“For one moment in the history of music all opposites were reconciled; all tensions resolved; that luminous moment was Mozart” (Phil Goulding)
“We cannot despair about mankind knowing that Mozart was a man” (Albert Einstein)
“I have always reckoned myself among the greatest admirers of Mozart, and shall remain so until my last breath” (Ludwig van Beethoven)
“If we cannot write with the beauty of Mozart, let us at least try to write with his purity” (Johannes Brahms)
“The most tremendous genius raised Mozart above all masters, in all centuries and in all the arts” (Richard Wagner)
“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)
“Mozart’s joy is made of serenity, and a phrase of his music is like a calm thought; his simplicity is merely purity. It is a crystalline thing in which all the emotions play a role, but as if already celestially transposed. Moderation consists in feeling emotions as the angels do” (Andre Gide)
“Mozart’s music is the mysterious language of a distant spiritual kingdom, whose marvelous accents echo in our inner being and arouse a higher, intensive life” (E.T.A. Hoffmann)
“A phenomenon like Mozart remains an inexplicable thing” (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)
“Mozart has the classic purity of light and the red ocean; Beethoven the romantic grandeur which belongs to the storms of air and sea, and while the soul of Mozart seems to dwell on the ethereal piaks of Olympus, that of Beethoven climbs shuddering the storm-beaten sides of a Sinai. Blessed be they both! Each represents a moment of the ideal life, each does us good. Our love is due to both.” (Henri-Frédéric Amiel)
"Mozart is the musical Christ. Mozart is the highest, the culminating point that beauty has attained in the sphere of music. I find consolation and rest in Mozart's music, wherein he gives expression to that joy of life which was part of his sane and wholesome temperament" (Pyotr Ilyici Tchaikovsky)
"A light, bright, fine day this will remain throughout my whole life. As from afar, the magic notes of Mozart's music still gently haunt me. A world that has produced a Mozart is a world worth saving. What a picture of a better world you have given us, Mozart!" (Franz Schubert)
Mozart in Lacrimosa... On the steps of air that reach to a heavenly height, the German vocalizations of Divinity... (Claudiu Iordache)
"The Mozartian legacy, in brief, is as good an excuse for mankind's existence as we shall ever encounter and is perhaps, after all, a still small hope for our ultimate survival." (H.C. Robbins Landon)
“Ten million views. The human race is slowly making me believe in them again...” (online comment on Mozart’s Symphony 40 in G minor)
... Mozart had simply written down music already finished in his head. And music finished as no music has ever finished. Displace one note and there would be diminishment. Displace one phrase and the structure would fall. I was staring through the cage of those meticulous ink strokes at an absolute beauty… (Peter Shaffer - 'Amadeus')
"Whenever I despair about the human race I listen to music like this and it gives me hope. No species that can produce Mozart can be all bad." (online comment on Mozart's 'Le Nozze di Figaro')
“There are three things in the world I love most: the sea, Hamlet and Don Giovanni” (Gustave Flaubert)
"Mozart’s music is on the one hand so accessible, so beautiful and so apparently simple that it can be grasped and enjoyed on its first hearing. But at the same time it is so deep, so profound, so perfect that one can spend a lifetime in it and continue to be fascinated with it, even if it’s the hundreth time you’ve performed it…" (James Conlon)
"Mozart has reached the boundary gate of music and leaped over it, leaving behind the old masters and moderns, and posterity itself" (A. Hyatt King)
All the texts published here belong to Mozart's Children, unless stated otherwise. No reproduction, transmission and adaption of content for commercial use may be made without written permission from author. For non-commercial use, please credit accordingly. Thank you.
“Each year around the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburghosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.”
Mozarts Geburtshaus, the house in which Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, on Getreidegasse, is now one of the most frequently visited museums in the world. The exhibition, which spreads over three floors, carries the visitors into Wolfgang’s world, telling when he began to make music, who his friends and patrons were, how the relationship with his family looked like, how strong was his passion for the opera… Here can be seen portraits, original manuscripts and documents, as well as personal objects and musical instruments on which he has played: his childhood violin and the clavichord on which he composed a few of his wonderful works.
In the heart of the Salzburg historic district, next to the Residenzplatz and in front of the Salzburg Museum, you will find Mozartplatz, Mozart Square. The Mozart statue standing there is dedicated to the city’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Designed by German sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler, the Mozart monument stands in the middle of the square. Bavaria’s King Ludwig I was one of the driving forces behind the installation of a statue in honor of Mozart. He personally invested a significant sum of money and also financed a marble base, which is today one of the holdings of the Salzburg Museum. The monument was built in 1842, more than 50 years after the death of the great composer.
In Makartplatz there is Mozart-Wohnhaus, the residence where Mozart lived between 1773 and 1781 (the year when he left for Vienna). The building was severely damaged in the Second World War’s bombings, but it was faithfully reconstructed and today hosts the second important Mozart museum in Salzburg.
The fascinating history of how Mozart Residence was saved and reconstructed can be read on the page of The Mozarteum Foundation from the anniversary year 2016 (20 years since the official opening of the rebuilt Mozart Residence).
In the spacious rooms visitors can see portraits and original documents, manuscripts of Mozart’s works from the Salzburg years, Wolfgang’s original fortepiano, as well as the famous Family Portrait in the Master’s Dance Hall (Tanzmeistersaal).
It is said that Mozart once played the organ of Trinity Church on Makartplatz. In a new concert series known as “Musica Sacra Trinitatis“, every Saturday works by important composers are performed on the organ with instrumental or vocal accompaniment.
The programme of the Mozart Week 2019 is beautiful, with concerts taking place in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, Grosses Festspielhaus, Wiener Saal Mozarteum, Universitaet Mozarteum, Mozart-Wohnung. Mozart’s Birthday is celebrated, on January 27, with Specials in Mozart’s Birthplace and other events!
