New campaign to recognise Cecil Court as site where Mozart ‘wrote his first symphonies’

Published: 27 May 2011
by JOSH LOEB

HE is arguably the most famous composer in the history of classical music and almost certainly the most influential figure ever to have lodged in the booklover’s paradise of Cecil Court. But search high and low in this historic West End street and you will find no plaque to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Now that could change if Tim Bryars, a Cecil Court trader whose shop specialises in early maps and topographical prints, gets his way.

Mr Bryars is campaigning for a plaque to the maestro to mark the spot, 9 Cecil Court, where he stayed from April 24 until August 6, 1764, and where some scholars believe he composed his first symphonies. 

He has written several letters to those in charge of Westminster Council’s Green Plaques Scheme, but officials say they do not intend to erect one any time in the near future.

Mr Bryars said: “The town I come from, Walsall in the Black Country, it’s claim to fame was that it was the birthplace of Jerome K Jerome, who wrote Three Men in a Boat and who left when he was three – and that was your lot. 

“Westminster, on the other hand, has got mas­ses of history, and there’s no harm in celebrating that. I think the council is scared there could be a green plaque on every street, but Mozart is probably one of the most famous people who has ever lived. It’s a name that resonates everywhere – I’m sure that if you asked a schoolchild from almost anywhere, from Chile to the Czech Republic, to name 10 famous dead people, Mozart would feature on the list.” 

Mozart visited London with his family, spending a night at The White Bear in Piccadilly before lodging with barber John Couzin in Cecil Court and paying 12 shillings a week for three rooms.

The family later moved from their Cecil Court lodgings to 21 Frith Street in Soho.

The Green Plaques Scheme, which supplements the English Heritage blue plaques, celebrates the work of noteworthy former Westminster residents.

There is a blue plaque to Mozart in Ebury Street, Belgravia, another street where the composer stayed for a short time.

Cllr Robert Davis, deputy leader of Westminster Council and cabinet member for the built environment, said: “We have received the application for the plaque in Cecil Court and will consider it in due course. The council receives a huge amount of requests from people wanting to install green plaques. To ensure they are reserved only for those buildings that are truly worthy we have a robust selection process.”

Mr Bryars said he and other Cecil Court traders are considering putting up their own temporary metal or ceramic plaque.