M is for Mozart

 

              I am participating in the Blogging from A to Z Challenge, and my theme this year is classical music. Check out the list of other participants by clicking here! M is for Mozart. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg in 1756 and he died at the young age of 35 in 1791. Today’s featured video is the Overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro performed by the Weiner Symphoniker with conductor Fabio Luisi.

Video link: https://youtu.be/Mp6UAGN_Ir4

 

Portrait by Barbara Krafft

   ·   Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s father began teaching him to play minuets and other pieces on the clavier at the age of 4. Around the age of 5, he began composing and playing short pieces that his father wrote down.

 

   ·   His musical memory was beyond belief. He heard Allegri’s Miserere at the age of 14 and wrote down the entire piece by memory later that day.

 

   ·   Mozart had a pet starling and he taught it to whistle a short tune that is similar to the opening of the third movement of his Piano Concerto No. 17 in G.

 

   ·   Mozart wrote 30 symphonies by the age of 18 and composed over 600 works in his short lifetime. After his death, Mozart’s compositions became a standard part of studies for classical musicians.

 

A young Mozart with his father,
Leopold and sister, Nannerl
painted by Carmontelle

   ·   During his final illness, Mozart was working on the Requiem Mass in D Minor and he felt as though he was writing the piece for his own funeral. He did not finish it before his death and the work was completed by composer Franz Xaver Süssmayr.

 

   ·   His music is used in many films, including The Shawshank Redemption, When Harry Met Sally, Out of Africa, The King’s Speech, and Amadeus, a movie about the last 10 years of his life. He has 1,163 soundtrack credits in the Internet Movie Database!

 

Sources: http://www.classicfm.com/composers/mozart/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfgang_Amadeus_Mozart

Yesterday's trivia: How many miles do you think it was estimated that Franz Liszt traveled in his threefold existence? Answer: It is estimated that Liszt traveled 4000 miles per year by train during those later years of his life. That is a significant distance for the 1870s at his age.

For this challenge, I’m keeping a playlist of the videos I’m using plus some extras for anyone who wants to hear more. I will update with the latest letter each day. Today's extra video is the hauntingly beautiful Adagio from Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23. The piano is played with great emotion by Hélène Grimaud.

  

I'm sure you have heard of Mozart before, learn anything new? Trivia: Which member of Mozart's family is speculated to be the composer of the Toy Symphony?