eet corner, and village ale house. "Never
was anything more complete than the triumph of Mozart and his 'Nozze
di Figaro,'" wrote a singer and friend.--"And for Mozart himself, I
shall never forget his face when lighted up with the glowing rays of
genius; it is as impossible to describe as to paint sunbeams."

Despite the success of Figaro, Mozart was still a poor man, and must
earn his bread by giving music lessons. Finally the Emperor, hoping
to keep him in Germany, appointed him Chamber-composer at a salary
of about eighty pounds a year. It must have seemed to Mozart and his
friends a beggarly sum for the value his Majesty professed to set upon
the composer's services to art. "Too much for the little I am asked to
produce, too little for what I could produce," were the bitter words
he penned on the official return stating the amount of his salary.

Mozart was inclined to be somewhat extravagant in dress and household
expenditure, also very generous to any one who needed assistance.
These trials, added to the fact that his wife was frequently in
ill health, and not very economical, served to keep the family in
continual straits. Occasionally they were even without fire or food,
though friends always assisted such dire distress. Mozart's father had
declared procrastination was his son's besetting sin. Yet the son was
a tireless worker, never idle. In September, 1787, he was at Prague,
writing the score of his greatest opera, "Don Giovanni"; the time was
short, as the work was to be produced October 29. On the evening of
the 28th it was found he had not yet written the overture. It only
had to be written down, for this wonderful genius had the music quite
complete in his head. He set to work, while his wife read fairy tales
aloud to keep him awake, and gave him strong punch at intervals. By
seven o'clock next morning the score was ready for the copyist. It was
played in the evening without rehearsal, with the ink scarcely dry on
the paper.

Even the successes of "Don Giovanni," which was received with thunders
of applause, failed to remedy his desperate financial straits. Shortly
after this his pupil and patron, Prince Karl Lichnowsky, proposed he
should accompany him to Berlin. Mozart gladly consented, hoping for
some betterment to his fortunes. The King of Prussia received him
with honor and respect and offered him the post of Capellmeister, at
a salary equal to about three thousand dollars. This sum would have
lib