"Mozart has written nothing more beautiful, from its technical treatment and finished effect of sound, its earnest feeling and psychological truth, than this short adagio. It is the utterance of a resolute, manly character, which, in the face of death, pays the rightful tribute to sorrow without being either crushed or stunned by it." In the same year he composed a small cantata, "Die Maurerfreude," for tenor and chorus, in honor of Herr Born, the master of the lodge to which he belonged in Vienna, which is full of true feeling combined with graceful melody. The second cantata, catalogued in Köchel "Eine Kleine Freimaurer Cantate, 'Laut verkünde unsre Freude,'" better known by its title "Lob der Freundschaft" ("Praise of Friendship") is notable as the last work written by Mozart. Its date is Nov. 15, 1791, only three weeks before his death. At this time he was engaged in finishing up his "Requiem," which had such a depressing effect upon him that he was ordered by his physician to lay it aside. The rest he thus secured had such a good effect that by the middle of November he was able to attend a Masonic meeting and produce the little cantata which he had just written for them. On reaching home after the performance he said to his wife, "O Stänerl, how madly they have gone on about my cantata! If I did not know that I had written better things, I should have thought this my best composition." It is constructed upon a larger scale than the cantata of 1785, and is very pleasing and popular, but lacks the spirit and earnestness of the former. It has six numbers: 1. Chorus, "Laut verkünde unsre Freude;" 2. Recitative, "Zum ersten Male;" 3. Tenor aria, "Dieser Gottheit Allmacht;" 4. Recitative, "Wohlan, ihr Brüder;" 5. Duet, "Lange sallen diese Mauern"; 6. Chorus, "Lasst uns mit geschlungen Händen." It was Mozart's swan-song. Two days after its performance he was stricken down with his last illness. PAINE.