Cover of Leopold Mozart's Violinschule (1st ed.), depicting
the musician with his instrument. Leopold taught violin to
his famous son, Wolfgang Amadè from an early age,
effectively becoming the boy's first teacher. He would
famously take Wolfgang on a series of tours, and is rightly
considered to have been an indispensable figure & a dominating
force in the shaping of his sons' musical genius, and played
a major role in the formation the latter's stratospheric rise to
success, both as a performer and as a composer.
The“Mozarthaus Augsburg” - birthplace and home of Leopold Mozart, born in the Bavarian residence on Frauentorstraße on 14th November 1719 and father to more famous Wolfgang - is gearing up for an autumn re-opening with a fully redesigned, all new, permanent exhibition honoring the composer following a year's worth of renovations, and just in time for the Augsburg native's 300th birthday. Speaking to the German press, culture adviser Thomas Weitzelinvites fans of the Mozart family clan to pay pilgrimage to the newly renovated museum and exhibit this Fall, which promises to“focus on interactive approaches and music education”- providing a perfect learning environment suitable for“younger target groups.”
The cost of the overhaul to the Mozarthaus is estimated to be in the range of 300,000 euros, 264,000 of it to come from the state office for the non-state museums in Bavaria and the remaining sum to be paid by a group of third-party donors and sponsors who have pledged their financial support.
In addition, the city of Augsburg will play host to a celebratory year long anniversary program"JUBILEO! - 300 years of Leopold Mozart"which will feature theater and dance productions, choral and orchestral concerts, guided tours and exhibitions, culminating in May 2019 with the “German Mozart Festival.”The latter festival, which runs from the 11th of the month through to the 26th will play host to six exclusive concerts and feature as its main attraction the10th Leopold Mozart International Violin Competition,which will be held in the German city 31 May through 8 June 2019.
Mozarthaus Augsburg exterior, not to be confused
with Mozarthaus in Wien, located at Frauentorstraße
30, is the birthplace and former residence of father
to Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, Leopold Mozart.
Finally, a festive birthday concert on the occasion of Leopold's birth, on the 14th of November is sure to draw a crowd. The celebration, however, doesn't end there: the Bavarian Chamber Philharmonic (Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie) has been commissioned by the city of Augsburg for a newly recorded CD of works by Leopold, which will hit the market following the jubilee. As many violinists well know, Leopold's Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing(Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule) – the famously influential instructional textbook on 18th century performance practice for the violin - and the methods contained within, have been experiencing a welcome renaissance in present times thanks to the surge of historically-informed performances of music dating from the classical era. As such, Leopold continues to educate, and to inspire. So much so, that a new biography on Mozart's first teacher is slated for release this fall by German musicologistSilke Leopold. The much anticipated write-up on Mozart's erudite father is being touted in the German press as the“first biography [on Leopold Mozart] to be backed by scientific evidence”and promises to shed new insight into“Leopold's European mindset”as well as his undeniable influence in the shaping of his son's stratospheric success, which the biographer dubs“The Miracle of Mozart.”
Paul Kildea's Chopin's Piano: A Journey
Through Romanticism (also published as
Chopin's Piano: In Search of the
Instrument That Transformed Music, 2018,
soon to come to Unraveling Musical Myths
Book Reviews, to see film adaptation.
Purchase Kildea's title now on Amazon
A forthcoming film adaptation of Australian conductor/author Paul Kildea's acclaimed 2018 novel (pub. Allen Lane) Chopin's Piano: A Journey through Romanticism has recently been announced. The film, which begins production in 2020, produced by Donald RodenfeldandAndreas RoaldatSovereign Films, will make use of two pianos which originally belonged to the famed Polish musician - a rare boon courtesy of the kind permission ofHatchlands Park, a Georgian National Trust property in Surrey, England which houses a collection created byAlec Cobbe, with roots dating back half a century. Both novel and film bring into focus the composers' turbulent and highly creative time spent at an abandoned monastery in Mallorca with famed lover and French novelistGeorge Sandin 1838, in which an ailing Chopin, surrounded by the“most beautiful” inspiration created his much beloved 24 preludes using a pianino – a small piano the composer had fashioned by a local, unknown amateur craftsman (Juan Bauza) upon finding a lack of instrumentation at the monastery. The film will also trace the subsequent history of the pianino long after Chopin's death – seized from the possession of Polish pianist Wanda Landowskaat the height the second world war by Nazi officials in the latter's bold attempt to claim the composer as their own. Unfortunately for posterity, Chopin's “Bauza” pianino has been lost to the hands of time, however Cobbe's collection, which includes the PleyelGrand Chopin brought with him to England (and later used during a recital at the home of the Count d'Orsay and the Countess of Bessington at Kensington Gore), and a Broadwoodwhich the maestro played at London'sGuildhall(effectively the last of the pianist's concerts, held 16 November 1848 in honor of the“Funds of the Literary Association of the Friends of Poland”) and at various recitals. Both are expected to be featured in the upcoming film. The role of Chopin – if already selected – has yet to be announced, whilst Oscar-winnerCate Blanchett is reportedly being eyed for the role of Sand.
Listen below to Daniil Trifonov performing Chopin's 24 Preludes during a recital at Berlin, held 8 May, 2013:
Igor Stravinsky loved and lived the Hollywood high life,
spending some 29 years of his life in Tinseltown. 20 of
those years were spent residing at the property presently
up for sale by Coldwell Banker. View the property via the
online listing at Redfin:1260 N Wetherly Drive, Los Angeles
After being listed for 167 days (at the time of writing this post) on Redfin,Igor Stravinsky's West Hollywood home remains on the real estate market. The quaint 2,612 square foot estate (with 3 bedrooms and 4.5 bathrooms), located at1260 N Wetherly Drive,just above L.A.'s famed Sunset Stripwas the longtime U.S. home of the famed Russian-born composer, who moved into the property in 1941 nearly a year after his arrival on the West coast, then fresh off the heels of his marriage to longtime mistressVera de Bosset(former wife of famed Russian painter Sergey Sudeikin). Stravinsky, who would obtain American citizenship five years after his arrival on US soil, clearly bore affection for both Hollywood high life and home: in fact, the beloved 20th century icon – then revered as much in the United States as he was in Europe – would spend more years of his life in The Golden State than anywhere else in the world. Wetherly Drive, in particular, would prove more than agreeable: Igor would famously later purchase a neighboring home on the same street (#1218 N Wetherly Drive) after some 20 years spent at the primary residence – he would live on the adjacent property for over 9 more years before heading Northeast, where he would relocate to New York to live out his final two years, spent in the city's iconic Essex House, which had been recently acquired byMarriott Hotels in 1969. Stravinsky boasted a remarkably productive output during his years spent at 1260 N Wetherly Drive (which include, but are not limited to the maestro's adoption – and adaptation – of Austrian émigré Arnold Schoenberg's 12-tone technique; the composition of 1951 English-language opera “The Rake's Progress” based on the engravings of William Hogarth; a collaboration with the illustrious choreographer George Balanchine on “Agon;” and his single-handed influence on reviving the early music of Carlo Gesualdo through his poignant arrangements of three of the renaissance master's madrigali for orchestra (which were later incorporated into Balanchine's ballet Momentum a Gesuado– not to mention a completion of the murderous Italian's unfinished Tres Sacre Cantiones Liber Secundus, which Igor realised in 1956; in addition to arrangements of the works of Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, and a bold excursion into ethereal liturgical works following the maestro's increasing presence and deep interest in the Russian Orthodox Church).
