#aboutmozart

"May 16, my brother fell into a mud puddle. It's a nice day."

or

The Magic Flute House

Not many people know that there is a small summerhouse in the Bastionsgarten, the garden of the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg. It is a wooden structure that was originally located in the garden next to the "Theater auf der Wieden" in Vienna, the theater where Mozart's opera "The Magic Flute" was first performed in 1791, and it was donated to the Foundation in 1873. The little "Magic Flute House" is the house where Emanuel Schikaneder allegedly locked Mozart in order to make sure that he would finish working on "The Magic Flute" on time, and where the composer rehearsed some parts of the opera with the singers. The structure was restored several times, especially after it was damaged during the bombing of Salzburg in World War II. In Miloš Forman's "Amadeus" there is a reference to this little house towards the end of the film, as Mozart goes there to play with Schikaneder and his company of actors.

"I name a penalty!"

"Give her a good one!"

"Show us your legs!"

In this scene Constanze is given a penalty (showing her legs to the crowd) for losing a game, and according to Peter Shaffer the inspiration behind this scene was drawn from a real event, although it was actually quite the opposite situation. Around April 1782, when Constanze and Wolfgang were already officially a couple, a little incident happened: as a penalty during a parlor game, Constanze let a young man measure her legs (which, of course, was then considered highly inappropriate, especially for a young unmarried lady). When Wolfgang learnt about it, he wrote his fiancée to voice his disapproval: "... Why in the name of heaven did you not take the ribbon and measure your calves yourself? [...] you have allowed it to be done to you by a stranger with whom I have nothing to do." Apparently, Constanze didn't take the reprimand too well and temporarily broke off the relationship with Wolfgang (judging from Mozart's own letter to her: "You told me to my face that you intend to have nothing more to do with me. [...] Surely you do not hate me so much that I may be your friend no longer and you - no longer mine?"). Fortunately, the engagement was resumed when he apologized and offered to put the whole affair behind them, and they got married a few months later.

Technically, there is no evidence of Mozart being non-heterosexual. All the documented romantic/sexual relationships he had involve women, particularly Aloysia Weber, his first love, his cousin Teckla, and Constanze Weber, his wife (plus alleged affairs with other women before and after marriage. Also, one time he told his father that he had "played with no less than 200 women" before getting married, so he wasn't just really into women but he was also a bit of a fuckboy). He had no problem showing his love for his friends, but no account (that I know of) would suggest that he was romantically or sexually involved with men as well.