The Life and Work of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Music has always been one of the biggest contributors to our artistic world since the beginning of time. Every year there’s always new music that’s released for the world to hear and have critics share their opinions about it. However, in today’s society music is not the same as it was back in the nineteenth century. A lot of talented musicians that have graciously blessed this earth with their music are no longer with us. On the bright side, their music will continue to live on through us and for the many generations to come. In almost every single music class that is taught you tend to learn about all the great musicians that have ever lived. One of the all-time great’s happens to be Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria. His interest in music started at a very young age. In fact, his father Leopold Mozart was also a musician who played a major role in Wolfgang’s musical education. However, his mother Anna Maria Mozart was more of the nurturing type who always supported her son’s musical career. Out of all his six siblings “only an elder sister name Nannerl, who was also musical, survive infancy” (Potter). Losing five children was pretty hard on his parents, but they didn’t let their hardships get in the way of caring for their other two children. Music was one thing that brought joy to their family despite all of the tragedies they had to face. When Mozart was just five years old “he wrote his first complete compositions, reported to be two short works for clavier” (Potter). Being so young but also talented was very rare during that period of time. In fact, young Mozart was looked upon as a unique genius early on. His young mind was far more advanced than most of his peers when it came to the subject of music. “By the age of six Mozart had become an accomplished performer on the clavier, violin, and organ” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). As the years went on Mozart’s musical talents only grew stronger.

All of his focus was strictly on music and nothing else. When Mozart was just fourteen years old he was instructed to write “ a serious opera, Mitridate, ré di Ponto (Mitridates, King of Pontus, 1770)” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). Surprisingly, he was able to produced this entire opera on his own. This was his first major accomplishment that quickly establish his incredible reputation throughout this period of time. By the time Mozart reached adulthood, he had a typical normal life that he quickly gotten tired of. In order to bring some entertainment to his life, he decided to make a change and take a trip to Paris where he was accompanied by his mother. Unfortunately, he didn’t know that his trip to Paris would change his life drastically. In 1777, towards the ending of his trip his mother had died, “leaving him all alone on the journey back to Salzburg by himself” (Walton). Even though his barrier of tragedies didn’t stop in Paris, he soon experienced more heart ache when he returned back home.

As Mozart was taking a little detour to Munich, “the aforementioned love of his life ditched him” (Walton). Mozart didn’t let that one bad heart break stop him from finding love. He soon married a woman name Constanze Weber who also happens to be the sister of the woman who ditched him back in Munich. Together they lived a happy and healthy life despite the tragic losses they had face. “The young couple had six children, two of who survived infancy” (Potter). Sadly, they experienced the same thing that his parents went through when they lost their children to infancy. At the age of thirty-five, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart die on December 5, 1791. His cause of death was due to a rheumatic fever. Another cause of his death was due to the fact that the doctors continued to draw blood from him which eventually lead to him getting blood poisoning. Mozart lived a very short life, but he was still able to do the things that he love despite the several tragedies he had to face.

Classical music wouldn’t have been so popular on the Western hemisphere if it wasn’t for the creativeness of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His area of expertise was strictly in classical music, because he had so much experience learning it as a child. Having his father as his musical guide throughout his adolescent years really helped shaped him into a universal artist. During his teenage years his work had become very mature in sonata, symphony form, operas, and even in piano concerts. “ All proof that he was moving beyond the prodigy stage and into the realm of true genius” (Potter). Even as a young teenager Mozart took a lot of pride into his work. He wasn’t anything like the other teenagers of his generation because all he cared about was music. Mozart didn’t let any of the childish tendencies from his peers get in the way of his determination for success. Out of all the symphonies that Mozart produce during his adulthood “Jupiter” happens to be one of the most celebrated. This particular symphony is highly viewed as one of the “most professional and amateur orchestras” (Potter). Jupiter is one of Mozart’s longest and most passionate symphony’s that he has ever composed.

While Mozart was conducting this symphony, he was able to keep his audience on their toes. This piece of music has a lot of humor in it along with high energy levels. In my opinion, I believe that this was one of his most celebrated symphony’s because he was able to give his audience something more than just music. Although there were several different humor fragments throughout this piece of music, Mozart was able to change the game of entertainment by having his audience stay full of laughter. Remarkably, he was able to really outdo himself with composing this entire symphony. It caused him to break the grand scale of classical music during this era. Another unique piece of work composed by Mozart was an Italian opera called “Idomeneo, ré dí Creta (Idomeneo, King of Crete), commissioned and composed in 1781” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). The success from this opera really made a huge advancement in Mozart’s career. He managed to tell a story throughout this entire piece of music. It was mainly about a king’s life after the Trojan War. A lot of Mozart’s peers really cherished the opportunity of being able to attend this opera. In fact, because it was such a success “the archbishop of Salzburg invited Mozart to his palace in Vienna” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”).