Listen below to Stravinsky's arrangement of Gesualdo's "Sacrae Cantiones Liber Secundus." Stravinsky realised this work in 1957 (I) and 1959 (II & III), of which the original sextus and basses part books were lost. The video below is in a playlist format, containing three videos. Use arrow buttons or menu to navigate. I. Da pacem Domine, II. Assumpta est Maria, III. Illumina nos:
Stravinsky seemed to fit right in as an esteemed member of the Hollywood elite - he hobnobbed with film industry bigwigs – famously signing over rights toWalt Disneyfor the American magnate to use music from Le Sacre du Printemps for the 1940 blockbuster animated hit “Fantasia” (albeit for a rather paltry sum of $6000 USD) – and proved a giant among men among Tinseltown's illustrious artistic intelligentsia. Those in his inner circle included everyone from Surrealist maestri to great thinkers, poets and authors – the likes of Aldous Huxley,Dylan Thomas and W.H. Auden.
Just prior to moving into the property at N Wetherly Drive, Igor would try his hand at composing for film (though somewhat unsuccessfully - not for lack of talent, but rather for a refusal to relinquish sole control) with trial music for the former's screenplay adapted to the film “Jane Eyre,” starring Orson Welles (he ended up recycling previously written music for the project instead). Even the pop culture sphere opened it's doors for the world's most famous living composer: Stravinsky would make hisHollywood Bowlconducting debut the summer of his arrival in the U.S. in 1940 in which he led a rousing performance of theFirebird Suite.
These mentions account for merely a small portion of the maestro's accomplishments achieved in West Hollywood. Yet for all of Stravinsky's many connections in Los Angeles, and for all of his efforts at re-inventing himself both musically and spiritually, the only relic left standing – nay, the only relic to have ever stood - which would serve to both remember and celebrate the beloved icon's time and influence in the city (save for a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame) remain the former Stravinsky family homes on N Wetherly Drive – of which the aforementioned residence presently offered up for sale is one (a true injustice of the highest sort!)
The fact that the property is being quietly listed online with merely a passing reference to the composer is but another unfortunate reminder of a sadly seemingly absent memory on behalf of the inhabitants of the city. Absent – yet not forgotten. In the nearly half a year since the quaint white stucco and wood home has been on the market, at least one active musician has paid pilgrimage to the composer by attending an open house and walking among its hallowed walls. Could this small gesture be a promising sign of a much-delayed turnaround in WeHo to finally honor the internationally beloved icon who once called the city home, and whose contributions to Tinseltown's artistic realm have permeated the seams of time – the music composed there continuing to influence legions of subsequent composers both at home and around the globe? Be it as a converted tourist attraction/education site (a museum would probably be asking too much), as a modern-day “salon,” or as home to a present or future musician or patron of the arts – or even simply as a residential slice of heaven for a very lucky fan – the possibilities for Stravinsky's house on the hill are infinite. The present asking price for the property is $3.75 million USD. The listing may be viewed online on Redfin.
Related:watch below the acclaimed documentary, "Stravinsky in Hollywood," (dir. Marco Capalbo) which details the exploits and works composed whilst residing in the city (in three parts, L-R-BL, followed by the critically acclaimed autobiographical documentary "Once at a Border," featuring rare footage of Stravinsky and interviews many of his illustrious colleagues and family detailing more broad aspects of the composer's life. Directed by Tony Palmer):
Did You know?
This is not the first time Stravinsky's former home at 1260 N Wetherly Drive has hit the real estate market. Finnish conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen expressed interest in purchasing the property in 1996 only to pass given his fear of being haunted by the “ghost” of Igor, after he noticed indentations on the carpet where the maestro formerly rested his piano, and humorously, the hook where Stravinsky tethered his pet goat.
In other related news:
Giovanni Paisiello's former home in Taranto scores 500,000 euros to convert into museum honoring composer.
Giuseppe Verdi strolls down the Piazza della Scala, reading the news, 1900
As we approach the 118th anniversary of the death of 19th century Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi, observed January 27th, the surviving descendants of the beloved icon residing on the grounds of his former home in Parma (the“Villa Verdi”) will find themselves feeling significantly less full – if not in spirit, in endowment – after failed attempts to reclaim hundreds of letters authored by the composer from theNational Institute of Veridian Studiesfollowing it's digitization of the documents into theParma State Archives left the family without the historic relics for the first time in over a century. The presence of hitherto unknown correspondence in the hand of Verdi in the composer's former home, (located in the village of Sant'Agata near Piacenza, some 45 miles south of Milan) was first announced in the international press in the early Spring 2017. The documents, which date from 1850 to the year of Verdi's death in 1901, had formerly lay encased in a late 19th century trunk built byMarshall Field & Co. in Chicago for some 116 years at the location, which has remained until present day the Carrara-Verdifamily home. Both trunk and its contents had been transferred at the start of the year (January 10) to the Parma State Archive to be digitized under the auspices of a pro tempore exchange. But some three months later, and with no return of the memorabilia on the horizon, the good-faith exchange would turn sour, and with present villa owner and great-great grandson to the composer, Angiolo Carrara Verdiciting the transfer as little more than an unjustified “raid” by the Italian government. Carrara-Verdi had inherited the villa - and all of the property within it - through the family line of Giuseppe's late cousin,Maria Filomena Verdi, who the composer and his opera-singer wife, Giuseppina Strepponihad raised as a daughter. Giuseppe, who died without any (direct) surviving children of his own (two children - a daughter and a son - had died in infancy) had left the vast bulk of his estate to Maria Filomena. Verdi's adopted kin would go on to marry one Alberto Carrara - the son of the composer's notary, Angiolo.The property, and all of Verdi's possessions contained within, have remained in the family ever since.
The "Villa Verdi" - Verdi's forever home at Sant'Agata.
