Briefly biography of A. Mozart. Mozart's biography. European recognition of the young virtuoso

The works of the musical genius of the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart were able to make Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky plunge into his sensual world so much that they caused awe and tears of delight. The renowned composer considered Mozart's music to be almost ideal, able to discover and show him what music really is.

The childhood of the composer

Amadeus was born in early 1756, on January 27, a son was born to the family of Leopold Mozart, who later glorified the family and left an indelible mark on the history of music, being a real talent and genius.

The boy's father, a violinist and teacher, who, among other things, played the organ, was able to notice in time the perfect hearing of his son and develop his abilities to perfection. Of Wolfgang's six brothers and sisters, only his older sister was able to survive. It was with her that at first Leopold began to study music with children, teaching the girl to play the clavier. Being with them all the time, little Mozart occupied himself with the selection of the melodies he had heard. Drawing attention to this, the father considered the unique gift of his child. The first classes of father and son began to take place in the form of a game.

Further development was not long in coming:

at the age of four, the boy independently begins to write a concert for the harpsichord;
at the age of five, the young musician is fluent in the composition of small pieces;
and by the age of six he is capable of performing well complex compositions.

A father who supports his music lessons, wishing a better life for his son, organizes a tour with the boy's performances in the hope of his further prosperous and interesting life.

The young musician possessed a unique musical memory that allowed him to accurately record any piece he heard. It is generally accepted that already at the age of six, the composer wrote his first work.

Tour with a concert program

Taking both children with them on the tour, the family visits many European cities, including the capital of Austria. Among those who listened to the performances of the young musician were residents of the capitals of France and England, as well as many other cities of old Europe. The audience, delighted with the virtuoso playing of the harpsichord, were also amazed at his mastery of the violin as well as the organ. Lengthy performances lasted five hours, which caused fatigue. However, the father did not stop his son's training and continued to study with him.

At the age of ten, Mozart and his family returned to their native Salzburg, but did not stay there for long. The young genius became full-fledged rivals to the musicians of the city, which could not have a positive effect on their attitude towards the boy. By the decision of the father, already together, they go to Italy, where Leopold expects to receive true recognition and an assessment of his son's genius.

Italy and Mozart

The four-year stay in Italy had a good effect on improving the talent of the hardworking musician. Classes with masters who met the boy in a new country gave tangible results. It was in this country that several of the composer's operas were staged. The young performer becomes the first member of the Bologna Academy of such a young age. The father hoped for the future good fate of his son. However, the Italian elite did not leave their suspicion about the young genius and it was not possible to find work in the new country.

Salzburg again

Upon returning to their homeland, the family did not feel the delight of the inhabitants. The heir to the deceased count was a cruel man who did not hesitate to humiliate Mozart and oppress him in every possible way. Without giving his permission for Wolfgang to take part in concerts, he forced the young musician to write only church music and some entertainment pieces. Using his long-awaited vacation for a trip to Paris, Mozart does not get the impressions he expected to find - the composer's mother is dying of hardship and hardships in life.

The musician barely endured the next couple of years when he returned to his homeland. At the same time, the triumph of his opera, staged in Munich, makes young man give up the dependent position and go to Vienna. This city is becoming the last refuge of the great musician.

Mozart and Vienna

In the Austrian capital, the musician marries his girlfriend without receiving the consent of her parents. At first, life in a new city is very difficult for Mozart. However, after the success of the next work, the composer's circle of acquaintances and connections expanded significantly. And then the long-awaited success came again. The brilliant composer did not manage to finish his last work... He was able to finish writing a student of Mozart, having resorted to the musician's drafts left after his death.

Last years

Wolfgang's death occurred for an unknown reason, even the version of possible poisoning is used. The tomb of the creator has not been found, it is only known that it was a general burial due to the sheer poverty of his relatives.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (German Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart). Born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg - died on December 5, 1791 in Vienna. Baptized as Johann Chrysostomus 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, who had a profound influence on later Western musical culture... According to contemporaries, Mozart had a phenomenal ear for music, memory and the ability to improvise.

Along with Beethoven, he belongs to the most significant representatives of the Vienna Classical School. The circumstances of Mozart's ambiguous life, as well as his early death, have been the subject of much speculation and controversy that 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, at a house at 9 Getreidegasse.

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 Perthl), daughter of the Commissioner-Trustee of an 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, whose friends and relatives called Nannerl, and son Wolfgang. His birth nearly cost his mother her life. Only after some time was she able to get rid of the weakness that inspired fear for her life.

On the second day after his birth, Wolfgang was baptized in the Salzburg Cathedral of St. Rupert. A baptismal entry gives his name in Latin as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart. In these names, the first two words are the name of Saint John Chrysostom, which is not used in Everyday life, and the fourth during Mozart's life varied: lat. Amadeus, it. Gottlieb, Italian. Amadeo, which means "beloved of God." Mozart himself preferred to be called Wolfgang.

The musical abilities of both children showed up at a very early age.

At the age of seven, Nannerl began to receive harpsichord lessons from her father. These lessons had a tremendous impact on little Wolfgang, who was only about three years old: he sat down at the instrument and could entertain himself for a long time by selecting consonances. In addition, he memorized individual passages of pieces of music that he heard, and could play them on the harpsichord. This made a big 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. Soon, he had a desire for independent creativity: at the age of five, he composed small plays, which his father wrote down on paper. Wolfgang's earliest 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 made his first test concert trip to Munich with his children, leaving his wife at home. Wolfgang was only six years old at the time of the trip. It is only known about this journey that it lasted three weeks, and the children performed in front of 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.

The Empress arranged for Mozart to be warm and polite. 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 the court composer of Maria Theresa, Georg Wagenzeil.

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

The Empress was fascinated by the play of the little virtuoso. After the game ended, she sat Wolfgang on her lap and even allowed herself to be kissed on the cheek. At the end of the audience, the Mozarts were offered refreshments and the opportunity to inspect the palace.

There is a famous historical anecdote associated with this concert: allegedly, when Wolfgang was playing with the children of Maria Theresa, the little archduchess, he slipped on the rubbed floor and fell. Archduchess Marie Antoinette, future Queen of France, helped him up. Wolfgang seemed to jump up to her and said: "You are nice, I want to marry you when I grow up." Mozarts have been to Schönbrunn twice. So that the children could appear there in more beautiful clothes than the one they had, the Empress presented the Mozarts with two costumes - for Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl.

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

On November 18, 1763, the Mozarts arrived in Paris. The fame of children-virtuosos quickly spread, and, thanks to this, the desire of noble people to listen to Wolfgang's 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 make 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 auspices of a German encyclopedist and diplomat, Friedrich Melchior von Grimm, who had great connections. It was thanks to the efforts of Grimm 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 the New Year The Mozarts were even allowed to be present at the solemn 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 audience 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 presented with various precious gifts - enamel snuff boxes, watches, jewelry and other trinkets.

On April 10, 1764, the Mozart family left Paris, and across the Pas-de-Calais sailed to Dover on a ship specially hired by them. They arrived in London on April 23rd and stayed there for fifteen months.

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

Johann Christian Bach became friends with Wolfgang despite the great 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 affection for Wolfgang, spending whole hours with him at the instrument, and playing with him in 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 wowed the audience with sight-seeing plays by J. H. Bach, G. K. Wagenzeil, C. F. Abel and G. F. Handel.

Soon after returning from England, Wolfgang, already as a composer, was attracted to composing music: on the anniversary of the acceptance of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg S. von Strattenbach of the rank, Wolfgang composed laudatory music ("A Berenice ... Sol nascente", also known as "Licenza" ) in honor of their master. The performance, timed directly to the celebration, took place on December 21, 1766. In addition, various marches, minuets, divertissements, trios, fanfares for trumpets and timpani, and other "works of chance" were also composed for the needs of the court at different times.

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

Leopold hoped that the valiant guests gathered in the capital would be able to appreciate the play of his prodigy children. However, upon arrival in Vienna, Mozart was not immediately lucky: the Archduchess fell ill with smallpox and died on October 16. Due to the confusion and confusion that prevailed in court circles, not a single opportunity to speak appeared. The Mozarts dreamed of leaving the epidemic-stricken city, but they were held back by the hope that, despite the mourning, they would be invited to court. In the end, protecting the children from illness, Leopold and his family fled to Olomouc, but first Wolfgang and then Nannerl managed to get 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, received an invitation from the Empress to the court.

Mozart spent 1770-1774 in Italy. In 1770, in Bologna, he met the composer Josef Myslivechek, extremely popular at that time in Italy; the influence of the "Divine Bohemian" was so great that later, 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 theatrical impresarios, Mozart's opera Mithridates, King of Pontus was staged, which was received with great enthusiasm by the public. 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, an offerories.

