Paradox Of Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is one of the greatest music composers who ever lived. His name and the word 'genius ' are often bandied about together by music writers and critics and many would argue rightly so. Mozart had a fantastic ear for writing a catchy melody with perfect orchestral arrangement. His compositions have a rich and distinctive sound; it can be said that in his brief 35 years of life that he wrote a masterpiece in every genre of classical music without much apparent effort. Mozart had an innate comprehension of music that lead him to be one of the most revolutionary composers of all time. Mozart’s innate musical genius can be observed in records of his early life, in his compositions, and in scientific studies.
Mozart began
Yet, it also manages to possess an air of unpredictability. This is another paradox of Mozart. It is unpredictable due to its complexity and depth, and familiar due to its subtlety and prefect proportion. It is the perfect proportion which makes Mozart’s music flow so naturally without any strain. For example, in a Bach fugue, the fact that the melodies are logically placed to fit the harmonies or the fugal form can make them sound forced and at times artificial. The melodies don’t come naturally, but are logically placed. With Beethoven, the extremes in dynamics or orchestration can also often sound forced and artificial. One may say that Bach was willing to sacrifice melodic grace for complex harmony and counterpoint, and Beethoven for dynamic power. Mozart however sacrifices nothing, for the music just comes naturally. For example, in the Art of Fugue, Bach manages to logically work out a theme which achieves harmonic coherence when used in several different contrapuntal forms. The angularity and the forced nature of the melodies however do suggest that they are logically worked out so that they fit the harmonies in such contrapuntal forms. In effect, the themes play functional rather than independent melodic roles. However, in the finale of Mozart’s Symphony no.41 in C Major (K.551), Mozart introduces several independent melodies, and then unexpectedly combines all of them together in the coda. All
He could write down a piece of music while thinking out another in his head. He would often think out a piece and write down the individual parts before compiling a full score. Already as a very young child he was improvising fugues and composing substantial pieces. The only composer who comes near to Mozart as a child prodigy is Mendelssohn, who composed the overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream as a teenager. However Mendelssohn failed to develop much further, and although his music reveals an excellent sense of proportion, harmony, and passion, he lacks the complexity and subtlety which Mozart has over other composers. Amazingly prolific, Mozart composed over six hundred large-scale pieces, as well as many unknown works and fragments, in his tragically short life. Furthermore, he conquered virtually every medium with his music. And all this seemed effortless: in a letter to his wife, Mozart tells her about how he wrote an aria one afternoon out of sheer boredom! To top it all off, his music shows little correction, and he composes at amazing speed. Whereas Beethoven would spend months or years on a piece, Mozart would spend hours, days, or weeks at most. Mozart’s last three symphonies were all completed within a period of six