Wolfgang Armadeus Mozart and William Grant Still - Research Paper Example

Wolfgang Armadeus Mozart and William Grant Still Introduction Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a highly celebrated composer and artist in the 1700s. Hiswas influential in the Classical era and has more than 600 compositions to his name. One of his most well known compositions is the Beethoven. William Grant Still was also a composer during the classical era, an African American by origin. Grant has over 150 compositions to his name and is commonly referred to as the Dean of African-American composers.

This paper is dedicated to discussing the creative process of the two composers and will use their creations “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik” and “Afro-American” to highlight their different processes. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Creation process One person that understood best Mozarts’ creative process was them man himself. When asked about his process of coming up with compositions, he noted that the ideas that he applied in his compositions came when he was alone and cheerful in spirit (Ghiselin, 1985).

It really did not matter the place as some of these ideas came when he was aboard a carriage travelling to one place or the other, when walking and when resting before falling asleep. Morzat also admitted that he loved to write down his ideas, talk of Barbel, Gretel and to birds leaving no room for common disturbances. He noted that he had no control over how the ideas came and when they started to flow (Ghiselin, 1985). Whenever the ideas to came to his mind, he would retain the good ones in his memory humming them to himself.

He would use the morsels of ideas to come up with a wonderful composition taking into account the peculiarities of the instruments to be used. Furthermore, he would refine his compositions before sitting back and listening to the final product. He was not so much concerned about originality in his creation process but his works ended up being unique (Ghiselin, 1985). In the creation of “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik”, Morzat considers the instruments to be used; the cello, viola, and two violins.

The composition however is often performed by string orchestras. The creation of this piece was initially not intended for publication but was a serenade written on commission. William Grant Still’s Creative Process William Stills’ compositions included chamber music, ballets, symphonies and solo instrument pieces. Still considered what was happening around him when he made his compositions (Parsons, 2000). Being an African-American, the subject of (racial) relationships as expressed in liberty, freedom of oppression and equality was one of his core focuses.

The American creed and other art forms were also very close in his mind. He considered borrowing from other masterpieces in his creations. He borrowed from Morzat’s symphony Number 41, W. Handy’s “St. Louis Blues” and his very own “Wade in the Water” (Parsons, 2000). When creating “African American”, the composer had the American audience in mind . He also had the instruments to be used in mind including the banjo, harp, and celeste, traditional symphony and black culture being part of his inspiration.

References Ghiselin B. (1985). The Creative Process: Reflections on the Invention in the Arts and Sciences. University of California Press. Parsons S. (2000). William Grant Still: A Study in Contradictions. Berkeley and Los Angeles, CA: University of California Press.