Salzburg is a city of Music: during the year extraordinary performances take place in churches, in palaces, in concert halls… Salzburger Schlosskonzerte is one of the biggest musical events in the world: the concerts take place in the marble hall of the Mirabell Palace, there where, in another time, young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played himself !
On Mozart Week, or whenever you are in Salzburg, give yourself the joy of discovering the beauties of a city whose cultural, historical and memorial values are treasured and respected!
Images: credits specified there where available,
or images from the internet assumed to be in the public domain.
DISCLAIMER – I don’t claim credit or ownership on the images taken from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain, used here. The owners retain their copyrights to their works. I am sharing the images exclusively for educational and artistic purposes – this blog is not monetized, and has no commercial profit whatsoever. Whenever I find the credits to internet images I am happy to add them. If you are the artist or the owner of original photos/images presented on this blog and you wish your works to be removed from here, or edited to include the proper credits, please send me a message and they will either be removed or edited. Thank you!
Thoughts and feelings have their own way of growing, blooming, weaving a story in your soul…
You open a book in an antique bookshop and your eyes see M. DCC. XLII. Then you jump to the last page and realize you can afford it! After that you take the book next to it and read MDCCLXXX, and the last page shows a price comparable to that of a book published in 2016! You call for help in your mind, and come across some memories left by your high school teacher’s insistence on the Roman numerals. You wonder which of the two would explain it: the antiquarian had had a drink too much the night before pricing the book, or he cannot read Roman numerals… the second seems less likely, so it’s probably the first. Whatever the reason, this is a “buy and run” moment!
Sadly, the same antiquarian seems to have been one hundred percent sober when he priced a MDCCLXIII book printed in Augsburg, with marvelous Gothic writing on the rough paper…
In 1763 Leopold Mozart, born in Augsburg in 1719 as the eldest son of a master bookbinder, had been living in Salzburg for 27 years. The year when this book was manufactured he was travelling with his little Wolfgang and Maria Anna to make their extraordinary musical talents known to the world, and Augsburg was their second stop – Leopold was returning to his birthplace as a proud father of two wonderfully gifted children, and the three concerts given by the music prodigies in Augsburg, end of June-beginning of July 1763, were part of the Mozart Family Grand Tour, which would last over three years, from 9 June 1763 to 29 November 1766.
Augsburg, 1763. A beautiful book is printed in a workshop. Leopold Mozart returns to his birthplace with his son and daughter.The first public concert is given by the Mozart Children on 28 June. The second on 30 June. The third, and last one, on 4 July. The book that you are holding in your hands is a bridge between you and the past…
Whenever I visit an antiquaire I can close the door to the outside world, travel in time, dwell into the past, into its infinite worlds to which I feel connected through the magic of old books, with their rough paper and magnificent writing and ornaments…
I left the 1763 book on the shelf, with a sigh. She will be waiting there for someone who can afford to buy her, and, through her, delight in the feeling of connecting with a moment in the past when an Augsburg workshop sent her on a long journey through time, a travel of 255 years, until she reached the shelf of an antique bookshop in my town…
“Each year around the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.”
Mozarts Geburtshaus, the house in which Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, on Getreidegasse, is now one of the most frequently visited museums in the world. The exhibition, which spreads over three floors, carries the visitors into Wolfgang’s world, telling when he began to make music, who his friends and patrons were, how the relationship with his family looked like, how strong was his passion for the opera… Here can be seen portraits, original manuscripts and documents, as well as personal objects and musical instruments on which he has played: his childhood violin and the clavichord on which he composed a few of his wonderful works.
In the heart of the Salzburg historic district, next to the Residenzplatz and in front of the Salzburg Museum, you will find Mozartplatz – Mozart Square. The Mozart statue standing there is dedicated to the city’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Designed by German sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler, the Mozart monument stands in the middle of the square. Bavaria’s King Ludwig I was one of the driving forces behind the installation of a statue in honor of Mozart. He personally invested a significant sum of money and also financed a marble base, which is today one of the holdings of the Salzburg Museum. The monument was built in 1842, more than 50 years after the death of the great composer.
In Makartplatzthere is Mozart-Wohnhaus, the residence where Mozart lived between 1773 and 1781 (the year when he left for Vienna). The building was severely damaged in the Second World War’s bombings, but it was faithfully reconstructed and today hosts the second important Mozart museum in Salzburg.
The fascinating history of how Mozart Residence was saved and reconstructed can be read on the page of The Mozarteum Foundation from the anniversary year 2016 (20 years since the official opening of the rebuilt Mozart Residence).
In the spacious rooms visitors can see portraits and original documents, manuscripts of Mozart’s works from the Salzburg years, Wolfgang’s original fortepiano, as well as the famous Family Portrait in the Master’s Dance Hall (Tanzmeistersaal).
It is said that Mozart once played the organ of Trinity Church on Makartplatz. In a new concert series known as “Musica Sacra Trinitatis”, every Saturday works by important composers are performed on the organ with instrumental or vocal accompaniment.
The programme of the Mozart Week 2018 is beautiful, with concerts taking place in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, Grosses Festspielhaus, Wiener Saal Mozarteum, Universitaet Mozarteum, Mozart-Wohnung. Mozart’s Birthday is celebrated, on January 27, in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, in the morning (Mozart’s Piano Concerto in C minor K.491, Sir Andras Schiff with Cappella Andrea Barca performing), in the Tanzmeistersaal in Mozart’s Residence, at noon: concert on Mozart’s instruments (Fritz Kircher and Werner Neugebauer on Mozart’s violin, Herbert Lindsberger on Mozart’s viola, Josetxu Obregon on Violoncello), in the Grosses Festspeilhaus, in the evening (Mozart’s Symphony in C major K.551, the Wiener Philharmoniker with Robin Ticciati conducting). Among other wonderful concerts in the Mozart Week: on January 28, in the Grosses Festspielhaus, an evening of Mozart symphonies, Sir John Eliot Gardiner with the English Baroque Soloists performing; on January 29 in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum Daniel Barenboim playing Debussy; on January 29 in the Tanzmeistersaal in Mozart’s Residence a “Fugue workshop”: Florian birsak on Mozart’s fortepiano playing fantasies and fugues by Mozart, J.S. Bach, J.C. Bach, W.F. Bach, G.F. Handel, J.E. Eberlin, G. Muffat and J.J. Froberger, with a presentation by musicologist Ulrich Leisinger, addressing the question of the circumstances surrounding Mozart’s fugues; on the 1st of February in the Wiener Saal Mozarteum Robert Levin playing Mozart piano sonatas; on the 2nd of February in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum David Fray playing Mozart and Bach… and many others!
