Ludwig van Beethoven Biography

Pianist, Composer (c. 17701827)

QUICK FACTS
NAME
Ludwig van Beethoven
OCCUPATION
Pianist, Composer
BIRTH DATE
December 16, 1770
DEATH DATE
March 26, 1827
PLACE OF BIRTH
Bonn, Germany
PLACE OF DEATH
Vienna, Austria

SYNOPSIS
Composer Ludwig van Beethoven was baptized on December 17, 1770, in Bonn, Germany. He
was an innovator, widening the scope of sonata, symphony, concerto and quartet, and
combining vocals and instruments in a new way. His personal life was marked by a struggle
against deafness, and some of his most important works were composed during the last 10
years of his life, when he was quite unable to hear.

EARLY YEARS
Composer and pianist Ludwig Van Beethoven, widely considered the greatest composer of all
time, was born on or about December 16, 1770 in the city of Bonn in the Electorate of Cologne,
a principality of the Holy Roman Empire. Although his exact date of birth is uncertain, Beethoven
was baptized on December 17, 1770.

Since as a matter of law and custom, babies were baptized within 24 hours of birth, December
16 is his most likely birthdate. However, Beethoven himself mistakenly believed that he was
born two years later, in 1772, and he stubbornly insisted on the incorrect date even when
presented with official papers that proved beyond any reasonable doubt that 1770 was his true
birth year.

Beethoven had two younger brothers who survived into adulthood, Caspar, born in 1774, and
Johann, born in 1776. Beethoven's mother, Maria Magdalena van Beethoven, was a slender,
genteel, and deeply moralistic woman. His father, Johann van Beethoven, was a mediocre court
singer better known for his alcoholism than any musical ability. However, Beethoven's
grandfather, godfather and namesake, Kapellmeister Ludwig van Beethoven, was Bonn's most
prosperous and eminent musician, a source of endless pride for young Ludwig.

Sometime between the births of his two younger brothers, Beethoven's father began teaching
him music with an extraordinary rigor and brutality that affected him for the rest of his life.
Neighbors provided accounts of the small boy weeping while he played the clavier, standing
atop a footstool to reach the keys, his father beating him for each hesitation or mistake.

On a near daily basis, Beethoven was flogged, locked in the cellar and deprived of sleep for
extra hours of practice. He studied the violin and clavier with his father as well as taking
additional lessons from organists around town. Whether in spite of or because of his father's
draconian methods, Beethoven was a prodigiously talented musician from his earliest days and
displayed flashes of the creative imagination that would eventually reach farther than any
composer's before or since.

Hoping that his young son would be recognized as a musical prodigy la Mozart, Beethoven's
father arranged his first public recital for March 26, 1778. Billed as a "little son of six years,"
(Mozart's age when he debuted for Empress Maria Theresia) although he was in fact seven,
Beethoven played impressively but his recital received no press whatsoever. Meanwhile, the
musical prodigy attended a Latin grade school named Tirocinium, where a classmate said, "Not
a sign was to be discovered& of that spark of genius which glowed so brilliantly in him
afterwards."

Beethoven, who struggled with sums and spelling his entire life, was at best an average student,
and some biographers have hypothesized that he may have had mild dyslexia. As he put it
himself, "Music comes to me more readily than words." In 1781, at the age of 10, Beethoven
withdrew from school to study music full time with Christian Gottlob Neefe, the newly appointed
Court Organist. Neefe introduced Beethoven to Bach, and at the age of twelve Beethoven
published his first composition, a set of piano variations on a theme by an obscure classical
composer named Dressler.

By 1784, his alcoholism worsening and his voice decaying, Beethoven's father was no longer
able to support his family, and Ludwig van Beethoven formally requested an official appointment
as Assistant Court Organist. Despite his youth, his request was accepted, and Beethoven was
put on the court payroll with a modest annual salary of 150 florins.

