Mozart Essay

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart baptized as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart lived from January 27, 1756 to December 5, 1791. Mozart was a very influential and prolific composer of more than 600 works, including symphonies, concertante, chamber, piano, opera, and choral music. Regarded as a child prodigy, Mozart composed and performed in the European courts from the age of five, and was engaged at the Salzburg court at 17. Mozart’s musical style can be classified as Classical, although he learned from many of his contemporaries throughout his musical career. In order to better understand Mozart’s genius it is best to begin looking at his earliest contributions to the musical world as a child. From there, an exploration of his

Composing works derived from styles already in existence, he created an extremely unique and unprecedented genre of works. Thus Mozart became a trailblazer of the classical age. Music from this period consists largely of a lighter and clearer texture than the preceding Baroque music and is less intricate. One trademark especially evident in Mozart’s contribution to the classical period is the use of homophony. Examples of the homophonic effect are displayed in his piano concerto No. 23 and sonata No 16 in C. In these, the distinct pattern of an indubitable melody can be distinctly and easily recognized above the adjunct chordal accompaniment. Although Mozart contributed primarily to the growth of the classical era, he was also influenced by the works of Handel and Bach. Both were prominent composers of the baroque era. In some of his later works, Mozart indulged more in the incorporation of the previous baroque

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

This paper discusses Mozart's life, his compositions and his importance to the world and the world of music. It explains how Mozart's music is still some of the most popular classical music played today and his life is still studied because his music is so well known and liked.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven are two of the greatest composers ever to write music. Both men lived in the early 18th and 19th century, but their music and influences are still felt today. The men faced similar experiences, yet they both lead very different lives. All together the pieces that these men composed amounts to over 300 published, and unpublished works of art. The people of their time period often had mixed feelings about these men, some “complained that Mozart’s music presented them with too many ideas and that his melodies moved from one to the next faster than audiences could follow, yet the ideas themselves seem effortless and natural, clear and

Mozart: I played anything I could get my hands on. My main instruments were the organ, clavichord, harpsichord, fortepiano, viola, and violin.

     Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s style unlike anyone else. Mozart was a master of counterpoint, fugue, and the other traditional compositional points of his day. He is also considered the best melody writer the world has ever known. Wolfgang perfected the grand forms of symphony, opera string quartet, and concerto made the classical period. “Mozart’s music is characterized by lucid ease and distinction of style....”2 Wolfgang wrote over 600 works which consisted of 21 stage and opera works, 15 masses, over 50 symphonies, 25 piano concertos, 12 violin concertos,27 concert arias, 17 piano sonatas, 26 string quartets, and many more. His operas range from comic baubles to tragic pieces. In his Requiem it illustrates the supreme vocal sounds in any of his work.

He first decided to use the clarinet in his composition of Divertimento, K 113, due to the singing qualities it possessed. He composed the Clarinet Concerto in 1791 for a clarinetist by the name of Anton Stadler. The concerto was on one of the Mozart’s last compositions and his last concerto for a solo instrument. The composition of the piece began in 1787 for basset horn in G with about 200 measures and then was revisited in the last few weeks of Mozart’s life in 1791.

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,

In 1747 Leopold Mozart married Maria Anna Pertl. Leopold and Maria Anna would have seven children, two of who would survive. Maria Anna born in 1752 who the family called Nannerl . Then in 1756 Wolfgang Amadeus who was nicknamed Wolfgangerl. Wolfgang Amadeus was not his original birth name it was shortened to this from Joannes Chrisostomos Wolfgangus Gottlieb. It is little wonder even two of the children survived; “Given Leopolds insistence that they be brought up on a diet of water and gruel, the wonder is that any survived at all.” (Siepmann, Mozart His life and Music) Leopold Mozart was very musical himself and was a skilled violinist, composer and an author. He wrote a well

There were a total of four music pieces performed. They were “Overture from the Singspiel”, “Concerto in e minor”, “Concerto on b minor,opus 104”, and “Symphony#2 in b minor, opus 5”. I think pieces were performed belong to classical style.

Who is the composer (full name and dates)? List three points about his life and environment.

Several of his twenty-two operas gained worldwide recognition soon after his death, and they still please audiences all over the world. The Marriage of Figaro (1786) and Don Giovanni (1787) are operas he composed with words in Italian. The Magic Flute (1791) has German words. Each of these contains arias (beautiful melodies for singers), recitative (Rapidly sung dialogue), ensembles in which several people sing at the same time, and choruses. The orchestra provides an ever-changing expressive accompaniment. The drama ranges from comedy to tragedy. Mozart wrote over forty symphonies, many of which are performed today. Some originally were overtures (orchestral introductions) for operas, and last only a few minutes. His later symphonies, which are the most popular, are full-length orchestral compositions that last twenty to thirty minutes. Most of them consist of four sections. Mozart’s last and most famous symphony, Number 41 (1788), is nicknamed the Jupiter.

In seventeen eighty-four, Mozart started to work on this beautiful concerto. On the seventh day of March in seventeen eighty-six, around the same time when Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) appeared, he finished the magnificent concerto. The lovely concerto contains many instruments, including the piano, two clarinets, the flute, two horns, two bassoons, and string instruments. Heaven only knows for sure where and when the first concerto was performed. However, on the twelfth day of January in nineteen thirty, George Stewart McManus performed the marvelous concerto in Los Angeles for the first time. The delightful concerto’s duration is no longer than twenty-six minutes. Since early seventeen eighty-six, around the time when

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro brings together all the components and styles of the classical period. With it being an overture, it sets the mood and allows people to get ready for the opera they are about to watch. Mozart was one of the greatest composers to ever resonate from the classical period and his music is still studied and played worldwide today.