and Drama." H.E.K.])

28. "Nota bene, what has always seemed unnatural in an aria are
the asides. In speech one can easily and quickly throw in a few
words in an aside; but in an aria, in which the words must be
repeated, the effect is bad."

(Munich, November 8, 1780, to his father. Mozart had been invited
to Munich to compose an opera, "Idomeneo, Re di Creta," for the
carnival of 1781. [In contradistinction to the observations
touching poetry and music in the preceding paragraph, this remark
shows that he nevertheless had a sense of dramatic propriety. He
accepted the form as he found it, but protested against the
things which stood in the way of its vitalization. H.E.K.])

29. "The second duet will be cut out entirely--more for the good
than the harm of the opera. You shall see for yourself, if you
read over the scene, that it would be weakened and cooled by an
aria or duet, which, moreover, would be extremely annoying to the
other actors who would have to stand around with nothing to do;
besides the magnanimous contest between 'Ilia' and 'Idamante'
would become too long and therefore lose in value."

(Munich, November 13, 1780, to his father. The reference is to
the opera "Idomeneo.")

30. "It will be better to write a recitative under which the
instruments can do some good work; for in this scene, which is to
be the best in the whole opera, there will be so much noise and
confusion on the stage that an aria would cut but a sorry figure.