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Source: Al Cochran – Professor of music, assistant provost at K-State
RADIO
REPORT: 1 Wrap
2 Actualities
You have selected a report on the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The wrap and two sound bites follow in 3,2,1. . .
WRAP 1: Even in his day, the music of Mozart was noted as being extraordinary
TIME: :59
SUGGESTED INTRO: THIS YEAR, WE CELEBRATE MOZART’S 250TH BIRTHDAY ON JANUARY 27TH. AN EXPERT AT K-STATE EXPLAINS JUST WHY THE MUSIC OF THIS EXTRAORDINARY COMPOSER IS SO TIMELESS. LANICE THOMSON REPORTS.
BORN IN SALZBURG, AUSTRIA ON JANUARY 27TH IN 1756, THE MUSIC OF WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART STILL LIVES ON TODAY. DR. AL COCHRAN, ASSISTANT PROVOST AND PROFESSOR OF MUSIC AT K-STATE, SAYS MOZART WAS ABLE AT A VERY YOUNG AGE TO UNDERSTOOD WHAT WAS GOING ON IN THE MUSICAL WORLD AT THE TIME – AND WAS ABLE TO ABSORB THAT INTO HIS OWN COMPOSITIONS. COCHRAN SAYS ONE OF THE THINGS THAT MADE HIS MUSIC EXTRAORDINARY WAS THE FACT THAT HE WAS ABLE TO WRITE IN ALL TYPES OF GENRES THAT WERE POPULAR IN HIS DAY. . .
(Cochran: :16 "It’s easy to look back and see on individuals that excelled in composing chamber music or composing symphonic repertoires or composing operas, but rarely do you find someone like Mozart who was able to put that into a complete package."
BEETHOVEN, WHO WAS SEVERAL YEARS HIS JUNIOR, TRAVELED TO VIENNA TO STUDY MOZART’S MUSIC, ALTHOUGH THEY NEVER WORKED DIRECTLY TOGETHER. LANICE THOMSON, KANSAS STATE UNIVERSITY.
ACTUALITY 1: A K-State expert talks about the life and times of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
TIME: 34 Seconds
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on January 27th in the year 1756, and his music is as timeless today as it was in the 18th century. He began to play the piano at age four and composed one of his very first melodies at age five. During his short life, Mozart composed numerous pieces and performed all over Europe. Dr. Al Cochran, assistant provost and professor of music at K-State says Mozart’s music represented the pinnacle of Viennese classicism during the time period of the mid to late 18th century. He set the stage for his younger contemporary, Beethoven, who studied Mozart’s symphonies carefully, and who used Mozart as a model several times in his compositions.
Cochran says Mozart was probably not as appreciated as much in Vienna as he would have liked. This sound bite is 34 seconds and the out cue is "…to have had."
(Cochran :34 "There was a feeling at court that his music was a little bit too complex, that it was too many notes, the harmonies too daring, the ideas a little bit too radical, but certainly when his operas were premiered late in his life in Prague, the people in Prague embraced him wholeheartedly. That’s not to say he wasn’t appreciated in Vienna – her certainly was. But I know it was a source of frustration for him that he never got the type of appointment in Vienna that he would have liked to have had."ACTUALITY 2: A K-State expert talks about the rumors surrounding Mozart’s death
TIME: 32 Seconds
Only 36-years-old, Mozart died in Vienna just after midnight on December 5th from what at the time was called "severe military fever." There have been many theories surrounding his death throughout the years, including rheumatic fever and mercury poisoning. Dr. Al Cochran, professor of music and assistant provost at K-State, says he feels Mozart may have contracted "trichinosis. This sound bite is 32 seconds and the out cue is ". . .or something else."
(Cochran :32 "I read a very interesting supposition by a person who indicated that it might very well have been trichinosis. If you go back to the letters, there is a letter that he wrote that indicates that he had pork on a given day and he enjoyed it very much -- but then if you trace the time for the trichinosis disease to progress to being a terminal illness, the timeline works out rather well. It may have been that that took him or something else."
At the time of his death, Mozart was working on his final composition, "Requiem." He was buried in a regular communal grave, which was the law in 1783. Cochran says Mozart was a person who had a grasp of what it was to be alive, and calls the way Mozart saw into the human spirit, "uncanny."