Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) (born Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus [Lat. Amadeus] Mozart) By Linda Andrean During the 1700’s, the city of Salzburg, Austria was governed by a prince- archbishop, who exercised both political and religious authority. Among the many people employed in his court were musicians. Leopold Mozart was born in Augsburg, Germany. His parents’ plan for him was to become a priest, but Leopold had no intention of becoming one. His interests were in acting and singing as well as the violin and organ. He moved to Salzburg, Austria in 1737 originally to study philosophy and jurisprudence. However, in 1740 he became a violinist in the court orchestra. In November of 1747 he married Maria Anna Pertl. Several children were born to the couple, but only a daughter Maria Anna Walburgia Ignatia, who was born in 1751 and became known as Nannerl, survived before the birth of Wolfgang. Wolfgang was born on January 27, 1756.
Leopold Mozart about 1765.
Portrait attributed to Peitro Antonio Lorenzoni
Wolfgang and Nannerl were extremely gifted musically as children. Nan-
nerl began music lessons on the clavier (an early piano) at the age of seven.
Wolfgang, aged three, would spend hours picking out tunes, so by the age
of four, their father began teaching Wolfgang minuets. He learned them
very easily and by the age of five, began composing his own music, which
he would play to his father who then wrote the music down. Wolfgang’s first
appearance as a child prodigy was playing the clavier at the age of five in an
appearance with his sister before the court at Munich.
Records of the early tours of the Mozart family are to be found in letters Leo-
pold wrote to Lorenz Hagenauer, the family friend and landlord of the Mozart
home. Hagenauer was most likely the person who financed the early travels
of the Mozart family. In September, 1762 the Mozart family set out for Vien-
na to perform, and did not return home until January 1763. As young Wolf-
gang was performing before the royalty of Europe, he was losing his baby
teeth!
In her reminiscences, Nannerl summed up the first part of their
tour: “Munich, Augsburg, Ulm, Ludwigsburg, Bruchsal, Schwetz-
ingen, Heidelberg, Mannheim, Worms, Mainz, Frankfurt on Main,
Mainz, Coblenz, Bonn, Brühl, Cologne, Aix-la-Chapelle, Liège, Til-
lemonde, Louvain, Brussels, Mons, Paris, where they arrived on
the 18th November 1763.”
From http://www.mozartproject.org/biography/bi_61_65.html
Mozart as a child was greatly adored at the
Austrian court of Empress Maria Teresa.
Wolfgang probably painted by Pietro
Antonio Lorenzoni, 1763.
The beautiful outfit was a gift from the
Empress Maria Theresa
1763 one of the first major concert tours for Mozart to the courts of Europe.
Illustration by Elaine
Bonabel in Mörike, p. 119
depicting a typical trip by
Mozart.
The family most often rent-
ed a coach, but on occasion
either purchased one or
were lent a coach to use.
The horses were rented for
use for a certain number
of miles and would then be
exchanged for fresh horses
at the next Inn stop.
The roads were rough and
the springs in the coaches
not very comfortable for
long distance travel. Note
the springs on the coach in
the drawing.
On Christmas Eve, 1763, the Mozarts were invited to the French court of Queen
Maria Leszczynska and Louis XV for two weeks. On New Years Day the Mozart
family was invited to the court dinner with the royal couple. The family stood be-
hind the royal couple during the meal. Leopold described the experience:
“My Wolfgang was graciously privileged to stand beside the Queen the
whole time, to talk constantly to her, entertain her and kiss her hands
repeatedly, besides partaking of the dishes which she handed him from the
table,” . . . “I stood beside him, and on the other side of the King . . . stood
my wife and daughter.”
(www.mozartproject.org/biography/bi_61_65.html)
For the next several years, family life consisted of traveling. The purpose of these
trips was to show off the musical abilities of the two extraordinary children. During
the trips to Paris, the most important musical center in Europe, then to England,
Germany, and Italy young Wolfgang met many famous musicians and learned a
great deal from them. He began to compose music seriously, so that by the time
he was nine years old in 1765, his first sonatas were being published in Paris.
