Note 16 — Chapter V · The Second Violin

Andreas Schachtner, Court trumpeter, in his recollections of Mozart, says: “If a trumpet was held before him, it was like putting a loaded pistol to his ear. Papa, wishing to overcome this childish dread, on one occasion told me not to mind this aversion, but to sound the trumpet near him. Scarcely had Wolfgang heard the shrill sound when he turned pale and began to sink to the ground. Had I gone on he certainly would have fallen in convulsions.”