Happy birthday, Wolfgang!

Today is our favorite composer's birthday! To celebrate this special day, I decided to make free desktop and iPhone backgrounds for my readers. To use, simply click on the picture, then right click and select "Set as Desktop Background". Please share with your friends on Facebook and Twitter!

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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!

Mozart's Portrait

     Last week for English, I was given an assignment to describe the face of someone in great detail. As soon as I heard what my assignment would be, I knew exactly whose face I would describe! Here is what I wrote...I think my professor liked it too! (I'm not sure if she knows yet exactly how obsessed I am with Mozart...)

     Mozart's face was nearly as enchanting as his music. It was long and oval; pale in complexion and nicked with poxmarks. His long, pointed nose cast shadows on one side of his face and above his upper lip. It dented in slightly at the top where it met his forehead, then came back out to form two gentle, golden-brown eyebrows that defined the emotion in his giant, almond-shaped, ocean blue eyes which gave off a look of mystery and passion. His tiny mouth was accented by salmon-pink lips; the bottom lip jutted out making a crease just above his chin, while his upper lip curved slightly to form a subtle smile just as mysterious as his eyes. His mess of fine blond hair was covered by a coarse, grey powdered wig, which was pulled into the back by a large, black bow.

(I looked at the Croce portrait while I wrote!)

Yes, I'm Still Alive.

Contrary to popular belief, I have not fallen off the planet. I am alive and well, or, as well as a busy student can be. When the school year started, so did a horrible case of writer's block. There are some topics I would like to post about in the future, but I will need to do some more research first. Until then, I figured everyone can use a good laugh throughout the day, so I posted two of some of Mozart's most humorous letters, both written to his beloved sister Nannerl.

Year: 1770
Age: 14

...I only wish that my sister were in Rome, for this town would certainly please her, as St. Peter's church and many other things in Rome are regular. The most beautiful flowers are now being carried past in the street---so Papa has just told me. I am a fool, as everyone knows. Oh, I am having a hard time, for in our rooms there is only one bed and so Mamma can well imagine that I get no sleep with Papa......I have just now drawn St. Peter with his keys and with him St. Paul with his sword and St. Luke with my sister and so forth. I have had the honor of kissing St. Peter's foot in St. Peter's church and as I have the misfortune to be so small, I, that same old dunce

Wolfgang Mozart,
had to be lifted up.

Year: 1772
Age: 16

I hope you are well, my dear sister. When you receive this letter, my dear sister, my opera will be being performed that same evening. Think of me, my dear sister, and do your best to imagine, my dear sister, that you are watching and hearing it too, my dear sister. Admittedly that is difficult, as it is already eleven o'clock; what's more, I believe beyond any doubt that during the day it is brighter than at Easter. My dear sister, tomorrow we dine at Herr von Mayer's, and why is this, do you think? Guess! Because he has invited us. Tomorrow's rehearsal is at the theater, but the impresario, Signor Castiglioni, has urged me not to say anything about it, because otherwise everybody will come rushing along, and we don't want that. So, my child, I beg you not to tell anyone anything about it. Otherwise too many people would come rushing along. That reminds me, do you know what happened here today? I'll tell you. We left Count Firmian's to go home and when we reached our street, we opened the front door and what do you suppose happened then? We went in. Goodbye, my little lung. I embrace you, my liver, and remain, my stomach, ever your unworthy brother,

Wolfgang

Please, my dear sister, something is biting me - please scratch me.

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's Wedding Day

Wolfgang and Constanze were married on

August 4, 1782 in Vienna, at Saint Stephen's Cathedral.

Wolfgang and Constanze's marriage certificate.



Saint Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna.




The inside of Saint Stephen's Cathedral. 



They had a very happy marriage together. Wolfgang's letters to Constanze -- written either while he was out pursuing work, or while she was at the spa in Baden -- remain tender, loving, and even a bit silly up until the last one.

For instance, on April 13, 1789 while he was in Dresden, Wolfgang wrote a letter to Constanze and told her of all the silly things he would do with her little portrait while he was away from her:

If I were to tell you all the things that I do with your portrait, you would laugh heartily. For instance when I take it out of its prison house I say "God bless you, Stanzerl! God bless you, you little rascal, -- Krallerballer -- Sharpnose -- little Bagatelle!" And when I put it back I let it slip down slowly and gradually and say "Nu, -- Nu, -- Nu, -- Nu;" but with the emphasis which this highly significant word demands, and at the last, quickly: "Good-night, little Mouse, sleep well!" Now, I suppose, I have written down a lot of nonsense (at least so the world would think); but for us, who love each other so tenderly, it isn't altogether silly.

