[caption id="attachment_1774" align="alignleft" width="157" caption="Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) http://www.biographyonline.net/music/mozart.html"]<a href="http://www.biographyonline.net/music/mozart.html"><img class="size-full wp-image-1774  " src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Mozart1.jpg" alt="" width="157" height="205" /></a>[/caption]

If Ludwig van Beethoven were alive today he would be mounting a formidable effort to request a prestigious spot in the Classical Music Hall of Fame at the Royal College of Music, for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). Many details about the genesis of <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em> are still a mystery but the fact remains that this piece is the most well-known of Mozart's 640+ works. Mozart's acclaimed composition created the foundation of classical music in Vienna and is the fundamental reason why Mozart deserves a coveted place in the Classical Music Hall of Fame [Einstein].<!--more-->

In 1787, when <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik's</em> (German translation, "a little night music" or "a little serenade") was composed, the world was experiencing growing pains due to international commerce, a rising middle class, political upheaval, changes in the Church, and civil unrest. These difficulties washed over Europe and the Americas. The Spanish and Austrian Succession, Seven Years War, American and French Revolutions created a groundswell of democracy and the emergence of an increasingly independent and powerful middle class. This fact, when coupled with the Industrial Revolution, brought about a style of music that abandoned the grandiosity and ornamentation of the Baroque family of styles and, instead, focused on simplistic harmonies and subtle textures. This new style was a direct representation of the ascent of the middle class and the crumbling of the aristocracy [Siepmann].

<em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em> encapsulates the Classical-style because it is a sonata and contains a clearer and more symmetrical expression of emotions. When listening to this music, it feels effortless as if you are drifting or dreaming. When I listened to the piece for the first time I felt at peace. One does not feel as if one needs to<em> do</em> <em>anything</em> except enjoy the flow of the symphony. The economical use of four or five chords and two or three short themes evokes a distinctive departure from previous pretentious styles, like Baroque, and most musical historians believe that this element has roots in the affluent middle-class that was beginning to commission such works for special occasions [Siepmann].

[caption id="attachment_1792" align="alignright" width="192" caption="Statue of Boccherini in Pisa, Italy http://tinyurl.com/3kd6r2g"]<a href="http://tinyurl.com/3kd6r2g"><img class="size-full wp-image-1792" src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Boccherini.bmp" alt="" width="192" height="173" /></a>[/caption]

For example, Luigi Boccherini's <em>Minuetto</em> is a perfect example of Baroque-style that the aristocracy adored. It is opulent, ornate and pompous. It was created to impress aristocratic listeners. It is almost impossible to listen to Boccherini's piece without tapping your foot or being overwhelmed by the urge to dance or skip around. I am not really sure if this is what Boccerini had in mind but that is my impression. At the time it must have been heart-pounding and impressive.

Click on the following link to listen to Boccherini's <em>Minuetto</em>:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSE15tLBdso">Luigi Boccherini\'s Minuetto </a>

Mozart created <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em> to cater to the newly affluent middle-class in a way that was elegant, respectful, and tasteful, but definitely not pompous and ornate. His composition was straightforward and melodic. It soothed the audience. It seems worlds apart when compared to Boccherini's Baroque-style compositions of just a couple of years prior. According to Stanley Sadie, Mozart's string chamber music is more concerned with sensuous beauty of harmony or texture. The new possibilities of symmetry clearly attracted him. Mozart's longest four-movement chamber work is generously proportioned in every particular, with spacious, harmonically slow-moving themes and broad structural spans."

[caption id="attachment_1821" align="alignleft" width="211" caption="Mozart&#039;s Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - 4th Movement - http://tinyurl.com/3sevo8b"]<a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Romananza3.png"><img class="size-full wp-image-1821 " src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Romananza3.png" alt="" width="211" height="212" /></a>[/caption]

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Click on the following link to listen to Mozart's <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, Romananza</em>, fourth movement:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Okl6WSDfLE">Mozart's Eine Kleine Nachtmusik - Romananza</a>

The structure of <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik's</em> four movements was innovative and original because, according to Siepmann, "It is overwhelmingly these [four movements] that have ensured Mozart's immortality as a symphonist. In their perfection of form, variety of character, individuality of tone and emotional and spiritual reach, they are like nothing written before them, not even by Haydn." He goes on to say that, for the first time in musical history, Mozart "liberated the wind instruments."

When this composition was written Mozart was 31 years old, but it was first published posthumously in 1827. Although it is not known who commissioned the piece, it is thought to have originally contained five movements, one of which has been lost forever. Whether the fifth movement was stolen by a music rival or simply destroyed by Mozart will never be known [Einstein].

