War, Debt and Mozart

A financial investigation by Madame Twaklin Adelaidezone, 
with the assistance of Mr Mozart's bank manager, accountant,
financial advisers, public relations team and personal stylist



Wars can be a distressing inconvenience, especially for persons living on the front line.  Wars can be almost as distressing for persons whose financial situation deteriorates as a consequence of war, as Mr Mozart discovered to his own cost.  The war affecting his later life began in 1787 and ended in 1791, the latter being the year of Mozart's untimely death.

There appears to have been a great deal of social unrest in Vienna during the Austro-Turkish War, with fears of conscription, a great many deaths from illness amongst the soldiers at the front, high food prices in the city, and financial troubles for many artists and musicians dependent on wealthy patrons for their income.

Mozart's early life was also shaped by war, though he was probably rather less aware of the effects on his life of the Seven Years' War than the Austro-Turkish War.  May 1787 was also, significantly, when his father died.

Peter Hoyt's views on Mozart the debtor

Mozart's 1789 Berlin Journey

I do not understand the motivations of Karl Alois, the young Prince Lichnowsky (1761-1814), who was about thirty years old when he won a substantial law suit against Mr Mozart in 1791.  Was the prince's subsequent support for Beethoven a consequence of a sense of guilt for the demise of Mozart?

Was it the case that Mozart became overly ambitious after his success in Prague in 1787?  It is not unknown for an economic downturn to occur in surprising ways.  Truth is a better guide to the past, the present and the future than fiction will ever be.  So, what is the truth?

Share your views in my tea parlour, or in Mr Twitter's Coffee House at the #MozartChat table, or at my own small table, or at the lovely table of the Mozarty Party.  Lady Facebookian is also hosting a Mozarty Party gathering.