. This was in reality his first public appearance, and
many circumstances conspire to render it memorable; but chiefly
that every piece throughout the performance was of his own
composition. The concert ended by an improvisation on the
pianoforte. Having preluded and played a fantasia, which lasted a
good half-hour, Mozart rose; but the stormy and outrageous
applause of his Bohemian audience was not to be appeased, and he
again sat down. His second fantasia, which was of an entirely
different character, met with the same success; the applause was
without end, and long after he had retired to the
withdrawing-room, he heard the people in the theatre _thundering_
for his re-appearance. Inwardly delighted, he presented himself
for the third time. Just as he was about to begin, when every
noise was hushed, and the stillness of death reigned throughout
the theatre, a voice in the pit cried '_from Figaro_.' He took the
hint, and ended this triumphant display of skill by extemporising
a dozen of the most interesting and scientific variations upon the
air _Non piu andrai_. It is needless to mention the uproar that
followed. The concert was altogether found so delightful, that a
second, upon the same plan, soon followed. A sonnet was written in
his honour, and his performances brought him one thousand florins.
Wherever he appeared in public, it was to meet testimonies of
esteem and affection. His emotion at the reception of 'Figaro' in
Prague was so great, that he could not help saying to the manager,
Bondini, 'As the Bohemians understand me so well, I must write an
opera on purpose for them.' Bondini took him at his word, and
entered with him, on the spot, into a contract to furnish his
theatre with an opera for the ensuing winter. Thus was laid the
foundation of 'Il Don Giovanni.'"

The greatest of Mozart's operas was composed at Prague, on a second
visit thither in 1787, when he lived with a musical friend in the
suburbs of the city. "Here, on an elevated site which commanded a view
of the antique magnificence of Prague, its faded castles, ruined
cloisters, and other majestic remains of feudal times, under the mild
rays of an autumnal sun, and in the open air, _Don Giovanni_ was
written." It was immediately brought out at Prague with the success
it deserves, and was afterwards performed at Vienna, but was badly got