Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus [baptized Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus] (b Salzburg, 1756; d Vienna, 1791). Austrian composer, keyboard-player, violinist, violist, and conductor. Son of Leopold Mozart, Vice-Kapellmeister to Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Mozart showed exceptional musical precocity, playing the klavier at 3 and composing at 5. His elder sister Maria Anna (1751–1829) was also a brilliant kbd. player and in 1762 Leopold decided to present his children's talents at various European courts. They first visited Munich and Vienna in 1762. Wolfgang was now able to play the vn. without having had formal teaching. In 1763 a longer journey began, from Munich, Augsburg, Frankfurt, and other cities to Cologne, Brussels, and Paris. They spent a fortnight at Louis XV's court at Versailles. In Apr. 1764 they arrived in London and were received by George III. While in London, Wolfgang studied with Abel, comp. with J. C. Bach, and singing with the castrato Manzuoli. He wrote his first 3 syms. in London. After visits to Holland and Switzerland, the Mozart family returned to Salzburg in Nov. 1766. Further visits to Vienna were made in 1767 and 1768 and Mozart comp. 2 operas, La finta semplice and Bastien und Bastienne. In Dec. 1769, Leopold took Mozart to It. where the boy's genius was everywhere acclaimed. He was taught by Martini and met Nardini, Jommelli, and Burney. In Rome he heard Allegri's Miserere and wrote it out from memory. His opera Mitridate, Rè di Ponto was successfully prod. in Milan in Dec. 1770. Two further visits to It. speedily followed, but the new prince-archbishop of Salzburg was less well-disposed towards the Mozarts and in 1777 Mozart left on a tour with his mother, Leopold not being well enough to go. They visited Munich, Augsburg, Mannheim (where he heard the famous orch.) and arrived in Paris in 1778. Mozart's mother died there in July of that year. No longer a Wunderkind, Mozart had less appeal for the Parisians, who were engrossed in the Gluck-Piccinni controversy. Unable to obtain a court post, Mozart returned to Salzburg where he spent the next 2 years as court and cath. org. amid growing hostility to the archbishop. In 1780 the Elector of Bavaria commissioned an opera from Mozart (Idomeneo), prod. in Munich, Jan. 1781. On Mozart's return to Salzburg he had a final confrontation with the archbishop and resigned. He went to Vienna, where he married Constanze Weber in Aug. 1782, a few days after the first perf. of his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail. The last 9 years of his life were a juxtaposition of financial troubles with an astonishing outpouring of masterpieces in almost every genre. In 1785 he frequently played the va. in str. qts. with Dittersdorf and Haydn. To the latter, who regarded Mozart as the greatest composer he knew, Mozart dedicated 6 str. qts. in the autumn of 1785, when he also began work on Le nozze di Figaro. He frequently appeared as soloist in his own kbd. concs. Although Figaro was rapturously received in Vienna in 1786, it was taken off after 9 perfs., but was the rage of Prague when prod. there in 1787. During his visit to the Bohemian capital, Mozart's Sym. in D (K504, No.38) received its f.p., thereafter being known as the ‘Prague Sym’. He was subsequently commissioned to write an opera for Prague for the following autumn. The result was Don Giovanni, written in a few months while the 2 str. quintets in C major and G minor and Eine kleine Nachtmusik were also composed. In the same year Leopold Mozart died at Salzburg. The new opera was a success in Prague, but initially failed in Vienna, where it was prod. with some extra numbers in May 1788. A month later Mozart began to compose the first of his 3 last syms., completing them between 26 June and 10 Aug. In 1789, under severe financial pressure, he played a conc. in Dresden on the way to Berlin. He visited Leipzig, playing Bach's org. at St Thomas's. In Berlin King Friedrich Wilhelm II, a cellist, commissioned 6 str. qts. of which only 3 were written. In the autumn Emperor Joseph II of Austria commissioned a new comic opera, Così fan tutte, which was prod. early in 1790. Joseph died shortly afterwards, but Mozart's hope of being appointed by Leopold II Kapellmeister in place of Salieri was not fulfilled. In 1791 he was approached by the actor-manager Schikaneder with a view to composing a fairy-tale opera on a lib. concocted by Schikaneder. Die Zauberflöte was almost completed by July, the month in which Mozart received a commission to compose a Requiem for an anonymous patron (Count F. von Walsegg who wished to pass it off as his own). Mozart deferred work on it to compose an adaptation of Metastasio's La clemenza di Tito for Leopold II's coronation as King of Bohemia in Prague in Sept. This prod. was supervised by Mozart, who returned to Vienna, wrote the cl. conc., cond. the f.p. of Die Zauberflöte, and then resumed work on the Requiem. But his health, which had been deteriorating for some time, now became critical and he died on 5 Dec., leaving the Requiem to be completed by his pupil Süssmayr. He was buried in accordance with the Emperor Joseph II's regulations, with others who had died at the same time, and the location of his grave remains unknown. The circumstances of Mozart's death have given rise to many sensational theories, none proved, and there is much medical speculation on the cause of death.

