How many works did Mozart write in his entire life? The last period of Mozart's life and work

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)

Austrian composer. He had a phenomenal ear for music and memory. He performed as a virtuoso harpsichordist, violinist, organist, conductor, and improvised brilliantly. He began his music studies under the guidance of his father, L. Mozart. The first compositions appeared in 1761. From the age of 6 he toured triumphantly in Germany, Austria, France, Great Britain, Switzerland, and Italy. In 1765 his 1st symphony was performed in London. In 1770, Mozart took lessons from G.B. Martini for some time and was elected a member of the Philharmonic, an academy in Bologna. In 1769–81 (with interruptions) he was in the court service of the Archbishop in Salzburg as an accompanist, and from 1779 as an organist. In 1781 he moved to Vienna, where he created the operas “The Abduction from the Seraglio” and “The Marriage of Figaro”; performed in concerts (“academies”). In 1787 in Prague, Mozart completed the opera “Don Giovanni”, and at the same time received an appointment to the position of “imperial and royal chamber musician” at the court of Joseph II. In 1788 he created the 3 most famous symphonies: Es-dur, G-moll, C-dur. In 1789 and 1790 he gave concerts in Germany. In 1791, Mozart wrote the opera The Magic Flute; worked on the requiem (finished by F.K. Zyusmayr). Mozart was one of the first composers to choose the insecure life of a free artist.

Mozart, along with J. Haydn and L. Beethoven, is a representative of the Viennese classical school, one of the founders of the classical style in music, associated with the development of symphony as higher type musical thinking, a complete system of classical instrumental genres (symphony, sonata, quartet), classical norms of musical language, its functional organization. In Mozart's work, the idea of ​​dynamic harmony as a principle of seeing the world, a method of artistic transformation of reality, gained universal significance. At the same time, they found in him the development of qualities that were new for that time: psychological truthfulness and naturalness. Reflection of the harmonic integrity of existence, clarity, luminosity and beauty are combined in Mozart's music with deep drama. The sublime and the ordinary, the tragic and the comic, the majestic and graceful, the eternal and the transitory, the universal and the individually unique, the nationally characteristic appear in the works of Mozart in dynamic equilibrium and unity. In the center art world Mozart - human personality, which he reveals as a lyricist and at the same time as a playwright, striving for an artistic recreation of the objective essence of human character. Mozart's dramaturgy is based on revealing the diversity of contrasting musical images in the process of their interaction.

Mozart's music organically embodies the artistic experience of different eras, national schools, and folk art traditions. Italian composers of the 18th century, representatives of the Mannheim school, as well as older contemporaries J. Haydn, M. Haydn, K.V. Gluck, I.K. and C.F.E. Bach had a great influence on Mozart. Mozart was guided by the system of typified musical images, genres created by the era, expressive means, subjecting them at the same time to individual selection and rethinking.

Mozart's style is distinguished by intonation expressiveness, plastic flexibility, cantilence, richness, ingenuity of melody, and the interpenetration of vocal and instrumental principles. Mozart made an enormous contribution to the development of the sonata form and the sonata-symphonic cycle. Mozart is characterized by a heightened sense of tonal-harmonic semantics, expressive possibilities of harmony (use of minor, chromaticisms, interrupted revolutions, etc.). The texture of Mozart's works is distinguished by a variety of combinations of homophonic-harmonic and polyphonic composition, and the forms of their synthesis. In the field of instrumentation, the classical balance of compositions is complemented by a search for various timbre combinations and a personalized interpretation of timbres.

Mozart created over 600 works of various genres. The most important area of ​​his creativity is musical theater. Mozart's work constituted an era in the development of opera. Mozart mastered almost all contemporary opera genres. His mature operas are characterized by the organic unity of dramatic and musical-symphonic patterns and the individuality of dramatic solutions. Taking into account Gluck's experience, Mozart created his own type of heroic drama in Idomeneo; in "The Marriage of Figaro" on the basis of opera buffa he came to a realistic musical comedy characters. Mozart turned Singspiel into a philosophical fairy tale-parable, imbued with educational ideas (“The Magic Flute”). The dramaturgy of the opera “Don Juan” is distinguished by its diversity of contrasts and unusual synthesis of operatic genre forms.

The leading genres of Mozart's instrumental music are symphonies, chamber ensembles, and concerts. Mozart's symphonies of the Dovenian period are close to everyday, entertainment music of that time. In his mature years, the symphony acquires the significance of a conceptual genre from Mozart and develops as a work with individualized dramaturgy (symphonies D-dur, Es-dur, g-moll, C-dur). Mozart's symphonies are an important stage in the history of world symphony. Among the chamber instrumental ensembles, string quartets and quintets, violin and piano sonatas stand out in terms of their significance. Focusing on the achievements of J. Haydn, Mozart developed a type of chamber-instrumental ensemble, distinguished by the sophistication of lyrical and philosophical emotion, developed homophonic-polyphonic structure, and the complexity of harmonic language.

Mozart's keyboard music reflects the features of a new performing style associated with the transition from the harpsichord to the piano. Works for clavier, mainly concertos for piano and orchestra, give an idea of ​​the performing art of Mozart himself with his inherent brilliant virtuosity and at the same time spirituality, poetry, and grace.

Mozart owns a large number of works of other genres, including songs, arias, everyday music for orchestra and ensembles. Of the later examples, the most famous is “Little Night Serenade” (1787). Mozart's choral music includes masses, litanies, vespers, offertories, motets, cantatas, oratorios, etc.; Among the outstanding works: motet “Ave verum corpus”, requiem.

Essays: Operas - Mithridates, King of Pontus (1770), Lucius Sulla (1772, both Milan), The Imaginary Gardener (1775), Idomeneo (1781, both Munich), The Abduction from the Seraglio (1782), The Marriage of Figaro (1786, both Vienna), Don Juan (1787, Prague), This is what everyone does (1790, Vienna), The Mercy of Titus (1791, Prague), The Magic Flute (1791, Vienna), etc.; ballet music; oratorios and cantatas; masses; requiem (not finished); For orchestra - symphonies, including D-dur (Haffner, 1782), C-dur (Linzer, 1783), D-dur (Prager, 1786), Es-dur (1788), g-moll (1788), C- dur (1788); serenades, divertissements, cassations; concerts For tools With orchestra - about 30 for piano (D-moll, 1785; A-dur, c-moll, 1786; B-dur, 1791, etc.), for violin (5), for clarinet (A-dur, 1791), for horn (4); intimate-instrumental ensembles - 6 string quintets (including g-moll, 1787), over 20 string quartets (including 6 quartets dedicated to J. Haydn, 1782–85, etc.), trio; church sonatas, brass divertissements; For piano And violins - sonatas (over 30), variations; For piano - sonatas (19 - for 2 hands, 5 - for 4 hands), variations, minuets, rondos, fantasies; choirs; songs, arias and vocal ensembles; vocal canons, etc.

The name of the great Austrian composer and musician Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a common noun to denote genius and supernatural natural talent. Mozart's musical works, written in all musical genres and forms that emerged in musical culture by the end of the 18th century, are distinguished by their perfection and beauty. Together with Haydn and Beethoven, Mozart belongs to the most prominent representatives of Viennese musical classicism. In a short time life path he glorified his name with his enormous contribution to the development of world musical culture.

Brief biography of Mozart begins with the birth on January 27, 1756 in the small town of Salzburg in the family of court musician Leopold Mozart. In early childhood, Wolfgang showed extraordinary musical talent. Since the age of three, he has been confidently improvising on keyboards and violin, composing musical works and performing in public. His music lessons led by the father, an enlightened teacher and musician of his time.

Deciding to show his little prodigy son to the public, Leopold Mozart took a concert tour of European cities in 1762. In addition to Wolfgang, his older sister Anna, a gifted singer, is participating in the concert tour. The success of the concerts brought income to the family, but required great physical and mental effort from the little musicians.

In 1763, Mozart's first works were published in sonata form for clavier and violin in France. Mozart not only composed, but also intensively studied the music of other composers.

1770-1774 short biography of Mozart take place in Italy, where the young composer and musician continues to master the intricacies of his craft and meets outstanding musicians of his time.

In 1775-80, travels were made to Mannheim, Paris and Munich. Mozart had a hard time dealing with the death of his mother, changing the style of his works from serene, sunny, to stormy, dramatic. This period of creativity brought such works as Symphony No. 31 (Paris), 6 clavier sonatas, spiritual choirs and a flute concerto.

In 1779, Mozart began working as court organist in his hometown. But court life weighs heavily on Wolfgang’s independent and freedom-loving creative personality. He chooses the difficult path of a free musician, with its thorns and heavy worries about his daily bread.

In 1781, Mozart's opera Idomeneo debuted on the Munich opera stage and was a great success with the public. From this year, Mozart chose Vienna for his place of residence, married Constance Weber, having met her earlier in Mannheim. In Vienna, Mozart gained fame as a composer and performer. The concerts where Mozart performed were called “academies”. The most significant works of the opera and symphonic genres were created in Vienna. The operas "The Marriage of Figaro" and "Don Giovanni" are outstanding examples of Mozart's operatic realism.

In 1787, Mozart received the position of imperial court chamber musician, previously occupied by the outstanding opera composer Gluck. Taking care of the financial support of his family, Mozart is forced to work hard. His last opera was the brilliant opera in German “The Magic Flute”, a kind of spiritual testament of the great composer.

Last pages in short biography of Mozart tragic. Intense creative work from an early age and life's problems undermined the health of the 35-year-old composer. Feeling the approach of death, Mozart mystically accepted the order to create the funeral mass “Requiem” from a customer who wished to remain anonymous. Already seriously ill, Mozart feverishly worked on this work. He was unable to finish the work; this was later done by Mozart’s student Süssmayer, using sketches and sketches of the great teacher.

The last months of Mozart's life were spent in poverty. The place of his burial remains unknown. It is believed that he was buried in a common grave for the poor, on the outskirts of Vienna, in 1791. The famous legend about the death of Mozart by his rival composer Salieri has not been confirmed modern research biography of the composer.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(German) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, IPA [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeus ˈmoːtsaʁt] (i); January 27, 1756, Salzburg - December 5, 1791, Vienna), baptized as Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart was an Austrian composer and virtuoso performer who began composing at the age of four. He is one of the most popular classical composers, having a profound influence on later Western musical culture. According to contemporaries, Mozart had a phenomenal ear for music, memory and the ability to improvise.

Mozart's uniqueness lies in the fact that he worked in all musical forms of his time and composed more than 600 works, many of which are recognized as the pinnacle of symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral music. Along with Haydn and Beethoven, he belongs to the most significant representatives of the Vienna Classical School.

Biography

early years

Childhood and family

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, which was then the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, in a house at Getreidegasse 9. His father was Leopold Mozart was a violinist and composer in the court chapel of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Sigismund von Strattenbach. Mother - Anna Maria Mozart(née Pertl), daughter of the commissioner-trustee of the almshouse in St. Gilgen. Both were considered the most beautiful married couple in Salzburg, and the surviving portraits confirm this. Of the seven children from the Mozart marriage, only two survived: daughter Maria Anna, whom friends and relatives called Nannerl, and son Wolfgang. 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. On the second day after birth Wolfgang was baptized in the Salzburg Cathedral of St. Rupert. The entry in the baptism book gives his name in Latin as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart. In these names, the first two words are the name of St. John Chrysostom, which is not used in everyday life, and the fourth varied during Mozart’s lifetime: lat. Amadeus, German Gottlieb, Italian. Amadeo, meaning “beloved of God.” Mozart himself preferred to be called Wolfgang.

The children's musical abilities manifested themselves at a very early age. Nannerl's practice on the harpsichord had an impact on little Wolfgang, who was only about three years: he sat down at the instrument and could amuse himself for a long time with the selection of harmonies. In addition, he remembered individual passages of musical pieces that he heard and could play them on the harpsichord. This made a great impression on his father, Leopold. At the age of 4, his father began to learn small pieces and minuets with him on the harpsichord. Almost immediately Wolfgang I learned to play them well. He soon developed a desire for independent creativity: already at the age of five he was composing small plays, which his father wrote down on paper. The very first works Wolfgang steel and Allegro in C major for clavier. Next to them is a note by Leopold, from which it follows that they were composed between the end of January and April 1761.