When Mozart was 17 years old, among his works there were already 4 operas, several spiritual works, 13 symphonies, 24 sonatas, not to mention the mass of smaller compositions.

In 1775-1780, despite worries about material support, a fruitless trip to Munich, Mannheim and Paris, the loss of his mother, Mozart wrote, among other things, 6 clavier sonatas, a concerto for flute and harp, a large symphony No. 31 in D major, nicknamed Parisian, several spiritual choirs, 12 ballet numbers.

In 1779, Mozart was appointed court organist in Salzburg (collaborated with Michael Haydn).

On January 26, 1781, the opera "Idomeneo" was staged in Munich with great success, marking a definite turn in the work of Mozart. In this opera, traces of the old Italian opera seria are still visible (a large number of coloratura arias, Idamant's part, written for castrato), but a new trend is felt in the recitatives and especially in the choirs. A big step forward is also seen in instrumentation. During his stay in Munich, Mozart wrote the Misericordias Domini offerorium for the Munich Chapel, one of the finest examples of church music from the late 18th century.

At the end of July 1781, Mozart began writing the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio), 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 rather 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 get a position at the court, Mozart hoped with the help of the former patron of Salzburg - the emperor's younger brother, Archduke Maximilian, to become a music teacher to Princess Elizabeth of Württemberg, whose education was taken over by Joseph II. The Archduke warmly recommended Mozart to the princess, but the emperor appointed Antonio Salieri to this post as the best teacher of singing.

"For him, no one exists except Salieri!" - Mozart wrote disappointedly to his father on December 15, 1781.

Meanwhile, it was quite 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 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 the written commitment was played by the guardian of Constance and her sisters - Johann Torvart, a court official who enjoyed authority with Count Rosenberg. Torvart asked his mother to forbid Mozart to communicate with Constance before "this matter is not 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, and said: “Dear Mozart! I do not need any written commitment from you, I already believe your words, ”she tore up the statement. This act of Constance made her even more dear to Mozart. Despite such an alleged nobility of Constance, researchers have no doubt that all these marital debates, including the termination of the contract, are nothing more than a performance well played by the Weberians, the purpose of which was, as it were, to organize the rapprochement of Mozart with Constance.

Despite numerous letters from his son, Leopold was adamant. In addition, he, not without reason, believed 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 opened up before him: he wrote "The Abduction from the Seraglio", spent many concerts by subscription and now and then received orders for various compositions from the Viennese nobility. In great confusion, Wolfgang appealed to his sister for help, trusting her good old friendship. At Wolfgang's request, Constance wrote letters to his sister and sent various gifts.

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

The patroness of Mozart, Baroness von Waldstedten, came to the aid of Mozart and his beloved. She invited Constance to move into her apartment in Leopoldstadt (house no. 360), to which Constance willingly agreed. Because of this, Frau Weber was now angry and intended to eventually bring her daughter back to her home by force. To preserve the honor of Constance, Mozart had to marry her sooner. In the same letter, he most persistently begged his father for permission to marry, repeating his request a few days later. However, the desired agreement was again not followed. At this time, Mozart vowed to write Mass if he successfully marries Constance.

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

During the marriage, a married couple of Mozarts had 6 children, of which only two survived:

Raimund Leopold (June 17 - August 19, 1783)
Karl Thomas (September 21, 1784 - October 31, 1858)
Johann Thomas Leopold (October 18 - November 15, 1786)
Theresia Constance Adelaide Frederick Marianne (27 December 1787 - 29 June 1788)
Anna Maria (died shortly after birth, December 25, 1789)
Franz Xaver Wolfgang (July 26, 1791 - July 29, 1844).

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

In September 1784, the composer's family settled in a luxurious apartment at 846 Grosse Schulerstrasse (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 a servant 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.

In 1783, Mozart meets famous composer Joseph Haydn, soon a cordial friendship is struck between them. Mozart even dedicates his collection of 6 quartets to Haydn, written in 1783-1785. These quartets, so bold and new for their time, caused confusion and controversy among Viennese amateurs, but Haydn, realizing the genius of the quartets, accepted the gift with the greatest respect. Other things also belong to this period. significant event in the life of Mozart: 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 librettist friend, court poet Lorenzo da Ponte, whom he met at his apartment with Baron Wetzlar back in 1783. As material for the libretto, Mozart suggested 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 down to work, and, thanks to the lack of new operas, won the position. Mozart and da Ponte called their opera "Le nozze di Figaro" (Italian: "Figaro's wedding").

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

In the midst of work on the opera, on May 28, 1787, Leopold Mozart, the father of Wolfgang Amadeus, dies. This event darkened him so much that some musicologists associate the gloom of the music from Don Giovanni with the shock that 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 the words of Mozart himself, was "the loudest success."

The production of Don Giovanni in Vienna, which Mozart and da Ponte dreamed of, was hampered by the ever-growing success of Salieri's new opera Axur, King of Hormuz, which premiered on January 8, 1788. Finally, thanks to the instructions of Emperor Joseph II, who was interested in the Prague success of Don Giovanni, the opera was performed on May 7, 1788 at the Burgtheater. The Vienna premiere failed: the audience, since the days of Figaro, has generally cooled to the work of Mozart, could not get used to such a new and unusual work, and on the whole 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 that the composer received payment for an opera ordered outside Vienna.

Since 1787, the number of Mozart's "academies" sharply decreased, and in 1788 they stopped altogether - he could not collect a sufficient number of subscribers. Don Juan failed on the Viennese stage and brought almost nothing. Because of this, Mozart's financial situation deteriorated sharply. Obviously, already at this time he began to accumulate debts, exacerbated by the cost of treating his wife, who was ill due to frequent childbirth.

In June 1788, Mozart settled in a house at 135 Waringergasse "At the Three Stars" in the Vienna suburb of Alsergrund. The new move was another testament to the dire financial problems: the rent for a house in the suburbs was much lower than in the city. Mozart's daughter Theresia dies shortly after the move. From this time began a series of numerous heartbreaking letters from Mozart with requests for financial assistance to his friend and brother in the Masonic Lodge, the wealthy Viennese merchant Michael Puchberg.

Despite such a deplorable situation, during 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. With the accession to the throne of Leopold II, Mozart initially pinned great hopes, but the new emperor was not a particular lover of music, and the musicians did not have access to him.

In May 1790, Mozart wrote to his son, Archduke Franz, hoping to prove himself: “The thirst for glory, love of activity and confidence in my knowledge make me dare to ask for a place as second conductor, especially because the very skillful conductor Salieri never practiced church style , I have perfectly mastered this style from my youth. " However, Mozart's request was ignored, which greatly disappointed him. Mozart was ignored and during a visit to Vienna on September 14, 1790 by King Ferdinand and Queen Carolina of Naples, a concert was given under the direction of Salieri, in which the Stadler brothers and Joseph Haydn took part; Mozart was never invited to play in front of the king, which offended him.

From January 1791, an unprecedented upsurge was outlined in Mozart's work, which was the end of the creative decline of 1790: Mozart composed the only concert for piano and orchestra in the past three years (No. 27 in B-flat major, K.595), which dates back to 5 January, and numerous dances written by Mozart on duty as a court musician. On April 12, he wrote his last quintet No. 6, in E flat major (K.614). In April he prepared the 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 under the direction of Antonio Salieri. After an unsuccessful attempt to get an appointment to the post of second conductor - deputy of Salieri, Mozart took a step in a different direction: in early May 1791, he sent a petition to the Vienna city magistrate with a request to appoint him to the unpaid position of assistant conductor Cathedral St. Stephen. The request was granted, and Mozart received this position. She gave him the right to become a conductor after the death of the seriously ill Leopold Hoffmann. Hoffmann, however, outlived Mozart.

In March 1791, Mozart's old acquaintance from the Salzburger, theater actor and impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, who was then director of the Auf der Wieden Theater, asked him 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 by the Bohemian king, the opera Titus' Mercy was received coldly. On the other hand, The Magic Flute, staged in the same month in Vienna in a suburban theater, had such a success as Mozart had not known in the Austrian capital for many years. In the vast and varied activities of Mozart, this fairy-tale opera occupies a special place.

The history of writing "Requiem" is interesting. In July 1791, a mysterious stranger in gray visited Mozart and ordered him a Requiem (funeral mass for the dead). As the biographers of the composer established, it was a messenger from Count Franz von Walsegg-Stuppach, an amateur music player who loved to perform other people's works in his palace with his chapel, buying authorship from composers; with a requiem, he wanted to honor the memory of his late wife. The unfinished Requiem, stunning in its mournful lyricism and tragic expressiveness, was completed by his student Franz Xaver Süsmeier, who had previously taken part in the composition of the opera Titus's Mercy.

