Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(1756-1791)(1756-1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

• Born in Salzburg, Austria

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

• Sound of trumpet would send him from room screaming. • Didn’t like flute either• Was Compulsive. When he

was learning math, he would fill the whole room (walls, floors, furniture) with numbers using chalk

• On a visit to France, proposed to Marie Antoinette at the age of 7!

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)

• Considered a child prodigy• Began playing harpsichord

at age 4• Began writing music at

age 5• At the age of 5, began

touring Europe with his family playing harpsichord

• Wrote his first opera at the age of 11

Symphony No. 40

• The classical symphony typically contained four movements.• 1st movement - fast movement• 2nd movement - slow movement• 3rd movement - Minuet (dance in 3,4 time)• 4th movement - fast movement

• Mozart’s Symphony No. 40 was one of only two symphonies that Mozart wrote in a minor key.

• Symphony No. 40 was completed in just a few weeks in July of 1788.

Piano Concerto No. 21 in C Major

• The Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major was completed on March 9, 1785, four weeks after the completion of another concerto.

• This concerto has three movements

Concerto

• Concerto – a piece of music that features an instrument or instruments with the orchestra used as accompaniment

• Soloist – a performer who plays alone

• Cadenza – an ornamental passage performed by a soloist near the close of the composition, usually improvised• Example from the 1st mvmt. -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vN0Vohbi2Y

Listening Samples

• Symphony No. 40• 1st movement -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l45DAuXYSIs

• Piano Concerto No. 21• 2nd movement - http://

www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZNt3ESnf8Q