Andante and Allegro in C major, written by Leopold Mozart
Leopold kept music notebooks for his children, in which he himself or his musician friends wrote down various compositions for the clavier. Nannerl's music book contains minuets and similar short pieces. To date, the notebook has been preserved in a badly damaged and incomplete state. The little one also studied from this notebook. Wolfgang; His first compositions are also recorded here. Music book itself Wolfgang, on the contrary, has been completely preserved. It contains works by Telemann, Bach, Kirkhoff and many other composers. Wolfgang's musical abilities were amazing: in addition to the harpsichord, he practically taught himself to play the violin.

An interesting fact speaks of the tenderness and subtlety of his hearing: according to a letter from a friend of the Mozart family, court trumpeter Andreas Schachtner, which was written at the request of Maria Anna after his death Mozart, little Wolfgang, until almost ten years of age, was afraid of the trumpet if he played it alone without the accompaniment of other instruments. Even the very sight of the pipe had an effect on Wolfgang as if a gun was pointed at him. Schachtner wrote: “Dad wanted to suppress this childhood fear in him, and ordered me, despite resistance Wolfgang, blow a trumpet in his face; but my god! I wish I hadn't obeyed. As soon as Wolfgangerl heard the deafening sound, he turned pale and began to sink to the ground, and if I had continued any longer, he would probably have started to have convulsions.”

Father Wolfgang loved him unusually tenderly: in the evenings, before going to bed, his father would put him on an armchair, and he would have to sing an invented song with him Wolfgang a song with meaningless lyrics: “Oragnia figa tafa.” After that, the son kissed his father on the tip of his nose and promised him that when he gets old, he will keep it in a glass case and respect him. Then he, contented, went to bed. The father was the best teacher and educator for his son: he gave Wolfgang excellent home education. 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.

First travels

Leopold wanted to see his son as a composer, and therefore, to begin with, he decided to introduce Wolfgang to the musical world as a virtuoso performer[k. 1]. Hoping to get a good position and a patron for the boy among famous nobles, Leopold came up with the idea of ​​concert tours around the royal courts of Europe. The time of wandering began, which lasted with short or relatively long breaks for almost ten years. In January 1762, Leopold took a concert trip to Munich with his child prodigies. The journey lasted three weeks, and the children performed before the Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian III.

The success in Munich and the enthusiasm with which the children's play was greeted by the audience satisfied Leopold and strengthened his intention to continue such trips. Soon after arriving home, he decided that the whole family would go to Vienna in the fall. It was not for nothing that Leopold had hopes for Vienna: at that time it was the center of European culture, wide opportunities opened up for musicians there, and they were supported by influential patrons. The nine months remaining before the trip were spent by Leopold on further education. Wolfgang. However, he did not focus on music theory, in which the boy still had a lot to learn, but on all kinds of visual tricks, which the public of that time valued more than the game itself. For example, Wolfgang learned to play on a cloth-covered keyboard without making mistakes. Finally, on September 18 of the same year, Mozarts went to Vienna. Along the way, they had to stop in Passau, yielding to the desire of the local archbishop to listen to the play of children - virtuosos. Having made them wait five days for the requested audience, the bishop finally listened to their game, and, without experiencing any emotions, sent them away Mozart, giving them one ducat as a reward. The next stop was in Linz, where the children gave a concert in the house of Count Schlick. Counts Herberstein and Palffy, great music lovers, were also present at the concert. They were so delighted and surprised by the performance of the little prodigies that they promised to attract the attention of the Viennese nobility to them.

Little Mozart plays the organ in the monastery in Ybbs
From Linz, on a postal ship along the Danube, the Mozarts finally set off for Vienna. On the way they stopped in Ibs. There, in the Franciscan monastery, Wolfgang tried his hand at playing the organ for the first time in his life. Hearing the music, the Franciscan fathers, who were sitting at the meal, ran to the choir, and almost died of admiration when they saw how excellently the boy played. On October 6, the Mozarts landed in Vienna. There Wolfgang saved the family from customs inspection: with his characteristic open disposition and childish spontaneity, he met the customs officer, showed him his clavier and played a minuet on the violin, after which they were allowed through without inspection.

Meanwhile, Counts Herberstein and Palffy kept their promise: arriving in Vienna much earlier Mozart, they told Archduke Joseph about the concert in Linz, and he, in turn, told his mother, Empress Maria Theresa, about the concert. Thus, after arriving in Vienna on October 6, the father received an invitation to an audience in Schönbrunn on October 13, 1763. While the Mozarts were waiting for the appointed day, they received many invitations and performed in the houses of the Viennese nobility and nobles, including in the house of Vice-Chancellor Count Colloredo, the father of the future patron Mozart, Archbishop Jerome Colloredo. The audience was delighted with Little Wolfgang's performance. Soon the entire Viennese aristocracy was talking only about the little genius.

On the appointed day, October 13, Mozarts We went to Schönbrunn, where the summer residence of the imperial court was then located. They had to stay there from 3 to 6 hours. The Empress arranged Mozart such a warm and polite welcome that they felt calm and at ease. At a concert that lasted several hours, Wolfgang flawlessly played a wide variety of music: from his own improvisations to works given to him by Maria Theresa’s court composer, Georg Wagenseil. Moreover, when Wagenseil gave Wolfgang the notes of his harpsichord concerto, Wolfgang asked him to turn over the pages for him. Emperor Franz I, wanting to see firsthand the child’s talent, asked him to demonstrate all sorts of performing tricks when playing: from playing with one finger to playing on a keyboard covered with fabric. Wolfgang coped with such tests without difficulty. The Empress was fascinated by the little virtuoso's performance. After the game was over, she sat Wolfgang on her lap and even allowed him to kiss her on the cheek. At the end of the audience, the Mozarts were offered refreshments, and then they had the opportunity to tour the castle. There is a well-known historical anecdote associated with this concert: supposedly, when Wolfgang was playing with the children of Maria Theresa, the little archduchesses, he slipped on the polished floor and fell. Archduchess Marie Antoinette, the future queen of France, helped him rise. Wolfgang allegedly jumped up to her and said: “You are nice, I want to marry you when I grow up.”

Mozarts We've been to Schönbrunn several times. So that they could appear there in more dignified clothes than what they had, the Empress ordered to be taken to the hotel where they lived Mozarts, two suits - for Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl. A suit intended for Wolfgang, previously belonged to Archduke Maximilian. The suit was made of the finest lilac drape with the same moire vest, and the entire set was trimmed with wide gold braid.

Mozarts Every day they received new invitations to receptions in the houses of the nobility and aristocracy. Leopold wanted to refuse invitations from these high-ranking persons, since he saw them as potential patrons of his son. You can get an idea of ​​one of these days from Leopold’s letter to Salzburg dated October 19, 1762:

Today we visited the French ambassador. Tomorrow, from four to six, there will be a reception with Count Harrach, although I don’t know exactly who. I will understand this by the direction in which the carriage will take us - after all, a carriage is always sent for us with an escort of footmen. From half past six to nine o'clock we take part in a concert that should bring us six ducats and in which the most famous Viennese virtuosos will play. Wanting to be sure that we will definitely respond to the invitation, the date of the reception is usually agreed upon four, five or six days in advance. On Monday we go to Count Paar. Wolferl loves to walk at least twice a day. Recently we came to one house at half past three and stayed there until almost four. From there we hurried to Count Hardeg, who sent a carriage for us, which took us at a gallop to the house of a lady, from whom we left at half past six in a carriage sent for us by Chancellor Kaunitz, in whose house we played until about nine o'clock in the evening.

These performances, which sometimes lasted for several hours, were very exhausting. Wolfgang. In the same letter, Leopold expresses concern for his health. Indeed, on October 21, after another speech before the Empress, Wolfgang felt bad, and upon arriving at the hotel, he fell ill, complaining of pain throughout his body. A red rash appeared all over the body, a strong fever began - Wolfgang fell ill with scarlet fever. Thanks to a good doctor, he quickly recovered, but invitations to receptions and concerts stopped coming, as aristocrats were afraid of catching the infection. Therefore, the invitation to Presburg (now Bratislava), coming from the Hungarian nobility, turned out to be very opportune. Returning to Salzburg, Mozarts again they stayed in Vienna for several days, and finally left it in the first days of the new year 1763.

big Adventure

1770-1774 Mozart spent 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 later, due to the similarity of style, some of his works were attributed Mozart, including the oratorio “Abraham and Isaac”.

In 1771, in Milan, again with the opposition of theater impresarios, the opera was staged Mozart“Mithridates, King of Pontus” (Italian: Mitridate, Re di Ponto), which was received by the public with great enthusiasm. His second opera “Lucius Sulla” (Italian: Lucio Silla) (1772) was given the same success. For Salzburg Mozart wrote "Scipio's Dream" (Italian: Il sogno di Scipione), on the occasion of the election of a new archbishop, 1772, for Munich - the opera "La bella finta Giardiniera", 2 masses, offertory (1774). When he was 17 years old, his works already included 4 operas, several spiritual works, 13 symphonies, 24 sonatas, not to mention a host of smaller compositions.

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 (collaborated with Michael Haydn). On January 26, 1781, the opera “Idomeneo” was staged in Munich with great success, marking a certain turn in creativity Mozart. In this opera, traces of the old Italian opera seria are still visible (a large number of coloratura arias, the part of Idamante, written for a castrato), but a new trend is felt in the recitatives and especially in the choruses. A big step forward is also noticeable in the instrumentation. During your stay in Munich Mozart wrote the offertory “Misericordias Domini” for the Munich chapel - one of the best examples of church music of the late 18th century.

Vienna period

1781-1782

On January 29, 1781, the opera premiered with great success in Munich. Mozart Idomeneo. Bye Mozart In Munich he received congratulations, his employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg, attended ceremonial events on the occasion of the coronation and accession to the Austrian throne of Emperor Joseph II. Mozart decided to take advantage of the absence of the archbishop and stayed in Munich longer than expected. Upon learning of this, Colloredo ordered Mozart urgently arrive in Vienna. There the composer immediately realized that he had fallen out of favor. Having received many flattering reviews in Munich that stroked his pride, Mozart was offended when the Archbishop treated him like a servant and even ordered him to sit next to the valets during dinner. Moreover, the archbishop forbade him to serve under Countess Maria Thun for a fee equal to half his annual salary in Salzburg. As a result, the quarrel reached its climax in May: Mozart submitted his resignation, but the archbishop refused to accept it. Then the musician began to behave in a deliberately defiant manner, hoping in this way to gain freedom. And he achieved his goal: the next month the composer was fired literally with a kick in the ass by the archbishop's butler, Count Arco.

First steps in Vienna

Mozart arrived in Vienna on March 16, 1781. Already in May, he rented a room in the house of the Webers on St. Peter's Square, who moved to Vienna from Munich. Mozart's friend and Aloysia's father Fridolin Weber had died by that time, and Aloysia had married the dramatic actor Joseph Lange (English) Russian, and since at that time she was invited to the Vienna National Singspiel, her mother Frau Weber also decided to move to Vienna with her three unmarried daughters Josepha (English) Russian, Constance and Sophie (English) Russian. The difficult situation forced her to start renting out rooms, and Mozart I was very glad to have the opportunity to find refuge with old friends. Soon rumors reached Salzburg that Wolfgang was going to marry one of his daughters. Leopold was in terrible anger; now he stubbornly insisted that Wolfgang changed apartment, and received the following answer:

I repeat once again that I have long intended to rent another apartment, and only because of people’s chatter; It’s a pity that I am forced to do this because of ridiculous gossip in which there is not a word of truth. I would still like to know what kind of people they are who can rejoice in the fact that they are chatting like that in broad daylight, without any reason. If I live with them, I’ll marry my daughter!...
I also don’t want to say that in the family I am also unapproachable with mademoiselle, with whom I have already been matched, and I don’t talk to her at all, but I’m not in love either; I fool around and joke with her if time allows me to do so (but only in the evenings and if I have dinner at home, because in the mornings I write in my room, and in the afternoon I am rarely at home) - that’s it and nothing more. If I were to marry everyone I joke with, it could easily happen that I would have 200 wives...

Despite this, the decision to leave Frau Weber turned out to be quite difficult for him. At the beginning of September 1781, he finally moved to a new apartment, “Auf dem Graben, No. 1775 on the 3rd floor.”

Myself Mozart was extremely pleased with the reception he received in Vienna. He hoped to soon become a famous pianist and teacher. This was beneficial for him, since thereby he could pave the way for his writings. However, it immediately became clear that for his entry into the Vienna musical life The timing was unfortunate: at the beginning of summer, the Viennese nobility moved to their country estates, and thus the academies[k. 2] nothing could be achieved.

