The Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg is a non-profit organization whose primary focus has been the life and work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Mozarteum offers concerts, maintains the Mozart museums, and supports academic research. These three core areas seek not only to preserve and foster tradition but to be open to changing perspectives and consider new approaches when encountering the works of Mozart.
The Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation was founded in 1880 by citizens of the town of Salzburg and has its roots in the “Dom-Musik-Verein und Mozarteum” (cathedral music society and Mozarteum) from 1841. Since then, as a nonprofit organization it has made a study of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart’s life and work. In the years 1844 and 1858 Mozart’s two sons, Franz Xaver Wolfgang and Carl Thomas, gifted their father’s estate to the Mozarteum Foundation. This collection, which includes manuscripts, original instruments, portraits and much of the family correspondence, forms the basis of the library, archives and Mozart Museums of the Foundation.
Today, with initiatives in three main fields – concerts, research and museums – the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation forges links between maintaining tradition and promoting contemporary culture. The aim is to open up changing perspectives and new ideas in the study of the composer.
Concerts
With two festivals – Mozart Week and Dialogues – and other series such as the chamber music concert series, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg presents concerts throughout the whole year.
Each year around the time of Mozart’s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts Mozart Week Festival with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.
The Dialogues Festival was established to celebrate the Mozart Year in 2006. It is primarily aimed at an audience that is open to a controversial, contemporary take on new and classical music. For this purpose, the Dialogues Festival invites contemporary artists from the disciplines of music, dance, literature, fine art, and film. This interdisciplinary approach of the Dialogues Festival seeks to move beyond the traditional concert protocol and develop unusual, powerful listening situations.
The Kammermusik im Wiener Saal cycle (‘Chamber Music in the Viennese Hall’) takes place from October to June and is organized exclusively by the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation. The audience will be presented with both renowned chamber musicians and ‘rising stars’ – young instrumental soloists, singers, and ensembles who are already being booked to perform in the leading international venues. With this cycle the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg provides a forum for chamber music in Salzburg.
Mozart Museums
The Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation preserves the heritage of the Salzburg-born genius in two Mozart museums (Mozart’s Birthplace and the Mozart Residence), which are two of the main tourist attractions in Salzburg.
Mozart’s Birthplace is more than a world-famous memorial to the greatest musical genius of all times. It is a modern museum that makes unique originals accessible in a contemporary context. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born here in 1756. His life story is told here.
The Mozart Residence is more than a museum between tradition and modernity. It is the place where diverse activities related to concerts, science and museums come together. The Mozart family lived here after 1773. Exhibitions, museum concerts and film screenings take place here.
Research
Tradition, preservation and an orientation towards the future are the three hallmarks of the research program at the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation.
The Mozarteum’s collection of autographs contains about 190 original letters by Mozart, about 370 by his father and over 100 autograph manuscripts of Mozart’s music, mainly sketches and drafts but also some original scores. Visits of the autograph vault are limited and only possible for groups with advanced reservation. The Bibliotheca Mozartiana contains about 35,000 titles and is the most extensive Mozart library in the world. Following the Neue Mozart Ausgabe (New Mozart Edition), the complete historic and critical edition of Mozart’s works begun in 1954 and completed in June 2007, the Digital Mozart Edition is now being created as the definitive continuously updated online edition of Mozart’s works. It makes the New Mozart Edition freely available on the Internet for users worldwide.
Support / Member Benefits
To learn how you can be part of the Mozarteum Foundation’s future, and to insure that the legacy of Mozart as preserved by the Mozarteum remains vibrant for generations to come, become a member! For complete membership information, including special benefits reserved for Members of the Mozarteum Foundation, click here. [http://www.mozarteum.at/en/membership.html]