Wolfgang amadeus mozart biography cortazar

Earlier, on 3 March, he gave the first of his own grand public academies at the Burgtheater; the programme included the concertos K with the newly composed finale K and K, arias from Lucio Silla and Idomeneo, and a free fantasy. He also performed regularly at the home of the imperial librarian Gottfried van Swieten, where Bach and Handel were staples of the repertory.

The postponement notwithstanding, the opera was a resounding success: Gluck requested an extra performance, the theatrical troupe run by Emanuel Schikaneder mounted an independent production in Septemberand performances were soon given in cities throughout German-speaking Europe, almost always to universal approval. I am not real connoisseur of music.

I judge music merely by the general principles of all the fine arts, by the principles of truth and nature. Music which affects the human heart and the human passions, which stirs joy, sorrow and in short every kind of sentiment, which is something more than ear-tickling, namely nourishment for the soul: such music has excellence in my eyes and is the undeniable product of musical genius.

Leopold accused Wolfgang of concealing his affair with Constanze and, worse, of being a dupe, while Mozart defended his honour against reproaches of improper behavior and his alleged failure to attend to his religious duties. Mozart composed new works for several of these academies, including the piano concertos KK Mozart and Constanze finally set out for Salzburg in July Raimund Leopold, who was left behind, died in their absence, on 9 August and they remained there for about three months.

Details of the visit are lacking although hints in some later letters suggest the visit may not have been entirely happy. While he was in Salzburg Mozart probably composed two duets for violin and viola for Michael Haydn, who was behindhand with a commission from the archbishop, and possibly parts of the unfinished mass in C minor, K They left Salzburg on 27 October, stopped at Linz, where Mozart composed the symphony K, and arrived back at Vienna at the end of November.

Aside from numerous private performances at the homes of the nobility, in MarchMozart gave three subscription concerts in the private hall of the Trattnerhof, the wind serenade K was performed by the clarinetist Anton Stadler, and together with the violinist Regina Strinasacchi he played the sonata K at her benefit concert on April Leopold Mozart, who visited Wolfgang in Vienna in February and March, attended at least one of the Mehlgrube concerts wrote to Nannerl:.

Everyone pays a gold sovereign or 3 ducats for these Lenten concerts. The concert was incomparable, the orchestra admirable, apart from the symphonies a soprano from the Italian theatre sang 2 arias. As you can imagine, I met many acquaintances there, all of whom came over to speak to me: but I was also introduced to some other people.

Many of these works, as well as some earlier ones, were published about this time, including the sonatas K, K and K and, in manuscript, six piano concertos. The most significant, though, were the three concertos K, and, in Septemberthe six quartets dedicated to Haydn. The initial run was a success: several items were applauded and encored at the first three performances, prompting the emperor to restrict encores at later performances to the arias only.

But letters from Leopold to Nannerl make it clear that there was considerable intrigue against the work, as does an article in the Wiener Zeitung for 11 July The public, however and this often happens to the public did not realluy know on the first day where it stood. It heard many a bravo from unbiased connoisseurs, but obstreperous louts in the uppermost storey exerted their hired lungs with all their might to deafen singers and audiences alike with the St!

And consequently opinions were divided at the end of the piece. The alleged seditious politics of the opera may be overstated. In part through his work on Figaro, Mozart had made a number of English friends and acquaintances — Nancy Storace, the first Susanna, and Michael Kelly in fact Irishthe first Don Curzio, as well as his composition pupil Thomas Attwood —and their departure from Vienna in the spring of led Mozart to consider a journey to London.

He did, however, accept an invitation to Prague, where Figaro had been a great success. He spent about four weeks there in January ; he gave a concert on 19 January, for which he composed a new symphony, K, and he directed a performance of Figaro on 22 January. It was probably about this time that the Prague impresario Pasquale Bondini commissioned him to write an opera for the following autumn.

