Mozart - A Study Guide

7/27/2019 Mozart - A Study Guide

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STUDYGUIDE

www.metromagazine.com.auwww.theeducationshop.com.au

1756-1791

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This study guide to accompany the flm In

Search of Mozarthas been written or mid-

dle to senior secondary students. It provides

inormation and questions or discussion in

Music Appreciation, Music Perormance and

History.

It is hoped that students will gain:

(a) a deeper understanding o the lie and times o this amazing com-

poser

(b) an insight into actors that contributed to Mozarts talent and abili-

ties as a perormer and composer o the day

(c) an understanding o the demands Mozart aced

(d) an understanding o the inspiration Mozart has been to contempo-rary perormers

(e) an understanding o the variety o Mozarts music and the incredible

output

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The Child Genius

Wolgang Amadeus Mozart has been reerred to as a child

prodigy, a genius, able to play beyond his years, able to

compose beyond his years, unparalleled in composition,

considered extraordinary. By the time he was six years old he could

play the harpsichord and violin, improvize ugues, write minuets and

read music perectly at sight.

Being born in Salzburg, what would have been the inuences

around the young child?

What actors might have contributed to his exceptional talent?

Did Mozart go to school?

What made the young Mozart exceptional?

What was unusual about his early compositions?

Why was it unusual or him to play?

The amily embarked on a long tour three years in act!

Where did they go?

What was the purpose o the trip? What eect do you think this would have had on Mozart and his

sister?

What was music or in the society at the time?

What was it like to go to London?

Who were some o the composers that Mozart would meet?

What do you think it would have been like to be in Mozarts shoes?

Can you think o a parallel situation in todays society?

What opportunities are there or highly talented (gited) children today?

What type o environment today would be encouraging or a child

with Mozarts abilities?

Could a tour, similar to what the young Mozarts took be organized

today without pre-booking? Why? What expenses do you think

would be incurred?

Make a rough budget or the type o tour the Mozarts would have

taken and make an estimate o the cost o the three years.

How would Leopold Mozart have made money in order to support

the tour?

Leopold Mozart and his wie obviously elt the tour would be a good

idea or the young artists. Why do you think they elt this way?

What types o difculties would you encounter i you wished to do

the same type o tour today? What types o music would the young Mozarts have heard on their

travels?

Whose compositions might they have heard?

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The Classical Attitude

At the time o Mozarts birth, the world was changing. Passing

was the intensity o religious eeling. Gone was the older order,

the love o the dramatic and grandiose. A new age had arrived,

one that would see magnifcent changes in the style o art and music.

Philosophers and writers especially Voltaire (1694-1778) and Denis

Diderot (1713-1784) saw their time as a turning point in history and

reerred to it as the Age o Enlightenment.

What was Enlightenment thinking?

How did this thinking aect the society?

Did the movement aect Mozarts compositions or the nature o the

composer and society?

Mozart it has been said wrote in every genre o music o the day by

the time he was sixteen.

What were the musical genres or which he composed? Who played the music he wrote?

For whom did he write the music?

Where were the various types o music perormed?

In what ways was Mozart a product o the Enlightenment thinking?

Not only had Mozart written in all genres but by his late teens he was

also considered a Master o all genres.

What are some o the qualities that set Mozarts music apart rom

other composers at the time?

VIENNA was one o the music centres o Europe during the Classical

period. It was the seat o the Holy Roman Empire (which included parts

o modern Austria, Germany, Italy, Hungary and the Czech Republic).

Trace a map o Europe today and colour the corresponding areas.

What type o society would have made up Vienna in the eighteenth

century?

How did Mozarts music reect the type o society he was part o?

How did the society support artists/composers in those times?

How do you think artists/composers are supported these days in

Australia?

Do you think there is a dierence between Australia, Europe and the

USA in relation to the arts particularly music?

Classical music i.e. that o Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven is oten con-

sidered today as Serious music.

How would this music have been seen by the society o the time?

In what ways was the music supported?

In what ways was Salzburg similar or dierent to Vienna?

The Classical Orchestra was a standard group o our sections: strings,

woodwind, brass and percussion. The number o musicians was

greater in a classical orchestra than in a Baroque group and composers

enjoyed exploiting the individual tone colours o the instruments.

What do you notice about the instruments used in the flm in com-

parison with todays instruments?

Look at a score o one o Mozarts symphonies and write down the

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instruments or which it is scored.

In what ways did the Concerto in A or Violin o 1779 demonstrate

some o Mozarts musical abilities?

During the Classical period, what dierences would an audience

expect to hear between the frst movement o a symphony and the

frst movement o a concerto?

With the Piano Concerto in E Flat, how did Mozart change the open-

ing o the Concerto?

