This time, however, his father was remorseless. He firmly held Wolfgang,
and ordered the trumpeter to sound one of his shrillest fanfares. Of
course he obeyed. Hardly, however, had he blown the first cruel notes
when the boy, with a cry of pain, grew deadly pale. He trembled in every
limb, cold sweat stood on him, and he fainted. Father Mozart was
alarmed, and sent the trumpeter away at once. When Wolfgang was himself
once more, his father went to the family physician, told him his
trouble, and requested him to assist in overcoming his son’s peculiar
sensibility. The physician reassured him. “Do not worry about this, Herr
Vice Chapelmaster,” he said. “Medical treatment can do nothing for him.
Wolfgangerl is still but a tender child, and the cause of his aversion
to loud, shrill, and piercing noises lies in his delicate organism. Let
him alone a few years. When he has greater physical strength his dislike
of the trumpet will disappear of itself. But upon no account try to
compel him to become accustomed to it or make any more such forcible
attempts as you have done to-day. It might be his ruin.”
[Illustration: _Hardly had he blown the first cruel notes when the boy,
with a cry of pain, grew deadly pale_]
The father was relieved by the assurances of the skilful physician, and
did not repeat the experiment. The latter’s statements were ultimately
confirmed. Wolfgang not only became accustomed to the brasses, but he
employed them for years in his larger works more effectively than any of
his predecessors had done. But though he could not yet overcome his
aversion to piercing noises, he could overcome other difficulties with
the utmost ease which would have cost an ordinary person almost
incredible exertion.
One day he determined to learn the violin. “I am no longer satisfied
with the piano alone,” he said to himself. “I must do something more in
music.”
All by himself, and without letting a soul know what he was doing, he
began the new study. When his father was away from home he would take a
little violin which had been given him in Vienna, quietly steal off by
himself, so that his mother and sister should not hear him, and practise
assiduously. Not a word ever escaped from him about it.
Some weeks passed in this way. A wonderfully beautiful spring morning
promised a perfect day. Father Mozart could not let it pass without
enjoying it to the utmost, and invited his friends Schachtner,
Adlgasser, and Lipp to take a glass of wine with him that afternoon in a
beautiful little garden near the gates of Salzburg, which was his
personal property, and which he often used in summer for friendly
gatherings. His devoted associates of course gladly accepted the cordial
invitation, and the afternoon found them all in the garden. Frau Mozart
was not of the company, as she was detained at home by household duties,
but she sent the gentlemen by Nannie a goodly supply of wine and cold
lunch for their refreshment.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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