Salzburg is a city of Music: during the year extraordinary performances take place in churches, in palaces, in concert halls… Salzburger Schlosskonzerte is one of the biggest musical events in the world: the concerts take place in the marble hall of the Mirabell Palace, there where, in another time, young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played himself !
On Mozart Week, or whenever you are in Salzburg, give yourself the joy of discovering the beauties of a city whose cultural, historical and memorial values have always been respected by its rulers and inhabitants!
Images: credits specified there where available,
or images from the internet assumed to be in the public domain.
DISCLAIMER – I don’t claim credit or ownership on the images taken from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain, used here. The owners retain their copyrights to their works. I am sharing the images exclusively for educational and artistic purposes – this blog is not monetized, and has no commercial profit whatsoever. Whenever I find the credits to internet images I am happy to add them. If you are the artist or the owner of original photos/images presented on this blog and you wish your works to be removed from here, or edited to include the proper credits, please send me a message and they will either be removed or edited. Thank you!
This is the Christmas present which came together with the first snowdrops! ❤
I am happy, and grateful! For the joy, for the love! ❤
W.A. Mozart ‘The New Complete Edition’: 240 hours of Mozart’s music on 200 cd’s (including for the first time the Handel and Bach arrangements, and performances recorded on Mozart’s own instruments), symphonies and concertos on period instruments, two fully-illustrated hardback books, prints of the last authenticated portrait, two score manuscripts and a letter to his father (courtesy of Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation), a new Kochel Catalogue.
Could one have wished for more? Well, maybe: to have that “In celebration of Mozart’s 225th anniversary” title on the box changed to “In celebration of Mozart”! In 2016 we celebrated 260 years from Mozart’s birth, and commemorated 225 years from his death, and since we cannot celebrate commemorations, “In celebration of Mozart” would have been ideal! Just like it would have been to see works of all the great Mozart scholars in the books! But apart from these, I don’t know if there is anything I could have wished for more!
The W.A. Mozart ‘New Complete Edition’is such a beautiful accomplishment that words are not enough to describe the joy of seeing it find its place in my Mozart shelf!
And Music made my heart sing when I opened my Christmas present, on a beautiful Spring day! ❤ ❤
In May 1775 Emperor Joseph II had opened Vienna’s Augarten to the public. He dedicated this beautiful place “to all people”, for their amusement, so dance halls, dining and billiard rooms, refreshment places were established, and restaurateur Ignaz Jahn was put in charge as traiteur. Ignaz Jahn had been appointed Imperial Caterer for Schonbrunn Palace in 1772. In 1775 he started running a restaurant in the Augarten (it was said that nowhere in the world you could drink any better coffee than at Jahn’s, in the Augarten), and later opened a Concert Hall adjacent to his other restaurant, in the main part of the city (now Himmelpfortgasse 6), a Concert Hall which would turn into a performance venue for famous musicians and composers in the years to come: among them, Wolfgang Amadé Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Mozart’s arrangement of Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” was performed at Jahn’s Hall in November 1788. His last appearance in public is said to have been the one of 4 March 1791. The first public performance of his “Requiem” would take place at Jahn’s Hall on 2 January 1793 – a benefit concert on behalf of his widow, Constanze, organized by Gottfried van Swieten in support of Mozart’s wife and sons.
If we look for Jahns Traiteurie today, on Himmelpfortgasse, we will find Café Frauenhuber– presumably Vienna’s oldest coffee house!
The coffeehouse changed names for a few times since 1824, then settled for CaféFrauenhuber in 1891. In this building, two centuries ago guests were treated with musical entertainment by Mozart and Beethoven! Could any name have been more suitable for this street than “Heaven’s Gate” (Himmelpfort)?
And yes, the waiter did address me with “gnädige Frau“, like I had read on the Welcomepage of Café Frauenhuber!
I recall the quiet time spent at this coffeehouse, savoring a hot chocolate in its intimate, refined, charming atmosphere, then outside, on the street, letting my eyes explore all the details of the building and its surroundings… It was late in the evening, and few people were passing by, and there was so much peace, like time had stood still, and you felt you could just close your eyes and start walking in Mozart’s footsteps… on the same street… on a 4th of March 1791…
As a child swelled the world’s wonders with the strings of his lyre;
As a man, he surpassed Orpheus himself.
Go hence!
And pray earnestly for his soul!
K.
This epitaph was published in two newspapers in December 1791 and January 1792: The Wiener Zeitung of 31 December 1791 and the Grazer Burgerzeitung of 3 January 1792.
Had this been inscribed on a commemorative plaque at that time, the place where he was buried might have not been lost.
No commemorative plaque for Mozart was ever found.
The Mozart Memorial in the St Marx Cemetery was erected where his grave is supposed to have been. Somewhere in that holy ground his mortal remains have found eternal rest.
“Each year around the time of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart‘s birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart’s works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.”
Mozarts Geburtshaus, the house in which Mozart was born on 27 January 1756, on Getreidegasse, is now one of the most frequently visited museums in the world. The exhibition, which spreads over three floors, carries the visitors into Wolfgang’s world, telling when he began to make music, who his friends and patrons were, how the relationship with his family looked like, how strong was his passion for the opera… Here can be seen portraits, original manuscripts and documents, as well as personal objects and musical instruments on which he has played: his childhood violin and the clavichord on which he composed a few of his wonderful works.
