Perhaps the world would not have known about Amadeus Mozart if his father Leopold had not been a musician and had not recognized the boy’s talent in time. However, according to most, Mozart would not have been what he became if not for the special connection between him and God. Amadeus did not just write divine reproductions, he created his own unique style, which does not bear the imprint of time.

"The Marriage of Figaro" - the pinnacle of operatic works

Among Mozart's musical works, the most popular are operas, both classical and comic. Throughout his life, Amadeus produced more than 20 operas, including such gems as “Don Giovanni”, “The Magic Flute”, “The School for Lovers”, “The Abduction from the Seraglio” and, of course, “The Marriage of Figaro”.

Amadeus did not want to have a permanent job, so he could take part in any project that interested him at any time. Thanks to this system, most of Mozart’s works appeared.

Mozart composed the music for “The Marriage of Figaro” for 5 months, starting in December 1785. The opera premiered on May 1, 1786 in Vienna, despite the fact that many did not want it. Salieri and many of Count Rosenberg's court theater realized from rehearsals that The Marriage of Figard was a masterpiece of a higher level of art. They tried in every possible way to delay the premiere, fearing that after it they would lose their own authority.

The premiere really brought victory to Mozart, despite the fact that “The Marriage of Figaro” was banned for some time due to. Over the past 2 centuries, this victory has not only not faded, but has shone even more.

"Requiem" - Mozart's last work

In 1791, Mozart was anonymously contacted by a mysterious customer who offered to write a requiem that would be performed by his deceased wife. At this point, Amadeus was already suffering from the then unknown and decided to accept the offer as his last order. Many believe that subconsciously Mozart wrote a requiem for his own.

Despite his musical genius, Mozart did not know how to competently manage his financial affairs, so his well-being was constantly changing: from chic and brilliance to absolute poverty.

Unfortunately, the great composer did not have time to finish his last piece, he died without finishing it. At the request of his wife Constance, the work was completed by one of Amadeus’ students, Franz Sussmayer, and handed over to the customer. It later turned out that Mozart’s last client was Count Franz von Walseg, who loved to pass off others’ works as his own, which he did, appropriating the great composer’s posthumous masterpiece for himself.

Later, Constance was able to identify the work of her own husband and the truth triumphed. However, the “Requiem” remains unclear: it is known that most of the work was written by Mozart, but it was never possible to figure out what exactly his student added. But despite this, “Requiem” is the greatest work, one of Mozart’s most touching works.

Related article

Mozart is one of the most prominent figures world culture and art. The name of this musical genius is known not only in Europe, but throughout the world. Many of the author’s works have become true masterpieces of world music and still impress listeners from all over the world.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, but due to some changes this belongs to Austria, so the Austrians proudly call the composer “one of their own”. Born in 1756, the musical genius created something unimaginable when he approached and began to compose. “The Marriage of Figaro” - it is Mozart that many art critics call the king of operatic works.

All his compositions are perceived with delight to this day. The little boy Johann, at about three years old, was already distinguished by his unique musical abilities and love of music. Later he began to play the violin, harpsichord, and organ.

London and Dutch specialists admired his talent and experimented on him, believing that he had a real gift from God.

The virtuoso melodist began to study music, and later devoted himself to composing. Count Franz von Walseg, who for a long time pretended to be an anonymous customer, became the impetus for Mozart to create one of his masterpieces, “Requiem.” Many believe that the composer wrote this music to say goodbye to himself.

As a result, without finishing the Requiem, the cheerful and at the same time sad genius died in 1791, and one of his lucky students, Franz Süssmayer, finished it for him.

Among Mozart's works, the following can be highlighted: “The Abduction from the Seraglio”, “Davide penitente” (David Penitent), “Don Giovanni”, “La Clemenza di Titus”.

Video on the topic

Nature endowed the Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with phenomenal musical talent. For short life, from early childhood overflowing with performances at concerts, a brilliant musician a lot of works of different genres were created.

Instructions

The musical world of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is presented to listeners from different sides: inaccessible secrets are hidden in it and the surrounding reality is very clearly felt, it takes you into space distances and exists inseparably from man.

Mozart inherited his talent as a musician from his father, a court violinist and composer, under whose skillful guidance the children’s musical abilities developed. The boy's genius manifested itself already at the age of four: he quickly mastered the art of playing several musical instruments, even composing music. During his father’s tours, the performances of his sister, a keyboard player, and his brother, a singer, musician, conductor and improviser, aroused great delight among the public.

At the age of fourteen he was already the owner of the Papal Order of the Golden Spur, a member of the Philharmonic Academy in Italian city Bologna.

The first symphonies appeared in little composer after meeting the famous German music composer Bach, and at the age of twelve, the talented Wolfgang receives musical orders. But the metropolitan European courts did not pay attention to the gifted young man, and Mozart had to fulfill the position of accompanist at the court of his hometown of Salzburg. This is the time of creating sacred music and entertaining plays, which he turned to in his further work. Many lovers classical music know the humorous “Little Night Serenade”. IN a huge number works created by the composer, the Symphony in G minor No. 25, conveying the rebellious mood of the era of Sturm and Drang, stands high.

Symphonies for violin, clavier sonatas, opera productions - the musical legacy left by Mozart before his arrival in Vienna. The composer's Viennese debut, The Abduction from the Seraglio, was highly praised, but subsequently commissions for operas were received infrequently.

The main works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are the operas “The Marriage of Figaro” and “Don Giovanni”. The opera “The Magic Flute”, glorifying the bright and reasonable, the Requiem, filled with mournful feelings and unfinished by genius, is the last creation of the great composer, forever remaining immortal.

The composer's artistic interests, embodied in a new, deep and serious way, were formed under the influence of the works of Bach, Handel, and Haydn.

The music of the talented composer acquired deeply individual characteristics and became perfect, and in the Viennese court he was needed only as a creator of dances for masquerades.

For subsequent generations, Mozart is an inimitable example musical art. The artistic world of the great composer is inhabited by a wide variety of characters that convey the characteristics of human characters. The works breathe the spirit of events that took place during the era of the genius’s life, the main one of which is the Great French Revolution.

According to research by doctors and psychologists, Mozart's music can heal people from various diseases, since it has positive energy. The music of the Austrian composer has a special effect on children, having a fruitful effect on their psyche and intellect.

Sources:

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
• Music by Mozart. Treatment and improvement of brain activity

Tip 4: Constance Mozart: biography, creativity, career, personal life

Constance Mozart was the wife of the greatest composer of our time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. There are still many rumors about her - some consider her a stupid and flighty woman and blame her for the death of her famous husband, while others believe that Constance was the muse of the great composer. Most likely, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Childhood and youth

Constance Mozart (nee Weber) was born in 1762 in Mannheim. Her father, Franz Weber, sang in the theater, and her cousin later became a famous composer.

Since childhood, Constance was not used to living on a grand scale; she grew up as a zealous and hardworking girl. Mozart once wrote to his father about her that the Weber girl does not have beauty, but is extremely kind and economical.

The Weber family did not live well; there were three more daughters besides Constance. In addition, the father of the family soon died, and the mother was forced to earn a living by renting out rooms. Young Mozart settled in one of these rooms.

Meeting Mozart and getting married

At first, the future composer became interested in his older sister Weber, but soon became inflamed with passion for Constance. It should be noted that young Mozart was famous ladies' man, he even once wrote to his father that he was ready to get married, but could not choose from hundreds of women.

Constance's mother used all her feminine cunning to force Mozart to marry her daughter. Mozart's father was initially against this marriage, since the Webers were lower on the social ladder than the Mozarts.

But probably between young Wolfgang and Constance, something happened, and Weber’s mother, in order to avoid her daughter’s shame, began to insist on the wedding. Mozart even signed a contract that he agreed to marry Constance, otherwise he would have to pay a decent amount of money. As a result, the young composer gave up.

Life with a genius

Many of Mozart's contemporaries believe that the marriage was successful. The composer wrote letters to his wife full of love and tenderness. True, at the same time he did not abandon his love affairs, which he did not particularly hide.

The Mozart couple lived in poverty, despite the composer's decent one-time earnings. Probably Mozart himself did not know how to spend money and did not let his wife do it. And the wife of the genius was forced to obey.

Constance gave birth six times, but only two children survived. Whether she was happy in her marriage is a big question. But she knew for sure that she was married to a genius. It was to her that he first showed his works. She performed the main roles in his operas.

The mysterious death of Mozart cast a shadow over Constance Mozart. It was quite obvious that the composer did not die a natural death. Who could have poisoned Mozart has not yet been clarified. It was rumored that it could have been Constance. The day before she found him with his mistress.

Second marriage

After the death of her great husband, Constance remarried the diplomat Georg Nissen. Constance's second husband was an ardent Mozart fan. Together they collected the archives of the famous composer and published his biography. This work made a huge contribution to the preservation of Mozart's legacy. The image of the great man did not leave Constance until his death.

Tip 5: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: biography, creativity, career, personal life

What would you call a child who began composing at age five and performing in public at age eight? Prodigy, right? Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ranks first in the list of composers who occupy a special place in the field of music. During his short life he became the most famous musician, having written almost 600 pieces of music, all of which are recognized as musical masterpieces.

Childhood

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, as the son of Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart in Getreidegasse in Salzburg (part of modern Austria, which at the time was part of the Roman Empire). Originally from Augsburg, his father Leopold was a violinist and composer in the court chapel of the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Count Sigismund von Strattenbach. Speaking of Wolfgang's mother, there is practically no information about her. She was there for a year younger than husband and always recognized Leopold's superiority.

Mozart's only sister to survive was Maria Anna, his elder sister. The day after Mozart was born, he was baptized in St. Rupert's Cathedral. According to church archives, his baptismal name is John Chrysostom Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. When Mozart was four years old, his father taught him several minuets, which he began to play effortlessly and with pleasure. And at the age of five, Wolfgan composed his first musical works.

Mozart the Leopard was the young Mozart's only teacher as a child. Mozart was always full of enthusiasm and strived to learn much more than he was taught. But not only music fascinated young Amadeus; he loved mathematics no less passionately. When he learned to count, everything: furniture, floors, chairs were covered with numerous numbers written in chalk. His love for mathematics remained until the end of his life.

Early life

In his younger years, Mozart traveled extensively throughout Europe, where he and his sister performed as child prodigies. In 1762, his trip to the court of Prince-Elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich and the imperial court in Vienna and Prague lasted almost three and a half years. On this trip he also visited cities such as Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, Zurich and Donaueschingen. It was during this trip that Mozart became acquainted with the works of other musicians and composers, the most important of which were the works of Johann Christian Bach. In 1767, while the family was in Vienna, Mozart wrote a Latin drama and performed at the University of Salzburg. After returning to Salzburg, Mozart traveled to Italy with his father in December 1769. This trip gave him the chance to meet Mr. B. Martini in Bologna and became a member of the famous "Academia Philharmonica". In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mithridate, re di Ponto (1770) and successfully performed it. He later visited Milan in 1771, 1772 and 1773 for the premieres of Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772). Towards the end of the last Italian trip he wrote his first work, Exsultate, jubilate.

