Mozart's Death in the NY Times

[BgMstr4u]

No, not an obituary, but an interesting article about the ongoing interest in the cause of Mozart's death:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/arts/music/25death.html?hp

[+ deej]

It really is an interesting article. My money's still on Salieri.

[uwsman2]

Looking at how productive the man was, and what a frenetic lifestyle he led, I would put exhaustion and a heart just giving out pretty high on the list. Consider he died before reaching age 36, but produced an incredible amount of music. Who else was that productive in such a short period of time?

[Kevin Slater]

My money's still on Salieri.

 

If he done it, I hope we bring him to a swift justice!

 

Kevin Slater

[whipped guy]

Not so fast...

 

If he done it, I hope we bring him to a swift justice!

 

Kevin Slater

From what I have heard the Salieri "family" has a special way of getting around "swift justice"... Something about becoming part of a bridge abutment on the lower east side of Vienna... ;)

[+ ArVaGuy]

It really is an interesting article. My money's still on Salieri.

 

Wait a minute, Salieri? I thought it was F. Murray Abraham.

[+ deej]

Wait a minute, Salieri? I thought it was F. Murray Abraham.

 

Wrong century, but he has shifty eyes too.

[orbital sander]

The Salieri "theory" has been widely debunked by credible historians...but it plays well in Hollywood

[+ deej]

Looking at how productive the man was, and what a frenetic lifestyle he led, I would put exhaustion and a heart just giving out pretty high on the list. Consider he died before reaching age 36, but produced an incredible amount of music. Who else was that productive in such a short period of time?

 

A friend opined that an early death may have saved him from a later career of increasingly cheesy and repetitive works since most prodigies seem to peter out eventually. (There's no question that there is repetition in Mozart.) Sadly we'll never know.

 

Compare to, say, Haydn. Mozart wrote 41 symphonies in his 36 years. Haydn wrote 104 symphonies in his 77 years. Haydn wrote string quartets by the sixpack. Mozart wrote works for winds that endure to this day (and not just with "early music" enthusiasts).

 

I don't think you can ever really do a 1:1 comparison with genuine masters. Each of them is *different*.

[whipped guy]

Apples vs. oranges?

 

A friend opined that an early death may have saved him from a later career of increasingly cheesy and repetitive works since most prodigies seem to peter out eventually. (There's no question that there is repetition in Mozart.) Sadly we'll never know.

 

Compare to, say, Haydn. Mozart wrote 41 symphonies in his 36 years. Haydn wrote 104 symphonies in his 77 years. Haydn wrote string quartets by the sixpack. Mozart wrote works for winds that endure to this day (and not just with "early music" enthusiasts).

 

I don't think you can ever really do a 1:1 comparison with genuine masters. Each of them is *different*.

I actually prefer Haydn because I find him more "inventive", more earthy, more humorous, and somehow the fact that he was a "good guy" is revealed in his music. Mozart was perfect... think the Gran Partita for winds, Don Giovanni, the contrapuntal masterpiece that is the finale to his Jupiter symphony. etc. and you get the idea... It all sounds so easy, no struggle involved, the inspiration just was there... all so percect... at times too perfect... one can tell that it was written by a member of MENSA...

 

Mozart was the greater composer... as an example Haydn never even came close to writing a piano concerto that was a towering masterpiece such as Mozart's nos 20 - 27... pick any one and you have a sublime masterpice... I am most fond of the two in the minor keys... 20 in D minor nd 24 in C cinor... However, if I had to name my favorite 18th Century keyboard concerto it would be Haydn's D major keyboard concerto... it is concise, witty, wildly rustic at times, yet has moments of repose, and perfection in every way... but not a awe-inspiring masterpiece by any means.

 

As for Mozart's early death... I read a theory that compared Rossini to Mozart. It was Rossini's genius that told him to stop composing operas after age 37... as he was more or less washed up. Mozart never had to make that decision...the problem was solved for him. Now whether he would have gone downhill as a composer and what his later music would have sounded like is an interesting idea to ponder... but we'll never really know!

[+ deej]

I actually prefer Haydn because I find him more "inventive", more earthy, more humorous, and somehow the fact that he was a "good guy" is revealed in his music. Mozart was perfect... think the Gran Partita for winds, Don Giovanni, the contrapuntal masterpiece that is the finale to his Jupiter symphony. etc. and you get the idea... It all sounds so easy, no struggle involved, the inspiration just was there... all so percect... at times too perfect... one can tell that it was written by a member of MENSA...

 

The MENSA comparison fits Mozart's works from an early age, but Haydn's early works sound like early works. Looking just at the symphonies, he didn't really get "good" until the final 12 (the "London" symphonies.) Musicologists* debate whether he was really just coming into his powers or whether he finally got an orchestra good enough to play what he really wanted to write.

 

Mozart always wrote what he wanted.

 

Mendelssohn is another that showed amazing maturity at an early age. His "Overture in C", written when he was 12 I think, is a fully mature gem. The Bizet Symphony in C is another work written by a teenager that shows an amazing maturity.

