Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, in 1756, the son of a music teacher. Young Wolfgang was a child prodigy. He mastered piano compositions at age 5, played before the Austrian emperor at age 6, wrote symphonies when he was 9. In 1787 the Austrian emperor Joseph II appointed him court composer. Mozart enjoyed a successful career but he did not know how to manage his financial situation. He spent money as fast as he made it. In his short life he wrote over 600 compositions of beautiful music, but he was in debt when
he died at the age of 35.
One day, a young man went to visit Mozart, who was already a famous composer, and asked him for advice on composing a symphony.
“How old are you?” the composer asked. “Eighteen.”
“I think you are too young to compose a symphony, then,” the composer told him. “Try something easier.”
“But you composed symphonies when you were nine,” protested the young man.
“Yes,” agreed Mozart, “but I did not ask anyone how to compose them.”
Mozart was a prodigy, a great artist, a genius. He changed the world (for the better) with his eternal music, and his name is now linked to science. In pop culture, the “Mozart Effect” is a theory about the transformational powers of music in areas of mental and physical health. Scientists believe the rhythmical and melodic patterns in music provide a form of therapy that promotes greater relaxation, improves memory recall and some other cognitive processes. Why music? Listen to a Mozart composition and enjoy the experience.
(Adapted from <www.nypost.com/php/pfriendly/print> [accessed July 2008]; The Little, Brown Book of Anecdotes, Clifton Fadiman, Little, Brown and Company,
Boston, 1985)
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