Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadé Mozart (January 27, 1756 – December 5, 1791) is among the most significant and enduringly popular composers of European classical music. His enormous output includes works that are widely acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music. Many of his works are part of the standard concert repertory and are widely recognized as masterpieces of the classical style. Mozart himself is universally recognized as a musical genius, having learned to compose at the age of five and showing an encyclopedic grasp of every musical form of his time despite having lived only for 35 years.

Myths and controversies

Mozart is unusual among composers for being the subject of an abundance of legend, much due to the problem that not one of his early biographers knew him personally and resorted to fiction in order to produce a work. Many of the myths that extend to our time began early after Mozart died, but almost none have any basis in fact. An example is the story that Mozart composed his Requiem with the belief it was for himself. Sorting out fabrications from real events is a vexing and continuous task for Mozart scholars mainly because the prevalence of legend in scholarship. Dramatists and screenwriters, free from responsibilities of scholarship, have found excellent material among these legends.

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An especially popular case is the supposed rivalry between Mozart and Antonio Salieri, and, in some versions, the tale that it was poison received from the latter that caused Mozart's death; this is the subject of Aleksandr Pushkin's play Mozart and Salieri, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov's opera Mozart et Salieri, and Peter Shaffer's play Amadeus. The last of these has been made into a feature-length film of the same name, which won eight Oscars. Shaffer's play attracted criticism for portraying Mozart as vulgar and loutish, a characterization felt by many to be unfairly exaggerated.

Related Topics:
Antonio Salieri - Aleksandr Pushkin - Mozart and Salieri - Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov - Mozart et Salieri - Peter Shaffer - Amadeus - Oscar

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One area of some debate involves Mozart's prodigy as a composer from childhood until his death. While he was indeed composing from the age of five, some musicologists have criticised many of his earlier works as being simplistic or forgettable; other critics however revere Mozart for his works from even his teenage years. On the other hand, the claim by the film Amadeus that Mozart would finish most works in his head and wrote them down uncorrected in only one draft, as if by divine inspiration, is generally believed to be an exaggeration. Quite the contrary, Mozart was a studiously hard worker, and by his own admission his extensive knowledge and intellect about music developed out of many years' close study of the European musical tradition. It was indicated in a letter to his father that he could write a piece finished in his head on paper while composing another at the same time.

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See also: An analysis of the 1984 film, Amadeus

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