Mozart Week 2019

“Each year around the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.”   

Mozarts Geburtshaus, the house in which Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, on Getreidegasse, is now one of the most frequently visited museums in the world. The exhibition, which spreads over three floors, carries the visitors into Wolfgang’s world, telling when he began to make music, who his friends and patrons were, how the relationship with his family looked like, how strong was his passion for the opera… Here can be seen portraits, original manuscripts and documents, as well as personal objects and musical instruments on which he has played: his childhood violin and the clavichord on which he composed a few of his wonderful works.  

In the heart of the Salzburg historic district, next to the Residenzplatz and in front of the Salzburg Museum, you will find Mozartplatz, Mozart Square. The Mozart statue standing there is dedicated to the city’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Designed by German sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler, the Mozart monument stands in the middle of the square. Bavaria’s King Ludwig I was one of the driving forces behind the installation of a statue in honor of Mozart. He personally invested a significant sum of money and also financed a marble base, which is today one of the holdings of the Salzburg Museum. The monument was built in 1842, more than 50 years after the death of the great composer.

In Makartplatz there is Mozart-Wohnhaus, the residence where Mozart lived between 1773 and 1781 (the year when he left for Vienna). The building was severely damaged in the Second World War’s bombings, but it was faithfully reconstructed and today hosts the second important Mozart museum in Salzburg.  

The fascinating history of how Mozart Residence was saved and reconstructed can be read on the page of The Mozarteum Foundation from the anniversary year 2016 (20 years since the official opening of the rebuilt Mozart Residence).  

In the spacious rooms visitors can see portraits and original documents, manuscripts of Mozart’s works from the Salzburg years, Wolfgang’s original fortepiano, as well as the famous Family Portrait in the Master’s Dance Hall (Tanzmeistersaal). 

It is said that Mozart once played the organ of Trinity Church on Makartplatz. In a new concert series known as “Musica Sacra Trinitatis“, every Saturday works by important composers are performed on the organ with instrumental or vocal accompaniment.  

The programme of the Mozart Week 2019 is beautiful, with concerts taking place in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, Grosses Festspielhaus, Wiener Saal Mozarteum, Universitaet Mozarteum, Mozart-Wohnung. Mozart’s Birthday is celebrated, on January 27, with Specials in Mozart’s Birthplace and other events! 

Salzburg is a city of Music: during the year extraordinary performances take place in churches, in palaces, in concert halls… Salzburger Schlosskonzerte is one of the biggest musical events in the world: the concerts take place in the marble hall of the Mirabell Palace, there where, in another time, young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played himself !  

On Mozart Week, or whenever you are in Salzburg, give yourself the joy of discovering the beauties of a city whose cultural, historical and memorial values are treasured and respected!  

Images: credits specified there where available,

or images from the internet assumed to be in the public domain.

DISCLAIMER – I don’t claim credit or ownership on the images taken from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain, used here. The owners retain their copyrights to their works. I am sharing the images exclusively for educational and artistic purposes – this blog is not monetized, and has no commercial profit whatsoever. Whenever I find the credits to internet images I am happy to add them. If you are the artist or the owner of original photos/images presented on this blog and you wish your works to be removed from here, or edited to include the proper credits, please send me a message and they will either be removed or edited. Thank you!

The magic of an old book

Thoughts and feelings have their own way of growing, blooming, weaving a story in your soul…

You open a book in an antique bookshop and your eyes see M. DCC. XLII. Then you jump to the last page and realize you can afford it! After that you take the book next to it and read MDCCLXXX, and the last page shows a price comparable to that of a book published in 2016! You call for help in your mind, and come across some memories left by your high school teacher’s insistence on the Roman numerals.  You wonder which of the two would explain it: the antiquarian had had a drink too much the night before pricing the book, or he cannot read Roman numerals… the second seems less likely, so it’s probably the first. Whatever the reason, this is a “buy and run” moment!

Sadly, the same antiquarian seems to have been one hundred percent sober when he priced a MDCCLXIII book printed in Augsburg, with marvelous Gothic writing on the rough paper…

In 1763 Leopold Mozart, born in Augsburg in 1719 as the eldest son of a master bookbinder, had been living in Salzburg for 27 years. The year when this book was manufactured he was travelling with his little Wolfgang and Maria Anna to make their extraordinary musical talents known to the world, and Augsburg was their second stop – Leopold was returning to his birthplace as a proud father of two wonderfully gifted children, and the three concerts given by the music prodigies in Augsburg, end of June-beginning of July 1763, were part of the Mozart Family Grand Tour, which would last over three years, from 9 June 1763 to 29 November 1766.

Augsburg, 1763. A beautiful book is printed in a workshop. Leopold Mozart returns to his birthplace with his son and daughter.The first public concert is given by the Mozart Children on 28 June. The second on 30 June. The third, and last one, on 4 July. The book that you are holding in your hands is a bridge between you and the past…

Whenever I visit an antiquaire I can close the door to the outside world, travel in time, dwell into the past, into its infinite worlds to which I feel connected through the magic of old books, with their rough paper and magnificent writing and ornaments…

I left the 1763 book on the shelf, with a sigh. She will be waiting there for someone who can afford to buy her, and, through her, delight in the feeling of connecting with a moment in the past when an Augsburg workshop sent her on a long journey through time, a travel of 255 years, until she reached the shelf of an antique bookshop in my town…

Mozart Week 2018

“Each year around the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.”  

Mozarts Geburtshaus, the house in which Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, on Getreidegasse, is now one of the most frequently visited museums in the world. The exhibition, which spreads over three floors, carries the visitors into Wolfgang’s world, telling when he began to make music, who his friends and patrons were, how the relationship with his family looked like, how strong was his passion for the opera… Here can be seen portraits, original manuscripts and documents, as well as personal objects and musical instruments on which he has played: his childhood violin and the clavichord on which he composed a few of his wonderful works.  

In the heart of the Salzburg historic district, next to the Residenzplatz and in front of the Salzburg Museum, you will find Mozartplatz – Mozart Square. The Mozart statue standing there is dedicated to the city’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Designed by German sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler, the Mozart monument stands in the middle of the square. Bavaria’s King Ludwig I was one of the driving forces behind the installation of a statue in honor of Mozart. He personally invested a significant sum of money and also financed a marble base, which is today one of the holdings of the Salzburg Museum. The monument was built in 1842, more than 50 years after the death of the great composer.

