Carl Thomas Mozart

Carl Thomas Mozart, daguerreotype 1856

Carl Thomas Mozart (born September 21, 1784 in Vienna , † October 31, 1858 in Milan , often called Carl Mozart or Karl Mozart ) was an Austrian civil servant . He was the second son and the older of the two surviving children of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Constanze born. Weber.

Life

The sons of Wolfgang Amadeus and Constanze Mozart: Carl Thomas (r) and Franz Xaver Mozart (l), painting from 1798

After the death of his father, his mother Constanze brought him and his brother Franz Xaver Wolfgang to the estate of Franz Xaver and Josepha Duschk , the Vila Bertramka near Prague. The upbringing of the seven-year-old Carl was entrusted to grammar school professor Franz Xaver Niemetschek, who also gave him piano lessons. Carl stayed here until 1797. At the age of fourteen he went to Livorno , where he began an apprenticeship in a trading company . At that time he thought of starting a piano trade . But he found in the trade stand no satisfaction and moved at the end of 1805 to Milan to here music to study. On the recommendation of Joseph Haydn, he was taught by the Milan Conservatory director and composer Bonifazio Asioli .

In the first two years Carl's progress was promising, but in the third year he gave up the music career. He then entered the civil service as a civil servant , initially as a translator within what was then the French administration of Lombardy . After their incorporation into the Austrian Empire in 1815, he became an official in the state accounting department and led a modest life in Milan. In August and September 1820 his brother Franz Xaver Wolfgang visited him, in 1825 he saw his mother in Milan, she in turn saw him in Salzburg in 1836 . During his civil service he continued to work as an official translator for Italian for the kk Finanzverwaltung. In 1842 he took part in the unveiling of the Mozart monument in Salzburg and in 1856 in the celebrations for the 100th anniversary of his father's birthday as a guest of honor.

Like his brother, Carl Thomas Mozart died unmarried and left no descendants. The direct descendants of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died out in the middle of the 19th century.

meaning

From his young age until his death, Carl Thomas Mozart endeavored to promote the memory of his father. In 1841 he bequeathed his father's grand piano to the Mozarteum , which later became the International Mozarteum Foundation . He also gave the institution a considerable amount of money and signed notes and books to it. His correspondence, which was published in large parts in the communications of the International Mozarteum Foundation , is an important source of the Mozart family history and the reception of Mozart in the first half of the 19th century.

Letter issues

• Mozarteum communications 1–3 (1918–1921)
• Rudolph Angermüller : Mozartiana from the Hans Wertitsch collection. In: Mitteilungen der Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, 34 (1986), pp. 65–83.
• Rudolph Angermüller: Two unprinted letters from Carl Mozart. In: Mitteilungen der Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, 38 (1990), pp. 145f.
• Rudolph Angermüller: An unprinted letter from Carl Mozart. In: Mitteilungen der Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum, 43 (1995), Issue 1–2, pp. 88–90.

literature

• Constantin von Wurzbach : Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus (son) . In: Biographisches Lexikon des Kaiserthums Oesterreich . 19th part. Imperial-Royal Court and State Printing Office, Vienna 1868, p. 294 f. ( Digitized version ). (in his brother's article)
• Johann Evangelist Engl: The father's surviving sons Carl and Wolfgang and the other children of WA Mozart. In: Annual report of the International Mozarteum Foundation, 13 (1893), pp. 38–51
• Gregor Gatscher-Riedl: "He couldn't have a better place". Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's son Karl in Perchtoldsdorf. In: Local history supplement [to the official gazette of the district authority Mödling], 41st volume, F. 1, (Mödling December 5, 2006), p. 3f.
• Walter Hummel: WA Mozart's sons. Bärenreiter, Kassel 1956
• Alfred Engelmann: The life of Carl Mozart in Milan. In genealogy. Deutsche Zeitschrift für Familienkunde, 40 (1991), pp. 661–667
• William Stafford: Article Carl Thomas Mozart. In: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians , 2nd Edition, Volume 17. Macmillan, London 2002, ISBN 0-333-60800-3 , p. 348.
• Rainer J. Schwob: Article Mozart, Carl Thomas. In: Music in the past and present , new edition, personal section, Volume 12. Bärenreiter, Kassel 2004, ISBN 3-7618-1110-1 , Sp. 758.
• Michael Lorenz : Carl Thomas Mozart's Original Baptismal Entry. Vienna 2013.
• Till Reininghaus: The Dommusikverein and Mozarteum in Salzburg and the Mozart family. The history of a musical institution in the years 1841 to 1860 against the background of Mozart's care and the Mozartiana collection (= contributions to Mozart documentation 2). Carus, Stuttgart 2018, ISBN 978-3-89948-315-4 .

References and comments

1. ^ Michael Lorenz: "An Unknown Mozart Work", Vienna 2012

Web links

Commons : Carl Thomas Mozart  - Collection of images, videos and audio files