Mozart
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Considered one of the finest composers in the history of the world, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart changed the course of music with his amazing talent. Living to only be 35, Mozart was able to accomplish more than most composers do in a full life span. Living during the Classical period, he wrote numerous operas, symphonies, sonatas, concertos for numerous instruments, chamber music, string quartets and much more. One of Mozarts most famous and most mysterious works was his Requiem Mass written just before his death.
Mozart was born in Salzburg, Germany on January 27th, 1756. He was named Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgang Theophilus but later in life he was chose to be known as Wolfgang Amade (Sitwell, 2). His father was Leopold Mozart who was a violin-master to the Prince Archbishop of Salzburg. Leopold composed music but it had no merit. He soon had to realize that his worth came in the birth of his son. His mother was Anna Maria Pertl. During the birth of Mozart, his mother almost passed away. It is said that he inherited his wild, buoyant personality from his mother. His parents had seven children, only two of which survived. His sister, Maria Anna, who was three years older, began to take music lessons when Mozart was three years old. He began to take interest in what she was doing and started to also take lessons and never stopped.
At a young age, although extremely fluent in his musical abilities, Mozart was only taking lessons in fun and enjoyed playing music for pleasure. His true passion lay in math and science. It is said that when he was learning his arithmetic that stools, tables, walls and the floor were chalked over with his math problems (Sitwell, 4). Wolfgangs father was aware of his amazing musical talent and decided to take Wolfgang and his sister on a small tour in the summer of 1762. They went to Munich and later on to Vienna. This tour began Mozarts fame. As soon as this tour drew to a close and they returned back home, they began another tour. They went to German Courts, Paris and to London.
On this extended tour, they visited Brussels. It was here, on the 14th of October, 1763, that Mozart wrote his first sonata. He was only seven and a half years old. Only a few short weeks later, it was published. During this tour, they visited many places and the Mozarts performed in many different venues. Also during this time, Wolfgang was busy composing pieces for clavier, sonatas and even small symphonies. On this tour, one of Wolfgangs more amazing accomplishments was while he was in Rome. He managed to copy down the Allergris Miserere, which was a complicated polyphonic piece that was only performed by the Papal choir during Holy Week (Sitwell, 11). This piece was never to be written down by anyone, or they could be excommunicated.
In 1767, which would make Wolfgang only 11 years old, the first part of “Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots,” and the interlude to “Clementia Croeesi” were both performed in Salzburg with the music written by Mozart. In 1769, this tour draws to an end and the Mozarts go home to Salzburg. Before Wolfgang turns eighteen, he has traveled to Italy three times, been all around Europe touring, and written massive amounts of music, all while still in his childhood.
Mozart, around the age of 18 or 19, began feeling hopeless over the conditions of his life. He had “petty conditions put upon him and small opportunities open to him (Sitwell, 18). Although down during this difficult time, he wrote five violin concertos and the Haffner Serenade. The next two years of his life, he spent writing church music, serenades and divertimenti.
It has been said that from reading Wolfgangs letters to his sister that he would fall in love at the drop of a hat. He had at least three love affairs while he was working with the Mannheim orchestra in 1778. They were with Rosa Cannabich, August Wendling, and Aloysia Weber. Aloysia was the a cousin of Karl Maria von Weber. Mozart declared his love for her and she rejected him and married a tragedian which made a very unhappy relationship. In retaliation, Wolfgang slept with Aloysias younger sister, Constanze. While still in Paris, he was offered the position of organist at Versailles but refused the job. He was too in love with Aloysia and could not bear to be away from her. Toward the end of his stay in Paris, his mother passed away. For the first time, Mozart was alone.
He returned back to Salzburg and a year and a half later, after leaving his humiliating post with the archbishop, he moves to Vienna. As soon as Mozart left Salzburg, he married Constanze Weber, sister of Aloysia. During this time in Mozarts life was when he wrote his most notable and fantastic compositions.
During this time, we find out some of Mozarts more human- like qualities. His friend, Michael Kelly who was an Irish singer, said he was “a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair, of which he was rather vain” (Sitwell, 31). He also said that Mozart loved to dance. His wife said that he used to frequent masqued balls of the carnival in Vienna. Also, it has been said that he a little bit lazy, although it sounds a bit impractical because of his enormous output of music. But, it has been stated that Mozart never began writing a piece of music until the very last moment possible. He also has been described as extremely vain, with his accomplishments and with his clothing. He never wanted to be mistaken as someone who was inferior to the rest. In 1783, Mozart asks Baroness Waldstatten, who paid
for the feast at his wedding, to pay a debt for him. This is the first indication of Mozarts future financial problems (Clive, 3).
During the entire year of 1784, Mozart was teaching music lessons, composing for piano and playing piano. He played in a concert almost every evening. Everything he wrote during this year, except for one string quartet, was for piano. Although he had received huge acclaim and respect for his work, he only made the income of a music- master. Because of his extremely modest salary, he began to enter the world of composing more for opera. Mozart met Lorenzo da Ponte and suggested to him a comedy, like one that had just been produced in Paris. From this came the Marriage of Figaro. This opera sets the stage for all comic opera in the future (Sadie, 288). It was not received with much acclaim, as was expected during this time. It really profited Mozart very little. But, he went straight on, composing chamber music. Because of the “Marriage of Figaro” he was extremely popular in Prague. He visited there a few months later in January 1787. Here, he was commissioned to compose Don Giovanni,