Mozart by Year (1)
1761-64 (age 5-8):
Jan 24, 1761 - Mozart learns his first piece on the piano, a scherzo by Wagenseil
Sept 1 1761 - Appears as performer in a musical drama at the University of Salzburg
January 1762 - Leopold Mozart visits Munich with Wolfgang and Nannerl to play before the Elector Maximilian Joseph III. The visit takes three weeks.
September 1762 - The Mozart family travels to Vienna. From Oct 13 the children perform almost every day at court. The family also visits Presburg (Bratislava) before returning to Salzburg on Dec 31.
June 9 1763 - Start of the Mozart family's Grand Tour of Europe. Munich (June 12), Augsburg (July), Frankfurt (August), Mainz and Koblenz (September). October to mid-November stay in Brussels. On November 18 they arrive in Paris, where they will stay for five months. Mozart starts writing his first sonatas for keyboard and violin.
January 1 1764 - Concert before King Louis XV. Mozart publishes his first music, the violin sonatas K6 and K7.
April 10 - The Mozart family leaves Paris for London, where they arrive on April 23 for a stay of fifteen months.
April 27 - King George III receives the Mozarts. The children give many concerts. Meetings with Johann Christian Bach and Karl Friedrich Abel, two German composers successfully established in London. Mozart composes his first symphonies, some given at a concert in London on Feb 21 1765.
Short Piano Pieces (K1-K5)
In the so-called Nannerl Notenbuch Leopold Mozart wrote down short keyboard pieces for his daughter Maria Anna (Nannerl), to teach her to play the piano. The notebook contains pieces by Leopold Mozart, but also by other composers as CPE Bach and Wagenseil. Interestingly, Mozart also scribbled his first ever compositions in this notebook (most may have been actually copied out by his father). His first composition seems to have been an Andante, but the first work entered in the Köchel catalogue is another of these 12 pieces, a Minuet and Trio in G (K1).
Note: Another series of similar 43 short piano pieces was set down on paper during the visit to London in 1764-65 (K.15 a–ss (Anh. 109b).
These are really just exercises, with some historic value as they were the first compositions by Mozart as a child.
Violin Sonatas (K6-K9)
All four of these early sonatas are preserved in Leopold Mozart's handwriting. Not real violin sonatas, but keyboard sonatas with violin accompaniment in the style of Johann Schobert and JC Bach. The first two sonatas were written in either Salzburg or Paris; the next two in Paris; and the last one in London.
More complex than the piano pieces above, this is elegant background music, in the period style.
Violin/Flute Sonatas (K10-K15)
Six sonatas for keyboard with accompaniment of violin or flute (the music has to be transposed for a flute, so the originals were probably only meant for the violin). Composed in late 1764 in London during the Mozart family's long educational and artistic tour of Europe, and commissioned by Queen Charlotte (the wife of King George III). Resembles a set of similarly scored sonatas (Op. 2) by Johann Christian Bach, the "London Bach," who befriended the young Mozart and became an important influence on the younger composer's evolving style.
Very pleasant sonatas, with a sure feeling for form. When transposed for flute, the melodic line of the solo instrument better stands out.
Mozart's first two (preserved, there may have been others) symphonies (K16 and K19) were written in London. According to an anecdote, Mozart's father was ill with a throat ailment and had forbidden any piano playing in the family’s rooms. Mozart, to fend off boredom, sat down and jotted down symphony. The work shows the influence of several composers, including his father and the youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach, Johann Christian Bach, whom Mozart had met during his time in London and whose influence was large. JC Bach's type of symphony owed much to 'opera buffa': grace, wit and orchestral virtuosity in the first movement, tender galant melody in the slow movement and ending with a dance-like finale, usually in triple meter. There is little difference in complexity and originality between Mozart's K16 and the symphonies of Bach's Op 3 and Abel's Op 7, which served as Mozart's models (in fact, a symphony by Abel was long considered as Mozart's third symphony!).
