Johann Georg Leopold Mozart (November 14, 1719 – May 28, 1787) was a German composer, violinist and theorist. He is best known today as the father and teacher of
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...
, and for his
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...
textbook ''
Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule
''Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule'' (''A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing'') is a textbook for instruction in the violin, published by Leopold Mozart in 1756. The work was influential in its day, and continues to ...
'' (1756).
Life and career
Childhood and youth
He was born in
Augsburg
Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...
, son of
Johann Georg Mozart (1679–1736), a
bookbinder
Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of codex format from an ordered stack of ''signatures'', sheets of paper folded together into sections that are bound, along one edge, with a thick needle and strong thread. Cheaper, ...
, and his second wife Anna Maria Sulzer (1696–1766). From an early age he sang as a choirboy. He attended a local
Jesuit
, image = Ihs-logo.svg
, image_size = 175px
, caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits
, abbreviation = SJ
, nickname = Jesuits
, formation =
, founders ...
school, , where he studied logic, science, and theology, graduating ''
magna cum laude
Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some So ...
'' in 1735. He studied then at the St. Salvator Lyzeum.
While a student in Augsburg, he appeared in student theater productions as an actor and singer,
and became a skilled violinist and organist.
He also developed an interest, which he retained, in microscopes and telescopes. Although his parents had planned a career for Leopold as a Catholic priest, this apparently was not Leopold's own wish. An old school friend told Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1777, "Ah he
eopoldwas a great fellow. My father thought the world of him. And how he hoodwinked the clerics about becoming a priest!"
He withdrew from the St. Salvator Lyceum after less than a year. Following a year's delay, he moved to Salzburg to resume his education, enrolling in November 1737 at the Benedictine University (now
University of Salzburg
The University of Salzburg (german: Universität Salzburg), also known as the Paris Lodron University of Salzburg (''Paris-Lodron-Universität Salzburg'', PLUS), is an Austrian public university
A public university or public college is a univ ...
) to study philosophy and jurisprudence.
At the time Salzburg was the capital of an independent state within the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...
(the
Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (german: Fürsterzbistum Salzburg; Erzstift Salzburg; Erzbistum Salzburg) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of ...
), now part of Austria. Except for periods of travel, Leopold spent the rest of his life there.
Leopold received the degree of Bachelor of Philosophy in 1738.
However, in September 1739 he was expelled from the university for poor attendance, having "hardly attended Natural Science more than once or twice".
Early music career
In 1740, Mozart began his career as a professional musician, becoming violinist and valet to one of the university's canons, Johann Baptist, Count of
Thurn-Valsassina and Taxis. This was also the year of his first musical publication, the six Trio Sonatas, Opus 1.
These were titled ''Sonate sei da chiesa e da camera''; Leopold did the work of copper engraving himself.
He continued to compose, producing a series of German Passion cantatas.
![Anna Maria Mozart](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Anna_Maria_Mozart.jpg)
In 1747 he married
Anna Maria Pertl, who bore him seven children, although only two of them survived past infancy:
* Johann Leopold Joachim (August 18, 1748 – February 2, 1749)
[Mozart Day by Day: 1749]
, Mozarteum
* Maria Anna Cordula (June 18, 1749 – June 24, 1749)
* Maria Anna Nepomucena Walpurgis (May 13, 1750 – July 29, 1750)
*
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia, Nannerl (July 30, 1751 – October 29, 1829)
* Johann Karl Amadeus (November 4, 1752 – February 2, 1753)
* Maria Crescentia Francisca de Paula (May 9, 1754 – June 27, 1754)
*
Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Theophilus (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791)
In 1743 Leopold Mozart was appointed to a position (fourth violinist) in the musical establishment of
Count Leopold Anton von Firmian
Leopold Anton Eleutherius Freiherr von Firmian (11 March 1679 – 22 October 1744) was Bishop of Lavant 1718–24, Bishop of Seckau 1724–27 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1727 until his death.
Early life
He was born in Munich, on his ...