Indeed, thanks to this, Mozart's condition improved so much that he was able to complete his Masonic cantata on November 15 and conduct it. 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 went to bed. He developed weakness, his arms and legs were swollen to such an extent that he could not walk, followed by sudden bouts of vomiting. In addition, his hearing sharpened, and he ordered the cage with his beloved canary to be removed from the room - he could not bear her singing.

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

Closset 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 the history of Mozart's illness to an inverted pyramid: tons of secondary literature are piled 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 has decreased: over the years, scientists have become more and more critical of the testimonies of Constance, Sophie and other eyewitnesses, revealing many contradictions in their testimony.

On December 4, Mozart's condition became critical. He became so sensitive to touch that he could hardly bear his nightgown. A stench emanated from the body of Mozart, still alive, which made it difficult to be in the same room with him. Many years later, Mozart's eldest son Karl, who at that time was seven, 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 knew 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 Kapellmeister by right should be his. On the same evening, the priest of the Church of St. Peter was invited to the patient's bed.

Late in the evening they sent for a doctor, Kloss ordered to apply a cold compress on the head. This affected the dying Mozart so that he lost consciousness. From that moment on, Mozart lay in a bed, raving randomly. At about midnight, he got up on the bed and stared motionlessly into space, then leaned against the wall and dozed off. After midnight, five minutes to one o'clock, that is, on December 5, death occurred.

Already at night, Baron van Swieten appeared in Mozart's house, and, trying to console the widow, ordered her to move to friends for several days. At the same time, he gave her urgent advice to arrange the burial as simple as possible: indeed, the last debt to the deceased was given in the third class, which cost 8 florins 36 kreutzers and another 3 florins for a hearse. Soon after van Swieten, Count Deim arrived and removed the death mask from Mozart. Diner was summoned early in the morning to dress the master. The people from the funeral fraternity, covering the body with a black cloth, carried it on a stretcher to the workroom and put it next to the piano. During the day, many of Mozart's friends came there, wishing to express their 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 death of the composer. A huge number of versions and legends are associated with his death, among which the legend about the poisoning of Mozart by the then famous composer Antonio Salieri was especially widespread, thanks to the "little tragedy" of Alexander Pushkin. Scientists studying the death of Mozart 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 wrong.

On December 6, 1791, at about 3 pm, 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 friends of Mozart van Swieten, Salieri, Albrechtsberger, Susmeier, Diner, Rosner, cellist Orsler and others. The hearse went to St. Mark's cemetery, in accordance with the prescriptions of that time, after six o'clock in the evening, that is, already in the dark, without an accompanying person. The date of Mozart's burial is controversial: sources indicate December 6, when the coffin with his body was sent to the cemetery, but the regulations forbade burying the dead earlier than 48 hours after death.

Contrary to popular belief, Mozart was not buried in a linen sack in a mass grave with the poor, as was shown in the movie Amadeus. His funeral was held in the third category, which provided for burial in a coffin, but in a common grave along with 5-6 other coffins. There was nothing unusual about Mozart's funeral at that time. This was not a beggar's funeral. Only very rich people and representatives 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 dramatically increased social status of musicians.

For the Viennese, Mozart's death passed almost imperceptibly, 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.

In connection with the centenary of the composer's death, the monument was moved to the "musical corner" of Vienna's Central Cemetery, which again posed the danger of losing the real grave. Then the overseer of the cemetery of St. Mark Alexander Kruger erected a small monument from various remains of former gravestones. Currently, the Weeping Angel has returned to its original location.

One of the greatest composers in the world, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a recognized genius who left behind not only magnificent works of art, but also many legends and rumors. However, the biography of Mozart is interesting not so much for its mystery as for the opportunity to shed light on life path the most talented person and understand what made the composer the way we know him. Mozart, whose brief biography interests us now, appears before us as a man who experienced not only the good will of fate, but also its cruel blows.

Childhood and youth

The future great composer Johann Chrysostomus Wolfgang Theophilus Mozart was born in the Austrian city of Salzburg on January 27, 1756. The next day, the baby was baptized in the Catholic Cathedral of Saints Rupert and Virgil.

It is believed that the first inclinations of musical talent manifested themselves in Mozart at the age of three. The young musician's father, Leopold, was a renowned music teacher who taught throughout Europe. It was to his father that Mozart owes his first lessons in violin, harpsichord and organ. Young Mozart, possessing an amazing ear for music and an excellent memory, not only perfectly mastered playing many instruments, but also showed remarkable abilities for improvisation.

1762 was marked for Mozart's first artistic journey across Europe in the company of his father and sister Anna. At the same time, the young musician wrote his first work and won the general admiration of the public. In 1763, his sonatas for violin and harpsichord were published in Paris. Returning to his homeland, Mozart continued to study and improve his skills, studying the creative heritage of Durante, Handel, Stradella and Carissimi.

Beginning in 1770, Mozart spent 4 years in Italy, where the extremely successful premiere of his first two operas, Lucius Sulla and Mithridates, King of Pontus, took place. There he also met the composer Josef Myslivechek, who greatly influenced him. When Mozart turns 17, his creative baggage contains 13 symphonies and 4 operas, many small compositions, 24 sonatas and even spiritual poems. Mozart continues to create with inspiration and creates 6 sonatas for the clavier, the Paris Symphony and Concerto for flute and harp, as well as 12 ballet numbers and spiritual choirs. The death of his mother, financial difficulties and unsuccessful trips to Europe that occurred during that period did not prevent Mozart from creating, but noticeably darkened his life.

Mature years

In 1779, Mozart became court organist in his native Salzburg. And in 1781 he successfully presented the opera "Idomeneo" to the public, which marked a revolution in the lyrical and dramatic art. Courtship of Constance Weber, future wife of Mozart, inspired him to create the opera Abduction from the Seraglio, which conquered Germany in 1782.

Mozart's unenviable financial situation forced him to leave the position of organist and start giving lessons, as well as composing entertainment and dance music for the aristocracy, which left him no time for serious art and prevented him from completing two operas.

In 1786, the most prolific period of creativity began, which gave the world the Marriage of Figaro, written in 1.5 months, and the equally successful opera Don Juan, and also greatly undermined the health of the genius. Both operas brought phenomenal success to Mozart in Prague. However, the capital of his homeland - Vienna - did not share admiration for the composer's talent and provided him with very meager earnings. But Mozart did not want to leave Vienna in order to accept an invitation to work in Berlin.

After the death of the Austrian ruler Joseph II in 1790, Mozart remains unemployed. After a year's artistic tour, Mozart decides to become assistant conductor of St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna's main temple, relying on the post of conductor when Leopold Hoffmann, who occupies it, dies. The venture turned out to be unsuccessful - the position of assistant was not paid, and Mozart did not wait for the promotion, leaving this world before the bandmaster.

Requiem and the death of a genius

A deeply religious man, Mozart loved to create works for the church. Once an unknown man in black visited Mozart and ordered him to write a requiem. As it turned out later, it was the envoy of Count von Walsegg-Stuppach, who planned to appropriate the authorship of the work he ordered for himself.

The count often did this with other people's works, being just a mediocre performer. The Count needed this requiem to honor the memory of his deceased wife. However, Mozart created the requiem with an obsessive presentiment that he was writing this requiem for himself. The brilliant composer's strength leaves, and he dies on December 5, 1791, and the creation of the requiem is completed by Franz Xaver Süsmeier, a student of the maestro.

Mozart died at the age of 35, and the mysterious circumstances of his death are still shrouded in mystery. The most likely version is the death of the musician as a result of rheumatic fever complicated by heart or kidney failure. The version with poisoning at the hands of Salieri is rejected by historians.

The farewell ceremony for the composer took place in the modest chapel of St. Stephen's Cathedral. They buried Mozart in the cemetery of St. Mark in a common grave - the composer in his entire life could not achieve the respect for musicians, which appeared in society much later.

Known to everyone and beloved by connoisseurs of good music, Mozart, whose short biography speaks of life in labor and overcoming adversity, still continues to delight listeners with magnificent works musical art... Classical music is forever alive and dear to our hearts, and the destinies of its creators reveal not only the genius of their talent, but also an example of selfless service to art.

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg on January 27, 1756. His father was the composer and violinist Leopold Mozart, who worked in the court chapel of Count Sigismund von Strattenbach (Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg). The renowned musician's mother was Anna Maria Mozart (nee Perthl), who came from the family of the commissioner-trustee of the almshouse in the small commune of St. Gilgen.

