Amadeus - The Maestro Trivia Quiz

Answer: Johannes Chrysostomos Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart

Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, at 8 p.m to his parents, Johann Georg Leopold Mozart ('Leopold') and Anna Maria Mozart (nee Pertl) in Salzburg (now in present day Austria, but at the time an independent city-state, which was an ecclesiastical principality, meaning that it was governed by a prince-archbishop). Most people today refer to Mozart as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which, although incorrect, is close to an interpretation of his actual name. Johannes was provided in honour of his father, who although called Leopold by all who knew him was actually a Johann.

This name was later dropped by both Amadeus and everybody else. Chrisostomos derives from St. John Chrysostom, whose saint's day Mozart was born on (a common practice even today). Wolfgang was the name of Mozart's maternal grandfather and Theophilus means 'beloved of God', which in Latin translates as Amadeus. Mozart later signed his name as 'Wolfgang Amade Mozart', which is where the modern mistake arises from. If you think Wolfie's name is a bit of a mouthful, wait until you hear his wife's name....Maria Constanze Caecilia Josepha Johanna Aloisia Weber!

Answer: Catherine II (Catherine the Great)

Mozart played his first royal show in January 1762 at the age of five (almost six). The trip was to nearby Munich, where Wolfgangerl (as his family called him) and his sister, Maria Anna Walburga Ignatia Mozart (or Nannerl to the family), played before the Elector of Bavaria.

This was to be one of Mozart's shortest childhood trips, culminating within three weeks. For the latter part of 1762, Mozart and his sister were taken off to Vienna, where they stayed a number of months delighting the aristocracy, most notably Emperor Joseph II and Empress Maria Theresa.

In 1763, the Mozart family went on tour again, this time, with Versailles as their ultimate goal, although they played many stops along the way. The Mozarts played in Paris for Queen Maria Leszczynska and Louis XV and in fact were honoured with an invitation to the court dinner on New Year's Day, 1763.

The family was further honoured, and gained great publicity, by being asked to stand by the royal table, where Maria conversed with Amadeus and fed him from her plate (sounds a little like a puppy, doesn't it).

In 1764, the Mozarts jumped the channel and stayed awhile in England, where they played before King George III and Queen Charlotte. They left England in 1765 and headed to the Low Countries (where the present day Netherlands and Belgium stand), where Amadeus performed before Prince William V of Orange in a solo performance (his sister having contracted typhoid). The Mozarts returned home to Salzburg in 1766 after Wolfgangerl himself also contracted typhoid. This was the end of Mozart's first real road tour (although he would continue to travel and play for another 14 years before finally settling in Vienna). Mozart was to suffer a number of illnesses throughout his life, many of which started while he toured Europe as a young boy. Although Catherine the Great did rule Russia during the years that Mozart travelled throughout Europe (she ruled from 1762-1796 after overthrowing and killing her husband Peter III), she never saw a performance by the child-wonder.

Answer: A knighthood

Although Mozart was indeed knighted by Pope Clement XIV in July 1770, little appears to have been made of this during the remainder of his life. The actual honour bestowed upon Mozart was the cross of the Order of the Golden Spur. The Pope had performed a similar act, when he had conferred a knighthood upon Christoph Gluck fourteen years earlier. Whereas Gluck, however, thereafter referred to himself as Chevalier de Gluck or Ritter von Gluck, Mozart does not seem to have penned such a title for himself, except for a very brief period following the knighthood, wherein he signed his name as Cavaliere Amadeo on the orders of his father.

The signature fizzled away in a very brief period of time though.

Answer: Over 230

Starting in early 1761, at the age of five, Mozart composed his first piece, 'Andante in C'. That first year he would compose a total of two pieces, the other being 'Allegro in F'. In the space of thirty years, Mozart would become prolific producing 235 pieces, including a hefty body of operas (which although only counting as one 'composition', would often include numerous arias, adagios and so on. If one was to include each actual piece within his operas and some of his more lengthy composition, the above number would be greatly magnified).

This meant that on average, Mozart composed just under eight compositions a year (7.8888. to be more exact) from the age of five to thirty-five. Of course, in some years he completed far more, for instance in 1772 he completed fifteen compositions and in 1786, he completed 16 (including two operas)! Even in the year of his death he composed eleven compositions (again including two operas) and what turned out to be his own requiem (although it was completed by his student, Sussmayr).

Answer: Haydn

Around 1780, Mozart was summoned to Vienna by his employer of the time, the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, Hieronymus von Colloredo. After a dispute between Mozart and the Prince-Archbishop over the Prince-Archbishop's refusal to let Mozart perform in front of the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II (whose court was established in Vienna as well) and the Prince-Archbishop's treatment of Mozart as a menial servant, Mozart either quit or was fired from his position.

This turned out to be quite beneficial to Mozart, who then made his living teaching, publishing, composing by commission and by public recitals.

His income was actually very good for his position (despite recent depictions of an under-worked and impoverished Mozart), but poor financial acumen and expensive tastes frequently corroded his earnings. Mozart's reputation was well-known throughout Vienna and highly regarded (except that some of his music was deemed too elaborate, the Emperor once remarking 'too many notes, my dear Mozart').

