Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: biography, videos, interesting facts.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The national pride of Austria, the greatest mystery of the Creator, the symbol of Genius - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His life and death left more questions than answers. His story is overgrown with legends and myths. About him written hundreds of books. But we are unlikely to ever come close to unraveling this phenomenon. The genius composer really has many secrets, and one of them is the so-called "Mozart Effect". Scientists are puzzled, trying to find an answer to the question: why is music of a genius so beneficial for human health? Why, listening to his works, we calm down and start to think better? How much does a patient suffering from serious illnesses get any easier from Mozart's music? One hundred thousand why, to which even hundreds of years later no one can give an intelligible answer.

A brief biography of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and many interesting facts about the composer can be found on our page.

short biography

Usually, in the biographies of famous people, childhood years are described in passing, mentioning some funny or tragic events that influenced the formation of character. But in the case of Mozart, the story of his childhood years is a story about the concert and compositional activities of a full-fledged musician and virtuoso performer, author of instrumental compositions.

He was born on January 27, 1756 in the family of violinist and teacher Leopold Mozart. The father had a great influence on the formation of the son as an individual and a musician. All their lives they were tied up by the tenderest affection, even the phrase of Wolfgang is well known: "After the Pope, only the Lord". Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna, who was called Nannerl at home, never attended public school, all education, including not only music, but also counting, writing, reading, was given by their father. He was a born teacher, his methodological manual on learning to play the violin published dozens of times and for a long time considered the best.

From birth, little Wolfgang was surrounded by an atmosphere of creativity, musical sounds and constant employment. Father engaged with Nannerl on harpsichord and the violin, 3-year-old Wolfe watched them with jealousy and delight: well, when will dad let him practice? For him, it was all a game - to pick up the melodies and harmonies by ear. So, playing, and began his music lessons, which he gave himself completely.

According to Mozart’s biography, at the age of 4, he draws scribbles on musical paper, which makes his father furious, but his anger quickly gives way to amazement — notes that look chaotically on paper add up to a simple but literate piece of harmony. Leopold immediately understands the highest talent, which God bestowed upon his son.

In those days, a musician could count on a quite good life if he found a patron and got a permanent job. For example, taking the post of conductor at the court or the house of the noble grandee. Then music was an integral part of social and social life. And Leopold decides to go with performances in the cities of Europe in order to gain fame to his son so that later he could deserve a better fate. He hoped now to enlist the attention to the extraordinary talent of the child.

On the first trip, Mozart (father, son and daughter) set off at the beginning of 1762, when Wolfgang was 6 years old, and his sister - 10. Miracle children everywhere met the most enthusiastic reception, they amazed the listeners with their performing skills and skills. Father sought to give their performances as much as possible effect. Maria Anna performed the most complex technically musical pieces, not subject to every experienced harpsichordist. Wolfgang did not just play virtuoso at all - they blindfolded him, covered the keyboard with a handkerchief, he played from the sheet, improvised. All forces were thrown on to produce a sensation and fall into the memory of the audience. And they were really invited a lot and often. Basically it was the home of aristocrats and even crowned heads.

But there was another interesting point. During all these journeys from London to Naples, Wolfgang not only showed his generous talent to the public - he also absorbed all the cultural and musical achievements that a particular city could give him. Then Europe was fragmented, cultural centers flared up in different cities - and each had its own trends, musical styles, genres, and preferences. Little Wolfgang could listen to all this, absorb, process with his brilliant mind. And as a result, the synthesis of all these musical layers gave an impetus to the powerful movement that was Mozart's work.

Salzburg and Vienna

Alas, the plans of Leopold did not come true. The children grew up and no longer made such a vivid impression. Wolfgang turned into a short young man, "the same as everyone," and past popularity rather even hindered. Neither his membership in the Bologna Academy, which he received at the age of 12, brilliantly coping with the task, nor the Golden Spur Order, handed by the Catholic Pope himself, nor all-European fame made the career development of a young composer easy.

For a time he was the conductor of the archbishop in Salzburg. The difficult relationship with this arrogant man forced Wolfgang to take orders from Vienna, Prague, London. He sought independence, and disrespectful treatment hurt him painfully. Frequent travels led to the desired goal - once the archbishop Colloredo dismissed Mozart, accompanying the dismissal with a humiliating gesture.

He eventually moved to Vienna in 1781. Here he will spend the last 10 years of his life. This period will have the flourishing of his work, the marriage of Constanze Weber, here he will write his most significant works. The crowns did not immediately accept him, and in general, after the success of “The Marriage of Figaro” in 1786, the rest of the premieres went on quietly. It was always much warmer than it was received in Prague.

