ds at the back.

Our story of Mozart's life has now reached the point which marks the
beginning of a series of misfortunes and trials of a far more serious
character than those with which his earlier struggles for fame had
been associated. There was no foreshadowing of these troubles at the
moment when the travellers set out on their return journey to
Salzburg, whither they were carrying the hopes which had been built
upon their successes in Milan. Shortly after their return, however, to
their great grief the good Archbishop Sigismund died, and both Leopold
and Wolfgang realised that they had lost their best protector and
friend. The news of the appointment of Hieronymus, Count von
Colloredo, as his successor was received by the townspeople with
feelings of displeasure and even dismay, for it was well known that
the character of Hieronymus was almost entirely opposite to that which
had made Sigismund beloved by his subjects. The Mozarts, father and
son, were soon made to taste the bitterness of the change.
Appreciation for art formed no part of the new Archbishop's nature,
and he lost no opportunity of showing his contempt for those who
followed it as a profession. Notwithstanding the fame which had now
gathered about Mozart, whose latest opera, 'La finta Giardiniera,' had
been produced in Munich, at the carnival of 1775, with the greatest
success, the Archbishop persistently refused to recognise his genius,
or to grant any facilities for enabling his dependents to better their
condition of life. Once, during his master's absence in Vienna,
Leopold had gone to the capital with Wolfgang, hoping to be able to
secure some appointment at the Court which might relieve them of their
necessities, but the effort was in vain. To his wife he wrote: 'Things
will and must alter; take comfort, God will help us.' But they
returned empty-handed.

Despite the fact that monetary anxieties were daily growing more
pressing, and the aspect of affairs at the Salzburg Court remained as
hopeless as ever, Wolfgang worked at his compositions with untiring
diligence, and by the time he had attained his twenty-first year he
had accumulated a mass of music that embraced every branch of the art,
in addition to numberless carefully worked out studies of other
masters. But Hieronymus viewed his Concertmeister's industry with
disdain. Even when, by happening to be in Vienna shortly after 'La
finta Giardiniera' had taken the Viennese by storm, he had