Home > Baker's Student Encyclopedia of Music > Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus

prodigious Austrian composer whose works in every genre are unsurpassed in lyric beauty, rhythmic variety, and effortless melodic invention, son of (Johann Georg) LEOPOLD MOZART, father of FRANZ XAVER WOLFGANG MOZART, and brother of Maria Anna "Nannerl" Mozart Berchthold zu Sonnenburg;b. Salzburg, Jan. 27, 1756; d. Vienna, Dec. 5, 1791. Wolfgang and his sister were the only two among the seven children of Anna Maria and Leopold Mozart to survive infancy. Mozart's sister was four and a half years older. She took harpsichord lessons from her father, and Mozart as a very young child eagerly absorbed the sounds of music. He soon began playing the harpsichord himself and later studied the violin.

Leopold was an excellent musician, but he also appreciated that his children could draw a large (and well-paying) audience. In January 1762 he took them to Munich, where they performed before the Elector of Bavaria. That September, they played for Emperor Francis I at his palace in Vienna. The family returned to Salzburg in January 1763, and in June the children were taken to Frankfurt, where Wolfgang showed his skill in improvising at the keyboard.

In November they arrived in Paris, where they played before Louis XV. It was in Paris that Wolfgang's first compositions were printed (four sonatas for harpsichord, with violin ad libitum). In April 1764 they proceeded to London, where Wolfgang played for King George III.

In London Mozart was befriended by JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH'S son Johann Christian, who gave exhibitions improvising four-hands at the piano with the younger Mozart. By that time Mozart had tried his hand at composing serious works. He wrote two symphonies for a London performance, and the manuscript of another very early symphony, purportedly written by him in London, was discovered in 1980. Leopold wrote home with undisguised pride: "Our great and mighty Wolfgang seems to know everything at the age of seven that a man acquires at the age of 40." Knowing the power of publicity, he diminished Wolfgang's age, for at the time the child was nine years old. In July 1765 the family journeyed to the Netherlands, then set out for Salzburg, visiting Dijon, Lyons, Geneva, Bern, Zurich, Donaueschingen, and Munich on the way.

Arriving in Salzburg in November 1766, Wolfgang applied himself to serious study of counterpoint under the tutelage of his father. In September 1767 the family proceeded to Vienna, where Wolfgang began work on an opera, La finta semplice. His second theater work was a SINGSPIEL, Bastien und Bastienne, which was produced in Vienna at the home of Dr. Franz Mesmer. In December 1768 Mozart led a performance of his Missa solemnis in C minor before the royal family and court at the consecration of the Waisen-hauskirche.

Upon Mozart's return to Salzburg in January 1769, Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach named him his konzertmeister, without remuneration. Still determined to broaden Mozart's artistic contacts, his father took him on an Italian tour, beginning in late 1769 and running through 1770. Legends of Mozart's extraordinary musical ability grew. It was reported, for instance, that he wrote out the entire score of Miserere by Gregorio Allegri, which he had heard in the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican only twice. Young Mozart was subjected to numerous tests by famous Italian musicians, among them Giovanni Sammartini, Niccolò Piccini, and Padre Martini.

Mozart was given a diploma as an elected member of the Accademia Filarmonica in Bologna after he had passed examinations in harmony and counterpoint. In October 1770 the pope made him a Knight of the Golden Spur. He was commissioned to compose an opera. The result was Mitridate, re di Ponto, which was performed in Milan on December. Mozart himself conducted three performances of this opera from the harpsichord. After a short stay in Salzburg, the family returned to Milan in 1771, where Mozart composed the serenata Ascanio in Alba for the wedding festivities of Archduke Ferdinand held that October. He returned to Salzburg late in 1771. His patron, Archbishop Schrattenbach, died about that time, and the successor, Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo, seemed to be indifferent to Mozart as a musician.

Once more Mozart went to Italy, where his newest opera, Lucio Silla, was performed in Milan in December 1772. He returned to Salzburg in March 1773, but in July of that year he went to Vienna, where he became acquainted with the music of FRANZ JOSEPH HAYDN, who greatly influenced his instrumental style. Returning to Salzburg once more, he supervised the production of his opera Il Re pastore, which was performed on April 23, 1775.

