Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

1
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

• (1756-1791)

2
Mozarts Early Lifeor, Dont you feel good about
yourself now?

• Born to a court musician, Leopold
• Could play harpsichord and violin, improvise,
  write minuets, and sight-read perfectly by the
  time he was six.
• Wrote a symphony at eight
• Wrote an oratorio at eleven
• Wrote an opera at twelve
• Played for Empress Maria Theresa in Vienna, Louis
  XV of France, and George III of England by the
  time he was sixteen
• Returned to Salzburg when he was fifteen to work
  for a prince-archbishop

3
Mozarts middle life

• The archbishop would not grant him more than a
  subordinate positions in the orchestra
• Mozart, already a celebrity, could not tolerate
  being a servant
• Broke away from the archbishop when he was 25 to
  work freelance
• His opera Die Enführung aus dem Serail (The
  Abduction from the Seraglio) was very successful
• Concerts were attended by the emperor and
  nobility
• Le Nozze di Figaro was hugely successful in
  Vienna and Prague

4
Mozarts Decline

• Don Giovanni was well received in Prague, but not
  Vienna
• The Viennese did not like the darker qualities of
  the opera, and so Mozarts popularity began to
  decline
• In 1791, Mozart published Die Zauberflöte
• Approached by a mysterious stranger who carried a
  letter commissioning a requiem mass
• As Mozarts health declined, be began to believe
  the Requiem was his own.
• Died in 1791 before the Requiem was finished
• Finsihed, based on vocal parts and continuo
  parts, by Franz Süssmeyer

5
Mozarts Music

• Composed over 600 works, including
• 41 Symphonies
• 48 concertos
• 18 masses
• 17 Church sonatas
• 22 operas
• 23 String Quartets
• 36 violin sonatas
• 18 piano sonatas
• Lots of other stuff, too

6
Mozarts Musical Style

• Combines a feeling of ease, grace, and
  spontaneity with balance , restraint, and
  proportion.
• Mysterious harmonies contrast with is lyricism,
  elegance, and power
• Excellent writer of opera
• Wrote mostly comic opera
• Does not use stereotyped characters, instead uses
  dynamic people who evolve over the course of the
  production

7
Don Giovanni- Introduction

• Tells the old story of Don Juan, the famous
  Spanish lover
• Don Giovanni is a charming gentleman, but will
  stop at nothing to fulfill his lust
• In this scene, Don Giovanni, in disguise, is
  attempting to have an amorous adventure with
  Donna Anna, who does not want him.
• The Commandant, Donna Annas father, challenges
  Don Giovanni to a duel, and loses

8
Don Giovanni-Leporellos Catalog Aria

• One of the most famous arias in all of opera
• He sings to Donna Elvira, who was seduced by Don
  Giovanni and then deserted
• Shows her the catalogue of all the women Don
  Giovanni has been with
• In Italy, 640
• In Germany, 231
• 100 in France
• 91 in Turkey
• But, in Spain, already 1003!

9
A Mozart Symphony- Symphony No. 40 in G Minor, K
550

• Focus on the first movement
• First theme is a repeated three note pattern in a
  minor key
• Accompaniment gives a sense of urgency
• Bridge transitions to the more lyrical second
  theme, which is in the relative major
• Closing section remains in the major key,
  changing the feel of the first theme
• Development varies the themes
• Cuts first theme into smaller and smaller notes
• Has movement towards a polyphonic texture
• Shifts between high and low strings
• With the recap staying in the minor key, the
  second theme becomes more touching and sad.

10
A Mozart Concerto- Piano Concerto in A Major, K.
488, 1st movement

• Blends lyricism and sadness, emphasized by shifts
  between major and minor
• Two themes played first by orchestra, then piano
  and orchestra
• Development based on a new theme!
• Ends with a cadenza, which Mozart actually wrote
  into the score