Connoisseurs and musicians say that Prague had never yet heard the like. Herr Mozart conducted in person; when he entered the orchestra he was received with threefold cheers, which again happened when he left it. The opera is, moreover, extremely difficult to perform and every one admired the good performance given in spite of this after such a short period of study.

The unusually large attendance testifies to a unanimous approbation. He gave fewer concerts at least insofar as these are documented and genres other than concertos came to the fore in his output, including the symphony. The symphonies aside, he completed relatively few substantial works at this time, mainly dances, piano music, songs and arias.

Collaterally, there was a general decline in musical patronage, with fewer concerts and other musical opportunities than there had been earlier in the s. It is from this time that a dismal series of begging letters to his fellow freemason Michael Puchberg survives. One refers to the poor response to his string quintet subscription, another to embarrassing debts to a former landlord, and a third to dealings with a pawnbroker.

In the late spring ofpossibly in an attempt to bolster his earning, Mozart undertook a concert tour to Leizpig, Dresden and Berlin. Details of the journey are scarce. At Dresden he played chamber music privately and performed at court, while at Leipzig he reportedly improvised at the Thomaskirche organ. Almost certainly he started work on these commissions during the return journey to Vienna, although when they were published by Artaria inthey lacked a dedication.

The libretto may be original to Da Ponte although the subject is sometimes claimed to have been suggested by Joseph II. There were four further performances by mid-February and five more in the summer; the hiatus was due to the death of Joseph II on 20 February. Mozart had no official role in the coronation ceremonies but nevertheless traveled to Frankfurt in September for the festivities.

He gave a public concerto on 15 October that was a musical success but a financial failure; on the return journey he gave a concert at Mainz, heard Figaro in Mannheim, and played before the King of Naples in Munich. He reached home about 10 November. He composed the piano concerto K in January and the string quintet K in April the quintet K dates from December In the catalogue of his works that Mozart kept beginning in Februaryhe described Tito as 'ridotto a vera opera.

First given on 30 September, the opera was universally praised for its music but roundly criticized for its text. He was attended by two leading Viennese doctors, Closset and Sallaba, and his condition seemed to improve in early December. According to one account he was visited by friends on 4 December, with whom he sang through parts of the Requiem.

That evening, however, he took a turn for the worse and Closset, summoned from the theatre, applied cold compresses which sent Mozart into shock. Apparently he never regained consciousness and died at He was buried on 7 December in a common grave as was customary at the time at St Marx cemetery, outside the city walls. One legend has it that the day was stormy and snowy but contemporaneous weather reports suggest it was calm and mild.

The immediate trigger for this view of Mozart was stories about the Requiem that began circulating within weeks of his death. Because this work did not at all appeal to him, he thought, I will ask for so much that the patron will certainly leave me alone. A servant came the next day for his answer -- Mozart wrote to the unknown patron that he could not write it for less than 60 ducats and then not before 2 or 3 months.

The servant returned immediately with 30 ducats and said he would ask again in 3 months and if the mass were ready he would immediately hand over the other half of the money. So Mozart had to write it, which he did, often with tears in his eyes, constantly saying: I fear that I am writing a Requiem for myself. Or indignantly to break the shackles which indigence imposes, and dart through that obscurity too well calculated to scatter and quench the rays of genius!

To how small a number have their own country proved [a] beneficent protectress. This has formed the complaint of every age, and will continue to excite the murmurs of suffering merit, till minds of the superior class seize, by independancy of spirit, that ascendency in the scale of worldly power which gives weight and force to human movements, and which can only spring from conscious importance and dignified self-assertion.

The shade of the great Mozart, whose sublime productions have astonished and still continue to delight, all Europe, awakens these reflections - accompanies me in my progress - revives the complaints of neglected genius. This was a powerful story, one that in both its details and its broad sweep appealed to a burgeoning Romantic imagination.

