Even today, many believe Mozart’s genius was handed down by God because such talent seems, well…, miraculous.
Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang’s father, was a minor composer and deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. He was also an experienced teacher, which he put to good use with his children.
Even before Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born in Salzburg, Germany, on Jan. 27, 1756) started touring as a youngster, his father would often show him off at home. Sometimes, little Wolfgang was placed in an adjacent room and asked to call out the letter of the note being played in the other room. Or the keyboard of the harpsichord might be covered, or he would be blindfolded and asked to play.
By the time he was 6 years old, he was off to “tour” Italy, Germany, and surrounding Europe, with his father, the “agent.” By 7, he had started his grand tour, where he caught the eye of bishops, counts, and even the emperor. Once he slipped on a polished floor and a young Marie Antoinette helped him up.
In Mozart: The Man; The Musician (“Schirmer Books, New York, NY, 1976), author Arthur Hutchings shares a letter from Leopold to his business partner. In the letter, Leopold told the story about how little Mozart, on his grand tour, was to play at a local church on an organ with pedals that he could not reach. So, he pushed the stool away and played the music while standing, using the pedals he had just learned to play moments before. The local priests and spectators were all amazed calling it, “A new grace of god, which only some acquire only after great effort.”
Even before he was 7, Mozart began to compose short pieces. Anyone with some musical experience can understand that composition is very difficult, even for someone with talent and experience. It’s not easy to get the sounds you hear in your head onto that piece of paper. Just as in fiction writing, musical composition has to project a certain mood, needs an introduction, a rise, a climax, and conclusion—generally speaking—and at the same time, the composer has to keep in mind multi-instrument harmonics, timing, rhythm, and dynamics.
Yet at the age of 5, Mozart was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down. As a teenager, he heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere performed once and then he reproduced it from memory, only later correcting small errors.
By today’s standards, Mozart was a rock star of his day, and understandably, much has been made of his personality—fond as he was for crude jokes and certain excesses. Perhaps these attributes had to do with his hypersensitivity as a child. He would often ask people if they loved him, and he was known to hop into people’s laps and shower them with hugs and kisses. He was deeply concerned with people liking him and accepting him.
Many people attributed Wolfgang’s genius to forced totalitarian musical education by his father. He was exposed to music almost at birth. But, in fact, both Wolfgang and his sister never felt the worse for their education, and never commented on it—or only in that they viewed it as a supportive and fortunate environment.
Leopold Mozart, Wolfgang’s father, was a minor composer and deputy Kapellmeister to the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg. He was also an experienced teacher, which he put to good use with his children.
Even before Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (born in Salzburg, Germany, on Jan. 27, 1756) started touring as a youngster, his father would often show him off at home. Sometimes, little Wolfgang was placed in an adjacent room and asked to call out the letter of the note being played in the other room. Or the keyboard of the harpsichord might be covered, or he would be blindfolded and asked to play.
By the time he was 6 years old, he was off to “tour” Italy, Germany, and surrounding Europe, with his father, the “agent.” By 7, he had started his grand tour, where he caught the eye of bishops, counts, and even the emperor. Once he slipped on a polished floor and a young Marie Antoinette helped him up.
In Mozart: The Man; The Musician (“Schirmer Books, New York, NY, 1976), author Arthur Hutchings shares a letter from Leopold to his business partner. In the letter, Leopold told the story about how little Mozart, on his grand tour, was to play at a local church on an organ with pedals that he could not reach. So, he pushed the stool away and played the music while standing, using the pedals he had just learned to play moments before. The local priests and spectators were all amazed calling it, “A new grace of god, which only some acquire only after great effort.”
Even before he was 7, Mozart began to compose short pieces. Anyone with some musical experience can understand that composition is very difficult, even for someone with talent and experience. It’s not easy to get the sounds you hear in your head onto that piece of paper. Just as in fiction writing, musical composition has to project a certain mood, needs an introduction, a rise, a climax, and conclusion—generally speaking—and at the same time, the composer has to keep in mind multi-instrument harmonics, timing, rhythm, and dynamics.
Yet at the age of 5, Mozart was already composing little pieces, which he played to his father who wrote them down. As a teenager, he heard Gregorio Allegri’s Miserere performed once and then he reproduced it from memory, only later correcting small errors.
By today’s standards, Mozart was a rock star of his day, and understandably, much has been made of his personality—fond as he was for crude jokes and certain excesses. Perhaps these attributes had to do with his hypersensitivity as a child. He would often ask people if they loved him, and he was known to hop into people’s laps and shower them with hugs and kisses. He was deeply concerned with people liking him and accepting him.
Many people attributed Wolfgang’s genius to forced totalitarian musical education by his father. He was exposed to music almost at birth. But, in fact, both Wolfgang and his sister never felt the worse for their education, and never commented on it—or only in that they viewed it as a supportive and fortunate environment.
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