Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, in what is now Austria, on January 27, 1756.  He was the youngest of the seven children of Leopold and Anna Maria (Pertl) Mozart.  He and his older sister Maria Anna Mozart (nicknamed “Nannerl”) were the only two of the children to survive infancy.  Mozart was baptized the day after his birth; the Latinized form of his name appears in the baptismal record as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.  His family called him “Wolferl” but he had many nicknames over his lifetime.  When he was young he often spelled his last name backwards, and later in life he called himself Wolfgang Amadè.

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Mozart’s father Leopold was a distinguished violinist and teacher, and a minor composer.  He was the deputy Kappellmeister to Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg.  The violin teaching manual Leopold wrote in 1756, “Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule” (“A Treatise on the Fundamentals of Violin Playing”), became one of the foremost violin technique and music theory textbooks of the 1700s.  Leopold was the only teacher for Nannerl and Wolferl for the first several years of their lives, introducing them to languages and academic subjects as well as music.  When Nannerl was seven, he began teaching her how to play the harpsichord.  The three-year-old Wolferl would raptly watch these lessons and mimic her playing.  When Wolferl was four his father began teaching him clavier, violin and organ.  By the time he was five Wolferl was composing pieces of his own, which his father transcribed for him, and began learning the piano and viola.

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Leopold considered it his divine duty to share with the world the talents that God had given his children (and also thought it might be profitable).   In 1762 when Wolferl was six and Nannerl was eleven, Leopold brought his prodigies on what was to be the first of several European tours.  An exhibition at the court of Bavaria in Munich and the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague proved to be profitable, and so in 1763 they set off for a tour that lasted three and a half years.  They visited the courts of Paris, London, and numerous other courts throughout Europe.  Traveling conditions were arduous and challenging.  Both children contracted smallpox in The Hague in 1765 and nearly died.  However, the young Wolferl astonished his royal audiences and received lavish gifts, had his first pieces published, wrote his first symphonies, and received a commission for his first opera.  He also became acquainted with the music of other composers and other cultures, being particularly influenced by J.S. Bach’s son Johann Christian Bach. 

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They returned to Salsburg briefly, and in 1770 when Wolfgang was thirteen he and his father set out on an extensive tour of Italy.   In Milan Wolfgang received a commission to write an opera, successfully given on Christmas Day 1770, which led to further opera commissions.  In Bologna he was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filharmonica, even though minimum age for this honor was supposed to be twenty years old and he was only fifteen.  At the Sistine Chapel in Rome he heard Gregorio Allegri’s “Miserere” twice and was able to reproduce it perfectly from memory; his was the first unauthorized copy of this piece, which was a closely guarded secret of the Vatican.

Mozart visited Milan again with his father in 1771 and 1772 for premieres of his operas.  The piece our string players are performing today, Divertimento #1, K 136, was written in Salzburg in January 1772.  It was the first piece in a group of three Divertimenti, K 136-38.  Most likely these string quartets were not only stand-alone pieces, but also pieces which could be easily adapted into symphonies by the addition of wind instruments.  This versatility may have been intended for his audiences in Milan where the sixteen-year-old Mozart hoped to impress the court enough to receive a permanent position. The title “Divertimento” on the original manuscript is not in Mozart’s handwriting.

Despite his many artistic successes, Wolfgang was not offered a professional appointment in Italy.  When they finally returned to Salzburg in March 1773, Leopold’s benefactor had died and had been succeeded by the Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo.   Wolfgang visited Vienna in summer 1773, and then in 1774 Colloredo appointed him as assistant concertmaster with a small salary.  The Archbishop had little appreciation for his genius, treating him like a servant and often subjecting him to abuse.  During this time Wolfgang was very prolific, composing masses string quartets, symphonies, sonatas, serenades, operas, all five of his violin concertos, and piano concertos.  He had many friends and admirers in Salzburg.  Apart from a visit to Munich for an opera premiere in 1775, he stayed in Salzburg until mid-1777.  