In Makartplatz there is Mozart-Wohnhaus, the residence where Mozart lived between 1773 and 1781 (the year when he left for Vienna). The building was severely damaged in the Second World War’s bombings, but it was faithfully reconstructed and today hosts the second important Mozart museum in Salzburg. 

The fascinating history of how Mozart Residence was saved and reconstructed can be read on the page of The Mozarteum Foundation from the anniversary year 2016 (20 years since the official opening of the rebuilt Mozart Residence).  

In the spacious rooms visitors can see portraits and original documents, manuscripts of Mozart’s works from the Salzburg years, Wolfgang’s original fortepiano, as well as the famous Family Portrait in the Master’s Dance Hall (Tanzmeistersaal). 

It is said that Mozart once played the organ of Trinity Church on Makartplatz. In a new concert series known as “Musica Sacra Trinitatis”, every Saturday works by important composers are performed on the organ with instrumental or vocal accompaniment.

The programme of the Mozart Week 2018 is beautiful, with concerts taking place in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, Grosses Festspielhaus, Wiener Saal Mozarteum, Universitaet Mozarteum, Mozart-Wohnung. Mozart’s Birthday is celebrated, on January 27, in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, in the morning (Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor K.491, Sir Andras Schiff with Cappella Andrea Barca performing), in the Tanzmeistersaal in Mozart’s Residence, at noon: concert on Mozart’s instruments (Fritz Kircher and Werner Neugebauer on Mozart’s violin, Herbert Lindsberger on Mozart’s viola, Josetxu Obregon on Violoncello), in the Grosses Festspeilhaus, in the evening (Mozart’s Symphony in C major K.551, the Wiener Philharmoniker with Robin Ticciati conducting). Among other wonderful concerts in the Mozart Week: on January 28, in the Grosses Festspielhaus, an evening of Mozart symphonies, Sir John Eliot Gardiner with the English Baroque Soloists performing; on January 29 in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum Daniel Barenboim playing Debussy; on January 29 in the Tanzmeistersaal in Mozart’s Residence a “Fugue workshop”: Florian birsak on Mozart’s fortepiano playing fantasies and fugues by Mozart, J.S. Bach, J.C. Bach, W.F. Bach, G.F. Handel, J.E. Eberlin, G. Muffat and J.J. Froberger, with a presentation by musicologist Ulrich Leisinger, addressing the question of the circumstances surrounding Mozart’s fugues; on the 1^st of February in the Wiener Saal Mozarteum Robert Levin playing Mozart piano sonatas; on the 2^nd of February in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum David Fray playing Mozart and Bach… and many others!

Salzburg is a city of Music: during the year extraordinary performances take place in churches, in palaces, in concert halls… Salzburger Schlosskonzerte is one of the biggest musical events in the world: the concerts take place in the marble hall of the Mirabell Palace, there where, in another time, young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played himself ! 

On Mozart Week, or whenever you are in Salzburg, give yourself the joy of discovering the beauties of a city whose cultural, historical and memorial values have always been respected by its rulers and inhabitants!  

Images: credits specified there where available,

or images from the internet assumed to be in the public domain.

DISCLAIMER – I don’t claim credit or ownership on the images taken from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain, used here. The owners retain their copyrights to their works. I am sharing the images exclusively for educational and artistic purposes – this blog is not monetized, and has no commercial profit whatsoever. Whenever I find the credits to internet images I am happy to add them. If you are the artist or the owner of original photos/images presented on this blog and you wish your works to be removed from here, or edited to include the proper credits, please send me a message and they will either be removed or edited. Thank you!

 

Christmas in Spring: W.A. Mozart ‘The New Complete Edition’

This is the Christmas present which came together with the first snowdrops! ❤

I am happy, and grateful! For the joy, for the love! ❤  

W.A. Mozart ‘The New Complete Edition’: 240 hours of Mozart’s music on 200 cd’s (including for the first time the Handel and Bach arrangements, and performances recorded on Mozart’s own instruments), symphonies and concertos on period instruments, two fully-illustrated hardback books, prints of the last authenticated portrait, two score manuscripts and a letter to his father (courtesy of Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation), a new Kochel Catalogue. 

Could one have wished for more? Well, maybe: to have that “In celebration of Mozart’s 225th anniversary” title on the box changed to “In celebration of Mozart”! In 2016 we celebrated 260 years from Mozart’s birth, and commemorated 225 years from his death, and since we cannot celebrate commemorations, “In celebration of Mozart” would have been ideal! Just like it would have been to see works of all the great Mozart scholars in the books! But apart from these, I don’t know if there is anything I could have wished for more! 

The W.A. Mozart ‘New Complete Edition’ is such a beautiful accomplishment that words are not enough to describe the joy of seeing it find its place in my Mozart shelf!

And Music made my heart sing when I opened my Christmas present, on a beautiful Spring day! ❤ ❤ 

Cafe Frauenhuber

In May 1775 Emperor Joseph II had opened Vienna’s Augarten to the public. He dedicated this beautiful place “to all people”, for their amusement, so dance halls, dining and billiard rooms, refreshment places were established, and restaurateur Ignaz Jahn was put in charge as traiteur. Ignaz Jahn had been appointed Imperial Caterer for Schonbrunn Palace in 1772. In 1775 he started running a restaurant in the Augarten (it was said that nowhere in the world you could drink any better coffee than at Jahn’s, in the Augarten), and later opened a Concert Hall adjacent to his other restaurant, in the main part of the city (now Himmelpfortgasse 6), a Concert Hall which would turn into a performance venue for famous musicians and composers in the years to come: among them, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven. 

Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” was performed at Jahn’s Hall in November 1788. His last appearance in public is said to have been the one of 4 March 1791. The first public performance of his “Requiem” would take place at Jahn’s Hall on 2 January 1793 – a benefit concert on behalf of his widow, Constanze, organized by Gottfried van Swieten in support of Mozart’s wife and sons. 

If we look for Jahns Traiteurie today, on Himmelpfortgasse, we will find Café Frauenhuber – presumably Vienna’s oldest coffee house! 

