In a wave of concerts, publications, and observances during 2006, performers, scholars, and listeners commemorated the 250 th birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, characterized by the critic Harold C. Schonberg as "the most perfect, best equipped, and most natural musician the world has ever known." As these celebrations draw to a conclusion, teachers across the humanities might fruitfully consider approaches for calling attention to Mozart's achievement but to extending that exposure beyond music classes. Mozart's music transcends boundaries of both academic discipline and musical expertise. Study of philosophical and artistic contexts as well as of formal characteristics of Mozart's works can shed light on parallel developments in other fields. At the same time, a cross-curricular approach to Mozart can stimulate new appreciation for his music (and Western art music more generally) among all audiences–previously initiated or not. Working collaboratively or independently, not just trained music educators but also teachers with only modest musical background can devise lessons that connect Mozart's music with literature, art, history, and philosophy.

The exploration of Mozart's music in conjunction with study of Enlightenment perspectives and Neoclassical aesthetics would enable teachers in a variety of disciplines to link Mozart with other artists and thinkers of his time. Mozart's letters, the literary content of his operas, and, of course, his music evince the Enlightenment values he shares with his contemporaries in literature, painting, and architecture: rationality, moderation, symmetry, and universality. In a letter to his father written during the composition of The Abduction from the Seraglio, Mozart describes his artistic assumptions: "A person who gets into . . . a violent rage [Mozart refers here to his character Osmin] transgresses every order, moderation, and limit; he no longer knows himself. -In the same way Music must no longer know itself–but because passions, violent or not, must never be expressed to the point of disgust, and Music must never offend the ear, even in most horrendous situations, but must always be pleasing, in other words must always remain Music, I have not chosen a tone foreign to f, the key of the aria, but one that is friendly to it, not however its nearest relative in D minor, but the more remote A minor" (trans. Robert Spaethling, Mozart's Letters, Mozart's Life , W.W. Norton: New York, 2000).

Whether in the mode of comedy, tragicomedy, or romance, Mozart's operas dramatize the (personal and social) disorder, absurdity, and destructive behavior that result from unrestrained passion. Typical of perspectives shared by Mozart and his libretto collaborators would be the symbolism of the Temple of Reason (standing alongside the Temple of Wisdom and the Temple of Nature) in The Magic Flute and the importance of self-restraint in the initiation rituals Tamino must undergo in that opera. Such views inform theme as well as structure in British, European, and American fiction and poetry throughout the 18 th and into the 19 th century. A representative passage from Jane Austen's Persuasion, for example, reflects similar premises: all "qualities of the mind," observes Austen's protagonist, Anne Elliot, "should have [their] proportions and limits."

Even a simple introduction to and illustration of classical sonata form would elucidate these Neoclassical values. Music teachers could, if necessary, escort their colleagues in other disciplines through the fundamentals of exposition, development, and recapitulation. As structural elements, the counterpoising of melodies and tonal centers, the creation of tension, and the movement to synthesis and resolution parallel the plots and character configurations of, say, Austen's novels; the syntax of her sentences, or Pope's, or Samuel Johnson's; the composition of paintings by Joshua Reynolds or William Hogarth or Jean-Louis David; the Palladian architecture of such familiar buildings as the United States Capitol or Monticello.

I have used Mozart to suggest analogies between music and literature, for instance, as we complete our reading of Persuasion in A.P. English Literature. By this point we have established in Austen's novel the classic plot structure and thematic movement of comedy, and we have analyzed the array of secondary characters as higher and lower parallels and contrasts for the protagonist (Anne Elliot) and her counterpart (Frederick Wentworth). We have also examined closely the art of antithesis in Austen's hypotactic sentences. At this juncture I present the first movement of the Symphony No. 40 in G minor to illustrate Mozart's use of sonata form. Though they might not be able to identify its source, most young people recognize at least the main theme, so much a part of Western culture's shared aural background that it sounds on many a cell phone as a ring signal (as such, for example, it punctuates with urgency the recent film A Mighty Heart ). First I play the music with no introduction. I then review basic musical terminology along with a diagram of sonata form, and I highlight particular characteristics of this movement. The length of this movement's exposition with repeat (200 measures) exactly balances that of the development and recapitulation (199 measures). And we listen again. Not simply their familiarity with the first melody but also contrasts in tempo, rhythm, and melodic contour make it easy for students to distinguish the two themes, and untrained as well as trained ears detect the shift from the minor coloration of the tonic key to the brighter, more open relative major (B flat). The clarity of its "narrative"–two contrasting melodies and tonal centers in exposition, breakdown and juxtaposition of melodic elements in an increasingly distant harmonic context, and reconciliation of musical ideas in the recapitulation–is transparent even to novices (whether teachers or students) with modest guidance. My students have loved the music–and have felt gratified to grasp its logic.

