Sabine Greger-Amanshauser Christoph Großpietsch Gabriele Ramsauer English Translation: Kristen Kopp Answers TO THE 111 most common questions NEXT TO MOZART Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg
Welcome message from author
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Sabine Greger-Amanshauser
Christoph Großpietsch
Gabriele Ramsauer
English Translation:
Kristen Kopp
Answers TO THE 111 most
common questions
NEXT TO
MOZART
Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg
6
ANCESTRY AND FAMILY
Q 1 Where was Mozart born? 11
Q 2 What was Mozart’s real name? 15
Q 3 Who was Mozart’s father? 17
Q 4 Who was Mozart’s mother? 19
Q 5 Did Mozart have siblings? 20
Q 6 What do we know about Mozart’s sister Nannerl? 21
Q 7 What was the relationship like between Mozart’s parents? 22
Q 8 What was Mozart’s relationship like with his father? 23
YOUTH AND DAILY LIFE IN SALZBURG
Q 9 What activities kept Mozart busy as a child? 25
Q 10 Where did Mozart go to school? 26
Q 11 When did Mozart learn to play his irst instrument? 27
Q 12 At what age did Mozart begin composing? 28
Q 13 When did Mozart give his irst public performance? 29
Q 14 What was daily life like for the Mozarts? 30
Q 15 What was the social and cultural life like in Salzburg during the 18th century?
31
Q 16 Did the Mozarts have servants? 32
Q 17 Which pets did the Mozarts keep? 33
Q 18 Were the Mozarts religious? 34
Q 19 Was the Mozart family poor? 35
Q 20 How did the Mozarts spend their free time? 38
Q 21 What is Bölzlschiessen? 39
Q 22 What foods did the Mozart family eat? 40
Q 23 From which illnesses did the Mozart family suffer? 41
Q 24 How did the Mozarts treat illness? 42
Q 25 Was Mozart a German citizen? 44
JOURNEYS
Q 26 Why did Leopold Mozart take his children on tour? 47
Q 27 Where did the Mozarts irst travel? 48
Q 28 Were the Mozarts received at the court of the Emperor? 49
Q 29 Where did the Mozarts travel during their grand tour through Western Europe?
50
Q 30 What was travel like during Mozart’s lifetime? 51
Q 31 Where did the Mozarts spend the night when traveling? 52
Q 32 How many journeys did Mozart undertake in his lifetime? 53
Q 33 What were the most important events during Mozart’s Italian journeys?
54
Q 34 How fast did the Mozarts travel? 56
Q 35 Why did Mozart travel with his mother alone to Paris? 57
7
Q 36 How did the Mozarts inance their trips? 58
Q 37 How did the Mozart family maintain contact with Salzburg during their journeys?
59
Q 38 Did the Mozarts enjoy traveling? 60
Q 39 What did the Mozarts take along on their journeys? 62
BREAK WITH SALZBURG
Q 40 What was Mozart’s relationship like with the archbishops? 65
Q 41 Why did Mozart want to leave Salzburg? 69
Q 42 Is there any truth to the legend of Mozart’s “kick in the behind”?
70
Q 43 Did Mozart ever return to Salzburg after his dismissal from court?
71
THE VIENNA YEARS
Q 44 What did Vienna offer Mozart that Salzburg did not? 73
Q 45 Where did Mozart live in Vienna? 74
Q 46 What was Mozart’s daily routine in Vienna? 77
Q 47 Was Mozart successful in Vienna? 78
Q 48 What was Mozart’s professional rank? 80
Q 49 Was Mozart able to survive in Vienna as an independent composer?
