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Mozart, His Character, His Work

Few writers are as qualified as Alfred Einstein to discuss the musical works of Mozart. Einstein is perhaps best known as the editor of the first thorough revision of the Köchel catalog: the third edition, published in 1936. "It was inevitable that in doing this I should arrive at new results, and it is perhaps understandable that in the end I have felt impelled to present these results not only in the dry form of a catalogue, but also in a more connected and personal one." So Einstein writes in the preface of Mozart, His Character, His Work, which followed in 1945.

Einstein's knowledge of music history, and the depth of his familiarity with Mozart's music in particular, means that he has something pertinent to say about almost everything Mozart composed. In that regard, this book is full of illuminating and thoughtful analysis. But in taking on Mozart's personal life, Einstein does not fare nearly as well. He is much too near his subject. His love of Mozart the musician clouds his view of Mozart the man.

Very early on, Einstein is driven to divide the two: "There is a strange kind of human being in whom there is an eternal struggle between body and soul, animal and god, for dominance. In all great men this mixture is striking, and in none more so than in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart." Einstein seeks to resolve this dual personality, reminiscent of William Stafford's "Beast and Angel" hypothesis: "... sometimes the picture that emerges of the man seems no longer to agree with our conception of the musician. In reality, however, there is a glorious unity. The young man who wrote the high-spirited letters to his sister and the obscene 'Bäsle' letters, and who found pleasure in canons on texts completely unsuited to the drawing-room, was also the author of the G minor Symphony." The synthesis of these diametrically opposed personalities, Einstein argues, finds perfect expression in Mozart's dramatic works. "His music speaks of secrets of the heart that both the man and the artist well understood."

Perhaps. But Einstein stumbles badly in his attempt to probe Mozart the man's "secrets of the heart." In the chapter "Mozart and the Eternal Feminine" he says almost nothing positive about the feminine, eternal or otherwise:

• On Aloysia Weber, Mozart's first love (and later sister-in-law): "True coquette that she was, she encouraged Mozart only so far as her mother permitted, and only as long as he seemed a good matrimonial prospect."
• On the "evil and hysterical" Maria Cäcilie Weber, later to be Mozart's mother-in-law: "...in Mozart's life Maria Cäcilie Weber was the evil genius."
• On Baroness von Waldstätten, Mozart's patron and protector: "... a very broad-minded woman, and her own reputation was none too good."

Einstein reserves his cruelest comments for poor Constanze Weber, whose only apparent transgression is that she married his hero: "She owes her fame to the fact that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart loved her, and in doing so preserved her name for eternity, as a fly is preserved in amber. But this does not mean that she deserved either his love or the fame it brought her." And later: "... she was not even a good housewife. She never looked ahead, and instead of making her husband's life and work easier by providing him with external comforts she thoughtlessly shared the bohemianism of his way of living." Worst of all, Constanze was unmusical: "Constanze's musical gifts were not very considerable as expressed either in her singing or in her understanding of music, and the fact that Mozart never finished any of the compositions intended for her is significant."

Given this point of view, it is fortunate that most of this book is devoted to descriptions and analyses of Mozart's musical works. For here Einstein is on terra firma; here, his love of Mozart the musician can be given full rein. Not that this implies lack of criticism. For example, Einstein provides the most balanced view of the composer's early operas (especially La finta semplice, K. 51, for which he makes no apologies) that I have found anywhere. Along with chapters on all of Mozart's instrumental and vocal works, you will find a brief but comprehensive survey of the composer's church music, an important part of his oeuvre that often is given short shrift.

Einstein's great gift is his ability to explain the musical and historical significance of these compositions without having to use musical jargon. This is why later writers (including this one) continue to rely on his commentary more than 50 years after its original publication.