![Croce-Mozart-Detail](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/47/Croce-Mozart-Detail.jpg)
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 resulted in more than
800 works of virtually every genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the
symphonic,
concertante
Sinfonia concertante (; also called ''symphonie concertante'') is an orchestral work, normally in several movements, in which one or more solo instruments contrast with the full orchestra.Collins: ''Encyclopedia of Music'', William Collins Sons & C ...
,
chamber,
opera
Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...
tic, and
choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among 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
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
, in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on
keyboard and
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 regu ...
, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. His father took him on a
grand tour
The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a traditional trip through Europe, with Italy as a key destination, undertaken by upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank (typically accompanied by a tut ...
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.
While visiting
Vienna
en, Viennese
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, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
in 1781, Mozart was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He stayed in Vienna, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During his final years there, he composed many of his best-known
symphonies,
concertos
A concerto (; plural ''concertos'', or ''concerti'' from the Italian plural) is, from the late Baroque era, mostly understood as an instrumental composition, written for one or more soloists accompanied by an orchestra or other ensemble. The ty ...
, and
operas. His
Requiem was largely unfinished by the time of his death at the age of 35, the
circumstances of which are uncertain and much mythologized.
Life and career
Early life
Family and childhood
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to
Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) and
Anna Maria, née Pertl (1720–1778), at
Getreidegasse 9 in
Salzburg
Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label= Austro-Bavarian) is the fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872.
The town is on the site of the Roman settlement of ''Iuvavum''. Salzburg was founded ...
. Salzburg was the capital of the
Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in the
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
(today in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
). He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy. His elder sister was
Maria Anna Mozart
Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (30 July 1751 – 29 October 1829), called "Marianne" and nicknamed Nannerl, was a musician, the older sister of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) and daughter of Leopold (1719–1787) and Anna Maria Moz ...
(1751–1829), nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day after his birth, at
St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized 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
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 ...
, then an Imperial Free City in the Holy Roman Empire, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, 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 1763. During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a violin textbook, ''
Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule'', which achieved success.
When Nannerl was 7, 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.
In his early years, Wolfgang's father was his only teacher. Along with music, he taught his children languages and academic subjects.
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.
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.
1762–73: Travel
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 1762 at the court of
Prince-elector
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, la, Princeps Elector), or electors for short, were the members of the electoral college that elected the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire.
From the 13th century onwards, the prin ...
Maximilian 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
Mannheim (; Palatine German: or ), officially the University City of Mannheim (german: Universitätsstadt Mannheim), is the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg after the state capital of Stuttgart, and Germany's ...
, Paris, London, Dover, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht,
Mechelen and again to Paris, and back home via
Zurich,
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 1764 and 1765. When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote
his first symphony, most of which was probably transcribed by his father.
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 1764), then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765). The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.
After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home. This tour lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. 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
Giovanni Battista or Giambattista Martini, O.F.M. Conv. (24 April 1706 – 3 August 1784), also known as Padre Martini, was an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar, who was a leading musician, composer, and music historian of the per ...
in
Bologna
Bologna (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language, Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 1 ...
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
Gregorio Allegri (17 February 1652) was a Roman Catholic priest and Italian composer of the Roman School and brother of Domenico Allegri; he was also a singer. He was born"Allegri, Gregorio" in ''Chambers's Encyclopædia''. London: George Newne ...
's ''
Miserere'' twice in performance in the
Sistine Chapel
The Sistine Chapel (; la, Sacellum Sixtinum; it, Cappella Sistina ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), the chapel takes its nam ...
. Allegedly, he subsequently wrote it out from memory, thus producing the "first unauthorized copy of this closely guarded property of the
Vatican
Vatican may refer to:
Vatican City, the city-state ruled by the pope in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica, Sistine Chapel, Vatican Museum
The Holy See
* The Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and sovereign entity recognized ...
". However, both origin and plausibility of this account are disputed.
In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera ''
Mitridate, re di Ponto
''Mitridate, re di Ponto'' ('' Mithridates, King of Pontus''), K. 87 (74a), is an opera seria in three acts by the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto is by , after Giuseppe Parini's Italian translation of Jean Racine's play '' Mithrida ...
'' (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera
commissions. He returned with his father twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772March 1773) for the composition and premieres of ''
Ascanio in Alba
''Ascanio in Alba'', K. 111, is a pastoral opera in two parts (') by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Giuseppe Parini. It was commissioned by the Empress Maria Theresa for the wedding of her son, Archduke Ferdinand Karl, to Mari ...
