Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Crazy Mozart
Who would have thought that the composer of such great works as The Marriage of Figaro, The Magic Flute and Don Giovanni was so goofy! I thought it was extremely interesting that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was the absolute opposite of what i thought he was like in my mind. I also thought it was very interesting that many people believe that Mozart had Autism. This made me wonder why he seemed so extraverted in the film we watched. The Mozart that most people probably envision is a quiet genius that sits behind a piano in his secluded home in Austria like a hermit. In the film he is a womanizer, goofy and quite childish. Despite one might think about these qualities, they are what made Mozart so great. Mozart would not let anyone tell him what to do because he simply knew he was the best at what he did. The "freelancer" nature of Mozarts personality i thought was cruicial to his fame becuase it gave him the vast ability to do whatever musical pieces he wanted. If he did not like what one ruler was making him do he would simply leave. Although Mozart does not quite fit the stereotype for genius musicians his childishness and stubborness allowed him to be so famous.
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What are the criteria for a famous musician? Mozart in my eyes defiantly falls into the category of an extraordinary musician. I feel that Mozart’s childish side plays into to his creativity to compose great music. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was serious when it was necessary, but he also had a side that didn’t want anything to do with the seriousness of the arts. This is important to alot of the works he created over the years. The extraneous ideas that he would create and manipulate would form masterpieces. There has never been an individual that is so unique. In my opinion he was ahead of his time in knowledge and some of his ideals. During the 17th century in music and the arts every composer and artist come off as extremely serious. He is one of the first artists we have studied that doesn’t just want to create great art, but he wants to have a good time doing it. This view is obscure because I am sure many would say that was just the way he was and I can’t disagree with that. His personal characteristics were different from any thing this century had seen, but I agree with Mozart’s approach to a society that seems to have minimal room for the small pleasures in life out side of the arts. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the most famous classical composers because he composed some of the best movements in the classical style.
ReplyDeleteI completely disagree that Mozart does not fit the "stereotype" fore genius musicians. If you look into the lives of many great artists over the course of history, you will find that the greatest ones tend to lead the most abnormal lives. It is their eccentric behavior that allows them to create artistic masterpieces that go against the grain of their musical time period. Had artists such as Mozart not been of this somewhat unstable state of mind, we would have been stuck with a bunch of mediocre artists with a conservative view, and never would have progresses anywhere stylistically.
ReplyDeleteIn the movie we watched in class, I am curious to know how much creative license the writers/directs/actor made, if any at all with Mozart's character. While it is a popular theory that Mozart had autism, how can we be absolutely sure he was as animated and eccentric as portrayed in the movie? The answer is we can't be hundred percent sure, however, I still wonder how "off" Mozart's behavior really was when in the company of others. If the movie accurately portrays him, how is it that people did not question him more or publish more about his odd behavior? Did people overlook his eccentric behavior because he was so talented, admired and sought after? Was his behavior apparently different from everyone else’s and if so was it always this way, or was it a gradual change or shift in behavior?
ReplyDeleteAutistic Mozart
ReplyDeleteI believe Mozart was crazy in the sense that if he were alive today, he would more than likely be diagnosed with autism. The truth is that his child like humor, eccentric behavior, and boyish charm was all complications of his autism. Most evident of this is the fact that when his mom died in france at a young age, he didn't go to his father in an uproar, he simply put it in a P.S. This was not because he was a cold-hearted animal, but because a typical symptom of people with autism is a certain detachment of feelings. Of course, this may be a little extreme, but so is being a genius. I have no doubt that this complication of his autism is viable, because of the things that were seemingly impossible for him to do were done. Grand Tours before his teen years, Court musician at 17, the list goes on. i guess i am saying the higher your genius, the higher your disability.