After returning to his homeland in 1773, Mozart became the court composer of the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. It was during this time that he released five violin and piano concertos, some of which are considered musical breakthroughs by critics. During his stay in Salzburg, he and his father visited Vienna and Munich, which resulted in the premiere of his opera "La finta giardiniera". By this time he had many friends and admirers and worked in a wide variety of genres, including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets and minor operas.

Chasing a dream

In 1777, Mozart left the service and went to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris and Munich in search of a better career. For some time he collaborated with Mannheim, a famous orchestra in Europe, but alas this did not bring him much benefit. He was offered the position of organist at Versailles, which he rejected and ended up falling into debt. In 1778, Mozart's mother died. Mozart was again offered the job of court organist and accompanist in Salzburg. Although he was not prepared to accept it, unable to find suitable work in Mannheim and Munich, Mozart returned home in 1779 and began work. But he already settled in Vienna as an independent performer and composer.

Life in Vienna

In Vienna, Mozart often performed as a pianist. He soon established himself as a keyboard player and composer. The opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" ("The Rape from the Seraglio"), which premiered in 1782, was a great success and established the reputation of a talented composer. At the same time, he begins to court Alosia Weber's sister, Constance. Although they were separated for a short time, they were married in 1782, in St. Stephen's Cathedral. The couple had six children, of whom only two survived.

Career peak

Between 1782 and 1783, Mozart became acquainted with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. This inspired Mozart to write in the Baroque style and then led to the development of his own unique musical language. In 1783, Mozart and his wife visited Salzburg, where he wrote one of his greatest plays, Mass in C Minor. In 1784, Mozart met Haydn, who became his lifelong friend. Mozart later dedicated his six quartets to Haydn. During this time, Mozart also performed as a soloist with three or four piano concertos per season. Because theaters had limited space, he chose unconventional locations, such as a large room in an apartment or a ballroom. Due to improved financial stability, thanks to royalties from concerts, Mozart and his wife moved into an expensive apartment. In 1784, Mozart became a Freemason.

After the huge success of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", Mozart rests for some time. He later began collaborating with librettist Lorenzo da Ponte and wrote The Marriage of Figaro, which premiered in Vienna in 1786. The enormous success and general admiration inspired him to continue his collaboration with da Ponte and composed "Don Giovanni", which premiered in 1787. The opera was successfully performed in Prague and in Vienna the following year. These two operas are still masterpieces of the operatic genre, but the musical complexities pose a great challenge to both performers and listeners. Mozart's father died in 1787.

In 1787, Emperor Joseph II appointed Mozart " chamber composer"for 800 florins a year. The job required Mozart to compose dance music for the annual balls. However, historical evidence suggests that the emperor's goal was to keep Mozart in Vienna and not allow him to leave the city in search of better prospects.

By 1786, things were not easy for musicians in Vienna, as Austria was at war and the financial means of the aristocracy were at stake. By 1788, Mozart moved with his family to the suburb of Alsergrund to reduce rent costs. During this time, Mozart visited Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin, Frankfurt, Mannheim and other German cities in search of a better fortune. These tours did not bring much success.

Last years and death

Mozart's later years were very fruitful, he wrote many works such as The Magic Flute, K. 595 in B-flat, K. 622, K. 614 in E-flat, K. 618 and K. 626, which he left behind unfinished. Mozart's financial position also improved, largely due to annuities provided to him by wealthy patrons in Amsterdam and Hungary. He also made a good profit from the sale dance music, which he wrote for the Imperial Chamber. In recent years he has been very pleased, mainly due to the success of his works, most notably "The Magic Flute".

Mozart fell ill in 1791. Although he continued to make public appearances for some time, his health continued to deteriorate and he soon became bedridden. On December 5, 1791, Mozart died at the age of 35. However, the cause of his death still remains unclear, and researchers have listed at least 118 possible causes of his death.

Heritage

Although Mozart lived only 35 years, Mozart's legacy is unparalleled. From almost 600 musical works, Mozart's contribution to all genres of music, from symphonies, concertos, operas, chamber music to solo piano, is invaluable. He is undoubtedly one of the greatest musicians, if not the greatest.

Tip 6: Leopold Mozart: biography, creativity, career, personal life

Johann Georg Leopold Mozart, a gifted musician and outstanding teacher, was born on November 14, 1719 in Augsburg. At the age of five he was enrolled in a Jesuit gymnasium, from which he graduated at the age of seventeen with excellent feedback regarding his academic success (diploma magna cum laude) and behavior. At those moments in his life, Leopold did not strive for corresponding professional aspirations, but in the process of studying, however, he diligently studied music, singing in a choir, and playing the organ.

In November 1737 he was enrolled at the university, and already on July 22, 1738 he was awarded the title of Studiosus philosophiae Baccalaureus. In September 1739, Johann Georg Leopold Mozart was expelled from the university. Of course, all this time the young man Leopold Mozart diligently studied music, thanks to which, after expulsion from the university, he entered the service of the canon of the Salzburg Cathedral, Count von Thurn-Valsassin, as a valet, which in those days signified a person who served as a musician and personal secretary.

The path to acquiring a permanent place of paid service was difficult and long, but in 1747 Leopold was already a court musician of the Archbishop of Salzburg and was finally able to start a family with Anna Maria Walburga Pertl in February 1748.

The style of his compositions, being very original, covers the basics folk music and is a striking example of the so-called border style at the junction of the Baroque and early classicism eras. As a member of the Leipzig Society of Musical Sciences, Leopold Mozart corresponded with such famous musicologists as Christian Fürchtegott Gellert and Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg. It was Marpurg who wrote about the “School”: “The need for this kind of work arose a long time ago, but we could not even hope to find it: a gifted and thorough virtuoso, a reasonable and methodical teacher, an educated musician; qualities, each of which already makes its owner worthy person, collected here together."

The success of "School" was enormous. It went through two lifetime editions - in 1756 and 1769, the third in 1787, and the next in 1800. The book was translated into Dutch and French languages in 1766 and 1770, and in 1804 - into Russian. The musical talent of Wolfgang Amadeus and Maria Anna, who was famous as Nannerl, became apparent already in 1759. From this point on, Leopold became known as a father of gifted children, who invested extremely hard in their musical education and cared for their careers. Yes, the Age of Enlightenment had already reigned in Europe, but Wolfgang’s sister realized in herself the role of housewife, mother and wife.

With each year that his son grew up, Leopold Mozart's attention to his own compositions and his career as a court musician rapidly declined. From 1763 until his death, he remained vice-bandmaster, without ever becoming the first or chief bandmaster of the court. In order to accompany the children on trips, where, by the way, he showed himself to be an excellent and tireless mentor and organizer, he had to, despite the displeasure of his superiors and the archbishop personally, be absent for increasingly longer periods. For unauthorized absences in 1777, he was even dismissed from service, where, however, he was soon reinstated.

While Wolfgang Amadeus visited his home only on short visits from 1777, and finally moved to Vienna in 1781, his father continued to serve and teach in Salzburg. His daughter, Nannerl, got married in her old age and moved to St. Gilgen. Leopold Mozart traveled a lot in his last years, mostly to Bavaria, became a member of the Masonic lodge and tirelessly admired the successes of his beloved son, whom he last met in 1785 in Vienna.

On May 28, 1787, after three months of illness, he died in the arms of his daughter and was buried in St. Sebastian's cemetery. After his death, his property was auctioned off.

Fundamental contribution to the history of music

It is very difficult to display all aspects of Leopold Mozart’s personality in a few words. After all, he was at the same time a zealous Catholic, a friend of Protestants and Jews, a warning to his son against long stays in Lutheran or Calvinist countries, and an opponent of bigots and saints, who, in his opinion, were not worthy of their rank. He was a champion of hygiene, an admirer of communication, cards and chess. In recent years, sincerely grieving for his deceased wife, he had a touching correspondence with Baroness Elisabeth von Waldstätten. He was a gifted musician and an outstanding teacher. His “Fundamental School of Violin Playing” is undoubtedly an essential work, thanks to which Leopold Mozart remained in the history of music for centuries.

In my deep conviction, Mozart is the highest, culminating point to which beauty has reached in the field of music.
P. Tchaikovsky

“What depth! What courage and what harmony!” This is how Pushkin brilliantly expressed the essence of Mozart’s brilliant art. Indeed, we will probably not find such a combination of classical perfection with daring of thought, such an infinity of individual solutions based on clear and precise laws of composition, in any of the creators of musical art. The world of Mozart’s music appears sunnyly clear and incomprehensibly mysterious, simple and immensely complex, deeply human and universal, cosmic.

W. A. ​​Mozart was born into the family of Leopold Mozart, a violinist and composer at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Ingenious talent allowed Mozart to compose music from the age of four and very quickly master the art of playing the clavier, violin, and organ. The father skillfully supervised his son's studies. In 1762-71. he undertook tours, during which many European courts became acquainted with the art of his children (Wolfgang's eldest sister was a gifted keyboard player, he himself sang, conducted, masterfully played various instruments and improvised), which aroused admiration everywhere. At the age of 14, Mozart was awarded the Papal Order of the Golden Spur and elected a member of the Philharmonic Academy in Bologna.

While traveling, Wolfgang became acquainted with music different countries, mastering the genres characteristic of the era. Thus, his acquaintance with I. C. Bach, who lived in London, brings to life the first symphonies (1764); in Vienna (1768) he receives orders for operas in the genre of Italian opera buffa (“The Feigned Simpleton”) and the German Singspiel (“ Bastien and Bastienne “; a year earlier, the school opera (Latin comedy) “Apollo and Hyacinth” was staged at the University of Salzburg. His stay in Italy was especially fruitful, where Mozart improved in counterpoint (polyphony) with G. B. Martini (Bologna), staged. in Milan the opera seria “Mithridates, King of Pontus” (1770), and in 1771 - the opera “Lucius Sulla”.

The brilliant young man was less interested in patrons than the miracle child, and L. Mozart was unable to find a place for him at any metropolitan European court. I had to return to Salzburg to perform the duties of court accompanist. Mozart's creative aspirations were now limited to orders for the composition of sacred music, as well as entertaining pieces - divertissements, cassations, serenades (i.e., suites with dance parts for various instrumental compositions, sounded not only at court evenings, but also on the streets, in Austrian houses townspeople). Mozart subsequently continued his work in this area in Vienna, where his most famous work of this kind was created - “Little Night Serenade” (1787), a kind of miniature symphony full of humor and grace. Mozart also wrote concertos for violin and orchestra, keyboard and violin sonatas, etc. One of the peaks of music of this period is Symphony in G minor No. 25, which reflected the rebellious “Wertherian” moods characteristic of the era, close in spirit literary movement"Sturm and Drang".

