Wolfgang Amadeus
Wolfgang Amadeus
Wolfgang Amadeus
Mozart was born in
Salzburg, Austria in
1756
Mozart's House,
Salzburg
This is the birthplace of
Mozart in Getreide-gasse
Strasse, in the Austrian city
of Salzburg. It’s one of the
most visited sites in all of
Salzburg.
Mozart is considered
one of history’s
greatest geniuses. He
got an early start, and,
from then on, was
unstoppable.
At the age of three, Wolfgang sat in front of the harpsichord
attempting to find harmonic successions of thirds and before
the age of four, he had exhibited such extraordinary musical
powers that his father decided to give young Wolfgang
harpsichord lessons.
Listen to this
piece, which
was composed
by the young
Mozart. It’s a
set of Variations
on a tune which
you’ll know. As
it goes on, you
will hear that it
becomes more
and more
challenging (not
bad for 5 years
old!)
Wolfgang’s sister, Maria
Anna, who was nicknamed
“Nannerl,” was also a gifted
musician, so at 6 years old,
Wolfgang and his sister
toured all over Europe as
child prodigies. Do you know
what a prodigy is?
Maria Anna Mozart
A Child Prodigy
Mozart started
composing at
the age of 4.
It took him until
the ripe old age of
12 to write his first
complete opera!
Mozart was pushed
by his father to be
successful.
Leopold Mozart was an
accomplished composer
and musician in his own
right, and taught both of
his children to play
Violin & Harpsichord,
and to compose music.
Leopold Mozart
Leopold felt that it was proper,
and might also be profitable, to
exhibit his children's God-given
genius; so in mid-1763 the family
set out on a tour that took them
to Paris and London, visiting
numerous courts on the way.
Mozart astonished audiences with
his skills; he played to the French
and English royal families, had his
first music published and wrote
his earliest symphonies. The
family arrived home late in 1766;
nine months later they were off
again to Vienna.
On the way back from the second European tour, Leopold and
the children passed through Rome on Easter. As with any
tourist, they visited St. Peter's on April 11, 1770 to hear the
famous “Miserere” sung at the Sistine Chapel.
The “Miserere” is a 10 minute piece written for 9 voices. You
are listening to it now. It was so sacred that it was only
performed once a year in the Sistine Chapel on Easter.
Nobody, except the performers, was ever allowed to see the
music. After each performance, the musicians and singers
were required to immediately turn in their music to Roman
Catholic authorities.
Upon arriving at their lodging that evening, the 14-year old
Mozart sat down and wrote out the entire 10-minute piece
from memory.
Here is an excerpt of a letter from Wolfgang’s father to his
mother:
"...You have often heard of the
famous Miserere in Rome, which is
so greatly prized that the performers
are forbidden on pain of
excommunication to take away a
single part of it, copy it or to give it
to anyone. *But we have it already*.
Wolfgang has written it down and
we would have sent to you in this
letter, but as it is one of the secrets
of Rome, we do not wish to let it fall
into other hands.”
Pope Clement XIV
A few weeks later, when the
young Wolfgang performed for
Pope Clement XIV as scheduled,
he told the Pope about his
accomplishment and showed
him the music score which he
had written.
Instead of banishing Mozart as
was the rule, the Pope
showered him with praise and
bestowed upon him the Cross of
the Order of the Golden Spur.
Mithridates,
King of Pontus
On Christmas day in 1770, Mozart’s first
major opera, Mithridates, King of
Pontus, was performed in Milan when he
was still only 14 years old. Critics praised
the work and stated that he was the
greatest composer since Handel, the
composer of the Hallelujah Chorus.
Handel
Back home in Salzburg, the 15-yearold Mozart began working in the court
of the ruler, Prince-Archbishop
Colloredo. Mozart worked at
Colloredo's court because his father
worked there, and it was considered
natural that the son would follow the
father's footsteps. Wolfgang earned
only a pittance, and to be paid so little
for a job he loathed was the worst of
insults. In a letter to his father in
1778, Wolfgang wrote, "the
Archbishop glorifies himself through
his dependants, robs them of their
services and pays them nothing for it!"
Archbishop
Colloredo
Perhaps the Archbishop heard rumors of Mozart's opinions, or,
just as likely, Mozart did not trouble to hide his feelings. In
either case, the employer was equally displeased with the
employee. Their infamous final encounter in 1781 was a
festival of insults from both sides, resulting in Wolfgang's
expulsion from the court, propelled through the door by a kick
in the seat of the pants by the Archbishop’s assistant. The
young composer described the experience as "a happy day for
me!"
