dine with him tomorrow."

(Vienna, August 7, 1782, to his father. [How Mozart and Gluck
differed in principle on the relation between text and music the
reader has already had an opportunity to learn. H.E.K.])

43. "The most necessary thing is that the whole be really
comical; then, if possible, there should be two equally good
female parts, one seria, the other mezzo carattere; but one must
be as good as the other. The third woman may be all buffa, also
all the men if necessary."

(Vienna, May 7, 1783, to his father, in Salzburg, where the Abbe
Varesco was to write an opera libretto.)

44. "It would be a pity if I should have composed this music for
nothing, that is to say if no regard is to be shown for things
that are absolutely essential. Neither you, nor Abbe Varesco, nor
I, reflected that it will be a bad thing, that the opera will be
a failure, in fact, if neither of the principal women appears on
the scene until the last minute, but both are kept promenading on
the bastion of the fortress. I credit the audience with patience
enough for one act, but it would never endure the second. It must
not be."

(Vienna, December 6, 1783, to his father. The opera in question,
entitled "L'Oca del Cairo," was never finished.)

45. "Abbe Varesco has written over the cavatina for Lavina:
a cui servira la musica della cavatina antecedente,--that is