Mottl and the composer, Adalbert de Goldschmidt, were the first friends
to aid him in his years of misery, by finding him some music pupils. He
taught music to little children of seven and eight years old; but he was
a poor teacher, and found giving lessons was a martyrdom. The money he
earned hardly served to feed him, and he only ate once a day--Heaven
knows how. To comfort himself he read Hebbel's Life; and for a time he
thought of going to America. In 1881 Goldschmidt got him the post of
second _Kapellmeister_ at the Salzburg theatre. It was his business to
rehearse the choruses for the operettas of Strauss and Milloecker. He did
his work conscientiously, but in deadly weariness; and he lacked the
necessary power of making his authority felt. He did not stay long in
this post, and came back to Vienna.
Since 1875 he had been writing music: _Lieder_, sonatas, symphonies,
quartets, etc., and already his _Lieder_ held the most important place.
He also composed in 1883 a symphonic poem on the _Penthesilea_ of his
friend Kleist.
In 1884 he succeeded in getting a post as musical critic. But on what a
paper! It was the _Salonblatt_--a mundane journal filled with articles
on sport and fashion news.
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