Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of European classical music. His enormous output includes works that are widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Many of his works are part of the standard concert repertory and are widely recognized as masterpieces of the classical style. Mozart himself is universally recognized as a musical genius, having learned to compose at the age of five and showing an encyclopedic grasp of every musical form of his time despite having lived only for 35 years.

Life

Family and early childhood years

Mozart was born in Salzburg, which is now in modern-day Austria but at the time was the capital of a small independent Archbishopric within the Holy Roman Empire, to his father Leopold, and his mother Anna Maria Pertl Mozart. He was baptized on the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart but his name changed many times over the years.

Related Topics:
Salzburg - Austria - Archbishopric - Holy Roman Empire - Leopold - Anna Maria Pertl Mozart - Baptized - St. Rupert's Cathedral - His name changed many times over the years

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Wolfgang's middle name, which is often embellished as "Amadeus", was almost never used by Mozart or his family. Braunbehrens makes it clear that the prevalent use of the name "Amadeus" has its origins in poor scholarship: "Mozart never called himself Amadeus but always used simply Amadé (or Amadeo), in an attempt to translate his baptismal name Theophilus (Gottlieb or "love of God")" (Braunbehrens 3).

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Mozart's musical ability started to become apparent to his father when he was a mere toddler. He was the son of Leopold Mozart who was one of Europe's leading musical pedagogues, and whose influential textbook Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule ("Essay on the fundamentals of violin playing") was published in 1756—the year of Mozart's birth. Mozart received intensive musical training from his father—including instruction in both the piano and violin. Musically, Mozart developed very rapidly and was already composing at the age of six.

Related Topics:
Leopold Mozart - Pedagogues - Piano - Violin

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The years of travel

Leopold realized that he could earn a substantial income by showcasing his son as a Wunderkind in the courts of Europe. Mozart soon gained fame as a musical prodigy capable of such feats as playing blindfolded or improvising wonderfully and at length on difficult passages he had never seen before. His older sister, Maria Anna, nicknamed "Nannerl", was a talented pianist and often accompanied her brother on Leopold's tours. Mozart wrote a number of piano pieces, in particular duets and duos, to play with her. On one occasion when Mozart became ill, Leopold expressed more concern over the loss of income than over his son's well-being. Constant travel and cold weather may have contributed to his subsequent illness later in life.

Related Topics:
Wunderkind - Maria Anna - Duets - Duos

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During his formative years, Mozart completed several journeys throughout Europe, beginning with an exhibition in 1762 at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich, then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna. A long concert tour soon followed (three and a half years), which took him with his father to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. They went to Vienna again in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.

Related Topics:
Europe - Bavaria - Munich - Vienna - Mannheim - Paris - London - The Hague - Zürich - Donaueschingen

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After one year spent in Salzburg, three trips to Italy followed: from December 1769 to March 1771, from August to December 1771, and from October 1772 to March 1773. During the first of these trips, Mozart met G.B. Martini in Bologna, and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. A highlight of the Italian journey, which is now an almost legendary tale, occurred when he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel, then wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning a second time to correct minor errors: he thus produced the first illegal copy of this closely-guarded property of the Vatican.

Related Topics:
Salzburg - Italy - G.B. Martini - Bologna - Accademia Filarmonica - Gregorio Allegri - Miserere - Sistine Chapel

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In September of 1777, accompanied only by his mother, Mozart began a tour of Europe that included Munich, Mannheim, and Paris, where his mother died.

Related Topics:
Europe - Munich - Mannheim - Paris

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During his trips, Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other great composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, who befriended Mozart as a child in London in 1764–65. JC Bach's work is often taken to be an inspiration for the distinctive surface texture of Mozart's music, though not its architecture or drama.

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Even non-musicians caught Mozart's attention: he was so taken by the sound created by Benjamin Franklin's glass harmonica that he composed several pieces of music for it.

Related Topics:
Benjamin Franklin - Glass harmonica

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Mozart in Vienna

In 1781 Mozart visited Vienna in the company of his employer, the harsh Prince-Archbishop Colloredo, and fell out with him. According to Mozart's own testimony, he was dismissed literally "with a kick in the seat of the pants." Mozart chose to settle and develop his career in Vienna after its aristocracy began to take an interest in him.

Related Topics:
Vienna - Prince-Archbishop Colloredo

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On August 4, 1782, he married Constanze Weber (also spelled "Costanze") against his father's wishes. He and Constanze had six children, of whom only two survived infancy. Neither of these two, Karl Thomas (1784–1858) or Franz Xaver Wolfgang (later a minor composer himself; 1791–1844), married or had children.

Related Topics:
August 4 - 1782 - Constanze Weber - Franz Xaver Wolfgang

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1782 was an auspicious year for Mozart's career; his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio") was a great success, and he began a series of concerts at which he premiered his own piano concertos as conductor and soloist.

