Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Accomplishments

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“Music can change the world because it can change people,” says Irish singer-songwriter Bono of the rock band U2 and if anybody’s music ever changed people it was the music of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Mozart was one of the best composers in his time and he changed music forever. He composed at least 48 compositions in his lifetime. When people think about Mozart they usually think about his famous symphonies and piano concertos but Mozart's genius was so versatile that he also composed a wide variety of operas that are still, 200 years after his death considered among the best ever written. Three of these operas, Don Giovanni, La clemenza di Tito, and Die Zauberflöte, stand out for their musical style, emotional range, and dramatic …show more content…

Mozart wrote this opera for a Bohemian patron who he met on his tour of eastern Germany and Bohemia in 1789 (“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” ABC-CLIO). Tito premiered in Prague on the day of Leopold II’s crowning as King of Bohemia (“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” Gale). It is based on a Metastasian libretto, modernized to include more group numbers and fewer solos (“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” Gale). Mozart, who formulated the opera in just 18 days, went back to the opera seria style he used a youth (“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” Gale). The setting responds to the sadness and depth of the time and the libretto shows also an enlightened gracefulness and self-control (“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” Gale). Unfortunately Mozart couldn't exercise that same self-control in his own financial matters. Even though he was successful enough to demand he be paid a lot for his compositions like Tito and even though he was getting good money from the Viennese Court he still had financial problems because he insisted on living beyond his means (“Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” ABC-CLIO). Part of the emotional range achieved in Tito lies in the ability of the characters to overcome desire for vengeance and forgive those who have done them wrong (Ross). Perhaps this reflects Mozart’s wish to be forgiven for his excesses, his leaving Salzburg for Vienna, and his marrying Constanze, for which Mozart’s father, Leopold, harshly criticized him (Ross). Soon after composing Tito, Mozart was suffering from ill health, but he still went on to compose one final

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