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him. Twenty-five-year-old Mozart then established himself in Vienna, attempt- ing to do something that no musician before him had accomplished: make his fortune as a freelance artist.
Mozart chose Vienna because the city had a vibrant musical life and passion for the two things he did best: compose and play the keyboard. In a letter to his sister in the spring of 1782, Mozart spells out how he juggled his time between composition, teaching, and performing.
My hair is always done by six o’clock in the morning and by seven I am fully dressed. I then compose until nine. From nine to one I give les- sons. Then I lunch, unless I am invited to some house where they lunch at two or even three o’clock. . . . I can never work before five or six o’clock in the evening, and even then I am often prevented by a concert. If I am not prevented, I compose until nine.
The years 1784–1787 witnessed the peak of Mozart’s success in Vienna and the creation of many of his greatest works. He had a full complement of pu- pils, played several concerts a week, and enjoyed lucrative commissions as a composer. Piano concertos, string quartets, and symphonies flowed from his fertile pen, as did his two greatest Italian operas, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni. He also found time to join the Freemasons, an Enlightenment fraternity, which espoused tolerance and universal brotherhood. Many view Mozart’s last opera, Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute, 1791) as a hymn in praise of Masonic ideals.
During his best years, Mozart made a great deal of money, about $325,000 annually by one estimate. But money flew out the door as fast as it came in— he lived well and loved fine clothes in particular. When a war with the Turkish (Ottoman) Empire broke out and a Europe-wide recession
ensued, the Viennese had far less money to spend on luxuries like
musical entertainment. Mozart’s income plummeted, and he was
reduced to begging from his fellow Freemasons. But the composer’s
economic prospects revived by 1791. In the summer and fall of that
year, Mozart received handsome commissions for an opera at court
(La Clemenza di Tito) and a Requiem Mass. Such good fortune,
however, was to be tragically short-lived. Indeed, the Mass
became Mozart’s own requiem when he died unexpectedly
on December 5, 1791, at the age of thirty-five. The precise
reason for his death has never been determined, though
rheumatic fever and kidney failure, made worse by needless
bloodletting, are the most likely causes. No single event in
the history of music is more regrettable than the premature
loss of Mozart. What he would have given to the world had
he enjoyed the long life of a Handel or a Haydn!
Figure 7.13
Young Mozart proudly wearing the collar of a Knight of the Order of the Golden Spur, an honor conferred upon him for his musical skills by Pope Clement XIV in July 1770. This portrait is a copy ordered
by Mozart’s father in 1777 for the lost original of 1770. Said father Leopold: “It has little value as a work of art, but I can assure you
that the resemblance is perfect.”
WATCH . . . “Mozart” presented to the Emperor Joseph II and improvising, from the film Amadeus, online.
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