Rest In Peace

      Mozart passed away in his home 222 years ago today, December 5, 1791, leaving behind his wife, two sons and an unfinished Requiem Mass that would come to be known as one of the most incredible compositions in the history of classical music. Perhaps the reason why the Requiem is so haunting is because Mozart believed he was writing it for himself.
      Earlier that year, a man in gray had come to Mozart's door commissioning a Requiem Mass without giving a name. Later, it was discovered that the message had come from Count Walsegg, a young man Mozart never knew who had recently lost his wife and planned to pass the composition off as his own.
      The day of his death, Mozart shared with his friends his feelings on composing the Requiem: "Did I not tell you I was composing this Requiem for myself?"
      Mozart died at age 35, not two months before his birthday, almost completing the Lacrimosa, perhaps the saddest and most beautiful movement in the entire piece. The Requiem was completed according to his instructions by his student, Franz Xaver Süßmayr.
      Mozart once said of death in a letter to his father in 1787:

"I have made it a habit in all things to imagine the worst. Inasmuch as, strictly speaking, death is the real aim of our life, I have for the past few years made myself acquainted with this true, best friend of mankind, so that the vision not only has no terror for me but much that is quieting and comforting. And I thank my God that He gave me the happiness and the opportunity (you understand me) to learn to know Him as the key to true blessedness."

     May Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart rest in peace!

Mozart the Patriot

     Happy Independence Day! Although Mozart was not American, he was very much devoted to his own country and people. I thought that today would be a fitting day to share a bit of his patriotism.
     In a letter to his father, written on November 24, 1781, Mozart speaks of a concert he had recently given:

The two of us played a sonata [K. 381] that I had composed for the occasion, and which had a success. This sonata I shall send you by Herr von Daubrawaick, who said that he would feel proud to have it in his trunk; his son, who is a Salzburger, told me this. When the father went he said, quite loud, "I am proud to be your countryman. You are doing great honor to Salzburg; I hope that times will so change that we can have you amongst us, and then do not forget me." I answered: "My fatherland has always the first claim on me."

     Although German culture was not dominant during his time, Mozart nevertheless felt such a great sense of duty to and pride for his country, which he honored through his music. In a letter to his father, written on May 29, 1778 in Paris, he said:

Frequently I fall into a mood of complete listlessness and indifference; nothing gives me great pleasure. The most stimulating and encouraging thought is that you, dearest father, and my dear sister, are well, that I am an honest German, and that if I am not always permitted to talk I can think what I please; but that is all.

     No doubt Mozart's intense love for his country inspired some of his finest works and helped him to always strive to be the best musician he possibly could.

How Did You Discover Mozart?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted this question on the Mozart Forum, as I was curious how fellow Mozart fans fell in-love with the composer's work. I was thrilled to get so many responses. If you are not a member of the Mozart Forum, please join the conversation by submitting a comment to this post!



Question:
How did you come to discover the greatness of Mozart and his music? What inspired you to keep researching? Would you consider yourself a simple fan, a crazy fanatic, or somewhere in between? Do you consider Mozart to be the greatest composer?

Responses:
Hi! Firstly I've seen the movie Amadeus; secondly, after seeing that movie I've felt like listening to Mozart music and discovering it... From 1991 on I'm a Mozart music lover.

. . .

I discovered Mozart and his music in the mid 1950's when I was a little boy. I became a loyal Mozart music lover after listening his Synphony # 40. I had the LP which I played on a Motorola HI FI system which was very popular after second world war.

I purchased and read 5 books about Mozart in the 1970's and acquired The Phillips Mozart collection in 1991. I've learned so much from participants of this forum, but I am still learning and researching almost every day.

I truly enjoy and love all of his music, his personal life and interpersonal realtionships he had with with his peers, friends, siter, parents, wife and her siblings, mother in law, etc. I want to learn much more about his motivation to write incredible music since he was a child.

Finally, I am lover of his music and I consider myself a genuine and huge Mozart fan. And yes, he is the greatest composer who ever lived!!!

. . .

This is in part from a previous thread that I responded too.

