Mozart
From Popwiki
 Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophillus Amadeus Mozart approves this article... |
"Just fuck off!"
~ Falco
"I knew Mozart, we got drunk and did it with all sorts of hot chicks. I was his Bitch when it came to one-upping Winston Churchill"
Once upon a time, back when men wore powdered wigs and rode around in gilded carriages, a beautiful baby boy was born in the glorious town of Salzburg, nested in the Austrian Mountains.
The date was January 27th, 1756. The little boy's name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophillus Amadeus Mozart. Can you imagine twisting a name like that into your 'stache? Lucky for him, he was called "The Mozzarino" for short.
The Mozzarino was a very smart little boy, and he loved music. He was probably one of the greatest musical geniuses who ever lived.
Little Mozzarino
When his sister Elniña was seven and Mozzarino was three, Pa started teaching her to play the piano. The Mozzarino could not stay away! He loved hearing her play and he loved the Sound of Music. He would sit on the floor, playing with his toys while she practiced her music. They could hardly keep little Mozart away from the piano. After his sister's lessons, he would go up to the piano, stand on tippy toes, and reach his chubby little three year old fingers up to delicately touch the keys. After playing one note, he would always want to play another.
Little Mozzarino always had music popping into his head, and it had to come out! When he was four, his father gave him piano lessons. His father also gave him special ruled sheets, called music paper, to write down the music playing in his head. Mozart could write notes before he could write words!
One day, Papa Mozart came home with two friends. They set up music stands and pulled up chairs so they could play some new "trios" that one of them had just written. Mozzarino came into the drawing room with his little violin and said,
 Papa, can I play?  |
And Papa Mozart looked down at him and said,
| Mozzarino, you can't play the violin. |
But Mozzarino begged,
| Please, papa. Please, papa. |
His papa started to get mad at little Mozart - you know, how papas do sometimes. Papa Mozart was getting more and more angry when he said,
| Mozzarino, I told you not to bother us. Now, if you keep talking, I'm going to send you away. |
At this, little Mozart started crying. The second violinist, feeling sorry for little Mozart, said to Papa Mozart,
| Let the little one sit next to me. You won't be able to hear him play. |
Papa Mozart then turned to Mozzarino and said,
| All right, you can sit there and play, but make sure no one can hear you! |
Little Mozzarino sat down with his tiny violin and began to play ever so quietly. Pretty soon the second violinist stopped playing. He looked at that little five year old boy who was now playing the second violin part all by himself!!! At this, his father was so amazed he had tears in his eyes. When they were done, he came up to his son and said,
| Mozzarino, how is it that you can play the second violin part when you haven't had violin lessons? |
Then Mozzarino looked at his father and said,
| But Papa, surely one doesn't need to learn to play the violin to play second fiddle. |
Can you imagine saying that to your father when you were only five???
Young Wolfie
Little Mozzarino was always humming new tunes - ones that no one had ever heard before. When he had no one to play with, he would sit down at a table, get his special music paper, and begin writing down all the tunes that were playing in his head. In fact, music was his favorite game. He loved it because he could write exactly what he felt. When he was happy, he would write a happy, fast tune like an allegro. When he was sad, he would write a slower tune like an andante.
So unbelievable was Mozart's talent, that he was taken to the Archbishop's castle up on the hill and locked in a tower with nothing but a bed, a table, music paper and pens. The Mozzarino wasn't afraid at all. He actually enjoyed looking down on the streets of Salzburg from his room above the trees. He liked being there so much that he began to hum a tune. "This is a nice tune," he thought. "I'm going to write it down."
So he did, and he kept on writing music, putting to paper all the music that danced in his head. Every few hours he would grow tired and drop off to sleep. Not for long though! All that music playing in his head would ultimately wake him up to notes he would put down on the paper.
About a week later, the Archbishop climbed the long stone staircase to the tower, peeking through the keyhole to find Mozzarino tired, but happy! Behind him was a great pile of music! He had even finished music for the Archbishop's mass! There was no doubt that the young Mozart was indeed the author of all that fine music that had been delighting the town.
Word of Mozart's talent even reached Vienna, the capital of Austria. Mozart's family was summoned by a messenger on a beautiful white horse to play before Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis. With a flourish of his feathered hat, the handsome messenger announced:
| You are commanded to perform before The Imperial Majesties in Vienna, a fortnight from today. |
Musicians at that time were not able to make money the same way some artists do today. They could not just play a concert and have people buy tickets to see them. They had to perform in castles or houses of people who had money. It was up to the generosity of the person they played for if they would be paid. If these people liked the music, they would usually pay them well. If they didn't care for the music, they would not pay them much or anything at all. Sometimes, instead of money, the person would even give them fancy gifts, jewels, or have special medals made. However, this would usually not be of help to the musicians because they could not use it to buy food and clothes or pay the rent.
Young Wolfie received many upon many beautiful presents, but he could not pay for anything he needed, because he could not sell them, or his patrons would get angry. It is an insult to sell a gift from royalty! After a week of frantic preparations, theMozart family finally boarded a stagecoach for Vienna.
Mama, Papa, Elniña, and of course, Little Mozzarino headed across Austria on muddy, bumpy roads. When Wolfie saw the Empress, he ran and jumped on her lap! He put his arms around her and gave her a big hug and lots of kisses. Luckily, she was a mother and was used to having little boys climb on her lap. She herself was also a good musician.