, the ruling
Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg
The Prince-Archbishopric of Salzburg (german: Fürsterzbistum Salzburg; Erzstift Salzburg; Erzbistum Salzburg) was an ecclesiastical principality and state of the Holy Roman Empire. It comprised the secular territory ruled by the archbishops of ...
.
His duties included composition and the teaching of violin (later, piano) to the choirboys of the Salzburg cathedral. He was promoted to second violinist in 1758 and in 1763 to deputy
Kapellmeister. He rose no further; others were repeatedly promoted over him to the head position of Kapellmeister.
The question of whether Leopold was successful as a composer (either in terms of artistic success or fame) is debated. The ''Grove Dictionary'' says that as of 1756, "Mozart was already well-known. His works circulated widely in German-speaking Europe." However, biographer
Maynard Solomon asserts that he "failed to make his mark as a composer",
and
Alfred Einstein "judged him to be an undistinguished composer".
Scholars agree, however, that Leopold was successful as a pedagogue. In 1755, he wrote his ''
Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule
''Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule'' (''A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing'') is a textbook for instruction in the violin, published by Leopold Mozart in 1756. The work was influential in its day, and continues to ...
'', a comprehensive treatise on
violin playing. This work was published in 1756 (the year of Wolfgang's birth), and went through two further German editions (1769, 1787), as well as being translated into Dutch (1766) and French (1770).
Today, the work is consulted by musicians interested in 18th century performance practice; see
Historically informed performance
Historically informed performance (also referred to as period performance, authentic performance, or HIP) is an approach to the performance of Western classical music, classical music, which aims to be faithful to the approach, manner and style of ...
. This work made a reputation in Europe for Leopold, and his name begins to appear around this time in music dictionaries and other works of musical pedagogy.
As teacher of Nannerl and Wolfgang
Mozart discovered that his two children were musically gifted in about 1759, when he began with keyboard lessons for the seven-year-old Nannerl. The toddler Wolfgang immediately began imitating his sister, at first picking out thirds on the keyboard and then making rapid progress under Leopold's instruction. By 1762, the children were ready to work as concert performers, and Leopold began taking the family on extensive concert tours, performing for both aristocracy and public, throughout central and western Europe. This tour included Munich, Vienna, Pressburg (Bratislava), Paris and the Hague together with a lengthy stay in London; see
Mozart family Grand Tour.
The discovery of his children's talent is considered to have been a life-transforming event for Mozart. He once referred to his son as the "miracle which God let be born in Salzburg".
Of Leopold's attitude, the ''Grove Dictionary'' says:
By "missionary", the ''Grove Dictionary'' refers to the family's concert tours.
Scholars differ on whether the tours made substantial profits. To be sure, often the children performed before large audiences and took in large sums, but the expenses of travel were also very high, and no money at all was made during the various times that Mozart and the children suffered serious illnesses. Mozart biographer Maynard takes the view that the tours were lucrative and produced long-term profits for Leopold; Ruth states to the contrary that their income generally only covered their travel and living expenses.
Since the instruction took much of his time, and the touring kept him away from Salzburg for long periods, Mozart cut down his activities in other areas. Nannerl later claimed that he "entirely gave up both violin instruction and composition in order to direct that time not claimed in service to the prince to the education of his two children".
After 1762, his compositional efforts seem to have been limited to revising his earlier work, and by 1771 he had ceased composing altogether.
The touring continued into the early 1770s. The last three trips were to Italy, with only the father accompanying Wolfgang. Leopold Mozart's failure to advance above his Vice-Kapellmeister position at Salzburg is attributed by the ''Grove Dictionary''
to the great amount of time that the journeys kept him away from Salzburg (the longest journey was about three and a half years). After the final return from Italy in 1773, Leopold was repeatedly passed over for the Kapellmeister post.
