Comparing Mozart and Michael Jackson: Similarities and Differences

What could two people born two centuries apart possibly have in common? The answer is more than you may think, but they also have their differences. These two people are Wolfgang Mozart and Michael Jackson. Wolfgang Mozart and Michael Jackson were two of the most noteworthy and well known musicians the world has ever seen who were comparable in their childhoods, career, life, and death. Wolfgang Mozart and Michael Jackson have many striking similarities and differences in their childhoods. Wolfgang was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg, Austria at eight in the evening (Cavendish 1).

His father is Leopold Mozart, who he had a difficult time getting along with because their personalities clashed on many levels. Mozart's father was perceived as abusive by how overbearing and controlling he was (Levey 13).

Unfortunately, for Mozart, he endured many illnesses. Most of which were rheumatic, all throughout his childhood that caused pains such as common toothaches and headaches (Levey 227). Mozart became interested in music at a very young age.

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The clavier and violin were enthusiastically encouraged by his father. He started performing music with his father and sister on several instruments, when he was only six years old (Newman 7). Similarity, Michael Jackson's childhood is similar to Wolfgang Mozart's childhood. Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana (Jackson 483). Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, had a quick temper, along with his strict rules, with all of his children. He was supposedly abusive to his children (Betts 16).

Michael started playing music with his family at the young age of five (Betts 16).

His family band was called the Jackson 5, and he was starred as one of their best singers. This is what launched him off to his solo career, much to the disgrace of his father, because the group showcased all of his talent to a large following (Betts 34). Mozart and Jackson were comparable with their fathers and musical beginnings.

Likewise, Mozart and Jackson are not as comparable in their major life events. Mozart was married to Constanze Weber, the third Weber girl, in 1782 (Levey 162). The two had several children together, but only two survived into adulthood. Constanze gave birth to their sons Karl Thomas in 1784 and Franz Xaver in 1791 (Levey 162; Levey 240). Another major event for the composer was his father dying in 1784. Since his mother was already dead at the time, leaving him with no living parents (Levey 192).

On the other hand, Michael's life events showed little similarities to Mozart. Michael married two different women and divorced them both. Michael married Lisa Marie Presley in 1994 and divorced her in 1996. He then married Debbie Rowe in 1996 and divorced her 1998. Michael had two children with Debbie. They were named Prince and Paris. His had another child Prince II; he was born from a surrogate mother (Michael 39). Michael's other major life event was an accident he had when he was filming a commercial for PepsiCo. While filming that commercial, Michael aquired a burn on a skull. He was prescribed painkillers and this started his life long addiction to medications (Betts 89). Mozart's and Michaels's lives proved to be different, but they have bits of similarity in the tragedies they lived through. In addition, Mozart and Jackson had strikingly similar and different careers.

Mozart's music and operas, throughout his thirty years, showed a range of emotions from romantic to sadness and despair (Levey 38). Mozart was successful throughout his life with his work. This included his childhood, where he would do private and public performances with his sister and father. In his adulthood he had many more public performances (Levey 8). Mozart also went on many tours throughout his life, Including those as a child that could last up to three and a half years. In his adult life he performed his grand tour in 1778 among many others (Newman 7).