Languishing in provincial Salzburg, where he was held back by the despotic claims of the archbishop, Mozart made unsuccessful attempts to settle in Munich, Mannheim, and Paris. Trips to these cities (1777-79) brought, however, many emotional (first love - for the singer Aloysia Weber, the death of his mother) and artistic impressions, reflected, in particular, in the keyboard sonatas (A minor, A major with variations and Rondo alla turca), in the Symphony Concertante for violin and viola with orchestra, etc. Individual opera productions (“The Dream of Scipio” - 1772, “The Shepherd King” - 1775, both in Salzburg; “The Imaginary Gardener" - 1775, Munich) did not satisfy the aspirations Mozart to regular contact with the opera house. The production of the opera seria “Idomeneo, King of Crete” (Munich, 1781) revealed the full maturity of Mozart as an artist and a person, his courage and independence in matters of life and creativity. Arriving from Munich in Vienna, where the archbishop went to the coronation celebrations, Mozart broke up with him, refusing to return to Salzburg.

Mozart's excellent Viennese debut was the Singspiel "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (1782, Burgtheater), the premiere of which was followed by his marriage to Constance Weber (Aloysia's younger sister). However (subsequently, opera orders did not arrive so often. The court poet L. Da Ponte contributed to the production on the stage of the Burgtheater of operas written on his libretto: two central works of Mozart - “The Marriage of Figaro" (1786) and "Don Giovanni" (1788), and also the buffa opera “This is what everyone does” (1790); a one-act comedy with music “The Theater Director” (1786) was also staged in Schönbrunn (the summer residence of the court).

During his first years in Vienna, Mozart often performed, creating clavier and orchestra concerts for his “academies” (concerts organized by subscription among patrons). Of exceptional importance for the composer’s work was the study of the works of J. S. Bach (as well as G. F. Handel, F. E. Bach), which directed his artistic interests into the field of polyphony, giving new depth and seriousness to his plans. This was very clearly manifested in the Fantasia and Sonata in C minor (1784-85), in six string quartets dedicated to I. Haydn, with whom Mozart had a great human and creative friendship. The deeper Mozart's music penetrated into the secrets of human existence, the more individual the appearance of his works became, the less success they enjoyed in Vienna (the position of court chamber musician received in 1787 obliged him only to create dances for masquerades).

The composer found much more understanding in Prague, where in 1787 “The Marriage of Figaro” was staged, and soon the premiere of “Don Giovanni” written for this city took place (in 1791 Mozart staged another opera in Prague - “La Clemenza di Titus”) , which most clearly outlined the role of the tragic theme in Mozart’s work. The same courage and novelty marked the “Prague Symphony” in D major (1787) and the last three symphonies (No. 39 in E-flat major, No. 40 in G minor, No. 41 in C major - “Jupiter”; summer 1788), which gave an unusually bright and complete a picture of the ideas and feelings of his era and paved the way for symphonism in the 19th century. Of the three symphonies of 1788, only the G minor Symphony was performed once in Vienna. The last immortal creations of Mozart’s genius were the opera “The Magic Flute” - a hymn to light and reason (1791, Theater in the Vienna suburbs) - and the mournful, majestic Requiem, not completed by the composer.

The suddenness of the death of Mozart, whose health was probably undermined by prolonged overexertion of creative forces and difficult conditions recent years life, the mysterious circumstances of the order of the Requiem (as it turned out, the anonymous order belonged to a certain Count F. Walzag-Stuppach, who intended to pass it off as his own composition), burial in a common grave - all this gave rise to the spread of legends about the poisoning of Mozart (see, for example, Pushkin’s tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”), which did not receive any confirmation. Mozart's work became for many subsequent generations the personification of music in general, its ability to recreate all aspects of human existence, presenting them in beautiful and perfect harmony, filled, however, with internal contrasts and contradictions. The artistic world of Mozart's music seems to be populated by many different characters, multifaceted human characters. It reflected one of the main features of the era, the culmination of which was the Great French Revolution of 1789 - the vital principle (images of Figaro, Don Juan, the Jupiter symphony, etc.). The affirmation of the human personality and the activity of the spirit is also associated with the revelation of the richest emotional world - the diversity of its internal shades and details makes Mozart the forerunner of romantic art.

The comprehensive nature of Mozart’s music, covering all genres of the era (except for those already mentioned - the ballet “Trinkets” - 1778, Paris; music for theatrical productions, dances, songs, including “Violet” at the station. J. V. Goethe, masses, motets, cantatas and other choral works, chamber ensembles various compositions, concerts for wind instruments with orchestra, Concerto for flute and harp with orchestra, etc.) and which gave them classical examples, is largely explained by the enormous role played in it by the interaction of schools, styles, eras and musical genres.

Embodying the characteristic features of the Viennese classical school, Mozart summarized the experience of Italian, French, German culture, folk and professional theater, various opera genres, etc. His work reflected the socio-psychological conflicts born of the pre-revolutionary atmosphere in France (libretto of “The Marriage of Figaro” " written based on the modern play by P. Beaumarchais "Crazy Day, or The Marriage of Figaro"), the rebellious and sensitive spirit of German Sturmerism ("Sturm und Drang"), complex and eternal problem contradictions between human daring and moral retribution (“Don Juan”).

The individual appearance of Mozart's work consists of many intonations and development techniques typical of that era, uniquely combined and heard by the great creator. His instrumental works were influenced by opera, features of symphonic development penetrated into opera and the mass, a symphony (for example, the Symphony in G minor - a kind of story about the life of the human soul) can be endowed with detail characteristic of chamber music, a concert - the significance of a symphony, etc. The genre canons of Italian buffa opera in The Marriage of Figaro are flexibly subordinated to the creation of a comedy of realistic characters with a clear lyrical emphasis; behind the name “fun drama” there is a completely individual solution musical drama in Don Juan, imbued with Shakespearean contrasts of comedy and sublime-tragic.

One of the most striking examples of Mozart’s artistic synthesis is “The Magic Flute.” Under cover fairy tale with a complicated plot (many sources were used in E. Schikaneder’s librarian) are hiding utopian ideas wisdom, goodness and universal justice, characteristic of the Age of Enlightenment (the influence of Freemasonry was also felt here - Mozart was a member of the “brotherhood of free masons”). Arias of Papageno's "Birdman" in the spirit of folk songs alternate with strict choral melodies in the part of the wise Zorastro, the soulful lyrics of the arias of the lovers Tamino and Pamina - with the coloraturas of the Queen of the Night, almost parodying virtuoso singing in Italian opera, the combination of arias and ensembles with spoken dialogues (in the Singspiel tradition) gives way to end-to-end development in extended finales. All this is also united by the “magical” sound of a Mozart orchestra (with solo flute and bells) in terms of mastery of instrumentation. The universality of Mozart's music allowed it to become the ideal of art for Pushkin and Glinka, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, Bizet and Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich.

E. Tsareva

His first teacher and mentor was his father, Leopold Mozart, assistant bandmaster at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. In 1762, his father introduced Wolfgang, still a very young performer, and his sister Nannerl to the courts of Munich and Vienna: the children played keyboards, the violin and sang, and Wolfgang also improvised. In 1763, they took a long tour of Southern and Eastern Germany, Belgium, Holland, Southern France, Switzerland all the way to England; They were in Paris twice. In London, he became acquainted with Abel, J. C. Bach, as well as the singers Tenducci and Manzuoli. At the age of twelve, Mozart composed the operas The Imaginary Shepherdess and Bastien and Bastienne. In Salzburg he is appointed to the position of accompanist. In 1769, 1771 and 1772 he visited Italy, where he received recognition, staged his operas and was engaged in systematic education. In 1777, in the company of his mother, he travels to Munich, Mannheim (where he falls in love with the singer Aloysia Weber) and Paris (where his mother dies). Settles in Vienna and in 1782 marries Constance Weber, Aloysia's sister. In the same year, his opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio” achieved great success. He creates works of various genres, showing amazing versatility, becomes a court composer (without specific responsibilities) and hopes, after Gluck’s death, to receive the position of second conductor of the Royal Chapel (the first was Salieri). Despite the fame, especially opera composer, Mozart's hopes did not come true, including because of gossip regarding his behavior. Leaves Requiem unfinished. Respect for aristocratic conventions and traditions, both religious and secular, was combined in Mozart with a sense of responsibility and inner dynamism that led some to regard him as a conscious precursor of Romanticism, while for others he remains the incomparable culmination of a refined and intelligent age, respectfully related to rules and canons. In any case, it was precisely from the constant collision with various musical and moral clichés of that time that this pure, most tender, imperishable beauty of Mozart’s music was born, in which in such a mysterious way there is that feverish, crafty, tremulous thing that is called “demonic”. Thanks to the harmonious use of these qualities, the Austrian master - a true miracle of music - overcame all the difficulties of composition with a knowledge of the matter that A. Einstein rightly calls “somnambulant”, creating a huge number of works that poured from his pen both under pressure from customers and and as a result of immediate internal motivations. He acted with the speed and self-control of a man of modern times, although he remained an eternal child, alien to any cultural phenomena not related to music, completely turned to the outside world and at the same time capable of amazing insights into the depths of psychology and thought.

An incomparable connoisseur of the human soul, especially the female (who conveyed its grace and duality in equal measure), astutely ridiculing vices, dreaming of an ideal world, easily moving from the deepest sorrow to the greatest joy, a pious singer of passions and sacraments - be these latter Catholic or Masonic - Mozart still fascinates as a person, remaining the pinnacle of music in the modern sense. As a musician, he synthesized all the achievements of the past, bringing to perfection all musical genres and surpassing almost all his predecessors in the perfect combination of Northern and Latin sensibilities. In order to organize Mozart’s musical heritage, it was necessary to publish a voluminous catalog in 1862, subsequently updated and corrected, which bears the name of its compiler L. von Köchel.

Such creative productivity - however, not so rare in European music - was not only the result of natural abilities (they say that he wrote music with the same ease and ease as letters): within the short period allotted to him by fate and marked sometimes inexplicable qualitative leaps, it was developed through communication with various teachers, which made it possible to overcome crisis periods in the development of mastery. Of the musicians who had a direct influence on him, one should name (in addition to his father, Italian predecessors and contemporaries, as well as D. von Dittersdorff and I. A. Hasse) I. Schobert, C. F. Abel (in Paris and London), both Bach's sons, Philipp Emanuel and especially Johann Christian, who was an example of a combination of “gallant” and “scholarly” styles in large instrumental forms, as well as in arias and opera seria, K. W. Gluck - as far as the theater is concerned, despite to the significant difference in creative attitudes, Michael Haydn, an excellent contrapuntalist, brother of the great Joseph, who in turn showed Mozart how to achieve convincing expression, simplicity, ease and flexibility of dialogue, without abandoning the most complex techniques. Fundamental were his trips to Paris and London, to Mannheim (where he listened to the famous orchestra conducted by Stamitz, the first and most advanced ensemble in Europe). Let us also point out the environment of Baron von Swieten in Vienna, where Mozart studied and appreciated the music of Bach and Handel; Finally, we note his travels to Italy, where he met famous singers and musicians (Sammartini, Piccini, Manfredini) and where in Bologna he took an exam in strict counterpoint with Padre Martini (to tell the truth, not very successful).