The extent and range of Mozart's genius are so vast and so bewildering that any concise summing-up of his achievement must risk being trite. He took the mus. small-change of his day, learned from childhood in the courts of Europe, and transformed it into a mint of gold. His sense of form and symmetry seems to have been innate and was allied to an infallible craftsmanship which was partly learnt and partly instinctive. In his operas he not only displayed hitherto unequalled dramatic feeling, but widened the boundaries of the singer's art through contact with some of the greatest vv. of his day and, with his amazing insight into human nature, at once perceptive and detached, he created characters on the stage who may be claimed in their context as the equal of Shakespeare's. His music was supranational, combining It., Fr., Austrian, and Ger. elements. Not by revolutionary deliberation but by the natural superiority of the mus. he wrote, he changed the course of the sym., the pf. conc., the str. qt., the sonata, and much more besides. Perhaps the only element missing from his mus. is the worship of Nature which Beethoven and later 19th-cent. composers were to supply. There are brilliance and gaiety on the surface of Mozart's mus., but underneath a dark vein of melancholy which gives his works (Così fan tutte in particular) an ambivalence which is continually fascinating and provocative. ‘Mozart is music’, a critic said, and most composers since 1791 have agreed. A selective list of prin. works follows. Some of the dates, which are Köchel's, are conjectural:OPERAS: Apollo et Hyacinthus, intermezzo (K38, 1767); Bastien und Bastienne (K50, 1768); La finta semplice (K51, 1769); Mitridate, Rè di Ponto (K87, 1770); Ascanio in Alba (K111, 1771); Il sogno di Scipione (K126, 1771); Lucio Silla (K135, 1772); La finta giardiniera (K196, 1774); Il Rè Pastore (K208, 1775); Zaide (K344, 1779–80); Thamos, König in Ägypten (K345, 1773, rev. 1776 and 1779–80, incid. music); Idomeneo, Rè di Creta (K366, 1780–1); Die Entführung aus dem Serail (K384, 1781–2); L'Oca del Cairo (K422, 1783); Lo sposo deluso (K430, 1783); Der Schauspieldirektor (The Impresario) (K486, 1785–6); Le nozze di Figaro (K492, 1785–6); Don Giovanni (K527, 1787); Così fan tutte (K588, 1789); Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) (K620, 1790–1); La clemenza di Tito (K621, 1791).BALLET MUSIC: Les Petits Riens (K Anh. 10, 1778); for Idomeneo (K367, 1780).SYMPHONIES (numbered according to Breitkopf and Härtel edn.): No.1 in E♭ (K16, 1764); No.4 in D (K19, 1764); No.5 in B♭ (K22, 1765); No.6 in F (K43, 1767); No.7 in D (K45, 1768); No.8 in D (K48, 1768); No.9 in C (K73, 1771); No.10 in G (K74, 1770); No.11 in D (K84, 1770); No.12 in G (K110, 1771); No.13 in F (K112, 1771); No.14 in A (K114, 1771); No.15 in G (K 124, 1772); No.16 in C (K128, 1772); No.17 in G (K129, 1772); No.18 in F (K130, 1772); No.19 in E♭ (K132, 1772); No.20 in D (K133, 1772); No.21 in A (K134, 1772); No.22 in C (K162, 1773); No.23 in D (K181, 1773); No.24 in B♭ (K182, 1773); No.25 in G minor (K183, 1773); No.26 in E♭, ov. for Thamos (K184, 1773); No.27 in G (K199, 1773); No.28 in C (K200, 1773); No.29 in A (K201, 1774); No.30 in D (K202, 1774); No.31 in D (Paris, K297, 1778); No.32 in G, probably ov. to Zaide (K318, 1779); No.33 in B♭ (K319, 1779); No.34 in C (K338, 1780); No.35 in D (Haffner, K385, 1782); No.36 in C (Linz, K425, 1783); No.37 in G (only introduction, rest by M. Haydn) (K444, 1783); No.38 in D (Prague, K504, 1786); No.39 in E♭ (K543, 1788); No.40 in G minor (K550, 1788); No.41 in C (Jupiter, K551, 1788); also various others, some only fragmentary, and some probably of doubtful authenticity.MISC. ORCH.: Cassations: B♭ (K99, 1769); Kontretänze (Country Dances): B♭ (K123, 1770), Set of 6 (K462, 1784), Das Donnerwetter (K534, 1788), La Bataille (K535, 1788), Set of 2 (K565, 1788), Der Sieg vom Helden Koburg (K587, 1789), Set of 2 (K603, 1791), E♭ (K607, 1791), Set of 5 (K609, 1791), G major (K610, 1791); German Dances: Set of 6 (K509, 1787), Set of 6 (K536, 1788), Set of 6 (K567, 1788), Set of 6 (K571, 1789), Set of 12 (K586, 1789), Set of 6 (K600, 1791), Set