Verdi moved into the residence in 1851 with
then-lover Giuseppina Strepponi. The couple would
wed eight years later and go on to raise Giuseppe's young
cousin Maria Filomena as their daughter. Verdi would
bequeath the villa to his adoptive daughter in his will,
dated 14 May, 1900. It has remained in the family ever
since, in conjunction with the Carrara family, descendants
of Filomena's husband (and son to Giuseppe's notary),
Alberto Carrara. Its present owner is Angiolo Carrara-
Verdi, the great-great grandson of Giuseppe.[1]
By April, a full blown press conference was organized in Rome at theHeadquarters of the Central Institute for Audio and Audiovisual Assetsled by the General Director for the Archives of Ministry of Cultural HeritageGino Famiglietti, in which accusations of withholding “missing” letters were levied against the Carrara-Verdi family. Furthermore, the heirs were branded as having been negligible in their conservation efforts of the letters by exposing them to unsuitable levels of environmental moisture, causing damage due to a damp atmosphere. Famiglietti informed the press that a six month“restoration”of“previously unusable”documents would be required for preservation's sake due to extensive damage before digitization of the material could even commence – a move that will ensure the full breadth of the correspondence will be made readily available for scholars. Famiglietti emphasized that the delivery of the documents by the heirs had been conducted consensually with the Ministry from Angiolo Carrara Verdi, however it should be noted that had the composer's heirs not been compliant, there had been reason to believe a lawful, “coercive delivery” would have been enforced by the ministry in its efforts to “verify the preservation and consistency of archival assets, even if in possession of private individuals.” The debacle resulted in a parliamentary dispute – between villa-adjacent Piacenza and Parma, with Piancenza ParliamentarianTommaso Fotiproposing a resolution (n. 5301 in the Regional Council of Emilia-Romagna) for the return of the documents following their digitization – which passed in September 2017. Foti argued the family villa was “subject to the constraints of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage which has enshrined the inseparability of the aforementioned Villa and the assets contained therein."
That reminder proved anything but helpful as inspectors of the Archival and Bibliographic Superintendency of Emilia-Romagnaconducted their own survey of the villa grounds on 7 May 2018 only to substantiate claims of an inadequate conservation of the “Carteggi Verdiani” (Letters of Verdi) and ordered the mandatory transfer of the documents to Parma. The Undersecretary of State for Cultural Assets and Activities, Gianluca Vaccaseemed reluctant to criticize the family, citing the mandatory transfer and indefinite hold of the assets in Parma as an exercise in overabundant caution, whilst simultaneously reporting on damning inadequacies at Villa Verdi, including a persistent issue in regard to a lack of security on the grounds. Vacca noted that some documents had been stolen from the premises unbeknownst to the Carrera-Verdi family, and that the aging relic lacked a suitable fire-extinguishing system. That same month the General Directorate“gave immediate provisions for the purpose of coercive custody of the 66 archival units present at Villa Verdi.”
Vacca's statement went on to read:
“[the transfer of the letters to Parma] are not meant to persecute the family, but rather it is opportune to reiterate that this precautionary measure, fully justified by the conditions found during the inspection, [which] was put in place with the objective to guarantee the security and proper preservation of Verdi's documents, and not with a punitive intent towards the Carrara-Verdi heirs; without prejudice to the fact that, as mentioned above, they have on several occasions and in various forms disregarded the conservation, inventory and consultation obligations to which owners, owners or holders of cultural assets are kept ... it should be added that the physical characteristics of the archival materials require specific microclimatic conditions for conservation purposes, and conditions [in] both the rooms of Villa Verdi, and the furnishings in which the documentation was kept could not in any way guarantee the desired [intent] to preserve Verdi's documentation in the rooms... the villa can not be led to the extreme consequence of jeopardizing the material integrity and the survival of the letters.”
What is perhaps most ironic is a directive rumored to be scrawled on one of the hitherto unpublished letters in the hand of Verdi:“Abbruciate tutte queste carte!” (Burn these letters!) How little did the composer know that the very same letters he once ordered destroyed after his demise (yet preserved against his wishes) would ignite a fire that would continue to burn well over a century after his death. The present documents are likely to be housed at thePalatine Library of Parma, to be added to correspondence previously acquired by the Ministry through London auctioneer Sotheby's.
In happier news (for scholars, perhaps not as much for Carrara-Verdi) it has recently been announced that come this January 29, 2019, a much anticipated reveal of some never-before seen 5434 autograph pages of Verdi – which include“changes, corrections and uncertainties”written in the composers hand to his own scores, in addition to notes, each separated into envelopes housed in the large trunk – will be presented in the form of a yearbook by compiler Sandro Carrelletto of theInstitute of Veridian Studies. The documents contained within are invaluable to scholars of the composer as they detail the intimacies of Verdi's composition process, and offer never-before heard versions of famous operas such asFalstaff, Ballo in Maschera; and include modification, notes and on-the-fly corrections from all of the composers' masterpieces, from La Traviatato Rigoletto,Aidato Don Carlos, and evenLuisa Millerto his choral collectiveQuattro pezzi sacri.
The reveal comes after a three-year long petition by esteemed maestri (from the likes ofDaniel Barenboim,Zubin Mehta,Sir Simon Rattle,Riccardo Chailly,Daniele Gatti,Antonio Pappano,Salvatore Accardoand Plácido Domingo) to the Minister of Cultural Heritage and to the President of the Republic to make this indispensable memorabilia accessible.
Listen below to a stunning performance of Verdi's seldom heard Quattro pezzi sacri (Four Sacred Works), performed by the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of maestro Zubin Mehta.
Footnotes:
[1]Verdi's will included numerous charitable bequests, including to his former alma mater, the Monte di Pietà in Bussetto, which had famously presented the composer with a grant that had enabled him to study under Maestro Vincenzo Lavigna in Milan in 1832 through to 1836; the rights to his operas to Verdi's Retirement home for destitute musicians, the Casa di Riposo; farm lands to several aunts and uncles, and for the lion's share of his estate - the villa at Sant'Agata and all of his possessions contained within - went to Maria Filomena. Verdi's instructions were explicit:
"I oblige my heir to maintain the garden and my house in Sant'Agata in their present state, asking her to maintain in their present state all the meadows that surround the garden." The composer concluded his will with a bequest of 1000 lire, to be "distributed to the poor of the village of Sant'Agata."
Bonus video:
Watch below an exclusive interview with Carrara-Verdi presented by Opera Online in which the famous composer's present heir discusses the villa and the family's inheritance/preservation of the property and Verdi's possessions, with a bonus tour of the estate. In French and Italian, with incomplete English subtitles. Jump to 1:08 for discussion on the villa.
Posted on RAH vacancies: 06 December 2018 Application deadline: 12 noon, 04 January, 2019 Full details / Official listing: Royal Albert Hall (Jobs) *Interviews to be held week commencing 14 January 2019
Philharmonia Orchestra is currently seeking a TUTTI D-BASS Application deadline: 06 January 2019 Audition requirements / Official listing: Philharmonia *Auditions to be held 12, 13 February 2019
Fans of 18th century Italian composer Giovanni Battista Pergolesi's stunningly austere setting of Stabat Mater may be surprised with the jubilant nature of his recently discovered mass, first revealed to the international press in late March 2018. It seems, on face value, a rather odd pairing: buoyant vocal and orchestral dynamics set against the sacred text – one which contemporary composers of the Baroque era were apt to approach with a normally reserved - solemn, even – character. Considered lost for some 300 years, the present version of theMass in D Majorwas reconstructed from fragmented scores “scattered across different libraries”under the direction of musicologist Claudio Bacciagaluppi. Two versions exist of the work – an earlier version, and the modern transcription, dating from c. 1733, of which an excerpt (of“Gloria in excelisis deo”) can be heard below. As per Neapolitan tradition in the time of Pergolesi, the composer opted to set only the Kyriemovement and theGloria of the ordinary of the mass. It's assumed age, if indeed correct, parallels the composition of the B minor mass of his contemporary, Johann Sebastian Bach, who would begin writing his setting of the ordinary in the same year, completing his work 1749 (Bach's mass is believed to have been consummated in 1859 by a performance, in its entirety, long after the composer's death in 1750.) As some readers may already be aware, Bach counted among his musicians of influence the young Pergolesi (who died from complication arising from tuberculosis at the tender age of 26), famously arranging the latter's Stabat Mater into a non-Marian cantata based on a paraphrase of the German text of Psalm 51:“Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden," (BWV 1083.)
