Mozart's Residence in the Dance Master House

Why is it significant?

Stand before the handsome three-story townhouse at number eight Makartplatz, celebrated in musical history as the Tanzmeisterhaus or Dance Master House. By autumn 1773, the old family apartment on Getreidegasse had become far too cramped for the grown Mozart children.

Key Facts

Open the walk

Stand before the handsome three-story townhouse at number eight Makartplatz, celebrated in musical history as the Tanzmeisterhaus or Dance Master House. By autumn 1773, the old family apartment on Getreidegasse had become far too cramped for the grown Mozart children. Leopold Mozart rented an eight-room residence on the first floor here, where Wolfgang Amadeus lived and composed until moving permanently to Vienna in 1781.

The house took its popular name from court dance master Franz Gottlieb Spöckner, who originally taught courtly etiquette and dancing to young nobles here. In the large ballroom, the Mozart family hosted festive musicales where friends and court musicians premiered Wolfgang's latest divertimenti and symphonies. Here Mozart composed celebrated piano concertos, violin concertos, and his famous sacred motet Exsultate, jubilate.

Tragedy struck on October sixteenth, 1944, when an Allied air raid scored a direct hit, destroying two-thirds of the historic building. For decades, a modern office building and gas station occupied the site until the Mozarteum Foundation purchased the land. With generous global donations, the residence was meticulously reconstructed according to original eighteenth-century plans and reopened as a museum in 1996. The intricately crafted facade details and historic masonry continue to captivate historians and travelers alike. A thoughtful walk through these historic alleys reveals how masterfully Salzburg preserved its rich architectural heritage across centuries.

Inside today's museum, you can view Mozart's authentic original pianoforte built by Viennese master Anton Walter, upon which he played his late concertos. The famous family portrait painted by Johann Nepomuk della Croce, showing Wolfgang and Nannerl at the keyboard beneath their late mother's portrait, hangs in its original room. It offers a deeply moving window into the creative life of musical history's greatest genius. Generations of Salzburg citizens have shaped this extraordinary site and passed its inspiring stories down to posterity. Throughout the neighboring streets, one can immediately sense the vibrant harmony between baroque tradition and cosmopolitan culture.

Walk south down Theatergässchen toward the river and cross over the Marko Feingold Footbridge.