82
Q 50 Did Mozart write music just for amusement? 84
Q 51 Why did Mozart become a Freemason? 87
Q 52 Was Salieri really Mozart’s rival? 88
Q 53 How much did Mozart earn? 89
Q 54 Why was Mozart in debt? 90
Q 55 How did Mozart amuse himself in Vienna? 93
APPEARANCE AND CHARACTER
Q 56 What did Mozart look like? 95
Q 57 What was Mozart’s character like? 96
Q 58 Was Mozart a silly person? 99
Q 59 Did Mozart have a malformed ear? 101
Q 60 Are there any authentic portraits of Mozart? 102
Q 61 Who were Mozart’s friends? 105
MOZART AND WOMEN
Q 62 What role did the Weber family play in Mozart’s life? 107
Q 63 Did Mozart have his irst sexual experience with his cousin, the "Bäsle"?
109
Q 64 Who was Mozart’s irst true love? 110
Q 65 Who was Mozart’s wife? 113
Q 66 Did Mozart have affairs with other women outside of marriage? 115
8
Q 67 For whom did Mozart compose the Jeunehomme Concerto? 116
Q 68 Who was Elvira Madigan? Was she Mozart’s pupil? 117
MOZART’S COMPOSITIONAL TECHNIQUES AND WORKS
Q 69 How did Mozart compose? 119
Q 70 What music paper did Mozart use? 121
Q 71 Did Mozart work quickly? 124
Q 72 How many works did Mozart compose? 125
Q 73 Who were Mozart’s patrons? 127
Q 74 How many stage works did Mozart write? 128
Q 75 What was Mozart’s most popular opera at the time? 129
Q 76 Did Mozart write the texts to his operas and his songs himself?
132
Q 77 Did Mozart have a favorite piece? 133
Q 78 Is there just one version of each Mozart work? 134
Q 79 What was Mozart’s favorite genre? 136
Q 80 What is ingenious about Mozart’s compositions? 139
MOZART‘S INSTRUMENTS
Q 81 Which types of keyboard instruments were in use at Mozart’s time?
141
Q 82 Did the distinction between piano and grand piano already exist in Mozart's time?
144
Q 83 Did Mozart have a favorite instrument? 147
ABOUT MOZART’S DEATH
Q 84 Did Mozart have a premonition of his own death? 149
Q 85 What was mysterious about the commission for the Requiem? 150
Q 86 How did Mozart die and what was the cause of his death? 152
Q 87 Is it possible that Mozart was poisoned? 154
Q 88 Was Mozart buried in an anonymous pauper’s grave? 156
Q 89 What is the lore behind Mozart’s skull? 158
Q 90 Does a death mask of Mozart exist? 159
THE MOZART FAMILY AFTER 1791
Q 91 How did Mozart’s widow survive? 161
Q 92 Did Mozart have descendants? 163
Q 93 Why do we know so much about the Mozart family? 165
MOZART RESEARCH
Q 94 What is Mozart’s most famous work? 167
Q 95 What is the Köchel catalog? 168
Q 96 Have all of Mozart’s works been found? 169
Q 97 Would it still be possible to discover unknown Mozart works today?
170
9
Q 98 Why were some of Mozart’s works given their own names? 172
Q 99 Why do some entries in the Köchel catalog begin with “Anhang”/“Anh.” instead of with a number?
174
Q 100 Where are the autographs of Mozart’s important works found today?
176
Q 101 What is the International Mozarteum Foundation? 178
Q 102 What is the Neue Mozart-Ausgabe? 180
Q 103 Does the melody of the Austrian national anthem stem from Mozart?
182
Q 104 Were a Mozart manuscript or signature ever forged? 183
MOZART CULT
Q 105 Why is The Magic Flute so popular? 185
Q 106 What is the story behind the “Magic Flute hut”? 186
Q 107 When did the Mozart cult begin? 189
Q 108 Has Mozart’s life been used as a subject for novels or stage works?
190
Q 109 How many movies have been made about Mozart? 192
Q 110 Was Mozart familiar with the Salzburg Mozartkugel? 194
Q 111 Why is Mozart so famous? 195
Monetary value in Vienna at Mozart’s time 196
Biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart 198
Selected Mozart Literature 199
Index of names 201
10
Ancestry
and Family
11
Question
Where was Mozart born?
