can imagine that it was all the more unendurable because I did
not dare to say to him: 'Much too quick!' Moreover it is much
easier to play rapidly than slowly; you can drop a few notes in
passages without any one noticing it. But is it beautiful? At
such speed you can use the hands indiscriminately; but is that
beautiful?"

(Mannheim, January 17, 1778, to his father.)

67. "They hurry the tempo, trill or pile on the adornments
because they can neither study nor sustain a tone."

(Recorded by Rochlitz as a criticism by Mozart of Italian singers
in 1789.)

68. "It is thus, they think, that they can infuse warmth and
ardor into their singing. Ah, if there is no fire in the
composition you will surely never get it in by hurrying it."

(According to Rochlitz Mozart used these words while complaining
of the manner in which his compositions were ruined by
exaggerated speed in the tempi.)



EXPRESSIONS CRITICAL



69. "We wish that it were in our power to introduce the German