# Why Mozart?



## cmb (Dec 20, 2006)

I saw this recently in an article, and was fascinated by what it asks, so I ask all of you - *why* Mozart, if Mozart?

Here is the quote:
“Mozart is my favorite composer” is the popular statement of countless people affirming to have a bond with classical music. But why Mozart?


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

I think the statement is more true in this form...

"Mozart is my favorite composer" _is the popular statement of countless people affirming to NOT having a bond with classical music_.

For those who actually regularly listen to classical music, I think Beethoven and Bach would certainly come before Mozart. (But WAM would still be somewhere in the top three  ) I could be wrong, though.

Why not start a poll here, if one does not already exist?


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## cmb (Dec 20, 2006)

The more I thought about it, that is what I was getting at - why is it *automatically* Mozart, and not, say, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, or Berg for that matter?


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## MarkLV (Feb 3, 2007)

Mozart is the alternative 'chocolate box' composer for those who claim to be more intellectual than those who would rather choose the main 'chocolate box' composer, Tchaikovsky. That damn Swedish film, 'Elvira Madigan', has a lot do with it.


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## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

The body of music known as Mozart contains much that is wonderful. I cannot imagine a world in which his music has no place and nor do I suggest we burn it. Having said this I cannot imagine a world in which saccharine and sugar does not feature also. Or a world in which primary schools or kindergartens have no place. These things definitely have a place. 

But if we are talking about contributions to music it's my position that this music is so much the product of its own time that it has furthered the development and teaching of music by hardly a millimetre. The 'marzipan' attraction of Mozart and his iconic status (much of it due to a relentless campaign of advertising over the past 200 years) has, in fact, done little to stimulate appreciation of other, even greater, composers. It is presented as having been produced virtually as a man takes dictation. This is just one of the dozens of basic falsehoods in the Mozart phenomenon. We are after all talking of THE iconic figure. Not even Beethoven (a greater musician by far) has been so relentlessly plugged in our culture than he. And yet Beethoven, beyond any doubt, did more for music than he. In virtually every single way. 

Leave music for a while completely and come back to it again. You would need to adjust your ears to accomodate the twiddly plinkety plonk nature of this music. But if you persevered you could certainly become (and perhaps remain) a great believer in Mozart being 'the greatest of them all'. To me, this is so grossly unfair, even disingenous. Beethoven and Bach are by far the greater composers. 

I have never met anyone who, having studied music deeply or having listened to a great deal of music from all periods, believed Mozart reigns supreme. It is fashionable in the most superficial way to teach otherwise. Musicians know otherwise. 

Regards


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## JfW (Dec 14, 2006)

robert newman said:


> The body of music known as Mozart contains much that is wonderful. I cannot imagine a world in which his music has no place and nor do I suggest we burn it. Having said this I cannot imagine a world in which saccharine and sugar does not feature also. Or a world in which primary schools or kindergartens have no place. These things definitely have a place.
> 
> But if we are talking about contributions to music it's my position that this music is so much the product of its own time that it has furthered the development and teaching of music by hardly a millimetre. The 'marzipan' attraction of Mozart and his iconic status (much of it due to a relentless campaign of advertising over the past 200 years) has, in fact, done little to stimulate appreciation of other, even greater, composers. It is presented as having been produced virtually as a man takes dictation. This is just one of the dozens of basic falsehoods in the Mozart phenomenon. We are after all talking of THE iconic figure. Not even Beethoven (a greater musician by far) has been so relentlessly plugged in our culture than he. And yet Beethoven, beyond any doubt, did more for music than he. In virtually every single way.
> 
> ...


Robert, this is sort of the way I feel. I could never figure out the position history granted him as Paragon of his profession. As someone else forgotten to me once stated: Mozart's music is like a forced smile; pleasant, but unconvincing. He was a good melody-ist and sometimes a brilliant one, but I've found his harmony and countermelody parts lacking in the same general creativity that his melodies had. It's just too often too formulaic and prostrate with the melody, just not having a convincing identity of it's own.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

MarkLV said:


> That damn Swedish film, 'Elvira Madigan', has a lot do with it.


I came across that name recently...just wondering what it featuerd.


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

cmb said:


> The more I thought about it, that is what I was getting at - why is it **automatically** Mozart, and not, say, Beethoven, Bach, Brahms, or Berg for that matter?