The coffeehouse changed names for a few times since 1824, then settled for Café Frauenhuber in 1891. In this building, two centuries ago guests were treated with musical entertainment by Mozart and Beethoven! Could any name have been more suitable for this street than “Heaven’s Gate” (Himmelpfort)? 

And yes, the waiter did address me with “gnädige Frau“, like I had read on the Welcome page of Café Frauenhuber! 

I recall the quiet time spent at this coffeehouse, savoring a hot chocolate in its intimate, refined, charming atmosphere, then outside, on the street, letting my eyes explore all the details of the building and its surroundings… It was late in the evening, and few people were passing by, and there was so much peace, like time had stood still, and you felt you could just close your eyes and start walking in Mozart’s footsteps… on the same street… on a 4th of March 1791… 

Et animae ejus bene precare!

MOZARDI 

TUMULO INSCRIBENDUM 

Qui jacet hic, 

Chordis Infans Miracula Mundi Auxit; 

et Orpheum Vir superavit.

Abi!

Et animae ejus bene precare! 

K. 

TO MOZART 

AN INSCRIPTION FOR HIS GRAVE 

(Mozart), Who rests here, 

As a child swelled the world’s wonders with the strings of his lyre; 

As a man, he surpassed Orpheus himself. 

Go hence! 

And pray earnestly for his soul! 

K. 

This epitaph was published in two newspapers in December 1791 and January 1792: The Wiener Zeitung of 31 December 1791 and the Grazer Burgerzeitung of 3 January 1792. 

Had this been inscribed on a commemorative plaque at that time, the place where he was buried might have not been lost. 

No commemorative plaque for Mozart was ever found. 

The Mozart Memorial in the St Marx Cemetery was erected where his grave is supposed to have been. Somewhere in that holy ground his mortal remains have found eternal rest. 

Go hence!

And pray earnestly for his soul! 

Mozart Week 2017

“Each year around the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.”  

Mozarts Geburtshaus, the house in which Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, on Getreidegasse, is now one of the most frequently visited museums in the world. The exhibition, which spreads over three floors, carries the visitors into Wolfgang’s world, telling when he began to make music, who his friends and patrons were, how the relationship with his family looked like, how strong was his passion for the opera… Here can be seen portraits, original manuscripts and documents, as well as personal objects and musical instruments on which he has played: his childhood violin and the clavichord on which he composed a few of his wonderful works.  

In Makartplatz there is Mozart-Wohnhaus, the residence where Mozart lived between 1773 and 1781 (the year when he left for Vienna). The building was severely damaged in the Second World War’s bombings, but it was faithfully reconstructed and today hosts the second important Mozart museum in Salzburg. 

The fascinating history of how Mozart Residence was saved and reconstructed can be read on the page of The Mozarteum Foundation from the anniversary year 2016 (20 years since the official opening of the rebuilt Mozart Residence).  

In the spacious rooms visitors can see portraits and original documents, manuscripts of Mozart’s works from the Salzburg years, Wolfgang’s original fortepiano, as well as the famous Family Portrait in the Master’s Dance Hall (Tanzmeistersaal). 

The programme of the Mozart Week 2017 is beautiful, with concerts taking place in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, Grosses Festspielhaus, Wiener Saal Mozarteum, Universitaet Mozarteum, Mozart-Wohnung. Among them Mozart’s D minor Piano Concerto no 20, K.466 (on 28 January in the Grosses Festspielhaus, with the Wiener Philharmonic conducted by Thomas Lengelbrock and Leif Ove Andsnes playing the piano) and the B-flat Major Piano Concerto no 27, K.595 (on 31 January in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Robin Ticciati and Maria Joao Pires playing the piano). K.595 has only recently appeared in the online program of the Mozart Week, having replaced the C Major Piano Concerto no 21, K.467, which is in both the printed and pdf form of the 2017 Program – a replacement that is not good news for those who bought a ticket especially for the C Major Piano Concerto no 21…  

Salzburg is a city of Music: during the year extraordinary performances take place in churches, in palaces, in concert halls… Salzburger Schlosskonzerte is one of the biggest musical events in the world: the concerts take place in the marble hall of the Mirabell Palace, there where, in another time, young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played himself ❤   

On Mozart Week, or whenever you are in Salzburg, give yourself the joy of discovering the beauties of a city whose cultural, historical and memorial values have always been respected by its rulers and inhabitants!  

Images: credits specified there where available,

or images from the internet assumed to be in the public domain.

DISCLAIMER – I don’t claim credit or ownership on the images taken from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain, used here. The owners retain their copyrights to their works. I am sharing the images exclusively for educational and artistic purposes – this blog is not monetized, and has no commercial profit whatsoever. Whenever I find the credits to internet images I am happy to add them. If you are the artist or the owner of original photos/images presented on this blog and you wish your works to be removed from here, or edited to include the proper credits, please send me a message and they will either be removed or edited. Thank you! 

‘Was soll ich die Musen…’

The first performance in Prague of “Le Nozze di Figaro” in Mozart’s presence took place on 17 January 1787, followed by a second performance on 22 January with the composer conducting. On their superb scholarly site “Mozart: New Documents”, Dexter Edge and David Black present a document dated 18 January 1787: a notice from The Oberdeutsche Staatszeitung (edited by Lorenz Hübner), stating that through a poem and two letters (one signed by the entire Prague Orchestra) Mozart was invited to come to Prague to see the “Figaro” which had already been acclaimed there a number of times in the end of 1786. Visit the site to read the excellent research in its entirety, and see the document : 

https://sites.google.com/site/mozartdocuments/documents/1787-01-18

Dexter Edge & David Black – 18 January 1787, Mozart’s invitation to Prague

“The first performances of Le nozze di Figaro in Prague took place in late autumn 1786. The precise date of the Prague premiere is unknown, but the first report on the opera in the Prager Oberpostamtzeitung on 12 Dec 1786 states that it had already been given a number of times (“einigemal”) by that point.

That same report cites a rumor that Mozart himself might come to Prague to see the production.

