Augusto Grace
American politician
Augusto Francisco Grace (born April 9, 1954) is an American lawyer and politician who represented the 23rd Middlesex District in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1987 to 1991 and the Burlington School Committee from 1977 to 1983.
He was born in North Kingstown, Rhode Island. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976 and from Boston College Law School with a Juris Doctor in 1984.
He practiced law in Boston until 2007. From 2007 to 2009 he served as the director of professional development for the Massachusetts Highway Department. From 2009 to 2015 he worked in the Talent Management and Professional Development Division of the Massachusetts Department of Transportation rising to the position of department manager. Since 2015 he has served as the deputy director of education and development at the Massachusetts Department of Transportation. He is a former executive director, president, and treasurer of the National Guard Association of Massachusetts and National Guard Executive Directors Association.
Grace was defeated by Republican Marianne Brenton in the 1990 election. He was a candidate for Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1994, but lost in the Democratic Primary to William F. Galvin.
References.
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North Kingstown, Rhode Island
North Kingstown is a town in Washington County, Rhode Island, United States, and is part of the Providence metropolitan area. The population was 27,732 in the 2020 census. North Kingstown is home to the birthplace of American portraitist Gilbert Stuart, who was born in the village of Saunderstown. Within the town is Quonset Point, location of the former Naval Air Station Quonset Point, known for the invention of the Quonset hut, as well as the historic village of Wickford.
History.
The area was first settled by Roger Williams and Richard Smith who set up trading posts near Wickford where Smith's Castle is today. The town of Kings Towne was founded in 1674, by the colonial government, and included the present day towns of North Kingstown, South Kingstown, Exeter, and Narragansett. In 1723, Kings Towne was split into two parts, North Kingstown and South Kingstown, with North Kingstown, having the earliest settlements, retaining the 1674 establishment date. In 1742, the town of Exeter was taken from the western part of North Kingstown.
On September 17, 2024, the National Park Service announced that North Kingstown was named a World War II Heritage City.
Geography.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which is land and (25.28%) is water. It is bordered on the east by Narragansett Bay.
Demographics.
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As of the 2020 census, there were 27,732 people and 11,338 households in the town. The population density was . There were 12,189 housing units in the town. The racial makeup of the town was 89.59% White, 1.27% African American, 0.57% American Indian/Alaska Native, 1.90% Asian, 1.19% from some other race other races, and 5.42% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.65% of the population.
There were 11,338 households, out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.7% were married couples living together, 23.6% had a female householder with no spouse present and 14.2% had a male householder with no spouse present. 11.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.42 and the average family size was 2.98.
In the town, the population was spread out, with 18.4% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 22.6% from 25 to 44, 28.1% from 45 to 64, and 21.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 44 years.
The median income for a household in the town was $120,565, and the median income for a family was $144,898. The per capita income for the town was $61,280. About 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.1% of those under age 18 and 6.6% of those age 65 or over.
Transportation.
Wickford Junction is a terminus station on the Providence/Stoughton Line of the MBTA Commuter Rail, providing weekday train service to Providence Station and Boston's South Station. At 63 miles from Boston, it is the most distant station in the MBTA's 135-station commuter-rail network, and the only one in its most expensive fare zone.
RIPTA also services in the town inbound to Providence and outbound to Narragansett or Newport.
North Kingstown is also served by a passenger ferry connecting to the island of Martha's Vineyard.
Education.
North Kingstown School Department is the municipal school district. It operates North Kingstown High School.
Other National Historic Places in North Kingstown.
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Bastien Augusto
French runner (born 1999)
Bastien Augusto (born 10 August 1999) is a French middle-distance runner. He helped his team to three medals at the European Cross Country Championships, including leading his team to a gold medal in the 2022 edition. Beginning his career in the 10K run, he has exhibited range from that distance (27:40) to the 1500 m (3:34.85).
Career.
Augusto began his career on the roads, running 30:07 in the Corrida Pédestre Internationale de Houilles 10K run in 2018. He won his first national medal at the 2019 French 10K champs, placing 3rd.
By virtue of his 4th-place finish in the 1500 m at the 2021 French Athletics Championships, Augusto qualified for his first national team at the 2021 European Athletics U23 Championships. At the championships, he qualified for the finals and finished 16th. Later that year he also represented France at the 2021 European Cross Country Championships by finishing 5th at that year's French Cross Country Championships. Running in the U23 race, he helped his team win a bronze medal.
In 2022, Augusto improved his showings at both the French and 2022 European Cross Country Championships, this time placing 6th individually in the senior race to lead the other French scorers Yann Schrub and Morhad Amdouni to a gold medal. Bastien was not expected to lead the French team, as Jimmy Gressier said in Ouest-France (in French), "Everyone was talking about Yann (Schrub) or Morhad (Amdouni) for the victory or at least the place of best Frenchman, I knew that we had to watch Bastien. Since his beginnings in athletics, he's been a friend, I know what he does in training, I know what he's worth and his return to Lille at the beginning of October over 10 km in 28'15 doesn't even reflect not quite his level".
At his third European Cross Country showing in 2023, Augusto only finished 52nd but nonetheless his French team won a senior silver medal.
Personal life.
Born in Limoges to his father Paul Philippe, Augusto trains in Bourges where he is a member of the Bourges EA club US Berry Athlétisme. In March 2024, Augusto moved to the United States to train for the 2024 Olympic Games.
References.
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José Augusto (footballer)
Portuguese footballer (born 1937)
José Augusto Pinto de Almeida (; born 13 April 1937), known as José Augusto, is a Portuguese retired football winger and manager.
He played most of his career with Benfica, for which he appeared in 369 competitive matches and scored 174 goals, winning 13 titles including eight Primeira Liga championships and two European Cups. He was dubbed the "Portuguese Garrincha" by Gabriel Hanot.
A Portugal international over one decade, José Augusto represented the nation at the 1966 World Cup. He later worked as a manager for more than 30 years.
Club career.
Born in Barreiro, Setúbal District, José Augusto started playing with local F.C. Barreirense, spending four seasons in the Primeira Liga there. In summer 1959 he joined S.L. Benfica, going on to be part of the club's legendary attacking unit that also included Mário Coluna, Eusébio, António Simões and José Torres. He and his teammates won two European Cups, in 1961 and 1962, and still reached a further three finals in the decade; in the 1960–61 domestic league season he scored a career-best 24 goals in only 25 games, helping the side to the title.
José Augusto retired early into the 1969–70 campaign at the age of 32, immediately being named Benfica's head coach and leading them to the second position behind Sporting CP. He subsequently worked with several teams, including S.C. Farense and F.C. Penafiel in the top division.
In 1994–95, in what was his first experience abroad, José Augusto was one of five managers in charge of CD Logroñés, as the side was relegated from La Liga with an all-time low 13 points.
International career.
José Augusto made his debut for Portugal on 7 May 1958, in a 2–1 friendly loss with England. He took part in a further 44 internationals in ten years, and scored nine goals.
José Augusto was selected for the 1966 FIFA World Cup squad. He played all the games and scored three times through headers for the eventual third-placed team, twice against Hungary in the opener (3–1, the first in the first minute) and once against North Korea in the quarter-finals (5–3).