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Biography, life story of Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus is an Austrian composer, pianist, and organist.

Childhood

Born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg (Austria) and at baptism received the names Johann Chrysostom Wolfgang Theophilus. Mother - Maria Anna, née Pertl; father - Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), composer and theorist, from 1743 - violinist in the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Of the seven Mozart children, two survived: Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna. Both brother and sister had brilliant musical abilities: Leopold began giving his daughter harpsichord lessons when she was eight years old, and the song was composed by her father in 1759 for Nannerl (that’s what the girl’s relatives called her). Music book with light plays later came in handy when teaching little Wolfgang. At the age of three, Mozart picked up thirds and sixths on the harpsichord, and at the age of five he began composing simple minuets.

First steps in music

In January 1762, Leopold took his miracle children to Munich, where they played in the presence of the Bavarian Elector, and in September to Linz and Passau, from there along the Danube to Vienna, where they were received at court (in the Schönbrunn Palace) and twice awarded reception with Empress Maria Theresa. This trip marked the beginning of a series of concert trips that continued for ten years.

From Vienna, Leopold and his children moved along the Danube to Pressburg (now Bratislava, Slovakia), where they stayed from December 11 to 24, and then returned to Vienna on Christmas Eve. In June 1763, Leopold, Nannerl and Wolfgang began the longest of their concert trips: they returned home to Salzburg only towards the end of November 1766. Leopold kept a travel diary: Munich, Ludwigsburg, Augsburg and Schwetzingen (the summer residence of the Elector of the Palatinate). On August 18, Wolfgang gave a concert in Frankfurt: by this time he had mastered the violin and played it fluently, although not with such phenomenal brilliance as on keyboard instruments; in Frankfurt he performed his violin concerto (14-year-old Goethe was among those present in the hall). Brussels and Paris followed, where the family spent the entire winter of 1763/1764. The Mozarts were received at the court of Louis XV during the Christmas holidays at Versailles and enjoyed great attention in aristocratic circles throughout the winter. At the same time, Wolfgang's works were published for the first time in Paris - four violin sonatas.

CONTINUED BELOW

In April 1764 the family went to London and lived there for more than a year. A few days after their arrival, the Mozarts were solemnly received by King George III. As in Paris, children gave public concerts during which Wolfgang demonstrated his amazing abilities. Composer Johann Christian Bach, a favorite of London society, immediately appreciated the child’s enormous talent. Often, having put Wolfgang on his knees, he would perform sonatas with him on the harpsichord: they would play in turns, each playing a few bars, and they would do it with such precision that it seemed as if one musician was playing. In London, Mozart composed his first symphonies. They followed the examples of the gallant, lively and energetic music of Johann Christian, who became the boy's teacher, and demonstrated an innate sense of form and instrumental color. In July 1765 the family left London and headed to Holland; In September, in The Hague, Wolfgang and Nannerl suffered severe pneumonia, from which the boy recovered only by February.

They then continued their tour: from Belgium to Paris, then to Lyon, Geneva, Bern, Zurich, Donaueschingen, Augsburg and finally to Munich, where the Elector again listened to the play of the miracle child and was amazed at the successes he had made. As soon as they returned to Salzburg (November 30, 1766), Leopold began making plans for his next trip. It began in September 1767. The whole family arrived in Vienna, where at that time a smallpox epidemic was raging. The disease overtook both children in Olmutz (now Olomouc, Czech Republic), where they had to stay until December. In January 1768 they reached Vienna and were again received at court; Wolfgang at this time wrote his first opera, La finta semplice, but its production did not take place due to the intrigues of some Viennese musicians. At the same time, his first large mass for choir and orchestra appeared, which was performed at the opening of the church at the orphanage in front of a large and friendly audience. A trumpet concerto was written by order, but unfortunately, it has not survived. On the way home to Salzburg, Wolfgang performed his new symphony (K. 45a) at the Benedictine monastery in Lambach. (a note on the numbering of Mozart's works: In 1862, Ludwig von Köchel published a catalog of Mozart's works in chronological order. Since that time, the titles of the composer's works usually include the Köchel number - just as the works of other authors usually include the opus designation. For example, the full title of the piano Concerto No. 20 will be: Concerto No. 20 in D minor for piano and orchestra (K. 466). Köchel's index was revised six times. In 1964, the publishing house Breitkopf and Hertel (Wiesbaden, Germany) published a deeply revised and expanded Köchel index. There are many works for which Mozart’s authorship has been proven and which were not mentioned in earlier editions. The dates of the works have also been clarified in accordance with the data. scientific research. In the 1964 edition, changes were also made to the chronology, and, consequently, new numbers appeared in the catalogue, but Mozart’s works continue to exist under the old numbers of the Köchel catalog).

Creative path. 1770s

The goal of the next trip Leopold planned was Italy - the country of opera and, of course, the country of music in general. After 11 months of study and preparation for the trip, spent in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang began the first of three journeys through the Alps. They were absent for more than a year (from December 1769 to March 1771). The first Italian journey turned into a chain of continuous triumphs - for the pope and the duke, for the king (Ferdinand IV of Naples) and for the cardinal and, most importantly, for the musicians. Mozart met with N. Piccini and G. B. Sammartini in Milan, with the heads of the Neapolitan opera school N. Yommelli, G. F. and Maio and G. Paisiello in Naples. In Milan, Wolfgang received a commission for a new opera seria to be presented during the carnival. In Rome, he heard the famous Miserere by G. Allegri, which he later wrote down from memory. Pope Clement XIV received Mozart on July 8, 1770 and awarded him the Order of the Golden Spur. While studying counterpoint in Bologna with the famous teacher Padre Martini, Mozart began work on a new opera, Mithridates, King of Ponto. At Martini's insistence, he underwent an examination at the famous Bologna Philharmonic Academy and was accepted as a member of the academy. The opera was successfully performed at Christmas in Milan.

Wolfgang spent the spring and early summer of 1771 in Salzburg, but in August father and son went to Milan to prepare the premiere of the new opera Ascanio in Alba, which was successfully held on October 17. Leopold hoped to persuade Archduke Ferdinand, for whose wedding a celebration was organized in Milan, to take Wolfgang into his service; but by a strange coincidence, Empress Maria Theresa sent a letter from Vienna, in which she stated in strong terms her dissatisfaction with the Mozarts (in particular, she called them "useless family"). Leopold and Wolfgang were forced to return to Salzburg, unable to find a suitable duty station for Wolfgang in Italy.

On the very day of their return, December 16, 1771, Prince-Archbishop Sigismund, who was kind to the Mozarts, died. His successor was Count Hieronymus Colloredo, and for his inauguration celebrations in April 1772, Mozart composed the “dramatic serenade” Il sogno di Scipione. Colloredo accepted the young composer into the service with an annual salary of 150 guilders and gave permission to travel to Milan (Mozart undertook to write a new opera for this city); however, the new archbishop, unlike his predecessor, did not tolerate the Mozarts' long absences and was not inclined to admire their art.

The third Italian journey lasted from October 1772 to March 1773. Mozart's new opera Lucio Silla was performed the day after Christmas 1772, and the composer received no further opera orders. Leopold tried in vain to gain the patronage of the Grand Duke of Florence, Leopold. Having made several more attempts to settle his son in Italy, Leopold realized his defeat, and the Mozarts left this country so as not to return there again.

For the third time, Leopold and Wolfgang tried to settle in the Austrian capital; they remained in Vienna from mid-July to the end of September 1773. Wolfgang had the opportunity to become acquainted with the new symphonic works of the Viennese school, especially the dramatic symphonies in minor keys Y. Wanhala and ; the fruits of this acquaintance are evident in his symphony in G minor (K. 183).

Forced to remain in Salzburg, Mozart devoted himself entirely to composition: at this time symphonies, divertimentos, works of church genres, as well as the first string quartet appeared - this music soon secured the author’s reputation as one of the most talented composers in Austria. Symphonies created at the end of 1773 and beginning of 1774 (for example, K. 183, 200, 201) are distinguished by high dramatic integrity.

A short break from the Salzburg provincialism that he hated was given to Mozart by an order that came from Munich for a new opera for the 1775 carnival: the premiere of “The Imaginary Gardener” (La finta giardiniera) was a success in January. But the musician almost never left Salzburg. A happy family life to some extent compensated for the boredom of everyday life in Salzburg, but Wolfgang, who compared his current situation with the lively atmosphere of foreign capitals, gradually lost patience.

In the summer of 1777, Mozart was dismissed from the archbishop's service and decided to seek his fortune abroad. In September, Wolfgang and his mother traveled through Germany to Paris. In Munich, the Elector refused his services; On the way, they stopped in Mannheim, where Mozart was friendly received by local orchestra players and singers. Although he did not receive a place at the court of Karl Theodor, he stayed in Mannheim: the reason was his love for the singer Aloysia Weber. In addition, Mozart hoped to make a concert tour with Aloysia, who had a magnificent coloratura soprano; he even went with her secretly to the court of the Princess of Nassau-Weilburg (in January 1778). Leopold initially believed that Wolfgang would go to Paris with a company of Mannheim musicians, sending his mother back to Salzburg, but, having heard that Wolfgang was madly in love, he strictly ordered him to immediately go to Paris with his mother.

His stay in Paris, which lasted from March to September 1778, turned out to be extremely unsuccessful: Wolfgang’s mother died on July 3, and Parisian court circles lost interest in to the young composer. Although Mozart successfully performed two new symphonies in Paris and Christian Bach came to Paris, Leopold ordered his son to return to Salzburg. Wolfgang delayed his return as long as he could and especially lingered in Mannheim. Here he realized that Aloysia was completely indifferent to him. It was a terrible blow, and only his father’s terrible threats and pleas forced him to leave Germany.

Mozart's new symphonies (for example, G major, K. 318; B-flat major, K. 319; C major, K. 334) and instrumental serenades (for example, D major, K. 320) are marked by crystal clarity of form and orchestration, richness and the subtlety of emotional nuances and that special warmth that placed Mozart above all Austrian composers, with the possible exception of.

In January 1779, Mozart again took up the duties of organist at the archbishop's court with an annual salary of 500 guilders. The church music that he was obliged to compose for Sunday services was much higher in depth and variety than what he had previously written in this genre. Particularly notable are the “Coronation Mass” and the Missa solemnis in C major (K. 337).