Soon after arriving in Vienna Mozart met the philanthropist and patron of musicians, Baron Gottfried van Swieten (English) Russian. The Baron had large collection works by Bach and Handel, which he brought from Berlin. From van Swieten Mozart began composing music in the Baroque style. Mozart he rightfully thought that thanks to this his own creativity would become richer. Van Swieten's name first appears in letters to Mozart in May 1781; a year later he is already writing [p. 2]: Every Sunday at 12 o’clock I go to Baron van Swieten[k. 3], nothing is played there except Handel and Bach. I’m just putting together a collection of Bach’s fugues for myself. Both Sebastian and Emanuel and Friedemann Bach.

At the end of July 1781 Mozart begins to write the opera “The Abduction from the Serail” (German: Die Entführung aus dem Serail), which premiered on July 16, 1782. The opera was enthusiastically received in Vienna, and soon became widespread throughout Germany.

Hoping to establish a firm foothold at court, Mozart hoped, with the help of his former patron in Salzburg - the emperor's younger brother, Archduke Maximilian, to become a music teacher for the younger cousin of Emperor Joseph II. The Archduke warmly recommended Mozart princess as a music teacher, and the princess happily agreed, but the emperor suddenly appointed Antonio Salieri to this post, considering him the best singing teacher. “For him, no one exists except Salieri!” - Mozart writes disappointedly to his father on December 15, 1781 [p. 3]. However, it was quite natural that the emperor preferred Salieri, whom he valued primarily as a vocal composer, and not Mozart. Like most Viennese, the emperor knew Mozart just how good pianist, no more. However, in this capacity, Mozart, of course, enjoyed exceptional authority with the emperor. So, for example, on December 24, 1781, the emperor ordered Mozart to appear at the palace in order to, according to the well-known ancient custom, enter into competition with the Italian virtuoso Muzio Clementi, who had then arrived in Vienna. According to Dittersdorf, who was present there, the emperor later noted that in Clementi's game only art reigns; Mozart- art and taste. After this, the emperor sent Mozart 50 ducats, which he really needed at that time. Clementi was delighted with the game Mozart; Mozart’s judgment about him, on the contrary, was strict and harsh: “Clementi is a zealous harpsichordist, and that says it all,” he wrote, “However, he does not have a kreuzer feeling or taste, - in a word, a naked technician.” By the winter of 1782, the number of students increased Mozart, among whom we should note Teresa von Trattner, Mozart’s beloved, to whom he would later dedicate a sonata and fantasy.

New lover and wedding

Constance Mozart. Portrait by Hans Hassen, 1802
While still living with the Webers, Mozart began to show signs of attention to his middle daughter, Constance. Obviously, this gave rise to rumors that Mozart rejected. Nevertheless, on December 15, 1781, he wrote a letter to his father in which he confessed his love for Constance Weber and announced that he was going to marry her. However, Leopold knew more than what was written in the letter, namely that Wolfgang had to give a written commitment to marry Constance within three years, otherwise he would pay 300 florins annually in her favor.

According to the letter Wolfgang dated December 22, 1781, the main role in the story with a written commitment was played by the guardian of Constance and her sisters - Johann Thorwart, auditor of the court directorate and inspector of the theatrical wardrobe, who enjoyed authority with Count Rosenberg. Thorwart asked his mother to forbid Mozart to communicate with Constance until “this matter is completed in writing.” Mozart due to a highly developed sense of honor, he could not leave his beloved and signed a statement. However, later, when the guardian left, Constance demanded a commitment from her mother, saying: “Dear Mozart! I don’t need any written commitments from you, I already believe your words,” she tore up the statement. This act of Constance made her even dearer to Mozart.

Despite his son's numerous letters, Leopold was adamant. In addition, he believed, not without reason, that Frau Weber was playing an “ugly game” with his son - she wanted to use Wolfgang as a wallet, because just at that time great prospects were opening up for him: he wrote “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, held concerts by subscription and every now and then received orders for various works from the Viennese nobility. In great confusion, Wolfgang appealed to his sister for help, trusting in her good old friendship. At Wolfgang's request, Constance sent his sister various gifts.

Despite the fact that Maria Anna favorably accepted these gifts, her father persisted. Without hopes for a secure future, a wedding seemed impossible to him.

Meanwhile, the gossip became increasingly unbearable: on July 27, 1782, Mozart wrote to his father in complete despair that most people took him for already married and that Frau Weber was extremely outraged by this and tortured him and Constance to death. A patroness came to the aid of Mozart and his beloved Mozart, Baroness von Waldstedten. She invited Constance to move into her apartment in Leopoldstadt (house no. 360), to which Constance readily agreed. Because of this, Frau Weber was now angry and intended to eventually force her daughter back to her home. To preserve Constance's honor, Mozart had to do everything to bring her into his home; in the same letter, he most persistently begged his father for permission to marry, repeating his request a few days later [p. 5]. However, the desired consent was not forthcoming again. But meanwhile, Baroness von Waldstedten did not stand aside - she eliminated all the difficulties and even tried to convince her father that Constance was not like the Webers in character and that in general she was a “good and decent person.”

On August 4, 1782, the betrothal took place in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral, which was attended only by Frau Weber and her youngest daughter Sophie, Mr. von Thorwarth as guardian and witness for both, Mr. von Zetto, witness to the bride, and Franz Xaver Gilowski as Mozart's witness. The wedding feast was given by the Baroness, and a serenade was played for thirteen instruments (K.361/370a). Only a day later did the father’s long-awaited consent come. On August 7, Mozart wrote to him: “When we were married, my wife and I began to cry; Everyone was touched by this, even the priest, and everyone began to cry, as they witnessed the touching of our hearts” [p. 6].

During the marriage of a married couple Mozart 6 children were born, of whom only two survived:

Raymond Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)
Carl Thomas (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)
Johann Thomas Leopold (October 18 – November 15, 1786)
Theresa Constance Adelaide Frederica Marianna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788)
Anna Maria (died shortly after birth, December 25, 1789)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844)

1783-1787

Trip to Salzburg

Despite the fact of a happy marriage for both spouses, the father’s dark shadow always fell on the marriage: outwardly he seemed to have reconciled himself with Wolfgang’s marriage, but his hostile attitude towards marriage remained unchanged and grew into cruel embitterment. On the contrary, Wolfgang's innate kindness did not allow him to be annoyed with his father for any length of time. True, from then on his letters to his father became increasingly rare and, most importantly, more businesslike.

At first Mozart I still hoped that personal acquaintance with Constance would help change my father’s opinion. Soon after the wedding, the couple begins to think about a trip to Salzburg. Initially Wolfgang and Constance planned to arrive there in early October 1782, and then on November 15, on their father's name day. For the first time, their calculations were dashed by the visit of the Russian Prince Paul, during which Mozart conducted the performance of “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, for the second time - concerts and teaching activities that lasted throughout the winter. In the spring of 1783, the main obstacle was the anticipation of Costanza's birth. The child, a boy, was born on June 17, and was named Raimund Leopold, in honor of his godfather, Baron von Wetzlar, and his grandfather, Leopold Mozart. According to Mozart himself, Raimund Leopold was “a poor, plump, fat and sweet little boy.”

Wolfgang, among other things, he was worried whether the archbishop would be able to use his arrival to give an “order of arrest”, since he had left the service without formal resignation. Therefore, he invited his father to meet on neutral ground - in Munich. However, Leopold reassured his son about this, and at the end of July the young couple set off on the road, leaving the newborn child with a paid nurse[k. 4], and arrived in Salzburg on July 29.

Contrary to expectations Mozart, Leopold and Nannerl greeted Consancia coolly, although quite politely. Mozart brought with him several parts of the remaining unfinished Mass in C minor: these were “Kyrie”, “Gloria”, “Sanctus” and “Benedictus”. The Credo remained unfinished, and the Agnus Dei had not yet been written. The premiere of the mass took place on August 26 in St. Peter's Church, with Constance singing the soprano part written specifically for her voice. In addition, in Salzburg, Mozart met with his librettist for “Idomeneo,” Varesco, who, at the composer’s request, sketched out the libretto “L’oca del Cairo” (The Cairo Goose), which Mozart would set to the music of the never-finished opera of the same name.

The couple left Salzburg on October 27, 1783. Despite all efforts, the main goal of the trip - to change the father's mood in favor of Constance - was not achieved. Deep down, Constance was offended by this reception and never forgave her father-in-law or sister-in-law for this. However Wolfgang left hometown disappointed and upset. On the way to Vienna, on October 30, they stopped in Linz, where they stayed with Mozart’s old friend, Count Joseph Thun, staying here for 3 weeks. Here Mozart wrote his symphony No. 36 in C major (K.425), which premiered on November 4 at the academy in the count's house.

Peak of creativity

Domgasse 5. Apartment Mozart was on the second floor
At the zenith of his glory, Mozart receives huge fees for his academies and the publication of his works: in September 1784, the composer’s family moved into a luxurious apartment at number 846 on Grosse Schulerstrasse (Now Domgasse 5) [k. 5] with an annual rent of 460 florins. The income allowed Mozart to keep servants at home: a hairdresser, a maid and a cook; he buys a piano from the Viennese master Anton Walter for 900 florins and a billiard table for 300 florins. Around the same time, Mozart met Haydn, and they began a cordial friendship. Mozart even dedicated his collection of 6 quartets (English) Russian, written in 1783-1785, to Haydn. Another important event in Mozart’s life also dates back to this period: on December 14, 1784, he joined the Masonic lodge “To Charity.”

From February 10 to April 25, 1785, Leopold paid his son a return visit to Vienna. Although their personal relationship had not changed, Leopold was very proud creative successes son. On the first day of his stay in Vienna, February 10, he visited Wolfgang's academy in the Melgrube casino, which was also attended by the emperor; there the premiere of a new piano concerto in D minor (K.466) took place, and the next day Wolfgang organized a quartet evening at his home, to which Joseph Haydn. At the same time, as usual in such cases, Dittersdorf played the first violin, Haydn played the second, Mozart himself performed the viola part, and Vangal played the cello part. After performing the quartets, Haydn expressed his admiration for Wolfgang's work, which brought Leopold great joy:

“I tell you before God, as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer I know personally and by name;
he has taste, and on top of that, he has the greatest knowledge of composition.”
Leopold also received great joy from his second grandson, Karl, who was born on September 21 of the previous year. Leopold found that the child was unusually similar to Wolfgang. It is important to note that Wolfgang persuaded his father to join the Masonic lodge. This happened on April 6, and on April 16 both were elevated to the degree of master.

Despite the success of chamber works Mozart, his affairs with the opera were not going well. Contrary to his hopes, German opera gradually declined; Italian, on the contrary, experienced a huge rise. Hoping to generally have the opportunity to write some kind of opera, Mozart turned his attention to Italian opera. On the advice of Count Rosenberg, back in 1782 he began searching for an Italian text for the libretto. However, his Italian operas"L'oca del Cairo" (1783) and "Lo sposo deluso" (1784) remained unfinished.

Finally, Mozart received an order from the emperor for a new opera. For help writing a libretto Mozart turned to a familiar librettist, Abbot Lorenzo da Ponte, whom he met at his apartment with Baron von Wetzlar back in 1783. As material for a libretto Mozart suggested the comedy “Le Mariage de Figaro” (“The Marriage of Figaro”) by Pierre Beaumarchais. Despite the fact that Joseph II banned the production of comedy at the National Theater, Mozart and Da Ponte still got to work, and, thanks to the lack of new operas, won the situation. However, having written the opera, Mozart was faced with extremely strong intrigues associated with the upcoming rehearsals of the opera: the fact is that almost simultaneously with Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” the operas of Salieri and Righini were completed. Each composer wanted his opera to be performed first. At the same time, Mozart, having lost his temper, once said that if his opera did not go on stage first, he would throw the score of his opera into the fire. Finally, the dispute was resolved by the emperor, who ordered rehearsals for the opera to begin. Mozart.

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” to be Mozart’s best opera. But in Prague, “The Marriage of Figaro” was a stunning success; melodies from it were sung on the street and in taverns. Thanks to this success, Mozart received a new order, this time from Prague. In 1787, a new opera, created in collaboration with Da Ponte, was released - Don Giovanni. This work, which is still considered one of the best in the world operatic repertoire, was even more successful in Prague than The Marriage of Figaro.