Seeing no further prospects in Salzburg for their gifted son, in 1777 the Mozart family resolved to find better employment for him.  When Wolfgang asked the Archbishop to allow him and his father to find income elsewhere, the Archbishop responded by dismissing both of them.  Later Leopold was allowed to resume his position as deputy Kappellmeister, but Wolfgang was free to pursue other employment.

Mozart composed one of the motets we are performing today, Sancta Maria, Mater Dei, KV 273, in Salzburg on September 8, 1777, after he was released from the Archbishop’s employ.  It was composed for the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Some scholars see this contemplative gradual as a plea to Mary to bless his upcoming journey to seek employment.  It was originally written for choir and orchestra.  

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On September 23 Mozart set out with his mother to Augsburg, Mannheim, Munich, and Paris.  In Mannheim he became acquainted with members of the city’s orchestra, the best in Europe at the time.  He also fell in love with the soprano Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family.  Employment prospects in Mannheim did not materialize, and so in March 1778 he left with his mother for Paris to continue his job search.  He had been well received in Paris as a child, and was keenly disappointed that the public there had lost interest in him since he was no longer a child prodigy.  He had some minor success in Paris but soon fell into debt and had to pawn several valuable possessions.  Their accommodations were meager.  When Mozart’s mother fell ill in June, the delay in calling a doctor was probably due to lack of money.  Anna Maria died in Paris on July 3, 1778.

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While Mozart was in Paris, his father had been arranging employment for him again with the Archbishop Colloredo in Salzburg.  After Anna Maria’s death Leopold ordered him home, but Wolfgang lingered in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain a post outside his home town.  When he again met Aloysia in Munich, he found that she was no longer interested in him.  Alone and grief-stricken, he returned to Salzburg.

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Wolfgang resumed his drab and poorly paid position, still determined to make a permanent break.  In March 1781 he was summoned to Vienna where the Archbishop was attending the celebrations for the Emperor Joseph II.  Mozart was offered the opportunity to perform for the Emperor for a fee equal to half his yearly salary, but the Archbishop forbade it.   In May their quarrels came to a head when Mozart tried to resign permanently and was refused.  Mozart flew into a rage and denounced the Archbishop.  He was dismissed with a literal “kick in the arse” administered by the Archbishop’s steward.

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Near the height of Mozart’s quarrels with the Archbishop, on May 1 or 2, 1781, he had moved in with the Weber family, who had moved from Mannheim to Vienna and were taking in lodgers.  Aloysia had already married an actor.  No longer in the Archbishop’s service, Mozart chose to stay in Vienna and take the opportunity to freelance as a performer and composer.  He lived in Vienna for the rest of his life.  He soon established himself as the best keyboard player in Vienna, and also had huge success as a composer.  Meanwhile he fell in love with the Weber’s third daughter, Constanze.  Wolfgang and Constanze were married on August 4, 1872, with the grudging consent of Leopold.  They had six children, only two of whom survived past infancy, Karl Thomas and Franz Xavier Wolfgang.

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Thanks to a friend with a collection of the manuscripts of the Baroque masters, Mozart became acquainted with the works of J.S. Bach and G.F. Handel.  He also became friends with Joseph Haydn, then the most celebrated composer in Europe; when Haydn visited Vienna they sometimes played together in a string quartet, and wrote music for each other.  In the next few years Mozart wrote a series of piano concertos for himself to appear as soloist, renting large spaces in upscale restaurants or apartment buildings when space in the local theaters proved inadequate for his large and appreciative audiences.  He also wrote and performed music in other genres, such as operas, symphonies and concertos.  In one five week period in 1784 he performed 22 concerts!  During these years Mozart finally had an income from concerts and publishing to support the lavish lifestyle he had always dreamed of having, with an expensive apartment in the center of town, elegant clothing, servants, a pool table, a private carriage, private schooling for his son Karl Thomas, and a busy social life.  He enjoyed billiards and dancing, and kept pets including a starling, a canary, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding.  However, he and Constanze had no savings.  

