Welcome to Compositions On Composers! In this blog I will do weekly posts that give backgrounds and portfolio summaries on various notable composers. I would like to not only cover the cliché European composers such as Bach, Mozart, and Beethoven (though all made very important contributions to music theory and composition) but also focus on composers from multiple genres, contrasting cultures, and diverse regions of the world. That being said, I could not overlook Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in this blog series. He composed hundreds of influential operas, concertos, and symphonic masterpieces. Through his iconic music, Mozart revolutionized Classical music just as Bach had shaped the music of the Baroque period. Today, almost any American can recognize Mozart’s most famous tunes including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Rondo Alla Turca, and Marriage of Figaro Overture without any musical training or sometimes without even knowing Mozart by name!

Additionally, Mozart and his beautiful music hold a special place in my heart. My very first introduction to music came through listening to his mesmerizing and emotional songs in the Baby Einstein Baby Mozart series as a baby. For those who haven’t heard of the series, – I don’t blame you – it was a collection of videos with children’s toys and Mozart music in the background. My mother played them for me everyday because she believed in the now-debunked Mozart Effect. Ever since, I have always appreciated Mozart’s music and have even had to play many of his pieces for piano including the famous Piano Sonata #16 in C major. One of my personal favorites of Mozart’s is his Symphony #40 in G Minor because of its enchanting and compelling composition. I also love the lesser-known melancholic Fantasy in D Minor. Due to all of these factors and more, I would now like to introduce you to Mozart and his work.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 in Salzburg to Leopold Mozart, a composer and music teacher. By the age of 5, Mozart had already composed several pieces of music and possessed great prodigious talent. By 8, he had composed his first symphony of dozens still to come. As a child, W. A. Mozart’s father remained his teacher and traveled alongside him as he played for European royalty, but in his later teen years, Mozart began distancing himself from his father and played as a musician at the Salzburg court. However, after only a short period of time, he left his position and moved to Vienna. Most of his remaining life would then be spent in Vienna, where he gained fame but not necessarily fortune. Here, Mozart lived a poor man’s life with little money at times and with only two of his six children living past infancy. Despite these challenges, Mozart’s talent and dedication enabled him to write many memorable compositions and to establish his posthumous fame for the ages.

Mozart has many famous and interesting compositions, but one in particular holds special acclaim as well as an intriguing story. Soon after Mozart had finished his opera The Magic Flute, in 1791, Mozart was tasked by Count Franz von Walsegg to write a piece for the Requiem mass of the Count’s wife. Many rumors remain around the Requiem, Mozart’s magnum opus, but it is universally accepted that Mozart did not complete the work. This was due to Mozart’s unfortunate death on December 5, 1791 after an excruciating and difficult illness. In fact, of the composition’s fourteen movements, most of them were not completed until after Mozart’s death. Rumors around the piece claim anything from Mozart having no part in the rest of the piece’s completion to Mozart leaving frameworks and pieces of the song sprawled on tiny scraps of paper all around as he could not stop thinking of the piece and desperately desired to complete it. Instead, several other minor composers, including Eybler and Süssmayr, finished the composition in secret. Mozart’s widow Constanze then took the completed transcript, forged Mozart’s signature, and passed it off as his complete work to the Count so that she and her two children could receive the payment and future royalties. According to later accounts by Constanze, Mozart felt as if he were writing for his own funeral and that the song haunted and consumed him. The final version of Requiem (partial) remarkably communicates those haunting and terrifying feelings of sorrow, death, and judgement to the listener. The varying minor keys, frequent changes in tempo, and multi-layered SATB (choir) and orchestra parts create a jarring and intense experience.

The best way to describe Mozart’s style would be Classical. This comes from the fact that Mozart almost single-handedly created the Classical genre of music. Classical music, like Mozart’s, is lighter and more clearly-defined than the pieces of the Baroque period that came before. The genre consists of mostly homophonic music, which contains a strong melody with an accompaniment of defined chords. Despite the new simplicity of the structure, the emotion, from whimsical to moody, remained intact and was further mastered by Mozart. Later in his life, after studying Bach transcripts, Mozart began to take elements of the Baroque style and implement them into his work. Several of his symphonies excellently capture this such as Symphony No. 29 in A Major. Mozart’s style later influenced many composers, including Beethoven, who composed within the Classical and Romantic periods. Today, Mozart’s music continues to influence composers and listeners alike.

Thanks for reading this post! I hope you enjoyed this brief introduction to Mozart, his life, and his compositions. Join us next week when we travel to another continent to a country which was only gaining its independence during Mozart’s time.

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