Music Museums and Mozart

It is impossible to visit Salzburg without feeling the presence of Mozart.  The composer's image is everywhere, his music wafting through the streets and shops, his brand of chocolates available in all the supermarkets, his aftershave for sale in every souvenir shop.  Mozart never much cared for the city, finding it boring, but the city has never forgotten him, nor has its love for him diminished over the centuries.  After a breakfast of sachertorte and apple strudel, Lizzie and I went in search of the world-famous composer, starting at the house of his birth.  This is what we discovered.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, in an impossible-to-miss yellow property on Salzburg's main shopping street, Getreidegasse, in the very heart of the city's old town.  The son of Leopold and Anna Maria, Wolfgang was the youngest of seven children, of which only two survived - himself and his elder sister, Maria Anna, known as Nannerl.  Both the children exhibited phenomenal talent from a very early age, but it was Wolfgang that most surprised his father, so much so that Leopold gave up his own composing efforts to concentrate fully on his son.  This must also be the reason why, during Wolfgang's teenage years, the Mozarts moved across the river, to a bigger and newer building, more grand, spacious and luxuriously decorated, and also much quieter - the perfect place for a budding composer to find the space and air he required.

Mozart's birthplace, 9 Getreidegasse

Mozart's Residence

It was this childhood talent that would take both youngsters travelling all over Europe, beginning with an exhibition at the court of the Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, in 1762.  The journey continued to Vienna and Prague, then Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, Zurich, and Donaueschingen, meeting along the way numerous musicians and composers.  On their return home, Wolfgang embarked on a tour of Italy with his father, to Milan and Rome, where he was accepted as a member of the Accademia Filarmonica.

On return from Italy, Wolfgang was employed as a court musician by Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo, the ruler of Salzburg.  Here he worked in many genres, but developed a particular interest in violin and piano concertos.  Wolfgang, however, grew increasingly restless with his employment and with Salzburg.  When the court theatre closed down, he ventured to Vienna in search of work, but found little.  He was then accompanied by his mother on a quest to Munich, Augsburg and Mannheim, before he investigated a post to be an organist at Versailles.  At this time, Mozart fell into debt and took to pawning valuables.  His lack of funds is probably the reason why he delayed in calling a doctor when his mother took ill whilst in Paris.  She died on 3 July 1778.

The Mozart family around 1780 (Source: Wikipedia)

Wolfgang returned to Salzburg all the more dissatisfied.  In 1781, he was summoned to Vienna, where Archbishop Colloredo was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne.  He was offended when he was forbidden to perform before the Emperor, resigning his position after a quarrel.  He nonetheless settled in Vienna, persuing his career as an independent performer and composer.  This began well, his work soon being performed throughout the German world, his reputation growing.  Wolfgang moved in with the Weber family, with whom he'd had previous correspondence in Mannheim, and went on to marry the family's third daughter, Constanze Weber, on 4 August 1782.  The couple had six children; Karl Thomas Mozart and Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart were the only two survivors.
  
Between 1782 and 1788, Wolfgang wrote his most famous operatic works, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni.  Leopold died in 28 May 1787, and in December of that year Wolfgang was appointed "chamber composer" to Emperor Joseph II.  Court records have revealed that Joseph intended to keep Wolfgang from leaving Vienna.
  
The beginning of the Austro-Turkish War in 1787 saw Mozart hit harder times, as the level of prosperity in Vienna declined.  In 1788, the Mozart family moved to a suburb of Vienna to reduce rental expenses although, it seems, he merely increased his housing space without saving a penny.  Mozart began to borrow money, and it is suggested that the composer began to suffer with depression.  As he seemed to be recovering his situation, he was struck down with illness, and by November 1791, his health had somewhat deteriorated.  Bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain and vomiting, he was nursed by his wife and her youngest sister, and was attended to by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in his home on 5 December 1791.  He was aged only 35. 

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, painted posthumously by Barbara Krafft in 1819 (Source: Wikipedia)

We leave Mozart's residence, via the obligatory shop, and step out into the late afternoon air.  Back at Mozartplatz, (and much to Lizzie's insistence!), we don our ice skates and take to the rink.  Now, I've never been ice skating before, but I find the whole thing impossible to master.  Children of only 9 or 10 years old zoom confidently past us as we cling to the side, hardly daring to take a step out to the middle of the ice.  "Helicopter arms" is how Lizzie describes me when I do venture away from the edge, limbs flailing all ways, whilst the statue of Wolfgang Amadeus looks down on us in judgement.  Of course, he probably mastered this at the age of five.

In the shadow of Wolfgang Amadeus

Ice skating on Mozartplatz