Wolfgang amadeus mozart death

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Composer (–)

"Mozart" redirects here.

Biography on mozart In particular, his operas display an uncanny psychological insight, unique to music at the time, and continue to exert a particular fascination for musicians and music lovers today. First Viennese School. Mozart began to borrow money from friends, though he was almost always able to promptly repay when a commission or concert came his way. Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere, on 6 September , of his opera La clemenza di Tito , which was written in that same year on commission for Emperor Leopold II 's coronation festivities.

For other uses, see Mozart (disambiguation).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart^[a]^[b] (27 January – 5 December ) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in more than works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time.

Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture".

Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood.

At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European royalty.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Wikipedia: In the last year of his life, he began composing one of his greatest works — The Requiem. By the age of six, he was writing his first compositions, and by the age of eight had composed his first symphony. Galaxy Book Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly in his Reminiscences : "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain".

His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17, he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. Mozart's search for employment led to positions in Paris, Mannheim, Munich, and again in Salzburg, during which he wrote his five violin concertos, Sinfonia Concertante, and Concerto for Flute and Harp, as well as sacred pieces and masses, the motet&#;Exsultate Jubilate, and the opera Idomeneo, among other works.

While visiting Vienna in , Mozart was dismissed from his Salzburg position.

Wolfgang amadeus mozart children

Mozart family

Interesting facts about mozart

Mozart wife

How old was mozart when he died

He stayed in Vienna, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During Mozart’s early years in Vienna, he produced several notable works, such as the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail, the Great Mass in C minor, the "Haydn" Quartets and a number of symphonies. Throughout his Vienna years, Mozart composed over a dozen piano concertos, many considered some of his greatest achievements.

In the final years of his life, Mozart wrote many of his best-known works, including his last three symphonies, culminating in the Jupiter Symphony, the serenade Eine kleine Nachtmusik, his Clarinet Concerto, the four operas The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte and The Magic Flute and his Requiem.

The Requiem was largely unfinished at the time of his death at age 35, the circumstances of which are uncertain and much mythologised.

Life and career

Early life

Family and childhood

See also: Mozart's name, Mozart family, and Mozart's nationality

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl, at Getreidegasse 9 in Salzburg.^[3] Salzburg was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in the Holy Roman Empire (today in Austria).^[c] He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy.

His elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinised form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants.

Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, then an Imperial Free City in the Holy Roman Empire, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In , he was appointed as the fourth violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg.

Leopold became the orchestra's deputy Kapellmeister in During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, which achieved success.

When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father, while her three-year-old brother looked on.

Years later, after her brother's death, she reminisced:

He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good.&#; In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier.&#; He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time.&#; At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.

These early pieces, K.

1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch. There is some scholarly debate about whether Mozart was four or five years old when he created his first musical compositions, though there is little doubt that Mozart composed his first three pieces of music within a few weeks of each other: K. 1a, 1b, and 1c.^[9]

In his early years, Wolfgang's father was his only teacher.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Wikipedia

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Along with music, he taught his children languages and academic subjects.^[10] Biographer Solomon notes that, while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Mozart was keen to progress beyond what he was taught.^[10] His first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were of his initiative and came as a surprise to Leopold, who eventually gave up composing when his son's musical talents became evident.

– Travel

Main articles: Mozart family grand tour and Mozart in Italy

While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies.

These began with an exhibition in at the court of Prince-electorMaximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, spanning three and a half years, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London,^[13] Dover, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Mechelen and again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich.

During this trip, Wolfgang met many musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly significant influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom he visited in London in and When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote his first symphony, most of which was probably transcribed by his father.^[15]

The family trips were often challenging, and travel conditions were primitive.

They had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer ), then both children (The Hague, autumn ). The family again went to Vienna in late and remained there until December

After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home.

This tour lasted from December to March As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. There exists a myth, according to which, while in Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere twice in performance in the Sistine Chapel.

Allegedly, he subsequently wrote it out from memory, thus producing the "first unauthorised copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican". However, both the origin and plausibility of this account are disputed.^[19]^[d]^[21]

In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (), which was performed with success.

