Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_Works, Musical Style, and Innovations

Style

A sheet of music from the Dies Irae movement of the "Requiem Mass in D Minor" (K. 626) in Mozart's own handwriting. It is located at the Mozarthaus in Vienna.

Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetypal example of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the style galant: a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. But progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new; but Mozart advanced the technical sophistication and emotional reach of them all. He almost single-handedly developed and popularized the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses: but also many dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.

The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but any simplistic notion of its delicacy masks the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491, the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550, and the opera Don Giovanni. Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:

It is only through recognizing the violence and sensuality at the center of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterization of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.

Especially during his last decade, Mozart exploited chromatic harmony to a degree rare at the time, with remarkable assurance and to great artistic effect.

Mozart always had a gift for absorbing and adapting valuable features of others' music. His travels certainly helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J.C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with many other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his own practice. Both in London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J.C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.

As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A Major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales: probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era to come, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.

Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte; opera seria, such as Idomeneo; and Singspiel, of which Die Zauberflöte is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone color, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.

Influence

Mozart's most famous pupil, whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child, was probably Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between Classical and Romantic eras.

More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of the training of classical musicians.

Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fourteen years, esteemed and was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have played in the court orchestra at Bonn in performance of Mozart's operas, and he traveled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study the older composer (see above). Some of Beethoven's works have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote cadenzas (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.

A number of composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Frédéric Chopin's Variations for Piano and Orchestra on "Là ci darem la mano" from Don Giovanni (1827) and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to Mozart.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_Appearance and Character

Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly, in his Reminiscences: "a remarkable small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". As his early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] physique. [...] He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Of his voice Constanze later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic".

Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He also often made sketches and drafts, though unlike Beethoven's these are mostly not preserved, Constanze having sought to destroy them after his death.

He was raised a Roman Catholic, and remained a loyal member of the Church throughout his life.

Mozart lived at the center of the Viennese musical world, and knew a great number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow transplanted Salzburgers, and many aristocrats, including some acquaintance with the Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried Janequin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; the many others included his older colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a curious kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.

He enjoyed billiards and dancing, and kept pets: a canary, a starling, a dog, and also a horse for recreational riding. Particularly in his youth, Mozart had a striking fondness for scatological humor (not so unusual in his time), which is preserved in his many surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, but also in his correspondence with his sister Nannerl and his parents. Mozart even wrote scatological music, the canon "Leck mich im Arsch" (literally "Lick me in the arse", sometimes idiomatically translated "Kiss my arse" or "Get stuffed") K. 231.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_Final Illness and Death

Mozart fell ill while in Prague, for the premiere on 6 September of his opera La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791 on commission for the Emperor's coronation festivities. He was able to continue his professional functions for some time, and conducted the premiere of The Magic Flute on 30 September. The illness intensified on 20 November, at which point Mozart became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.

Mozart was nursed in his final illness by Constanze and her youngest sister Sophie, and attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. It is clear that he was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to his student Süssmayr is very slim.
Mozart died at 1 a.m. on 5 December 1791 at the age of 35. The New Grove gives a matter-of-fact description of his funeral:

Mozart was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St Marx cemetery outside the city on 7 December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.

The cause of Mozart's death cannot be known with certainty. The official record has it as "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds), a description that does not suffice to identify the cause as it would be diagnosed in modern medicine. Dozens of theories have been proposed, including trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment. The practice of bleeding medical patients, common at that time, is also cited as a contributing factor. The most widely accepted version, however, is that he died of acute rheumatic fever; he is known to have had three or even four attacks of it since his childhood, and this disease has a tendency to recur, with increasingly serious consequences each time, such as rampant infection and damage to the heart valves. A 2009 paper suggested that Mozart may have died from acute nephritic syndrome arising from a streptococcus infection.

Mozart's sparse funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer: memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death Mozart's reputation rose substantially: Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written (first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_Return to Opera

Despite the great success of Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act Der Schauspieldirektor. He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. However, around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. 1786 saw the successful premiere of The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera Don Giovanni, which premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, and also met with success in Vienna in 1788. The two are esteemed among Mozart's most important works and are mainstays of the operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty for both listeners and performers. These developments were not witnessed by the composer's father, as Leopold had died on 28 May 1787.

