[Footnote 42: Dittersdorf, Selbstbiogr., p. 253. Cf. Mus. Monatsschr., p. 41.]
===
MOZART 41
BY DAVID WIDGER
CHAPTER XLI. "COSÌ FAN TUTTE,"
UPON his arrival in Vienna on June 4, Mozart at once set to work upon a
quartet for Frederick William II.; the Quartet in D major (575 K.) was
completed in the same month, and in return for it, according to
the Berlin Veteran, he received a valuable gold snuff-box with
100 friedrichsdor, and a complimentary letter.[1] But this did not
materially affect his embarrassed circumstances; the precarious state
of his wife's health kept him in a state of perpetual anxiety, and the
expenses it involved brought him into serious difficulties: "I am most
unhappy!" he wrote on July 17 to his friend Puchberg. The confident
expectation of a permanent improvement in his outward position, which he
expressed in his letters to this constant friend, were grounded, as it
seems, upon the overtures which had been made to him in Berlin; he had
informed the Emperor of them, and thought himself entitled to look for
a compensation for his refusal. But circumstances were not then
favourable, and Mozart was not the man to push a claim of the kind.
The effect of his depression is clearly visible in the want of musical
productivity during this period. His own catalogue contains only the
following compositions belonging to this year:--
1789. June. A quartet for his majesty the King of Prussia, in D major
July. Sonata for pianoforte alone, D major (576 K.). Rondo in my opera
of "Figaro" for Madame Ferraresi del Bene, "Al desio (577 K.).
August. Aria in the opera "I Due Baroni," for Mdlle. Louise Villeneuve,
"Alma grande e nobil core" (578 K.).
September 17. Aria in the opera "Der Barbier von Seviglien," for Madame
Hofer, "Schon lachtder holde Frühling" (580 K.). (575 K.).
{COSÌ FAN TUTTE.}
(238)
September 29. Quintet for clarinet, two violins, viola, and violoncello,
in A major (581 K.); first played in public at the concert for the funds
of the Pension, December 22, 1789.[2]
October. Aria in the opera "ü Burbero," for Mdlle. Villeneuve, "Chi sà,
chi sà quai sia" (582 K.).
Ditto, "Vado! ma dove?" (583 K.).
December, An air which was intended for Benucci in the opera "Cosi fan
Tutte," "Rivolgete à me lo sguardo" (584 K.). Twelve minuets (585 K.)
and twelve waltzes (586 K.).
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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