mozart critique

8/4/2019 Mozart Critique

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Park 1

Timothy Park

Mrs. King

Orchestra Honors, Period 5

28 September 2011

Performance Critique #1: Mozarts Abduction from the Seraglio

Music is an art that is translated into human gestures through operas and plays. In

orchestra class, we watched part of the first act of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozarts Abduction

from the Seraglio. This opera was played in an auditorium with an orchestra and group of

acting performers.

The opera Abduction from the Seraglio begins with the prince fighting a serpent.

The Queens attendants come to help and then kills the serpent. The attendants leave and bird

catcher Papageno says that he killed the serpent. The attendants come back to say that

Papageno was lying. Later, it was announced that the princess was kidnapped by an evil

demon. Now, the prince in search for this princess in which he falls in love with even before

their first meeting.

In this critique, I want to talk about the overture and the musicality of this piece. The

orchestra starts out with a soft piano tone and signifies the start of the opera. After a minute

of long whole notes by the brass and the strings, the music speed then goes in a speedy mood,

more of happier tone. In the development of the overture, we can hear a major difference in

dynamics. This brings the liveliness of the piece, and the orchestra performs this by playing

light spiccato when playing piano and then play full bow to produce a wide and loud sound.

This is a long overture in a minor key and continuously plays the main melody to reintroduce

theme. Mozarts piece always concludes on a soft note and not in a fortissimo ending, even in


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Park 2

the middle phrases. The orchestra then ends the piece by accelerando and crescendo in which

announces the climax of the piece. The audience feels excited but then becomes relieved

when Mozart ended the piece with a mezzo forte. There is no roughness or aggressiveness in

this overture.

Now, for my analysis, this piece was great in techniques. I love how there is all this

changes in instruments for solos and there remains a sense of peace throughout the overture.

In the beginning, the orchestra is playing so softly that I have a hard time hearing what they

are playing. I have to actually lean forward to hear their piano or pianissimo. Maybe this was

motive for Mozarts piece: to question its almost unheard introduction and to excite them

through forte developments that engage the audience. This inspires me to believe that an

orchestra or any piece is commented greatly on their performance of dynamics. There may be

time when an orchestra does not have a great contrast in its dynamics in which commonly

makes the piece boring and uninteresting. If an orchestra plays forte the whole time, the

audience would then feel like that have heard it too much and contrast will entice them to

listen. The dynamics also evoke the mood of the opera when the prince is fighting the

serpent. Forte phrases signify a dire situation such as the battle of the serpent. I like how the

dynamics change everything with the tone of the piece and the mood of the opera. They

clearly differentiate between the crucial and inconsequential points in the opera. This

observation allows me to believe that dynamics is one of the most important qualities that an

orchestra should acquire. Although this overture has many long boring notes, playing

fortissimo and pianissimo has multiple meanings and totally different effects to minds of the

audience.


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In conclusion, I would like the recommend this peformance to other because it not

only allows you to listen to the greatness of music but also teaches you how to become a

better musician. Listening to other people many times can as effective or even more than

playing and learning by yourself. You can copy them or do your own style, depending on

your discretion. Listening to other people play gives more experience not only in that piece

but music in general. I learned the importance of dynamics just by noticing the contrast the

orchestra does in its notes, and I listened to only a small part of the piece, which means that

you can learn so much more if you heard and watched the entire 3 acts of the opera.

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