Tuesday, January 27, 2009
January 27, 1756
posted at 8:52 AM |
Permalink |
The birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is today, according to generally accepted rules of calendar conversion. Talk about prolific -- he wrote over six hundred compositions, beginning at five years old -- and 6,160 recordings of his are available at ArkivMusic. I've always wondered what it must have been like for his parents and older sister one Sunday when they returned from hearing a Bach cantata and their little boy proceeded to work it out on the clavier during the course of the afternoon, perfectly. Papa (Leopold) stopped his own composing when he realized what an astonishing son he had and unfortunately for Wolfgang channeled all his energy into teaching his son and being the original little league taskmaster parent (although I suppose that was fortunate for the rest of us, come to think of it). When Mozart was 13, his father took him on a two-year tour of Italy to establish his reputation. Thereafter, he was highly regarded but often, despite some enormous success, in penurious circumstances. He died at a mere 35 years of age although my father, who wrote a biography of Mozart years ago, believed that in fact Mozart died of old age, packing two or three years of life and experience into each twelve months. A lovely theory which perhaps explains the amazing quantity and quality of his work.
Labels: anniversaries, music, people of note
0 comments
Post a Comment