In Makartplatz there is Mozart-Wohnhaus, the residence where Mozart lived between 1773 and 1781 (the year when he left for Vienna). The building was severely damaged in the Second World War’s bombings, but it was faithfully reconstructed and today hosts the second important Mozart museum in Salzburg.
The fascinating history of how Mozart Residence was saved and reconstructed can be read on the page of The Mozarteum Foundation from the anniversary year 2016 (20 years since the official opening of the rebuilt Mozart Residence).
In the spacious rooms visitors can see portraits and original documents, manuscripts of Mozart’s works from the Salzburg years, Wolfgang’s original fortepiano, as well as the famous Family Portrait in the Master’s Dance Hall (Tanzmeistersaal).
The programme of the Mozart Week 2017 is beautiful, with concerts taking place in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, Grosses Festspielhaus, Wiener Saal Mozarteum, Universitaet Mozarteum, Mozart-Wohnung. Among them Mozart’s D minor Piano Concerto no 20, K.466 (on 28 January in the Grosses Festspielhaus, with the Wiener Philharmonic conducted by Thomas Lengelbrock and Leif Ove Andsnes playing the piano) and the B-flat Major Piano Concerto no 27, K.595 (on 31 January in the Grosser Saal Mozarteum, with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Robin Ticciati and Maria Joao Pires playing the piano). K.595 has only recently appeared in the online program of the Mozart Week, having replaced the C Major Piano Concerto no 21, K.467, which is in both the printed and pdf form of the 2017 Program – a replacement that is not good news for those who bought a ticket especially for the C Major Piano Concerto no 21…
Salzburg is a city of Music: during the year extraordinary performances take place in churches, in palaces, in concert halls… Salzburger Schlosskonzerte is one of the biggest musical events in the world: the concerts take place in the marble hall of the Mirabell Palace, there where, in another time, young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart played himself ❤
On Mozart Week, or whenever you are in Salzburg, give yourself the joy of discovering the beauties of a city whose cultural, historical and memorial values have always been respected by its rulers and inhabitants!
Images: credits specified there where available,
or images from the internet assumed to be in the public domain.
DISCLAIMER – I don’t claim credit or ownership on the images taken from the internet, assumed to be in the public domain, used here. The owners retain their copyrights to their works. I am sharing the images exclusively for educational and artistic purposes – this blog is not monetized, and has no commercial profit whatsoever. Whenever I find the credits to internet images I am happy to add them. If you are the artist or the owner of original photos/images presented on this blog and you wish your works to be removed from here, or edited to include the proper credits, please send me a message and they will either be removed or edited. Thank you!
The first performance in Prague of “Le Nozze di Figaro” in Mozart’s presence took place on 17 January 1787, followed by a second performance on 22 January with the composer conducting. On their superb scholarly site “Mozart: New Documents”, Dexter Edge and David Black present a document dated 18 January 1787: a notice from The Oberdeutsche Staatszeitung (edited by Lorenz Hübner), stating that through a poemand two letters (one signed by the entire Prague Orchestra) Mozart was invited to come to Prague to see the “Figaro” which had already been acclaimed there a number of times in the end of 1786. Visit the site to read the excellent research in its entirety, and see the document :
Dexter Edge & David Black – 18 January 1787, Mozart’s invitation to Prague
“The first performances of Le nozze di Figaro in Prague took place in late autumn 1786. The precise date of the Prague premiere is unknown, but the first report on the opera in the Prager Oberpostamtzeitung on 12 Dec 1786 states that it had already been given a number of times (“einigemal”) by that point.
That same report cites a rumor that Mozart himself might come to Prague to see the production.
The new document transcribed here, from the Salzburg newspaper Oberdeutsche Staatszeitung, states that Mozart had been sent a poem and two letters, one signed by the entire Prague orchestra, inviting him to come to Prague to see the production. The content of the report closely mirrors Leopold Mozart’s letter to his daughter of 12 Jan 1787, six days earlier:
“Your brother will now be in Prague with his wife, for he wrote me that he would depart for there this past Monday [8 Jan]. His opera Le nozze di Figaro has been performed with such acclaim there, that the orchestra and a group of great connoisseurs and amateurs wrote him a letter of invitation, and sent a poem that had been written about him. I have it from your brother, and Count Starhemberg has received it from Prague. I will send it to you on the next post day. Mme. Duschek is going to Berlin, and the story that your brother will travel to England is repeatedly confirmed from Vienna, from Prague, and from Munich.”
The poem that accompanied the invitation to Prague was written by doctor and amateur actor Anton Daniel Breicha: “An Mozart bey Gelegenheit der Vorstellung der Oper le nozze di Figaro” (Dokumente, 248–49), first published as an individual sheet (a copy of which had been sent to Mozart and evidently also to Starhemberg), and subsequently printed in the anthology Blumen, Blümchen und Blätter edited by Johann Dionys John (John 1787, 15–17).”
Dexter Edge & David Black, eds., Mozart: New Documents, “18 January 1787 – Mozart’s invitation to Prague,” first published 13 May 2015, updated 2 Nov 2016.http://dx.doi.org/10.7302/Z20P0WXJ
And here is the poem…
“Was soll ich die Musen, begeistert von Dir,
Um Beystand beschwören? Sey Muse du mir!
Sey Du mir des Pindus beauschende Quelle!
Ich hört’ Dich, melodischer Denker, und priess
Dein Schopfertalent, und in’s Wonnermeer riss
Mich bald der empfindungen mächtigste Welle.
Zwar rollen bey Deinem Getöne nicht Wald,
Nicht Felsen herbey; nicht fabelhaft hallt
Dein sprechendes Spiel dem gefrässigen Tiger.
Doch bist Du der Fühlenden Orpheus mehr,
Bist Herrscher der Seelen, Dir fröhnt das Gehör
Der Kinder, der Mädchen, der Männer, der Krieger.