Mozart continued to hate Salzburg and the archbishop, and therefore gladly accepted the offer to write an opera for Munich. “Idomeneo, King of Crete” (Idomeneo, re di Creta) was staged at the court of Elector Karl Theodor (his winter residence was in Munich) in January 1781. Idomeneo was a magnificent result of the experience acquired by the composer in the previous period, mainly in Paris and in Mannheim. The choral writing is especially original and dramatically expressive.

At that time, the Archbishop of Salzburg was in Vienna and ordered Mozart to immediately go to the capital. Here the personal conflict between Mozart and Colloredo gradually assumed alarming proportions, and after Wolfgang's resounding public success in a concert given for the benefit of the widows and orphans of Viennese musicians on April 3, 1781, his days in the service of the archbishop were numbered. In May he submitted his resignation, and on June 8 he was kicked out.

Against his father's will, Mozart married Constanze Weber, the sister of his first lover, and the bride's mother managed to obtain very favorable conditions from Wolfgang marriage contract(to the anger and despair of Leopold, who bombarded his son with letters, begging him to come to his senses). Wolfgang and Constance got married in Vienna cathedral St. Stephen on August 4, 1782. And although Constanza was as helpless in financial matters as her husband, their marriage apparently turned out to be a happy one.

In July 1782, Mozart's opera The Abduction from the Serail (Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail) was staged at the Vienna Burgtheater; it was a significant success, and Mozart became the idol of Vienna, not only in court and aristocratic circles, but also among concert-goers from the third estate. Within a few years, Mozart reached the heights of fame; life in Vienna encouraged him to engage in a variety of activities, composing and performing. He was in great demand, tickets for his concerts (the so-called academy), distributed by subscription, were completely sold out. For this occasion, Mozart composed a series of brilliant piano concertos. In 1784, Mozart gave 22 concerts over six weeks.

In the summer of 1783, Wolfgang and his bride paid a visit to Leopold and Nannerl in Salzburg. On this occasion, Mozart wrote his last and best Mass in C minor (K. 427), which has not reached us in full (if the composer completed the work at all). The mass was performed on October 26 in Salzburg's Peterskirche, with Constanze singing one of the soprano solo parts (Constanza, by all accounts, was a good professional singer, although her voice was in many ways inferior to that of her sister Aloysia.) Returning to Vienna in October, the couple stopped in Linz , where the Linz Symphony appeared (K. 425). In February of the following year, Leopold paid a visit to his son and daughter-in-law in their large Viennese apartment near the cathedral (this beautiful house remains to this day), and although Leopold could not get rid of his dislike for Constanze, he acknowledged that his son's work as a composer and the performer are going very successfully.

The beginning of many years of sincere friendship between Mozart and. At a quartet evening with Mozart in the presence of Leopold, turning to his father, he said: "Your son - greatest composer of everyone I know personally or have heard of". and Mozart had a significant influence on each other; as for Mozart, the first fruits of such influence are evident in the cycle of six quartets that Mozart dedicated to a friend in a famous letter in September 1785.

In 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, which left a deep imprint on his life philosophy; Masonic ideas can be traced in a number of Mozart's later works, especially in The Magic Flute. In those years, many well-known scientists, poets, writers, and musicians in Vienna were members of Masonic lodges (including him); Freemasonry was also cultivated in court circles. As a result of various opera and theater intrigues, L. da Ponte, the court librettist, heir to the famous Metastasio, decided to work with Mozart as opposed to the clique of the court composer and da Ponte’s rival, the librettist Abbot Casti. Mozart and da Ponte began with Beaumarchais’s anti-aristocratic play “The Marriage of Figaro”, and by that time with German translation The ban on the play has not yet been lifted. Using various tricks, they managed to obtain the necessary permission from the censor, and on May 1, 1786, “The Marriage of Figaro” (Le nozze di Figaro) was first shown at the Burgtheater. Although this Mozart opera was later a huge success, when first staged it was soon supplanted by a new opera by V. Martin y Soler (1754–1806) A Rare Thing (Una cosa rara). Meanwhile, in Prague, The Marriage of Figaro gained exceptional popularity (melodies from the opera were heard in the streets, and arias from it were danced in ballrooms and coffee houses). Mozart was invited to conduct several performances. In January 1787, he and Constanza spent about a month in Prague, and this was the happiest time in the life of the great composer. The director of the Bondini opera troupe ordered him a new opera. It can be assumed that Mozart himself chose the plot - the ancient legend of Don Giovanni; the libretto was to be prepared by none other than Da Ponte. The opera Don Giovanni was first performed in Prague on October 29, 1787.

In May 1787, the composer's father died. This year generally became a milestone in Mozart’s life, as regards its external course and the composer’s state of mind. His thoughts were increasingly colored by deep pessimism; The sparkle of success and joy of youth are forever a thing of the past. The pinnacle of the composer's path was the triumph of Don Juan in Prague. After returning to Vienna at the end of 1787, Mozart began to be haunted by failures, and at the end of his life - by poverty. The production of Don Juan in Vienna in May 1788 ended in failure; At the reception after the performance, the opera was defended by one.

Mozart received the position of court composer and conductor of Emperor Joseph II, but with a relatively small salary for this position (800 guilders per year). The Emperor understood little about the music of either Mozart or Mozart; about Mozart's works he said that they “not to the taste of the Viennese”. Mozart had to borrow money from Michael Puchberg, his fellow Mason.

In view of the hopelessness of the situation in Vienna (documents confirming how quickly the frivolous Viennese forgot their former idol make a strong impression), Mozart decided to undertake a concert trip to Berlin (April-June 1789), where he hoped to find a place for himself at the court of the Prussian king Friedrich Wilhelm II . The result was only new debts, and even an order for six string quartets for His Majesty, who was a decent amateur cellist, and six keyboard sonatas for Princess Wilhelmina. In 1789, the health of Constance, then Wolfgang himself, began to deteriorate, and the family’s financial situation became simply threatening. In February 1790, Joseph II died, and Mozart was not sure that he could maintain his post as court composer under the new emperor.

The coronation celebrations of Emperor Leopold took place in Frankfurt in the fall of 1790, and Mozart went there at his own expense, hoping to attract public attention. This performance (performed "Coronation" keyboard concert, K. 537) took place on October 15, but did not bring any money. Returning to Vienna, Mozart met with; the London impresario Zalomon came to invite him to London, and Mozart received a similar invitation to the English capital for the next winter season. He wept bitterly as he saw off Zalomon. "We'll never see each other again", he repeated. The previous winter, he invited only two friends to the rehearsals of the opera “Cos fan tutte” (Cos fan tutte) - and Puchberg.

In 1791 E. Schikaneder, a writer, actor and impresario, a longtime acquaintance of Mozart, ordered him a new opera on German for his Freihaustheater in the Vienna suburb of Wieden (the current theater an der Wien), and in the spring Mozart began working on The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflte). At the same time, he received an order from Prague for the coronation opera - “La Clemenza di Tito” (La clemenza di Tito), for which Mozart’s student F.K. Süssmeier helped write some of the colloquial recitatives (secco). Together with his student and Constanze, Mozart went to Prague in August to prepare the performance, which took place without much success on September 6 (the opera later enjoyed enormous popularity). Mozart then left hastily for Vienna to complete The Magic Flute. The opera was performed on September 30, and at the same time he completed his last instrumental work - a concerto for clarinet and orchestra in A major (K. 622).

Mozart was already ill when, under mysterious circumstances, a stranger came to him and ordered a requiem. This was the manager of Count Walsegg-Stuppach. The count commissioned a composition in memory of his deceased wife, intending to perform it under his own name. Mozart, confident that he was composing a requiem for himself, feverishly worked on the score until his strength left him. On November 15, 1791 he completed the "Little Masonic Cantata". Constance was being treated in Baden at that time and hastily returned home when she realized how serious her husband’s illness was. On November 20, Mozart fell ill and a few days later felt so weak that he took communion.

On the night of December 4–5, he fell into a delirious state and, in a semi-conscious state, imagined himself playing the timpani in the Dies irae from his own unfinished requiem. It was almost one in the morning when he turned to the wall and stopped breathing. Constanza, broken by grief and without any means, had to agree to the cheapest funeral service in the chapel of the Cathedral of St. Stefan. She was too weak to accompany her husband's body on the long journey to the cemetery of St. Mark, where he was buried in the third order in the presence of several of his devoted friends. The location of the grave was soon hopelessly forgotten. Süssmayer completed the requiem and orchestrated large unfinished text fragments left by the author.

The official version of the cause of death of the composer is rheumatic fever. For a long time there was talk that his death was violent - supposedly, jealous of Mozart's talent, he poisoned him. In 1997, a case was heard at the Palace of Justice in Milan; as a result, the accused was completely acquitted.

If during Mozart's life his creative power was realized only by a relatively small number of listeners, then already in the first decade after the death of the composer, recognition of his genius spread throughout Europe. This was facilitated by the success that The Magic Flute had among a wide audience. The German publisher André acquired the rights to most of Mozart's unpublished works, including his remarkable piano concertos and all of his later symphonies (none of which were published during the composer's lifetime).

Video of Mozart by Wolfgang Amadeus

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On January 27, 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born. He was born in the beautiful city of Salzburg. The boy developed a talent for music while still young. Then my father taught me to play the violin and organ.

By the age of seventeen, he had already traveled to quite a few European cities and had more than 17 works to his credit.

Musical creativity

From 1775 to 1780, Mozart worked fruitfully. His works are beginning to be in great demand.

After marrying Constance, he slightly changed the sound of his compositions. This is evidenced by the opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio”. She completely and completely breathes the spirit of romance.

Some of the works remained unfinished, since a difficult financial situation forced him to earn extra money rather than write works. He gave private performances in narrow aristocratic circles.

At the peak of his popularity, Mozart wrote his most famous operas.

Mozart is offered to lead the chapel in Vienna in 1789, but he refuses, which in turn exacerbates his financial disadvantage.

Last days

Mozart became very ill in November 1791, so much so that he could not get out of bed. Died on December 5, 1791. The exact cause of death remains a mystery, even today. He was buried in Austria - the city of Vienna.

Biography by dates and interesting facts. The most important.

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Lev Gunin

THE LIFE OF MOZART AND ITS SECRETS

PART ONE

(CONTINUATION)

BIOGRAPHY

Birth: January 27, 1756. Place of birth: Salzburg (Austria). At baptism he received the names Johann Chrysostomos Wolfgang Theophilus (Gottlieb) Mozart ( Joannes Chrisostomus Wolfgang Gottlieb Mozart). Mother - Maria Anna Pertl. Father - Leopold Mozart (1719-1787), an outstanding composer, teacher and theorist. Even before Wolfgang's birth, in 1743, Leopold received a position as a violinist in the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Maria Anna and Leopold had seven children. Perhaps they all had pronounced musical abilities. The monstrous infant mortality rate of that time claimed five. Only two survived: Maria Anna (Nannerl) and her younger brother Wolfgang. Both are endowed with extraordinary musical talent. Like Johann Sebastian Bach with his distinguished sons, Leopold Mozart began teaching music to his son and daughter from a very early age. Like Bach, in 1759 he himself composed a notebook of harpsichord pieces with children's repertoire. Leopold's teaching talent and the brilliant abilities of his children worked wonders. Five-year-old Wolfgang is already composing simple minuets.

Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang's father, mother,
and the Mozart family (right)

However, Mozart the father was not only a strong teacher, but also an enterprising man. His son and daughter became his tools of the trade. The father decided to make a fortune from them. January, 1762. The first “run-in” of two child prodigies (miracle children): a trip to Munich, a large, brilliant cultural center, where the three of them played in the presence of the Bavarian Elector. At that time, Germany was fragmented into many small states - kingdoms or principalities - each ruled by a separate monarch. The decision to start the first foreign tour with her reflects the entrepreneurial flair of Leopold Mozart. The German public was not as spoiled and capricious as the Austrian one, and did not turn away from its own German performers. In Austria, it should be noted, the Italian school dominated. Italy was for centuries part of the Austrian (Holy Roman) Empire, as were Hungary, Bohemia (Czech Republic), Slovakia, and other countries. Therefore, the passion for Italian music in no way ran counter to Austrian patriotism. Moreover, preference Italian masters German reflected not the suppression of German national musical art, but the desire of the nobility to distance themselves from the people, to create an impenetrable partition between themselves - and the rabble playing music on the streets of Vienna. Only after Germany, having collected reviews and recommendations, Leopold Mozart and his children made a tour of his native Austria: in September 1762 he visited Linz and Passau, from where he arrived in Vienna along the Danube.

Salzburg Palace

Salzburg Church

Mozart's sister, Nannerl

The favorable reception in Germany and recommendations did their job: the Mozarts were treated kindly at court, they were admitted to the Schönbrunn Palace, and twice they were received by Empress Maria Theresa herself. They get to Pressburg (as the Austrian conquerors renamed Slovak Bratislava) again along the Danube, where they stay until Christmas, and by Christmas Eve they are back in Vienna.

In the palace

From June 1763 to November 1766, the Mozarts toured for three many years, having traveled almost all of Europe: Munich, Schwetzingen (summer residence of the Elector of the Palatinate), Ludwigsburg, Augsburg, Frankfurt, Brussels, Bern, Zurich, Geneva, Lyon, Paris, London. This is not the complete itinerary of their travels. In Frankfurt, Wolfgang performed his own violin concerto, and among the audience was 14-year-old Goethe. Reception at the court of Louis XV. Performances in the luxurious Versailles during the Christmas holidays, and - after them - the tenderness and enthusiastic squeal of the French aristocracy. The works of seven-year-old Mozart (four violin sonatas) were published for the first time in Paris. Then London (April 1764): for more than a year. Just a few days since we arrived, and have already been received by King George III.

Concert

Only princes of royal blood were awarded the honor of communicating with the monarchs of the leading countries of Europe, and even then not just any princes, but those belonging (like almost all European autocrats, including Russian ones) to the Habsburg family (another element of the world order established by the Austrian imperial house). In front of a large crowd of people, the children demonstrated their phenomenal musical abilities, in much the same way as circus children walking on a tightrope. Johann Christian Bach, one of the sons of the great J. S. Bach, who lived in London, saw in Wolfgang a great genius, and not a living toy. Valued by London society no less than Handel, Johann Christian was a truly outstanding composer.

Mozart in London (he is 11 years old), portrait made by
J Vander Smissen

In his well-known work, the Soviet musicologist B. Levik describes how, having sat Wolfgang on his knees, the famous composer played with him four hands, or in turn, performing harpsichord sonatas. The child and the experienced husband grasped each other’s style so subtly that even when they played, each in turn, for 4-8 bars, it seemed that it was the same musician playing. It is no coincidence that it was in London that the young composer wrote his first symphonies. They appeared under the influence of the personality and music, and also the lessons of Johann Christian Bach.

After London, in The Hague (September 1765), Wolfgang and Nannerl barely survived, suffering from severe pneumonia. The boy began to recover only in February 1766. Despite this, the tour continues. The names of cities flashed like roadside posts. And, as if specifically according to the laws of classical drama, Munich again puts an end to it, where the Bavarian Elector again listens to the child prodigy, amazed at the successes he has made in such a short time. We didn’t stay too long in Salzburg. In September 1767, the whole family had already arrived in Vienna. The terrible smallpox epidemic that raged there managed to touch children in the Czech Republic with its bony hand, where it released them only by December. And already in January 1768, without wasting any time, they again appeared in Vienna, receiving a reception at court. It was then that the fateful intrigues of the Viennese musicians sounded like Beethoven’s leitmotif of fate, because of which the production of the first opera written by the child prodigy, " La finta semplice"("The Imaginary Simpleton"), was torn down.

Mozart in 1789. Drawing by Doris Stock

It is significant that it was during that period, at the end of the 1760s, that young Mozart outlined the main directions of his composing interests: he tried himself in the genres of opera, mass (his large mass for choir and orchestra was performed at the opening of a church), concerto (for trumpet) , symphony (K. 45a; performed in Lambach, in the Benedictine monastery), sonata, quartet. This period of Mozart’s work has already been included in the classification of Ludwig von Köchel (the letter K before the serial number of the work), who periodized and divided into opuses the entire work of the great composer; this classification, supplemented and rethought (the largest revision - 1964), has survived to this day.

The musical heart of the Austrian Empire was undoubtedly Italy: where refined taste, school, canons and exactingness surpassed everything that could then be found in Europe. It is no coincidence that Mozart the father left the tour of Italy “for an appetizer”, having previously strengthened his position in other countries. And yet he was not yet sure that he could conquer Italy; Therefore, intensive training and preparation for the trip lasted 11 (!) months (Salzburg). In total, Wolfgang moved with his father through the Alps 3 times, spending a total of more than a year in Italy (1769 - 1771). Despite all the fears and skepticism, the tour of Italy turned out to be a brilliant triumph. Managed to conquer everyone: the highest elite circles, the supreme authorities, the aristocracy in in a general sense, the general public, and even discerning musicians. The Mozarts were accepted and favored by Pope Clement XIV (on July 8, 1770, he awarded Wolfgang the Order of the Golden Spur) and Cardinal, Duke of Milan and Neapolitan Ferdinand IV of Naples, and other rulers. Local musicians gave them an equally warm welcome. In Milan N. Piccini and Giuseppe Sammartini meet with Wolfgang, in Naples the head of the local opera school N. Iomelli, composers Giuseppe Paisiello and Mayo. In Rome, Mozart listened to the famous " Miserere"Allegri, whose notes were forbidden to be copied and taken out under pain of punishment. Wolfgang, leaving the church, wrote down the entire work from memory. No one had such a phenomenal musical ("spatial"!) memory.

House in Salzburg where Mozart was born

The crowning success was orders for essays. In Milan, Mozart the son was commissioned to perform an opera seria for the carnival season. In Bologna, he studied counterpoint under the guidance of the legendary teacher, Padre Martini, and began to fulfill the order: opera "Mitridate, re di Ponto" ("Mithridates, King of Pontus"). Martini insisted that Mozart undergo the test of the famous Bologna Philharmonic Academy. After the exam, the academy accepted him as a member. At Christmas the new opera was a success in Milan. A new order followed - " Ascanio in Alba"In August 1771, father and son appeared in Milan to prepare it. The opera, which premiered on October 17, was a great success.

1770. Mozart in Verona, Italy (Salieri was born near Verona)

A bright future awaited young Mozart in Italy. This country, its mentality, its atmosphere best suited the character of Mozart's genius, his sunny cheerfulness, hedonism, open and friendly character. It comes as no surprise that his father understood this best. Leopold Mozart is trying by all means to obtain a place for his son in Italy, trying to secure him there. Before the upcoming wedding of Archduke Ferdinand - and the festivities on this occasion in Milan - Leopold persistently asks the Archduke to take Wolfgang into his service. According to existing legend, Ferdinand grants this request.

And here something completely fantastic begins; at least - inexplicable.

When it became clear that - after the royal letter - Wolfgang would not get a job, place, or livelihood, father and son reluctantly returned to Salzburg, to their sweet but disgusted cell. Another strange, macabre coincidence immediately followed, “welcoming” them to their hometown with a gloomy cannonade. On December 16, 1771, precisely on the day of their return, their ardent admirer and kind patron, Prince-Archbishop Sigismund, dies. His successor, Count Jerome Colloredo, was hardly the monster portrayed in thousands of biographical sketches. Firstly, Colloredo accepts the young composer into his service, ensuring his existence with an annual salary of 150 guilders, which is quite enough for Salzburg at that time. Secondly, he orders him a "dramatic serenade" Il sogno di Scipione"("The Dream of Scipio"), on the occasion of his inaugural celebrations (April 1772); thirdly, gives permission for Wolfgang to travel to Milan to prepare a new opera" Lucio Silla"(from late autumn 1772 to spring 1773).

The Empress’s destructive letter to his career and the death of Archbishop Sigismund could not help but cause mental trauma, and the opera was not as successful as the previous ones, not evoking the usual response from the public; however, even this cannot explain the complete absence of new orders and the strangely hostile attitude. No, this is a clear conspiracy organized against the Mozarts at a very high level. Wolfgang's father probed the situation by appealing for the patronage of the Grand Duke of Florence Leopold, a patron of the arts and guardian of art. The Duke's reaction turned out to be cool, which meant only one thing: someone was interfering with the career of the young genius in Italy. After several more attempts to gain support from higher circles, Leopold was forced to leave this country forever. B. Levik calls Mozart's third stay in Italy the last relatively bright period of his life.

In the capital of the empire, Vienna, everything that happened in Italy was repeated. The silent wariness of those in power and other influential persons, sometimes turning into open hostility, intrigue in musical circles, and harsh pressure. In Salzburg, Mozart finds himself in a situation that can, without much of a stretch, be called house arrest. Devoid of all hope, cut off from future career, he seeks salvation and consolation in creativity, writing furiously. Quartets, symphonies (K. 183, 200, 201), sacred compositions, divertissements: genre “omnivorousness” is the earliest symptoms of graphomania. As we see, those who persecuted him are to blame for the development of this creative “illness” in Mozart. The relaxation of the Salzburg "house arrest" came in connection with the composition and production of a new Munich opera (for the carnival of 1775), " La finta giardiniera" ("The Imaginary Gardener"), one of major milestones in his work.

The provincial life of Salzburg and the unbearable position of dependence overflowed Mozart's patience. He breaks with the new archbishop (the final break occurred during the Munich production of the opera Idomnea in 1781), becoming the first musician in history to reject a dependent position. He speaks of the archbishop in the harshest terms, calling the latter a scoundrel and other abusive words, which is completely unusual for that time when class barriers and social hierarchy seemed indestructible. It is noteworthy that the break with the archbishop marked the beginning of attempts to “break with Austria” in general, i.e. leave for good. This intention of fleeing abroad, into emigration, was also supported by Leopold. However, the arms of the Austrian monarchy were very long, long enough to prevent Wolfgang from gaining a foothold in any other capital. The degree of determination of the Austrian imperial dynasty to expand its “guardianship” over Mozart to foreign countries was underestimated even by such a very perspicacious and sober person as his father.