This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father twice to Milan (August–December ; October &#;&#; March ) for the composition and premieres of Ascanio in Alba () and Lucio Silla (). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son, and indeed ruling Archduke Ferdinand contemplated hiring Mozart, but owing to his mother Empress Maria Theresa's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped^[e] and Leopold's hopes were never realised.

Toward the end of the journey, Mozart wrote the solo motetExsultate, jubilate, K

– Employment at the Salzburg court

After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March , Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo.

The composer had many friends and admirers in Salzburg and had the opportunity to work in many genres, including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and a few minor operas. Between April and December , Mozart developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos, producing a series of five (the only ones he ever wrote), which steadily increased in their musical sophistication.

The last three—K.&#;, K.&#;, K.&#;—are now staples of the repertoire. In , he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E concerto K.&#; of early , considered by critics to be a breakthrough work.

Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontented with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere.

One reason was his low salary, florins a year; Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in when the court theatre was closed, especially since the other theatre in Salzburg was primarily reserved for visiting troupes.

Two long expeditions in search of work interrupted this long Salzburg stay.

Mozart and his father visited Vienna from 14 July to 26 September , and Munich from 6&#;December to March Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera La finta giardiniera.

– Journey to Paris

In August , Mozart resigned his position at Salzburg^[f] and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich.

Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time.

He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing,^[31] and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment.

He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother was taken ill and died on 3&#;July There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds.

Short biography on mozart Mozart met a number of accomplished musicians and became familiar with their works. We strive for accuracy and fairness. Frequently, Mozart and other members of his family fell seriously ill and had to limit their performance schedule. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Mozart stayed with Melchior Grimm at Marquise d'Épinay's residence, 5 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin.^[37]

While Mozart was in Paris, his father was pursuing opportunities of employment for him in Salzburg. With the support of the local nobility, Mozart was offered a post as court organist and concertmaster. The annual salary was florins, but he was reluctant to accept.

By that time, relations between Grimm and Mozart had cooled, and Mozart moved out. After leaving Paris in September for Strasbourg, he lingered in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally returned to Salzburg on 15 January and took up his new appointment, but his discontent with Salzburg remained undiminished.^[42]

Among the better-known works which Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the A minor piano sonata, K.&#;/d, the "Paris" Symphony (No.&#;31), which were performed in Paris on 12 and 18 June ; and the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K.

/c.

Vienna

Departure

In January , Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March, Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne.

Biography on beethoven Around this time, Mozart made some long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of , and Frankfurt , Mannheim, and other German cities in In Italy, Mozart was well received: in Milan, Italy, he obtained a commission for an opera; in Rome he was made a member of an honorary knightly order by the Pope; and at Bologna, Italy, the Accademia Filarmonica awarded him membership despite a rule normally requiring candidates to be twenty years old. Maria Callas. Around , he ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank.

For Colloredo, this was simply a matter of wanting his musical servant to be at hand (Mozart indeed was required to dine in Colloredo's establishment with the valets and cooks).^[g] He planned a bigger career as he continued in the archbishop's service; for example, he wrote to his father:

My main goal right now is to meet the emperor in some agreeable fashion, I am absolutely determined he should get to know me.

I would be so happy if I could whip through my opera for him and then play a fugue or two, for that's what he likes.^[48]

Mozart did indeed soon meet the Emperor, who eventually was to support his career substantially with commissions and a part-time position.

In the same letter to his father just quoted, Mozart outlined his plans to participate as a soloist in the concerts of the Tonkünstler-Societät, a prominent benefit concert series;^[48] this plan as well came to pass after the local nobility prevailed on Colloredo to drop his opposition.

Colloredo's wish to prevent Mozart from performing outside his establishment was in other cases carried through, raising the composer's anger; one example was a chance to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary.

The quarrel with the archbishop came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign and was refused. The following month, permission was granted, but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the arse", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer.^[50]

The quarrel with Colloredo was more difficult for Mozart because his father sided against him.

