Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Mozart Year 2006
On January 27, 2006, it is the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart, born in Salzburg, Austria. Mozart is widely
regarded as one of history's greatest classical composers.
Mozart was born on January 27, 2006. His parents, Leopold and
Anna Maria Pertl Mozartis, gave him the name Johann Chrysostom
Wolfgang Theophilus. The first two were saint's names and not
commonly used at the time in daily life. Theophilus translates
as Amadeus (Latin) and Gottlieb (German). Mozart preferred to
use both Wolfgang and Amadeus and is generally known by these
two names.
Mozart is probably the most significant and enduring of
classical composers. His remarkable musical gift became apparent
when he was about three years old. At the age of four he could
play the keyboard with total confidence and composed his first
pieces at five.
His father, Leopold, a composer and violinist, was one of
Europe's leading musical pedagogues. In those formative years,
Mozart received intense musical training from him, including
instruction in both the clavier and violin.
Leopold soon realised that he could earn a substantial income by
showcasing his son and the young Mozart soon gained a reputation
as a musical prodigy. During these formative years, he made
several journeys around Europe, including the Imperial Court in
Vienna.
It was at this time that Mozart met a great number of
influential musicians and acquainted himself with the works of
the great composers of the time. Of particularly importance was
Johann Christian Bach. They became friends in London, where
Bach's influence on the young Mozart became a significant and
constant inspiration.
In 1767, the family returned to Vienna for five months where he
wrote a comical play for the Emperor and a spoken-dialogue opera
in German. But Mozart had problems with the other musicians,
particularly the composer Antonio Salieri, who made it very
difficult for him to produce his operas.
Mozart then left Vienna and returned to Salzburg where he was
appointed honorary Konzertmeister to Archbishop Sigismund von
Schrattenbach.
Mozart's tremendous creative output includes works that are
pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic and choral
music. Many of these are now part of the standard concert
repertory and widely recognised as masterpieces of the classical
style.
On August 4, 1782, Mozart married Constanze Weber against his
father's wishes. Although they had six children, only two
survived. But this was to be an auspicious year for Mozart's
career: his opera, "The Abduction from the Seraglio", was a
great success and he began a series of concerts where he
premiered his own piano concertos as conductor and soloist.
Having become closely acquainted with the works of Bach and
Handel led to a number of works imitating their Baroque style,
which later had a powerful influence on the fugal passages in
"The Magic Flute" and the "41st Symphony".
In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited Leopold in Salzburg,
which saw the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical
pieces: "Mass in C Minor". It was premiered in Salzburg in the
same year and is one of his best known pieces.
Mozart spent 1786 in an apartment in Vienna which may be visited
today at Domgasse 5, behind St Stephen's Cathedral. It was here
that Mozart composed "The Marriage of Figaro", followed in 1787
by one of his greatest works, "Don Giovanni".
Mozart's life was fraught with financial difficulty and illness.
Often, he received no payment for his work, and the small
amounts he did receive were quickly consumed by an extravagant
lifestyle.
The actual cause of Mozart's death is a matter of conjecture.
Dozens of theories have been proposed, including trichinosis,
mercury poisoning and rheumatic fever.
Mozart died on December 5, 1791 while he was working on his
final composition, the "Requiem". Franz Xaver S