I'm wondering on what grounds do you assume that most people's automatic favourite composer is Mozart? To make a statement like that requires some empirical evidence, like a survey performed across the whole of Western Europe and America. You *may* find that Mozart is the "automatic favourite", and in that case we can continue with this discussion, but in my experience with audiences, Mozart is _not_ the automatic favourite, and therefore I believe that the original question in this thread requires further formulation.

Perhaps this?

_What is it that people who love Mozart love about Mozart?_


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

I think it would be beethoven before mozart. It's easy to remember because of the legendary dog. (and im not joking)


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

OK... for the sake of everybody who doesn't know, including myself, I will ask...

What legendary dog?


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Kurkikohtaus said:


> OK... for the sake of everybody who doesn't know, including myself, I will ask...
> 
> What legendary dog?


This dog.


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## robert newman (Oct 4, 2006)

I base the statement that Mozart is THE icon of Western Music on a number of facts. First, that we've recently finished a whole year of 'wall to wall Mozart' in concerts and the media as a whole when, in fact, the same year could more fairly have done honour to composers such as Dimitri Shostakovitch (the centenary of whose birth was 2006). During that year we have hardly been able to escape from Mozartiana. 

I base it on the fact that virtually everything that is popularly taught about this man's life and career is either wrong or has been grossly exaggerated. And on the fact that the mythical prowess of Mozart has wrongly suggested that musical genius 'a la Mozart' requires little real study - that miraculous works poured from his pen - from a Mozart who, in point of fact, did very minimal study of music theory at any point in his entire life and who, in fact, hardly attended any school of any kind. To swallow the Mozart myth we tend to ignore such facts. And this makes us badly misinformed. 

There are Mozart manuscripts which are literally riddled with musical errors. Many from his maturity and some so bad they have completely disappeared. Others can be shown to have been arrangements made by Mozart and his 'helpers' from the works of other, now anonymous men. 

I do agree that the overall body of music is often wonderful in its quality. But Beethoven alone blew it to pieces. 

Yes, we can all point to moments in Beethoven's life when he is quoted as greatly admiring Mozart etc. In point of fact Beethoven's early days in Vienna as a piano soloist are what are compared to Mozart's. Not Mozart's compositions. Beethoven was said to have followed Mozart, but only in that performing sense. For, by the time of Mozart's death in 1791 few of 'Mozart's' piano concertos had even been published and only a single (hotly disputed) symphony of the supposedly '50' that he wrote. Beethoven did NOT know Mozart as a 'great' composer. Nor is it true that he, Beethoven, was a 'pupil' of Mozart. In fact, I cannot think of any single musician who really WAS a pupil of Mozart. (Even the case of the Englishman Thomas Attwood - who supposedly studied under Mozart in Vienna and whose written lessons are kept today in the British Library) show clear evidence of having been faked much later. Furthermore, Thomas Attwood (who later became an assistant organist at St Paul's Cathedral due to the influence his rich family had with the London musical establishment) is recorded by various organists of his time (including Wesley) to have been a poor musician in both theory and in practical playing. 

And yet the myth exists that Mozart had many pupils. It simply is not true. Anton Eberl is another claimed to have been a 'pupil' of Mozart. This is not true either. Nor is it true that FX Sussmayr was a pupil of Mozart. 

Well, I don't want to weary this board with such things. But as far as setting the record straight, I think there are dozens of reasons to say there are various musicians far, far greater than Mozart by any fair examination of the evidence. Beethoven actually STUDIED music in very great depth for 10 years at Bonn before he came to Vienna. He learned chiefly in Bonn under Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi (who was himself recognised to be one of the most learned exponents of theory in Europe. That's why Luchesi was made Kapellmeister there the year after Beethoven's birth). Beethoven studied music in every form. This was never true of Mozart. There is in fact no real contest. 

Regards


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## cmb (Dec 20, 2006)

Kurkito -

(quote)Perhaps this?

What is it that people who love Mozart love about Mozart?(endquote)

I can work with this.  
For me, it is Don Giovanni, Cosi Fan Tutte, and the infamous Clarinet Concerto.

I am assuming that it is mostly a "name-recognition" thing, and NOT any empirical evidence, although, as stated by other listers, Beethoven very likely has the same exact name recognition, and many more hummable tunes.