'' (1771) and ''
Lucio Silla'' (1772). 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
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...
's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped and Leopold's hopes were never realized. Toward the end of the journey, Mozart wrote the solo
motet ''
Exsultate, jubilate'',
K.165.
1773–77: Employment at the Salzburg court
![Mozart's old home](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6d/Mozart%27s_old_home.jpg)
After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, 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 1775, 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. 216,
K. 218,
K. 219—are now staples of the repertoire. In 1776, he turned his efforts to
piano concertos, culminating in the E concerto
K. 271 of early 1777, 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, 150 florins a year; Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 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 1773, and Munich from 6December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera ''
La finta giardiniera''.
1777–78: Journey to Paris
![Martini bologna mozart 1777](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Martini_bologna_mozart_1777.jpg)
In August 1777, Mozart resigned his position at Salzburg and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to
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 ...
, 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, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, ...
, 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 3July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds. Mozart stayed with
Melchior Grimm
Friedrich Melchior, Baron von Grimm (26 September 172319 December 1807) was a German-born French-language journalist, art critic, diplomat and contributor to the ''Encyclopédie ou Dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers'' ...
, who, as a personal secretary of the
Duke d'Orléans, lived in his mansion.
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 450 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 1778 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 1779 and took up his new appointment, but his discontent with Salzburg remained undiminished.
Among the better-known works which Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the
A minor piano sonata, K. 310/300d, the
"Paris" Symphony (No. 31), which were performed in Paris on 12 and 18 June 1778; and the
Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299/297c.
Vienna
1781: Departure
![Croce MozartFamilyPortrait](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fe/Croce_MozartFamilyPortrait.jpg)
In January 1781, Mozart's opera ''
Idomeneo
' (Italian for '' Idomeneus, King of Crete, or, Ilia and Idamante''; usually referred to simply as ''Idomeneo'', K. 366) is an Italian language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a Frenc ...
'' 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
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
to the Austrian throne. 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). 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 . 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.[; the letter dates from 24 March 1781.]
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;
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.
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
Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with
Muzio Clementi
Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi (23 January 1752 – 10 March 1832) was an Italian composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England.
Encourag ...
on 24 December 1781,
and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna".
He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera ''
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...
'' ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved considerable success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe",
and thoroughly established Mozart's reputation as a composer.
![Constanze Mozart by Lange 1782](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d7/Constanze_Mozart_by_Lange_1782.jpg)
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 separated in April 1782. Mozart faced a challenging task in getting his father's permission for the marriage.
The couple were finally married on 4August 1782 in
St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail.
The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy:
* Raimund Leopold (17 June19 August 1783)
*
Karl Thomas Mozart
Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858) was the second son, and the elder of the two surviving sons, of Wolfgang and Constanze Mozart. The other was Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart.
Biography
Karl was born in Vienna. His ...
(21 September 178431 October 1858)
* Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October15 November 1786)
* Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December 178729 June 1788)
* Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 16 November 1789)
*
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart
Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844), also known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Jr., was the youngest child of six born to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his wife Constanze and the younger of his parents' two surviving children. ...
(26 July 179129 July 1844)
1782–87
In 1782 and 1783, Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...
and
George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of
Gottfried van Swieten
Gottfried Freiherr van Swieten (29 October 1733 – 29 March 1803) was a Dutch-born Austrian diplomat, librarian, and government official who served the Holy Roman Empire during the 18th century. He was an enthusiastic amateur musician and is be ...
, who owned many manuscripts of the
Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in Baroque style and later influenced his musical language, for example in
fugal passages in ''
Die Zauberflöte
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...
'' ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of
Symphony No. 41.
In 1783, 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 1784, 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. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to
Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn wrote, "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years" and in 1785 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."
From 1782 to 1785 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.
The concerts were very popular, and
his concertos premiered there are still firm fixtures in his 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".
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 460 florins.
Mozart bought a fine
fortepiano from
Anton Walter
Gabriel Anton Walter (5 February 1752 – 11 April 1826) was a builder of pianos. The '' Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most famous Viennese piano maker of his time".Latcham (2009)
Life
Walter was born in Neuha ...
for about 900 florins, and a
billiard table for about 300.
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 1784, 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. the
Maurerische Trauermusik.
