Thanksgiving and fancy

When Darcy is tired of stupidity, ignorance or even of life, he rises, places a certain CD is its player and presses the button. He then reflects on the extraordinary life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Darcy is not a particularly religious man. But listening to Mozart is a religious experience for him. Darcy did not always feel this way; his first favourite composer was Wagner (whom he still likes very much) and he then progressed to Mahler. But Mozart soon overwhelmed him. Darcy dates his conversion to when he heard Mozart’s first symphony – the one he composed at the age of eight in London, to while away the time while his father lay sick. This is a trifling work, but at the same time it is incredible. It holds up well against the mature works of all but the first rank of eighteenth century composers. Astounding.


In the minuscule part of his brain that is not occupied listening to the music, Darcy often ponders three questions. First, the inherent unfairness of life. Second, the bravery of genius. And third, what would have happened if Mozart had lived a normal span. To put this into perspective, Darcy noted down a list of first and second rate composers who were either a) born before 1700 and died after 1750 or b) were born between 1700 and 1800. (For those interested, the sample is: G.P. Telemann, Rameau, J.S. Bach, Handel, D. Scarlatti, Porpora, Tartini, Hasse, G.B.Sammartini, Pergolesi, Gluck, C.P.E. Bach, J. Stamic, L. Mozart, Goldberg, Piccinni, J. Haydn, J.C. Bach, M. Haydn, Paisiello, Grétry, Boccherini, K. Stamic, Cimarosa, Salieri, Clementi, Mozart, Cherubini, Beethoven, Spontini, Hummel, Paganini, Auber, Spohr, v. Weber, Meyerbeer, Hérold, Rossini, Schubert, Donizetti, and Halévy). In this sample of 41 composers, only Pergolesi, Goldberg and Schubert died at a younger age than Mozart. The average longevity of these composers is 65 years. The standard deviation of the sample is 17 years. Mozart's age at death of 35 is nearly two standard deviations below the mean! (Darcy also notes that Mozart's father died at the age of 68 and his sister at 78.)

Darcy believes that the composer of whom - among a host of others - Haydn said "I have often been flattered by my friends with having some genius, but he was much my superior", Beethoven exclaimed "That's Mozart saying 'here's what I could do, if only you had ears to hear' ", Rossini gushed "He is the only musician who had as much knowledge as genius, and as much genius as knowledge", and whose name was perhaps the last thing to pass Mahler's lips would have certainly given us more to be thankful had he not been untimely ripped from us.

Using the mean and s.d. of this sample, Darcy has extended his fanciful digression into what would have happened if Mozart had lived beyond 1791. Without any need to go to the extreme (one standard deviation above the mean, implying that Mozart would die in 1838 at the age of 82), the following strives to give some idea of the environment in which he would have lived.


One standard deviation below the mean
(1792 - 1804)

If he had survived to 48, Mozart would have additionally lived through: the murders of Gustav III of Sweden and Tsar Paul I; the storming of the Tuileries; the abolition of the French monarchy; the executions of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette; the death of Leopold II (the penultimate Holy Roman Emperor); the second and third partitions of Poland; the start and the end of the Terror; the start and end of the French Revolutionary Wars; the Consulate and Empire in France; the start of the Napoleonic wars; the Code Napoléon; Paganini's debut as performer; the introduction of metric units; the first silk top hats; the invention of the voltaic pile, electrolysis, the Jacquard loom, the first steamboat, the first steam locomotive; the discovery of infrared and ultraviolet radiation, morphine and the first asteroids; and the deaths of Piccinni, K. Stamic, and Cimarosa.

In music, the period 1793-1804 would have seen Haydn complete the 12 London symphonies (Mozart would most probably have followed him to London in 1794) and publish the "Emperor" Quartet, "The Creation" and "The Seasons", Cherubini stage "Medée", Beethoven, the sonatas for Piano, Opus 27 and Opus 28 ("Moonlight" and "Pastoral"), the sonata for Violin, Opus 47 ("Kreutzer"), and symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Opus 55 ("Eroica"). J.N. Forkel would publish his "Life of Johann Sebastian Bach".


At the mean
(1805 - 1821)

If he had survived to 65, Mozart would also have witnessed: the abolition of the Holy Roman Empire and the Papal States; the restoration of the monarchy in France; the serial declarations of independence in Latin America; the start of the Greek War of Independence; the partial and temporary resurrection of Poland; the partial autonomy of Serbia; the cessions of Finland, Bessarabia and Norway; the abolition of the slave trade in England; the battles of Austerlitz, Jena, Wagram, Borodino and Waterloo; the Congress of Vienna; the introduction of the Austrian Civil Code; the two abdications of Napoléon; the first Oktoberfest; the Great Comet of 1811; the Year Without a Summer; the publication of Philosophie Zoologique and Frankenstein; the invention of the stethoscope; the discovery of the Venus de Milo; and the deaths of J. Haydn, Grétry, and Paisiello.

