Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart can be described as one of the most important composers that has ever lived. The name Mozart has become familiar with people that even know little about music. What stood out about Mozart was that he was a child prodigy that begun producing music at the age of 6 and that he was a brilliant composer of various music and used various instruments. Mozart was able to compose operas, sonatas, chamber music, church music, and classical symphonies by using various instruments such as the violin and the piano. The influence that Mozart has is still present today with most of his music being used in medicine to promote healing. This paper analyzes the life of Mozart and considers the impact that he had on music and various aspects of the modern world today.
Early Life
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on the date of January 27, 1756 in Austria. Leopold Mozart, his father was a notable composer and a music instructor. He had authored famous writings dealing with violin playing. Leopold insisted on the significance of music to his children and Mozart and his sister received intensive music training. By the time Mozart was 6 years old, he was an accomplished keyboard performer (London, 2019). Mozart’s father exposed his children to other parts of the world and their music by taking them to different parts of the world. In 1762, Mozart’s father took Wolfgang at the age of six and his sister to a tour in Europe. The two traveled throughout Europe and visited several places in Europe such as Zurich, The Hague, London, and Paris where they performed as child prodigies. This was an important time in the life of Mozart because he was able to meet other accomplished musicians and he gradually became familiar with their works.
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Becoming Famous
Between the age of ten and seventeen, Mozart grew his reputation as a composer and became equal to that of older musicians that were established. The years from 1766 to 1769 were spent in Salzburg where he wrong works for music and school drams in Latin and German languages. His first opera was produced on 1768. Even though he had grown in his reputation, he found that there were no suitable positions for him and he chose to move to Italy in order to further his career as an opera composer. He was well received in Milan, Italy where he managed to obtain a commission for an opera. He was able to receive a member of an honorary knightly by the Pope (London, 2019). Throughout his stay in Italy he would travel to Salzburg from time to time for three years. He was able to produce his first large-scale opera series during his time in Italy. He renewed his writing of Symphonies at the late months of 1771.
Mozart later decided to settle in Vienna where he would be a freelance performer and composer of music as he stayed with his friends. He found work in Vienna where he would play at several concerts, he wrote music for publications, and also taught pupils. In the year 1783, Mozart become interest in the work of George Frederic and Bach and this made him compose in Baroque style which influenced most of his compositions. Mozart gradually grew to become a success in Europe and his name and talent spread throughout Europe. After receiving substantial returns from his success, Mozart was able to enjoy a lavish lifestyle.
During the last few years of Mozart, between 1782 and 1785, Mozart mostly divided his time where he was engaged in self-producing concerts and presenting new piano concertos. The year of 1784 was one of the prolific years that Mozart performed. At one time, during a one five-week period, he managed to appear in 22 concerts and in five of them he performed as the soloist. The concerts became highly attended and Mozart enjoyed a greater degree of connection with his audience (London, 2019). It was also at this time that Mozart started keeping a catalog of his own music. This could probably have been because he had understood his place in the history of music.
The years of the 1780s was also a time where Mozart struggled. London (2019) observed this indicating that even though he had become famous, he faced several financial struggles. Most of the financial struggles that Mozart went through were as a result of the sicknesses from his wife Constanze. All the same, Mozart had become an instant success in Vienna and his opera titled The Abduction from the Seraglio had become successful (Hush, 2018). He had also become in great demand both as a performer and a teacher. However, Mozart also faced significant struggles throughout this time and life was not easy for him.
Death
Mozart lived to the age of 35 where he died on December 1791. The cause of his death was not clear and it has raised a huge debate in the medical community. Kanat et al., (2019) observe that there was a neurosurgical aspect that caused the early death of Mozart. It is likely that he had encountered a fracture several months before his death. This was evident through most of the symptoms which he faced such as intense headaches. Kanat et al. (2019) observe that the declining in his musical performance throughout his last year could have been caused by intracranial hemorrhage. The death of Mozart came at an early age even for his time period. At the time of his death, Mozart was considered as one of the greatest composers that had ever lived.
Modern Influences
Mozart’s style of music had a significant influence on classical music. Classical music emerged between 1730 and 1820. Wen et al. (2016) observe that the music style of Mozart involved composing symphony orchestra pieces that had emphasis on harmonies and light articulation. Mozart was able to influence Beethoven who also created his personal unique style of music. Wen et al. further observe that Mozart composed his music at the time when classical music was at its peak period and Beethoven composed his music at the time during the end of the classical period.
Apart from music, the works of Mozart have been used for its therapeutic benefits. Gasenzer et al. (2017) observe that the music of Mozart with its effect can be used in neurosurgery. The music has strong association with somatic, sensorial, and auditory systems and can be used to improve the functioning of the brain. The study by Gasenzer et al. (2017) further observed that musicians have enhanced motor skills and everyone including non-musicians too can listen to the works of Mozart to gain healing.
In conclusion, the life and times of Mozart show how a child prodigy rose to become one of the world’s greatest composer. Mozart’s music ability was nurtured from a young age through the help and instruction of his father. Throughout his life, Mozart continually pursued a career in Music where he made several compositions that made him rise to fame. He died at the age of 35 and this his death was relatively early. His was able to have a significant influence on classical music and his works have influenced modern medicine for its therapeutic benefits.
References
Gasenzer, E. R., Kanat, A., & Neugebauer, E. (2017). Neurosurgery and music; effect of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. World neurosurgery, 102, 313-319.
Hush, D. (2018). Reflections on Mozart. In Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales (Vol. 151, No. 469/470, p. 209). Royal Society of New South Wales.
Kanat, A., Gasenzer, E. R., & Neugebauer, E. (2019). A different aspect of the unexpected death of Mozart at the age of 35 years. CNS spectrums, 1-4.
London, M. (2019). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Discoverroo .
Wen, R., Xie, Z., Chen, K., Guo, R., Xu, K., Huang, W., ... & Wu, J. (2016). Music Style Analysis among Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven: an Unsupervised Machine Learning Approach. Popular Music, 1, 8.