The new document transcribed here, from the Salzburg newspaper Oberdeutsche Staatszeitung, states that Mozart had been sent a poem and two letters, one signed by the entire Prague orchestra, inviting him to come to Prague to see the production. The content of the report closely mirrors Leopold Mozart’s letter to his daughter of 12 Jan 1787, six days earlier:

“Your brother will now be in Prague with his wife, for he wrote me that he would depart for there this past Monday [8 Jan]. His opera Le nozze di Figaro has been performed with such acclaim there, that the orchestra and a group of great connoisseurs and amateurs wrote him a letter of invitation, and sent a poem that had been written about him. I have it from your brother, and Count Starhemberg has received it from Prague. I will send it to you on the next post day. Mme. Duschek is going to Berlin, and the story that your brother will travel to England is repeatedly confirmed from Vienna, from Prague, and from Munich.”

The poem that accompanied the invitation to Prague was written by doctor and amateur actor Anton Daniel Breicha: “An Mozart bey Gelegenheit der Vorstellung der Oper le nozze di Figaro” (Dokumente, 248–49), first published as an individual sheet (a copy of which had been sent to Mozart and evidently also to Starhemberg), and subsequently printed in the anthology Blumen, Blümchen und Blätter edited by Johann Dionys John  (John 1787, 15–17).” 

Dexter Edge & David Black, eds., Mozart: New Documents, “18 January 1787 – Mozart’s invitation to Prague,” first published 13 May 2015, updated 2 Nov 2016. http://dx.doi.org/10.7302/Z20P0WXJ

And here is the poem…

“Was soll ich die Musen, begeistert von Dir,  

Um Beystand beschwören? Sey Muse du mir!  

Sey Du mir des Pindus beauschende Quelle!  

Ich hört’ Dich, melodischer Denker, und priess      

Dein Schopfertalent, und in’s Wonnermeer riss

Mich bald der empfindungen mächtigste Welle.

Zwar rollen bey Deinem Getöne nicht Wald,

Nicht Felsen herbey; nicht fabelhaft hallt

Dein sprechendes Spiel dem gefrässigen Tiger.

Doch bist Du der Fühlenden Orpheus mehr,

Bist Herrscher der Seelen, Dir fröhnt das Gehör

Der Kinder, der Mädchen, der Männer, der Krieger. 

Wenn Liebe Dein schmelzendes Saitenspiel tönt,

Sucht trunken der Jüngling sein Liebchen, und stöhnt,

Und heftiger hämmert der Busen dem Liebchen.

Sie winkt den Geliebten zum Göttergenuss,

Und mit in Dein Saitenspiel lispelt ein Kuss

Von Lippen des Jünglings, von Lippen des Liebchen…” 

Anton Daniel Breicha – AN MOZART, Bey Vostellung seiner Oper: Figaro. 1785.  

(Transcription from Georg Nissen’s “Biografie Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts”) 

 

 

‘Blumen, Blümchen und Blätter‘

Stat eines Prager Musenalmanachs 

Prag und Wien, 1787 

The Requiem Revealed

In the evening of 10 December 1791 the Requiem was most likely played for the first time! Gathered in St Michael’s Church in Vienna to attend the memorial for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the audience listened to the heavenly music that Mozart only ever heard within himself. As the Requiem unfolded to the world, Mozart was offering humanity his last, most precious gift, and the proof that he will go on living forever, through his divine Music. 

Four days after the burial, so the Auszug aller europäischen Zeitungen (European Press Digest) of 13 December reported, the Viennese “celebrated solemn obsequies for the great composer Mozart” in St. Michael’s Church. On the sixteenth, the Viennese journal Der heimliche Botschafter (The Secret Messenger), which circulated in scribes’ copies, identified the music at this service as “the requiem he composed during his final illness…” “In view of the manuscript’s unfinished condition, only the first movement, and perhaps the second with some instrumental touches added, could have been performed with orchestra; the other sections very likely took the form of Mozart’s choruses sung by a quartet and supported by organ continuo; plainchant might have filled the missing sections.” 

Maybe this is how Mozart’s Requiem sounded on that day of 10 December 1791… 

Prague marked Mozart’s death four days later with a requiem (a setting by Franz Anton Rossler, also known as Antonio Rosetti) in St. Nicholas’s, packed by a throng of more than four thousand overflowing into the surrounding streets.  

It has taken perhaps two hundred years for the world to realize fully and in all its aspects what this loss has meant to music – and to humanity. Haydn said: “Posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years!” Posterity has not seen it in two hundred.

Dr Michael Lorenz: “This is the standard work about the Requiem at St. Michael’s: ‘Mozart and the Practice of Sacred Music, 1781-1791‘ by David Ian Black”  

Odihnindu-se în pace…

“Dragul meu tată!

– în acest moment am primit o veste care mă întristează foarte mult – cu atât mai mult cu cât din ultima dumitale scrisoare am putut să presupun că te simți, slavă Domnului, foarte bine; – Dar acum aflu că ești cu adevărat bolnav! nu trebuie să-ți mai spun cât de mult tânjesc să primesc o veste consolatoare din partea dumitale; și o sper cu putere – deși mi-am făcut obiceiul să-mi imaginez întotdeauna și în toate privințele tot ceea ce poate fi mai rău – din moment ce moartea (când o luăm în considerare îndeaproape) este adevăratul scop al vieții noastre, mie de câțiva ani într-atât mi-a devenit de cunoscut acest sincer și foarte bun prieten al oamenilor, încât chipul lui nu mai are nimic înfricoșător pentru mine, ci mai degrabă îmi aduce liniște și  consolare! și îi mulțumesc dumnezeului meu că mi-a acordat prilejul (dumneata știi ce vreau să spun) de a înțelege că moartea este cheia care deschide ușa spre adevărata noastră fericire. – nu mă culc niciodată în patul meu fără a cugeta că aș putea (oricât de tânăr sunt) să nu mai fiu a doua zi – și nu există nici un om dintre cei ce mă cunosc care să poată spune că aș fi posac sau trist în relațiile mele – și pentru această binecuvântare îi mulțumesc zilnic Creatorului meu și o doresc din inimă fiecărui seamăn al meu…”

Viena, 4 aprilie 1787 

“Mon tres cher père!

