Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756 - 1791) - a virtuoso Austrian musician and composer, the most popular among all classical composers, his influence on world culture in the field of music is huge. This man had a phenomenal ear for music, memory and the ability to improvise. His compositions have become masterpieces of the world chamber, symphonic, choral, concert and opera music.
Early childhood
In the city of Salzburg, which at that time was the capital of the Salzburger Archbishopric, on Getreidegasse street at house 9, the musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. This happened on January 27, 1756. Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart, served in the court chapel of the local prince-archbishop as a composer and violinist. The baby's mother, Anna Maria Mozart (maiden name Pertl), was the daughter of the commissioner-trustee of the St. Gilgen almshouse, she gave birth to only seven children, but only two remained alive - Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna.
The fact that children are naturally gifted with musical talent was noticeable from early childhood. Already at the age of seven, her father began teaching the girl to play the harpsichord. Little Wolfgang also liked this activity; he was only 3 years old, and he was already sitting down at the instrument after his sister and had fun, choosing consonant melodies. In this early age he could play from memory on the harpsichord some fragments of musical pieces he had heard. The father was impressed by his son's abilities and began to learn minuets and harpsichord pieces with him when the boy was just over 4 years old. Within a year, Wolfgang was composing his first small plays, and his father was recording for him. And by the age of six, in addition to the harpsichord, the boy independently learned to play the violin.
The father loved his children very much, and they reciprocated. For Maria Anna and Wolfgang, dad became the most good person in their lives, as an educator and teacher. Brother and sister never attended school in their lives, but received an excellent education at home. Little Mozart was fully interested in the subject he studied at at the moment. For example, when he was learning arithmetic, the whole house, table, walls and chairs were covered with chalk, there were only numbers all around, at such moments he even forgot about music for a while.
First travels
Leopold dreamed of his son becoming a composer. According to ancient custom, future composers first had to establish themselves as a performer. So that the boy could begin to be patronized by famous nobles, and in the future he could get a good position without problems, Father Mozart decided to organize a children's tour. He took the children to travel to the princely and royal courts of Europe. This period of wandering lasted almost 10 years.
The first such trip took place in the winter of 1762, the father and children went to Munich, the wife remained at home. This journey lasted three weeks, the success of the miracle children was resounding.
Father Mozart strengthened his decision to take his children around Europe and planned a trip to Vienna with the whole family for the fall. This city was not chosen by chance; at that time Vienna was known as a cultural European center. There were still 9 months left before the trip, and Leopold began intensively preparing the children, especially his son. This time he did not bet on the boy's successful game on musical instruments, but on the so-called effects, which the audience perceived much more enthusiastically than the music itself. For this trip, Wolfgang learned to play on keyboards covered with cloth and blindfolded, and he did not make a single mistake.
When autumn came, the whole Mozart family went to Vienna. They sailed along the Danube on a mail ship, made stops in the cities of Linz and Ybbs, gave concerts, and everywhere the listeners were delighted with the little virtuoso. In October, the fame of the talented boy reached the Imperial Majesty, and the family was given a reception at the palace. They were greeted politely and warmly, the concert that Wolfgang gave lasted several hours, after which the empress even allowed him to sit on her lap and play with her children. For future performances, she gave the young talent and his sister beautiful new clothes.
Every day after that, Leopold Mozart received invitations to perform at receptions for high-ranking officials, he accepted them, little unique boy performed for several hours. In the middle of winter 1763, the Mozarts returned to Salzburg, and after a short break, preparations began for the next trip to Paris.
European recognition of a young virtuoso
In the summer of 1763, the three-year journey of the Mozart family began. On the way to Paris there were many concerts in different cities in Germany. In Paris, they were already waiting for the young talent. There were a lot of noble people who wanted to listen to Wolfgang. It was here, in Paris, that the boy composed his first musical works. These were four sonatas for harpsichord and violin. He was invited to perform at the Royal Palace of Versailles, where the Mozart family arrived on the eve of Christmas and spent two whole weeks there. They even attended the festive New Year's feast, which was a special honor.
