We are well into January, and next week we will celebrate the 259th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! He was born on January 27th, at 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, Austria. Viewed as a normal everyday child, until about age 4-5, he began to show a tremendous affinity for music. In a very short time, his father Leopold who was a musician and composer, recognized that he had a musical genius on his hands. Leopold gave up his work to be full time tutor, mentor and booking agent to his son. And, the rest is history. Very soon, the son's abilities far outstripped anything his family or those in musical circles could fathom. Wolfgang has over 600 works of various genre - sonatas, symphonies, concertos, church music, ballets, operas for a myriad of instruments - to his name.
So, I was thinking: If Wolfgang lived today, I'm sure we would, among all his music compositions, include soundtracks! Now there is a form that did not exist at that time! And so, what type of movies would he write for? Off the top, I think he probably would write for any assignment that came along, as he did when he was living. Financially, he could not afford to be so very choosy and pass anything up. But, idealistically, I think he would gravitate towards the sweeping epic. Music like John Williams' (Schindler's List, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Star Wars); or Nicholas Hooper (Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince); or Maurice Jarre (Dr. Zhivago, Lawrence of Arabia); Hans Zimmer (Gladiator); Ennio Morricone (The Mission). The list of the greats goes on and on. I haven't scratched the surface, only to point out a couple favorites of mine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZs9uksEnho Schindler's List
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oag1Dfa1e_E The Mission
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkeNsVBLdtg Dr. Zhivago
He might have embarked on a mini-series, if grand enough, and so I include HBO's Band of Brothers (Michael Kamen)
Of course, I love the soundtrack from Master and Commander, but Mozart's music is featured prominently! And in the movie Amadeus, the music, frankly, is included like one of the principal characters. I guess Wolfie would be proud!
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