but as many particulars of
this period of his life are already known, from the account published by
Daines Barrington in the Philosophical Transactions, the Letters of
Baron Grimm, and other sources, we shall only notice the newest and most
interesting incidents of this part of the Biography. From Wasserburg,
Leopold Mozart writes, "We went up to the organ to amuse ourselves,
where I explained the pedals to Wolfgang. He began instantly to make an
attempt with them, pushed back the stool and preluded standing, treading
the bass to his harmonies as if he had practised for months." The
violin-playing of Nardini, whom the party heard at Ludwigsberg, is much
praised by Leopold Mozart for the neatness of the execution, and the
beauty and equality of the tone. At Frankfort, Wolfgang one morning on
waking began to cry. His father asked him the reason. He said he was so
sorry at not being able to see his friends Hagenaur, Wenzl, Spitzeder,
and Reibl. Though the children performed before all the persons of
distinction they met on their route, yet as they were often rewarded
with costly presents, swords, snuff-boxes, trinkets, &c. instead of
money, the father had much anxiety on this account. He says, in a letter
from Brussels, "At Aix we saw the Princess Amelia, sister to the King of
Prussia, but she has no money. If the kisses which she gave my children,
especially to Master Wolfgang, had been louis d'ors, we might have
rejoiced." In Paris, little Mozart performed feats which would have done
honour to an experienced Kapellmeister, transposing at sight, into any
key whatever, any airs which were placed before him, writing the melody
to a bass, or the bass to a melody, with the utmost facility and without
premeditation. His deep acquaintance with harmony and modulation
surprised every one, and his organ-playing was particularly admired. A
very pleasant picture of the musical family was painted in Paris, of
which an engraving is given in the Biography. Mozart's sister relates,
that when they were at Versailles, Madame de Pompadour had her brother
placed upon a table, and that as he approached to salute her, she turned
away from him; upon which he said indignantly, "I wonder who she is,
that she will not kiss me--the empress has kissed me!" At Versailles the
whole court was present to hear the little boy of eight years play upon
the organ, and he was moreover treated by the royal family with great
distinction, particularly by the quee