For many, Mozart is the greatest composer in history. Even Mozart’s fellow composers agreed, with Strauss complimenting him as ‘the most sublime of tonal masters’, and Rossini, saying ‘I take Beethoven twice a week, Haydn four times, but Mozart every day...Mozart is always adorable!’ From operas to choral works, concertos to symphonies, sonatas to chamber music, Mozart is one of the only composers in history to compose masterpieces in almost every genre. In his short 30 odd years of life, he produced a staggering musical output with at least 626 pieces to his name, including some of the greatest operas ever written. Ahead of Welsh National Opera’s brand-new production of Mozart’s enchanting The Magic Flutein Spring 2023, let’s take a look at the magic of Mozart and explore why his work continues to have such a lasting impact across the arts and popular culture today.
Many of Mozart’s operas, including Don Giovanniand The Marriage of Figaroare some of the most regularly performed operas in the world. Tales of exhilarating drama, witty humour, relatable characters and powerful emotion, are all enriched by Mozart’s music which he cleverly uses to enhance emotion, elevate drama through dramatic foreboding, and even give the audience insight into the minds and emotions of the characters. Genius.
Aidan Lang, WNO General DirectorThe defining feature of the characters in all of Mozart’s operas is that they are fully rounded human beings. He achieves this by using a harmonic palette that constantly shifts, according to the dramatic situation and the emotional state that the characters find themselves in. The result is an output of operas that transcend time and depict the human condition with an unflinching honesty, but an honesty that is at all times imbued with compassion and empathy for our common humanity
But Mozart is not just a world-famous opera composer. Numerous filmmakers have taken Mozart’s compositions, deeming them perfect for film, and consequently transforming Mozart into one of the most sought-after film composers of today. From romances to action, biopics to children’s films, Mozart’s unforgettable melodies, emotive writing and explosive orchestral works feature in more films and TV series than you may be aware of.
Although a classical piece, The Marriage of Figaro, has been used on numerous occasions. In the multi award-winning The King’s Speech, King George VI of England successfully eliminates his stammer with the aid of music from Mozart’s opera. In the classic children’s film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka plays a small extract from the Overture to unlock the doors to his chocolate factory and in Shawshank Redemption, an extract from the opera is broadcast through the prison with one of the prisoners commenting, ‘I have no idea, to this day, what those two Italian ladies were singing about… I’d like to think they were singing about something so beautiful it can’t be expressed in words and makes your heart ache…’
So, whether you are young or young at heart, Mozart’s adaptable, catchy and timeless music really has something for everyone. If you’d like to experience the magic of Mozart for yourself, why not step into the enchanting land of The Magic Flute in Welsh National Opera’s brand-new production in Spring 2023, touring to Cardiff, Llandudno, Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Bristol, Birmingham, Southampton and Plymouth.