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By 1786 Mozart had stopped performing as frequently.  In 1787 Emperor Joseph II appointed him to a minor court post with a reasonable salary as Kammermusicus (“chamber composer”), a part-time position which entailed only writing dance music for court balls. This income proved crucial in later years, as their extravagant lifestyle was beginning to take a toll while their debt accumulated.  Austria was at war with Turkey, and the aristocracy’s ability to support music as well as prosperity in general had declined.

In late 1786 Leopold’s health had begun to fail, and on May 28, 1787, Leopold died in Salzburg.  Wolfgang was unable to attend his beloved father’s funeral because the travel time was too long.

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In 1788 Mozart and his family moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund.  However, this did not significantly reduce their expenses.  1788-89 was a dark period for Mozart.  His musical output slowed and he began to borrow large sums of money from his friends, though he was usually able to repay them promptly when he received money from a concert or commission.  In 1789 and 1790, he fruitlessly journeyed to other German cities hoping to revive his success.

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The year 1791, the last year of Mozart’s life, was extremely musically productive.  He had recovered somewhat from his depression, and his finances improved as wealthy international patrons pledged annuities in return for occasional compositions.  It was during this time that he wrote some of his most acclaimed works, including the motet Ave Verum Corpus, K 618 (“Hail, True Body”) that we are performing today.  “Ave Verum Corpus” was written on June 17, six months before Mozart’s death, when he was visiting his wife Constanze and their 6-year-old son Karl at the spa in Baden bei Wien in Austria.  Constanze was pregnant with their sixth child and was staying at the spa for health reasons.  Mozart composed the piece for Anton Stoll, musical director for St. Stephan in Baden, a friend of Mozart and Haydn who often helped Mozart by making travel arrangements for Constanze to visit the spa.  It had been eight years since Mozart had written sacred music.  The motet is a setting of a 13th century Eucharistic Latin hymn, and was premiered on June 23 at the feast of Corpus Christi.

In September 1791 Mozart fell ill on a journey to Prague for an opera premiere.  He returned to Vienna and was increasingly ill, but kept his professional commitments until November 20, at which time he became bedridden.  He was attended by his wife, his wife’s youngest sister and their mother, and the family doctor.  Mozart was intent on completing his Requiem Mass, which had been commissioned by an anonymous source (a count, who wished to pass it off as his own work).  Mozart had become convinced that he was writing this requiem for his own imminent death.  Scholars differ on whether he dictated instructions for finishing the work to his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr; we do know that Süssmayr completed the version we know today.

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In the afternoon on December 5, 1791, Mozart asked three friends to sing parts of the Requiem with him.  (Mozart sang alto in these quartets.)  That night he received extreme unction (last rites of the Roman Catholic Church).  It was almost midnight when he turned toward the wall, and died shortly thereafter.  He was 31 years old.  Many theories have surrounded the cause of his death, but scholars now believe it was from rheumatic fever, which he had contracted as a child and suffered from repeatedly throughout his life.

Only the aristocracy and nobility in Vienna were allowed to be buried in marked individual graves and to be publicly mourned, and so Mozart had a very spare funeral with no mourners present.  He was sewn into a linen sack and transferred with dignity from a reusable coffin into an unmarked common grave in St. Marx cemetery with five or six other bodies, as was the custom.  This kind of grave was not permanent; after about ten years the bones of these middle class citizens were exhumed and the site was used for a new burial.  A commemorative marker was later put into the graveyard.

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Mozart’s widow Constanze was placed in a difficult position after Mozart died.  However, she obtained a pension from the Emperor, organized memorial concerts for her husband that were well attended and brought in some income, and began publishing Mozart’s unknown works.  A close friend financed the education of her two sons, and others took up collections for her and the children for several years after Mozart’s death.   She co-wrote the first full-length biography of Mozart, remarried, traveled extensively, was again widowed, and lived out her days in Salzburg with her two surviving sisters.