Talk:Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is a former featured article. Please see the links under Article milestones below for its original nomination page (for older articles, check the nomination archive) and why it was removed.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on February 22, 2004.

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Date	Process	Result
January 19, 2004	Refreshing brilliant prose	Kept
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February 21, 2007	Good article nominee	Not listed
August 21, 2010	Peer review	Reviewed
September 14, 2012	Peer review	Reviewed
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Currently in Austria?

In the lede it currently states:

"Born in Salzburg, then in the Holy Roman Empire and currently in Austria,"

Yes "currently" in the English language means "now", "presently" etc but it also is a time clause suggesting the extra meaning of "ongoing"; hence is this site implying that Salzburg, although in Austria at the moment (right now), has a question mark over its geopolitical future? Using currently is a strange choice of word to describe a city that has been unquestionably Austrian territory for centuries. I'd use "now".87.242.223.122 (talk) 11:31, 1 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Changed to "now". Johnbod (talk) 14:04, 1 July 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Brief an Leopold Mozart (15. Januar 1770):

„Die Deutschen sind die Besten, und ich bin stolz, ein Deutscher zu sein.“

Brief an Nannerl (24. November 1782):

„Ich bin ein deutscher Musiker und stolz darauf.“

Brief an Leopold Mozart (30. Mai 1777):

„Ich hoffe, dass ich durch meine Werke auch die Deutschen ehren kann.“

Brief an Gottfried van Swieten (30. Januar 1781):

„Ich werde immer ein treuer Deutscher bleiben und meine Musik für unser Volk schaffen.“

Brief an seine Schwester Nannerl (10. Juli 1777):

„In Deutschland zu sein, erfüllt mich mit Freude und Stolz, denn ich fühle mich als Teil dieser Kultur.“

Letter to Leopold Mozart (January 15, 1770):

"The Germans are the best, and I am proud to be a German."

Letter to Nannerl (November 24, 1782):

"I am a German musician and proud of it."

Letter to Leopold Mozart (May 30, 1777):

"I hope that through my works I can also honor the Germans."

Letter to Gottfried van Swieten (January 30, 1781):

"I will always remain a loyal German and create my music for our people."

Letter to his sister Nannerl (July 10, 1777):

"Being in Germany fills me with joy and pride, for I feel like part of this culture." 2003:FA:9F09:8800:880E:AF01:EA68:F908 (talk) 01:16, 28 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"He was not a healthy child during his first six years. ref name="solomon 1995 39"

I've moved this to the talk page. The problem is that it interrupts a paragraph that is about the very beginning of Mozart's life (i.e. birth date, birth order, assignment of a name). The sensible reader would ask "why are you talking about assigning him a name when he's already a toddler?"

Also, I'm not sure the sentence is fully accurate; it's not prominent in other biographies of Mozart I've read; and certainly whatever sickness Mozart endured as a little kid did not prevent him from making huge progress musically, nor from performing (both as a dancer and a keyboard player). Also, I no longer use Solomon as a Mozart factual source, having been burned a few times from doing so.

The "Mozart as sick toddler" material, if shown to be accurate, would fit in better in a general narrative of the course of Mozart's health over his lifetime. We have a bit of this in Death of Mozart but perhaps it could be an independent article or an independent section of this one. A good reference for Mozart's health history is:

Davies, Peter J.(1984) Mozart's Illnesses and Death: 1. The Illnesses, 1756–90. The Musical Times 125:437-442

Opus33 (talk) 06:33, 10 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

"(These concertos) are firm fixtures in his/the repertoire"

Someone changed this from "the repertoire" to "his repertoire". I don't think this is right; for most people who use this word, "his repertoire" would be mean "pieces Mozart played" and "the repertoire" means "pieces characteristically played by musicians in general". It is the second meaning that is applicable here; the sentence means that the practice of playing Mozart concertos has endured to this day. Opus33 (talk) 06:42, 10 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The Miserere Myth

Charles Burney makes clear in his 'Present State &c' [Italy) that it was not 'forbidden' to copy this work; rather, its manner of performance was so unique that transcribed scores were inadequate to indicate exactly how to reproduce it; hence, copying was futile. It could only be 'learned', for example, by becoming a guest conductor. Whether Mozart wrote it out from memory or not is irrelevant. Doubtless he could have, but it would have been rather a waste of time. 193.114.140.166 (talk) 03:24, 4 January 2025 (UTC)[reply]