second visit to Berlin, on May 26, Mozart played before the Queen, which was considered a politic step, without any expectation of a handsome present in return. Following the advice of his friends, he did not attempt a public concert, seeing that there was no chance of a large profit, and the King was averse to it. The latter, however, sent him a present of 100 friedrichsdor, and expressed a wish that Mozart would write some quartets for him. This was the whole result of the tour, diminished by a loan of 100 florins which Mozart thought it incumbent on him to make to a friend; he might well write to his wife that she must be glad to see him, not the money he was bringing.
Very different was the career of Dittersdorf, who came to Berlin in July of the same year. He had chosen the time when the visit of the Governess of the Netherlands occasioned festivities of every kind, and he refreshed the memory of the King, who had seen and invited him at Breslau, by the presentation of six new symphonies. Immediately upon his arrival he managed to ingratiate himself with Reichardt, was by him presented to Madame Rietz, afterwards Countess Lichtenau, and was very soon commanded by the King to put his "Doctor und Apotheker" in rehearsal, and to conduct it at a court festival at Charlottenburg; he also received permission to produce his oratorio of "Job" in the opera-house (hitherto only used by the court), with the resources of the royal Kapelle at his disposal. This, with additions from other sources, increased his _personnel_ to 200, and the performance was highly successful, Dittersdorf quitting Berlin rich in money and honours.[42]
On May 28 Mozart set out on his homeward journey by way of Dresden and Prague, where he made a stay of a few days.
[Footnote 1: A proof of this is a note of hand for 100 florins, dated April 2, 1789. Cf. O. Jahn, Ges. Aufs., p. 234.]
[Footnote 2: The principal sources of information for this journey are Mozart's letters to his wife.]
[Footnote 3: Heymann, Dresden's Schriftsteller u. Kunstler, p. 280. Meissner, Biqgr. Naumanns, II., p. 267.]
[Footnote 4: Cf. Goethe's Br. an Frau v. Stein, II., p. 280.]
[Footnote 5: And yet Mannstein says (Gesch. Geist u. Ausübung des Gesanges, p. 89) that when Naumann heard the passage "Tu sospiri, o duol funesto" in the air composed for Storace (505 K.), he exclaimed: "That is a divine idea I Who has taught this man to express sympathy with the sorrows of others as well as those of his own heart in these few notes?"]