Livret-Mozart-Levin-Poulet-La-Goillotte-Le-Palais-des-D%C3%A9gusteurs

clearly placed composition above all else; when
he had something in his head he felt passionate
about, he postponed his lessons, losing many
pupils in the process.
Mozart’s mother fell seriously ill during their
Paris stay. The family’s spirits were at the lowest
possible ebb. To relieve himself from this
melancholy, Mozart composed two sonatas which
were therefore not the result of a commission:
K. 304 for violin and piano in E minor (the only
minor piano and violin sonata of the 34 definitely
written and completed by Mozart), and K. 310 for
piano in A minor (with K. 457, it is the only minor
sonata of the 18 written for piano by Mozart).
They express both tragic violence and restrained
sorrow.
For almost a year, until August 1779, Mozart
wrote practically nothing. He was not happy in
Salzburg. The breakdown in relations with his
patron was not far away...
It was at this time that he received a commission
for an opera, Idomeno, Re di Creta. This brought
him back to life. He gave himself body and soul
to the task. He was in Munich, in a friendly and
encouraging environment. He was ill to the
point of no longer eating, but this presented no
obstacle to his creative fervour. Once better, he
gave up his love of theatre and shows, preferring
to stay at home, "the evening being the time
[he] composed the best." He found himself
in favourable circumstances, something very
important for him ("for I require at this time a
cheerful spirit, a clear head, and inclination to
work, and these no one can have who is sad at
heart").
A singer asked him to make a change to a vocal
quartet (third act, No. 21). Here is Mozart’s
reaction (who, by the way, was quite capable of
making concessions in arias), as described in a
letter to his father: "My dear friend, if I were aware
of one single note in this quartet which ought to
be altered, I would change it at once. But there
is no single thing in my opera with which I am
so pleased as with this quartet. When you have
heard it sung together you will talk differently.
I made every possible effort to conform to your
taste in two arias. I intend to do the same with
the third, and hope to succeed. But with regard
to trios and quartets, they should be left to the
composer’s own discretion." At the age of 25, he
was completely sure of himself.
A month before the premiere, he wrote the
following sentences to his father which are critical
to understanding his way of working, and will
be of special interest regarding the fragments of
works he left behind: "I must finish now, for I have
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