BY PAUL JOHNSON
Replete with not-so-well-known information about Mozart
5 stars out of 5 stars
For classical music fans, “One of the most dangerous of pastimes is nominating a composer for first place among the musical immortals. ….. Like three eternally recurring cards in the musical deck, Bach, Beethoven, and Mozart are dealt out with a monotonous regularity.” So stated Wallace Brookway and Herbert Weinstock in their book “Men of Music.”
I recently reviewed the books “Beethoven – the music and the life” by Lewis Lockwood, and “Bach’s cantatas of the soul” by Mark Ringer. It seems unfair that Mozart is missing. It is now my pleasure to remedy the situation by reviewing “Mozart – a life” by Paul Johnson.
I had the good fortune to be aware of Mozart’s music at age 20. I have been listening to a variety of his compositions for some 60 years. These included five of his symphonies, six of his piano concertos, concertos for clarinet, bassoon, and the flute, serenades, divertimentos, string quartets/quintets, piano sonatas, piano trios, as well as three of his operas: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and the Magic Flute.
On Mozart’s life, my knowledge was gained in books such as “Men of Music” mentioned above, and Weinstock, Norman Lloyd’s “The Golden Encyclopedia of Music”. In the old days, the back side of the LP record jacket also contained information about the composer and the music in the record. Recent day CD’s also have a booklet of similar information. I owned many of the recordings of Mozart’s music by various artists.
With knowledge from these various sources, I was at first skeptical what new information I could learn from Paul Johnson’s book, which contains a mere 155 pages including an Appendix.
Not yet halfway through the book, my skepticism was completely gone, and I was truly amazed at the amount of not-so-well known information about Mozart’s music and his life. A few of these are described below.
Mozart’s Music:
- Among Mozart’s operas, Idomeno is not well known. I admit that I seldom listened to it. Johnson guided the reader through the historical and musical significance of this opera by listing ten characteristics, without using any musical note. They ranged from emotional intensity, the way different sections of the orchestra talk to each other, to the use of key changes to advance the musical actions. All these are new to me and prompted me to put Idomeno in my “must listen” list from now on.
- For most music lovers, it was a mystery that Mozart wrote five gorgeous violin concertos while Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Tchaikovsky all had only one. The author pointed a plausible answer, per the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius, “The violin takes it out of you, and if you pull of a concerto, you must rest content for life.” Sibelius, of course, had only one, one with his unique style.
- Mozart was the first composer to give the viola equal status with the violin, in the lovely “Sinfonia Concertante K 364”, in 1779.
- Johnson had perceptive comments on Mozart’s best known piano concertos and symphonies. These comments may well resonate with many music lovers. On piano concertos, “K 466 for thought and K. 488 for exhilaration. K488 concerto has an extraordinary slow movement of the deepest melancholy…But its general mood, especially of its ultra-robust opening movement, is of dauntless optimism.”
- “K488 is tremendous, even its causes and silences”.
- “It is a curious fact that numbers (size of the orchestra) seem to make little difference to an actual Mozart performance. It is the right notes that matter, and the exact combination, and perfect timing – together they create overwhelming power. A Mozart tutti can sound more explosive than Berlioz with all his legions.”
- “The three great and final symphonies that Mozart wrote in the summer of 1788 are a triprych of genius, each of which differs totally from the other. I like to think that the E-flat (No. 39) is genial, the G Minor (No. 40) pensive , and C Major (No. 41) imperial.”
- “Ludwig Wittgenstein, who came from one of the most distinguished musical families in Vienna, used to say that No. 39 was for encouragement, No. 40 for second and third thoughts, and No. 41 for a glimpse of paradise, with reservations. The whole gamut of possible human emotions is in these works.”
Mozart’s Life:
- Mozart’s father, Leopold, concluded early that he had fathered a genius – indeed, being a highly religious man, that he was responsible for a gift of God to music. He regarded Wolfgang’s appearance as, quite literally, a miracle. It was his duty to convince the world of this miracle.
- God, music, billiards, dancing, were the main components of Mozart’s life.
- Mozart had bundles of music paper in his pocket when he entered a public billiards room and composed while waiting his turn.
- Johnson dispelled the erroneous belief that Mozart was poor for most of his life, that Constanze was not a good wife, and that Mozart’s life was tragic.
The most moving passage in Johnson’s book was the words written by Mozart in a letter to his father, dated April 4, 1787. A few sentences are quoted below:
“….And I thank my God for graciously granting me the opportunity of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness. I never lie down at night without reflecting that…young as I am…I may not live to see another day. Yet no one of my acquaintances could say that in company I am morose or disgruntled. For this blessing I daily thank my Creator”.
It was indeed a pleasant surprise that I learned much more than Mozart’s music in Johnson’s 155 page book.
Finally, a couple of interesting/hilarious remarks:
- Authur Schnabel, a famed pianist, said of Mozart’s sonatas: “they are too easy for children and too difficult for artists.”
-Figaro (the opera)’s success led the emperor to ban “excessive applause,” which prolonged the evening past his bedtime.
- Mozart was never remotely poor - he owned eighteen handkerchiefs when he died.
In conclusion, this book contains much not-so-well-known information about Mozart's music and life. I highly recommend it.
Link to Amazon Review: https://www.amazon.com/review/R125VV9LPIK0KE/ref=pe_1098610_137716200_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv
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