The Mozart family's grand tour was a 1763–1766 journey around the capitals and other major cities of western Europe, undertaken by Leopold Mozart, his wife Anna Maria, and their musically gifted children Maria Anna, and Wolfgang Amadeus. Leopold was a court musician to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, and by 1763 held the post of deputy Kapellmeister. He obtained a protracted leave of absence so that the precocious talents of his children, then aged eleven and seven respectively, could be demonstrated to the wider world. The social and pecuniary opportunities that might accrue from a prolonged trip, taking in the major European courts, complemented what Leopold saw as his duty, as a Catholic and a German, to display the talents of his miraculous children. The grand tour itinerary took the family, via Munich and Frankfurt, to Brussels. From there they travelled to Paris and then London. In London Wolfgang made the acquaintance of some of the leading musicians of the day, heard much music, and composed his first symphonies. The family moved on to Holland, where the schedule of performances was interrupted by the illnesses of both children, but Wolfgang continued to compose prolifically. The homeward journey incorporated a second stop in Paris and a trip through Switzerland, before the family's return to Salzburg in November 1766. The children's performances inspired comments of rapture and amazement wherever they played. The journey enabled the children to experience fully the cosmopolitan musical world, and to receive an outstanding education, which in Wolfgang's case continued through further journeys during the next six years.
Read the rest of this article: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_family_grand_tour> _______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries: 1649: The Peace of Rueil was signed, signaling an end to the opening episodes of the Fronde, France's civil war, after little blood had been shed. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peace_of_Rueil> 1851: Italian Romantic composer Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto was first performed at La Fenice in Venice. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rigoletto> 1879: Japan annexed the Ryūkyū Kingdom into what would become the Okinawa Prefecture. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ry%C5%ABky%C5%AB_Kingdom> 1917: World War I: British forces led by Sir Stanley Maude captured Baghdad, the southern capital of the Ottoman Empire. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Baghdad_%281917%29> 1966: In power since World War II, President Sukarno of Indonesia was essentially ousted by Suharto and the military after being forced to sign the Presidential Order Supersemar. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sukarno> 2004: A series of simultaneous bombings on Cercanías commuter trains killed 191 people and wounded more than 1,800 in the Spanish capital of Madrid. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Madrid_train_bombings> _____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day: seiche (n): (hydrology) A short-period standing wave oscillation of the water level in a lake, characteristic of the lake's geometry <http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/seiche> ___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day: The world has arrived at an age of cheap complex devices of great reliability; and something is bound to come of it. --Vannevar Bush <http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Vannevar_Bush> _______________________________________________ Wikipedia Daily Article mailing list. To unsubscribe, visit: https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/daily-article-l Questions or comments? Contact [email protected]
