Life of Mozart

"FIGARO AS AN OPERA BUFFA. II5poraries, surprised at the novelty of his orchestral effects,failed to appreciatetheir true meaning,*^ nor that his imita-.tors confined themselves to the material result, and failed toperceive the intellectual significance of the improved instrumentation.^''The freedom with which Mozart employs voicesand orchestra together or apart to express dramatic truthscan only exist as the highest result of artistic knowledgeThe independence with which each element co-and skill.operates as if consciously to produce the whole presupposesa perfect mastery of musical form. True polyphony is themature fruit of contrapuntal study, although the severeforms of counterpoint are seldom allowed to make themselvesvisible.To sum up, there can be no doubt that Mozart's " Figaro "must be ranked above the ordinary performances of operabuffa on higher grounds than its possession of an interestinglibretto, a wealth of beautiful melody, and a careful andartistic mechanism. The recognition of truth of dramaticcharacterisation as the principle of musical representationwas an immense gain, and had never even been approachedby opera buffa, with its nonsensical tricks and caricatures.Rossini himself said that Mozart's " Figaro " was a truedramma giocoso, while he and all other Italian composershad only composed opere hnffe.'^^ Even though we acknowledgethe influence of French opera, on Mozart (Vol. II., p. 342) asformed by Gluck,^^ and still more by Gretry (Vol. II., p. 15),^"the first glance suffices to show that Mozart's superior musicalcultivation enabled him to employ the resources of his art to*^ The Emperor Joseph's remark has been already mentioned. Carpani(Le Haydine, p. 49; cf. p. 35) is of the same opinion. Gretry's shrewdcriticism in answer to a question by Napoleon: " Cimarosa met la statue surle theatre et le piedestal dans I'orchestre; au lieu que Mozart met la statuedans I'orchestre et le piedestal sur le theatre," has been justly praised by Fetis(Biogr. Univ., IV., p. 106).*' Carpani, Le Haydine, p. 202. Beyle, Vies de Haydn, Mozart et de Metastase,p. 362. Stendsal, Vie de Rossini, p. 40.^8 Sudd. Zeitg. f. Mus., 1861, p. 24.^9 H. Berlioz (Voy. Mus., IL, p. 267) characterises Mozart as the master who,above all others, followed in Gluck's footsteps.6" Tieck, Dramaturg. Blätter, IL, p. 325.I 2