Mozart detailed biography. Biography of Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full name Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgang Amadeus Theophilus Mozart, was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg. He was the seventh child of Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart, née Pertl.
His father, Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), composer and theorist, was a violinist in the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg from 1743. Of the seven Mozart children, two survived: Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna.
In the 1760s, the father abandoned the continuation of his own career and devoted himself to raising children.
Thanks to his phenomenal musical abilities, Wolfgang played the harpsichord from the age of four, began composing at the age of five or six, created his first symphonies at the age of eight or nine, and his first works for musical theater at the age of 10-11.
Since 1762, Mozart and his sister, pianist Maria Anna, accompanied by their parents, toured Germany, Austria, France, England, Switzerland, etc.
Many European courts became acquainted with their art, in particular, they were received at the court of the French and English kings Louis XV and George III. In 1764, Wolfgang's works were first published in Paris - four violin sonatas.
In 1767, Mozart's school opera Apollo and Hyacinth was staged at the University of Salzburg. In 1768, during a trip to Vienna, Wolfgang Mozart received orders for operas in the genre of Italian opera buffe ("The Feigned Simpleton") and German Singspiel ("Bastien and Bastienne").
Mozart’s stay in Italy was especially fruitful, where he improved in counterpoint (polyphony) with the composer and musicologist Giovanni Battista Martini (Bologna) and staged the operas “Mithridates, King of Pontus” (1770) and “Lucius Sulla” (1771) in Milan.
In 1770, at the age of 14, Mozart was awarded the Papal Order of the Golden Spur and elected a member of the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna.
In December 1771 he returned to Salzburg, and from 1772 he served as accompanist at the court of the prince-archbishop. In 1777, he left the service and went with his mother to Paris in search of a new place. After the death of his mother in 1778, he returned to Salzburg.
In 1779, the composer again entered the service of the archbishop as an organist at court. During this period, he composed mainly church music, but by order of Elector Karl Theodor he wrote the opera “Idomeneo, King of Crete,” staged in Munich in 1781. That same year, Mozart wrote his resignation.
In July 1782, his opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio” was staged at the Vienna Burgtheater, which was a great success. Mozart became the idol of Vienna, not only in court and aristocratic circles, but also among concert-goers from the third estate. Tickets for concerts (the so-called academies) of Mozart, distributed by subscription, were completely sold out. In 1784, the composer gave 22 concerts over six weeks.
In 1786, the premieres of Mozart's short musical comedy "The Theater Director" and the opera "The Marriage of Figaro" based on the comedy by Beaumarchais took place. After Vienna, "The Marriage of Figaro" was staged in Prague, where it met with an enthusiastic reception, as did Mozart's next opera, "The Punished Libertine, or Don Giovanni" (1787).
For the Vienna Imperial Theater, Mozart wrote the cheerful opera “They Are All Like This, or the School of Lovers” (“This is what all women do,” 1790).
The opera "La Clemenza di Titus" based on an ancient plot, timed to coincide with the coronation celebrations in Prague (1791), was received coldly.
In the years 1782-1786, one of the main genres of Mozart’s work was the piano concerto. During this time he wrote 15 concertos (Nos. 11-25); all of them were intended for Mozart's public performances as a composer, soloist and conductor.
In the late 1780s, Mozart served as court composer and bandmaster to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II.
In 1784, the composer became a Freemason; Masonic ideas were traced in a number of his later works, especially in the opera “The Magic Flute” (1791).
In March 1791, Mozart gave his last public performance, presenting a piano concerto (B-flat major, KV 595).
In September 1791, he completed his last instrumental work - a concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A major, and in November - the Little Masonic Cantata.
In total, Mozart wrote over 600 musical works, including 16 masses, 14 operas and singspiels, 41 symphonies, 27 piano concertos, five violin concertos, eight concertos for wind instruments and orchestra, many divertissements and serenades for orchestra or various instrumental ensembles, 18 piano sonatas, over 30 sonatas for violin and piano, 26 string quartets, six string quintets, a number of works for other chamber compositions, an innumerable number of instrumental pieces, variations, songs, small secular and church vocal compositions.
In the summer of 1791, the composer received an anonymous order to compose the Requiem (as it turned out later, the customer was Count Walsegg-Stuppach, who was widowed in February of the same year). Mozart worked on the score while ill until his strength left him. He managed to create the first six parts and left the seventh part (Lacrimosa) unfinished.