During these intense early travels Wolfgang also contracted several serious ill-
nesses: strep throat, rheumatoid arthritis and typhoid fever, from which he nearly
died.
Estimated dis-
tances between
cities:
Vienna to
Amsterdam=
938 km/538 mi.
Paris=1,037 km
/645 mi.
London =1,237
km/668 mi.
Between 1763 and 1765 during his travels, Wolfgang composed:
2 sonatas while in Paris
7 sonatas while in London as well as two symphonies,
2 arias, a motet (a choral composition) and several
untitled pieces
and while in The Hague, an aria and a symphony.
Mozart was definitely a unique child!
Leopold Mozart and his children
L. C. de Carmontelle watercolor, 1763-64
Wolfgang Hildesheimer describes the early works as composed
“with an originality of melody and modulation which goes beyond
the routine methods of this contemporaries.” (pp. 34-5) Mozart at
this young age possessed the ability to vary the moods of the music
within the conventional forms of the period. Mozart later wrote to
his father that music must not offend the ear but must please those
listening.
On the return to Salzburg in 1769, Wolfgang composed masses for
the cathedral of the prince-archbishop. An important tradition in
Salzburg was the custom of the graduating students at the Bene-
dictine University to celebrate the end of the academic year with a
serenade called “Finalmusik”, which was composed for a march or
procession of the students. The march would be commissioned by
the students or their families in honor of the graduation. Wolfgang
composed several such marches.
By the end of 1769, father and son were off to Italy for new composing opportunities and exposure to new audiences. Wolfgang was now com- posing symphonies, sonatas, concer- tos, operas and arias. The life of the young Mozart was one of travel, com- posing and performing. Returning to Salzburg in 1772, Wolfgang received a formal court position as the Konzert- meister, which meant he now received a salary. He was also busy compos- ing for many private patrons, which was an important source of income for musicians and composers. The composer Franz Josef Haydn was an important influence on his work dur- ing this period, especially in writing string quartets. During this period, Wolfgang wrote his first true keyboard concerto (K.175 in D), which was among the few of his keyboard con- certos to be published in his lifetime. While in Salzburg, he was busy com- posing sacred music. In 1774, Wolfgang was invited to compose an opera buffa (comic opera) for the Munich opera season. The opera was La finta giardiniera (the feigned garden-girl). Operas were written specifically for the singers who were to perform them, which meant the composer had to work closely with the performers and understand the ability of each singer. During his stay in Munich, Wolfgang was also busy writing sonatas. The most popular sonata was K.283 in G because of its workmanship, sequence of ideas, phrase repetitions and ingenious tonal balance (Sadie, p. 369). With the sonatas, Stanley Sadie points out, Wolfgang developed from composing conventional music to works of much greater individuality. Returning to Salzburg in March 1775, Wolfgang turned to composing concertos along with serenades of the Finalmusik type. He was to continue working in Salzburg until 1777 in his po- sition as Konzertmeister on an annual salary of 150 gulden. In August of 1777, Wolfgang received permission from the Salzburg prince-arch- bishop Colloredo to be released from his appointment. Leopold had to remain at court, so it was Wolfgang’s mother who traveled with him now to the courts of southern and western Germany seeking an appointment hopefully in Mannheim or Munich. As in the former travels, the Mozarts traveled by horse-drawn coaches, which they would have either bought or rented. Horses would be hired at various inns along the way. The route Leopold carefully planned for mother and son to
take would bring them in contact with friends along the way whom Leopold
thought would be most helpful. This was Wolfgang’s first venture into the
world without his father. Maria was following her husband’s instructions but
did not make the same demands on Wolfgang as her husband would have.
