Most casual listeners of Mozart know that he was from Salzburg, Austria, and that he moved to Vienna as a young man in order to pursue musical fame. But what most people don’t know is that Mozart had a very special relationship with the city of Prague, Czech Republic. Beyond his well known Symphony No. 38, which is commonly called the Prague Symphony, and Mozart’s famous quote, “The people of Prague understand me,” Mozart always felt a kinship with the Bohemian people of Prague. This, despite the fact that Mozart only spent about 110 days of his life in Prague over the course of three visits.
The first time Mozart visited Prague, in January, 1787, he practically had to be dragged. His music had been very popular there for some years, and The Marriage of Figaro was a bigger success in Prague than in any other city. Mozart had Czech friends in the Viennese music world, who were always encouraging him to go to Prague, but it wasn’t until a small scale letter writing campaign was taken up inviting Mozart to come and play in Prague that Mozart began to consider it seriously. Their efforts eventually paid off when Mozart debuted his Symphony in D-Major at the Estates Theatre in Prague. Mozart played piano himself, and he thrilled the audience with what today would be called a virtuoso jazz performance. Mozart and his wife, Constanza, stayed on in Prague for a month, socializing and listening to the local music. Mozart also earned some musical commissions for compositions.
Mozart would return later that same year, in October, to conduct what would be come to be his famous presentation of his new opera, Don Giovanni. When Mozart arrived in Prague, however, he had yet to finish the score. And ten days later, on the evening of the scheduled performance, October 14, Mozart had yet to finish it. As a result, he conducted instead a performance of The Marriage of Figaro. His friends in Prague insisted he stay on in Prague until he finished his work on Don Giovanni and promised to make the orchestra and the theatre available to him. At first, Mozart was living in a room above a pub near the theatre, but there were simply too many distractions there, and his work did not go well. That is when Frantisek and Josefina Dusek, Czech friends Mozart knew from Vienna, invited him to stay at their estate at what was at time a vineyard outside of Prague. Mozart was able to complete his opera there on October 28, the day before it was first performed at the Estates Theatre. The people of Prague were enthralled with Don Giovanni, making it the most popular opera in the history of Prague to date. Mozart would stay on in Prague for another two weeks, during which he was being wooed with offers to produce another opera for Prague. Mozart declined these offers and returned to Vienna.
Mozart’s last visit to Prague would take place four years later, in 1791, and would prove to be less triumphant. The occasion of Mozart’s visit was the coronation of Leopold II to throne of the Kingdom of Bohemia and Hungary. Mozart was to premiere a new opera, La Clemenza di Tito. When he arrived the opera was not complete, which is probably why he brought not only his wife on this trip, but a student of his, who is said to have done some of the work on the opera. It was premiered as scheduled on September 6, 1791, but it was poorly received. Mozart departed for Vienna shortly thereafter.
Mozart died less than three months later, December 5, 1791.
The Estates Theatre where Mozart conducted his Prague works is still a fully-functioning theatre. In fact, it was used for the film of Amadeus, directed by the Czech filmmaker Milos Foreman.