Then, on July 7, 1791, just five months before his death, Wolfgang wrote to his wife who was at the spa in Baden:

You can not imagine how slowly time goes when you are not with me! I can't describe the feeling; there is a sort of sense of emptiness, which hurts -- a certain longing which can not be satisfied, and hence never ends, but grows day by day. When I remember how childishly merry we were in Baden, and what mournful, tedious hours I pass here, my work gives me no pleasure, because it is not possible as was my wont, to chat a few words with you when stopping for a moment. If I go to the Clavier and sing something from the opera [Die Zauberflöte] I must stop at once because of my emotions. -- Basta!

No doubt, August 4, 1782 remained one of the happiest memories in Wolfgang and Constanze's lives.

Happy Birthday, Wolfgang, Jr.!

Mozart's youngest son, Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (also known as Wolfgang, Jr.), was born on July 26, 1791 in Vienna, around five months before his father's death. Franz Xaver's never really getting to know his father seemed to have no impact on his veneration for him. His whole life, Franz Xaver had a great devotion to his father's music. He not only inherited Mozart's love for music; he became a fine composer/musician himself, studying under several teachers...most notably Antonio Salieri. 

In this video, one can certainly hear whose son he is! This is Franz Xaver Mozart's Violin Sonata in B Flat Major, 3rd Movement, Presto.

Franz Xaver passed away on July 29, 1844 in Karlsbad. His veneration for his father was so great that his tombstone reads:

May the name of his father be his epitaph, as his veneration for him was the essence of his life.

What Will They Come Up With Next?

Here is an article that I found on DiscoveryNews.com from Monday, July 11, 2011, if you'd like to read it. After this I don't think scientists can find any more diseases or conditions to blame for Mozart's death!


Lack of Vitamin D May Have Killed Mozart
If the composer had spent more time in the sun, he might have forestalled his early death.

During his short life, Austrian composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart suffered from many of the era's common illnesses, including smallpox, typhoid fever, tonsillitis and upper respiratory tract infections.

What exactly it was that killed him in December 1791 at age 35, however, is still a matter of debate -- with theories ranging from poisoning to renal disease.

Now, two researchers offer a new theory: vitamin D deficiency. In his high-latitude home in Austria, Mozart was probably running low on the sunshine vitamin for half the year. That deficiency may have put the musician at risk for many of the illnesses he suffered from.

If only Mozart had known about vitamin D and had access to supplements, he could have doubled his lifetime's output of work, mused William Grant, a retired NASA atmospheric physicist who has been following vitamin D research with great interest for the past decade. And, he argued, the same goes for several other famous musicians who died at young ages.

While some researchers remain skeptical, Grant thinks Mozart's story holds a cautionary tale for modern musicians, who might want to consider getting outside for a practice session or two.

"Almost every disease has a vitamin D connection these days," said Grant, who is not a doctor, but is affiliated with the Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center, a pro-vitamin D research and education association. "I think modern-day musicians are unaware of the fact that by staying indoors, they are not getting the adequate amount of vitamin D that they need."

Mozart's death has long been shrouded in mystery. The musician was buried three days after he died, said William Dawson, a retired orthopedic surgeon, and past president of the Performing Arts Medicine Association. And an autopsy was never performed on his body.

Testimonies and reports about the composer's death were not reviewed until 30 years later. Even then, the documents were full of conflicting details. To complicate the situation even more, medical knowledge at the time -- more than two centuries ago -- was far behind what doctors know today. And since Mozart's time, the definitions of many medical terms have changed.

"They didn't know about vitamins," Dawson said. "They didn't know about bacteria. They didn't know about blood pressure. Mozart's physicians were as high quality as he could get. They just didn't have the knowledge or technology to treat him."

Dawson reviewed 81 references in the literature that addressed the question of what actually happened to Mozart at the end of his life. In a paper published last year in the journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists, he chronicled and organized those theories.

Many of the papers he looked at sited chronic kidney disease as the cause of lots of Mozart's problems, including his many secondary infections, like strep throat and pink eye. Those explanations are convincing enough, Dawson said, though he has his own pet theory for what ultimately killed the composer.

"They bled Mozart a lot as one of the treatments for his disease," he said. "I think they bled him too much and he died of acute blood loss."

Grant has a different point of view. He read Dawson's paper with a close eye on the time of year that Mozart tended to get sick. From 1762 to 1783, he wrote in a letter that was just published in the journal Medical Problems of Performing Artists, most of Mozart's infections occurred between mid-October and mid-May.

That's the time of year when people in places as far north as Austria simply can’t make enough vitamin D from sun exposure. Plenty of studies in recent years have linked adequate vitamin D levels with lower risks for influenza, pneumonia, cardiovascular disease, cancers, autoimmune diseases and more.

The current recommended daily intake of vitamin D is 600 IU for most people, but some experts now advocate taking as much as 4,000 IU, which is currently the recommended upper limit for the vitamin (something no one should do without talking to their doctor first).