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## Amaya&beet (Aug 4, 2006)

I have listened to these pieces of Mozart : The Wedding of Figaro (Overture), 
Don Giovanni (Overture), Requiem, Symphony No. 40 in g minor, Serenade in G major for Strings (1st mov.), Piano concerto No. 25 (Andante), Turkish march, Fantasia in c minor. Doubtlessly, the melodies are elegant and have much emotional content, especially the opening of "Requiem", but two things do not seem to be that good : the contrast between major and minor, the diversity of the themes. 
With the exception of "Requiem" and Fantasia in c minor, one can only hear a short and weak transition from major to minor in these works : The Wedding of Figaro (Overture), Serenade in G major for Strings, Piano concerto No. 25 (Andante), Symphony No. 40 in g minor. Besides, continual repetition without variation is characteristic for the Serenade in G major (1st mov.). 
My opinion may cause offence to some of you, but I have to speak it out : the first movement of the Serenade in G major by Mozart sounds a little boring, and I would not choose it for listening in my free time. The reasons above explain why Mozart is not my favourite composer. However, his name plays a role as an identification of knowledge of classical music, like Goethe's name in German literature.


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

By serenade in G major, do you mean the famous *Eine Kleine Nachtmusik* (KV 525) ?

In terms of transitions from major to minor, it is perhaps a little unfair to judge Mozart by this measure, this idea in Symphonic sonata forms is found further down the road in the Romantic period.

Basically, in a piece from the classical period that is in sonata form, the second theme will be in the _dominant_ key. For example, in _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_, which is in G major, the second theme is in D major. So "by the book", any major key movement will have a major key second theme. Beethoven and Schubert slowly began to rewrite the "book" by going to keys other than the dominant for their subsidiary themes.

Therefore I don't think it is a point of weakness in Mozart, it is simply a sign of the times.


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## Azathoth (Feb 28, 2007)

Mozart's name is well-known, mostly. Classical music is generally associated with high intelligence and a degree of sophistication, so if you want to seem intelligent and sophisticated, say you listen to classical music.

Most people who really aren't in to classical say that their favorite composers are Mozart and Vivaldi, because they have heard _Eine Kleine Nachtmusik_ and Symphony 40, and you can never get away from hearing at least 'Spring' from _The Four Seasons_ some ungodly amount of times.

Mozart's okay, just overrated. I was never overly impressed with him; in fact, I've found he gets old a little fast.

Although this means we have to deal with more idiots whose classical music exposure is limited to hotel ads and movie soundtracks, they do keep the record labels in business so we can get our Beethoven.


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## Kurkikohtaus (Oct 22, 2006)

Azathoth said:


> Classical music is generally associated with high intelligence and a degree of sophistication, so if you want to seem intelligent and sophisticated, say you listen to classical music.


... and if you want to seem stupid and vulgar, say that you are a classical musician.


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## Tromboneman (Jan 4, 2007)

i think the reason people automatically say Mozart is their favorite a lot of times is #1 he is the most familiar to all, a lot of the music i see on concentration CD's of classical music involves a lot of Mozart. #2 altho people know a lot of classical music, i know of no person around me who can't name Mozart's 25th, a few less know his 40th, and his Requiem is popular the world over (not to say Beethoven's 5th isn't or any other) To me he just seems the, "parents choice" to classical composers, i know a lot of my friends parents who listen to Mozart. But then again, WHY NOT Beethoven, Liszt, Schutz, Wagner, etc? i love them all, but whenever i think classical Mozart and Wagner hit my mind. 

P.S. Ride of the Valkyries trombone part gets me PUMPED lol


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## Guest (Mar 8, 2007)

And I thought I was a lone voice in the wilderness  , 

I am very surprised that Hexamoran has not come to the defence of the MAN lol


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

Since we're on it, can anyone point me in the online ordering direction of full well produced versions of marriage of figaro, abduction from the seraglio and the magic flute?


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

Wheres Mozart's fan club now! lol


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Mozart is the Einstein of music.


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

ahh the heck with it, I'm buying this: http://www.amazon.com/Wolfgang-Amad...000BLI3K2/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt/104-4574514-4406304


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

GrandMasterK said:


> ahh the heck with it, I'm buying this: http://www.amazon.com/Wolfgang-Amad...000BLI3K2/ref=pd_sxp_f_pt/104-4574514-4406304


I would recommend this over your choice.

I don't think it'll set you back by more than a coupla grands or so.


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

A couple grand you say? I don't like him that much.