Such a number of concerts affected the financial well-being of the family; the Mozarts had enough money to hire a ship and sail on it to London, where they stayed for almost fifteen months. Very important acquaintances in the life of young Mozart took place here:
- with the composer Johann Christian Bach (son of Johann Sebastian), he gave the boy lessons and played four hands with him;
- with Italian opera singer Giovanni Manzuoli, who taught the child to sing.
It was here, in London, that young Mozart developed an irresistible desire to compose. He began to write symphonic and vocal music.
After London, the Mozarts spent nine months in Holland. During this time, the boy wrote six sonatas and one symphony. The family returned home only at the end of 1766.
Here in Austria, Wolfgang was already perceived as a composer, and he was given orders to write all kinds of solemn marches, songs of praise, and minuets.
From 1770 to 1774, the composer traveled to Italy several times, here he wrote the following famous operas:
- "Mithridates, King of Pontus";
- "Ascanius in Alba";
- "Scipio's Dream"
- "Lucius Sulla".
At the peak of the musical journey
In 1778, Mozart's mother died of a fever. And the following year, 1779, in Salzburg he was hired as a court organist, he was supposed to write music for Sunday church singing. But the ruling Archbishop Colloredo at that time was stingy by nature and not very receptive to music, so the relationship between him and Mozart did not work out initially. Wolfgang did not tolerate bad treatment, quit the service and went to Vienna. It was 1781.
In the fall of 1782, Mozart married Constance Weber. His father categorically did not take this marriage seriously; it seemed to him that Constance was getting married according to some subtle calculation. In the marriage, the young couple had six children, but only two remained alive - Franz Xaver Wolfgang and Karl Thomas.
Father Leopold did not want to accept Constance. The young couple went to visit him soon after the wedding, but this did not help him get closer to his daughter-in-law. Constance was also coldly received by Mozart’s sister, which offended Wolfgang’s wife to the depths of her soul. She was never able to forgive them until the end of her life.
Mozart's musical career reached its peak. He was truly at the zenith of fame, he received large fees for his musical compositions, and he had many students. In 1784, he and his wife settled in a luxurious apartment, where they even allowed themselves to keep all the necessary servants - a hairdresser, a cook, a maid.
By the end of 1785, Mozart had completed work on one of his most famous operas, The Marriage of Figaro. The premiere took place in Vienna. The opera was well received by the audience, but the premiere could not be called grandiose. But in Prague, this work was a stunning success. Mozart was invited to Prague for Christmas 1786. He went with his wife, where they received a very warm welcome, the couple constantly went to parties, dinners and other social events. Thanks to such popularity, Mozart received a new order for an opera based on the play “Don Giovanni”.
In the spring of 1787, his father, Leopold Mozart, died. The death shocked the young composer so much that many critics agree that this pain and sadness runs through the entire work of Don Juan. In the fall, Wolfgang and his wife returned to Vienna. He got new apartment And new position. Mozart was hired as an imperial chamber musician and composer.
Last creative years
However, gradually the public began to lose interest in Mozart's works. The play Don Juan, staged in Vienna, was a complete failure. While Wolfgang's rival, the composer Salieri, new play“Aksur, King of Armuz” was a success. Only 50 ducats received for “Don Giovanni” put Wolfgang’s financial situation at a dead end. The wife, exhausted from constant childbirth, needed treatment. I had to change housing; in the suburbs it was much cheaper. The situation was becoming dire. Especially when Constance had to be sent to Baden on the recommendation of doctors to treat a leg ulcer.
In 1790, when his wife was once again undergoing treatment, Mozart went on a trip, as he had done in childhood, in the hope of earning at least a little money to pay off his creditors. However, he returned home with negligible earnings from his concerts.
