Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) was a leading Austrian composer of the late eighteen century. He was only five years old when he wrote his first minuet. Would you like to hear it? The multimedia magic of the Internet brings Mozart to life.
Hearing Mozart's music is integral to any study of his life. At the Classical Music Archives you can listen to hundreds of his compositions in MP3, MIDI and WAX (a special kind of Windows Media Audio.) Guests can listen to up to five pieces of music per day. This limit is removed for paying subscribers, who can also can download the music files to their own computers. To hear Mozart's first minuets, scroll down the page to Nannerl's Notenbuch. To untangle the complexities of audio file formats, read their "How to Listen to Music on the Internet"
The Mozart Project presents the milestones of Mozart's life in a time line showing concurrent world events. Europe was seething with political and cultural activity throughout the eighteenth century, greatly affecting Mozart's development. You'll also find an annotated catalog of Mozart's life work, cross referenced chronologically as well as by category. This is not simply a listing of compositions, but a detailed insight into each work and it's creation.
"Once upon a time, when men wore powdered wigs and rode in gilded carriages, a baby boy was born in the beautiful town of Salzburg. The little boy's name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophillus Amadeus Mozart. Can you imagine writing that on the top of your paper in school?" Thus begins the whimsical, musical biography of Wolferl (for short). Liberally sprinkled with audio clips, this outstanding story reminds me of those Play-a-Sound children's books with sound buttons for each character. This click-and-play biography is a must-see site for kids of all ages. Bravo!
In February 1787, measures and instructions for a musical composition dice game were published. Some experts say the game was created by Mozart, but others are not so sure. This site is an implementation of that game, where you create a minuet by pasting together randomly chosen pre-written measures of music. Sixteen random dice rolls determine which of 176 possible minuet measures are played and in what sequence. The resulting composition can be heard in the browser, or displayed in PDF format for printing.
Tour Salzburg, the City of Mozart, from your easy chair. Stop along the way to visit Mozart's birthplace on Getreidegasse, and Mozart's residence in Makart Square. This site is sponsored by the Salzburg tourist board. It offers a short biography as well as details on the two Mozart houses, now maintained as museums by the Mozarteum Foundation.
Buy Mozart Printable for $2.00
or try a FREE trial of the Printables ClubThe following links are either new discoveries or sites that didn't make it into my newspaper column because of space constraints. Enjoy!
Classical Net: MozartMozart Home Page | Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart |
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