In total, seven children were born in the Mozart family, but most of them, unfortunately, died at a young age. The first child of Leopold and Anna, who managed to survive, was the elder sister of the future musician Maria Anna (relatives and friends from childhood called the girl Nannerl). Wolfgang was born about four years later. The birth was extremely difficult, and doctors for a long time feared that they would be fatal for the boy's mother. But after a while, Anna began to recover.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's family

Both children of the Mozarts with early years demonstrated a love for music and excellent talent for it. When her father began teaching Nannerl to play the harpsichord, her little brother was only about three years old. However, the sounds that came during the lessons excited the little boy so much that since then he often went up to the instrument, pressed the keys and picked up pleasant-sounding accords. Moreover, he could even play fragments musical works that I heard before.

Therefore, already at the age of four, Wolfgang began to receive his own harpsichord lessons from his father. However, learning minuets and pieces written by other composers soon enough bored the child, and at the age of five, young Mozart added his own small pieces to this type of activity. And at the age of six, Wolfgang mastered the violin, and practically without outside help.

Nannerl and Wolfgang never went to school: Leopold gave them excellent education at home. At the same time, young Mozart always plunged into the study of any subject with great zeal. For example, if it was about mathematics, then after several diligent studies of the boy, literally all surfaces in the room: from walls and floors to floors and chairs - quickly became covered with chalk inscriptions with numbers, problems and equations.

Euro-trip

Already at the age of six, the "miracle child" played so well that he could give concerts. Nannerl's voice became an excellent addition to his inspired playing: the girl sang just fine. Leopold Mozart was so impressed by the musical abilities of his children that he decided to go with them on long tours in various European cities and countries. He hoped that this journey would bring them great success and considerable profit.

The family visited Munich, Brussels, Cologne, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, and several cities in Switzerland. The trip dragged on for many months, and after a short return to Salzburg - for years. During this time, Wolfgang and Nannel gave concerts to a stunned audience, as well as attending opera houses and performances by renowned musicians with their parents.

Young Wolfgang Mozart at the instrument

In 1764, the first four sonatas of the young Wolfgang, intended for violin and clavier, were published in Paris. In London, the boy was lucky for some time to learn from Johann Christian Bach (the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach), who instantly noted the child's genius and, being a virtuoso musician, gave Wolfgang many useful lessons.

Over the years of wandering, the "miracle children", who were already far from the best health by nature, got tired enough. Their parents were also tired: for example, during the stay of the Mozart family in London, Leopold fell seriously ill. Therefore, in 1766, the prodigies, together with their parents, returned back to native city.

Creative formation

At the age of fourteen, Wolfgang Mozart, through the efforts of his father, went to Italy, which was struck by the talent of the young virtuoso. Arriving in Bologna, he successfully took part in a kind of musical competition of the Philharmonic Academy, along with musicians, many of whom were suitable for his fathers.

The skill of the young genius impressed the Academy of Constance so much that he was elected an academician, although usually this honorary status was awarded only to the most successful composers, whose age was at least 20 years.

After returning to Salzburg, the composer plunged headlong into composing versatile sonatas, operas, quartets, and symphonies. The older he got, the more daring and original his works were, they were less and less like the creations of musicians, whom Wolfgang admired as a child. In 1772, fate brought Mozart together with Joseph Haydn, who became his main teacher and closest friend.

Soon, Wolfgang got a job at the archbishop's court, like his father. He received a large number of orders, but after the death of the old bishop and the arrival of a new one, the situation at court became much less pleasant. A breath of fresh air for the young composer was a trip to Paris and large German cities in 1777, which Leopold Mozart had begged from the archbishop for his gifted son.

At that time, the family faced quite strong financial difficulties, and therefore only the mother was able to go with Wolfgang. The grown-up composer gave concerts again, but his bold compositions did not resemble the classical music of those times, and the grown-up boy no longer delighted with his appearance alone. Therefore, this time the audience received the musician with much less cordiality. And in Paris, Mozart's mother died, exhausted by a long and unsuccessful trip. The composer returned to Salzburg.

Career heyday

Despite financial problems, Wolfgang Mozart had long been unhappy with the way the archbishop treated him. Without doubting his musical genius, the composer resented the fact that his employer regarded him as a servant. Therefore, in 1781, he, disregarding all the laws of decency and the persuasions of his relatives, decided to leave the service of the archbishop and move to Vienna.

There the composer met Baron Gottfried van Steven, who at that time was the patron saint of musicians and had a large collection of works by Handel and Bach. On his advice, Mozart tried to create music in the Baroque style in order to enrich his work. At the same time, Mozart tried to get a position as a music teacher for Princess Elizabeth of Württemberg, but the emperor chose Antonio Salieri as a singing teacher.

The peak of Wolfgang Mozart's creative career came in the 1780s. It was then that she wrote her most famous operas: "The Marriage of Figaro", "The Magic Flute", "Don Juan". At the same time, the popular "Little Night Serenade" was written in four parts. At that time, the composer's music was in great demand, and he received the largest royalties in his life for his work.

Unfortunately, the period of unprecedented creative upsurge and recognition for Mozart did not last too long. In 1787, his beloved father died, and soon his wife Constance Weber fell ill with a leg ulcer, and a lot of money was needed for the treatment of his wife.

The situation was aggravated by the death of Emperor Joseph II, after which Emperor Leopold II ascended the throne. He, unlike his brother, was not a fan of music, therefore composers of that time could not count on the location of the new monarch.

Personal life

Mozart's only wife was Constance Weber, whom he met in Vienna (at first, after moving to the city of Wolfgang, he rented an apartment from the Weber family).

Wolfgang Mozart and his wife

Leopold Mozart was against the marriage of his son to a girl, as he saw in this the desire of her family to find a "profitable party" for Constance. However, the wedding took place in 1782.

The composer's wife was pregnant six times, but few of the couple's children survived infancy: only Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang survived.

Death

In 1790, when Constance again went for treatment, and the financial condition of Wolfgang Mozart became even more unbearable, the composer decided to give several concerts in Frankfurt. The renowned musician, whose portrait at that time became the personification of progressive and immensely beautiful music, was greeted with a bang, but the fees from the concerts were too small and did not meet Wolfgang's hopes.

In 1791, the composer had an unprecedented creative upsurge. At this time, "Symphony 40" came out from under his pen, and not long before his death - the unfinished "Requiem".

In the same year, Mozart fell seriously ill: he was tormented by weakness, the composer's legs and arms were swollen, and soon he began to faint from sudden bouts of vomiting. Wolfgang's death occurred on December 5, 1791, and its official cause was rheumatic inflammatory fever.

However, to this day, some believe that the cause of Mozart's death was poisoning by the well-known composer Antonio Salieri, who, alas, was not at all as brilliant as Wolfgang. Part of the popularity of this version is dictated by the corresponding "little tragedy" written. However, no confirmation of this version has been found to date.

The real name of the composer sounds like Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart, but he himself always demanded that he be called Wolfgang.

Wolfgang Mozart. Last lifetime portrait

During a large tour of the young Mozarts across Europe, the family ended up in Holland. Then there was a fast in the country, and music was banned. An exception was made only for Wolfgang, considering his talent to be a gift from God.
Mozart was buried in a common grave, where several more coffins were located: so difficult was the financial situation of the family at that time. Therefore, the exact burial place of the great composer is still unknown.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart(it. Wolfgang amadeus mozart, IPA [ˈvɔlfɡaŋ amaˈdeus ˈmoːtsaʁt] (i); January 27, 1756, Salzburg - December 5, 1791, Vienna), baptized as Johann Chrysostome Wolfgang Theophil Mozart is an Austrian composer and virtuoso performer who began composing at the age of four. He is one of the most popular classical composers, who deeply influenced the further Western musical culture. According to contemporaries, Mozart had a phenomenal ear for music, memory and the ability to improvise.

The uniqueness of Mozart 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, then the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, at the 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 Perthl), daughter of the trustee-commissioner 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, whose friends and relatives called Nannerl, and son Wolfgang... His birth nearly cost his mother her life. Only after some time was she able to get rid of the weakness that inspired fear for her life. On the second day after birth Wolfgang was baptized in the Salzburg Cathedral of St. Rupert. A baptismal entry 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 during Mozart's life varied: lat. Amadeus, it. Gottlieb, Italian. Amadeo, which means "beloved of God." Mozart himself preferred to be called Wolfgang.

The musical talent of children manifested itself at a very early age. Nannerl's lessons on the harpsichord influenced little Wolfgang, who was only about three years old: he sat down at the instrument and could entertain himself for a long time with the selection of consonances. In addition, he memorized individual passages of pieces of music that he heard, and could play them on the harpsichord. This made a big 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. Soon, he had a desire for independent creativity: at the age of five, he composed small plays, which his father wrote down on paper. The very first compositions Wolfgang steel and Allegro in C major for clavier. They are marked 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 in the hand of Leopold Mozart
Leopold started musical notebooks for his children, in which he himself or his friends - musicians recorded various compositions for the clavier. Nannerl's music book contains minuets and similar small pieces. To date, the notebook has been preserved in a badly damaged and incomplete form. This notebook also taught little Wolfgang; his first works are also recorded here. Notebook itself Wolfgang on the contrary, it 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 independently learned to play the violin.