In an effort to facilitate his musical development, in 1787 the court decided to send Beethoven
to Vienna, Europes capital of culture and music, where he hoped to study with Mozart. There is
only speculation and inconclusive evidence that Beethoven ever met with Mozart, let alone
studied with him. Tradition as it that, upon hearing Beethoven, Mozart was to have said, "Keep
your eyes on him; some day he will give the world something to talk about. In any case, after
only a few weeks in Vienna, Beethoven learned that his mother had fallen ill and he returned
home to Bonn. Remaining in there, Beethoven continued to carve out his reputation as the city's
most promising young court musician.

When the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II died in 1790, a 19-year-old Beethoven received the
immense honor of composing a musical memorial in his honor. For reasons that remain unclear,
Beethoven's composition was never performed, and most assumed the young musician had
proven unequal to the task. However, more than a century later, Johannes Brahms discovered
that Beethoven had in fact composed a "beautiful and noble" piece of music entitled Cantata on
the Death of Emperor Joseph II. It is now considered his earliest masterpiece.

Beethoven in 1803, painted by Christian Horneman (Photo: WikiCommons)

COMPOSING FOR AUDIENCES

In 1792, with French revolutionary forces sweeping across the Rhineland into the Electorate of
Cologne, Beethoven decided to leave his hometown for Vienna once again. Mozart had passed
away a year earlier, leaving Joseph Haydn as the unquestioned greatest composer alive.

Haydn was living in Vienna at the time, and it was with Haydn that the young Beethoven now
intended to study. As his friend and patron Count Waldstein wrote in a farewell letter, "Mozart's
genius mourns and weeps over the death of his disciple. It found refuge, but no release with the
inexhaustible Haydn; through him, now, it seeks to unite with another. By means of assiduous
labor you will receive the spirit of Mozart from the hands of Haydn."

In Vienna, Beethoven dedicated himself wholeheartedly to musical study with the most eminent
musicians of the age. He studied piano with Haydn, vocal composition with Antonio Salieri and

counterpoint with Johann Albrechtsberger. Not yet known as a composer, Beethoven quickly
established a reputation as a virtuoso pianist who was especially adept at improvisation.

READ MORE: Beethoven: 5 Facts About the Composer & Pop Culture Nods to His
Influence

Beethoven won many patrons among the leading citizens of the Viennese aristocracy, who
provided him with lodging and funds, allowing Beethoven, in 1794, to sever ties with the
Electorate of Cologne. Beethoven made his long-awaited public debut in Vienna on March 29,
1795. Although there is considerable debate over which of his early piano concerti he performed
that night, most scholars believe he played what is known as his "first" piano concerto in C
Major. Shortly thereafter, Beethoven decided to publish a series of three piano trios as his "Opus
1," which were an enormous critical and financial success.

In the first spring of the new century, on April 2, 1800, Beethoven debuted his Symphony No. 1
in C major at the Royal Imperial Theater in Vienna. Although Beethoven would grow to detest
the piece -- "In those days I did not know how to compose," he later remarked -- the graceful
and melodious symphony nevertheless established him as one of Europe's most celebrated
composers.

As the new century progressed, Beethoven composed piece after piece that marked him as a
masterful composer reaching his musical maturity. His "Six String Quartets," published in 1801,
demonstrate complete mastery of that most difficult and cherished of Viennese forms developed
by Mozart and Haydn. Beethoven also composed The Creatures of Prometheus in 1801, a
wildly popular ballet that received 27 performances at the Imperial Court Theater.

Around this time Beethoven, like all of Europe, watched with a mixture of awe and terror as
Napoleon Bonaparte proclaimed himself First Consul, and later Emperor, of France. Beethoven
admired, abhorred and, to an extent, identified with Napoleon a man of seemingly superhuman
capabilities, only one year older than himself and also of obscure birth.

In 1804, only weeks after Napoleon proclaimed himself Emperor, Beethoven debuted his
Symphony No. 3 in Napoleon's honor. Later renamed the "Eroica Symphony" because

Beethoven grew disillusioned with Napoleon, it was his grandest and most original work to date
-- so unlike anything heard before that through weeks of rehearsal, the musicians could not
figure out how to play it. A prominent reviewer proclaimed Eroica, "one of the most original, most
sublime, and most profound products that the entire genre of music has ever exhibited."

