When the great organ pealed forth, he forgot all these things. He forgot
even his father, seated at his side. He had never heard such music
before. It seemed to him like music from heaven.
In some of the churches there was singing as well as organ music. One
day, while in Rome, Wolfgang visited the Sistine Chapel. He heard some
singing that he never forgot. A choir of about thirty voices sang a very
beautiful, yet very mournful, piece of music.
When the music began, all the candles were burning brightly. As the
singing went on, the candles were extinguished one by one. The chapel
became more and more dim. The choir sang softly and still more softly.
At last not one candle was left burning. No sound could be heard but the
sad, sad music and the sobs of the people.
Throughout the whole service, the child Mozart sat with clasped hands
and bended head. When the music died away, he arose and walked home in
silence. He went to his own room and wrote from memory the music which
he had heard.
It is a rule of the Sistine Chapel that only the members of the choir
shall have copies of this music. Many others had asked permission to
copy it. They had always been refused. Many had tried to write it from
memory; but they had always failed. So it was a wonderful thing that
this youth had written the difficult music from memory. When Wolfgang
showed the music to his friends, they could not believe that he had
written it correctly.
"Let us have a concert," they said. "Let the lad sing the chapel music
for us. We shall hear whether or not he has remembered it correctly."
The concert was held. Young Mozart sang the music from his own copy. It
was perfect from beginning to end.
While Wolfgang was in Rome, the Pope bestowed a great honor upon him. He
made him a Knight of the Golden Spur. That was one of the greatest
honors that he could have received in Italy. Wolfgang was very proud to
wear the beautiful golden cross.
From Rome, the Mozarts went to Naples. There Wolfgang gave a concert
before a large audience. When he was in the middle of a sonata, the
people became uneasy. They whispered to one another; they pointed to the
hands of the young musician; they became more and more excited.
Young Mozart wondered at the noise, yet he went on with the sonata. At
last his father learned the cause of the disturbance and explained it to
his son. He told him that the people believed there was a charm in the
diamond ring which he wore upon his left hand. "If the ring is not a
charm," they said, "how can he play so rapidly with the left hand?"
When Wolfgang heard this, he laughed merrily and took the ring from his
finger. When he began to play again, the audience thought the music was
even more wonderful than before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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