|
It is difficult to know whether Leopold Mozart's attitudes and treatment of his two
young children was one of encouragement or of exploitation.What is certain is that
he introduced both Wolfgang and his sister to the Courts of Europe and to the music
of the time at an age which now would seem inappropriately young. Youth however
was no respecter of genius in the case of Wolfgang and there may well be an excuse
for treating a child prodigy in a different way to ordinary offspring in our own time.
The Mozart family thus set out on a series of journeys across Europe both for the
education of the children and for Leopold to benefit commercially from the musical
aptitude of his son and daughter. The first of these journeys was to the Court of the
Elector Maximillian in Munich, although at this stage Wolfgang was only six years
old. Nevertheless, he was presented as a child virtuoso and only six months later, in
the autumn of 1762, on a trip to Vienna, he had become a child composer. It was on
that journey that Mozart contracted the scarlet fever which was to affect his health
for the rest of his life. After his recovery, the family moved on to Pressburg. Mozart
was introduced to central European folk music but it had little future influence on
him.
It was, however, on June 9th 1763 that the family began the most major of their tours
to date - this was a journey that would ultimately lead to France and England and
from which they would not return to Salzburg until the end of 1766. The London of
the time had a musical patron in Queen Charlotte who employed the two major
composers of the day - Karl Friedrich Abel (1725-87) and Johann Christian Bach
(1735-82). Mozart was initially impressed by the symphonies of Abel but after his
acquaintance with J C Bach, he was to fall under the spell of the older composer both
as mentor and as friend, an influence that almost ranks with Mozart's uncritical love
and respect for Haydn.
Mozart's stay in London followed five months in Paris, where the young composer
had been imbued by the French Style under the tutelage of Johan Schobert, musician
to the Prince Conti. London was however to be the family's temporary home for a
whole sixteen months where the seven year old would study not only with Bach, but
also with other famous musicians of the time such as the Italians that Bach had met
on his travels to Milan - Pesceti, Paradisi and Galuppi. The period in London saw
Mozart's first symphonies (although one of these is dubious and another is actually
by Abel) and a series of chamber works, sonatas and such like.
After his trip and whilst in Vienna, Mozart composed a D major Symphony (KV48)
which is dated 13th December 1768 - this is a surprisingly festive sort of work and
includes parts not only for trumpets but also for drums. Not only is this one of
Mozart's first "mature" symphonies but it also shows many similarities with the
symphonies of his elder contemporary, Joseph Haydn. Shortly afterwards he
composed a brilliant Symphony in C major (KV73) which shows Mozart confirming
his growth from a composer of semi-Overture style works to developping as a true
symphonist. The following Symphony (KV74) is in G major and is written on the
paper that Mozart used on his journey to Rome in April 1770 where he had travelled
as part of a series of three Italian journeys which lasted intermittently from 1769
until 1773. The period was one of works written in major keys until Mozart
embarked on his almost revolutionary (for the period) oratorio or "azione teatrale" -
"La betulia Liberata". It was with this work that Mozart entered into the spirit of the
German romantic movement of "Sturm und Drang" which was also to affect Haydn.
The G major Symphony (KV110) has a significant relationship to the much later G
major Symphony (KV 318) and was composed on his return to his home town of
Salzburg in 1771. The following four movement F major work is dated Milan, again
an Italian journey, November 1771. Meanwhile, an important and most significant
event in Mozart's life was to occur - the old Archbishop of his home town Salzburg,
Sigismund von Schrattenbach, was to die in December 1771 and be replaced by
Mozart's cantankerous new patron, Archbishop Colloredo who was to have a harsh
effect on the young composer's life in the future.
|