Mozart's life | In his lifetime |
 |
|
|
Birth of Mozart
at 8pm on Jan 27, the youngest of seven children born to the Salzburg musician Leopold Mozart.
|
1756 |
Britain is at war
with the French in Canada, and with the Austrians and French in Europe. The first chocolate factory opens in Germany. |
|
|
|
Mozart family
embarks on a grand European tour, to show off Mozart's precocious musical talents. |
1763 |
 |
|
|
|
Mozart's opera
La finta semplice is premiered in Salzburg. In Vienna, his operetta Bastien und Bastienne are performed at Dr Mesmer's. |
1768 |
Outbreak of the Russo-Turkish
war. Captain Cook begins his first circumnavigation of the world. The Royal Academy is founded in London. |
|
|
|
 |
1770 |
Boston Massacre
The poets Hölderlin and Wordsworth are born. First public restaurant opens in Paris. |
|
|
|
Mozart is made
Kapellmeister at the court of Prince-Archbishop Colloredo. He writes serenades, concertos and masses. |
1772 |
Partition of Poland
First German performance of Handel's Messiah. Haydn' s St Nicholas Mass is premiered. S. T. Coleridge is born. |
|
|
|
Disenchanted at
court, Mozart secures his dismissal from the court of Colloredo, and moves to Vienna. |
1781 |
 |
|
|
|
Mozart's revolutionary
opera The Marriage of Figaro enjoys great public success in Vienna. |
1786 |
Uranium is
discovered. Pitt reforms government finances in England. And the threshing machine is invented. |
|
|
|
 |
1787 |
Goethe and Schiller
publish major plays. Riots in Paris herald the beginning of the Revolution. |
|
|
|
In a white heat of
inspiration, Mozart composes his last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40 and 41) |
1788 |
 |
|
|
|
December 4:
A sick Mozart rehearses the unfinished Requiem and gives instructions on its completion to Sussmayer. He dies at 12.55am on Dec 5. |
1791 |
In France
King Louis XVI and his family are intercepted by revolutionary forces and returned to Paris.
The guillotine is introduced in France. |
 |
Listen Live
help