 

* Musician joke:

Q: What do you get when you cross a musicologist and a prostitute?

A: A fucking know it all.

[+ Charlie]

Hmmm. Mendelssohn (38) and Bizet (36) also died young at the height of their powers. Perhaps they, and Mozart, were biologically programmed to develop their talents rapidly because they wouldn't have much time to do otherwise, whereas old Papa Haydn had a long life in which to bring his talents to fruition.

[+ deej]

Fascinating train of thought, innit?

[whipped guy]

The MENSA comparison fits Mozart's works from an early age, but Haydn's early works sound like early works. Looking just at the symphonies, he didn't really get "good" until the final 12 (the "London" symphonies.)... Mendelssohn is another that showed amazing maturity at an early age. His "Overture in C", written when he was 12 I think, is a fully mature gem. The Bizet Symphony in C is another work written by a teenager that shows an amazing maturity.

I agree that Haydn's London Symphonies are quite a cut above what he had previously written... and it seems ironic that they were composed more or less after Mozart's demise... add the great Masses, The Creation, etc. into the mix as well... as they are simply on another level compared to what he had previously composed. Still I find his earlier compositions quite inventive in a way that Mozart's never quite are... and he was restricted to the forces he had at his disposal at Esterhazy... so in a sense he was straitjacketed.... but he did quite well within those limitations. As for his very early compositions... they can sound quite primative... but Haydn was an over 40 composer as was Verdi...as opposed to being an under 40 prodigy type composer.

[+ honcho]

My Uncle, who is also a physician and a Bassoonist (like Dr. Dawon, although my Uncle's specialty was ears-nose & throat and not orthopedics), said that he read a book giving convincing evidence that Mozart had Turet's syndrome. Probably had nothing to do with his death, but it was news to me.

[+ purplekow]

So if I may summarize Mozart a show er Haydn a grower.

[uwsman2]

Then compare Haydn and Mozart to their contemporaries - and one sees why from that time period of the last few decades of the 18th century they are the only two to remain ensconced in the standard repertory of modern symphony orchestras. It is also interesting to note the influence interplay - as a younger composer, Mozart was influenced by Haydn's work, but then after he became acquainted with Mozart's music, Haydn was influenced by Mozart. And the two men had enormous respect and affection for each other, and especially loved sitting together with other Vienna musicians to play string quartets together.

 

I think that had Mozart lived, we would have seen wonderful developments. There is a startling depth in his last few works, including unfinished works, that shows he was still developing as a composer. Mozart was very alive to developments around him. I wonder how he would have responded to the developmental challenge of Haydn's London symphonies and late masses, or Haydn's great two oratorios? And to the challenge of the emerging talent of Beethoven. Imagine if Mozart and Beethoven were the two reigning composition geniuses of Vienna in the decade 1800-1810! I can't imagine Mozart would not have been stimulated and challenged by early and middle period Beethoven to evolve even further. Imagine a Mozart symphony with trombones!!!!

[whipped guy]

Stendhal's theory...

 

Imagine a Mozart symphony with trombones!!!!

Stendhal had a theory that if Mozart were to have lived longer he would have become more Italian. I doubt that would have been the case given a potential rivalry with Beethoven, but then again he might have wanted to sound different and thus might have taken a less Teutonic approach to composition... In any event, if Stendhal's theory were correct then a Mozart symphony with trombones might have sounded akin to the overture to La Gazza Ladra. Rossinian Italian opera was very popular in Vienna during Beethoven's tenure so perhaps that is indeed the approach Mozart might have taken! Who knows?!

[AdamSmith]

what a frenetic lifestyle he led

 

You know the story that, the night before the opening of 'The Magic Flute,' I think it was, he was still writing the overture. To keep him awake while he composed (!), his wife had to sit up reading aloud to him from some book. The mind!

 

...Tom Lehrer quipped: "It is people like this who make you realize how little you have accomplished in life. It is a sobering thought, for instance, to realize that when Mozart was my age, he had been dead for two years!"

[uwsman2]

The idea that Mozart's muse would have developed more in the Italian direction is very interesting. His gifts were along the lyrical line, while Beethoven's gift was for rhythmic intensity and the imaginative working of short motifs. Note that during the last years of his life Mozart had stopped writing symphonies and was focused mainly on opera and chamber music. So perhaps the speculation that his development would have been in the direction of Rossini rather than Beethoven is sound. But with a genius of Mozart's character, it is really hard to imagine what would have been. Perhaps Schubert's Great C Major Symphony is a hint of what Mozart age 70 might have sounded like.

[whipped guy]

Perhaps Schubert's Great C Major Symphony is a hint of what Mozart age 70 might have sounded like.

I would buy that. I also recall reading an analysis of Schubert's C Major Symphony that enumerated the Italian influence. For example, the theme of the second movement is seen a as parody of "Di tanti palpiti" from Tancredi ... Plus the tombones... and the final bars of the last movement.