1
Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 at 8 p.m. at no. 225 Löchel-platz, today’s Getreidegasse 9, in Salzburg. The house belonged to Johann Lorenz Hagenauer (1712–1792), proprietor of a success-ful spice shop located on the ground loor. The Hagenauer family acquired the building in 1703, prior to that time ownership had often changed hands. One reminder of a previous owner may be found on the entry gate: a door knocker in the shape of a lion’s head decorated with the Asclepius snake which was the sym-bol for a pharmacist, namely the 16th-century court apothecary, Chunrad Fröschlmoser.From the time of their marriage in 1747, Mozart’s parents occu-pied the dwelling on the third loor. The rented apartment of 130 square meters (ca 430 sq. ft.) consisted of a kitchen, a small ante-room, a living room, a bedroom (where Mozart was born) and Leopold’s study. Twenty-six years later, when Leopold felt that the apartment was too small to meet their needs (it lacked bed-rooms for the two children), the family moved to the other side of the Salzach river in the so-called Tanzmeisterhaus [dance master’s house] on the Hannibalplatz, today’s Makartplatz, in a spacious 300 square meter (ca 1,000 sq. ft.), eight-room apartment.
12
Salzburg in the late 18th century. Colored engraving by Anton Amon after Franz von Naumann (1749–1795), 1791. The city had ca 16,000 inhabitants during Mozart’s time.
13
14
Mozart in formal dress, so-called Youth Portrait. Oil painting, attributed to Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni (1721–1781), Salzburg ca 1763. Empress Maria Theresia (1717–1780) presented young Mozart with this gala dress following his successful performance at the imperial court in Vienna. The clothes originally belonged to her young son, the Archduke Maximilian (1756–1801).
15
What was Mozart’s real name?
2Question
Mozart was christened in the Salzburg Cathedral at 10:30 a.m. on January 28, 1756, one day after his birth, with the name Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus. The irst names Johannes Chrysostomus were given to Mozart as he was born on the feast day of this saint. The saint Johannes Chrysostomus, who died at the beginning of the 5th century, was the patriarch of Constan-tinople and the patron saint of evangelists. The name Wolfgang was given to honor the memory of his maternal grandfather, Nikolaus Wolfgang Pertl (1667–1724). Theophilus was the name of Mozart’s godfather, Johann Gottlieb Pergmayr (1709–1787), a councilman and merchant in Salzburg. The Greek name Theo-philus is synonymous with the German name Gottlieb and the Latin name Amadeus. Wolfgang began to call himself Wolfgango Amadeo in 1770 in Italy and from 1777 to the time of his death he referred to himself as Wolfgang Amadé. It was only after his death that he became known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
16
Leopold Mozart (1719–1787). Oil painting, attributed to Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni (1721–1781), Salzburg ca 1765. He is pictured with a copy of his famous pedagogical treatise Essay on a Fundamental Violin Method. This text, published in the year of his son’s birth, was translated into several languages and is still considered one of the most inluential music-pedagogical texts even to this day.
17
Question
Who was Mozart’s father?
3
Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was born in Augsburg on Novem-ber 14, 1719 as the eldest son of the reputable book-binder Johann Georg Mozart (1679–1736). In 1737, following an extensive classical education in which he also received violin and organ instruction, Leopold moved to Salzburg where he earned a baccalaureate in philosophy at the Benedictine University. In 1739, he was expelled from the university for truancy, yet found a patron in the canon of the Salzburg cathedral, Johann-Baptist Count Thurn-Valsassina und Taxis (1706–1762), who took him into service as a musician and servant. Leopold dedicated his irst compositions to the young prelate. In 1743, Leopold Mozart became the unsalaried fourth violinist in the court orchestra of Salzburg’s Prince-Arch-bishop as well as violin teacher at the Kapellhaus, the school and living quarters of the cathedral choir boys. Three years later, he secured the salaried position of fourth violinist. In the year of his son’s birth, the work was published which would ensure his rise to fame: Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule [Essay on a Funda-mental Violin Method], one of the most inluential violin treatises of its time. The text, used widely for music pedagogical purposes well into the 19th century, was published in four editions and appeared in translation in Holland, France and Russia. In 1757, Leopold became court and chamber composer in the court of the Salzburg Prince-Archbishop as well as second violinist in the court orchestra. Finally in 1763, he was appointed deputy Kapellmeister of the Salzburg court orchestra, a position he would retain until his death.Leopold was a much sought-after teacher, composer and musi-cian. After 1760, he dedicated himself to the education of his two children. He traveled with them extensively, giving concerts and managing their studies. Mozart’s father had a stubborn person-ality yet was known as brilliant man of the world. He died on May 28, 1787 in the Tanzmeisterhaus in Salzburg.