My experience is that I discovered classical music long ago, about the time I graduated from High School. For years I ran the gamut of composers, exploring from all musical periods. My likes and dislikes evolved. My first heroes were Tchaikovsky and Beethoven, then came Brahms who lasted for quite some time and to this day. I Learned to like the baroque and more modern sounds that initially repelled me. Stravinsky for example. There’s more to my personal development but what is pertinent is that Mozart was there through all of it and I slowly began to give him more and more importance. His music seemed more and more poignant. I noticed that when I returned to a Mozart work that I had learned a year or so previously, it was fresh, new and incredible. I sometimes suggest to people that they should learn a Mozart work and then put it in the closet (metaphorically) for an extended period because when you take it out of the closet, Wow!

Perhaps we need to know the other composers pretty well for comparison to fully appreciate Mozart’s place?

I consider myself a true Mozart lover!

I still enjoy many other composers that for me have stood the test of time and I get excited when I occasionally discover a work I like that I was not aware of.

For me Mozart is the greatest composer and I've come to suspect that those of us who revere his music have a synergistic connection to the subtle emotions that seem to be his alone.

. . .

I must confess that the movie Amadeus was the first time I came across Mozart, when the movie came out, but then a schoolteacher friend told me she enjoyed the movie - but it was totally inaccurate! Crikey, I thought, and bought a tape of his 40th and 41st symphonies.

I struggled a while to place the man to the music, given how misleading (but totally entertaining) the movie had been. HC Robbins Landon's 1791 helped. I stopped listening to classical for a while, but then came back to my small, but precious horde of Mozart, to update them for cd's.

In the last few years I've expanded my repertoire of listening, and enjoy Beethoven's sonatas, and lately I'm getting heart-pangs for Schubert. I also like to listen to some Chopin and Rachmaninov.

But to me, Mozart is unique. I was listening to the Posthorn Serenade yesterday and I thought, 'listen to this guy. Not only could he compose for every genre, but also for every instrument.' There are middle movements in this work for flute and wind instruments which are endlessly pleasing to me. I think if he composed best in opera, then piano was his next best, but his compositions for wind instruments are extraordinary too.

If they were all athletes, Mozart would be Usain Bolt, winning and pulling away from the rest as he does so. I would say I veer closer to "crazy fanatic" than to simple fan, though I don't have the funds or floor-space to feed my addiction. As my wife would say, it's just as well!

. . .

I guess I always knew Mozart was a great composer but could not name specific works. So it was Amadeus that sparked a greater interest and I began to buy CDs. In 2004 I returned to Salzburg for the first time since I was a child and I joined Mozartforum. Now I'm a regular visitor to Salzburg and cannot go two days without listening to his music.

. . .

How did I discover Mozart?

Well, in 7th grade I had a music appreciation/history class. I had this really pretty teacher I had a huge crush on, and...one day she moved my seat to the front of the class, and we started learning about classical music, and I got culture.

There was this BIG sousaphone that sat in her room, and one day she suggested to me that I learn to play it - because, she said, this instrument was made for me.

Come fall, I was taking lessons on the tuba. I never made the connection what actually got me interested in taking up the big horn 'til recently.

Later on, I discovered there aren't very many uses for a tuba in any music from the classical era (although I still argue Mozart's symphony #32 could use one sparringly). Now, I have a vast array of brass instruments I can play, including french horn, which Mozart wrote lots of stuff for.

. . .

There were two or three recordings of Mozart's symphonies at home when I was a child. But I truly began to grasp the full stature of his genius, listening to two classical music radio broadcasts when I was in my high school years. And when I entered the conservatory, with some money given to me to buy scores, I bought exactly seven LP records. Three of them were the last six symphonies. I remember them well: they were recordings made by Bruno Walter conducting the Columbia Symphony Orchestra.

Do I consider Mozart is the greatest composer? Well, yes. When I am hearing one of his great works, I cannot conceive of anything in the whole world being greater. But then I listen to the opening bars in Bach's B minor Mass. And then I say: undeniably, this is the glory. So, you see. Impossible for me to choose one among all of them.

However, the joy produced by the discovery of those great masters of the past, I think is a thing that never comes back in all of its original grandeur. As youth itself, it is unrecoverable.

. . .

I got some LP's of Mozart when I fell in love with Classical music in the early seventies but, at that time, I was a fan of the piano music of Beethoven and Schumann. Mozart for me was like elevator music : sweet but forgettable. Few years later the transformation happened after I heard The Magic Flute. And it was nonstop after that. And of course it was helped by Amadeus (the play and the film).