On the night of December 5, 1791, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in Vienna. Because King Leopold II prohibited individual burials, Mozart was buried in a common grave in St. Mark's Cemetery.
The Requiem was completed by Mozart's student Franz Xaver Süssmayr (1766-1803) according to instructions received from the dying composer.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was married to Constance Weber (1762-1842) and they had six children, four of whom died in infancy. The eldest son, Karl Thomas (1784-1858), studied at the Milan Conservatory, but became an official. The youngest son Franz Xaver (1791-1844) is a pianist and composer.
Wolfgang Mozart's widow gave her husband's manuscripts to the publisher Johann Anton Andre in 1799. Constanza subsequently married the Danish diplomat Georg Nissen, who with her help wrote a biography of Mozart.
In 1842, the first monument to the composer was unveiled in Salzburg. In 1896, a monument to Mozart was erected in Vienna on Albertinaplatz, and in 1953 it was moved to the Palace Garden.
Mozart- Austrian composer and virtuoso performer, who showed his phenomenal abilities at the age of four.
Was born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. Musical studies attracted the future famous author from early childhood; the first lessons took place under the guidance of his father. At the age of 5, the young composer and performer toured Europe.
In 1762, the family travels to Vienna and Munich. Concerts by Mozart and his sister Maria Anna are given there.
Mozart composed his first opera at the age of 11, and a year later he acted as an orchestra conductor.
From 1763 to 1766 he gave concerts in Belgium, France, Austria, England, Holland, and Switzerland. In 1768 he visited Vienna again, in 1769 he was appointed to the post of bandmaster - Archbishop of Salzburg. In 1770 in Bologna, at the age of 14, he successfully passed the exam in front of major musicians and received the title of member of the Bologna Philharmonic Academy. In Rome, he amazed everyone by recording from memory Allegri’s Miserere, which he had listened to only once. This work was prohibited from being published or performed anywhere outside the Sistine Chapel.
The humiliating position of a musician-footman, the rude treatment of the archbishop and his courtiers accelerated Mozart's resignation and his move to Vienna in 1781.
He marries Constance Weber. The last 10 years of my life were spent in exhausting work. Material worries did not leave him until the end of his life.
During the Viennese period, Mozart wrote his most outstanding works. The premiere of his opera “The Marriage of Figaro” in Vienna ended in failure due to the fault of hostile Italian singers, but the premiere of “Don Giovanni” in Prague brought him well-deserved success and fame. Occupying the position of court composer in Vienna, Mozart was so closely associated with this city that when the Prussian king Frederick William II offered him the position of his court conductor with a higher salary, Mozart did not accept this offer. Despite the success of his operas and concert activities, Mozart's financial affairs did not improve. To feed his family, he was forced to work a lot, and this ultimately exhausted the strength of the brilliant composer.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(full name - Johann Chrysostomos Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)- one of the greatest composers of all times. Mozart showed virtuosity in playing the harpsichord in early childhood, and by the age of 6 he played like no other adult of that time.
short biography
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg (Austria). His father - Leopold Mozart, violinist and composer in the court chapel of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Sigismund von Strattenbach. His mother - Anna Maria Mozart (Pertl), daughter of the commissioner-trustee of the almshouse in St. Gilgen.
Of the seven children from the Mozart marriage, only two survived: a daughter Maria Anna, whom friends and relatives called Nannerl, and son Wolfgang Amadeus. His birth almost cost his mother her life. Only after some time was she able to get rid of the weakness that made her fear for her life.
Early childhood
Both children's musical abilities were evident at a very early age. At the age of seven, Nannerl began receiving harpsichord lessons from her father. These lessons had a huge impact on little Wolfgang, who was about three years old: he sat down at the instrument and could amuse himself for a long time with the selection of harmonies.
In addition, he memorized certain passages of musical pieces,
which I heard and could play them on the harpsichord.
At the age of 4, my father began learning small pieces and minuets on the harpsichord with Amadeus Mozart. Almost immediately Wolfgang learned to play them well. Soon he developed a desire for independent creativity: Already at the age of five he was composing small plays, which my father wrote down on paper.
Mozart's first successes
Wolfgang's very first compositions were "Andante in C major" And "Allegro in C major" for the clavier, which were composed between the end January and April 1761.
