Writing Assignment Mozart and Beethoven

There is no doubt that Mozart and Beethoven are brilliant, unique, great composers that had an important impact on the music history. Beethoven has a much more fiery personality. Whereas Mozart's music is clean and precise, Beethoven employs many surprises in his music. Many times, he will build up the music as if it's leading to something only to suddenly get softhis trademark use of subito piano. This is a common theme to his music and keeps the listener engaged in the music. In Beethoven's later sonatas he developed the form further as the technology of the piano improved. The development sections are massive and even in his earlier sonatas they would go much further than in a Mozart sonata. This is just one of many differences between these two iconic composers. Also, Mozart's sonatas and symphonies are full of operatic touches. If I had to summarize Mozart, I would use the word "crystalline." His music sounds to me like crystallized perfection. He was known to write quickly, made few mistakes as he wrote, and yet it all just works. Whether he was writing a fugue, an opera, or a string quartet, the result seems near perfection. I surmise that his mind worked out solutions to various problems well in advance of his committing the music to paper. All of it sparkles, even the darkest moments, because it's so well crafted and ingenious. However, if you study his scores, you don't get a sense of "I could do that." It's more like "how did he do this?" Similarly, if I had to summarize Beethoven, I would use the word "bold." This guy took risks, and not everything he tried worked. (see Wellington's Victory). I'm sure he thought as long and hard as Mozart, but he slaved over his ideas, jotting them down, revising them, and still there are things that are just downright awkward. He wanted to write operas, but realized (after endless revisions ofFidelio) it wasn't really his forte. Ah...but piano sonatas? He broke the mold with those, and with string quartets. And because Beethoven's thought processes can be traced (through his sketches and revisions), his music is more useful to study than Mozart's. When you study Beethoven's scores you realize it's possible to build huge structures from tiny ideas (like the 5th symphony, or his late quartets.) The pieces' personal impact on me: I would like to start by talking about Beethoven's symphony. It was a magnificent performance. My first impression about his one is that it is very powerful and more intense -unlike Mozart's one-. It even appears on the performers; they were very energetic and their movements were faster and they interact with the music that they are playing. I noticed sudden changes in the volume repeated more than one time which made it more powerful; also, that made me stay focused and pay more attention every time it happened. Moreover, the fact that Beethoven was almost completely deaf at the time he composed this piece made it very special and hard to believe. For Mozart's symphony, I really enjoyed it so much. I would say that this one is my favorite. It gave me pleasure and peace with its graceful and light sound. It is very beautiful, simple, and genuine. I was surprised that I listened the entire 41-minutes video without even realizing. It is very relaxing and comfortable. It sounds like something I would like to listen when I am studying or reading. I liked it more although it's a little bit slow comparing to Beethoven's. It just sounds absolutely fantastic to me.

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