Rethinking Mozart

How old were you when you first heard the name 'Mozart'? Too young even to remember? How old were you when you could pick his music out from pieces played on the radio, or perhaps by a parent? It would be oversimplifying to say that familiarity breeds contempt in the case of Mozart. Familiarity may, however, cause us to be superficial in our understanding, and complacent in our acceptance of what we are told to think about him.

In this special 250th celebration of his birth, it is my wish to contribute to a re-orienting of some of the concepts involved with Mozart and, in the process, perhaps shed new light on additional areas of his genius.