I really like the start of this symphony: a 3-bar orchestral fanfare in octaves, followed by a quieter 8-bar series of suspensions (this forte-piano opening apparently also owes a debt to JC Bach). The andante is a nice piece of atmospheric writing: sustained wind, mysterious triplets in the upper strings, and stealthy duplets in the bass instruments - perfect music for a clandestine nightly rendezvous in an opera of the period. The finale is a vigorous jig in the form of a rondo. The intervening episodes in the rondo are filled with delightful touches of chromatism in the latest galant style.
1765 (age 9)
Jan 18 - Wolfgang dedicates his Op III sonatas (K10-15) to Queen Charlotte. More piano compositions for two and four hands, played by Mozart in public, partly with his sister. More symphonies.
July 24 - The Mozart family leaves London. They stay a month in Lille because of illnesses of the children.
September 10 - Arrival in The Hague, where the Mozart family will stay for six and a half months. Mozart is ill for two months, but manages to publish six sonatas for keyboard and violin (K26-31). He also writes more symphonies.
Symphony No. 4 in D major (K19)
Composed in London. A set of parts written in the hand of Leopold Mozart has been preserved. This early symphony was performed at a public concert in the Little Haymarket Theatre in London. By the way, the number jumps from 1 to 4 because the Nos 2 and 3 are now considered as not by Wolfgang (but by Leopold Mozart and Carl Friedrich Abel, respectively).
After a bright and extroverted first movement follows a pastoral andante with yodeling melodies and droning accompaniments. The yodeling can also be heard occasionally in the finale.
Symphony in F (K. Anh. 223/19a)
Another early symphony written in London, which was lost until a copy in the hand of Leopold Mozart was found in 1980. The influence of JC Bach is again quite strong.
The first movement starts with a broad melody and is more in binary than sonata form. It is followed by an andante, which shows remarkable polish. The rondo finale brings the symphony to a joyful conclusion, having something of the character of a highland dance.
Sonata in C major for keyboard four-hands (K19d)
Sonata for keyboard four-hands composed in London. One of the very few works written by Mozart for four-handed play. The sonata is something of a surprise because of the substantial outer movements, as well as the imaginative contrasting episodes in the rondo. The sonata makes use of the technique of crossing the player's hands, a feature visible on the (much later) Mozart family portrait by Della Croce. Leopold Mozart claimed it was the first sonata ever to have been written for the four-hand medium, which we should take with a grain of salt. A work like this was advertised by Leopold Mozart in the London Public Advertiser of May 13, 1765. Printed versions of the work were discovered in 1921.
The first movement is characterized by a light and bright melody. The second movement is a slow minuet, almost sounding like an andante. The rondo finale features a rather jolly tune. This is a nice sonata, and a big step up for the 9-year old Mozart.
Aria for Tenor, "Va, dal furor portata" (K21)
Concert aria in C major for tenor and orchestra written in London. The words are from a libretto by Metastasio, about fury at treachery discovered.
Substantial aria in typical Italianate opera seria style.
Symphony No 5 in B flat (K22)
Composed by Mozart in The Hague in December 1765. All three movements are colored by the prominent horns. A rousing first movement starts in the style of the Mannheim symphonists, with a long pedal in the bass. This is followed by a solemn, mournful movement of rare intensity. A short, frothy finale closes the work.
A vivid and vivacious work in skillful period style - demonstrating growth compared to the three London symphonies.
Aria for soprano and orchestra "Conservati fedele" (K23)
Composed October 1765 while staying at The Hague. The aria was slightly revised in January 1766, possibly for a performance for Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau. In his list of Wolfgang's works which he started in 1768 in Vienna, his father Leopold entered this piece as no. 2 of "15 Italian Arias, composed in London and The Hague." The text is from Metastasio's libretto Artaserse which had been set to music by a number of composers, among them Johann Christian Bach.
A skilled melodramatic opera seria aria.
1766 (age 10)
From late January to early March, the Mozart family stays in Amsterdam. In late March they leave The Hague again, and travel via Haarlem, Amsterdam and Utrecht to Antwerp, Brussels and finally Paris.