The father was the best teacher and educator for his son: he gave his children an excellent education at home. They had never gone to school in their lives. The boy was always so devoted to what he was forced to study that he forgot about everything, even music. For example, when I learned to count, the chairs, walls and even the floor were covered with numbers written in chalk.
Conquest of Europe
In 1762 Leopold Mozart decided to amaze Europe with his gifted children and went with them on an artistic journey: first to Munich and Vienna, then to other cities in Germany. Little Mozart, who was barely turned 6 years, stood on stage in a shiny doublet, sweating under a powdered wig.
When he sat down at the harpsichord, he was almost invisible. But how he played! The Germans, Austrians, French, Czechs and English, experienced in music, listened. They did not believe that a small child was capable of playing so masterfully, and even composing music.
In January, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart wrote his first four sonatas for harpsichord and violin, which Leopold sent to print. He believed that the sonatas would create a great sensation: on the title page it was indicated that these were the works of a seven-year-old child.
Over the course of four years, while traveling around Europe, Wolfgang Amadeus turned from an ordinary child into ten-year-old composer, which shocked the Mozarts’ friends and neighbors when the latter returned to their native Salzburg.
Life in Italy
Mozart spent 1770-1774 in Italy. In 1770 in Bologna he met an exceptionally popular composer in Italy at that time Josef Myslivecek. The influence of “The Divine Bohemian” turned out to be so great that later, due to the similarity of style, some of his works were attributed to Mozart, including the oratorio "Abraham and Isaac".
In 1771 in Milan, again with the opposition of theater impresarios, Mozart’s opera was nevertheless staged "Mithridates, King of Pontus" which was received by the public with great enthusiasm. His second opera was given the same success. "Lucius Sulla", written in 1772.
Moving to Vienna
Having already returned to his native Salzburg as an adult, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart could not get along with the oppressive archbishop, who saw him only as a servant and tried in every possible way to humiliate him.
In 1781, unable to withstand the oppression, Mozart went to Vienna, where he began giving concerts. He composed a lot during this period, wrote a comic opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio" on a Turkish theme, since in Vienna in the 18th century everything Turkish was in fashion, especially music.
This was the happiest period of Mozart's life: he fell in love with Constance Weber and was going to marry her, and his music was full of feelings of love.
"The Marriage of Figaro"
4 years later he created an opera "The Marriage of Figaro" based on the play by Beaumarchais, which was considered revolutionary and was banned in France for a long time. Emperor Joseph was convinced that all dangerous parts were removed from the production, and that Mozart’s music was very cheerful.
As contemporaries wrote, the theater was packed to capacity during the performance of The Marriage of Figaro. The success was extraordinary, the music captivated everyone. The audience greeted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The next day, all of Vienna sang his melodies.
"Don Juan"
This success contributed to the composer being invited to Prague. There he presented his new opera - "Don Juan", which premiered in 1787. She was also highly appreciated and later admired Charles Gounod, Ludwig van Beethoven, Richard Wagner.
Return to Vienna
After his triumph in Prague, Mozart returned to Vienna. But there they treated him without the same interest. “The Abduction from the Seraglio” was filmed a long time ago, and no other operas were staged. And by this time the composer wrote 15 more symphony concerts, composed three symphonies which are considered the greatest today. His financial situation became more difficult day by day, and he had to give music lessons.
The lack of serious orders depressed Wolfgang Amadeus; he felt that his strength was at its limit. In recent years, he created another opera - an unusual fairy tale "Magical flute" which had religious overtones. It was later identified as Masonic. The opera was very well received by the public.
Last period of life
As soon as The Magic Flute was performed, Mozart enthusiastically began working on Requiem, which was ordered by a mysterious stranger in all black. This work occupied him so much that he even intended not to accept any more students until the Requiem was completed.
However December 6, 1791 At the age of 35, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died of illness. An accurate and reliable diagnosis is currently unknown. The controversy surrounding the circumstances of Mozart's death continues to this day, despite the fact that almost 225 years have passed since the composer's death.
Work on the unfinished "Requiem", stunning with its mournful lyricism and tragic expressiveness, was completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayer, who previously took some part in composing the opera "The Mercy of Titus".
