Mozart: The Man and the Artist: as Revealed in His own Words

By Friedrich Kerst

The German composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was not only a musical genius, but was also one of the pre-eminent geniuses of the Western world. He defined in his music a system of musical thought and an entire state of mind that were unlike any previously experienced. A true child prodigy, he began composing at age 5 and rapidly developed his unmistakable style; by 18 he was composing works capable of altering the mind-states of entire civilizations. Indeed, he and his predecessor Bach accomplished the Olympian feat of adding to the human concepts of civility and civilization. So these two were not just musical geniuses, but geniuses of the humanities. Mozart's music IS civilization. It encompasses all that is humane about an idealized civilization. And it probably was Mozart's main purpose to create and propagate a concept of a great civilization through his music. He wanted to show his fellow Europeans, with their garbage-polluted citystreets, their violent mono-maniacal leaders and their stifling, non-humane bureaucracies, new ideas on how to run their civilizations properly. He wanted them to hear and feel a sense of civilized movement, of the musical expressions of man moving as he would if upholding the highest values of idealized societies. One need only listen to the revolutionary opening bars of his famous Eine Kleine Nachtmusik to see this. The purpose and scope of this little book will be obvious to the reader from even a cursory glance at its contents. It is, in a way, an autobiography of Mozart written without conscious purpose, and for that reason peculiarly winning, illuminating and convincing. The outward things in Mozart's life are all but ignored in it, but there is a frank and full disclosure of the great musician's artistic, intellectual and moral character, made in his own words. CONTENTS: BRIEF BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH EDITOR'S NOTE THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MOZART CHIPS FROM THE WORKSHOP CONCERNING THE OPERA MUSICAL PEDAGOGICS TOUCHING MUSICAL PERFORMANCES EXPRESSIONS CRITICAL OPINIONS CONCERNING OTHERS WOLFGANG, THE GERMAN SELF-RESPECT AND HONOR STRIVINGS AND LABORS AT HOME AND ABROAD LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP WORLDLY WISDOM IN SUFFERING MORALS RELIGION

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1511997664
• ISBN13: 9781511997669
• Release Date: May 2015
• Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
• Length: 124 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 0.3" x 6.0"