MozartAmadeus

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was born in Salzburg, Austria on Jan 27th(1756).

His whole life was devoted to music. He was a child prodigy: by the time he was five he could perform difficult pieces on both piano and violin. He wrote his first symphony before the age of ten. Mozart's father quit his job so he could take him and his sister all around western Europe. They played for dukes and duchesses, and kings and queens, often giving two performances per day, each one two or three hours long. Mozart could play whatever piece of music was put in front of him, and he performed tricks like playing the piano with a piece of cloth covering his fingers so that he couldn't see the keyboard. It was like a traveling circus: people came more for the spectacle than the music. An English newspaper began a story, "The greatest Prodigy that Human Nature has to boast of is the Little German boy WOLFGANG MOZART."

At fifteen, Mozart was installed as the concertmaster in the orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Things did not go very well; Mozart didn't get along with the Archbishop, and relations deteriorated to the point where, in 1781, he quit this lofty position and headed for Vienna - quite against his father's wishes.

It has been told that Mozart once said, 'Since I could not have one sister, I married the other.' Whether or not this quote is true, the facts remain the same. Three and a half years after a young musician named Aloysia Weber refused Mozart's marriage proposal, he married her younger sister Constanze, on August 4, 1782.

Constanze Mozart's life was far from easy. From June 1783 to July 1791, she bore six children--four of them would die in infancy

The young composer was on to a new musical project. It was a comic opera called The Marriage of Figaro. It was based on the play by the French writer Beaumarchais. Lorenzo da Pone was his collaborator. The opera was about the misunderstandings and confusions about preparations for a wedding. The premire was on May 1, 1786. Although it was a major triumph in Vienna and Prague, he did not earn a lot of money from it. He now had another commission for an opera- Don Giovanni. Don Giovanni was based on a story called The Playboy of Seville and the Stone Guest by the Spanish author Triso de Molina. The character, Don Giovanni is an evil nobleman who takes advantage of everyone he meets. He is punished when the man he kills comes back to life and drags him down to hell.

Mozart and da Ponte had worked at top speed on this opera. Mozart had to put his work aside because Constance was ill. His father also became ill, and eventually died.

On the morning of the first performance, Mozart was putting on the last touches to the overture. This, yet again, was another outragious success.

In June 1788, the Mozart's moved out of the city. About 10 days after they moved, their newborn baby daughter, Theresa died. Wolfgang had trouble paying bills. He wanted to write another opera- The Magic Flute. The Magic Flute takes place in ancient Egypt. It is about the Queen of the Night's daughter that was imprisoned in the palace of Sarastro, Priest of the son. Sarastro at first seems to be the villain. By the end, clearly the Queen of the Night is the evil one. In Der vogelfanger bin ich ja, the main themes are stated right from the beginning by violin I. This aria is set in the Andante, which means moderately slow. The character that is singing in this aria is Papageno. The libretto was written in German by Emanuel Schikanedor.

In July 1791, Constance gave birth to another son- Franz Xavier Wolfgang. He grew up to be a composer just like his father. One day, a stanger in gray visited Mozart with an anonymous letter asking him to write a requiem mass. The person who actually wrote the letter was a nobleman- Count Walsegg. He wanted it fot the mourning of his wife. Mozart saw the letter as an invitation from destiny. He knew he was going to die soon, and he was right. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died in poverty on December 5, 1791.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a brillian individual. In all, he composed: 16 operas, 15 masses, 49 symphonies, five violin concertos, 21 piano concertos, eight concertos for wind instruments, 26 string quartets, 42 violin sonatas, and 17 piano sonatas. This wondrous man has influenced and inspired many lives. The spirit of Mozart's music will live for all eternity.