From: roger@crux.Princeton.EDU (Roger Lustig)
Subject: Re: mozart's ignominious deposit
Originator: news@nimaster
Reply-To: roger@astro.princeton.edu (Roger Lustig)
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Mon, 11 Jan 1993 20:36:12 GMT

In article <18742@fed.FRB.GOV> m1wrp99@milo.uucp (William R. Palenske) writes:
>i've wondered why mozart was buried in a common grave.

He wasn't, actually.  He was buried in a *sanitary* grave, one
mandated by Imperial decree during an epidemic.

>yes, i've heard his widow was left in straightened 
>circumstances ( was he considered passe or was he 
>just a bad businessman or both ? ) 

Actually, the musical market had dried up badly in the previous 
year.  Mozart had taken several steps toward improving his condition,
incl. getting in line for a big church job that would have been his if 
he'd lasted another year and a half.  Mozart had done well for four years 
in the 1780's as a free-lance, but it was somewhat downhill after that.
Not having a court job of real substance meant that he didn't get all
the payments in kind (firewood, candles, etc.) that court employees got;
also, he had to maintain a fairly expensive lifestyle in order to move
in society.

>but i understand 
>he had acquaintances who professed to admire him ( ornament
>of the age sort of thing ) who seem to have had some money.
>e.g., haydn.  

Haydn didn't have all that much money; nobody was doing really well
at that time.  

>surely, a modest plot / monument would not
>have been that costly.  or did he expire when haydn was
>abroad or something ?   

Yes, as a matter of fact.  The 98th Symphony will tell you all about it.

There probably was a wooden marker, but at the time this was not considered
crucial.  You can read about it in Braunbehrens' or Robbins Landon's 
books.

>what about van sweitan (sp?) 
>was he still about ? 

van Swieten was most certainly around; he had yet to commission the two
great oratorios from Haydn.

>couldn't he have stuck him in a
>family vault ?  i think that had been done before.

But Mozart wasn't family, or even that close, and besides, there was the 
matter of sanitary burial.

>sounds worth it to memorialize yourself even if only potentially.

Keep in mind that unitl then, composers had not, for the most part,
been outlived by their works in any "timeless" fashion.  Nor was there
a concept of musical classics such as we have today.

>i've also heard / read this story variously about
>mozart or haydn which relates that a phrenologist
>decapitated the corpse of haydn / mozart and that
>the skull is floating about etc.  any truth to this ?

Even worse: there are *two* skulls.  On the other hand, phrenology
wasn't in vogue yet, so it wasn't a phrenologist who did it.  The 
source of one of them seems to be the keeper of that particular
cemetery.

>one more thing, how may other _famous_ composers are grave
>unknown ?  obviously, the further back we go the more
>likely. even so, ....  another question: who's the earliest 
>composer whose burial site is known ?

Dufay was buried in Cambrai Cathedral; the monument is still there.
That's 1474.  On the other hand, what do you call 
"famous"?  

Roger

From: chrisr@hpcvra.cv.hp.com (Chris Robson)
Date: Fri, 8 Jan 1993 21:17:36 GMT
Subject: Re: Hvorostovsky and Ainsley (was Re: My Christmas CDs)
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Co., Corvallis, OR, USA