How Mozart made a fortune, and then managed to almost lose everything

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has always been and will be, perhaps, the most eminent and famous musician of his era. Many modern films and plays tell of him as a genius who died without even a penny in his soul, as well as a man who was buried in a grave without a name, having fallen victim to the hands of his rival composer Antonio Salieri. In fact, Mozart made a fortune in his short life. But he seemed determined to spend every cent, which led him to lifelong monetary woes, as well as misconceptions about the final years of the great composer's life.

A musical prodigy who wrote his first works as a child, Amadeus spent his early years traveling throughout most of Europe. By adolescence, he got a job as a violinist and composer at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, where he supplemented his modest salary with external commissions, sometimes receiving jewelry and trinkets instead of cash. But his growing ambition and self-esteem led him to disagreements with the archbishop, and by the age of twenty he left this position and moved to Vienna.

Unlike many of his contemporaries, Amadeus did not want (or could not) take up a permanent position at court. Instead, he tackled whatever he could find. He gave music lessons to the children of the wealthy, conducted and performed both his own works and those of others (he gave twenty-two wonderful concerts in one six-week stretch in 1784) and took on all commissions offered for new works. He traveled frequently, greatly enhancing his reputation, but sometimes with financial losses as he had to pay for his travel expenses.

But the ups and downs of life as a musical apprentice paid off (according to a 2006 exhibition marking his 250th birthday). Records show that by the 1780s he was getting about ten thousand florins a year, and a letter from Mozart's father said he was paid a thousand for just one (supposedly memorable) concert performance. And this despite the fact that at that time, hard workers were paid annually about twenty-five florins, while the upper class received about five hundred florins, Amadeus's salary put him on a par with the upper echelon of the Viennese rich.

In the summer of 1782, despite all the protests and fears of his father, he married Constance Weber. The girl was from a family of musicians and, together with her sisters, made a name for herself as a singer. Constanta and Amadeus were devoted to each other, and they had six children and only two managed to survive.

They acquired a large and spacious apartment in a chic district of Vienna, located just behind St. Stephen's Cathedral. Despite the ups and downs of his finances, the couple were determined to maintain a high standard of living, in large part because Wolfgang moved in aristocratic circles. They sent their son to an expensive private school and amused him generously. But spouses often spent far beyond their means, and debts to retailers and creditors piled up.

The family was forced to move several times, and some historians believe that Amadeus may have squandered large sums of money at the gambling table, although others believe that betting was just entertainment, not an obsession.

More recently, some scholars and historians have suggested that Mozart's chronic squandering (and his frequent and extreme mood swings) were symptoms of an undiagnosed mental illness, possibly manic depression or bipolar disorder.

Around 1788, his wife suffered a series of medical crises that were nearly fatal. She faced a long and difficult course of treatment and rehabilitation. She visited expensive resorts, ate only the best food and led a measured lifestyle, which further depleted their family budget. As a result, Amadeus had no choice but to give a few short tours in order to raise at least some funds, but in the end, all this collapsed, including financial.

The public's preferences for music began to change and this led to a decrease in commissions, and Wolfgang for a while fell out of the mercy of the elite, who turned their attention to something else. And as a consequence of all this, a protracted and gloomy period of depression began, which the brilliant composer often mentioned in letters to friends.

Despite the incident, the Mozart family did not want to reduce their overhead costs and Amadeus had no choice but to turn to friends and acquaintances for help, taking loans over and over again. But as a rule, he paid them off quickly enough, as soon as a new commission came.

Despite all the difficulties, their affairs began to go slowly uphill. Despite being slandered as a frivolous and naive fool, Constanza nonetheless played a key role in this financial renaissance. While Amadeus hid the worst of his financial problems from her during her illness, once she recovered, she took action. The couple moved from the center of Vienna to a cheaper suburb (although they were still spending a lot), and she seriously started organizing his affairs.

New business opportunities, including scholarships from several small European courts and a lucrative offer to write and perform in England, promised potential financial relief. In the last years of his life, Mozart created a number of wonderful musical compositions and The Magic Flute is one of them (Die Zauberflöte). Its premiere took place a couple of months before the death of the musical genius and was immediately crowned with success.

But in the fall of 1791, Amadeus's health deteriorated, and he died in December (at that time he was thirty-five years old). His death was probably caused by kidney failure and a relapse of rheumatic fever, which he had struggled with throughout his life. Austrian customs of the time forbade anyone other than the aristocracy to have a private funeral, so Mozart was buried in a common grave with several other bodies. Several years later, his bones were dug up and reburied (also a practice of that time), so the exact place of his last burial remains a mystery.

Constanta, who was only twenty-nine years old and had two small children, was devastated by his death. After paying off the last of his debts, she found that she had almost nothing left. Once again, her hard work paid off. She organized the publication of several of her husband's works, organized a series of memorial concerts in his honor, secured a small lifetime pension for her family from the Austrian emperor, and helped publish an early biography of Amadeus by her second husband. These efforts not only ensured her financial security for the rest of her life, but also helped preserve Mozart's legacy as one of the greatest composers in history.

And to continue the topic, read about other outstanding personalities, who, alas, did not have the best personal life.