In December 1787 Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and only required Mozart to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal. Mozart complained to Constanze that the pay was "too much for what I do, too little for what I could do". However, even this modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph's aim was to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.

In 1787 the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent two weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. The evidence concerning this time is conflicting, and at least three hypotheses are in play: that Mozart heard Beethoven play and praised him; that Mozart rejected Beethoven as a student; and that they never even met.

Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786 he had ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for all musicians in Vienna because Austria was at war, and both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined.

By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been thought that Mozart reduced his rental expenses, recent research shows that by moving to the suburb Mozart had certainly not reduced his expenses (as claimed in his letter to Puchberg), but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems that his output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788, and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Così fan tutte, premiered in 1790.

Around this time Mozart made long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes: to Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789 (see Mozart's Berlin journey), and to Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790. The trips produced only isolated success and did not relieve the family's financial distress.

Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of great productivity—and by some accounts a time of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera The Magic Flute, the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B-flat), the Clarinet Concerto K. 622, the last in his great series of string quintets (K. 614 in E-flat), the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618, and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.

Mozart's financial situation, a source of extreme anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart, in return for the occasional composition. He probably also benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg, and made a start on paying off his debts.

He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably The Magic Flute (performed many times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 15 November 1791.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_Depature to Vienna

1781: Departure to Vienna

In January 1781, Mozart's opera Idomeneo premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March the composer was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. Mozart, fresh from the adulation he had earned in Munich, was offended when Colloredo treated him as a mere servant, and particularly when the archbishop forbade him to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary. The resulting quarrel came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign, and was refused. The following month permission was granted, but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the ass", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. In Vienna, though, Mozart had become aware of some rich opportunities, and he decided to settle there as a freelance performer and composer.

The quarrel with the archbishop went harder for Mozart because his father sided against him. Hoping fervently that he would obediently follow Colloredo back to Salzburg, Leopold exchanged intense letters with his errant son, urging him to be reconciled with their employer; but Wolfgang passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna. The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed, freeing him from the demands of an oppressive employer and of an over-solicitous father. Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step", and it greatly altered the course of his life.

Early Vienna years

Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He performed often as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July 1782 to enormous acclaim. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and fully established Mozart's reputation as a composer.

Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet. Aloysia, who had earlier rejected Mozart's suit, was now married to the actor Joseph Lange, and Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter, Constanze. The couple were married on 4 August 1782, eventually securing Leopold's "grudging consent".In the marriage contract, Constanze "assigns to her bridegroom five hundred gulden which [...] the latter has promised to augment with one thousand gulden", with the total "to pass to the survivor". Further, all joint acquisitions during the marriage were to remain the common property of both.

The couple had six children:

•Raimund Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)
•Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)
•Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October – 15 November 1786)
•Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 December 1787 – 29 June 1788)
•Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 25 December 1789)
•Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844)

In the course of 1782 and 1783 Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in Baroque style, and later had a powerful influence on his own personal musical language: for example in fugal passages in Die Zauberflöte ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of Symphony No. 41.

In 1783, Wolfgang and Constanze visited his family in Salzburg. Leopold and Nannerl were, at best, only polite to Constanze; but the visit at least prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.

Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna, and the two composers became friends (see Haydn and Mozart). When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and amount to a carefully considered response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. He stood in awe of Mozart, whose sister recorded that in 1781 Haydn told the visiting Leopold: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."

From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theaters was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof (an apartment building); and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube (a restaurant). The concerts were very popular, and the concertos he premiered at them are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".

With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, he and Constanze adopted a rather plush lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart also bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school, and kept servants. Saving was therefore impossible, and the short period of financial success did nothing to soften the hardship the Mozarts were later to experience.