Born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg (Austria) and at baptism received the names Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus. Mother - Maria Anna, née Pertl; father – Leopold Mozart (1719–1787), composer and theorist, from 1743 – violinist in the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Of the seven Mozart children, two survived: Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna. Both brother and sister had brilliant musical abilities: Leopold began giving his daughter harpsichord lessons when she was eight years old, and the music book with easy pieces composed by her father in 1759 for Nannerl was later useful in teaching little Wolfgang. At the age of three, Mozart was picking up thirds and sixths on the harpsichord, and at the age of five he began composing simple minuets. In January 1762, Leopold took his miracle children to Munich, where they played in the presence of the Bavarian Elector, and in September to Linz and Passau, from there along the Danube to Vienna, where they were received at court (in the Schönbrunn Palace) and twice awarded reception with Empress Maria Theresa. This trip marked the beginning of a series of concert trips that continued for ten years.
From Vienna, Leopold and his children moved along the Danube to Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia), where they stayed from December 11 to 24, and then returned to Vienna on Christmas Eve. In June 1763, Leopold, Nannerl and Wolfgang began the longest of their concert trips: they returned home to Salzburg only towards the end of November 1766. Leopold kept a travel diary: Munich, Ludwigsburg, Augsburg and Schwetzingen (the summer residence of the Elector of the Palatinate). On August 18, Wolfgang gave a concert in Frankfurt: by this time he had mastered the violin and played it fluently, although not with such phenomenal brilliance as on keyboard instruments; in Frankfurt he performed his violin concerto (14-year-old Goethe was among those present in the hall). Brussels and Paris followed, where the family spent the entire winter of 1763/1764.
The Mozarts were received at the court of Louis XV during the Christmas holidays at Versailles and enjoyed great attention in aristocratic circles throughout the winter. At the same time, Wolfgang's works were published for the first time in Paris - four violin sonatas.
In April 1764 the family went to London and lived there for more than a year. A few days after their arrival, the Mozarts were solemnly received by King George III. As in Paris, children gave public concerts during which Wolfgang demonstrated his amazing abilities. Composer Johann Christian Bach, a favorite of London society, immediately appreciated the child’s enormous talent. Often, having put Wolfgang on his knees, he would perform sonatas with him on the harpsichord: they would play in turns, each playing a few bars, and they would do it with such precision that it seemed as if one musician was playing.
In London, Mozart composed his first symphonies. They followed the examples of the gallant, lively and energetic music of Johann Christian, who became the boy's teacher, and demonstrated an innate sense of form and instrumental color.
In July 1765 the family left London and headed to Holland; in September in The Hague, Wolfgang and Nannerl suffered severe pneumonia, from which the boy recovered only by February.
They then continued their tour: from Belgium to Paris, then to Lyon, Geneva, Bern, Zurich, Donaueschingen, Augsburg and finally to Munich, where the Elector again listened to the play of the miracle child and was amazed at the successes he had made. As soon as they returned to Salzburg (November 30, 1766), Leopold began making plans for his next trip. It began in September 1767. The whole family arrived in Vienna, where at that time a smallpox epidemic was raging. The disease overtook both children in Olmutz (now Olomouc, Czech Republic), where they had to stay until December. In January 1768 they reached Vienna and were again received at court; Wolfgang at this time wrote his first opera, The Imaginary Simpleton (La finta semplice), but its production did not take place due to the intrigues of some Viennese musicians. At the same time, his first large mass for choir and orchestra appeared, which was performed at the opening of the church at the orphanage in front of a large and friendly audience. A trumpet concerto was written by order, but unfortunately has not survived. On the way home to Salzburg, Wolfgang performed his new symphony (K. 45a) at the Benedictine monastery in Lambach.
(A note on the numbering of Mozart's works: In 1862, Ludwig von Köchel published a catalog of Mozart's works in chronological order. Since that time, the titles of the composer's works usually include the Köchel number - just as the works of other authors usually include the opus designation. For example, the full title of the piano Concerto No. 20 will be: Concerto No. 20 in D minor for piano and orchestra (K. 466). The Köchel index was revised six times. In 1964, the Breitkopf and Hertel publishing house (Wiesbaden, Germany) published a deeply revised and expanded Köchel index. It includes There are many works for which the authorship of Mozart has been proven and which were not mentioned in earlier editions. The dates of the works have also been clarified in accordance with scientific research data. In the 1964 edition, changes were also made to the chronology, and therefore new numbers appeared in the catalogue, but the works Mozart continues to exist under the old numbers of the Köchel catalogue.)
