Difference Between Beethoven and Mozart
Beethoven and Mozart were two composers who had a great influence on the world of music. Both had an early musical development under the tutelage of their parents, who were also musicians. At a young age, both demonstrated not only a broad knowledge of music but also an exceptional talent for musical creation and composition.
Despite sharing these aspects, regarding their musical development, their education and creations had many differences that characterized each one of them, differences that will be presented in this article, starting from a brief biography of each one.
Beethoven
Ludwig Van Beethoven was an extraordinary musician, conductor, pianist and composer born in Bonn (Germany) in 1770 who belonged to a modest family. Beethoven lived a difficult first few years of life, because his father was an alcoholic and wanted his son to follow in the footsteps of a child prodigy named Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who at the age of seven gave the first concerts of he.
In view of this, Ludwig van Beethoven’s father forced him to receive extra piano lessons and forced him to play it for several hours, so the boy had poor student performance as a result of fatigue. Despite these circumstances, as he grew older he showed great talent as a soloist. At the age of ten he was under the tutelage of Christian Neefe who was in charge of his comprehensive and musical education. Subsequently, at the age of fourteen, Ludwig van Beethoven was hired by the court as a second organism and began to earn a salary, which at the time guaranteed him financially.
Likewise, in later years he demonstrated a great talent for improvisation and as a pianist, which is why his first steps as a composer were taken there. In later years he began to present works of his own creation such as the first symphony, the Heiligenstadt Testament, the Piano Sonata No. 8 called Pathetics, the Piano Sonata No. 14 called Moonlight and his Third Symphony.
On the other hand, in the Heiligenstadt Testament he raised the disgust at the possibility of going deaf. After this, Beethoven stopped giving concerts and recitals and dedicated himself to composition despite his hearing impossibility, leaving a great musical legacy that is unmatched to this day, including nine symphonies, an opera, two masses, three cantatas, thirty-two piano sonatas, five piano concertos, one violin concerto, one triple concerto for violin, cello, piano and orchestra, sixteen string quartets, one grand fugue for string quartet, ten sonatas for violin and piano, five cello sonatas and piano and innumerable overtures, chamber works, series of variations, arrangements of popular songs and trifles for piano among others.
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose real name was Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a musician, composer and pianist born in 1756 in Salzburg (Austria). He was considered a child prodigy of music, since at a young age he was already an advanced performer of keyboard instruments and an effective violinist. At the same time, he demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for improvisation and sheet music reading.
In his adolescence and early adulthood he dedicated himself to composing but due to the continuous economic difficulties to which he was exposed, he was forced to do sporadic jobs as an interpreter and teacher to earn some money. This was until the Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II of Habsburg offered him a steady job as a composer a few years before he died in 1787.
In his last years of life, Mozart composed a large number of musical works that formed his legacy and that cover all the musical genres of his time and include more than six hundred creations, most of them recognized as masterpieces of symphonic, concertante, chamber, for piano, for opera and choir, achieving international popularity and diffusion that continues to this day.
According to what is stated in the biographies, the most important differences between Beethoven and Mozart are:
- Beethoven was a German musician, composer, pianist and conductor while Mozart was an Austrian composer and pianist.
- Beethoven’s musical legacy spans chronologically from Classicism to the beginnings of musical Romanticism, while Mozart’s musical legacy focuses on the Classical era.
- Beethoven’s musical works are considered to be more demanding to play and his music quite particular while Mozart’s works are considered less demanding to play and his music more calm and pleasant.