Today I adore almost all his music although not the piano solo (exception : those in the minor keys). In this department I am now hooked on Bach !

. . .

As a toddler I used to listen to classical music with my mother. We listened to different composers every day and I particularly loved Mozart. Later on when I started playing instruments Mozart pieces were always my favourite compositions to play.
Mozart stayed with me throughout my life though I listen(ed) to many other different composers and music styles. My interest in the person Mozart increased after the film Amadeus, but even more after a visit to the villa Bertramka in Prague. Since that visit I am passionate to learn about Mozart and I have a keen interest in the 18th century cultural, economic and political situation. I listen to Mozart at least once a day wherever I am.

. . .

How interesting that you've been to Betramka. I heard it had fallen into disrepair. Funny also that Amadeus, often derided by Mozart lovers, has had such a positive effect on so many of us. :-)

. . .

I have been listening to classical music in general (and of course Mozart's music as well) when I was a teenager. But the "Initialzündung" as we say in German for Mozart was the Mozartyear 2006 and further on the historical informed performance of Mozart's works.

Now I can't live without his music anymore. I take it with me even on travels (on my I-Pod).

Mozart Goodies

Goodness, it has been nearly a month since I have last written. Life seems to be whizzing by while my poor blog sits here alone and forgotten. To make up for the time it has taken me to write, I will share my new upload of the Coronation Mass, K. 317, written in 1779, along with some quotes about Mozart and a letter excerpt to brighten up the day. Enjoy!

In Bach, Beethoven and Wagner we admire principally the depth and energy of the human mind; in Mozart, the divine instinct.   - Edvard Grieg

Mozart's music is free of all exaggeration, of all sharp breaks and contradictions.  The sun shines but does not blind, does not burn or consume.  Heaven arches over the earth, but it does not weigh it down, it does not crush or devour it.    - Karl Barth

It is hard to think of another composer who so perfectly marries form and passion.    - Leonard Bernstein

What a picture of a better world you have given us, Mozart!   - Franz Schubert

W. A. Mozart - Krönungsmesse in C Major, K. 317

It seems here that Mozart learned a form of sign language. He writes to his sister Nannerl at the age of 15:

Milan, August 31, 1771.
My Dearest Sister,--
We are quite well, thank God! I have been eating quantities of fine pears, peaches, and melons in your place. My greatest amusement is to talk by signs to the dumb, which I can do to perfection. Herr Hasse [the celebrated opera composer] arrived here yesterday, and to-day we are going to pay him a visit. We only received the book of the Serenata last Thursday. I have very little to write about. Do not, I entreat, forget about THE ONE OTHER, where no other can ever be. You understand me, I know.

Anyone who knows more on this subject, please comment with your input and knowledge!

The Great Mass in C Minor, K. 427....Now on Mozart's Music!

Ladies and gentlemen...I have now uploaded all of the movements to the unfinished masterpiece, Große Messe in c-Moll (The Great Mass in C Minor), K. 427! I posted them here as a playlist so that you can sample all of the movements in one sitting, or better yet, listen to them all through completely! Enjoy and please leave comments letting me know what you think!

Ave, Ave, Verum Corpus...

I went to Mass this afternoon, and during Communion I heard the organ begin to play a familiar introduction. Sure enough, the cantor began to sing Ave Verum Corpus. Instantly, I felt like I was on a cloud floating to heaven. The quality of the music may not have been the greatest, but I still wanted to cry as I meditated along with it. God certainly speaks through Mozart's compositions. I wish more music ministers would use this kind of sacred music!

Some Quotes About Mozart...

Sorry I haven't posted in so long. An important composer's birthday is tomorrow and I will post about it then. Until then, here are some quotes from great composers and various famous people about Mozart that I enjoyed:


"The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters, in all centuries and in all the arts."
   ~ Richard Wagner


"Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has attained in the sphere of music."
   ~ Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky


"Does it not seem as if Mozart's works become fresher and fresher the oftener we hear them?"
   ~ Robert Schumann


"In my dreams of Heaven, I always see the great Masters gathered in a huge hall in which they all reside. Only Mozart has his own suite."
   ~ Victor Borge


"Mozart is the greatest composer of all. Beethoven created his music, but the music of Mozart is of such purity and beauty that one feels he merely found it-that it has always existed as part of the inner beauty of the universe waiting to be revealed."
   ~ Albert Einstein 