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## Guest (Mar 10, 2007)

opus67 said:


> I would recommend this over your choice.
> 
> I don't think it'll set you back by more than a coupla grands or so.


This was issued about 10-11 yrs ago if Im not mistaken, cant remember the price, but did not think it was 2k but may have been, there were a lot left on the shelves


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Andante said:


> This was issued about 10-11 yrs ago if Im not mistaken, cant remember the price, but did not think it was 2k but may have been, there were a lot left on the shelves


It's a reissue for the 250 year (orignial release in 2001). And in the amazon page for the 'The Best of the Complete Mozart Edition,' one of the reviewer states that the whole thing would cost around $2K.


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

Wanna split the cost and share it?  

You get mondays tuesdays and wednesdays i'll take thursdays fridays saturdays and sundays.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

GrandMasterK said:


> Wanna split the cost and share it?
> 
> You get mondays tuesdays and wednesdays i'll take thursdays fridays saturdays and sundays.


Sure. I'll ship it to you on Wednesday, but by the time you get it, it would probably be Monday again.


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

but by the time it gets there from when I sent it on monday, it'll be friday.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

GrandMasterK said:


> but by the time it gets there from when I sent it on monday, it'll be friday.


Hmm...let's see, if I take it to the post office right at the last minute (so that I can make use of most of my time with the CDs), it would be shipped next morning, and discounting holidays, it would probably reach you by the morning of the third day, which is a Monday. But since it is a Monday, you have to ship it out ASAP, so that it would reach me by early Wednesday. 

Okay, I know...it's gettig silly.


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## GrandMasterK (Mar 4, 2007)

Has anyone seen BBC's The Genius Of Mozart? I'm bummed out because of the pieces on mozart's complete works don't have the energy the ones performed on that show do. I've got to find versions that sound like that!


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## amirjsi (Apr 11, 2007)

*Bach... Mozart... Beethoven*

Well, I think that it's very simple. Mozart's music is superiorly mercurial. It has great melodies that hit you right away... yet if you listen more closely you will find amazing depth in it. For most people who are not avid classical music fans, that's what they mostly identify with; and I think that it is quite sad that even many people who are in the classical music realm take that stand as well, as if they were affected by those who do not know how to understand the more profound wualities in music.

Also, another aspect to factor in is that, for example, Beethoven (as much as I love his music too) imposes certain philospohical and social and personal ideas in his music... explicitly so; so in order for you to appreciate his music, you have to be aware of that fact, otherwise the music will just WOOSH over you with not profound effect. Bach had some of that... but in a more religious sense, but his is a more abstract way, so to enjoy his works you do not need to know his views on religion and so forth.

How many people can honestly say that they liked Beethoven's "lesser" works so instantly and with a good deal of passion, not knowing the Beethovenian psyche? Don't get me wrong, Beethoven's music is lofty and great... but it is hardly what you would call "pure" music. You must always hear something related to it somehow from whoever speaks of it... and not personal views of the listener, no, cliches repeated by everyone. These are less in Bach and Mozart. Although, the more prolific (and profitable to the recording companies) they become, the more cliches will be attached to their music.

Still I find it sad that many would not condsider Mozart's music to be the equal and sometime the better of Beethoven's. Mozart's was the pinnacle of classisism and with a bit of spice that we call the Mozartian. Bach was the pinnacle of Baroque... But I don't hear any one complaining. Mozart's music is more accessible than Bach's (many of which is choral or religious) and Beethoven's (explicitly philosophical). Does that make it "less"?

Let us not allow those who are not avid music listeners and lovers to color our views of these great people. Just because theylike something does not mean that it's bad right off the bat.

Just because Bach is religious and kinda eccentric sometimes doesn't make him bad.

Just because Mozart has a lot of warmth and wit doesn't make him bad.

Just because Beethoven is passionate and melancholic doesn't make him bad.

These people are genius beyond our comprehension. So let's give them the respect they're due.


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## zlya (Apr 9, 2007)

robert newman said:


> I have never met anyone who, having studied music deeply or having listened to a great deal of music from all periods, believed Mozart reigns supreme.


Well now you have. I have both studied, performed, and listened to music from all periods. I have a BA in music from a somewhat prestigious university. I like Shastakovich, I love Bach, I am intrigued by Schoenberg and I am fascinated by Perotin. Mozart makes me fall over.