At the very beginning of 1791, Wolfgang's music began to rise. He composed a lot of commissioned dances and concertos for piano and orchestra, quintets and E-flat major, symphonies and operas “The Mercy of Titus” and “The Magic Flute”, he also wrote a lot of sacred music, and in last year worked on “Requiem” throughout his life.
Illness and death
In 1791, Mozart's condition deteriorated greatly, and fainting occurred frequently. On November 20, he fell ill from weakness, his legs and arms were swollen to such an extent that they could not be moved. All senses became greatly heightened. Mozart even ordered his beloved canary to be removed, because he could not stand its singing. I could barely restrain myself from tearing off my shirt. She was disturbing his body. Doctors recognized he had rheumatic inflammatory fever, as well as renal failure and articular rheumatism.
At the beginning of December, the composer's condition became critical. Such a stench began to emanate from his body that it was impossible to be in the same room with him. On December 4, 1791, Mozart died. He was buried according to the third category. There was a coffin, but the grave was common, for 5-6 people. At that time, only very rich people and members of the nobility had a separate grave.
The name Mozart has long been synonymous with absolute musical genius: the Austrian composer went down in history thanks to his talent of unprecedented scale and extremely dramatic fate.
At the age of four he already played the clavier quite skillfully, at five he began composing music, and at the age of seven the miracle boy actively gave concerts. In adulthood, the star of his talent did not leave the sky, which, however, did not save him from poverty and illness. But – first things first.
Mozart child prodigy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, in the family of the violinist of the court chapel Leopold Mozart and his wife Anna Maria. The couple had seven children, but only two survived - Wolfgang and his sister Maria Anna (in the family simply Nannerl). The girl was five years older, and it was her lessons on the harpsichord that aroused her brother’s interest in music - the child, who was not even three, enjoyed learning about the instrument; a year later, Wolfgang Amadeus performed various musical works remarkably well for his age, and mastered the violin almost independently.
Leopold Mozart quickly realized that both Nannerl and especially Wolfgang were very gifted children, and therefore they needed to be shown to the world so that the children’s life in art would subsequently be successful. WITH early years Wolfgang and his sister began to give concerts successfully, delighting the royal and princely courts of Europe with their talents. They were applauded in Vienna, Munich, Paris, Milan, Bologna...
But Maria Anna gradually faded into the background, because young Wolfgang not only masterfully performed music, but also composed it. By the age of 20, Mozart had already written several operas, composed many symphonies, ensembles, concertos, church hymns and other musical forms.
The Making of Mozart's Genius
It became clear quite early that Mozart was not just a very gifted musician, but a genius. Traveling and constant learning from the best teachers made him a deep and extraordinary person, but the older he became, the less interested in him were the aristocrats, who had previously adored the extraordinary child. In 1769, Wolfgang received the position of court accompanist in his native Salzburg, but Archbishop Jerome, the head of the ecclesiastical principality, constantly dominated him, limiting his creative freedom. Mozart went to Vienna to look for a different fate and inspiration. However, even there he did not find a “grainful” place, although he found something more - his lover, wife and faithful friend Constance Weber. This woman gave birth to six children to the composer and remained close to him in wealth and poverty.
In the 80s of the 18th century, the composer actively taught, his works were published widely and often, and his works were in great demand. During these years, the legendary operas “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni”, symphonies No. 39, 40 and 41 were written. But if in the early 80s the composer’s family could afford an expensive apartment and servants, then by the end of the decade Mozart was head over heels in debts - he never received good positions, fees from concerts are very small, no large orders are received. Constance becomes seriously ill, and they spend a lot of money on her treatment. large sums— the family finds itself completely broke.
Mozart writes a lot, one of his latest operas— “The Magic Flute” is very successful, but this does not affect the composer’s financial situation in any way.
Mozart's death in poverty
At the age of 35, Mozart himself became seriously ill: the musician was weak, his arms and legs were swollen, and he constantly fainted. At this time, he is working hard on the Requiem, which he never manages to complete. The great composer's death was difficult and painful; the best doctors of that time could not help him. The funeral of the genius is more than modest: Mozart rested in the same grave with five other poor people. However, it was still not a “beggarly” burial, which could well have happened in his situation.
