Early Life and Influences on Mozart

• Born in Salzburg, Austria in 1756, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a child prodigy in music, learning instruments at a very young age.
• He was very close to his father, Leopold Mozart, a renowned composer himself, who also mentored him. They had numerous European tours together.
• Was a prolific composer from his childhood, even travelling significantly to perform for royal dignitaries; his youthful familiarity with the diverse European musical traditions would later influence his operatic style.
• He was inspired by the works of Johann Christian Bach and Joseph Haydn, and these influences can be observed in his style of composing.

Mozart's Move to Vienna and Development of His Unique Style

• Mozart moved to Vienna after leaving his position at the Salzburg court in 1781. This move marked a significant shift in his career.
• The high-spirited and cosmopolitan city of Vienna allowed him an artistic freedom that was denied to him in conservative Salzburg.
• Viennese operas offered a perfect platform for the development of his unique operatic style, blending German and Italian traditions.
• Mozart's operas started exploring emotional depth, challenging social norms and subtly criticising absolutist authority.
• Another crucial operatic innovation of Mozart was the inclusion of dramatic 'ensemble' numbers, i.e., compositions for multiple voices featuring complex layering of musical lines.

Artistic Maturity and Mozart's Operas

• Mozart collaborated with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte on three of his most popular operas - The Marriage of Figaro (1786), Don Giovanni (1787), and Cosi fan tutte (1790).
• These three operas represent Mozart's mature artistic genius, framing comedy with deeper character exploration and societal critique.
• Mozart’s orchestrations in his opera were not merely accompaniments for voices but acted as an additional character, reflecting and revealing the inner state of the characters.
• The Magic Flute (1791) was his final opera outing, a unique blend of popular tunes and serious music with Masonic and symbolic references, presenting both comedic and solemn characters and scenarios.
• His operas were known for their dramatic realism, with music serving to enhance the emotional impact of the narrative.

Mozart’s Musical Style and Innovations in Opera

• Mozart's compositions are appreciated for their melodic beauty, thematic versatility, and structural perfection.
• His fondness for the genre of opera buffa (comic opera) led to delightful characterisations and witty critique of societal norms in his operas.
• Mozart's treatment of the human voice was sensitive and innovative, offering memorable arias and ensemble pieces in his operas.
• He expanded the orchestra's role in opera, treating it as an active participant in the drama, rather than just providing a backdrop.
• He ingeniously used leitmotif (a recurring musical theme associated with a particular character, situation or idea) in his works well before this became common in Romantic opera.
• Mozart's operas feature an impressive balance between vocal and orchestral music, with each element enhancing the other. His genius lies in his seamless weaving together of complex musical elements to create a cohesive dramatic whole.

Death and Legacy

• Mozart died prematurely in 1791, but his prolific body of work continued to inspire and influence composers long after his death.
• The breadth and depth of Mozart's work, particularly his operas, left a significant impact on the development of Western Classical Music.
• Post death, his operas remain frequently performed worldwide, highlighting their timeless appeal and significance in the operatic literature.