Thus for the first time in his life, Wolfgang had more of a role in the decisions
of what he wanted to do. He had a new sense of independence. From the
correspondence between the family members, it is clear Leopold did not ap-
preciate his son’s decisions.
Wolfgang and his mother traveled first to Mannheim where they stayed for
several months. Then it was on to Paris. Wolfgang was not professionally
successful in Paris. Tragedy also struck when his mother died there on June
30, 1778. Wolfgang had acquired a large amount of debt and finally had to
leave Paris for home.
It was during the stay in Mannheim in 1777
that Mozart found his first romantic inspi-
ration in the person of Aloysia Weber. In
Mannheim, Mozart was directed to her father
who would be able to copy music for him.
Mozart took Aloysia on as a voice pupil and
cultivated her voice. She inspired him to
write music for her to perform. They re-
mained friends following her marriage and
over the years, Mozart continued to write
several arias for her. As a very famous op-
era singer in Vienna, she performed the roles
of Donna Anna in Don Giovanni in the pre-
miere in 1778 and the role of Constanze in a
revival production of The Abduction from the Aloysia Weber
Seraglio.
The other woman who inspired him to write music
for her was Anna Storace (known as Nancy), one
of the most famous singers throughout Europe of
the period. For Anna, he composed the role of
Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro, which premiered
at the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1, 1786 and
the role of Zerlina in Don Giovanni. A third piece
he composed for her as a farewell gift before she
left Vienna to go to London in 1787, was the aria,
“Ch’ io mi scordi di te?... Non temer amato bene,”
K505, a piece for voice and piano. They performed
the piece together at her farewell concert at the
Kärntnertor Theater. The works for Anna are con-
Anna Nancy Storace sidered to be among Mozart’s greatest for voice.
The year 1779 saw Wolfgang back in Salzburg with a court appointment once
again. The next few years were very productive for him as he composed
many religious and secular bodies of work. Late in 1777 he had begun com-
posing an opera that was to have been for the Mannheim court. The opera
developed into Idomeneo (an opera seria) and was presented first in Munich
in January, 1781. In this opera, Mozart created a powerful and emotional
work in which he expanded creatively beyond his previous works as well as
beyond the typical operas of the period. Idomeneo takes place on the island
of Crete following the Trojan War, focusing on a promise made to Neptune by
Idomeneo, the king of Crete, and the intrigue based on the promise and the
relationships involved.
Thinking that he would never be able to do the work he wanted to do in Sal-
zburg, Mozart moved to Vienna in 1781. He initially stayed at the Teutonic
Order lodge house, which housed the employees of his Salzburg employer,
Archbishop Colloredo. After a few months he found lodging at the house of
his friends from Mannheim, the Webers, who had followed their daughter
Aloysia to Vienna. Aloysia meanwhile had married. It was a younger daugh-
ter who then caught his attention, Constanze (called Stanzi) who Mozart
married in August, 1782. Mozart’s father and sister were opposed to the
marriage because they thought Constanze to be beneath them socially and
as a result, they never developed a good relationship with Constanze.
An artist’s
rendering
of Wolfgang
and Con-
stance on
their honey-
moon.
Mozart and Constanze had six children over their nine years of marriage.
Only two of the children survived beyond childhood, Karl Thomas, born in
1784, and Franz Xaver Wolfgang, born in 1791, was four months old when
his father died.
Franz and Karl
Constanze, portrait by Lange, 1782
Constanze was particularly fond of fugues, and Mozart composed several for
her. Mozart wrote to his sister Nannerl in April 1782:
“Well, as she has often heard me play fugues out of my head, she
asked me if I had ever written any down, and when I said I had not,
she scolded me roundly for not recording some of my compositions in
this most artistically beautiful of all musical forms and never ceased to
to entreat me until I wrote down a fugue for her.”