The goal of the next trip Leopold planned was Italy - the country of opera and, of course, the country of music in general. After 11 months of study and preparation for the trip, spent in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang began the first of three journeys through the Alps. They were absent for more than a year (from December 1769 to March 1771). The first Italian journey turned into a chain of continuous triumphs - for the pope and the duke, for the king (Ferdinand IV of Naples) and for the cardinal and, most importantly, for the musicians. Mozart met with N. Piccini and G. B. Sammartini in Milan, with the heads of the Neapolitan opera school N. Iommelli, G. F. and Maio and G. Paisiello in Naples. In Milan, Wolfgang received a commission for a new opera seria to be presented during the carnival. In Rome, he heard the famous Miserere by G. Allegri, which he later wrote down from memory. Pope Clement XIV received Mozart on July 8, 1770 and awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur.
While studying counterpoint in Bologna with the famous teacher Padre Martini, Mozart began work on a new opera, Mitridate, re di Ponto. At Martini's insistence, he underwent an examination at the famous Bologna Philharmonic Academy and was accepted as a member of the academy. The opera was successfully performed at Christmas in Milan.
Wolfgang spent the spring and early summer of 1771 in Salzburg, but in August father and son went to Milan to prepare the premiere of the new opera Ascanio in Alba, which was successfully held on October 17. Leopold hoped to persuade Archduke Ferdinand, for whose wedding a celebration was organized in Milan, to take Wolfgang into his service; but by a strange coincidence, Empress Maria Theresa sent a letter from Vienna, in which she stated in strong terms her dissatisfaction with the Mozarts (in particular, she called them a “useless family”). Leopold and Wolfgang were forced to return to Salzburg, unable to find a suitable duty station for Wolfgang in Italy.
On the very day of their return, December 16, 1771, Prince-Archbishop Sigismund, who was kind to the Mozarts, died. His successor was Count Jerome Colloredo, and for his inaugural celebrations in April 1772, Mozart composed the “dramatic serenade” Il sogno di Scipione. Colloredo accepted the young composer into the service with an annual salary of 150 guilders and gave permission to travel to Milan (Mozart undertook to write a new opera for this city); however, the new archbishop, unlike his predecessor, did not tolerate the Mozarts' long absences and was not inclined to admire their art.
The third Italian journey lasted from October 1772 to March 1773. Mozart's new opera, Lucio Silla, was performed the day after Christmas 1772, and the composer received no further opera commissions. Leopold tried in vain to gain the patronage of the Grand Duke of Florence, Leopold. Having made several more attempts to settle his son in Italy, Leopold realized his defeat, and the Mozarts left this country so as not to return there again.
For the third time, Leopold and Wolfgang tried to settle in the Austrian capital; they remained in Vienna from mid-July to the end of September 1773. Wolfgang had the opportunity to become acquainted with the new symphonic works of the Viennese school, especially the dramatic symphonies in minor keys by J. Vanhal and J. Haydn; the fruits of this acquaintance are evident in his symphony in G minor (K. 183).
Forced to remain in Salzburg, Mozart devoted himself entirely to composition: at this time symphonies, divertimentos, works of church genres, as well as the first string quartet appeared - this music soon secured the author’s reputation as one of the most talented composers in Austria. Symphonies created at the end of 1773 - beginning of 1774 (for example, K. 183, 200, 201) are distinguished by high dramatic integrity.
A short break from the Salzburg provincialism he hated was given to Mozart by an order from Munich for a new opera for the 1775 carnival: the premiere of The Imaginary Gardener (La finta giardiniera) was a success in January. But the musician almost never left Salzburg. A happy family life to some extent compensated for the boredom of everyday life in Salzburg, but Wolfgang, who compared his current situation with the lively atmosphere of foreign capitals, gradually lost patience.
In the summer of 1777, Mozart was dismissed from the archbishop's service and decided to seek his fortune abroad. In September, Wolfgang and his mother traveled through Germany to Paris. In Munich, the Elector refused his services; On the way, they stopped in Mannheim, where Mozart was friendly received by local orchestra players and singers. Although he did not receive a place at the court of Karl Theodor, he stayed in Mannheim: the reason was his love for the singer Aloysia Weber. In addition, Mozart hoped to make a concert tour with Aloysia, who had a magnificent coloratura soprano; he even went with her secretly to the court of the Princess of Nassau-Weilburg (in January 1778). Leopold initially believed that Wolfgang would go to Paris with a company of Mannheim musicians, sending his mother back to Salzburg, but having heard that Wolfgang was madly in love, he strictly ordered him to immediately go to Paris with his mother.
