Mozart Decoded

Last updated
Mozart Decoded
Mozart Decoded DVD cover.jpg
DVD cover
Written byKevin Sullivan
Directed by Kevin Sullivan
Theme music composer Peter Breiner
Country of origin Canada
Original languageEnglish [1]
Production
Producer Trudy Grant
Running time50 minutes (approx.)

Mozart Decoded is a 2008 documentary about the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart produced by Sullivan Entertainment. The film was made as a follow-up to Sullivan Entertainment's Magic Flute Diaries and uses a lot of the same visual material. The program premiered on December 20, 2008, on A-Channel in Canada. [2] [3]

Contents

Synopsis

A detailed look the life of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mozart Decoded starts with Mozart's upbringing and follows his life through his success and affiliations. A priority of this documentary is finding out what motivated Mozart's work and how organizations like the Freemasons impacted his most popular operas.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart</span> Classical-era composer (1756–1791)

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than 800 works of virtually every genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral repertoire. Mozart is widely regarded as among the greatest composers in the history of Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture".

<i>The Magic Flute</i> 1791 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

The Magic Flute, K. 620, is an opera in two acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form during the time it was written that included both singing and spoken dialogue. The work premiered on 30 September 1791 at Schikaneder's theatre, the Freihaus-Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, just two months before the composer's premature death. Still a staple of the opera repertory, its popularity was reflected by two immediate sequels, Peter Winter's Das Labyrinth oder Der Kampf mit den Elementen. Der Zauberflöte zweyter Theil (1798) and a fragmentary libretto by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe titled The Magic Flute Part Two.

<i>Amadeus</i> (play) 1979 stage play

Amadeus is a play by Peter Shaffer which gives a fictional account of the lives of composers Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Antonio Salieri, first performed in 1979. It was inspired by Alexander Pushkin's short 1830 play Mozart and Salieri, which Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov used in 1897 as the libretto for an opera of the same name.

The year 1791 in music involved some significant events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piano Concerto No. 20 (Mozart)</span> Concertante work by Mozart

The Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466, was composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785. The first performance took place at the Mehlgrube Casino in Vienna on 11 February 1785, with the composer as the soloist.

<i>Amadeus</i> (film) 1984 film directed by Miloš Forman

Amadeus is a 1984 American period biographical drama film directed by Miloš Forman and adapted by Peter Shaffer from his 1979 stage play of the same name. Set in Vienna, Austria, during the latter half of the 18th century, the film is a fictionalized story of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from the time he left Salzburg, described by its writer as a "fantasia on the theme of Mozart and Salieri". Mozart's music is heard extensively in the soundtrack. The film follows a fictional rivalry between Mozart and Italian composer Antonio Salieri at the court of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor. The film stars F. Murray Abraham as Salieri and Tom Hulce as Mozart. Abraham and Hulce were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor, with Abraham winning.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Opera Company</span> Opera company based in Toronto, Ontario

The Canadian Opera Company (COC) is an opera company in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest producers of opera in North America. The COC performs at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, which was purpose-built for opera and ballet and is shared with the National Ballet of Canada. For forty years until April 2006, the COC had performed at the O'Keefe Centre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emanuel Schikaneder</span> German actor and singer

Emanuel Schikaneder was a German impresario, dramatist, actor, singer, and composer. He wrote the libretto of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera The Magic Flute and was the builder of the Theater an der Wien. Peter Branscombe called him "one of the most talented theatre men of his era". Aside from Mozart, he worked with Salieri, Haydn and Beethoven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rock Me Amadeus</span> 1985 single by Falco

"Rock Me Amadeus" is a song recorded by Austrian musician Falco, for his third studio album, Falco 3 (1985). The single was made available for physical sale in 1985 in German-speaking Europe, through A&M. "Rock Me Amadeus" was written by Falco along with Dutch music producers Bolland & Bolland. To date, the single is the only German language song to peak at number one of the Billboard Hot 100, which it did on 29 March 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin Sullivan (producer)</span> Canadian film director and producer

Kevin Roderick Sullivan is a Canadian writer, director and producer of film and television programs.

<i>The Magic Flute</i> (2006 film) 2006 musical fantasy film

The Magic Flute is a 2006 romantic fantasy film directed by Kenneth Branagh, adapted from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's singspiel Die Zauberflöte. An international co-production between France and the United Kingdom, it was produced by Idéale Audience and in association with UK's Peter Moores Foundation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozart and Freemasonry</span> Role of freemasonry in life of Mozart

For the last seven years of his life Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Mason. The Masonic order played an important role in his life and work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pittsburgh Festival Opera</span>

Pittsburgh Festival Opera (PFO), formerly Opera Theater of Pittsburgh, is a professional American opera company based in Pittsburgh's university and museum district. Pittsburgh Festival Opera performs at non-traditional venues around the city.

The composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791) led a life that was dramatic in many respects, including his career as a child prodigy, his struggles to achieve personal independence and establish a career, his brushes with financial disaster, and his death in the course of attempting to complete his Requiem. Authors of fictional works have found his life a compelling source of raw material. Such works have included novels, plays, operas, and films.

The Magic Flute (1791) is an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Other notable works with this title include:

<i>Magic Flute Diaries</i> 2008 Canadian film

Magic Flute Diaries is a 2008 direct-to-DVD Canadian drama film written and directed by Kevin Sullivan, loosely inspired by Mozart's classic opera The Magic Flute. It stars Rutger Hauer, Warren Christie and Mireille Asselin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mozart's birthplace</span> Building in Salzburg, Austria

Mozart's birthplace is the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at No. 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, Austria. The Mozart family resided on the third floor from 1747 to 1773. Mozart himself was born here on 27 January 1756. He was the seventh child of Leopold Mozart, who was a musician of the Salzburg Royal Chamber.

Works inspired by <i>The Magic Flute</i>

The Magic Flute, an opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder, was composed in 1791 and premiered to great success. It has been an important part of the operatic repertory ever since, and has inspired a great number of sequels, adaptations, novels, films, artwork, and musical compositions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vasyl Slipak</span> Ukrainian opera singer

Vasyl Yaroslavovych Slipak was a Ukrainian baritone opera singer. From 1994 he frequently performed in France at such venues as Paris Opera and Opéra Bastille. For his opera performance, Slipak received several awards, including "Best Male Performance" for the Toreador Song. A volunteer in the Ukrainian army, Slipak was killed during the war in Donbass by a Russian sniper near the village of Luhanske, in Bakhmut region. He was posthumously awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine for his work as a volunteer soldier.

References

  1. Mozart Decoded at IMDb OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  2. Windsor, The (2008-12-20). "Film delves into life of Mozart". Canada.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-16. Retrieved 2012-04-02.
  3. Bell Media Site, The (2008-12-02). "It's a Holly Jolly Lineup this December on 'A'". CTV. Retrieved 2012-04-03.