Just imagine what he could have done with Pergolesi's Mass!
Listen below to the world premiere recording of Pergolesi's Mass in D major, performed by Ghislieri Choir and Consort under Giulio Prandi (on the Arcana label.) Pergolesi's recently discovered work, which went on a quiet European 'tour' prior to the 2018 pressing, includes a motetto by the composer, Dignas Laudes Resonemus - a liturgical setting of a Latin text reconstructed from multiple versions of parts, and a fragment of a score held at the libraries of the Conservatory of Milan and the Abbey of Montecassino:
Commuters making use of Montreal's Metro system were treated with an impromptu serenade Saturday afternoon as world renowned Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma performed Bach's six suites for solo cello gratis as part of a six-continent, 36-stop global tour (dubbed "The Bach Project") in which the virtuoso will perform what is perhaps his most critically acclaimed repertoire. The makeshift stage on which Ma performed the very suites which made him a household name was erected at Montreal's StationPlace-des-Arts and incorporated poetry readings in English, French and Spanish accompanied by Ma's signature $2.5 million“Petunia,”designed in 1733 by luthier Domenico Montagnana. The concert, which aims to unite society and overcome differences through the medium of culture, wrapped up with a rousing jig played by the cellist, followed by an encore performance (with crowd participation) of “Hallelujah” in honor of the late Montreal-born rock icon Leonard Cohen. Speaking in fluent French[1] to the assembled crowd, Ma, a UN Messenger of Peace(a title he has held since 2006) reminded his audience:
“In the métro, you’re all linked together because you’re traveling together every day from one place to another. This is what unites us.”
The concert, which began at 2PM EST, was streamed live on the transit agency's Facebook page. President of the STM Philippe Schnobb summed up the performance quite succinctly when he quipped:
“This is art in the métro. Some people had come to the station specifically to see Yo-Yo Ma perform, while others stumbled upon the concert. They will go home and say: 'I don’t know what happened this afternoon, I went out to run some errands and I ended up singing Hallelujah with Yo-Yo Ma.' "
Ma's free concert surely must have come as something of a fortuitous surprise for fans of the revered musician who missed out on seeing their idol perform during Friday's sold-out concert at the Maison Symphonique. [2] A clip of Ma addressing the crowd and performing Bach's famous Prelude may be viewed below.
Did You Know?
This is not the first time an artist of such high stature has 'busked' in an underground rail system. American violinist Joshua Bell famously performed Bach's famous Chaconneincognito in Washington's L'Enfant Plaza in January 2007 as part of a sociological experiment on class perception in conjunction with the Washington Post, which earned a Pulitzer Prize for the stunt. Read more about Bell's appearance here on Unraveling Musical Myths.
French violinist Renaud Capuçon also performed the role of a busker two years later on line 6 of the Paris Métro in similar casual 'disguise' (Joshua wore a ballcap, while Renaud opted for a fedora.) Like Bell, who performed on his 3.5 million Strad (the “Gibson ex-Huberman,”) Capuçon “busked” with an invaluable instrument – a 1737 Guarneri (formerly owned by Issac Stern, nicknamed "Viscount de Panette.")
Capuçon's "performance" of the gorgeous Melodie from Christoph Willibald Gluck'sOrfed ed Euridice seen in the video above, was documented on camera for/featured in French filmmaker Simon Lelouch's short film 7.57 am-pm. He would perform two days following filming to a sold out crowd at Paris' Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
Footnotes:
[1]For my non-French speaking readers, Ma greeted the assembled crowd thusly: "Hello, ladies and gentleman, my friends! Very good? Tired, no? Thank you for your patience and for giving up your Saturday afternoon. Are you tired? (audience: NO!) But it's beautiful, yes? [pointing to screen] It's wonderful here in the metro - for everyone! And now I want to play something for you and we’ll see what happens, ok?"
[2]Intimate appearances by Ma are a staple of the musician's "Bach Project" campaign and tour. Each "Day of Action" as Ma refers to his more subdued appearances, follow, or are scheduled before a major concert appearance. Sociological issues ranging from the integration of AI technology and personal ethics, to the use of technology and media as a viable means to increase visibility on issues plaguing minorities, (all in the context of the uniting force of high culture) are discussed. A detailed briefing of today's 'Day of Action' may be found by visiting the link to "The Bach Project," listed below.
External links:
For more on this story and for an extended video of the performance, visit Global News.
Visit The Bach Project to learn more about Yo-Yo Ma's campaign and to keep abreast of forthcoming tour dates.
In light of the 227th observance of the death of Unraveling Musical Myths' favorite composer, Wolfgang "Amadè" Mozart, I have decided to launch early the first installment in my new series on the composer"The Mozart Files: Facts vs. Fiction."
I was first inspired to create this series after reading one too many articles containing often repeated, falsified accounts of Herr Mozart in both reputable news media and on educational-themed, pop-culture-slanted websites (which shall remain nameless.) Unfortunately where Mozart is concerned, details concerning his demise and of the events that occurred post-mortem are, and have been for generations, supported by as much - or perhaps even more - grandiose tales of legend than by factual biographical data which may be quite readily cross-referenced against archival material (much of it made available for public access via the modern trend of digitizing personal letters, registers, and related memorabilia.) Sometimes, discrepancies may be traced to poor translation from the German tongue - however more often, dubious accounts of Mozart's life have simply been passed down though the musical ages - fantastical dramatizations of otherwise unremarkable events that have permeated even the seams of modern pop-culture, often the direct result of overactive imaginations, exaggerations, and through the practice of quoting from quasi-biopic, dated material rife with fiction. How fitting it is, then, to begin with the funeral of Wolfgang Amadè Mozart, which occurred today - onthe7th of December, in 1791.
The reader may already be familiar with the melancholic story of Mozart, lying stiff in his coffin, the icy chill surrounding his corpse the result not just of a severe case of rigor mortis, but of an (appropriately) dramatic storm of snow, rain, violent wind (and thunder!) which raged so untameable it forced an already ill-manned procession (which may or may not have includedFranz Xaver Süssmayr as a pallbearer) to turn back at the gates of St. Marx Cemetery. You may have even bore witness to iconography depicting the same scene - or perhaps, even more pitiably, depicting a lonesome pup, it's tail tucked in between its legs and head drooped woefully toward the earth as it follows a horse-driven hearse with his friendless Master inside - together making the doleful journey toward the graveyard under the cover of a frigid, moonless night:
"Mozarts Begräbnis" - c. 1860 engraving depicting a fabled journey of Mozart's corpse w/ poem: "Mozart's Burial"
Translation of poem into English: "As the storm roars about, on the snow-covered field / On the final path, brightened by no beam of light / He heads on alone; no eye weeps for him, / Only his loyal dog follows along, his only friend."