As a manager, José Augusto had a two-year spell with the national side, leading them to the runner-up position in the Brazil Independence Cup and through the unsuccessful 1974 World Cup qualifying campaign. In the 80s he was in charge of the youth teams, helping develop Carlos Queiroz; additionally, he was an assistant in the UEFA Euro 1984 finals in France.
From 2004 to 2007, José August coached the women's national team.
Honours.
Player.
Benfica
Portugal
Manager.
Benfica
Portugal
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Judith Marcuse
Canadian dancer and choreographer
Judith Rose Marcuse (born 1947) is a Canadian dancer and choreographer. She created over 100 choreographic works many of which are focused on community-engaged art for social change. Marcuse's performance and choreographic work has been recognized in Canada and around the world.
Dancer.
Judith Marcuse began her dance training in Montreal and at 15 she moved to London to study at the Royal Ballet School where her training combined modern dance influences with a traditional classical ballet education. During her early career, Marcuse performed with various companies including Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Bat-Dor Dance Company in Israel, Ballets de Genève in Switzerland and Oakland Ballet in the United States, and finally London's Ballet Rambert where Marcuse began to choreograph dances herself.
Choreography career.
In 1976, Marcuse moved to Vancouver and started her own dance company named Judith Marcuse Dance Projects Society in 1978 and then Repertory Dance Company of Canada in 1983, which later was renamed Judith Marcuse Dance Company. Marcuse created Seascapes (1984), Madrugada (1990), States of Grace (1994), Time Out (1986), The Waltz (1981), Traces (1985), Moving Past Neutral (1988) and others.
Marcuse created experimental interdisciplinary performances that combined art with social issues beginning with "The Kiss Project" (1995-2000) that became an annual festival 1995-2000. Later, building on the work of art for social change innovators, such as Augusto Boal and David Diamond, Marcuse created "ICE: beyond cool" focused on teen suicide, "FIRE …. where there is smoke" exploring violence and "EARTH=home" emphasizing environmental protection. These projects were results of collaboration with playwrights, community consultations and local partnerships.
Teacher.
In 2007, Judith Marcuse became a founder/co-director of the International Center of Art for Social Change (ICASC) at Simon Fraser University. At the Center she led research study from 2013 to 2019 on Art for Social Change (ASC) in Canada that focused on art that is created collectively by groups of people about what is important to them. The study resulted in establishment of a two-year graduate program in ASC for the Faculty of Education at the SFU. Marcuse is also Senior Fellow of Ashoka International, an organization of world’s leading social entrepreneurs.
References.
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A Teia
A Teia (English: "The Web") is a Portuguese telenovela. It was produced and broadcast by TVI. It was written by André Ramalho. The telenovela premiered on November 19, 2018 and ended on June 17, 2019. It is recorded between Portugal (Porto) and Scotland (Edimburgo).
Plot.
In Porto, Margarida receives a message on her cell phone that makes her terrified. Without saying anything to her family or her husband, she is in secret with Antonio, whom he had not contacted for many years.
Days later, the two assault a bank using a collar-bomb to complete the coup. An absurdity, a madness that does not fit at all in the profile of each one.
Season 1.
In the Scottish Highlands, Lara Seixas (daughter of António) is a young girl from Port-au-Prince who is apprenticed to a law firm in Edinburgh.
The father inherited a desire for justice. His dream is to be a public prosecutor. Simão Rosa Neto (son of Margarida) also lives in Scotland but is far from building a successful career.
After a violent confrontation with his father (Augusto), with whom he has a difficult relationship, Simão is expelled from home and emigrates. Without resources and on the margins of everything and everyone, he plunges into an underworld of illegal struggles to subsist in a strange country.
But motivation never failed him, especially to support Inês, born of a tumultuous relationship with Mónica, who abandoned her daughter to Simão's care.
Simao is unjustly accused of ill-treatment and the child delivered to welfare services.
Lara, a perfect unknown, extends her hand and, from a cruel situation, a strong bond and unforeseen passion is born. Their connection is abruptly interrupted by terrible news: the death of their parents in shocking circumstances. Bewitched by mourning and when they least expected it, the two meet again at Porto, at the funeral of their parents.
Lara and Simão discover that their parents mysteriously died together. As they learn more Lara and Simão they move more and more into opposing camps.
The two parents were only the first victims of a sinister plan that seems to come from a sick mind, someone who takes advantage of individual weaknesses for obscure purposes.
Other deaths follow, all victims receiving a premonitory message.
Among the chosen, no one knows who will die next, though they all hide a bond that unites them.
Lara and Simão become involved in a succession of crimes whose true cause is never what it seems.
Season 2.
Simão and Lara survive an airplane explosion.
Mário rebukes Jaime and says he could not jeopardize his daughter's life. Jaime enters his office and picks up the box with his personal belongings and leaves. Cláudia and Tiago decide to give the wedding another chance.
Lara remains intrigued by the motives that led Diana to murder all those people and Simon looks away compromised, saying that it is time to care more about their lives.
At the hospital, Lara and Humberto hug each other happy, knowing that Liliana will be discharged.
Humberto tries to convince Valdemar to go to the marriage of Augusto by a matter of dignity. Valdemar is sensitized by his son's words.
Freitas blackmails Augusto, if he will not tell Valdemar that Augusto, once again, deceived him into the game.
Augusto and Isaura marry. Augusto makes a speech about Simão, making it known that he will also be part of the direction of the Warehouses. Jaime enters the car and Ricardo tries to calm him down.
Augusto asks Valdemar if he has anything to say. Before everyone, Lara's grandfather insists that Simão's father played always clean and that he a gambling addict.
Isaura tells Jaime and Cecília that she was questioned by the PJ and had to admit that Augusto was abusing Inês.
Valdemar is preparing to go to the funeral of Augusto. He tells Humberto that Simão and Jaime's father may have many faults, but he was not a pedophile.
Matilde wants to know if the father believes in grandpa's innocence and Jaime forbids the family to go to the funeral.
The funeral car with the body of Augustus advances and only Valdemar is present. Jaime watches from afar.
João Maria informs the family that helped Liliana to recover the paternity test.
Liliana reveals to Humberto that he is her biological father and they are both happy. Valdemar hears but does not manifest and comments with Reuben that the death of Augusto laid him down.
Vera informs Simão and Lara that Isaura made a statement against Simão about the death of Augusto.
Isaura says that he saw Simão beaten by Augusto, but eventually he left in fear, not imagining that he could kill his father.
Simão insists that he has nothing to do with the death of his father and Lara tries to calm him.
Mónica tries to comfort Inês, who denies that her grandfather touched her and says it's all lies.
Jaime and Isaura say that everything is going as planned. Simão goes to meet them and asks Isaura why he incriminated him.
Lara treats Simão who is angry about the accusations that he is a target. Lara asks Simão to be honest with her and he pushes her, leaving Lara hurt. Lara gets a message from Julie that says she likes to see her and she calls him.