May 10 - Arrival in Paris, where the Mozart family will stay until Mid-July. They also visit Versailles.
July 9 - The Mozart family leaves Paris, and travels slowly via Dijon, Lyon, Lausanne, Bern, Zurich, Donaueschingen, Augsburg (the town where Leopold Mozart had been born) to Munchen, where they arrive on November 8.
November 9 - Mozart plays at court. Later in the month, the family travels home to Salzburg, where they arrive on November 29 after an absence of three and a half years.8 Variations on "Laat ons Juichen" & 7 Variations on "Willem van Nassau" (K24 & K25)
The Mozarts were invited to The Hague by Princess Carolina of Nassau-Weilburg (1743-87), sister of the Prince of Orange. They arrived in September 1765 and would stay until the end of March the next year. While in the Netherlands, Mozart wrote these sets of simple variations on Dutch national songs.
Violin Sonatas (K36-31)
Composed in The Hague and dedicated to Princess Caroline of Nassau-Weilburg on the occasion of the eighteenth birthday of her brother, the Prince of Orange. They were published as Mozart's "Opus 4."
The keyboard part still dominates and the violin may be considered optional. But this is bright and lively music.
The keyboard part still dominates and the violin may be considered optional. But this is bright and lively music.
Galimathias musicum in D major (K32)
A quodlibet (a medley of popular songs) for small orchestra and harpsichord composed in March 1766. It was played at a special concert to honor the Prince of Orange's coming of age on 11 March. The first four movements can also be performed as a kind of miniature sinfonia (as has been done by Christopher Hogwood and The Academy of Ancient Music). The first and last movements in that case offer just some bright noises. The D minor andante has the melody in the violas. The minuet plays over a rustic drone on a popular German Christmas carol. The whole work consists of 17 short movements and ends with a fugue.
Mozart's first divertimento - and a demonstration of a rather coarse, Southern-German type of humor not strange to the Mozarts.
Symphony in G, "Alte Lambach" (Anh. 221 / 45a)
A pendant to the Symphony in B (K22) also written in The Hague. As the manuscript was found in the library of the Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria, where the Mozarts stayed in 1769, it was thought to be of a later date (or even not by Mozart). But the authenticity has been proven - the Mozarts probably stayed at the Lambach Abbey and as a way of thanks left this and a copy of a symphony by Leopold Mozart in the monastery.
Somehow, the freshness of K22 is lacking, this almost is like a somewhat older Mozart, many devices from his later symphonies appear in this work. Still, the symphony is generally considered as authentic. A pendant to the Symphony in B (K22) also written in The Hague. As the manuscript was found in the library of the Lambach Abbey in Upper Austria, where the Mozarts stayed in 1769, it was thought to be of a later date (or even not by Mozart). But the authenticity has been proven - the Mozarts probably stayed at the Lambach Abbey and as a way of thanks left this and a copy of a symphony by Leopold Mozart in the monastery.
Klavierstück in F (K33b)
Discovered in 1942, Mozart wrote this piece on the back of a circular by the Zürcher Musikkollegium (Zürich Music College), when the Mozart family came to the end of their Grand Tour. The piece appeared in the 1984 film Amadeus when the child Mozart played it blindfolded on the harpsichord.
Famous because of the film, where it is expertly used - although as music it almost seems like a parody of Mozart...
"Or che il dover – Tali e cotanti sono" concert aria for tenor and orchestra (K36)
Aria written as the first composition by Mozart since his family's return to Salzburg, and performed as part of an entertainment for anniversary of the consecration of Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach.
Aria written as the first composition by Mozart since his family's return to Salzburg, and performed as part of an entertainment for anniversary of the consecration of Archbishop Sigismund von Schrattenbach.
A very lively aria.
1767 (age 11)
March 12 - Wolfgang's sacred drama Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (K35) is performed at the court of the archbishop. He receives a golden medal and 12 ducats.
May 13 - Apollo et Hyacinthus (K38), a secular comedy for music, performed in Salzburg.