Much less success fell on the lot of this opera in Vienna, which in general, since the time of Figaro, had lost interest in Mozart’s work. From Emperor Joseph, Mozart received 50 ducats for Don Giovanni, and, according to J. Rice, during 1782-1792 this was the only time the composer received payment for an opera commissioned outside of Vienna. However, the public as a whole remained indifferent. Since 1787, his “academies” ceased; Mozart was unable to organize the performance of the last three, now most famous symphonies: No. 39 in E-flat major (KV 543), No. 40 in G minor (KV 550) and No. 41 in C major “Jupiter” ( KV 551), written over a month and a half in 1788; only three years later, one of them, Symphony No. 40, was performed by A. Salieri in charity concerts.

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 “Così fan tutte” (1790).

The salary of 800 florins could not fully support Mozart; Obviously, already at this time he began to accumulate debts, aggravated by the costs of treating his sick wife. Mozart recruited students, however, according to experts, there were few of them. In 1789, the composer wanted to leave Vienna, but the trip he took to the north, including to Berlin, did not live up to his hopes and did not improve his financial situation.

The story of how in Berlin he received an invitation to become the head of the court chapel of Friedrich Wilhelm II with a salary of 3 thousand thalers is attributed by Alfred Einstein to the realm of fantasy, as well as the sentimental reason for the refusal - supposedly out of respect for Joseph II. Frederick William II only made an order for six simple piano sonatas for his daughter and six string quartets for himself.

There was little money earned during the trip. They were barely enough to pay a debt of 100 guilders, which were taken from the brother of the Mason Hofmedel for travel expenses [source not specified 1145 days]. In 1789, Mozart dedicated a string quartet with a concert cello part (in D major) to the Prussian king.

According to J. Rice, from the moment Mozart arrived in Vienna, Emperor Joseph provided him with more patronage than any other Viennese musician, with the exception of Salieri. In February 1790, Joseph died; Mozart initially associated the accession to the throne of Leopold II big hopes; however, the musicians did not have access to the new emperor. In May 1790, Mozart wrote to his son, Archduke Franz: “The thirst for glory, the love of activity and confidence in my knowledge make me dare to ask for the position of second bandmaster, especially since the very skillful bandmaster Salieri never studied church style, but I I mastered this style perfectly in my youth.” But his hopes were not justified, Ignaz Umlauf remained Salieri’s deputy, and Mozart’s financial situation turned out to be so hopeless that he had to leave Vienna from the persecution of creditors in order to at least slightly improve his affairs through an artistic journey.

1789-1791

Trip to Northern Germany

The reason for the trip came from Mozart's friend and student, Prince Karl Lichnowsky (English) Russian, who in the spring of 1789, going to Berlin on business, offered Mozart a place in his carriage, to which Mozart happily agreed. The Prussian King Frederick William II was a great lover of music, and his eventual patronage aroused Mozart's hope of earning enough money to pay off the debts that were weighing him down so much. Mozart did not even have money for travel expenses: he was forced to ask for a loan of 100 florins from his friend Franz Hofdemel. The journey lasted almost three months: from April 8 to June 4, 1789.

During his trip, Mozart visited Prague, Leipzig, Dresden, Potsdam and Berlin. Despite Mozart's hopes, the trip turned out to be unsuccessful: the money raised from the trip was catastrophically small. During the trip, Mozart wrote only two works - Variations on a theme of Duport's minuet (K. 573) and Gigue for piano (K. 574).

Last year

Mozart's last operas were So Do Everyone (1790), La Clemenza di Tito (1791), written in 18 days and containing wonderful pages, and finally, The Magic Flute (1791).

Presented in September 1791 in Prague, on the occasion of the coronation of Leopold II as the Czech king, the opera La Clemenza di Titus was received coldly; The Magic Flute, staged in the same month in Vienna at a suburban theater, on the contrary, was a success such as Mozart had not seen in the Austrian capital for many years. This fairy tale opera occupies a special place in Mozart’s extensive and varied work.

In May 1791, Mozart was assigned an unpaid position as assistant conductor of St. Stephen's Cathedral; this position gave him the right to become conductor after the death of the seriously ill Leopold Hofmann; Hofmann, however, outlived Mozart.

Mozart, like most of his contemporaries, paid a lot of attention to sacred music, but he left few great examples in this area: except for “Misericordias Domini” - “Ave verum corpus” (KV 618, 1791), written in a completely uncharacteristic style. Mozart style, and the majestic and sorrowful Requiem (KV 626), on which Mozart worked in the last months of his life. The history of writing “Requiem” is interesting. In July 1791, Mozart was visited by a mysterious stranger in gray and ordered him a “Requiem” (funeral mass). As the composer's biographers established, this was a messenger from Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, a music-playing amateur who loved to perform other people's works in his palace with the help of his chapel, buying authorship from composers; With the requiem he wanted to honor the memory of his late wife. The work on the unfinished Requiem, stunning for its mournful lyricism and tragic expressiveness, was completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayer, who had previously taken some part in composing the opera La Clemenza di Titus.

Illness and death

In connection with the premiere of the opera La Clemenza di Titus, Mozart arrived in Prague already ill, and from then on his condition worsened. Even during the completion of The Magic Flute, Mozart began to faint and became very discouraged. As soon as The Magic Flute was performed, Mozart enthusiastically began working on the Requiem. This work occupied him so much that he even intended not to accept any more students until the Requiem was completed. 6]. Upon returning from Baden, Constance did everything to keep him from work and bring him to happier thoughts, but he still remained sad and despondent. During one of his walks in the Prater, he said with tears in his eyes that he was writing the Requiem for himself. In addition, he said: “I feel too well that I won’t last long; Of course, they gave me poison - I can’t get rid of this thought.” The shocked Constance tried in every possible way to calm him down; In the end, she took the score of the Requiem from him and called the best doctor in Vienna, Dr. Nikolaus Klosse.

Indeed, thanks to this, Mozart's condition improved so much that he was able to complete his Masonic cantata on November 15 and conduct its performance. He felt so good that he described the thoughts of poisoning as a result of depression. He told Constance to return the Requiem to him and worked on it further. However, the improvement did not last long: on November 20, Mozart fell ill. He began to feel weak, his arms and legs became so swollen that he could not walk, followed by sudden bouts of vomiting. In addition, his hearing became more acute, and he ordered the cage with his favorite canary to be removed from the room - he could not stand its singing.

During the two weeks Mozart spent in bed, he remained fully conscious; he constantly remembered death and prepared to meet it with complete composure. All this time, his sister-in-law Sophie Heibl (English) Russian looked after the recumbent Mozart. She says:

When Mozart fell ill, we both sewed him a nightgown that He could wear in front, because due to the swelling he could not turn, and since we did not know how seriously ill he was, we also made him a dressing gown lined with cotton wool […] so that he could be well wrapped up if he needed to get up. Thus we visited him diligently, and he also showed heartfelt joy when he received his dressing gown. Every day I went to the city to visit him, and when one Saturday evening I came to them, Mozart said to me: “Now, dear Sophie, tell mother that I feel very well, and that a week after her name day (November 22 ) I’ll come back to congratulate her.”

"The Last Hours of Mozart's Life"

On December 4, Mozart's condition became critical. In the evening Sophie came, and when she approached the bed, Mozart called out to her: “...Oh, dear Sophie, it’s good that you are here, tonight you must stay here, you must see me die.” Sophie only asked permission to run to her mother for a moment, to warn her. At Constance's request, on the way she went to the priests of St. Peter's Church and asked one of them to go see Mozart. Sophie barely managed to persuade the priests to come - they were scared off by Mozart's Freemasonry. 7]. In the end, one of the priests did come. Returning, Sophie found Mozart enthusiastically talking with Süssmayer about working on the Requiem, and Mozart said with tears in his eyes, “Didn’t I say that I was writing this Requiem for myself?” He was so sure that his death was near that he even asked Constance to inform Albrechtsberger about his death before others found out about it, so that he could take the place of Mozart himself. Mozart himself always said that Albrechtsberger was a born organist, and therefore believed that the place of assistant conductor at St. Stephen's Cathedral should rightfully be his.

Late in the evening they sent for a doctor, and after a long search they found him in the theater; he agreed to come after the end of the performance. In confidence, he told Süssmayer about the hopelessness of Mozart’s situation, and ordered a cold compress to be applied to his head. This had such an effect on the dying Mozart that he lost consciousness[k. 8]. From that moment on, Mozart lay prone, wandering randomly. At about midnight he sat up in bed and stared motionlessly into space, then leaned against the wall and dozed off. After midnight, five minutes to one, that is, already December 5, death occurred.

Already at night, Baron van Swieten appeared at Mozart’s house and, trying to console the widow, ordered her to move in with friends for a few days. At the same time, he gave her urgent advice to arrange the burial as simply as possible: indeed, the last debt to the deceased was paid in third class, which cost 8 florins 36 kreuzers and another 3 florins for the hearse. Soon after van Swieten, Count Deim arrived and removed Mozart death mask. “To dress the master,” Diner was called early in the morning. People from the funeral fraternity, covering the body with black cloth, carried it on a stretcher to the workroom and placed it next to the piano. During the day, many of Mozart’s friends came there, wanting to express condolences and see the composer again.

Funeral

Mozart was buried on December 6, 1791 in St. Mark's Cemetery. At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon his body was brought to St. Stephen's Cathedral. Here, in the Cross Chapel adjacent to the north side of the cathedral, a modest religious ceremony was held, attended by Mozart's friends van Swieten, Salieri, Albrechtsberger, Süssmayer, Diner, Rosner, cellist Orsler and others. 9]. The hearse went to the cemetery after six in the evening, that is, already in the dark. Those who saw off the coffin did not follow him outside the city gates.

Contrary to popular belief, Mozart was not buried in a linen bag in a mass grave with the poor, as shown in the film Amadeus. His funeral took place according to the third category, which included burial in a coffin, but in a common grave along with 5-6 other coffins. There was nothing unusual about Mozart's funeral for that time. This was not a "beggar's funeral." Only very rich people and members of the nobility could be buried in a separate grave with a tombstone or monument. Beethoven's impressive (albeit second-class) funeral in 1827 took place in a different era and, moreover, reflected the sharply increased social status of the musicians.

For the Viennese, Mozart’s death passed almost unnoticed, but in Prague, with a large crowd of people (about 4,000 people), in memory of Mozart, 9 days after his death, 120 musicians performed with special additions the “Requiem” written back in 1776 by Antonio Rosetti.

The exact place of Mozart’s burial is not known for certain: in his time, graves remained unmarked, and tombstones were allowed to be placed not at the burial site itself, but near the cemetery wall. Mozart's grave was visited for many years by the wife of his friend Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, who took her son with her. He precisely remembered the composer’s burial place and, when, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Mozart’s death, they began to look for his burial, he was able to show it. One simple tailor planted a willow tree on the grave, and then, in 1859, a monument was built there according to the design of von Gasser - the famous Weeping Angel. In connection with the centenary of the composer’s death, the monument was moved to the “musical corner” of the Vienna Central Cemetery, which again raised the risk of losing the real grave. Then the overseer of St. Mark's cemetery, Alexander Kruger, built a small monument from various remains of previous tombstones. Currently, the Weeping Angel has been returned to its original place.

Appearance and character

It is not easy to get an idea of ​​what Mozart looked like, despite the numerous images of him that have survived to this day. With the exception of portraits that are not authentic and deliberately idealize Mozart, there are significant differences among the plausible paintings. Despite its incompleteness, researchers consider the portrait by Joseph Lange to be the most accurate. It was written in 1782, when the composer was 26 years old.

According to the recollections of contemporaries, when Mozart was not sitting at the piano, his body was in constant movement: He was either gesturing with his hands or tapping his foot. His face was extremely mobile: his expression was constantly changing, which indicated strong nervousness. His sister-in-law Sophie Heibl also reports that he constantly played “as if on a clavier” with a variety of things - a hat, a cane, a watch chain, a table, chairs.

Mozart did not have a beautiful or even attractive appearance: he was small in stature - about 160 centimeters. The shape of the head was normal, except for its size - the head was too large for his height. Only the ears stood out: they did not have lobes, and the shape of the auricle was also different. This defect caused him suffering, and therefore locks of hair covered his ears so that they were not visible. His hair was blond and quite thick, his complexion was pale - the result of many illnesses and unhealthy image life. This was also the reason that his large, beautiful blue eyes had an absent-minded and anxious look, according to the recollections of his contemporaries. The wide, but too high forehead sloped back, the nose continued its line, barely separated from it by a small depression. The nose itself was quite large, which was noted by contemporaries. Judging by the portraits, Mozart inherited his facial features from his mother. The mouth was of normal size, the upper lip was quite large, the corners of the mouth were raised upward.