An interesting fact that speaks of the tenderness and subtlety of his hearing: according to a letter from a friend of the Mozart family, to the court trumpeter Andreas Schachtner, which was written at the request of Maria Anna after her death Mozart, little Wolfgang, until almost ten years of age, was afraid of the trumpet, if they played only on it alone, without the accompaniment of other instruments. Even the very sight of the pipe had an effect on Wolfgang as if a pistol was pointed at him. Schachtner wrote: “Papa wanted to suppress this childish fear in him, and ordered me, despite the resistance Wolfgang, blow in his face; but my god! I wish I had disobeyed. As soon as Wolfgangerl heard a deafening sound, he turned pale and began to sink to the ground, and if I had continued longer, he probably would have had convulsions. "

Father Wolfgang loved unusually tenderly: in the evenings, before going to bed, his father put him on an armchair, and had to sing with him invented Wolfgang 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 grows old, keep him in his glass case and respect him. Then he went to bed contentedly. 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 learn that he forgot about everything, even about music. For example, when I was learning 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 first decided to introduce Wolfgang the musical world as a virtuoso performer [Ph. one]. Hoping to get a good position for the boy and a patron among the representatives of famous noblemen, Leopold had the idea of concert travels to the royal courts of Europe. The time of wandering began, which lasted, with short or relatively long interruptions, for almost ten years. In January 1762, Leopold undertook a concert trip to Munich with his prodigy children. The journey lasted three weeks, and the children performed in front of the Elector of Bavaria Maximilian III.

The success in Munich and the enthusiasm with which the audience greeted the children's play 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 is not without reason that Leopold had hopes for Vienna: at that time it was the center of European culture, there were great opportunities for musicians, they were supported by influential patrons. The nine months remaining before the trip were spent by Leopold on further education. Wolfgang... However, he focused not on the theory of music, in which the boy still had a lot to learn, but on all kinds of visual tricks, which the public of that time appreciated more than the game itself. For example, Wolfgang learned to play the cloth-covered keyboard without making mistakes. Finally, on September 18 of the same year, Mozarts went to Vienna. On the way, they had to stop at Passau, yielding to the desire of the local archbishop to listen to the play of virtuoso children. Having made them wait for the requested audience for five days, the bishop finally listened to their game, and, without experiencing any emotions, dismissed Mozarts by 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. The concert was also attended by Counts Herberstein and Pahlffy, great music lovers. They were so delighted and surprised by the play 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 boat along the Danube, the Mozarts finally set off for Vienna. On the way, they stopped at Ybbs. There, in a Franciscan monastery, Wolfgang for the first time in his life tried his hand at playing the organ. 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 examination: with his characteristic open disposition and childlike spontaneity, he met the customs officer, showed him his clavier and played the minuet on the violin, after which they were allowed to pass without examination.

Meanwhile, Counts Herberstein and Pahlffy kept their promise: having arrived in Vienna much earlier Mozarts, they told about the concert in Linz to Archduke Joseph, who, in turn, told about the concert of his mother, Empress Maria Theresa. Thus, after arriving in Vienna on October 6, Father received an invitation to an audience at 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 the house of the Vice-Chancellor, Count Colloredo, the father of the future patron Mozart, Archbishop Jerome Colloredo. The audience was delighted with Little Wolfgang's playing. Soon all the Viennese aristocracy was only talking about the little genius.

On the appointed day, October 13, Mozarts went to Schönbrunn, where the summer residence of the imperial court was then located. There they had to stay from 3 to 6 hours. The empress arranged Mozart such a warm and polite welcome that they felt relaxed and at ease. At a concert that lasted several hours, Wolfgang He played a wide variety of music flawlessly: from his own improvisations to works given to him by the court composer of Maria Theresa, Georg Wagenzeil. Moreover, when Wagenzeil gave Wolfgang the sheet music for his harpsichord concerto, Wolfgang asked him to turn the pages for him himself. Emperor Franz I, wanting to see firsthand the talent of the child, asked him to demonstrate all kinds of performing tricks during the game: from playing with one finger to playing on a keyboard covered with a cloth. Wolfgang easily coped with such tests. The Empress was fascinated by the play of the little virtuoso. After the game ended, she sat Wolfgang on her lap and even allowed herself to be kissed on the cheek. At the end of the audience, the Mozarts were offered food, and then they got the opportunity to inspect the castle. There is a famous historical anecdote associated with this concert: allegedly, when Wolfgang was playing with the children of Maria Theresa, the little archduchess, he slipped on the rubbed floor and fell. Archduchess Marie Antoinette, future Queen of France, helped him up. Wolfgang seemed to jump up to her and said: "You are nice, I want to marry you when I grow up."

Mozarts have been to Schönbrunn several times. So that they could appear there in more dignified clothes than the one they had, the empress ordered to deliver to the hotel where they lived Mozarts, two suits - for Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl. A suit intended for Wolfgang, before that belonged to the Archduke Maximilian. The costume was sewn from the finest lilac drape with the same moire waistcoat, and the whole set was trimmed with wide gold lace.

Mozarts every day received new invitations to receptions in the houses of the nobility and aristocracy. Leopold wanted to refuse the invitations of these dignitaries, as 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:

We visited the French ambassador today. Tomorrow, from four to six, I’ll have a reception at Count Harrach’s, however, I don’t know exactly which one. I can understand this by the direction in which the carriage takes us - after all, a carriage is always sent after us with an escort of lackeys. From half past six to nine we take part in a concert that is supposed to bring us six ducats and in which the most famous Viennese virtuosos will play. In order to be sure that we will surely respond to the invitation, the date of the appointment is usually agreed four, five or six days in advance. On Monday we go to Count Paar. Wolferl is very fond of walking at least twice a day. Recently we came to a house at half past three and stayed there until almost four. From there we hurried to Count Gardegh, 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 five 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 several hours, were very exhausting Wolfgang... In the same letter, Leopold expresses fear for his health. Indeed, on October 21, after another performance in front of the empress, Wolfgang I felt unwell, and upon arriving at the hotel, I lay down, complaining of pain all over my 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 the aristocrats were afraid of catching the infection. Therefore, an invitation to Pressburg (now Bratislava), which came from the Hungarian nobility, turned out to be very useful. Returning to Salzburg, Mozarts again stayed in Vienna for several days, and finally left it in the first days of the new 1763.

big Adventure

1770-1774 years Mozart spent in Italy. In 1770, in Bologna, he met the composer Josef Myslivechek, extremely popular at that time in Italy; the influence of the "Divine Bohemian" was 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 theatrical impresarios, an opera was staged Mozart"Mithridates, king of Pontic" (Italian. Mitridate, Re di Ponto), which was received with great enthusiasm by the public. His second opera "Lucio Sulla" (Italian Lucio Silla) (1772) was given the same success. For Salzburg Mozart wrote "The Dream of Scipio" (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, among his works there were already 4 operas, several spiritual works, 13 symphonies, 24 sonatas, not to mention the mass of smaller compositions.

In 1779 Mozart received the position of 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, Idamant's part, written for castrato), but a new trend is felt in the recitatives and especially in the choirs. A big step forward is also seen in instrumentation. While 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 premiere of the opera took place in Munich with great success Mozart Idomeneo. Till Mozart in Munich he received congratulations, his employer, the Archbishop of Salzburg, attended the 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, caressing 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 of his annual salary in Salzburg. As a result, the quarrel reached its climax in May: Mozart submitted a letter of resignation, but the archbishop refused to accept it. Then the musician began to behave emphatically defiantly, hoping to get freedom in this way. And he achieved his goal: the next month the composer was fired literally by 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 Weber house on St. Peter's Square, who had moved to Vienna from Munich. Mozart's friend and Aloisia's father Fridolin Weber had died by that time, and Aloisia married the dramatic actor Joseph Lange (English) Russian, and since at that time she was invited to the Viennese national singspiel, her mother Frau Weber also decided to move to Vienna with her three unmarried daughters Joseph, Constance and Sophie. Mozart I was very happy about the opportunity thus provided to find refuge with old acquaintances. Soon, rumors reached Salzburg that Wolfgang was going to marry one of the 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 had intended to rent another apartment for a long time, and only because of the chatter of people; it is a pity that I have 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 at the fact that in broad daylight they talk like that, without having any reason to do so. If I live with them, I will marry my daughter! ...
I do not want to say that in the family I am also unapproachable with Mademoiselle, with whom I was already married, and I do not speak to her at all, but I am not in love either; I play the fool and joke with her if time permits it (but only in the evenings and if I dine at home, because in the morning I write in my room, and in the afternoon I’m rarely at home) —that’s nothing else. If I had 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 nevertheless 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 performer-pianist and teacher. This was beneficial to him, as in this way he could pave the way for his writings. However, it immediately became clear that for his entry into Vienna musical life the timing was poorly chosen: at the beginning of summer, the Viennese nobility moved to their country estates, and thus the academies [k. 2] nothing could be achieved.