Portrai
t of Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820 (Photo: WikiCommons)

LOSING HEARING
At the same time as he was composing these great and immortal works, Beethoven was
struggling to come to terms with a shocking and terrible fact, one that he tried desperately to
conceal. He was going deaf. By the turn of the century, Beethoven struggled to make out the
words spoken to him in conversation.
Beethoven revealed in a heart-wrenching 1801 letter to his friend Franz Wegeler, "I must
confess that I lead a miserable life. For almost two years I have ceased to attend any social
functions, just because I find it impossible to say to people: I am deaf. If I had any other

profession, I might be able to cope with my infirmity; but in my profession it is a terrible

handicap." At times driven to extremes of melancholy by his affliction, Beethoven described his
despair in a long and poignant note that he concealed his entire life.
Dated October 6, 1802 and referred to as "The Heiligenstadt Testament," it reads in part, "O you
men who think or say that I am malevolent, stubborn or misanthropic, how greatly do you wrong
me. You do not know the secret cause which makes me seem that way to you and I would have
ended my life -- it was only my art that held me back. Ah, it seemed impossible to leave the
world until I had brought forth all that I felt was within me."
Almost miraculously, despite his rapidly progressing deafness, Beethoven continued to
compose at a furious pace. From 1803-1812, what is known as his "middle" or "heroic" period,
he composed an opera, six symphonies, four solo concerti, five string quartets, six string
sonatas, seven piano sonatas, five sets of piano variations, four overtures, four trios, two
sextets and 72 songs. The most famous among these were symphonies No. 3-8, the "Moonlight
Sonata," the "Kreutzer" violin sonata and Fidelio, his only opera. In terms of the astonishing
output of superlatively complex, original and beautiful music, this period in Beethoven's life is
unrivaled by any of any other composer in history.
Despite his extraordinary output of beautiful music, Beethoven was lonely and frequently
miserable throughout his adult life. Short-tempered, absent-minded, greedy and suspicious to
the point of paranoia, Beethoven feuded with his brothers, his publishers, his housekeepers, his
pupils and his patrons. In one illustrative incident, Beethoven attempted to break a chair over
the head of Prince Lichnowsky, one of his closest friends and most loyal patrons. Another time
he stood in the doorway of Prince Lobkowitz's palace shouting for all to hear, "Lobkowitz is a
donkey!"
For a variety of reasons that included his crippling shyness and unfortunate physical
appearance, Beethoven never married or had children. He was, however, desperately in love
with a married woman named Antonie Brentano. Over the course of two days in July of 1812,
Beethoven wrote her a long and beautiful love letter that he never sent. Addressed "to you, my
Immortal Beloved," the letter said in part, "My heart is full of so many things to say to you -- ah -there are moments when I feel that speech amounts to nothing at all -- Cheer up -- remain my
true, my only love, my all as I am yours."

The death of Beethoven's brother Caspar in 1815 sparked one of the great trials of his life, a
painful legal battle with his sister-in-law, Johanna, over the custody of Karl van Beethoven, his
nephew and her son. The struggle stretched on for seven years during which both sides spewed
ugly defamations at the other. In the end, Beethoven won the boy's custody, though hardly his
affection.