After the death of her husband, Constance and her two children (the other four died young) found themselves in a difficult situation: without a breadwinner and with numerous debts. In order to make ends meet, she is forced to sell the great composer's manuscripts. A few years later, the widow remarries, and after the death of her second husband, she writes a biography of Mozart. True, researchers do not consider it reliable, since Constance, it seems, kept silent about the unpleasant moments for her. The widow of the genius lived to a ripe old age.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's youngest son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart, followed in his father's footsteps, but, of course, could not even come close to his success.
Name: Wolfgang Mozart
Age: 35 years old
Place of birth: Salzburg, Austria
Place of death: Vienna, Austria
Activity: composer, organist, pianist
Marital status: was married
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - biography
Mozart experienced success and fame early on, and composed more than six hundred brilliant works. Concerts, operas, symphonies and sonatas are performed by orchestras in many countries and studied in all music schools around the world. A great virtuoso who mastered several instruments capable of extracting musical sounds. The composer had perfect pitch and amazing memory.
Childhood, Mozart's family
Wolfgang was born into the family of a violinist who served Count Strattenbach in his chapel at court. Not all of the numerous children born to the Mozart couple were able to survive. The future composer was born an extremely weak baby; his left ear was defective at birth. But all this did not prevent the boy from surviving and glorifying the family and surname of his father. Maria Anna and Wolfgang were born four years apart in age. Children already learned the basics of music at the very beginning of their biography.
The father taught his daughter to play the harpsichord, and the three-year-old child was already listening to the enchanting sounds, approaching the instrument, gradually trying to play some of the melodies he had heard. Seeing how his son was drawn to music, Leopold Mozart began teaching the boy to play the instrument at the age of four. Within a year, the child himself was composing small plays. From the age of six he independently mastered playing the violin. The young musician, like his sister, received an excellent education at home. Wolfgang was very capable boy, who comprehended any subject with passion.
Mozart's talent
From the age of six, the son delighted the musician's father with his abilities: Nannerl (that was the name of the girl in the family) sang, and Wolfgang Amadeus inspiredly played his own and other people's plays. The head of the family decides to go on tour with the children around Europe. Blind concerts attracted the most spectators. Mozart Sr. blindfolded the child, and placed a handkerchief on the harpsichord. The boy did not need to see, he felt the music, he predicted every sound, knew the location of every key on the instrument.
At such performances, the child never made a mistake or was out of tune. This greatly surprised and delighted the audience. Success and material well-being came to the Mozart family, but the trip to the cities dragged on for years. Along the way, in France, four sonatas of the young composer were published in printed form; in England, the youngest son of the great composer Bach gave several lessons to the boy and predicted a great future. All family members were tired of the busy concert schedule and returned to their hometown.
Growing up as a young composer
When young Mozart was 14 years old, his father sent him to Italy. At that time, in one of the cities of Italy there was a competition of musicians, most of whom were the same age as the father of the teenage virtuoso. At the Academy, Wolfgang was recognized as a genius and elected the youngest academician. All other successful composers began their biography with the title of academician only at the age of twenty.
When Mozart returned to his Salzburg, he completely immersed himself in writing. But no matter how bold his works became year after year, the young composer needed a teacher. This became such a thing for a musician. Wolfgang easily made friends, since even as an adult he was cheerful and childishly naive. Many have noted that Mozart could funny joke keep the conversation going.
First difficulties
Young Mozart began working as the archbishop of the court and sometimes visited Paris and Germany. Financial difficulties did not allow the whole family to travel. Now the concerts did not seem brilliant to the public, and the composer’s mother, who alone volunteered to accompany her son, died in the capital of France. Wolfgang was tired of being a servant at court, and he moved to the capital of Austria, Vienna. There he created the famous operas about Figaro, the Magic Flute and Don Giovanni.