The film Amadeus was made
about Mozart’s life.
Although not everything in
the film is completely true, it
does give us a good look at
what kind of person Mozart
was.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Antonio Salieri
The movie tells the story of two composers, Mozart, and a
rival composer, Antonio Salieri, who was an Italian Composer
working as the court composer in Vienna (a very important
position).
In the first clip we are about to
see, Salieri is now an old man
living in an insane asylum who has
confessed to killing Mozart many
years ago. A priest has heard
about the confession and comes to
hear Salieri’s story. Salieri begins
to tell the priest his story about
how he wanted to be a composer,
and how he first met Mozart.
Then, as the video plays on, you
will see a flashback of Mozart’s
wife trying to get Salieri to help
them since they need money.
Salieri looks through Mozart’s
music and is amazed and very
moved by it. He gets extremely
jealous and refuses to help.
Click here to watch the 2 clips.
This concludes the first part of the
presentation. Start the next class
period with the next slide.
To say that Mozart was a composer
of unequalled genius is scarcely
scratching the surface of this man's
remarkable gifts. He wrote music complete and perfect, down to the
last accent and inflection, as fast as
he could think, and this astonishing
rate of production continues to
stupefy scholars today.
Mozart
Part 2
Operas, such as
Don Giovanni
(pictured here)
and The Magic
Flute (which you
are listening to)
were a popular
form of
entertainment at
the time, and
Mozart was wellknown for his
great operas.
Mozart had
an incredible
gift, but he
really just
wanted to
have fun.
Although Mozart wrote a
tremendous amount of music, he
often was paid with gifts instead
of money.
He did make a good living by
musician’s standards, but what
money he did make he had
trouble keeping. He liked to play
billiards and to gamble at card
games, and he was terrible at
both of them.
Mozart could often be rude to
nobility and to other composers.
While he was blessed with a great musical
talent, he wasn’t as well blessed in people
skills. He knew that he was a genius, and
often offended other composers and royalty.
You can see that this letter is addressed to
Haydn, with whom he studied a little and
was a good friend.
In this next clip,
the emperor
summons Mozart
to meet him. We
get another
glimpse into the
genius of Mozart.
Click here to play the video.
The Abduction from the Seraglio
Now a grown man,
Mozart initially
thrived in
Vienna. He was in
great demand as a
performer and
composition teacher,
and his first opera, "The Abduction from
the Seraglio", was a hit. But life was not
easy. He was a poor businessman, so
finances were always tight, especially
after his marriage to Constanze Weber,
of whom his father never approved.
Constanze
Mozart’s music of the
next decade was very
creative but not always
popular and he
eventually fell back on
his teaching jobs and
on the charity of friends
to make ends meet. In
1788 he stopped
performing in public,
preferring to compose.
Mozart fell ill in September of 1791, and by November was bedridden. One
night, a stranger, masked and dressed in grey, accosted Mozart and
commissioned him to compose a requiem, or funeral music for a dead
person. The stranger was representing a wealthy nobleman who frequently
asked great composers to produce works for him, but to Mozart, as ill as he
was, it appeared that this stranger was a messenger from “the world
beyond” sent to warn the composer that it was time to compose his own
requiem for his looming and untimely death.
Through sleepless, delirious nights, the messenger haunted Mozart's
thoughts and he feverishly worked upon his requiem. He was found at his
desk unconscious and taken to bed, the physician announced that Mozart
was seeing his last days, but Mozart already knew that he was dying.
On December 5, 1791Mozart's
at the wife Constanze, whom
he married against his fathers
age of thirty-five, he said
wishes, told anyone who'd
farewell to his family and
listen that she believed Court
turned his face to the wall,
Composer Antonio Salieri had
and shortly afterwardsconspired
he was against her husband.
dead.
Salieri denied having conspired against
Mozart or having had anything to do with
his death, however near the end of his life,
he suffered from nervous breakdowns
which resulted in periodic hospitalization.
It is rumored that at such times he would
make outrageous claims. Perhaps spurred
on by Constanze Mozart's accusation, he
claimed he had killed the great composer,
but once back to his normal frame of mind,
he would recant. It is these stories that are
the basis for the film Amadeus.
Here’s a scene from the movie “Amadeus.” Mozart, too sick to
compose, tells Salieri what notes to write for his requiem.