One of characteristic features Mozart's personality was a natural observation in communicating with people. She is characterized by the amazing sharpness and precision with which he characterizes the people he meets. However, there was no moralizing pathos in his judgments; they contained only the joy of observation as such and, above all, the desire to identify what is essential in a given person. Mozart’s highest moral asset was his honor, to which he constantly returns in his letters, and if there was a threat to his freedom, then he completely forgot about fear of people. However, he never took advantage of himself, did not envy another for his personal well-being, and, moreover, did not deceive anyone for this. His innate sense of self-esteem never left him even in aristocratic houses - Mozart always knew his worth.

From the source of Mozart's worldview mentioned above, two main aspects of his personality flow - humor and irony. Mozart inherited his easy character, as well as a penchant for rude and, at times, vulgar speech, from his mother, who loved all kinds of jokes and practical jokes. Mozart's jokes were quite witty, especially if he described people. In his early letters to his family in large quantities There are toilet jokes and other vulgarities.

According to the memoirs of Joseph Lange, Mozart's entourage had to listen to a lot of vulgarities precisely when he was internally occupied by some major work.

It is worth noting, however, that these jokes are quite natural for him: it never occurred to Mozart to deliberately pose as a humorist. In addition, he was characterized by grotesque rhymes and wordplay: he often came up with humorous first and last names for himself and his immediate circle: he once called himself Tratz[k. 10], putting the letters of your last name in reverse order. He even entered himself in the marriage register of St. Stephen's Cathedral as Wolfgang Adam (instead of Amadeus).

Another feature of his personality was his special sensitivity to friendship. This was facilitated by his innate kindness of heart, his readiness to always come to the aid of his neighbor in all troubles. But at the same time, he never imposed himself on another person. On the contrary, he had a remarkable ability (again, derived from his observations of people) to instinctively recognize in every person who tried to get close to him what he had to offer himself, and treated him accordingly. He acted with his acquaintances in the same way as with his wife: he revealed to them only that part inner world which they were able to understand.

Mozart's apartments in Vienna

During the ten years he spent in Vienna, Mozart moved from place to place several times. Perhaps this was due to the habit of constant wandering, in which he spent most of his previous life. It was difficult for him to become a homebody. He lived the longest - two and a half years - in the luxurious house No. 846 on Grosse Schulerstrasse. Usually the composer remained in the same place for no more than a year, changing a total of 13 apartments in Vienna.

Having left Salzburg after his break with the archbishop, Mozart first settled in Vienna in the house of Frau Weber, the mother of his first lover Aloysia. Here his affair with Constance, who later became the composer’s wife, began. However, even before the wedding, in order to stop unwanted rumors about his relationship with Constance, he moved to a new place. Four months after the wedding, in the winter of 1782, the couple moved to the house of Herberstein Jr. on Hohe Brück. In September 1784, when Mozart was at the zenith of his fame, his family settled at Grosse Schulerstrasse 5, now called the “House of Figaro”. In 1788, Mozart settled in the Vienna suburb of Alsergrund at Waringerstrasse 135, in the house “At the Three Stars” [k. eleven]. It is noteworthy that in a letter to Puchberg, Mozart praises his new home for the fact that the house has its own garden[p. 8]. It was in this apartment that the composer composed the opera “This is what everyone does” and his last three symphonies.

Creation

A distinctive feature of Mozart's work is the combination of strict, clear forms with deep emotionality. The uniqueness of his work lies in the fact that he not only wrote in all the forms and genres that existed in his era, but also left works of lasting significance in each of them. Mozart's music reveals many connections with different national cultures(especially Italian), nevertheless it belongs to the national Viennese soil and bears the stamp creative individuality great composer.

Mozart is one of the greatest melodists. Its melody combines the features of Austrian and German folk songs with the melodiousness of the Italian cantilena. Despite the fact that his works are distinguished by poetry and subtle grace, they often contain melodies of a masculine nature, with great dramatic pathos and contrasting elements.

Mozart attached particular importance to opera. His operas represent an entire era in the development of this genre musical art. Along with Gluck, he was the greatest reformer of the opera genre, but unlike him, he considered music to be the basis of opera. Mozart created a completely different type of musical dramaturgy, where operatic music is in complete unity with the development of stage action. As a result, in his operas there are no clearly positive and negative characters; the characters are lively and multifaceted; the relationships between people, their feelings and aspirations are shown. The most popular operas were “The Marriage of Figaro”, “Don Giovanni” and “The Magic Flute”.

Mozart paid great attention to symphonic music. Due to the fact that throughout his life he worked in parallel on operas and symphonies, his instrumental music It is distinguished by the melodiousness of an operatic aria and dramatic conflict. The most popular were the last three symphonies - No. 39, No. 40 and No. 41 (“Jupiter”). Mozart also became one of the creators of the classical concert genre.

Mozart's chamber instrumental work is represented by a variety of ensembles (from duets to quintets) and works for piano (sonatas, variations, fantasies). Mozart abandoned the harpsichord and clavichord, which have a weaker sound compared to the piano. Mozart's piano style is distinguished by elegance, clarity, and careful finishing of melody and accompaniment.

The thematic catalog of Mozart's works, with notes, compiled by Köchel (Chronologisch-thematisches Verzeichniss sämmtlicher Tonwerke W. A. ​​Mozart´s, Leipzig, 1862), is a volume of 550 pages. According to Kechel's calculation, Mozart wrote 68 sacred works (masses, offertories, hymns, etc.), 23 works for the theater, 22 sonatas for harpsichord, 45 sonatas and variations for violin and harpsichord, 32 string quartets, about 50 symphonies, 55 concertos and etc., a total of 626 works.

Pedagogical activity

Mozart also went down in history as a music teacher. Among his students was, in particular, the English musician Thomas Attwood, who, upon returning from Austria to the capital of the British Empire, London, immediately took up the positions of court conductor, organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, musical mentor to the Duchess of York, and then the Princess of Wales.

Mozart and Freemasonry

Mozart's life coincided with the awakening in Europe of enormous interest in spiritual and mystical teachings. In the relatively calm period of the mid-18th century, along with the desire for enlightenment, the search for intellectual and social-educational order (French enlightenment, encyclopedists), interest in the esoteric teachings of antiquity arose.

On December 14, 1784, Mozart joined the Masonic Order, and by 1785 he had already been initiated into the degree of Master Mason. The same thing happened later with Joseph Haydn and Leopold Mozart (the composer's father), who achieved the Master's degree within 16 days of joining the lodge.

There are several versions of Mozart joining the Masonic fraternity. According to one of them, the guarantor for admission to the Vienna lodge “Zur Wohltatigkeit” (“In the Name of Charity”) was his friend and future librettist of “The Magic Flute” Emmanuel Schikaneder. Prominent brothers of the lodge included the philosophers Reichfeld and Ignaz von Born. Subsequently, on the recommendation of Mozart himself, Wolfgang’s father, Leopold Mozart, was admitted to the same lodge (in 1787).

Having become a Master Mason, Mozart, within a short time, created a lot of music intended directly for work in the lodge. As A. Einstein points out,

“Mozart was a passionate, convinced Freemason, not at all like Haydn, who, although he was considered one, from the moment he was accepted into the brotherhood of “free masons”, never participated in the activities of the lodge and did not write a single Masonic work. Mozart not only left us a number of significant works written specifically for Masonic rites and celebrations, but the very idea of ​​Freemasonry permeates his work.”
Vocal works predominate among Mozart’s “Masonic” works: in some cases these are small choral songs, in other cases they are components of cantatas. Musicologists note the characteristic features of these works: “a simple, somewhat anthemic composition, three-voice chord structure, a somewhat rhetorical general character.”

Among them are such works as:

"Funeral Masonic Music" (K.477/479a)
Adagio for two basset horns and bassoon in F major. (K.410/484d) Used to accompany ritual Masonic processions.
Adagio for 2 clarinets and 3 basset horns in B major (K.411/484a) for the entry into the lodge of brothers of the lodge.
Cantata "Sehen, wie dem starren Forschcrauge." E major, (K.471)
Adagio and Fugue in C minor for string orchestra, (K.546)
Adagio and Rondo in C minor for flute, oboe, viola, cello and glass harmonica, (K.617)
Little Cantata “Laut verkünde unsre Freude” (K.623), and others.
The opera “The Magic Flute” (1791), the libretto for which was written by the freemason Emmanuel Schikaneder, is most saturated with the views, ideas and symbols of Freemasonry.

According to journalists A. Rybalka and A. Sinelnikov, who are involved in the history of Freemasonry, the creation of the opera is due to the fact that by the time Mozart entered the Masonic lodge, Europe began to experience socio-political instability. Aggravated liberation struggle in Italy and in many areas of the Austrian Empire. In this demoralizing environment, Mozart and Schikaneder decided that their singspiel, The Magic Flute, would be a demonstration of the goodwill and loyalty of the Freemasons to the authorities. According to the same authors, in the symbolism of the opera one can discern: a benevolent allusion to Empress Maria Theresa (the image of the Queen of the Night), Emperor Joseph II (Prince Tamino), Ignaz von Born, the famous ideologist of the Austrian Freemasons (priest Sarastro), the image of the good and glorious Austrian people (Papageno and Papagena).

The symbolism of the opera clearly shows a declaration of basic Masonic principles. The trinities characteristic of Masonic philosophy permeate the action in all directions: three fairies, three boys, three geniuses, etc. The action opens with three fairies killing a snake - the personification of evil. Both in the first and second acts of the opera there are clear echoes of Masonic symbols denoting: life and death, thought and action. Woven into the development of the opera plot are crowd scenes, literally demonstrating Masonic rituals.

The central image of the opera is the priest Sarastro, whose philosophical declarations contain the most important Masonic triads: Strength, Knowledge, Wisdom, Love, Joy, Nature. As T. N. Livanova writes,

“...the victory of the wise Sarastro over the world of the Queen of the Night has a moral, instructive, allegorical meaning. Mozart even brought the episodes associated with his image closer to the musical style of his Masonic songs and choirs. But to see in all the fantasy of The Magic Flute primarily a Masonic sermon means not to understand the diversity of Mozart’s art, his immediate sincerity, his wit, alien to any didactics.”

In musical terms, as T. N. Livanova notes, “in the duet and choirs of the priests from the first act, there is a noticeable close resemblance to the simple and rather strict hymn-everyday character of Mozart’s Masonic songs, their typical diatonicism, and chord polyphony.”

The main key of the orchestral overture is the key of E flat major, which has three flats in the key and characterizes virtue, nobility and peace. This tonality was often used by Mozart in Masonic compositions, in later symphonies, and in chamber music. In addition, three chords are persistently repeated in the overture, which again recalls Masonic symbolism.

There are also other points of view on the relationship between Mozart and Freemasonry. In 1861, a book was published by the German poet G. F. Daumer, a proponent of the Masonic conspiracy theory, who believed that the portrayal of the Freemasons in The Magic Flute was a caricature.