This portrayal, attr. Joseph Heicke bears striking similarity to an earlier coloured French Print by Pierre-Roch Vigneron, "Convoi du Pauvre" (Poor Man's Procession, c. 1800), now in Austrian archives.Ludwig van Beethoven is said to have hung a copy of Vigneron's engraving in his home as a reminder of his hero's humble burial. Even through recycled
iconography, we find material originally and wholly unrelated to Mozart take on an apocryphal association post-mortem.
. Even notable early biographers have re-told their versions of the mournful scenario: an early biography byOtto Jahnhas Mozart "receiv[ing] Benediction at St. Stephen's Church"on December 6th - shortly before winter's early sunset at 3 PM, before being accosted by
"aheavy storm of snow and rain [which was] raging...[which caused] the few friends who had assembled for the funeral procession [to stand] with umbrellas around the bier.. [the body] was then carried through the Schulerstrasse to the Cemetery of St. Mark. As the storm grew worse, the mourners decided to turn back at the gate, so that not a friend stood by when the body was lowered into the grave."[1]
The first known appearance of this sordid scene was recorded in the Vienna Morgen-Post on 28 January 1856 (a whopping 65 years after Mozart's death.) The story below which made it to print has been attributed to tavern ownerJoseph Deiner (d. 29 May 1823)of"The Silver Snake." It was printed thusly:
"The night of Mozart's death was dark and stormy; at the funeral, too, it began to rage and storm. Rain and snow fell at the same time, as if Nature wanted to shew her angerwith the great composer's contemporaries, who had turned out extremely sparsely for his burial. Only a few friends and three women accompanied the corpse. Mozart's wife was not present. These few people with their umbrellas stood round the bier, which then taken via the Grosse Schullerstrasse to the St. Marx Cemetery. As the storm grew ever more violent, even these few friends determined to turn back at the Stuben Gate, and they betook themselves to the "Silver Snake."[2]
Memorial tablet at St. Marx Cemetery, positioned at a
location believed by some to be Mozart's grave. Image:
Invisigoth67 [CC BY-SA 2.5], Wikimedia Commons
Subsequent biographers further added their own variations to this scene: InHugoRiemann's Musiklexikon (1882), Mozart's"few friends"would not even make it to the cemetery gate - already having turned back halfway through the journey to the graveyard due to the fury of the storm.Ernest Newman, in hisStories of the Great Operas, published in 1928, posits the inclusion of composersJohann Georg Albrechtsberger,Emanuel Schikaneder, the baronGottfried van Swietenand evenAntonio Salierias members of the procession."It is thought,"Newman contests, the men were there, alongside a "faithfulSüssmayr"but that"heavy snow"and"appalling" weather...drove them home."
This contradicts the account told byGeorg Nikolaus von Nissen, early Mozart biographer and second husband of Mozart's widow Constanze, who reported that Schikaneder had steered clear of the procession and funeral for the latter's stated reason that"his ghost follows me everywhere, I see him wherever I look."[3] Even more curious is the allegation made by Joseph Deiner, the aforementioned owner of the Silver Snake Tavern and progenitor of the 'stormy burial' fable, who - despite the complete absence of corroborating accounts - places himself at Mozart's funeral as a member of the procession.
Such romantic, highly dramatic accounts of Herr Mozart were part and parcel of the oft-whispered tales of intrigue and scandal that surrounded the composer's final days. We have even seen Mozart depicted on the silver screen as a sort of morbid soothsayer - foreshadowing his own death through the creation of his own Requiem (for his own funeral, no less), and on both film and stage as an unwitting 'victim' of a grotesquely envious and frighteningly duplicitous Salieri. But such Doomsday-esque rumors didn't begin with Shaffer's “Amadeus,” nor even Pushkin's account of our beloved icon's demise. Like early biographers, they simply perpetuated myths, loosely based on fantastical interpretation and wild conspiracy theories. To put things into perspective, it was as recent at 1971, on the 180th anniversary of Mozart's death, that a “new” analysis into what killed the composer was published by biographers Johannes Duda,Gunter Kerner andDieter Dalchow(“Mozart's Tod 1791-1971”) which played on an age-old hypothesis of mercury poisoning first made famous immediately following the composers death.
*Early Mozart biographer, Franz Niemetscheck
may have had ulterior motives of the financial
ilk when he sought the testimonials of a deeply
indebted Constanze following the composers
untimely death. Much of these accounts have
since been discredited through the revelation
of contemporary registers and documentation.
His publication was the first full-length account
of Mozart's life - replacing the brief, 6000-word
mini-bio published 5 years earlier by Friedrich
Schlichtgeroll in the obituary volume "Nekrolog
auf das Jahr 1791."
It was the Czech philosopher Franz Xaver Niemetscheckwho would become Mozart's first (full length) post-mortem biographer.* Mozart's widow Constanze willingly provided testimonials, both verbal and written, of her late husband's life to the critic - for Stanzi, it was a means to an economic end: Wolfgang's outstanding debts now rested squarely on her shoulders.[†] Niemetscheck certainly new how to play to a crowd - he famously printed in his biography a tale allegedly regaled upon him by the widow Mozart who claimed she had walked with a sickly Wolfgang in the Prater, whereupon he suddenly turned to face her, and, overcome with delirium, informed her “Indeed, I have been given poison.”It didn't help matters when a delayed obituary, published one week after Mozart's death in a Berliner newspaper ("Musikalisches Wochenblatt”) announced, sight unseen, the state of his corpse:“Because his body swelled after death, it is believed he had been poisoned.”
Sensing a possible payday, aspiring writers almost immediately set pen to paper, expanding on Niemetschek's poison theory: potential assassins included disgruntled Freemasons to the wealthy baron van Swieten (who funded Mozart's third-class funeral), to Salieri, who was falsely alleged to have proclaimed himself a murderer whilst incarcerated in a mental asylum (an allegation later discounted by his around-the-clock caregivers.)** The reality is, we really don't know what killed Mozart. His cause and manner of death were never officially documented, save for a vague blip in a Viennese death register, written not by an attending physician, but rather a city official (as it was not customary for a doctor to prepare a death certificate in 1791 Vienna.) It simply reads:
“On 5 December 1791, the honorable Wolfgang Amadeus K.K. Kappellmeister and chamber composer died in a small Kaiserhouse in Rauhensteinergasse in Vienna of fevered prickly heat”[4]
Excerpt from the Official death register at St. Stephen's.
Dated 6.12.1791, this timestamp is widely believed among
modern scholars to have been an error on the part of the
city official who recorded it. A known laxity in regard to
attention to detail combined with multiple contemporary
weather reports (both public and private) refute a
December 6 burial for Herr Mozart.