Family life in Salzburg
![BoezlschiessenTargetMozartAndBaesle](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9e/BoezlschiessenTargetMozartAndBaesle.PNG)
Although Mozart is portrayed (notably by Halliwell 1998) as generally quite worried about money, the Mozart family by 1773 evidently felt prosperous enough to upgrade their living quarters. They left the home in the
Getreidegasse
(Grain Lane) is a busy shopping street in the historic ''Altstadt'' (Old Town) of Salzburg, Austria, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. It is known for the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at No. 9, where he lived until the age of 17. ...
where the children had been born and moved to rooms in the ''Tanzmeisterhaus'' ('Dancing-Master's House'), which had been the home of the recently deceased dancing master Franz Karl Gottlieb Speckner. As tenants of Speckner's cousin and heir Maria Anna Raab, the Mozarts had eight rooms, including the quite large room that Speckner had used for dancing lessons. This the Mozarts used for teaching, for domestic concerts, for storing keyboard instruments sold by Leopold, and for ''
Bölzlschiessen'', a form of recreation in which family and their guests shot airguns at humorously designed paper targets.
Starting around this time, a major preoccupation was the lengthy and frustrating struggle to find a professional position for his son. His wife died in 1778 in Paris while accompanying Wolfgang on a job-hunting tour.
Relations with his children in their adulthood
Mozart is a controversial figure among his biographers, with the largest disagreements arising concerning his role as the parent of adult children. Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon has taken a particularly harsh view of Leopold, treating him as tyrannical,
mendacious, and possessive; Ruth Halliwell adopts a far more sympathetic view, portraying his correspondence as a sensible effort to guide the life of a grossly irresponsible Wolfgang.
Relations with Nannerl
Wolfgang left home permanently in 1781 (see below), and from this time until 1784, his father lived in Salzburg with just Nannerl (now in her early thirties) and their servants. Nannerl had a number of suitors, of whom the most important was Franz Armand d'Ippold, with whom she was evidently in love. In the end she did not marry him, and the reason for this is unknown. One possibility, frequently entertained by biographers, is that the marriage was blocked by Leopold, who liked having Nannerl at home as the lady of the house. However, Halliwell observes that no written evidence on this point survives and insists that we simply do not know why Nannerl married so late. Nannerl finally did marry in August 1784, at age 33. She moved to the home of her new husband, Johann Baptist Franz von Berchtold zu Sonnenburg, in the small rural town of St. Gilgen, roughly six hours journey east of Salzburg.
During his remaining years, Mozart spent a fair amount of his time trying to help Nannerl at a distance, as her new marriage situation, involving five apparently ill-educated stepchildren, was apparently not easy. According to Halliwell, Nannerl depended on him in many ways: he did "shopping
ndthe engagement of servants. ... He relayed news from Salzburg, Munich, and Vienna to divert her, did his best to organize the maintenance of her
fortepiano
A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...
, paid for Wolfgang's music to be copied and arranged for her to receive it; collected musicians together when she had visited him so that she could play it with most of the parts; .. tried to look after her health; and encouraged her to stand up to her husband when he was being unreasonable." Following Leopold's death in 1787, Nannerl had to do without this support, and Halliwell asserts that "there is every reason to believe that Leopold's death was devastating" to her.
Raising Nannerl's child
In July 1785, Nannerl came to Salzburg to give birth to her first child, a son. The infant stayed with his grandfather when she returned home, and with the assistance of his servants, he raised the child. He frequently sent letters to Nannerl (at least one per week) that usually began with the sentence "Leopoldl is healthy", ("Leopoldl" is "Little Leopold") and offered a full report on the child. Leopoldl stayed until his grandfather's death in May 1787. He apparently found raising his grandson a happy experience. Halliwell relates one repeated episode:
Maynard Solomon suggests that in keeping his grandson in his home, Mozart may have hoped to train yet another musical prodigy. Halliwell notes a different possibility, that conditions for child-rearing in the Berchtold household were distinctly suboptimal.
