Mozart

Teacher's Score: 9/10

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756. He was in the Classical era. His father was a composer and violinist at the court of the Archbishop of Salzburg, and he taught him his rudiments and piano. Mozart excelled in his studies - he was soon recognized as the most gifted child in the history of music.

He started to compose at the young age of 4 (his first song was "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star), performed with his sister Maria Anna (Nannerl) at the court of Empress Maria Theresa at age 6, toured Europe in piano recitals for Royal Families at age 7, had written sonatas, concertos, symphonies, religious works at age 13, and had attained mastery in all forms of composition by age 21. The future looked bright for him. But he did not like the patronage system (opposite of Haydn) and the social restrictions in it (the fact that he could only work for one person/family/group). He only held 2 brief appointments in his life. He was dismissed from his 1st appointment after quarrelling with the Archbishop of Salzburg - after that he became a freelance musician. He did not have enough money to make ends meet so he worked for the Emperor Joseph II who let him do tasks unworthy of his genius ("Too much for what I do, too little for what I could do"). He married Constanze Weber (against father's wishes), but she was not very helpful - she brought Mozart neither strength nor wealth. His peak of his career was with opera The Marriage of Figaro. He wrote The Clemency of Titus very recently after, but it failed to impress the Bohemian court and Mozart returned to Vienna broken in body and spirit. His final years were in despair and helplessness; he struggled desperately to get enough money to live. His final work was Requiem Mass, K.262 (commissioned by music-loving count who intended to say that the work was his), but Mozart believed that his Mass for Dead was for himself - he died before he could finish it, and his student Sussmayr finished it for him. He died penniless in 1791 buried in a pauper's grave.

Mozart contributed greatly to nearly all musical genres. He used mainly symmetrical (4-measure) phrases. He especially contributed to the development of the 3-movement concerto structure and the sonata form. He was influenced by the Mannheim orchestra - his orchestral writing expanded the used of wind instruments. He was also influenced by JC Bach (son of JS Bach) in the development of the piano concerto. His works were catalogued by Ludwig von Kochel. The opera was very important to his career and he wrote in 3 types: opera seria, a serious Italian opera sung throughout (ex. Idomeneo), opera buffa, a Italian comic opera sung throughout (ex. The Marriage of Figaro) and Singspiel, a German comic opera with spoken dialogue (ex. The Magic Flute). He had simple forms, songful melodies, sophisticated style, clear texture, colourful orchestra, and contrasts in mood.

Mozart wrote 27 piano concertos, 5 violin concertos, many operas, 20 piano sonatas, 18 masses and other choral music, chamber music, 41 symphonies, and secular vocal music.

Teacher's Comments:
For Paragraph 2, do not say that Mozart's first song is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star".
For Paragraph 4, write example titles for some of the types.