Johann Georg Mozart (4 May 1679 – 19 February 1736) was 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, ...
who lived 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 ...
, Germany, in the 17th and 18th centuries. He was the father of
Leopold Mozart and the paternal grandfather 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 ...
.
Johann Georg was the son of
Franz Mozart, a master mason. However, Johann Georg pursued a different career, becoming a master bookbinder.
[Solomon, pp. 21-22] He evidently advanced his career when he married Anna Maria Banegger, widow of his former master, and thus obtained his old master's
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometimes ...
license. His first wife bore him no children and died in 1718.
His second wife, whom he married in 1719, was Anna Maria Sulzer (1696–1766), with whom he had eight children over the years 1719–1735; three boys and two girls survived to adulthood. Leopold, born 14 November 1719, was the oldest.
The family were
Catholic
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
s and, after 1722, lived in a house owned by the
Jesuits. They sent their two oldest sons to Jesuit schools.
Neither Johann Georg nor his wife, Anna Maria, had any direct influence on the life of their celebrated grandson. Johann Georg died 20 years before Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born; and Leopold became estranged from his mother following his move in young adulthood to
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 ...
(1737); hence there was no contact between grandmother and grandson during the period their lives overlapped.
Another son of Johann Georg, Franz Aloys Mozart (1727–1791), remained in Augsburg and followed his father's career as a bookbinder (he also occasionally published religious tracts).
[Solomon, 163] He was the father of
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 ...
.
Notes
References
*
Solomon, Maynard
Maynard Elliott Solomon (January 5, 1930 – September 28, 2020) was an American music executive and musicologist, a co-founder of Vanguard Records as well as a music producer."Maynard Solomon" in ''Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians'', v ...
(1995) ''Mozart: A Life'', HarperCollins.
1679 births
1736 deaths
Businesspeople from Augsburg
Johan Georg
Bookbinders
18th-century German people
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