in the eyes of others, though he could not himself estimate it, and
would neither pay him nor part with him. When in his twentieth year,
and already a great composer and an efficient performer, Mozart was in
the receipt, from this princely prelate, for the liberal use of his
musical talents, of a salary equal in amount to about L1, 1s. English,
per annum.
"Among a multitude of compositions that he wrote for the
archbishop's concerts, in 1775, are five concertos for the violin,
which he probably performed himself. His gentle disposition made
him easily comply with any proposal to augment pleasure, however
out of his usual course. During the following year, 1776, he seems
to have made his last great effort to awaken the archbishop to
some sense of his desert, and a due generosity of acknowledgment,
by producing masses, litanies, serenades, divertimentos for
instruments, clavier concertos, &c., too numerous for detail. But
in vain; and what aggravated the injury of this monstrous
appropriation of labour was, that the father, whose household
economy was now somewhat pinched, on applying for permission to
remedy these circumstances by a tour, was refused. From that hour
Wolfgang threw by his pen in disgust--at least as far as it
concerned voluntary labour."
It was now resolved that Mozart should leave Salzburg with his mother,
and try his fortune in the world. He was every where admired; but the
wonder of his childhood had passed away, and empty praise was all that
he could, for the most part, earn. After lingering, in the sickness of
hope deferred, at several of the German courts, his destination was at
last fixed for Paris. His chance of success as a courtier was probably
diminished by the blunt though kindly frankness of his opinions, and
by his inability to stoop to unworthy means of rising. He had also
many rivals to encounter, particularly those of the more slender
school of Italian melody; and few of the public had knowledge or
independence enough to forsake the inferior favourites that were in
vogue.
In approaching Paris, Mozart became alarmed at the prospect of his
being there compelled to resort to the drudgery of tuition for his
support. "I am a composer," he said, "and the son of a kapell-meister,
and I cannot consent to bury in teaching the talent for composition
which God has so richly bestowed upon me." His father, more
experienced in the world
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