Was the piano o the day as large as that o today?

How many movements are there in the Major instrumental works o

the time?

In what ways were the movements dierent rom each other?

What do you notice about the speed o many o the excerpts pre-

sented in the flm?

What is it about these segments that might have been dierent rom

the music prior to the Classical period in which Mozart was com-posing?

What is it about Mozarts music that makes perorming or conduct-

ing it so rewarding or the various artists in the flm.

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Mozart and Employment

According to Roger Kamien:

The tragic irony of Mozarts life was that he won more acclaim

as a boy wonder than as an adult musician. His upbringing and

personality were partly to blame. In his childhood, his complete depend-

ence on his father gave him little opportunity to develop initiative. Even

when Mozart was twenty-two, his mother tagged along when he went to

Paris to seek recognition and establish himself. A Parisian observed that

Mozart was too good natured, not active enough, too easily taken in,

too little concerned with the means that may lead him to good fortune.

Who were Mozarts employers in (a) Salzburg, (b) Vienna?

What were these people like?

What were some o the works Mozart wrote whilst in their employ-

ment?

How did Mozart get on with his employers?

How did the Enlightenment movement help or hinder Mozarts

opportunities or supporting himsel and amily?

Why did Mozart seek permission to leave Salzburg?

In Vienna, Mozart organized his own Concert Series. Mozart was con-

sidered one o the frst entrepreneurs o musical concerts.

What was involved in putting on a Concert Series?

What types o demands would this have put on Mozart at the time?

Was Mozart good at handling his fnances?

What expenses would he have had to be responsible or?

Besides composing and perorming, what other ways could Mozart

earn a living?

In 1778 Mozarts mother died and the relationship with his ather broke

down.

How did these actors aect Mozarts compositions? Who did Mozart stay with in Vienna?

What was the eventual outcome o this riendship with the amily?

What was the athers response?

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Mozarts Music

Mozart was among the most versatile o all composers; he

wrote masterpieces in all the musical orms o his time. All his

music sings: even his instrumental melodies seem to grow

out o the human voice.

What are other ways Mozarts music has been described by the

perormers and conductors o his music?

What are other personal actors that contributed to Mozarts depth

o emotion in his compositions?

In what way was Mozart at one with his society? How was this di-

erent rom Haydn?

What did Haydn think o Mozarts music?

What actors contributed to the drama in Mozarts music?

List the compositions that are cited in the flm and correlate Mozarts

age with the composition.

Why do you think it is the slower movements that are chosen to beperormed?

What do the aster movements convey?

Do you get the eeling that although Mozart is a genius he is writ-

ing more out o need to make a living, rather than his own creative

necessity?

How does the flm give us an insight into this dilemma?

I Mozart had had more money, do you think he would have com-

posed as much music? Discuss.

Mozart was a master o Opera. In what ways was Opera (a) a

medium or his emotions, (b) a vehicle or his musical abilities and

(c) an expression o Enlightenment Philosophy? List the major

Operas and say how they demonstrate these aspects.

What was Mozarts opinion o the voice?

How many compositions did Mozart write in his lie?

What are the last major works that he composed?

How old was he when he died? Would this have been considered

young at the time? How is it viewed today? How does this age com-

pare with other composers beore or ater Mozart?

What are the challenges today that artists ace when perorming

music by Mozart?

What aspects o perormance would have to be considered whenperorming music o Mozart?

What do you think is the legacy that Mozart let or the musical

world?

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Going Further Visit Mozart websites to gain urther reections on Mozart

Read Mozarts letters to get an understanding o how Mozart elt

about his situation

Ask music teachers or their response to playing Mozarts music

Keep a diary o the concerts that are perormed, especially this year,

as a tribute to Mozart

Collect articles that are also especially written in recognition o Mo-

zarts contribution to music.

Explore the Mozart Eect.

ReferencesNicholas Slonimsky, The Concise Biographical Dictionary o Composers

and Musicians.

Roy Bennett, History o Music: New Edition.

Georey Hindley (ed.), The Larousse Encyclopedia o Music.

Eric Blom (ed.), Groves Dictionary o Music and Musicians Volume 5, 5th

Edition.

Roger Kamien, Music: An Appreciation, 8th Edition.

Charles R. Hoer, The Understanding o Music, 3rd Edition.

Anne Friend is a teacher at Presbyterian Ladies College.

In Search of Mozartis istribut i austrli by: Gil Scri ilms, 44 northcot Strt,

est Brisb, QLd, 4169. Tl: 07 3391 0124. x: 07 3391 0154

emil: [email protected] Wb: www.gilscriflms.com.u

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Mozart - A Study Guide