Mozart in the Deutschordenshaus

Why he was in Vienna at all

In March 1781 Mozart was summoned to Vienna, where his employer, Hieronymus von Colloredo, Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, was attending celebrations for the accession of Joseph II. Mozart was 25, and he came as one of the archbishop's staff, not as an independent artist. The Teutonic Order's house on Singerstraße took in the archbishop's entourage. That explains why a freelance-minded young composer ended up in a religious order's building, and it is the stay behind the booking page's phrase 'Mozart's first house in Vienna'.

What the Order records

The Order's own page for its Vienna house says Mozart stayed in the entourage of Archbishop Colloredo from 16 March to 2 May 1781. German Wikipedia gives 18 March for the start and also 2 May for the end, so the start varies by two days between sources. This guide therefore says 'from mid-March to 2 May'. The Order's page does not say which rooms he used. A visitor guide notes a plaque inside the entrance, on the right-hand wall, that marks the stay. The organiser's page says he lived on the second floor, a detail the Order does not give.

A household member, not a guest

The organiser's page stresses that Mozart was not a free guest. He was an employee of the archbishop, it says, and was made to eat at the servants' table, which it presents as a humiliation. That is the organiser's account, and its page notes that some of its history is unsourced. The firm part is the employment: Colloredo was Mozart's patron and employer, and he grew annoyed at Mozart's absences. A visitor guide adds that the archbishop objected to Mozart performing outside his own residence, which fits a musician pressing for outside engagements.

The quarrel and the dismissal

According to Wikipedia, the quarrel came to a head in May, when Mozart tried to resign and was refused. In June permission was granted, but he was dismissed 'with a kick' in the English article's words. Mozart's letter to his father of 13 June 1781 describes it: the archbishop's steward, Count Arco, refused his petition and had him removed from the room. The Order's page puts the end of the stay in the house at 2 May, so the formal release and the move out of the house did not fall on the same day.

What happened next

Mozart chose to settle in Vienna as a freelance performer and composer. He lodged with the Weber family, who had come from Mannheim and were taking in lodgers, and his attention shifted from Aloysia Weber to her younger sister Constanze. His opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail premiered on 16 July 1782, and he married Constanze on 4 August 1782 in St Stephen's Cathedral. The six quartets dedicated to Haydn date from 1782 to 1785. In short, the six weeks on Singerstraße sit at the hinge of his career.

Read next: Mozart chamber music explained

Did he play in the Sala Terrena?

Some booking pages say he played in this hall, and one organiser article says he played its piano without giving a source. The Order's page records his stay and describes the room, but it does not say he performed there. I found no dated record in the sources read for this guide, so treat it as a plausible claim and not a documented fact. The safer way to put it is that Mozart lodged in the house and that the concert is held in a room of that house. For a documented Mozart address you can enter on a ticket, the museum on Domgasse, where he lived from 1784 to 1787, is the other option.