Diego Minoia - The Mozarts, Who They Were (Volume 1)

Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (Inzell 1729 -- Salzburg 1777)

After moving from his birthplace in Bavaria to Salzburg, Adlgasser became Eberlin's pupil (later marrying his daughter) and was the organist of the Cathedral until his death (Wolfgang Mozart followed him as organist). He married three times in his lifetime. His last wife was the singer Maria Anna Fesemayer of which both Mozart father and son were witnesses at their wedding given their friendship and their collaboration in the creation of the oratory Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots (The Duty of the First Commandment). The composition, in three parts, beholds a ten-year-old Wolfgang Mozart compose the first, Michael Haydn the second and Adlgasser the third. He died astonishingly of a heart attack while performing the aspiration of his life, during his performance at the organ in Salzburg's Cathedral.

Giuseppe Francesco Lolli (Bologna 1701 -- Salzburg 1778)

Hired in 1722 as a tenor in the Orchestra of the Salzburg Court, Lolli became Vice-Kapellmeister in 1743 and then Kapellmeister in 1762. Leopold Mozart, who aspired to that very position, was embittered by the preference conceded to Lolli, so much so, that he writes of his rival's compositions: "He has never written more that a few chamber oratorios and religious music". In 1772, due to old age, he was substituted as Kapellmeister by Domenico Fischietti.

Johann Michael Haydn (1736 -- 1806)

Younger brother (in age as well as musically) of the great Franz Joseph, followed his elder brother's footsteps becoming at the age of eight years old a choirboy in the chorus at St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. He later studied violin, organ and composition. As soon as he finished his studies, he was appointed Kapellmeister in Oradea, a Romanian city located in the north-west where he was to gain experience. Five years later, in 1762, he relocated to Salzburg to substitute Leopold Mozart (who was no longer available for the position due to the first promotional journey to Vienna of his child prodigy), and then finally as Kapellmeister and Concert Conductor (initial annual pay was 300 florins), a position that he held for forty-three years, including the honor of free meals in the official dining hall; Leopold and Wolfgang Mozart never had such a privilege, and were only allowed to eat at the table in the kitchen with the servants. Father and son obviously had frequent interactions with Michael Haydn, who represented a model for some of the compositions of Wolfgang's youth, since as a composer, he had a considerably vast production in all types of music utilized in that epoch (symphonies, concerts, serenades, trios, quartets, sonatas, sacred and profane vocal music). Some of Michael Haydn's works were cited in the Mozartian epistolary as transcribed (however, not always authorized) and were utilized for educational purposes as well as something to display to his two children. Even though they worked together on an almost daily basis, Leopold Mozart held a grudge against Michael Haydn which we see in letters to Wolfgang, denigrating his higher-ranking superior with accusations of him being lazy (which was later retracted by his immense catalogue of compositions) and a drunkard. Similar opinions were surely expressed as gossip among the circle of friends of the family and was quite likely that these rumors reached the ears of the Archbishop, which certainly did not serve to favor his opinion of the envious Leopold.

Domenico Fischietti (Naples 1725 -- Salzburg 1810)

Son of Kapellmeister and composer Giovanni Fischietti, after his musical studies in Naples under the tutelage of his father and then Francesco Durante (just to name a few), he made his debut in the same city with his first opera "Armindo" in 1742. In 1755, he moved to Venice where the first thing he did was stage the opere buffe on the texts of Carlo Goldoni with enormous success. After experience in Prague as the impresario of the theatrical Bustelli Company in 1764, he was appointed Kapellmeister in Dresden in 1766 after Johann Adolf Hasse, with an annual salary of 600 florins. Having lost his position at Dresden, he went to Vienna in 1772 where he met the Archbishop Colloredo of Salzburg who, appreciating his musical talents, engaged him as composer for the cathedral choir and assistant to the Kapellmeister Lolli and to vice Leopold Mozart. From 1776 to 1783 he was Kapellmeister to the Salzburg Court and cathedral with an annual salary of 800 florins. Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti succeeded him as Kapellmeister.

Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti (1740 -- 1817)

The musical formation of the abbot Gatti took place in Verona and Mantua, where he began his career as a tenor at the Chapel of St. Barbara at Mantua, but soon became successful as a composer thanks to his opera "Alessandro nelle Indie". In 1769, he was Vice-Kapellmeister in the newly established Accademia Reale di Mantova (Virgilian Academy of Science and Arts) with a salary of 6 gold coins of 45 lire. On the occasion of his first trip to the Mozart's Italy in 1770, he was able to listen to the young Wolfgang in Mantua at the highly acclaimed exhibition at the Teatro scientifico (known today as Teatro Bibiena, named after its designer) and met the two Salzburg men. In 1778, he was engaged as Vice-Kapellmeister to the Court in Salzburg and was on good terms with the Mozarts at least until February of 1783 when he was hired as Kapellmeister in Salzburg to the detriment of Leopold Mozart, who had coveted the position for years. In Nannerl's journal, Leopold vented his anger venomously upon one of Gatti's serenades exhibited in the theater, defining it as "charming Italian music, more appropriate for the ears than the heart, since the harmonization with the expression of the lyrics and the true passion is less than satisfactory". In any case, Gatti was an abbot...and he would have had to imagine passion. Gatti was the last Kapellmeister of Salzburg due to the abolishment of the Princedom and the territory was integrated into the borders of the Habsburg Empire.

Here is a summary pertaining to the musicians of the Court of Salzburg during the period involving the Mozart family and the musical activity of the Princedom.

- Prince Archbishop: Leopold Antonio Eleuterio Firmian (from 1727 to 1744)

- Kapellmeister: Matthias Sigismund Biechteler (until 1743) Karl Heinrich von Bibern (from 1743 to 1749)

- Court Organist: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1727)

- Leopold Mozart: 1737; arrival in Salzburg 1740; assistant to the Chamber and Music for the Count Johann Baptist von Thurn-Valsassina and Taxis. Early compositions; 1743 engaged as 4 thviolinist in the Court Orchestra

- Prince Archbishop: Jakob Ernst von Liechtenstein-Kastelkorn (from 1745 to 1747)

- Kapellmeister: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1749 to 1762)

- Court Organist: Johann Ernst Eberlin (from 1727)

- Leopold Mozart: 1744; added to his role of violinist, he was hired to teach violin and keyboard to the children in the Cathedral Choir; he married in 1747

- Archbishop Prince: Andreas Jakob von Dietrichstein (from 1747 to 1753)

The Mozart family: 1751, Nannerl Mozart is born

- Archbishop Prince: Sigismund III Christoph von Schrattenbach (from 1753 to 1771)

- Kapellmeister: Giuseppe Francesco Lolli and Johann Michael Haydn (from 1762)

- Court Organist: Anton Cajetan Adlgasser (from 1762)

- Leopold Mozart:

1756: published the Violin School, Wolfgang is born

1757: appointed Court Composer

1758: promoted to 2 ndviolin in the Court Orchestra

1763: appointed Vice-Kapellmeister

Wolfgang Mozart:

1769, appointed 3 rdMaster Concert Performer to the Court, without a salary

- Archbishop Prince: Hieronymus Joseph Franz de Paula Colloredo von Wallsee und Mels (from 1772 to 1803)

- Kapellmeister: Domenico Fischietti (from 1772); Luigi Maria Baldassarre Gatti (from 1783)