To start we need to find out just who Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was. Raise your hand if you think you know who Mozart is. Can you tell us what you know about him? Raise your hand if you think you know a piece of music that Mozart wrote. Can you share that with the rest of the class? Now watch this video to learn about Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Mozart’s full name is usually written “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart,” butthat’s not what Mozart called himself. His father baptized him JohannesChrysotomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He enjoyed decorating andtwisting his various names into words like Wolfie, Wolfgango, Gangflow(that’s Wolfgang spelled backwards), Mozartini, Mozartus, and Mozarty.Remember, this guy loved to play around! But he virtually never used thename “Amadeus.” So where did “Amadeus” come from? The answer iseasy if you know ancient Greek and Latin (as Mozart did): Amadeus isLatin for the Greek word Theophilus, which means “lover of God.” However, Mozart used variants of the Latin word, turning it into Amadeo,Amadè, or most often, Amadé.
Write your name backwards, like Mozart did, and see what your new Mozart name would be. Try to say it. For example my first name is BECKY...spelled backwards that is YKCEB (pronounced Yeh-Keb).
The "Marriage of Figaro" was an Opera (a story where all or most of the dialogue, or words, are sung instead of of spoken. Opera is usually hard for kids, and even adults, to enjoy because often times it is written in a language that you don't know like Italian or French, and you just listen to it...you don't get to see it to help you to understand the story. In the end there are some really good and FUNNY operas out there!) that was written about a play. It was a comic opera, so it was meant to be funny. In a nutshell the Marriage of Figaro was all about the night before Figaro was supposed to marry a woman named Susanna. Another man named Almaviva had always had a crush on Susanna and did not want her to marry Figaro. He pulled up a VERY old and out of date "rule" that said that because he was a nobleman (and Figaro was just a servant) that he had first rights to her and then later, I suppose if she chose to, she could be with Figaro. Figaro was furious, and so was Almaviva's wife! And you all thought that it was BORING in the olden days! Enjoy this video of the Overture (a part of an opera or musical that gives the listener a little taste of all the music they will hear through out the program)