Wenn Liebe Dein schmelzendes Saitenspiel tönt,
Sucht trunken der Jüngling sein Liebchen, und stöhnt,
Und heftiger hämmert der Busen dem Liebchen.
Sie winkt den Geliebten zum Göttergenuss,
Und mit in Dein Saitenspiel lispelt ein Kuss
Von Lippen des Jünglings, von Lippen des Liebchen…”
Anton Daniel Breicha – AN MOZART, Bey Vostellung seiner Oper: Figaro. 1785.
In the evening of 10 December 1791 the Requiem was most likely played for the first time! Gathered in St Michael’s Church in Vienna to attend the memorial for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the audience listened to the heavenly music that Mozart only ever heard within himself. As the Requiem unfolded to the world, Mozart was offering humanity his last, most precious gift, and the proof that he will go on living forever, through his divine Music.
Four days after the burial, so the Auszug aller europäischen Zeitungen (European Press Digest) of 13 December reported, the Viennese “celebrated solemn obsequies for the great composer Mozart” in St. Michael’s Church. On the sixteenth, the Viennese journal Der heimliche Botschafter (The Secret Messenger), which circulated in scribes’ copies, identified the music at this service as “the requiem he composed during his final illness…” “In view of the manuscript’s unfinished condition, only the first movement, and perhaps the second with some instrumental touches added, could have been performed with orchestra; the other sections very likely took the form of Mozart’s choruses sung by a quartet and supported by organ continuo; plainchant might have filled the missing sections.”
Maybe this is how Mozart’s Requiem sounded on that day of 10 December 1791…
Prague marked Mozart’s death four days later with a requiem (a setting by Franz Anton Rossler, also known as Antonio Rosetti) in St. Nicholas’s, packed by a throng of more than four thousand overflowing into the surrounding streets.
It has taken perhaps two hundred years for the world to realize fully and in all its aspects what this loss has meant to music – and to humanity. Haydn said: “Posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years!” Posterity has not seen it in two hundred.
– în acest moment am primit o veste care mă întristează foarte mult – cu atât mai mult cu cât din ultima dumitale scrisoare am putut să presupun că te simți, slavă Domnului, foarte bine; – Dar acum aflu că ești cu adevărat bolnav! nu trebuie să-ți mai spun cât de mult tânjesc să primesc o veste consolatoare din partea dumitale; și o sper cu putere – deși mi-am făcut obiceiul să-mi imaginez întotdeauna și în toate privințele tot ceea ce poate fi mai rău – din moment ce moartea (când o luăm în considerare îndeaproape) este adevăratul scop al vieții noastre, mie de câțiva ani într-atât mi-a devenit de cunoscut acest sincer și foarte bun prieten al oamenilor, încât chipul lui nu mai are nimic înfricoșător pentru mine, ci mai degrabă îmi aduce liniște și consolare! și îi mulțumesc dumnezeului meu că mi-a acordat prilejul (dumneata știi ce vreau să spun) de a înțelege că moartea este cheia care deschide ușa spre adevărata noastră fericire. – nu mă culc niciodată în patul meu fără a cugeta că aș putea (oricât de tânăr sunt) să nu mai fiu a doua zi – și nu există nici un om dintre cei ce mă cunosc care să poată spune că aș fi posac sau trist în relațiile mele – și pentru această binecuvântare îi mulțumesc zilnic Creatorului meu și o doresc din inimă fiecărui seamăn al meu…”
Viena, 4 aprilie 1787
“Mon tres cher père!
– diesen augenblick höre ich eine Nachricht, die mich sehr niederschlägt – um so mehr als ich aus ihrem lezten vermuthen konnte, daß sie sich gottlob recht wohl befinden; – Nun höre aber daß sie wirklich krank seÿen! wie sehnlich ich einer Tröstenden Nachricht von ihnen selbst entgegen sehe, brauche ich ihnen doch wohl nicht zu sagen; und ich hoffe es auch gewis – obwohlen ich es mir zur gewohnheit gemacht habe mir immer in allen Dingen das schlimste vorzustellen – da der Tod |: genau zu nemen : | der wahre Endzweck unsers Lebens ist, so habe ich mich seit ein Paar Jahren mit diesem wahren, besten Freunde des Menschen so bekannt gemacht, daß sein Bild nicht allein nichts schreckendes mehr für mich hat, sondern recht viel beruhigendes und tröstendes! und ich danke meinem gott, daß er mir das glück gegönnt hat mir die gelegenheit |: sie verstehen mich : | zu verschaffen, ihn als den schlüssel zu unserer wahren Glückseligkeit kennen zu lernen. – ich lege mich nie zu bette ohne zu bedenken, daß ich vielleicht |: so Jung als ich bin : | den andern Tag nicht mehr seÿn werde – und es wird doch kein Mensch von allen die mich kennen sagn können daß ich im Umgange mürrisch oder traurig wäre – und für diese glückseeligkeit danke ich alle Tage meinem Schöpfer u wünsche sie vom Herzen Jedem meiner Mitmenschen…”
Wien 4. April 1787
“Dearest father!
This very moment I have received some news which greatly distresses me – the more so as I gathered from your last letter that, thank God, you were very well; – But now I hear that you are really ill! I hardly need to tell you how eagerly I look forward to some reassuring news from you; and I hope for it – although I have now made a habit of being prepared for the worst in all affairs of life – as death (when we come to consider it closely) is the true goal of our existence, I have during the last few years come so know so well this best and truest friend of mankind, that his image is not only no longer terrifying to me, but is rather very calming and consoling! and I thank my God for granting me the opportunity (you know what I mean) of learning that death is the key which unlocks the door to our true happiness. – I never lie down at night without reflecting that (young as I am) I may not live to see another day – and there is no one of those who know me who could say that in company I am sullen or sad – and for this blessing I thank my Creator every day and wish it from my heart to each one of my fellow men…”
Vienna, 4 April 1787
Source of German transcription: Ludwig Nohl Source of English translation: Emily Anderson (slightly modified)
Source of image of excerpts from Mozart’s letter: The Berlin Staatsbibliothek.
