Mozart’s work is amazing.
No one can question that.
But although his adult
performances and compositions are totally worthy of being celebrated for the
rest of human history, there are other parts to his story that have been
embellished far beyond what actually occurred.
And it all begins with the
world’s most overzealous stage dad. His kind, fatherly face looked like this:
As you might be able to guess from his picture, Wolfgang Mozart’s dad,
Leopold, wasn’t really into organizing themed slumber parties for his kids.
He
was intense.
As the author of Europe’s most popular book on teaching violin,
Leopold knew how to do one thing for kids: turn them into musical prodigies.
And he planned to use every scrap of what he knew to transform his own kids
into little eighteenth-century cash machines.
It started with his oldest daughter, Nannerl, who by the age of seven was
really catching on to Leopold’s teaching. She could’ve had a great career. The
only problem was that a better “product option” came along. Basically, it boiled
down to this: Nannerl was skilled, but Wolfgang was a boy. (This was
eighteenth-century Europe. “Girl Power” didn’t exist until much later.) So
Leopold shifted focus and set out to make Wolfgang a star.
For the rest of Wolfgang’s childhood, Leopold devoted himself to making
his son look like a genius.
What’s more impressive than a twelve-year-old who
plays piano? A twelve-year-old who plays a sonata that he composed himself!
Only a genius could do that! Sure Leopold may have “helped” a lot with the
composition work, but it’s better publicity to say it was entirely little Wolfie’s
creation.
And if Leopold said his son was younger than he really was, that was
no biggie.
It all just made for a better show.
Leopold dedicated his life to
“spinning” the truth in a way that made Wolfgang look like he basically was
born composing masterpieces, and all of Europe ate that advertising right up.
Wolfgang quickly rose to fame, playing for kings and countless sold-out concert
halls, because no one could explain how he was so good; they just knew that
they had to see it.
Of course, it’s not like Wolfgang Mozart was a complete fraud, either.
Fortunately, during that period of Wolfgang’s youth when Leopold was busy
spinning and truth-stretching, he also was giving Wolfgang an excellent musical
education.
By the time Wolfgang was twenty-one, he actually was as good as his
reputation.
At that point, he had been playing for eighteen years, and his skills
had fully caught up to the stories of his feats. That’s when he began to create the
real masterpieces.
So that’s the real deal.
Mozart became amazing because he rehearsed so
much, and in the meantime, he needed his father-turned-publicist to spin the
truth a bit in order to sell concert tickets. But just like Edison’s story, the myth of
Mozart has been passed around the world and down through the generations
until it no longer resembles the truth of how Mozart actually became so good.
Today, Mozart is known for “composing his first masterpiece at the age of
five”—a feat that none of us could ever imagine doing.
But if we said, “Do you
think that you could play the piano every day and then take credit for your dad’s
work?” then you’d be more likely to see Mozart’s accomplishments as
something you could do too.
No one can question that.
But although his adult
performances and compositions are totally worthy of being celebrated for the
rest of human history, there are other parts to his story that have been
embellished far beyond what actually occurred.
And it all begins with the
world’s most overzealous stage dad. His kind, fatherly face looked like this:
As you might be able to guess from his picture, Wolfgang Mozart’s dad,
Leopold, wasn’t really into organizing themed slumber parties for his kids.
He
was intense.
As the author of Europe’s most popular book on teaching violin,
Leopold knew how to do one thing for kids: turn them into musical prodigies.
And he planned to use every scrap of what he knew to transform his own kids
into little eighteenth-century cash machines.
It started with his oldest daughter, Nannerl, who by the age of seven was
really catching on to Leopold’s teaching. She could’ve had a great career. The
only problem was that a better “product option” came along. Basically, it boiled
down to this: Nannerl was skilled, but Wolfgang was a boy. (This was
eighteenth-century Europe. “Girl Power” didn’t exist until much later.) So
Leopold shifted focus and set out to make Wolfgang a star.
For the rest of Wolfgang’s childhood, Leopold devoted himself to making
his son look like a genius.
What’s more impressive than a twelve-year-old who
plays piano? A twelve-year-old who plays a sonata that he composed himself!
Only a genius could do that! Sure Leopold may have “helped” a lot with the
composition work, but it’s better publicity to say it was entirely little Wolfie’s
creation.
And if Leopold said his son was younger than he really was, that was
no biggie.
It all just made for a better show.
Leopold dedicated his life to
“spinning” the truth in a way that made Wolfgang look like he basically was
born composing masterpieces, and all of Europe ate that advertising right up.
Wolfgang quickly rose to fame, playing for kings and countless sold-out concert
halls, because no one could explain how he was so good; they just knew that
they had to see it.
Of course, it’s not like Wolfgang Mozart was a complete fraud, either.
Fortunately, during that period of Wolfgang’s youth when Leopold was busy
spinning and truth-stretching, he also was giving Wolfgang an excellent musical
education.
By the time Wolfgang was twenty-one, he actually was as good as his
reputation.
At that point, he had been playing for eighteen years, and his skills
had fully caught up to the stories of his feats. That’s when he began to create the
real masterpieces.
So that’s the real deal.
Mozart became amazing because he rehearsed so
much, and in the meantime, he needed his father-turned-publicist to spin the
truth a bit in order to sell concert tickets. But just like Edison’s story, the myth of
Mozart has been passed around the world and down through the generations
until it no longer resembles the truth of how Mozart actually became so good.
Today, Mozart is known for “composing his first masterpiece at the age of
five”—a feat that none of us could ever imagine doing.
But if we said, “Do you
think that you could play the piano every day and then take credit for your dad’s
work?” then you’d be more likely to see Mozart’s accomplishments as
something you could do too.