Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1756-1791

One of the Greatest and Most Gifted Musical Geniuses in the History of Western Music

Sumedha Manabarana

Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in the small city-state of Salzburg in what is now Austria but then was part of the Holy Roman Empire. He is widely considered as one of the greatest and most gifted musical geniuses in the history of Western music. He produced more than 600 works. Some of his major contributions include 41 symphonies, 27 piano concerti, 23 operas, 18 sonatas for piano, 36 for violin, one Requiem, 4 horn concerti, and 20 string quartets. (A requiem is a piece of music written for a mass (= Christian religious ceremony) at which people honour and pray for a dead person.)

Mozart showed the signs of a child prodigy in Salzburg in Austria. His father, who was a minor composer and an experience teacher, began to teach him when Mozart was in his fourth year of age. He could play what his father taught him perfectly well with the greatest delicacy and accurate timing. At the age of five, he could compose little pieces which he played to his father who wrote them down. In 18th century Europe, smallpox was a devastating disease. In 1764, his father decided not to inoculate his children against the disease. At the age of 11 years, little Mozart was struck by smallpox but managed to survive the disease.

In 1780, Karl Theodor, Elector of Bavaria commissioned Mozart and Giambattista Varesco (a chaplain, musician, poet and librettist to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart) for a court carnival. They performed an Italian language opera named Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich (the third largest city in Germany). This was first performed at the Cuvilliés Theatre of the Munich Residenz on 29 January 1781.

Mozart’s employer was Archbishop Colloredo in Vienna, Austria. He was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. Owing to his great performance of his first opera Idomeneo, he had earned great admiration in Munich. The following March, he summoned Mozart to Vienna. He was not pleased to allow Mozart of his gaining money elsewhere than in his service. In a letter written on March 24th in Vienna, Mozart says:

“Yesterday, at four a clock, we performed before more than twenty persons of the first distinction. Ceccarelli has sung at Palfi’s and to-morrow we go to Prince Galitzin’s, who was here yesterday. I am curious to see whether all this will bring me nothing; in which case I shall go direct to the archbishop, and tell him, that if he is not pleased to allow of my gaining money elsewhere than in his service, he must at least pay me, for I cannot live at my own cost.”

(The Harmonicon, Volume 8 by William Ayrton)

Mozart was offended when the Archbishop treated him as a mere servant. He even forbade Mozart from performing before the Emperor at Countess Thun’s for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary. This led to a quarrel. Mozart wanted to resign but the Archbishop first refused it. The following month, the Archbishop granted permission but in an extremely insulting way.

“Look out elsewhere, if you will not serve me as I wish,” remarked the Archbishop. Mozart was dismissed and physically removed him literally ‘with a kick in the arse’, administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco from Archbishop’s presence with the words "Soll er doch gehen, ich brauche ihn nicht,” ("May he leave, I don't need him!")

Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer. His new career began well. It was hard work for Mozart to his father’s consent for his marriage. However, he could marry Constanze Weber on August, 1782 one day after getting his father’s consent by mail. They had six children but only two of them survived infancy; Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart and Karl Thomas.

The two surviving sons of Wolfgang Amadeus and Constanze Mozart Painting by Hans Hansen, Vienna, 1800

During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. He began to run out of funds and had to pawn several valuable personal items to pay traveling and living expenses. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons. According to Mozart’s biographer Ruth Halliwell, there had been delays in calling a doctor, probably because of a lack of funds. Mozart died on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35 writing his name in gold as one of the greatest and most gifted musical geniuses in the history of Western music.

A few famous works

• Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat major in early 1777 • Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor "Quasi una fantasia" (Moonlight Sonata) completed in 1802 and to his pupil dedicated to his pupil Countess Giulietta Guicciardi

• Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major - Andante on March 9, 1785

• Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67, in 1804–08