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]] Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (, Baptize d '''Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart''') ( January 27 , 1756 – December 5 , 1791) was a prolific and influential Composer of the Classical Era . His output of over 600 Compositions includes works widely acknowledged as Pinnacle s of Symphonic , Concertante , Chamber , Piano , Opera tic, and Choral Music . Mozart is among the most enduringly popular of Classical composers and many of his works are part of the standard concert repertoire. BIOGRAPHY Family and early years Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born to , nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was Baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral . The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form as ''Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart''. Mozart generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadé Mozart"Deutsch (1965), cited belowas an adult, but there were many variants; see Mozart's Name . Mozart's father Leopold Mozart (1719–1787) was one of Europe's leading musical teachers. His influential textbook ''Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule'', was published in 1756, the year of Mozart's birth (English, as "A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing", transl. E.Knocker; Oxford-New York, 1948). He was deputy '') 1762-1773: the years of travel ; painted in 1763 on commission from Leopold]] During Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in which the children were exhibited as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the Court of the Elector of Bavaria in Munich , then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague . A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking the family to the courts of Munich , Mannheim , Paris , London , The Hague , again to Paris, and back home via Zürich , Donaueschingen , and Munich. During this trip Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach , who met Mozart in London in 1764–65. Bach's work is often taken to be an inspiration for Mozart's music. The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768. On this trip Mozart contracted smallpox, and his healing was believed by Leopold as proof of God's plans concerning the child. After one year in Salzburg, three trips to Back home in Salzburg, Mozart worked in the court musical establishment of the ruler, Prince-Archbishop Colloredo . The court was a minor one, salaries were low, and Mozart was not happy with his job. 1777-1778: the Paris journey On September 23 , 1777, accompanied by his mother, Mozart began a job-hunting tour that included Munich , Mannheim , and Paris .New Grove, section 3 In Mannheim he became acquainted with members of the Mannheim orchestra, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber , one of four daughters in a musical family. Mozart moved on to Paris and attempted to build his career there, but was unsuccessful (he did obtain a job offer as organist at Versailles, but it was a job he did not wantSolomon 1995, 149). The visit to Paris was an especially unhappy one because Mozart's mother took ill and died there, June 23, 1778.New Grove, section 3. On his way back to Salzburg Mozart passed through Munich again, where Aloysia, now employed at the opera there as a singer, indicated she was no longer interested in him.New Grove, section 3 Mozart's discontent with Salzburg continued after his return. The question arises why Mozart, despite his talent, was unable to find a job on this trip. Maynard Solomon has suggested that the problem lay in conflict with father Leopold, who insisted that Mozart find a high-level position that would support the entire family. Wolfgang favored the alternative strategy of settling in a major city, working as a freelance, and cultivating the aristocracy to the point that he would be favored for an important job; this had worked earlier for other musicians, e.g. Haydn . The plan Leopold imposed, coupled with Mozart's youth (he was only 21 when he left Salzburg), seems to have had impended failure.Solomon's discussion of the job search appears in Chapter 9 of his 1995 book, entitled "A Fool's Errand". 1781: the move to Vienna In January 1781 Mozart's opera '', section 4 In fact, Mozart's Vienna career began very well. He performed often as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with '' ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered July 16, 1782 and achieved a huge success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe" New Grove, section 4. For a listing see the index entry for this opera in Deutsch 1965., and fully established Mozart's reputation as a composer. Near the height of his quarrels with Archbishop Colloredo, Mozart moved in (May 1 or 2, 1781) with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet.Solomon 1995, 253 Aloysia, who had earlier rejected Mozart's suit, was now married to the actor (1784–1858) and Franz Xaver Wolfgang (1791–1844; later a minor composer himself). During 1782–83, Mozart became closely acquainted with the work of J. S. Bach and G.F. Handel as a result of the influence of Baron Gottfried Van Swieten , who owned many manuscripts of works by the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these works led first to a number of works imitating Baroque style and later had a powerful influence on his own personal musical language, for example the Fugal passages in '' Die Zauberflöte '' ("The Magic Flute"), and in the finale of Symphony No. 41 . In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited Leopold in Salzburg, but the visit was not a success, as his father did not open his heart to Constanze. However, the visit sparked the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass In C Minor , which, though not completed, was premiered in Salzburg. Constanze sang in the premiere as the lead soprano.Solomon 1995, 270 At some (unknown) time