Shortly after arriving in Vienna Mozart met with the patron of the arts and patron of musicians, Baron Gottfried van Swieten (English) Russian .. The Baron had a large collection of works by Bach and Handel, which he brought from Berlin. At the suggestion of van Swieten Mozart began to compose music in the Baroque style. Mozart rightly 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 already writes [p. 2]: Every Sunday at 12 noon I go to Baron van Swieten [K. 3], nothing is played there except Handel and Bach. I am just composing for myself a collection of Bach's fugues. Both Sebastian and Emanuel and Friedemann Bach.

At the end of July 1781 Mozart begins 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.

In the hope of establishing a firm foothold at court, Mozart With the help of his former patron in Salzburg, the younger brother of the emperor, Archduke Maximilian, he hoped to become a music teacher with 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 teacher of singing. "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 as a good pianist, nothing 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 come to the palace in order to enter into competition with the Italian virtuoso Muzio Clementi, who then arrived in Vienna, according to the well-known ancient custom. According to Dittersdorf, who was present there, the emperor later noted that only art dominates in Clementi's game, and in the game Mozart- art and taste. After that, the emperor sent Mozart 50 ducats, which he really needed then. 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. By the winter of 1782, the number of female students increased. Mozart, among which should be noted Teresa von Trattner - Mozart's beloved, to whom he would later devote sonata and fantasy.

New sweetheart and wedding

Constance Mozart... Portrait by Hans Hassen, 1802
While still living with the Weber, 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 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 of December 22, 1781, the main role in the story with a written commitment was played by the guardian of Constance and her sisters - Johann Torvart, an auditor of the court directorate and an inspector of theatrical wardrobe, who enjoyed authority with Count Rosenberg. Torvart asked his mother to forbid Mozart to communicate with Constance before "this matter is not 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, and said: “Dear Mozart! I do not need any written commitment from you, I already believe your words, ”she tore up the statement. This act of Constance made her even more dear to Mozart.

Despite numerous letters from his son, Leopold was adamant. In addition, he, not without reason, believed 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 opened up before him: he wrote "The Abduction from the Seraglio", held concerts by subscription and now and then received orders for various compositions from the Viennese nobility. In great confusion, Wolfgang appealed to his sister for help, trusting her good old friendship. At Wolfgang's request, Constance sent various gifts to his sister.

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

Meanwhile, the gossip became more and more intolerable: on July 27, 1782, Mozart, in complete despair, wrote to his father that most people took him for already married and that Frau Weber was extremely outraged by this and tortured him and Constance to death. The 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 willingly agreed. Because of this, Frau Weber was now angry and intended to eventually bring her daughter back to her home by force. To preserve the honor of Constance, Mozart had to do everything to bring her into his house; 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 agreement was again not followed. But in the meantime, Baroness von Waldstedten did not stand aside either - she eliminated all difficulties and even tried to convince her father that Constance was not the Weberian in character and that, on the whole, 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 with her youngest daughter Sophie (English) Russian, Herr von Torvart as guardian and witness of both, Herr von Zetto, the bride's witness, and Franz Xaver Gilovski as a witness to Mozart. The wedding feast was hosted by the Baroness, with a serenade for thirteen instruments (K.361 / 370a). Only a day later the long-awaited consent of the father came. On August 7, Mozart wrote to him: “When we were married, my wife and I began to cry; this touched everyone, even the priest, and everyone wept, as they witnessed the emotion of our hearts ”[p. 6].

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

1783-1787

Drive to Salzburg

Despite the fact of a happy marriage for both spouses, a gloomy shadow of his father always fell on the marriage: outwardly he seemed to be reconciled with Wolfgang's marriage, but his hostility towards marriage remained unchanged and grew into cruel anger. On the contrary, Wolfgang's innate kindness did not allow him to be annoyed with his father for so long. True, since then his letters to his father have become increasingly rare and, most importantly, more businesslike.

First Mozart I also hoped that personal acquaintance with Constance would help change my father's opinion. Soon after the wedding, the couple thinks about a trip to Salzburg. Originally Wolfgang and Constance planned to arrive there at the beginning of October 1782, and then on November 15, for her father's name day. For the first time, their calculations were canceled out 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 continued throughout the winter. In the spring of 1783, the main obstacle was the expectation of the birth of Costantia. Child, boy - born 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 boy."

Wolfgang among other things, he was worried whether the archbishop would be able to use his arrival in order to issue an "arrest order", since he parted from the service without formal resignation. Therefore, he suggested that his father meet on neutral ground - in Munich. However, Leopold reassured his son about this, and at the end of July the young couple set off, leaving the newborn child to a paid wet nurse [K. 4], and arrived in Salzburg on July 29.

Contrary to expectations Mozart Leopold and Nannerl greeted the Consants coolly, though politely enough. Mozart brought with him several parts of the still unfinished Mass in C minor: they were Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus. Credo remained unfinished and Agnus Dei was not written at all. The premiere of the Mass took place on August 26 at St. Peter's Church, while Constance sang the soprano part, written especially for her voice. In addition, in Salzburg, Mozart met with his librettist for Idomeneo, Varesco, who, at the composer's request, sketched the libretto L'oca del Cairo (Cairo Goose), which Mozart would set to music for the never-finished opera of the same name.

The couple left Salzburg on October 27, 1783. Despite all efforts, the main purpose of the trip - to change the mood of his father 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. However, Wolfgang left his hometown disappointed and upset. On the way to Vienna, on October 30, they stopped at Linz, where they stayed with Mozart's old friend, Count Joseph Thun, having stayed here for 3 weeks. Here Mozart wrote his Symphony No. 36 in C major (K.425), which premiered on 4 November at the academy in the count's house.

The peak of creativity

Domgasse 5. Apartment Mozart was on the second floor
At the zenith of your glory, Mozart receives huge fees for his academies and the publication of his works: in September 1784, the composer's family settled in a luxurious apartment in house number 846 on Gross Schulerstrasse (now Domgasse 5) [Ph. 5] with an annual lease of 460 florins. The income allowed Mozart to keep a servant 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 dedicates his collection of 6 quartets to Haydn, written in 1783-1785. Another important event in the life of Mozart also belongs 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 did not change, Leopold was very proud of his son's creative success. On the very first day of his stay in Vienna, February 10, he visited the Wolfgang 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 hosted a quartet evening at his home, to which Joseph Haydn was invited. At the same time, as usual in such cases, Dittersdorf played the first violin, Haydn played the second, Mozart himself played the viola part, and Wangal played the cello. After performing the quartets, Haydn expressed his admiration for Wolfgang's work, which gave Leopold great joy:

“I tell you before God, as an honest man, your son - greatest composer whom I know personally and by name;
he has taste, and on top of that, he has the greatest knowledge of composition. "
Leopold was also very happy with 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 successes of chamber compositions Mozart, his affairs with the opera did not go well the best way... Contrary to his hopes, German opera gradually fell into decay; the Italian, on the other hand, experienced a tremendous upsurge. Hoping to get an opportunity to write an opera at all, 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 the 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 the libretto Mozart suggested Pierre Beaumarchais's comedy "Le Mariage de Figaro" ("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 down to work, and, thanks to the lack of new operas, won the position. However, having written the opera, Mozart faced extremely strong intrigues associated with the forthcoming rehearsals of the opera: the fact is that almost simultaneously with Mozart's Marriage of Figaro, the operas by Salieri and Rigini were completed. Each composer claimed to have his opera performed first. At the same time, Mozart, flushed, 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 the rehearsals of the opera to begin. Mozart.

It had a good reception in Vienna, but after several performances it was removed and not staged until 1789, when the production was resumed by Antonio Salieri, who considered Mozart's Marriage of Figaro the best opera by Mozart. But in Prague "The Wedding of Figaro" was an overwhelming 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 opera repertoire, was even more successful in Prague than Le Nozze di Figaro.

Much less success fell to the lot of this opera in Vienna, generally since the time of "Figaro" has cooled to the work of Mozart. Mozart received 50 ducats from Emperor Joseph for Don Giovanni, and, according to J. Rice, during 1782-1792 this was the only time the composer received payment for an opera ordered outside Vienna. However, the audience as a whole remained indifferent. Since 1787 his “academies” ceased, Mozart was unable to organize the performance of the last three, now the 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 within 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 post of "imperial and royal chamber musician" with a salary of 800 florins, but his duties were reduced mainly to composing dances for masquerades, the opera was a comic, with a plot from high life. commissioned to Mozart only once, and it became "Così fan tutte" (1790).