It dovetailed neatly with contemporaneous sensibilities about art and artists and reinforced the impression that a relatively few well-known documents seem to give, not least the letter Mozart wrote to his father on 4 Aprilwhen he first learned that Leopold was, as it turned out, terminally ill:. And I give thanks to my God that He has given me the good fortune of finding an opportunity — you understand what I mean — of realizing that death is the key to our true happiness.

Mozart himself might say the same to us. By all accounts his domestic life was generally a happy one. She has no wit but enough sound common sense to be able to fulfill her duties as a wife and mother. And she also does her own hair every day. There I had the happiest hour of music that has ever fallen to my lot. This small man and great master twice extemporized on a pedal pianoforte, so wonderfully!

He intertwined the most difficult passages with the most lovely themes. It was no small treat for Carl to be taken to the opera. Relatively few specific payments to him, or earnings from concerts and other musical activities, are known: Joseph II gave him 50 ducats for his contest with Clementi, his subscription concerts in attracted well over patrons at 6 gulden each, his Burgtheater concert on 10 March netted gulden and his annual salary as court chamber musician, fromwas gulden.

I learnt to my cost that my pupils often dropped out for weeks at a time. So now, whether they learn or not, each of them must pay me 6 ducats. At the same time, Mozart probably had considerable day-to-day expenses. In addition to rent and food, his income had to cover substantial medical bills, child-rearing expenses and a costly wardrobe only one of the prices he paid for maintaining his standing in Viennese society, though gladly it seems.

By all accounts he was generous with his friends, sometimes lending them money. Other expenses must be taken into account too, among them transportation, books, musical instruments, music and manuscript paper, as well as any expenses he may have incurred with local music copyists. He was in debt at the time of his death but not excessively, about gulden, less than half his annual salary as court chamber musician, exclusive of his other income for composing, performing and publication.

This does not take into account a judgment of more than gulden awarded by the imperial court in November to Prince Karl Lichnowsky, who had sued Mozart for unknown reasons details of the affair are only summarily recorded in the Viennese archives. Some critics, many of them based in northern Germany where a different style prevailed well into the s, complained that his music was too complicated or too extravagant and sometimes lacking in feeling.

Herr Weber has frequently remarked in the theatre that, if the fourth in a minor key is unexpectedly heard with the minor third and seventh, or inverted with the augmented sixth, this harmony excited a great sensation, but failed to please most of the listeners on being often repeated, and lost all its effect. For many of the reasons just mentioned, half the beauties of the admirably worked quartet at the end of the second act, for example, go for nothing.

This quartet is a veritable masterpiece for the connoisseur, but how few will feel the value of the art that went to its making! The singer is not given time to breathe, to give new strength to his voice, and it becomes dull and lame. One fine idea jostles the next and removes it from the listener's admiration. Forgive this simile from the cookery book.

However, these voices were the minority. He is not content with light, pleasing melodies written wolfgang amadeus mozart biography cortazar at random. His music is carefully planned, profoundly felt. It is what was to be expected of Mozart: great and beautiful, full of new ideas and unexpected turns, full of art, fire and genius. Now we are enchanted by beautiful, charming song; now we are made to smile at subtle, comic wit and fancy, now we admire the naturally conceived and superbly executed planning; now the magnificence and greatness of Art takes us by surprise.

Where all this is united, it is bound to make its effect and to satisfy the sensitive hearer as well as the experienced and practised expert. Mozart is gifted with the happy genius that can blend art with nature and song with grace. Again he ventures on impetuous and fiery sallies, and how bold are his harmonies! In this opera, too, he shows that he possesses a true talent for the comic-dramatic style, just as his pianoforte things, because they suit the instrument, are acknowledged and admired as masterpieces by the German public and by foreign nations.

He was not a victim of his father, an unappreciative archbishop or a fickle Viennese public. Nor was he unhappy in his domestic life, disengaged from the world around him or in chronic financial crisis. In many respects his was a life like many other exemplary lives, in the end and on the whole a successful negotiation — both professionally and personally — of the complex eighteenth-century world.