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## jam*tart (Apr 6, 2007)

Agree with a previous poster about the 'mercurial' aspect of Mozart's music. What fascinates me about Mozart is the way in which he combines that supreme sense of periodicity and balance that characterises classical-period music, with an sense of unpredictability and-well- 'passion', I guess. His music is always balanced, logical and coherent, yet never turgid or boring. It's somehow restrained and unpredictable at the same time. The man certainly 'had it going on'.


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

I'm no music scholar so I'll keep this brief but I definitely have Mozart in my top 3. Just because he appeals to a lot of people immediately doesn't mean his music is of less value. To me, the string quintets, clarinet quintet, several piano concertos and operas are sublime near-perfect pieces of music, just to name a few. Both Beethoven and Brahms greatly admired him as well. And I think anyone would have an incredibly hard time naming 6 or 7 better composers and backing it up with musical analysis. Along with that, a huge percentage of major music scholars I've seen hold him in the highest esteem, including Charles Rosen. Obviously, "better" is a subjective term but that's kinda what this thread is about. Where are all the Mozart backers!!???


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Oh wait, just saw there's a similar thread about 4 down from this one haha. Guess this one is kind of old.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

I wont say much, probably don't need to - Yea, so he had some good melodies granted (lol) but music needs to move on for the sake of the classical genre, otherwise all would be stuck in chocolate box forever..............


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

Music needs to move on away from Mozart? Hmmmmm...............


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Dustin said:


> Music needs to move on away from Mozart? Hmmmmm...............


Hmmmmmmmm on used the words "move on for the sake" but if you want to say move way - is fine with me!

I also note, there is not too many likes on this thread.......:devil:


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## Dustin (Mar 30, 2012)

"A world that has produced a Mozart is a world worth saving" - Franz Schubert.

I'll let him do the arguing for me.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

^ Is there a Franz Schubert thread?


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Well, people can argue for or against any composer they want. The only thing I object to is the insinuation that those (who like me) consider Mozart "the best" (if there is such a thing) don't really like classical music as a whole. The suggestion that they are not so much classical music fans but 'merely' Mozart fans. I think this is nonsense. Perhaps Mozart is also a bit of a victim of his own popularity in this regard. Many music diehards like to have the idea of knowing something more than the masses. We not only see this in classical music, but also in jazz and even pop/rock. Go to a rock forum and say that you think the Beatles were the best and there will no doubt someone say that, say, the Beau Brummmels were better. Not because said person really believes that, but because it makes him look smarter than the average guy or gal. Same thing when it comes to Mozart or Tchaikovsky. Because they are so popular that even those with only a casual interest in classical music like them, diehards go out of their way to find reasons for NOT liking them. 

Sorry for returning to the world of pop and rock, but there's an example of this attitude I remember from the days when I worked as a salesperson in a record shop. Springsteen's "Born in the USA" album had just been released. One of our customers, a real collector who bought five or six albums every week picked up a copy. Springsteen at this point was already huge in the US and had been for almost a decade, but in Europe he was not THAT big yet. Anyway, one week later the guy comes back to our shop to buy some more albums and he tells me, "by the way. That Springsteen album I bought last week is amazing. It's been a long time since I heard a rock album that's this good." So far, so good. About four months later he buys three or four Bob Seger albums. "You're in a Bob Seger mood I see" I tell him casually. "Yes, much better than that sell-out of a Bruce Springsteen", he says. "That Born in the USA" album sounds so plastic - awful album." Now, the only thing that had changed in those four months is that in that time Springsteen had become huge in Europe and this customer had lost that feeling of knowing something more than the average rock fan - a feeling he hoped to regain by getting into Bob Seger. If Seger had become just as big following his buy his reaction would no doubt have been the same as it had been towards Springsteen.

Whether you like Springsteen or not is entirely irrelevant, it's about the attitude. And the attitude of some to Mozart's music is comparable I think. Many of his detractors would argue in his favor if he was an unknown, or only known to those in the know, like a, say, Paisiello or Dittersdorf. In that case they would talk about this scandulously underrated composer and this genius that the dumb masses not know about.


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

Good post, jhar!

There always has to be somebody who knows better, eh? By the way, when the guy who bought Bruce's BITUSA came back moaning four months later, I would have found it difficult not to remind him of his previous enthusiasm for it. There's people you meet and you wish you recorded every word they say, eh?


