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Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart · Austrian composer of the Classical period (1756-1791) · 1756–1791

Appears in 113 videos · 168 passages, 47 of them in depth.

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What Dominique Pagani says

Dominique Pagani sees Mozart as the composer of the "tipping point" from the Ancien Régime to the new world. He stresses that Mozart chooses subversive subjects, such as The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni or Così fan tutte, and that he breaks with the archbishop, which leads to his dying poor and being buried in a common grave12. He reads The Magic Flute closely: the struggle between Sarastro, sun of the Enlightenment, and the Queen of the Night, the Masonic ritual, and Papageno, a popular hero alongside the initiated prince34. He often returns to the same idea: saying "I don't like Mozart" says nothing about Mozart, and musicians never argue about him56. In the "Musicosophie" sessions, he analyses the dramatic D minor, the tragic finale of Symphony No. 40, and the held-back tears of the Clarinet Concerto, which he links to an anti-Romantic reserve. He also analyses the farewell quintet of Così fan tutte, where pretence makes the feeling more sincere78. He also cites Mozart as an example of discipline: he had been working since the age of three or four.

  1. 1Argent, travail, liberté3 Aug 2019 · 33:54
  2. 2Musicosophie 2. De Lévi-Strauss à Nerval à propos de la musique3 Dec 2020 · 1:16:56
  3. 3Dominique Pagani - Qui se cache sous les surfaces ? Esthétique et politique20 May 2022 · 41:58
  4. 4Musicosophie 5. Bonheur contre pulsion de mort en musique11 Dec 2020 · 19:38
  5. 5Education : le Beau s'apprend-il ?20 Jul 2018 · 7:40
  6. 6DE L'OR GRATUIT POUR TOUT LE MONDE - MULLIGAN • Pagani Parle Musique8 Jun 2022 · 2:02
  7. 7Musicosophie 14. Mozart derechef7 Feb 2021 · 21:46
  8. 8#3 Nomade ou sédentaire ? - Le cas Nerval6 Jun 2021 · 1:41:32

Summary produced automatically from 150 of the passages below, to be reviewed; the numbers link to the moment in the session.

Portrait: MozartWho is this?

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a Classical composer and musician. He completed more than 800 works in his life—including outstanding examples of most of the genres of his time: symphonies, concertos, chamber music, opera and choral music—and is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Western music. […]

Read the article on Wikipedia

Text: Wikipédia, CC BY-SA 4.0, excerpt · Portrait: Barbara Krafft, Public domain

Series · 7 Feb 2021Musicosophy 14. Mozart once more
  1. 1:02Don GiovanniHe remains within the Ancien Régime, but the finale of Don Giovanni breaks with the buffa style and announces Verdi and Wagner.
  2. 6:06Piano Concerto No. 20D minor is, for him, the register of the dramatic; the groupetto of the 20th concerto announces the Commendatore's knocks.
  3. 21:46Adagio and Fugue in C minorHe expresses the tragic as much as voluptuousness; his minor keys have distinct connotations and his chromaticism is underestimated.
  4. 55:23His miracle is not density of writing but the voluptuousness of delayed dissonance; he is the acme of Viennese classicism.
  5. 1:41:58The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage keeps the sunlit happiness of the mad day; Mozart, in the shift, holds what the world to come should be.
Series · 2 Feb 2021Musicosophy 13. Mozart restored
  1. 1:15The most widely performed classical musician, burdened with contradictory imageries.
  2. 12:18Concerto for Flute and HarpThe andantino expresses a burst of happiness, written when he was barely twenty.
  3. 37:53Clarinet ConcertoTwilit sensuality and breaks in the finale, taken up again in the 22nd piano concerto.
  4. 54:10Così fan tutteThe farewell quintet, a feigned scene, carries the most overwhelming music.
  5. 1:25:16The Magic FluteCombative Mozart, freemason, hated by the Viennese aristocracy; "Er ist ein Mensch" is Rousseauian.
Series · 1 Jun 2022POLYMORPHOUSLY PERVERSE MOZART • Pagani Parle Musique
  1. 0:00Così fan tutteHe is the only one able to express the quintessence of libertinism while uniting it with generosity.
  2. 3:23Così fan tutteIn the farewell quintet, he writes overwhelming music for a separation that is only a comedy.
  3. 7:18His 27 piano concertos show his predilection for the piano as a figure against the symphonic ground, with humor and playfulness.
  4. 9:48Piano Concerto No. 22The finale is interrupted for a slow, melancholic passage, a rare occurrence even within his own work.
  5. 13:43He is never wrong about taste.
Series · 25 Mar 2021Musicosophy 17. Interpretation
  1. 28:14He created his own piano concertos without ever playing them twice the same way; the cadenzas were improvised.
  2. 32:25Died in a pauper's grave, against the prejudice of music for the rich.
  3. 1:05:18"Jeunehomme" ConcertoConcerto that Clara Haskil plays during her surgery; he recommends its middle movement.
  4. 1:06:41Piano Concerto in D minor, K. 466D minor, the somber key of the Requiem and Don Giovanni.
  5. 1:13:53Viennese style among the hardest to render.
Series · 3 Dec 2020Musicosophy 4. Sound ghettos
  1. 9:56Develops the string quartet and dedicates his quartets to Haydn.
  2. 19:04Very simple melodies in his work become the object of variations.
  3. 46:00Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter"Amazed at sixteen by the fugal writing of Johann Christian Bach; the fugue in the finale of the Jupiter symphony unites the galant style and the learned style.
  4. 53:01Clarinet ConcertoIn the finale, the rondo stops as if from weariness; in his music tears well up without falling.
Talks · 3 Aug 2019Money, work, freedom
  1. 33:54The Marriage of FigaroContemporary of the Revolution, he always chose subversive subjects: The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Così fan tutte.
  2. 40:12Remark: "what is falser than a flute? two flutes."
  3. 47:54The Magic FluteMuch of Rousseau in The Magic Flute; first musician to die in poverty for having refused the archbishop's protection.
Talks · 29 Sept 2019The religion of Money
  1. 38:00One of the best-selling composers, he nevertheless died poor, in a common grave, without having heard his last symphonies. The first modern to refuse a bishop's commission.
  2. 42:17Don GiovanniDon Giovanni, "masterpiece of masterpieces," the punished libertine.

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