Mozart in Vienna

A little way out of the centre of Vienna is the St. Marx Cemetery, about 4 km away. 

The cemetery was opened in response to a decree by Emperor Joseph II of Habsburg-Lorraine prohibiting further burials in cemeteries within the city walls. He also ordered that the bodies be buried in mass graves, without coffins and unembalmed.

This place houses the remains of the great composer in the mass grave. It is unknown exactly where his remains were placed, but a memorial was erected in his honour.

Therefore, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s grave is without a gravestone not because of his poverty but because, having been buried in 1791 after an ordinary funeral in the Stephansdom, it was brought into line with the rules in force at the time.

This last chapter teaches and highlights, even more, the artistic vein and creativity, forcing the confrontation between music, representing life, and the stillness of death. In contrast, in fact, these two antecedents can teach us the value of life and the immortality of music. Mozart’s melodies live every day in many theatres around the world, and in front of this humble mass grave, we can wonder if death truly sanctioned the end of his existence.