How Did Mozart Impact The Classical Period

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart greatly impacted the 18th century classical period and influenced other composers through his works and musical talent. Ever since he was a young child, music was a part of his life and gave him a reputation that would go down in history. Three aspects of his life that led to his impact are his talent as a young boy, the influence of his works, and his influence on other composers of his time period. First of all, as a young boy, Mozart showed incredible musical talent that set the stage for the work he would do in the future. Ever since the age of 3, Mozart had a great interest in music. His father, Leopold, was giving his sister, Nannerl, lessons on the clavier, and starting at this time, Mozart began listening

Not only did he play and compose for the piano, but he did so for many other instruments as well, including the violin and viola. The viola isn’t a particularly brilliant-sounding instrument compared to the violin. However, it wasn’t until Mozart wrote his Sinfonia Concertante in 1779 that he made equal the brilliance of the two instruments. He used a trick called transpositione scordatura, where the player plays as if the piece was written in the key of D but it sounds as if it is in E-flat. “The key gives the viola greater volume and much more brilliant tone, and three of the four viola strings reinforce the tonic, subdominant, and dominant notes of the key … the viola’s prominence is underlined by sheer performance, and the two instruments become true equals for the first time in musical history” (Johnson 33). Another thing that he did was enhance the melody of clarinet, through his Clarinet Trio in C for Viola and Piano, the Clarinet Quintet, and the Clarinet Concerto. He loved the tone and character of the instrument, but through these works, he brought these characteristics out a bit more and “creates an apotheosis of melody, in which one tune seems to flow out of another naturally, spontaneously, organically, as though the melodic material were breeding within the tissue of the work” (Johnson 115). These works aren’t just pieces of