Many thanks to Dr Michael Lorenz for the information that the digitized document is actually a copy dating from around 1850, in the handwriting of Ludwig von Köchel!
“S-a spus de multe ori că miracolul lui Mozart ca muzician constă în această perfecțiune a formei pe care n-o găsești dacă aspiri la ea, dacă lași să se vadă efortul, chiar eroic, căutarea, chiar nobilă; da, Mozart este un moștenitor și cu el se desăvârșește o civilizație a muzicii, ale cărei rezultate savante și artificii sfinte el le rezumă cu o naivitate intactă și o simplitate divină; da, Mozart poartă în el, înnăscut, geniul experienței; prin natură, întreaga cultură; geniul său îl condamnă la perfecțiune: și se știe cum ne-o dă, supraabundent. Unui om aflat din punct de vedere fizic în pragul prăbușirii, gata să se dezintegreze, o ultimă stagiune îi impune efortul incredibil a două opere, fiecare epuizând inventivitatea, prospețimea ideilor creatorului său; și totuși, în acest timp, în subteran, un întreg Recviem își sapă calea, conducând la alte nuanțe, la un alt ton. Acest exces de sarcini, la fel de urgente, la fel de pasionante, nu apasă asupra lui Mozart decât pentru a-l obliga în sfârșit să lase ceva neterminat, pentru a-i converti viziunea la deschidere. Până acum, cu mici excepții în Don Giovanni, Mozart nu a locuit decât în universul închis și binecuvântat al formelor, și doar melancolia muzicii sale, ea însăși acoperită cu vălul Maiei și ademenindu-ne cu frumusețea sa, dezvăluie strigătul sufletului. Dar iată că vălul se rupe. Titus și Flautul sunt creații ale secolului lor, ale lumii noastre, terminate, închise; dacă ceva evocă aici o lume de dincolo, nu e nici virtutea sublimă a unui suveran, cu atât mai puțin înțelepciunea preoților sau riturile lor; toate acestea mai degrabă ar reconforta și împăca – dar numai durerea. În vocea Vitelliei, a Paminei, durerea sfâșie vălul. Tot ce e strigăt al inimii la Mozart, fie că-l încredințează unui clarinet, unei viole sau unei voci de femeie, doar asta deschide către o altă lume și o reflectă deja cu această blândețe excesivă, care disperă și totodată consolează. Înainte de Recviem însă, nu există la Mozart muzică din altă lume, care să te smulgă din lumea aceasta. Neterminarea Recviemului nu înseamnă că moartea i-a smuls pana lui Mozart din mână înainte de a scrie muzica pentru cor ca să-l încheie; înseamnă că Mozart, cu pana în mână, pătrunde în sfârșit în propria lume de dincolo. Copil fiind, a văzut picturile de pe tavanul Capelei Sixtine; imaginea lor pune din nou stăpânire pe el, eclipsează, aneantizează aceste frumoase spații albe și aurii ale barocului pe unde trec atât de frumoși îngeri manieriști, purtători ai vreunei vești teribile. Până acum Mozart n-a scris decât muzică, dar muzică perfectă. Iată sunetul instantaneu: un sunet pur, erupție a materiei, ca un scandal. Tuba mirum spargens sonum. Sunetul acestei tube nu trezește nici un fel de admirație, cum s-ar traduce prost din latină; el uimește și dezrădăcinează, el expatriază; credeam că locuim în peisajul nostru uman, iată exodul. Astfel și culoarea, într-un tablou, pură erupție și prezență, trimite în zădărnicie tot ce se credea formă. În fața unui asemenea sunet, vocile noastre își inventează o declamație înfricoșată, haotică, pe care Mozart nu ne-a făcut niciodată s-o ascultăm. Aici Mozart intră în celălalt secol al său și ne lasă să înțelegem cine ar fi fost dacă s-ar fi născut în vremea și în spațiul lui Beethoven, în loc să se lupte de unul singur pentru ca apariția celor ca Beethoven să fie posibilă. O frescă prinde viață, prezențe redutabile își găsesc relieful, gestul. Mozart locuiește în ceea ce Kant al Criticii facultății de judecare, contemporanul său, numea peisajul Frumosului, unde totul e reconciliere, integrare, acord al universului cu fiecare; iată-l transpus în Sublim; mai mult cer înstelat ca să ne spună și norma și forma; mai mult din numărul de aur pentru ca cel mai adevărat să fie în același timp și cel mai frumos. Mozart nu intră în nedesăvârșit, ci în nedesăvârșibil; altă lume pentru altă artă; Deschisul. Recviemul este pragul unei cu totul alte inițieri decât aceea, foarte comună, care dintr-un ucenic face un maestru. Rilke a spus-o: “Cumplit e orișice înger.” Acestui mesager pe care-l evocă legenda trebuie să i se redea numele, etimologic și totodată rilkian: Îngerul.
