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Thoughts on W.A. Mozart?

GuyK

GuyK

Addicted Member
Please permit me to pose a question.
I just got back from visiting with some out of town family, and am somewhat confused. At some point the discussion got around to music, and I learned my aunt is very fond of Beethoven, & my cousin of J.S.Bach. When I revealed my sentiment for Mozart, my cousin was incredulous. She says “... he has no emotion, and it took a fear or death for him to get some soul. Only with his Requiem did he …”. I don’t see this. Certainly, not all of Mozart’s compositions are very deep, but lacking in emotion and soul? So my question is this: is my cousins opinion common?
 
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Some people's view is that Mozart is all butterflies and fields- and it's sort of true - but I like him nonetheless.
 
Not as far as I'm concerned.

However, I am aware that some people tend to believe Mozart's music has no emotion. This would be natural as his music belongs to the realm of Classicism. I also ascribe this to the blind adaptation of his music to dullest moments in society.

Often, such view is made of those who are just too perfect and perfect. They don't see one can find Mozart more emotionally charged than, say, Mahler, even without the Requiem. Just try his Clarinet Concerto. What about his late Symphonies? And his opera music?

And once one gets used to Mozart, all his Piano Concerti for example can sound either extremely sad and melancholy or fanatically bright and joyful to the degree of being scary. They can also wear a mask of a very restrained face, pretty much in the way I'm listening to his Piano Concerti right now in my office.

Mozart championed everything. Period.
 
Listening to music can fill so many niches, serve so many purposes emotionally, Mozart always improves my attitude, and that's a pretty important attribute to bring into my life.
 
I like Mozart. I understand some people's opinion that there's a lack of depth there, but I think that may come from familiarity - there are many melodies of Mozart that are ubiquitous, and familiarity does breed contempt. That said, I've gotta say that I do go back to Bach and Beethoven more often than to Mozart.
 
I enjoy his music, and find I pull it to my vinyl play list often.
Regards,
Jim
 
G'day all, perhaps I'm missing a 'deeper meaning', but for me what I love about Mozart is the beautiful sense of melody that pervades practically all of his work. Regards, Felix aka catman.
 
With no offense intended to your cousin, her opinion may stem from ignorance or under-education just as easily as well-informed preference. I will admit that I once held a similar opinion (even after having earned a degree in music), but I eventually came to understand the depth and character of much of Mozart's music and now consider him to be among the greatest minds who has ever graced our planet. I would not hesitate to use Mozart in the same sentence as Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Luther, Newton, Da Vinci, Einstein ... you get the idea.

I think that what Mozart lacked (sometimes) in overtly expressive emotion, he made up for through sheer genius of construction, with no little amount of inspiration in the melody/harmony/counterpoint department. And I will add that while I have considerably more Beethoven, Brahms, or Rachmaninoff in my Music Library than Mozart, I still think Mozart was the pure genius among them all.

To each his own ...
 
I would not hesitate to state that he was a genius musically, but I wonder what effect his early life had upon him. His father Leopold held him up as the "Boy Genius" and such early exposure is not always beneficial. One thing to remember is that genius, by definition, is not normal and so to expect them to be like the rest of us is impractical.
 
Much more to the wunderkind than meets the casual ear...
The Clarinet Concerto has been mentioned, 2nd mvmt, anyone?
Opera, ditto, selected bits from Don Giovanni and the Magic Flute.
My favorite piano concerto, K.466 in D minor, is far from just pretty.
The Masonic Funeral music, the Mass in C minor, I could go on...
Such a loss that he could not live longer, I feel he was just coming into his potential in his last year which contained his last 3 symphonies, the Requiem and the Magic Flute. An attractive offer to go to London and write operas and be well paid but alas too late because his health was already wrecked financial stress. The bottom line is his Requiem mass, no finer more profound or more tragic music has ever been written.
I could never accept any argument that Mozart lacked intellectual, emotional or musical depth. All you have to do is hear the Requiem.
 
DC said:
With no offense intended to your cousin, her opinion may stem from ignorance or under-education just as easily as well-informed preference.
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I totally agree with you. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion, but to say Mozart's music lacks depth and emotion?! Sorry, I don't understand that in the slightest. In fact, I find his music to be some of the most joyful I've ever heard. As with certain other composers (*cough* Bach) I believe one needs to listen carefully and to a variety of works in order to really understand how brilliant Mozart was. And I say this as someone with no formal background in music.

merrylander said:
I would not hesitate to state that he was a genius musically, but I wonder what effect his early life had upon him. His father Leopold held him up as the "Boy Genius" and such early exposure is not always beneficial. One thing to remember is that genius, by definition, is not normal and so to expect them to be like the rest of us is impractical.
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I'm getting towards the end of a book of Mozart's letters, which are mostly between him and his father. I wondered the same thing while reading the earlier letters; did the constant praise inflate his ego, or perhaps put undo pressure on Mozart? But, if the letters are anything to go by, there's a number of things one could deduce from them about Mozart as a person: first, it seems that although he was very aware of who he was, and how superior his abilities were to almost everyone around him, he always stopped short of exaggerating or flat out bragging. Second, if the unusual childhood and high expectations had any negative effect on him, it's certainly not clear through his communication with his father. He comes off as a normal, healthy, generally happy and highly motivated individual. Finally, it's obvious nearly everyone who met him or knew him thought very highly of his musical abilities, and those who were themselves professional musicians (Joseph Haydn, for example), clearly knew they were in the presence of someone with a very unusual level of talent.

Additionally, Mozart had quite a sense of humor, and many of his letters are really amusing!
 
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btw, anyone who reckons Mozart exhibited his dark side only in Requiem should really try the Little G Minor - Symphony no. 25, not to mention the Great G Minor, no. 40.
 
Or even this unusual recording of his early piano trios. Although they lack the maturity of his later work, right from the start they put a smile on my face.


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GuyK said:
Interesting. I'll have to ponder this for a while. Thanks for everyones input.
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The one thing average people do not realize about those with above average intellect is that it does not come with an ON/OFF switch, but runs 24/7.:sigh:
 
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