12 Tremendous Composers 12 Composers    

Lesson 11: Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor, K. 466 - Romance

by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Performer: Markus Staab

Directions

Study the musical selection for one week.

Over the week:

• Listen to the music daily.
• Read the synopsis.
• Review the vocabulary terms.
• Read about the composer.
• Complete the enrichment activities.
• Study the review questions.

Synopsis

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed "Piano Concerto no. 20 in D minor, K. 466 - Romance" in 1785. Mozart played the piece himself for its first public unveiling in Vienna, Austria.

Vocabulary

Concerto: A piece of music for one or more solo instruments and orchestra.

Composer

1. When Wolferl was nearly six his father took him and Nannerl on a concert tour. Everybody wanted to hear them play and they gave many concerts. Wolferl spent all his boyhood with his music. He went to many places to play, even as far from Salzburg, in Austria (where he was born), as to Paris and London. Everywhere he went people were happy to see him and his sister and to hear them play. And they, too, were happy to play because they loved the music so much.
2. When they reached Vienna they played for the Emperor and Empress. When Wolferl was presented to the Empress he jumped up into her lap and kissed her.
3. Wolferl was always busy composing music. But he played games and had a good time just like any other boy. When he was busy with his music, however, he never let his thoughts go to anything else.
4. But we must not go too fast, for we want to see how Wolferl is growing up. Here is his picture when he was eight years old. Do you see his wig and sword?

5. Everybody in Paris wanted to hear Wolferl play when they knew that he had come, so they asked him to read at sight; to play the bass part to a melody and to accompany a song without seeing the music. People also took great delight in asking him to play on the harpsichord with a cloth stretched over the keyboard so that he could not see the keys.
6. They all went to London to play for the King. The King wanted to see for himself how skillful little Mozart was, so he gave him pieces by Bach and Handel to play at sight. Mozart read them off at once. Here is a fine picture of the Mozart children when they played for the King and the Queen.

7. It must have been very fine for a little boy of seven to play for kings and queens. But Wolferl was not spoiled by it all. He was just a happy hearted boy all the time. He always made it a rule to put his mind on what he was doing and do it the very best he knew how. It is just as good a rule now as it was when he was alive.
8. It is time now that we learned the birthday of Mozart. If we think of it every year on the 27th of January in 1756, it will be easy to remember it.
9. Here is another picture of Mozart in 1766. How old was he then? (Beethoven was born four years afterward.)

10. When anyone is always busy at one thing, he soon gets a lot done. As Wolferl grew and kept on writing music all the time he made a great many pieces. Some were short like a song, others were long like an opera. He wrote for the piano, the violin and the voice. And he composed operas, symphonies and ever so many other kinds of music.

Enrichment

Activity 1: Recite the Composition Information

• Recite the name of the composer and the composition.

Activity 2: Study the Music Timeline

Examine the music timeline to answer the following questions.

• What is the year of birth of the lesson composer?
• What is the year of death of the featured composer?
• How old was the composer upon death?
• Which composer (if any) directly precedes the studied composer by date of birth?
• Which composer (if any) directly succeeds the lesson composer by date of birth?
• Which other timeline composers were alive at the same time as the studied composer?

Activity 3: Map the Music

• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Bach was born in Salzburg, Austria.
• Find Salzburg on the map of Austria.
• Trace a path between Salzburg and the Austrian capital of Vienna.

Activity 4: Write a One-Page Paper About Mozart

Read these facts about Mozart and write a one-page story out of them, using your own words.

• Full name: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• Born Jan. 27, 1756; died Dec. 5, 1791 at the young age of 35.
• The sister's name was Maria Anna.
• Maria Anna was five years older than Wolfgang.
• The pet names of the children were Wolferl and Nannerl.
• Little Mozart loved to hear his sister play.
• He started to study when he was four.
• Mozart went on a concert tour with his sister when he was six years old.
• When he was a child, he visited many great cities, among them Paris, London and Vienna.
• Handel and Haydn were living when Mozart was born.
• Benjamin Franklin (US Founding Father and Inventor), George Washington (1st US President), Patrick Henry (US Founding Father), Thomas Jefferson (3rd US President), and Sir Walter Scott (Novelist and Poet) were all alive during the time of Mozart.
• Mozart was five years old when he wrote his first piece.

Review

Question 1

Where did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart play for the Emperor and the Empress?

1 / 4

Answer 1

Mozart played for the Emperor and the Empress in Vienna, Austria.

1 / 4

Question 2

Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart play games and have a good time like other boys?

2 / 4

Answer 2

Yes, Mozart played games and had a good time just like any other boy.

2 / 4

Question 3

Why did people ask Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to play upon the harpsichord with a cloth stretched over the keys?

3 / 4

Answer 3

People wanted to see Mozart play while he could not see the keys.

3 / 4

Question 4

Whose compositions did the King of England ask Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to play at sight (without any prior practice)?

4 / 4

Answer 4

The King of England gave Mozart pieces by Bach and Handel to play at sight.

4 / 4

❮ ❯

1. Where did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart play for the Emperor and the Empress? Mozart played for the Emperor and the Empress in Vienna, Austria.
2. Did Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart play games and have a good time like other boys? Yes, Mozart played games and had a good time just like any other boy.
3. Why did people ask Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to play upon the harpsichord with a cloth stretched over the keys? People wanted to see Mozart play while he could not see the keys.
4. Whose compositions did the King of England ask Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to play at sight (without any prior practice)? The King of England gave Mozart pieces by Bach and Handel to play at sight.

References

Tapper, Thomas. The Story of a Little Boy and His Sister Who Gave Concerts. Philadelphia, PA. Theodore Presser Co., 1915.

'Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart).' Wikipedia. Wikipedia.org. n.p.