Related Topics:
Die Entführung aus dem Serail - Piano concerto - Conductor - Soloist

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In 1782–83, Mozart became closely acquainted with the work of JS Bach and Handel, as a result of the influence of Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of works by the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these works led, first, to a number of works of his own imitating Baroque style, and later had a powerful influence on his personal musical style, as seen for instance in the fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and the 41st Symphony.

Related Topics:
JS Bach - Handel - Gottfried van Swieten - Fugal - Die Zauberflöte - 41st Symphony

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At some unknown time during his early Vienna years, Mozart became personally acquainted with Joseph Haydn, and the two composers became friends. On occasions when Haydn was in Vienna, they sometimes played in an impromptu string quartet together. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn date from 1782–85, and are often judged to be his response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn himself was soon in awe of Mozart, and on the occasion he first heard the last three of Mozart's series he told Leopold, "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name. He has taste, and what is more, the most profound knowledge of composition."

Related Topics:
Joseph Haydn - String quartet - Leopold

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As an adult, Mozart, influenced by the ideas of the eighteenth century European Enlightenment, became a Freemason, although his lodge was a specifically Catholic rather than deistic one, and worked fervently and successfully to convert his father before the latter's death in 1787. His last opera, Die Zauberflöte, includes Masonic themes and allegory. He was in the same Masonic Lodge as Haydn.

Related Topics:
European Enlightenment - Freemason - Masonic Lodge

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Mozart's life was fraught with financial difficulty and illness. Often, he received no payment for his work, and what sums he did receive were quickly consumed by his extravagant lifestyle.

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Mozart spent the year 1786 in Vienna in an apartment which may be visited today at Domgasse 5 behind St Stephen's Cathedral; it was here that Mozart composed Le nozze di Figaro. He then followed this up in 1787 with one of his greatest works, Don Giovanni.

Related Topics:
Vienna - Le nozze di Figaro - Don Giovanni

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Mozart and Prague

Mozart had a special relationship with Prague and the people of Prague. The audience here celebrated their Figaro with the much deserved reverence he was missing in his hometown Vienna. His quote "My Czechs understand me" became very famous in the Czech lands. Many tourists follow the tracks of this great composer in Prague and visit the Mozart Museum of the Villa Bertramka where they have the opportunity to enjoy a chamber concert. In Prague, Don Giovanni was premiered and Prague provided Mozart, at the end of his life, with a lot of financial resources from the commissions.

Related Topics:
Prague - Figaro - Czech lands - Don Giovanni

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Final illness and death

Mozart's final illness and death are difficult scholarly topics, obscured by Romantic legends and replete with conflicting theories. Scholars disagree about the course of decline in Mozart's health – particularly at what point Mozart became aware of his impending death, and whether this awareness influenced his final works. The Romantic view holds that Mozart declined gradually, and that his outlook and compositions paralleled this decline. In opposition to this, some contemporary scholarship points out correspondence from Mozart's final year indicating that he was in good cheer, as well as evidence that Mozart's death was sudden and a shock to his family and friends.

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The actual cause of Mozart's death is also a matter of conjecture. His death record listed "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever"), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. In fact, dozens of theories have been proposed, which include trichinosis, mercury poisoning, and rheumatic fever. The contemporary practice of bleeding medical patients is also cited as a contributing cause.

Related Topics:
Trichinosis - Mercury - Rheumatic fever - Bleeding

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Mozart died around 1 am on December 5, 1791 while he was working on his final composition, the Requiem (unfinished when he died). A younger composer, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, was engaged by Konstanze to complete the Requiem after Mozart's death. He was not the only composer asked to complete the Requiem but he is associated with it over the others due to his significant contribution.

Related Topics:
December 5 - 1791 - Requiem - Franz Xaver Süssmayr

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According to popular legend, Mozart was penniless and forgotten when he died, and was buried in a pauper's grave. In fact, though he was no longer as fashionable in Vienna as he had once been, he continued to have a well-paid job at court and receive substantial commissions from more distant parts of Europe, Prague in particular. Many of his begging letters survive, but they are evidence not so much of poverty as of his habit of spending more than he earned. He was not buried in a "mass grave", but in a regular communal grave according to the 1783 laws. Though the original grave on St. Marx cemetery was lost, memorial gravestones have been placed there and on Zentralfriedhof.

Related Topics:
Vienna - Prague - St. Marx cemetery - Zentralfriedhof

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In 1809, Constanze married Danish diplomat Georg Nikolaus von Nissen (1761–1826). Being a fanatical admirer of Mozart, he edited vulgar passages out of many of the composer's letters and wrote a Mozart biography.

Related Topics:
Danish - Georg Nikolaus von Nissen

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