After Mozart’s Death, an Endless Coda

New York Times ^ | August 24, 2010 | Daniel Wakin

[HereInTheHeartland]

Mozart, Jim Morrison, and Elvis will be sighted somewhere making music.

[jagusafr]

Elvis and Bigfoot ain’t talkin’...

Colonel, USAFR

[left that other site]

I love Mozart.

I get my Students interested in Mozart IMMEDIATELY with One of His Early Piano Variations on a Theme, Otherwise Known as “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star!”

We Do it with a rolling Alberti-Style Left Hand, and it sounds AWESOME!

[stephenjohnbanker]

” That was a great movie. (Lapsing into geezer mode) I don’t know why they don’t make ‘em like that any more. “

They don’t make a Mozart anymore either ;-)

[onedoug]

¨The Decomposing Composers¨

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

Um, he was only 35 years old

True

and he was the greatest compsoer of all time.

Very subjective claim. I like Mozart, but he is a little shallow for my taste. Mozart learned quite a bit from Bach, and his music was the better better for it. If I could take music from only one composer to a desert island, I would get tired of Mozart after a while. I never get tired of Bach.

I can instantly identify most major Mozart works. If I hear a random piece from The Well Tempered Clavier, I can identify maybe 25% of them.

[Nonstatist]

But Mozart was evolving rapidly near the end of his life, thus the extreme interest in the cause of death. His last 3 symphonies were superb and innovative, as well as his last seveal operas. I would argue that Beethoven derived from Mozart, or at the very least completed a progression Mozart surely would have rivaled.

A shame he died so young.

[ding_dong_daddy_from_dumas]

But Mozart was evolving rapidly near the end of his life

True. Bach also wrote amazing music before the age of 35. Mozart's father shepherded him, whereas Bach was an orphan.

I would argue that Beethoven derived from Mozart, or at the very least completed a progression Mozart surely would have rivaled.

Yes, Beethoven learned from Mozart, but also from Haydn and Bach. In Haydn's symphony 82, "The Bear" (1786) I hear very striking similarities to Beethoven's Eroica symphony (1805).

Beethoven wrote that Bach was "the very father of musical harmony." He also said, "Bach sollte nicht Bach, sondern Meer heissen" (Bach should not be called Bach (brook) but Meer (sea).

Mozart was very excited when he heard Bach's motets; in fact on that occasion, he insisted that the scores be produced immediately so he could study them.

[SunkenCiv]

This topic was posted 8/25/2010, thanks La Lydia.