The composer behind the evening
Mozart and Salzburg in six dates
Six dated facts about Mozart and Salzburg, from his birth in 1756 to the Great Mass in St. Peter's church and the operas the dinner concert plays.
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Mozart was born in Salzburg on 27 January 1756, was dismissed by his Salzburg employers in June 1781 and stayed in Vienna for the rest of his life. He came back to visit in 1783, when his Great Mass in C minor was first performed in St. Peter's abbey church. The operas sung at the dinner concert were all written after he left the city.
27 January 1756: born in Salzburg
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, then the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg. UNESCO's description of the city's historic centre calls it a city-state ruled by a prince-archbishop until the nineteenth century, and calls Mozart its most famous son. The city's Old Town was inscribed on UNESCO's World Heritage list in 1996, and the Wikipedia article on the historic centre describes the Baroque architecture that grew up under three prince-archbishops between the late sixteenth and eighteenth centuries. That is the Salzburg Mozart knew as a child.
June 1781: dismissed
In 1781 Mozart was in Vienna, where his quarrels with his Salzburg employers came to a head. A May attempt to resign was refused, and he was formally dismissed in June. He chose to remain in Vienna for the rest of his life. It is the break that explains why the great operas on a Salzburg dinner programme were written elsewhere.
October 1783: the Great Mass in St. Peter's
Mozart wrote the Great Mass in C minor for his 1783 visit to Salzburg. Its first performance took place in the abbey church of St. Peter on Sunday 26 October 1783, with the Salzburg court musicians. The work was unfinished: large parts of the Credo and the whole Agnus Dei are missing, and the premiere gave the Kyrie, Gloria, Sanctus and Benedictus. The church stands next to the restaurant where the dinner concert is held.
1783: a part written for Constanze
Wikipedia's article on the Great Mass says Mozart wrote its soprano solos for the voice of his wife, Constanze, so that she could show her gifts during their 1783 visit. It also records that the performers were the Salzburg court musicians, the Hofmusik, and that Mozart's sister Nannerl's diary says the entire Hofmusik took part. The Great Mass is the Salzburg link most worth knowing before dinner, since the church where it was first heard stands next to the restaurant.
1786 and 1787: Figaro and Don Giovanni
The Marriage of Figaro had its first performance on 1 May 1786 at the Burgtheater in Vienna, to a libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Don Giovanni followed on 29 October 1787 in Prague, again with a libretto by Da Ponte. Both are sung in Italian, and arias and duets from both are named for the dinner concert in the Baroque Hall. Mozart's own catalogue listed Don Giovanni as an opera buffa, while Wikipedia describes it as a dramma giocoso, a label that fits its mix of comedy and the supernatural.
1791: The Magic Flute, and the end
The Magic Flute opened on 30 September 1791 at Emanuel Schikaneder's theatre in Vienna, with Mozart conducting the first performances. He died in Vienna on 5 December 1791, about two months later. The dinner concert plays from this opera too, so the programme runs across his last decade. The premiere was in Vienna, not Salzburg, and its libretto was in German rather than the Italian of the two Da Ponte operas.
What this means for the dinner
The dinner concert is held in the town Mozart left, and the music comes from the years after. That is a reason to enjoy it, not to doubt it: Salzburg is where the story starts and where the music is still sung at the table. The Baroque Hall itself dates from 1903, so the link is the town, the abbey church and the repertoire, not the walls.
10 August 1787: a serenade finished in Vienna
Eine kleine Nachtmusik, catalogued as K. 525, is the one piece on the dinner programme that is not an opera. Mozart entered it in his catalogue on 10 August 1787, and it was completed in Vienna, in the same year as Don Giovanni. Wikipedia notes that it is not known why he composed it. It is written for strings, so it is the piece in which the instrumentalists take the lead.
Frequently asked questions
Did Mozart live in Salzburg all his life?
No. He was born there in 1756 but moved to Vienna in 1781 and lived there until his death on 5 December 1791.
Where was the Great Mass first performed?
In St. Peter's abbey church in Salzburg, on 26 October 1783, as an unfinished work.
Sources