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Augusto Monterroso
Guatemalan writer
Augusto Monterroso Bonilla (December 21, 1921 – February 8, 2003) was a Honduran writer who adopted Guatemalan nationality, known for the ironical and humorous style of his short stories. He is considered an important figure in the Latin American "Boom" generation, and received several awards, including the Prince of Asturias Award in Literature (2000), Miguel Ángel Asturias National Prize in Literature (1997), and Juan Rulfo Award (1996).
Monterroso was a member of the Honduran Academy of Language.
Life.
Monterroso was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to a Honduran mother and Guatemalan father. In 1936 his family settled definitively in Guatemala City, where he would remain until early adulthood. Here he published his first short stories and began his clandestine work against the dictatorship of Jorge Ubico. To this end he founded the newspaper "El Espectador" with a group of other writers.
He was detained and exiled to Mexico City in 1944 for his opposition to the dictatorial regime. Shortly after his arrival in Mexico, the revolutionary government of Jacobo Arbenz triumphed in Guatemala, and Monterroso was assigned to a minor post in the Guatemalan embassy in Mexico. In 1953 he moved briefly to Bolivia upon being named Guatemalan consul in La Paz. He relocated to Santiago de Chile in 1954, when Arbenz's government was toppled with help and intervention of the United States of America.
In 1956 he returned definitively to Mexico City, where he would occupy various academic and editorial posts and continue his work as a writer for the rest of his life.
In 1988, Augusto Monterroso received the highest honor the Mexican government can bestow on foreign dignitaries, the Águila Azteca. He was also awarded the Spanish Prince of Asturias Award, in 2000. In 1997, Monterroso was awarded the Guatemala National Prize in Literature for his body of work.
He died of heart failure at the age of 81 on February 8th, 2003, in Mexico City.
Work.
Although Monterroso limited himself almost exclusively to the short story form, he is widely considered a central figure in the Latin American Boom, a movement centered on the work of a group of young Latin American novelists. He is recognized alongside such canonical authors as Julio Cortázar, Carlos Fuentes, Juan Rulfo and Gabriel García Márquez.
Save for "Lo demás es silencio" ("The Rest is Silence"), his foray into the form of the novel, Monterroso only published short pieces. He worked throughout his career to perfect the short story form, often delving into analogous genres (most famously the fable) for stylistic and thematic inspiration. Even "Lo demás es silencio", however, largely eschews the traditional novelistic form, opting instead for the loose aggregation of various apocryphal short texts (newspaper clippings, testimonials, diary entries, poems) to sketch the "biography" of its fictional main character.
Monterroso also was known for popularizing short stories and was the author of what is often credited to be one of the world's shortest stories, "El Dinosaurio" ("The Dinosaur"), published in "Obras completas (Y otros cuentos)". The story reads, in its entirety:
 "Cuando despertó, el dinosaurio todavía estaba allí."
 ("When he awoke, the dinosaur was still there.")
Carlos Fuentes wrote of Monterroso (referring specifically to "The Black Sheep and Other Fables"): "Imagine Borges' fantastical bestiary having tea with Alice. Imagine Jonathan Swift and James Thurber exchanging notes. Imagine a frog from Calaveras County who has seriously read Mark Twain. Meet Monterroso."

Luis "Checho" González
Chilean musician (1933–2022)
Luis "Checho" Orlando González Jiménez (21 June 1933 – 13 December 2022) was a Chilean musician. He is most notable for having created "Mi General Augusto Pinochet", a song that glorifies Pinochet and his military dictatorship that lasted from 1973 to 1990. In the 1950s, he was a member of several musical trios, including "Los González", "Los Mantles", and "Los Mineros", and composed songs with Rubí Jáuregui. In the 2010 Copiapó mining accident, he accompanied the relatives in the Esperanza camp. Through the record labels he created, he delivered "Dragones" and "Boyas" de Plata (characteristic symbols of his hometown). These awards were also presented at the Festival of the Elderly held in 2003 with Checho's own funding.
Biography.
The González Jiménez family is originally from the former port of Caleta Buena. Their parents were Antonio Segundo González Calibar and Luisa del Carmen Jiménez Fajardo.
From this union were born five boys and two girls, Hector Walterio, born on 4 June 1924; Antonio Segundo, born on 20 August 1926; Hernán Arturo, born on 15 January 1928; Luis Orlando, born on 21 June 1933; Manuel Honorio, born on 16 June 1938; María Violeta, born on 2 September 1940; and Luisa Nancy, born on 7 February 1943. After his family suffered a house fire in Caleta Buena, they moved to Iquique, in front of the Arica square, after which they enrolled the first three brothers, in the religious dance "Los Morenos". Later on they moved to Sotomayor street, where Luis Orlando González was born, he was registered in the "San Gerardo" church, with father Delgadillo. At an early age Luis showed closeness to religion. He and his brothers were enrolled in the "Star of Chile" football club. Later his parents moved again to Amunategui street in front of La Cruz hill and there, his brother Manuel Honorio was born. His godmother, Luisa Polanco, a native of the now-defunct Santa Laura saltpetre office, went to live with Luis in the saltpetre office until she was 5 years old. When she returned to live with her brothers, she was interested in learning to play the guitar.
His uncle, Romelio Jiménez Fajardo, was a baker and leader of the CUT and a councilman of the illustrious municipality of Iquique. He studied at No. 1 Santa María and the Escuela Básica E-76 Centenario de Iquique, then was sent to study in Santiago, graduating from the Universidad de Chile. In 2005 he became seriously ill with a stroke. "Checho" has also called himself a guru of healing. González is the great uncle of Fernando Godoy Bustamante.
Artistic career.
In 1951, he and his brothers "Toño" and "Nino" formed a band called "Los González" which was dissolved because "Nino" had to continue with his studies. Then he formed a trio called "The Mantles" with two of his friends. On February 2, 1954, they made their debut in the program "Falabella" hosted by Raúl Matas. One of his friends, Humberto Leiva, retired from "Los Mantles" and Luis along with Ruben Tapia, and his brother Toño formed a new trio called "Los Seycos" (serious and correct), however Matas suggested renaming it "Los Mineros". Two days later they make their debut at the "Baquedano" theatre, together with Lucho Gatica who arrived successfully from Spain.
After those, they returned to Iquique and found a radio festival called "Almirante Lynch", which was held at the National Theatre where he met Rubí Jáuregui, who he then invited to join the group in order to replace Rubén who had fallen ill. In another visit to Santiago they were represented in radio mining in Teatro Caupolicán, as they were invited by Matas. In January 1959 his brother "Toño" fell ill and stayed in Santiago recovering so the group stopped performing. Rubí also stayed in Santiago with his family and Don Checho traveled to Antofagasta, performing as a soloist and singer-songwriter hired by the Antofagasta Hotel where two executives of the Potrerillos Ore saw him perform and hired him a few days later. He came to perform at the Ore with great success, where he was hired with a solid income. However that same year his mother fell ill and he decided to return to his hometown with his family canceling the contract.
