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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
From the very
early age of 4 years, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart received musical education
from his father. At the age of 5 he was presented as an infant prodigious
and performed his first musical tour, through Europe. On this travels it
became very clear that Mozart was not only interested in performing, but
also in composing music and soon his first Sonatas were published in Paris
in 1765.
Mozart moved to Vienna in
1781, where he frantically composed operas like "Die Entführung aus dem
Serail", the "Zauberflöte", "Le Nozze di Figaro", "Don Giovanni" and chamber
music like "Die Kleine Nachtmusik" In 1782, Mozart married Kostanze Weber
and in 1787 he was appointed "Kammerkompositor" by the emperor, which did
not only promote him into a higher social status, but took care of a steady
and fair income. The last three years in Mozart's life where his most
successful ones, but because of his excessive lifestyle, his potential
fortune grew smaller and smaller and on the 5th of December 1791 Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart died, without finishing his Requiem for the Count F.
Walsegg-Stuppach. His work includes 20 operas, 60 symphonies, 31 contertos
or piano and violin and many more.
Famous work:
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)
Ludwig van
Beethoven received his musical education by his father Johann, who was a
singer and instrumentalist in the service of the Elector of Cologne at Bonn.
In 1787 Beethoven moved to Vienna where he worked and studied with Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart and Joseph Haydn. In 1795 he made his first public appearance
at the Vienna Burgtheater. He was strongly bound to aristocracy and the
Viennese society and Beethoven often dedicated his work to them. Their
support or employment left Beethoven a lot of time to life and work as a
free artist.
In 1794 he first noticed an impairment in his hearing, which was diagnosed
incurable in 1802. Around this period he composed the "Eroica Symphonie" and
the "Symphonie No.5" Beethoven hearing problem increased rapidly from 1801
to 1818. In 1814 he presented his one and only opera "Fidelio", in 1815 he
conducted his last concert and around 1818 he went completely deaf. In his
late period, nearly deaf he composed the "Choral Symphony, No.9".
Famous work:
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
At the age of
8 Joseph Haydn was sent to Vienna as a choirboy at St. Stephen's Cathedral.
Until 1750 he studied violin and different keyboard instruments and started
to compose his first work.
By 1766 he was assigned
Kapellmeister for the Esterhazys in Eisenstadt, one of the leading Hungarian
Families, where he was in charge of around 20 musicians. After the death of
Prince Nicholas in 1790 and the dissolving of the Esterhazy orchestra, Haydn
moved back to Vienna, where he became one of the leading musicians. From
1791 to 1792 he stayed in London, where Oxford University awarded him an
honorary doctor of music.
In 1795 the Esterhazy
orchestra was resurrected by Prince Nikolaus II and Haydn was given a lot of
freedom, to work as a musical director. During this time he composed the
string quartets "Rider" and the "Emporer Quartet" and the world famous song
"God Save The Emperor Franz", today known as the German national anthem.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Throughout his childhood Franz Schubert developed a dedication to music and
studied piano, organ, violin and singing. By 1814 he had already produced a
lot of work, including piano pieces, string quartets, his first symphony and
a three act opera.
Although Schubert was forced by his family to take on a job as
a teacher in his father's school, he still continued to compose and he
managed to produce more music. During this period he gathered with friends
for domestic evenings dedicated to Schubert's music, later known as the
"Schubertiads". Song like "Der Wanderer" and "Die Forelle" where introduced.
In 1822 he got infected by syphilis and was in deep financial
needs, marking this time as a dark period. But Schubert still kept creating
new work like "Schöne Müllerin" the "Eighth Symphony ("unfinished")"
and a string Quartet d Minor ("Death and the Maiden"). Although he was known
at his time as a songwriter, his work included a lot of Symphonies, String
Quartets, piano sonatas and more
Famous work:
Johann Strauss Jr.
(1825-1899)
Johann
Strauss Jr. was born on the 25th of October 1825, as the first son of
Johann
Strauss Sr.
His father, a famous musician himself, forbid him a musical career. But
Johann Strauss Jr. cared more for his violin lessons, than his schoolwork.
In 1844 he performed his first concert at the Dommayer in Hietzing, a
Viennese suburb. He was successful and soon rose to be the most dangerous
competitor to his father.
When his father died in 1849, Strauss Jr. had already established himself as
the Viennese Waltz King. He conquered big crowds of fans with his tours
through Europe and America and trigged a world wide Strauss hysteria.