ACCLAIMED WORKS AND DEATH

Somehow, despite his tumultuous personal life, physical infirmity and complete deafness,
Beethoven composed his greatest music -- perhaps the greatest music ever composed -- near
the end of his life. His greatest late works include Missa Solemnis, a mass that debuted in 1824
and is considered among his finest achievements, and String Quartet No. 14, which contains
seven linked movements played without a break.
Beethoven's Ninth and final symphony, completed in 1824, remains the illustrious composer's
most towering achievement. The symphony's famous choral finale, with four vocal soloists and a
chorus singing the words of Friedrich Schiller's poem "Ode to Joy," is perhaps the most famous
piece of music in history.
While connoisseurs delighted in the symphony's contrapuntal and formal complexity, the
masses found inspiration in the anthem-like vigor of the choral finale and the concluding
invocation of "all humanity."
Beethoven died on March 26, 1827, at the age of 56. An autopsy revealed that the immediate
cause of death was post-hepatitic cirrhosis of the liver. The autopsy also provided clues to the
origins of his deafness. While his quick temper, chronic diarrhea and deafness are consistent
with arterial disease, a competing theory traces Beethoven's deafness to contracting typhus in
the summer of 1796.
Recently, scientists analyzing a remaining fragment of Beethoven's skull noticed high levels of
lead and hypothesized lead poisoning as a potential cause of death, but that theory has been
largely discredited.
Ludwig van Beethoven is widely considered the greatest composer of all time. He is the crucial
transitional figure connecting the Classical and Romantic ages of Western music. Beethoven's

body of musical compositions stands with Shakespeare's plays at the outer limits of human
accomplishment.
And the fact Beethoven composed his most beautiful and extraordinary music while deaf is an
almost superhuman feat of creative genius, perhaps only paralleled in the history of artistic
achievement by John Milton writing Paradise Lost while blind. Summing up his life and imminent
death during his last days, Beethoven, who was never as eloquent with words as he was with
music, borrowed a tag line that concluded many Latin plays at the time. "Plaudite, amici,
comoedia finite est," he said. "Applaud friends, the comedy is over."

VIDEOS
MEETING THE MASTER
MUSIC AS A METAPHOR
A ROUGH CHILDHOOD
A GREAT LOSS

RELATED VIDEOS

CITE THIS PAGE

Ludwig van Beethoven was a deaf German composer and the predominant musical figure in the
transitional period between the Classical and Romantic eras.

http://www.biography.com/search?query=BEETHOVEN
http://www.biography.com/people/ludwig-van-beethoven-9204862

Wolfgang Mozart Biography

Pianist, Composer (17561791)

QUICK FACTS
NAME
Wolfgang Mozart
OCCUPATION
Pianist, Composer
BIRTH DATE
January 27, 1756
DEATH DATE
December 5, 1791
PLACE OF BIRTH
Salzburg, Austria
PLACE OF DEATH
Vienna, Austria
AKA
Wolfgang Mozart
FULL NAME
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

SYNOPSIS
Born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a musician
capable of playing multiple instruments who started playing in public at the age of 6. Over the
years, Mozart aligned himself with a variety of European venues and patrons, composing
hundreds of works that included sonatas, symphonies, masses, chamber music, concertos and
operas, marked by vivid emotion and sophisticated textures.

EARLY LIFE

Central Europe in the mid-18th century was going through a period of transition. The
remnants of the Holy Roman Empire had divided into small semi-self-governing
principalities. The result was competing rivalries between these municipalities for identity
and recognition. Political leadership of small city-states like Salzburg, Vienna, and
Prague was in the hands of the aristocracy and their wealth would commission artists
and musicians to amuse, inspire, and entertain. The music of the Renaissance and
Baroque periods was transitioning toward more full-bodied compositions with complex
instrumentation. The small city-state of Salzburg would be the birthplace of one of the

most talented and prodigious musical composers of all time.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts was the sole-surviving son of Leopold and Maria Pertl
Mozart. Leopold was a successful composer, violinist, and assistant concert master at
the Salzburg court. Wolfgangs mother, Anna Maria Pertl, was born to a middle class
family of local community leaders. His only sister was Maria Anna (nicknamed
Nannerl). With their fathers encouragement and guidance, they both were introduced
to music at an early age. Leopold started Nannerl on keyboard when she was seven, as
three-year old Wolfgang looked on. Mimicking her playing, Wolfgang quickly began to
show a strong understanding of chords, tonality, and tempo. Soon, he too was being

tutored by his father.

Leopold was a devoted and task-oriented teacher to both his children. He made the
lessons fun, but also insisted on a strong work ethic and perfection. Fortunately, both
children excelled well in these areas. Recognizing their special talents, Leopold devoted
much of his time to their education in music as well as other subjects. Wolfgang soon
showed signs of excelling beyond his fathers teachings with an early composition at age
five and demonstrating outstanding ability on harpsichord and the violin. He would soon

go on to play the piano, organ and viola.