Works

Operas

• “The Duty of the First Commandment” (Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes), 1767. Theater oratorio
• “Apollo and Hyacinthus” (Apollo et Hyacinthus), 1767 - student musical drama based on Latin text
• “Bastien and Bastienne” (Bastien und Bastienne), 1768. Another student piece, Singspiel. German version of the famous comic opera J.-J.-Rousseau - “The Village Sorcerer”
• “The Feigned Simpleton” (La finta semplice), 1768 - an exercise in the opera buffa genre with a libretto by Goldoni
• “Mithridates, King of Pontus” (Mitridate, re di Ponto), 1770 - in the tradition of Italian opera seria, based on Racine’s tragedy
• “Ascanio in Alba” (Ascanio in Alba), 1771. Serenade opera (pastoral)
• Betulia Liberata, 1771 - oratorio. Based on the story of Judith and Holofernes
• “Scipio’s Dream” (Il sogno di Scipione), 1772. Serenade opera (pastoral)
• "Lucio Silla", 1772. Opera seria
• “Thamos, King of Egypt” (Thamos, König in Ägypten), 1773, 1775. Music for Gebler’s drama
• “The Imaginary Gardener” (La finta giardiniera), 1774-5 - again a return to the traditions of opera buffe
• “The Shepherd King” (Il Re Pastore), 1775. Serenade opera (pastoral)
• “Zaide”, 1779 (reconstructed by H. Chernovin, 2006)
• “Idomeneo, King of Crete” (Idomeneo), 1781
• “The Abduction from the Seraglio” (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), 1782. Singspiel
• “The Cairo Goose” (L’oca del Cairo), 1783
• "The Deceived Spouse" (Lo sposo deluso)
• “The Theater Director” (Der Schauspieldirektor), 1786. Musical comedy
• “The Marriage of Figaro” (Le nozze di Figaro), 1786. The first of 3 great operas. In the opera buffe genre.
• Don Giovanni, 1787
• “Everyone does this” (Così fan tutte), 1789
• "The Mercy of Tito" (La clemenza di Tito), 1791
• "The Magic Flute" (Die Zauberflöte), 1791. Singspiel

Other works

• 17 masses, including:
• "Coronation" C major, K.317 (1779)
• "Great Mass" in C minor, K.427/417a (1782)
• "Requiem" in D minor, K.626 (1791)
• Mozart's manuscript. Dies irae from Requiem
• More than 50 symphonies[k. 12], including:
• No. 21 A major, K.134 (1772)
• No. 22 in C major, K.162 (1773)
• No. 24 B-flat major, K.182/173dA (1773)
• No. 25 G minor, K.183/173dB (1773)
• No. 27 G major, K.199/161b (1773)
• No. 31 “Parisian” in D major, K.297/300a (1778)
• No. 34 in C major, K.338 (1780)
• No. 35 "Haffner" in De major, K.385 (1782)
• No. 36 “Linzskaya” C major, K.425 (1783)
• No. 38 “Prague” D major, K.504(1786)
• No. 39 E-flat major, K.543 (1788)
• No. 40 G minor, K.550 (1788)
• No. 41 “Jupiter” in C major, K.551 (1788)
• 27 concertos for piano and orchestra, including:
• Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K.466 (1785)
• concerts for two and three pianos and orchestra
• 6 concertos for violin and orchestra
• Concerto for two violins and orchestra in C major, K.190/186E (1774)
• Symphony Concertante for violin and viola and orchestra in E-flat major, K.364/320d (1779)
• 2 concertos for flute and orchestra (1778)
• No. 1 G major, K.313/285c
• No. 2 D major, K.314/285d
• Concerto for flute and harp and orchestra in C major, K.299/297c (1778)
• Concerto for oboe and orchestra in C major K.314/271k (1777)
• Concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A major K.622 (1791)
• Concerto for bassoon and orchestra in B-flat major, K.191/186e (1774)
• 4 concertos for horn and orchestra:
• No. 1 in D major K.412/386b (1791)
• No. 2 E-flat major K.417 (1783)
• No. 3 E-flat major K.447 (1787)
• No. 4 E-flat major K.495 (1787)
• 10 serenades for string orchestra, including:
• Serenade No. 6 “Serenata notturna” in D major, K.239 (1776)
• Serenade No. 13 “Little Night Serenade” in G major, K.525 (1787)
• 7 divertimentos for orchestra
• Various wind instrument ensembles
• Sonatas for various instruments, trios, duets
• 19 piano sonatas, including:
• Sonata No. 10 in C major, K.330/300h (1783)
• Sonata No. 11 “Alla Turca” in A major, K.331/300i (1783)
• Sonata No. 12 in F major, K.332/300k (1778)
• Sonata No. 13 in B flat major, K.333/315c (1783)
• Sonata No. 14 in C minor, K.457 (1784)
• Sonata No. 15 in F major, K.533/494 (1786, 1788)
• Sonata No. 16 in C major, K.545 (1788)
• 15 cycles of variations for piano, including:
• 10 variations on the theme of the arietta “Unser dummer Pöbel meint”, K.455 (1784)
• Rondo, fantasies, plays, including:
• Fantasia No. 3 in D minor, K.397/385g (1782)
• Fantasia No. 4 in C minor, K.475 (1785)
• More than 50 arias
• Ensembles, choirs, songs, canons

Works about Mozart

The drama of Mozart's life and work, as well as the mystery of his death, have become a fruitful topic for artists of all types of arts. Mozart became the hero of numerous works of literature, drama and cinema. It is impossible to list them all - below are the most famous of them:

Dramas. Plays. Books.

• 1830 - “Little tragedies. Mozart and Salieri." - A. S. Pushkin, drama
• 1855 - “Mozart on the way to Prague.” - Eduard Mörike, story
• 1967 - “The Sublime and the Earthly.” - Weiss, David, novel
• 1970 - “The Murder of Mozart.” - Weiss, David, novel
• 1979 - “Amadeus”. - Peter Schaeffer, play.
• 1991 - “Mozart: the sociology of one genius” - Norbert Elias, a sociological study about the life and work of Mozart in the conditions of his contemporary society. Original title: “Mozart. Zur Sociologie eines Genies"
• 2002 - “Several meetings with the late Mr. Mozart.” - E. Radzinsky, historical essay.
• A highly praised book about the composer was written by G. V. Chicherin
• "Old Chef" - K. G. Paustovsky

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg - died December 5, 1791 in Vienna. Baptized as Johann Chrysostomos Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart. Austrian composer and virtuoso performer.

Mozart showed his phenomenal abilities at the age of four. He is one of the most popular classical composers, having a profound influence on subsequent Western musical culture. According to contemporaries, Mozart had a phenomenal ear for music, memory and the ability to improvise.

Mozart's uniqueness lies in the fact that he worked in all musical forms of his time and composed more than 600 works, many of which are recognized as the pinnacle of symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral music.

Along with Beethoven, he belongs to the most significant representatives of the Vienna Classical School. The circumstances of Mozart's controversial life, as well as his early death, have been the subject of much speculation and controversy, which have become the basis of numerous myths.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, then the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, in a house at Getreidegasse 9.

His father Leopold Mozart was a violinist and composer in the court chapel of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Sigismund von Strattenbach.

Mother - Anna Maria Mozart (née Pertl), daughter of the commissioner-trustee of the almshouse in St. Gilgen.

Both were considered the most beautiful married couple in Salzburg, and the surviving portraits confirm this. Of the seven children from the Mozart marriage, only two survived: daughter Maria Anna, whom friends and relatives called Nannerl, and son Wolfgang. 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.

On the second day after his birth, Wolfgang was baptized in the Salzburg Cathedral of St. Rupert. The entry in the baptism book gives his name in Latin as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart. In these names, the first two words are the name of St. John Chrysostom, which is not used in everyday life, and the fourth varied during Mozart’s lifetime: lat. Amadeus, German Gottlieb, Italian. Amadeo, meaning “beloved of God.” Mozart himself preferred to be called Wolfgang.

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 only about three years old: he sat down at the instrument and could have fun with the selection of harmonies for a long time. In addition, he remembered individual passages of musical pieces that he heard and could play them on the harpsichord. This made a great impression on his father, Leopold.

At the age of 4, his father began to learn small pieces and minuets with him on the harpsichord. Almost immediately Wolfgang learned to play them well. He soon developed a desire for independent creativity: already at the age of five he was composing small plays, which his father wrote down on paper. Wolfgang's very first compositions were Andante in C major and Allegro in C major for clavier, which were composed between the end of January and April 1761.

In January 1762, Leopold took his children on their first trial concert trip to Munich, leaving his wife at home. Wolfgang was only six years old at the time of the trip. All that is known about this journey is that it lasted three weeks, and the children performed before the Elector of Bavaria, Maximilian III.

On October 13, 1763, the Mozarts went to Schönbrunn, where the summer residence of the imperial court was then located.

The Empress gave the Mozarts a warm and polite reception. At the concert, which lasted several hours, Wolfgang flawlessly played a wide variety of music: from his own improvisations to works given to him by Maria Theresa’s court composer, Georg Wagenseil.

Emperor Franz I, wanting to see firsthand the child’s talent, asked him to demonstrate all sorts of performing tricks when playing: from playing with one finger to playing on a keyboard covered with fabric. Wolfgang easily coped with such tests, in addition, together with his sister, he played a variety of pieces with four hands.

The Empress was fascinated by the little virtuoso's performance. After the game was over, she sat Wolfgang on her lap and even allowed him to kiss her on the cheek. At the end of the audience, the Mozarts were offered refreshments and the opportunity to tour the palace.

There is a well-known historical anecdote associated with this concert: supposedly, when Wolfgang was playing with the children of Maria Theresa, the little archduchesses, he slipped on the polished floor and fell. Archduchess Marie Antoinette, the future queen of France, helped him rise. Wolfgang allegedly jumped up to her and said: “You are nice, I want to marry you when I grow up.” The Mozarts visited Schönbrunn twice. So that the children could appear there in more beautiful clothes than what they had, the Empress gave the Mozarts two costumes - for Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl.

The arrival of the little virtuoso created a real sensation, thanks to which the Mozarts received daily invitations to receptions in the houses of the nobility and aristocracy. Leopold did not want to refuse the invitations of these high-ranking persons, since he saw them as potential patrons of his son. The performances, which sometimes lasted for several hours, greatly exhausted Wolfgang.

On November 18, 1763, the Mozarts arrived in Paris. The fame of child virtuosos spread quickly, and, thanks to this, the desire of noble people to listen to Wolfgang play was great.

Paris made a great impression on the Mozarts. In January, Wolfgang 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.

The concerts given by the Mozarts caused great excitement. Thanks to a letter of recommendation received in Frankfurt, Leopold and his family were taken under the patronage of the well-connected German encyclopedist and diplomat, Friedrich Melchior von Grimm. It was thanks to Grimm's efforts that the Mozarts were invited to perform at the king's court in Versailles.

On December 24, Christmas Eve, they arrived at the palace and spent two weeks there, giving concerts in front of the king and the marquise. On New Year's Day, the Mozarts were even allowed to attend the gala feast, which was considered a special honor - they had to stand at the table, next to the king and queen.

In Paris, Wolfgang and Nannerl reached amazing heights in performing skills - Nannerl was equal to the leading Parisian virtuosos, and Wolfgang, in addition to his phenomenal abilities as a pianist, violinist and organist, amazed the public with the art of impromptu accompaniment to a vocal aria, improvisation and sight-playing. In April, after two big concerts, Leopold decided to continue his journey and visit London. Due to the fact that the Mozarts gave many concerts in Paris, they made good money, in addition, they were given various precious gifts - enamel snuff boxes, watches, jewelry and other trinkets.

On April 10, 1764, the Mozart family left Paris and went through the Pas-de-Calais Strait to Dover on a ship they had specially hired. They arrived in London on April 23, and stayed there for fifteen months.

His stay in England further influenced Wolfgang's musical education: he met outstanding London composers - Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of the great Johann Sebastian Bach, and Carl Friedrich Abel.

Johann Christian Bach became friends with Wolfgang despite the large age difference, and began to give him lessons that had a huge influence on the latter: Wolfgang's style became freer and more elegant. He showed sincere tenderness to Wolfgang, spending whole hours at the instrument with him, and playing together with him four hands. Here, in London, Wolfgang met the famous Italian opera singer-castrato Giovanni Manzuoli, who even began to give the boy singing lessons. Already on April 27, the Mozarts managed to perform at the court of King George III, where the whole family was warmly received by the monarch. At another performance on May 19, Wolfgang amazed the audience by playing from the sheets of pieces by J. H. Bach, G. K. Wagenseil, C. F. Abel and G. F. Handel.

Soon after returning from England, Wolfgang, already as a composer, was attracted to composing music: for the anniversary of the consecration of Prince-Archbishop S. von Strattenbach of Salzburg, Wolfgang composed praise music (“A Berenice... Sol nascente”, also known as “Licenza” ) in honor of his ruler. The performance, dedicated directly to the celebration, took place on December 21, 1766. In addition, for the needs of the court at different times, various now-lost marches, minuets, divertissements, trios, fanfares for trumpets and timpani, and other “opportunistic works” were also composed.

In the fall of 1767, the marriage of the daughter of Empress Maria Theresa, the young Archduchess Maria Josepha, with the King of Naples Ferdinand was supposed to take place. This event became the reason for the Mozarts' next tour to Vienna.

