THE 100 MOST INFLUENTIAL MUSICIANS OF ALL TIME

7 The 100 Most Influential Musicians of All Time 7

which he had embarked in 1782 were finished in the first
days of 1785 and were published later that year.

From Figaro to Don Giovanni

In spite of his success as a pianist and composer, Mozart
had serious financial worries, and they worsened as the
Viennese found other idols. Success in the court opera
house was all-important. At Mozart’s request, Lorenzo Da
Ponte, an Italian of Jewish descent who was a talented
poet and librettist of the court theatre, wrote a libretto,
Le nozze di Figaro, based on Beaumarchais’s revolutionary
comedy, Le Mariage de Figaro. Both Figaro and the later
opera Don Giovanni treat the traditional figure of the
licentious nobleman. Perhaps the central achievement of
Figaro lies in its ensembles, with their close link between
music and dramatic meaning.
Figaro reached the stage on May 1, 1786, and was warmly
received. The opera also enjoyed popularity in Prague, and
at the end of the year Mozart was invited to go to the
Bohemian capital; he went in January 1787 and gave a new
symphony there, the Prague (K 504). He returned to Vienna
in February 1787.
In May 1787 Mozart’s father died. From this time
Mozart’s music includes the two string quintets K 515–516,
as well as a number of short lieder and three instrumental
works of note: the Musikalischer Spass (Musical Joke), a good-
humoured parody of bad music; Eine kleine Nachtmusik, the
much-loved serenade; and a piano and violin sonata, K 526.
But Mozart’s chief occupation during 1787 was the
composition of the comic opera Don Giovanni, commis-
sioned for production in Prague; it was given on October 29
and was positively received. Don Giovanni was Mozart’s
second opera based on a libretto by Da Ponte.