In September 1777, Wolfgang went with his mother to Paris, with the firm intention of staying there. The way there lay through the German states, where it turned out that Mozart was in disgrace, almost persona non grata. The Elector of Munich almost pointedly refused him. Along the way, mother and son stopped in Mannheim, an important opera center in Germany. And here, at the court of Karl Theodor, Mozart actually received a demonstrative refusal. Contrary to the attitude of higher circles, local instrumentalists and vocalists greeted Mozart warmly and friendly. But that was not what made him linger. He fell madly in love with the singer Aloysia Weber. Her magnificent voice (gorgeous coloratura soprano) and bright stage appearance played an important role. However, hopes for a big concert tour with her were not destined to come true. At first she sympathizes with Wolfgang, and in January 1778 the two of them go (incognito) to the court of the Princess of Nassau-Weilburg. Obviously, the cheerful nature of the young genius refuses to accept the scenario of conspiracy and accountability (in the “Mozart case”) of all these petty princes, princes and princesses to the Austrian crown. Presumably, the refusal of the Princess of Nassau-Weilburg had a sobering effect on the pragmatic Aloysia, and she lost interest in Mozart. Hoping to revive him, Wolfgang lets his mother go to Salzburg, while he stays behind. However, the father, who learned that his child had not gone to Paris accompanied by Mannheim musicians (as reported), but was wandering aimlessly around Mannheim in paroxysms of unrequited love, with all his paternal authority forced his son to immediately go to Paris with his mother.

In 1778, he was offered the position of court organist at Versailles, under the direct patronage of the sister of the Austrian Emperor Joseph, Marie Antoinette. However, in France, the British King George III, inexplicably, is gaining more and more influence, as is Empress Maria Theresa, Mozart's antagonist. The French court had just officially abandoned its support for the rebellion of the American colonies against the British king.

Mozart, while in France, mainly visits circles that supported the American Revolution. For ten days he collaborated with Johann Christian Bach, who had arrived from London, at the residence of the aristocratic de Noailles family, related to the Marquis de Lafayette, who went to America to fight against British troops. However, all these circumstances in themselves cannot explain the presence of a completely impenetrable wall in the path of professional development of such an outstanding musician as Mozart in a city like Paris.

It is interesting that Mozart has a presentiment of the future Parisian tragedy, as can be seen from his letters. The blank wall with which he was surrounded in Italy and Germany, impenetrable and merciless, was also revealed in Paris. Wherever Mozart went, they were already warned of his appearance and instructed accordingly. Immediately upon arrival, back in March 1778, it became clear that court circles were hostile. Neither the resounding success of Mozart's two new symphonies, nor the arrival of Christian Bach from London, who did everything in his power for Mozart and used all his connections, nor the participation of other famous and influential personalities reversed the enmity. And this only says one thing: the architecture of this insurmountable wall originated on the highest political Olympus. However, the stay in Paris, in addition to the “earthly”, physical persecution, was colored by a certain sinister, satanic orgy of esoteric forces that flocked here to confront the bright genius. A chain of seemingly unrelated gloomy events sets up its dark milestones. On July 3, the composer's mother dies, which coincides with the general apotheosis of the rampant dark forces. Evil, death, mystery, everything unknowable and incomprehensible hypnotize us, and, as if in a trance, Mozart is in no hurry to leave Paris, from where his father’s severe orders tear him out.

Depressed, murdered, Mozart comes to Mannheim, still hoping for the reciprocal love of Aloysia Weber, as the last joy of life. The full realization that she would never become his mistress dealt him the final cruel blow, plunging him into a state of endless depression. His father's terrible pleas, curses and even threats may have saved him from certain death, tearing him out of Mannheim and bringing him home to Salzburg. Such dramatic experiences for another would be enough to mentally de-energize and interrupt musical inspiration. However, for Mozart, creativity becomes one of the last connections with life. His talent deepens so much, developing into an unsurpassed genius, that not a single composer of his era can no longer be compared with him. Any genre touched by Mozart’s magic pen blossoms with all its colors, beginning to live a higher spiritual, esoteric life. Pushkin said wonderfully about him in his little tragedy “Mozart and Salieri”: “What depth! What courage and what harmony!” It is precisely the courage of thought that most distinguishes Mozart's writing. In comparing emotional states, psychologism, philosophy of music, and in vivid figurative means, he surpassed anyone else. Not to mention the fact that he was the greatest melodist. These years bring a number of the most profound church works, such as " Missa solemnis" in C major and "Coronation Mass" (K. 337), operas (" Idomeneo, re di Creta"("Idomeneo, King of Crete"), and other works. In April 1781, the conflict between Mozart and Archbishop Colloredo escalated into a scandalous personal squabble, after which a resignation was submitted, and on June 8, Mozart was humiliatingly kicked out the door.

Following these turbulent events, Mozart’s marriage took place, and to none other than his sister Aloysia Weber. He marries her against the will of his father, who in dozens of angry letters begs him to break up with Constance. The wedding ceremony took place on August 4, 1782 in the Vienna Cathedral of St. Stefan. Spouses are equally disgusted with the management of financial affairs, which cannot but affect the tragic ending of life; However, in his personal life, Mozart appears to be happy with Constance, and this stimulates his creativity.

Constanze Weber, Mozart's wife

When Mozart found himself close to his pursuers, in their own home(Vienna), the rules of the game have changed. Certain attitudes did not allow them to spoil things in their personal chambers, and until a certain point, if they did not leave Mozart alone, they outwardly tolerated him, without interfering (for the time being) in the course of his professional career. In addition, Maria Theresa was replaced on the throne by her son Joseph II, an extraordinary personality, and Vienna came to life, hoping for a bright future. In July 1782, a new opera in German "Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail" (“The Abduction from the Seraglio”), staged at the Burgtheater, created a sensation. Mozart becomes a people's favorite and idol. His melodies are heard everywhere: in houses, in coffee shops and on the streets. Even court aristocratic circles treat with feigned favor. Performing, teaching and composing music bring good income.

It is interesting to note that tickets for his concerts (called academies), distributed by subscription, were not only completely sold out, but were often supplemented with extra seats. In 1784, Mozart gave 22 concerts in just six months. All this can be considered in the conditions of Vienna, where there was no shortage of performances, premieres, concerts, composers and musicians, a phenomenon of a phenomenal order. The extraordinary success of his instrumental music stimulated the composition of a whole series of piano concertos. Mozart's wife, Constanze, although, apparently, was not such a magnificent singer as Aloysia, nevertheless, she could well perform on the professional stage. For example, in October 1783, she performed one of the solo parts in her husband’s best (perhaps) mass - g-moll (K. 427), written on the occasion of his visit (to Salzburg) to Father Leopold and sister Nannerl. On the way to Vienna, the couple stop in Linz, where Mozart writes the brilliant Linz Symphony (K. 425).

Unknown portrait of Mozart found in Russia

Since 1784, a sincere and close friendship began between the two greatest composers of Austria: Mozart and Joseph Haydn. Later, the young Beethoven meets with both. At the presentation of the quartets of the young genius, Haydn addressed Mozart’s father, Leopold, with these words: “Your son is the greatest composer of all whom I know personally or whom I have heard of.” Mozart dedicated a cycle of six quartets, in which the influence of Haydn is felt, to him. However, the influence was not one-sided. We need to talk about mutual influence. Haydn in his later works repeated the findings and features of the writing of his younger contemporary. Just like Christian Bach, Haydn was one of Mozart's guardian angels, a bright and kind patron. However, it was probably he who drew young Wolfgang into Freemasonry, immediately in the year of their rapprochement. Many Viennese celebrities were members of the Freemasons - poets, artists, writers, scientists, public figures, doctors, musicians. Freemasonry paved a wide path for itself in aristocratic court circles. However, for Mozart, joining the Freemasons became another fatalistic, tragic circumstance, perhaps bringing his untimely death closer.

Mozart took Masonic symbols and mottos at face value, not because he was so naive, but because, having an integral personality, wanted accept. (By that time, Freemasonry was actively being crushed by the Illuminati and the forces behind them). In the Masonic environment, they try to stop such well-wishers by any means in order to prevent the separation of the external surrounding form of existence from the secret goals and plans of the leaders. All the more dangerous for the most influential Masonic lodges is the propaganda of these external attributes (“freedom, equality, fraternity”) through outstanding works of art. Ordering a doomed man a requiem for his own death: this is very much in the style of Masonic reprisals.

Whether it’s a coincidence or not, it was after Mozart’s entry into the Freemasons that the previous persecution resumed. His brilliant opera" Le nozze di Figaro"("The Marriage of Figaro") - along with "Don Giovanni" and "The Magic Flute" - the pinnacle of his operatic creativity - despite its obvious success, was withdrawn soon after the premiere (May 1, 1786), replaced in the "Burgtheater" by a new opera by V. Martina y Solera" Una cosa rara"("A Rare Thing"). But in Prague, the success of this opera turned out to be simply stunning, which coincided with the political aspirations and forebodings of Prague residents. Seeking independence from the Austrian Empire, the Czechs felt in Mozart's opera, written on the plot of Beaumarchais's censored comedy, a breath of fresh air. It became almost a national Czech opera. People danced to its melodies in the halls and coffee houses, they sounded on the street, in the market - everywhere. In January 1787, he spent more than a month in Prague with Constance. , that, after Italy, this was the happiest time in his life. But one can easily imagine what displeasure the revival of separatist sentiments in the Czech Republic caused at the Austrian court, and what royal anger in connection with this the culprit must have incurred: Mozart’s opera. .

It was Bondini, director of the Prague theater troupe, who commissioned a new opera, Don Giovanni. There are suggestions that Mozart himself chose the plot. Under the name " Don Giovanni“she began her triumphal march through the opera houses of the world (premiere in Prague on October 29, 1787). However, no success in Prague could correct the “Viennese bummer”, the tone of which was set by the filming of “The Marriage of Figaro” and the deliberate (artificial) failure "Don Giovanni" in the same Vienna (at a reception after the performance, Haydn alone stood up to defend the opera. One after another, other works of Mozart are blocked or fail, and his most profitable students move on to other teachers (according to our data -). Barbara PLOYER, Josepha AUERNHAMMER, and others). The years 1786 and 1787 became fatal, turning points in the composer’s fate. He is completely crushed and doomed, torn apart by intrigue, persecution and simply gloomy circumstances. As in Paris, not only Mozart’s cruel enemies, insidious and ruthless, gathered to deal with him, but also “otherworldly” dark forces that flocked to the bloody feast of the execution of the bright genius, for the sake of establishing evil and injustice on earth. In May 1787, the composer's father died, after whose death depression and despondency became Mozart's constant companions. Sarcasm, irony and gloomy pessimism are established in his thoughts until the very end of his short life.

