Mozart in our Times
Original post by Yael Weiss on February 23rd, 2006

Around the world, musicians and music lovers are immersed in the many celebrations in honor of Mozart's 250th anniversary. Here at Indiana University, students in my graduate seminar are studying his sonatas for violin and piano, preparing for a marathon concert featuring the complete cycle of these sonatas. In the context of our work, many questions at the heart of the art of interpreting and performing music today have been asked and discussed. This forum is an invitation to these students to extend our discussions beyond the boundaries and time constraints of the classroom. Of course, other visitors to the website are also welcome to contribute, setting the stage for a free discussion on the purpose and goal of our work as musicians.

Will there be celebrations of the 1,000th anniversary?

the first comment
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 24, 2006 BY DAVID HUGHES
http://whitehouse.org

If anyone thinks I'm only posting because there was a reward promised for the first comment, well you're wrong, wrong I tell you, and you should be ashamed of yourself.


Now here's something I would actually like feedback on: is there any room for tempo variation between themes of say, an allegro first movement? (not counting slow introductions of course) Schnabel's edition of Beethoven sonatas frequently recommends slightly different tempi for different sections, and this seems to be acceptable in Schubert as well (on the piano, at least). Perhaps because these composers are more Romantic-leaning we consider it more natural, though Mozart interpretation seems to come up against more constraints (at least in my own experience).


The website I've listed is not mine, and totally irrelevant to the discourse, but it is hilarious and worth looking at (unless you're a Republican).

http://whitehouse.org

thoughts about tempo relationships
POSTED ON FEBRUARY 28, 2006 BY ANONYMOUS STUDENT

This is a very good question and I find this to be a difficult problem - sometimes I play for my teacher and the tempos for the first and second subjects have to be exactly the same and then I play the same piece in a masterclass for another teacher and they say the second subject has to relax more.
BTW, whitehouse.org is really great!

about repetitive themes in Mozart's music
POSTED ON MARCH 9, 2006 BY CHRISTINA KIM

Hello, everyone! :)

I was thinking about Mozart in the shower right now, and remembered something I saw on TV: that Mozart used dice to compose a few of his pieces. What he did was he rolled two(or more?) dices and each of them would give him a number. Then he used this one chart he made on which he could match up the numbers the dice gave him. (I hope this makes sense so far) He had little melodies already composed for each number. So he could just pick melodies from them when the dice gave him numbers. Who knows? Maybe his dices gave him same number more than once? Mozart was a true genius! All the little pieces of melody he had for the chart could go with whatever came before it and whatever came after it! Isn't that crazy?

Well, I am not sure if he used his dices for the sonatas we are playing in class, but I just remembered it and wanted to tell everyone! This is very useful! :) Have a great break!!

A word on tempo from a high authority
POSTED ON MARCH 9, 2006 BY W.A.M. (OK, I'M NOT REALLY WAM, JUST AN F560 STUDENT, BUT SINCE IT'S PRETTY CHEEKY TO PRETEND TO BE, I WON'T SAY WHO I AM - YOU'LL HAVE TO GUESS.)

Just happened to be surfing the net and saw this question about tempos in my music. (Yup, we do get internet up here. And by the way, NOBODY uses a PC - it's all Mac territory, even though I'm not sure Steve Jobs is going to qualify for admission when his time comes. . .)

OK, the first thing to keep in mind is that in my days on Earth we didn't have metronomes. We talked a lot about the idea of pulse, and all good musicians knew that without pulse there could be no good music. (And of course we had fun laughing at the people who played without a good sense of pulse. . .) But this is different from the way you 21st century people go around comparing metronome numbers. You can have a sensible and consistent pulse without it being exactly the same number on the metronome. Conversely and paradoxically, you can also have something that is metronomically perfect but does not have a good sense of pulse. In the end, it has a lot to do with good taste. But if you want something more practical, try singing or dancing to the music. (Most of my music is in some way either song or dance.) If you can sing or dance gracefully, the music has a pulse. If not, it doesn't.

As for the 1,000 year thing: Gee, I kinda doubt it: you mortals as a race have a very short memory. How many things can you think of that have been celebrated after 1,000 years? But I won't feel offended if there's no 1,000th birthday party down there for me. Up here is another story. More to the point, if you don't start electing some at least marginally acceptable leaders, I really don't think you are going to last another 750. For what it's worth, the betting up here is about five to two against.