Was Amadeus Mozart A Plagiarizer?

Prelude

I am not an expert in classical music! :-)

Jupiter Symphony

Mozart’s last and longest symphony. When you read the Wikipedia entry http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symphony_No._41_(Mozart) you clearly get the impression that Wolfgang borrowed from other great musicians. Supposedly that was very common in those days.

Muzio Clementi

Just listened to CLEMENTI: SONATA IN B MAJOR, OEUVRE 1 played online on the kmozart.com website. I thought I was listening to Mozart.

According to Wikipedia both musicians were setup in a contest “for the entertainment of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II” (source).

Where Is This Going?

In my blog I have written a number of times that today’s government enforced intellectual property protections (e.g. copyrights, patents) are way too excessive. See e.g. here, here, and here.

I would posit had those copyright protections already existed in Amadeus Mozart’s times or before, classical music would probably never have developed to such an impressive and expressive extent in such a short time.

Imitation Is The Sincerest Of Flattery

By the way this expression was coined by british eccentric Charles Caleb Colton (see here).

Had the geniuses of classical music not constantly and liberally borrowed from contemporaries and predecessors and in turn constantly challenged others with new contributions, the classical music we know today would not exist or would by far not be so awesome. The best minds of the ages developed classical music together so it seems. It was kind of a collaborative effort voluntarily or not so voluntarily.

By borrowing from each other they acknowledged the other’s genius; helped others to understand the latest developments in classical music; enlightened their audience and probably much more.