Given that the description offered forth in the official register is symptomatic – not diagnostic – compounded by the fact that no DNA exists of Mozart's corpse – his remains now lost to the world – one can only offer educated guesses, or, as has often been the case, substitute for fact outright fiction in order to fill in the blanks. Modern analyses frequently presented by physicians theorizing in absentia must therefore be interpreted with much caution. Regardless of advances in modern medicine and technology, one must be mindful of the primitive state of medicine in the late 18th century. The symptom of “hitziges Frieselfieber” attributed to Mozart was a common one in Mozart's time – and it ran the gamut, covering a variety of maladies, both treatable and fatal. We mustn't forget the era in which Mozart lived, thrived, and died was not far removed from medieval interpretation and treatment of disease. But what can be ascertained – and most certainly has been ascertained through the discovery of archival material are the circumstances surrounding Mozart's funeral. We now know, thanks to the revelation of contemporary documents, that Mozart's funeral did not occur on the 6th of December, nor was a violent storm brewing that afternoon. An entry in the diary of Saxon-Austrian civil servantKarl von Zinzendorf, well known to Mozart, dated 6th December 1791 (the day of the alleged funeral) describes"mild weather and frequent mist"– a far cry from a thunderous storm or frigid blizzard. Additionally, a weather report which appeared in the court sanctionedWiener Zeitung(Vienna Newspaper)speaks only of a"light north wind and temperatures hovering slightly over freezing."[5]
In other words, the skies were clear.
Groundbreaking research byDr. Carl Bär in the late 20th century would uncover even more documented evidence refuting the accounts of a December 6th burial. In an erudite report, "Mozart, Krankheit, Tod und Begräbnis" (1967, 2/ 1972), Bär would expose in detail the fine minutiae of Josephine law in regard to burials. Chiefly, Mozart's body could not have been buried in daylight hours. If "Benediction" truly occurred at 3PM, even a leisurely walking pace 4.1 km south to St. Marx would have taken under an hour, placing the funeral party at the cemetery just before 4PM. Even with the early sunset brought upon by the winter season, the sky would not have been devoid of light - the procession would have arrived at Stuben gate well before Twilight. Furthermore, a law, enforced by Joseph IIstrictly forbade even the parking of hearses in front of local taverns before sundown. Bodies were only permitted to receive burial following sunset (after 6 PM) - a by-product of an not-always irrational fear of being buried alive which had seized Vienna and even permeated the Imperial court (such events did occur - this was the 18th century.) The Emperor's new law decreed that a mandatory48 hour period must elapse before a body could be interred – an exercise in overabundant caution against the potential of an unfortunate soul being buried whilst in a coma.[6]
Not Mozart's grave: this mid-19th century lithograph, after an
original engraving, depicts the result of an official inquiry into
the "disappearance" of Mozart's corpse. Held in 1855, it relied
on the testimonies, provided no earlier than a half-century post
mortem, of an auditor (who offered memories from his youth
of being told of the location of the grave by his mother), the
dubious assertion by the Sexton at St. Marx, who claimed to
have been in possession of "Mozart's skull" (which he later
alleges he transferred to the anatomist Josef Hrytl), and from
the word of flautist Carl Scholl, whose shaky credibility lay
only in the fact that he knew Mozart personally whilst the
composer was alive. This engraving may be arguably viewed
an early example of the type of rumor, built on confusion, that
enabled later inquirers to plant the seeds of a "mass grave
theory." Note the numerous, unnamed crosses which dot the
surface of a large mound. (see: footnotes)
- "Grab von Wolfgang A. Mozart," anon., Österreich. .
This would have placed Mozart at St. Marx Cemetery on theeveningof the 7th December. Eyewitness accounts to the composers' Consecration survive which place his body at a side chapel (the Crucifix Chapel) adjacent St. Stephen's Cathedral though the night of the 6th,[7] yet the dramatic account of an afternoon burial that day continue to persist even today. Such apocryphal legends do have their place, however, in painting a picture of Mozart: a bright light, burning like a seemingly unquenchable flame – violently snuffed out by King Death storming in on his black steed, scythe at the ready to snatch away the bright beacon on the hill, resigning his soul to an empty fate within the depths of a lonely, dark abyss. We see this pitiable picture painted anew with a fresh coating as Mozart's corpse is said to have been callously tossed into a mass grave to rot among strangers – all of them too poor to have afforded a casket and individual grave, too destitute for anyone to claim them. Lost to the world. Except, nothing could be further from the truth. Mozart may have had a third-class funeral (note: not a "pauper's funeral" as it is frequently described), and one which was funded through a former colleague (by the baron van Swieten), however he was not, by modern, or even by contemporary standards, “poor.” Mozart's final year on earth was shockingly productive, and he earned a handsome enough wage to live comfortably in Vienna.[8] His debts, on the other hand, were insurmountable – he frequently borrowed more than he could pay back, his wages being spent on both frivolous (such as on a horse and carriage and an expensive apartment far larger than was necessary to house his small family) and on arguably necessary means: the sudden death and hasty burial of infant daughter Anna Maria two years previous and Constanze's spa treatments at Baden alone were enough to set Wolfgang's ledger askew.
Dramatic depictions and even Deifications of Mozart after death were not solely relegated to the literary sphere.
In this engraving by Amadeus Wenzel Böhm"Apotheose W. A. Mozart," we witness, alongside a weeping
Constanze and the couple's infant son, Franz Xaver, the "Apotheosis," or divinization of Mozart, as he transcends
the invisible barrier between earth and heaven, and between mortal man and immortal god. Note the flowing
Roman-esque coiffure sported by Mozart on his 'graveside' cameo (a nod to the god of music, Apollo, with whom the composer was often compared) and the Marian-like draped garments worn by Constanze. It is hardly a surprise that little Franz is depicted in the nude - Böhm's engraving is drenched in both pagan and religious symbolism. The presence of nine stars which form a halo (the colloquial "Crown of Immortality") around Mozart's cranium may also contain Masonic significance.
A similar depiction of an antiquated Mozart could be formerly found in a medallion of red wax over moulding, fashioned in ca. 1788 by the composers' confidante Leonhard Posch. That medal, which also depicts a long-tressed Mozart, disappeared from the Mozart Museum in Salzburg in 1945.
To begin to understand Mozart's burial – in ashaftgrave, not a “common” or “mass” grave - we must first seek to comprehend the strict by-laws enforced by Joseph II at the time of the composer's passing. On 23 August 1784, the emperor issued his“Burial Regulations of Joseph II” (Josephinische Begräbnisordnung.)[9]For reasons believed to be related to sanitation, not forgoing the possibility of being interred alive, the Emperor felt it necessary to stipulate how the body of a deceased individual could be properly disposed. His propositions included being wrapped in a linen sack and being covered in quicklime in order to aid in decomposition. By this logic, not only would the application of a caustic compound free up much needed space, the practice of dumping of corpses in linen sacks in lieu of coffins would provide the Emperor leeway to levy what he felt were fruitless expenses. These regulations, however, ignited a furore among Viennese citizens, still reeling from the scandal decades earlier of mass graves filled with victims of the plague,[10] leading to the eventual revocation of the linen sack clause, which gained legal authority on 20 January 1785 in the revised K.K. Erblande.[11]The emperor was forced to decree the burial of corpses in coffins. These were not the apocryphal “false bottomed” coffins of lore, but individual coffins, which were to be stacked, five to six on top of another in a deep vertical pit known as a shaft grave. This was not, by any means, an instruction to dig a large mass grave for the burial of untold numbers of bodies. By the time of Mozart's death in 1791, the laws governing lackluster burials previously attempted by the Josephine leadership in 1784 had been made redundant for more than half a decade - quite simply, they were no longer - and never had been - enforceable during this period.