Recviemul nu se termină, iar Mozart se împlinește. Astfel, și asta purta în el: o izbândă a finisării și izbânda contrară; omul care se simte în largul său în trestia lui finită și omul demn în același timp de Dumnezeu, cum spune Pascal, sau demn de infinit, cum arată Mozart. Ritmul nebunesc, halucinant din Dies irae nu ar putea fi decât al lui Mozart, dar nu seamănă cu nimic din ce-a făcut Mozart, deși spaimele din Idomeneo și angoasele din Don Giovanni au pregătit pentru asta; și clarinete, oboaie și chiar corni, Mozart ni le-a făcut de neuitat în aceste aparteuri sau aceste dialoguri care sunt întreaga viață a concertelor sale. Dar acest sunet brusc, pur și care umple spațiul, ne trimite în același timp la elementar și la final, și, pentru a ne apăra de acest lucru, recurgerea la forme nu înseamnă nimic. Nu știu dacă marea suferință ne face mai buni, spune Nietzsche, dar sunt sigur că ne face mai profunzi. Chiar în clipa când se aude acest sunet care e stupoare (și chiar Mozartea, de îndată, stupebit), iată-l pe Mozart fără moștenire; și muzica a sfârșit-o cu Vechiul său Regim; un nou testament nu se scrie, iar cel vechi e perimat; există Arcadii unde nu vom mai dormi. Ce contează că Mozart nu a terminat? Cu totul altceva îi spune, ne spune Recviemul lui: Ascultați-mă altfel; folosiți acele urechi pe care le-a deschis în voi acest sunet teribil; și-l veți auzi cu totul altfel chiar și pe Mozart cel considerat cunoscut și desăvârșit; aceeași lume de dincolo, ascultați-o în prezent în Cosi fan tutte și adierile sale, în cvintete; acest sunet teribil, învățați să ascultați cât a costat ca să faci din el o melodie și o vrajă care ne surâd în Contesă, în Cherubino; ascultați-o pe Barbarina pe înserate, care n-a făcut decât să piardă un ac și al cărei suflet plânge. Mi-am pus jos pana, dar mi-am lansat săgeata și mă aveți pentru totdeauna în inimă, statornic și amical, Înger eu însumi.
Miracolul lui Mozart: muzica sa se topește pur și simplu în sufletele noastre, dar și în simțurile noastre, mai întâi; în mod imperceptibil sensibilă (și chiar senzuală) și spirituală; astfel ne amintim că de la simțuri la suflet drumul nu e așa de lung, nici interdicția atât de severă. Doar Mozart, de la greci încoace, ne spune: Simțurile nu-ți sunt blestemate, sufletul nu ți se află în exil. Voce pentru sufletul cel mai rezervat, Mozart e înainte de orice binecuvântare, acest frison resimțit pe piele; concret și celest; bun-venit celui sociabil ca și celui solitar; sociabil pentru cel solitar. O, Înger!
Averi i-au alunecat printre degete, funcțiile pe care le merită de o sută de ori ajung la alții – astfel el rămâne ca și noi: un om strâmtorat. Ni-l imaginăm pe Mozart înstărit? Căpătuit? Proprietar? Sau încărcat de ani și de onoruri și un tânăr spunându-i: tată, cum i-a spus el lui Haydn. El n-a venit pe lume ca să se îmbogățească pe sine, ci pe noi. Dacă se supără, întrerupându-se din cântat pentru că nimeni nu-l ascultă, e din cauză că nu trebuie risipită apa pură într-o lume care piere de sete. El nu este acest tânăr Iosif pe care Thomas Mann ni-l arată sub clar de lună felicitându-se pentru alegerea sa. Din copilărie se pregătește să fie Iosif, tatăl adoptiv, cel care va avea grijă de dezmoșteniții ce vor veni și acumulează, timp de șapte ani bogați, o adevărată comoară muzicală.
N-a trebuit decât să cânte, ne spune Richard Strauss, iar sufletul omenesc, al cărui mister îl duce la disperare pe filozof, s-a arătat. Ideea de sunet a devenit sunet, ideea de perfecțiune, perfecțiune. Mozart a venit, iar noi știm ce este sufletul. Aflat departe din străfundul timpurilor, acesta a reușit aspirația milenară de a fi propriu-i trup. Favoare acordată nouă: această mediere cerească, pentru a se împlini, a ales muzica! Un sculptor ar fi transpus-o în marmură; am fi crezut în veșnicia ei, în loc să învățăm din surâsul frumos al muzicii, în acea clipă, să dorim veșnicia pe care o reflectă. Astfel supranaturalul a încercat naturalul, pentru a putea locui printre noi. Mozart a parcurs drumul și ne lasă muzica.”
Wolfgang Amadè Mozart was buried in theSankt Marx Cemetery on the 7th of December 1791. The burial depicted in Amadeus was a poetic license: profoundly moving and emotional, but not loyal to reality.
“The historical facts can be summarized as follows:”, says Dr Michael Lorenz.
1. Mozart was not buried in a linen bag without a coffin, because such burials were never obligatory in Vienna.
2. Mozart was not buried in a mass grave, but in a customary “allgemeines Grab” (the usual common grave).”
In a fascinating research article, Dr Michael Lorenz takes us back in time, in Josephine Vienna, and proves through archival sources, historic facts, in-depth and extensive knowledge and brilliant analysis, that Mozart was most likely buried in a coffin, in a customary grave.
On what happened after that day of 7 December 1791, history left us only bits and pieces. The customs of the time decided the future: no tombstone, no flower arrangements, no visits on Sunday mornings, no memory of the place where Mozart was buried. When, after many years, Constanze Mozart eventually thought of identifying the exact place where her husband had been buried, it was too late. The Mozart Memorial in the Sankt Marx Cemetery doesn’t mark the grave where Mozart’s body found eternal rest.
His mortal remains may have disappeared forever, or may still lie somewhere in the holy grounds of St Marx. But his soul, his heart, his spirit live on, through his divine Music!
AMADEUS
Mozart’s only mention as Wolfgang Amadeus in an official document made during his lifetime was found in 1998 by Mozart scholarMichael Lorenzin the registers of the Lower Austrian Governorship, where in May 1787 “Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus” is referred to as having applied for the return of his written surety for his friend Franz Jacob Freystadtler.
“Actele de divorț dintre lume și geniu au fost depuse în groapa comună a cimitirului din Viena unde, spre gloria ei, lumea
l-a aruncat pe Mozart
sub varul septic
al uitării din urmă.
Și de atunci scena
se tot repetă.
Scriind pentru lume a sfârșit prin a scrie pentru îngeri. Ca să înspăimânți mediocritatea e destul să rostești: “Mozart!”