Within days of his death on 5 Decemberobituaries appeared in newspapers across Europe, something that had not been the case with any previous composer. Who rests here, As a child swelled the world's wonders with the strings of his lyre; As a man, he surpassed Orpheus himself. The New Grove Mozart London,1. For readers who prefer to have a paper version, you can download the PDF version of this Biography by clicking on the link below: Mozart Biography Child prodigy, composer, virtuoso performer.

The fountain was removed in original: Salzburg Museum As far as is known, Leopold was entirely responsible for the education of his children, which included not only music, but also mathematics, reading, writing, literature, languages, dancing and moral and religious training. Almost certainly, though, much of it was written for family and friends, for dances or for special occasions such as weddings and namedays, as several entries from the diary of the family friend Johann Baptist Joseph Joachim Ferdinand von Schiedenhofen show: 18 February In the evening I again went to the ball, where there were masqueraders.

K 22 August I went. Nevertheless, matters came to a boiling point in the summer of and in August Mozart wrote a petition asking the archbishop for release from his employment: Your Serene Highness most worthy Prince of the Holy Roman Empire, most gracious Ruler and Lord! I thank Your Serene Highness in the profoundest devotion for all high favours received, and with the most flattering hope that I may serve Your Serene Highness with greater success in the years of my manhood, I commend myself to your continuing grace and favour as Your Serene Highness's my most gracious Sovereign Prince and Lord's most humble and obedient Wolfgang Amade Mozart.

The period Septemberfor which Mozart wrote most of the entries, referring to himself in the third person, is typical: 16th. Fine weather in the morning. In August he married Constanze Weber. The Mozarts' marriage seemed to be a happy one. Constanze was easy-going, free-spending and usually pregnant. Only two of their six children survived.

Post-marriage, some of Mozart's best started to appear -the Haffner and Linz symphonies and five string quartets, for example. Between andhe composed nine piano concertos and three of these concurrently with The Marriage of Figaro. The year saw the premiere of Mozart's second opera, Don Giovanni. Mozart passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna.

The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed by the archbishop, freeing himself wolfgang amadeus mozart biography cortazar of his employer and of his father's demands to return. Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step" that significantly altered the course of his life. Mozart's new career in Vienna began well.

He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December[ 50 ] and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", [ 50 ] and thoroughly established Mozart's reputation as a composer.

Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The family's father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet. After failing to win the hand of Aloysia Weber, who was now married to the actor and artist Joseph LangeMozart's interest shifted to the third daughter of the family, Constanze.

The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in Aprilover an episode involving jealousy Constanze had permitted another young man to measure her calves in a parlour game. The marriage took place in an atmosphere of crisis. Daniel Heartz suggests that eventually, Constanze moved in with Mozart, which would have placed her in disgrace by the mores of the time.

Further postponement is out of the question. Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today. The couple were finally married on 4 August in St. Stephen's Cathedralthe day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail.

In the marriage contract, Constanze "assigns to her bridegroom five wolfgang amadeus mozart biography cortazar gulden which Further, all joint acquisitions during the marriage were to remain the common property of both. The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy: [ 57 ]. In andMozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swietenwho owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters.

InMozart and his wife visited his family in Salzburg. His father and sister were cordially polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part. Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna aroundand the two composers became friends.

When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn K. From to Mozart mounted concerts with himself as a soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theatres was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof apartment building, and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube restaurant.

Solomon writes that during this period, Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre". With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, Mozart and his wife adopted a more luxurious lifestyle.

They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of florins. During this period Mozart saved little of his income. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. Around the end ofMozart moved away from keyboard writing [ 71 ] and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte.

The year saw the successful premiere of Le nozze di Figaro in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera Don Giovanniwhich premiered in October to acclaim in Prague, but less success in Vienna during These developments were not witnessed by Mozart's father, who had died on 28 May In DecemberMozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage.

Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal see Mozart and dance. This modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived.

Court records show that Joseph aimed to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects. Inthe young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Aroundhe ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank.

By mid, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Around this time, Mozart made some long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring ofand FrankfurtMannheim, and other German cities in Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of high productivity—and by some accounts, one of personal recovery.

Mozart's financial situation, a source of anxiety infinally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, [ 83 ] it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He is thought to have benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer.

He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably The Magic Flute which was performed several times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death [ 84 ] and the Little Masonic Cantata K. Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere, on 6 Septemberof his opera La clemenza di Titowhich was written in that same year on commission for Emperor Leopold II 's coronation festivities.

His health deteriorated on 20 November, at which point he became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting. Mozart was nursed in his final days by his wife and her youngest sister and was attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. Mozart died in his home on 5 December aged 35 at am. Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St.

Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7 December. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild. The expression "common grave" refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper's grave, but an individual grave for a member of the common people i. Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; the graves of aristocrats were not.

The cause of Mozart's death is not known with certainty. The official record of hitziges Frieselfieber "severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute rheumatic fever[ 92 ] [ 93 ] streptococcal infection, [ 94 ] [ 95 ] trichinosis[ 96 ] [ 97 ] influenzamercury poisoningand a rare kidney ailment.

Mozart's modest funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer; memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, his reputation rose substantially. Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" [ 98 ] for his work; biographies were written first by SchlichtegrollNiemetschekand Nissenand publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.

Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly in his Reminiscences : "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". His early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] physique. He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius.

He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hatgiving the time of the music to the orchestra. Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's, these are mostly not preserved, as his wife sought to destroy them after his death.

Mozart lived at the centre of the Viennese musical world and knew a significant number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with Emperor Joseph II. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.

He enjoyed billiardsdancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starlinga dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He possibly also understood and spoke some English, having jokingly written "You are an ass" after his year-old student Thomas Attwood made a thoughtless mistake on his exercise papers. Mozart was raised a Catholic and remained a devout member of the Church throughout his life.

Mozart's music, like Haydn 's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galanta reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new formsand adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu.

Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphonyopera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintetand the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularised the Classical piano concerto.

He wrote a great deal of religious musicincluding large-scale massesas well as dances, divertimentiserenadesand other forms of light entertainment. The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy wolfgang amadeus mozart biography cortazar the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No.

Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:. It is only through recognising the violence and sensuality at the centre of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann 's superficial characterisation of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily.

In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous. During his last decade, Mozart frequently exploited chromatic harmony. A notable instance is his String Quartet in C majorK. Mozart had a gift for absorbing and adapting the valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language.

Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffaboth of which deeply affected the evolution of his practice. One legend is that he was poisoned by a jealous rival composer Salieri, but this theory is discredited.

His last major work the Requiem was commissioned by Count Franz von Walsegg for his wife who past away. Walsegg may have tried to pass it off as his own work, but a public benefit concert for Constanze frustrated his aim. Many took the Requiem to be autobiographical and written by Mozart for his own life. Mozart was near bankrupt when he died and he was given a modest burial of a citizen.

But, in those days, 10 years after burial a citizens grave could be dug up and re-used.

Wolfgang amadeus mozart biography cortazar

The work of Mozart is epic in scope and proportion. There were few branches of music Mozart did not touch. He composed operas, symphonies, concertos, and solo pieces for the piano. His work spanned from joyful light-hearted pieces to powerful, challenging compositions which touched the emotions. At the beginning of his career, Mozart had a powerful ability to learn and remember from the music he heard from others.

He was able to incorporate the style and music of people such as Haydn and J. As he matured, he developed his very own style and interpretations. In turn, the music of Mozart very much influenced the early Beethoven. Some of his greatest works are religious in nature such as Ave Verum Corpus and the final Requiem. In the last year of his life, he composed the opera The Magic Flutethe final piano concerto K.

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. Originally published 28th May