"Allegorie auf den Genius Mozarts" (Allegory on the Genius
of Mozart) by Stich von Johann Adolf Roßmäßler depicts an
angelic putto crowning the 'god' Mozart, with a musician-angel
dictating music from the heavens to an earthly being - a play
on the age-old belief that Mozart's compositional gifts were
channeled from up on high by means of divine intervention.
As is the case with Böhm's engraving above, this too, depicts
the "apotheosis" of Mozart after death. | Österreich, 1794 |
A 3 tiered "class"-system remained in effect,[12]however - it dictated the level of ceremony (and, to an extent, the location of burial) for Viennese citizens. At the top of the hierarchy was the aristocracy - although a first class burial could be purchased even by a civilian for the right price. This has been colloquially referred to as a "Class One" funeral (not an official designation.) "Class Two" was reserved for public figures who could afford, through a last Will and Testament, donation, or other source of income a respectable "showing" (Beethoven was Class Two), and lastly and most common, there was "Class Three," to which most citizens, including Mozart belonged.
By the time of Mozart's death in 1791, the shaft grave was not at all an uncommon form of burial. It was economic for both Crown and state, and, foregoing dissolving bodies in quicklime, saved precious space. These vessels, however, often proved problematic - the graves would be cleared and re-used every nine years, leading to many a lost corpse. As of the writing of this post, we still do not know the precise location of Mozart's remains. Further compounding the issue of shaft burial was Joseph II's decision to shutter all graveyards within the city wall, and build new ones outside of it for "health concerns" at the end of the 18th century, citing a mid-sixteenth century ordinance on the same grounds. Some bodies were shifted, many were lost (Vivaldi's corpse was lost this way). This left Vienna with very limited space to bury it's increasing population. As such, the vertical shaft grave was preferred en masse, and tombstones identifying the deceased were discouraged, although memorial tablets could be affixed to the perimeter wall. Mozart's burial was not one performed in disgrace, but in necessary custom, enforced by a government seeking to rein in unnecessary expense, and was directly proportional to one's status and wealth at the time of death. This concludes this installment of Mozart Myths: Facts vs. Fiction.
Be sure to check back in periodically for the next episode!
Enjoy below an English rendition of Mozart's aria "Ruhe Sanft, Mein Holdes Leben" (Safely Rest, my chosen lover.) English soprano DameFelicity Lott sings an exquisite Zaide for the fabulous - yet fictional - masterpiece, "Amadeus," under maestro Neville Marriner.
Footnotes:
[†]It must also be mentioned that the widow Mozart, quite in contrast to her rather demure visage and unremarkable artistic talents, possessed an impressively shrewd business acumen. Whilst Mozart lay under the frozen earth at St Marx - unattended by his wife - Constanze was busy amassing what would eventually become a sizeable sum and liveable wage on Terra firma. Her activities following her husband's untimely demise were carefully orchestrated to both exploit her status as the lonesome widow of a remarkable genius, and to fully capitalize, to the best of her efforts, on Mozart's legendary status. Much has been made by biographers writing on Constanze about a free-verse poem, allegedly written in her own hand, in Wolfgang's Stammbuch (visitor album) adjacent a dedication made by the composer himself to a fallen friend and former doctor who had recently passed. That poem, which reads:
"What you wrote long ago, in honor of your friend, I repeat here for you, weighed down as I am by grief. Beloved husband! Mozart! Immortal for me and for the whole of Europe, you too, are at rest, now - forever!! At one hour after midnight, during the night of December 4 to 5th of this year, He departed, in his 36th year - too soon, Oh! how much too soon - eight years bound us together with an affectionate, indelible bond! Oh! that I may soon be united with you forever. your wife, distraught with grief Vienna, December 5th, 1791 Constanze Mozart née Weber."
Mozart's widow Constanze proved to be
ever the shrewd businesswoman following
her famous husband's death.
has clearly been "pre-dated" (i.e. written at a much later date following Mozart's funeral, and subsequently added to the Stammbuch under the date of his death on the 5th December.) What this proves is that much like the old adage which decrees a morsel of truth must lay behind every fiction, accounts of Constanze's noticeable absence at her husband's funeral (as regaled by Joseph Deiner) were in fact, correct. But then, there were more pressing matters at hand for Stanzi - chief among them included the welfare and education of her two young sons with Wolfgang: Karl Thomas, aged 7, and 5 month-old Franz Xaver (the latter of whom would later receive an all-star tutorship under Antonio Salieri, Georg Joseph Volger, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger and Johann Nepomuk Hummel, financed through the generous donations of her late husband's former colleagues and friends - both boys would also receive education in Prague under Niemetschek, in whom Constanze would collaborate on the first post-mortem biography on Mozart.) In less than one week following Mozart's death, Stanzi petitioned Leopold II for a pension in spite of restrictions which prohibited a bereaved party from receiving one should the deceased spouse have been in the Emperor's employ for under the mandatory 10 years required. It would be at the insistence and under the influence of the residing Minister of Finance, one Count Chotek, who pointed out that
"it would seem unbecoming for the imperial court to reduce to a beggar's state the widow of a man of such rare talent who had been in the Emperor's service"
Constanze after her marriage to Herr
von Nissen. This miniature by
Thomas Spitzer showcases Mozart's
former spouse clad in a lavish gown
and donning resplendent pearls.
that Leopold conceded. Constanze was granted a small percentage of her husband's annual salary (1/3, or 800 gulden) during his tenure as Imperial Chamber Composer, which was to begin retroactively, to 1 January, 1792.
Additionally, despite playing up the role of an impoverished widow (as a potential means of avoiding paying an inheritance tax), Mozart's debtors, would by all appearances, offer a fresh start for Stanzi - Wolfgang's chief creditor (and friend), the merchant Michael Puchberg (of whom Mozart owed 1000 gulden) refused to file a claim against the deceased composer's estate, setting a trend that would be followed by Mozart's remaining creditors. According to Nissen, theirs - and Puchberg's - names and claims were unanimously absent from the customary "Notice to all Creditors." Constanze, would, however, re-reimburse Puchburg, albeit at a much later date, thanks in part to finances earned whilst holding a series of memorial concerts in her late husband's honor. The remunerations received by Constanze via the Imperial court paled in contrast to the sizable fortune Mrs. Mozart would soon make through these concerts, launched throughout Vienna and Prague with sister (and Wolfgang's former love interest) Aloysia Lange as the star attraction (performing gratis, as it were, so that all profits went straight to Stanzi and her sons), and even billing on one occasion Ludwig van Beethoven - who adored Mozart - to perform Wolfgang's piano concerto in D minor. In addition to selling her husband's manuscripts and collaborating with Franz Xaver Niemetschek in addition to future husband #2, (Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, a Danish diplomat) on a biographies detailing the life of her first (the latter work she would sell in 1828, two years following Nissen's death), Constanze was able to enjoy a comfortable, well-traveled life post-Wolfgang. Outliving Mozart by 51 years, Stanzi would perish on 6th March 1842 at the age of 80.
