Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) showed such a prodigious talent
for music in his early childhood that his father,
also a composer,
dropped all other ambitions and devoted himself to educating the boy
and exhibiting his accomplishments.
Between ages six and fifteen, Mozart was on tour over half the time.
By 1762, he was a virtuoso on the clavier
- an early keyboard instrument and predecessor of the piano
- and soon became a good organist and violinist as well.
He produced his first minuets at the age of six,
and his first symphony just before his ninth birthday,
his first oratorio at eleven,
and his first opera at twelve.
His final output would total more than 600 compositions.
Much has already been said and studied in the popular media about Mozart's
roguish lifestyle and apprehension of conformity.
It was this aspect of his personality that never won him the support
of royalty or the church,
which, at that time,
was critical to any composer's survival.
As such, Mozart died young, ill, poor, and relatively unappreciated...
only to become the most widely acknowledged orchestral composer in history.
The most widely played and popular of Mozart's works for orchestra,
Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K. 525, dates from 1787.
It was a crucial and interesting period for Mozart.
Don Glovanni was composed that year;
perhaps Mozart was simply seeking relief from the rigors of writing
about suppers and statues.
He also composed two of his finest string quintets, (K. 515-516),
and the brillant A Major Violin Sonata (K. 526)
in the same year.
In February, his little Viennese circle of friends broke up,
with the Storaces, Kelly, and Atwood all returning home to England.
Mozart almost went along.
On May 28, his father died.
Then one day a rough-looking lad of seventeen,
with a heavy Rhenish accent, came in for an audition.
Mozart listened, at first politely, then attentively.
The visitor showed startling gifts at the piano.
Later, Mozart remarked to others present in the room
"This young man should be watched. He will soon make a noise
in the world."
Of course, the young man was Beethoven.
The manuscript of Eine Kleine Nachtmusik lists August 10,
1787, as the completion date.
It is a commonplace opinion among musicologists that the work is
so perfectly balanced that there is not a note too many or few,
yet Mozart's own thematic index shows that there were originally two
minuets.
Had the work retained both minuets, it may never have achieved such
popularity!
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