1786–87: Return to opera
![Mozartův klavír 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/89/Mozart%C5%AFv_klav%C3%ADr_1.jpg)
Despite the great success of ''
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
' () ( K. 384; ''The Abduction from the Seraglio''; also known as ') is a singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Gottlieb Stephanie, based on Christoph Friedrich Bretzner's ''Belmont und Constanze, oder Di ...
'', Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act ''
Der Schauspieldirektor
' (''The Impresario''), K. 486, is a comic ''singspiel'' by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, set to a German libretto by Gottlieb Stephanie, an Austrian ''Schauspieldirektor''. Originally, it was written because of "the imperial command" of the Holy Rom ...
''. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. Around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the
librettist
A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...
Lorenzo Da Ponte
Lorenzo Da Ponte (; 10 March 174917 August 1838) was an Italian, later American, opera librettist, poet and Roman Catholic priest. He wrote the libretti for 28 operas by 11 composers, including three of Mozart's most celebrated operas: ''The Marr ...
. The year 1786 saw the successful premiere of ''
The Marriage of Figaro'' in Vienna. Its reception in
Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
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 1787 to acclaim in Prague, but less success in Vienna during 1788. 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 1787.
In December 1787, 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
Christoph Willibald (Ritter von) Gluck (; 2 July 1714 – 15 November 1787) was a composer of Italian and French opera in the early classical period. Born in the Upper Palatinate and raised in Bohemia, both part of the Holy Roman Empire, he g ...
. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the
Redoutensaal (see ''
Mozart and dance
The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote a great deal of dance music, both for public use and as elements of larger works such as operas, quartets, and symphonies. According to the reminiscences of those who knew him, the composer himself enjoye ...
''). 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.
In 1787, the young
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the
two composers ever met.
Later years
1788–90
![Mozart drawing Doris Stock 1789](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Mozart_drawing_Doris_Stock_1789.jpg)
Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786 he had ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank.
This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because of the
Austro-Turkish War: both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined. In 1788, Mozart saw a 66% decline in his income compared to his best years in 1781.
By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of
Alsergrund
Alsergrund (; Central Bavarian: ''Oisagrund'') is the ninth district of Vienna, Austria (german: 9. Bezirk, Alsergrund). It is located just north of the first, central district, Innere Stadt. Alsergrund was incorporated in 1862, with seven suburbs ...
.
Although it has been suggested that Mozart aimed to reduce his rental expenses by moving to a suburb, as he wrote in his letter to
Michael von Puchberg __NOTOC__
Johann Michael von Puchberg (September 21, 1741, Zwettl, Lower Austria – January 21, 1822, Vienna) was a textile merchant who lived in Vienna in the 18th and early 19th centuries. He is remembered as a friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart w ...
, Mozart had not reduced his expenses but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow mason Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems his musical output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos.
39,
40, and
41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, ''
Così fan tutte'', premiered in 1790.
Around this time, Mozart made some long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789, and
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...
, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790.
1791
Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of high productivity—and by some accounts, one of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...
''; the final piano concerto (
K. 595 in B); the
Clarinet Concerto
A clarinet concerto is a concerto for clarinet; that is, a musical composition for solo clarinet together with a large ensemble (such as an orchestra or concert band). Albert Rice has identified a work by Giuseppe Antonio Paganelli as possibly th ...
K. 622; the last in his series of string quintets (
K. 614 in E); the motet
Ave verum corpus
"" is a short Eucharistic chant that has been set to music by many composers. It dates to the 13th century, first recorded in a central Italian Franciscan manuscript (Chicago, Newberry Library, 24). A Reichenau manuscript of the 14th century attr ...
K. 618; and the unfinished
Requiem K. 626.
Mozart's financial situation, a source of anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive,
it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He is thought to have benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer.
Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg and began to pay off his debts.
He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably ''The Magic Flute'' (which was performed several times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 17 November 1791.
Final illness and death
![Wolfgang-amadeus-mozart 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Wolfgang-amadeus-mozart_1.jpg)
Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere, on 6September 1791, of his opera ''
La clemenza di Tito
' (''The Clemency of Titus''), K. 621, is an ''opera seria'' in two acts composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Caterino Mazzolà, after Pietro Metastasio. It was started after most of ' (''The Magic Flute''), the last o ...
'', which was written in that same year on commission for Emperor
Leopold II's coronation festivities. He continued his professional functions for some time and conducted the premiere of ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...
