A History of Mozart in a Dozen Objects

Mozart’s world rediscovered in objects of his time. Professor Cliff Eisen looks at Mozart’s world through objects that were close to him. From BBC Radio 3.

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Episodes

Objects 12: Blood letting device

In this final episode Cliff Eisen focuses on medicine in the second half of the 18th century, and contemporary views on science and death. We explore today's object: a scarifier,used to bleed Mozart's mother before her death in Paris, and hear a moving account of Mozart's death in 1791 as recalled by his sister-in-law.

Jan 12, 2011•12 min

Object 10 & 11: Leopold's books and Mozart's tea chest

Cliff Eisen talks about travel in the 18th Century, and discovers the books Leopold Mozart picked up in London as well as the tea chest that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart carried with him on his travels.

Jan 11, 2011•11 min

Object 9: A Masonic periodical published in Vienna in the 1780s

In this episode Cliff Eisen explores Mozart's Masonic links in Vienna, and the relationship between the Masons and Emperor Joseph II. The object, a Masonic Journal from the 1780s, gives clues about some of the pieces with Masonic symbols that Mozart wrote, like the Magic Flute, and works he composed for Masonic Lodges.

Jan 10, 2011•10 min

Object 8: A window from Mozart’s flat in Vienna

A window from Mozart's flat in Vienna inspires Cliff Eisen to visit the actual place – the Figarohaus, today a museum dedicated to the composer, who tried to earn his life as a free-lance musician in the Imperial Capital – but what challenges did he face?

Jan 10, 2011•11 min

Object 7: Salzburg’s executioner’s sword

Cliff Eisen starts with an executioner’s sword dating back from the days when Salzburg embraced capital punishment. This episode explores crime and punishment in Mozart’s time and how this was reflected in some of his operas from the 1780s.

Jan 10, 2011•14 min

Object 6: A telescope and a musical clock

In this episode Cliff Eisen concentrates on a 18th-Century state-of-the-art telescope and on a musical clock as a sign of the Mozarts’ interest in science and technology – a typical concern of the time, which Wolfgang reflected in his music.

Jan 10, 2011•10 min

Object 5: The Mozarts’ Games

Cliff Eisen focuses on the role of game-playing in Mozart's life, and takes a look at a range of games including card games painted by Leopold Mozart himself, and a board game which featured the characters of Mozart's Magic Flute.

Jan 06, 2011•11 min

Object 4: Mozart’s own piano

Cliff Eisen explores some of the many types of piano Mozart played during his life, along with specially-recorded excerpts to illustrate the features he wanted to exploit as he wrote music for the instrument

Jan 05, 2011•10 min

Object 3: A model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre

Professor Cliff Eisen focuses on a model of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, a Renaissance piece at the British Museum in London, which Nannerl Mozart mentions in her diary among the most remarkable things she saw during the Mozarts' stay in England.

Jan 04, 2011•9 min

Object 2: Portraits of Mozart

Cliff Eisen introduces the second in a series of programmes exploring Mozart's world through objects associated with him. Today, two of the most important portraits of Mozart: the Stock and the Lange portraits in Salzburg.

Jan 03, 2011•11 min

Object 1: Mozart’s Watch

Cliff Eisen introduces the first in a series of programmes exploring Mozart's world through objects associated with him. Today: Mozart's watch.

Jan 02, 2011•10 min

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