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| Mozart’s final residence in Vienna, where he composed The Magic Flute and the unfinished Requiem. |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg. Few figures in Western music combine prodigious talent, structural clarity, and dramatic instinct with such natural inevitability. His career moved from European courts to the precarious independence of Vienna — a path both brilliant and fragile.
1756
Born in Salzburg.
1762
Begins the first of many European tours as a child prodigy.
1764
Hears Handel’s Messiah for the first time. Two sonatas are published in Paris — his first printed works.
1770
Completes his first string quartet while touring Italy.
1773
Returns to Salzburg to serve at the Archbishop’s court.
1780
Receives a major operatic commission: Idomeneo.
1781
Breaks with the Archbishop of Salzburg and settles in Vienna as an independent composer — an unusual and financially uncertain decision.
1782
Marries Constanze Weber.
1785
His father Leopold visits Vienna. Mozart presents the six string quartets dedicated to Haydn, who reportedly tells Leopold: “Your son is the greatest composer known to me.”
1786
Premiere of The Marriage of Figaro in Vienna on May 1.
1787
Appointed chamber composer to Emperor Joseph II. Don Giovanni premieres in Prague.
1788
Vienna production of Don Giovanni. Composes his final three symphonies within months.
1789
Visits Berlin and receives the commission for the “Prussian” Quartets.
1790
Premiere of Così fan tutte.
1791
Composes The Magic Flute and the Requiem. Is promised the music directorship of St. Stephen’s Cathedral. Dies in Vienna on December 4.
1791 (Burial)
Buried on December 7 in accordance with Viennese burial regulations of the time, in a common grave rather than a marked individual tomb — a standard civic practice, not an indication of abandonment.
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- Mozart’s music circulated widely across Europe during his lifetime. Within two decades, The Abduction from the Seraglio had been performed in dozens of cities. The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute spread rapidly through major cultural centers, securing his international reputation.
- He resisted his father’s advice to focus on commercially safe works tailored for publishers. As a result, only a small portion of his music was formally published before his death. The romantic image of total poverty, however, oversimplifies reality: Mozart experienced financial strain, but he also earned substantial income during his most successful Viennese years. His difficulties were episodic, not constant destitution.
- Mozart’s legacy is not tragic mythology. It is structural brilliance under human pressure.
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