'' on 30 September. His health deteriorated on 20 November, at which point he became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.
Mozart was nursed in his final days by his wife and her youngest sister, and was attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. He was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his
Requiem, but the evidence that he dictated passages to his student
Franz Xaver Süssmayr is minimal.
Mozart died in his home on at 12:55 am. The ''
New Grove'' describes his funeral:
Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Otto Jahn
Otto Jahn (; 16 June 1813, in Kiel – 9 September 1869, in Göttingen), was a German archaeologist, philologist, and writer on art and music.
Biography
After the completion of his university studies at Christian-Albrechts-Universität in Kiel, ...
(1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.
The expression "common grave" refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper's grave, but an individual grave for a member of the common people (i.e., not the aristocracy). Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; the graves of aristocrats were not.
The cause of Mozart's death is not known with certainty. The official record of ''hitziges Frieselfieber'' ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like
millet seeds) is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute
rheumatic fever,
streptococcal infection
An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dis ...
,
trichinosis
Trichinosis, also known as trichinellosis, is a parasitic disease caused by roundworms of the '' Trichinella'' type. During the initial infection, invasion of the intestines can result in diarrhea, abdominal pain, and vomiting. Migration of ...
,
influenza,
mercury poisoning, and a rare
kidney
The kidneys are two reddish-brown bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They are located on the left and right in the retroperitoneal space, and in adult humans are about in length. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blo ...
ailment.
Mozart's modest funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer; memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well-attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, his reputation rose substantially. Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm"
for his work;
biographies were written first by
Schlichtegroll,
Niemetschek, and
Nissen, and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
Appearance and character
![Mozart (unfinished) by Lange 1782](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Mozart_%28unfinished%29_by_Lange_1782.jpg)
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 early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about
isphysique.... He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his
childhood case of smallpox.
Of his voice, his wife later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic."
He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: was on the stage with his crimson
pelisse and gold-laced
cocked hat
The bicorne or bicorn (two-cornered) is a historical form of hat widely adopted in the 1790s as an item of uniform by European and American army and naval officers. Most generals and staff officers of the Napoleonic period wore bicornes, whic ...
, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Based on pictures that researchers were able to find of Mozart, he seemed to wear a white wig for most of his formal occasions—researchers of the
Salzburg Mozarteum
Mozarteum University Salzburg (German: ''Universität Mozarteum Salzburg'') is one of three affiliated but separate (it is actually a state university) entities under the “Mozarteum” moniker in Salzburg municipality; the International Mo ...
declared that only one of his fourteen portraits they had found showed him without his wig.
Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's, these are mostly not preserved, as his wife sought to destroy them after his death.
Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world, and knew a significant number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with Emperor
Joseph II
Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 un ...
. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his elder colleague
Joseph Haydn, singers
Franz Xaver Gerl and
Benedikt Schack, and the horn player
Joseph Leutgeb
Joseph Leutgeb (or Leitgeb; October 6, 1732 – February 27, 1811) was an outstanding horn player of the classical era, a friend and musical inspiration for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Life
Leutgeb was born in Neulerchenfeld, but little is known o ...
. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's
practical jokes.
He enjoyed
billiards
Cue sports are a wide variety of games of skill played with a cue, which is used to strike billiard balls and thereby cause them to move around a cloth-covered table bounded by elastic bumpers known as .
There are three major subdivisions ...
, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a
starling
Starlings are small to medium-sized passerine birds in the family Sturnidae. The Sturnidae are named for the genus '' Sturnus'', which in turn comes from the Latin word for starling, ''sturnus''. Many Asian species, particularly the larger ones, ...
, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He had a startling fondness for
scatological humour, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin
Maria Anna Thekla Mozart
Maria Anna Thekla Mozart (25 September 1758 – 25 January 1841), called ''Marianne'', known as Bäsle ("little cousin"), was the cousin and friend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Biography
She was born in Augsburg, Germany, the third and only s ...
around 1777–1778, and in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart also wrote scatological music, a series of
canons that he sang with his friends. Mozart
was raised a Catholic and remained a devout member of the Church throughout his life.
Works, musical style, and innovations
Style
Mozart's music, like
Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...
's, stands as an archetype of the
Classical style
Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the works of the Roman architect V ...
. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the ''
style galant
In music, galant refers to the style which was fashionable from the 1720s to the 1770s. This movement featured a return to simplicity and immediacy of appeal after the complexity of the late Baroque era. This meant simpler, more song-like melodie ...
'', a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the
Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the
contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new
forms
Form is the shape, visual appearance, or configuration of an object. In a wider sense, the form is the way something happens.
Form also refers to:
*Form (document), a document (printed or electronic) with spaces in which to write or enter data
* ...
, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including
symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including
string quartet and
string quintet
A string quintet is a musical composition for five string players. As an extension to the string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a cello), a string quintet includes a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola (a so-called "viola quintet" ...
, and the piano
sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical
piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of
religious music
Religious music (also sacred music) is a type of music that is performed or composed for religious use or through religious influence. It may overlap with ritual music, which is music, sacred or not, performed or composed for or as ritual. Relig ...
, including large-scale
masses, as well as dances,
divertimenti,
serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the
Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491; the
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550; and the opera ''
Don Giovanni''.
Charles Rosen
Charles Welles Rosen (May 5, 1927December 9, 2012) was an American pianist and writer on music. He is remembered for his career as a concert pianist, for his recordings, and for his many writings, notable among them the book ''The Classical Sty ...
makes the point forcefully:
It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann
Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...
's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.
During his last decade, Mozart frequently exploited
chromatic harmony. A notable instance is his
''String Quartet in C major'', K. 465 (1785), whose introduction abounds in chromatic suspensions, giving rise to the work's nickname, the "Dissonance" quartet.
Mozart had a gift for absorbing and adapting the valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met
J. C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the
Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he encountered the
Italian overture and
opera buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for
cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are
Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are
homotonal
''Homotonal'' (same-tonality) is a technical musical term pertaining to the tonal structure of multi-movement compositions. It was introduced into musicology by Hans Keller. According to Keller's definition and usage, a multi-movement composition ...
(all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the
relative minor
In music, relative keys are the major and minor scales that have the same key signatures (enharmonically equivalent), meaning that they share all the same notes but are arranged in a different order of whole steps and half steps. A pair of major an ...
). Others mimic the works of J. C. Bach, and others show the simple
rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.
![K626 Requiem Dies Irae](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/K626_Requiem_Dies_Irae.jpg)
As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the
Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the ''
Sturm und Drang
''Sturm und Drang'' (, ; usually translated as "storm and stress") was a proto- Romantic movement in German literature and music that occurred between the late 1760s and early 1780s. Within the movement, individual subjectivity and, in particul ...
'' ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the
Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's
Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.
Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles:
opera buffa
''Opera buffa'' (; "comic opera", plural: ''opere buffe'') is a genre of opera. It was first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously classified by their authors as ''commedia in musica'', ''commedia per musica'', ''dramm ...
, such as ''
The Marriage of Figaro'', ''
Don Giovanni'', and ''
Così fan tutte'';
opera seria, such as ''
Idomeneo
' (Italian for '' Idomeneus, King of Crete, or, Ilia and Idamante''; usually referred to simply as ''Idomeneo'', K. 366) is an Italian language opera seria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The libretto was adapted by Giambattista Varesco from a Frenc ...
''; and
Singspiel, of which ''
Die Zauberflöte
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a ''Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that includ ...
'' is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and
tone colour, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Köchel catalogue
For unambiguous identification of works by Mozart, a ''Köchel catalogue number'' is used. This is a unique number assigned, in regular chronological order, to every one of his known works. A work is referenced by the abbreviation "K." or "KV" followed by this number. The first edition of the catalogue was completed in 1862 by
Ludwig von Köchel. It has since been repeatedly updated, as scholarly research improves knowledge of the dates and authenticity of individual works.
Instruments
Although some of Mozart's early pieces were written for harpsichord, he also became acquainted in his early years with pianos made by
Regensburg builder . Later when Mozart was visiting Augsburg, he was impressed by
Stein
Stein is a German, Yiddish and Norwegian word meaning "stone" and "pip" or "kernel". It stems from the same Germanic root as the English word stone. It may refer to:
Places In Austria
* Stein, a neighbourhood of Krems an der Donau, Lower Aust ...
pianos and shared this in a letter to his father. On 22 October 1777, Mozart had premiered
his triple-piano concerto, K. 242, on instruments provided by Stein. The
Augsburg Cathedral organist Demmler was playing the first, Mozart the second and Stein the third part. In 1783 when living in Vienna he purchased an instrument by
Walter. Leopold Mozart confirmed the attachment which Mozart had with his Walter fortepiano: "It is impossible to describe the hustle and bustle. Your brother's pianoforte has been moved at least twelve times from his house to the theatre or to someone else's house."