His stay in Paris, which lasted from March to September 1778, turned out to be extremely unsuccessful: Wolfgang’s mother died on July 3, and Parisian court circles lost interest in the young composer. Although Mozart successfully performed two new symphonies in Paris and Christian Bach came to Paris, Leopold ordered his son to return to Salzburg. Wolfgang delayed his return as long as he could and especially lingered in Mannheim. Here he realized that Aloysia was completely indifferent to him. It was a terrible blow, and only his father’s terrible threats and pleas forced him to leave Germany.
Mozart's new symphonies (for example, G major, K. 318; B-flat major, K. 319; C major, K. 334) and instrumental serenades (for example, D major, K. 320) are marked by crystal clarity of form and orchestration, richness and the subtlety of emotional nuances and that special warmth that placed Mozart above all Austrian composers, with the exception of J. Haydn.
In January 1779, Mozart again took up the duties of organist at the archbishop's court with an annual salary of 500 guilders. The church music that he was obliged to compose for Sunday services was much higher in depth and variety than what he had previously written in this genre. Particularly notable are the Coronation Mass and the Missa solemnis in C major (K. 337). But Mozart continued to hate Salzburg and the archbishop, and therefore happily accepted the offer to write an opera for Munich. Idomeneo, King of Crete (Idomeneo, re di Creta) was installed at the court of Elector Karl Theodor (his winter residence was in Munich) in January 1781. Idomeneo was a magnificent result of the experience acquired by the composer in the previous period, mainly in Paris and Mannheim. The choral writing is especially original and dramatically expressive.
At that time, the Archbishop of Salzburg was in Vienna and ordered Mozart to immediately go to the capital. Here the personal conflict between Mozart and Colloredo gradually assumed alarming proportions, and after Wolfgang's resounding public success in a concert given for the benefit of the widows and orphans of Viennese musicians on April 3, 1781, his days in the service of the archbishop were numbered. In May he submitted his resignation, and on June 8 he was kicked out.
Against his father's will, Mozart married Constance Weber, the sister of his first lover, and the bride's mother managed to get very favorable terms of the marriage contract from Wolfgang (to the anger and despair of Leopold, who bombarded his son with letters, begging him to change his mind). Wolfgang and Constanze were married in Vienna's Cathedral of St. Stephen on August 4, 1782. And although Constanza was as helpless in financial matters as her husband, their marriage apparently turned out to be a happy one.
In July 1782, Mozart's opera The Rape from the Seraglio (Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail) was staged at the Vienna Burgtheater; it was a significant success, and Mozart became the idol of Vienna, not only in court and aristocratic circles, but also among concert-goers from the third estate. Within a few years, Mozart reached the heights of fame; life in Vienna encouraged him to engage in a variety of activities, composing and performing. He was in great demand, tickets for his concerts (the so-called academy), distributed by subscription, were completely sold out. For this occasion, Mozart composed a series of brilliant piano concertos. In 1784, Mozart gave 22 concerts over six weeks.
In the summer of 1783, Wolfgang and his bride paid a visit to Leopold and Nannerl in Salzburg. On this occasion, Mozart wrote his last and best Mass in C minor (K. 427), which has not reached us in full (if the composer completed the work at all). The Mass was performed on October 26 in Salzburg's Peterskirche, with Constanze singing one of the soprano solo parts. (Constanze was apparently a good professional singer, although her voice was in many ways inferior to that of her sister Aloysia.) Returning to Vienna in October, the couple stopped in Linz, where the Linz Symphony appeared (K. 425). In February of the following year, Leopold paid a visit to his son and daughter-in-law in their large Viennese apartment near the cathedral (this beautiful house remains to this day), and although Leopold could not get rid of his dislike for Constanze, he acknowledged that his son's work as a composer and the performer are going very successfully.
