Listening Gallery

Mozart performs for Empress Maria Theresia, 1 October 1762, (1936). Creator: Unknown

Mozart performs for Empress Maria Theresia, 1 October 1762, (1936). Mozart Vor Kaiserin Maria Theresia, 1 Oktober 1762'. The six-year-old Mozart plays for the Empress Maria Theresa of Austria at the imperial court in Vienna. Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a child prodigy, and supposedly jumped on the empress's lap when he visited with his father and sister. From "Bilder Deutscher Geschichte", (Pictures of German History), No.12, cigarette card album. [Cigaretten-Bilderdienst, Altona-Bahrenfeld, Hamburg, Germany, 1936]

© The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Tsar Nicholas II speaking at the opening of the first Duma, St Petersburg, Russia, 27 April 1906

Tsar Nicholas II speaking at the opening of the first Duma, St Petersburg, Russia, 27 April 1906. The Duma, the elected legislative assembly of the Russian Empire, was established as a result of the Russian Revolution of 1905. Tsar Nicholas II (1868-1918), who opened the Duma, was determined to retain his autocratic power over the government of Russia however. Shortly before the Duma opened, he passed the Fundamental Laws, which stated that the Tsar's ministers could not be appointed by and were not responsible to the Duma. Increasing tension between the Duma's members and Nicholas's ministers led to the assembly being dissolved within ten weeks of its opening. Found in the collection of the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia, Moscow

© Fine Art Images

Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone preaching from a wagon, Africa, 19th century

Scottish explorer and missionary David Livingstone preaching from a wagon, Africa, 19th century. Livingstone (1813-1873) was the first European to discover the Victoria Falls on the Zambezi river in central Africa. While searching for the source of the Nile in the late 1860s he became seriously ill and went missing. Although he was found, by Henry Morton Stanley in 1871, Livingstone never fully recovered from his illness and died in Bangwelulu, Zambia. Lantern slide

© The Print Collector / Heritage-Images