Living art

Most musicians of Mozart’s time were employed by royalty or nobles, and Mozart was no exception. He was the court organist for Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg Hieronymus von Colloredo when his opera Idomeneo premiered to great acclaim. However, musicians and artists of the era were typically treated like servants - they were trotted out to perform, then took their dinner in the kitchen with the rest of the serving class.

Mozart’s refusal to behave like a servant was progressive for the era, but also indicative of the composer’s ego and bizarre, almost overwhelmingly stubborn state of mind. He unilaterally decided some of the concerts Von Colloredo had him perform were not included in the terms of their arangement, and therefore demanded separate payment for them (which he didn’t get). At one high society function, Mozart, who, like all servants, was not meant to mingle with noble guests, caused a scandal by brazenly striking up a conversation with a Russian ambassador he knew.

Mozart’s refusal to apologize for his transgressions, even after his father went to great lengths to smooth everything over with the Prince-Archbishop, resulted in him literally being kicked out of Von Colloredo’s house, along with all his possessions.

Why the fuck am I crying like a baby while thinking about Mozart?

Aish, I “miss” him so much; I would like to be born in the 18th century to meet him, become one of his friends (with benefits? Why not? U.U ..of course, I’m joking. Maybe), stay by his side, laugh with him, hear him play a piano concerto..

On December 5th, 1791, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart died in his Viennese apartment on Rauhensteingasse of an unknown illness. According to the official inventory of his death, he left behind 592 florins and 9 kreuzer worth of assets, with an approximate purchasing power equivalent to $17,764.50 in the modern day. This is likely an undervalued estimate to avoid too high of a tax upon his heirs. 

Below is a list of the value of his belongings:

Cash - 60 fl.

Salary - 133 fl. 20 kr.

Silver - 7 fl.

Clothes and linens - 55 fl.

Table linen and bedsheets - 17 fl.

Furniture - 296 fl. 8 kr.

Books and music - 23 fl. 41 kr.

The silver is valued so low because he had pawned the majority of it for a journey to Frankfurt, leaving him with only a handful of utensils.

His furniture was freshly upholstered and included a full-sized billiards table, one roll-top desk, one sofa, one couch, two divans, two bookcases, 18 upholstered chairs, and 60 pieces of porcelain. All of this and more furnished an apartment of approximately 519 sq. feet (145 sq. meters).

A Josephenian writing desk from Austria. Mozart’s furniture would have been of a similar design as this, with simple, clean lines and little embellishment. [x]

“A place inhabited only by children, where all make music the whole day long, and all are good and kind, and the bad are not admitted even for a visit. In the Kingdom of Back every pleasure was possible; you just had to utter the magic formula.

Here forever happy are we

and nothing bad will ever be!”

(From “Mozart’s sister”, by Rita Charbonnier)