In 1762, Wolfgangs father took Nannerl, now age eleven, and Wolfgang, age six to the
court of Bavaria in Munich in what was to become the first of several European "tours."
The siblings traveled to the courts of Paris, London, The Hague, and Zurich performing
as child prodigies. Wolfgang met a number of accomplished musicians and became
familiar with their works. Particularity important was his meeting with Johann Christian
Bach (Johann Sebastian Bach's youngest son) in London who had a strong influence on
Wolfgang. The trips were long and often arduous, traveling in primitive conditions and
waiting for invitations and reimbursements from the nobility. Frequently, Wolfgang and
other members of his family fell seriously ill and had to limit their performance schedule.

BUDDING YOUNG COMPOSER

In December, 1769, Wolfgang, then age 13, and his father departed from Salzburg for
Italy, leaving his mother and sister at home. It seems that by this time Nannerls
professional music career was over. She was nearing marriageable age and according
to the custom of the time, she was no longer permitted to show her artistic talent in
public. The Italian outing was longer than the others (1769-1771) as Leopold wanted to
display his sons abilities as a performer and composer to as many new audiences as
possible. While in Rome, Wolfgang heard Gregorio Allegris Miserere performed once in
the Sistine Chapel. He wrote out the entire score from memory, returning only to correct
a few minor errors. During this time Wolfgang also wrote a new opera, Mitridate, re di
Ponto for the court of Milan. Other commissions followed and in subsequent trips to Italy,

Wolfgang wrote two other operas, Ascanio in Alba(1771) and Lucio Silla (1772).
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his father returned from their last stay in Italy in March,
1773. His fathers benefactor, Archbishop von Schrattenbach had died and was
succeeded by Hieronymus von Colleredo. Upon their return, the new archbishop
appointed young Mozart as assistant concertmaster with a small salary. During this time,
young Mozart had the opportunity to work in several different musical genres composing
symphonies, string quartets, sonatas and serenades and a few operas. He developed a
passion for violin concertos producing what came to be the only five he wrote. In 1776,
he turned his efforts toward piano concertos, culminating in the Piano Concerto Number
9 in E flat major in early 1777. Wolfgang had just turned 21.

Despite his success with the compositions, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was growing
discontent with his position as assistant concert master and the confining environment of
Salzburg. He was ambitious and believed he could do more somewhere else.
Archbishop von Colloredo was becoming inpatient with the young geniuss complaining
and immature attitude. In August 1777, Mozart set out on a trip to find more prosperous
employment. The archbishop wouldnt give Leopold permission to travel, so Anna Maria
accompanied Wolfgang on his quest to the cities of Mannheim, Paris and Munich. There
were several employment positions that initially proved promising, but all eventually fell
through. He began to run out of funds and had to pawn several valuable personal items
to pay traveling and living expenses. The lowest point of the trip was when his mother
fell ill and died on July 3, 1778. After hearing the news of his wifes death, Leopold
negotiated a better post for his son as court organist in Salzburg and Wolfgang returned
soon after.

MAKING IT IN VIENNA

Back in Salzburg in 1779, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart produced a series of church

works, including the Coronation Mass. He also composed another opera for Munich,
Ideomeneo in 1781. In March of that year, Mozart was summoned to Vienna by
Archbishop von Colloredo, who was attending the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian
throne. The Archbishops cool reception toward Mozart offended him. He was treated as
a mere servant, quartered with the help, and forbidden from performing before the
Emperor for a fee equal to half his yearly salary in Salzburg. A quarrel ensued and
Mozart offered to resign his post. The Archbishop refused at first, but then relented with
an abrupt dismissal and physical removal from the Archbishops presence. Mozart
decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer and for a time lived

with friends at the home of Fridolin Weber.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart quickly found work in Vienna, taking on pupils, writing music
for publication, and playing in several concerts. He also began writing an opera Die
Entfhrung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio). In the summer of 1781, it
was rumored that Mozart was contemplating marriage to Fridolin Webers daughter,
Constanze. Knowing his father would disapprove of the marriage and the interruption in
his career, young Mozart quickly wrote his father denying any idea of marriage. But by
December, he was asking for his fathers blessings. While its known that Leopold
disapproved, what is not known is the discussion between father and son as Leopolds

letters were said to be destroyed by Constanze. However, later correspondence from