In 1967 he created two record labels and two labels; "Golden Dragon", and "Golden Buoy", later, because he had no financing or sponsorship, he had to lower it to silver being financed by he and his wife. In 2014, he had made 7 banners, 34 hymns and more than 500 prizes with "dragons" in Chile and abroad. In 2001, he participated in the album "Iquique en un CD". In 2002 and 2003, it held a Festival of the Elderly, which it proposed should be of an international level and was held in the Norte Grande of Chile. "Checho" received no state or private funding for the event. The awards given were the characteristic "Silver Buoys" and "Golden Dragons". In April 2003 he received a distinction from the "Agrupación Dragón". In 2008 he was in charge of delivering "Boyas de Plata" to a series of Chilean television personalities.
During the rescue of the San José mine of 33 miners, Luis González was in the "Esperanza" camp during the time that the event lasted, sharing with the families of the miners, church authorities and civilians. He also wrote the song "Homenaje al Minero" or "The Miner" which was used for a film that was filmed on location by the BBC in London.
In 2011 in Copiapó delivered "Dragones de Plata" to the families of those affected by the mining accident. In 2012, one year after the 2011 Chilean Air Force C-212 crash, he paid tribute to Felipe Camiroaga, being invited to TVN. He lived with a grace pension. He also composed a song for Jorge Soria Quiroga, former mayor of Iquique, and Iván Barbaric Sciaraffia, a politician from Tarapacá.
Mi General Augusto Pinochet.
Luis "Checho" González is the author of the song "Mi General Augusto Pinochet" which was originally published in a 1995 cassette, called "Himno en Honor al Capitán General Don Augusto Pinochet Ugarte – Apología y marchas al Ejército de Chile", which was made by the musical stamp "Dragón".
Death.
González died in Iquique on 13 December 2022, at the age of 89.
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John MacArthur (American pastor)
American Reformed Baptist pastor, televangelist, and author (born 1939)
John Fullerton MacArthur Jr. (born June 19, 1939) is an American pastor and author who hosts the national Christian radio and television program "Grace to You". He has been the pastor of Grace Community Church, a non-denominational church in Sun Valley, California since February 9, 1969. He is currently the chancellor emeritus of The Master's University in Santa Clarita and The Master's Seminary.
MacArthur is a proponent of expository preaching, and has been acknowledged by "Christianity Today" as one of the most influential preachers of his time. MacArthur has written or edited more than 150 books. His "MacArthur Study Bible" has sold more than one million copies, receiving a Gold Medallion Book Award.
Early life and schooling.
The grandson of Canadian Anglican minister Harry MacArthur (died 1950) and son of Baptist radio preacher Jack MacArthur (born in Calgary, Alberta, Canada) and Irene Dockendorf, MacArthur was born on June 19, 1939, in Los Angeles. During a 1979 interview, Pastor MacArthur stated he is "distantly related to General Douglas MacArthur." He went on to say, "I understand that I’m a fifth cousin, and so it’s quite a distance but nonetheless we are related." MacArthur followed in his father's footsteps to enroll at the fundamentalist Bob Jones College from 1957 to 1959. In 1960, after a year off, he was accepted to the Free Methodist Church’s Los Angeles Pacific College, where in his senior year he observed two games of football, going on field once for one play (see 1962 yearbook statistics). In 1963, he was granted a Masters of Divinity from the Bible Institute of Los Angeles's new Talbot Theological Seminary, in La Mirada, California, with honors.
Career.
When at Bob Jones University in South Carolina, MacArthur’s father recruited him to the Voice of Calvary singing quartet, often broadcast on Christian radio in Southern California. From 1964 to 1966, MacArthur was hired by his father as associate pastor at the Harry MacArthur Memorial Bible Church (now Calvary Bible Church in Burbank, California), which his father Jack had planted and named after his own father. From 1966 to 1969, MacArthur was hired as the faculty representative for Talbot Theological Seminary. On February 9, 1969, he was hired as the third and youngest pastor at the nondenominational Grace Community Church of Sun Valley, California.
MacArthur's daily radio and television program, "Grace to You" was created by the Grace media team to publicize audio cassettes of sermons; in 1977, it was first broadcast in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1985, MacArthur was made President of Los Angeles Baptist College, now The Master's University, a four-year Christian liberal-arts college. In 1986, he was made President of the new Master's Seminary.
A Milestone of 55 years after beginning in the pulpit of Grace Community, MacArthur completed one of his own life goals, that of preaching through the entire New Testament on June 5, 2011.
Theological positions.
Authority of scripture.
Central to MacArthur's theology is a very high view of scripture (the 66 books of the Protestant Bible). He believes that scripture is inerrant and infallible because it is "the Word of God" and that God cannot lie. Furthermore, he believes that Christians are obliged to render full submission to scripture above all else and that "[t]o mishandle the Word of God is to misrepresent the One who wrote it. To reject its claims is to call Him a liar. To ignore its message is to snub that which the Holy Spirit inspired."
Cessationism.
MacArthur is a cessationist, holding that the "sign gifts" (such as prophecy) described in the Bible were temporarily granted to the apostles to authenticate the origin and truth of the scriptures, and that at the close of the Apostolic Age these gifts had served their purpose and ceased to be granted. He is one of the most prominent voices in American Christianity against the continuationist beliefs of Pentecostalism and the Charismatic Movement, which assert that God continues to confer sign gifts today. MacArthur has written three books on the subject. In October 2013, his church hosted a conference called "Strange Fire" to mark the launch of a book of the same name. The event featured a number of speakers who argued for cessationist theology and strongly critiqued the Charismatic Movement.
MacArthur argues that modern "visions, revelations, voices from heaven... dreams, speaking in tongues, prophecies, out-of-body experiences, trip to heaven, anoint


Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Composer (1756–1791)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoires. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture".
Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European royalty. His father took him on a grand tour of Europe and then three trips to Italy. At 17, he was a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. Mozart's search for employment led to positions in Paris, Mannheim, Munich, and again in Salzburg, during which he wrote his five violin concertos, Sinfonia Concertante, and Concerto for Flute and Harp, as well as sacred pieces and masses, the motet "Exsultate Jubilate", and the opera "Idomeneo," among other works.
While visiting Vienna in 1781, Mozart was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He stayed in Vienna, where he achieved fame but little financial security. During Mozart's early years in Vienna, he produced several notable works, such as the opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", the "Great Mass in C minor", the "Haydn" Quartets and a number of symphonies. Throughout his Vienna years, Mozart composed over a dozen piano concertos, many considered some of his greatest achievements. In the final years of his life, Mozart wrote many of his best-known works, including his last three symphonies, culminating in the "Jupiter" Symphony, the serenade "Eine kleine Nachtmusik", his Clarinet Concerto, the operas "The Marriage of Figaro", "Don Giovanni", "Così fan tutte" and "The Magic Flute" and his Requiem. The Requiem was largely unfinished at the time of his death at age 35, the circumstances of which are uncertain and much mythologised.
Life and career.
Early life.
Family and childhood.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl, at Getreidegasse 9 in Salzburg. Salzburg was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in the Holy Roman Empire (today in Austria). He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy. His elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed "Nannerl". Mozart was baptised the day after his birth, at St. Rupert's Cathedral in Salzburg. The baptismal record gives his name in Latinised form, as "Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart". He generally called himself "Wolfgang Amadè Mozart" as an adult, but his name had many variants.
Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, then an Imperial Free City in the Holy Roman Empire, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as the fourth violinist in the musical establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian, the ruling Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg. Leopold became the orchestra's deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his son's birth, Leopold published a violin textbook, "Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule", which achieved success.
When Nannerl was seven, she began keyboard lessons with her father, while her three-year-old brother looked on. Years later, after her brother's death, she reminisced:
He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good... In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and pieces at the clavier... He could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time... At the age of five, he was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down.
These early pieces, K. 1–5, were recorded in the "Nannerl Notenbuch". There is some scholarly debate about whether Mozart was four or five years old when he created his first musical compositions, though there is little doubt that Mozart composed his first three pieces of music within a few weeks of each other: K. 1a, 1b, and 1c.
In his early years, Wolfgang's father was his only teacher. Along with music, he taught his children languages and academic subjects. Biographer Solomon notes that, while Leopold was a devoted teacher to his children, there is evidence that Mozart was keen to progress beyond what he was taught. His first ink-spattered composition and his precocious efforts with the violin were of his initiative and came as a surprise to Leopold, who eventually gave up composing when his son's musical talents became evident.
1762–73: Travel.
While Wolfgang was young, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl performed as child prodigies. These began with an exhibition in 1762 at the court of Prince-elector Maximilian III of Bavaria in Munich, and at the Imperial Courts in Vienna and Prague. A long concert tour followed, spanning three and a half years, taking the family to the courts of Munich, Mannheim, Paris, London, Dover, The Hague, Amsterdam, Utrecht, Mechelen and again to Paris, and back home via Zürich, Donaueschingen, and Munich. During this trip, Wolfgang met many musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly significant influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom he visited in London in 1764 and 1765. When he was eight years old, Mozart wrote his first symphony, most of which was probably transcribed by his father.
The family trips were often challenging, and travel conditions were primitive. They had to wait for invitations and reimbursement from the nobility, and they endured long, near-fatal illnesses far from home: first Leopold (London, summer 1764), then both children (The Hague, autumn 1765). The family again went to Vienna in late 1767 and remained there until December 1768.
After one year in Salzburg, Leopold and Wolfgang set off for Italy, leaving Anna Maria and Nannerl at home. This tour lasted from December 1769 to March 1771. As with earlier journeys, Leopold wanted to display his son's abilities as a performer and a rapidly maturing composer. Wolfgang met Josef Mysliveček and Giovanni Battista Martini in Bologna and was accepted as a member of the famous Accademia Filarmonica. There exists a myth, according to which, while in Rome, he heard Gregorio Allegri's "Miserere" twice in performance in the Sistine Chapel. Allegedly, he subsequently wrote it out from memory, thus producing the "first unauthorised copy of this closely guarded property of the Vatican". However, both the origin and plausibility of this account are disputed.
In Milan, Mozart wrote the opera "Mitridate, re di Ponto" (1770), which was performed with success. This led to further opera commissions. He returned with his father twice to Milan (August–December 1771; October 1772 – March 1773) for the composition and premieres of "Ascanio in Alba" (1771) and "Lucio Silla" (1772). Leopold hoped these visits would result in a professional appointment for his son, and indeed ruling Archduke Ferdinand contemplated hiring Mozart, but owing to his mother Empress Maria Theresa's reluctance to employ "useless people", the matter was dropped and Leopold's hopes were never realised. Toward the end of the journey, Mozart wrote the solo motet "Exsultate, jubilate", K.165.
1773–77: Employment at the Salzburg court.
After finally returning with his father from Italy on 13 March 1773, Mozart was employed as a court musician by the ruler of Salzburg, Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. The composer had many friends and admirers in Salzburg and had the opportunity to work in many genres, including symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, and a few minor operas. Between April and December 1775, Mozart developed an enthusiasm for violin concertos, producing a series of five (the only ones he ever wrote), which steadily increased in their musical sophistication. The last three—K. 216, K. 218, K. 219—are now staples of the repertoire. In 1776, he turned his efforts to piano concertos, culminating in the E♭ concerto K. 271 of early 1777, considered by critics to be a breakthrough work.
Despite these artistic successes, Mozart grew increasingly discontented with Salzburg and redoubled his efforts to find a position elsewhere. One reason was his low salary, 150 florins a year; Mozart longed to compose operas, and Salzburg provided only rare occasions for these. The situation worsened in 1775 when the court theatre was closed, especially since the other theatre in Salzburg was primarily reserved for visiting troupes.
Two long expeditions in search of work interrupted this long Salzburg stay. Mozart and his father visited Vienna from 14 July to 26 September 1773, and Munich from 6December 1774 to March 1775. Neither visit was successful, though the Munich journey resulted in a popular success with the premiere of Mozart's opera "La finta giardiniera".
1777–78: Journey to Paris.
In August 1777, Mozart resigned his position at Salzburg and on 23 September ventured out once more in search of employment, with visits to Augsburg, Mannheim, Paris, and Munich.
Mozart became acquainted with members of the famous orchestra in Mannheim, the best in Europe at the time. He also fell in love with Aloysia Weber, one of four daughters of a musical family. There were prospects of employment in Mannheim, but they came to nothing, and Mozart left for Paris on 14 March 1778 to continue his search. One of his letters from Paris hints at a possible post as an organist at Versailles, but Mozart was not interested in such an appointment. He fell into debt and took to pawning valuables. The nadir of the visit occurred when Mozart's mother was taken ill and died on 3July 1778. There had been delays in calling a doctor—probably, according to Halliwell, because of a lack of funds. Mozart stayed with Melchior Grimm at Marquise d'Épinay's residence, 5 rue de la Chaussée-d'Antin.
While Mozart was in Paris, his father was pursuing opportunities of employment for him in Salzburg. With the support of the local nobility, Mozart was offered a post as court organist and concertmaster. The annual salary was 450 florins, but he was reluctant to accept. By that time, relations between Grimm and Mozart had cooled, and Mozart moved out. After leaving Paris in September 1778 for Strasbourg, he lingered in Mannheim and Munich, still hoping to obtain an appointment outside Salzburg. In Munich, he again encountered Aloysia, now a very successful singer, but she was no longer interested in him. Mozart finally returned to Salzburg on 15 January 1779 and took up his new appointment, but his discontent with Salzburg remained undiminished.
Among the better-known works which Mozart wrote on the Paris journey are the A minor piano sonata, K. 310/300d, the "Paris" Symphony (No. 31), which were performed in Paris on 12 and 18 June 1778; and the Concerto for Flute and Harp in C major, K. 299/297c.
Vienna.
1781: Departure.
In January 1781, Mozart's opera "Idomeneo" premiered with "considerable success" in Munich. The following March, Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Archbishop Colloredo, was attending the celebrations for the accession of Joseph II to the Austrian throne. For Colloredo, this was simply a matter of wanting his musical servant to be at hand (Mozart indeed was required to dine in Colloredo's establishment with the valets and cooks). He planned a bigger career as he continued in the archbishop's service; for example, he wrote to his father:
My main goal right now is to meet the emperor in some agreeable fashion, I am absolutely determined he should get to know me. I would be so happy if I could whip through my opera for him and then play a fugue or two, for that's what he likes.
