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The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius: Selections Annotated and Explained Russell McNeil, PhD Editor, Malaspina Great Books In 1862 the English literary critic and poet Matthew Arnold described Marcus Aurelius as "the most beautiful figure in history." The Stoicism of Aurelius is grounded in rationality and rests solidly on an ethical approach rooted in nature. Stoicism promises real happiness and joy in this life and a serenity that can never be soured by personal misfortune. This philosophy has universal appeal with practical implications on problems ranging from climate change and terrorism to the personal management of sickness, aging, depression and addiction. I truly believe that the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius has much to offer us now...(Click on book cover for more)

Category:	Classical Music
Name:	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Classical
Birth Year:	1756
Death Year:	1791
Representative Image:
Biography, Lectures, and Research Links:	Short Biography Mozart: A Life Blog Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Artist Song Name Composer Composition Instrument Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (January 27, 1756 - December 5, 1791). Born in Salzburg, Austria, Mozart is one of the finest and most popular musical composers of all time. A child prodigy from a musical family, he began composing at the age of five. His father Leopold Mozart, was also a composer, and some of the piano pieces of W.A. Mozart, especially the duets and pieces for two pianos, he wrote to play together with his sister Nannerl. Mozart lived much of his life in Vienna but traveled Europe extensively. As a man, he became a Freemason, and worked fervently and successfully to convert his father before Leopold's death. The Magic Flute may well contain Masonic themes or meanings. The two coloratura arias in that opera, sung by the Queen of the Night, are intensely thrilling. In many of his works, Mozart wrote as beautifully for the human voice as for the violin or pianoforte. Mozart is the bridge to the Romantic period. His later symphonies pushed the envelope of his period's style of composition. Beethoven, one of the best known classical composers, was greatly in Mozart's debt, and wrote Cadenzas to some of Mozart's works that lacked them, most notably Concerto No. 20, K. 466. Mozart often composed only sketches for his own parts, so great was his musical memory. He could also write an entire work on the day of its first performance. Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky greatly loved and admired Mozart, and expressed his love by writing Mozartiana, in the Mozart style. Despite his brilliance, Mozart had a hard life. Many times, he received no payment for his work. Gradually, his health declined. He lived just a little over half of Beethoven's life span, yet was amazingly prolific from early childhood until his death in 1791. In the decades following Mozart's death there were several attempts to inventory his compositions, but it was only in 1862 that Ludwig von Koechel, a Viennese botanist, mineralogist, educator, succeeded in this enterprise. Kochel's stout book of 551 pages was entitled (in German) Chronological-Thematic Catalogue of the Complete Musical Works of WOLFGANG AMADE MOZART. Kochel is the source of the ubiquitous "K" prefix on the numbers given to Mozart's works instead of the more usual "Opus". Some of Mozart's more popular works include: Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Serenade for String Quartet & Bass); Alla Turca (Sonata for Piano); Symphony No. 25; Symphony No. 40; The opera Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro); Elvira Madigan (Concerto for Piano No. 21); The opera The Abduction from the Seraglio Detailed Biography Mozart is one of the greatest musical geniuses in history. His father, Leopold Mozart, assistant choir-master and court musician to the Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg, was one of the most distinguished musicians of his time. He was the author of the best method for violin-playing written up to that period, and was a man of thorough education and sterling character. Realizing his son's extraordinary endowments, and also the great musical gifts of his daughter Maria Anna, five years Wolfgang's senior, he devoted all his energy and knowledge to their education. Wolfgang at the age of three was wont to spend whole hours at the piano, discovering, to his great joy, consonant intervals, and was not yet four when he began to receive from his father systematic training in piano-playing and in the theory of music, improvising even before he could write notes. Violin-playing came to him practically by intuition, a fact which he demonstrated to the astonishment of his father and a company of artists, by performing at first sight the second violin part in a trio for stringed instruments. He was not yet five when his father wrote for him a theme for the piano with variations, which he had himself composed. So correct was the child's ear that he would remember the tone pitch of a violin which he had heard even weeks before. His sensitiveness was such that harsh sounds were distressing to him, a blast of a trumpet almost causing him to faint away. Wolfgang was not yet eight years old when his father undertook a concert tour with his two children, visiting Munich, Vienna, and Presburg. Everywhere their performances, especially the boy's, created great astonishment. In 1763 Leopold Mozart visited Paris with his prodigies, and the following April London, where they remained until July, 1764. Received and feted by royalty and people of high station, the Mozart children, but particularly Wolfgang, were considered musical wonders of the world. On their way back to Salzburg they visited The Hague and the principal cities of France and Switzerland. During all these travels, and the distraction and excitement incident thereto, Wolfgang made progress in all branches of musical and other knowledge. He composed constantly and in almost every known instrumental form. Returned home, he devoted himself to the mastery of counterpoint, and the perfecting of his technique in piano, violin, and organ-playing. His patron, Archbishop von Schlatterbach, sceptical regarding the boy's reported achievements as a