Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Block 1 Alana, Hope, Ashley, Jose, Larrisa

Compositions: “Ave Verum Corpus” Finished in June 1791 Composed in the Romantic Period “Lacrymosa” Mozart worked on this piece until he died, and it was later finished by another composer. Composed in the Romantic Period.

Mozart Basic Facts: Name- Mozart’s full name was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Birth and death dates- Mozart was born on January 27, 1756 and died on December 5, 1791. Birth and death cities- Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, and died in Vienna, Austria. Nationality- Austrian Cities of residence- Mozart lived in Salzburg, Paris, London, Italy, Vienna, Mannheim, Munich, and Prague.

Mozart’s Personal Background: Born on January 27, 1756 to Leopold Mozart, a German composer, conductor, teacher, and violinist. His mother’s name was Anna Maria Mozart. In 1762 Mozart’s father took Mozart and his sister Nannerl to the court of Bavaria in Munich. This became one of the many trips the family took to different parts of Europe. Mozart also met Johann Christian Bach. Mozart married Constanze Weber on August 4, 1782 and then went on to have six children. However, only two survived past infancy. In 1874 Mozart became a Freemason and focused on charitable work and fraternal friendship. Mozart died in autumn of 1971 to what was recorded as being severe miliary fever (only 35 years old). He began to get better around December 2 of that year, but this did not continue as he died only three days later. He was also sick while he was in Prague earlier in the year.

Mozart’s Career Background: Mozart wrote his first opera, “La Fine Simple” in 1768 at a young age. In 1787 Beethoven arrived in Vienna to study with Mozart. In 1791, Mozart composed one of his most famous pieces, “The Magic Flute.” Requiem was the last piece Mozart was working on before his death in 1791. It was incomplete when it was on his deathbed. The piece was later finished by his student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr. Mozart composed a total of about 600 pieces of music before his death, some of which were composed before he was even a teenager. He was considered a prodigy by many including his father.

Mozart’s Significance: The piano concerto style was almost single-handedly developed by Mozart. The marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, all operas, are some of Mozart’s most famous works. Mozart visited various different areas in Europe and incorporated their styles of music into his own. He liked to recycle musical ideas. Mozart did not stick to one genre of music. He created chamber music, solo concertos, symphonies, operas, piano sonatas, and string quartet music. The is an award named after Mozart called the Mozart Medal. It is awarded to worthy composers.

Mozart’s Output: 15 masses Over 50 symphonies 27 concert arias 17 piano sonatas 12 violin concertos

Compositional Techniques (“Ave Verum Corpus”): Form: The musical form is a motet. A motet is often defined as a vocal piece with a sacred text, musically composed in the style of the period. Meter(s): Cut time Tempo (i): 69 BPM Key(s): D Major Orchestration/instrumentation: Strings, organ. Style/texture: Mozart’s “Ave Verum Corpus” Motet has a homophonic texture (a form of musical texture with a melody and chordal accompaniment), and although the piece is only 45 measures long, the music evokes a simple, yet sublime mood. The style is European Classic.

Compositional Techniques (“Lacrymosa”): Form: Sonata Meter(s): 12/8 Tempo (i) 40 BPM Key(s): D minor Orchestration/instrumentation: Strings/organ Style/texture: European classical (from the Romantic Period)

Significance of Titles: The meaning of the Latin title, “Ave Verum Corpus,” is “Hail, True Body.” The piece was named this way because Mozart had composed it for a church musician for a Catholic religious event known as the Feast of Corpus Christi; Corpus Christi meaning “Body of Christ.” Another reason for this naming is that the title dates back to the 14th century when the original Ave Verum Corpus was made. Mozart had composed this song to go along with the chant. Lacrymosa, originally spelled “Lacrimosa.” means weeping. It, like “Ave Verum Corpus,” had a historical text and Mozart had composed music for it.

Performance Difficulties: Individual In Lacrymosa 1-2 there are some issues with pitch. In Motet there is issues with rhythm and because it may have to do with the tempo being a bit slower. In Lacrymosa rhythm is an issue in measure 19; it seems sloppy, tone isn’t all there. It may be caused by the weird string crossing , though we are needed to do 2nd position for 1st violin. Section and/ or Ensemble Cello’s intonation needs work, there needs to be balance within that group. It isn’t an orchestra without the cello’s. As whole our dynamics isn’t too bad , though we could make it more noticeable with either increasing the volume for our “f “ or lowering our “p” . As in making it ff or pp.

Connections With Historical Events: Sep. 3, 1971; The French Constitution of 1791 was the first written constitution of France Sep. 6, 1971; Mozart's "La clemenza di Tito" Premieres Sep. 30, 1971; Mozart’s “The magic flute” premiered in Vienna on September 30, 1791, at the suburban Freihaustheater auf der Wieden. Mozart conducted the orchestra, Schikaneder himself played Papageno, and the role of the Queen of the Night was sung by Josepha Hofer, Mozart's sister-in-law Dec. 5, 1971; Mozart dies at the age of 35: Mozart became ill while in Prague for the premiere on September 6 of his opera La clemenza di Tito, written in 1791 on commission for the Emperor's coronation festivities. He continued his career for some time, and conducted the premiere of The Magic Flute on September 30, 1791. The illness got worse on November 20, and Mozart became bedridden. Mozart was depressed in 1788, which may have caused him to compose pieces with darker tones.

Additional Interesting Facts: Mozart and his older sister, Nannerl Mozart, were the only of his mother and father’s seven children to survive. This shows that the chance of living was much lower during Mozart’s time. There was a high possibility that Mozart wouldn’t have lived to ever compose the many pieces of music he did. There were rumors going around that Mozart was planning to get married to his future wife Constanze Weber (not together yet), and Mozart said that he was not interested in marriage and didn’t love her anyway. This is interesting to me because of its irony. Mozart and his wife had financial problems when they were together. They could afford necessities like food, water, etc. but they wanted to live a better lifestyle than just having necessities. For example, they had servants who lived with them. This is interesting to me because it almost makes Mozart seem like a greedy person, although that doesn’t mean that it’s true. Some think that Mozart had a cyclothymic personality, which is linked with manic-depressive tendencies. This would explain both his depression and his spells of hectic creativity. This is interesting because in a way, this problem was a good thing since it caused him to become inspired. Mozart could pick out chords at age 3, play short pieces at age four and began to compose at the early age of five, which reveals how much of a prodigy he was. I could never imagine a three year old with that amount of musical talent.

Sources: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Wolfgang-Amadeus-Mozart https://www.its.caltech.edu/~tan/Mozartreq/main.html http://www.wolfgang-amadeus.at/en/music_of_Mozart.php http://www.users.on.net/~algernon/aveverum/translation.html https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ave-Verum-Corpus-K-618 https://www.classicfm.com https://www.8notes.com/biographies/mozart.asp https://www.dummies.com/art- https://worldhistoryproject.org/1791/9/3/french-constitution-of-1791 https://www.violinonline.com/unit3_3.html