Mozart's Background Leading Up to Don Giovanni - Coursework Example

Mozart and Don Giovanni Biographical Background on Mozart leading up to Don Giovanni Mozart had a childhood experience and thorough training that gave him an upper hand in composing. He was able to use diverse styles in his music to portray characters, convey moods and heighten contrasts within a movement. It should be noted that Mozart’s father was a violinist for the archbishop of Salzburg and became deputy Kapellmeister. Mozart performed piano sonatas and concertos and mature operas in a classical style. He was capable of harmonizing melodies, composed at a very high rate. During the seventeenth century, London was full of Italian opera. English composers did little to counter this trend. Most of the music that was sung in English was composed in an Italian manner. Arsinoe was such an example, which was sung with recitatives in place of spoken dialogue, and was the first of such opera to come to the London stage1 . As more performances were held, still Italian opera dominated English opera. Mozart concentrated in performing operas. Mozart’s opera production made a great change in English opera. Later, people performing in music were differentiated, depending on details of rhythm, harmony and accompaniment. Even the tone of the voice was used. Mozart had a skill that no other composer equaled to. his ensemble finale represented a section in which all the lines of the action were brought together and driven more and more swiftly to a climax or to the final solution of the plot, involving the appearance on the stage of all the characters, singly and in various combinations but in increasing numbers and excitements as the end of the act approached. Mozart’s music differs from Italian opera buffa and follows a general pattern indicated2. Mozart’s operas led to Mozart’s Don Giovanni, an operatic masterpiece full of iconic and mythical tensions. The opera had both the aesthetic and moral legacies2. Historical background of work, performance background, and public information Mozart had an opportunity to listen to every kind of music which was written and heard in Western Europe during the many tours that he made alongside with his father. Mozart’s father had made numerous tours across Europe, alongside his family, Mozart included. Therefore, everywhere they stopped, Mozart had an opportunity to listen to music that was written and heard in that town. At each stop, Mozart acquired all the music that was not available in Salzburg, his birth place. Mozart also met musicians who introduced him to new ideas and techniques of music. It is through these ideas that Mozart was capable of developing an excellent musical career that inculcated almost all the genres of music. For instance, Mozart imitated the music of Johana Schobert while they made a stop over in Paris, during one of their tours across Europe. Works done by Mozart included the playing of a piano because Mozart was a renowned pianist. A Mozart piano uses rapid alternating notes in the right hand to stimulate orchestral string tremolos. Mozart also acquired some valuable music styles from London and Vienna. it should be noted, that Mozart was talented and was eagerly interested in performing operas. He had performed his first opera at the age of twelve. Mozart was appointed as an unpaid third concertmaster at Archbishop Colloredo’s court in Salzburg. At the Archbishop Colloredo’s court, Mozart was charged with the duty of composing church music. This would not enable Mozart to achieve the expected heights in his music career. Later, Mozart sought a position elsewhere because he was much interested in opera and instrumental music, and not composing church music, where he could not prosper. As a result, Mozart decided to leave Salzburg. When he could not find an opportunity elsewhere, he returned to Salzburg. Mozart wrote an opera seria for Munich. Later, while still working at the archbishop’s court, working as a church music composer, Mozart declined being treated as a servant in the archbishop’s court and left the place, against his father’s advice. He became a freelance musician in Vienna, where he had several sources of income3. As a freelance musician, Mozart could attend many public and private concerts. He also trained young musicians, most of who came from rich families, and this earned Mozart enough money to progress his music career. Mozart’s music and songs did well, and were performed in Vienna, as well as, other German cities. His later operas also did very well also. Mozart trained pupils who hailed from various family backgrounds to play piano. He also made them pay by the month so that he could not lose the money when they skipped lessons. During this time, Mozart performed both in public and private concerts, and took part in training people to play piano, as well. As a result, he gained a reputation as the finest pianist in Vienna. Later, as Mozart’s fame went high, he was appointed the chamber music composer to the emperor. As the chamber music composer to the emperor, Mozart was given a modest salary and performed light duties. This enabled him to progress in his music