Leopold hoped that the valiant guests gathered in the capital would be able to appreciate the play of his child prodigies. However, upon arrival in Vienna, Mozart was immediately unlucky: the Archduchess fell ill with smallpox and died on October 16. Due to the confusion and confusion that reigned in court circles, not a single opportunity arose to speak. The Mozarts thought about leaving the epidemic-stricken city, but they were held back by the hope that, despite the mourning, they would be invited to the court. In the end, protecting the children from the disease, Leopold and his family fled to Olomouc, but first Wolfgang and then Nannerl managed to become infected and became so seriously ill that Wolfgang lost his sight for nine days. Returning to Vienna on January 10, 1768, when the children recovered, the Mozarts, without expecting it themselves, received an invitation from the empress to the court.

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 1771, in Milan, again with the opposition of theater impresarios, Mozart’s opera “Mithridates, King of Pontus” was staged, which was received by the public with great enthusiasm. His second opera, Lucius Sulla, was given the same success. For Salzburg, Mozart wrote “The Dream of Scipio” on the occasion of the election of a new archbishop, for Munich - the opera “La bella finta Giardiniera”, 2 masses, offertory.

When Mozart was 17 years old, his works already included 4 operas, several spiritual works, 13 symphonies, 24 sonatas, not to mention a host of smaller compositions.

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 this opera, traces of the old Italian opera seria are still visible (a large number of coloratura arias, the part of Idamante, written for a castrato), but a new trend is felt in the recitatives and especially in the choruses. A big step forward is also noticeable in the instrumentation. During his stay in Munich, Mozart wrote the offertory “Misericordias Domini” for the Munich chapel - one of the best examples of church music of the late 18th century.

At the end of July 1781, Mozart began writing the opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio” (German: Die Entführung aus dem Serail), which premiered on July 16, 1782.

The opera was enthusiastically received in Vienna, and soon became widespread throughout Germany. However, despite the success of the opera, Mozart's authority as a composer in Vienna was quite low. The Viennese knew almost nothing of his writings. Even the success of the opera Idomeneo did not spread beyond Munich.

In an effort to obtain a position at court, Mozart hoped, with the help of his former patron in Salzburg - the emperor's younger brother, Archduke Maximilian, to become a music teacher for Princess Elisabeth of Württemberg, whose education Joseph II took upon himself. The Archduke warmly recommended Mozart to the princess, but the emperor appointed Antonio Salieri to this post as the best singing teacher.

“For him, no one exists except Salieri!” Mozart wrote to his father in disappointment on December 15, 1781.

Meanwhile, it was completely natural that the emperor preferred Salieri, whom he valued primarily as a vocal composer.

On December 15, 1781, Mozart wrote a letter to his father in which he confessed his love for Constance Weber and announced that he was going to marry her. However, Leopold knew more than what was written in the letter, namely that Wolfgang had to give a written commitment to marry Constance within three years, otherwise he would pay 300 florins annually in her favor.

The main role in the story with a written commitment was played by the guardian of Constance and her sisters, Johann Torwart, a court official who enjoyed authority with Count Rosenberg. Thorwart asked his mother to forbid Mozart to communicate with Constance until “this matter is completed in writing.”

Due to a highly developed sense of honor, Mozart could not leave his beloved and signed a statement. However, later, when the guardian left, Constance demanded a commitment from her mother, saying: “Dear Mozart! I don’t need any written commitments from you, I already believe your words,” she tore up the statement. This act of Constance made her even dearer to Mozart. Despite such imaginary nobility of Constance, researchers have no doubt that all these marriage disputes, including the breaking of the contract, are nothing more than a well-performed performance by the Webers, the purpose of which was to organize a rapprochement between Mozart and Constance.

Despite his son's numerous letters, Leopold was adamant. In addition, he believed, not without reason, that Frau Weber was playing an “ugly game” with his son - she wanted to use Wolfgang as a wallet, because just at that time enormous prospects were opening up for him: he wrote “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, carried out many concerts by subscription and every now and then received orders for various compositions from the Viennese nobility. In great confusion, Wolfgang appealed to his sister for help, trusting in her good old friendship. At Wolfgang's request, Constance wrote letters to his sister and sent various gifts.

Despite the fact that Maria Anna accepted these gifts in a friendly manner, the father persisted. Without hopes for a secure future, a wedding seemed impossible to him.

Meanwhile, the gossip became increasingly unbearable: on July 27, 1782, Mozart wrote to his father in complete despair that most people took him for already married and that Frau Weber was extremely outraged by this and tortured him and Constance to death.

Mozart's patron, Baroness von Waldstedten, came to the aid of Mozart and his lover. She invited Constance to move into her apartment in Leopoldstadt (house no. 360), to which Constance readily agreed. Because of this, Frau Weber was now angry and intended to eventually force her daughter back to her home. To preserve Constance's honor, Mozart had to marry her as soon as possible. In the same letter, he most persistently begged his father for permission to marry, repeating his request a few days later. However, the desired consent was not forthcoming again. At this time, Mozart vowed to write a mass if he successfully married Constance.

Finally, on August 4, 1782, the betrothal took place in Vienna's St. Stephen's Cathedral, attended only by Frau Weber and her youngest daughter Sophie, Herr von Thorwarth as guardian and witness for both, Herr von Zetto as witness for the bride, and Franz Xaver Gilowski as witness. Mozart. The wedding feast was hosted by the Baroness, and a serenade was played for thirteen instruments. Only a day later did the father’s long-awaited consent come.

During their marriage, the Mozart couple had 6 children., of which only two survived:

Raymond Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)
Carl Thomas (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)
Johann Thomas Leopold (October 18 – November 15, 1786)
Theresa Constance Adelaide Frederica Marianna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788)
Anna Maria (died shortly after birth, December 25, 1789)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844).

At the zenith of his fame, Mozart received huge fees for his academies and the publication of his works, and he taught many students.

In September 1784, the composer's family moved into a luxurious apartment at Grosse Schulerstrasse 846 (now Domgasse 5) with an annual rent of 460 florins. At this time, Mozart wrote the best of his works. The income allowed Mozart to keep servants at home: a hairdresser, a maid and a cook; he bought a piano from the Viennese master Anton Walter for 900 florins and a billiard table for 300 florins.

In 1783, Mozart met famous composer Joseph Haydn, a cordial friendship soon develops between them. Mozart even dedicated his collection of 6 quartets, written in 1783-1785, to Haydn. These quartets, so daring and new for their time, caused bewilderment and controversy among Viennese lovers, but Haydn, aware of the genius of the quartets, accepted the gift with the greatest respect. Other things also belong to this period an important event in Mozart’s life: on December 14, 1784, he joined the Masonic lodge “To Charity”.

Mozart received an order from the emperor for a new opera. For help in writing the libretto, Mozart turned to a familiar librettist, the court poet Lorenzo da Ponte, whom he met at his apartment with Baron Wetzlar back in 1783. As material for the libretto, Mozart proposed Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy “Le Mariage de Figaro” (French: “The Marriage of Figaro”). Despite the fact that Joseph II banned the production of comedy at the National Theater, Mozart and Da Ponte still got to work, and, thanks to the lack of new operas, won the situation. Mozart and da Ponte called their opera “Le nozze di Figaro” (Italian: “The Marriage of Figaro”).

Thanks to the success of Le nozze di Figaro, Mozart considered da Ponte an ideal librettist. Da Ponte suggested the play “Don Giovanni” as a plot for the libretto, and Mozart liked it. On April 7, 1787, young Beethoven arrived in Vienna. According to widespread belief, Mozart, after listening to Beethoven's improvisations, allegedly exclaimed: “He will make everyone talk about himself!”, and even took Beethoven as his student. However, there is no direct evidence of this. One way or another, Beethoven, having received a letter about his mother’s serious illness, was forced to return to Bonn, spending only two weeks in Vienna.

In the midst of work on the opera, on May 28, 1787, Leopold Mozart, the father of Wolfgang Amadeus, died. This event cast such a shadow over him that some musicologists attribute the darkness of the music from Don Giovanni to the shock Mozart experienced. The premiere of the opera Don Giovanni took place on October 29, 1787 at the Estates Theater in Prague. The success of the premiere was brilliant; the opera, in Mozart’s own words, was a “resounding success.”

The production of Don Giovanni in Vienna, which Mozart and da Ponte had been considering, was hampered by the increasing success of Salieri's new opera Aksur, King of Hormuz, which premiered on January 8, 1788. Finally, thanks to the order of Emperor Joseph II, interested in the Prague success of Don Giovanni, the opera was performed on May 7, 1788 at the Burgtheater. The Vienna premiere was a failure: the public, which had generally cooled towards Mozart’s work since the time of Figaro, could not get used to such a new and unusual work, and generally remained indifferent. Mozart received 50 ducats from the Emperor for Don Giovanni, and, according to J. Rice, during 1782-1792 this was the only time the composer received payment for an opera commissioned outside of Vienna.

Since 1787, the number of Mozart’s “academies” has sharply decreased, and in 1788 they stopped altogether - he was unable to gather a sufficient number of subscribers. “Don Juan” failed on the Vienna stage and brought almost nothing to the table. Because of this, Mozart's financial situation deteriorated sharply. Obviously, already at this time he began to accumulate debts, aggravated by the costs of treating his wife, who was ill due to frequent childbirth.

In June 1788, Mozart settled in a house at Waringergasse 135 “At Three Stars” in the Vienna suburb of Alsergrund. The new move was further evidence of dire financial problems: the rent for a house in the suburbs was significantly lower than in the city. Soon after the move, Mozart's daughter Theresia dies. From this time on, a series of numerous heartbreaking letters from Mozart began with requests for financial help to his friend and brother in the Masonic lodge, the wealthy Viennese businessman Michael Puchberg.

Despite this deplorable situation, during one and a half months of the summer of 1788, Mozart wrote three, now the most famous, symphonies: No. 39 in E-flat major (K.543), No. 40 in G minor (K.550) and No. 41 in C major (“Jupiter”, K.551). The reasons that prompted Mozart to write these symphonies are unknown.

In February 1790, Emperor Joseph II died. At first, Mozart had great hopes for the accession of Leopold II to the throne, but the new emperor was not a particular lover of music, and musicians did not have access to him.

In May 1790, Mozart wrote to his son, Archduke Franz, hoping to establish himself: “The thirst for fame, the love of activity and the confidence in my knowledge make me dare to ask for the position of second bandmaster, especially since the very skillful bandmaster Salieri has never been involved in the church style. , I have perfectly mastered this style since my youth.” However, Mozart's request was ignored, which greatly disappointed him. Mozart was ignored and during the visit to Vienna on September 14, 1790 of King Ferdinand and Queen Carolina of Naples, a concert was given under the baton of Salieri, in which the Stadler brothers and Joseph Haydn participated; Mozart was never invited to play in front of the king, which offended him.

Since January 1791, Mozart’s work experienced an unprecedented rise, which was the end of the creative decline of 1790: Mozart composed the only and last concerto for piano and orchestra (No. 27 in B-flat major, K.595) in the past three years, which dates back to 5 January, and numerous dances written by Mozart on duty as a court musician. On 12 April he wrote his last Quintet No. 6, E-flat major (K.614). In April he prepared a second edition of his Symphony No. 40 in G minor (K.550), adding clarinets to the score. Later, on April 16 and 17, this symphony was performed at charity concerts conducted by Antonio Salieri. After a failed attempt to obtain an appointment as Salieri's second Kapellmeister, Mozart took a step in a different direction: in early May 1791, he sent a petition to the Vienna city magistrate asking him to be appointed to the unpaid position of assistant Kapellmeister of St. Stephen's Cathedral. The request was granted, and Mozart received this position. She gave him the right to become a bandmaster after the death of the seriously ill Leopold Hofmann. Hofmann, however, outlived Mozart.

In March 1791, Mozart’s old acquaintance from Salzburg, theater actor and impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who was then the director of the Auf der Wieden theater, turned to him with a request to save his theater from decline and write for him a German “opera for the people” on a fairy-tale plot.

Presented in September 1791 in Prague, on the occasion of the coronation of Leopold II as the Czech king, the opera La Clemenza di Titus was received coldly. The Magic Flute, staged in the same month in Vienna at a suburban theater, on the contrary, was a success such as Mozart had not seen in the Austrian capital for many years. This fairy tale opera occupies a special place in Mozart’s extensive and varied work.

Mozart, like most of his contemporaries, paid a lot of attention to sacred music, but he left few great examples in this area: except for “Misericordias Domini” - “Ave verum corpus” (KV 618, 1791), written in a completely uncharacteristic style. Mozart style, and the majestic and sorrowful Requiem (KV 626), on which Mozart worked in the last months of his life.

