MOZART

 

Born is 1756 and dead in 1791. He lived in Austria most of the time. When he died, he was NOT miserable, and he was NOT poor. Neither was he unknown, nor did he die of poverty, There was an epidemy of something in Vienna in 1791, and he couldn't avoid it. The rest of it is legend ;-) His father was a composer, and so was his son. Three generations of composers : not so unusual at the time. Mozart and Haydn are supposed to be the best representatives of what is called the classical era in music. At the end of his career, though, Mozart was clearly turning pre romantic. It is something interesting to imagine what he would have done in "pre romantic" style, would have he not died so early.

 

Yes, this is Mozart - not exactly like in the movie ;-)   A lot of people place Mozart (with Bach) at the pinnacle of western music. These two people are supposed to have made a music which is so wonderful, so perfect, that it is sometimes described as the voice of God, or the voice of Nature itself. It's supposed to be good for your plants, for your pets, for your babies.... etc etc etc. It is true that studying a score from Mozart, is extremely impressive. Most of the time, its so good - so balanced, so well thought, so elegant, so full of novelty... that it's nothing short of a miracle. For this very reason , if you want to make your own music, I would recommand that you DONT listen for Mozart too much. It might be a bit depressing, and worse, you might be subject to the Bach syndrom, which is a real nuisance, and might prevent you from doing any good music at all.   It's good news to know that when Mozart was visiting Paris, he was always disgusted by the dirtyness and filth in the streets. In 1780, already !   Back to main index