In March 1778 Mozart visited Paris again for a performance of his PARIS SYMPHONY (NO. 31) at a Concert Spirituel. His mother died in Paris on July 3, 1778. Returning to Salzburg in January 1779, he resumed his duties as konzertmeister and also obtained the position of court organist at a salary of 450 gulden. In 1780 the Elector of Bavaria commissioned from him an opera seria, IDOMENEO, which was successfully produced in Munich in January 1781. However, that May Mozart lost his position with the Archbishop in Salzburg and decided to move to Vienna, which became his permanent home. There he produced the operatic masterpiece Die Entführung aus dem Serail (THE ABDUCTION FROM THE SERAGLIO), staged at the Burgtheater (July 1782, with excellent success). In August 1782 he married Constanze Weber, the sister of Aloysia Weber, with whom he had previously been in love.

Two of Mozart's finest symphonies—No. 35 in D major, the Haffner, written for the Haffner family of Salzburg, and No. 36 in C major, the Linz—date from 1782 and 1783, respectively. From this point forward, Mozart's productivity reached extraordinary dimensions, but despite the abundance of commissions and concert appearances, he was unable to earn enough to sustain his growing family. Still, melodramatic stories of Mozart's abject poverty are gross exaggerations.

In 1785 Mozart completed a set of six string quartets which he dedicated to Haydn. Unquestionably, the structure of these quartets owed much to Haydn's CONTRAPUNTAL art. Haydn himself paid tribute to Mozart's genius. Mozart's father quoted him as saying, "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."

In May 1786 Mozart's great OPERA BUFFA, LE NOZZE DI FIGARO (The Marriage of Figaro), was produced in Vienna, to a triumphant reception. It was performed in Prague early in 1787, with Mozart in attendance. It was during that visit that Mozart wrote his 38th Symphony in D Major, known as the PRAGUE SYMPHONY. It was in Prague, also, that his operatic masterpiece DON GIOVANNI was produced, in October 1787. That November, Mozart was appointed kammer-musicus in Vienna as a successor to CHRISTOPH WILLIBALD GLUCK, albeit at a smaller salary.

The year 1788 was a glorious one for Mozart and for music history, being the year that he composed his last three symphonies: No. 39 in E flat major, No. 40 in G minor, and No. 41 in C major, known under the name JUPITER. In the spring of 1789 Mozart went to Berlin. On the way he appeared as soloist in one of his piano concertos before the Elector of Saxony in Dresden, and also played the organ at the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. His visits in Potsdam and Berlin were marked by private concerts at the court of Friedrich Wilhelm II. The king commissioned from him a set of six string quartets and a set of six piano sonatas, but Mozart died before completing them.

Returning to Vienna, he began work on his opera buffa così FAN TUTTE, first performed in Vienna in January 1790. That October, Mozart went to Frankfurt for the coronation of Emperor Leopold II. Returning to Vienna, he saw Haydn, who was about to depart for London. In 1791 Mozart completed the score of DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE (The Magic Flute), with a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. It was performed for the first time on Sept. 30, 1791, in Vienna.

There followed a mysterious episode in Mozart's life. A stranger called on him with a request to compose a requiem. The caller was an employee of Count Franz von Walsegg, who intended to have the work performed as his own in memory of his wife. In many tellings of this story, Mozart took this as a portent of his own death and labored mightily to finish the funereal score. Sadly, he was unable to finish the score, which was completed by his pupil Franz Xaver Süssmayr and by Joseph Leopold Eybler.

The immediate cause of Mozart's death at the age of 35 has been the subject of much speculation. Almost immediately after this sad event, myths and fantasies appeared in the press. The most persistent was that Mozart had been poisoned by the court composer ANTONIO SALIERI out of professional jealousy. This particularly morbid piece of invention gained circulation in European journals. The story was further elaborated upon by a report that Salieri confessed his unspeakable crime on his deathbed in 1825. Aleksandr Pushkin used the tale in his drama Mozart and Salieri, which NIKOLAI RIMSKY-KORSAKOv set to music in his opera of the same title. A fanciful dramatization of the rivalry was made into a successful play, Amadeus, by Peter Shaffer, produced in London in 1979 and in N.Y. in 1980. The rivalry subsequently gained wider currency through the award-winning film version of Amadeus in 1984.

Another myth related to Mozart's death that found its way into the majority of Mozart biographies and even into respectable reference works was that a blizzard raged during his funeral and that none of his friends could follow his body to the cemetery. This story is easily refuted by the records of the Vienna weather bureau for the day. It is also untrue that Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave. His body was removed from its original individual location because the family neglected to pay the mandatory dues.