At that time, Vienna was the musical capital of Europe, its inhabitants were spoiled by an abundance of musical events, musicians from all over the world flocked there. The competition among composers was very high. But the confrontation between Mozart and Antonio Salieri, which we can see in the famous film "Amadeus" by Milos Forman, and even earlier - in Pushkin, is not true. On the contrary, they treated each other with great respect.

He also led a close and touching friendship with Joseph Haydn, dedicated to him wonderful string quartets. Haydn, in turn, infinitely admired the talent and delicate musical taste of Wolfgang, his extraordinary ability to feel and convey feelings as a true artist.

Despite the fact that positions at the court Mozart did not succeed, his work gradually began to bring him considerable income. He was an independent man, above all putting the honor and dignity of man. I did not reach into my pocket for a sharp word, and in general I directly said everything I thought. Such an attitude could not leave anyone indifferent, envious persons appeared, detractors.

Illness and death

A small creative decline, which appeared in 1789-90, was quickly replaced by active work at the beginning of the 91st. At the end of winter, he made changes to the symphony No. 40. In the spring, the opera The Mercy of Titus was written and then commissioned in the summer by order of the Czech court on the day of the coronation of Leopold II. In September, a joint project was completed with Emanuel Schikaneder, comrade in the Masonic Lodge - the Magic Flute singspiel. In July of this year, he received an order for a requiem mass from a mysterious envoy ...

At the beginning of autumn, Wolfgang begins to complain of indisposition. Gradually, they are increasing. The last performance of Mozart is dated November 18 - the day of the opening of the next box of the Secret Society. After that, he came down and did not get up. Until now, scientists physicians are arguing about the causes of the disease, the diagnosis. Most often, the version of the poisoning is rejected, but not completely ruled out. Over the past centuries, the authentic documents no longer became; on the contrary, many statements by Constanta and other witnesses are causing less trust.

The composer treated the best physician of Vienna at that time, many of his methods now appear as aggravating the patient's condition, but then they were widely used in medicine. On the night of December 4-5, he dies ...

In life, he was a dapper mod who led a somewhat freer lifestyle than he could afford. Many notes have been preserved in which he addressed his friends with a request to borrow money - for the next musical project. But he did not learn how to manage money wisely. And when the question arose about the funeral, it turned out that the family had no money for that.

Fully paid for the funeral of Baron van Swieten, he gave the amount sufficient for the funeral on the 3rd category - in a separate coffin, but in a common grave. Then it was a common practice, nothing strange about it. Except for one thing - even the burial place of the greatest son of man has not survived. Then the funerary monuments were placed outside the cemetery fence.

Interesting facts about Mozart

• Half of the total number of symphonies Mozart wrote at the age of 8 to 19 years.
• In 2002, on the anniversary of September 11, throughout the world, choirs performed Mozart's Requiem during the day in order to honor the memory of the dead.
• The largest in the history of the project on loneliness, Philips Classic in 1991 released 180 CDs containing a complete set of authentic works by Mozart. It includes over 200 hours of music.

• Mozart wrote more music in his short career than many other composers who lived much longer.
• Relations with the Archbishop of Salzburg ended when his secretary gave Mozart a kick in the back.
• From the biography of Mozart, we learn that the brilliant composer spent a total of 14 out of 35 years traveling.
• Leopold Mozart described the birth of a son as a “miracle from God” because he seemed too small and weak to survive.
• The term "ear of Mozart" describes the defect of the ear. Researchers believe that Mozart and his son, Franz, had a congenital ear defect.
• The composer possessed phenomenal hearing and memory, even in childhood he could, with one listening, memorize a work that was difficult in form and harmony, and then write it down without a single mistake.
• In the 1950s, the French phoniatrist Alfred Tomatis conducted scientific experiments, during which he proved that listening to Mozart’s music can improve a person’s IQ, he owns the term “Mozart effect”; she was also recognized to have a therapeutic effect on cerebral palsy, epilepsy, autism, and many neurological diseases, it has been scientifically proven.
• Wolfgang Mozart's second name, Theophilus, means "beloved by God" in Greek.
• The influence of Mozart on Western music is deep. Joseph Haydon noted that "the offspring will not see such talent even after 100 years."
• Mozart wrote his first symphony when he was only 8 years old, and the opera at 12.
• Her father forbade Wolfgang to marry Constance Weber, suspecting her family’s selfish interest in Mozart, who was taking the first confident steps in Vienna. But he did not obey for the first time in his life, and against the will of his father he married in August 1782. Some scientists portray her as impermanent, others look at her with more sympathy. Eighteen years after the death of Wolfgang, she married again and helped her new husband write a book about Mozart.

