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Mozart and Zagreb

Call the tenuous connections police! Although Mozart travelled and played music all over Europe, it seems he made the big mistake of missing Zagreb off his itinerary. Probably he couldn’t bear to part from all that delicious beer in Austria and Prague. But we did uncover the following fascinating facts about Mozart and Zagreb – so obscure that probably even he didn’t know them himself:
Maksimilijan Vrhovac (1787-1827), Bishop of Zagreb, was a philanthropist and one of the early supporters of the Illyrian movement, who made so many contributions to the community (including the musical one) that the Maksimir Park was named after him. He had a bishoply rule in a town called Oradea, in today’s Romania, then part of Hungary (and called Nady Várad, or Grosswardein in German, of Veliki Vardin in Croatian) in 1759-1776. He was patron of an orchestra headed by Johann Michael Haydn, brother of the more famous Joseph Haydn – who was a great friend of Mozart’s. According to a Danish website on the composer, “Michaels relationship with the young Mozart... seems to have been very fine. Although Mozart occasionally made some rude remarks about Michael in his letters, he was very impressed with Michael's music.” There you have it!
The Drašković family of Croatian counts and nobles once had extensive archives, which included a handwritten score of an overture from Don Giovanni. It’s now kept in the library of the Croatian Institute of Music
The aforementioned Institute recently came under the spotlight when a manuscript of an unknown symphony was discovered in Vienna, thought to be of a work by Mozart. However, almost exactly the same work already exists in the Croatian Institute of Music in Zagreb, attributed to David Westermayer, a Salzburg composer and contemporary of Mozart’s. If it is Mozart’s piece, he would have composed it at around the age of nine, and this could explain the similarities between the two manuscripts. Westermayer was older, and Mozart the wunderkind was known to play with and adapt existing compositions. 
Croatian music in Mozart’s time 

Mozart’s music was much influenced by the Age of Enlightenment which changed the face of Europe during his time. Zagreb was not the first place these socio-intellectual tremors were felt. The coast was more open to influences from Europe at that time due to direct links with Italy by sea. But that’s not to say that there was nothing going on here.
Julijana Erdődy nee Drašković was a passionate collector of music and wrote a book which included unique manuscripts of works of composers such as Haydn, Vanhal and Pleyel.
The beautiful baroque city of Varaždin was an important centre of music in 18th century Croatia, and composers such as Vanhal, Werner and Ebner introduced elements of Central European classical and pre-classical music to the musicians of the Varaždin Ring which existed at that time.
One of the leading proponents of the Enlightenment in Croatia was Julije Bajamonti of Split (1744-1800), a doctor, writer – and composer. Although his work, like that of many Croatian composers of the time, is rather neglected, one of his pieces was performed at the Varaždin Baroque Festival in 2005.
Some of the important names in music of the time, including Ivan Jarnović, Stjepan Spadina, Josip Mihovil Stratico and Amando Ivančić were connected with Croatia either by birth, nationality or residence.

 

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