FREE ESSAY ON W.A. MOZART

W.A. MOZART

1756-91, Austrian composer whose oeuvre represents one of the great peaks of musical
history. His works, written in every genre, combine beauty of sound with classical grace
and technical perfection. He learned to play harpsichord, violin, and organ from his
father, Leopold Mozart, 1719-87, a composer and violinist. A remarkable prodigy, the
young Mozart was composing by age five, presenting concerts throughout Europe as a child,
and by age 13 had written concertos, sonatas, symphonies, and operettas. In Italy
(1768-71) he absorbed Italian style, and in 1771 he was appointed concertmaster to the
archbishop of Salzburg, a position in which he was restless. Idomeneo (1781), one of the
best examples of 18th-cent. OPERA seria, was the first opera of his maturity. He moved to
Vienna (1781), married, and met HAYDN, to whom he dedicated six string quartets
(1782-85), testimony to the two composers' influence on each other. The Abduction from
the Seraglio (1782), a singspiel combining songs and German dialogue, brought some
success. He turned to the Italian opera buffa, creating the comic masterpiece The
Marriage of Figaro (1786). Don Giovanni, considered difficult in its day but now
recognized as one of the most brilliant operas ever written, followed in 1787. In the
same year Mozart succeeded GLUCK as court composer to Joseph II; Eine kleine Nachtmusik
(1787) is an example of the elegant occasional music he wrote in this role. In 1788 he
wrote his last three symphonies, Nos. 39-41, which display his complete mastery of
classical symphonic form and intense personal emotion. In Vienna he produced his last
opera buffa, Cosi fan tutte (1790). In The Magic Flute (1791) he returned to the
singspiel, bringing the form to a lyrical height. He then worked feverishly on a requiem
commissioned by a nobleman; it proved to be Mozart's own, and the work was completed by
his pupil Franz Sussmayr. The composer died at 35 in poverty and was buried in a pauper's
grave. A catalogue of Mozart's works was made in 1862 by Ludwig von Kochel; they are
usually identified accordingly, e.g., the Piano Concerto in B Flat, K. 595.