Sept 11 to 15 - The Mozart family travels to Vienna.
Oct 23 - In Vienna there is a smallpox epidemic. The Mozart family flees to Bohemia (Olmutz), but Mozart contracts the disease. He is successfully treated and recovers (Nov 10). On Dec 30 he plays a concert with his sister at a tavern in Brno.
Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (K35)
A sacred drama. Only the first part was composed by Mozart; the second and third parts were contributed by Michael Haydn and Anton Adlgasser respectively (Mozart's teachers who in fact greatly helped him). However, these other two parts have not survived. Mozart's part was first performed on March 12, 1767, in the Knight's Hall of the Palace of the Archbishop. The characters of the play are two tenors: Christgeist and Christ (a Christian), and three sopranos: Barmherzigkeit, Gerechtigkeit, and Weltgeist. The work starts with a bright sinfonia, followed by seven arias and recitativos. The final movement is a terzetto which has two recitativos.
Impressive music considering Mozart's age.
These early piano concertos are in fact orchestrations of sonata movements by various German composes. By using movements from the sonatas of other composers, the young Mozart seems to have begun to learn how to cope with the structural problems of composing in the piano concerto form (it may be that Leopold Mozart had devised this as a compositional teaching method).
These are clearly "study works," so a comparison with other concertos (by Mozart and others) is unfair. Leopold rightly excluded them from his 1768 list of Mozart's compositions. Most complete recordings of Mozart's piano concertos start therefore with his Concerto No 5. But these four concertos are bright and vivacious and form nice background music.
Apollo et Hyacinthus (K38 )
A secular musical drama consisting of five arias, two duets, a chorus and a trio, connected with recitative. Some call this Mozart's first opera, but it was nothing as grandiose as that: it was a charming school entertainment commissioned soon after the success of K35 and as "intermedia" interspersed between the acts of a larger play. All parts were sung by students and it was only performed the one time at this occasion. As is suggested by the name, the work is based on the Greek myth of Hyacinth and Apollo as told by Roman poet Ovid in his Metamorphoses. In the original story, Apollo accidentally kills his lover, a boy named Hyacinth, after which the grief-stricken god causes a gorgeous flower to bloom from Hyacinth's grave. The original Greek theme of homosexual love was removed by the librettist who instead introduced a sister of Hyacinth as the object of Apollo's love.
Some nice melodies. Mozart is clearly growing.
Grabmusik or "Cantata on Christ's Grave" (K42)
When on Nov 29 1766 Mozart returned from his Grand Tour that lasted three and a half years, he brought back a considerable portfolio of compositions for a child. There is an anecdote telling that the Archbishop of Salzburg tested him by locking him up for a week with the text of an oratorio to judge his capacities. The result was the present Grabmusik, or so the story goes... but there is no proof at all for this assumption (although it is a nice story). The performance of an oratorio about the tomb of Christ was a convention in the passion week in the southern German lands. The anonymous text takes the form of a dialogue between a tormented
soul, who is desperately lamenting the tragedy of Christ’s death, and an
angel. The work was first performed in Salzburg Cathedral during Holy Week 1767.
The music is very effective, especially the frenzied bass aria with which the piece opens. In all, this is a work of considerable emotional and dramatic scope.
Symphony No. 6 in F major (K43)
Symphony begun in Salzburg in the summer of 1767 and completed in Olomouc (Olmutz), the Moravian city to which the Mozart family fled to escape the Viennese smallpox epidemic. The symphony is in four movements - as was customary in Vienna, Mozart included a minuet. The effective Andante movement uses a theme from a duet of Mozart's Apollo et Hyacinthus. Its initial performance was at Brno on 30 December 1767, in a concert arranged by Count von Schrattenbach, brother of the Archbishop of Salzburg.
This first Symphony by Mozart in the Austrian style is more assured in the handling of the form than his earlier work. A vivid and bright symphony. The andante, with muted violins singing over pizzicato notes, has been called "ravishing."
