, his earliest having been written at the age of five! At twelve he
became court capellmeister in Salzburg. After his musical travels he went
to Vienna, and there began his real period of classic activity, which
commenced with "Idomeneus," reached its culmination in "Don Giovanni,"
and closed with the "Requiem,"--the "swan-song" of his wonderful life. In
his brief life Mozart composed more than fifty great works, besides
hundreds of minor ones in every possible form of musical writing. His
greatest compositions may be classed in the following order: "Idomeneus"
(1780); "Entfuehrung aus dem Serail" (1781); "Figaro's Hochzeit" ("The
Marriage of Figaro"), (1785); "Don Giovanni" (1787); "Cosi fan tutti,"
"Zauberfloete" ("The Magic Flute"), and "Titus" (1790); and the "Requiem"
(1791, the year of his death). The catalogue of Mozart's works is an
immense one, for his period of productivity was unusually long. From the
age of five to his death, there was not a year that was not crowded with
his music. Besides his numerous operas, of which only the more famous are
given above, he wrote a large number of symphonies (of which the
"Jupiter" is now the best known), sonatas, concertos for all kinds of
instruments, even to musical-glasses, trios, quartets, quintets, and
sextets for all possible combinations of instruments, marches, fugues,
masses, hymns, arias of extraordinary brilliancy,--many of them written
for his sister-in-law, Aloysia Weber, to whom at one time he was
engaged,--liturgies, cantatas, songs, and ballads, and indeed every form
of music that is now known. His style was studied by Beethoven, and so
closely imitated that the music of his first period, if published without
autograph, would readily be attributed to Mozart. His style was so
spontaneous and so characteristic that it has been well said there is but
one Mozart. The distinguishing trait of his music is its rich melodic
beauty and its almost ravishing sweetness. His melody pours along in a
bright, unbroken stream that sometimes even overflows its banks, so
abundant is it. It is peculiarly the music of youth and spring-time,
exquisite in form, graceful in technique, and delightful in expression.
It was the source where all his immediate successors went for their
inspiration, though it lacked the maturity, majesty, and emotional depths
which were reached by such a Titan as Beethoven. Old as it is, and
antiquated in form, especially as compared with the work of the