Amadeus

While at the Salzburg court, Mozart composed his only violin concertos, as well as his first piano concertos. However, Mozart grew discontent with his work at court when his desire to work on operas was not encouraged. Mozart began looking for alternative employment in 1777 with a journey to Paris with his mother. While on his tour of Paris, he had financial difficulty, and fell to pawning valuables. While he was gone, his father worked to secure a better position for Mozart in the Salzburg court, and after the death of his mother, Mozart returned to Salzburg. However, his discontent was little diminished, and he left for Vienna in 1781. There, he worked as a freelance composer and performer, and established himself as one of the best keyboard players in Vienna. This period of Mozart’s life saw his marriage to Constanze Weber, as well as moderately great success with his opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail (The Abduction from the Seraglio). Over the next few years, Mozart mounted a number of concerts featuring himself as a piano soloist which pushed him to great success and high accolades from his audience. Mozart also began to realize moderate financial success, which led him to adopt a more opulent lifestyle. Incidentally, this increase in lifestyle would lead to financial difficulties later. Around 1786, Mozart began collaborating with Lorenzo Da Ponte on two very successful operas, The Marriage of Figaro, and Don Giovanni. Soon after, Mozart secured a

Mozart was a prolific and most influential composer of the classical era. As a mere toddler he began to observe his sister’s lessons with their father, developing a keen ear, and showing signs of surprising comprehension. His father, Leopold, was himself a successful composer, violinist and assistant concert master of the Salzburg Court. Both Mozart and his sister were tutored by their father, a dedicated and task-oriented pedagogue. Young Mozart progressed anon, excelling even above his father’s pedagogic genius. At the verdant age of six, he performed as a child prodigy at royal courts in London, Paris, and Zurich. Mozart’s youth was spent fully engaged in touring and performance. These tours were financed through donors and patrons. Through the years, and while abroad, Mozart met many accomplished musicians such as Johann

Though extremely different in many ways, Amadeus was successfully translated from stage to film not as an adaptation but a parallel work. Peter Shaffer’s stage version is highly theatrical and unfortunately does not literally translate well to film, for multiple reasons. Shaffer and Milos Forman adapted Amadeus in a way that appealed to cinema audiences through cutting characters, expanding upon characters, altering language and narration, set and costume design, plot changes and taking full advantage of the dramatic powers of the camera. Milos Forman said “The fact that Amadeus was so stylized, so theatrical—well, so un-cinematic, was actually a blessing—it meant we wouldn’t be tempted to merely translate the play to screen, but would be forced to demolish the original, then totally reimagine it as a film.” One of the largest differences between play and film that make the film Amadeus its own piece of art, are the changes in narration. Though called Amadeus, it is really Salieri that occupies the center of the stage and “conducts” the action of the play. In the film, Mozart’s role is enhanced from the beginning.

Mozart’s Requiem is “one of the most performed and studied pieces of music in history” (Stango, n.d.). The story behind the start of this piece begins with Count Franz von Walsegg, who commissioned a requiem mass for his wife Anna (who had passed away). Throughout his work on this piece, Mozart began to get so emotionally involved with the piece that he believed that he was writing a death mass for himself. Mozart died December 5, 1791, with only half of the Requiem finished (through Lacrimosa). Franz Xaver Süssmayr finished the Requiem based on Mozart’s specifications from notes and what he had already written. The completed work is dated 1792 by Süssmayr and was performed for the first time on January 2, 1793. Mozart’s intent for this

Wolfgang was busy during his childhood, playing, and practicing his music; he did not get much of a chance to really experience being a child. His father was constantly pushing him to be better, to play hard, and to make more money. Mozart and his father were evidently close, there are many different views to how Leopold fathered his children; some say he was a money hungry truant, others say he was sweet, sensitive, wanted the best for his children, and that the money didn’t matter. I believe that Leopold want the best for his children, and maybe a little money out of it. Eventually, Mozart wanted to leave his native home of Salzburg, he was most likely tired of his father constantly trying to control his life. Having knowledge of the lack of jobs in Vienna, and disregarding his fathers pleads, Mozart left his home anyways, heading for Vienna with no steady job.

Mozart was a virtuoso on the piano. A virtuoso refers to someone who is highly skilled on his or her instrument. Mozart played keyboard and violin while his sister only played the keyboard. At the early age of 3, Mozart was showing signs of being musically gifted and began composing shortly after. Both he and his sister received intense musical training which, in turn, allowed Mozart the opportunity to grow as a musician. It became certain that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy. This meant that he had a skill that was not learned. He had a natural gift for music. Their father, Leopold began teaching his children music at a young age. Because of this, both children were destined to get far in their musical careers. Over his short life, Mozart wrote several operas. His most famous operas include; The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and La Clemenza di Tito. Operas and plays that are entirely sung. Each of Mozart’s operas have a story behind it. For example, The Marriage of Figaro is a comedy about a couple trying to get married but, a series of obstacles interferes with it. Because Mozart showed a talent for music at the young age of six, his father took him and his sister to play in from of a court and they caught the attention of important individuals. This resulted in a tour.

