Mozart turns 250
Today is German composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s 250th birthday. Probably the most famous classical composer, Mozart was born in Salzburg, Austria, into a musical family. A child prodigy, he played all around Europe and even jammed with J. C. Bach (one of J. S. Bach’s sons) in London. Later, he became close friends with composer Joseph Haydn, they even joined the same Catholic Masonic lodge. The opera The Magic Flute (Die Zauberflote) is filled with Freemason and Enlightenment symbolism. For a while there was a belief that listening to Mozart made you smarter, the so-called Mozart effect. However, as other composer-effects were reported, it turned out that lively classical music in a major key speeds up the heart bringing more blood to the brain, making listeners more awake and better at test-taking. Mozart’s extensive body of work was cataloged by Ludwig von Kochel in 1862, the Kochel number is usually used to refer to Mozart’s pieces instead of the usual Opus-number.