atulated on
every hand at possessing such a genius at his home. Some of the nobles
called upon him and paid him their solemn congratulations, and he was so
embarrassed that he could make no reply except to shake his head and
shrug his shoulders.

Such trips as that to Munich however were now of rare occurrence.
Wolfgang, now about nineteen, went back to Salzburg, and set to work
harder than ever. His skill was tested in many different ways. He wrote
compositions for the church, the theatre, and the concert-chamber; he
played brilliantly on the clavier; he was a wonderful organist at all
festivals of the church, and showed the greatest skill on the violin.

The Archbishop had to have the services of a musician on certain state
occasions, and never failed to call on Mozart when he needed him. Yet
all that he paid Mozart was a nominal salary, which was actually less
than six dollars a year. What was true of the Archbishop was now almost
equally true of all the court at Salzburg. The nobles there had never
undervalued his services until he wanted to be paid for them. Then he
was told that his abilities had been greatly overrated, and was advised
to go to Italy and study music seriously there.

At last their neglect forced him to start forth again upon his travels
to see whether he could find a prince who would accept his services at
something nearer their real value.

In vain the youth wandered from court to court; then for a time he
returned to Salzburg, where the Archbishop treated him as a showman
might a performing dog, using his great genius in tests of skill before
royal visitors.

Later he went to the Emperor's court at Vienna, and there at last he
began to receive something of his due. Not only other musicians, but the
public generally admitted his great gifts. He wrote operas, "Don
Giovanni," "The Magic Flute," and "The Marriage of Figaro," being the
most popular of them. Finally he was able to do somewhat as he pleased,
instead of writing only to suit the order of a prince or noble who could
pay him with some position in his court or at his home.

The world acknowledged Mozart's genius from the time when, a small boy
of six, he and his sister played the clavier. But the life of a musician
in those days, no matter how great his genius, was a hard one, and the
world was not very kind to the youth when he grew up and had to make his
own way. Perhaps his happiest days were those when his sister and he
traveled