– diesen augenblick höre ich eine Nachricht, die mich sehr niederschlägt – um so mehr als ich aus ihrem lezten vermuthen konnte, daß sie sich gottlob recht wohl befinden; – Nun höre aber daß sie wirklich krank seÿen! wie sehnlich ich einer Tröstenden Nachricht von ihnen selbst entgegen sehe, brauche ich ihnen doch wohl nicht zu sagen; und ich hoffe es auch gewis – obwohlen ich es mir zur gewohnheit gemacht habe mir immer in allen Dingen das schlimste vorzustellen – da der Tod |: genau zu nemen : | der wahre Endzweck unsers Lebens ist, so habe ich mich seit ein Paar Jahren mit diesem wahren, besten Freunde des Menschen so bekannt gemacht, daß sein Bild nicht allein nichts schreckendes mehr für mich hat, sondern recht viel beruhigendes und tröstendes! und ich danke meinem gott, daß er mir das glück gegönnt hat mir die gelegenheit |: sie verstehen mich : | zu verschaffen, ihn als den schlüssel zu unserer wahren Glückseligkeit kennen zu lernen. – ich lege mich nie zu bette ohne zu bedenken, daß ich vielleicht |: so Jung als ich bin : | den andern Tag nicht mehr seÿn werde – und es wird doch kein
Mensch von allen die mich kennen sagn können daß ich im Umgange mürrisch oder traurig wäre – und für diese glückseeligkeit danke ich alle Tage meinem Schöpfer u wünsche sie vom Herzen Jedem meiner Mitmenschen…”

Wien 4. April 1787

“Dearest father!

This very moment I have received some news which greatly distresses me – the more so as I gathered from your last letter that, thank God, you were very well; – But now I hear that you are really ill! I hardly need to tell you how eagerly I look forward to some reassuring news from you; and I hope for it – although I have now made a habit of being prepared for the worst in all affairs of life – as death (when we come to consider it closely) is the true goal of our existence, I have during the last few years come so know so well this best and truest friend of mankind, that his image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is rather very calming and consoling! and I thank my God for granting me the opportunity (you know what I mean) of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness. – I never lie down at night without reflecting that (young as I am) I may not live to see another day – and there is no one of those who know me who could say that in company I am sullen or sad – and for this blessing I thank my Creator every day and wish it from my heart to each one of my fellow men…”

Vienna, 4 April 1787

Source of German transcription: Ludwig Nohl
Source of English translation: Emily Anderson (slightly modified)

Source of image of excerpts from Mozart’s letter: The Berlin Staatsbibliothek.

Many thanks to Dr Michael Lorenz for the information that the digitized document is actually a copy dating from around 1850, in the handwriting of Ludwig von Köchel!

Mozart a parcurs drumul și ne lasă muzica…

“S-a spus de multe ori că miracolul lui Mozart ca muzician constă în această perfecțiune a formei pe care n-o găsești dacă aspiri la ea, dacă lași să se vadă efortul, chiar eroic, căutarea, chiar nobilă; da, Mozart este un moștenitor și cu el se desăvârșește o civilizație a muzicii, ale cărei rezultate savante și artificii sfinte el le rezumă cu o naivitate intactă și o simplitate divină; da, Mozart poartă în el, înnăscut, geniul experienței; prin natură, întreaga cultură; geniul său îl condamnă la perfecțiune: și se știe cum ne-o dă, supraabundent. Unui om aflat din punct de vedere fizic în pragul prăbușirii, gata să se dezintegreze, o ultimă stagiune îi impune efortul incredibil a două opere, fiecare epuizând inventivitatea, prospețimea ideilor creatorului său; și totuși, în acest timp,  în subteran, un întreg Recviem își sapă calea, conducând la alte nuanțe, la un alt ton. Acest exces de sarcini, la fel de urgente, la fel de pasionante, nu apasă asupra lui Mozart decât pentru a-l obliga în sfârșit să lase ceva neterminat, pentru a-i converti viziunea la deschidere. Până acum, cu mici excepții în Don Giovanni, Mozart nu a locuit decât în universul închis și binecuvântat al formelor, și doar melancolia muzicii sale, ea însăși acoperită cu vălul Maiei și ademenindu-ne cu frumusețea sa, dezvăluie strigătul sufletului. Dar iată că vălul se rupe. Titus și Flautul sunt creații ale secolului lor, ale lumii noastre, terminate, închise; dacă ceva evocă aici o lume de dincolo, nu e nici virtutea sublimă a unui suveran, cu atât mai puțin înțelepciunea preoților sau riturile lor; toate acestea mai degrabă ar reconforta și împăca – dar numai durerea. În vocea Vitelliei, a Paminei, durerea sfâșie vălul. Tot ce e strigăt al inimii la Mozart, fie că-l încredințează unui clarinet, unei viole sau unei voci de femeie, doar asta deschide către o altă lume și o reflectă deja cu această blândețe excesivă, care disperă și totodată consolează. Înainte de Recviem însă, nu există la Mozart muzică din altă lume, care să te smulgă din lumea aceasta. Neterminarea Recviemului nu înseamnă că moartea i-a smuls pana lui Mozart din mână înainte de a scrie muzica pentru cor ca să-l încheie; înseamnă că Mozart, cu pana în mână, pătrunde în sfârșit în propria lume de dincolo. Copil fiind, a văzut picturile de pe tavanul Capelei Sixtine; imaginea lor pune din nou stăpânire pe el, eclipsează, aneantizează aceste frumoase spații albe și aurii ale barocului pe unde trec atât de frumoși îngeri manieriști, purtători ai vreunei vești teribile. Până acum Mozart n-a scris decât muzică, dar muzică perfectă. Iată sunetul instantaneu: un sunet pur, erupție a materiei, ca un scandal. Tuba mirum spargens sonum. Sunetul acestei tube nu trezește nici un fel de admirație, cum s-ar traduce prost din latină; el uimește și dezrădăcinează, el expatriază; credeam că locuim în peisajul nostru uman, iată exodul. Astfel și culoarea, într-un tablou, pură erupție și prezență, trimite în zădărnicie tot ce se credea formă. În fața unui asemenea sunet, vocile noastre își inventează o declamație înfricoșată, haotică, pe care Mozart nu ne-a făcut niciodată s-o ascultăm. Aici Mozart intră în celălalt secol al său și ne lasă să înțelegem cine ar fi fost dacă s-ar fi născut în vremea și în spațiul lui Beethoven, în loc să se lupte de unul singur pentru ca apariția celor ca Beethoven să fie posibilă. O frescă prinde viață, prezențe redutabile își găsesc relieful, gestul. Mozart locuiește în ceea ce Kant al Criticii facultății de judecare, contemporanul său, numea peisajul Frumosului, unde totul e reconciliere, integrare, acord al universului cu fiecare; iată-l transpus în Sublim; mai mult cer înstelat ca să ne spună și norma și forma; mai mult din numărul de aur pentru ca cel mai adevărat să fie în același timp și cel mai frumos. Mozart nu intră în nedesăvârșit, ci în nedesăvârșibil; altă lume pentru altă artă; Deschisul. Recviemul este pragul unei cu totul alte inițieri decât aceea, foarte comună, care dintr-un ucenic face un maestru. Rilke a spus-o: “Cumplit e orișice înger.” Acestui mesager pe care-l evocă legenda trebuie să i se redea numele, etimologic și totodată rilkian: Îngerul. 

