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Life and Work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Life and Work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart


This would be unfair to say that modern people do not appreciate Mozart's music. In today's world he is definitely known as one of the most powerful musicians of all times. A National Review Magazine (1989) has once published an article where the author said that he is certain that when he gets to heaven he will find Beethoven on God's right hand and Bach on his left. When being asked where that left Mozart, he replied, "Why, in God's lap, of course!" His music is performed at different concerts around the world, it is appreciated by specialists and lovers of classical music, yet at some point people recognize his works as a bridge between old style classic music and modern one (Ardoin 49). And this is definitely true. One may hear Mozart's Piano Concerto K. 466 and "Little" G Minor Symphony K. 183/173dB on commercial channels selling Macintosh computers; Cheer laundry detergent's advertisement is accompanied by Don Giovanni; The Marriage of Figaro and The Requiem's Lacrymosa help selling Sirocco automobiles and Lee Jeans (Brown 17). Many times people can hear popular Mozart's minuets playing in mobile phones and this is not the limit of popularity.

Besides Mozart's music modern people are all familiar with his biography at least to some extent. This is very likely that Bach's and Beethoven's life have never aroused as many talks as Mozart's. Almost any person knows the name Saliery and is familiar with "prodigious" childhood of Amadeus Mozart. People can often have a chance to read about Mozart's life in popular magazines and newspapers which are willing to reprint the life story of Amadeus very often as these are fascinating and popular pieces of reading. Many people are familiar with the fact that Mozart started composing music at the age of 4 and continued till his early death at the age of 35. People are using name Saliery to describe an envious and malicious person in respect of their knowledge about Mozart's and Saliery's inimical relationship. A popular belief is that Saliery poisoned Amadeus and this was the cause of his early death; however this belief is disproved by numerous studies (Western Mail 24). The modern view on Mozart's personality is that this was a very lively and prodigious young man, cheerful and adventurous. To the large extent such description of his personality is approved by scientists who were studying his life on scientific base (Brown 17).

This is not surprising that Mozart's works and biography are more popular in modern society then works and life stories of any other composer's. According to Peter Brown's opinion his popularity was developed not in the concert halls or opera houses. The main factor which played significant role in Mozart's popularization was stage performances and screen versions of his life. In 1980 Peter Shaffer wrote a play Amadeus which lead to increased interest in Mozart's life and his music (Brown 18). Later MIlos Forman directed a movie based on that play and this was the most important step in Mozart's popularization. This play Amadeus ran in largest theatres all around the world and was translated into many other languages. It became one of the plays in the repertoire of the Burgtheater in Vienna and the Nemzeti Szinhaz in Budapest. The script was revised for the film versions and has been adopted to fit the tastes of a larger and less sophisticated audience (Brown 18). Those plays and movies were not intended to be biographical, yet they undoubtedly played their role in popularizing Mozart's music and introduction of his biography to the masses. In the mid 1980's the soundtrack to the Amadeus movie remained in top UK music charts (Western Mail 24).

Mozart started his musical career very early and this probably was one of the factors which made his so famous in the history of the classical music. He started composing at the age of five and was playing before the Bavarian elector and the Austrian empress when he was only six. His father entertained public taking his gifted children in numerous tours to Paris and London and performing for rich and famous people of that age. Young prodigy was playing keyboard with his eyes closed and performed a number of other musical tricks which astonished his numerous audience (Brown 18). During his lifetime Mozart composed over six hundred musical works including twenty one stage and opera works, fifteen masses, over fifty symphonies, twenty five piano concertos, twelve violin concertos, twenty seven concert arias, seventeen piano sonatas, twenty six string quartets and many others, which is a very significant number considering that he died very early in the age of thirty five (Western Mail 24). It is important that Mozart was standing out between the composers of his age and earlier classic composers with his style, which was very unique, unlike the works of his contemporary colleagues. At that time people didn't appreciate his radical music. That music was simply too complex and extraordinary for the age when Mozart was living (Western Mail 24). It is noticeable that Mozart was writing in almost every major genre including symphony, opera, concert, chamber music including string quartet and string quintet, and the piano sonata. His stylistic development resembled the development of the classical musical style as a whole (Wikipedia).

His most famous works were probably operas The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Così fan tutte. All three of these operas were written in opera style called opera buffa which is a comic opera. Another important thing that distinguishes these operas is that they were written in collaboration with da Ponte, who wrote librettos for all of them adopting the plays and removing all political references to fit the taste of the Emperor (Wikipedia). The other prominent work was of course his Requiem in D minor, which became composer's last musical work, being written in 1791. This Requiem was composed under mysterious circumstances and was left incomplete by a dying Mozart, which are the primary reasons for constant fascination of publicity with this piece of music. However critics agree this requiem can be famous solely for being the last work of a famous composer. Alfred Einstein once wrote that "No other work by Mozart has caused so much ink to be spilled and none has been so unjustly estimated - chiefly by people who knew none of Mozart's other church works, neither the C minor Mass, nor the litanies, nor any of the C major Masses of 1776." (Boerner 24).

Mozart is today among the most enduringly popular of European composers, and many of his works are performed as a part of the standard concert repertoire in world famous concert halls (Wikipedia). His input in the music is expressed in over six hundred of musical compositions and his great talent appeals to the millions of listeners worldwide. His input in the classical music can not be underestimated and yet he is called the innovator of his time who managed to connect the classical music with the music of the modern time. These achievements along with his saturated and mysterious life make him the most prominent musicians in the world history. Books, films and plays dedicated to his life and creative work keep up the interest of the masses in this genius composer and there is no doubt that Mozart deserves this fame.




Works Cited
Ardoin John. "A Time for Mozart", National Review. 7 April 1989: p.49.
Boerner Steve. "Requiem in D minor", The American Scholar, 5 May 2000: p.24
Brown Peter. "Amadeus" and Mozart:Setting the Record Straight" The American Scholar, 1 Jan. 1992: p.17.
Western Mail. "Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart", Western Mail May 3, 2005: 24
"Wolfgan Amadeus Mozart" Wikipedia. May 6, 2006 Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. October 9, 2006 retreived from <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart >.
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Posted by: SANJUANA T. TORRES

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