CLARTMU065 - Mozart’s Life, Letters and Masterpieces
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was probably the most famous child prodigy in history. He was also a virtuoso pianist, a celebrated composer and a very entertaining letter writer. This course explores Mozart’s music within the context of his life and career. Each week we learn about an episode from his life and study one of his compositions. We listen to his instrumental music, watch scenes from his operas and hear excerpts from his correspondence with his father, Leopold, who fought bitterly with his son when Wolfgang settled in Vienna to establish an independent career and start a family. Wolfgang went on to invent the modern piano concerto and to compose some of the most poignant, insightful and comic operas in the history of Western music.
Course Details
David Ferris, Ph.D., is an associate professor of music in the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. He teaches seminars on classical style, jazz, Mozart, Romantic song, the Schumanns, Verdi and Shakespeare, Russian opera, musical biography and folklorism in 19th-century music. His work has been published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press and Routledge and has appeared in the Journal of the American Musicological Society, the Journal of Musicology, Music Theory Spectrum and Music & Letters. He holds a doctorate from Brandeis University.
On campus
This course will be delivered on campus/in person. Classroom and parking information will be sent prior to your course start date. Learn more about the steps Rice University is taking to keep our community safe and healthy at glasscock.rice.edu/coronavirus.
- The child prodigy; an introduction to Mozart’s music
- Mannheim and Paris; piano sonata in A minor, K. 310
- Arrival in Vienna; “The Abduction from the Seraglio”
- Impresario and performer; piano concerto in G major, K. 453
- Partnership with Da Ponte; “Don Giovanni”
- Financial difficulties; “Jupiter” symphony, K. 551
- Berlin and Leipzig; string quartet in F major, K. 590
Rice University Shepherd School of Music