"The best of Mozart's works cannot be even slightly rewritten without diminishment."
   ~ Peter Shaffer (Playwright, Amadeus)


"The sonatas of Mozart are unique: too easy for children, too difficult for adults. Children are given Mozart to play because of the quantity of notes; grown-ups avoid him because of the quality of notes."
   ~ Artur Schnabel


"Beethoven I take twice a week, Haydn four times, and Mozart every day!"
  ~ Gioachino Antonio Rossini 

Mozart vs. Beethoven

MOZART'S MUSIC HAS A NEW YOUTUBE ACCOUNT!

Our YouTube Channel is now: 

www.youtube.com/herrmozartsmusic

Please visit and subscribe!

The following video is on the new channel. Please enjoy...and comment!

Pope Benedict XVI, Mozart and the Quest of Beauty

I was very excited to find this article on www.CatholicEducation.org. Enjoy!

Pope Benedict XVI, Mozart and the Quest of Beauty
By Mark Freer
Used with permission.

. . .

Everyone, it seems, loves Mozart. As a small boy I would march round and round the room to an old recording of the Haffner Symphony that my father used to play, and in my professional vocation as a musician that love has remained and grown. And I find myself in excellent company. The Pope's brother Msgr. Georg Ratzinger — for thirty years choirmaster of Regensburg Cathedral — recently gave an interview to the Swiss Catholic press agency KIPA, in which he divulged that Benedict XVI's favourite musical pieces are the Clarinet Quintet and the Clarinet Concerto. Inside the Vatican reported that Benedict was playing Mozart on his piano on the Sunday afternoon following his installation as Pope, when he returned to his old apartment to see his brother. And papal biographer George Weigel said in Newsweek after Benedict's election that "here is another surprise for cartoonists of the dour Ratzinger: he's a Mozart man, which I take to be an infallible sign of someone who is, at heart, a joyful person." Georg Ratzinger supplies further anecdotes:

Does he still find time to tickle the ivories?
Very seldom. But the last time I was in Rome with the Cathedral Choir the piano lid was open, and Mozart sonatas were lying there, open. He knows himself that his playing is hardly of an elevated standard, but he enjoys it. And his desire to make music still finds its most beautiful outlet in Mozart.
What sort of piano does he have then?
It's of no particular brand. We bought it when he was lecturing in Freising. The action is not so great, but it looks very nice, and the tone is fine. For the papal palace in Castelgandolfo the Steinway firm has donated a small grand piano, one which I also used to enjoy playing very much. There's talk of getting one for the Vatican too, but my brother says it's not worth it. For one thing he doesn't have much time, and also he gauges his own abilities realistically. For his own playing, his old piano is good enough.

Msgr Ratzinger also gives a musical portrait of their family home:

Reverend Kapellmeister, how did you and your brother come in contact with Mozart for the first time?
At home we played the harmonium. Our parents were of the view that it would prepare us for the organ. In one practice book was a piece of two lines reputed to be by Mozart. I could never identify it later. The "Mozart year" 1941 saw an intensification. During the 150th year after the composer's death there was a Mozart broadcast every Sunday, at lunch time. As I was the one in the family who was the most musically engaged, I was allowed to take my father's place at the table, which was directly next to the radio. Then in July I went with my brother to a Mozart concert put on by the Regensburg Cathedral choir. They sang excerpts from The Impresario in costume, and it was quite wonderful. I couldn't sleep the whole night.

Cardinal Ratzinger enjoying Mozart

But let's hear Pope Benedict himself on the subject. In the extended interview that was published ten years ago as Salt of the Earth we read:

You are a great lover of Mozart.
Yes! Although we moved around a very great deal in my childhood, the family basically always remained in the area between the Inn and the Salzach. And the largest and most important and best parts of my youth I spent in Traunstein, which very much reflects the influence of Salzburg. You might say that there Mozart thoroughly penetrated our souls, and his music still touches me very deeply, because it is so luminous and yet at the same time so deep. His music is by no means just entertainment; it contains the whole tragedy of human existence.

Penetrated our souls...so luminous...so deep...contains the whole tragedy of human existence, says the man who is now Pope. Many, including myself, would agree. The deeper one enters into Mozart's music — the more one seeks to find there, in between those little quavers and crotchets; — in short, the more one allows it to 'penetrate the soul', then the more it is felt as transcendent, sublime, consummately beautiful. 

