Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Prague - Why Did Prague Appreciate Mozart?

Why Did Prague Appreciate Mozart?

Braunbehrens also gives a fairly deeply rooted explanation of why Prague gave Mozart's music such an enthusiastic reception. Prague was the capital of the former independent nation of Bohemia, which following the loss of the Battle of White Mountain in 1620 was incorporated into the Austrian Empire. Much of the native Czech aristocracy was displaced by Germans, and those who remained largely stayed on their own estates rather than moving back and forth to Vienna as the Austrian nobility did. The area was poor, in part because of the continuation of serfdom, used by some of the new German aristocracy to support the development of industrial enterprises. In addition, after the conquest Bohemia was forced to re-convert to Roman Catholicism, and an important part of the program of reconversion involved church music. An extraordinary law required that every village schoolmaster should compose, rehearse, and perform with his students at least one Mass per year.

These factors combined to create a very musical country: due to the reconversion law, a great number of young people received musical instruction and became professional musicians, often employed by the aristocrats in jobs combining the function of musician and servant. In addition, many of the musicians sought employment outside of Bohemia; a number of Mozart's musical colleagues in Vienna were emigrant Bohemians. The sedentary character of the Czech nobility led to a great deal of music-making in the country; and the fact that Prague was not a national capital meant that there was no jaded nobility there to hold back new music; more open-minded bourgeois tastes prevailed.

All of these created an enthusiastic and knowledgeable public in Prague for Mozart's operas when they were performed there.