The beginning of many years of sincere friendship between Mozart and J. Haydn dates back to this time. At a quartet evening with Mozart in the presence of Leopold, Haydn, turning to his father, said: “Your son is the greatest composer of all whom I know personally or have heard of.” Haydn and Mozart were significant influences on each other; as for Mozart, the first fruits of such influence are evident in the cycle of six quartets that Mozart dedicated to a friend in a famous letter in September 1785.
In 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, which left a deep imprint on his life philosophy; Masonic ideas can be traced in a number of Mozart's later works, especially in The Magic Flute. In those years, many well-known scientists, poets, writers, and musicians in Vienna were members of Masonic lodges (Haydn was among them), and Freemasonry was also cultivated in court circles.
As a result of various opera and theater intrigues, L. da Ponte, the court librettist, heir to the famous Metastasio, decided to work with Mozart as opposed to the clique of the court composer A. Salieri and da Ponte’s rival, the librettist Abbot Casti. Mozart and Da Ponte began with Beaumarchais's anti-aristocratic play The Marriage of Figaro, and by that time the ban on the German translation of the play had not yet been lifted. Using various tricks, they managed to obtain the necessary permission from the censor, and on May 1, 1786, The Marriage of Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro) was first shown at the Burgtheater. Although later this Mozart opera was a huge success, when first staged it was soon supplanted by the new opera by V. Martin y Soler (1754–1806) A Rare Thing (Una cosa rara). Meanwhile, in Prague, The Marriage of Figaro gained exceptional popularity (melodies from the opera were heard in the streets, and arias from it were danced to in ballrooms and coffee houses). Mozart was invited to conduct several performances. In January 1787, he and Constanza spent about a month in Prague, and this was the happiest time in the life of the great composer. The director of the Bondini opera troupe ordered him a new opera. It can be assumed that Mozart himself chose the plot - the ancient legend of Don Giovanni; the libretto was to be prepared by none other than Da Ponte. The opera Don Giovanni was first performed in Prague on October 29, 1787.
In May 1787, the composer's father died. This year generally became a milestone in Mozart’s life, as regards its external course and the composer’s state of mind. His thoughts were increasingly colored by deep pessimism; The sparkle of success and joy of youth are forever a thing of the past. The pinnacle of the composer's path was the triumph of Don Juan in Prague. After returning to Vienna at the end of 1787, Mozart began to be haunted by failures, and at the end of his life - by poverty. The production of Don Giovanni in Vienna in May 1788 ended in failure; At the reception after the performance, the opera was defended by Haydn alone. Mozart received the position of court composer and conductor of Emperor Joseph II, but with a relatively small salary for this position (800 guilders per year). The Emperor understood little of the music of either Haydn or Mozart; about Mozart’s works, he said that they were “not to the taste of the Viennese.” Mozart had to borrow money from Michael Puchberg, his fellow Mason.
In view of the hopelessness of the situation in Vienna (documents confirming how quickly the frivolous Viennese forgot their former idol make a strong impression), Mozart decided to undertake a concert trip to Berlin (April - June 1789), where he hoped to find a place for himself at the court of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II . The result was only new debts, and even an order for six string quartets for His Majesty, who was a decent amateur cellist, and six keyboard sonatas for Princess Wilhelmina.
In 1789, the health of Constance, then Wolfgang himself, began to deteriorate, and the family’s financial situation became simply threatening. In February 1790, Joseph II died, and Mozart was not sure that he could maintain his post as court composer under the new emperor. The coronation celebrations of Emperor Leopold took place in Frankfurt in the fall of 1790, and Mozart went there at his own expense, hoping to attract public attention. This performance (the “Coronation” keyboard concerto, K. 537 was performed) took place on October 15, but did not bring any money. Returning to Vienna, Mozart met with Haydn; London impresario Zalomon came to invite Haydn to London, and Mozart received a similar invitation to the English capital for the next winter season. He wept bitterly as he saw off Haydn and Zalomon. “We will never see each other again,” he repeated. The previous winter, he invited only two friends to rehearsals of the opera Cos fan tutte (Cos fan tutte) - Haydn and Puchberg.
