Biographies of Mozart

Shortly after Mozart's death, biographers began to piece together accounts of his life, relying on the testimony of those still living who knew him, as well as surviving correspondence.

Based on research by Austrian scholar Walther Brauneis, much doubt has recently been cast on the veracity of Niemetschek's claim that he actually made Mozart's personal acquaintance.

They were able to pursue this interest following Nissen's retirement from the Danish civil service, when the couple moved to Salzburg (where Mozart had lived for much of his life up to age 25).

Vincent and Mary Novello made a pilgrimage to Salzburg in 1829, to visit Mozart's surviving relatives and to provide financial support to Nannerl (whom they mistakenly imagined to be impoverished).

[6] A great number of additional biographies exist, of which notably recent ones include those by Marcia Davenport, Volkmar Braunbehrens, Maynard Solomon, and Ruth Halliwell.

An important 20th century trend was the use of careful analysis of both handwriting and watermarks to provide more accurate (and often, surprising) dates for the works Mozart composed.

The two often obtained converging evidence; Sadie writes, "the very fact that the two methods have on almost every occasion borne each other out strongly implies that each of them is actually more precise than its protagonist could dare claim.

"[7] 21st century scholarship has made clear that the old government archives and parish records have by no means been fully exhausted for the purpose of finding out new facts about Mozart.

Work by Michael Lorenz has established the correct name of the person for whom the Ninth Piano Concerto was written;[8] also the surprising information that Mozart was living in spacious, expensive suburban quarters at a time when conventional scholarship asserted that he had moved to the suburbs to cope with poverty.

[9] A web site launched by Dexter Edge and David Black continues the tradition established by Deutsch and Eisen, with a compilation of newly discovered or noticed documents.

[11] In connection with this effort to understand the context of Mozart's life, Edge approvingly cites the work of Halliwell (1998) as well as studies by Michael Lorenz.

For instance, Constanze Mozart had strong motivation to paint a tragic picture of her husband's final decline and demise, since she was seeking both a pension from the Emperor and income from memorial benefit concerts.

Assessing the whole tradition of Mozart biography, Andrew Steptoe concludes: There is little doubt that successive generations of scholars have been sincere in their views of the composer, each claiming to be more 'objective' than the last, stripping away the veneer of speculation to arrive at 'the real man'.