Hans Urs von Balthasar was a close friend of Cardinal Ratzinger (together with Cardinal de Lubac and others they founded the Communio International Catholic Review, published today in fifteen countries). Balthasar dared to express himself in directly theological fashion, speaking of the "...miraculous Mozart, who... had the 'power of the heart' to sense infallibly the true and the genuine". Referring to The Magic Flute, he writes:

What must appear everywhere else as a vain image of fantasy or even of blasphemy — the definitive revelation of eternal beauty in a genuine earthly body — may well have become blessed reality just once, here, in the realm of the Catholic Incarnation.

And this astonishing passage from his Tribute to Mozart:

Do we not come from God and return to him, passing through the waters and fires of time, suffering and death? And why should we not permit ourselves to be led through the dissonances of our existence by the Zauberflöte, a tremendous adumbration of love, light and glory, eternal truth and harmony? Is there a better, indeed another manner to bear witness to the nobility of our divine filiation than to make present whence we came and where we are going? All those whom we take for our models tried to have it that way, and above all he who knew himself to be the Son of the Father, who had the face of the Father before his eyes always, and whose will he accomplished. Mozart serves by making audible the triumphal hymn of a prelapsarian and resurrected creation, in which suffering and guilt are not presented as faint memory, as past, but as conquered, absolved, fixed present.

All this will inevitably scandalise those who regard Mozart primarily as a Freemason, and The Magic Flute principally as a piece of Freemasonic symbology, both true enough in themselves. (Balthasar too — the "theologian of beauty" — is viewed in certain circles with suspicion. Yet the Holy Father, as Cardinal Ratzinger, said at von Balthasar's funeral, "the Church itself, in its official responsibility, tells us that he is right in what he teaches of the Faith".) The subject of Mozart's Freemasonry was raised with Georg Ratzinger:

Does it disturb you that Mozart was a Freemason?
It isn't for me to pass judgement on Mozart. He was a man with many difficulties arising from the period he lived in, and from the circumstances of his life. The issue of his Freemasonry disturbs me insofar as he was not only an ordinary member, but attained the rank of Master, and wanted to found his own lodge. Freemasonry was obviously fashionable at that time in Vienna. Certainly he hoped for material gain from his membership. Whether he reflected on the theological implications I don't know.

No thoughtful Catholic will have difficulty distinguishing Mozart's music from his Freemasonry, any more, for example, than separating Bach's work from his Lutheranism. If we were to dismiss every human work that had been created by a sinner, there might not be much left standing. I was once taken to task for leading a congregation in a "Protestant tune", to which I replied, "which note was Protestant, the E-flat or the B-flat?" 


Let us move on.

All beauty comes from God. There is no beauty that does not come from the Father through Christ, Himself the embodiment of all beauty. St Augustine, in a famous passage from the Confessions, addresses God as Beauty personified:

Late have I loved You, O Beauty ever ancient, ever new, late have I loved You!

Contrary to popular opinion, true beauty (the only kind there is, despite Satan's posturings) is objective. Truth and goodness are beautiful, just as the beautiful is true and good. A wonderful passage from Balthasar's The Glory of the Lordsays,

Beauty is the word that shall be our first. Beauty is the last thing which the thinking intellect dares to approach, since only it dances as an uncontained splendour around the double constellation of the true and the good and their inseparable relation to one another. [my italics] Beauty is the ... one without which the ancient world refused to understand itself, a word which ... has bid farewell to our new world, leaving it to its avarice and sadness.

In former times the liturgy, too, "refused to understand itself" apart from beauty: beauty was taken for granted. The fact that the holy liturgy has — in broad terms — been a casualty of the modern exaltation of ugliness is for Benedict XVI a matter of grave concern. He speaks scathingly of:

...mass culture geared to quantity, production and success. Pop music joins up with this culture... It is a reflection of what this society is, the musical embodiment of kitsch... Hindemith used the term brainwashing for this kind of noise, which can hardly be called music any more ... Is it a pastoral success when we are capable of following the trend of mass culture and thus share the blame for its making people immature or irresponsible? (A New Song for the Lord, p.108)

