Expert: David Froom - 2/3/2006

Question
thank you so much for your insitefull, informative response. I do have a follow-up question, if you don't mind. I heard that Beethoven actually studied with Mozart for a few weeks, but they didn't get along. Do you know anything about this?

James

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Followup To
Question -
Hello. This question may be more subjective than factual but nonetheless, I am seeking the opinion of an expert.

Last Friday, I listened all day to KMZT "K Mozart" here in LA and they were in Salzburg for Mozart's 250th birthday. He was pretty much venerated as a god of the music world and all the DJs and all the people they interviewed seemed to support this idea. They were making the case that Mozart is head and shoulders above any composer that ever lived.

Yet, when I listen to the beauty of Brahms or Schubert or Bach or Beethoven or Tchaichovsky or a dozen others, their music seems just as beautiful, just as profound, just as moving as Mozart.

So please tell me, does Mozart deserve this singular place in Classical music, and if so, why?

just curious,

James
Answer -
Mozart is getting a lot of attention, obviously, because of the anniversay.  And no one says you have to love his music over others.  Ultimately, these things are a matter of taste or mood of the moment.

But there are some special things about Mozart.  He basically changed the musical landscape by writing the earliest examples on which all who came after based their work in a number of genres:  the Piano Concerto, the String Quartet, the Symphony.  He was working hand in hand in some of these with Haydn, who was no slouch as a symphonist.  But Haydn would send people interested in opera or concertos to Mozart.  Beethoven in particular spent his career building on Mozart's accomplishments.

Some of this has to do with the interest people began to show in old music after Mozart's death.  He was one of the first composers ever to be venerated continuously from the time of his death for a good chunk of his work.  There are a lot of interesting sociological and historical reasons for this, but there it is.

But there is something special about Mozart's astounding ability to make even the most ambitious undertakings seem effortless.  

My favorite way of thinking about this is by anology with people competing in the high jump.  Listening to Mendelssohn or Saint Saens (two natural talents on a par with Mozart) is like seeing someone set the bar low and clear it easily.  Listening to Brahms or Tchaikovsy is like seeing someone set the bar pretty high and clear it easily -- but wondering if the bar might not better have been set a bit higher.  Listening to Bach or Beethoven is like seeing the bar set EXTREMELY high and just barely clearing it, skimming it and leaving it shaking.  Listening to Mozart, the bar is set even higher and cleared easily every time.  Stories about Mozart confirm this.  He left behind virtually no evidence of ever having had to revise.  And he himself once said that composing for him was like piddling for other people.

I should say that this isn't always as exciting to experience.  I am one who often prefers to see the bar wobble.  And Mozart wrote a lot of perfectly-fine-but-not-really-fabulous music, especially in the first 10-12 years of his composing career (ages 5 to 15 or 16 or 17).  But starting in his late teens (around the time of his "Haydn" String Quartets), it was one masterwork after another.

So that's what I think about this.  Hope I've given one version of an answer to your question.

David Froom

Answer
Beethoven did meet Mozart.  He made a special trip from Bonn to Vienna and played/showed some of his music to Mozart.  Mozart's comment was "the world will hear from this man."  This was late 1780s, when B was in his late teens.  B. returned to Bonn with the intention of figuring out a way to move to Vienna to study with Mozart.  He got to Vienna in the early 1790s, but by then, Mozart had died.  He "settled" for lessons with Haydn, someone he cared for a good deal less.  The story is that they didn't get on all that well, but B.'s first three piano sonatas (Opus 2, #1-3) are dedicated to Haydn.  B also studied counterpoint with Albrechtsberger and opera with Salieri -- but fairly early on, went off on his own.

B often spoke about how he respected and adored Mozart's music (except Cosi fan tutti, which he thought had a vulgar libretto).  He didn't have much nice to say about Haydn, though he came around and was respectful towards the end of his life.

You can find these details about Beethoven in the magnificent biography by Alexander Thayer (which has been revised and updated by others as new material is discovered).  You should pick it up if you are interested in this kind of thing.  It is a fascinating glimpse into life in Germany and Austria and the life of a musician in the early 19th century.

David Froom