Has anyone else noticed this about Mozart ....

Listen to a lot more classical music, beginning with Bach (arguably the progenitor of the Classical period)through Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn to Schumann and Brahms (beginning the Romantic era}. Please pay lots of attention to lesser, and lesser known, composers of this time as well. Then, when you can clearly see what this towering master contributed to Western musical progression, how melody and emotional expression, humor and pathos, flowed effortlessly through his music unlike anything that came before--or since--you may repent the words "elevator music." The clarinet concerto you dismiss so lightly was Mozart's last completed work, a composition of wonderful energy and subtlety, a beam of light coming at a very dark time in his life. Listen to his Piano Concerto #9, written when he was a boy, for an aching expression of sadness that just doesn't seem possible from one so immature. Why does the "Magic Flute," his burlesque show, contain some of the most sublime and haunting music we enjoy today? The point I'm trying to make here is that Mozart's creative genius was obviously not bounded by his age, circumstance or conscious efforts to become "serious." He simply had the tap on all the time. Listen--when you hear him, you will know him.

Enjoyed reading the responses by pragmatist, tireguy, and dlshifi. learned a bunch. thanks for the posts. commentaries like these are why i keep coming back to the 'gon.

I read, once, a long while back; upon discovering some of Mozart's original music there was one particular piece (and not a short one) that was written from beginning to end without one correction or erasure. Was he connected to something bigger than himself? Could that have been a stream of creativity from God? Amaedeus, here we go... Pretty wild stuff. Didn't Mozart compose must of his music in major keys? For a guy who had a pretty miserable existance, that's quite provocative. I can't think of anything, off hand, written in a minor key. Hey, but what do I know. This thread has inspired me to get back to my main man: Mozart. It's been a very long while. Jazz has taken me away from my favorite. peace, warren

Thanks for the responses, which are very interesting. I'm the first to proclaim my relative lack of knowledge. At first I was sure that I would find that the pieces I don't like (Clarinet concerto, horn concerto) would have been written earlier in his life, and the more solemn pieces later in his life, when, by all accounts, he was a tortured soul. It was very surprising when I discovered that the clarinet concerto was written towards the end of his life, at around the same time as the requiem mass (a piece I love). Hence the post .. it is very curious to me that he could seemingly flit back and forth between music with huge depth of feeling and music of equal musical integrity but with a lighter touch. I wonder if there is any indication of bipolar disorder here ... after all there is a fine line between genius and madness.

Dlshifi ... I'm not dismissing anything lightly, and perhaps my wording was provocative, but only for purposes of generating interesting discussion : we all like different music for different reasons, and I just don't like the clarinet concerto, and believe me, as a clarinetist I have heard it a gazillion times. I am also well aware that Mozart moved music from the Bach era ,when the music seemed more about displaying the technical brilliance of the performer, to the Beethoven and Mendelssohn era, which is the era of music that I am most drawn to. I'm so glad he did, because there's not much music from Bach or earlier that does anything for me, but Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms and the romantics are absolutely sublime (IMHO).

Thanks again for responses. It's really nice to have some discussion on music rather than equipment from time to time.

Sean: This has nothing to do with Mozart; it has to do with your tastes in music, to which you are fully entitled, of course. For myself, I prefer Beethoven the classicist to Beethoven the romantic, but I wouldn't disparage the latter. (Mendelssohn, on the other hand...)