On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an important role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended many meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions he composed Masonic music.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_The Satzburg Court and The Paris Journey

1773–1777: The Salzburg Court

After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. The composer was a favorite son in Salzburg, where he had a great number of friends and admirers, and he had the opportunity to work in many genres, including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, serenades, and a few minor operas. Several of these early works are performed today. Between April and December of 1775, Mozart developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos, producing a series of five (the only ones he ever wrote), steadily increasing in their musical sophistication. The last three—K. 216, K. 218, K. 219—are now staples of the repertoire. In 1776 he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E-flat concerto K. 271 of early 1777, considered by critics to be a breakthrough work.

Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontent with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason appears to be his low salary, 150 florins per year; but also, Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theater was closed, especially since the other theater in Salzburg was largely reserved for visiting troupes.

Two long expeditions in search of work (both Leopold and Wolfgang were looking) interrupted this long Salzburg stay: they visited Vienna from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich from 6 December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of the opera La finta giardiniera.

1777–1778: The Paris Journey

In August 1777, Mozart resigned his Salzburg position and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich. Since Archbishop Colloredo would not give Leopold leave to travel, Mozart's mother Anna Maria was assigned to accompany him.

Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters in a musical family. There were some prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing; and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. There his luck was hardly better; one of his letters home hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother took ill, and died on 3 July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds.

While Wolfgang was in Paris, Leopold was energetically pursuing opportunities for him back in Salzburg, , and with the support of local nobility secured him a better post as court organist and concertmaster. The yearly salary was 450 florins; but Wolfgang was reluctant to accept, and after leaving Paris on 26 September 1778 he tarried in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer: but she made it plain that she was no longer interested in him.

Mozart finally reached home on 15 January 1779 and took up the new position, but his discontent with Salzburg was undiminished.

The A minor piano sonata K. 310/300d and the "Paris" Symphony (no. 31) are among several well-known works from Mozart's time in Paris, where they were performed on 12 June and 18 June 1778.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_1762–1773: Years of travel

Main articles: Mozart family grand tour and Mozart in Italy

During Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl were shown as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of the Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, then in the same year at the Imperial Court in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour spanning three and a half years followed, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, The Hague, again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom Mozart visited in London in 1764 and 1765. The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.

These trips were often arduous, because of the primitive conditions of travel at that time, the need to wait patiently for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, and long, near-fatal illnesses endured far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764) then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765).

After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Wolfgang's mother and sister at home. This travel lasted from December 1769 to March 1771, and like earlier journeys had the purpose of displaying the young man's abilities as a performer, and as a rapidly maturing composer. Mozart met G. B. Martini in Bologna, and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. In Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri's Miserere once in performance in the Sistine Chapel, then wrote it out in its entirety from memory, only returning to correct minor errors—thus producing the first illegal copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican.

In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera Mitridate, re di Ponto (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions, and Wolfgang and Leopold later returned twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of Ascanio in Alba (1771) and Lucio Silla (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son in Italy, but these hopes were never fulfilled.

Toward the end of the final Italian journey Mozart wrote the first of his works that is still widely performed today, the solo cantata Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart_Family and Early Years

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, full baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty; at 17 he was engaged as a court musician in Salzburg, but grew restless and traveled in search of a better position, always composing abundantly. Visiting Vienna in 1781 he was dismissed from his Salzburg position and chose to stay in the capital, where over the rest of his life he achieved fame but little financial security. His final years in Vienna yielded many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart always learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate—the whole informed by a vision of humanity "redeemed through art, forgiven, and reconciled with nature and the absolute". His influence on all subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years".

Family and Early Years

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born to Leopold and Anna Maria Pertl Mozart at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, capital of the sovereign Archbishopric of Salzburg, in what is now Austria, but then part of the Holy Roman Empire. His only sibling to survive past birth was Maria Anna (1751–1829), called "Nannerl". Wolfgang was baptized the day after his birth at St. Rupert's Cathedral. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but there were many variants. His father Leopold (1719–1787) was deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and a minor composer. He was also an experienced teacher, and in the year of Mozart's birth published a successful violin textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule.

When Nannerl was seven she began keyboard lessons with her father, and her three-year-old brother would look on, evidently fascinated. Years later, after his death, she reminisced.

