The Letters, vol 1 | Page 2

accounts of his visit to Paris may, indeed, lay claim to a certain
aesthetic value, for they are written throughout with visible zest in his

own descriptions, and also with wit, and charm, and characteristic
energy. As these combined merits can only become apparent by an
ungarbled series of the letters, I have resolved, after many long years of
zealous research in collecting them, to undertake the work,--that is, to
publish the letters entire that have come to my knowledge.
It now only remains for me to give some words of explanation as to the
method I have pursued in editing them.
In the first place, this edition, (being transcribed closely from the
originals,) if compared with the letters already published, will prove
that the latter are open to many corrections, both in trivial and more
important respects. I have forborne, however, attracting attention to the
deviations from the original text, either in Nissen or Jahn. I have no
wish to he punctilious about trifles, where, as in the case of Jahn, the
principal points are correct. Further, by this faithful production of the
letters, (nothing being omitted but the constant repetition of forms of
greeting and subscription,) we find many an additional feature in the
Maestro's life, and chiefly various facts with regard to the creation and
publication of his works, which may serve to complete and to amend
various statements in Dr. Ludwig Ritter von Kochel's "Chronological
Thematic Catalogue of the Musical Compositions of W. A. Mozart,"
(Leipzig, Breitkopf and Hartel). This will be effected not only by the
hitherto unpublished letters, though comparatively few in number, but
also by passages being given in full, which have been hitherto
suppressed as of no consequence. I have referred to Nissen and Jahn
only when, in spite of all my inquiries, I could not discover the
proprietor of the original, or procure a correct copy.
I must also remark that all letters without a special address are written
to his father. I have only adhered to Mozart's defective orthography in
his few letters of early date, and in the rest adopted the more modern
fashion. I did so for this simple reason, that these defects form a charm
in his juvenile letters, from being in accordance with their boyish
contents, while, with regard to the others, they only tend to distract the
attention from the substance of the letters, instead of imparting
additional interest to them. Biographers can, and ought always to
render faithfully the original writing, because quotations alternate with
the text of the biographer; but in a regular and uninterrupted series of
letters this attraction must be very sparingly used, or it will have a

pernicious effect.
The explanatory remarks, and also the supplementary Lexicon, in
which I have availed myself of Jahn's catalogue, will make the letters
more intelligible to the world at large. The Index, too, has been most
carefully prepared to facilitate references.
Lastly, I return my best thanks to the keeper of the Archives of the
Mozarteum in Salzburg, to Herr Jellinck, and to all the librarians and
collectors of autographs who have assisted me in my task, either by
furnishing me with copies of their Mozart letters, or by letting me know
where I could procure them. I would also earnestly request all who may
possess any Mozart letters to send me an exact transcript of them in the
interest of Art; for those here given allude to many still unknown,
which are no doubt scattered about here and there, waiting to be
brought to light.
With respect to myself, the best reward I aspire to in return for the
many sacrifices this collection has cost me, is, that my readers may do
justice to the purpose which chiefly guided me throughout this
publication,--my desire being not merely to benefit science, and to give
a graphic description of the amiability and purity of heart which so
distinguished this attractive man, (for such was my aim in my "Life of
Mozart,") but above all to draw attention afresh to the unremitting zeal
with which Mozart did homage to every advance in Art, striving to
make music more and more the interpreter of man's innermost being. I
also wished to show how much his course was impeded by the
sluggishness and stupidity of the multitude, though partly sustained by
the sympathy of kindred souls, till the glorious victory was won over
routine and imbecility. Amidst all the fatiguing process of copying and
collating letters already so familiar to me, these considerations moved
me more vividly than ever; and no work on the Maestro can ever bring
them with such force before the intelligent reader as this connected
succession of letters, containing his own details of his unwearied
artistic struggles and productions. May these letters, then, kindle fresh