Note: Symphony in F major "No. 43", K. 76/42a, attr. to 1867, lacks authentic sources. Until recently its attribution to Mozart was accepted, but is now uncertain. Possibly by Leopold Mozart, but this is disputed by others, who think it the work of neither Leopold nor Wolfgang.
1768 (age 12)
Jan 10 - The Mozart family returns to Vienna.
Jan 19 - Mozart received at court by Maria Theresia and Emperor Joseph II
April to July - Composition of the opera buffa La Finta semplice. Due to intrigues this work commissioned by the Emperor cannot be performed in Vienna - the first performance has to wait until next year May in Salzburg.
Autumn - Mozart's second operatic work, the operetta Bastien et Bastienne is given in the garden theater of Dr Mesmer's house.
Dec 7 - Mozart conducts his Waisenhaus Messe and a lost trumpet concerto in the presence of the imperial family at the Orphanage Church in Vienna.
End of December - The Mozart family travels back to Salzburg via Lambach.
Symphony No 7 in D (K45)
Completed in Vienna in January 1768 after the family's return from a visit to Olomouc and Brno in Moravia. The symphony is in four movements. Its first performance was probably at a private concert, probably one given by Prince von Galitzin, the Russian ambassador, at his Vienna residence in late March, 1768.
The symphony was reworked (without the minuet and trumpets, but with a larger role for wind instruments) to become the overture to the opera, La finta semplice, also written in 1768.
The first movement has an overture-like character due to the missing repetitions, the numerous runs, tremolo passages and also due to its beginning with the three chord strokes - perhaps this is why it could easily be edited as the overture to K51 (but note that the transitions between "Symphony" and "Overture" were very fluid at that time). The Andante has a minimalistic character, while the minuet is characterized by falling fourths and fifths as well as an answering triplet figure; the trio is only for strings. The main theme of the Molto Allegro finale is based on a popular song, which is resembles the introduction to Leopold Mozart's "Musical Sleigh Ride."
Symphony in B flat major "No. 55" (K. Anh. 214/45b)
This symphony was lost until a copy was found in Berlin in 1943. The
origins of the symphony are disputed. Attribution to Mozart cannot be
fully confirmed, but it is generally treated as genuine. By the way, the high number (55) originates in the fact in the 19th c. that Mozart's symphonies were numbered 1-41. The earlier, unnumbered symphonies (often not authentic) were placed at the end and numbered from 42-56.
The song-like Andante begins with its ascending theme which seems a distant premonition of the Duettino between the Count and Susanna at the beginning of the third act of Mozart's Figaro.
La finta semplice (K51 /46a, "The Pretended Simpleton")
During the year in Vienna, Leopold tried to establish his son as an opera composer. He was acting enthusiastically to a casual remark by Emperor Joseph II that the young wunderkind might like to write an opera for the court, and selected an Italian libretto by the Vienna court poet Marco Coltellini, which was based on an early work by Carlo Goldoni. Mozart produced a full score of three acts, 26 numbers, including an overture, one coro, one duet,
three ensembles (at the end of each act), and 21 arias. But the Mozarts hadn't reckoned with the jealousy of the musical retinue at court, who were not keen to be upstaged by a young boy. Moreover, the Emperor's theatre manager Giuseppe d’Afflisio - who already was in financial difficulties - was unwilling to gamble on the success of an untried teenager. During rehearsals, the merit of the music was disputed, and its veracity challenged, some claiming that it had in fact been composed by Leopold. Mozart was forced to withdraw the opera, which then received its first performance the following year in Salzburg at the request of the Prince-Archbishop (after that it was not staged anymore until the Salzburg Festival of 2006). The whole affair had dragged on for nine months and may also have alienated the Empress Maria Theresa, who was an austere personage already offended by the lack of dignity in the Mozarts' European journeys. During the Mozarts' Vienna visit, she may have developed an even more hostile view of the Mozart family. The failure in 1768 cost young Mozart his chance of establishing his reputation as a first-class opera composer in Vienna, which would have been a jumping board for obtaining a permanent position in another European court.