Hoping fervently that he would obediently follow Colloredo back to Salzburg, Mozart's father exchanged intense letters with his son, urging him to be reconciled with their employer. Mozart passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna. The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed by the archbishop, freeing himself both of his employer and of his father's demands to return.

Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step" that significantly altered the course of his life.

Early years

See also: Haydn and Mozart and Mozart and Freemasonry

Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December ,^[50] and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna".^[50] He also prospered as a composer, and in completed the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July and achieved considerable success.

The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe",^[50] and thoroughly established Mozart's reputation as a composer.

Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The family's father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet.

Marriage and children

After failing to win the hand of Aloysia Weber, who was now married to the actor and artist Joseph Lange, Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter of the family, Constanze.

The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in April , over an episode involving jealousy (Constanze had permitted another young man to measure her calves in a parlour game). Mozart also faced a very difficult task getting permission for the marriage from his father, Leopold.

The marriage took place in an atmosphere of crisis.

Daniel Heartz suggests that eventually, Constanze moved in with Mozart, which would have placed her in disgrace by the mores of the time. Mozart wrote to Leopold on 31 July , "All the good and well-intentioned advice you have sent fails to address the case of a man who has already gone so far with a maiden. Further postponement is out of the question." Heartz relates, "Constanze's sister Sophie had tearfully declared that her mother would send the police after Constanze if she did not return home [presumably from Mozart's apartment]." On 4 August, Mozart wrote to Baroness von Waldstätten, asking: "Can the police here enter anyone's house in this way?

Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today."

The couple were finally married on 4&#;August in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail. In the marriage contract, Constanze "assigns to her bridegroom five hundred gulden which the latter has promised to augment with one thousand gulden", with the total "to pass to the survivor".

Further, all joint acquisitions during the marriage were to remain the common property of both.

The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy:

Raimund Leopold (17 June&#;&#; 19 August )
Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September &#;&#; 31 October )
Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October&#;&#; 15 November )
Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December &#;&#; 29 June )
Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 16 November )
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July &#;&#; 29 July )

–87

In and , Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters.

Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in the Baroque style and later influenced his musical language, for example in fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of Symphony No.&#;

In , Mozart and his wife visited his family in Salzburg. His father and sister were cordially polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor.

Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.

Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna around , and the two composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K.&#;, K.&#;, K.&#;, K.&#;, K.&#;, and K.&#;) date from the period to , and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from ^[59] Haydn wrote, "posterity will not see such a talent again in years"^[60] and in told Mozart's father: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."^[61]

From to Mozart mounted concerts with himself as a soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season.

Since space in the theatres was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof apartment building, and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube restaurant.^[62] The concerts were very popular, and his concertos premiered there are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period, Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".^[62]

With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, Mozart and his wife adopted a more luxurious lifestyle.

They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of florins.^[63] Mozart bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about florins, and a billiard table for about ^[63] The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school and kept servants. During this period Mozart saved little of his income.

On 14 December , Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence").

Freemasonry played an essential role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions, he composed Masonic music, e.g.

Best biography on mozart Dressed in the finest clothes, the child-genius Mozart left an indelible impression on everyone he met. Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son, and indeed ruling Archduke Ferdinand contemplated hiring Mozart, but owing to his mother Empress Maria Theresa 's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped [ e ] and Leopold's hopes were never realised. Mozart family on tour. Voyager Golden Record.

the Maurerische Trauermusik.^[69]

– Return to opera

Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos.

Around the end of , Mozart moved away from keyboard writing^[71] and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettistLorenzo Da Ponte. The year saw the successful premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera Don Giovanni, which premiered in October to acclaim in Prague, but less success in Vienna during The two are among Mozart's most famous works and are mainstays of operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty both for listeners and for performers.

These developments were not witnessed by Mozart's father, who had died on 28 May ^[73]

In December , Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck.

It was a part-time appointment, paying just florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal (see Mozart and dance). This modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph aimed to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.^[h]

In , the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart.

No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met.

Later years

–90

Final illness and death

Main article: Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere, on 6&#;September , of his opera La clemenza di Tito, which was written in that same year on commission for Emperor Leopold II's coronation festivities.