Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Special stamp for Mozart

The most extraordinary phenomenon in the history of European art was born in Salzburg in 1756. In scarcely 35 years Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart managed to compose an oeuvre encompassing around 700 works whose breadth and quality is unequalled in the Western music. Mozart was responsible for 46 symphonies, 16 operas, 21 concerts for piano and orchestra, 32 sonatas for piano and violin, and 13 marches, among other things. And Mozart also penned many highlights in music writing.

Wonder-child

Wolfgang Amadeus was composing music at five years old and gave concerts as a wonder-child at home and abroad. At 13 Mozart was appointed unpaid Konzertmeister of the Salzburg court chapel, a position Wolfgang Amadeus was to hold again - this time with a salary - at 16. During his travels to Italy, Paris and Mannheim he received many commissions and distinctions, but after leaving Salzburg's court chapel, Mozart failed to find a position and, conscious of his talent, he established himself as a 'free artist' in Vienna. He married there in 1782, fathering six children, four of whom died before their first birthday.

Brilliant musician

The brilliant musician's brief life was not always an easy one. His own health and that of his wife was brittle and the family was often in financial difficulties. His professional career was full of ups and downs too. Joseph Haydn praised Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven studied under him and in 1787 Joseph II appointed him. Yet his income remained low and his success intermittent. His opera Don Giovanni (1787) was roundly criticized, although Cosi fan tutte (1790) and Die Zauberflöte (1791) were well received.

Requiem

In 1791 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was commissioned to compose his Requiem, a fragment of which forms the backdrop to his portrait on the postage stamp, but he was unable to complete the piece. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died on 5 December of that year. His was a humble internment at a Vienna cemetery, but his music continues to be admired across the globe.

Stamp in detail

Issue: Belgium, 23 January 2006
Stamp size: 40.2 x 27.6 mm
Design: Jan De Maesschalck
Printing: rotogravure

More information

Stamps of Belgium
Postage Stamps 2006
Accordions
Composers of the Renaissance
Art in Belgium