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by Glenn Rigby
After traveling Europe extensively as a boy, and then as a young adult, Mozart began making his return to his native land of Austria. On the way he stopped in Munich, where his opera Idomeneo premiered.
The next year he returned to Vienna with his employer, prince-Archbishop Colloredo. Mozart grew more and more rebellious towards Collerdo, and admitted he was released from employment "with a kick in the seat of the pants." He then settled in Vienna to pursue an independent music career.
In 1782 Mozart married a woman named Constanze Weber. This was also the year that he created the opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"). This piece was widely successful. Not long after he performed piano concertos as director and soloist.
The next year, Amadeus and Constanze visited his father in Salzburg with a cold reception. Leopold Mozart did not take to his son’s wife. Though the visit was not a particularly pleasant one, it did inspire Mozart to write one of his best known works, the Mass in C Minor. This piece premiered in Salzburg with Constanze as lead female soloist.
In 1782 Mozart became acquainted with the composer Joseph Haydn. The two quickly became friends. During Haydn's visits to Vienna, the two would play in quartets together. During the years of 1782-1785, Mozart dedicated six quartets to Haydn, and it is thought that these were in response to Haydn's Opus 33 from 1871.
Between 1782 and 1785, Mozart also performed a series of solo concerts. These are considered to be his best pieces, and were financially rewarding.
During the years 1784-1787 he lived in a lavish, seven-room apartment behind St Stephen's Cathedral; it was here, in 1786, that Mozart composed the opera Le nozze di Figaro. This apartment may be visited today at Domgasse 5.
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