Mozart did indeed soon meet the Emperor, who eventually was to support his career substantially with commissions and a part-time position.
In the same letter to his father just quoted, Mozart outlined his plans to participate as a soloist in the concerts of the "Tonkünstler-Societät", a prominent benefit concert series; this plan as well came to pass after the local nobility prevailed on Colloredo to drop his opposition.
Colloredo's wish to prevent Mozart from performing outside his establishment was in other cases carried through, raising the composer's anger; one example was a chance to perform before the Emperor at Countess Thun's for a fee equal to half of his yearly Salzburg salary.
The quarrel with the archbishop came to a head in May: Mozart attempted to resign and was refused. The following month, permission was granted, but in a grossly insulting way: the composer was dismissed literally "with a kick in the arse", administered by the archbishop's steward, Count Arco. Mozart decided to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer.
The quarrel with Colloredo was more difficult for Mozart because his father sided against him. Hoping fervently that he would obediently follow Colloredo back to Salzburg, Mozart's father exchanged intense letters with his son, urging him to be reconciled with their employer. Mozart passionately defended his intention to pursue an independent career in Vienna. The debate ended when Mozart was dismissed by the archbishop, freeing himself both of his employer and of his father's demands to return. Solomon characterizes Mozart's resignation as a "revolutionary step" that significantly altered the course of his life.
Early years.
Mozart's new career in Vienna began well. He often performed as a pianist, notably in a competition before the Emperor with Muzio Clementi on 24 December 1781, and he soon "had established himself as the finest keyboard player in Vienna". He also prospered as a composer, and in 1782 completed the opera "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), which premiered on 16 July 1782 and achieved considerable success. The work was soon being performed "throughout German-speaking Europe", and thoroughly established Mozart's reputation as a composer.
Near the height of his quarrels with Colloredo, Mozart moved in with the Weber family, who had moved to Vienna from Mannheim. The family's father, Fridolin, had died, and the Webers were now taking in lodgers to make ends meet.
Marriage and children.
After failing to win the hand of Aloysia Weber, who was now married to the actor and artist Joseph Lange, Mozart's interest shifted to the third daughter of the family, Constanze.
The courtship did not go entirely smoothly; surviving correspondence indicates that Mozart and Constanze briefly broke up in April 1782, over an episode involving jealousy (Constanze had permitted another young man to measure her calves in a parlour game). Mozart also faced a very difficult task getting permission for the marriage from his father, Leopold.
The marriage took place in an atmosphere of crisis. Daniel Heartz suggests that eventually, Constanze moved in with Mozart, which would have placed her in disgrace by the mores of the time. Mozart wrote to Leopold on 31 July 1782, "All the good and well-intentioned advice you have sent fails to address the case of a man who has already gone so far with a maiden. Further postponement is out of the question." Heartz relates, "Constanze's sister Sophie had tearfully declared that her mother would send the police after Constanze if she did not return home [presumably from Mozart's apartment]." On 4 August, Mozart wrote to Baroness von Waldstätten, asking: "Can the police here enter anyone's house in this way? Perhaps it is only a ruse of Madame Weber to get her daughter back. If not, I know no better remedy than to marry Constanze tomorrow morning or if possible today."
The couple were finally married on 4August 1782 in St. Stephen's Cathedral, the day before his father's consenting letter arrived in the mail. In the marriage contract, Constanze "assigns to her bridegroom five hundred gulden which ... the latter has promised to augment with one thousand gulden", with the total "to pass to the survivor". Further, all joint acquisitions during the marriage were to remain the common property of both.
The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy:
1782–87.
In 1782 and 1783, Mozart became intimately acquainted with the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel as a result of the influence of Gottfried van Swieten, who owned many manuscripts of the Baroque masters. Mozart's study of these scores inspired compositions in the Baroque style and later influenced his musical language, for example in fugal passages in "Die Zauberflöte" ("The Magic Flute") and the finale of Symphony No. 41.
In 1783, Mozart and his wife visited his family in Salzburg. His father and sister were cordially polite to Constanze, but the visit prompted the composition of one of Mozart's great liturgical pieces, the Mass in C minor. Though not completed, it was premiered in Salzburg, with Constanze singing a solo part.
Mozart met Joseph Haydn in Vienna around 1784, and the two composers became friends. When Haydn visited Vienna, they sometimes played together in an impromptu string quartet. Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn (K. 387, K. 421, K. 428, K. 458, K. 464, and K. 465) date from the period 1782 to 1785, and are judged to be a response to Haydn's Opus 33 set from 1781. Haydn wrote, "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years" and in 1785 told Mozart's father: "I tell you before God, and as an honest man, your son is the greatest composer known to me by person and repute, he has taste and what is more the greatest skill in composition."
From 1782 to 1785 Mozart mounted concerts with himself as a soloist, presenting three or four new piano concertos in each season. Since space in the theatres was scarce, he booked unconventional venues: a large room in the Trattnerhof apartment building, and the ballroom of the Mehlgrube restaurant. The concerts were very popular, and his concertos premiered there are still firm fixtures in the repertoire. Solomon writes that during this period, Mozart created "a harmonious connection between an eager composer-performer and a delighted audience, which was given the opportunity of witnessing the transformation and perfection of a major musical genre".
With substantial returns from his concerts and elsewhere, Mozart and his wife adopted a more luxurious lifestyle. They moved to an expensive apartment, with a yearly rent of 460 florins. Mozart bought a fine fortepiano from Anton Walter for about 900 florins, and a billiard table for about 300. The Mozarts sent their son Karl Thomas to an expensive boarding school and kept servants. During this period Mozart saved little of his income.
On 14 December 1784, Mozart became a Freemason, admitted to the lodge Zur Wohltätigkeit ("Beneficence"). Freemasonry played an essential role in the remainder of Mozart's life: he attended meetings, a number of his friends were Masons, and on various occasions, he composed Masonic music, e.g. the Maurerische Trauermusik.
1786–87: Return to opera.
Despite the great success of "Die Entführung aus dem Serail", Mozart did little operatic writing for the next four years, producing only two unfinished works and the one-act "Der Schauspieldirektor". He focused instead on his career as a piano soloist and writer of concertos. Around the end of 1785, Mozart moved away from keyboard writing and began his famous operatic collaboration with the librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. The year 1786 saw the successful premiere of "Le nozze di Figaro" in Vienna. Its reception in Prague later in the year was even warmer, and this led to a second collaboration with Da Ponte: the opera "Don Giovanni", which premiered in October 1787 to acclaim in Prague, but less success in Vienna during 1788. The two are among Mozart's most famous works and are mainstays of operatic repertoire today, though at their premieres their musical complexity caused difficulty both for listeners and for performers. These developments were not witnessed by Mozart's father, who had died on 28 May 1787.
