Mozart, greatest natural musical genius
Mozart, greatest natural musical genius
Mozart, greatest natural musical genius
Mozart was no doubt the greatest child star that ever lived. He was traveling all over Europe playing music by the time he was six. Because of his constant travels, Mozart eventually learned to speak fifteen different languages.
Although Mozart's (1756-1791) earliest years were passed at Salzburg,
the musical influences which surrounded his cradle were mainly Italian.
Mozart wrote his first opera, 'La Finta Semplice,' for Vienna, when he was twelve years old. It would have been performed in 1768 but for the intrigues of jealous rivals and the knavery of an impresario.
It was not actually produced until the following year, when the Archbishop of Salzburg arranged a performance of it in his own city to console his little _protg_ for his disappointment at Vienn.
Mozart's next four operas were, for the most part, hastily written--'Mitridate, Re di Ponto' (1770) and 'Lucio Silla' (1775) for Milan, "La Finta Giardiniera' (1775) for Munich, and'Il Re Pastore' (1775) for Salzburg.
They adhere pretty closely to the conventional forms of the day, and, in spite of the beauty of many of the airs, can scarcely be said to contain much evidence of Mozart's incomparable genius.
In 1778 the young composer visited Paris he heard the operas of
Gluck and Grtry, besides those of the Italian composers, such as Piccinni and Sacchini, whose best works were written for the French stage.
He studied their scores carefully, and from them he learnt the principles of orchestration, which he was afterwards to turn to such account in 'Don Giovanni' and 'Die Zauberflte.
The result of his studies was plainly visible in the first work which he produced after his return to Germany, 'Idomeneo.
This was written for the Court Theatre at Munich, and was performed for the first time on the 29th of January, 1781. Idomeneo' is practically the foundation of all modern orchestration.
Mozart's next work was very different both in scope and execution. 'Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail' was written for the Court Theatre at Vienna, in response to a special command of the Emperor Joseph II.
It was produced on July 13, 1782. Much of 'Die Entfhrung' is so thoroughly and characteristically German, that at first sight it may be thought surprising that it should have succeeded so well in a city like Vienna, which was inclined to look upon the Singspiel as a barbarian product of Northern Germany.
Mozart borrowed the underlying idea of the opera buffa, applied it to the form of the Singspiel, which he kept intact, and produced a work which succeeded in revolutionising the history of German opera.
But, apart from the question of form, the music of 'Die Entfhrung' is in itself fine enough to be the foundation even of so imposing a structure as modern German music. 'Die Entfhrung' is full of the tenderest and purest imagination.
But the real importance of the work lies in the vivid power of characterisation, which Mozart here reveals for the first time in full maturity. It is by the extraordinary development of this quality that he transcends all other writers for the stage before or since. Not even the success of 'Die Entfhrung' could permanently establish German opera in Vienna. The musical sympathies of the aristocracy were entirely Italian, and Mozart had to bow to expediency.
His next work, 'Le Nozze de Figaro' (1786), was written to an adaptation of Beaumarchais's famous comedy 'Le Mariage de Figaro,' which had been produced in Paris a few years before.
It seems hardly possible to write critically of the music of 'Le Nozze di Figaro,' Mozart had in a superabundant degree that power which is characteristic of our greatest novelists, of infusing the breath of life into his characters.
We rise from seeing a performance of 'Le Nozze,' with no consciousness of the art employed, but with a feeling of having assisted in an actual scene in real life. Mozart knew everything that was to be known about music, and 'Le Nozze di Figaro,' in spite of its supreme and unapproachable beauty, is really only the legitimate outcome of two centuries of steady development. Mozart's next work,
'DonGiovanni' (October 29, 1787), was written for Prague, a city which had always shown him more real appreciation than Vienna. The characters are strongly marked and distinct, and the supernatural part of the story, which appealed particularly to Mozart's imagination and indeed determined him to undertake the opera, is managed with consummate skill.
'Die Zauberflte,' his last work, was written before 'La Clemenza di Tito,' though not actually produced until September 30, 1791. The libretto, which was the work of Emanuel Schikaneder, is surely the most
extraordinary that ever mortal composer was called upon to set.
From the magnificent fugue in the overture to the majestic choral finale, the
music is an astonishing combination of divinely beautiful melody with
marvels of contrapuntal skill. Perhaps the most surprising part of 'Die Zauberflte' is the extraordinary ease and certainty with which Mozart manipulates what is practically a new form of art.
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