He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was always striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. [...] In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier. [...] He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. [...] At the age of five he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.

These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the Nannerl Notenbuch.

Biographer Maynard Solomon notes that while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Wolfgang was keen to make progress beyond what he was being taught. His first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were on his own initiative, and came as a great surprise to Leopold. Father and son were close, and these childhood accomplishments brought tears to Leopold's eyes.

Leopold eventually gave up composing when his son's outstanding musical talents became evident. He was Wolfgang's only teacher in his earliest years, and taught his children languages and academic subjects as well as music.

Trip to Japan (7th Part)

Today I woke up a little late because today will be the day we’ll return to Indonesia. It was nice to be in Japan but we also wanted to go home. Well, I like to go home quickly because I was already very tired, want to make my puzzle and also finish my homework. My brother refers to play at home and watching television. I don’t know my mother and father want but I think they’re also tired and want to relax at home where there’s nothing to stop them to relax all day long but a phone call and a guest that visit us. Well, after taking a shower, my family and I went down to the lobby to eat our breakfast like the previous days. After eating, my mother went back to our room to continue packing. While waiting, I played my PSP and my brother play my NDS. Oh, I forgot to tell you that I brought my PSP and NDS with me all the time. I brought it but my mom always keep it and only take it out when we’re in the bus or when waiting for the other family to get into the bus or finished shopping because it will be pointless if my brother and I only play and didn’t see the beauty of Japan. Then, after my mother returned, we get into the bus and with the other families we went to some shopping districts for the last time. It was still around 11 o’clock in the morning, so, we can satisfy ourselves and seeing around to releasing our tiredness. We ate hamburgers in lunch time and buy some manga, Japanese comic, and other books in some bookstore. Then we went around the shopping district for about 45-50 minutes and then we went back to the hotel. We rest for some hours because we’re going to go home at 10 o’clock.

We got up at around 5 o’clock. Then we take a shower and followed by eating dinner. After dinner we took our baggage down to the lobby and then we checked out from the hotel. After checking out, we put our luggage in the baggage area and then off we go to the airport. We arrived at the airport at around 8 o’clock. After my mom checked in our baggage, we went to the waiting area. There we bought some snacks and then we went into the waiting room. After waiting for one and a half hours, our plane has finally arrived. We waited for the passenger to empty the plane so we can get in.

At 10 o’clock, we went in the plane and the plane took off after around 20-30 minutes. After 9hours of sleep in the plane, we finally arrived in Surabaya at 7 o’clock in the morning.

Trip to Japan (6th Part)

The next morning, I hurried get off from my bed and running to the bathroom and get a shower first when my father, mother and brother still asleep. After I finished my bath, my father was already got up and waiting for me to finish my bath. And then I went to change my clothes from pajamas to outdoor clothes and then I went down to the lobby first to eat my breakfast. I thought that I would be the first one to get up early and have my breakfast first than other family, but it appear that there’re several families that already in a queue line, some still ate their breakfast, and some already finished their breakfast. So, I thought that it’s my only family that hasn’t ready yet. But, there’re some families that still haven’t finished packing and one of them still sleeping. So, our departure was a bit late off from the scheduled time. We’re supposed to depart at 09.00 A.M. and arrived at around 10.30 AM. But we departed at around 9.45 and arrived at around 11.15 AM. So our time in the park to enjoyed playing was decreased thanks to those families. Though I had some regrets at that time but it was good that it end up with a good ending.

There are a lot of haunted house in the Disney Sea area and the scariest one is a building where you will ride a ride and the ride will took you to the top of the building and you will be dropped from around 4 floor height without any signals or whatsoever. Thank God that it wasn’t me that ride it but my cousin that came to Japan in the October (around Halloween) told me about it and also warned me that if I ride it, your heart will be stopped. Although it was just a joke, I already could imagine the feeling of being dropped from around 4 floors from the ground (around 12 meters) without any warning or signals. Next, there’re a lot of show like dolphin show and other show that sea thematically. We played until dawn and started to look for restaurants so we could eat dinner. After dinner, there was a night parade and we must watch it for around 1 hour because the exit was being used as the entrance of the parade. After the parade was over, we went to the bus and then we went back to the hotel after all of the other family has returned to the bus. When we arrived, went out to straighten our back and then walked in to the lobby and to the lift and into our room. My father was the first one that took a bath and then my mother, then me, and lastly my brother. After bath, we went to sleep.

