Happy Birthday Mozart

Today we wish Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart a happy birthday. (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791)

Much has been written about his genius: how he began composing at age 5 or 6, wrote down the overture to his opera Don Giovanni the day of the premiere, and wrote over 600 compositions before his death at age 35.

He and his father Leopold (also a composer) traveled extensively in his early years performing and composing, trying to find a post for the young Mozart that would give him a steady income. Even positions at court didn’t pay that much and the court composer was treated like one of the servants.

Later, in better times (1786) Mozart composed The Marriage of Figaro. You may have heard this overture on commercials or cartoons.

For all of this, the thing that really impresses me is this. Sometime around 1770 Mozart and his father were touring and came to Rome. At the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel Mozart heard two performances of Allegri’s Miserere Mei, Deus. He then went home and copied it out from memory, leading to the only (unauthorized) copy of the piece. Two performances. Amazing.