Posted on December 5, 2021
This is an update of my post published on December 5, 2010:
On this date in 1791, when he was just 35 years old, composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died. He had been very ill for several months with what was then termed “severe military fever” (possibly rheumatic fever, but it could be other illnesses or disorders). He had a very simple funeral with few if any mourners and a common (unmarked) grave—but such was the custom in late-eighteenth-century Vienna (which is now in Austria but was then part of the Holy Roman Empire). The public loved his music and attended memorial services and concerts to mourn his loss.
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A statue of Mozart in Vienna, where he lived the last decade of his life and where he composed many of his "Greatest Hits." |
And still, more than two centuries later, Mozart remains one of the most famous and respected composers of all time.
Mozart died early even by the averages of his time, but the world is lucky that he started creating original music very early in life. By age five (living in Salzburg, Holy Roman Empire), he could already play piano and violin—and he was already composing music and playing for royalty.
By age 12 he composed his first choral mass. It was for a 4-part choir, 2 violins, viola, bass, and organ!
- Find out more at Fun Trivia!
- Listen to some Mozart classics.
- Play Mozart's dice game and compose a minuet!
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