• Mozart's famous partnership with Lorenzo da Ponte led to the creation of the opera The Marriage of Figaro, based on the play Beaumarchais. Their collaboration is one of the most famous in music history;
• Once in Vienna, little Wolfgang performed in the palace for Empress Maria Theresa. After the performance, he played with her daughters, one of whom treated him particularly gently. Wolfgang earnestly then began to ask for her hand. It was Marie-Antoinette, the future queen of France.
• Mozart was in the Masonic Lodge, it was a secret society, uniting the most progressive people of his time. Over time, Wolfgang began to move away from the ideas of the brothers, mainly because of religious contradictions.

• The last word of the composer Gustav Mahler (1860-1911) before his death was "Mozart".
• In 1801, the grave-digger Joseph Rothmayer allegedly dug Mozart’s skull from a cemetery in Vienna. However, even after various tests, it remains unknown whether the skull belonged, in fact, to Mozart. He is currently locked in the Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, Austria;
• Baron van Swieten gave 8 florins for 56 kreutzers to the funeral of Mozart - it was this amount that Wolfgang once spent on the humorous funerals of his starling.
• Mozart was buried in a "mass grave" at St. Cemetery. Marx. A “common grave” is not the same as a beggar’s grave or a mass grave, but a grave for people who were not aristocracy. One of the main differences is that after 10 years, common graves were excavated, and the graves of aristocrats - no.
• Researchers have hypothesized at least 118 causes of Mozart’s death, including rheumatic fever, influenza, trichinosis, mercury poisoning, kidney failure, and streptococcal infection.
• According to several biographers, Mozart was a small man with strong eyes. As a child, Wolfgang had smallpox, which left scars on his face. He was thin and pale with beautiful hair and loved elegant clothes.
• According to the statements of Mozart’s wife, Constanza, at the end of his life, Mozart believed that he was poisoned and that he composed his Requiem for himself.
• It is believed that in the "Requiem" he managed to write only the first 7 parts, and the rest was added by his pupil Franz Xaver Zusmayr. But there is a version according to which Wolfgang could have completed "Requiem" several years earlier. Scientists are still arguing about which parts Mozart really wrote.
• Mozart and his wife had six children, of whom only two survived infancy. Both sons had no family and children.
• Mozart became increasingly popular after death. In fact, as the biographer of the 20th century, Maynard Solomon, notes, his music was truly appreciated posthumously.
• The composer was born a Catholic and remained his whole life.
• Mozart was a tenor. During chamber concerts in the ensemble, he usually played the viola. And also was left-handed.
• The famous physicist Albert Einstein loved music. He learned to play the violin, but really managed to penetrate it only after he "fell in love with Mozart's sonatas."
• Einstein believed that the music of Mozart demanded from him technical perfection, and then he began to engage intensely.
• Constanza, the wife of Mozart, destroyed many of his sketches and drawings after the composer's death.
• Mozart had several domestic animals, including a dog, a starling, a canary, and a horse.

Mozart Letters

Time has kept many portraits of Mozart, made by different artists, but they all vary greatly among themselves, it is difficult to determine whether among them were closest to the original. But the composer's letters were perfectly preserved, which he wrote all his life while on constant journeys - letters to his mother, sister, "dearest dad", cousin, wife Constanta.

Reading them, you can make up a genuine psychological image of a genius, he seems to be living before us. Here is a 9-year-old boy sincerely rejoices at a comfortable chaise and the fact that the driver speeds up quickly. Here he sends fiery greetings and a low bow to everyone he knows. It was a gallant century, but Mozart knows how to show respect without undue pomp and floridity without losing his dignity. Letters addressed to relatives are full of sincerity and trust, emotionality and free handling of the syntax, because they were not written for history. This is their true value.

In his mature years, Wolfgang formed his own epistolary style. It is obvious that the literary gift is inherent in him no less than the musical one. Knowing superficially several languages ​​(German, French, Italian, Latin), he easily makes new word forms of them, plays words with humor, sharpens, rhymes. His thought slips easily and naturally.

It should be noted that since writing letters, the German language has come a long way from local dialects to the national language. Therefore, much of them in their contemporaries will seem not entirely clear. For example, then it was decided to discuss publicly the problems of digestion. There was nothing out of the norm. The same with grammar and spelling - Mozart followed his rules, and perhaps did not even think about it. In one paragraph could write three times the name of a person - and all 3 times in different ways.

In Russia, during the Soviet era, Mozart scholars only partially quoted some of his letters — carefully edited. In 2000, the full edition of the Mozart family correspondence was published.

