Life of Mozart

—DECLINE OF GERMAN OPERA. 45I ought certainly to have acknowledged before now the receipt of yourletter and the accompanying parcel ; but it is not the case that I havein the meantime received two other letters from you ; if so, I shouldcertainly have remembered to answer your first as I now do, havingreceived your other two letters on the last post-day. But I should havehad no more to say to you on the subject of the opera than I now have.My dear sir, my hands are so full of work that I have not a moment tomyself. You know by experience, even better than I, that a thing ofthis sort must be read carefully and attentively several times over.Hitherto I have not been able to read it once without interruption. Allthat I can say at present is, that I should like to keep the piece a littlelonger, if you will be kind enough to leave it with me. In case I shouldfeel disposed to set it to music, I should wish to know beforehandwhether it is intended for performance at any particular place ? Forsuch a work ought not to be left to chance. I shall hope for an explanationon this point from you.The reasons for the final rejection of this opera are unknown.Mozart's account of the position of German operain Vienna is very characteristic. In 1784, it was almostextinct; only Madame Lange selected the "Entführung"for her benefit on January 25, conducted by Mozart himself(Wiener Zeitung, 1784, No. 7); and Adamberger gave Gluck's" Pilgrimme von Mecca " on February 15. Besides these,Benda's melodramas, " Ariadne " and " Medea," Jacquet'schief characters, were performed a few times.But when inthe following year the desire for German opera revived, itwas decided to reappoint the Kärnthnerthortheater, whichhad been freed from its connection with the court, andto reinstate the German opera in competition with theItalian. On this point Mozart continues :I can give you no present information as to the intended Germanopera, as (with the exception of the alterations at the Kärnthnerthortheater)everything goes on very quietly. It is to be opened at the beginningof October. I do not prophesy a very prosperous result. It seemsto me that the plans now formed are more likely to end in the finaloverthrow of the temporarily depressed German opera, than in its elevationand support. My sister-in-law Lange alone is to be allowed tojoin the German company. Cavalieri, Adamberger, Tej'ber, all pureGermans, of whom our fatherland may be proud, are to stay in theItalian theatre, to oppose and rival their own countrymen. Germansingers at present may be easily counted ! And even if they be as good