In December 1787, Mozart finally obtained a steady post under aristocratic patronage. Emperor Joseph II appointed him as his "chamber composer", a post that had fallen vacant the previous month on the death of Gluck. It was a part-time appointment, paying just 800 florins per year, and required Mozart only to compose dances for the annual balls in the Redoutensaal (see "Mozart and dance"). This modest income became important to Mozart when hard times arrived. Court records show that Joseph aimed to keep the esteemed composer from leaving Vienna in pursuit of better prospects.
In 1787, the young Ludwig van Beethoven spent several weeks in Vienna, hoping to study with Mozart. No reliable records survive to indicate whether the two composers ever met.
Later years.
1788–90.
Toward the end of the decade, Mozart's circumstances worsened. Around 1786, he ceased to appear frequently in public concerts, and his income shrank. This was a difficult time for musicians in Vienna because of the Austro-Turkish War: both the general level of prosperity and the ability of the aristocracy to support music had declined. According to Solomon, in 1788, Mozart saw a 66% decline in his income compared to his best years in 1781.
By mid-1788, Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been suggested that Mozart aimed to reduce his rental expenses by moving to a suburb, as he wrote in his letter to Michael von Puchberg, Mozart had not reduced his expenses but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow mason Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems his musical output slowed. Major works of the period include the last three symphonies (Nos. 39, 40, and 41, all from 1788), and the last of the three Da Ponte operas, "Così fan tutte", premiered in 1790.
Around this time, Mozart made some long journeys hoping to improve his fortunes, visiting Leipzig, Dresden, and Berlin in the spring of 1789, and Frankfurt, Mannheim, and other German cities in 1790.
1791.
Mozart's last year was, until his final illness struck, a time of high productivity—and by some accounts, one of personal recovery. He composed a great deal, including some of his most admired works: the opera "The Magic Flute"; the final piano concerto (K. 595 in B♭); the Clarinet Concerto K. 622; the last in his series of string quintets (K. 614 in E♭); the motet Ave verum corpus K. 618; and the unfinished Requiem K. 626.
Mozart's financial situation, a source of anxiety in 1790, finally began to improve. Although the evidence is inconclusive, it appears that wealthy patrons in Hungary and Amsterdam pledged annuities to Mozart in return for the occasional composition. He is thought to have benefited from the sale of dance music written in his role as Imperial chamber composer. Mozart no longer borrowed large sums from Puchberg and began to pay off his debts.
He experienced great satisfaction in the public success of some of his works, notably "The Magic Flute" (which was performed several times in the short period between its premiere and Mozart's death) and the Little Masonic Cantata K. 623, premiered on 17 November 1791.
Final illness and death.
Mozart fell ill while in Prague for the premiere, on 6September 1791, of his opera "La clemenza di Tito", which was written in that same year on commission for Emperor Leopold II's coronation festivities. He continued his professional functions for some time and conducted the premiere of "The Magic Flute" on 30 September. His health deteriorated on 20 November, at which point he became bedridden, suffering from swelling, pain, and vomiting.
Mozart was nursed in his final days by his wife and her youngest sister and was attended by the family doctor, Thomas Franz Closset. He was mentally occupied with the task of finishing his Requiem, but the evidence that he dictated passages to his student Franz Xaver Süssmayr is minimal.
Mozart died in his home on at 12:55 am. The "New Grove" describes his funeral:
Mozart was interred in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7December. If, as later reports say, no mourners attended, that too is consistent with Viennese burial customs at the time; later Otto Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present. The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild.
The expression "common grave" refers to neither a communal grave nor a pauper's grave, but an individual grave for a member of the common people (i.e., not the aristocracy). Common graves were subject to excavation after ten years; the graves of aristocrats were not.
The cause of Mozart's death is not known with certainty. The official record of "hitziges Frieselfieber" ("severe miliary fever", referring to a rash that looks like millet seeds) is more a symptomatic description than a diagnosis. Researchers have suggested more than a hundred causes of death, including acute rheumatic fever, streptococcal infection, trichinosis, influenza, mercury poisoning, and a rare kidney ailment.
Mozart's modest funeral did not reflect his standing with the public as a composer; memorial services and concerts in Vienna and Prague were well attended. Indeed, in the period immediately after his death, his reputation rose substantially. Solomon describes an "unprecedented wave of enthusiasm" for his work; biographies were written first by Schlichtegroll, Niemetschek, and Nissen, and publishers vied to produce complete editions of his works.
Appearance and character.
Mozart's physical appearance was described by tenor Michael Kelly in his "Reminiscences": "a remarkably small man, very thin and pale, with a profusion of fine, fair hair of which he was rather vain". His early biographer Niemetschek wrote, "there was nothing special about [his] physique... He was small and his countenance, except for his large intense eyes, gave no signs of his genius." His facial complexion was pitted, a reminder of his childhood case of smallpox. Of his voice, his wife later wrote that it "was a tenor, rather soft in speaking and delicate in singing, but when anything excited him, or it became necessary to exert it, it was both powerful and energetic."
He loved elegant clothing. Kelly remembered him at a rehearsal: "[He] was on the stage with his crimson pelisse and gold-laced cocked hat, giving the time of the music to the orchestra." Based on paintings that researchers were able to find of Mozart, he seemed to wear a white wig for most of his formal occasions—researchers of the Salzburg Mozarteum declared that only one of his fourteen portraits they had found showed him without his wig.
Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made sketches and drafts; unlike Beethoven's, these are mostly not preserved, as his wife sought to destroy them after his death.
Mozart lived at the centre of the Viennese musical world and knew a significant number and variety of people: fellow musicians, theatrical performers, fellow Salzburgers, and aristocrats, including some acquaintance with Emperor Joseph II. Solomon considers his three closest friends to have been Gottfried von Jacquin, Count August Hatzfeld, and Sigmund Barisani; others included his elder colleague Joseph Haydn, singers Franz Xaver Gerl and Benedikt Schack, and the horn player Joseph Leutgeb. Leutgeb and Mozart carried on a kind of friendly mockery, often with Leutgeb as the butt of Mozart's practical jokes.
He enjoyed billiards, dancing, and kept pets, including a canary, a starling, a dog, and a horse for recreational riding. He had a startling fondness for scatological humour, which is preserved in his surviving letters, notably those written to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart around 1777–1778, and in his correspondence with his sister and parents. Mozart also wrote scatological music, a series of canons that he sang with his friends. He had an ear for languages, and having travelled all over Europe as a boy, was fluent in Latin, Italian, and French in addition to his native Salzburg dialect of German. He possibly also understood and spoke some English, having jokingly written "You are an ass" after his 19-year-old student Thomas Attwood made a thoughtless mistake on his exercise papers.
Mozart was raised a Catholic and remained a devout member of the Church throughout his life. He embraced the teachings of Freemasonry in 1784.
Works, musical style, and innovations.
Style.
Mozart's music, like Haydn's, stands as an archetype of the Classical style. At the time he began composing, European music was dominated by the "style galant", a reaction against the highly evolved intricacy of the Baroque. Progressively, and in large part at the hands of Mozart himself, the contrapuntal complexities of the late Baroque emerged once more, moderated and disciplined by new forms, and adapted to a new aesthetic and social milieu. Mozart was a versatile composer, and wrote in every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo concerto, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. These forms were not new, but Mozart advanced their technical sophistication and emotional reach. He almost single-handedly developed and popularised the Classical piano concerto. He wrote a great deal of religious music, including large-scale masses, as well as dances, divertimenti, serenades, and other forms of light entertainment.
