10 interesting facts about Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is probably the most famous composer. During his very short life, he managed to create a colossal number of brilliant musical works, known and revered all over the world to this day. At one time, young Mozart surprised all of Europe with his extraordinary musical talent, which manifested itself in him at a very early age. His biography is full of bright events: ups and downs, love and disappointment, worldwide recognition and death in complete poverty. His life and work still excite the minds of historians and inspire writers, filmmakers and musicians to create their own masterpieces dedicated to the life of this brilliant composer.

We present the top 10 most interesting facts from the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

10 Mozart began composing small pieces from the age of five

At the age of 3, Mozart easily distinguished the harmonic sequences of the clavichord and played many piano melodies by ear. He started his musical career at the age of 5, playing with his sister on the most prestigious courts in Europe. He wrote his first symphony at the age of 8 and his first complete opera at the age of 14. In addition, 33 of his 68 symphonies were written between the ages of 8 and 19.

9. Musical abilities from childhood manifested themselves in Wolfgang and his sister

She was four years older than Wolfgang and from childhood showed excellent ability to play various musical instruments. The girl wanted to compose music, like her gifted brother, but the status of a woman of that time did not allow her to do this, so she had to devote herself to giving piano lessons to girls.

8. Father’s influence

Leopold – Mozart’s father – composed and taught music. In the year Wolfgang was born, he published a book on the art of the violin, which was quite popular and made him famous. After the birth of Wolfgang, apart from his own duties, he gave up everything to devote himself solely to teaching his son. He demanded as a father and as a teacher, he always knew everything about Wolfgang’s personal and professional training.

When the boy was six years old, Leopold decided to demonstrate the musical skills of his children in front of the main “courts” of Europe. His authoritarian and oppressive figure would influence Amadeus throughout his life.

7. Mozart hated the flute

It’s hard to believe, but Mozart couldn’t stand the sound of the flute and, therefore, composed concertos for this instrument exclusively on request. As the genius of Salzburg himself said, “the only thing worse than a flute is two flutes.”

6. hyperproductivity

Mozart is credited with 621 works (of which 600 are completed), including 68 symphonies, 36 violin sonatas, 27 piano concertos, 26 piano sonatas, 23 string quartets, 6 string quintets, etc. The composer transferred all these works to paper, almost without errors or corrections. This is really surprising, given that he only lived to be 35 years old.

5. Mozart suffered from Tourette’s syndrome

It is known that Mozart suffered from this rare nervous disorder, which causes compulsive and obsessive behavior, manifested in the inability to behave properly in society. Because of Tourette’s syndrome, Mozart constantly used vulgar expressions and insults when communicating, as evidenced by some of his testimonies from his contemporaries and the composer’s letters that have survived to this day.

4. Mozart was a Freemason

At the age of 28, the great composer joined Freemasonry. It is said that this is why the number 3 had a symbolic meaning for him all his life, which is why Mozart included it in many of his works. For example, in The Magic Flute, three main chords, three fairies, three children leading the protagonist, three magical instruments, and three temples appear in the overture.

3. There was a legend that Salieri poisoned Mozart (false)

It was rumored that Mozart died poisoned by Antonio Salieri, who allegedly hated this musical genius. This was the inspiration for the poem of the poet Pushkin. The composer Rimsky-Karsakov was also inspired by this story to create the opera Mozart and Salieri. Later, the British writer Peter Shaffer wrote the play Amadeus. It was brought to the big screen in 1984 by director Milos Forman. However, this well-known work, although inspired by Mozart, is fiction and is not meant to be an accurate biography of the Salzburg musician. In it, the image of Mozart looks exaggerated and distorted.

2. Mozart was very poor at the time of his death.

From 1786 his public concerts were in decline, and with it his income. Thus, the economic difficulties endured in the last part of his life forced the greatest composer of all times and peoples to be buried in a mass grave in which the poor were buried (a kind of mass grave) without any memorial inscriptions. Therefore, to this day it is not known for certain where the remains of Mozart lie.

Mozart died while writing what would become, years later, his most famous enigmatic composition. Of course, we are talking about his famous Requiem.

In March 1791 Mozart gave one of his last public concerts in Vienna. A few days earlier, a stranger dressed in gray appeared at the composer’s house and, not wanting to identify himself, instructed Mozart to compose a requiem. He gave him an advance and they agreed to meet in a month. But the composer was summoned to Prague to write the opera “The Mercy of Titus” to celebrate the coronation of Leopold II. When he went with his wife to the carriage that was supposed to take them to this city, the stranger appeared again, asking him about work. This stunned the composer.

It was later revealed that the dark character was a messenger from Count Franz Walseg, whose wife had died. The widower wanted Mozart to compose a requiem mass for his wife’s funeral, but he wanted others to believe that the work was his, and therefore decided not to reveal his name to an anonymous person.

Mozart, obsessed with the idea of ​​death by his father, weakened by fatigue and illness, very sensitive to the supernatural because of its association with Freemasonry, and impressed by the appearance of a messenger, eventually believed that the mysterious man was a messenger of fate and that the requiem he was about to compose would for his own funeral. After Mozart’s death, at the request of his wife, the Requiem was completed by the students of Wolfgang Amadeus.

Mozart died in Vienna at the age of 35, circumstances, under circumstances that have never been fully clarified: no autopsy was performed. Numerous theories have been proposed as to why Wolfgang Amadeus died so early, including trichinosis, influenza, a strange kidney disease, and mercury poisoning (misattributed to Salieri). However, the most common version is that he died of acute rheumatic fever.

1. Memories of Mozart

After Mozart’s death, his wife Konstanz contacted the editor Johann Anton to publish her husband’s works. In 1809 Konstanz married a second time. Her husband was the secretary of the Danish mission, Georg Nikolaus Nissen, who, together with the historian and librarian Friedrich von Schilchtegrol, wrote one of the first biographies of Mozart. Mozart’s children Carl Thomas and Franz Xaver showed musical talent from an early age. Carl completed his studies at the School of Commerce in Livorno and then continued to study music, which later allowed him to devote himself to this career. His younger brother Franz became a great composer and pianist.

Ever since Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart passed away, his extraordinary career as a child prodigy, struggles for personal and economic independence, financial troubles, and a strange early death have inspired many talented people to create novels, operas, video games, plays and films: most famously, Amadeus (1984, Milos Forman), winner of 8 Hollywood Oscars.