Happy Birthday, Mozart

Sometimes the best way to celebrate a 254th birthday is to grab a bunch of trombones and hail Neptune.


Idomeneo, Act III, Scene 10
La Voce

Ha vinto Amore Idomeneo cessi esser re lo sia Idamante ed Ilia a lui sia sposa, e fia pago Nettuno, Contento il ciel, premiata l'innocenza.

Love has triumphed Idomeneo shall cease to reign; Idamante shall be king, and Ilia his bride Then will Neptune be appeased, heaven contended and innocence rewarded.

As great as that moment is, it's fascinating to see how Wolfgang's father micromanaged it:

"I assume that you will choose very deep wind instruments to accompany the subterranean voice. How would it be if after the slight subterranean rumble the instruments sustained, or rather began to sustain, their notes piano and then made a crescendo such as might almost inspire terror, while after this and during the decrescendo the voice would begin to sing?"

(Thanks, dad)

In case you're planning on getting down at your Mozart bashes, here's a little dance music from the same opera:

Chaconne (KV 367)

Allegro
Larghetto
Allegro
Largo-Allegreto-Più allegro

Mozart, "Rondo in a Minor, K. 511"

ldls

Mozart Died From Strep Throat....or scarlet fever...or kidney failure...

File in the 'totally pointless stories written about someone famous to garner a headline (and subsequently a blog post)' bin:

"Our findings suggest that Mozart fell victim to an epidemic of strep throat infection that was contracted by many Viennese people in Mozart's month of death, and that Mozart was one of several persons in that epidemic that developed a deadly kidney complication," researcher Richard Zegers, of the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands, told Reuters Health.

Zegers and his colleagues said this "minor epidemic" of step throat, or streptococcal pharyngitis, may have begun in the city's military hospital.

According to witness accounts, Mozart fell ill with an "inflammatory fever," which is consistent with strep throat, Zegers and his colleagues wrote in their report.

The composer, who wrote more than 600 works during his life, eventually developed severe swelling, "malaise," back pain and a rash, consistent with a strep infection leading to kidney inflammation known as glomerulonephritis.

Zegers said it was also possible that Mozart had scarlet fever, which, like strep throat, can be caused by infection with streptococcal bacteria, but this was less likely because witnesses said Mozart developed a rash near the end of his illness and with scarlet fever, the rash appears early on.

Thanks genius! Your guesses about how Mozart died closed the case on a 200+ year mystery!

Our favorite theory about how Mozart died? Mutant zombies from outer space...

"Now, More Than Ever..."

James Oestreich read a bad book about Mozart and the Times let him spend 1,000 words bashing it. There's little doubt that Carl Vigeland's book is as unctuous and fawning as Oestreich says it is when he pulls quotes like this about the Jupiter Symphony:

“Stupendous. Unbelievable. Beyond superlatives. Maybe simply: miraculous. This perfect piece..."

That kind of writing definitely would grate at book length. In fact, it's hard to imagine how language like that could even be stretched to fill a few hundred pages, but it's not like Vigeland is the first guy to write poorly about Mozart. What's most memorable about the article is Oestreich's halfhearted dash for cover under the 'Death of Classical Music' banner:

Mindless, clichéd, indiscriminate cheerleading is the last thing classical music needs just now, as it finds itself increasingly challenged to prove its relevance in the multicultural, anti-elitist, pop-saturated arts climate of the 21st century.

Let's get this straight: glorified copywriters like Vigeland are the real threat to the future of classical music? Hardly. If anything, the world of classical music could use more "mindless, clichéd, indiscriminate cheerleading". Oestreich's editor shouldn't have bothered with such a lame swipe at legitimacy. Nothing wrong with using the Times as a sledgehammer. There's no sense in trying to dress the article up as an 'ideas piece', when it's just a hatchet job on another writer.

Reading it brought to mind David Cross' old bit about 9/11. He says, by way of setup, that there was so much bad art done in the name of not "letting the terrorists win", and then he imagines the backstage deliberations of a Texas comedy group over whether or not it's too soon to perform. They come to the conclusion that "if Houston's Assaulted Nuts Improv Group doesn't perform, then the terrorists have truly won."

Underground Mozart

(Report in English)

"Là Ci Darem La Mano", Wixel/Freni/Davis, Covent Garden

In his exhaustive study Musical Allusions in the Works of James Joyce, Zack Bowen posits that nearly every one of Leopold Bloom's personality traits is reinforced with some kind of musical reference throughout the novel. His masochism, Bowen claims, is underscored by the 9 different references to 'Là Ci Darem La Mano'. He writes:

...it becomes in Bloom's mind symbolic of the liaison of Boylan and Molly. As Giovanni has lured the almost willing Zerlina, so Boylan will succeed with Molly. If Blazes is the amorous Don, and Molly is Zerlina, then Bloom must assume the role of the jealous and avenging Masetto.

(That's one approach!)