18
Anna Maria Mozart (1720–1778), née Pertl. Oil painting by Maria Rosa Hagenauer-Barducci (1744–1809), Salzburg before 1775. Mozart apparently inherited his appearance as well as his hearty sense of humor from his mother.
19
Question
Who was Mozart’s mother?
4
The life of Mozart’s mother revolved around the care and well-being of her husband and children. She was adept at keeping the musical household running smoothly and her kindness of heart brought a harmonious atmosphere to their home. She knew how to use her humorous, balanced tone to uplift her family’s spirits even in the most dificult situations. Her life, caught between her authoritarian and obstinate husband on the one side and her brilliant yet unrealistic son on the other, was not always easy.Anna Maria was born on December 25, 1720 in St. Gilgen am Wolf-gangsee, a daughter of the court deputy prefect, judge Wolfgang Nikolaus Pertl (1667–1724). After the early death of her father, she moved to Salzburg with her mother and older sister, who died shortly thereafter. Until her marriage in 1747, she lived in pov erty, depending on a meager charity pension from the archbishop. In the irst nine years of her marriage she bore seven children, only two of which survived infancy. Her two children, Maria Anna, called Nannerl, and Wolfgang, Nannerl’s younger brother by ive years, would alter the course of her life dramatically. Anna Maria accompanied her husband and children throughout Europe on the concert tour which took three and a half years alone (1763–1766), often under extreme conditions. She spoke and dined with the crowned heads of state, labored with foreign languages, was exposed to foreign lands, great cities, fashion in Mannheim and Paris, and the society of London. Only few mementos from Anna Maria survive: a portrait and some correspondence. Her only remaining letters stem from the last year of her life, during the journey that she alone took with her son to Mannheim and Paris from which she never returned. She died in Paris following a short illness on July 3, 1778 at age 57.
20
Question
Did Mozart have siblings?
5
Mozart had six siblings. His oldest brother, Joannes Leopoldus Joachimus, was born in August 1748, but died six months later and was buried in the cemetery of St. Peter’s abbey. The second child, Maria Anna Cordula, was born in the following year but lived only six days. In 1750 another girl was born; Maria Anna Nepomucena Walpurgis survived only eleven weeks. In the 18th century, the death of a child during the irst year of life was a common occurrence; only one of every two children survived childhood. Three births within the irst three years of marriage pushed Anna Maria Mozart (1720–1778) to the limits of her phys-ical strength. Leopold sent her to take the cure in Bad Gastein. In July 1751, she gave birth to Maria Anna Walpurga Ignatia, called Nannerl, the only daughter who survived infancy. Additional preg-nancies followed. Johannes Carolus Amadeus, born in November 1752, lived three months and Maria Crescentia Francisca de Paula, born in May 1754, survived only six weeks. Less than two years after the death of her sixth child, Anna Maria Mozart delivered her last child, Wolfgang, who was born on January 27, 1756.
Maria Anna (Nannerl) Mozart as a child. Oil painting, attributed to Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni (1721–1781), Salzburg ca 1763.Mozart’s older sister was not rendered in the gala dress given to her by Empress Maria Theresia (1717–1780) as has formerly been suggested. The dress, originally belonging to a princess, was too small for Nannerl and only the skirt could be reitted. The elegant dress depicted in the portrait most likely stemmed from the artist’s imagination.
Related Documents
