WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791), was a very prolific and greatly influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over six hundred works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers and one of the greatest musicians in history.

His parents were Leopold Mozart, a business-minded composer, brilliant violinist and an assistant concertmaster at the Salzburg court , Maria Anna Pertl. Of the seven children, only Mozart and his older sister, Maria Anna or "Nannerl" as family called her, survived infancy.

Mozart showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood in Salzburg and his father encouraged and pushed his son. He began to play the harpsichord at the age of three. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five , and wrote his first minuet at six.At seven, he went on his First European Tour with his family. Before his ninth birthday, Mozart composed his first symphony, wrote his first oratorio at age eleven, and his first opera the following year. His teenage years were productive years as he forged more travels, compositions and early performances.

During Mozart's formative years, his family made several European journeys in which he and Nannerl were shown as child prodigies. These tours included Munich, Vienna, Prague, Mannheim, Paris and London. During these trips Mozart met a great number of musicians and acquainted himself with the works of other composers. A particularly important influence was Johann Christian Bach, whom Mozart visited in London.

After coming from the tour of Vienna, Wolfgangus tried to concentrate on improving and learning new skills in music, for this reason he did not plan any tour till 1770. In next three years from 1770 to 1773, Mozart toured Italy three times and gave many outstanding performances. While on tour of Italy, Mozart even wrote two of his famous operas 'Mitridate' and 'Lucio Silla'. Mozart showcased his talent and astonished his audience when he adopted Italian style in his music.

As a young man, while in one of his European travels in Mannheim, Mozart fell in love with a young soprano, Aloysia Weber. His love was not reciprocated. A year laterhis beloved mother died in Paris. With double heartache of his mother and first love, he returned to Salzburg. He found work at the court but was unhappy with its restrictions. He left Salzburg for Vienna in 1781, and decided to go solo, a freelance musician.

Here also Wolfgangus could not get any suitable post for himself. After Wolfgangus's all the unsuccessful trials, Leopold called him back to Salzburg, where he managed to arrange a high level post for his son. For next two years, Wolfgangus, worked at Court and played concerts at Courts and Cathedrals. He actively participated in concerts, serenades and also composed music for dramas.

At the end of two years Mozart was sent to the court at Vienna where he was not allowed to work for the post he wanted the most, he finally gave up trying to perform at the court in Vienna and got out of the job around 1781. After that period, Mozart received many golden opportunities to make a fortune when he created music while he was not at any post. Soon, Mozart started going in public, he played music in public functions, published his work and also started teaching music.

Mozart always learned voraciously from others, and developed a brilliance and maturity of style that encompassed the light and graceful along with the dark and passionate—the whole informed by a vision of humanity "redeemed through art, forgiven, and reconciled with nature and the absolute". His influence on all subsequent Western art music is profound. Beethoven wrote his own early compositions in the shadow of Mozart.

Mozart usually worked long and hard, finishing compositions at a tremendous pace as deadlines approached. He often made numerous sketches and drafts.

Mozart gained a reasonable popularity by publishing some beautiful sonatas music compositions, by performing in concerts and Operas and managing concerts on his own, without any assistance. He not only composed music for the concert but he also managed the orchestra. He married Constanze Weber, Aloysia's younger sister. Mozart earned enough to live a comfortable life, but because of his improper management of money and expenses, and frequent gambling, he was never able to save money for future and always had to borrow from others when was in need of money. The final years in Vienna yielded many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and the Requiem. The circumstances of his early death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons.

Mozart composed hundreds of beautiful and unique music works which include over 20 operas, about 14-15 Masses, 30-40 concerts (piano and violin), 50-60 symphonies, and 20 sonatas etc. Even after his death, Mozart remained and will remain one of the most favorite musicians for millions of his fans.

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Mozart's symphony no. 40 is one of his most famous and most people will recogonise it even if they cannot name it. Here is a video of the immortal composition.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mChJmHWLpII&feature=PlayList&p=0D06BE806CF84F1D&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=1

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Divya Gurnay

BEETHOVEN

Beethoven was born in Bonn, Germany in 1770 to Johann van Beethoven and his wife, Maria Magdalena. He took his first music lessons from his father, who was tenor in the choir of the archbishop-elector of Cologne. His father was an unstable, yet ambitious man whose excessive drinking, rough temper and anxiety surprisingly did not diminish Beethoven's love for music.

When, despite his father's brutal teaching methods, Ludwig began to show signs of promise, other teachers were called in. By the age of seven he was advanced enough to appear in public. A year or so later the composer Christian Gottlob Neefe took over his musical training. Ch. G. Neefe introduced Beethoven to the works of Bach and Mozart.

He studied and performed with great success, despite becoming the breadwinner of his household by the time he was 18 years old. His father's increasingly serious alcohol problem and the earlier death of his grandfather in 1773 sent his family into deepening poverty.

At first, Beethoven made little impact on the musical society, despite his father's hopes. When he turned 11, he left school and became an assistant organist to Neefe at the court of Bonn. In 1783 he became the continuo player for the Bonn opera and accompanied their rehearsals on keyboard. In 1787, he was sent to Vienna to take further lessons from Mozart. Two months later, however, he was called back to Bonn by the death of his mother.

He started to play the viola in the Opera Orchestra in 1789, while also teaching in composing. He met Haydn in 1790, who agreed to teach him in Vienna, and Beethoven then moved to Vienna permanently. He received financial support from Prince Karl Lichnowsky, to whom he dedicated his Piano Sonata in C minor, better known as ‘The Pathétique’. He performed publicly in Vienna in 1795 for the first time, and published his Op. 1 and Op. 2 piano sonatas. His works are traditionally divided into three periods. The first is called the Viennese Classical, the second is the Heroic, and the third is Late Beethoven. In the first period, his individuality and style gradually developed, as he used many methods from Haydn, including the use of silence. He composed mainly for the piano during this period. These works include Symphony no. 1 in C (1800), his first six string quartets, and the Pathétique (1799). His Moonlight Sonata in C# minor (1801) is known as the first of Heroic Beethoven.

Beethoven learned that he would become deaf in 1802 and suffered sever depression. His composing skills were not affected by his deafness, but his ability to teach and perform was inhibited. It is said that he became deaf from his habit of pouring cold water over his head while composing, to refresh himself, and then not drying his massive amounts of hair afterwards. He wrote his only opera, Fidelio in 1805. The main theme of the opera revolves around fidelity, which reflects his personal desire to marry.

After 1813, during his Late period, Beethoven composed inwardly. He was totally deaf, as this is sometimes known as the "silent period." Some say that Beethoven was composing music for a different age. His life became more chaotic and he composed less and less. In his works, he used more miniaturization and expansion. The music began to become "odd" as he began to experiment with the number of movements, contrast in volume and dynamics, harmonic predictability, sonata movements and trills in his works. Beethoven became increasingly argumentative as he was further tormented by his deafness. Goethe described his attitude as aggressive, and perhaps understandable, but not easy to live with. He gave his last performance in 1814, on the piano, but continued to be a respected composer in Viennese society.

At Beethoven's death in 1827, Franz Grillparzer best described him during his funeral address when he said: "despite all these absurdities, there was something so touching and ennobling about him that one could not help admiring him and feeling drawn to him."

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To listen to Beethoven's fifth click on this link

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9fROt8h44c

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Marin Alsop leading the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra about her concert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qeODIQFcvk

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Divya Gurnay