With Mozart having passed some nine days earlier at his home in Vienna and with his Requiem left unfinished, it fell to the Bohemian composer in Prague,Antonio Rosetti (Anton Rösler)to provide the customary Mass for the Dead at a memorial service held in the Czech capital, where a ceremony was all but expected for the celebrated departed.
Mozart had strong ties to Prague and had been in the city mere months before his untimely death – he had been commissioned to write an opera forEmperor (Leopold II's) coronation festivities. La Clemenza di Tito would premiere at the still-standing Estates Theatre on the the 6th of September – three months and a day prior to Wolfgang's death. By this time, Mozart was already sickly - he would fall bedridden shortly after his return to Vienna.
News of Mozart's eventual death spread like a tidal wave back in Prague. A memorial service was at once organized in the city, which took place on the 14th of December, 1791 at the Lesser Town parish Church of St. Nicholas, led by its residing regens chori, Jan Joseph Strobach. It was here, under Kapellmeister Strobach, that Rosetti "premiered" what would become known as his “Requiem for Mozart”(it was originally his Requiem in E Flat, composed to mark the death of thePrincess of Oettingen-Wallersteinin 1776.)
The citizens of Prague so loved Mozart, that the 100-plus musicians performing the mass did so without accepting a fee. Some 4000 spectators flooded the Church and surrounding area to hear the Requiem, and to bid farewell to their idol.
Listen to Rosetti's Requiem for Mozart below. The Prague Singers and Camerata Filarmonica Bohemia perform under Johannes Moesus:
Footnotes:
The results of the official inquiry into the location of Mozart's remains were announced in 1855, to
coincide with the upcoming 100th anniversary of the composers' birth. It concluded the following:
"The place where Mozart's body was buried on 6 December 1791 is a long shaped quadrilateral at St. Marx' cemetery which is in the direction of the cemetery's cross adjoining the entrance, on the right of the main path and in the fifth row of the common grave. It is planted with young willows."
** An "Attestation of Salieri's Two Attendants", being the infirmieri of the former (with a "confirmation" by
the medical attendant to the composer, one Dr. Rörhik) was penned in
Vienna on 5 June 1825 (nearly one month after the death of the composer)
and subsequently published in the October 1826 issue of Harmonicon (4, no. 46. pp. 189-90).
Seen at right, it reads:
"We the undersigned, who are, by profession, attendants on the sick (infermieri), declare, in the presence of God and man, that in the spring of 1824, we were called to attend the Cavaliere Salieri, maestro di capella
to the Royal court, and that during the whole course of his long
illness we never quitted him a single moment; that is, when one of us
was absent, the other always remained in attendance. We also attest,
that in consequence of his weak state, no one was permitted to visit him
except ourselves and his medical attendants; it being judged proper
that not even the members of his own family should see him. With
respect, therefore, to the following question put to us; Whether it
is true that the aforesaid Cavaliere Salieri had said, during his
illness, that he had poisoned the celebrated composer Wolfgang Mozart?
- we reply, upon our honour and conscience, that we never heard such
words uttered by the said Salieri, nor the slightest mention of anything
alluding to it.
In confirmation of this, we subscribe our names as follow;
GIORGIO ROSENBERG, Infermiere
AMADEO PORSCHE, Infermiere presso il Signor Salieri, Maestro di Capella di Corte.
Vienna, 5th June 1825.
N.B. Dr. Rörhik, the medical attendant of Salieri, confirms, as far as his knowledge goes, the above statement made by the two assistant infirmieri."
Author's note:
It
is worthy to note that piano virtuoso Ignaz Moscheles claimed a denial
by Salieri himself. Contained within a collection of letters and diary entries penned
by Moscheles and later published after his death by the pianist's wife
Charlotte ("Aus Moscheles Leben, Nach Briefen und Tagebüchern" ) is a recollection of a conversation shared with an ailing Salieri, in which he allegedly begs of his former pupil: "Although I am mortally ill, I assure you in good faith that there is no truth to that absurd rumor. Mozart, you know - I am supposed to have poisoned him. But no, it's malice, nothing but malice. Tell the world, dear Moscheles; old Salieri, who is about to die, told you so himself."[13]
The dubious assertion that Salieri "confessed" to "poisoning" Mozart in a state of weakened delirium has long been a rumor that just won't quit. Far from being the salacious sort of gossip spread by the whispering of lips behind closed doors and among select company, the tale of Salieri's pitiful mea culpa even made it to print: a correspondent's report from Vienna printed in the May 25 issue of the Leipzig Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung in 1825 - some thirty years following Mozart's death - reads: "Our worthy Salierijust won't die - as the popular expression goes. His body suffers all the infirmities of old age, and his mind is gone. In his distorted fantasies he actually claims to be partially responsible for Mozart's death - a bit of lunacy which surely no one but the poor, delirious old man believes."[14]
Bibliography:
[1]Slonimsky, Nicolas: "The Weather at Mozart's Funeral," The Musical Quarterly Vol. 46 No 1 p. 12, Jan. 1960, after Jahn, Otto: Life Of Mozart, Vol. III, 1856 [2]Deutsch, Otto Erich, Mozart: A Documentary Biography tr. Noble, Jeremy, 1965 [3]Nissen, Georg Nikolaus von: Biographie W.A. Mozarts, Leipzig, 1828, p. 572 [4]Bär, Carl, Mozart: Krankheit, Tod und Begräbnis, 1966 pp. 7-10 [5]Abert, Hermann tr. Spencer, Stewart, ed. Eisen, Cliff: W.A. Mozart, 2007, p. 1310 [6]Bär, Krankheit, pp. 126-157 [7]Abert, W.A. Mozart, p. 1310 [8]Keefe, Simon P.: Mozart 1st ed. (The Late Eighteenth Century Composers, excerpt: "Mozart in the Market-Place," Moore, Julia: Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 64, 1989, pp. 18-42) [9,10,11]Lorenz, Michael: "Mozart and the Myth of Reusable Coffins," 1 July, 2013 [12]Stafford, William, after Bär, Carl: The Mozart Myths: A Critical Reassessment, 1991, p. 50 [13]Braunbehrens, Volkmar: Mozart and Vienna, 1991, pp. 409 [14]ibid., p. 408
[†]Gärtner, Heinz: Constanze Mozart: After the Requiem, 1991, pp. 10-19; Cantagrel, Gilles: Mozart: Letters and Manuscripts, 2005, p. 202; Servatius, Viveca: Constanze Mozart: Eine Biografie (auf Deutsch), 2018, p. 136
