Life of Mozart

Outline

I. Biographical Info

A. Early Childhood

B. Teenage Years

C. Main Career

D. Late Career

II. Affects and Influences of Character

A. Influences on Other Composers

B. Personality Issues

C. Relationships

D. Music To Boost Brain Power

E. Study of Rats and Mozart

F. Ending Conclusion

III. Assessment and Evaluation

A. Greatness of a Man

B. His Ideals

C. Mozart and Saleiri

D. The Legacy Lives On.

Chapter I

Mozart's Prodigious Life

Without a doubt, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, was probably the greatest genius in Western musical history His father was a noted composer, pedagogue and author of a famous treatise on violin playing. Together with his sister Nannerl, Wolfgang received very intense training that by the age of six, he was a budding composer and accomplished musician. In 1762, his father presented his son as a performer to the imperial court in Vienna, and from 1763 to 1766, he took both children on a musical tour across Europe ( Crane Arizona Opera ). Wolfgang became the most celebrated child prodigy of his time as a keyboard performer with a great impression too, as a composer and improviser. Wolfgang adapted quickly to the high lifestyle through engagements with the French and English royal families, playing before the Bavarian elector and Austrian empress, to winning the admiration of so eminent a musicians as Johann Christian Bach (1735-1782). In 1766-1773, Wolfgang made three visits to Italy, and spent time in Vienna and Salzburg.

From his tenth birthday to his seventeenth, Wolfgang grew in stature as a composer to a degree of maturity equal to that of his most eminent older contemporaries; as he continued to expand his conquest of current musical styles, he outdid each of them. Through the years of 1766 to 1769, Wolfgang spent time in Salzburg writing instrumental works for school shows in German and Latin. Here he wrote his first real operas Bastien und Bastienne and the opera La Finta Semplice ( Crane Arizona Opera ). Though these works were naпve compared to his later Italian operas, it distinctly showed a latent sense for tact in Italian text setting. Despite being a child prodigy, Wolfgang couldn't find a job open to him. So, once again with his father as escort, the ambitious 14 year old set off for Italy in 1769 to try and make his way as an opera composer. He was received very well in Italy. During the years of travel between Italy and Salzburg, Wolfgang produced his firsts of many great operas to come: Mitridate (1770), Ascanio in Alba (1771), and Lucio Silla (1772), as well as his first String Quartets.

The period form 1774 to mid 1777 was spent in Salzburg where he worked as a Konzertmeister at the Prince Archbishop's court. He wrote many of his works during this time. Seeing limited opportunity in Salzburg, he left with his mother to Munich and Mannheim. No post was offered here either. His father then sent him to Paris with minor success only with his Paris Symphony no.31, deftly designed for the local taste. So, Wolfgang returned home alone. His mother had died in Paris. The years 1779-80 were spent in Salzburg playing in a cathedral and at court. He finally landed his big break when he wrote the Opera Idomeneo as a commission for Munich ( "Mozart" Grove ) Though there was conflict between him, his employer, and the Archbishop. So in May 1781 he resigned or was kicked out of his job. Wolfgang continued made a living as part time teacher, composer, and performer for various events. He married Constanze Weber in 1782. Also in 1782 and the following few years, Wolfgang wrote six string quartets all dedicated to the master of the form, Hayden. Hayden once told Mozart's father that "Mozart was the greatest composer known to me in person or by name; he has taste and, what is more, the greatest knowledge of composition" ( "Mozart" Grove ). He wrote 15 piano concertos before the end of 1786; with early 1784 representing the peak of activity and achievement. These piano concertos had such formal mastery, their subtle combination of brilliance, lyricism and symphonic growth ( "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus" Encarta ). Wolfgang then spent the rest of his life living in Vienna.

Mozart's last years were his most productive and finest. In opera, Mozart instinctively set about raising the bar of the dramatic and musical conventions of his time to the status of genuine art forms ( "Mozart" Biography ). He wrote his three greatest Italian operas during this time; Le nozze di Figaro (1786; The Marriage of Figaro), Don Giovanni (1787, for Prague), and Cosi fan tutte (1790) ( "Mozart" Biography ). On concluding the Magic flute, Wolfgang started what would be his last project, the Requiem. The mass was commissioned by a benefactor unknown to Mozart. He became overtaken by the belief that he was, in effect, writing it for himself. Becoming ill and exhausted, he only finished the first two movements ( See Appendix I ). The last three segments were entirely lacking when he died. His last pupil completed the mass after Mozart's death, on December 5, 1791. Close to destitute at the time of his death, Mozart was buried in a Vienna suburb with a little ceremony and an unmarked grave. This was quite customary at the time.

Chapter II

The Music Heard Around The World

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart can be boldly said to have been an event-making man. His music has had such a dramatic effect on the world. The late Ludwig Van Beethoven, Richard Wagner, and creator of the 20th-century creator of the twelve-tone chromatic tone system, German composer Arnold Schoenberg are some examples of people influenced by Mozart ( "Mozart, Wolfgang Amadues" Encarta ). Most of Beethoven's early works were said to have imitative qualities of Mozart and Haydn.

The most interesting aspect about him though, was that beneath his posh appearance and amazingly