Author Archives: Gregory Kurgansky

Mozart

Professor Graff Gregory Kurgansky

Arts in NYC October 1, 2014

MOZART

“It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has become easy to me. I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied.” As delineated by the greatly intellectual and talented composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, an incredulous amount of effort and details were incorporated into each piece created. Therefore, it is evident from this quote and Mozart’s correspondence that Mozart possessed an extremely genuine and caring character, which was able to relate to the individuals that the composer was in contact with.

Mozart’s character is clearly gregarious and very kind as the talented musician addressed each and every single letter with diligence, utmost thoughtfulness, and described each miniscule event completely. For instance, as exhibited in Mozart’s letter to Professor Anton Klein, “Most estimable Herr Geheimrath, I am much at fault, I must confess, for not having at once acknowledge the safe receipt of your letter and the accompanying packet.” (227) As Mozart continues to discuss how he will address the information received from Professor Klein, it can be seen that Mozart genuinely values his colleagues and maintains a high set of morals. Furthermore, his caring and loving character is evident through his postal exchange with various family members. Firstly, when writing to his sister, “Dearest, best Sister! … Be assured my dear that if you desire a kind and loving brother to care for you, you will find one in me on every occasion. My dearest, best Sister!”(234) The repetition and the diction of utilizing dearest and best sister show how greatly Mozart cherishes the positive and strong bonds with his family. Furthermore, the fact that he reassures his sister that he loves her unconditionally and will always be there for her, delineates that Mozart loves and understands the importance of maintain relationships with the people who are dear to you. In addition, Mozart exemplifies his honest and caring character through his letters to his wife, where he writes “Farewell, and love me for ever as, I love thee. A million tenderest kisses to thee. I am ever Thy tenderly loving… P.S. Is our Karl being a good boy? I hope so. Kiss him for me. All kind messages to Herr and Frau Puchberg.” Overall, as evidenced in Mozart’s conclusion and postscript, Mozart makes sure to exhibit his feelings to his wife through paper, while sending kisses and regards to his son and dearest friends Mr. and Mrs. Puchberg.

Mozart maintained a great ability to relate others on various different topics and occasions. As shown throughout the letters, there were times when Mozart was in good health and good financial standing, while other times Mozart and his wife were both sick and he was in massive debt. When composing an important letter, which was every letter for Mozart, he placed much effort into connecting with the other individual and making sure that both parties are in agreement on a certain topic or situation. For example, in July 1789, Mozart wrote a letter to his long time friend Michael Puchberg, in which he writes, “Dearest Friend and Brother! Since you did me that great and friendly service, I have lived in such misery that, not only have I not been able to go out, but I could not write for very grief! … The tears flow as I write-If you can, dearest friend, come to see us. And if you can, give me your advice and help in the matter you know of.”(244) Throughout this and other verisimilar letters, Mozart describes each detail of the current events in his life and shows the horrible situation that his family is going through. Then, he connects and relates with the person he is writing to, by exhibiting sincerity, honesty, care, and respect. By being open about his mishaps and explaining that he’d rather lend money from his dearest friend and brother than from a heartless loan shark, Mozart can relate to his friend on an emotional and deep mental level. Another instance, in which Mozart relates to the individual, to which he is writing, is Sebastian Winter, Royal Groom of The Chambers. In the letter, Mozart requests that his services be hired on a yearly basis, and be paid for composing several pieces of music annually. However, instead of bluntly asking for funds, Mozart explains why he specifically is corresponding to the Highness for employment. As stated in the letter, “I hope his Highness will not take my proposition amiss, even should he be disinclined to accept it, for indeed it arises from an impulse of genuine zeal to serve his Highness diligently…”(230) Hence, the careful and respectful manner in which Mozart relates to the court of the highness exhibits the fact that the composer takes great pride, care, thought, and morals in to consideration when preparing a letter to a colleague or another person of interest. In general, Mozart possesses a great ability to relate to individuals on both a personal and a professional level, with appropriate diction and demeanor to show that his intents are entirely genuine, trustworthy, and positive.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was an extremely intelligent composer who had a positive, caring, and honest character that enabled the talented musician to relate to other individuals through highly respectful and morally proper correspondence. As evidenced throughout the collection of Mozart’s letters, it is clear that Mozart was an individual who believed in describing his situation genuinely and treating people who were close to him with the most admiration and love possible.