composer, invited Wolfgang to his palace, forbidding communication of any kind with him, and giving him the text of the first part of an oratorio, prepared by the archbishop, to set to music. The second and third parts of this work were composed by Michael Haydn and Anton Cajetan Adlgasser respectively. It was published at Salzburg in 1767, and performed during Lent of the same year. A year later, at the age of twelve, Wolfgang visited Vienna anew, and was commissioned to write an opera buffa, La Finta Semplice, for which Marco Coltellini furnished the libretto. Intrigues of all kinds, especially on the part of the members of the theatre orchestra, who objected to playing under the direction of a twelve-year-old boy, prevented its performance. Returning to Salzburg, Wolfgang was appointed concert-master, at first without compensation, but later was allowed a monthly stipend of twelve florins. Leopold Mozart, chafing under Wolfgang's lack of recognition, made every effort to secure for him a suitable appointment in the larger field of Munich and Vienna, and also Florence, but not succeeding, he finally decided to visit Italy, with a view to gaining there the prestige which success in that country then carried with it. In Bologna, they became acquainted with Padre Giambattista Martini (1706-1784), the most learned musician of his time. This master put Wolfgang through tests in contrapuntal writing, which the latter withstood with ease and consummate skill. In Rome young Mozart performed his famous feat of scoring Allegri's Miserere for double chorus, after listening to its performance on Wednesday of Holy Week. Hearing the work repeated on the following Friday, he had but a few minor corrections to make in his manuscript. After being created Knight of the Golden Spur, feted, and acclaimed throughout Italy by the artistic and aristocratic world as the greatest living musical genius, Wolfgang returned to his modest position in Salzburg. Again and again he tried to find a more congenial atmosphere in Munich, Mannheim, Paris, and elsewhere, but without success. He continued, except for occasional visits to other cities for the purpose of conducting new works, to reside in Salzburg until his twenty-first year, when he took up his permanent abode in Vienna. An offer from Frederick William II of Prussia to become court conductor at Berlin at a salary of three thousand thalers he refused on patriotic grounds. Mozart was now in full maturity of his powers, creating with astonishing rapidity works which will remain classic for all time: operas, symphonies, quartets, concertos, etc., all of which increased his fame, but did not ameliorate his material condition. Not only was due recognition denied him, but his life was one continuous battle for existence. His application for the assistant conductorship of the imperial opera house failed. He applied for a similar position at the cathedral of St. Stephen, in the hope of ultimate promotion to the post of choir-master. Only on his deathbed did he receive the news of his appointment. The great master died at the age of thirty-four and was buried, in a pauper's grave, his exact resting place being now unknown. Only a few persons followed his remains to the cemetery. Mozart's individuality was of an exquisitely delicate, tender, and noble character. His operas, Don Giovanni, The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, La Clemenza di Tito, on account of their melodic beauty and truth of expression, have as strong a hold upon the affections of the musical public today as they did at the end of the eighteenth century. His instrumental works continue to delight musicians the world over. As a composer for the Church, however, he does not, even artistically, reach the high level he maintained in other fields. In his day the music of the Church, Gregorian chant, was practically ignored in Germany, and sadly neglected in other countries. Mozart had but little knowledge of the masters of the sixteenth century, and consequently his style of writing for the Church could not have been influenced by them. The proper of the Mass, which brings singers and congregation in intimate touch with the liturgy of the particular day, was rarely sung. The fifteen masses, litanies, offertories, his great Requiem, as well as many smaller settings, most of them written for soli, chorus, and orchestra, in the identical style of his secular works, do not reflect the spirit of the universal Church, but rather the subjective conception and mood of the composer and the Josephinist spirit of the age. What Mozart, with his Raphaelesque imagination and temperament, would have been for church music had he lived at a different time and in different surroundings, or risen above his own, can easily be imagined. [This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License and uses material adapted in whole or in part from the Wikipedia article on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. and Catholic Encyclopedia (1911)] The Great Books: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Please browse our Amazon list of titles about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. For rare and hard to find works we recommend our Alibris list of titles about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Post Comments, Questions or Suggestions! This database is maintained by Malaspina Great Books.
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This web page is part of a biographical database on Great Ideas. These are living ideas that have shaped, defined and directed world culture for over 2,500 years. By definition the Great Ideas are radical. As such they are sometimes misread, or distorted by popular simplifications. Understanding a Great Idea demands personal engagement. Our selection of Great Ideas is drawn from literature and philosophy, science, art, music, theatre, and cinema. We also include biographies of pivotal historical and religious figures, as well as contributions from women and other historically under-represented minorities. The result is an integrated multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary database built upon the framework of the always controversial Great Books Core List published in 1940 by the late Great Books Pioneer Mortimer Adler (1902-2001). Most of the works on that list are available in the 60 volume Great Books of the Western World.