MOZART

MOZART

Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozarta (Salzburg, 27 January 1756-Vienna, 5 December 1791), better known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was an Austrian composer and pianist, a master of Classicism, considered one of the most influential musicians and Highlights of history.

The Mozartian work covers all musical genres of its time and includes more than six hundred creations, mostly recognized as masterpieces of symphonic, concertante, chamber music, piano, opera and choral, achieving international popularity and dissemination.

In his earliest childhood in Salzburg, Mozart showed a prodigious ability in the domain of keyboard instruments and violin. With only five years already composed musical works and its interpretations were of the appreciation of the aristocracy and European royalty. At seventeen he was hired as a musician at the Salzburg court, but his restlessness led him to travel in search of a better position, always composing prolificly. During his visit to Vienna in 1781, after being fired from his position in court, he decided to settle in this city where he achieved the fame he held the rest of his life, despite going through difficult financial situations. In his final years, he composed many of his most famous symphonies, concertos and operas, as well as his Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been the subject of numerous speculations and elevated to the category of myth.


In the words of music critics such as Nicholas Till, Mozart always learned voraciously from other musicians and developed a splendor and maturity of style that spanned from light and elegance, to darkness and passion - all well founded by a vision of Humanity "redeemed by art, forgiven and reconciled with nature and the absolute.' Its influence on all subsequent Western music is profound; Ludwig van Beethoven wrote his first compositions in the shadow of Mozart, of whom Joseph Haydn wrote that "posterity will not see such talent again in a hundred years" .The composer's health began to decline and his concentration declined. Mozart felt ill during his stay in Prague on September 6 during the premiere of his opera La clemenza di Tito (KV 621), composed in that year as a commission for the celebrations of the coronation of Leopold II as emperor. The work was received with coldness by the public. Upon returning to Vienna, Mozart set to work at the Requiem and prepared, in the company of theatrical impresario and singer Emanuel Schikaneder, the rehearsals of The Magic Flute. It premiered with great success on September 30, with Mozart himself as director.

At that time Mozart wrote the Concerto in the major for clarinet (KV 622), composed for clarinetist Anton Stadler. In October his health deteriorated; Walked with his wife for the Prater when suddenly sat on a bench and very agitated told Constanze that someone had poisoned him. On November 20 the disease intensified and fell bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain and vomiting.Mozart received the care of his wife Constanze and his younger sister Sophie during their final illness and was attended by Dr. Nicolaus Closset. It is a proven fact that he was mentally busy at the completion of his Requiem. However, the evidence that he actually dictated passages to his disciple Franz Xaver Süssmayr is very remote.

On December 5, 1791, at approximately midnight, Dr. Closset of the opera arrived and ordered cold compresses of water and vinegar to be put on her forehead to relieve her fever (although Sophie was reluctant to do so, Which he thought would not be good for the patient the sudden change of temperature). This had so much effect on him that he lost consciousness and did not recover again until his death. According to Sophie, Mozart's last sighs were "as if he wanted, with his mouth, to imitate the timbales of his Requiem."

At twelve-fifty-five in the morning, Mozart died in Vienna at the age of 35, 10 months and 8 days, and his funeral took place in St. Stephen's Cathedral (where he had previously married Constanze), On the 6th of December. It was shrouded according to Masonic ritual (black cloak with hood).

Mozart's burial was of the third category, with a cost of eight florins with fifty-six kreutzer (plus a supplement of three florins to pay for the hearse), which is usual for members of the middle bourgeoisie. He was buried at dusk, the coffin being transferred by horse-drawn carriage to the St. Marx cemetery in Vienna, where he was buried in a simple community tomb (similar to a common grave). The weather that night was smooth and quiet, and with frequent mists, not stormy or blizzard as has been thought wrong. The biographer Otto Jahn affirmed in 1856, the burial was attended by Antonio Salieri, Süssmayr, Gottfried Van Swieten and two other musicians.

The meager influx of audiences at Mozart's funeral did not reflect his status as a composer, as funerals and concerts in Vienna and Prague were crowded. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death Mozart's reputation grew considerably: Solomon describes it as "a wave of unprecedented enthusiasm" for his works. Several writers wrote biographies on the composer, such as Friedrich Schlichtegroll, Franz Xaver Niemetschek and Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, among others; And the editors competed to publish the complete editions of their works.

CLARA VALLEJO 2AB