Trip to Japan (5th Part)

I woke up in the morning and noticed that today we’re going to Tokyo as the climax of the trip. Today, we’re going to visit Tokyo Disneyland and tomorrow we’re going to visit Tokyo Disney Sea. The both of them were very interesting. The only differences are that the Tokyo Disneyland has more rides and more crowded. Meanwhile, even though the Tokyo Disney Sea has a fewer rides than the Tokyo Disneyland because it was smaller than the Tokyo Disneyland, it was less crowded.

After a few hours of traveling by bus, we finally arrived in front of Tokyo Disneyland’s gate. The bus have to park first, then we could leave the bus and went on registering for buying the tickets and being lent a bracelet as a mark that you’re already paid the entrance fee. We played a lot of rides such as 3 different roller coasters, a water coaster where you could feel the sensation when you fell from a waterfall, a bumper car, and many more where I couldn’t tell you because I forgot some of the rides. There are a lot of interesting 4Ds films such as the movie from “The Nightmare before Christmas”, “Winnie the Pooh”, “Mickey Mouse”, and some other movies. The last ride was a very exiting and fun roller coaster. After the last ride, we went to go shopping for souvenirs. Here, I bought a 2000 pieces puzzle. I was very happy that there’s a puzzle that finally challenge me to make. After that, we could went to everywhere as we like but we have to grouped back at around 7 o’clock because there will be fireworks. At 6.30 P.M., most of us were already waiting at the viewing area. At 7 o’clock, the fireworks started to launching and pops in the air. After seeing the fireworks, we went to eat our dinner together. The dinner was very delicious. We ate steaks and burgers there. Some people orders spaghetti, noodles, and sushi. After dinner, we went to play and shopping again until the Tokyo Disneyland closing time which around 9 o’clock. Then, we went home to the hotel. I fell asleep in the bus because I was so tired. I was woken up by my mother when we arrived at the hotel and she asked me to help her bring the souvenirs and other things we bought at the Tokyo Disneyland. I was still sleepy and still haven’t get back my senses so I just agreed and followed my mother to the lobby. After we went up to our room, I just took off my shoes, put my stuff, changed my clothes, and went back to sleep again.
Here’s the video.

Trip to Japan (4th Part)

The next day, we went to a different city named Shizuoka because we’re going to Mt. Fuji, the biggest mountain in Japan. As the most visited in Japan, it has a very great view and also a very beautiful mountain which also symbolize Japan’s beauty. When we have arrived in one of Shizuoka’s hotels, I saw some snows at the side of the road. It’s good to finally lien your body on the soft and relaxing bed, but sadly, it is just one hour of rest for taking a bath/shower. Then, we went to eat dinner and after dinner, we went back to our hotel to finally felt the real relaxing time. Before we’re going to bed, we were told to go to the onsen to wash ourselves and relaxing together. Onsen is a Japanese styled public bath where you submerged yourselves. Back to the story. After we’ve finished our bath, we went back to our room and after we wash our face and brush our teeth, we went to sleep.

The next day, after we got up, took a shower, changed our clothes, ate our breakfast, and finally ready to went down to the Lobby at the hotel, we walked straight in to the bus because today, we’re going to the great volcanic peak of Japan, Mt. Fuji. We’re very happy to be finally going to see the real Mt. Fuji. Not photos or paintings, but the real thing. But sadly because of the heavy snows and winds at the top, we only parked at the foot of the mountain and only see few of the scenery. Although I got a chance to play snowball with my little brother, it’s still a disappointing moment for us. The real snow was just like grated ice, it’s not like in the movies where snows are just like cotton where it’s very soft. After just seeing some scenery at the foot of the mountain, we went back into our bus and then we went to eat dinner together. We went home soon after that and then we went to sleep.