In 1791, E. Schikaneder, a writer, actor and impresario, a longtime acquaintance of Mozart, ordered him a new opera in German for his Freihaustheater in the Vienna suburb of Wieden (the current theater an der Wien), and in the spring Mozart began working on The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflte). At the same time, he received an order from Prague for the coronation opera - La clemenza di Tito (La clemenza di Tito), for which Mozart's student F.K. Süssmayer helped write some spoken recitatives (secco). Together with his student and Constanze, Mozart went to Prague in August to prepare the performance, which took place without much success on September 6 (the opera later enjoyed enormous popularity). Mozart then left hastily for Vienna to complete The Magic Flute. The opera was performed on September 30, and at the same time he completed his last instrumental work - a concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A major (K. 622).
Mozart was already ill when, under mysterious circumstances, a stranger came to him and ordered a requiem. This was the manager of Count Walsegg-Stuppach. The count commissioned a composition in memory of his deceased wife, intending to perform it under his own name. Mozart, confident that he was composing a requiem for himself, feverishly worked on the score until his strength left him. On November 15, 1791 he completed the Little Masonic Cantata. Constance was being treated in Baden at that time and hastily returned home when she realized how serious her husband’s illness was. On November 20, Mozart fell ill and a few days later felt so weak that he took communion. On the night of December 4–5, he fell into a delirious state and, in a semi-conscious state, imagined himself playing the timpani in the Dies irae from his own unfinished requiem. It was almost one in the morning when he turned to the wall and stopped breathing. Constanza, broken by grief and without any means, had to agree to the cheapest funeral service in the chapel of the Cathedral of St. Stefan. She was too weak to accompany her husband's body on the long journey to the cemetery of St. Mark, where he was buried without any witnesses except the gravediggers, in a pauper's grave, the location of which was soon hopelessly forgotten. Süssmayer completed the requiem and orchestrated large unfinished text fragments left by the author.
If during Mozart's life his creative power was realized only by a relatively small number of listeners, then already in the first decade after the death of the composer, recognition of his genius spread throughout Europe. This was facilitated by the success that The Magic Flute had among a wide audience. The German publisher André acquired the rights to most of Mozart's unpublished works, including his remarkable piano concertos and all of his later symphonies (none of which were published during the composer's lifetime).
Mozart's personality.
250 years after Mozart's birth, it is difficult to form a clear picture of his personality (though not as difficult as in the case of J. S. Bach, about whom we know even less). Apparently, Mozart's nature paradoxically combined the most opposite qualities: generosity and a penchant for caustic sarcasm, childishness and worldly sophistication, gaiety and a penchant for deep melancholy - even pathological, wit (he mercilessly imitated those around him), high morality (although he did not favored the church too much), rationalism, realistic outlook on life. Without a trace of pride, he spoke enthusiastically about those whom he admired, for example, about Haydn, but he was merciless towards those whom he considered amateurs. His father once wrote to him: “You are full of extremes, you do not know the golden mean,” adding that Wolfgang is either too patient, too lazy, too lenient, or - at times - too obstinate and restless, too rushing the course of events instead of providing they should take their own course. And after centuries, his personality seems to us as mobile and elusive, like mercury.
Mozart's family. Mozart and Constanze had six children, of whom two survived: Karl Thomas (1784–1858) and Franz Xaver Wolfgang (1791–1844). Both studied music, Haydn sent the elder to study at the Milan Conservatory with the famous theorist B. Asioli; however, Karl Thomas was still not a born musician and eventually became an official. The youngest son had musical abilities (Haydn even introduced him to the public at a charity concert held in Vienna in favor of Constanta), and he created a number of quite professional instrumental works.
On January 27, 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. He was born in the beautiful city of Salzburg. The boy developed a talent for music while still young. Then my father taught me to play the violin and organ.
By the age of seventeen, he had already traveled to quite a few European cities and had more than 17 works to his credit.
Musical creativity
From 1775 to 1780, Mozart worked fruitfully. His works are beginning to be in great demand.
After marrying Constance, he slightly changed the sound of his compositions. This is evidenced by the opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio”. She completely and completely breathes the spirit of romance.
Some of the works remained unfinished, since a difficult financial situation forced him to earn extra money rather than write works. He gave private performances in narrow aristocratic circles.
At the peak of his popularity, Mozart wrote his most famous operas.
Mozart is offered to lead the chapel in Vienna in 1789, but he refuses, which in turn exacerbates his financial disadvantage.
Last days
In November 1791, Mozart became very ill, so much so that he could not get out of bed. Died on December 5, 1791. The exact cause of death remains a mystery, even today. He was buried in Austria - the city of Vienna.
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