The fees grew, and the composer’s music became incredibly successful and in demand. But soon Mozart’s father died, his wife fell ill, and huge amounts of money were needed for her treatment. There was a change of power in the royal family, and the new king did not favor the musician.
Wolfgang Mozart - biography of personal life
In Vienna, Wolfgang met his only wife, Constance Weber, for the first time and for the rest of his life. He lived with her parents in an apartment upon his arrival in the capital of Austria. Against the will of the composer's father, the wedding of the young people took place. Of Mozart's children, only Karl and Franz survived.
The biography of the famous musician ended suddenly. The difficult financial situation and a creeping illness in the form of a fever had a negative effect on the composer’s health.
Death of Mozart
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.
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 then useful in teaching little Wolfgang. At the age of three, Mozart picked 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.
(Note regarding the numbering of Mozart's works: In 1862, Ludwig von Köchel published a catalog of Mozart's works in chronological order. From this time on, the titles of the composer's works usually include the Köchel number - just as the works of other authors usually contain the opus designation. For example, the full title of Piano Concerto No. 20 would be: Concerto No. 20 in D minor for piano and orchestra (K. 466). Köchel's 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 many works for which Mozart's authorship has been proven and which were not mentioned in earlier editions. The dates of the essays 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 Mozart’s works continue 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, Mithridates, 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 a success
home shown 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 Hieronymus 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 secure 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 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. 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 to 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). IN
Olfgang 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 Constance, he recognized 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 provided significant influence at 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 the Masonic lodges(Haydn was among them), 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 with German translation The ban on the play has 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. Director opera troupe Bondini ordered him a new opera. It can be assumed that Mozart himself chose the plot - old legend about Don Juan; 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 state of mind composer. 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 on German for his Freihaustheater in the Vienna suburbs
Wieden (today's 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 Constance, 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 ordered an essay in memory 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.
MUSIC OF MOZART
It is impossible to find another composer who mastered the most diverse genres and forms with such brilliance as Mozart: this applies to the symphony and concerto, divertimento and quartet, opera and mass, sonata and trio. Even Beethoven cannot compare with Mozart in the exceptional brightness of operatic images (as for Fidelio, this is rather a monumental exception in Beethoven’s work). Mozart was not an innovator like Haydn, but he made bold breakthroughs in the field of updating the harmonic language (for example, the famous Little Gigue in G major, K. 574 for piano - a very indicative example, reminiscent of modern 12-tone technique). Mozart's orchestral writing is not as strikingly new as Haydn's, but the impeccability and perfection of Mozart's orchestra is a constant subject of admiration for both musicians and laymen who, in the words of the composer himself, “enjoy without knowing what it is.” Mozart's style was formed on Salzburg soil (where there was a strong influence of Michael Haydn, Joseph's brother), and the impressions from his many travels in childhood had a deep and lasting influence on him. The most significant of these impressions is associated with Johann Christian Bach (ninth, youngest son Johann Sebastian). Mozart became acquainted with the art of the “English Bach” in London, and the strength and grace of his scores left an unforgettable mark on the mind of young Wolfgang. Later, Italy played a big role (where Mozart visited three times): there he learned the basics of drama and musical language opera genre. And then Mozart became a close friend and admirer of J. Haydn and was captivated by Haydn’s deeply meaningful interpretation of the sonata form. But in general, during the Viennese period, Mozart created his own, extremely original style. And only in the 20th century. the amazing emotional richness of Mozart's art and its internal tragedy, closely adjacent to the external serenity and sunshine of the major fragments of his music, were fully realized. In the old days, only Bach and Beethoven were considered as the main pillars of Western European music, but today many musicians and music lovers believe that this art found its most perfect expression in the works of Mozart.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full name Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, died on December 5, 1791 in Vienna. Austrian composer, bandmaster, virtuoso violinist, harpsichordist, organist. According to contemporaries, he had a phenomenal musical ear, memory and ability to improvise. Mozart is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers: his uniqueness lies in the fact that he worked in all musical forms of his time and achieved the highest success in all. Along with Haydn and Beethoven, he belongs to the most significant representatives of the Vienna Classical School.Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, which was then the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, now this city is located in Austria.
