Today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – January 27, 1756. By the time he died in 1791, only 35 years later, he had produced some of the best music ever composed by any human, and he had forever changed the course of western music.
To me, the extraordinary thing about Mozart’s greatest works is that they are so perfectly constructed, so seamlessly put together, as to seem almost superhuman, and yet simultaneously they are intensely moving works that manage to reach the very core of our humanity. With his four greatest operas – Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, and The Magic Flute – he single-handedly redefined the grandest of musical art forms (Don Giovanni in particular completely changed operatic history). Some of his chamber music works – the viola quintets, for example – are so beautiful that it almost hurts to listen to them. And I could go on.
Others will disagree with me – J.S. Bach is a popular choice for the “greatest composer” award, as is Beethoven. And no one can deny the greatness of those composers, or of others too numerous to list. But to me, at least, Bach’s greatest music is so intensely Christian (e.g., the Passions of St. John and St. Matthew, the Mass in B Minor) that it lacks the universality of, say, the Marriage of Figaro, the heroes of which everyone can identify with. And Beethoven, as amazing as his music is, didn’t equal the output in his 56 years of Mozart in his 35 – where both get an A+ for quality, quantity gets the edge.
Happy birthday, Wolfie.
I have to add one of my all-time favorite lines from the great musical comedian (and Massachusetts resident) Tom Lehrer:
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What is it with this friggin three-period thing? It’s a meme, I tell you.
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p> – Andrew Sullivan on the Pope – Molly hates Hillary
It originates from The Simpsons. The Comic Book Guy expressed his loathing of one thing or another in this way often enough that in one episode he actually showed up wearing a T-shirt with the words “Worst. Episode. Ever.” printed on it.
Valley girls of course! Remember the Simpsons is written in LA and in my 15 years living there I came to see how much of popular culture (TV and film, at least) is shaped by SoCalisms.
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Except in Valley Girl speak the phrase would be “Oh. My. Gawd!” Three periods is a pretty good way to approximate the particular inflection of deep San-Fernando-Valley speak 🙂
The market, according to Answerbag.com claims he is the best composer of all time. Did not Candle in the Wind revolutionize our conception of the ballad, after all. John’s birthday is 25 March, for reference. Maybe we have uncovered a market failure 😉
Mozart’s 250th birthday has now slipped away, and though my January 27, 2006, wouldn’t have seemed right without some of his music (I was part of a Mozart celebration concert this evening), I have to disagree with my friend and musical colleage David about Mozart’s and Bach’s relative places in the parlor game, “Who’s the Best?” The reason he says Bach can’t win the big prize is the very one that makes me believe that it is more significant music than Mozart’s–its religious bearing. Granting that Bach’s Christian orientation–Christian orientation, hell, he was a preacher–may be a block for some people who don’t hold similar beliefs, it is his effort both to grapple with our humanity and to reach beyond it, matched by his unfathomable skills, that raises him to the top. Heart matters. Skill matters. But, intent matters, too.
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As DK says, Mozart had the skills, to put it embarrasingly mildly. But his greatest and most perfect work, The Marriage of Figaro, when you get right down to it, is about people being horrible to each other. Yes, the music reaches deep and often painfully into our hearts, but it makes little attempt to reach outside us, beyond us, or (forgive that religious allusion) above us. Beethoven, the third usual suspect, certainly does do that, stretching all around him–his eyes wide, fists raised and hopes unfettered. But, alas, he didn’t have that gift of Mozart’s that DK mentions: to construct complex structures that hide any hints of bolts, girders or wires. (Let’s face it: the fourth movement of the 9th Symphony is a mess–which is not to say it’s not thrilling.) In fact, someone as iconoclastic as LvB probably couldn’t give a damn about composing music with the mysterious sheen that pervades Mozart’s.
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So, Mozart had the skill, and even the human-ness. And Beethoven had the reach. Ah, but Bach, he had all of it, and in limitless quantities.
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ergo JSB = 1
finis
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Looking forward to March 21, 2006. It’ll be his 321st.
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DMMH
At the outset, though, I absolutely agree that the “who’s best” question is, at best, a parlor game that runs the risk of trivializing some of humanity’s greatest achievements. But that’s never stopped me before, so here goes!
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The reason DMMH is so wrong about this is revealed in his utterly backward assessment of the Marriage of Figaro (did he miss Act IV?). Sure, people are nasty to each other in Figaro. People are nasty to each other in the St. Matthew Passion too – really, they’re quite a bit worse in the Passion, since I don’t recall anyone getting crucified in Figaro! But, in the Passion, redemption and perfect forgiveness are found through God – or, more specifically, through Jesus Christ, while in Figaro, redemption and perfect forgiveness are found through other humans reaching deep into their own hearts and souls and inviting inside those who have hurt them most deeply. To me, the latter is more interesting, and more meaningful (of course, that’s a debatable point, but I’m speaking entirely for myself).
First just let me say this: In my opinion this isn’t trivial at all. Scientist have proven that Mozart’s music allows the creation of more brain proteins than that of any other composer to date.
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Reason: His themes or concept for most of his peices are more complex and are more symmetrical, thus more proteins are created from them.
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Lastly, Mozart was a much nicer person than LvB or Bach. That being stated, he was more intelligent.
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“If it were not that I have a father and a sister to whom I must support and sacrifice everything for. I would completely renounce my own interests and consult yours only.” – Mozart
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P.S. I find most of Beethoven’s late works very simple and easy to “decode” the “symmetries” “within” them. I like Bach, Haydn, and Schubert as well. Also, most of the music of these masters can be converted to guitar rather easily, while Mozart’s peices are very hard to decode.
Bach is more than a Christian music..
Bach is the best, the very best
Mozart well.. is more low level, in abstraction, and spirituality..
Beethoven is for me, better than Mozart, anyway
Bach is one ocean …
listen Die Kantaten or Sonaten, fugas etc..
Mozart is too “naïf”