Wolfgang indicated that he and his father disagreed considerably on this matter. He was
in love with Constanze and the marriage was being strongly encouraged by her mother,
so in some sense, he felt committed. The couple was finally married on August 4, 1782.
In the meantime, Leopold did finally consent to the marriage. Constanze and Wolfgang

had six children, though only two survived infancy, Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver.
As 1782 turned to 1783, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart became enthralled with the work of
Johannes Sebastian Bach and George Frederic Handel and this, in turn, resulted in
several compositions in the Baroque style and influenced much of his later compositions,
such as passages in Die Zauberflote (The Magic Flute) and the finale of Symphony
Number 41. During this time, Mozart met Joseph Haydn and the two composers became
admiring friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes performed impromptu
concerts with string quartets. Between 1782 and 1785 Mozart wrote six quartets
dedicated to Haydn.

EUROPEAN FAME

The opera Die Entfhrung enjoyed immediate and continuing success and bolstered
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts name and talent throughout Europe. With the substantial
returns from concerts and publishing, he and Constanze enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. They
lived in one of the more exclusive apartment buildings of Vienna, sent their son, Karl
Thomas, to an expensive boarding school, kept servants, and maintained a busy social
life. In 1783, Mozart and Constanze traveled Salzburg, to visit his father and sister. The
visit was somewhat cool, as Leopold was still a reluctant father-in-law and Nannerl was
a dutiful daughter. But the stay promoted Mozart to begin writing a mass in C Minor, of
which only the first two sections, "Kyrie" and "Gloria," were completed. In 1784, Mozart
became a Freemason, a fraternal order focused on charitable work, moral uprightness,
and the development of fraternal friendship. Mozart was well regarded in the Freemason
community, attending meetings and being involved in various functions. Freemasonry

also became a strong influence in Mozarts music.

From 1782 to 1785, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart divided his time between self-produced
concerts as soloist, presenting three to four new piano concertos in each season.
Theater space for rent in Vienna was sometimes hard to come by, so Mozart booked
himself in unconventional venues such as large rooms in apartment buildings and
ballrooms of expensive restaurants. The year 1784, proved the most prolific in Mozarts

performance life. During one five-week period, he appeared in 22 concerts, including five
he produced and performed as the soloist. In a typical concert, he would play a selection
of existing and improvisational pieces and his various piano concertos. Other times he
would conduct performances of his symphonies. The concerts were very well attended
as Mozart enjoyed a unique connection with his audiences who were, in the words of
Mozart biographer Maynard Solomon, given the opportunity of witnessing the
transformation and perfection of a major musical genre. During this time, Mozart also
began to keep a catalog of his own music, perhaps indicating an awareness of his place

in musical history.
By the mid-1780s, Wolfgang and Constanze Mozarts extravagant lifestyle was
beginning to take its toll. Despite his success as a pianist and composer, Mozart was
falling into serious financial difficulties. Mozart associated himself with aristocratic
Europeans and felt he should live like one. He figured that the best way to attain a more
stable and lucrative income would be through court appointment. However, this wouldnt
be easy with the courts musical preference bent toward Italian composers and the
influence of Kapellmeister Antonio Salieri. Mozarts relationship with Salieri has been the
subject of speculation and legend. Letters written between Mozart and his
father, Leopold, indicate that the two felt a rivalry for and mistrust of the Italian musicians
in general and Salieri in particular. Decades after Mozarts death, rumors spread that
Salieri had poisoned him. This rumor was made famous in 20th century playwright Peter
Shaffers Amadeus and in the 1984 film of the same name by director Milos Foreman.
But in truth there is no basis for this speculation. Though both composers were often in
contention for the same job and public attention, there is little evidence that their
relationship was anything beyond a typical professional rivalry. Both admired each
others work and at one point even collaborated on a cantata for voice and piano called

Per la recuperate salute di Ophelia.