For him, "faith becoming music is part of the process of the Word becoming flesh" ( p.122 ). But there is no chance here of doing justice to the breadth and profundity of our theologian-Pope's writings. Here is one small taste:

It is not the case that you think something up then sing it; instead, the song comes to you from the angels, and you have to lift up your heart so that it may be in tune with the music coming to it. But above all this is important: the liturgy is not a thing the monks create. It is already there before them. It is entering into the liturgy of the heavens that has always been taking place. Earthly liturgy is liturgy because and only because it joins what is already in process, the greater reality. ( p.129 )

And a last word from Msgr. Georg Ratzinger:

Many describe your brother as the "Mozart of theology". What do you think of this title?
Joachim Cardinal Meisner of Cologne coined this phrase. It has a certain justification. My brother's theology is not as problematic and difficult as that of Karl Rahner... Directness, clarity and form: his work does seem to have these elements in common with Mozart's music.

 . . .

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Mark Freer. “Pope Benedict XVI, Mozart and the Quest of Beauty.” AD2000 (April, 2006).
AD2000 is published in Australia. Visit their web site here.
Printed with permission of the author, Mark Freer.
THE AUTHOR
Mark Freer is an Adelaide church musician and concert pianist. He is organist and choirmaster for the ecclesially approved Latin Mass at Holy Name Church, St Peters, and has performed and broadcast in Australia, Switzerland, Germany and Italy. At the 2005 international symposium in Lugano, Switzerland commemorating Hans Urs von Balthasar's 100th anniversary he presented a lecture and a Mozart concert accompanied by the leader of the Queensland Orchestra, Warwick Adeney; his seminar paper appeared in the Spring 2005 Communio journal entitled "The Triune Conversation in Mozart: Towards a Theology of Music". He may be contacted at mark.freer@mac.com.

Copyright © 2006 Mark Freer

What would Mozart say about MY playing?

I often tell people that as much as I wish I could find a time machine and meet Mozart face-to-face, I would not want to be his student. I have read that Mozart was a very good and loyal friend, but as a teacher, he was very critical.
Here, on October 23, 1777 (age 21), he writes to his father about Nannette Stein,  the daughter of his friend Herr Stein,  who played for him.

Whoever can see and hear her play without laughing must be a stone (Stein) like her father. She sits opposite the treble instead of in the middle of the instrument, so that there may be greater opportunities for swaying about and making grimaces. Then she rolls up her eyes and smirks. If a passage occurs twice it is played slower the second time; if three times, still slower. When a passage comes, up goes the arm, and if there is to be an emphasis it must come from the arm, heavily and clumsily, not from the fingers. But the best of all is that when there comes a passage (which  ought to flow like oil) in which there necessarily occurs a change of fingers, there is no need of taking care; when the time comes you stop, lift the hand and nonchalantly begin again. This helps one the better to catch a false note, and the effect is frequently curious.


Oh, did I forget to mention that the girl he criticizes is only eight years old?!

Mozart's Requiem

         When Mozart's Requiem in D Minor, K. 626, was commissioned by a mysterious visitor (a messenger of Count Walsegg, who wanted to pass the composition off as his own), Mozart felt that the messenger was from heaven, telling him that his time was coming. He had been sick for a few months, and wasn't getting any better (he had a suspicion that a composer rival had poisoned him). He had a great fear of death. He wasn't in a good financial position, which worried him even more since he had a wife and two sons. 
         The Requiem in D Minor is probably Mozart's most incredible work. Unfortunately, a large portion of it was unfinished when he died. His pupil Franz Xaver Süßmayr finished the work after Mozart passed away.
         The story of the Requiem inspired me to write a little piece of poetry based on Mozart's point of  view while he is writing his last piece of music. I never write poetry, and this therefore doesn't follow any sort of writing rules. I just wrote what came to me and I hope you like it!

What is this pain inside

Which fills this joyful heart with sorrow,

Which counts every heartbeat as if it were the last,

And fills my every day with terror?

Each note I inscribe sings of my approaching doom,

The fate every man is sentenced to --

Rich and poor, good and dishonest alike.

My hand trembles as I begin each new measure;

The work is no longer mine, but my fate singing through me.

Why me? -- A man so young

And with multiple mouths to feed --

Why is this the man death searches for?

My beloved Creator would not call me so soon,

But jealous rivals made of flesh

Are anxious to be rid of me.

