A child prodigy, who was playing and composing before most other children could write, Mozart produced an enormous output in his short life, and yet he died penniless.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, where his father, Leopold, was a court musician to the Archbishop-Prince of Salzburg. One of seven children, only Mozart and his sister, Maria Anna, four years his senior, survived infancy. Both of them showed early musical promise although Maria Anna was soon overtaken at the keyboard by her brother when he was only four years old.
Early promise
His upbringing was unconventional. Taught by his father, Mozart was way ahead in his education compared to other boys his age. His enthusiasm for music was boundless – he could find his way round a harpsichord at three, played the violin at four and was composing his own pieces a year later. At the time he also impressed a musician friend of his father, Andreas Schachtner, by playing second violin to his first. Mozart, despite wrong fingering, so impressed Schachtner that he stopped playing to listen to the five-year-old. At the age of six, he went on his first tour with his family. To impress the audience, he and his sister would play duets, sometimes with a cloth covering their hands. By the time they reached Vienna, their reputation preceded them. The family lived like this for many years, touring and playing all over Europe.
First love and loss
In Mannheim, Germany, Mozart met Aloysia Weber, a 16-year-old soprano, and fell in love. He wanted to travel with Aloysia and her father but Leopold refused and insisted Mozart went to Paris, with his mother. There he played in the fashionable salons and the Tuileries pleasure gardens. His mother, who had not been well for some time, caught a fever and, as was customary at the time, bled herself in an attempt to relieve it. Left alone in the lodgings, she tragically died, leaving Mozart devastated.
Marriage and death
Shortly after, on his way back to Salzburg, Mozart caught up with his first love, Aloysia Weber, in Vienna. She was very cool towards him and made it clear his affections weren’t returned. With heartache from the double loss of his mother and Aloysia he returned to Salzburg. He found his work at court restrictive and by 1781 he had fallen out with his employer, Count Colloredo. Mozart returned to Vienna where he took lodgings with the Webers. By now Aloysia had married, but her sister, Constanze, caught Mozart’s eye. He fell in love and married her. Their nine years of marriage produced seven children, but only two survived infancy. Although his health was failing, Mozart remained prolific, but never had any money – he and his wife were both spendthrifts. He produced concertos, operas, masses and chamber pieces. His Requiem was unfinished when he died, penniless.