Toward the end of 1785, Mozart met the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte, a Venetian
composer and poet and together they collaborated on the opera The Marriage of Figaro.
It received a successful premier in Vienna in 1786 and was even more warmly received
in Prague later that year. This triumph led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte on the
opera Don Giovanni which premiered in 1787 to high acclaim in Prague. Noted for their
musical complexity, the two operas are among Mozarts most important works and are
mainstays in operatic repertoire today. Both compositions feature the wicked nobleman,
though Figaro is presented more in comedy and portrays strong social tension. Perhaps

the central achievement of both operas lies in their ensembles with their close link
between music and dramatic meaning.

LATER YEARS

In December, 1787, Emperor Joseph II appointed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as his

"chamber composer," a post that had opened up with the death of Gluck. The gesture
was as much an honor bestowed on Mozart as it was incentive to keep the esteemed
composer from leaving Vienna for greener pastures. It was a part-time appointment with
low pay, but it required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls. The modest
income was a welcome windfall for Mozart, who was struggling with debt, and provided

him the freedom to explore more of his personal musical ambitions.

Toward the end of the 1780s, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts fortunes began to grow
worse. He was performing less and his income shrank. Austria was at war and both the
affluence of the nation and the ability of the aristocracy to support the arts had declined.
By mid-1788, Mozart moved his family from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund,
for what would seem to be a way of reducing living costs. But in reality, his family
expenses remained high and the new dwelling only provided more room. Mozart began
to borrow money from friends, though he was almost always able to promptly repay
when a commission or concert came his way. During this time he wrote his last three
symphonies and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, Cosi Fan Tutte, which premiered
in 1790. During this time, Mozart ventured long distances from Vienna to Leipzig, Berlin,
and Frankfurt, and other German cities hoping to revive his once great success and the
familys financial situation, but did neither. The two-year period of 1788-1789 was a low
point for Mozart, experiencing in his own words "black thoughts" and deep depression.
Historians believe he may have had some form of bipolar disorder, which might explain

the periods of hysteria coupled with spells of hectic creativity.

Between 1790 and 1791, now in his mid-thirties, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart went
through a period of great music productivity and personal healing. Some of his most
admired works -- the opera The Magic Flute, the final piano concerto in B-flat, the
Clarinet Concerto in A major, and the unfinished Requiem to name a few -- were written
during this time. Mozart was able to revive much of his public notoriety with repeated
performances of his works. His financial situation began to improve as wealthy patrons
in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities in return for occasional compositions.
From this turn of fortune, he was able to pay off many of his debts.

However, during this time both Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts mental and physical health
was deteriorating. In September, 1791, he was in Prague for the premier of the opera La
Clemenza di Tito, which he was commissioned to produce for the coronation of Leopold
II as King of Bohemia. Mozart recovered briefly to conduct the Prague premier of The
Magic Flute, but fell deeper into illness in November and was confined to bed.
Constanze and her sister Sophie came to his side to help nurse him back to health, but
Mozart was mentally preoccupied with finishing Requiem, and their efforts were in vain.

DEATH AND LEGACY

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on December 5, 1791 at age 35. The cause of death is
uncertain, due to the limits of postmortem diagnosis. Officially, the record lists the cause
as severe miliary fever, referring to a skin rash that looks like millet seeds. Since then,
many hypotheses have circulated regarding Mozart's death. Some have attributed it to
rheumatic fever, a disease he suffered from repeatedly throughout his life. It was
reported that his funeral drew few mourners and he was buried in a common grave. Both
actions were the Viennese custom at the time, for only aristocrats and nobility enjoyed
public mourning and were allowed to be buried in marked graves. However, his
memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. After his
death, Constanze sold many of his unpublished manuscripts to undoubtedly pay off the
familys large debts. She was able to obtain a pension from the emperor and organized
several profitable memorial concerts in Mozarts honor. From these efforts, Constanze

