Born Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a creative and prominent composer. He lived in the Classical era, between 27 January 1756 and 5 December 1791. Mozart is widely considered as the greatest composer of all time (Cairns 128). Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria. He was a prodigy's child and he composed his first symphony at eight years of age and developed to be a creative artist who penned over six hundred pieces of music. Mozart was the son of the violin player and composer Leopold Mozart (1719 - 1787). He was born in the same year his fathers best-selling treatise on playing the violin was published. Mozart and his older sister, Maria Anna (1751 - 1829), started composing under the guidance of their father when he was at five when he publicly performed for the first time. His father toured with the two children all over Europe from 1763. The initial tour took the trio to France and England between 1763 and 1769.
During this tour, in 1764, Mozart met Johann Christian Bach and composed his debut symphonies. Nest was the tour of Italy between 1769 and 1773 during which time he first met the string quartets of Joseph Haydn and composed his earliest Italian opera. Between 1775 and 1774, Mozart wrote his debut violin concertos and piano sonatas. After the death of his mother in 1778, he went back to Salzburg as the cathedral organist and composed his opera seria Idomeneo in the year 1781 (Solomon 73). He was released from this position in the same year and he subsequently moved in with his friends and began his solo career in Vienna. He wedded to Constanze Weber taught piano lessons, and composed the Abduction from the Seraglio and several of his famous piano concertos in 1782.
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The second half of the 1780s century was the climax of his successful career with the string quartets devoted to Haydn. In that period, he released the three celebrated operas on Lorenzo Da Ponte's librettos, i.e. The Marriage of Figaro in 1786, Don Giovanni in 1787, and Così fan tutte in 1790 alongside his outstanding late symphonies. In his final year, he wrote the opera The Magic Flute and his famous Requiem that he died before finishing. In spite of his accomplishment, he was always broke, perhaps due to his gambling debts and a love for fashion, and had to borrow a lot from associates. He died aged 35 from unconfirmed illness. No composer ever left such an amazing legacy in such a short time.
Mozart composed undoubted masterpieces in almost every musical genre of his time. A look at Mozart's adult age works reveals a practical honour roll of musical masterworks (Zaslaw and Cowdery 54). These include orchestral music (which include some 40 symphonies; marches, cassations, serenades, divertimentos, and dances), Concertos (5 for violin, 27 for piano, oboe, concertos for clarinet, bassoon, French horn, flute and harp and flute), Operas (Idomeneo, The Marriage of Figaro, The Abduction from the Seraglio, Women are Like That, Don Giovanni, and The Magic Flute). He also composed Choral music (the Requiem K.626 (incomplete), 18 Masses, and other liturgical music), Chamber music, Keyboard music and Secular vocal music. His compositions, mostly on request for the leisure and outdoor get-togethers of the upper class, have grown to be held identical with the Classical "age of elegance," and are best epitomized by the celebrated Serenade in G major, which the composer named A little night music.
The Serenade in G major was composed in Vienna in 1787 at the time when Mozart was polishing his second act of his opera Don Giovanni. Mozart listed the piece as being made up of five movements i.e. Allegro, Minuet and Trio, Romance, Minuet and Trio and Finale (Zaslaw and Cowdery 250).
The movement, a minuet and trio, has long been considered missing and its unknown as to who removed it. The Allegro forcefully rises in a Mannheim rocket theme followed by a more graceful theme in D major, the principal key of G major. The show closes in D major which is repeated. The development part starts on D major and glides to D minor and C major before returning to G major for the recapitulation. The movement closes in its tonic key which is G major. Romanze movement is in C major with the tempo a clear Andante. The movement is in rondo form and assumes the form A-B-A-C-A and a closing postscript. The central emergence of A is shortened, and is made of only the initial half of the theme. The third movement is a minuet (in home key of G major) and trio (in D major) (A-B-A). The final movement is in a bubbly tempo. The key is in G major and is composed in sonata rondo shape. The work closes with an extended coda.
Another composition by Mozart is The Symphony No. 29 in a major, K. 201. Just like The Serenade in G major, this composition has five movements. The initial movement is in sonata form, with an elegant major theme typified by an octave drop and horn passages. The following movement is scored for hushed strings with restricted exploit of the winds, and is in the shape of sonata. The following movement, a minuet, consist of tense scattered rhythms and staccato expresses. The penultimate movement, a trio, offers an added refined distinction. The final movement is an energetic sonata in 6/8 time. It unites with the initial movement with an octave drop in the major theme. The Only Mozart You Will Ever Need is a 2 CD set contains 20 selections which include Overture to the Magic Flute, thought to be Mozart's homage to the Fraternity, and packed with Masonic allusions. The album consist of great set pieces of opera, from the emotional romanticism of 'Un Bel Di' to the thrilling intensity of Wagner's 'Ride of the Valkyries' and the boisterous 'Largo Al Factotum.'