It must not be forgotten that these adaptations were undertaken by Mozart solely for Van Swieten's performances, and that his individual taste and the exigences of the representation must have exercised considerable influence upon them. He must certainly not be credited with the wish to improve upon Handel;[25] his intention has rather been so to popularise his works as to bring them home to the
public, without altering any of the more important parts. That the adaptations should have been published and accepted as regular improved editions of the original was not his fault, though he has often had to do penance for it. It must be remembered also that the historic theory which holds that every work of art should be carefully preserved in the form wherein its author has embodied it was then non-existent.
The majority of compositions have been directly the result of circumstances determining the direction of the artist's energies; they laboured for the future while seeking to satisfy the present. They therefore made free use of their works for subsequent elaboration, altering what was needful, and adapting them to the particular occasions on which they were performed by means of additions, omissions, and alterations. The same freedom was thought allowable with the works of other masters, especially those of an earlier time, so that the public might the more easily and comfortably enjoy what was set before it. A knowledge of what was then thought excusable in this direction[26] will serve to increase our respect for the artistic spirit in which Mozart performed his task.[27] The scientific and historic ideas which have permeated the cultivation of our times require the enjoyment of a work of art to be founded upon historical insight and appreciation, and to this end it must be represented exactly as the artist has produced it. But this principle, true as it is in itself, can only be applied with considerable practical limitations, and it is doubtful how far the general public is capable of apprehending and approving it; in any case it is much to be desired that the fashion in such matters should not be set by pedants.[28]
[Footnote 1: Wien. Ztg., 1789, No. 69, Anh., advertises Frûhlingslied and Kriegslied by Mozart.]