Grant pointed to two other famous musicians with similar stories. British cellist Jacqueline Mary du Pré, for one, died in 1987 at age 42 from multiple sclerosis. And Austrian composer Gustav Mahler died in 1911 of bacterial endocarditis. Evidence now suggests that vitamin D can protect against both diseases.

There's no way to prove or disprove Grant's theory, Dawson said, but he urged some caution.

"I am tempted to say that this is an idea that has its adherents, and it's out there in the literature," Dawson said. "Whether people choose to believe it is up to the individual reader."

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

Mozart, the Animal Lover

Mozart loved nature and animals. He kept several pets, and I thought it would be fun to write about them.

. . .

A Canary

Picture from Wikipedia

We read in a letter from 14-year-old Wolfgang to his sister Nannerl on May 19, 1770 about a little canary that the Mozarts kept. He wrote:

Write me, how is Mr. Canary? Does he still sing? Does he still pipe? Do you know why I am thinking of the canary? Because there is one in our anteroom that makes the same little sounds as ours.

. . .

A Dog

     Unfortunately, I can't seem to find much information on the dog that the Mozart family kept. Some sources say that it was a fox terrier.

     Mozart family letters refer to a "Miss Bimbes", a "Bimperl", and a "Pimperl". After much research, it sounds to me like they are all the same dog, but sometimes it's hard to tell. If I can find out any more, be assured that I will post it.

     

In a letter dated August 21, 1773 (at age 17), Mozart wrote to his sister:

How is Miss Bimbes? Please present all manner of compliments to her.

In an October 1777 letter from Leopold to 21-year-old Wolfgang (who was in France with his mother at the time), we read:

As the weather is fine, [Nannerl and I] take an early walk every day with our faithful Bimperl, who is in splendid trim and only becomes very sad and obviously most anxious when we are both out of the house, for then she thinks that because she has lost you two, she is now going to lose us as well. So when we went to the ball and she saw us masked, she refused to leave Mitzerl, and, when we got home, she was so overjoyed that I thought she would choke. Moreover, when we were out, she would not stay on her bed in the room, but remained lying on the ground outside the porter's door. She would not sleep, but kept on moaning, wondering, I suppose, whether we should ever return.

Then, while Mozart was writing and rehearsing Idomoneo, K. 366, in 1780, he wrote to his father:

Give Pimperl a pinch of Spanish snuff, a good wine-biscuit, and three busses (kisses).

. . .

A Starling

Picture from Wikipedia

On May 27, 1784, Mozart noted in his expense book that he had bought a pet starling. In the same book he also wrote down a tune that the bird whistled for him, and noted, "That was beautiful!"

Besides the two G sharps, the notes are identical to the theme of the third movement to Mozart's 17th Piano Concerto, K. 453, which had been written earlier that year. It is unknown whether he taught this to the bird, or if the bird whistled it for him (having been taught the tune by someone else), and that is what made him buy it.

The bird died on June 4, 1787. Mozart wrote a sad little poem on the occasion and buried the bird in his back yard.

To read the poem, click here.

. . .

A Horse

Mozart wrote to his wife, who was at the spa in Baden due to illness, in 1791:

Now as to my mode of life: As soon as you were gone I played two games of billiards with Herr von Mozart who wrote the opera for Schickaneder's theatre (The Magic Flute); then I sold my nag for fourteen ducats; then I had Joseph call my primus (valet) and bring a black coffee, to which I smoked a glorious pipe of tobacco...

Since his health was failing, Mozart's doctor advised him to buy a horse and ride every day. However, Mozart didn't care for the exercise and sold his horse.

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?!

April Fools Day

Mozart loved to play pracitcal jokes on his friends. Here are a couple of instances.

Emanuel Schikaneder wrote the libretto to The Magic Flute, K. 620. He also played the original Papageno (the birdwatcher). In the opera, Papageno sings with his magic chimes, and when he would pretend to strike the chimes, Mozart would play the chords on a keyboard glockenspiel offstage. During one performance, Mozart suddenly decided to play a short arpeggio on the glockenspiel where one wasn't written. Schikaneder figured that when the part would be repeated, Mozart would play the arpeggio again. However, when he went to strike the chimes, no noise came out. Mozart writes,

This time [Schikaneder] stopped and refused to go on. I guessed what he was thinking and again played a chord. He then struck the glockenspiel and said, "Shut up!" Whereupon everyone laughed. I am inclined to think that this joke taught many of the audience for the first time that Papageno does not play the instrument himself.

Another time, the theatre in Prague was practicing the premier of Don Giovanni, K. 527, with Mozart conducting. One singer, Teresa Bondini, was supposed to scream at one point in the opera. Mozart didn't think the shriek was realistic enough. So, while the orchestra played and the singers rehearsed the scene, he snuck around backstage. When it came time for Bondini to scream, Mozart reached out and grabbed her. The frightened Bondini let out a good, loud scream. Mozart, satisfied, told her, "Right! That's the way to shriek."

True...

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

Great Quote

"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