Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• Born - January 27, 1756
• in Salzburg, Austria
• Died - December 5, 1791
• at the age of 35

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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• Birthplace - Salzburg, Austria

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• Mozart was one of seven children however, only
  one other sibling survived, his older sister,
  Maryanne

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• Both exhibited unusual musical abilities at an
  early age and, with guidance and instruction from
  their father, Leopold, performed regularly in
  front of royalty.

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• Another important force in Mozarts life was his
  mother Anna Maria. History suggest an alert,
  intelligent woman, earthy, and sensible, but
  profoundly torn by the power struggle between her
  husbandand her son.

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• Family portrait

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• Mozart was known as a child prodigy
• A prodigy is a person with exceptional talents
  far beyond what is normal for someone of that
  age.
• Note He learned to speak 15 different languages
  throughout his lifetime

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• At three years old he began playing the piano.
• At age five he wrote his first piece of music.
• By age six he had taught himself how to play the
  violin without ever having received a lesson..

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• By age eight, he wrote his first symphony.
• And by age twelve he wrote his first opera.
• In his lifetime, he wrote 626 pieces of music.

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• An easy way to remember
• some of the numbers
• When did he start playing the piano? 3
• When did he write his 1st piece of music? 5
• When did he write his 1st symphony? 8
• How old was he when he died? 35

FREAKY !!
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• He was able to write this incredible amount of
  music because he was born with 2 special gifts.
• Perfect PitchPhotographic Memory

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• Perfect Pitch
• The ability to name the letter of a pitch simply
  by hearing it, or the ability to produce any
  pitch referred to by name.

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• Photographic Memory
• The ability to recall images, sounds, or objects
  in memory with great accuracy and in seemingly
  unlimited volume.

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• As Wolfgang was growing up, his father took him
  and his sister Maryanne on tours of Europe.
  Eventually, they went to Italy, the center of
  musical activity in the 1700s

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• As Mozart reached his 20s, he grew apart from
  his father.
• At the age of 26, he married Constanze Weber.
• They had 6 children, but only two sons survived
  past childhood.

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• In 1783 in the city of Linz (Austria's third
  largest city), Count Thun, announced a concert of
  Mozart's music. However, the situation was
  awkward because Mozart had no music prepared to
  play, and the concert was only four days away.
• Mozart wrote to his father "As I have not a
  single symphony with me, I am writing a new one
  at breakneck speed.
• Against all odds, the work was finished in
  time.It is now known asSYMPHONY NO. 36 IN C,
  "LINZ" K.425

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About His Music

• Wolfgangs music showed an amazing amount of
  sophistication.
• Many of his works show no corrections of any
  kind.

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The final years

• By the time Mozart was in his 30s, he worked all
  the time. As much as 15 hours a day writing
  music.
• Eventually, his hands became so deformed from
  writing that he couldnt even cut his own food

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The final years

• In the summer of 1791, a man came to Mozart and
  asked him to write a Requiem. This is a funeral
  Mass. He would not identify himself and Mozart
  became scared of him. He thought it was his
  Father coming back from the dead

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The final years

• He accepted the work and an advanced fee. As he
  worked on it, he began to feel that he was
  writing the Requiem for himself. He told his
  wife, I am afraid to finish it. I feel as though
  if I finish it, I will die

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The final years

• Sadly, his premonition came true and he died
  before he was able to finish it.

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The final years

• The Requiem was later finished by Franz Xaver
  Süssmayr.
• It was thought for many years that he was a
  former student of Mozarts, but this is a Myth.

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The final years

• In 1985, the movie Amadeus named the
  unidentified man requesting the Requiem as
  Italian composer Antonio Salieri.
• History says that the person was Count Franz von
  Walsegg, who planned to claim he wrote it himself.

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Mozarts Death

• What was the cause of his death?
• On November 20, 1791, Mozart unexpectedly took
  ill - developing a high fever, headache, sweats,
  and severe swelling and pain in his hands and
  legs.

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Mozarts Death

• By the 14th day of his illness, the swelling had
  spread to his entire body. With the swelling came
  nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and a persistent rash.

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Mozarts Death

• On December 5, just fifteen days after the onset
  of the illness, the great musician suffered a
  convulsion, lapsed into a coma and died.
• Mozart's death is believed to have been caused by
  rheumatic fever and kidney failure.

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Mozarts Death

• Another Theory
• On June 15, 2001, A new theory about a plate of
  pork chops was introduced.

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Mozarts Death

• An American researcher found evidence that
  trichinosis -- an illness he would have
  contracted from eating undercooked pork--was the
  most likely cause of Mozart's demise.

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Mozarts Death

• What is trichinosis?  
• Trichinosis is caused by eating the raw or
  undercooked meat of animals infected with the
  larvae of a worm called Trichinella. Infection
  occurs commonly in certain wild carnivorous
  (meat-eating) animals but can occur in domestic
  pigs.

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Mozarts Death

• There are no remains of Mozart, so no theory can
  be fully proved or disproved...but this
  explanation would answer all the issues brought
  forth by the features of his death as they have
  been described,

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Mozarts Death

• Trichinosis would typically kill a patient within
  2 to 3 weeks. After finding written evidence that
  Mozart did eat pork shortly before his death--the
  symptoms the artist experienced are all best
  explained by trichinosis.

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Mozarts Death

• Mozart died on December 5, 1791 at the age of 35.
• Because Mozart died with very little money, he
  was given a commoners (or paupers) funeral.
• It was years later that his grave was marked with
  a tombstone.

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Mozarts Death

• Interesting Fact
• We do not know where Mozart is buried. We know he
  was buried in St. Marx cemetery in Vienna,
  Austria, but we do not know exactly where. For
  this reason, there are 2 grave sites.
• This one,

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Mozarts Death

• and this is the other

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Mozarts Death

• Records show that Mozart was taken to his grave
  in a wooden coffin and buried in a plot along
  with 4 - 5 other people a wooden marker was used
  to identify the grave.
• However, at some stage during the next 5 - 15
  years, his plot was dug up to make room for more
  burials. The bones were re-interred, possibly
  having been crushed to reduce their size
  consequently, the position of Mozart's grave was
  lost.

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Mozarts Death

• There is still one final twist. In the early
  twentieth century the Salzburg Mozarteum was
  presented with a rather morbid gift Mozart's
  skull.
• It was alleged that a gravedigger had rescued the
  skull during the 're-organization' of the
  composer's grave. Although scientific testing has
  been unable to either confirm or deny that the
  skull is Mozart's, there is enough evidence on
  the skull consistent with Mozart's symptoms
  before death

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Mozarts Death

• Mozarts alleged skull

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• Random Pop Culture reference