of 4 (K602, 1791), Set of 3 (K605, 1791), C major (K611, 1791); Divertimenti: No.1 in E♭ (K113, 1771), No.2 in D (K131, 1772), D (K136, 1772), B♭ (K137, 1772), F (K138, 1772), No.3 in E♭ (K166, 1773), No.4 in B♭ (K186, 1773), No.5 in C (K187, ?1773), No.6 in C (K188, 1776), No.7 in D (K205, 1773), No.8 in F (K213, 1775), E♭ (K226, 1775), B♭ (K227, 1775), No.9 in B♭ (K240, 1776), No.10 in F (K247, 1776), No.11 in D (K251, 1776), No.12 in E♭ (K252, 1776), No.13 in F (K253, 1776), No.14 in B♭ (K270, 1777), No.15 in B♭ (K287, 1777), F (K288, 1777), No.16 in E♭ (K289, 1777), No.17 in D (K334), 1779); Serenades: G (K63, 1769), No.1 in D (K100, 1769), No.2 in F (Kontretanz) (K101, ?1776), No.3 in D (K195, 1773), No.4 in D (K203, 1774), No.5 in D (K204, 1775), Serenata notturna, No.6 in D for 2 orch. (K239, 1776), No.7 in D (Haffner, K250, 1776), No.8 in D (Notturno for 4 orch., K286, 1776–7), No.9 in D (Posthorn, K320, 1779), No.10 in B♭ for 13 wind instr. (K361, 1784), No.11 in E♭ for wind (K375, 1781), No.12 in C minor for wind (K388, 1782), No.13 in G for str., Eine kleine Nachtmusik (K525, 1787); Maurerische Trauermusik (Masonic Funeral Music) (K477, 1785); Ein musikalischer Spass (A musical joke) (K522, 1787); Sinfonia Concertante in E♭ for ob., cl., bn., hn. (K297b, 1778, considered doubtful attribution by some scholars); also Marches, Minuets, Gavottes.CONCERTOS: PIANO: No.1 in F (arr. of sonata-movts. by Raupach and Honauer, K37, 1767), No.2 in B♭ (arr. of sonata-movts. by Raupach and Schobert, K39, 1767), No.3 in D (arr. of sonata-movts. by Honauer, Eckart, and ?C. P. E. Bach, K40, 1767), No.4 in G (arr. of sonata-movts. by Honauer and Raupach, K41, 1767), No.5 in D (K175, 1773), No.6 in B♭ (K238, 1776), No.7 in F (K242, 1776), No.8 in C (K246, 1776), No.9 in E♭ (K271, 1777), No.10 in E♭ (K365, ?1779), No.11 in F (K413, 1782–3), No.12 in A (K414, 1782), No.13 in C (K415, 1782–3), No.14 in E♭ (K449, 1784), No.15 in B♭ (K450, 1784), No.16 in D (K451, 1784), No.17 in G (K453, 1784), No.18 in B♭ (K456, 1784), No.19 in F (K459, 1784), No.20 in D minor (K466, 1785), No.21 in C (K467, 1785), No.22 in E♭ (K482, 1785), No.23 in A (K488, 1784–6), No.24 in C minor (K491, 1786), No.25 in C (K503, 1786), No.26 in D, Coronation (K537, 1787–8), No.27 in B♭ (K595, 1788–90); 2 PIANOS: E♭ (K365, 1779); 3 PIANOS: F major (K242, 1776); Concert Rondo in D (K382, 1782), in A (K386, 1782).VIOLIN: No.1 in B♭ (K207, 1773), No.2 in D (K211, 1775), No.3 in G (K216, 1775), No.4 in D (K218, 1775), No.5 in A (K219, 1775, with alternative Adagio in E, K261, 1776), Rondo in C (K373, 1781); 2 VIOLINS: Concertone in C (K190, 1773); VIOLIN & VIOLA: Sinfonia Concertante in E♭ (K364, 1779); BASSOON: B♭ (K191, 1774); CLARINET: A major (K622, 1791); FLUTE: No.1 in G (K313, 1778), No.2 in D transcr. from ob. conc. in C (K314, 1778); Andante in C (K315, 1778); FLUTE & HARP: C major (K299, 1778); HORN & STRINGS: No.1 in D (K412, 1791), No.2 in E♭ (K417, 1783), No.3 in E♭ (K447, 1787), No.4 in E♭ (K495, 1786), No.5 in E♭, fragment (K494a, 1786); Concert Rondo for hn. and orch. in E♭ (K371, 1791); OBOE: C major (K271k, 1777, transcr. for fl. as conc. No.2 in D).CHURCH MUSIC: Kyrie in F (K33, 1766), Missa brevis in G (K49, 1768), in D minor (K65, 1769), in C (K115, 1773), in F (K116, 1771), in F (Mass No.6) (K192, 1774), in D (K194, 1774), in C (Mass No.10) (K220, 1775), in C (K258, 1776), in C (Mass No.13) (K259, 1775 or 1776), in B♭ (K275, 1777); Mass in C, Dominicus (K66, 1769), No.4 in C minor, Waisenhausmesse (K139, 1768), No.7 in C, Missa in honorem Sanctissimae Trinitatis (K167, 1773), in C (K257, 1776), in C, Missa longa (K262, 1775), No.16 in C, Coronation (K317, 1779), in C major, Missa solemnis (K337, 1780), No.18 in C minor, unfinished (K427, 1782–3); Regina Coeli (K127, 1772); Motet, Exsultate, jubilate for sop., orch., and organ (K165, 1773); Dixit Dominus (K193, 1774); Litaniae Lauretanae (K195, 1774); Litaniae de venerabili altaris Sacramento (K243, 1776); Vesperae de Dominica (K321, 1779); Kyrie in D minor (K341, 1780–1); Vesperae Solennes de Confessore (K339, 1780); Motet, Ave verum corpus (K618, 1791); Requiem Mass