Mozart in Vienna
The citizens of Vienna did not hold the same regard for Mozart as an adult
as was shown to him as a child. As an adult, he was one of several success-
ful musicians and composers and no longer had the special status of child
prodigy. His mature musical style was not that which the Viennese were
used to and had established a taste for. Life became more of a struggle for
Mozart because he never received the court appointment he wanted. How-
ever, that did not slow him down. He continued to be a prolific composer
and to explore new approaches in his works. It was with the collaboration
of the librettist (a poet and playwright, the person who writes the text of the
opera) Lorenzo da Ponte that he composed his three great operas during his
years in Vienna, Le Nozze di Figaro (1786); Don Giovanni (1787); and Così
fan tutte (1790).Lorenzo da Ponte The oldest known surviving playbills for Don Giovanni and Cossi fan tutte
Playbill from 1786 19th century anonymous watercolor of The Marriage of Figaro Mozart was at the peak of his creativity and with da Ponte, was able to ex- ploit his full potential. In the operas, Hildesheimer states, Mozart conveyed the impression of “an absolutely conscious creative power, as if Mozart had asked himself how much of human affairs and feelings, actions and longings, he could bring to the material at hand, which was bound to be meager com- pared to his own artistic dimensions. He increasingly ignored the prescribed external standards.” (p. 145) His later works convey a tremendous range of characters and emotional experiences, with music that directs the action rather than following it. Mozart created full ranges of emotion with his mu- sic. The use of major and minor keys gives the impression of opposite reac- tions and feelings. Mozart was constantly experimenting and testing combi- nations outside the popular standards of the period. He was innovative. Many comments and opinions have been written about Mozart’s personal life, especially the years in Vienna. To understand Mozart better it is helpful to look at him in the context of his times and therefore, it is helpful to under- stand what life was like in the Vienna of the 1780’s. Vienna is portrayed as a city loving music and entertainment of all sorts. With the availability of ex- ceptionally talented architects, the nobility had created architecturally beau- tiful buildings and gardens. As a reformer, Emperor Joseph II wanted
the people to enjoy the gardens. In 1775 he opened the imperial garden,
the Augarten, as well as his hunting grounds, the Prater, to the public, so
that on Sundays the gardens were the gathering place for all ranks of so-
ciety. Joseph himself walked freely among the strollers in the parks. Free
concerts were performed. People enjoyed coffee and pastries at the cafes.
Originally special theaters were built by the nobility as court theaters in the
early 18th century. Soon popular theaters were built in the public squares.
Then came the large public popular theaters. The Käntnertor was built in
1708. Joseph II developed the Burgtheater in an effort to bring the many
different people of his empire together through cultural performances, in-
cluding everything from opera to jugglers. When Emmanuel Schikaneder,
known for his collaboration with Mozart on The Magic Flute, came to Vienna,
he saw the need for establishing a theater that would be able to utilize set
machinery and large groups on a stage large enough to create his remark-
able productions. It was at the Theater an der Wien that The Magic Flute
was first performed. Performers such as Johann Nestroy and Ferdinand Rai-
mund became famous and adored by their public because of their remark-
able abilities to perform in various roles.
Kärntnertor TheaterJoseph II felt that revolution should come from above. Part of his version of
revolution was to encourage the development of the many Freemason lodges
in the city. The lodges and their new ways of viewing society appealed to
the prominent thinkers and activists of the period. Joseph II and Mozart
belonged to lodges. Mozart’s Magic Flute (Die Zauberflöte) first performed in
1791, is often called the “Masonic Opera” because of its embodiment of the
Masonic beliefs. The librettist, Emanuel Schikaneder, and Mozart were mem-
bers of the same lodge. Several sources write that in composing “The Magic
Flute”, Mozart and Schikaneder, were attempting to demonstrate to the pub-
lic that the Freemasons, as seen through the Sun Priests, held reason, truth
and virtue in the greatest esteem.
Drawing by Gott-
fried Engelmann for
Monsieur Garcia’s
costume in the
production of Don
Giovanni
Leopold Schikaneder played the role of Papageno, the
bird catcher, in The Magic Flute.
