Funeral
The funeral arrangements were made by Mozart's friend and patron Baron Gottfried van Swieten. Describing his funeral, the Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians states, "Mozart was buried in a common grave, in accordance with contemporary Viennese custom, at the St. Marx Cemetery outside the city on 7 December." Jahn (1856) wrote that Salieri, Süssmayr, van Swieten and two other musicians were present.
The tale of a storm and snow is false; the day was calm and mild."
The common belief that Mozart was buried in a pauper's grave is also without foundation. The "common grave" referred to above is a term for a grave belonging to a citizen not of the aristocracy. It was an individual grave, not a communal grave; but after ten years the city had the right to dig it up and use it for a later burial. The graves of the aristocracy were spared such treatment.
Read more about this topic: Death Of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Famous quotes containing the word funeral:
“I asked if I got sick and died, would you
With my black funeral go walking too,
If you’d stand close to hear them talk or pray
While I’m let down in that steep bank of clay.”
—J.M. (John Millington)
“Up, black, striped and damasked like the chasuble
At a funeral mass, the skunk’s tail
Paraded the skunk.”
—Seamus Heaney (b. 1939)
“Not a drum was heard, not a funeral note,
As his corse to the rampart we hurried;”
—Charles Wolfe (1791–1823)