Born: January 27, 1756. Salzburg, Austria
Died: December 5, 1791. Vienna, Austria
Brummitt-Taylor Music Listening Program Piece of the Week:
Serenade in G Major "Eine kleine Nachtmusik" 1. Allegro Page 143 in your binder...
Piece with narration by Mr. Jamesbarry...
• Monday
• Tuesday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday
"Neither a lofty degree of intelligence nor imagination nor both together go to the making of genius. Love, love, love, that is the soul of genius."
From Classics for Kids
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, where his father Leopold was a violinist and composer. Wolfgang (or Wolferl, as his family called him) was a child prodigy. He composed his first piece of music at age five; he had his first piece published when he was seven; and he wrote his first opera when he was twelve. By the time Wolfgang was 6, he was an excellent pianist and violinist. He and his sister Maria Anna (known as Nannerl) traveled all over Europe performing for royalty.
When he grew up, Mozart moved to Vienna, and tried to earn a living as a pianist and composer. But he had a lot of trouble handling the fact that he was no longer a child prodigy. Mozart was still a musical genius, but after he stopped being a cute kid, people stopped making a big fuss over him. Back then, musicians were treated like servants, but Mozart did not, and could not think of himself as a servant.
Mozart was only 35 when he died. During his short life, he composed in all different musical forms, including operas, symphonies, concertos, masses, and chamber music. Today, he is still considered a genius!
You can start learning about this composer right here!!
Just follow some of the links below. You can read about his life and listen to some of his works.
Whether you have a fast or slow Internet connection, the Classics for Kids web site has informative radio shows that you can listen to right from you home computer. The shows range in topic from The Magic Flute to About Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to What is a Rondo.
The Mozart Project site has everything you could hope for. You can read a very detailed biography of the composer. There is also a complete list of compositions, and if you have Real Audio Player installed you can listen to short example. There is even bibliography for continued learning.
The W.A. Mozart site from Classical Music Pages has more limited biographical information, but also contains musical examples in mp3 format with will play from most any browser.
The Essentials of Music site also has a Mozart page with biographical information along with a limited selection of music streams that you will need Real Audio Player to hear.
To learn more about the orchestra and live performances of classical music, check out these sites...
San Francisco Symphony for Kids
The New York Philharmonic for Kids
NPR Performance Today
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