Relations with Wolfgang
Wolfgang left home for good in 1781, when instead of returning from a stay in Vienna with his employer
Archbishop Colloredo he remained in the city to pursue a freelance career. This effort was to a fair degree successful; Wolfgang achieved great fame and was for a time quite prosperous (though poor planning later changed this status). The move almost certainly aided Wolfgang's musical development; the great majority of his most celebrated works were composed in Vienna.
As indicated by Mozart's return letters (which alone survive), his father was strongly opposed to the Vienna move, wanting Wolfgang to return to Salzburg. A fairly harsh family quarrel resulted. He was also strongly opposed to Wolfgang's marriage to
Constanze Weber
Maria Constanze Cäcilia Josepha Johanna Aloysia Mozart (née Weber; 5 January 1762 – 6 March 1842) was a trained Austrian singer. She was married twice, first to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; then to Georg Nikolaus von Nissen. She and Mozart had six ...
in 1782, and gave his permission late, reluctantly, and under duress. Biographers differ on the extent that Constanze was later snubbed by Leopold, if at all, during her visit with Wolfgang (July – October 1783) to Salzburg; the ''Grove Dictionary'' calls the visit "not entirely happy".
In 1785, he visited Wolfgang and Constanze in Vienna, at a time when his son's career success was at its peak. He witnessed first hand his son's success as a performer, and on February 12 heard
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
's widely quoted words of praise, upon hearing the
string quartets Wolfgang dedicated to him, "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, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition." The visit was the last time that Leopold saw his son, though they continued to correspond, and Wolfgang sometimes sent copies of his piano concertos and string quartets for Leopold and Nannerl to perform with friends.
Later in 1785, when Leopold Mozart took in Nannerl's child, Wolfgang was not informed. However, in the following year Wolfgang found this out from a mutual acquaintance in Vienna. At this time, Wolfgang wrote to Leopold to ask if he would be willing to take care of his own two children while he and Constanze went on concert tour. Leopold turned him down, probably with harsh words. His letter to Wolfgang does not survive, but his summary to Nannerl of it does (November 17, 1786):
![84 Kommunegruft St](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/45/84_Kommunegruft_St._Sebastian_Salzburg.jpg)
For interpretations of this letter, see , which takes a viewpoint sympathetic to Leopold, and , which takes a viewpoint sympathetic to Wolfgang.
Starting around the time he wrote this letter and continuing through the first part of 1787, his health was failing. He had become seriously ill by April 4. On this day, Wolfgang wrote to him in alarm at the news, though he did not travel to Salzburg to see him. When Leopold Mozart died on 28 May (see below), Wolfgang was unable to attend the funeral, the travel time to Salzburg being too long.
Little information is available on how Wolfgang took his father's death, but a postscript he included in a letter to his friend Gottfried von Jacquin suggests that, despite the quarrels and partial estrangement, his father's death was a blow to him: "I inform you that on returning home today I received the sad news of my most beloved father's death. You can imagine the state I am in."
Compositions
![LeopoldMozartPortraitFromViolinschule](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6b/LeopoldMozartPortraitFromViolinschule.jpg)
:''See
:Compositions by Leopold Mozart''
Leopold Mozart's music is inevitably overshadowed by the work of his son Wolfgang, and in any case the father willingly sacrificed his own career to promote his son's. But his ''
Cassation in G for Orchestra and Toys'' (
Toy Symphony), (also variously attributed to
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions ...
, Michael Haydn, and Austrian Benedictine monk Edmund Angerer) remains popular, and a number of symphonies, a
trumpet concerto, and other works also survive.
A contemporary report described what he had composed prior to 1757:
Leopold Mozart was much concerned with a naturalistic feel to his compositions, his ''
Jagdsinfonie
The ''Jagdsinfonie'' or ''Sinfonia da Caccia for 4 Horns and Strings'' is a work by Leopold Mozart in the key of G major. It is scored for corni di caccia, or hunting horns, strings, and gunshots, a naturalism not atypical of this composer. So ...
