Transcript Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
“Mozart was the Shakespeare of music.” (New-York Mirror, 1830)
“Listening to Mozart, we cannot think
of any possible improvement.”
(George Szell)
“What was evident was that Mozart
was simply transcribing music
completely finished in his head. And
finished as most music is never finished.
Displace one note and there would be
diminishment. Displace one phrase
and structure would fall. I was staring
through the cage of those meticulous
ink strokes at Absolute Beauty.”
(Peter Shaffer)
1756-1791
https://youtu.be/FCi2u265wxQ
Mozart’s Legacy
Mozart is considered the most
famous composer ever for two
reasons:
1. He was an amazing child
prodigy, both as a composer
and as a musician.
2. He wrote some of the best
music ever in every genre of
music at the time (opera,
symphony, concerto, mass,
string quartet, etc.) Many
consider Mozart the best
melody writer that ever lived.
Mozart’s Legacy
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Over his short 35-year lifetime, Mozart wrote over 600
musical works including 21 stage and opera works, 15
masses, 41 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin
concertos, 17 piano sonatas, and 26 string quartets.
His music has a distinct quality that is immediately
recognizable to the trained ear as creative and playful
and yet perfectly precise and balanced.
His operas are the earliest typically still performed
today, and his symphonies and concertos are used in
music schools to teach how to write in these genres.
Essentially every composer since has recognized the
superiority of Mozart’s music, including Haydn,
Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Wagner, and Stravinsky.
https://youtu.be/9bK9h12Qdvs
Mozart: Boy Genius
Wolfgang was born in 1756.
His father, Leopold Mozart, was
a composer, author of an
important violin manual, and vicecourt composer to the Archbishop
of Saltzburg in Austria.
 Leopold began teaching Wolfgang’s
sister Nannerl keyboard lessons
when she turned 7. They soon discovered that Wolfgang,
who was then age 3, was able to learn and play her pieces
by ear. Three days before he turned 5, he wrote his first
keyboard piece, written down by his father.
 Young Mozart published his first harpsichord sonatas at 8,
and wrote his first opera at 13 at the request of an
emperor.
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The Mozarts on Tour
Realizing Wolfgang’s
potential, Leopold
took his two children
on tour off and on
for 9 years.
 Wolfgang and
Nannerl
performed for kings
and queens, nobility,
and emperors in
France, England, Germany, Italy, Austria, etc. He performed for
George III of England, Louis IV of France, Marie-Antoinette
(future queen of France), and Pope Clement XIV, etc.
 Mozart met and studied many famous composers who influenced
him including Johann Christian Bach in London.
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The Mozarts on Tour
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Audiences were astounded by Mozart’s ability to play
the keyboard and violin at such a young age.
He further amazed by playing blindfolded and
improvising music on the spot in any key he was told.
He amazed Italian audiences by remembering and
writing down Allegri’s 15-minute “Miserere” after just
one hearing. An earlier Pope had declared that anyone
publishing or performing the song outside of the Sistine
Chapel would be excommunicated, but instead the
current Pope praised Mozart and knighted him in the
Order of the Golden Spur.
Other royals gave him gifts of golden pocket watches
and snuffboxes.
https://youtu.be/HXjn6srhAlY
Trouble with Patrons
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The Mozarts enjoyed their gifts and
popularity, but could not convince any
of the nobility to accept Wolfgang as
their court composer.
At age 22, Mozart took another trip to
Paris, this time accompanied by only his
mother. Not only did he again fail to get a patron, but his
mother got sick and died there. Mozart was devastated.
Mozart was forced to take a job as organist for the
Archbishop of Saltzburg. Their relationship was rocky since
Mozart resented being treated like a servant and the
Archbishop disliked Mozart’s complaints and absences. He
was glad when the Archbishiop finally had enough and
kicked Mozart out of the palace.
Freelance Composer in Vienna
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Mozart confidently
set out selling
subscription tickets
to concerts full of
the masterpieces
of opera, orchestra,
and chamber music
that he wrote.
During his last 10
years, Mozart wrote many of his best pieces. His operas
Cosi fan tutti and The Marriage of Figaro were very popular.
Many paid to some see him perform his new symphonies
and piano concertos.
https://youtu.be/BTWBieDvZb8
Freelance Composer in Vienna
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Mozart met and befriended
Joseph Haydn in Vienna.
Mozart greatly admired
Haydn’s works, and Haydn
said of Mozart:
◦ “Before God and as an
honest man I tell you that
your son is the greatest
composer known to me
either in person or by
name: He has taste and,
furthermore, the most
profound knowledge of
composition.”
Financial Troubles, Success
Mozart married Constanze in
1782 and started a family.
 The Mozarts spent lavishly
and began having money
problems. Mozart tried to fix
them by writing more, but
demand for his music dropped
and their debts rose.
 Overworked, Mozart became
increasingly depressed and sick.
 During the last year of his life,
Mozart wrote many of his most
famous and dramatic pieces
including the operas Don Giovanni and The Magic Flute, his
final piano concerto, and his unfinished Requiem.
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https://youtu.be/k1-TrAvp_xs
Sickness and Death
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Mozart became ill as
he was premiering
his opera La clemenza
di Tito for the
coronation of the
Austrian Emperor. He
premiered another
opera The Magic Flute,
but then got so sick
he had to stay in bed.
Mozart died in 1791 at
age 35 and was buried
in an unmarked grave. The cause of his fatal sickness is
unknown, but there have been many theories (and
conspiracies) over the years.
Mozart’s Unfinished Requiem
Around this time an
anonymous patron
offered Mozart a large
sum of money to write
him a requiem mass.
 Even though he knew the
man would probably try
to pass it off as his own,
Mozart began composing
the requiem because his family needed the money.
 It is said that Mozart became obsessed with his Requiem as
he got closer to dying and felt he was writing it for his own
death. Mozart died before finishing his Requiem, and his
student Sussmayr wrote the remainder.
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Mozart’s Philosophy on Music
“The passions, whether violent or not, should never be
so expressed as to reach the point of causing disgust;
and music, even in situations of the greatest horror,
should never be painful to the ear, but should flatter
and charm it, and thereby always remain music.”
– W. A. Mozart
Summarize Mozart’s philosophy on music.
https://youtu.be/CVKpvD3X6EM