Influence
![Frankfurt, Mozartdenkmal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Frankfurt%2C_Mozartdenkmal.jpg)
His most famous pupil, whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child, was probably
Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a
transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of classical musicians' training.
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...
, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn and travelled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study with the older composer. Some of
Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote
cadenzas (
WoO
Woo, WoO, WOO, W.O.O. and variants may refer to:
People
Woo or Wu, romanization of several East Asian names:
* Hu (surname): 胡, 瓠, 護, 戶, 扈, 虎, 呼, 忽, 斛
* Wu (surname): 吳, 伍, 武, 仵, 烏, 鄔, 巫
* Ng (name): 吳, 伍
* ...
58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto
K. 466.
Composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of
variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include
Fernando Sor's
Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart (1821),
Mikhail Glinka's Variations on a Theme from Mozart's Opera ''
The Magic Flute
''The Magic Flute'' (German: , ), K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a '' Singspiel'', a popular form during the time it was written that in ...
'' (1822),
Frédéric Chopin's
Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from ''
Don Giovanni'' (1827), and
Max Reger's
Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata
K. 331.
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...
, who revered Mozart, wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, ''
Mozartiana'' (1887), as a tribute to him.
[ ]
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
''See for an extensive bibliography''
*
*
Baumol, William J., and Hilda Baumol. "On the economics of musical composition in Mozart's Vienna." ''Journal of Cultural Economics'' 18.3 (1994): 171–198
online*
*
* (first published by Chapman and Hall in 1845).
*
*
Keefe, Simon P. ''Mozart'' (Routledge, 2018).
* Keefe, Simon P., ed. ''Mozart in Context'' (Cambridge University Press, 2018).
* Marshall, Robert Lewis. ''Bach and Mozart: Essays on the Enigma of Genius'' (University of Rochester Press, 2019).
*
* Reisinger, Elisabeth. "The Prince and the Prodigies: On the Relations of Archduke and Elector Maximilian Franz with Mozart, Beethoven, and Haydn." ''Acta Musicologica'' 91.1 (2019): 48–7
excerpt
* Schroeder, David. ''Experiencing Mozart: A Listener's Companion'' (Scarecrow, 2013)
excerpt*
*
* Woodfield, Ian. "The Early Reception of Mozart's Operas in London: Burney's Missed Opportunity." ''Eighteenth-Century Music'' 17.2 (2020): 201–214.
External links
Homepagefor the
Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation
The International Mozarteum Foundation (Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum) was founded in 1880 in Salzburg with its primary concern being the life and work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Closely affiliated with the Mozarteum University Salzburg, it w ...
*
*
; Digitized documents
*
*
*
"Mozart" TitlesMozart as authorat
Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
Digital Mozart Edition (''Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum'')
"Mozart" titlesfrom Gallica
* From the
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the British ...
*
Mozart's Thematic Catalogue*
*
Letters of Leopold Mozart und Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (
Baden State Library)
; Sheet music
Complete sheet music (scores)from the
Neue Mozart-Ausgabe
The ''Neue Mozart-Ausgabe'' (''NMA''; English: ''New Mozart Edition'') is the second complete works edition of the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. A longer and more formal title for the edition is ''Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791): Neue A ...
(''Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum'')
Mozart scoresfrom the
Munich Digitization Center
Munich Digitization Center ( German ''Das Münchener Digitalisierungszentrum'' (MDZ)) is an institution dedicated to digitization, Online publication and the long-term archival preservation of the holdings of the Bavarian State Library
The B ...
(MDZ)
Mozart titlesfrom the
University of Rochester
The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private university, private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants Undergraduate education, undergraduate and graduate degrees, including Doctorate, do ...
*
*
* Free typese
sheet musicof Mozart's works from ''Cantorion.org''
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus
1756 births
1791 deaths
18th-century Austrian people
18th-century classical composers
18th-century German composers
18th-century keyboardists
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Austrian classical pianists
Male classical pianists
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Austrian Freemasons
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Child classical musicians
Composers awarded knighthoods
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German classical pianists
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German male classical pianists
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German pianists
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Roman Catholic Freemasons
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