following his move to Vienna, Mozart met Joseph Haydn and the two composers became friends; see Haydn And Mozart . When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu String Quartet . Mozart's Six Quartets Dedicated To Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from 1782–85, and are often judged to be his response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn was soon in awe of Mozart, and when he first heard the last three of Mozart's series he told Leopold, "Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name: He has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition."Letter from Leopold Mozart to his daughter Maria Anna from February 16, 1785. In the original: "Ich sage ihnen vor gott, als ein ehrlicher Mann, ihr Sohn ist der größte Componist, den ich von Person und den Nahmen nach kenne: er hat Geschmack, und über das die größte Compositionswissenschaft." During the years 1782–1785, Mozart put on a series of concerts in which he appeared as soloist in his Piano Concertos , widely considered among his greatest works. These concerts were financially successful. During the years 1784–1787 Mozart and his family lived in a lavish, seven-room apartment, which may be visited today at Domgasse 5, behind St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna; it was here, in 1786, that Mozart composed the opera '' Le Nozze Di Figaro '', and was visited by a sixteen year old Beethoven . 1789-1790 , made by Doris Stock during Mozart's visit to Dresden, April 1789]] Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's career declined. Around 1786 he ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income dropped.For the drop in concert activity, see New Grove, section 6; for income estimates see Solomon 1995, Appendix.. This was in general a difficult time for musicians in Vienna, since between 1788 and 1791 Austria was at war (see Austro-Turkish War (1788–1791) ), and both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined.Solomon 1995. By mid 1788, Mozart and his family moved from central Vienna to cheaper lodgings in the suburb of Alsergrund New Grove, section 6. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg ; "a dismal series of begging letters" (New Grove) survives. In the late spring of 1789, Mozart made a long journey northward to Leipzig , Dresden , and Berlin , accompanying his patron Prince Karl Lichnowsky . The trip was not generally successful; in one letter Mozart wrote home, he said of a particular concert that "from the point of view of applause and glory {Link without Title} was absolutely magnificent but the profits were wretchedly meager" (letter of May 16th 1789). For details of the trip, see Mozart's Berlin Journey . 1791 Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, one of great productivity and (in the view of biographer , the final piano concerto ( K. 595 In B Flat ), the Clarinet Concerto K. 622, the last in his great series of string quintets ( K. 614 In E Flat ), the revised version of his 40th Symphony , the motet Ave Verum Corpus K. 618, and the unfinished Requiem . Mozart's financial situation, which in 1790 was the source of extreme anxiety to him, also began to improve. Although the evidence is uncertainSolomon 1995, 477 it appears that admiring wealthy patrons in Hungary and in Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart, in return for the occasional composition. Mozart also probably made considerable money from the sale of dance music that wrote for his job as Imperial Court Composer (Kammercompositeur).Solomon 1995, 477 He ceased to borrow large sums from Puchberg and made a start on paying off his debts.Solomon 1995, 477 Lastly, Mozart experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some his works, notably ''The Magic Flute'' (performed many times even during the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death)Solomon 1995, 487, and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered November 15, 1791.Solomon 1995, 490. Final illness and death Mozart fell ill while in Prague, for the Sept. 6 premiere of his opera La Clemenza Di Tito , written 1791 on commission for the coronation festivities of the Emperor.Solomon 1995, 485. He was able to continue his professional functions for some time, for instance conducting the premiere of The Magic Flute on September 30. The illness intensified on November 20, at which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting. The cause of Mozart's illness and death cannot be determined with certainty. His death record listed "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever," referring to a rash that looks like millet-seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Dozens of theories have been proposed, including Trichinosis , Influenza , Mercury Poisoning , and a rare kidney ailment. The practice of Bleeding medical patients, common at that time, is also cited as a contributing cause. However, the most widely accepted version is that he died of acute Rheumatic Fever ; he had had three or even four known attacks of it since his childhood, and this particular disease has a tendency to recur, leaving increasingly serious consequences each time, such as rampant infection and heart valve damage.Solomon 1995, 491 Mozart died at approximately 1 a.m. on December 5 , 1791 in Vienna. With the onset of his illness, he had largely ceased work on his final composition, the Requiem . Popular belief has it that Mozart was thinking of his own impending death while writing this piece, and even that a messenger from the afterworld commissioned it. Documentary evidence has established that the anonymous commission came from one Franz Count Of Walsegg On Schloss Stuppach , and that most if not all of the music had been written while Mozart was still in good health. A younger composer, and Mozart's friend and, some say, pupil, at the time, Franz Xaver Süssmayr , was engaged by Constanze to finish the Requiem, which he had been already helping the ill composer