'' (or ''Sinfonia da Caccia'' for four horns and strings) calls for shotguns, and his ''Bauernhochzeit'' (Peasant Wedding) includes
bagpipes
Bagpipes are a woodwind instrument using enclosed reeds fed from a constant reservoir of air in the form of a bag. The Great Highland bagpipes are well known, but people have played bagpipes for centuries throughout large parts of Europe, No ...
,
hurdy-gurdy
The hurdy-gurdy is a string instrument that produces sound by a hand-crank-turned, rosined wheel rubbing against the strings. The wheel functions much like a violin bow, and single notes played on the instrument sound similar to those of a vi ...
, a
dulcimer
The word dulcimer refers to two families of musical string instruments.
Hammered dulcimers
The word ''dulcimer'' originally referred to a trapezoidal zither similar to a psaltery whose many strings are struck by handheld "hammers". Variants of ...
, whoops and whistles (ad. lib.), and pistol shots. ' (musical sleigh ride) calls for bells and whips in addition to a rich orchestra.
His oeuvre was extensive, but only recently have scholars begun to assess the scope or the quality of it; much is lost, and it is not known how representative the surviving works are of his overall output. Cliff Eisen, who wrote a doctoral dissertation on Leopold Mozart's symphonies, finds in a Symphony in G major examples of his "sensitivity to orchestral colour" and a work that "compares favourably with those of virtually any of Mozart's immediate contemporaries".
Some of his work was erroneously attributed to Wolfgang and some pieces attributed to Leopold were subsequently shown to be the work of Wolfgang. Much of what survives is light music but there is some more substantial work including his ''Sacramental Litany'' in D major (1762) and three
fortepiano
A fortepiano , sometimes referred to as a pianoforte, is an early piano. In principle, the word "fortepiano" can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori in 1698 up to the early 19th century. Mo ...
sonatas, all published in his lifetime.
Assessment
The assessment of Leopold Mozart as a person and as a father brings forth serious disagreement among scholars. The ''Grove Dictionary'' article, by
Cliff Eisen Cliff Eisen (born 21 January 1952 in Toronto) is a Canadian musicologist and a Mozart expert. He was based in the Department of Music at King's College London. He studied at the University of Toronto and at Cornell University, and has taught at th ...
, denounces "his misrepresentation at the hands of later biographers":
Other scholars have taken a harsher view. Solomon portrays Mozart as a man who loved his children but was unwilling to grant them their independence when they reached adulthood, resulting in considerable hardship for them. Daniel Steptoe makes a similar assessment, and particularly faults Leopold for having blamed Wolfgang for his mother's early death – not just immediately following the death in 1778 ("a crushing reply to a young man grieving for his mother"), but even later on in 1780.
Robert Spaethling, who translated Mozart's letters, typically takes a position strongly sympathetic to Wolfgang in his struggles with his father; he describes
Wolfgang's resignation of his Salzburg position and marriage to Constanze as a two-act "drama of liberation from Salzburg, specially Wolfgang's liberation from Leopold Mozart".
[See .]
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Leopold Mozart a biographical sketch at the site of th
Mozart Project*
Digitalized exemplar of the French edition at Biblioteca Nacional de España
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mozart, Leopold
Leopold
Leopold may refer to:
People
* Leopold (given name)
* Leopold (surname)
Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional characters
* Leopold (''The Simpsons''), Superintendent Chalmers' assistant on ''The Simpsons''
* Leopold Bloom, the protagonist o ...
1719 births
1787 deaths
Musicians from Augsburg
18th-century classical composers
18th-century German composers
18th-century male musicians
Austrian Classical-period composers
Austrian classical violinists
Austrian Freemasons
Austrian male classical composers
Austrian music educators
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Austrian people of German descent
Austrian Roman Catholics
German Classical-period composers
German classical violinists
Male classical violinists
German Freemasons
German male classical composers
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German male violinists
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German Roman Catholics
Musicians from Salzburg
University of Salzburg alumni
Violin pedagogues
Composers from Salzburg