Tourist attractions in Vienna : Mozarthaus Vienna

Mozarthaus Vienna presents the life and work of the musical genius Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in a unique setting in Vienna's Old Town, not far from St. Stephen's Cathedral. Domgasse 5 is the only one of Mozart’s apartments in Vienna that still exists today. The composer’s apartment has been refurbished and offers an opportunity to find out how Mozart lived with the aid of specially selected reference objects.

Photo by Corvair Owner

It is the largest, most elegant and most expensive apartment that Mozart ever had. It consists of four large rooms, two small rooms and a kitchen. Mozart lived there from the end of September 1784 until the end of April 1787. In these two and a half years he composed a number of major works including Le Nozze di Figaro. Furniture and other objects from Mozart's era include a gaming table for board games such as chess or Trick-Track, a forerunner of backgammon, and a magnificent musical clock dating from around 1796, which is one of the highlights of the apartment.

Photo by Corvair Owner

The seventeenth-century building has been open to the public for over seventy years. In 1941, the 150th anniversary of Mozart's death, his former rooms were opened to the public during the Nazi era, as part of "Imperial German Mozart Week". In 1945 the running of the exhibition was taken over by the Vienna Museum.

Photo by Wei Chen

Photo by robertDouglass

The total renovation of the Mozarthaus was started in 2004, and completed in the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2006. After the refurbishing, apart from the first floor in which Mozart and his family lived, two additional floors were dedicated to a permanent exhibition in an area of some 1,000 square meters, to offer information about the ten years that Mozart spent in Vienna. Today the Mozarthaus presents information about the composer in combination with historical exhibits and audio-visual installations. The basement of the building (renamed to BÖSENDORFER HALL) has been also converted with great architectural sensitivity into a remarkable multipurpose event venue.

Posthumous painting by Barbara Krafft in 1819

Biography
At the early age of 4 years Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart started to receive his musical education and was taught by his father. At the age of 5 he was presented as a child prodigy and performed his first musical tour throughout Europe. Mozart's career was closely linked to the city of Vienna. Aged 6, Mozart performed for the Austrian royals at the Hall of Mirrors at Schloss Schönbrunn and enchanted Empress Maria Theresia and the rest of the imperial family with his talent and his liveliness. On this European tour it became clear that Mozart was not only an excellent performer, but was also interested in composing music himself. In 1765, his first Sonatas were published in Paris. He moved to Vienna in 1781 aged 25.

Photo by Anomieus

Mozart's first months in Vienna were spent in a small pension in the direct vicinity of St. Peter's Church. There, he fell in love with Konstanze Weber, daughter of the proprietor. The success of his opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio" (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) enabled him to marry his lady - at St. Stephen's Cathedral. 2 years later, Mozart and his family moved to the "Mozarthaus" (1010, Domgasse 5) into a spacious apartment. Mozart was respected and successful as a musician and happy in his marriage. His years at the 'Mozarthaus' would be the most productive period in his working and composing life. He composed piano concerti, chamber music works and the very famous opera "The Marriage of Figaro" (Die Hochzeit des Figaro). 
 

Photo by Invisigoth67

A year before his death, Mozart and his family moved into another first district apartment. In spite of his success the family was heavily in debt and Mozart worked frantically in order to earn more money to support them all. The Magic Flute, probably Mozart’s most popular opera with its bewitching fairy tale elements, its gripping plot and its unforgettable tunes, was composed there. Also composed in this time was the famously unfinished Requiem, incomplete because Mozart suddenly died on the 5th December 1791. His remains received the last blessings in the Kruzifixkapelle in St. Stephen's Cathedral and buried at St. Marx Cemetery. In 1859 Hanns Gasser built a monument there, which was later transferred to the group of honorary graves for musicians at Vienna´s Central Cemetery.


Text Sources:
mozarthausvienna.at
wienmuseum.at
wikipedia.org
aboutvienna.org