It’s one thing to hear a performance of The Marriage of Figaro, but another to stand in the room it was written in. Welcome to Mozart’s apartment in Vienna: the Mozartwohnung.
- Mozart’s home in the 1780s
- Period layout and décor with info displays
- Included in a ticket for the Mozarthaus
- One floor of the same building
- Book Mozarthaus tickets* online
- …look out for concert add ons
- See also:
Inside Mozart’s home
(Portrait of Mozart by Carl Meyer; early 19th century. Image courtesy of the Rijksmuseum)
The Mozart apartment occupies the first floor of the Mozarthaus.
That wider complex has broader displays on late 18th-century Vienna and the maestro’s musical world, a small Mozart-related special exhibition, and regular classical concerts (performers include the Wiener Ensemble chamber music group, for example.)
Mozart and his family occupied the apartment from 1784 to 1787, which represents the longest period of time he stayed in one place in the city.
Located so close to Stephansdom cathedral, this must have been a fairly high-class rental address, with some six to seven rooms around the open atrium and staircase at the centre of the house.
Sadly, Instagram was somewhat underdeveloped back in the 1780s, so our records of the apartment’s look and contents are scanty. But careful research means the layout and décor is as authentic as it can be.
(The outside of the apartment around 1900, as photographed by Bruno Reiffenstein; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 42657; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
Unfortunately, none of the original furnishings belonging to Mozart survive, but each room contains a representative item of furniture from the correct historical period.
The location offers plenty to compensate for the absence of a worn sofa where the composer might have sat with a bottle of wine and a pile of sheet music.
I’ll come to the contents, but it’s all about the history…
- Look out a window and see more or less the same view Mozart would have seen almost 250 years ago
- Stand in a room where Mozart’s pen flew across the page, releasing the overture to the Marriage of Figaro into the world
- Skip the lift (if able) and climb the stairs to the first floor. Run your hands along the handrails and you touch the same wood that Mozart did as he rushed out to give a concert
- Wander through the room where Mozart took up a viola, nodded to his father on the violin and played – for the very first time – the final piece in what would become known as the Haydn quartets. All while Haydn was watching. I’ll say that again: all while Haydn was watching
Incidentally, an impressed Haydn then tuned to Leopold Mozart and uttered famous words that still echo down the decades:
…your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person and by name.
Clearly Haydn knew what he was talking about.
(The street outside the apartment)
That’s all you really need to know: this is the spiritual home of all classical music. (Allow me a little poetical exaggeration.)
Now, aside from all that, you learn many tidbits about Mozart’s life, too.
Information displays include both German and English, with an audioguide as part of your ticket. You’ll also find a few items and memorabilia scattered through each room.
You’re not going to learn a huge amount, but it’s about the experience, not necessarily the education. For example, little personal details bring you closer to the man.
(A picture of French actress Mademoiselle Mars from before 1847 in a role from the Marriage of Figaro, composed in the Mozartwohnung; Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. W 4298; excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
For example:
- The copy of a handwritten note on an exercise sheet for a pupil
- The inventory from his final residence, with the two most expensive items the pianoforte and billiard table (seems apt, no?)
- The slew of images of Mozart himself: some authentic, some not. But the authentic ones leave the impression of a man driven with energy and imagination
The copies of six pages of music that represent Mozart’s average daily output made the biggest impact on me.
As a novelist and someone several levels down from that level of genius, I know what maintaining that intensity of creativity must have taken in terms of blood, sweat, and/or inspiration.
Tickets & visitor tips
Any entrance ticket from or for the Mozarthaus includes a visit to the Mozartwohnung.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
- See here for more details and visitor tips for the wider house
- The Mozarthaus’s concert venue is one of many such locations in Vienna that host concerts rich in Mozart’s music. You may even hear a piece actually composed in the Mozartwohnung itself
- Do really look out the windows. It’s hard to believe a modern city has managed to keep that view more or less intact for over 200 years
- For more Mozart-related locations in Vienna (including his grave), see this handy guide and map
- And if that’s not enough, you can go on a day trip to Salzburg, which has museums in Mozart’s birthplace and a former residence, for example
How to get to the Mozartwohnung
Check the main Mozarthaus article for directions and travel tips.
Address: Domgasse 5, 1010 Vienna