Watch the final video clip.
Mozart died in Vienna, Austria in 1791. He was buried in an
unmarked communal grave. When Constanze returned with
flowers one week later, she could not find the grave. The exact
location is unknown to this day.
Was Salieri a bad person? It doesn’t seem so. Most of his music lessons he gave for
free, and he also served as the president of a society that helped support the widows
and children of musicians.
Did Salieri kill Mozart? It’s highly unlikely. Mozart certainly never considered him an
enemy. In all his letters, Mozart referred to Salieri in the warmest of terms and even
asked him to tutor one of his children. Salieri and Mozart even composed a cantata for
voice and piano together. When Salieri attended Mozart’s opera “The Magic Flute,”
Mozart wrote about it in a letter to his wife, "He (Salieri) heard and saw with all his
attention, and from the overture to the last choir there was no piece that didn't elicit a
bravo or bello out of him." In addition, there is no proof that even during his nervous
breakdowns that Salieri ever admitted to killing Mozart. Salieri's two nurses, as well as
his family doctor, attested that he never said any such thing.
How good was Mozart?
When the famous composer, Haydn, heard
some of Mozart’s works, he told Leopold,
"Before God and as an honest man I tell you
that your son is the greatest composer known
to me either in person or by name: He has
taste, and, furthermore, the most profound
knowledge of composition."
Mozart died young (35), but left behind an enormous
amount of music. If you listened to all of it back to
back for 8 hours a day, it would take 3 months to hear
it all!!! How long would it take to hear all of your
favorite band’s music back to back?
In his short life, he composed over 600
works, including 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...the list is endless. And what
makes these numbers doubly
unfathomable is the peerless craft with
which each piece of music was created.
Studies have proven that
listening to Mozart’s music has
a stimulating effect on our
brain.
It is a fact that listening to his
music for a period of 20
minutes or more will
temporarily raise your I.Q. up
20 points! This is called the
Mozart Effect.
(Since you have been listening
to Mozart’s music for this
presentation, you should all
remember this information
perfectly!)
More studies are being done to see if the Mozart Effect can
have a PERMANENT effect on people if they listen to it at a
very early age. Many CD’s of Mozart’s music are available
for parents to boost their baby’s IQ’s. Some experts say the
earlier the better, and recommend that pregnant mothers
use headphones to play music for their unborn babies.
What did Mozart look like? Who knows! Every portrait of him looks entirely different.
Listening: (click to continue)
Overture to the
Marriage of Figaro
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik
In recent years, Mozart's fame has reached new heights on the popularity of the film Amadeus. Music
scholars love to poke holes in what is admittedly a fantastical portrait of Mozart's life, and ensuing arguments
over his relationship with his musical "rival" Salieri, his method of composing, and the events surrounding his
death have created more public misunderstandings about this divine figure than ever existed before. What
the recent Mozart vogue has created for the good, however, is increased awareness of his music, which must
be counted among the absolute wonders of the world. Mozart's last work, the Requiem, was composed under
mysterious circumstances. In 1791 a stranger, masked and dressed in grey, accosted Mozart and commissioned him
to compose a requiem. The stranger was representing a wealthy nobleman who frequently asked great composers to
produce works for him which he later presented under his own name but to Mozart, as ill as he was, it appeared that
this stranger was a messenger from the other world sent to warn the composer that it was time to compose his own
requiem. Through sleepless, delirious nights, the messenger haunted Mozart's thoughts and he feverishly worked
upon his requiem, He was found at his desk unconscious and taken to bed, the physician announced that Mozart was
seeing his last days but Mozart already knew that he was dying. To his pupil, Süßmayer, he explained precisely how
the Requiem was to be completed and before he died he attempted to sing parts of his last great work. On 5
December 1791 at the age of thirty-five, he said farewell to his family and turned his face to the wall, shortly
afterwards he was dead. Mozart's remains were thrown into a pauper's grave and one week later, when Constanze
returned with flowers she could not find the grave. Because Mozart had died like a pauper, his grave had been left
unmarked, his body unidentified. In his short life, he composed over 600 works, including 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. His Requiem, composed not long before his own death, stands with Bach's St. Matthew Passion as
the supreme example of vocal music.
New studies have proven that
listening to Mozart’s music
has a stimulating effect on
our brain.
It is a fact that listening to his
music for a period of 20
minutes or more will
temporarily raise your I.Q.
up to 20 points!
(So you should all remember
this information terrifically!)