The Emporer loved Mozzarino too, but he seemed more interested in having Wolfie do tricks like playing with his hands hidden under a cloth, playing the piano with only one finger, or guessing what chords were being played. Mozzarino didn't like this! He would get mad and not perform unless people listened carefully as he played his music.
The royal family liked the Mozarts so much that they paid him lots of money, and even gave the Mozart children beautiful clothes!
Pre-Teen Wolfgang
Oh, how Mozart loved Italy, this land of blue skies and song! He heard that in Rome the music was even more special. Rome was the home of the Pope, the head of the Catholic Church, and in his private chapel he had the finest singers in the country. During one extremely busy Holy Week, the week right before Easter, a special choir performed a special work: the famous Miserere by the composer Allegri. Nowhere else could it be heard, for no other choir was allowed to sing it. It had never been printed, and nobody outside the choir had ever seen the music, which was kept carefully guarded. Teen Wolfie's heart was set on hearing this music, so Papa soon took him to Rome. There, they attended Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral on the day that the Miserere was to be performed. As the glorious music rose in that huge building, Mozart knelt in awe.
When the service was over and his father said it was time to go, he just knelt there as if in a dream. When Papa finally got him to leave, he hummed the music over and over again. He wanted to remember it all and carry it away with him for the rest of his life. He wanted to rbe able to ecall its sound whenever he wanted. What a smart lad!
That night, when Wolfie went to bed, he could not fall asleep. The music he'd heard that day was playing over and over in his head. Again, the music had to come out! Quietly, he got up and unpacked his pen and music paper from his suitcase. There, in the light of the moon, he began to write down every note he had heard. When he was done, for the first time, the great Miserere was put to paper outside of the Pope's choir room. This marvelous memory for music astonished people for the rest of Mozart's life!
Back in those days, playing music was a major form of entertainment. They didn't have radio or TV back then! You couldn't buy your favorite music on CD so you either played it yourself, or hung around with someone who could play it. To make it more interesting, people would make games of playing music. Only, these games weren't like football or basketball, these were improvisational games. Do you know what it means to improvise?
Improvisation was such an important part of a musician's training, that they would hold big competitions of improvisations where they would play as many variations of the same tune as they could. They would start with a simple tune, and then play it as many different ways as possible.
The not-quite-an-adult Mozart
When Mozzarino was in his late teens, he and a famous pianist, named Clementi, had a contest. Joseph, the son of Emperor Francis, brought the two together at court in Vienna and had them compete in a piano playing contest. It seems that Joseph liked to see Mozzarino play special games with his music just like his father did. He bet on Mozzarino. Can you guess who won?
Mozart wrote variations on a French folk tune that was popular at that time. It was known then as Ah, vous dirai-je, Maman. Today the song is know by a different name, in fact it's known by a couple different names. Here's a game. I'm not even going to give you those names.
As Mozzarino grew older
It was harder for Mozart to make a living as he got older. He wasn't the amazing boy wonder that everyone wanted to see, he was always writing music to sell to try and make money. Ruthless music publishers would buy songs, have them copied by hand, and in turn, sell them so people could play them at home. This hurt the music industry in the long run, as musicians are only paid according to the demand for their songs.
Occasionally, Wolfgang would sell a composition to a publisher for a good price or he would get an order to write an opera. Then he would have plenty of money, for a while. (He was so broke that sometimes he burned his furniture just to keep warm.) Mozart also wasn't getting enough sleep and he would get back aches from sitting at the piano all day. Finally, his doctor told him that he would have to get out and get some exercise.
Wolfgang's idea of excersize was playing billiards with friends, or playing Nine Pins. He loved to play these games so much, that sometimes it seemed he wasn't writing enough music for the people who had commissioned it, but the music was always working itself out in his head. All he needed to do was stop and write it down, which he would do while he waited for his turn to STRIKE!
Throughout Mozart's life
A lot of very sad things happened to the Mozzarino. He was often ill, and other musicians tried to keep him from getting work. The weirdest thing of all happened one very hot summer day while he was alone in his house. He heard a loud knock on the door, and when he opened it, he found a man dressed in dark clothes from head to foot with a great, dark hood covering his head. He handed Wolfgang a piece of paper, asking him to compose a requiem. A requiem is musical piece written to honor the dead. He gave Wolfgang alot of money to do this.
This really scared Mozart. He was sure that he was going to die soon and that the song he was writing was for his own funeral. Over the next several months, Wolfgang was obsessed with writing this piece for the stranger in the dark cloak, never really knowing who the stranger was. As he wrote this requiem, his illness became more severe. In fact, he became so ill that he could not even get out of bed, and it became hard for him to breathe.
Mozart was never able to finish this whole piece by himself. Part of this piece was named the "Tuba Mirem" and is considered one of the most beautiful pieces he ever wrote. Doesn't it sound sad? On December 5, 1791, another very sad thing happened. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart died.
Mozart was only 36 years old when he died of natural causes. Although Mozart was sick at the end of his life, it is important to remember that his was some of the most joyous music ever written on this planet, and that he always kept on doing what he loved to do most. And after 200 years, Mozart may be gone, but his music remains!
THE END!
See Also