The next day, we tried to go to the Mt. Fuji again hoping that the snow stop raining. But the weather didn’t calmed a bit. In desperate, we went down to eat lunch together in a small mall soon after that. This time, it’s a Chinese food restaurant. After lunch, we went to go looking around for other things. After some hours passed, we went back to the hotel after dinner and started packing again. After packing, we went to sleep.

Trip to Japan (3rd Part)

Today when I woke up, I felt very tired. After a few minutes rolling on the bed, I went to take a bath and then I went down to the Lobby and eat my breakfast. After we ate our breakfast, we took our luggage from our room and pull it to the Lobby. After the rest of the group ready to go, we went into the bus and today’s activity will be just visiting 2 shrines. It’s about one hour until we arrived at the first shrine. There we saw some Japanese praying at the shrine. Even if they could speak in English, they won’t ever tell us because they believed that if they tell someone about it, their wish won’t be granted. Oh, and one more thing, if you fell down the small stairs in the shrine’s area, it means you’ve been cursed or will be having a very bad luck, so, be careful so no one will see you as a cursed per son or will be pitied because they think that you will get a very bad luck. Next, we also prayed in there but we didn’t mean our earthly wish because we have our own GOD, Lord Jesus Christ, which has sacrificed Himself for us. There’s always a charm seller at every shrine. Each of us only bought one only. Luckily, I got the lucky one. We’ve been walking there and admiring the architecture for some couple of hours and of course we rest a bit a couple of time. Even though it was still being renovated, it’s still a beautiful shrine.

Next, we went to the second shrine. This time, it took for about 2 hours of traveling. This shrine is bigger and also has some good view. To go to the main shrine, we must walk a long way and walking up the stairs which I called “The Thousand Stairs” because there’re so many stairs. When we’ve finally reached the top, we were very exhausted. Thank goodness that there’re shops at the entrance of the shrine. After we bought some drinks and snacks, we went into the shrine’s area. There’re some places where you could enter and taking photos but some of them were considered sacred and mustn’t be bothered such as a holy statue and some Buddhist doing a ceremony and other sacred activity. We bought another charm but this time, we didn’t prayed too. It’s already around 4 o’clock when I checked my watch, so, we went to the shops before the entrance of the shrine to buy some snacks again. This time, we added some Japanese tea and some packs of mochies (Japanese snack). After that, we went to a restaurant to eat dinner and after dinner, we went back to the hotel and start packing again. At around 10 o’clock, we went to sleep.


TO BE CONTINUED

Trip to Japan (2nd Part)

The next day, after a fast bath, I went to eat my breakfast with my father because my mother was still continued packing our clothes. Meanwhile, my brother is still fast asleep. After half an hour, we got into the bus and went to another city. On the way, I saw many unique buildings and also we crossed some long bridges and sometimes we have to go through a long some underground tunnels that connected each major island.

Japan was divided into four large major islands. Those four are Hokkaido, Honshu, Kyushu, and Shikoku. There are also thousands of other smaller islands around the 4 major islands. Japan’s population is about 127 million people whose crowded and makes Japan who called themselves Nippon or Nihon as the most densely populated country in the world. Nippon or Nihon means source of the sun. Mountains and hills covered most of Japan, making it a country of great beauty, but also took up so much area that the great majority of the people live on a small portion of the land. The largest city in Japan is Tokyo. Japan is one of the world’s economic giants. Life in Japan reflects the culture of both of the East and the West. Although most Japanese wore Western-style clothing, many women still dressed in the Japanese traditional clothes, the kimono. Kimono often used for festival and other special occasions. Farmland is limited in Japan because mountains and hills cover most of the country. The favorite sports in Japan are sumo exhibition and baseball games. Golf is also a popular sport in Japan. Okay, enough of short story about Japan. Now back to the main story.

