composers - wolfgang amadeus mozart
Born: January 27, 1756
Died: December 5, 1791
Period: Classical
Austrian Composer
Wolfgang Amadeus is widely recognized as one of the greatest composers who ever lived. He was one of the leading members of what is now know as the First Viennese School along with Joseph Haydn and Ludwig Van Beethoven. Mozart wrote in all musical genres of his time and was an excellent composer in every aspect.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27 in the year 1776 and was the only surviving son of Leopold and Maria Pertl Mozart. Leopold was a successful, violinist, composer and assistant concert master at the Salzburg court. Wolfgang along with his only sister Maria Anna Mozart (who was often called by her nickname Nannerl) were introduced to music at an early age. Anna began training on the harpsichord at the age of seven while young Wolfgang watched. He began copying her playing at age 3 and showed promise and a strong understanding of tonality, tempo and chords. Leopold Recognized the special talents in his children and devoted much of his time to their instruction in music and other subjects. Wolfgang began to show signs of surpassing his father’s teachings with his composition at the age of 5, he also demonstrated and outstanding ability on the harpsichord and violin. Wolfgang would soon begin to play the piano, organ and viola.
In 1762, Leopold took Wolfgang and Nannerl to the court of Bavaria in Munich from there they traveled to the courts of London, Paris, The Hague and Zurich performing as child prodigies. On this tour Wolfgang met Johann Sebastian Bach’s youngest son Johann Christian Bach in London who in turn had a strong influence on Mozart. The conditions of these trips were poor, the Mozart family was often waiting for an invitation and reimbursements from the nobility, and frequently they fell ill due to poor travel conditions which hindered their performance schedule.
Wolfgang and his father departed from Salzburg for Italy in December of 1769 at the age of 13. Leopold and Wolfgang stayed in Italy until 1771. Leopold wanted his son’s musical abilities to be made known to as many audiences as possible. During Wolfgang’s time in Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere once and wrote out the entire score from memory an astounding feat of musicianship. During this time Mozart also wrote a new opera, Mitridate, re di Ponto for the court of Milan.
Wolfgang and Leopold returned from their last trip to Italy in Marth 1773. When Mozart returned to Salzburg, Austria he was appointed assistant concertmaster to the Archbishop. While working as the assistant concert master Wolfgang had the opportunity compose in several different musical genres such as symphonies, sonatas, serenades concertos, string quartets and several operas. Even though Mozart was successful with his composition he became discontent with his position. He soon became more ambitious and believed he could do better somewhere else. In August of 1777 Mozart began to look for a more lucrative employment.
In the year 1781 Mozart finally found work in Vienna and began to take on pupils and wrote music for publication while he performed concerts. In 1782, Mozart married and fathered six children although only two survived infancy, Karl Thomas and Franz Xavier. In 1783, Mozart became very interested in the works of Bach and George Fredric Handle, this inspired him to write several compositions in the baroque style, one of which being The Magic Flute. During this time, Mozart became friends with Haydn and the two became friends and they occasionally performed concerts together. Between 1782 and 1785 Mozart wrote six quartets dedicated to Haydn. Between 1782 and 1785 Mozart spent his time producing concerts as a soloist and he presented three to four new piano concertos in each season. The year 1784 was the most prolific in Mozart’s performance life, in one five-week period he appeared in 22 concerts and produced and performed in five as a soloist.
Emperor Joseph II appointed Mozart to the position as chamber composer in December of 178 as an incentive to keep Mozart from leaving Vienna. In the year 1788 Mozart moved his family from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund for the reason of reducing living costs. Due to Mozart’s continuing problem with debt he began to borrow money from friends although he was able to repay when a commission or a concert occurred. At this point he wrote the last three Da Ponte operas and his last three symphonies. Between 1790 and 1791 Mozart was very productive musically, completing the opera the Magic Flute and his final piano concerto in B flat and the unfinished Requiem. Mozart died due to severe illness on December 5th 1791.