Composer Study: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Take 2)

It may be cliche, but Mozart has always been my favorite composer, and so I was delighted to spend some time with his music this year in Cycle 1 of Classical Conversations.  In class we just focused one one movement of a piano concerto, but I wanted to take more time than that to help my children become familiar with the man whose name has become synonymous with classical music.  We’ll spend the next few weeks going through some of the resources I’ve pulled together here.  (We used many of these a few years ago when I did a composer study on Mozart with my older kids, but there are a few new ones as well.)

Audio Resources

Of course there are hundreds of recordings of Mozart’s music available (check YouTube or your local library), but here are a few audio resources created especially for children.

The Classical Kids recordings are a wonderful way to introduce children to composers and their music.  Each one tells a captivating story, using the featured composer’s music as a soundtrack.  There are two recordings about Mozart:

The Beethoven’s Wig series is a fun way to help children become familiar with famous pieces of classical music, with comical lyrics being sung to the melodies.

If you want to learn more about Mozart’s life and music, here are a few listening options:

Video Resources

My younger kids’ favorite way learning about classical music is watching Little Einsteins.  There are several episodes that feature music by Mozart:

There is also a fun animated series starring Mozart and his family, Little Amadeus. The DVD set comes with a CD-ROM with lesson plans to go along with each episode, as well as printable sheet music. I haven’t found anywhere to watch the whole series streaming, though the first season is on YouTube, and reruns still play on our local public television station.  

If you want to look at a specific piece of music, The Magic Flute is really a wonderful way to introduce children to opera.  The BBC produced a 30 minute animated version that tells the basic story sung in English.  For a more authentic experience, I recommend the Opéra National de Paris video of the complete opera.

Books

For some biographical information:

  • Mozart (from the Famous Children series) by Ann Rachlins (short enough for younger children)
  • Mozart (from the Getting to Know the World’s Greatest Composers series) by Mike Venezia.
  • Mozart, the Wonder Boy by Opal Wheeler (chapter book)

We have several picture books about Mozart we’ve started going through:

While not about Mozart, The Magic Flute: An Opera by Mozart adapted by Kyra Teis, tells the story of the opera.

Additional Resources

If you want to go a little deeper in your study of Mozart, here are some great ideas to check out!