career. Background of Operatic Genre As much as Mozart was capable of performing in all music genres, he always sought to perform opera eagerly. It should be remembered that Mozart wrote his first opera buffa while he was in Vienna in 1768. The opera was named La finta semplice, meaning the friend simpleton. This opera was performed in 1769 at Salzburg. He also composed two opera serie that wee produced in Milan. His opera serie had pictorial music that was accompanied by recitatives. There was also the use of a chorus and inclusion of spectacular scenes. ‘The Abduction from the Seraglio’ was done in 1782 and this raised Mozart’s fame in Vienna. With its romantic story of adventure, the opera attracted many people. Mozart’s other operas did extremely well and some of them have never lost their fame because they were performed in theatres, many years later, after his death. Overall Description of Work One spectacular aspect about Mozart’s work is that his work exhibited mature style. His music and works were immortal, though they were composed in Vienna. Every work that Mozart did had an extraordinary synthesis of form and content. He applied both gallant and learned styles, which polished and charmed the pieces of work with emotional depth. This attracted many people who composed of theater audience. In addition, Mozart’s works were enriched by influences from greatest composers of the preceding periods. It is worthy noting that Mozart was an excellent pianist, and his styles were represented in his music for piano. He did sonatas, fantasias, variations, rondos and piano duets. This music was written for students, for domestic music making and for publication. Mozart was so talented that he could command the genre with a set of six sonatas. His music is exemplified by the sonata form first movement of the sonata. Mozart had acquired so many stylistic methods of music that he had a combination of heterogeneous styles. The phrases in Mozart’s music were balanced between antecedent and consequent but the second phrase was often extended. He used same cadence in his melodies and every gesture reflected grace, taste and elegance. Analysis of the Work of Don Giovanni Among the operas that Mozart did were many operas. As much as most of Mozart’s operas did well in the theatre and music arena, Don Giovanni was the most remarkable. Don Giovanni is an opera that has two acts. The initial plan was to cast the opera as a serious event but Da Ponte persuaded to have comic dimension included4 . Don Giovanni also has music accompaniments, which were done by Mozart. There was a Lorenzo Da Ponte’s Italian Libretto. The opera was staged in 1787 in Prague’s Estates Theatre. The opera has both serious and comic and action mixed. This opera was regarded as opera buffa by Mozart. Though, Don Giovanni is classified as comic, the opera mixes comedy, supernatural elements and melodrama. This mix made Don Giovanni a perfect opera that was performed in many music theatres. As a result, Don Giovanni has been performed many times5 . Don Giovanni and other operas form a list of Mozart’s works that are regarded as immortal because of their undying fame. It has been called the greatest opera ever composed, and an almost perfect work, with pleasing music6. Evaluation of the Work within the Composers and Other Operatic Works The music and opera that was done during the time of Mozart has unique characteristics, depending on the composer. For instance, all the other composers of the time, used contrast to delineate form in their music. The composers also conveyed feelings and provided variety of music. In their music, the composers ensured that the first phrase would be sung in allegro style with a songlike melody, in quick tempo over broken chord figures. The second style would include a melody and bass line, played on the natural horn and using the pitches of the harmonic series. All the composers of the time of Mozart then ensured that the transition of their music was done as a loud and minor mode, with faster rhythms, full texture, strong dissonances. Such frequent changes of style did continue throughout the movement of the music to outline a form and broaden the range of expression. Therefore, composers employed operative works and unique styles in music, during the time of Mozart. References Archive. "Four Works in Don Givanni-Mozart/Da Ponte." 2013. http://archiveofourown.org/tags/Don%20Giovanni%20-%20Mozart*s*Da%20Ponte/works (accessed December 16, 2013). Burkholder, J. Peter, Donald Jay Grout, and Claude V. Palisca. A History of Western Muisc. 8th ed, 2010 (New York, London: W.W. Norton and Company Press, 2010). Goehr, Lydia, and Daniel Herwitz. The Don Giovanni Moment: Essays on the Legacy of an Opera. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006. Grout, Donald Jay, and Hermine Weigel Williams. A Short History of Opera (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003). Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Mozart's Don Giovanni (New York : Dover Press, 1985). Sadie, Stanley, Dorothea Link, and Judith Nagley. Words about Mozart: Essays in Honour of Stanley Sadie (Rochester: Boydell Press, 2005). Read More