Classical Music
Mozart
The Mozart family. Mozart is sitting next to his sister Nannerl, with his father on the right. His deceased mother is show in a portait on the wall.
the myth and the magic John Low traces the life and work of arguably the greatest mind in Western music
Infant prodigy, genius composer, virtuoso musician, linguist, mason, wit, dandy, billiard hustler, sometime drunkard, gambler, Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart’s life was short, highly eventful and far from sweet.
A large part of his adult life was spent begging from friends and chasing payment from his many benefactors and employers in a mainly unsuccessful attempt to maintain his and his spouse’s chaotic and profligate lifestyle. There were periods during his Vienna years- he moved there in 1781 aged 25-when he was earning an exceptionally high salary as a freelance composer/ musician, and his subscription concerts were a roaring success. But the cash was often frittered away. He had a penchant for fine clothes and hand-made shoes: he even bought a carriage and a horse and installed a billiards table in one of the many expensive apartments they rented in Vienna. They were, to put it mildly, bad managers. Mozart’s easy- come- easy- go attitude may well be explained by the 14 Senior Times l May - June 2020 l www.seniortimes.ie
fact that he could - and , more likely had to - work at astonishing speeds and produce compositions in a fraction of the time taken by his contemporaries; and, of course of infinitely higher quality. It was not unusual for him to work through the night or operate on three hours sleep: today’s 24/ 7 ‘high flyers’, would, in comparison, be a country mile behind him. In a letter to his father he wrote, “This morning is lost in lessons, lunch is eaten at 2 pm, the afternoon is dedicated to various preparations and in the evening I finally have time to compose- as long as I have no concert to perform”. Apart from the mental and physical strain of his composing, teaching and performing, he was his own agent, manager and general dogsbody, doing everything from booking venues, arranging advertising, printing posters and commissioning orchestras, to selling tickets. Mozart’s life is well documented largely through the reminiscences of his father, wife, sister, acquaintances, letters and biographies. He was born on January 27th 1756 in Salzburg, Austria (At the time Salzburg was a
