," in which the wind instruments added by Mozart are foreign to Handel's purpose, but nevertheless of very fine effect, and certainly not deserving of the reproach of "doleful sound-painting" ("betrübter Malerei").[20] It was to be expected that Mozart's adaptation should attract both praise[21] and blame,[22] while those, such as Rochlitz[23] and Zelter,[24] who went deeper into the subject found much that was excellent and also much that was faulty in the work, at the same time that they gave due consideration to the occasion that called it forth and the design with which it was undertaken. It must not be forgotten that these adaptations were undertaken by Mozart solely for Van Swieten's performances, and that his individual taste and the exigences of the representation must have exercised considerable influence upon them. He must certainly not be credited with the wish to improve upon Handel;[25] his intention has rather been so to popularise his works as to bring them home to the {ADAPTATIONS OF EARLIER WORKS.} (225) public, without altering any of the more important parts. That the adaptations should have been published and accepted as regular improved editions of the original was not his fault, though he has often had to do penance for it. It must be remembered also that the historic theory which holds that every work of art should be carefully preserved in the form wherein its author has embodied it was then non-existent.