Small bronze of W.A. Mozart (1756-1791)

The young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, here in bronze miniature by Antoine-Denis Chaudet, came to Milan several times during his travels to stage some of his operas. Mithridates, King of Pontus in 1770, Ascanio in Alba in 1771 and Lucio Silla the following year. The theatre they were performed in was the Teatro Ducale, which stood next to the modern-day Palazzo Reale. Shortly afterwards, in 1776, the Teatro Ducale was destroyed by fire. Only two years later, as a replacement, Milan saw the birth of La Scala Theatre and its “little” brother, the Teatro della Canobbiana.
Many engravings of the Teatro Ducale are kept in the Museum’s archive, as well as a small fragment of an unknown composition by Mozart. Its authenticity is assured by a short inscription by his son, Karl Mozart who had moved to Milan and died there in 1858.
To understood the impact the young Mozart and his music had on Milan and its music at the time, you only need the testimony of Diego Antonio Minola in his handwritten Historical-Political Diary, held in the Ambrosiana Library: “That evening in the Theatre they performed the serenade
entitled Ascanio in Alba”. Nothing else, the name Mozart was not even mentioned. However, what looks to us like a grave omission really shouldn’t come as a surprise. The real “stars” of the time were the singers and certainly not the composers who were often not even mentioned on the libretto.