Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (d. 1791) as a symphonist was not so prolific
as many others (see sec. 157), but the materials and the elaboration of
his best works, such as the 3 symphonies in 1788, are richer and stronger.
The themes have more warmth and character, the harmony and part-writing
more variety and daring, and the articulation of the whole is more full of animation.
He had a sure grasp of instrumental effects, delighting, for example,
in charming uses of the wind groups, with clarinets and horns in a novel
prominence. His best work was his latest, suggesting how much further he
might have gone if his life had been prolonged.
Rapid mention may be made of Friedrich Schwindl (d. 1786), with some 15 symphonies (from 1765); G. C. Wagenseil (d. 1777), the Viennese organist and clavecinist, with over 30; Johann Baptist Wanhal (d. 1813), a Bohemian at Vienna, the producer of a prodigious amount of facile music, including descriptive pieces; Wenzel Pichl (d. 1805), also a Bohemian, court-composer at Milan in 1775-96 and then at Vienna, with about 700 works, including about 90 symphonies; Franz Anton Rössler (d. 1792), still another Bohemian, from 1776 serving Prince Esterhazy, from 1781 Prince Wallerstein, and from 1788 at Schwerin, with over 20 symphonies and much chamber music that won Haydn's respect; Paul Wranitsky (d. 1808), who was in Haydn's orchestra and became court-conductor at Vienna, with numerous works, including over 25 symphonies that competed in popular favor with Haydn's; the colorless Ignaz Joseph Pleyel (d. 1831), at one time a pupil of Haydn, the holder of good positions at Vienna, Strassburg and London, and finally (1797) the founder at Paris of a famous piano-factory, with 30 symphonies and other works, as many "as the sands of the seashore" (Eitner); and Ernst Wilhelm Wolf (d. 1792), from 1761 violinist and leader at Weimar, with about 15 symphonies, many piano-concertos and chamber pieces.
149. Instrumental Virtuosi.—The period was notable for the steady increase in the number and importance of solo players on various orchestral instruments, whose genius not only expanded the range of technique and the impressiveness of performance, but made worthy contributions to composition. The instrumental voice was becoming generally recognized for its tonal value and its power of expression, and its masterly use in concert ways was winning a place as a distinct branch of musical art. Naturally the violin and its relatives aroused the greatest interest, but there was notable advance in the wood-wind group as well. The frequent tours of players from city to city, and their consequent calls to service here and there, did much to extend and unify musical taste in different lands.
Although the earlier impetus to artistic violin-playing had been given by
the Italians Corelli and Tartini, and radiated from them through various lines
of tradition, in the later 18th century the centres of greatest activity were not
in Italy, but at Paris and in Germany.