with, since Mozart could not write on account of his swollen limbs. He was not the first composer asked to finish the Requiem, as the widow had first approached another Mozart student, Joseph Eybler , who began work directly on the empty staves of Mozart's manuscript but then abandoned it. Because he was buried in an unmarked grave, it has been popularly assumed that Mozart was penniless and forgotten when he died. He earned about 50,000 florins per year,1 equivalent to at least 142,000 US dollars in 2006, which places him within the top 1% of late 18th century wage earners, but he could not manage his wealth. His mother wrote, "When Wolfgang makes new acquaintances, he immediately wants to give his life and property to them." His impulsive largesse and spending often had him asking for loans. Many of his begging letters survive, but they are evidence not so much of poverty as of his habit of spending more than he earned. He was not buried in a "mass grave" for paupers but in a regular communal grave according to the 1784 laws in Austria. Though the original grave in the St. Marx Cemetery was lost, memorial gravestones (or Cenotaph s) have been placed there and in the Zentralfriedhof . In 2005 new DNA testing was performed by Austria's University of Innsbruck and the US Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in Rockville, Maryland, to determine if a skull in an Austrian Museum was actually his, using DNA samples from the marked graves of his grandmother and Mozart's niece. Test results were inconclusive. In 1809 Constanze married Danish diplomat Georg Nikolaus Von Nissen (1761–1826). Being a fanatical admirer of Mozart, he and possibly Constanze, edited vulgar passages out of many of the composer's letters and wrote a Mozart biography. Nissen did not live to see his biography printed, and Constanze had it finished. Portrait Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor and gold-laced Cocked Hat , giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Of his voice Constanze later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic."All quotations and other material in this paragraph from Solomon 1995, 308. Mozart worked very hard, a great deal of the time, and finished works where necessary at a tremendous pace. When composing he often made sketches and drafts, though (unlike Beethoven's sketches) these are mostly not preserved, Constanze having destroyed them after his death.Solomon 1995, 310 Mozart also enjoyed Billiards and liked dancing. He kept pets (a canary, a starling and a dog), and kept a horse for recreational riding.Solomon 1995, 319 Mozart lived at the center of Viennese musical life, and knew a great number of people, including not just his fellow musicians, but also theatrical performers, fellow transplanted Salzburgers, and many aristocrats, including a fairly close acquaintance with the Emperor, Joseph II . Mozart had a considerable number of friends, of whom Solomon estimates the three closest were Gottfried Janequin , Count August Hatzfeld , and Sigmund Barisani ; others included the singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack , Haydn (mentioned above), and the horn player Ignaz Leutgeb (with whom Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, Leutgeb being always the butt of Mozart's practical jokes).On Mozart's friendships see Solomon 1995, ch. 20) Mozart was influenced by the ideas of the eighteenth-century '', his penultimate opera, includes Masonic themes and allegory. WORKS, MUSICAL STYLE, AND INNOVATIONS See Also: 1=List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Style Mozart's music, like Haydn 's, stands as an archetypal example of the Classical style. His works spanned the period during which that style transformed from one exemplified by the '' Style Galant '' to one that began to incorporate some of the Contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque , complexities against which the ''galant'' style had been a reaction. Mozart's own stylistic development closely paralleled the development of the classical style as a whole. In addition, he was a versatile composer and wrote in almost every major genre, including Symphony , Opera , the solo Concerto , chamber music including String Quartet and String Quintet , and the piano Sonata . While none of these genres were new, the Piano Concerto was almost single-handedly developed and popularized by Mozart. He also wrote a great deal of religious music, including Masses ; and he composed many dances, Divertimenti , Serenade s, and other forms of light entertainment. The central traits of the classical style can all be identified in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are hallmarks, though a simplistic notion of the delicacy of his music obscures for us the exceptional and even demonic power of some of his finest masterpieces, such as the to a degree rare at the time. The slow introduction to the "Dissonant" Quartet, K. 465 , a work that Haydn greatly admired even as it perplexed him, rapidly explodes a shallow understanding of Mozart's style as light and pleasant. From his earliest years Mozart had a gift for imitating the music he heard; since he traveled widely, he acquired a rare collection of experiences from which to create his unique compositional language. When he went to LondonThe Mozarts first lodged in Cecil Court off Tottenham Court Road, then in Frith Street in Soho, and later in Ebury Street, where a blue plaque commemorates their stay. See BBC World Service article . as a child, he met , an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other chords, symmetrical phrases, and clearly articulated structures. This style, out of which the classical style evolved, was a reaction against the complexity of late Baroque music. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian Overture s, with three movements running into each other; many are "homotonal" (each movement in the same key, with the slow movement in the parallel minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple Rounded Binary Forms commonly being written by composers in Vienna. One of the most recognizable features of Mozart's works is a sequence of harmonies or Modes that usually leads to a Cadence in the dominant or tonic key. This sequence is essentially borrowed from baroque music, especially Bach. But Mozart shifted the sequence so that the cadence ended on the stronger half, i.e., the first beat of the bar. Mozart's understanding of modes such as Phrygian is evident in such passages. As Mozart matured, he began to incorporate some more features of Baroque styles into his music. For example, the Symphony No. 29 In A Major K. 201 uses a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had just published his Opus 20 set. The influence of the '' Sturm Und Drang '' ("Storm and Stress") period in German literature, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era to come, is evident in some of the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 In G Minor, K. 183 is another excellent example of this style. Over the course of his working life, Mozart switched his focus from instrumental music to operas, and back again. He wrote operas in each of the styles current in Europe: Opera Buffa , such as '' The Marriage Of Figaro '', '' Don Giovanni '', or '' Così Fan Tutte ''; '' Opera Seria '', such as '' Idomeneo ''; and '' Singspiel '', of which '' Die Zauberflöte '' is probably the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he developed the use of subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestration, and tone colour to express or highlight psychological or emotional states and dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted. His increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concerti served as a resource in his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was reflected in his later non-operatic compositions. Einstein, Alfred : ''Mozart: His Character, His Work'', translated by Mendel & Broder, Panther books, 1946. ISBN 5860327702 Influence Many important composers since Mozart's time have expressed profound appreciation of Mozart. '', and cadenzas to several of Mozart's piano concertos, most notably the Piano Concerto No. 20 K. 466. A famous story asserts that, after the only meeting between the two composers, Mozart noted that Beethoven would "give the world something to talk about." However, it is not certain that the two ever met. Tchaikovsky wrote his ''Mozartiana'' in praise of Mozart; and Mahler's final word was alleged to have been simply "Mozart". The theme of the opening movement of the Piano Sonata In A Major K. 331 (itself a set of variations on that theme) was used by Max Reger for his ''Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Mozart'', written in 1914 and among Reger's best-known works.''Penguin Guide to Classical Compact Discs'' In addition, Mozart received outstanding praise from several fellow composers including Frédéric Chopin , Franz Schubert , Robert Schumann , and many more.2 Mozart has remained an influence in popular contemporary music in varying genres ranging from Jazz to modern Rock . Köchel catalogue See Also: Köchel-Verzeichnis In the decades after Mozart's death there were several attempts to catalogue his compositions, but it was not until 1862 that Ludwig Von Köchel succeeded in this enterprise. Many of his famous works are referred to by their Köchel catalogue number. RUMOURS AND CONTROVERSIES Mozart is unusual among composers for being the subject of an abundance of misconceptions. Many rumours began soon after Mozart died, but few have any basis in fact; biographers often resorted to fiction in order to produce a work. Sorting out fabrications from real events is a vexing and continuous task for Mozart scholars. Dramatists and screenwriters, free from responsibilities of scholarship, have found excellent material among these rumours. An especially popular case is the supposed rivalry between Mozart and Antonio Salieri , and, in some versions, the tale that it was poison received from the latter that caused Mozart's death; this is the subject of Aleksandr Pushkin 's play '' Mozart And Salieri '', Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera '' Mozart And Salieri '', and Peter Shaffer 's play '' Amadeus ''. The last of these has been made into a feature-length Film Of The Same Name . Shaffer's play attracted criticism for portraying Mozart as vulgar and loutish, a characterization felt by many to be unfairly exaggerated, but in fact frequently confirmed by the composer's letters and other memorabilia. For example, Mozart wrote Canons on the words "Leck mich im Arsch" ("Lick me in the Arse ") and "Leck mir den Arsch fein recht schön sauber" ("Lick me in the arse nice and clean") as party pieces for his friends. The Köchel numbers of these canons are 231 and 233. Another debate involves Mozart's alleged status as a kind of superhuman prodigy, from childhood right up until his death. While some have criticized his earlier works as simplistic or forgettable, others revere even Mozart's juvenilia. In any case, several of his early compositions remain very popular. The Motet ''Exultate, jubilate'' (K. 165), for example, composed when Mozart was seventeen years old, is among the most frequently recorded of his vocal compositions. Benjamin Simkin, a medical doctor, argues in his book ''Medical and Musical Byways of Mozartiana'' Did Mozart Have Tourette Syndrome? at Daniel Publishing PMID 1286388 that Mozart had Tourette Syndrome . However, no Tourette syndrome expert, organization, psychiatrist or neurologist has stated that there is Credible Evidence That Mozart Had This Syndrome, and several have stated that they do not believe there is enough evidence to substantiate the claim. FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH TOURETTE'S SYNDROME AND/OR OBSESSIVE-COMPULSIVE DISORDER , ''SchoolBehavior.com'', May 20, 2006. MEDIA Orchestral
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