in D minor (unfinished) (K626, 1791).CHORUS & ORCH.: Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebotes, pt. I of sacred drama (K35, 1767); Grabmusik, Passion cantata (K42, 1767); La Betulia liberata, oratorio (K118, 1771); Davidde Penitente, oratorio, mainly based on Mass in C minor, K427 (K469, 1785); Die Maurerfreude, cantata (K471, 1785); Eine kleine Freimaurer-Kantate (K623, 1791).UNACC. VOICES: God is our Refuge, sacred madrigal (K20, 1765); 5 Riddle Canons (K89a, 1770); numerous Canons comp. between 1782 and 1788, also various secular trios, qts., and chs.SOLO VOICE & ORCH. (mainly concert arias): Per pietà, bell' idol mio, sop. (K78, c.1766); Scena and aria, Misera, dove son? Ah, non son'io che parlo, sop. (K369, 1781); Scena and rondo (extra number for Idomeneo) Non più, tutto ascoltai. Non temer, amato bene, sop. (K490, 1786); Scena and rondo, Ch'io mi scordi di te. Non temer amato bene, sop. with pf. obbl. (K505, 1786); Scena and aria, Bella mia fiamma. Resta, oh caro, sop. (K528, 1787); aria, Un bacio di mano, for Anfossi's Le gelosie fortunate, for bass (K541, 1788); rondo, extra aria for Susanna in Figaro, Al desio di chi t'adora, sop. (K577, 1789); Un moto di gioia, sop., extra number for Susanna in Figaro (K579, 1789); Schon lacht der holde Frühling, sop. for Paisiello's Il Barbiere di Siviglia (K580, 1789); Vado, ma dove?, sop., for Martin's Il burbero di buon core (K583, 1789); Rivolgete a lui lo sguardo, bass, orig. for Così fan tutte (K584, 1789); Per questa bella mano, bass (K612, 1791).STRING QUARTETS: No.1 in G (K80, 1773–5), No.2 in D (K155, 1772), No.3 in G (K156, 1772), No.4 in C (K157, 1772–3), No.5 in F (K158, 1772–3), No.6 in B♭ (K159, 1773), No.7 in E♭ (K160, 1773), No.8 in F (K168, 1773), No.9 in A (K169, 1773), No.10 in C (K170, 1773), No.11 in E♭ (K171, 1773), No.12 in B♭ (K172, 1773), No.13 in D minor (K173, 1773), Nos. 14–19 ‘Haydn Quartets’: No.14 in G (K387, 1782), No.15 in D minor (K421, 1783), No.16 in E♭ (K428, 1783), No.17 in B♭ (Hunt, K458, 1784), No.18 in A (K464, 1785), No.19 in C (Dissonanzen, K465, 1785), No.20 in D (Hoffmeister, K499, 1786), Nos. 21–23 (‘King of Prussia Quartets’): No.21 in D (K575, 1789), No.22 in B♭ (K589, 1790), No.23 in F (K590, 1790); Adagio and Fugue in C minor, fugue identical with K426 for 2 pf. of 1783 (K546, 1788).STRING QUINTETS: No.1 in B♭ (K174, 1773), No.2 in C minor, arr. of Serenade No.12 for wind, K388 (K406, 1786), No.3 in C (K515, 1787), No.4 in G minor (K516, 1787), No.5 in D (K593, 1790), No.6 in E♭ (K614, 1791).CLARINET QUINTET: A major (K581, 1789); CLARINET TRIO, E♭ for cl., va., pf. (K498, 1786).FLUTE QUARTETS: No.1 in D (K285, 1777), No.2 in G (K285a, 1777), No.3 in C (K285b, 1777), No.4 in A (K298, 1778); FLUTE (or vn.) SONATAS, with hpd.: No.1 in B♭ (K10, 1764), No.2 in G (K11, 1764), No.3 in A (K12, 1764), No.4 in F (K13, 1764), No.5 in C (K14, 1764), No.6 in B♭ (K15, 1764).HORN QUINTET: E♭ (K407, 1782).OBOE QUARTET: F major (K370, 1781).PIANO QUARTETS: No.1 in G minor (K478, 1785), No.2 in E♭ (K493, 1786).PIANO & WIND QUINTET (pf., ob., cl., hn., bn.): E♭ (K452, 1784).PIANO TRIOS: No.1 in B♭ (K254, 1776), No.2 in G (K496, 1786), No.3 in B♭ (K502, 1786), No.4 in E (K542, 1788), No.5 in C (K548, 1788), No.6 in G (K564, 1788); in D minor/major, completed by Stadler (K442, 1783).MISC. CHAMBER WORKS: Adagio and Rondo in C minor for glass armonica, fl., ob., va., vc. (K617, 1791); Adagio for cor anglais and str. (K580a, 1789); Adagio in Canon in F for 2 basset hn. and bn. (K410, 1783); Adagio in F for 2 cl. and 3 basset hns. (K411, 1783); 12 Duets for 2 basset hns. (K487, 1786); Duo for vn. and va., No.1 in G (K423, 1783), No.2 in B♭ (K424, 1783); 5 Divertimenti for 2 cl. and bn. (K229, 1783); Minuet in D, 2 vn., 2 hn., bass (K64, 1769); 7 Minuets with Trio, 2 vn. and bass (K65a, 1769); Adagio in C for glass armonica (K356, 1791).SONATAS: BASSOON & CELLO: B♭ (K292, 1775); PIANO: No.1 in C, No.2 in F, No.3 in B♭, No.4 in E♭, No.5 in G, No.6 in D (K279–284, 1774, No.6, 1775), No.7 in C (K309, 1777), No.8 in A minor (K310, 1778), No.9 in D (K311, 1778), No.10 in C, No.11 in A, No.12 in F, No.13 in B♭ (K330–333, 1778), No.14 in C minor (K457, 1784), No.15 in C (K545, 1788), No.16 in B♭ (K570, 1789), No.17 in D (K576, 1789); VIOLIN & PIANOFORTE: No.1 in C (K6, 1762–4), No.2 in D (K7, 1763–4), No.3 in B♭ (K8, 1763–4), No.4 in G (K9, 1764), Nos. 5–10, K10–15 (see under flute), No.11 in E♭, No.12 in G, No.13 in C, No.14 in D, No.15 in F, No.16 in B♭ (K26–31, 1766), No.17 in C (K296, 1778), No.18 in G, No.19 in E♭, No.20 in C, No.21 in E minor, No.22 in A, No.23 in D (K301–306, 1778), No.24 in F (K376, 1781), No.25 in F (K377, 1781), No.26 in B♭ (K378, 1779), No.27 in G major/minor (K379, 1781), No.28 in E♭ (K380, 1781), No.29 in A (K402, 1782, completed by Stadler), No.30 in C (K403, 1782, unfinished), No.31 in C (K404, 1782, unfinished), No.32 in B♭ (K454, 1784), No.33 in E♭ (K481, 1785), No.34 in A (K526, 1787), No.35 in F (K547, 1788). Also sonata movt. in C minor (K396, 1782, completed by Stadler).STRING TRIOS: B♭, 2 vn. and bass, (K266, 1777), Divertimento in E♭, vn., va., vc. (K563, 1788). Also 6 Fugue arrs. from J. S. and W. F. Bach, with orig. introductions (K404A, 1782).PIANO (4 HANDS): Sonatas: in B♭ (K358, 1774), D (K381, 1772), F (K497, 1786), C (K521, 1787); Fugue in G minor (K401, 1782); Andante and Variations (K501, 1786).2 PIANOS: Fugue in C minor (K426, 1783, arr. for str., with short Adagio as preface, 1788), Sonata in D (K448, 1781).SOLO PIANO (except Sonatas): Minuet and Trio in G, Minuet in F, Allegro in B♭, Minuet in F, Minuet in F (K1–5, 1761–2), 8 Variations on ‘Laat ons juichen’ (air by C. E. Graaff) in G (K24, 1766), 7 Variations on ‘Wilhelmus van Nassouwe’ (K25, 1766), 12 Variations on a Minuet by Fischer (K179, 1774), Andantino in E♭ (K236, 1790), 9 Variations on ‘Lison dormait’ from Dezède's Julie (K264, 1778), 12 Variations on ‘Ah, vous dirai-je, maman’ (K265, 1778), 8 Variations on a March in Grétry's ‘Mariages Samnites’ (K352, 1781), 12 Variations on ‘La Belle Françoise’ (K353, 1778), 12 Variations on ‘Je suis Lindor’ in Beaumarchais's ‘Le Barbier de Séville’ (K354, 1778), Minuet in D (K355, c.1786), Fantasia and Fugue in C (K394, 1782), Capriccio in C (K395, 1778), Fantasia in D minor (K397, 1782), 6 Variations on Paisiello's ‘Salve tu, Domine’ (K398, 1783), Suite in C (K399, 1782), 1st movt. of Sonata in B♭ (K400, 1782), Kleiner Trauermarsch in C minor (K453a, 1784), 10 Variations on Unser dummer Pöbel meint from Gluck's La rencontre imprévue (K455, 1784), Fantasia in C minor (K475, 1785), Rondo in D (K485, 1786), Rondo in F (K.494, 1786), 12 Variations on an Allegretto in B♭ (K500, 1786), Rondo in A minor (K511, 1787), Allegro and Andante (K533, 1788, often used with Rondo, K494, as finale to make ‘Sonata No.18’), Adagio in B minor (K540, 1788), 9 Variations on a Minuet by Duport (K573, 1789), Gigue in G (K574, 1789), 8 Variations on Schack's ‘Ein Weib ist das herrlichste Ding’ (K613, 1791).ORGAN: Sonatas with orch: C major (K263, 1776), C major (K278, 1777), C major (K329, 1779); 14 Sonatas for org. and str., comp. between 1767 and 1780.MECHANICAL ORGAN: Adagio and Allegro in F minor (K594, 1790), Fantasia in F minor (K608, 1791), Andante in F (K616, 1791).SONGS (v. and pf.): Mozart wrote about 40 solo songs and Lieder, of which the best known are: Die Zufriedenheit (K349, 1780), Ah, spiegarti, O Dio (K178, 1772), Oiseaux, si tous les ans (K307, 1777), Komm, liebe Zither (with mandolin) (K351, 1780), An die Hoffnung (K390, 1782), Gesellenreise (K468, 1785), Der Zauberer (K472, 1785), Die betrogene Welt (K474, 1785), Das Veilchen (K476, 1785), Lied der Freiheit (K506, 1786), Die Alte (K517, 1787), Die Verschweigung (K518, 1787), Das Lied der Trennung (K519, 1787), Als Luise (K520, 1787), Abendempfindung (K523, 1787), An Chloe (K524, 1787), Des kleinen Freidrichs Geburtstag (K529, 1787), Das Traumbild (K530, 1787), Die kleine Spinnerin (K531, 1787), Sehnsucht nach dem Frühlinge (K596, 1791), Das Kinderspiel (K598, 1791), Eine kleine deutsche Kantate, ‘Die ihr des unermesslichen Weltalls’ (K619, 1791).ADDITIONAL ACCOMPANIMENTS TO WORKS BY HANDEL: Acis and Galatea (K566, 1788), Messiah (K572, 1789), Alexander's Feast (K591, 1790), Ode for St Cecilia's Day (K592, 1791).

