Kyle VanderburgMusic in the Classical Period

September 18, 2010

Issues in Mozart’s Biography

Many composers seem to possess a strange sort of eccentricity,

possibly due to their work in the compositional process. Alex Ross explained

that process as “a laborious traversal of an imaginary landscape. What

emerges is an artwork in code, which other musicians must be persuaded to

unravel.”1 Due partially to the inherent eccentricity of the profession and

partially to his early life as a child prodigy, the composer Wolfgang

Amadeus Mozart lived a life that was at once wonderful and tragic. Due to

this strange, extraordinary life, several issues have been raised regarding

Mozart’s biography; namely, his relationship with his father, his personality,

and his compositional process.

Relationship with his Father

Mozart’s first teacher was his father, Leopold Mozart, who was

additionally the younger Mozart’s business manager and organizer. It was

under the guidance of the elder Mozart that Wolfgang learned to play violin

and to compose, and it was the elder Mozart that arranged for the various

tours taken by Wolfgang in his early life. Leopold Mozart was “often

portrayed as an inflexible, if consummate, tour manager” who had immense

control over his children’s artistic careers. However, these tours allowed

the Mozarts to meet composers and performers that did not often travel to

1 Alex Ross, The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2007), 157.

Salzburg.2 Leopold’s control of his son’s artistic life was attempted

throughout both of their lives, which, when paired with Wolfgang’s

tendencies to do things Leopold thought rash, was a source of contention

for father and son.3

Personality

Through Mozart’s letters one can begin to see his personality, one

that is clearly musically trained, yet possessing an immaturity that never

quite goes away. His early letters to his sister include the phrases “that

wondrous horse-face o thine”4 and “But [he] does not write as I do, that is,

as the sows piss.”5 This latter comment not only shows immaturity, but also

a sense of arrogance that extends to later years.

Compositional Process

Like all creative processes, the compositional process of any single

composer may vary greatly from any other single composer, the general

process appears to follow the steps of inspiration, sketching, first draft,

elaboration and refinement, final draft.6 While this sort of procedural work

can certainly be seen in the notebooks Ludwig van Beethoven, Mozart’s

2 Cliff Eisen, et al. “Mozart.” In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40258pg3 (accessed September 20, 2010). 3 Ibid.4 Mozart to his sister, Milan, February 17, 1770, in Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ed. Hans Mersmann (New York: Dover, 1972), 9.5 Mozart to his sister, Woegl, December 1769, in Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ed. Hans Mersmann (New York: Dover, 1972), 6.6 Stan Bennett, “The Process of Musical Creation: Interviews with Eight Composers,” Journal of Research in Music Education 24, no. 1 (Spring, 1976), 6.

autograph manuscripts can be divided into three parts: sketches, unfinished

fragments of compositions, and final drafts.7 Unlike the notebooks of

Beethoven, the manuscripts of Mozart rarely show process. Instead, they

function as either full completed drafts or memoranda for future

compositions. From these manuscripts it appears that the bulk of Mozart’s

compositional process (which is to say the inspiration, sketching, first draft,

elaboration, and often, final draft) took place mentally, without the need for

extensive revision. In many manuscripts Mozart used a variety of

abbreviations and musical shorthand, which indicate he was composing

music faster than he could write it.8 However, Mozart’s compositional

process can be seen in its extra-mental state in fragments of composition

that were especially difficult, such as multi-voice polyphony and intricate

counterpoint.9

While Mozart lived quite an extraordinary life, it is difficult to say

whether he was destined for greatness or whether his extraordinary life

produced the extraordinary composer whose music we still enjoy today.

Through the struggles with his father, his bizarre personality, and his

seemingly incomplete compositional process, Mozart managed to create

some of the most beautiful, well-crafted music that has stood the test of

time.

7 Erich Hertzmann, "Mozart’s Creative Process" in The Musical Quarterly 43, No. 2 (April, 1957), 190.

8 Ibid., 1899 Erich Hertzmann, "Mozart’s Creative Process" in The Musical Quarterly 43, No. 2 (April, 1957), 191.

Bibliography

Bennett, Stan. “The Process of Musical Creation: Interviews with Eight Composers” Journal of Research in Music Education 24, No. 1 (Spring, 1976): 3-13.

Eisen, Cliff et al. “Mozart.” In Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/40258pg3 (accessed September 20, 2010).

Hertzmann, Erich. "Mozart’s Creative Process." The Musical Quarterly 43, No. 2 (April, 1957): 187-200.

Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus. Letters of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, edited by Hans Mersmann. New York: Dover, 1972.

Ross, Alex. The Rest is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. New York: Farrar Straus and Giroux, 2007.