The history of writing “Requiem” is interesting. In July 1791, Mozart was visited by a mysterious stranger in gray and ordered him a “Requiem” (funeral mass). As the composer's biographers established, this was a messenger from Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, a music-playing amateur who loved to perform other people's works in his palace with the help of his chapel, buying authorship from composers; With the requiem he wanted to honor the memory of his late wife. The work on the unfinished Requiem, stunning for its mournful lyricism and tragic expressiveness, was completed by his student Franz Xaver Süssmayer, who had previously taken some part in composing the opera La Clemenza di Titus.

In connection with the premiere of the opera La Clemenza di Titus, Mozart arrived in Prague already ill, and from then on his condition worsened. Even during the completion of The Magic Flute, Mozart began to faint and became very discouraged. As soon as The Magic Flute was performed, Mozart enthusiastically began working on the Requiem. This work occupied him so much that he even intended not to accept any more students until the Requiem was completed. Upon returning from Baden, Constance did everything to keep him from working; In the end, she took the score of the Requiem from her husband and called the best doctor in Vienna, Dr. Nikolaus Klosse.

Indeed, thanks to this, Mozart's condition improved so much that he was able to complete his Masonic cantata on November 15 and conduct its performance. He told Constance to return the Requiem to him and worked on it further. However, the improvement did not last long: on November 20, Mozart fell ill. He began to feel weak, his arms and legs became so swollen that he could not walk, followed by sudden bouts of vomiting. In addition, his hearing became more acute, and he ordered the cage with his favorite canary to be removed from the room - he could not stand its singing.

On November 28, Mozart’s condition deteriorated so much that Klosse invited Dr. M. von Sallab, at that time the chief physician of the Vienna General Hospital, to a consultation. During the two weeks Mozart spent in bed, he was cared for by his sister-in-law Sophie Weber (later Heibl), who left behind numerous memories of Mozart's life and death. She noticed that Mozart was gradually weakening every day, and his condition was aggravated by unnecessary bloodletting, which were the most common means of medicine at that time, and were also used by doctors Klosse and Sallaba.

Klosse and Sallaba diagnosed Mozart with “acute millet fever” (this diagnosis was also indicated on the death certificate).

According to modern researchers, it is no longer possible to more accurately establish the causes of the composer’s death. W. Stafford compares Mozart's medical history to an inverted pyramid: tons of secondary literature are piled up on a very small amount of documentary evidence. At the same time, the volume of reliable information over the past hundred years has not increased, but decreased: over the years, scientists have become increasingly critical of the testimony of Constance, Sophie and other eyewitnesses, discovering many contradictions in their testimony.

On December 4, Mozart's condition became critical. He became so sensitive to touch that he could barely tolerate his nightgown. A stench emanated from the body of the still living Mozart, which made it difficult to be in the same room with him. Many years later, Mozart's eldest son Karl, who was seven at the time, recalled how he, standing in the corner of the room, looked in horror at the swollen body of his father lying in bed. According to Sophie, Mozart felt the approach of death and even asked Constance to inform I. Albrechtsberger about his death before others found out about it, so that he could take his place in St. Stephen's Cathedral: he always considered Albrechtsberger a born organist and believed that the position of assistant the bandmaster should rightfully be his. That same evening, the priest of St. Peter's Church was invited to the patient's bedside.

Late in the evening they sent for a doctor, Klosse ordered a cold compress to be applied to his head. This had such an effect on the dying Mozart that he lost consciousness. From that moment on, Mozart lay prone, wandering randomly. At about midnight he sat up in bed and stared motionlessly into space, then leaned against the wall and dozed off. After midnight, five minutes to one, that is, already December 5, death occurred.

Already at night, Baron van Swieten appeared at Mozart’s house and, trying to console the widow, ordered her to move in with friends for a few days. At the same time, he gave her urgent advice to arrange the burial as simply as possible: indeed, the last debt to the deceased was paid in third class, which cost 8 florins 36 kreuzers and another 3 florins for the hearse. Soon after van Swieten, Count Deim arrived and removed Mozart's death mask. “To dress the master,” Diner was called early in the morning. People from the funeral fraternity, covering the body with black cloth, carried it on a stretcher to the workroom and placed it next to the piano. During the day, many of Mozart’s friends came there, wanting to express condolences and see the composer again.

The controversy surrounding the circumstances of Mozart's death continues to this day., despite the fact that more than 220 years have passed since the composer’s death. A huge number of versions and legends are associated with his death, among which the legend of the poisoning of Mozart by the most famous composer of that time, Antonio Salieri, became especially widespread, thanks to the “little tragedy” of A. S. Pushkin. Scientists studying Mozart's death are divided into two camps: supporters of violent and natural death. However, the vast majority of scientists believe that Mozart died naturally, and any versions of poisoning, especially the version of Salieri’s poisoning, are unprovable or simply erroneous.

On December 6, 1791, at about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Mozart's body was brought to St. Stephen's Cathedral. Here, in the Cross Chapel adjacent to the north side of the cathedral, a modest religious ceremony was held, attended by Mozart's friends van Swieten, Salieri, Albrechtsberger, Süssmayer, Diner, Rosner, cellist Orsler and others. The hearse went to St. Mark's cemetery, in accordance with the regulations of that time, after six o'clock in the evening, that is, already in the dark, without accompanying persons. The date of Mozart's burial is controversial: sources indicate December 6, when the coffin with his body was sent to the cemetery, but regulations prohibited burying the dead earlier than 48 hours after death.

Contrary to popular belief, Mozart was not buried in a linen bag in a mass grave with the poor, as shown in the film Amadeus. His funeral took place according to the third category, which included burial in a coffin, but in a common grave along with 5-6 other coffins. There was nothing unusual about Mozart's funeral for that time. This was not a "beggar's funeral." Only very rich people and members of the nobility could be buried in a separate grave with a tombstone or monument. Beethoven's impressive (albeit second-class) funeral in 1827 took place in a different era and, moreover, reflected the sharply increased social status of the musicians.

For the Viennese, Mozart’s death passed almost unnoticed, but in Prague, with a large crowd of people (about 4,000 people), in memory of Mozart, 9 days after his death, 120 musicians performed with special additions Antonio Rosetti’s “Requiem,” written back in 1776.

The exact place of Mozart’s burial is not known for certain: in his time, graves remained unmarked, and tombstones were allowed to be placed not at the burial site itself, but near the cemetery wall. Mozart's grave was visited for many years by the wife of his friend Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, who took her son with her. He precisely remembered the composer’s burial place and, when, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Mozart’s death, they began to look for his burial, he was able to show it. One simple tailor planted a willow tree on the grave, and then, in 1859, a monument was built there according to the design of von Gasser - the famous Weeping Angel.

In connection with the centenary of the composer’s death, the monument was moved to the “musical corner” of the Vienna Central Cemetery, which again raised the risk of losing the real grave. Then the overseer of St. Mark's cemetery, Alexander Kruger, built a small monument from various remains of previous tombstones. Currently, the Weeping Angel has been returned to its original place.

Perhaps the world would not have known about Amadeus Mozart if his father Leopold had not been a musician and had not recognized the boy’s talent in time. However, according to most, Mozart would not have been what he became if not for the special connection between him and God. Amadeus did not just write divine reproductions, he created his own unique style, which does not bear the imprint of time.

"The Marriage of Figaro" - the pinnacle of operatic works

Among Mozart's musical works, the most popular are operas, both classical and comic. Throughout his life, Amadeus produced more than 20 operas, including such gems as “Don Giovanni”, “The Magic Flute”, “The School for Lovers”, “The Abduction from the Seraglio” and, of course, “The Marriage of Figaro”.

Amadeus did not want to have a permanent job, so he could take part in any project that interested him at any time. Thanks to this system, most of Mozart’s works appeared.

Mozart composed the music for “The Marriage of Figaro” for 5 months, starting in December 1785. The opera premiered on May 1, 1786 in Vienna, despite the fact that many did not want it. Salieri and many of Count Rosenberg's court theater realized from rehearsals that The Marriage of Figard was a masterpiece of a higher level of art. They tried in every possible way to delay the premiere, fearing that after it they would lose their own authority.

The premiere really brought victory to Mozart, despite the fact that “The Marriage of Figaro” was banned for some time due to. Over the past 2 centuries, this victory has not only not faded, but has shone even more.

"Requiem" - Mozart's last work

In 1791, Mozart was anonymously contacted by a mysterious client who offered to write a requiem that would be performed by his deceased wife. At this point, Amadeus was already suffering from the then unknown and decided to accept the offer as his last order. Many believe that subconsciously Mozart wrote a requiem for his own.

Despite his musical genius, Mozart did not know how to competently manage his financial affairs, so his well-being was constantly changing: from chic and brilliance to absolute poverty.

Unfortunately, great composer Before he could finish his last work, he died without finishing it. At the request of his wife Constance, the work was completed by one of Amadeus’ students, Franz Sussmayer, and handed over to the customer. It later turned out that Mozart’s last client was Count Franz von Walseg, who loved to pass off others’ works as his own, which he did, appropriating the great composer’s posthumous masterpiece for himself.

Later, Constance was able to identify the work of her own husband and the truth triumphed. However, the “Requiem” remains unclear: it is known that most of the work was written by Mozart, but it was never possible to figure out what exactly his student added. But despite this, “Requiem” is the greatest work, one of Mozart’s most touching works.

Related article

Mozart is an Austrian composer, originally from Salzburg, one of the founders of the Viennese classical school. In addition to his performing achievements, he became an innovator and reformer of opera: he was one of the first composers to write not in Italian, but in German.

You will need

• - musical instrument;
• - basic performance skills;
• - teaching aids focused on performance on a specific instrument.

Instructions

During his short life - only 35 years - Mozart managed to leave his mark in all the genres that had formed by that time: cantatas, odes, sacred choral music, symphonies, chamber instrumental works, vocal works, etc. But the main place in his work is occupied by musical and dramatic works in his native language.

Early works Mozart characterized by lightness and cheerfulness. When compared with biographical facts, this cheerfulness becomes understandable: the Austrian child prodigy is successful, the whole of Europe applauds him, listens to his music. But failures leave their mark. Over time the music Mozart takes on a touch of tragedy, and the lyrical hero’s gaze changes from carefree to philosophically detached.

A clear answer to the question, Mozart, no, and the point is not in contradictions among the performers, but in the instrument for which the music was written. To master the intricacies of playing a specific instrument, be it piano, violin or flute, contact an experienced teacher. In any case, without his help, playing music turns into a mechanical reproduction of notes and does not convey either the spirit of the era or the mood of the composer.

Read works on how to play your instrument. In particular, the peculiarities of performing keyboard works Mozart studied by the famous teacher G. Neuhaus. He drew the attention of his students to pedaling and achieved a short, straight pedal (strictly on the downbeat and quick release). Performers of Mozart's works on other instruments turn to the masters of their field.

However, there are also common features that are important to consider when performing on any instrument. The strokes are performed according to the rules of the classical school. Thus, grace notes and other decorations begin on the strong beat (for comparison, in romantic music they are played as if off beat). Leagues combining paired notes are played with an accent on the first note and a “bounce” on the second (similar to an accent on the first syllable and a light unstressed one). Moreover, it does not matter whether the first note of the league is played on a strong beat or on a weak beat (although, as a rule, syncopation in music Mozart No).

The scale-like passages, demonstrating the virtuosity and fluency of the performer, are worthy of special attention. Learn them at a slow pace, making sure that the durations and dynamics are even. Despite the complexity, the effect of their performance should be the same as the music Mozart- light, airy, as if you are making no effort.

Music Mozart replete with textbook moves: golden sequences, golden horn moves, etc. Emphasize them, making them prominent, but do not block the melody with them.

Sources:

• Music archive of Boris Tarakanov in 2019

Nature endowed the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with phenomenal musical talent. In a short life, with early childhood filled with performances at concerts, the brilliant musician created a lot of works of different genres.

Instructions

Musical world Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is presented to listeners from different sides: it contains inaccessible secrets and the surrounding reality is very clearly felt, it takes you into space and exists inseparably from a person.

Mozart inherited his talent as a musician from his father, a court violinist and composer, under whose skillful leadership he developed musical abilities children. The boy's genius manifested itself already at the age of four: he rapidly mastered the art of playing several musical instruments, even composed music. During his father’s tours, the performances of his sister, a keyboard player, and his brother, a singer, musician, conductor and improviser, aroused great delight among the public.