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hudsonsinaf
True Blue Farmgirl
1846 Posts
Shannon
Rozet
Wyoming
USA
1846 Posts |
 Posted - Jan 08 2017 : 7:05:20 PM
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Some of the most beautiful classical music ever written was composed by a young Austrian, born in 1756, named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Wolfgang started learning to play the clavier, which is similar to a piano, at the young age of three. At age four he was playing the violin. He wrote his first concerto at the age of six. It was at that point that his father, who was a musician himself, started traveling the world with him and his older sister, Nannerl, who was also fluent in music. It was his father's desire to get him and his sister well known at a young age so that they could provide for themselves financially better than he. During this time frame, musicians were treated as servants and were paid very little. Money was always an issue for the Mozart family. Often times the Mozart children were paid with gifts, opposed to money. While the gifts were probably appreciated by the children, it did not help their father put food on the table! As Wolfgang got older, his father continued to control much of what Wolfgang did, much like a manager. Part of the reason may have been that Wolfgang was not a good steward of his money. He was married to a singer named Constanze Weber, in 1782. The couple had six children, though heartbreakingly only two survived past infancy. While he wrote more than 800 pieces of music, his most famous are his operas. He died at the young age of 35!
Some of the most beautiful music written today is by the exceptional pianist Jon Schmidt, of The Piano Guys. This son of German immigrants started his composing career at eleven. By the time he was sixteen he was teaching others how to play the piano. In his early twenties, Jon started a successful career as a solo pianist. Unlike Mozart, Schmidt was extremely concerned about music and his ability to provide for his family financially. To help provide for himself, he started a degree in English with plans of getting his MBA. However, once he presented himself to an audience in a concert hall, and was loved, he quit working towards his MBA and fully embraced his love and talent in music. He held his solo career for twenty years prior to becoming a major part of The Piano Guys. Married to his wife Michelle, they have five children.
Both Mozart and Jon's ability to compose beautiful and mysteriously powerful masterpieces using the piano are due to God given abilities. Both men have/had the mindset to do better and improve their works, to the best of their abilities. Both men stay(ed) true to their faith in God, through fame and hard times. Mozart's life was much shorter than that of Schmidt, but I think the greatest difference is in the stewardship of finances. While Mozart liked to spend money by giving parties, buying expensive wigs and clothing, playing games, Schmidt was concerned enough about the financial stability of his family that he was willing to put aside his love of music and obvious talent to obtain a "steadier occupation." |
~ Shannon, Sister #5349
Farmgirl of the Month January 2016
http://hudson-everydayblessings.blogspot.com/ |
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