In music, the period 1805-1821 would have seen Beethoven complete "Fidelio", the sonata for piano, Opus 53 ("Appassionata"), symphonies No. 5 (Opus 67), No. 6 ("Pastoral" - Opus 68), No. 7 (Opus 92) and No. 8 (Opus 93), Spontini stage "La Vestale", Rossini stage "Tancredi", "L'Italiana in Algeri" and "Barbiere di Siviglia", Schubert compose "Der Erlkönig", Spohr stage "Faust" and Hummel finish the concertos for piano, No. 2 and No. 3.


What might Mozart have written?

The projection of Mozart's creative work in 1791-1804 is made simple by the fact that he was expected in London in 1794. Therefore, the mid-years of this decade would probably have emphasised further symphonies as well as a few piano concertos.
Knowing his luck, the British public would probably have pined for Haydn instead, and Mozart would have had to return to a continent in revolution. The death of Cimarosa would have left him as the European composer par excellence of opera buffa, and it is not altogether unlikely that a series of Italo-German singspiel-cum-operas would have ensued. Back in Vienna, Mozart would have admired Haydn's new oratorios and probably had another one of his revelations after listening to the Beethoven sonatas. After 1805, Mozart might have felt the onset of old age. The fires might have burned as brilliantly as ever, but the vessel would have become weaker. However, Darcy believes that he would have taken on the challenge of Beethoven's later symphonies and quartets while refining further the medium of opera, egged on by the upstart Rossini. Finally, a splendid requiem for Papa Haydn could have been expected. His final works would probably have been some of the most shocking sonatas ever composed.

Darcy does not believe that Mozart would have entered a dry phase, unable to fit the stirrings of Romanticism into his music. His reasoning is simple: almost from birth, Mozart thrived on variety. As a young child, he was exposed to almost every manner of composition then known. Unlike Haydn, who spent most of his life cloistered with the Esterhazy family, Mozart was not forced to be innovative. Instead, he became a musical chameleon, but one supremely adept at forcibly evolving his experience to a higher level than the music to which he had been exposed. Probably the best evidence for this comes in his symphony No. 41, "Jupiter". This is unlike many previous Mozart symphonies. Though old techniques such as fugue are employed (brilliantly), the symphony has a level of thematic development that is beyond Beethoven at 35. Darcy believes it would be silly to assume that the composer of "the greatest orchestral work of the world which preceded the French Revolution" would suddenly become mute. Instead he would probably have soaked in the newer works by Beethoven, Cherubini, Haydn, Hummel, Rossini, Schubert, Spohr and Spontini - liking much of what he heard, being inspired by some and hating other parts, but learning all the while.

Inspired by Beethoven and Hummel, Mozart would have composed symphonies in the 1800s and 1810s that would dwarf those of the 1780s and 1790s just as surely as they dwarfed his symphonies of the 1760s and 1770s. In concertos, Beethoven would have been a distant competitor, though in sonatas and quartets, he would have been formidable. It is not impossible to imagine a similar relationship here between Beethoven and Mozart as existed between Mozart and Haydn. In opera, Mozart would surely have been unmatched. A cursory glance at the programming for the 2007-2008 season at the Royal Opera House reveals more works by Mozart than anyone else; at the Metropolitan he is second to Verdi. Darcy believes that Mozart's later operas would have made Mozart the greatest opera composer who ever lived, without even the need to acknowledge competition from Verdi or Wagner.

It is worth remembering that the current, sixth edition of the Köchel catalogue lists over 630 works by Mozart, composed over a period of 30 years. Even assuming that his works after 1791 became twice as complex or long, and further assuming a halving of his productivity after 1811 when he would have turned 55, we can project something like a further 260 works over this period. Assuming that the 260 would have been broken down roughly in line with his compositions prior to 1791, we can assume that we would now cherish a further 9 operas, 19 symphonies, 22 sonatas, 11 concertos for piano, 9 concertos for other instruments, 10 quartets and 7 religious works, in addition to some 175 smaller pieces.

Mozart could have died at the age of 65 in 1821, surrounded by his wife and children (and quite possibly grandchildren), not wealthy but not poor, mourned by millions. Unfortunately for us, God's Beloved died 30 years too early. Yet let us be grateful that we have any Mozart in our collective memory. The world would be a poorer place today had he not lived. Of how many people can that be said?