Why Is Mozart Genius?

mozart has become a household name so much so that even those who know next to nothing about classical music will have heard of Mozart the musical genius many of those who are more familiar with classical music would not say that Mozart was the greatest composer who ever lived that prize might go to Beethoven aza bark and yet Mozart holds this spot as an absolute undeniable musical genius whose compositions reached levels of perfection purity and humanity unmatched in music history so why is Mozart genius well first there's his life story the legend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart we'll talk about his life and then we'll talk about the music born in 1756 he was taught music from a very early age by his father Leopold Mozart a professional musician himself at the age of five he composed his first piece of music at the age of six he began to tour all around the courts of Europe with his sister showing off his piano skills his violin playing and his ability to compose and improvise by age ten he had achieved continental fame as a musical child star having played all across the German territories the Netherlands Paris and London while in London he even went through scientific testing to prove that he truly was a child prodigy and not just a very musical dwarf at age 11 he wrote his first opera he then went on to continue composing throughout his life however he did not have the glamorous high paid positions in court that say Hyden or Salieri held instead he spent most of his career as a freelancer and while he continued to compose and develop a career in music he never quite lost his childish side perhaps a common trait in those who become famous too young while he was composing beautiful sublime masterpieces his letters to his cousin were filled with smut the crude foul-mouthed scatological content occasionally though rarely this pariah attitude met with his musical ability for example he wrote a complex musical canon to the words lek McKim arsh which loosely translated means kiss my ass this is a side of Mozart's personality which is exaggerated in Peter Schaffer's outstanding play Amadeus which was later made into an oscar-winning film Amadeus is Mozart's middle name but it also means literally love God a cruel irony if you know the film the story of the play is mostly fiction there wasn't really a conspiracy with Salieri to kill Mozart but it makes for a brilliant drama and there are many truths about Mozart the musician and many beautiful descriptions of his music the story follows how Salieri has to deal with his own mediocrity in the shadow of an absolute genius how Salieri is smart enough to recognize genius but never able to obtain it I'd highly recommend watching it especially if you're new to Mozart anyway in the early 1780s Mozart was initially a big success in Vienna the musical capital of Europe at the time but his money actually came mostly from performing rather than composing he also had a reputation for having an extraordinary musical memory and a great ease with musical improvisation in his concerts people would submit themes for him and he would then improvise in all sorts of styles on those themes however by 1789 Mozart was struggling to make any money perhaps the city had become tired of him he had to move to a smaller apartment he lost his status possessions and went heavily into debt he died in 1791 at the age of 35 and was buried in a common grave in those 30 years of composing he wrote over 600 works of music so much music in fact that it takes over 1,000 pages to properly catalog it all hauntingly the last piece of music he was working on before his death was a requiem a mass for the dead he died with this work left unfinished though the fragments he did complete contain some of his most powerful music perhaps we recognize Mozart most for his melody the purity simplicity and unforgettable nosov his tunes many of his students have become household take his string piece eine kleine Nachtmusik or his simple c-major piano sonata all the first tune of his fortieth symphony [Music] and doubtless many more yet simplicity and memorable tunes aren't enough to hold a status as one of the world's greatest musical geniuses but Mozart had an extraordinary talent for turning the simple into something sublime listen to this moment from his flute and harp concerto it starts in utter simplicity but then becomes something more [Music] it's as if in his music we see our own humanity reflected back at us listen to this movement from his serenade four wins number ten known as the gran partita he is a quote from amedeo's that describes it beautifully [Music] indeed Mozart was the expert at taking something pure and molding it into something which expresses unfulfillable longing in his best works we get the sense that he is reaching out towards the infinite toward something more something bigger than ourselves listen to this moment from the key of Mozart's great mass in C minor Herod rises up up and evermore up [Music] and then gracefully back down [Music] to the climax [Music] he had a gift for phrases that sounded like they were just meant to be that they had always existed and were just waiting to be written down we often hear the word perfection used to describe his music and perhaps this perfection is something ineffable something impossible to describe but Mozart did have a wonderful sense of balance in his music I hope you enjoyed this video I decided to split this video into two parts for timing reasons if it's not out already then the second part will be released within the next week and we'll be talking about the sense of balance and perfection in Mozart's music as well as the forms and styles which he revolutionized in his short life if you want to say thank you or help support my work you can do so on my patreon page my suggestion boxes are open so if there's a topic a piece of music or a film that you'd like me to consider covering or if you'd like to simply buy me a coffee to say thank you then you can visit my patreon if you like this then please do subscribe for more like this you can like the video and share it with your friends thanks for watching [Music]

Channel: Inside the Score

Views: 2,059,393

Keywords: mozart, genius, best of, symphony, concerto, mass, requiem, best, eine kleine nachtmusic, rondo alla turca, flute and harp, Great Mass, C minor mass, kyrie, Symphony 40, Gran Partita, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik

Id: CN3v4fEZcQw

Length: 9min 42sec (582 seconds)

Published: Sat Jun 22 2019