The consideration of Mozart's music would serve several thematic approaches in literature or history classes. Consideration of plot, theme, and character in an opera such as The Marriage of Figaro , for example, would complement study of literary comedy as represented by Persuasion and scores of other novels and plays. Comic plot often moves from disorder to order; in the course of that action, misperceived identity and frequent use of disguise are resolved with recognition scenes; blocked love with marriage; a disrupted with a restored and renewed society. & Along with Mozart's opera, such a unit in a literature or humanities class might include, say, a classical work such as Aristophanes' Lysistrata, a Shakespearean comedy, or any novel by Austen–or even Beaumarchais' The Marriage of Figaro. Similarly, The Magic Flute would work well with an investigation of romance, a literary genre in which a symbolic, sometimes mythic, plot typically concerns a remote world, heroic action, and chivalric love, and entails elements of fantasy and exoticism. Examples from British literature would include such works as Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Le Morte d'Arthur, and The Faerie Queene . In addition, such central works of Western literature as Don Quixote and Candide involve satiric or ironic treatment of "romance" elements and would make provocative counterparts to Mozart's opera .

While exigencies of time will likely preclude close study of a complete opera in an English or interdisciplinary course, selected arias or ensemble pieces, along with plot synopses, can be used both to define key elements of opera and to convey broader patterns of plot, character, and theme. I have found passages from The Magic Flute to be especially effective for teaching students how to listen intelligently to this musical form and for establishing links with literature they have read. Again, I start with basic terms (e.g., aria, recitative, strophic versus through-composed settings, conjunct versus disjunct motion, melisma). Then, after brief review of the opera's plot and characters, we listen to and talk about a sequence of two early arias that reflect Mozart's command of musical resources in creating character and conveying emotion; as the opera moves from the introduction of a simple character to the emergence of a much more sophisticated one, the music likewise becomes more complex. With its strophic setting, its insistence on the tonic G major, and the conjunct motion and steady rhythm of its melody, the aria "Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja" perfectly characterizes the simple, earthy, and lustful birdcatcher Papageno. In the aria that immediately follows ("Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schon"), however, Mozart transports us into an entirely different musical world. Prince Tamino is capable of elevated thought and deep feeling. In contrast with the carnal desire of Papageno, Tamino experiences idealized love (in this aria he is falling in love with the picture of a woman he has never met). In a setting that never repeats itself, we encounter, from the first measures, dramatic leaps in the melody and, as the aria unfolds, several significant modulations. The aria culminates in highly expressive passages of melisma. My students find Papageno's aria captivating and hilarious; they find Tamino's spellbinding and "awesome," in the colloquial as well as the formal sense. They discover that they are capable of following–and liking–opera.

In English, history, or interdisciplinary humanities classes focused on cultural interaction or diversity might find Mozart's "orientalism"–his incorporation of "Turkish" elements into operas and instrumental works–both instructive and amusing. Mozart moved from Salzburg to Vienna in 1781, just as the city was preparing to celebrate the 100 th anniversary of its repulsing of the Ottoman siege; when this foreign empire was no longer perceived as a dire threat, Europeans could begin to assimilate elements of its culture–including not only the music of its Janissary bands but also the coffeehouse and the croissant. For Mozart, who, like other Europeans had little or no firsthand knowledge of this music, "Turkish" means an emphasis on percussion (the bass drum and cymbals make their way into the Western orchestra by way of this music's popularity in the late 18th and early 19 th centuries) and march rhythms–a combination that makes for irresistibly exotic (or exotic-sounding) and irresistibly loud music. Composed in simple sectional forms that make the music easy for students to follow regardless of background, two such pieces that I have taught in music classes are the overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio and the third movement ("Alla Turca") of the Piano Sonata in A (K. 332); students have consistently named them among their "favorite" works from the course. Beyond examining and enjoying musical characteristics, my students and I have found in these pieces cues for exploration of Western cultural identity and concepts of the other, colonialism, and the nature of cross-cultural transmission, perception, misinterpretation, and stereotyping. Recent recordings (Dream of the Orient by the Concerto Koln and Sarband on the Archiv label, for example) that juxtapose performances of authentic Turkish music on original instruments with works by Mozart and other Western composers broaden possibilities for musical and cultural exposure and discussion.

Any of these or similar projects would reinforce core principles of music and arts education. Indeed, a commitment to interdisciplinary study helps anchor three of the National Standards for Arts Education:

• They should be able to develop and present basic analyses of works of art from structural, historical, and cultural perspectives, and from combinations of those perspectives. This includes the ability to understand and evaluate work in the various arts disciplines.
• They should have an informed acquaintance with exemplary works of art from a variety of cultures and historical periods, and a basic understanding of historical development in the arts disciplines, across the arts as a whole, and within cultures.
• They should be able to relate various types of arts knowledge and skills within and across the arts disciplines. This includes mixing and matching competencies and understandings in art-making, history and culture, and analysis in any arts-related project.

For students (and teachers) with little or no prior exposure to classical music, the work of Mozart serves as an appealing and accessible introduction. Whatever their background or specialization, humanities and music teachers alike can tap Mozart's compositions as a source of delight and learning in interdisciplinary units.

Lewis Cobbs is chairman of the English department at Randolph School in Huntsville, Ala., where he teaches music and interdisciplinary humanities as well as English classes .

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