Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Influence In The Enlightenment

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Mozart’s Influence In the Enlightenment The Enlightenment was a train of thinking that started with philosophers in the eighteenth century. Philosophers warned against religious division, cultural division, and social inequality. Today, our Declaration of Independence is based upon these same values of equality. In the Enlightenment, music took a different shape. Music was no longer only for wealthy merchants, but was now open to the public. Composers noticed the opportunity and wrote music that would appeal to wider audiences including people of lower status. A pop star of his time, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was one of the most inspirational figures of the Enlightenment era. Mozart wrote music that spoke to the masses and empowered the individual. When Mozart was only three he began to look at chords on a harpsichord. His father, Leopold, noticed his son’s extraordinary musical gifts when Mozart was only five, because he could not only play but also compose music. Leopold took his son to the Bavarian Court, the first place Mozart performed …show more content…

Mozart, however, changed the mold. He incorporated an emotional side into his works and emphasized music based off of sound, notes, tone, and pitch as a form of art outside of religion (Brown 55). Music became more broad and open to all. In addition, Mozart had extraordinary performance skills thus, leading to his honor as an embodiment of classical movement (53). “Despite Mozart’s uncouthness and immaturity, he produced one work after another that seemed divinely sponsored as they transcended his own personality. He was beloved of God- truly befitting the name ‘Amadeus’” (Brown 50). Mozart did not make the wisest decisions, and he certainly acted immature at times in his adult life. All of this faded away, though, when Mozart composed. His music was divine, exceptionally beautiful, as if it was inspired by God. The emotional weight each movement presented took audiences