Amadeus: Play it by Ear, and Play it Forward!
Amadeus: Play it by Ear, and Play it Forward!
These stories have been something that has baffled me for some time. Mozart is an obvious music legend and genius, but his natural ability remains unexplained to me. Some of this can't be learned and it bothers me greatly because I wish to attain that level of musicianship.
Playing it by Ear
In the music world, playing it by ear is a common term used while performing music. There's a level of musicianship that goes with reading music, memorizing music, and just knowing what you're playing. But being able to play what someone else played just a moment ago is what separates some of the greatest musicians from musicians who are great.
You can hear musicians "quoting" other songs in their improvisations and pieces. This method of playing by ear is a short example of how jazz musicians might approach parts of their solos and provide something recognizable to an audience.
I wanted to bring up playing by ear because of Mozart. Mozart has become notorious for being able to play back music he only heard once. In the movie Amadeus, there is a scene involving him, Salieri, and the Emperor.
SPOILER
Mozart always made Salieri jealous throughout history. How could he not? Salieri was an accomplished composer and grown man, and Mozart was a more accomplished composer and performer, and just a child. Mozart started composing at 5 years old, and literally started touring soon after.
In the film, Mozart arrives at the emperor's palace. His high pitched laugh characteristic of his maturity level is all over this scene. Mozart flatters everyone in the court, basically except for Salieri. He even referred to one of Salieri's tunes as funny and little. Mozart sits down with a piece Salieri wrote to welcome him to the court, only laughing and improving it. He looks away from the sheet music and is able to improve the piece, both embarrassing Salieri and showing off his own talent.
SPOILER
This was actually a completely fictional moment that never happened in real life. It's a good example to show how talented Mozart actually was. Which I believe the film doesn't show in full.
Real Life
There are real-life encounters that were noted that I find fascinating. He is considered the greatest prodigy of the classical era, possibly ever. Whether you like his music or not, his talent was outrageous. His most impressive skill (beyond his composition, and mastering piano and keyboard at 6 years old) is his ability to listen.
In 1770, Mozart and his father were at the Sistine Chapel to hear a performance by the papal choir of "Miserere mei, Deus" written by Gregorio Allegri. That piece was performed only for one week of the year, and only at the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican. The piece was sacred, and people were threatened by excommunication if they were to try and copy or publish one of the three copies in existence.
Mozart was fourteen years old at the time. The same night after he heard the piece, he wrote out the music on paper. ENTIRELY FROM HIS OWN MEMORY. This isn't just remembering a tune and writing it down. It was a nine voiced piece involving chords and counter lines, not to mention that it was hard to find and he had never heard it before.
He took his score (which he hid in his hat) and went the next day. Finding that there were minuscule corrections that were needed for it to be perfect. He wasn't in fact excommunicated for doing this, as he didn't copy from manuscript paper. He was actually celebrated and praised for his amazing work, and with his already found fame it was even more astonishing to the Pope.
Later, the piece was published in London. The music was no longer secret, yet people didn't blame Mozart for the publishing. His father wrote to his wife "As it is one of the secrets of Rome, we do not wish to let it fall into other hands." They wanted to keep the piece secret and sacred in the Vatican.
Take a listen to the piece here
If anyone wants to take a look at how many notes and the transcription might have looked like (other than the fact that it's typeset)... see this PDF.
Steemians, what do you think of this ability that Mozart had? Is it human?
Man, what a cool post! Human yes, in my mind, and I have the feeling there are otherworldly forces working through people like him. I do believe he is still composing, even in the afterlife, bringing extraordinary brilliance and beauty wherever he is.
@cabelindsay, thanks for checking it out. It's human in a way, but there are for sure some otherworldly forces!
This is indeed a fascinating subject. It sounds like Mozart, on top of his musical gifts, had an eidetic memory. Usually we associate that with visual memory, but obviously he had such a gift.
In interviews I've had discussions with several musicians about reading music. No doubt it is very useful, especially prior to audio recording such as we have today. That being acknowledged, in jazz some of the greatest musicians couldn't read music: Dave Brubeck, Chet Baker, Wes Montgomery to name a few.
In terms of the kind of ability that Mozart displayed, or musicians who seem to have extraordinary innate abilities, I wonder it there isn't something like this going on:
His innate mathematical ability, might be akin to Mozart's musical ability. Anyway, interesting to think about.