He stayed at this position until 1777 when he resigned and left to try and secure better employment elsewhere. (Gay) He first went to Mannheim where he made the acquaintance of the Weber family and promptly fell in love with one of the daughters, Aloysia. (Solomon) His father was concerned that should Mozart marry, he would lose his influence and hold on Mozart and his finances. (Solomon) He ordered Mozart to Paris to earn money for the family. He travelled to Paris accompanied by his mother and tried to woo his way into employment at one of the courts there. (Gay) Unfortunately the stress of travelling was hard on his mother who was not in the best of health and on July 3, 1778 she died in Paris. (Gay) Not only did Mozart blame himself for her death but letters between the two would indicate that his father partially blamed him as well. (Gay) In January of 1779 Mozart returned to Salzburg and again took up employment with the Archbishop, this time as concertmaster and court organist. Mozart hated this employment. He wanted to be out of Salzburg feeling that the city was too small and uncivilized to suit his “worldly” tastes and talents. (Solomon) He took extended absences from his employer which angered the Archbishop. (Gay) He was eventually fired, in a spectacular way, receiving a literal kick out of the door (and in the rump) by the Archbishop’s steward Count Arco in 1781.Now freed from the constraints placed upon him by the Archbishop’s employment Mozart moved to Vienna.

When you hear or think of classical music, what do you think of? What should come to your mind is someone by the name of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who is best known as just Mozart, had a huge impact on classical music and truly changed the style forever. He had a remarkable young childhood, but then went through some up and downs as he got older. Mozart was best known by his personal life, career, and music.

“The Saliere of 1781 is an honored and prolific composer in the court of Joseph II, Emperor of Austria, who he has dedicated his life and his talents to the greater honor and glory of God and has obtained fame. Salieri belongs to a clique of Italians who have culturally

Emperor Joseph wanted Amadeus to stay in Vienna to make an opera he also wanted him

He raced to finish it but in the end only completed a few movements and a sketchy outline of the rest of the piece. He died probably from poor health when he was just thirty five years old. The Requiem was completed by one of Mozart's pupils, Sussmayr.Mozart was apolitical. He was very classical. He appreciated Bach and had a large output: 49 symphonies and 18 operas.

In Salzburg, Austria, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756. Wolfgang was the only son of Leopold and Maria Pertl Mozart to survive. Wolfgang began learning about music when he was three years old, watching his sister Nannerl play the keyboard. He was a musical prodigy, composing his first piece at 5, and beginning “tours” with his father at 6 years old. When Wolfgang turned 13, his father took him to Italy to show off this young boy’s talents. Before Mozart turned 21, he was appointed to be assistant concertmaster. It was at this time that he wrote his first opera. Mozart left on another tour in 1777, and then returned to Salzburg to be a court organist. He soon decided he was not so fond of this position, and resigned to become a freelance musician in Vienna. When he moved to Vienna, he married Constanze Weber, against his father’s wishes. Wolfgang lived in luxury during the beginning of his life in Vienna, he was producing popular operas. Soon, though, he began to lack money, and took loans that would leave him in debt for the rest of his life. In the final years of Mozart’s life, he was most productive, writing his most famous symphonies, The Magic Flute, and of course,

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: A Concise Biography. Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 2007. Web. 23 Nov. 2015.

Even though the two pieces were composed in different centuries – Mozart’s piece in the 18th century and Strauss’ piece in the 20th century – some of the musical elements that they share transcend both time periods. The characteristics of music in the classical period had to do with the new view of human psychology. Mozart was one to introduce contrasting moods within movements or even within a theme. He was able to infuse strong contrasts of moods within the style of his music (Burkholder, Grout, & Palisca 475). In Figaro, Mozart includes an overture which is a piece in sonata form despite its lack of a development section. In Act I cavatina, “Se vuol ballare”, Mozart whimsically makes changes to the character of his music so as to correspond to Figaro’s machinations (Hambrik n.p). By doing so, he musically

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Austrian wunderkind, was an accomplished and magnificently gifted musician. He is attributed with the composition of 22 operas in his 35-year life, but his most successful theatre work was his last. Die Zauberflöte, completed in 1791, was written specifically for the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna. The theatre housed a troupe of actors led by Emmanuel Schikaneder, a versatile actor and writer who crafted the libretto of Zauberflöte and portrayed Papageno at its premiere. Zauberflöte was written in the singspiel operatic style; the libretto is in the vernacular – German – language, spoken dialogue is interspersed with recitative and aria, and there is a folk-like strophic style in the music. Schikaneder had