Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Mozart’s incomparable musical gifts enabled him to compose at the highest level of artistic brilliance in almost every musical genre.  We are privileged to experience his legacy in symphonies, chamber music, wind serenades, choral music, keyboard music—the list goes on and on.  But, unquestionably, his greatest contributions to musical art are his operas.  No one—not even Wagner...

Mozart’s incomparable musical gifts enabled him to compose at the highest level of artistic brilliance in almost every musical genre.  We are privileged to experience his legacy in symphonies, chamber music, wind serenades, choral music, keyboard music—the list goes on and on.  But, unquestionably, his greatest contributions to musical art are his operas.  No one—not even Wagner...

Mozart’s incomparable musical gifts enabled him to compose at the highest level of artistic brilliance in almost every musical genre.  We are privileged to experience his legacy in symphonies, chamber music, wind serenades, choral music, keyboard music—the list goes on and on.  But, unquestionably, his greatest contributions to musical art are his operas.  No one—not even Wagner...

Mozart is largely responsible for the creation of the modern piano concerto, composing them primarily for himself to support his career as a performer.  His spending habits consistently placed him in financial difficulties, and since he usually desperately needed to concertize, concertos were a natural solution.  He composed about two dozen of them, starting about 1767.  Although...

Mozart is largely responsible for the creation of the modern piano concerto, composing them primarily for himself to support his career as a performer.  His spending habits consistently placed him in financial difficulties, and since he usually desperately needed to concertize, concertos were a natural solution.  He composed some twenty-three of them, starting about 1767.  Although his operas...

Mozart is largely responsible for the creation of the “modern” piano concerto.  He wrote them primarily for himself to support his career as a performer.  His spending habits consistently placed him in financial difficulties, and he usually desperately needed to concertize.  Only his operas exceed his piano concertos in musical genius, and historical significance.  He composed...

      Mozart is largely responsible for the creation of the “modern” piano concerto.  He wrote them primarily for himself to support his career as a performer.  His spending habits consistently placed him in financial difficulties, and he usually desperately needed to concertize.  Only his operas exceed his piano concertos in musical genius, and historical...

In the crystalline perfection of Mozart’s works, pride of place must be given to his operas, non-pareil dramatic works that unified drama and music like none before or since.  And secondarily, there are the piano concertos—a genre that Mozart more or less established in its mature guise.   Then there are his symphonies.  He wrote forty-one of them, and they span his artistic career from early to...

While Mozart had enjoyed some degree of success with his operas during the years leading up to 1788, by then he was again in deep financial trouble.  His income from time to time was evidently encouraging, but he was notorious for his over-spending.  So, there are extant some heart-rending letters to his friends, literally begging for money.  It is in this context that he moved his family from...

While Mozart had enjoyed some degree of success with his operas during the years leading up to 1788, by then he was again in deep financial trouble.  His income from time to time was evidently encouraging, but he was notorious for his over-spending.  So, there are extant some heart-rending letters to his friends, literally begging for money.  It is in this context that he moved his family from...