The universal recognition of Mozart's genius during the two centuries since his death has never wavered. In his music, smiling simplicity was combined with somber drama, lofty inspiration was contrasted with playful diversion, profound meditation alternated with fleeting moodiness, and religious concentration was filled with human tenderness.

The variety of technical development in Mozart's works is all the more remarkable considering the limitations of musical instruments in his time. The topmost note on his keyboard was F above the third ledger line, so that in the RECAPITULATION in the first movement of his famous C major piano sonata, the SUBJECT had to be dropped an octave lower to accommodate the MODULATION. The vocal technique displayed in his operas is amazing in its perfection. To be sure, the human voice has not changed since Mozart's time, but he knew how to exploit vocal resources to the utmost. This adaptability of his genius to all available means of sound production is the secret of the eternal validity of his music and the explanation of the present popularity of mini-festivals, such as the N.Y. concert series "Mostly Mozart."

The standard system of identification for Mozart's scores was established by L. von Köchel in his Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichnis sämtlicher Tonwerke Wolfgang Amadé Mozarts (Leipzig, 1862; 6th edition, revised by F. Giegling,A. Weinmann, and G. Sievers, Wiesbaden, 1964). The catalog numbers of the original catalogue are known as K, and the revised numbers of the 6th edition, which follow, are often referred to as K⁶. Mozart also kept a catalogue during the latter part of his life, known as Mozarts Werkverzeichnis 1784-1791.

Although the traditional count is 41 symphonies, present estimates list more than 50 such works; however, a few early works remain in dispute. The problem occurs because Mozart used the normal way of learning music in his day—by writing it down—so that works found in his handwriting have been mistaken for his own compositions. This occurs in early symphonies and piano concertos.

While it is impossible to describe the stylistic development in the symphonies here, it can be stated that No. 25 in G minor, K.183, 173dB (late 1773) is the first of the "mature" symphonies. It forecasts the haunting effect of the later G minor symphony (No. 40).

Included in the traditional count of 27 piano concertos are four pastiches of other composers' pieces, done as exercises. For Mozart, the piano concerto was the best way to show off his talents as keyboard player, composer, leader, and provider of the newest musical novelties. Fashion and fad were as much a part of the CLASSIC music scene as they are of today's popular music, a fact that Mozart struggled with for most of his career.

Mozart composed two rondos for piano and orchestra, and five authentic violin concertos, as well as concertos for bassoon, flute, oboe, horn, flute and harp, and clarinet.

Mozart also composed numerous functional and occasional works, including Serenata notturna in D Major,K.239 (1776); Serenade in D Major, K.250, 248b, Haffner (1776); Divertimento in D Major, K.251 (1776); Serenade in D Major, K.320, Posthorn (1779); Maurerische Trauermusik in C Minor, K.477, 479a (1785); Ein musikalischer Spass (A Musical Joke) in F Major, K.522 (1787); Eine kleine Nachtmusik in G major, K.525 (1787); divertimentos for wind ensemble; marches (two not extant); over 100 German dances; ländler; and contredanses.

Mozart's chamber music includes 23 string quartets, including the six quartets dedicated to Haydn; six string quintets (two violins, two violas, and cello), the finest examples of this genre ever written; four quartets for flute, violin, viola, and cello; as well as quintets featuring piano, horn, clarinet, and oboe. He also wrote various string chamber works. Mozart composed over 30 keyboard and violin sonatas, many unfinished (1762-88), 17 solo keyboard sonatas (1775 — 89), five sonatas for keyboard duet, Sonata in D Major for two keyboards, K.448, 375a (1781), 16 variations for keyboard solo and one for keyboard duet, and many miscellaneous pieces, including 17 sonatas for organ, most with two violins and bassoon.

In addition to his operas, Mozart wrote a great deal of vocal music, including many MASSES, ORATORIOS, and CANTATAS.

Mozart's sister, Maria Anna "Nannerl" Berchthold zu Sonnenburg, b. Salzburg, July 30, 1751; d. there, Oct. 29, 1829, was a pianist and teacher. She was taught music by her father from her earliest childhood and appeared in public as a pianist with her brother. After their travels together in Europe, she returned to Salzburg and eventually devoted herself mainly to teaching. In 1784 she married Baron von Berchthold zu Sonnenburg, who died in 1801. She went blind in 1825. Although nearly five years older than Wolfgang, she survived him by 38 years.