Mozart Accomplishments

Around the world, the Name Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is recognized as a creative music mastermind, so much so that his music still acts as inspiration to composers in today’s realm of music. While his childhood was far from ordinary, Mozart was able to create a massive amount of art in his short lifespan of 35 years, across an abundance of genres and styles of music. Not only was he a brilliant composer, but was also an amazing musician, learning to play instruments before he could even read. The life of Mozart and the brilliance behind his music go hand in hand, as the legend himself was able to create music up until his dying days. On January 27th 1756, in Salzburg, Austria, the birth of a musical mastermind took place, as Wolfgang Amadeus

From 1764 to 1771, Mozart was able to compose all thirteen of his childhood symphonies, which sounded less childlike, and more similar to how a true adult composer would write music (Who is Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart- His Work & Life). These symphonies showed obvious musical promise and were technically sound, solidifying his father’s thoughts about him being a child prodigy. Dr. Vandervert expresses that “very young children with a very slight genetic sensitivity and with exposure to particular skills, such as music, and with the opportunity and encouragement for lots of early practice, might become child prodigies (Vandervert, 2016).” This explanation of child prodigies fits quite similar to Mozart and his childhood. As previously stated, Mozart spent an abundance of his childhood enthralled with writing music and learning how to play a variety of instruments. With his fascination in music, and his father wanting him to become world renowned, practice was a key component that not only Mozart, but his father focused on. Within Mozart’s conscious mind, he knew that he was quite talented when it came to music, but when it comes to his unconscious mind, one may assume that his accomplishments in music were based off of his father’s actions around him, which subsequently may have been

According to Britannica, “the height of his career is considered the late 1780s, when he composed his string quartets that were dedicated to Haydn, and his three great operas on Lorenzo Da Ponte’s librettos- The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, and Cosí fan Tutte (Hopkin, 2012).” These works were considered Mozart’s superb late symphonies, as he passed within a year of the completion of the last one. During his last year of life, Mozart created one of his most known works, The Magic Flute which is still being performed by operas today. While in his last year, Mozart was commissioned to compose his Requiem, and obsessively threw himself into the composition of this piece, even though his health was quickly deteriorating (Schwarm). During his time working on the Requiem, Mozart worked on no other pieces, and many attribute the focus he had on this piece due to his decreasing health. Throughout working on this piece, Mozart’s health continued to decline until December 5th, 1791, when he passed away (Wilson, 2017). Requiem, although a beautiful piece, was not completed by Mozart, and was not fully finished until the late 20th century where his student, Franz Xaver Süssmayr, completed his piece