Along with Vienna and Salzburg, Augsburg is a Mozart city. "Papa's home town", Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart used to say. Earlier Mozart generations came from an area of Swabia not far from Augsburg, and the Mozart family lived and worked in Augsburg itself from 1643 onwards. Leopold Mozart - Wolfgang Amadeus's father, tutor and music teacher - was born in Augsburg in 1719. His gifted son visited the city on five occasions between 1763 and 1790, to meet relatives, to play music, and as a "tourist". Augsburg honours the great Mozart family at the Mozart House and a number of other sites with Mozart connections, as well as hosting various musical events.
For generations, the Mozarts worked in Augsburg as artisans and craftsmen: architects, sculptors and bookbinders. The house in Frauentorstrasse where Leopold Mozart was born introduces visitors to the world of Wolfgang Amadeus's forefathers. It also contains the most extensive of any pictorial collection on the Mozart theme. A memorial to Leopold Mozart stands in Fronhof, close to the former residence of the Augsburg prince bishops. A stone plaque in the Fuggerei, the oldest welfare housing in the world, shows that Franz Mozart, a bricklayer - and great-grandfather of Wolfgang Amadeus - was a Fuggerei resident.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited "Papa's home town" in 1763, 1766, 1777, 1781 and 1790. It was here that he made the acquaintance of his cousin "Bäsle", to whom he wrote letters later felt rather objectionable. He visited the Golden Hall at the town hall, performed in the Fuggerei concert hall and stayed at the Weisses Lamm Hotel in the cathedral quarter (where a plaque commemorates the visit). He also visited the home of organ builder Johann Andreas Stein in Maximilianstrasse and played the organs in the Barfüsser Church and the Church of St. Ulrich.
Every year, Augsburg honours the Mozart family with a series of musical events. Music by the Mozart family is the focus of the concerts in Fronhof between 23 and 25 July 2004. The 53rd German Mozart Festival takes place from 12 to 16 May 2021 with the theme "Dreiklang Mozart - Leopold, Wolfgang Amadeus, Franz Xaver" (Three Mozarts in Harmony). Regio Augsburg Tourismus GmbH offers a guided tour on the theme of Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and a Day with the Mozarts - with "Mozart" food and an excursion into "Mozart country". Information from Regio Augsburg Tourismus GmbH, telephone + 49 (0)821 502 070.