There were several venues in which Mozart performed and in which his works
were performed. In 1782, Mozart and other musicians were required on
Sunday afternoons to appear in the home of his patron Gottfried van Swieten
to perform the music of Bach, Handel and Haydn. Mozart and several friends
would often get together in the evenings to experiment with compositions.
On other evenings, Mozart would go out to play billiards and bowl. Often he
played concerts in the parks. All during this time he was busy composing
and producing his greatest works.
By 1787 however, his fortunes were turning. His behavior was becoming
more erratic as his compositions were not being accepted by Viennese soci-
ety, people who considered his music too difficult and unusual. The emperor
told Mozart there were “too many notes” in his compositions. The stresses
due to financial debt were weighing heavily on him. He had lost most of his
students as a source of income. The important income for a composer then
came from patrons or at least people to commission works for specificperformances. This was coming less and less for him. His financial situa-
tion was taking a serious turn for the worse. He had to move his family into
a less spacious apartment. The irony is that the works he was composing
at this time are now considered to be among his greatest. At the end of the
year he had received 800 gulden as an imperial chamber composer’s salary
for the dances he composed, but no longer was he receiving commissions.
He wrote Don Giovanni and two String Quintets in C major and G minor
(K.515 and K.516) in an effort to produce something for immediate sale. His
father died in May of 1787 and Mozart received 1,000 gulden as his share of
Leopold’s estate. In August, he completed Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, written
in haste to make money.
Mozart’s personal characteristics were described at the time as frivolous, ec-
centric, restless, mercurial, and expressing himself with grimaces and ges-
ticulations. His close friend, Joseph Lange, the husband of Aloysia Weber,
saw that the need for self-exposure and the radical letting-go as “a vent for
everything he denied himself in his music. For his music does not communi-
cate his momentary state of mind but rather the creative process of his self-
control.” (Hildesheimer, p. 269)
Mozart, 1789 painting by Christian VögelMozart’s father told of a conversation with Franz Josef Haydn, one of the most respected composers on the continent: “Haydn said to me: ‘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 pro- found knowledge of composition.” Mozart fell ill on his trip to Prague in 1791 for the performance of his opera, La clemenza di Tito and his condition became worse when he returned to Vienna. In the last few days, his body was described as extremely swollen. He died on December 5. According to Viennese custom, he was buried in a common grave two days later. Over 200 years after his death, Mozart continues to be one of the most well known and beloved composers the world has known. He is famous through- out the world, with his compositions played wherever there are musicians or sung wherever there are singers. In his lifetime, Wolfgang Mozart composed 19 masses along with numerous other sacred music pieces; 19 operas, musical plays and dramatic cantatas, three ballets; numerous vocal music pieces; 59 symphonies, many concertos, serenades, divertimentos in addition to chamber music and other works. He composed masterpieces in all these forms even for instruments he was not fond of as well as for new instruments to the orches- tra such as the clarinet. A good source for viewing the list of works is Sadie’s book. During his lifetime most of Mozart’s works were not published and at times not even kept track of. He himself did not start to keep track of his works until 1784. Most of the works prior to that are noted in the letters he or his father wrote. Immediately after his death, several European governments gave him their highest recognition and awards. So many interpretations have been written about Mozart’s life, his behavior, and his relationships as well as his prodigious works. Hildesheimer sums it up: “The evidence is massive, but we will find Mozart forever puzzling and unap- proachable. The almost continual creative activity of an intellect who towered so far above his society, and yet continually communicated with it and seemed to adapt to it, but who lived in it as a stranger, a condition neither he nor his circle could encompass; who grew ever more deeply estranged, never suspect- ing it himself until the end of his life, and making light of it until the very end— our imagination cannot accommodate such a phenomenon.” (p. 360) Following her husband’s death, Constanze took on the enormous task of or- ganizing her husband’s works and getting them published under his name. In making certain her husband would receive the acknowledgement for the works he composed, she became a very astute businesswoman. She and her second husband, the Danish diplomat Georg Nikolaus Nissen undertook writing Mo- zart’s biography. They returned to live in Salzburg to be close to the sources of his work. It was through Mozart’s lifelong correspondence that his activities, views and works have been reconstructed as well as interpreted.
