Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart toured Italy with his father Leopold three
times between 1769 and 1773. The first, an extended tour of 15 months,
was financed by performances for the nobility and by public concerts,
and took in the most important Italian cities. The second and third
journeys were to Milan, for Wolfgang to complete operas that had been
commissioned there on the first visit. From the perspective of
Wolfgang's musical development the journeys were a considerable
success, and his talents were recognised by honours which included a
papal knighthood and memberships in leading philharmonic societies.
Each of Wolfgang's operas written for Milan's celebrated Teatro Regio
Ducal was a critical and popular triumph. In the course of the three
visits he met many of Italy's leading musicians, including the renowned
theorist Giovanni Battista Martini, under whom he studied in Bologna.
Leopold also hoped that Wolfgang, and possibly he himself, would obtain
a prestigious appointment at one of the Italian Habsburg courts. This
objective became more important as Leopold's advancement in Salzburg
became less likely; but his persistent efforts to secure employment
displeased the imperial court, which precluded any chance of success.
The journeys thus ended not with a triumphant return, but on a note of
disappointment and frustration.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mozart_in_Italy>
_______________________________
Today's selected anniversaries:
1260:
Wars of the Guelphs and Ghibellines: The Siena Ghibellines defeated the
Florence Guelphs at the Battle of Montaperti outside of Siena,
present-day Italy.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Montaperti>
1886:
After over 25 years of fighting against the United States Army and the
armed forces of Mexico, Geronimo of the Chiricahua Apache surrendered
at Skeleton Canyon in Arizona.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geronimo>
1957:
Defying the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v. Board of Education,
Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus deployed the Arkansas National Guard to
prevent African American students from attending Little Rock's Central
High School.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Rock_Nine>
1984:
The Progressive Conservative Party led by Brian Mulroney won the
largest majority government by total number of seats in Canadian
history during the federal election.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Mulroney>
1998:
Larry Page and Sergey Brin founded the company Google in Menlo Park,
California, US, to promote the web search engine that they developed as
a research project while attending Stanford University.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google>
_____________________________
Wiktionary's word of the day:
best boy (n):
(film jargon) The first assistant to either the key grip (in charge of
camera placement and movement), or the gaffer (in charge of lighting
and electrics)
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/best_boy>
___________________________
Wikiquote quote of the day:
As soon as a true thought has entered our mind, it gives a light which
makes us see a crowd of other objects which we have never perceived
before.
--François-René de Chateaubriand
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fran%C3%A7ois-Ren%C3%A9_de_Chateaubriand>