Personal Quotes

• "I write like a pig" (about how much he writes).
• “I don’t pay attention to someone’s praise or blame. I just follow my own feelings”;
• "Поскольку смерть, когда мы подошли к ее рассмотрению, является истинной целью нашего существования, я выработал в течение последних нескольких лет такие близкие отношения с этим лучшим и самым верным другом человечества, что его образ не только больше не пугает меня, но действительно очень успокаивает и утешает! И я благодарю моего Бога за то, что он любезно предоставил мне возможность узнать, что смерть - это ключ, который открывает дверь нашему истинному счастью".
• "Всякий раз, ложась спать, я помню, что возможно (как бы Молод я ни был), мне не суждено будет увидеть завтрашний день. And yet none of those who know me will say that I am gloomy or sad in communication ... "(April 4, 1787).
• "People make mistakes, believing that my art comes to me easily. I assure you, no one has devoted as much time and reflection to the composition as I did."

Creative heritage

Researchers and biographers are amazed at the monstrous performance of Mozart. Considering his employment in the service, rehearsals, concerts, tours, private lessons, he managed to write at the same time - on order and at the command of the soul. He composed music in all genres that existed then. Some writings, especially early, childhood years, are lost. In total, for his incomplete 36 years, he wrote over 600 works. Almost all of them are absolute pearls of symphonic, concert, chamber, opera and choral music. Over the past 2 centuries, interest in them only increases. He developed and transformed many genres, setting a new bar and reference points in art.

For example, in his operas The Marriage of Figaro, Don Juan, The Magic Flute, the dramaturgy has gone far beyond the traditional musical performances of that time. The plot gets a stronger meaning, often the composer takes the most active part in the development of the libretto, gives recommendations on the construction of the plot. Each image of the actors receives a more detailed psychological drawing, becomes "alive" not only with the help of texts, but also through expressive musical means.

Also a strong dramatic development gets him a symphony. In many of them, one can see similarities with the operatic principle of construction - reliance on conflict, confrontation, cross-cutting development. On the other hand, the overture to "The Figaro Wedding"so perfect in form that it is performed separately in concerts as an orchestral piece.

Symphony as the highest type of musical thinking in the works of Mozart asserts the canons of the classical style. However, in general, his entire creative path went through evolution from Rococo (mainly in children's writings), then through Viennese classicism to the prerequisites to early romanticism. It remains only to assume what the music of this genius would be, so emotional, enthusiastic, sincere, if he could live to the era of the romantic flowering.

Among the pieces of music by Mozart are 41 symphonies, 27 piano concertos, 5 violin concertos, 27 concert arias, 23 string quartets and 22 operas.

The image of Mozart in theater, cinema, television and other media projects

The music of the genius composer can be heard everywhere. According to Mozart’s biography and his work, hundreds of feature films and documentaries, television projects, and theatrical play were staged. The most significant works about him are considered:

• "Little tragedies" A.S. Pushkin (cycle of short plays);
• "Amadeus" (1979) play by Peter Schaffer, which formed the basis of the script of the famous film Miloš Forman
• "Amadeus" - 8 Oscar awards and many awards and nominations in the field of cinema, Tom Hals (Mozart) and F. Murray Abraham (Salieri) starred.

Here is just an incomplete list of Mozart TV projects:

• T / s "Mozart in the jungle" - USA (original name);
• T / c "Avventura Romantica" (2016), performed by Lorenzo Zingone (as the young Mozart);
• t / s "Now I will sing" (2016), performed by Lorenzo Zingone;
• t / s "La Fiamma" (2016), performed by Lorenzo Zingone;
• "Stern-Dad (2015)" TV episode, played by Chris Marquette (as Mozart);
• "Mr. Peabody and Sherman Shaw";
• "Mozart" (2016), performed by Avner Perez (adult V. Mozart);
• Fantasy (2015);
• "Mozart vs. Scrillex (2013) Television episode, performed by Nice Peter (Mozart);
• Mozart l'opéra Rock 3D (2011) (TV) Performed by Michelangelo Laconte;
• "Sister of Mozart" (2010), performed by David Moreau;
• "Etida" (2010), Luka Hrgovich as Mozart;
• "Mozart" (2008) Television Series;
• "In Search of Mozart" (2006);
• "The Genius of Mozart", performed by Jack Tarlton ";
• m / s "The Simpsons";
• s / s "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart" (2002);
• Wolfgang A. Mozart (1991);
• "Mozart and Salieri" (1986) Television episode;
• "Mozart - his life with music" d / f.

Once acquainted with this great fate, it is already impossible to forget about it. This is what helps to elevate the soul, retreat from the ordinary and tune in to the contemplation of eternity ... Mozart is the greatest gift of the Creator to humanity.