Illustration by Bonabel in Mörike, p. 55 Mozart’s much commented on behavior is more clearly understood with the psy- chological tools of analysis available in today’s world. Drs. Edward M. Hallowell and John J. Ratey write in their book Driven to Distraction that “Mozart would be a good example of a person with ADD [Attention Deficit Disorder]: impatient, im- pulsive, distractible, energetic, emotionally needy, creative, innovative, irreverent, and a maverick. Structure is one of the hallmarks of the treatment of ADD, and the tight forms within which Mozart worked show how beautifully structure can capture the dart-here, dart-there genius of the ADD mind.” (Hallowell and Ratey, p. 43) The discipline of the music forced the structure on Mozart. Whatever drove Mozart, the world is a better place for the beautiful music he composed.
Contemporary productions of Mozart’s works take place all over the world.
1998 production of Figaro at the Mariinsky
Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia
Productions of Don Giovanni at Indi-
ana University and Opera Australia
Production of Cosi fan tutte at the
Theater an der Wien, 1994Ideas to think about
Can you think of any government today that employs its own
musicians?
What does it mean to say Mozart “appeared before the court”?
Describe what you think it would be like to travel great distances
by horse and coach in Mozart’s time.
How many miles a day would be a reasonable distance to
travel?
What would you do if a wheel on your coach broke?
Where would you stay overnight?
Listen to some of Mozart’s music and describe how it makes you
feel.
How does one distinguish between an opera, a serenade, a
sonata or a symphony? You will have to look up the
definitions in order to do this.
What would a salary of 150 gulden be worth today in dollars?
Vocabulary words:
clavier
commissioned
compose
concertos
gulden
libbrettist
operas (buffa and seria)
patrons
serenade
sonatas
symphoniesSelected Bibliography Anderson, Emily. The Letters of Mozart and his Family. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1985. Brion, Marcel. Daily Life in the Vienna of Mozart and Schubert. Translated from the French by Jean Stewart. New York, The Macmillan Company, 1962. Deutsch, Otto Erich. Mozart: A Documentary Biography. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1965. Einstein, Alfred. Mozart, His Character, His Work. Oxford University Press, New York, 1945 and 1962 (paperback) Hallowell, Edward M. and John J. Ratey. Driven to Distraction: Recognizing and Coping with Attention Deficit Disorder from Childhood through Adulthood. Simon & Schuster, New York 1994. Hildesheimer, Wolfgang. Mozart. Translated from the German by Marion Faber. New York, Farrar Straus Giroux, 1982. Mörike, Eduard F. Mozart on the way to Prague / ill. by Eliane Bonabel ; transl. and introd. by Walter and Catherine Alison Phillips. New York, Pantheon, 1947. Mozart : portrait of a genius / Norbert Elias ; edited by Michael Schröter ; trans- lated by Edmund Jephcott. Berkeley, University of California Press, 1993. Sadie, Stanley. Mozart: The Early Years, 1756-1781. Norton, New York 2006. Schenk, Erich. Mozart and his times. New York, Knopf, 1959. Selby, Agnes. Constanze: Mozart’s Beloved. Turton & Armstrong, Sydney, 1999 The Compleat Mozart. Editors: Zaslaw, Neal, with Cowdery, William. W.W. Norton & Co., New York, 1990. There are many websites devoted to Mozart, the following are very helpful: http://www.mozartproject.org/ http://www.allabreve.org/storace.html http://arts.guardian.co.uk/fridayreview/story/0,,1560548,00.html
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