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was an Austrian composer whose mastery of the whole range of contemporary instrumental and vocal forms—including the symphony, concerto, chamber music, and especially the opera—was unrivaled in his own time and perhaps in any other.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756, in Salzburg. His father, Leopold Mozart, a noted composer and pedagogue and the author of a famous treatise on violin playing, was then in the service of the archbishop of Salzburg. Together with his sister, Nannerl, Wolfgang received such intensive musical training that by the age of 6 he was a budding composer and an accomplished keyboard performer. In 1762 Leopold presented his son as performer at the imperial court in Vienna, and from 1763 to 1766 he escorted both children on a continuous musical tour across Europe, which included long stays in Paris and London as well as visits to many other cities, with appearances before the French and English royal families.

Mozart was the most celebrated child prodigy of this time as a keyboard performer and made a great impression, too, as composer and improviser. In London he won the admiration of so eminent a musician as Johann Christian Bach, and he was exposed from an early age to an unusual variety of musical styles and tastes across the Continent.

Salzburg and Italy, 1766-1773

From his tenth to his seventeenth year Mozart grew in stature as a composer to a degree of maturity equal to that of his most eminent older contemporaries; as he continued to expand his conquest of current musical styles, he outstripped them. He spent the years 1766-1769 at Salzburg writing instrumental works and music for school dramas in German and Latin, and in 1768 he produced his first real operas: the German Singspiel (that is, with spoken dialogue) Bastien und Bastienne and the opera buffa La finta semplice. Artless and naive as La finta semplice is when compared to his later Italian operas, it nevertheless shows a latent sense of character portrayal and fine accuracy of Italian text setting. Despite his reputation as a prodigy, Mozart found no suitable post open to him; and with his father once more as escort Mozart at age 14 (1769) set off for Italy to try to make his way as an opera composer, the field in which he openly declared his ambition to succeed and which offered higher financial rewards than other forms of composition at this time.

In Italy, Mozart was well received: at Milan he obtained a commission for an opera; at Rome he was made a member of an honorary knightly order by the Pope; and at Bologna the Accademia Filarmonica awarded him membership despite a rule normally requiring candidates to be 20 years old. During these years of travel in Italy and returns to Salzburg between journeys, he produced his first large-scale settings of opera seria (that is, court opera on serious subjects): Mitridate (1770), Ascanio in Alba (1771), and Lucio Silla (1772), as well as his first String Quartets. At Salzburg in late 1771 he renewed his writing of Symphonies (Nos. 14-21).

In these operatic works Mozart displays a complete mastery of the varied styles of aria required for the great virtuoso singers of the day (especially large-scale da capo arias), this being the sole authentic requirement of this type of opera. The strong leaning of these works toward the singers' virtuosity rather than toward dramatic content made the opera seria a rapidly dying form by Mozart's time, but in Lucio Silla he nonetheless shows clear evidence of his power of dramatic expression within individual scenes.

Salzburg, 1773-1777

In this period Mozart remained primarily in Salzburg, employed as concertmaster of the archbishop's court musicians. In 1773 a new archbishop took office, Hieronymus Colloredo, who was a newcomer to Salzburg and its provincial ways. Unwilling to countenance the frequent absences of the Mozarts, he declined to promote Leopold to the post of chapel master that he had long coveted. The archbishop showed equally little understanding of young Mozart's special gifts. In turn Mozart abhorred Salzburg, but he could find no better post. In 1775 he went off to Munich, where he produced the opera buffa La finta giardiniera with great success but without tangible consequences. In this period at Salzburg he wrote nine Symphonies (Nos. 22-30), including the excellent No. 29 in A Major; a large number of divertimenti, including the Haffner Serenade; all of his six Concertos for violin, several other concertos, and church music for use at Salzburg.

Mannheim and Paris, 1777-1779

Despite his continued productivity, Mozart was wholly dissatisfied with provincial Austria, and in 1777 he set off for new destinations: Munich, Augsburg, and prolonged stays in Mannheim and Paris. Mannheim was the seat of a famous court orchestra, along with a fine opera house. He wrote a number of attractive works while there (including his three Flute Quartets and five of his Violin Sonatas), but he was not offered a post.

