In a chapter from his biography of Mozart called "Fearful Symmetries," Maynard Solomon meditates on the peculiar qualities of beauty in the Mozart style. He considers the centennial of Mozart's death in the year 1891, and imagines the challenge faced by Brahms: "how to pay homage to Mozart without surrendering one's own individuality."
The Brahms solution was encoded in the Brahms Clarinet Quintet; an ensemble which entered the public consciousness with the Mozart's Clarinet Quintet in A, K. 581.
Listen with closest possible attention to the opening four notes of the Mozart Quintet. The tune moves down through a triad by skip then step to land on the first scale degree. This tone is harmonized with the relative minor; which delays the arrival of the expected tonic harmony until the chord that introduces the solo clarinet in the seventh measure.
The second movement of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet echos the intervals of the first three notes of the Mozart but then "block[s] the theme, refusing to allow it to continue, let allow to come to rest," observed Solomon.
[Thomas Friedli & Quartet Sine Nomine]
The restlessness is also rhythmic, with deep-scale syncopation and patterns with two-against-three creating gentle frictions. "In the end Brahms knew," wrote Solomon, "we cannot reach Mozart, we can only hope to come nearer to him."
Showing posts with label Maynard Solomon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Maynard Solomon. Show all posts
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Monday, October 18, 2010
Adam Mozart
On Sunday, August 4, 1782 a marriage took place in the Stephansdom in Vienna. The groom was listed in marriage register as "The noble Mr. Wolfgang Adam Mozart, a kapellmeister, bachelor."
Adam?
Imagine the box office results of the 1985 movie, starring Tom Hulce, called Adam?
Perhaps this master of name modification, having already used Gnagflow, (read it backwards), found an anagram of Amade and could not resist the impulse, even in this very formal application.
"Renaming," wrote Maynard Solomon in his biography of Mozart, "is a step toward self-creation by fictive means." Solomon explores the idea that the name was a deliberate statement, even if it was a stroke from the unconscious mind.
Solomon develops the idea by comparing Adam with Mozart. "The price of power, favor, and immortality is perpetual innocence and unquestioning obedience." Neither was able to sustain that price.
At this same time, Mozart was unable to produce acceptable documentation of his baptismal certificate. He had sent a letter asking his father to have a new copy sent from Salzburg, but dad was not in a hurry to assist him in marrying...dad believed it would distract and perhaps even wreck his trajectory and potential as a composer.
Adam was not born but directly created by God. He also lacked a certificate.
Mozart's constant alterations of his name," wrote Solomon, "are his way of experimenting with different identities, trying to tune them to his satisfaction."
Adam?
Imagine the box office results of the 1985 movie, starring Tom Hulce, called Adam?
Perhaps this master of name modification, having already used Gnagflow, (read it backwards), found an anagram of Amade and could not resist the impulse, even in this very formal application.
"Renaming," wrote Maynard Solomon in his biography of Mozart, "is a step toward self-creation by fictive means." Solomon explores the idea that the name was a deliberate statement, even if it was a stroke from the unconscious mind.
Solomon develops the idea by comparing Adam with Mozart. "The price of power, favor, and immortality is perpetual innocence and unquestioning obedience." Neither was able to sustain that price.
At this same time, Mozart was unable to produce acceptable documentation of his baptismal certificate. He had sent a letter asking his father to have a new copy sent from Salzburg, but dad was not in a hurry to assist him in marrying...dad believed it would distract and perhaps even wreck his trajectory and potential as a composer.
Adam was not born but directly created by God. He also lacked a certificate.
Mozart's constant alterations of his name," wrote Solomon, "are his way of experimenting with different identities, trying to tune them to his satisfaction."
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