Was Mozart a well-off mooch?

For centuries, historians have portrayed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart as poor, but new documents suggest the composer was not nearly as hard-up for cash as many have believed.

Scholars who combed through Austrian archives for a Mozart exhibition that opened in Vienna on Tuesday found evidence that he was solidly upper crust and lived the good life.

Letters show that Mozart repeatedly borrowed money from friends to pay for his travels and his social obligations, and that his family was forced to move at least 11 times. The new documents, on display at Vienna’s Musikverein, reveal that he earned about 10,000 florins a year -- at least $42,000, in today’s terms.

That would have placed him in the top 5% of wage-earners in late 18th century Vienna, say experts, who were unable to prove lingering suspicions that gambling debts took a big bite out of Mozart’s earnings.