Paris was a vastly larger theater for Mozart's talents (his father urged him to go there, for "from Paris the fame of a man of great talent echoes through the whole world," he wrote his son). But after 9 difficult months in Paris, from March 1778 to January 1779, Mozart returned once more to Salzburg, having been unable to secure a foot-hold and depressed by the entire experience, which had included the death of his mother in the midst of his stay in Paris. Unable to get a commission for an opera (still his chief ambition), he wrote music to order in Paris, again mainly for wind instruments: the Sinfonia Concertante for four solo wind instruments and orchestra, the Concerto for flute and harp, other chamber music, and the ballet music Les Petits riens. In addition, he was compelled to give lessons to make money. In his poignant letters from Paris, Mozart described his life in detail, but he also told his father (letter of July 31, 1778), "You know that I am, so to speak, soaked in music, that I am immersed in it all day long, and that I love to plan works, study, and meditate." This was the way in which the real Mozart saw himself; it far better reflects the actualities of his life than the fictional image of the carefree spirit who dashed off his works without premeditation, an image that was largely invented in the 19th century.

Salzburg, 1779-1781

Returning to Salzburg once more, Mozart took up a post as court conductor and violinist. He chafed again at the constraints of local life and his menial role under the archbishop. In Salzburg, as he wrote in a letter, "one hears nothing, there is no theater, no opera." During these years he concentrated on instrumental music (Symphony Nos. 32-34), the Symphonie Concertante for violin and viola, several orchestral divertimenti, and (despite the lack of a theater) an unfinished German opera, later called Zaide.

In 1780 Mozart received a long-awaited commission from Munich for the opera seria Idomeneo, musically one of the greatest of his works despite its unwieldy libretto and one of the great turning points in his musical development as he moved from his peregrinations of the 1770s to his Vienna sojourn in the 1780s. Idomeneo is, effectively, the last and greatest work in the entire tradition of dynastic opera seria, an art form that was decaying at the same time that the great European courts, which had for decades spent their substance on it as entertainment, were themselves beginning to sense the winds of social and political revolution. Mozart's only other work in this genre, the opera seria La clemenza di Tito (1791), was a hurriedly written work composed on demand for a coronation at Prague—and it is significantly not cast in the traditional large dimensions of old-fashioned opera seria, with its long arias, but is cut to two acts like an opera buffa and has many features of the new operatic design Mozart evolved after Idomeneo.

Vienna, 1781-1791

Mozart's years in Vienna, from age 25 to his death at 35, encompass one of the most prodigious developments in so short a span in the history of music. While up to now he had demonstrated a complete and fertile grasp of the techniques of his time, his music had been largely within the range of the higher levels of the common language of the time. But in these 10 years Mozart's music grew rapidly beyond the comprehension of many of his contemporaries; it exhibited both ideas and methods of elaboration that few could follow, and to many the late Mozart seemed a difficult composer. Franz Joseph Haydn's constant praise of him came from his only true peer, and Haydn harped again and again on the problem of Mozart's obtaining a good and secure position, a problem no doubt compounded by the jealousy of Viennese rivals.

Mozart disparaged many of his less gifted contemporaries in scathing terms; Leopold often entreated him to write in a simple and pleasing style ("What is slight can still be great"). Replying to such a plea, Mozart (letter of Dec. 28, 1782, from Vienna) wrote of his own work in a way that might apply to much of his music: "These concertos [K. 413-415] are a happy medium between what is too easy and what is too difficult … there are passages here and there from which only connoisseurs can derive satisfaction; but these passages are written in such a way that the less learned cannot fail to be pleased, though without knowing why."

The major instrumental works of this period encompass all the fields of Mozart's earlier activity and some new ones: six symphonies, including the famous last three: No. 39 in E-flat Major, No. 40 in G Minor, and No. 41 in C Major (the Jupiter-a title unknown to Mozart). He finished these three works within 6 weeks during the summer of 1788, a remarkable feat even for him.

In the field of the string quartet Mozart produced two important groups of works that completely overshadowed any he had written before 1780: in 1785 he published the six Quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464, and 465) and in 1786 added the single Hoffmeister Quartet (K. 499). In 1789 he wrote the last three Quartets (K. 575, 589, and 590), dedicated to King Frederick William of Prussia, a noted cellist. The six Quartets dedicated to Haydn undoubtedly owe something to Mozart's study of the earlier work of Haydn, perhaps most to the self-asserted "new and special manner" of Haydn's Op. 33 of 1781, a phrase that may refer to the complete participation in these works of all four instruments in the motivic development. Mozart's works entirely meet the standards set by Haydn up to now, and surpass it.

Other chamber music on the highest level of imagination and craftsmanship from Mozart's Vienna years includes the two Piano Quartets, seven late Violin Sonatas, the last Piano Trios, and the Piano Quintet with winds; and in the last five years of his life, the last String Quintets and the Clarinet Quintet. This decade also saw the composition of the last 17 of Mozart's Piano Concertos, almost all written for his own performance. They represent the high point in the literature of the classical concerto, and in the following generation only Ludwig van Beethoven was able to match them.

A considerable influence upon Mozart's music during this decade was his increasing acquaintance with the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frederick Handel, which in Vienna of the 1780s was scarcely known or appreciated. Through the private intermediacy of an enthusiast for Bach and Handel, Baron Gottfried van Swieten, Mozart came to know Bach's Well-tempered Clavier, from which he made arrangements of several fugues for strings with new preludes of his own. He also made arrangements of works by Handel, including Acis and Galatea, the Messiah, and Alexander's Feast.

In a number of late works—especially the Jupiter Symphony, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute), and the Requiem—one sees an overt use of contrapuntal procedures, which reflects Mozart's awakened interest in contrapuntal techniques at this period. But in a more subtle sense much of his late work, even where it does not make direct use of fugal textures, reveals a subtlety of contrapuntal organization that doubtless owed something to his deepened experience of the music of Bach and Handel.

