Page 134 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 7.12
The child Mozart at the key- board, with his sister, Nannerl, and his father, Leopold, in Paris in 1764 during their three-year tour of Europe. Note how the youngster’s feet dangle far from the floor.
Spur (see Figure 7.13). Although the aim of all this globe-trotting was to acquire fame and fortune, the result was that Mozart, unlike Haydn, was exposed at an early age to a wealth of musical styles—French Baroque, English choral, German polyphonic, and Italian vocal. His extraordinarily keen ear absorbed them all, and his creative mind synthesized them into a new, international style. Today Mozart is still widely recognized as “the most universal composer in the history of Western music.”
A period of relative stability followed Mozart’s youthful travels: For much of the 1770s he resided in Salzburg, where he served as violinist and composer to the reigning archbishop, Colloredo. But the archbishop was a stern, frugal man who had little sympathy for Mozart, genius or not (the composer referred to him as the “Archboobie”). Mozart was paid modestly and, like the servant- musicians at the court of Esterházy, ate with the cooks and valets. For a Knight of the Golden Spur who had hobnobbed with kings and queens across Europe, this was humble fare indeed, and Mozart chafed under this system of aristocratic pa- tronage. But he couldn’t just quit—servants of the court had to obtain a release from their employer before they could move on. So in the spring of 1781 Mozart precipitated several unpleasant scenes, effectively forcing the archbishop to fire
112 chapter seven introduction to the classical style: haydn and mozart
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