Recviemul nu se termină, iar Mozart se împlinește. Astfel, și asta purta în el: o izbândă a finisării și izbânda contrară; omul care se simte în largul său în trestia lui finită și omul demn în același timp de Dumnezeu, cum spune Pascal, sau demn de infinit, cum arată Mozart. Ritmul nebunesc, halucinant din Dies irae nu ar putea fi decât al lui Mozart, dar nu seamănă cu nimic din ce-a făcut Mozart, deși spaimele din Idomeneo și angoasele din Don Giovanni au pregătit pentru asta; și clarinete, oboaie și chiar corni, Mozart ni le-a făcut de neuitat în aceste aparteuri sau aceste dialoguri care sunt întreaga viață a concertelor sale. Dar acest sunet brusc, pur și care umple spațiul, ne trimite în același timp la elementar și la final, și, pentru a ne apăra de acest lucru, recurgerea la forme nu înseamnă nimic. Nu știu dacă marea suferință ne face mai buni, spune Nietzsche, dar sunt sigur că ne face mai profunzi. Chiar în clipa când se aude acest sunet care e stupoare (și chiar Mozartea, de îndată, stupebit), iată-l pe Mozart fără moștenire; și muzica a sfârșit-o cu Vechiul său Regim; un nou testament nu se scrie, iar cel vechi e perimat; există Arcadii unde nu vom mai dormi. Ce contează că Mozart nu a terminat? Cu totul altceva îi spune, ne spune Recviemul lui: Ascultați-mă altfel; folosiți acele urechi pe care le-a deschis în voi acest sunet teribil; și-l veți auzi cu totul altfel chiar și pe Mozart cel considerat cunoscut și desăvârșit; aceeași lume de dincolo, ascultați-o în prezent în Cosi fan tutte și adierile sale, în cvintete; acest sunet teribil, învățați să ascultați cât a costat ca să faci din el o melodie și o vrajă care ne surâd în Contesă, în Cherubino; ascultați-o pe Barbarina pe înserate, care n-a făcut decât să piardă un ac și al cărei suflet plânge. Mi-am pus jos pana, dar mi-am lansat săgeata și mă aveți pentru totdeauna în inimă, statornic și amical, Înger eu însumi. 

Miracolul lui Mozart: muzica sa se topește pur și simplu în sufletele noastre, dar și în simțurile noastre, mai întâi; în mod imperceptibil sensibilă (și chiar senzuală) și spirituală; astfel ne amintim că de la simțuri la suflet drumul nu e așa de lung, nici interdicția atât de severă. Doar Mozart, de la greci încoace, ne spune: Simțurile nu-ți sunt blestemate, sufletul nu ți se află în exil. Voce pentru sufletul cel mai rezervat, Mozart e înainte de orice binecuvântare, acest frison resimțit pe piele; concret și celest; bun-venit celui sociabil ca și celui solitar; sociabil pentru cel solitar. O, Înger! 

Averi i-au alunecat printre degete, funcțiile pe care le merită de o sută de ori ajung la alții – astfel el rămâne ca și noi: un om strâmtorat. Ni-l imaginăm pe Mozart înstărit? Căpătuit? Proprietar? Sau încărcat de ani și de onoruri și un tânăr spunându-i: tată, cum i-a spus el lui Haydn. El n-a venit pe lume ca să se îmbogățească pe sine, ci pe noi. Dacă se supără, întrerupându-se din cântat pentru că nimeni nu-l ascultă, e din cauză că nu trebuie risipită apa pură într-o lume care piere de sete. El nu este acest tânăr Iosif pe care Thomas Mann ni-l arată sub clar de lună felicitându-se pentru alegerea sa. Din copilărie se pregătește să fie Iosif, tatăl adoptiv, cel care va avea grijă de dezmoșteniții ce vor veni și acumulează, timp de șapte ani bogați, o adevărată comoară muzicală. 

N-a trebuit decât să cânte, ne spune Richard Strauss, iar sufletul omenesc, al cărui mister îl duce la disperare pe filozof, s-a arătat. Ideea de sunet a devenit sunet, ideea de perfecțiune, perfecțiune. Mozart a venit, iar noi știm ce este sufletul. Aflat departe din străfundul timpurilor, acesta a reușit aspirația milenară de a fi propriu-i trup. Favoare acordată nouă: această mediere cerească, pentru a se împlini, a ales muzica! Un sculptor ar fi transpus-o în marmură; am fi crezut în veșnicia ei, în loc să învățăm din surâsul frumos al muzicii, în acea clipă, să dorim veșnicia pe care o reflectă. Astfel supranaturalul a încercat naturalul, pentru a putea locui printre noi. Mozart a parcurs drumul și ne lasă muzica.” 

Andre Tubeuf : Mozart, chemins et chants 

Mozart. The Last Journey.

Wolfgang Amadè Mozart was buried in the Sankt Marx Cemetery on the 7th of December 1791. The burial depicted in Amadeus was a poetic license: profoundly moving and emotional, but not loyal to reality. 

“The historical facts can be summarized as follows:”, says Dr Michael Lorenz. 