Operas of the Vienna Years

Mozart's evolution as an opera composer between 1781 and his death is even more remarkable, perhaps, since the problems of opera were more far-ranging than those of the larger instrumental forms and provided less adequate models. In opera Mozart instinctively set about raising the perfunctory dramatic and musical conventions of his time to the status of genuine art forms. A reform of opera from triviality had been successfully achieved by Christoph Willibald Gluck, but Gluck cannot stand comparison with Mozart in pure musical invention. Although Idomeneo may indeed owe a good deal to Gluck, Mozart was immediately thereafter to turn away entirely from opera seria. Instead he sought German or Italian librettos that would provide stage material adequate to stimulate his powers of dramatic expression and dramatic timing through music.

The first important result was the German Singspiel entitled Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782; Abduction from the Seraglio). Not only does it have an immense variety of expressive portrayals through its arias, but what is new in the work are its moments of authentic dramatic interaction between characters in ensembles. Following this bent, Mozart turned to Italian opera, and he was fortunate enough to find a librettist of genuine ability, a true literary craftsman, Lorenzo da Ponte. Working with Da Ponte, Mozart produced his three greatest Italian operas: Le nozze di Figaro (1786; The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni (1787, for Prague), and Cosi fan tutte (1790).

Figaro is based on a play by Pierre Caron de Beaumarchais, adapted skillfully by Da Ponte to the requirements of opera. In Figaro the ensembles become even more important than the arias, and the considerable profusion of action in the plot is managed with a skill beyond even the best of Mozart's competitors. Not only is every character convincingly portrayed, but the work shows a blending of dramatic action and musical articulation that is probably unprecedented in opera, at least of these dimensions. In Figaro and other late Mozart operas the singers cannot help enacting the roles conceived by the composer, since the means of characterization and dramatic expression have been built into the arias and ensembles. This principle, grasped by only a few composers in the history of music, was evolved by Mozart in these years, and, like everything he touched, totally mastered as a technique. It is this that gives these works the quality of perfection that opera audiences have attributed to them, together with their absolute mastery of musical design.

In Don Giovanni elements of wit and pathos are blended with the representation of the supernatural onstage, a rare occurrence at this time. In Cosi fan tutte the very idea of "operatic" expression—including the exaggerated venting of sentiment—is itself made the subject of an ironic comedy on fidelity between two pairs of lovers, aided by two manipulators.

In his last opera, The Magic Flute (1791), Mozart turned back to German opera, and he produced a work combining many strands of popular theater but with means of musical expression ranging from quasi-folk song to Italianate coloratura. The plot, put together by the actor and impresario Emanuel Schikaneder, is partly based on a fairy tale but is heavily impregnated with elements of Freemasonry and possibly with contemporary political overtones.

On concluding The Magic Flute, Mozart turned to work on what was to be his last project, the Requiem. This Mass had been commissioned by a benefactor said to have been unknown to Mozart, and he is supposed to have become obsessed with the belief that he was, in effect, writing it for himself. Ill and exhausted, he managed to finish the first two movements and sketches for several more, but the last three sections were entirely lacking when he died. It was completed by his pupil Franz Süssmayer after his death, which came on Dec. 5, 1791. He was given a third-class funeral.

Further Reading

The most important source materials on Mozart available in English are The Letters of Mozart and His Family, Chronologically Arranged, edited by Emily Anderson (3 vols., 1938; 2d ed. 1966); and Otto Erich Deutsch, Mozart: A Documentary Biography (1964). The most comprehensive study in English of Mozart is Alfred Einstein, Mozart: His Character, His Work (1945).

Studies of individual works or groups of works include Edward J. Dent, Mozart's Operas: A Critical Study (1913; 2d ed. 1947); Georges de Saint-Foix, The Symphonies of Mozart (1947); C. M. Girdlestone, Mozart's Piano Concertos (1948); Siegmund Levarie, Mozart's Le Nozze de Figaro: A Critical Analysis (1952); and The Mozart Companion, edited by H. O. Robbins Landon and Donald Mitchell (1956). A wide variety of analysis is in the special Mozart issue of the Musical Quarterly (1956), reprinted as The Creative World of Mozart, edited by Paul Henry Lang (1956). For analyses of his works see Felix Salzer, Structural Hearing (2 vols., 1952; rev. ed. 1962). □

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (1756–91) Austrian composer. A child prodigy on the piano, Mozart was taken by his father, Leopold, on performing tours in Europe (1762–65), during which he composed his first symphonies. In the 1770s, he worked at the Prince Archbishop's court in Salzburg. Masses, symphonies, and his first major piano concerto date from this time. Opera was his primary concern, and in 1780 he composed Idomeneo, which is impressive for its rich orchestral writing and depth of expression. In the 1780s, he moved to Vienna, where he became court composer to the Austrian Emperor in 1787. In this decade, he composed and performed his greatest piano concertos, the last eight of his 41 symphonies and the brilliant comic operas Le Nozze di Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787) and Così fan tutti (1790). In the last year of his life, Mozart wrote the operas Die Zauberflöte and La Clemenza di Tito, the clarinet concerto, and the Requiem (completed by a pupil). In all, he composed more than 600 works, perfecting the classical style and foreshadowing Romanticism.

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