I feel the cruel, invisible weapon

Put in my goblet for an unsuspecting sip;

It creeps up my body and clutches on

With teeth like a venomous snake.

This mortal is lost in the battle for life;

His feeble body is no match for men's jealousy.

But listen!
My music rings out loud in the streets;

I am not dead, but alive!

I sing through ivory, ebony and wood,

Through brass horns and pipes of silver!
What man tried to be rid of,

Man brought back to life! 

Amadeus: Fact and Fiction



Sir Peter Shaffer said of his play Amadeus (and the screenplay for the 1984 motion picture), "[Amadeus is] a fantasia based on fact. It is not a screen biography of Mozart, and was never intended to be." In this post, I recall some scenes from the film and compare them to facts of the composer's life. Fact means, "the movie had this in it", Fiction means, "the movie either made this up, or changed it slightly".

Fiction - After the premier of Die Entführung aus dem Serial, Mozart refers to his future mother-in-law, Frau Weber, as "my landlady". In reality, Mozart had been asked to leave the Weber boarding house 9 months before the opera's premier. (See Life.)

Fact - Mozart did not get along with the Archbishop of Salzburg. The Archbishop mistreated him and eventually dismissed him.

Fact/Fiction - Mozart married Constanze before his father's consent letter arrived in the mail. However, the movie makes it appear as if Leopold never consented to the marriage. Leopold was always somewhat cool toward Constanze, but he did consent to the marriage.

Fiction - Although it would be foolish to say that a proud Austrian such as Mozart didn't enjoy alcoholic beverages, he certainly wasn't an alcoholic, as the movie portrays him to be near the end of his life. His favorite drink was punch, which his friends said he drank in large quantities.

Fiction - Shortly before his death, Mozart slipped into unconsciousness and never awoke. This means that he probably died with his eyes closed, not open.

Fact - Salieri and his co-workers did work secretly to make Le Nozze di Figaro a failure. They asked the performers to request impossible alterations on their parts, infuriating Mozart to the point of threatening to withdraw the entire opera. The Emporer Joseph II stepped in, then, and ordered that everything return to how it was. The performers ended up liking their parts and the opera was a success until a new Salieri opera overshadowed it. As the movie mentions, the opera was withdrawn after only nine performances.

Fiction - Salieri did not kill Mozart, and it was not he who came to Mozart's door commissioning a Requiem Mass. In reality, the mysterious visitor was a messenger of the young Count Walsegg, who liked to commission pieces and pass them off as his own.

Fact - Mozart loved billiards. In the movie there are many instances where he is playing or writing music at his billiards table. Mozart's good friend, tenor Michael Kelly, mentioned in his memoirs that he enjoyed countless games of billiards with him, and never won.

Fiction - Mozart had not one child, but six. Unfortunately, only two survived to adulthood, Karl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang.

Fiction - Salieri was not with Mozart when he died. Present during Mozart's last hours on earth were his wife Constanze, her sister Sophie and his doctor.

Fiction - Constanze did not attend Mozart's funeral, which was held two days after his death, as she was too distraught.

Fiction - Mozart did not call Constanze "Stanzi", but "Stanzerl".

Fiction - As funny as it was in the movie, the Queen of Night aria in Die Zauberflöte was not inspired by Mozart's mother-in-law!

True...

"The sonatas of Mozart are unique; too easy for children, and too difficult for artists."
~ Artur Schnabel

Mozart's Best Pieces

Enjoy!

Genius...A Blessing and a Curse

     I often wonder how the great composers were able to stand horrible music. Not just mediocre, but horrible. It must have brought them nearly to the point of insanity.
     As I sat in church this morning this thought came to mind. The music was missing something...no, everything. Mostly it was missing its sacredness. There is a large difference between, say, "Ave Verum Corpus" and "Lord I Lift Your Name on High" (Not one of the songs in church this morning, but close enough). One is completely sacred; focused on God and no one else. The Latin title translates to, "Hail, True Body". It is a hymn devoted to the Holy Eucharist, worshipping Christ with some of the most beautiful music ever written. The other is loud, upbeat, and devoted to "I". "Lord, I lift Your Name on high...Lord I love to sing Your praises..."
     Oh, if Mozart heard the songs that have taken the place of his and the other great composers' music. I hate to think what he would say.