Jaque Offenbach's operettas inspired Johann Strauss Jr. to drift towards
stagework himself categorizing his work as comical operas. His first
operetta "Die Fledermaus" had its premiere in 1871, and in 1874 he released
"Der Zigeunerbaron".
He was married three times, he wrote 17 operettas and an uncountable amount
of waltzes and his "Schöne Blaue Donau" is kind of an unoffizial anthem for
Austria to this day.
Famous work:
Johann Strauss Sr. (1804-1849)
Johann
Strauss Sr. was born on the 14th of March 1804, as the son of an innkeeper.
The location of his father's inn at the Danube Channel and the neighboring
harbor with it's rafts and boats from different countries and the music
played by the sailors, influenced Johann Sr. enthusiasm for popular dance
music.
After the death of both parents he began working as an apprentice for
bookbinding in 1816 and started studying the violin. He got hired for the
chapel of Michael Pamer as violin player but soon Strauss decided to become
independent with his own orchestra. After a longer period of existential and
financial problems he managed his breakthrough. He started to tour through
Europe where he celebrated his popularity and he even played at the crowning
of Queen Victoria in London.
His success was enormous and he became conductor of the first civil
regiment, where he composed the "Radetzky Marsch".
Famous work:
Vienna Boys´ Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben)
Founded in 1498 as part of the Vienna
Hofmusikkapelle by Emperor Maximilian I for private masses and concerts for
the court. Countless famous composers and conductors like
Wolfgang
Amadeus Mozart have worked with the Choirboys.
After the breakdown of the
Habsburg
Empire in 1918 the fate of the Vienna Boys' Choir was undecided. The
Austrian State took over
Vienna
State Opera and its adult musicians but was not interested in upholding
the traditions of the boys' choir with its angelic voices. A private sponsor
stepped in and managed the choir. In the 1920s sailor suit were all the rage
and so the boys were dressed accordingly - a dress code that has been in use
ever since.
To fight a shortage in funding the
choir started to organize public concerts with great success. The choir
enlarged their repertoire adding motets, secular songs and childrens' operas
to their performances.
Today, there are 4 boys' choirs, who constantly tour the world. The
choristers are aged 11 to 14 years, attend school together and receive an
excellent musical education. Their concerts are usually sold out at an early
stage.
On Sundays there is a special chance to
admire the boys' choire: accompanied by Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Vienna State Opera Chorus they celebrate mass at the Hofmusikkapelle at
Vienna's
Hofburg.
Joe Zawinul (1932- )
Joe
Zawinul, Austria's finest jazz export, actually started out as a classic
musician. Highly talented and with perfect pitch, he was awarded a stipend
for an excellent music training. But he soon found out that classic music
was not what he wanted to play and turned to jazz.
Falco (1957-1998)
Falco was
born in Vienna as Johann Hölzl. Starting at an early age, Falco's interest
was turned to music. After playing in different bands like Drahdiwaberl and
the Spinning Wheel he decided to start a solo career and his first album in
1982 "Einzelhaft" was a bestseller at once.
DJ Ötzi (1971- )
DJ Ötzi
was born as Gerry Friedle in St Johann in Tyrol. After his mother gave him
up for adoption, he was raised by his grandmother. In school he was always
an outsider and after he failed the School of Agriculture, he started an
apprenticeship as a cook.
Musikverein
Up to 500
concerts per year attract music lovers from all over the world. However, the
'Musikverein' is popular with the locals, too. It is a Viennese institution
and a vital node of the city's social life.
One of the
highlights of Vienna's cultural calendar is the 'Neujahrskonzert'
of the Vienna Philharmonic. The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is considered
to be one of the best world-wide.
Ferdinand Raimund abandoned his apprenticeship in a bakery to become an
actor. His carreer had a rocky start with him working for various travelling
theatres throughout Hungary until he was able to secure a position at famous
'Theater an der Wien'. Raimund was
a charismatic actor, even though he would have preferred to
star in tragedies rather than in burlesques and comedies.
3 of his 8 plays are known and ocassionally staged today: 'Der
Alpenkönig und der Menschenfeind' (The King of the Alps and the Misanthrop),
'Das Mädchen aus der Feenwelt oder Der Bauer als Millionär' (The girl from
fairy land or the farmer as millionaire) and 'Der Verschwender' (The
dissipator).
However, his plays are typical examples of romantic magical
comedies with fairy stories, moral allegories and deus-ex-machina happy
endings which are at odds with contemporary tastes.
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