was able to gain some financial security for herself and allowing her to send her children

to private schools.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts death came at a young age, even for the time period. Yet
his meteoric rise to fame and accomplishment at a very early age is reminiscent of more
contemporary musical artists whose star had burned out way too soon. At the time of his
death, Mozart was considered one of the greatest composers of all time. His music
presented a bold expression, often times complex and dissonant, and required high
technical mastery from the musicians who performed it. His works remained secure and
popular throughout the 19th century, as biographies about him were written and his
music enjoyed constant performances and renditions by other musicians. His work
influenced many composers that followed -- most notably Beethoven. Along with his
friend Joseph Haydn, Mozart conceived and perfected the grand forms of symphony,
opera, string ensemble, and concerto that marked the classical period. In particular, his
operas display an uncanny psychological insight, unique to music at the time, and
continue to exert a particular fascination for musicians and music lovers today.

VIDEOS
A NATURAL VIRTUOSO

RELATED VIDEOS

CITE THIS PAGE

A prolific artist, Austrian composer Wolfgang Mozart created a string of operas, concertos,
symphonies and sonatas that profoundly shaped classical music.

http://www.biography.com/search?query=MOZART
http://www.biography.com/people/wolfgang-mozart-9417115#death-and-legacy

Franz Joseph Haydn Biography

(17321809)

QUICK FACTS
NAME
Franz Joseph Haydn
BIRTH DATE
March 31, 1732
DEATH DATE
May 31, 1809
PLACE OF BIRTH
Rohrau, Austria
PLACE OF DEATH
Vienna, Austria
FULL NAME
Franz Joseph Haydn

SYNOPSIS
Franz Joseph Haydn was among the creators of the fundamental genres of classical music, and
his influence upon later composers is immense. Haydns most celebrated pupil was Ludwig van
Beethoven, and his musical form casts a huge shadow over the music of subsequent
composers such as Schubert, Mendelssohn and Brahms.

EARLY LIFE

Franz Joseph Haydn was recruited at age 8 to the sing in the choir at St. Stephen's
Cathedral in Vienna, where he went on to learn to play violin and keyboard. After he left
the choir, he supported himself by teaching and playing violin, while studying

counterpoint and harmony.

Haydn soon became an assistant to composer Nicola Porpora in exchange for lessons,
and in 1761 he was named Kapellmeister, or "court musician," at the palace of the
influential Esterhzy family, a position that would financially support him for nearly 30

years. Isolated at the palace from other composers and musical trends, he was, as he
put it, "forced to become original."

THE MATURE ARTIST

While Haydn rose in the Esterhzy family's esteem, his popularity outside the palace
walls also increased, and he eventually wrote as much music for publication as for the
family. Several important works of this period were commissions from abroad, such as
the Paris symphonies (1785-1786) and the original orchestral version of "The Seven
Last Words of Christ" (1786). Haydn came to feel sequestered and lonely, however,
missing friends back in Vienna, such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, so in 1791, when a
new Esterhzy prince let Haydn go, he quickly accepted an invitation to go to England to

conduct new symphonies.

Audiences flocked to Haydn's concerts, and during his time in England he generated
some of his best-known work, including the "Rider" quartet and the Surprise, Military,
Drumroll and London symphonies.

LATER YEARS

Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795 and took up his former position with the Esterhzys,
although only part-time. At this point, he was a public figure in Vienna, and when he
wasn't at home composing, he was making frequent public appearances. With his health

failing, his creative spirit outlasted his ability to harness it, and he died at age 77.
Haydn is remembered as the first great symphonist and the composer who essentially
invented the string quartet. The principal engineer of the classical style, Haydn exerted
influence on the likes of Mozart, his student Ludwig van Beethoven and scores of others.

CITE THIS PAGE

Over the course of his 106 symphonies, Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn became the
principal architect of the classical style of music.

http://www.biography.com/search?query=HAYDN
http://www.biography.com/people/franz-joseph-haydn-9332156