Mozart's musical abilities manifested themselves at a very early age, when he was about three years. Wolfgang's father taught him the basics of playing the harpsichord, violin and organ.
In 1762, Mozart's father and his son and daughter Anna, also a remarkable harpsichord player, took an artistic trip to Munich, Paris, London and Vienna, and then to many other cities in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. In the same year, young Mozart wrote his first composition.
In 1763, Mozart's first sonatas for harpsichord and violin were published in Paris. From 1766 to 1769, living in Salzburg and Vienna, Mozart studied the works of Handel, Stradella, Carissimi, Durante and other great masters.
Mozart spent 1770-1774 in Italy. In 1770, in Bologna, he met the composer Joseph Mysliveček, who was extremely popular in Italy at that time; the influence of “The Divine Bohemian” turned out to be so great that subsequently, due to the similarity of style, some of his works were attributed to Mozart, including the oratorio “Abraham and Isaac”
In 1775-1780, despite worries about financial security, a fruitless trip to Munich, Mannheim and Paris, and the loss of his mother, Mozart wrote, among other things, 6 keyboard sonatas, a concerto for flute and harp, and the great symphony No. 31 in D major, called Paris, several spiritual choirs, 12 ballet numbers.
In 1779, Mozart received a position as court organist in Salzburg (collaborating with Michael Haydn). On January 26, 1781, the opera “Idomeneo” was staged in Munich with great success, marking a certain turn in Mozart’s work.
In 1781, Mozart finally settled in Vienna. In 1783, Mozart married Constance Weber, sister of Aloysia Weber, with whom he had been in love while in Mannheim. In the very first years, Mozart gained wide fame in Vienna; His “academies,” as public author’s concerts were called in Vienna, were popular, in which the works of one composer, often by himself, were performed. However, Mozart’s opera in subsequent years in Vienna did not work out well. in the best possible way. The operas "L'oca del Cairo" (1783) and "Lo sposo deluso" (1784) remained unfinished. Finally, in 1786, the opera “The Marriage of Figaro” was written and staged, the libretto of which was Lorenzo da Ponte. It had a good reception in Vienna, but after several performances it was withdrawn and was not staged until 1789, when the production was resumed by Antonio Salieri, who considered “The Marriage of Figaro” best opera Mozart.
In 1787, a new opera, created in collaboration with Da Ponte, was released - “Don Giovanni”.
At the end of 1787, after the death of Christoph Willibald Gluck, Mozart received the position of “imperial and royal chamber musician” with a salary of 800 florins, but his duties were limited mainly to composing dances for masquerades, a comic opera based on a plot from social life- was commissioned from Mozart only once, and it was “Cosi fan tutte” (1790).
In May 1791, Mozart was hired as an unpaid assistant conductor. Cathedral St. Stephen's; this position gave him the right to become conductor after the death of the seriously ill Leopold Hofmann; Hofmann, however, outlived Mozart.
Mozart died on December 5, 1791. The cause of Mozart's death is still a matter of debate. Most researchers believe that Mozart actually died, as stated in the medical report, from rheumatic fever, possibly complicated by acute heart or kidney failure. The famous legend about the poisoning of Mozart by the composer Salieri is still supported by several musicologists, but there is no convincing evidence for this version. In May 1997, a court sitting in the Milan Palace of Justice, having considered the case of Antonio Salieri on charges of murdering Mozart, acquitted him.
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Thank you, you saved me, you gave me a short biography of Mozart on music, but there was a lot written on other sites, I’m too lazy to copy everything off
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a lot of unnecessary stuff, but it’s normal, I got a 5 in 5th grade. thank you very much