Moreover there will be a thunder-storm which is not likely to
cease out of respect for an aria, and the effect of a recitative
between two choruses will be incomparably better."

(Munich, November 15, to his father. Mozart was at work on
"Idomeneo.")

31. "Don't you think that the speech of the subterranean voice
is too long? Think it over, carefully. Imagine the scene on the
stage. The voice must be terrifying--it must be impressive, one
must believe it real. How can this be so if the speech is too
long--the length itself convincing the listener of the
fictitiousness of the scene? If the speech of the 'Ghost' in
'Hamlet' were not so long it would be more effective."

(Vienna, November 29, 1780, to his father, who had made the
following suggestions respecting the opera "Idomeneo." "Idamante
and Ilia have a short quarrel (near the close of the opera) in a
few words of recitative which is interrupted by a subterranean
noise, whereupon the oracle speaks also from the depths. The
voice and the accompaniment must be moving, terrifying and most
extraordinary; it ought to make a masterpiece of harmony.")

32. "In a word: far-fetched or unusual words are always out of
place in an agreeable aria; moreover, I should like to have the
aria suggest only restfulness and satisfaction; and if it
consisted of only one part I should still be satisfied--in fact,
I should prefer to have it so."

(Munich, December 5, 1780, to his father. "Idomeneo" is still the