Mozart's Output and Favorite Keys

A quick look at Mozart's output by year and his choice of key/time signatures by genre offer some interesting patterns.

I started with his known symphonies. Major keys dominated the works and specifically the Key of D Major and C Major. Half of his symphonic works are in these two keys. Why? One reason could be those keys were most suitable for the instruments of his time, specifically the strings. Another reason may be the overall effect or color these keys project. Through all his drama during his life, Mozart always kept an optimism throughout his works, characterized by the bright color of Major keys.

A look at this Piano Concertos (works for solo piano and orchestra) again the Major keys dominate.

This time C, B Flat and F hold the top three most frequent keys. It is fascinating that this man was able to mold such brilliance into his works in what is commonly thought of as the most basic key in music, C Major (no sharps or flats). Again, perhaps he chose these keys because the keyboards in use , harpsichord and later the piano, played well and in tune with those keys.

A similar pattern is evident in his use of time signatures (how many beats per measure) for his symphonies.4/4 or common time is generally thought to be the most widely used, hence the term common time signature in music.

Mozart took the ordinary key and time signature and created genius.

The last graph is a representation of Mozart's known works by year. It is astounding the amount of work this man produced in just 35 years on this planet. He averaged 20 works per year, with a StDev of 9.

Again, this represents his surviving work, it is almost certain he composed more than this and the works were lost to history. If you take a look at the years he produced above one StDev above the average an interesting pattern emerges.

One of these is the fact that 1782 was the year he created the second most amount of work in his lifetime (34).

This was also the year he married. Seems like marriage was good for Mozart.

In 1787 his father Leopold died. It is widely known and portrayed pretty well through the movie Amadeus that his relationship with his father was a complicated one. Mozart at once had a strong devotion to his father, his teacher and mentor, while also attempting to forge his own way as his own man. Further, Mozart's choice of a bride was known to have angered his father who believed his son was settling for a woman of lower standing than he should commit to. Interesting that the year after this monumental loss, he created the most works of any year of his life (40).

Lastly, the final year of his life in 1791 saw the output of 32 works. Astoundingly this number represents the second highest output by year, a count he hit two other times in his life. Perhaps this was an effort by him to get as much of his musical thoughts on paper as he could, knowing he was ill and perhaps not long for this world.

While nobody can know for certain what sparked the high points of output of this master, one thing appears to be clear. The years following big events in his life often led not a decrease but an increase in output.

His marriage, which was joyous yet a huge source of discontent with his father, the loss of his father and finally the onset of his illness during the last year of his life saw subsequent spikes in musical output. Perhaps the drama stoked his creative genuius. Or perhaps he escaped into his music and away from the sadness which at times surrounded him.