He even adopted other musicians styles, at one point composing six string quartets which he dedicated to Haydn, a pioneer and master of the quartet and a man that Mozart often referred to as 'dear friend'. Haydn was obviously appreciative, as witnessed by his commentary to Leopold. Oddly enough, Mozart's style and brilliance would become the major influence in Haydn's own style and later in Beethoven's.

Answer: Muzio Clementi

Muzio Clementi and Mozart competed against each other to perform the most exhilarating pianoforte before Emperor Joseph II in December of 1781. Clementi played a personal composition, a piano sonata in B-flat major, but was outdone by Mozart who instead pumped out a strong series of variations and won the day. Clementi was also somewhat of a child prodigy.

At the age of seven in 1759 he had begun his musical education and was so impressive that he secured his first job at the age of nine as an organist in Rome (where he was born).

He was adopted by an Englishman a few years later and became a celebrated pianist in England. It was during a European tour in 1781 that he was asked to compete against Mozart by the Emperor himself. Mozart never competed against Haydn, but actually developed a close friendship with him, dedicating, as noted above, a set of six quartets to Haydn in September, 1785. Ludwig van Beethoven was considerably influenced by Mozart's work and even studied under Mozart's tutelage in Vienna during April, 1787 for a two week period (Beethoven was 16 at the time).

Although Salieri has been depicted as Mozart's arch-enemy in the movie 'Amadeus' and in some historical documents (which have suggested that he had a hand in poisoning Mozart), there is actually very little evidence of any real interaction between the two at all. He was in Vienna at the time that Mozart arrived though, having been court composer since 1774 and Kapellmeister in 1788. Beethoven, as well as studying under Mozart, also studied under Salieri, as did Liszt and Schubert.

Answer: Le Nozze Di Figaro

Mozart composed 'The Marriage of Figaro' in 1786 for the Vienna Opera and it garnered the most success out of all of his operas while he was still alive (today, it might be a tough call, considering that all of his operas tend to be keenly awaited), even though it led, in large part, to a decline in Mozart's popularity.

It was first performed at the Burgtheater, in Vienna on May 1, 1786. The reason why 'Figaro' ended up doing more damage than good to Mozart's reputation was due to the storyline. Essentially, a Count is chasing after his wife's maid, despite the fact that the maid is the fiancee of the Count's valet, Figaro. Figaro, throughout the opera, foils the Count's attempts to seduce or ravage his fiancee. Such a depiction scared the aristocracy, because it showed that the nobility was susceptible to being outdone by their servants or the lower classes.

Not a popular theme considering the revolution that had occurred in the English American colonies and the general unrest felt throughout Europe at that time. 'Don Giovanni' (completed for the Prague Opera, a city where Mozart's opera in general was to do exceptionally well) was composed in 1787 and was almost as popular upon its presentation as 'Figaro'. 'Cosi Fan Tutte' was finished in 1790 and 'The Magic Flute' in 1791 (for a Vienna suburban Opera).

Answer: Platoon

Ok, ok, so I might not know the exact scenes where the music played, but if you know the specific scene, send me a message and I'll try and amend this info. box. 'Trading Places', which debuted in 1983, featured a scene where the 'Marriage of Figaro' overture blared throughout (I think this may have been when we see inside the Old boy's World at the brokerage house at the beginning of the movie). 'Bonfire of the Vanities', released in 1990, featured both Mozart's 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' and 'Don Giovanni'. 'The French Lieutenant's Woman', released in 1982, featured 'Piano Sonata K576'. 'Platoon', released in 1986, didn't feature any Mozart, but it did include Barber's 'Adagio for Strings'.

Answer: Vienna, December 5, 1791

Mozart died while composing a Requiem for an unidentified beneficiary. The movie that came out concerning Mozart's life, 'Amadeus', is partially correct in this story. Mozart was visited by a masked man, but it has been determined that it was not Salieri (who it has subsequently been discovered had very very little interaction with Mozart).

The masked man is still unknown, although recent arguments and evidence have narrowed it down to a probable handful of aristocrats. At the time of the request, Mozart was already beginning to show symptoms of an oncoming bout of illness, of which he had suffered many times throughout his life. Most of the illnesses that Mozart did suffer from are thought to have been continued recurrences of illnesses picked during his travels as a child. One of the symptoms that he suffered from while writing the requiem was a fever, and this and exhaustion may well have contributed to the idea that Mozart formed that he was writing his own requiem.

His prophecy turned out to be correct and he died shortly before one in the morning of December 5, 1791.

The most probable cause of his death is rheumatic fever, an illness that had recurred on a number of occasions.

Answer: Prevailing local custom

Mozart's funeral took place in Saint Stephen's Cathedral and he was subsequently buried in the cemetery of Saint Marx, a Viennese suburb. The movie 'Amadeus' and many other sources of information about Mozart have tried to depict the reasoning for this as being that Mozart was impoverished at the time of his death and that the most that his family could afford was a simple pauper's death.

This is in fact a fallacy, Mozart was not of noble birth and in Vienna at that time, the method of Mozart's burial was actually a legal requirement for any body not born into the aristocracy.