1. Mozart was not buried in a linen bag without a coffin, because such burials were never obligatory in Vienna. 

2. Mozart was not buried in a mass grave, but in a customary “allgemeines Grab” (the usual common grave).” 

In a fascinating research article, Dr Michael Lorenz takes us back in time, in Josephine Vienna, and proves through archival sources, historic facts, in-depth and extensive knowledge and brilliant analysis, that Mozart was most likely buried in a coffin, in a customary grave. 

On what happened after that day of 7 December 1791, history left us only bits and pieces. The customs of the time decided the future: no tombstone, no flower arrangements, no visits on Sunday mornings, no memory of the place where Mozart was buried. When, after many years, Constanze Mozart eventually thought of identifying the exact place where her husband had been buried, it was too late. The Mozart Memorial in the Sankt Marx Cemetery doesn’t mark the grave where Mozart’s body found eternal rest. 

His mortal remains may have disappeared forever, or may still lie somewhere in the holy grounds of St Marx. But his soul, his heart, his spirit live on, through his divine Music! 

AMADEUS 

Mozart’s only mention as Wolfgang Amadeus in an official document made during his lifetime was found in 1998 by Mozart scholar Michael Lorenz in the registers of the Lower Austrian Governorship, where in May 1787 “Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus” is referred to as having applied for the return of his written surety for his friend Franz Jacob Freystadtler.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart’s_name

6 Decembrie 1791

“Actele de divorț dintre lume și
geniu au fost depuse
în groapa comună a cimitirului
din Viena
unde, spre gloria ei, lumea
l-a aruncat pe Mozart
sub varul septic
al uitării din urmă.
Și de atunci scena
se tot repetă.

Scriind pentru lume a sfârșit
prin a scrie
pentru îngeri.
Ca să înspăimânți
mediocritatea
e destul să
rostești: “Mozart!”

Între dionisiac
și apolinic, Flautul
și Recviemul,
ultimul fruct
depus în coșul
culegătorului.
Viața alege
dintotdeauna
parfumul
opusului ei.
Raiul îndoliat
la care bate Mozart
tânăr
ținând în
mâna sa de dantele
tremurânde
ultima Operă.

A sosit noaptea,
Mozart…”

Claudiu Iordache
Volumul de poezie “Nervurile transparenței”, 2012

Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem.
Amen. 

Requiem aeternam

5 Decembrie 1791

“Este 5 decembrie. De 225 de ani omenirea așteaptă să te întorci. Muzica ta a supraviețuit și va supraviețui. Dar ne e dor de inima ta vie, de sufletul luminat de un sentiment dumnezeiesc al armoniei! Căci ai fost darul Lui, și puțini dintre noi au înțeles…

Tu, Mozart, sfâșietoare lumină a întunericului ce ne înconjoară! În parcul tău cernit frunzele iernii îți șoptesc numele. Este 5 decembrie. O liniște senină care a înnoptat pe cer până când lumea a aflat cu disperare că te-a pierdut pentru totdeauna! Dacă am putea învia prin dragostea noastră ființa ta fragilă, pentru a ne surâde din nou, o, Mozart care dormi regal în sufletul nostru! Dacă ne-ai putea auzi durerea de a te ști chemat pentru totdeauna acolo unde numai îngerii te mai ascultă, înfiorați! O, Mozart, e noapte, deplina noapte înaltă într-o zi de 5 decembrie! Zi în care și tu și noi am murit puțin…

Mozart… Mozart… Mozart… ecou ceresc al fiului omenirii…”

Claudiu Iordache 

Als Luise… on a 27 January 2016 in the Tanzmeistersaal

“the 26th.
A Song – Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte”
It is Mozart’s entry in his hand-written Catalogue of Works, on a 26th of May 1787. 

On the score, in his handwriting: “The 26th of May 1787 Landstrasse”, on the top left-hand corner of the first page – in the top right-hand corner he signed with “W.A. Mozart / in Herr Gottfried von Jacquin’s room”. 

Happiness is… to hear your own mezzo voice singing ‘Als Luise’ in the Tanzmeistersaal, on a 27 January 2016… ❤ 

Erzeugt von heisser Phantasie…  

Erzeugt von heißer Phantasie,
In einer schwärmerischen Stunde
Zur Welt gebrachte! Geht zu Grunde!
Ihr Kinder der Melancholie!

Ihr danket Flammen euer Sein,
Ich geb’ euch nun den Flammen wieder,
Und all’ die schwärmerischen Lieder;
Denn ach! – er sang nicht mir allein.

Ihr brennet nun, und bald, ihr Lieben,
Ist keine Spur von euch mehr hier:
Doch ach! der Mann, der euch geschrieben,
Brennt lange noch vielleicht in mir.

(Gabriele von Baumberg)

Conceived of fervent fantasy,
Brought into the world
in an hour of rapture! Perish!
You, children of melancholy!

You owe to passion’s flames your being:
To the flames I now return you
with all the songs of ecstasy,
for alas! not to me alone he sang them.

You burn now, and soon, my loves,
no trace of you will remain:
but alas! the man who wrote you
may long still burn within me. 

“Mozart allowed himself to be inspired by poems he came across by chance or to which friends drew his attention or which seemed appropriate for a particular occasion. Thje text of the song ‘Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte’ beginning with the words ‘Erzeugt von heisser Phantasie’ is by Gabriele von Baumberg (1766-1839). who was regarded as the ‘Sappho of Vienna’ and as the most importaant Austrian poetess of her time. She frequented the circle surrounding the author Karoline Pichler (1769-1843) who also knew Jacquin and Mozart. Pichler refers to Baumberg’s poems as a ‘beautiful legacy left to her fatherland and one would only wish that they were better known and more vivid in the memory of today’s world, as they deserve.’ Gabriele von Baumberg’s poetry, which was published in Blumauer-Ratschky’s ‘Almanac of the Muses’ as early as 1786, has, in Mozart’s setting, achieved immortality.”

Johanna Senigl, Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg (translated by Elizabeth Mortimer) – W.A. MOZART ‘Als Luise’, Faksimile mit Edition

The facsimile of ‘Als Luise’, © Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg

http://www.mozarthaus.biz/en/227-faksimile-lied-kv-520-als-luise-die-briefe-mit-dreisprachiger-einf%C3%BChrung-auf-dt-en-fr.html

March 1784, Vienna. An evening at The Trattnerhof.

