SALZBURG, Austria - Celebrations to mark the 250th birth anniversary of musical genius Wolfgang Mozart spilled over on Saturday as well with people toasting Austria's favorite son. Thousands of people had gathered outside the composer's home in Salzburg and had deliriously rendered "Happy Birthday" to his memory.
It was the Austrian capital's turn on Saturday as officials threw open the Vienna house where Mozart composed "The Marriage of Figaro," one of his best-loved operas. At the official reopening of the house, which cost about $10 million and took 14 months, Vienna Mayor Michael Haeupl said, "I think that a genius who came as a foreigner from Salzburg to Vienna and had his most productive time here should be honored."
Austria's senior Roman Catholic prelate, Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn was also present on the occasion and he blessed the house, "We keep the house he liked most here in Vienna in good condition for the future, for the world," he said. Officials had kept aside 1,500 free tickets, which were gone within hours.
Although the house can hold only about 200 visitors at a time, thousands streamed in an out despite the biting cold. But the main celebrations are going to go on throughout the year in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace of Salzburg where he was born on January 27, 1756.
He spent three years between 1784 to 1787 in Vienna House before he died at an unlikely age of 35. Salzburg also marked the night with the rendition of Mozart's music and the tolling of Church bells at 8 pm when the towering genius was reportedly born. Many concerts have been planned worldwide to commemorate his 250th birth anniversary.