I can only imagine how Mozart felt when his old boss invited him to his palace. Actually it’s kind of funny how his old boss that he used to work for is now paying Mozart the attention that he deserved a long time ago. Although Mozart dealt with a lot of discouragement, he never let that get in the way of his love for composing music. His work revealed a “distinctive style” along with “a completely mature understanding of musical media” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). Mozart’s creativity was extremely rare but it was also extraordinary beyond the level of a normal classical composer. A rare talent of his was being able to think out “a complete work before committing it to a paper” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). This is a prime example of his unique qualities that made him such a great musician. Most of his music is a combination of an Italian and German sound. The reason behind this is that the Italian sound is more of a “clear and graceful melody” while the German sound is more “formal and contrapuntal and ingenuity” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”).

Throughout the course of Mozart’s short career he managed to put out more than 600 works of classical music. Whether it was a piano concert, symphony, or opera, Mozart was able to create different pieces of music that always kept his audience wanting more. This proves that even when Mozart was just a young boy “he possessed a thorough command of the technical resources of musical composition as well as an original imagination” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). The love for music was literally in his blood. Simply because he comes from a musical background that started with his father. While researching Mozart I’ve learned that he “ranks as one of the great geniuses of the Western Civilization” (“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”). A lot of his material is still being used today throughout the classrooms that strictly focuses on music or art in general. He’s even in most of the music textbooks that are being used during these particular classes. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was really a true talented artist that contributed a lot of his time and energy into classical music.

I decided to write about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart because he intrigued me the most. When I was in middle school I remember learning about Mozart in my music class. Hearing a piece of his music was like finding love at first sight. Simply just reading about his life and all of the things that he experience was very fascinating. Mainly, because I was able to relate to some of the things that he went through as a child and even during his adulthood. Mozart happens to be one of the greatest musicians to ever set foot onto this earth. I really admire his work ethic along with his creativeness when it came to music. He is the poster child for a true genius that was able to share his work with the entire world. If I could go back in time, I would love to be able to attend one of his operas. I believe that we are extremely lucky to have the opportunity to continue to hear his music even in today’s society. As you can see, I really hope that the name Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart will continue to live on through all aspects of music. This will allow other generations to be able to experience some of his work.

Bibliography

1. “Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus” WorldBook, Inc., Chicago. Funk & Wagnalls New World
2. Encyclopedia. 2018, 1p. Funk & Wagnalls New World Encyclopedia.
3. Potter, Rollins R. “Mozart and the Penguin Series” National Forum, Winter2000, vol. 80, Issue
4. 1. P7. MasterFILE Complete.
5. Walton, Chris. “Glimpses of Genius.” The Musical Times, vol. 149, no. 1902, Jan. 2008, p. 116.
6. MasterFILE Complete, doi:10.2307/25434529.

“Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus”

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a famous Austrian composer that was born and I raised in Salzburg, Austria. His talented expertise were mainly in the classical music section. Mozart decided to follow in his father‘s footsteps at a very young age. During his adolescent years he was a very talented musician that had unique skills that were very rare. Throughout his adulthood he travel all over Europe to expand his horizon. Although he died at a young age Mozart’s creativity made him one of the greats.

“Glimpses of Genius”

A combination of different articles that were made into one giant piece really captured in Mozart’s life. While being on a journey and Paris he unfortunately lost his mother along the way. Shortly after this tragedy he went through another crisis that left him heartbroken and devastated by the love of his life. Mozart didn’t let these unfortunate obstacles get in the way of him pursuing his love for music. He was able to channel all his pain and daily drama into his symphonies, concerts, and operas.

“Mozart and The Penguin Series”

Mozart has six siblings, but unfortunately only his older sister survive beyond infancy . His musical talents were discovered at an early age that led him in the right direction of being a young genius prodigy. Even as a child and throughout his adult life all of his focus was on music. Mozart symphonies were very professional and beautifully organized. These amazing symphonies left many people appreciative of his musical talent. Sadly, his busy performance schedule came to an end when he became very ill and then eventually passed away at the age of thirty-five.