The central traits of the Classical style are all present in Mozart's music. Clarity, balance, and transparency are the hallmarks of his work, but simplistic notions of its delicacy mask the exceptional power of his finest masterpieces, such as the Piano Concerto No. 24 in C minor, K. 491; the Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550; and the opera "Don Giovanni". Charles Rosen makes the point forcefully:
It is only through recognising the violence and sensuality at the centre of Mozart's work that we can make a start towards a comprehension of his structures and an insight into his magnificence. In a paradoxical way, Schumann's superficial characterisation of the G minor Symphony can help us to see Mozart's daemon more steadily. In all of Mozart's supreme expressions of suffering and terror, there is something shockingly voluptuous.
During his last decade, Mozart frequently exploited chromatic harmony. A notable instance is his "String Quartet in C major", K. 465 (1785), whose introduction abounds in chromatic suspensions, giving rise to the work's nickname, the "Dissonance" quartet.
Mozart had a gift for absorbing and adapting the valuable features of others' music. His travels helped in the forging of a unique compositional language. In London as a child, he met J. C. Bach and heard his music. In Paris, Mannheim, and Vienna he met with other compositional influences, as well as the avant-garde capabilities of the Mannheim orchestra. In Italy, he encountered the Italian overture and opera buffa, both of which deeply affected the evolution of his practice. In London and Italy, the galant style was in the ascendent: simple, light music with a mania for cadencing; an emphasis on tonic, dominant, and subdominant to the exclusion of other harmonies; symmetrical phrases; and clearly articulated partitions in the overall form of movements. Some of Mozart's early symphonies are Italian overtures, with three movements running into each other; many are homotonal (all three movements having the same key signature, with the slow middle movement being in the relative minor). Others mimic the works of J. C. Bach, and others show the simple rounded binary forms turned out by Viennese composers.
As Mozart matured, he progressively incorporated more features adapted from the Baroque. For example, the Symphony No. 29 in A major K. 201 has a contrapuntal main theme in its first movement, and experimentation with irregular phrase lengths. Some of his quartets from 1773 have fugal finales, probably influenced by Haydn, who had included three such finales in his recently published Opus 20 set. The influence of the "Sturm und Drang" ("Storm and Stress") period in music, with its brief foreshadowing of the Romantic era, is evident in the music of both composers at that time. Mozart's Symphony No. 25 in G minor K. 183 is another excellent example.
Mozart would sometimes switch his focus between operas and instrumental music. He produced operas in each of the prevailing styles: opera buffa, such as "Le nozze di Figaro", "Don Giovanni", and "Così fan tutte"; opera seria, such as "Idomeneo"; and Singspiel, of which "Die Zauberflöte" is the most famous example by any composer. In his later operas, he employed subtle changes in instrumentation, orchestral texture, and tone colour, for emotional depth and to mark dramatic shifts. Here, his advances in opera and instrumental composing interacted: his increasingly sophisticated use of the orchestra in the symphonies and concertos influenced his operatic orchestration, and his developing subtlety in using the orchestra to psychological effect in his operas was in turn reflected in his later non-operatic compositions.
Köchel catalogue.
For unambiguous identification of works by Mozart, a "Köchel catalogue number" is used. This is a unique number assigned, in regular chronological order, to every one of his known works. A work is referenced by the abbreviation "K." or "KV" followed by this number. The first edition of the catalogue was completed in 1862 by Ludwig von Köchel. It has since been repeatedly updated, as scholarly research improves knowledge of the dates and authenticity of individual works.
Instruments.
Although some of Mozart's early pieces were written for harpsichord, he also became acquainted in his early years with fortepianos made by Regensburg builder Franz Jakob Späth. Later when Mozart was visiting Augsburg, he was impressed by Stein fortepianos and shared this in a letter to his father. On 22 October 1777, Mozart had premiered his triple-piano concerto, K. 242, on instruments provided by Stein. The Augsburg Cathedral organist Demmler was playing the first, Mozart the second and Stein the third part. In 1783, when living in Vienna he purchased an instrument by Walter. Leopold Mozart confirmed the attachment which Mozart had with his Walter fortepiano: "It is impossible to describe the hustle and bustle. Your brother's pianoforte has been moved at least twelve times from his house to the theatre or to someone else's house."
Influence.
His most famous pupil was Johann Nepomuk Hummel, a transitional figure between the Classical and Romantic eras whom the Mozarts took into their Vienna home for two years as a child. More important is the influence Mozart had on composers of later generations. Ever since the surge in his reputation after his death, studying his scores has been a standard part of a classical musician's training.
Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart's junior by fifteen years, was deeply influenced by his work, with which he was acquainted as a teenager. He is thought to have performed Mozart's operas while playing in the court orchestra at Bonn and travelled to Vienna in 1787 hoping to study with the older composer. Some of have direct models in comparable works by Mozart, and he wrote cadenzas (WoO 58) to Mozart's D minor piano concerto K. 466.
Composers have paid homage to Mozart by writing sets of variations on his themes. Beethoven wrote four such sets (Op. 66, WoO 28, WoO 40, WoO 46). Others include Fernando Sor's Introduction and Variations on a Theme by Mozart (1821), Mikhail Glinka's Variations on a Theme from Mozart's Opera "The Magic Flute" (1822), Frédéric Chopin's Variations on "Là ci darem la mano" from "Don Giovanni" (1827), and Max Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart (1914), based on the variation theme in the piano sonata K. 331. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, who revered Mozart, wrote his Orchestral Suite No. 4 in G, "Mozartiana" (1887), as a tribute to him.
References.
Citations.
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Sources.
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Further reading.
"See for an extensive bibliography"
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External links.
Digitized documents
Sheet music

Piano Sonata No. 9 (Mozart)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 9 in D major, K. 311 / 284c, was written on the composer's stay in Augsburg and Mannheim in November-December 1777, and is contemporaneous with his Sonata No. 7 in C Major K. 309 (Mozart wrote his Sonata K. 310 in the summer of the following year, in Paris). The three sonatas K. 309–311 were published as a set 'Opus IV' in about 1782, by Franz Joseph Heina in Paris.
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The work has three movements:
A typical performance takes about 15 to 17 minutes.
The first movement is in sonata form. Its first subject has a quasi-orchestral opening, and its second subject in the dominant key (A major) is quieter. The development section is almost entirely based on the last four bars of the exposition.
The second movement has an episodic structure A–B–A–B–A–coda. The second theme's melody is gently decorated with syncopation, accompanied by broken chords in the left hand. This key is G major, the subdominant of D major.
Lastly, the most technically demanding movement of the three is a sonata rondo, with a short central episode in B minor (the main key's relative minor). A slow cadenza-like passage containing a rapid ascending chromatic scale leads back to the first theme. In this passage the beginnings of the main theme of the famous second movement of the Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major, K. 467, can be heard emerging - 8 years before he wrote it in 1785.