When compared to Haydn's <em>Surprise II</em>, Symphony No. 94 in G Major, published in 1791, Mozart's compositions show quite a bit more restraint and less aggressive transitions. Although the melodic elements are very similar, Haydn seems to focus on startling (or "surprising") his audience, as evidenced by the fortissimo chord at the end of the lovely, and almost mesmerizing, opening theme of the second movement.

[caption id="attachment_1823" align="alignright" width="270" caption="Sample CD Cover Haydn&#039;s &quot;Surprise&quot; http://tinyurl.com/3nzbs5v"]<img class="size-full wp-image-1823 " src="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Surprise1.png" alt="" width="270" height="280" />[/caption]

Click on the following link to listen (be prepared for the "surprise" chord) to Haydn's Surprise II, Symphony No. 94 in G Major:
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLjwkamp3lI">Haydn\'s Surprise II, Symphony No. 94 in G Major</a>

When <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em> was composed Mozart was surrounded by deep emotional turmoil. The changing relationship between the Church and the aristocracy was directly affecting him especially since Emperor Joseph II had banned "loud" church music (Mozart's bread and butter)[Keefe]. He lost two children that year and had met a new student that showed great promise, the sixteen-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven. Mozart was appointed to the Kammer Musik as its sole composer and this left only two composers at Court, Mozart and Antonio Salieri[Keefe]. Mozart had been living beyond his means and therefore, suffering from great financial losses for years. He viewed his appointment as a new start professionally. Salieri and Mozart quickly became musical rivals and stories have long been told about the circumstances of Mozart's death which occurred just four years after his appointment to the Kammer Musik. If the stories are true, and Salieri did poison Mozart, then Salieri did not get the result he desired. After Mozart's death his music soared in popularity [Sadie].

Even though Mozart was appointed a rather prestigious post in the Italian Court, his pay was minimal, and his ability to sway the fickle public ran hot and cold. He was commissioned to write pieces for wealthy middle-class families and his work was generally well-liked at the time; however, he was seen as just another composer among many. Most of his professional success was never realized until after his death, in 1791, at the young age of thirty-five. Since it is not known who commissioned this piece and because it was not published until 36 years after his death, it is believed that very few people had knowledge of or ever heard the composition performed live by Mozart [Sadie].

Today, when conducting an Internet search of Mozart's <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em>, I found 1.8 million sites related to this one specific work. It has been played by well-known symphony orchestras throughout the world and it is chosen for hundreds of collections of top ten classical compositions. It is amazing to me that Mozart's "throw away" symphony may have been lost forever and never played or published. Mozart did not seem to value this piece since he did not ever perform it publicly and never delivered it to whomever commissioned the work. It was found amongst a pile of unpublished works that his wife eventually sold after his death. Fiero states, "Mozart achieved a balance between lyrical invention and formal clarity that brought the classical style to its peak." I completely agree with Fiero and feel that although this composer made little money during his lifetime and never received accolades befitting his talent while he was alive, he would certainly deserve a spot in the Classical Music Hall of Fame. Future generations could benefit from his example of spending your life doing what you love even if you don't make much money. He was a prodigy (first public performance at Salzburg University in 1761 at age of five. [Sadie]) and grew in to an astounding musical talent that many say was never fully realized. Mozart kept striving for more and succumbed to the pressures of trying to fit in and "keep up with the Jonses" so he did not leave much for his family upon his unexpected  death. If nothing else, this is an example that we should all do what we love when we chose a career and enjoy every minute of the life we have.

WORKS CITED
EINSTEIN, Alfred., Mozart: His Character, His Work. Oxford University Press, New York, 1945, p144; p157-159; This is a Biography by a famed scholar of Mozart and I used it to research the simplistic composition of <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em> and the limited number of keys Mozart selected.

SIEPMANN, Jeremy., Mozart: His Life &amp; Music, Sourcebooks Media Fusion, Naperville, Illinois, 2006, p163-167; p169-171; This is an audio-Biography that I used to research how this piece was innovative or unusual for its time.

KEEFE, Simon., The Cambridge Companion to Mozart, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 2003, p xii-xvii; This is a textbook from college-level courses on Mozart and I used it to research the chronology of Mozart's life and learn about the events occurring in his life at the time he composed <em>Eine Kleine Nachtmusik</em>. I also researched his appointment to the Kammer Musik in this book.

SADIE, Stanley., The New Grove: Mozart, Norton, New York, 1980, p108-115; This is a Dictionary of Music and Musicians that I used to research Mozart's life and associations in Vienna during the years of 1785 to 1788.

FIERO, Gloria., The Humanist Tradition, Volume Two, Chapter 26, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2011. Accessed online version, pages unknown; Date accessed October 2-7, 2011. This is a college-level course textbook that I used to learn about Mozart's connection to Haydn and different elements that he brought to Classically-styled music.