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J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

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Andante also found favour, but particularly the last Allegro, because, having observed that all last as<br />

well as all first Allegros begin here with all the instruments playing together and generally unisono, I<br />

began mine with two violins only, piano for the first eight bars—followed instantly by a forte; the<br />

audience, as I expected, said ‘hush’ at the soft beginning, and when they had heard the forte, began<br />

at once to clap their hands. 55<br />

The precision with which he calculates his effects is remarkable. For this symphony<br />

he actually composed two slow movements, leaving the choice to the director of the<br />

Concert spirituel with his experience of Parisian audiences.<br />

Like that of most of his contemporaries, Mozart’s creative personality was<br />

fundamentally extroverted. There was no ‘verdict of posterity’ to appeal to—a work<br />

which didn’t succeed upon the first hearing would be lost to sight. It is true that<br />

Mozart had a personal interest in fugal writing and in the works of Bach and Handel<br />

(Kirkendale has assembled an impressive collection of anecdotes and citations from<br />

his letters in evidence of this). But Mozart did not live in an age when the pursuit of<br />

these private inclinations was seen as the central task of the composer. Toward the<br />

end of his life especially he had many obligations: commissions to fulfill, concerts to<br />

organise, pupils to teach, patrons to impress, a family to support, doctors to pay for—<br />

to Vincent and Mary Novello it was ‘quite evident that Mozart killed himself with<br />

over-exertion: “He could never entirely abstract himself from his musical thoughts. ...<br />

Necessity and the duties of his situation induced this habit ... He frequently sat up<br />

composing until 2 and rose at 4, an exertion which assisted to destroy him.”’ 56<br />

Kirkendale’s extensive catalogue should not be allowed to obscure the fact that the<br />

vast majority of his creative attention was given over to the theatre and the concert<br />

room. Is it not possible that Mozart’s fugal essays interest us more than they did him?<br />

55 Letter to his father, Paris, 3 July 1778, Anderson, Mozart letters, vol. II, pp.825-26. The work in<br />

question was the ‘Paris’ symphony no.31 in D, K.297/300a.<br />

56 V. and M. Novello, ed. N. Medici and R. Hughes, A Mozart pilgrimage: the travel diaries of<br />

Vincent and Mary Novello in the year 1829 (London: Novello, 1955), p.95-96.<br />

280

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