Poor as Mozart was, he possessed such integrity and independence that he refused a most liberal offer from the King of Prussia to become his chapel-master, for some unexplained reason which involved his sense of right and wrong.  The first year of his marriage he wrote “Il Seraglio,” and made the acquaintance of the aged Gluck, who took a deep interest in him and warmly praised his genius.  Haydn, too, recognized his brilliant powers.  “I tell you, on the word of an honest man,” said the author of the “Creation” to Leopold Mozart, the father, who asked his opinion, “that I consider your son the greatest composer I have ever heard.  He writes with taste, and possesses a thorough knowledge of composition.”

Poverty and increasing expense pricked Mozart into intense, restless energy.  His life had no lull in its creative industry.  His splendid genius, insatiable and tireless, broke down his body, like a sword wearing out its scabbard.  He poured out symphonies, operas, and sonatas with such prodigality as to astonish us, even when recollecting how fecund the musical mind has often been.  Alike as artist and composer, he never ceased his labors.  Day after day and night after night he hardly snatched an hour’s rest.  We can almost fancy he foreboded how short his brilliant life was to be, and was impelled to crowd into its brief compass its largest measure of results.

Yet he was always pursued by the spectre of want.  Oftentimes his sick wife could not obtain needed medicines.  He made more money than most musicians, yet was always impoverished.  But it was his glory that he was never impoverished by sensual indulgence, extravagance, and riotous living, but by his lavish generosity to those who in many instances needed help less than himself.  Like many other men of genius and sensibility, he could not say “no” to even the pretense of distress and suffering.

III.

The culminating point of Mozart’s artistic development was in 1786.  The “Marriage of Figaro” was the first of a series of masterpieces which cannot be surpassed alike for musical greatness and their hold on the lyric stage.  The next year “Don Giovanni” saw the light, and was produced at Prague.  The overture of this opera was composed and scored in less than six hours.  The inhabitants of Prague greeted the work with the wildest enthusiasm, for they seemed to understand Mozart better than the Viennese.

During this period he made frequent concert tours to recruit his fortunes, but with little financial success.  Presents of watches, snuff-boxes, and rings were common, but the returns were so small that Mozart was frequently obliged to pawn his gifts to purchase a dinner and lodging.  What a comment on the period which adored genius, but allowed it to starve!  His audiences could be enthusiastic enough to carry him to his hotel on their shoulders, but probably never thought that the wherewithal of