This time they were to go to Paris. The summer after Wolfgang's seventh
birthday, Leopold Mozart set out with his children. They stopped at so
many towns and cities that it took them five months to complete the
journey to Paris.
They decided to give a concert in Frankfurt, one of the German towns
that they visited. At that time Goethe was a lad of fourteen. He
attended the concert and never forgot little Wolfgang Mozart. Years
afterward the poet wrote, "In imagination I can still see the little man
in his wig and sword."
The first Paris concert was a great success. The people applauded again
and again. When the children came upon the stage, the men clapped their
hands, and the ladies waved their handkerchiefs. In writing about this
very concert to a friend, Leopold Mozart said, "We burned more than
sixty candles."
At New Year's the Mozart children were presented at the French court,
where they were kindly received by the king and queen. The queen had
Wolfgang placed beside her and talked with him in German. He had the
honor of playing the great organ in the king's chapel. Those who heard
him play both the piano and the organ could not decide which he played
the better.
The children of a royal family are not often allowed to play with
children of lower rank. The king's daughters admired Wolfgang and Marian
Mozart very much. The princesses and the little musicians had many romps
together in the palace.
From the French capital the Mozarts went to London. On their journey the
children saw the sea for the first time. They liked to watch the great
waves break against the cliffs. They clapped their hands with delight
when the spray dashed over the rocks on the shore. They liked to run
down upon the beach to meet the incoming waves. "See, brother,"
exclaimed Marian, "how the sea runs away and grows again."
[Illustration: _Carl Herpfer_
MOZART AT THE ORGAN]
The young musicians gave many concerts in London. The English people
were even better pleased with their playing than the French had been.
They were invited to Buckingham Palace, where Wolfgang amazed his
hearers by playing difficult music at sight.
King George was very fond of music and Handel was his favorite composer.
He was surprised that this little fellow could play much of Handel's
music. One day, at the palace, Wolfgang played while Queen Charlotte
sang. He was very proud to be chosen to play for the queen.
The queen's music master was a son of the great Sebastian Bach. He took
quite a fancy to little Wolfgang. They became good friends and often
played together. One day Bach took his little friend on his knee and
they played a sonata together. First Bach would play a few measures;
then Wolfgang would play three or four. They continued in this manner
until they had played the whole sonata. Those who did not see them could
not have told that the sonata had been played by two persons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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