Looking at Art

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Professor Graff

Gregory Kurgansky

The greatly intelligent and powerful former President of the United States, John F. Kennedy, stated, “If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him.” This is clearly seen throughout the excerpt from Looking at Art, as Alice Elizabeth Chase delineates the fact that various aspects directly influence the way art is portrayed, such as the historical time period and the artist’s ideology behind the painting.

Chase discusses the different methods, perspectives, and perceptions that the artist incorporates in presenting a landscape. For instance, Chase states, “All of us have experienced the thrill of looking at a view. Does the artist’s painting of such a scene merely recall our delight? It can also show us new ways of seeing, can sharpen our perception, and can give us a deeper and richer sense of the relation of nature and man.” This quote shows how each landscape is unique its own way and exhibits novel viewpoints for the viewer, hence providing a perception of greater depth than just what the naked eye can observe. Furthermore, in combination with the artist’s desire for a distinctive portrayal, the time period in which a landscape was created played a great role as well. For example, as presented in chapter 3, “But by the nineteenth century cities were well established, the nation had secured its independence, and the new patriotism and enthusiasm for America showed itself in an interest in the countryside.” Hence, artists were painting beautiful and majestic natural landscapes of the northeast such as the Connecticut River Valley. In addition, once Manifest Destiny expanded artists and explorers like Albert Bierstadt painted landscapes of the Great Plains, and the Rocky Mountains. During this time period, people were proud of America, and therefore the vast views were very important, as they symbolized fertility and new opportunities.

Chase also details the hardships of painting landscapes as she states that “A camera will record the way things look. But to the artist the representation of a wide and distant view offers a real challenge. He must confine its immensity to the limits of his canvas or wall; he must reduce its size, or take a small section of it He must do something with the landscape to express his ideas about it. Perhaps he will cut out some of its myriad detail, will select and emphasize.” This description is extremely interesting as it establishes an idea of further discussion on how different historical cultures and civilizations utilized art in landscapes to “select and emphasize” what was valued during that time. Great examples of that include the contrast between Ancient Egypt and the medieval time period. Egyptian artists maintained the ideology that that shape and placement of the view is more important than the landscape itself. An example would be a pond, in which a painting would be drawn as a map, with the pool shaped as a rectangle, zigzag lines as the ripples, and animals portrayed in profile. In medieval times, on the other hand, artists saw the presence of God in every detail of nature and hence the landscapes of an artist’s own country became worthy settings for a religious subject. Overall, these two disparities show how the difficulties in creating a landscape, influenced cultures to choose certain parts that would be important to them, and utilize various art strategies to delineate unique perspectives.

Throughout Chapter 4, Chase moves on to describe the hardships of artists in accurately presenting components of space in a room or painting. Although, Chase does analyze the fact that there is a proper way to show events and items at the proper distance, through the utilization of science and the vanishing point, Chase also does not discount the methods of other artists. As stated in the book, artists [handle} space in the flat profile method, through overlapping, through modeling in light and shade, through cast shadow…. Each of the systems we have looked at has points in its favor. Vanishing-point perspective is what we are used to, is truer to what the eyes sees, but there are things that can be show more truly by another system.” This conclusion can be seen more clearly throughout the chapter, as each civilization modified the use of the vanishing point in a unique way. For instance, Renaissance innovators experimented with viewpoints and often placed the vanishing point below the painting, hence creating a prominent view for the figure in the canvas. In complete contrast to utilizing a vanishing point, oriental art often included isometric perspective, in which scheme lines that are parallel continue parallel and do not come together at a vanishing point. Each of these styles are greatly important in their own way, as the vanishing point is used in modern day technology and art techniques around the world, meanwhile the isometric style is used by western architects to depict a structure in a better way. Overall, as artists have tried various solutions for problems of portraying people and objects in space, new and unique methods have evolved throughout history, hence creating many different yet correct ways that exhibit space.

Night at the Museum photo of Albert Bierstadt Rocky Mountain Landscape

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Author Archives: Gregory Kurgansky

Mozart

Looking at Art

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