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

jhar26 said:


> Sorry for returning to the world of pop and rock, but there's an example of this attitude I remember from the days when I worked as a salesperson in a record shop. Springsteen's "Born in the USA" album had just been released. One of our customers, a real collector who bought five or six albums every week picked up a copy. Springsteen at this point was already huge in the US and had been for almost a decade, but in Europe he was not THAT big yet. Anyway, one week later the guy comes back to our shop to buy some more albums and he tells me, "by the way. That Springsteen album I bought last week is amazing. It's been a long time since I heard a rock album that's this good." So far, so good. About four months later he buys three or four Bob Seger albums. "You're in a Bob Seger mood I see" I tell him casually. "Yes, much better than that sell-out of a Bruce Springsteen", he says. "That Born in the USA" album sounds so plastic - awful album." Now, the only thing that had changed in those four months is that in that time Springsteen had become huge in Europe and this customer had lost that feeling of knowing something more than the average rock fan - a feeling he hoped to regain by getting into Bob Seger. If Seger had become just as big following his buy his reaction would no doubt have been the same as it had been towards Springsteen.


Reminds me of High Fidelity, which, incidentally, is a great film (and book too, according to my teacher).
This part in particular:

[Rob has just placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on a top five list]
Barry: Oh, that's not obvious enough Rob. How about the Beatles? Or *******... ******* Beethoven? Side one, Track one of the Fifth Symphony... How can someone with no interest in music own a record store?


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

Mozart is buttah. I'm very fond of the lack of sentimentality in his music.


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## Guest (Mar 22, 2013)

Cheyenne said:


> Reminds me of High Fidelity, which, incidentally, is a great film (and book too, according to my teacher).
> This part in particular:
> 
> [Rob has just placed "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on a top five list]
> Barry: Oh, that's not obvious enough Rob. How about the Beatles? Or *******... ******* Beethoven? Side one, Track one of the Fifth Symphony... How can someone with no interest in music own a record store?


Yes "High Fidelity" is an excellent film. But the question remains: how could somebody with no interest or limited knowledge or interest in the entire body of film own a video/dvd shop?? My daughter used to work for Video Ezy when she was going through university (studying film and communications) and people came in asking for the same limited titles - she would try to steer them onto something more esoteric and less well-known, only to be chided by the owner of the shop. BTW, Quentin Tarantino used to work in a video shop!! What would my daughter's employees have thought of him.


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## deggial (Jan 20, 2013)

CountenanceAnglaise said:


> how could somebody with no interest or limited knowledge or interest in the entire body of film own a video/dvd shop??


it's (or was) good business? I used to work for a couple of local TV stations and both owners used them to advance their own political interests. Neither had an interest in anything remotely cultural.


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## EddieRUKiddingVarese (Jan 8, 2013)

Maybe I could start a Wolfgang Springsteen thread?


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## jhar26 (Jul 6, 2008)

Kieran said:


> Good post, jhar!
> 
> There always has to be somebody who knows better, eh? By the way, when the guy who bought Bruce's BITUSA came back moaning four months later, I would have found it difficult not to remind him of his previous enthusiasm for it. There's people you meet and you wish you recorded every word they say, eh?


Yeah, but he was one of our best customers. I didn't want to risk upsetting him. He might have taken his money somewhere else in the future. :lol:


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## Kieran (Aug 24, 2010)

jhar26 said:


> Yeah, but he was one of our best customers. I didn't want to risk upsetting him. He might have taken his money somewhere else in the future. :lol:


That's it! The discretion of the record sales-person has to be on the same level as the barman!


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## PavelC (Oct 6, 2012)

Here comes the Mozart fanclub, one can write my name down as well.