La finta semplice appears quite good in comparison to much of the work it was meant
to compete with. The plot revolves around the old staple of
obstructions to young love being overcome by wiles and wisdom. Mozart’s instinctive sense of the dramatic and innate feeling for musical characterization is already evident in this first operatic work. "No masterpiece, but a source of near-constant delight."
Bastien und Bastienne (K50 / 46b)
A one-act singspiel, a comic opera in German, allegedly commissioned by Viennese physician and 'magnetist' Dr. Franz Mesmer (who himself would later be parodied in Così fan tutte) as a satire of the 'pastoral' genre then prevalent, and specifically as a parody of the opera Le devin du village by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. After its supposed premiere in Mesmer's garden theater (that is only corroborated by an unverified account of Nissen), it was not revived again until 1890. The manuscript disappeared until the 1980s, when it was rediscovered in Krakow. Bastien und Bastienne is a work of the utmost concision: over half of the arias last for less than two minutes. The plot is simple: two bucolic lovers, Bastien and Bastienne; Bastien has been lured away from Bastienne by a city-dweller and seeks out Colas, a fortune-teller and magician. There is eventual reuniting of the lovers once it gets to the point at which Bastien threatens suicide.
The music is simply beautiful.
The music is simply beautiful.
Veni Sancte Spiritus in C (K47)
This two-part setting of the Pentecost sequence “Veni Sancte Spiritus” follows the text of the antiphon “Ad invocandum Spiritum Sanctum," leading into an extended “Alleluia.” The music, characterized by alternating solo and tutti passages, is influenced by Mozart's teachers Leopold Mozart, Michael Haydn and Johann Ernst Eberlin.The duration is about 4-5 min.
Missa brevis in G (K49 / 47d)
Mozart's first mass, written in Vienna for Sunday services celebrating the Ordinary of the Mass, this work features all of the early Classical 'Missa Brevis' conventions seen in the works of Johann Ernst Eberlin and Michael Haydn. It is concise (less than 18 min in duration) and rarely repeats text. The choir dominates the orchestra and solo passages occur only sporadically: the bass solo in the Credo is just a glimmer of an aria. The Benedictus incorporates the use of a solo quartet, but brevity prohibits development. The somber Agnus Dei is immediately followed by a joyful "Dona nobis pacem." It is not clear what
occasion this mass was composed for, and it has sometimes been confused with the
(much larger) Waisenhausmesse composed later in the same year. Missa solemnis in C minor, "Waisenhaus" (K139 / 47a)
Commissioned by the Jesuit priest Ignaz Parhammer, who asked Mozart for music for the consecration of the new Orphanage Church (Waisenhauskirche) in Vienna. Mozart also composed a trumpet concerto suitable for performance by a boy as well as an offertory, both have been lost. Indeed, due to cataloging errors, this mass itself was also considered lost for many years. The performance took place on 7 December 1768 at the church, in the presence of the court. The twelve-year-old Mozart conducted a choir of orphans in a performance that received "universal acclaim and admiration".
This mass is considered as Mozart's most ambitious work to this date, and was his first missa longa (about 40 min in duration).
Symphony No. 8 in D (K48)
The fourth of the symphonies written in Salzburg and Vienna between Mozart's Grand European Tour and the Visit to Italy. This one is even more Viennese in character, as it is Mozart's first symphony featuring a thorough treatment of the sonata-allegro form. Strangely, no records concerning this impressive work have come
down to us. It is possible that the ceremonial work, with its festive
trumpets and tympani, was meant for a sort of farewell concert before
leaving Vienna (but such a concert goes undocumented).
The first movement starts with a dynamically dramatic opening theme, with large leaps and sudden shifts between forte and piano. The development section (though concise as the whole symphony) forms a large step in Mozart's approach to the symphony. The second movement is for strings alone which convey a plaintive lyricism. A refined Minuet leads to the dance-like finale.
[This article includes passages from Wikipedia articles about Mozart and his music - it was solely assembled for my own study]