Mozart 250th Birthday in 2006
The Salzberg master authored 60 symphonies, 27 piano, 5 violin and 4
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, one of the most prolific and important composers of Western Art music, celebrates his 250th birthday this year.
Since so many performers and classical music stations are celebrating the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth, let me bring you a brief account of this composer whose works form such a solid part of the canon of Western Art music.
Born January 27th, 1756 into a musical family, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became quite proficient at the violin, the organ, and the clavier (an earlier keyboard instrument resembling the piano) at an early age. His father Leopold Mozart was a professional violinist and music teacher, and oversaw his children's musical instruction.
Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna Wallburga Ignatia (Nannerl) Mozart were proficient at such an early age (Wolfgang could supposedly play the clavier blindfolded at the age of six) that Leopold Mozart took them on extensive tours throughout Europe, during which they had opportunities to play for members of court.
Back in the day before recording sales and mass public concerts, most musicians made a living by support from rich patrons. Wolfgang Mozart's own patron was the Prince-Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg, Austria, but the musician found his position as Konzertmeister restricting.
The more liberal and metropolitan atmosphere of Vienna proved to be more suited to his tastes and, after words with the Archbishop, Mozart departed his birth city in disgrace. (Ironically, Salzburg, a city which had such tumultuous relations with Mozart during his lifetime, now bases a large portion of its tourist industry on its connection to the composer.)
Free from the artistic restraints the archbishop had imposed on his composing, Mozart produced a number of successful works, but without the steady support of a patron (and lacking good money management skills himself), he and his newly growing family found themselves often on the brink of poverty.
When he died of illness (quite possibly brought on by exhaustion) at the age of 35, his family could not afford to pay for a private burial plot, and he was laid to rest in a communal grave.
Mozart was a prolific composer, writing over 60 symphonies, 27 piano concertos, 5 violin concertos, 4 horn concertos, 19 piano sonatas, 4 piano fantasies, 23 string quartets, 6 string quintets, 18 masses, over 20 operas, and numerous other divertimenti, serenades,and other miscellaneous works, including the ever-popular Eine Kleine Nachtmusik.
Mozart also wrote several pieces for the Freemason society, of which he was a member, and numerous references to Masonic teachings can be found in his German-language opera Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute). Mozart's final composition was fittingly the Requiem in D minor, K. 626, which he died before completing.
