User:Opus33/Mozart's ancestors

Other than his father Leopold, none of the ancestors of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart achieved any form of notability. Nevertheless, Mozart's ancestry has been an active topic among Mozart's biographers, who pose the question of whether there was any evidence of extraordinary creativity among the composer's ancestors.

A common view in the early 20th century was that extraordinary artistic ability appeared in Wolfgang without any evidence of it in earlier generations; that in the words of biographer Arthur Schurig Mozart was 'the sole wonderful flower on an insignificant lowly shrub' Biographer Alfred Einstein wrote "The name [Mozart], which has become a symbol of grace, sometimes took on rougher forms (e.g. Motzert), and rough doubtless were those who bore it-artisans and peasants." To the contrary, King (1973) suggested that a closer look at the occupations of Mozart's ancestors indicate artistic talent; this is discussed below.

Johann Georg Mozart
Johann Georg Mozart (4 May 1679 – 19 February 1736) was a bookbinder who lived in Augsburg, Germany, in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Johann Georg's own ancestors were "artisans and masons", but he pursued a different career, becoming a master bookbinder. He evidently advanced his career when he married the widow (named Anna Maria Banegger) of his former master, and thus obtained his old master's guild license. His first wife bore him no children and died in 1718. His second wife was Anna Maria Sulzer (1696–1766), with whom he had eight children over the years 1719–1735; of these, three boys and two girls survived to adulthood. Leopold, born 14 November 1719, was the oldest.

The family were Catholics and after 1722 lived in a house owned by the Jesuits. They sent their two oldest sons to Jesuit schools.

Neither Johann Georg nor his wife Anna Maria had any direct influence on the life of their celebrated grandson. Johann Georg died 20 years before Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born; and Leopold became estranged from his mother following his move in young adulthood to Salzburg (1737); hence there was no contact between grandmother and grandson during the period their lives overlapped.

Another son of Johann Georg, Franz Aloys Mozart (1727–1791), remained in Augsburg and followed his father's career as a bookbinder (he also occasionally published religious tracts). He was the father of Maria Anna Thekla Mozart, Wolfgang's first cousin and friend.