No shortage of books have been written about the fascinating life and extraordinary musical accomplishments of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who stands as a seminal composer in the history of classical music. In anticipation of the Colorado Symphony’s three-concert tribute to him Friday through March 19, The Denver Post offers not a book but a thumbnail primer on the Austrian pianist and composer, who was born 250 years ago.
A: anniversary. The classical-music world loves anniversaries. Few have been more important than the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth. Why? It’s a nice round number (one-fourth of a millennium) and no composer has had a more enduring impact.
B: basset clarinet. Bil Jackson, the Colorado Symphony’s principal clarinetist, plans to perform the solo in Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto on the basset clarinet, the original instrument for which the piece was written. It is a rare opportunity to hear the piece as Mozart conceived it.
C: constanze. Mozart was married Aug. 4, 1782. “Life with Constanze was never dull. She was essentially a fun-loving companion, totally compatible with Wolfgang’s physical needs, supportive, intelligent and encouraging of his activities,” Mozart biographer Jane Glover writes.
D: da ponte. Among the most celebrated partnerships of composer and librettist in the whole of opera is the collaboration between Lorenzo da Ponte and Mozart. They teamed on three towering masterpieces: “The Marriage of Figaro,” “Don Giovanni” and “Così Fan Tutte.”
E event. Selling classical music often means – for better or worse – creating an event with a capital “E.” And that is exactly what the symphony is trying to do with its three-day Mozart festival, which features three programs with nine concertos in all.
F funeral. Among the fictions surrounding Mozart is the myth that he was buried in a pauper’s grave without ceremony. In fact, his family and a few close friends gathered for a modest funeral in a chapel in Vienna’s St. Stephen’s Cathedral. He was unaccompanied to the cemetery, as was the norm.
G genius. That term is tossed around all too much, but if anyone in history deserves to be called a genius, it surely is Mozart. Besides his superhuman abilities as a composer and performer, his intellectual prowess was evident in his multilingualism and love of word games and riddles.
H haydn. Probably the only Mozart contemporary who came close to equaling Mozart’s accomplishments was Franz Joseph Haydn, who famously told Mozart’s father, “Before God and as an honest man, I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me.”
I improvisation. Today, improvisation is primarily associated with jazz and few other popular genres. But many famed classical composers of the past were skilled improvisers, including Mozart, who could amaze audiences with his complex flights of fancy at the keyboard.
J “jupiter symphony.” In this amazing work, Mozart’s 41st and final symphony, the composer achieves near perfection. The symphony combines striking contrasts, structural unity and thematic imaginativeness and includes what many experts believe is the composer’s finest slow movement.
K kahane. Jeffrey Kahane, the Colorado Symphony’s music director, is also a formidable pianist who won the grand prize in the 1983 Arthur Rubinstein Competition in Israel. Not only will he conduct next weekend’s concerts, he will double as soloist for the program’s six piano concertos.
L letters. Much of what is known about Mozart has been gleaned from the hundreds of letters he sent and received. “He was as fluent and inventive with his words as he was with his music. His letters have pace, narrative, dramatic contrast and great passion,” Glover writes.
M “the magic flute.” One of the most popular of Mozart’s operas, this fairy tale with mystical elements and Masonic symbolism premiered just 10 weeks before his death. Opera Colorado will mount a much-anticipated new production of the work in November.
N nannerl. Mozart’s nearly forgotten older sister was a formidable keyboard talent in her own right. She joined her brother when their father paraded the two across Europe as child prodigies, but she was later forced to set aside any possibility of a career and live in the shadow of her famous sibling.
O open mind. People who have shied from classical music for whatever reason ought to give it a try at least once. It really can be rewarding. Honest. And Mozart’s ebullient, multifaceted music is a perfect place to start.
P piano concertos. Among Mozart’s most influential works are his 27 keyboard concertos, which span his career. Not only did they stretch the possibilities of the form, the best ones – especially a series of 12 written in 1784-86 – showcase some of his most sublime writing.
Q quartets. Mozart left virtually no compositional form untouched, including chamber music. Chief among his 10 mature string quartets are the six “Haydn Quartets,” which were composed in 1781 after hearing the older composer’s works in the form for the first time and being profoundly affected.
R requiem. One of the most infamous myths surrounding Mozart supposes a mysterious stranger commissioned his funeral Mass. It was in fact Count Franz Walsegg-Stuppach, an amateur composer who made a game of passing off the works of others as his own.
S salieri. Composer Antonio Salieri got an unfair rap in the movie “Amadeus.” Rather than a vengeful rival, he was actually a generally respectful colleague who even attended the January 1792 premiere of the finished “Requiem,” which was a benefit for Mozart’s family.
T theater. Like all great opera composers, Mozart loved the world of theater and the people who inhabit it. Beyond beautiful vocal lines, he wanted to create multidimensional, believable characters and emotionally compelling stories.
U ubiquitous. The music of Mozart is performed nearly every hour of every day somewhere on Earth. His works are second only to Beethoven’s in the number of performances they receive annually by members of the American Symphony Orchestra League.
V violinist. Although Mozart is best remembered as one of the foremost pianists of his day, he also was a first-rate violinist. During an October 1777 concert, he performed not only two of his piano concertos but also the challenging solo violin part in his B flat major Divertimento.
W weber. Mozart’s wife, Constanze, was one of four musically inclined sisters in the close-knit Weber family (their cousin, Carl Maria von Weber, was a well-known composer). Their lives were closely intertwined with Mozart and the stewardship of his legacy.
X x factor. Musicologists have dissected virtually every bar of Mozart’s output, yet they have never been able to fully explain his unwavering appeal. His music has the power to reach across centuries and cultural lines to deeply touch the mind and heart in undeniable if ultimately elusive ways.
Y yanni. Mozart is everything the pop keyboardist isn’t. Instead of saccharine sentimentalism, the time-tested composer’s music offers genuine emotional depth and complexity and an inexhaustible beauty.
Z zinzendorf. Historians know a surprising number of historical figures who played roles in Mozart’s life. Among them is Count Zinzendorf, who records in his diary impressions of attending a performance of the prodigy pianist and his sister in 1762 when they were 6 and 10.
Fine arts critic Kyle MacMillan can be reached at 303-820-1675 or kmacmillan@denverpost.com.