A content of 800 florins could not fully cover Mozart; Obviously, already at this time he began to accumulate debts, aggravated by the cost of treating his ailing wife. Mozart recruited students, however, according to experts, there were not many of them. In 1789, the composer wanted to leave Vienna, but his trip to the north, including to Berlin, did not justify 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 content of 3 thousand thalers, Alfred Einstein relates to the realm of fantasy, as well as the sentimental reason for refusal - as if out of respect for Joseph II. Frederick William II only ordered six simple piano sonatas for his daughter and six string quartets for himself.

The money raised during the trip was scarce. They were barely enough to pay the debt of 100 guilders, which were taken from the brother of the freemason Hofmedel for travel expenses [source not specified 1145 days]. In 1789, Mozart dedicated a string quartet with the concert cello part (D major) to the King of Prussia.

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; with the accession to the throne of Leopold II, Mozart at first pinned great 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, love of activity and confidence in my knowledge make me dare to ask for a place as second conductor, especially I have mastered this style to perfection in my youth ”. But his hopes were not justified, Ignaz Umlauf remained as 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 improve his affairs with an artistic journey.

1789-1791

Trip to Northern Germany

The reason for the trip came from a friend and student of Mozart, Prince Karl Lichnovsky (English) Russian., Who in the spring of 1789, going to Berlin on business, offered Mozart a place in his carriage, to which Mozart gladly agreed. King Frederick Wilhelm II of Prussia was a great music lover, and his possible patronage awakened in Mozart the hope of earning enough money to pay off the debts so burdensome for him. Mozart had no money even for travel expenses: he had to ask for a loan of 100 florins from his friend Franz Hofdemel. The journey lasted nearly three months: from April 8 to June 4, 1789.

During the trip, Mozart visited Prague, Leipzig, Dresden, Potsdam and Berlin. Despite Mozart's hopes, the trip was 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 Gigou for piano (K. 574).

Last year

Mozart's last operas were "Everybody Do This" (1790), "The Mercy of Titus" (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 by the Bohemian king, the opera Titus' Mercy was received coldly; On the other hand, The Magic Flute, staged in the same month in Vienna in a suburban theater, had such a success as Mozart had not known in the Austrian capital for many years. In the vast and varied activities of Mozart, this fairy-tale opera occupies a special place.

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

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

Sickness and death

In connection with the premiere of the opera Titus' Mercy, Mozart arrived in Prague already ill, and since then his condition has worsened. Even during the completion of The Magic Flute, Mozart began to faint, he was greatly discouraged. As soon as The Magic Flute was performed, Mozart enthusiastically began work on the Requiem. This work occupied him so much that he was even going to accept no more students until the Requiem was completed [K. 6]. Upon returning from Baden, Constance did everything to keep him from work and lead him to more cheerful thoughts, but he still remained sad and dejected. During one of his walks in the Prater, he said with tears in his eyes that he was writing a Requiem for himself. In addition, he said: “I feel too well that I will not last long; of course, they gave me poison - I can't get rid of this thought. " 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 physician in Vienna, Dr. Nikolaus Kloss.

Indeed, thanks to this, Mozart's condition improved so much that he was able to complete his Masonic cantata on November 15 and conduct it. He felt so good that he called the thought of his poisoning the 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 went to bed. He developed weakness, his arms and legs were swollen to such an extent that he could not walk, followed by sudden bouts of vomiting. In addition, his hearing sharpened, and he ordered the cage with his beloved canary to be removed from the room - he could not bear her singing.

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

When Mozart fell ill, we both sewed him a nightgown, which He could wear in the front, because due to swelling, he could not turn, and since we did not know how seriously ill he was, we also made him a padded dressing gown [...] so that he could wrap himself up well if he had to get up. So we visited him diligently, and he also showed heartfelt joy when he received the dressing gown. I went to the city every day to visit him, and when one Saturday evening I came to them, Mozart told me: “Now, dear Sophie, tell my mother that I feel very good, and that a week after her name day (November 22 ) I'll come to congratulate her again. "

"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 minute, to warn her. At the request of Constance, on the way she went to the priests of the Church of St. Peter and asked one of them to come to Mozart. Sophie barely managed to persuade the priests to come - they were frightened off by Mozart's Freemasonry [K. 7]. In the end, one of the priests did come. Returning, Sophie found Mozart enthusiastically talking with Süsmeier about working on the Requiem, and Mozart with tears in his eyes said, "Didn't I say that I am writing this Requiem for myself?" He was so sure of the nearness of his death that he even asked Constance to inform Albrechtsberger of his death before others knew 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 in 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 show. In secret, he told Süsmeier about the hopelessness of Mozart's position, and ordered a cold compress on his head. This affected the dying Mozart so that he lost consciousness [K. eight]. From that moment on, Mozart lay in a bed, raving randomly. At about midnight, he got up on the bed and stared motionlessly into space, then leaned against the wall and dozed off. After midnight, five minutes to one o'clock, that is, on December 5, death occurred.

Funeral

Mozart was buried on December 6, 1791 at St. Mark's Cemetery. At about 3 pm 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 friends of Mozart van Swieten, Salieri, Albrechtsberger, Susmeier, Diner, Rosner, cellist Orsler and others [Ph. 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.

The exact burial place of Mozart is not known for certain: in his time, the graves remained unmarked, tombstones were allowed to be placed not on the site of the burial itself, but at the wall of the cemetery. For many years in a row, the wife of his friend Johann Georg Albrechtsberger visited the grave of Mozart, who took her son with her. He accurately remembered the burial place of the composer, and when, on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of Mozart's death, they began to search for his burial, he was able to show him. A simple tailor planted a willow on the grave, and then, in 1859, a monument was erected 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 Vienna's Central Cemetery, which again posed the danger of losing the real grave. Then the overseer of the cemetery of St. Mark Alexander Kruger erected a small monument from various remains of former gravestones. Currently, the Weeping Angel has returned to its original location.

Appearance and character

It is not easy to get an idea of what Mozart looked like, despite his many images that have survived to this day. Excluding portraits that are not genuine and deliberately idealizing Mozart, there are significant differences among believable 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 motion: he either gesticulated with his hands or tapped his foot. His face was extremely mobile: his expression was constantly changing, which indicated strong nervousness. In addition, his sister-in-law Sophie Heibl reports that he constantly played "as if on a clavier" with a variety of things - a hat, a cane, a watch chain, a table, and 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 the locks of hair covered his ears so that they were not visible. His hair was light and rather thick, and his complexion was pale - the result of many diseases and unhealthy lifestyles. This was also the reason that his large beautiful blue eyes had an absent-minded and disturbing look, according to the recollections of contemporaries. A wide, but too high forehead sloped backward, the nose continued its line, barely separating from it with 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 rather large, the corners of the mouth were raised upward.

One of characteristic features Mozart's personality was an innate observation in dealing with people. It is characterized in the amazing acuity and precision with which he characterizes the people he meets. However, in his judgments there was no moralizing pathos, they contained only the joy of observation as such and, above all, the desire to reveal the essential in a given person. The highest moral property of Mozart was his honor, to which he constantly returns in his letters, and if there was a threat to his freedom, then he generally forgot about the fear of people. However, he never benefited for his own person, did not envy another in his personal well-being, and, moreover, did not deceive anyone for the sake of this. An innate sense of his own dignity never left him in aristocratic houses - Mozart always knew his worth.

From the source of Mozart's worldview mentioned above, two main aspects of his personality follow - humor and irony. Mozart inherited his light 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 when he was describing people. In his early letters to his family, there are a lot of toilet jokes and other vulgarities.

According to the memoirs of Joseph Lange, Mozart's entourage had to listen to a lot of vulgarity just when he was inwardly occupied with any 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 a play on words: he often came up with playful names and surnames for himself and his inner circle: he once called himself Trats [k. 10], putting the letters of your surname in the reverse order. Even in the marriage registration book of St. Stephen's Cathedral, he entered himself as Wolfgang Adam (instead of Amadeus).

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

Mozart Apartments in Vienna

During his ten years 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. The longest - two and a half years - he lived in luxury house No. 846 on the Gross Schulerstrasse. Usually the composer stayed in one and the same place for no more than a year, changing a total of 13 apartments in Vienna.

After leaving Salzburg after breaking up with the archbishop, Mozart first settled in Vienna at the house of Frau Weber, the mother of his first beloved Aloysia. Here began his romance with Constance, who later became the composer's wife. However, even before the wedding, in order to suppress unwanted rumors about his connection 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 the Younger on Hoch Brück. In September 1784, when Mozart was at the zenith of his fame, his family settled on Gross Schulerstrasse 5, in what is now called the "House of Figaro". In 1788, Mozart settled in the Viennese suburb of Alsergrund on 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. eight]. It is in this apartment that the composer composes the opera "Everybody Does It" and the 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 forms and genres that existed in his era, but also left works of enduring 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 of the creative personality of the 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 courageous nature, with great dramatic pathos and contrasting elements.