Monday, 15 March 1784, Vienna: Mozart performs for Count Esterházy and dates the Piano Concerto in B-flat K. 450. 

The entry in Mozart’s hand-written catalogue of works reads:

“the 15th of March

A Piano concerto. Accompaniment: 2 violins, 2 violas, 1 flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and bass.” 

The Spring of 1784 was busy and exceptionally fulfilling for Mozart in Vienna. In his letters from March and April 1784, Mozart asks for his father’s understanding for not having the time to write to him because of the numerous engagements: 22 between the end of February and the beginning of April. Among them, three concerts in a subscription series at the Trattnerhof, two at the Burgtheater and others in the salons of Count Johann Esterhazy and Prince Galitsin. Mozart tells his father how wonderfully his performances were received: he won extraordinary applause, the hall was “crammed full”, and he was praised repeatedly for the first concert on 17 March. He proudly presents his father the list of subscribers to the Trattnerhof concerts: 174 names from the highest levels of society, all of whom attended his successful performances. Among them, Prince Kaunitz, Prince Galitsin, Therese von Trattner, Baroness Martha Elisabeth von Waldstatten, Count and Countess Thun, Princess Lichnowsky, Prince Lobkowitz, Prince Liechtenstein, Count Zichy, Count Esterházy, Count Nostitz, Baron van Swieten, Councillor Greiner, Countess Waldstein, Count Zinzendorf, Baron Wetzlar, Princess Auersperg, Count Banffi, Ignatz von Born, Count Czernin, Prince Schwartzenberg, Countess Hatzfeld, and many others, all people of importance and position in the Viennese society.  

Dr Michael Lorenz: 

 “On 20 March 1784 Mozart sent his father the famous list of subscribers who paid an entrance of six gulden for three concerts at the Trattnerhof. In his commentary to this letter Joseph Heinz Eibl gives a number of 176 subscribers, but actually the list contains 174 people, yielding Mozart a gross profit of at least 1,044 gulden. The concerts, at which Mozart played the concertos K.449, 450 and 451 took place on 17th, 24th and 31 March 1784. Nothing is known about the other pieces that were certainly part of the three programs.

Right below the list of subscribers Mozart writes:

‘Here you have the list of all my subscribers; I have 30 subscribers more than Richter and Fischer combined. The first concert on the 17th went well; the hall was crammed full and the new concerto that I played was very well received; wherever you go people are praising this concert.’

In a letter to his father on 10 April 1784 Mozart again addresses his three concerts at the Trattnerhof:

‘I beg you, don’t be angry that I have not written for such a long time; you know how much I had to do in the meantime! My three subscription concerts brought me great honor. – My concert at the theater also went very well. […] To tell the truth, I recently grew tired of all the playing, and it gives me no small credit that my audience never grew tired of it.’ “

Michael Lorenz – Mozart in the Trattnerhof  

http://michaelorenz.blogspot.ro/2013/09/mozart-in-trattnerhof.html 

The “Graben” in Vienna, 1781. Mozart lived in the house Graben no.17 from Sept 1781 to July 1782 and later in the house called “Trattnerhof” in 1784.

Monday, 15 March 1784, Mozart gave the first performance of a piano concerto, either K.449 in E-flat Major, or K.450 in B-flat Major, at Count  Esterházy’s residence in Vienna. And Wednesday, 17 March 1784, Mozart gave his first subscription concert in the Trattner Hall.  

Johann Thomas von Trattner was the leading music publisher and retailer in Vienna between 1770 and 1790. He became court bookseller in 1751 and court printer in 1754. His business flourished, so in 1773 he bought the Freisingerhof on the Graben and the houses around it, took them down and built the Trattnerhof there in 1777. Mozart lived in the Trattnerhof from 23 January to 29 September 1784, and gave piano lessons to Thérèse, Trattner’s second wife. He gave three concerts in Trattner’s concert hall. To Thérèse von Trattner he dedicated his Sonata in C minor, K. 457 composed in 1784 and the Fantasy in C minor, K. 475 written in 1785, both works published in 1785 as his Op. 11 by Artaria, the leading Viennese music publisher. 

The story of Mozart’s Trattnerhof is best told by Dr Michael Lorenz in his fascinating article: “Mozart in the Trattnerhof”.  Michael Lorenz has a great gift for bringing history to life! To read through his extraordinary work, so masterly researched and written, is to embark in a travel through time, with history coming alive at each step. So… visit his blog to read about Mozart’s Trattnerhof, how he lived there, how he performed there, to read the documented history of that special building, to see images of the place (most of them never before published), the plan of Mozart’s apartment, and also of Trattner’s apartment (where Mozart played in a private concert for Therese von Trattner in May 1784), the list of subscribers to his concerts as he sent it to father Leopold, the earliest existing photograph of the Trattnerhof, taken in 1875, the second entrance of the Trattnerhof at Graben 29A in 1910 (the door that Mozart had to pass to get to his apartment), and many other fascinating images and documents, History will come alive as you read, as you look at the images, so prepare for a wonderful Travel in Time! 

http://michaelorenz.blogspot.ro/2013/09/mozart-in-trattnerhof.html

And as you read, listen to the Music!

The breathtakingly beautiful ‘Andante‘ from  Mozart’s Piano Concerto in B-flat Major No 15, K.450 

Mozart – Piano Concerto in B-flat Major No 15, K.450 – III Allegro 

The sound of Mozart’s Piano Concerto in B-flat Major (No 15, K.450)

Mozart – Piano Concerto in E-flat Major no 14, K.449 – Andantino 

Mozart – Piano Concerto in E-flat Major no 14, K.449 

The E-flat Major no 14 is the first composition Mozart entered into his hand-written catalogue of works, which he started in Vienna in 1784 and kept for seven years, until his death, marking down main themes, dates of completion, and other important information. The entry about the D-flat Major Piano Concerto is that he finished it on 9 February 1784. 

Mozart – ‘Andante’ from Piano Concerto in D Major no 16, K.451  

Graben with the Trattnerhof through time: 

Images of the scores copyright of Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum

Images of Mozart’s Thematic Catalogue copyright of The British Library 

Photos © where specified,

credits specified there where available,

other images from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain.

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