After 3 hours of traveling, we are finally arrived in a small and old styled Japanese hotel. After checking in, we went to an entertainment park on the mountain. We played for more than 4 hours and also bought souvenirs. Some of the ride couldn’t be operated because of the bad weather and strong winds. After we satisfied, we went down the mountain and go to a restaurant to eat dinner. After dinner, we went to a mall for a short while to buy some snacks and then go back to our hotel. We prepared everything for tomorrow such as the clothes, jacket, taking only the needed things and packing the rest of the worn clothes, and after we were ready to sleep, we went to sleep.


TO BE CONTINUED

Trip to Japan (1st Part)

In December 2007, my family and I went to Japan. At that time, I did not know any Japanese word at all. The only word I knew is “Arigatou”, which means “Thank You”.

I woke up at 4 o’clock in the morning. Then I took a shower. After that, I ate my breakfast. At 5 o’clock, my family and I went to the airport. We arrived at the airport at 6 o’clock and after waiting for one and a half hour, our plane has landed and we went in to the airplane. After a short while, the plane started to move and after that, it took off.

We had to transit in Bali first. The flight from Surabaya to Bali took about 45 minutes then we have to wait for an hour for our next plane and after the plane arrived, we get in the plane then the plane took off soon after. Next stop, Izumi Sano Airport (KIX), Japan!

The flight took about 5 hours flight. When the plane landed safely and parked at the platform, we went out from the airplane and went to the baggage area to take our luggage. After that, we took our luggage and walked outside and it was very cold that you could even see your own breath. Then we called a Taxi to our hotel to put our luggage first. Soon after that, we, who were in a tour, went to the mall first to eat dinner. The first day went by fast because almost of the time has been taken by the flight.

The second day, we went to a place called “Universal Studios”. The Universal Studio in Japan made a lot of good film and also for subbing and dubbing the foreign films to Japanese. After that, we went to a small restaurant. In there, we ate Japanese traditional foods. It was really good but sadly some of them are raw food; such as sushi and sashimi. We went to a shopping district soon after that. We bought some snacks there to fill our stomach when we’re hungry. After that, we went to a mall and bought some books and of course its’ language was English so we won’t be bored. After dinner, we went back to our hotel and start packing because tomorrow we are going to another city and staying in another hotel. Then we went to sleep.



TO BE CONTINUED.....

THE WORST DAY EVER

I woke up very late today. As a result, I arrived very late at school and did not even eat my breakfast. Thanks God that it was the first time I got late. Then, I realized that I forgot my key locker. Even though I succeeded to ask my friend to share his locker, I also realized that I also put in the books for the wrong day. So, I also forgot to wear my sport uniform.

In the PE class, I just sat at the corner of the GYM and only watched my friend playing basketball. Next was mandarin class, I forgot that there was test today. So, I was scolded by my teacher. At math class, I didn’t bring my homework and had my lunchtime taken for 15 minutes. That made me only 15 minutes for lunch. Then, in science class, I didn’t bring all of my handouts. That’s why I had to ask my parent to sign in the “disciplinary book” (buku pribadi).

I hurried down the stairs to take my lunch. Then suddenly, I was slipped by a banana peel and fall down. It didn’t hurt so much but my left arm was scratched by the canteen’s iron chair. So I went to the infirmary to be treated. Because of that, I missed my lunch. The social class started normally. The teacher didn’t use the handouts but teaching using the LCD. But after a short time, the teacher asked us to open our exercise book. Because I didn’t bring mine, my score had been taken by 15 points. My scores are very bad and I had my score taken by 15 points.

School’s over, but my thought kept telling me that this full of disaster day won’t end so soon. Not long after that, it rained heavily. Everyone came inside the school and it was cramped. I had to wait 1 hour and a half for my driver to pick me up. I arrived home, shivering, and hurried to take a shower. After that, I realized that I was carrying the key locker the whole time. It was just at a different pocket. As soon as I ate my dinner (because I was starving), my mom got so angry that I had made a lot of mistakes at school.

I felt so sleepy and was asleep soon after wards. Thanks God that I had finished all of my homework. When I got up the next day, I got a fever and couldn’t go to school. So I finished all of my homework for nothing.