Mozart attached particular importance to opera. His operas represent a whole era in the development of this kind of 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 drama, where opera music is in complete unity with the development of stage action. As a result, there are no uniquely positive and negative characters, the characters are lively and multifaceted, the relationship of people, their feelings and aspirations are shown. The most popular were the operas The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute.

Mozart paid much attention to symphonic music... Due to the fact that throughout his life he worked in parallel on operas and symphonies, his instrumental music is distinguished by the melodiousness of an opera 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 and instrumental creativity is represented by various ensembles (from duets to quintets) and pieces 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, distinctness, meticulous finishing of the 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 reckoning, Mozart wrote 68 spiritual works (masses, offertorias, hymns, etc.), 23 works for theater, 22 sonatas for harpsichord, 45 sonatas and variations for violin and harpsichord, 32 string quartets, about 50 symphonies, 55 concerts and etc., a total of 626 works.

Pedagogical activities

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, the city of London, immediately took the position of court bandmaster, organist at St. Paul's Cathedral, musical mentor of the Duchess of York, and then the Princess of Wales.

Mozart and Freemasonry

The time of Mozart's life coincided with the awakening in Europe of a great interest in spiritual and mystical teachings. In a relatively calm period of the middle of the eighteenth century, along with the desire for enlightenment, the search for an intellectual and socio-educational order (French enlightenment, encyclopedists), an interest in the esoteric teachings of antiquity arises.

On December 14, 1784, Mozart entered the Masonic Order, and by 1785 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 came to the degree of Master in 16 days from the moment of joining the lodge.

There are several versions of Mozart's joining the Masonic brotherhood. According to one of them, his friend and future librettist of The Magic Flute, Emmanuel Schikaneder, was the guarantor for his admission to the Vienna Zur Wohltatigkeit (In the Name of Charity) lodge. Among the prominent brothers of the lodge were the philosophers Reichfeld and Ignaz von Born. Later, on the recommendation of Mozart himself, Wolfgang's father, Leopold Mozart (in 1787), was admitted to the same box.

After becoming a Master Mason, Mozart in 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 listed as such, 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 thing. Mozart not only left us a row significant works written specifically for Masonic rites and celebrations - the very thought 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 integral parts of cantatas. Musicologists note the characteristic features of these works: "a simple, somewhat hymnological structure, a three-part chord, a somewhat rhetorical general character."

Among them are such compositions as:

Funerary 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 entry into the lodge brothers' box.
Cantata "Sehen, wie dem starren Forschcrauge." E major, (K.471)
Adagio and Fugue for String Orchestra in C minor, (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 most saturated with views, ideas and symbols of Freemasonry is the opera The Magic Flute (1791), the libretto for which was written by the freemason Emmanuel Schikaneder.

As the journalists A. Rybalka and A. Sinelnikov, who study the history of Freemasonry, believe, the creation of the opera is connected with the fact that by the time Mozart entered the Masonic lodge, Europe began to experience social and political instability. The liberation struggle in Italy and in many areas of the Austrian Empire intensified. In this demoralizing atmosphere, 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, the symbolism of the opera is guessed at: a benevolent allusion to the Empress Maria Theresa (the image of the Queen of the Night), Emperor Joseph II (Prince Tamino), Ignaz von Born, the well-known ideologist of Austrian Masons (Priest Sarastro), the image of the kind and glorious Austrian people (Papageno and Papagena).

The symbolism of the opera clearly traces the declaration of the basic Masonic principles. The triunities characteristic of Masonic philosophy permeate the action in all directions: three fairies, three boys, three geniuses, etc. The action opens with the fact that three fairies kill a snake - the personification of evil. Both in the first and in the second acts of the opera there are clear overlaps with the Masonic symbols denoting life and death, thought and action. Mass scenes are interwoven into the development of the opera story, literally demonstrating Masonic rituals.

The central image of the opera is the priest Sarastro, whose philosophical declarations contain the most important Masonic triads: Power, 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 fiction of The Magic Flute, first of all, the Masonic sermon means not to understand the diversity of Mozart's art, its direct sincerity, its wit, alien to any didactics. "

Musically, as T. N. Livanova notes, "in the duet and choirs of the priests from the first act, there is a noticeable similarity with the simple and rather strict hymn-everyday character of Mozart's Masonic songs, their typical diatonism, chord polyphony."

The main key of the orchestral overture is the key of E flat major, which has a key of three flat and characterizes virtue, nobility and peace. This tonality was often used by Mozart in Masonic compositions, and in later symphonies, and in chamber music. In addition, three chords are persistently repeated in the overture, which again reminds of 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 GF Daumer, a supporter of the Masonic conspiracy theory, who believed that the depiction of Masons in The Magic Flute was a caricature.

Artworks

Opera

The Duty of the First Commandment (Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes), 1767. Theatrical oratorio
"Apollo and Hyacinthus" (Apollo et Hyacinthus), 1767 - student musical drama on the Latin text
"Bastien und Bastienne" (Bastien und Bastienne), 1768. Another student thing, singspiel. German version of the famous comic opera by J.-J-Rousseau - "The Village Wizard"
La finta semplice (1768) - opera buffa exercise based on Goldoni's libretto
"Mithridates, king of Ponto" (Mitridate, re di Ponto), 1770 - in the tradition of the Italian opera-seria, based on the tragedy of Racine
Ascanio in Alba, 1771. Opera serenade (pastoral)
Betulia Liberata, 1771 - oratorio. On the plot of the story of Judith and Holofernes
Il sogno di Scipione, 1772. Opera serenade (pastoral)
Lucio Silla, 1772. Opera Seria
Tamos, King of Egypt (Thamos, König in Ägypten), 1773, 1775. Music to Gebler's drama
"The Imaginary Gardener" (La finta giardiniera), 1774-5 - again a return to the tradition of the opera buff
The Shepherd King (Il Re Pastore), 1775. Opera-serenade (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
"Cairo goose" (L'oca del Cairo), 1783
"Deceived Spouse" (Lo sposo deluso)
"Theater Director" (Der Schauspieldirektor), 1786. Musical Comedy
Le nozze di Figaro, 1786. The first of 3 great operas. In the genre of opera-buff.
Don Giovanni, 1787
"Everyone does this" (Così fan tutte), 1789
"The Mercy of Titus" (La clemenza di Tito), 1791
Die Zauberflöte, 1791. Singspiel

Other works

17 masses, including:
"Coronation" in 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 [Ph. 12], including:
No. 21 in A major, K.134 (1772)
No. 22 in C major, K.162 (1773)
No. 24 in B flat major, K.182 / 173dA (1773)
No. 25 in G minor, K.183 / 173dB (1773)
No. 27 in 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 D major, K.385 (1782)
No. 36 "Linz" in C major, K.425 (1783)
No. 38 "Prague" in D major, K.504 (1786)
No. 39 in E flat major, K.543 (1788)
No. 40 in G minor, K.550 (1788)
No. 41 "Jupiter" in C major, K.551 (1788)
27 Concertos for Piano and Orchestra, including:
Concerto for Piano and Orchestra 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)
Concert Symphony for Violin, Viola and Orchestra in E-flat major, K.364 / 320d (1779)
2 concertos for flute and orchestra (1778)
No. 1 in G major, K.313 / 285c
No. 2 in D major, K.314 / 285d
Concerto for flute, 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 French horn and orchestra:
No. 1 in D major K.412 / 386b (1791)
No. 2 in E flat major K.417 (1783)
No. 3 in E flat major K.447 (1787)
No. 4 in 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 divertissements for orchestra
Various ensembles of wind instruments
Sonatas for various instruments, trios, duets
19 sonatas for piano, 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 arietta theme "Unser dummer Pöbel meint", К.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 theme for artists of all kinds of arts. Mozart became the hero of numerous works of literature, drama and cinema. It is impossible to list all of them - below are the most famous of them:

Dramas. Plays. Books.

1830 - Small Tragedies. Mozart and Salieri. " - A. Pushkin, drama
1855 - "Mozart on the Way to Prague". - Eduard Mörike, story
1967 - "Sublime and earthly". - Weiss, David, novel
1970 - The Murder of Mozart. - Weiss, David, novel
1979 - Amadeus. - Peter Schaeffer, play.
1991 - "Mozart: The Sociology of a Genius" - Norbert Elias, a sociological study of 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.
The highly acclaimed book about the composer was written by G.V. Chicherin
The Old Chef. - K. G. Paustovsky