Obtaining the position of court composer and bandmaster of Emperor Joseph II no longer solved anything, especially since the size of the salary emphasized the subtle poison of humiliation (only 800 guilders annually). Driven into a corner, Mozart borrows money from Michael Puchberg, a member of the same Masonic lodge that he belongs to. Unable to return a large sum of money to Prince Likhnovsky, he faces a lawsuit, which he later loses. A trip to Berlin, in order to improve financial affairs, brought only new debts. Like other reigning persons, the Prussian king Frederick William II did not give Mozart a place at court. Since 1789, the health of Constance, and then Wolfgang himself, had deteriorated; the house and other property were mortgaged, ready to go under the hammer. A year later, after the death of Joseph II, Mozart is not even sure that the position of court composer, with its small but still constant income, will remain with him. He goes to Frankfurt - where the coronation of Emperor Leopold took place - at his own expense, hoping to be visible and not miss the moment. However, the performance of his “Coronation” keyboard concerto (K. 537) did not bring in any money even to cover the expenses of the trip. The new opera did not improve the situation either" Cosi fan tutte"("Everyone does this").

In Vienna, saying goodbye, Mozart told Haydn, who was leaving for London, and his London impresario Zalmon, that they would never see each other again. Seeing both of them off, Mozart cried like a child and kept repeating: “We won’t see each other again, no.” Before his death he had only to write his best works: "Die Zauberflöte"("The Magic Flute"), Requiem, and several symphonic scores.

The opera was commissioned from him for his Frei House Theater by his longtime friend E. Schikaneder, musician, writer, impresario and actor. (At the same time, the Prague Opera commissioned him " La clemenza di Tito" ("The Mercy of Titus"), on the creation and production of which he worked together with his wife Constance and student Franz Xaver Süßmayer; for its preparation, the three of them went to Prague. The premiere of "The Magic Flute" took place in Vienna on September 30, 1791 His last instrumental work was a concerto for clarinet and orchestra in a-moll (K. 622).

The countdown of the days of Mozart's life now began with work on the Requiem, which - as it happened - Mozart actually wrote on his death. An unknown guest, dressed all in gray, came to the sick composer and anonymously ordered the Requiem. This episode had a strong impression on the patient's imagination. Mozart was sure that he was composing the Requiem for himself. He, exhausted, worked on the score, feverishly trying to finish it with his own hands. Constance, who was being treated in Baden, hurriedly returned home as soon as she realized how seriously ill her husband was. From November 20, 1791, Mozart no longer got out of bed and wrote music while lying down. On the night of December 4–5, he became delirious; he imagined that he was playing the timpani in Dies irae his unfinished Requiem. At about five minutes past midnight, he tried to stand up, onomatopoeizing the timpani part with his lips, but fell back, head against the wall, and froze, lifeless.

Mozart was buried like a beggar of the beggars in the chapel of the Cathedral of St. Stefan. IN last path at the cemetery of St. Mark Mozart's body went alone, and was buried without honors, without witnesses, in a common grave for the poor. Later, the very location of this grave was completely forgotten. No cross, no monument, not even a modest tombstone was ever erected. A tombstone, not material, but spiritual, was erected for his great teacher Süssmayr, who completed the Requiem, setting to music and orchestrating those by no means small fragments of the text that Mozart himself missed (some of the arrangements were performed protégé Mozart, Joseph Eybler. In the same way, other composers completed the greatest compositions of Schubert, Mussorgsky, Scriabin, and other geniuses endowed with a similar fate. None of Mozart's brilliant piano concertos, nor any of his mature symphonies, were published during his lifetime.

Monstrous injustice, persecution, intrigue and envy: the lot of the most winged, brightest people on the sinful earth, and in the fate of the great Mozart, as in a mirror, the fate of thousands and millions of other talented and pure creators of the spirit was reflected.

It seems that the legend of Mozart’s poisoning was generated among the Austrian political-aristocratic elite as a desire to divert the blame for the non-recognition and death of the great composer from being in a permanent crisis and falling under the hammer of even more reactionary forces of the political regime, shifting it onto the shoulders of a private individual (Salieri ). And the real motive behind Mozart’s death (political despotism (from ferocious censorship to the imposition of “permitted” aesthetics) is artificially replaced by settling personal scores. Even if Salieri had actually poisoned Mozart, he would have done it on the orders of Emperor Leopold or someone However, without physically killing his rival and friend, Salieri - with his bureaucracy and subtle intrigues - greatly poisoned his life. Salieri was a court toy and a tool of the court against Mozart. We will talk about the degree of his guilt before the world musical genius.

Autograph "The Marriage of Figaro"

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Lev Gunin

THE LIFE OF MOZART AND ITS SECRETS

PART ONE

(END)

3. INFLUENCES

The music of Leopold Mozart, the father of the great composer, is often heard on the waves of Montreal music radio stations. It is available in libraries and music libraries. To the ear of an inexperienced listener it is not difficult to confuse it with the music of his illustrious son. A professional musician immediately understands that this is not Wolfgang Amadeus, although it is difficult to say right away what is “missing” in the music of Mozart the Father. Probably, bright melody, aspiration, brilliance and courage of thought, equal to “Mozart’s”. The works of Leopold Mozart are “too” academic and “correct,” although they also have a fresh, versatile feeling. The strong influence of Haydn is striking. One thing is clear: the mature Mozart the son is the same Leopold Mozart the father, only deepened, expanded, ennobled and purposeful.

The influence of Petzold and Telemann, Buxtehude, Schütz and Bürgmüller can be traced through strong-willed and life-affirming motives, often following the sounds of the tonic triad. Mozart's favorite variants of cadenzas are sometimes “supplemented” with typically Telemannian intonations.

The drama of the minor symphonies (for example, two g-minor ones) evokes the peculiarities of the symphonism of J. Vanhal. In Salzburg, Mozart was influenced by Michael Haydn, Joseph's brother, who largely shared the latter's style. However, Mozart never manifests a “usus tyrannus "("shackles of custom"; Serov's expression); he violates any canon if something gets in the way of his self-expression. As the famous Montreal musician Yuli Turovsky likes to say, geniuses do everything "wrong." Note that pomp, triumphal intonations and heaviness not only of Handel, but also of the early representative Vienna School- Gluck - pushes Mozart away. During his stay in Paris, he reports almost nothing about Gluck's operas, although the whole of Paris was buzzing about the enmity between the Piccinists and the Gluckinists, and the works of the Viennese classic invariably caused a terrible stir. There is no doubt that Mozart was influenced not by the Austrian, but rather by the Italian and German school opera art, and that he knew the masterpieces of Monteverdi, Bellini, Donizetti, Scarlatti, Piccini, etc. However, the main models for study and imitation were the Italian operas of Paisiello (a Neapolitan composer, among others, who met young Wolfgang during his stay in Naples (1770); later - court conductor in St. Petersburg under Catherine the Great: 1776 - 1784 ), Domenico Cimarosa (court composer in St. Petersburg - from 1787 to 1791), and Antonio Salieri (senior friend and rival, consultant and mentor of Mozart). Interestingly, Martin y Soler, a musician of Spanish origin who composed Italian operas, another dangerous rival of Mozart, was also a court composer in St. Petersburg. Giovanni Batista Casti, Salieri's main librettist and a rival of Mozart's main librettist, Da Ponte, also lived and worked for some time in Russia, in St. Petersburg. In Mannheim, Mozart was greatly impressed by J. Goldenbauer's opera "Gunther von Schwarzburg". Gluck's influence still existed, especially the latter's operatic-choral style.

Saturation of Mozart's works with German folklore happened in no small part thanks to Emanuel Schikaneder, whom Wolfgang met in the late 1770s. "Buffoons", traveling troupes folk theaters visited Salzburg, and one of these theaters was led by Schikaneder, an impresario, actor, director, musician, writer and playwright. Schikaneder, with all the strength of his lungs, proclaimed freedom from despotism, nationality, love of national culture, free-thinking and overcoming the shackles of orthodox thinking. It was he who was Mozart's partner in creating the pinnacle of Mozart's operatic creativity: The Magic Flute. Schikaneder not only commissioned this opera, but also created a brilliant libretto, highly valued by Goethe. The aesthetics of Mozart and Schikaneder anticipated Weber and Wagner, and were the most advanced for that time. Schikaneder became another bright guardian angel of Mozart in the host of his “squires”.

The elegant, light style of Christian Bach is cited as one of his strongest influences. His “smart”, intricate music, sincerity and sincerity, Italian clarity and plasticity of not only melodies cantabile, but also harmonies, harmonious beauty and crystal purity of form: all this was continued and developed in Mozart’s compositions. Mozart began to seriously study the work of his father Johann Christian - the great J. S. Bach - relatively late (as well as Handel). The pinnacle of spiritual music by Wolfgang Amadeus, his Requiem, reflects the undoubted influence of J. S. Bach. We must not forget that Mozart had excellent teachers, the best of that era: his own father, Padre Martini, Christian Bach, Joseph Haydn, and others. It was thanks to them that Wolfgang masterfully mastered counterpoint, harmony, arrangement, and other elements of compositional technique. We'll talk about Salieri's influence in the corresponding chapter.

In chamber and symphonic music one can feel the greater influence of older Viennese composers such as Wagenseil and Monn. No less important was the influence of Italian masters - Frescobaldi, Allegri, Albioni, Bellini, A. Corelli, L. Boccherini, A. Vivaldi, G. Batista Vitali, Marcello Benedetto, Domenico and Alesandro Scarlatti, Giovani Agrell, Domenico Zipoli, Attilio Ariosti, Giuseppe Tartini, G. Pergolesi, Dominico Gabrielli, and others. Italian music, this boundless ocean of hundreds (or thousands?) of unique, often very bright talents, had an undoubted influence on Mozart. The closeness to its typical features, Italian predecessors, contemporaries and even followers (a paradox, but it is true) is especially felt in the keyboard music of the genius. Muzio Clementi, Dominico Scarlatti, Cimarosa, and other outstanding keyboard composers had much in common with Mozart's keyboard style. The penetration of Slavic-type intonations into Mozart's intonation sphere is also detected by a sensitive ear.

What Mozart has in common with Italian music is his love of life, spontaneity, sincere warmth, sparkling or very lyrical presentation of the main themes, their brightness, simplicity and vocal melodiousness, and a complex attitude to harmonies. Perhaps Mozart was also influenced by the French harpsichordists: Rameau, Lully and Couperin. The influence of the English composer Purcell is undeniable in some of the interludes. Selected places in chamber works Mozart is “reminded” of Leclerc.

Mozart is a pan-European phenomenon, living, comprehensive, immediate and endless. Therefore any European culture can consider him his own.

(end of the first part )

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