"The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters, in all centuries and in all the arts."
~ Richard Wagner
"Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has attained in the sphere of music."
~ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
"Does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them?"
~ Robert Schumann 
"In my dreams of Heaven, I always see the great Masters gathered in a huge hall in which they all reside. Only Mozart has his own suite."
~ Victor Borge
"Mozart is the greatest composer of all. Beethoven created his music, but the music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it-that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed."
~ Albert Einstein 
"The best of Mozart's works cannot be even slightly rewritten without diminishment."
~ Peter Shaffer (Playwright, Amadeus)
"The sonatas of Mozart are unique: too easy for children, too difficult for adults. Children are given Mozart to play because of the quantity of notes; grown-ups avoid him because of the quality of notes."
~ Artur Schnabel
"Beethoven I take twice a week, Haydn four times, and Mozart every day!"
~ Gioachino Antonio Rossini 
"Sometimes the impact of Mozart's music is so immediate that the vision in the mind remains blurred and incomplete, while the soul seems to be directly invaded, drenched in wave upon wave of melancholy."
~ Stendhal
"Mozart makes you believe in God because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and leaves such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces."
~ Georg Solti
"What gives Bach and Mozart a place apart is that these two great composers never sacrificed form to expression. As high as their expression may soar, their musical form remains supreme and all-efficient. ''
~ Camille Saint-Saëns
"In Bach, Beethoven and Wagner we admire principally the depth and energy of the human mind; in Mozart, the divine instinct." ~Edvard Grieg
"A phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing."
~ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
"Mozart's music is particularly difficult to perform. His admirable clarity exacts absolute cleanness: the slightest mistake in it stands out like black on white. It is music in which all the notes must be heard."
~ Gabriel Fauré
"If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity."
~ Johannes Brahms
"It is a real pleasure to see music so bright and spontaneous expressed with corresponding ease and grace."
~ Johannes Brahms
"Mozart encompasses the entire domain of musical creation, but I've got only the keyboard in my poor head."
~ Frédéric Chopin
"Mozart is the musical Christ."
~ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
"It may be that when the angels go about their task praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille they play Mozart."
~Karl Barth
"It is hard to think of another composer who so perfectly marries form and passion.
Mozart combines serenity, melancholy, and tragic intensity into one great lyric improvisation. Over it all hovers the greater spirit that is Mozart's — the spirit of compassion, of universal love, even of suffering — a spirit that knows no age, that belongs to all ages."
~Leonard Bernstein
"Does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them?"
~ Robert Schumann
"I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall do so till the day of my death."
~Ludwig van Beethoven
"There is a wretched unbelief abroad which seems to contain much healing power. It deems such a connection accidental, and sees in it only a lucky conjunction of the different forces in the game of life. It thinks it an accident that the lovers win one another, accidental that they love one another; there are a hundred other women with whom the hero would have been equally happy, and whom he could have loved as deeply. It thinks that there has been many a poet who might have become as immortal as Homer, if this splendid subject had not already been appropriated by him; many a composer who might have made himself as immortal as Mozart, had the opportunity offered. ... The accidental has but one factor; it is accidental that Homer found in the Trojan War the most distinguished epic subject conceivable. The fortunate has two factors: it is fortunate that the most distinguished epic subject fell to the lot of Homer; here the accent falls as much on Homer as on the material. It is this profound harmony which reverberates through every work of art we call classic. And so it is with Mozart; it is fortunate that the subject, which is perhaps the only strictly musical subject, in the deeper sense, that life affords, fell to — Mozart."
~Soren Kierkegaard Either/Or Part I, Swenson p. 45-46, 1843
"Mozart was the Shakspeare of music; and as long as the immortal bard is read, Mozart will live in the admiration of mankind. He has reached the passions through the ear as Shakspeare did through the mind, and no works will live that do not touch the passions and the heart — they are the same in all ages, and will make Shakspeare and Mozart a poet and a composer "For all time".
~The New-York Mirror, 1830




And I guarantee that there are many more. What I like about people is how much they lie about not liking Mozart, and after some time they return to him anyways. He's like a mother whose love is so obvious, you take it for granted. But once you disagree with "her"(the Mozart "mother"), you feel all nervous and powerful. You like doing it because it makes you feel mature and all grown up, nevertheless, "she" still loves you no matter what. And "she" always is there for you, when you return in mourning.

Mahler's widow reported that Mahler's last word was "Mozartl" (a diminutive, corresponding to 'dear little Mozart').


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## Guest (Mar 24, 2013)

PavelC said:


> Here comes the Mozart fanclub, one can write my name down as well.
> 
> And I guarantee that there are many more. What I like about people is how much they lie about not liking Mozart, and after some time they return to him anyways. He's like a mother whose love is so obvious, you take it for granted. But once you disagree with "her"(the Mozart "mother"), you feel all nervous and powerful. You like doing it because it makes you feel mature and all grown up, nevertheless, "she" still loves you no matter what. And "she" always is there for you, when you return in mourning.
> 
> Mahler's widow reported that Mahler's last word was "Mozartl" (a diminutive, corresponding to 'dear little Mozart').


One thing that can be relied 101% is that Mozart lovers are the easiest to bait, I wonder why?


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