Who Really Was Mozart? (Part One)

If we begin our blog discussion with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and then branch out to his influences and his legacy, we will discover that his music is somewhat pivotal.  In his short life he managed to assimilate styles and genres from the past into a newfound direction towards the future.

While Mozart's music is firmly set in the German language and culture of Salzburg and Vienna in the classical era of the late 18th Century, his musical direction was a portal to the Romantic era.  Beethoven and Schubert (as internationally influential composers) were perhaps the true beginning of this era, but without Mozart's influence, Beethoven might have remained in the Classical era, might not have influenced Schubert, Mendelssohn and Chopin to the extent that he did, and what we now understand as "Romantic" music might be much different, or not romantic.  That's my view.  There are others, of course, but most view Mozart as pivotal.

We could discuss the uninteresting subject of the influence of Mozart on brain activity here

Why Mozart?  Why couldn't Dittersdorf have equal influence on the brain?  Debussy has influence on my brain activity; some of it pleasant, some of it not....

Or we could take a trip back to reality and discuss his true influence.  We must begin there.  Just who influenced Mozart?  We could state the obvious: the Bachs, Handel, the Haydns, or we could look into Mozart's own compositions, his acquaintances, his travels, and discover something quite interesting.  An initial observation is that Mozart was an extensive traveler in Europe during his youth.  His father Leopold (also a composer) desired not only to expose his young protege to the cultural centers of Europe; but by a not so secretive pride, he understood that his son was unique, and the world should know about it.

So who truly was this man?  Ideas?  Articles?  Interests?

To be continued.....

Thanks for joining in the discussion.