e Abduction from the Seraglio (1782), The Marriage of Figaro(1786), Don Giovanni(1787), and Cos fan tute (1790) —were premiered or performed in the prestigious Burgtheater. But the Viennese were not disposed to settle on one composer for long, even one whose talents dwarfed those of all others. Figaro—begun in October 1785, only nine months after the completion of the C-major String Quartet—provides an instructive example. The play by Beaumarchais had been banned shortly after its Parisian premiere in 1784. By 1787, Mozart’s star in Vienna had begun to set. In Peter Shafer’s play Amadeus, Mozart’s failures are attributed to an infantile personality and the intrigues of court composer Antonio Salieri. But there is no evidence that either of these wonderful dramatic conceits were true historically. Indeed, Mozart and Salieri were on cordial terms. Papa Haydn We do not know the occasion on which Mozart first encountered Joseph Haydn, though it was almost certainly around 1781, possibly at one of the gatherings organized by Baron Von Swieten to hear the music of J. S. Bach. At 50, Haydn was twice Mozart’s age. By now he was also at least twice as well known. Mozart had known Haydn’s music for at least ten years. In Haydn he not only found a composer whose achievementswere on a level with his own, but a warm and sympathetic friend in whom he could confide. This contrasted strongly with the strained relationship that Mozart enjoyed with his father. In the autumn of 1791, Mozart’s health became progressively worse, and he was subject to fits of depression and presentiments of death. However, he worked feverishly to complete the Clarinet Concerto, K.622, and the Masonic Cantata and was trying to finish the Requiem. He died on December 5, 1791, and was buried in a pauper’s grave” Viennese society where to blame for Mozart’s lack of recognition, slow demise, and interment in ...
