Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756-1791, was born in Salzburg, Austria, to Leopold and Anna Maria Mozart. His journey through life was brief but productive, resulting in some of the greatest musical works of the Western world.
Achild prodigy, Mozartcame to epitomize classical music in purity of form and melodic invention. Indeed, by his mid-teens he had successfully composed in most of the major genres of the day, including concertos, symphonies, operas, oratorios, chamber music and piano solo.
Early Life
Leopold, Wolfgang's father, was a violinist and composer at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Realizing his son's talent, Leopold devoted himself to managing his son's career. Wolfgang and his older sister Maria Anna spent their childhoods touring and performing for the well-to-do.
Austria | Austria (red) is located in Europe (green) | Wikimedia Commons
Wolfgang was trained systematically from infancy by his father. Unlike most musicians, he did not struggle to compose: he worked out details in his mind and transferred the fully conceived work to paper. Mozart was reputed to joke, converse and play billiards while notating his pieces.
Boy Mozart (1763) | Pietro Antonio Lorenzoni, 1721-1782 | Mozarteum
At four years old Mozart was playing harpsichord and, by five, composing keyboard pieces—pieces still played by pianists today. By age six he was a keyboard virtuoso, accomplished violinist and adept improviser. He wrote a symphony at age eight. Piano concertos and an oratorio were penned at the age of eleven. An Italian opera appeared when only twelve. Finally, as a fourteen year old, his operas were staged at Milan and he was knighted by the Pope.
Adulthood
Beginning in 1773, Mozart worked for Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colored at Salzburg. It was a productive time for him, resulting in creation of symphonies, sonatas, string quartets, masses, serenades, concerti and opera.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1789) | Dota Stock, (1760–1832) | Mozarteum
Despite being productive musically, Mozart was unhappy with his treatment and wages under the Prince-Archbishop. When he resigned in 1778, the archbishop banned him from performing for nobles and expelled him from court with "a box on the ear and a kick to his backside."
Vienna
In 1781 Mozart settled in Vienna and was successful as a pianist, composer and teacher. He married Constanze Weber (1762-1842), the younger sister of his first love, Aloysia Weber, and a union his father was not fond of. She bore him six children, two of whom survived past infancy. The young family lived extravagantly, spending every cent of his income. Mozart was not talented at business and no longer had his father to manage his career. By the late 1780s he was struggling financially, heavily in debt, and suffering from kidney disease.
Although Mozart was a legend—Haydn called him the "greatest composer of their day"—he never acquired a lasting patron or steady income. Moreover, his musical superiority caused bitter opposition from lesser but established composers. Finally, Mozart's innovative music was ahead of its time making it difficult for all but the most sophisticated audiences to accept.
Mozart Clan | Johann Nepomuk della Croce, 1736-1819 | Maria Anna (big hair), Wolfgang and Leopold. Mother's portrait is on the wall. | Mozarteum
Mozart Leaves the Building
His final work, Requiem (mass for the dead), was commissioned by a count for his deceased wife. Mozart, living in ill-health and poverty, thought the Requiem an omen of his own death and was reluctant to finish it. Mozart died December 5, 1791 at thirty-five, leaving the Requiem unfinished. His opera, The Magic Flute, was gaining popularity and could have reversed his streak of bad luck. Mozart was buried in a common grave and, according to legend, without a song.
Following his death, Mozart's reputation and popularity rose sharply. His widow, Constanze, possessed substantial business skills: received a pension from the emperor, organized profitable memorial concerts, and published the music of her deceased husband. These efforts made Constanze a wealthy and financially secure woman for the remaining five decades of her life.
Constanze Mozart | Hans Hansen, c.1802 | Mozarteum
The Symphony
The Classical era symphony was an elaborate piece for orchestra consisting of four movements in contrasting moods and tempos: fast-slow-dance-fast movement scheme. Symphonies were scored for an ensemble of bowed strings (violin, viola, cello and double bass) and woodwinds, brass and, sometimes, timpani. Because orchestras play symphonies, the orchestra is also called a symphony orchestra. Indeed, the terms orchestra and symphony orchestra are interchangeable, albeit symphony orchestra implies a large orchestra.
During Mozart's time the symphony was considered extravagant entertainment, presented to a paying public in large concert halls. However, the atmosphere was often more like a jazz club with seating at tables and food and drink service.
All music is organized along a time line. Listeners perceive musical form by remembering repeated ideas and recognizing appearances of new or contrasting material. Thus, a sense of form is created through repetition, variation and contrast of musical ideas. When repetition, variation and contrast are organized in a specific pattern, we call the pattern of organization musical form. Musical forms are a frame or template composers pour their ideas into.
The most important musical forms during the Classical era were sonata form, theme and variation, minuet and trio and rondo form. These forms were used in Classical and Romantic symphonies, chamber music and sonatas. Of these four forms, the sonata form is the most significant in the development of the symphony. Within a typical symphony, one or more movements are built on the sonata form, a specific type of A B A formal structure:
Exposition (A)
First theme in tonic key
Bridge and modulation to new key
Second theme in new key
Codetta and cadence in key of 2nd theme
Repeat of Exposition (repeat may be optional)
Development (B)
development of themes and motives
modulations to new keys
transition to recapitulation
Recapitulation (A)
First theme in tonic key
Transition
Second theme in tonic key
Coda (ending section) in tonic key
Some movements in sonata form may also have a slow introduction, enhancing drama and contrast. The sonata form is also used for other instrumental works such as chamber music and sonatas for solo instruments such as piano.
Learn more about the sonata form:
Mozart wrote forty-one symphonies and employed the sonata form in all of them. The first movement of his Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550, is both a masterwork and a textbook example of sonata form. Composed in 1788 during a six-week period along with symphonies 39 and 41, Symphony No. 40 is one of Mozart’s last three symphonies. Mozart died before hearing or conducting them.
Symphony No. 40 has four movements in a typical fast-slow-dance-fast format. We'll listen to the first movement, the Molto allegro. The first and second themes are introduced straight away in the exposition. Listen to the themes carefully so you can recognize their treatment in the development and recapitulation:
First Theme from Symphony No. 40
Second Theme from Symphony No. 40
Following the first theme, an energetic bridge connects to a lyrical second theme played by the strings and woodwinds in B-flat major:
After a flashy codetta (ending) and cadence, the exposition is repeated. The development ensues with the first theme modulating and fragmenting into small motives. At the height of the drama, frenzied melodies duel in call and response between instruments. As development winds down, the first theme is reduced to a three-note motive before the recapitulation. After the recapitulation, the coda bless us with a final statement of the theme before the final cadence.
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K.550: I. Molto Allegro (0:00-7:50) | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | The other three movements are available as well: 2. Andante (7:58); 3. Menuetto (18:05); 4. Allegro assai (22:00).
Austria
Adulthood
smm.jpg "Landscape with Roman Temple Ruins | Hubert Robert, 1733-1808 | Alte Pinakothek | Photo, ©Peter Kun Frary")