Între dionisiac și apolinic, Flautul și Recviemul, ultimul fruct depus în coșul culegătorului. Viața alege dintotdeauna parfumul opusului ei. Raiul îndoliat la care bate Mozart tânăr ținând în mâna sa de dantele tremurânde ultima Operă.
A sosit noaptea, Mozart…”
Claudiu Iordache Volumul de poezie “Nervurile transparenței”, 2012
Lacrimosa dies illa
Qua resurget ex favilla
Judicandus homo reus.
Huic ergo parce, Deus:
Pie Jesu Domine,
Dona eis requiem.
Amen.
“Este 5 decembrie. De 225 de ani omenirea așteaptă să te întorci. Muzica ta a supraviețuit și va supraviețui. Dar ne e dor de inima ta vie, de sufletul luminat de un sentiment dumnezeiesc al armoniei! Căci ai fost darul Lui, și puțini dintre noi au înțeles…
Tu, Mozart, sfâșietoare lumină a întunericului ce ne înconjoară! În parcul tău cernit frunzele iernii îți șoptesc numele. Este 5 decembrie. O liniște senină care a înnoptat pe cer până când lumea a aflat cu disperare că te-a pierdut pentru totdeauna! Dacă am putea învia prin dragostea noastră ființa ta fragilă, pentru a ne surâde din nou, o, Mozart care dormi regal în sufletul nostru! Dacă ne-ai putea auzi durerea de a te ști chemat pentru totdeauna acolo unde numai îngerii te mai ascultă, înfiorați! O, Mozart, e noapte, deplina noapte înaltă într-o zi de 5 decembrie! Zi în care și tu și noi am murit puțin…
Mozart… Mozart… Mozart… ecou ceresc al fiului omenirii…”
“the 26th. A Song – Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte” It is Mozart’s entry in his hand-written Catalogue of Works, on a 26th of May 1787.
On the score, in his handwriting: “The 26th of May 1787 Landstrasse”, on the top left-hand corner of the first page – in the top right-hand corner he signed with “W.A. Mozart / in Herr Gottfried von Jacquin’s room”.
Happiness is… to hear your own mezzo voice singing ‘Als Luise’ in the Tanzmeistersaal, on a 27 January 2016… ❤
Erzeugt von heisser Phantasie…
Erzeugt von heißer Phantasie, In einer schwärmerischen Stunde Zur Welt gebrachte! Geht zu Grunde! Ihr Kinder der Melancholie!
Ihr danket Flammen euer Sein, Ich geb’ euch nun den Flammen wieder, Und all’ die schwärmerischen Lieder; Denn ach! – er sang nicht mir allein.
Ihr brennet nun, und bald, ihr Lieben, Ist keine Spur von euch mehr hier: Doch ach! der Mann, der euch geschrieben, Brennt lange noch vielleicht in mir.
(Gabriele von Baumberg)
Conceived of fervent fantasy, Brought into the world in an hour of rapture! Perish! You, children of melancholy!
You owe to passion’s flames your being: To the flames I now return you with all the songs of ecstasy, for alas! not to me alone he sang them.
You burn now, and soon, my loves, no trace of you will remain: but alas! the man who wrote you may long still burn within me.
“Mozart allowed himself to be inspired by poems he came across by chance or to which friends drew his attention or which seemed appropriate for a particular occasion. Thje text of the song ‘Als Luise die Briefe ihres ungetreuen Liebhabers verbrannte’ beginning with the words ‘Erzeugt von heisser Phantasie’ is by Gabriele von Baumberg (1766-1839). who was regarded as the ‘Sappho of Vienna’ and as the most importaant Austrian poetess of her time. She frequented the circle surrounding the author Karoline Pichler (1769-1843) who also knew Jacquin and Mozart. Pichler refers to Baumberg’s poems as a ‘beautiful legacy left to her fatherland and one would only wish that they were better known and more vivid in the memory of today’s world, as they deserve.’ Gabriele von Baumberg’s poetry, which was published in Blumauer-Ratschky’s ‘Almanac of the Muses’ as early as 1786, has, in Mozart’s setting, achieved immortality.”
Johanna Senigl, Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg (translated by Elizabeth Mortimer) – W.A. MOZART ‘Als Luise’, Faksimile mit Edition
A place where each moment of the day is marked with, and holds within it, the feeling of Mozart… A time when the dream becomes the life… In Mozart’s places of the heart. His, and mine.
There are times when dreams come true!
On a 27 January, in Salzburg…
… wake up in the early morning and open the windows to the view of the Hohensalzburg Fortress, and breathe the fresh, crisp air of the mountainous hill…
… look down on a narrow Salzburgstreet still asleep… and rejoice in the feeling of history wisely and wonderfully preserved for so many years…
… walk through the Altstadthotel Kasererbraeu, a very fine hotel located in a 1342 building, with fresco decorated halls and gilded mirrors…
… have a special breakfast in a lovely space, intimate and warm as one’s home…
… go out and discover that in the morning of 27 January the clouds are giving place to the blue sky…
… start the journey in the city with a walk around the Salzburger Dom, feeling its magnificence in the quiet hours of the morning …
… step inside the Cathedral for a few moments of peace…
… then walk to the left, to the baptismal font where little Wolfgang was baptised on 28 January 1756, the day after his birth, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, in honor of Saint John Chrysostom(the feast was universally kept in the West on 27 January until the calendar reform of 1969 – nowadays the feast day of Saint Chrysostom is celebrated on 27 January by the Eastern Orthodox Church, while the Roman Catholic Church commemorates him on 13 September) …
… pass by Mozart’s statue in Mozartplatzand greet him Good Morning on his Birthday 🙂 …
… cross the bridge over the peaceful water of the Salzach River…
… reach the Mozart Wohnhaus, Mozart’s Residence, at Makartplatz 8 (Hannibalplatz in Mozart’s time), and just stay on the street for a while, immersed in the feeling of joy for being there…
… spend a few moments looking at this special house in the Anniversary Year 2016, remembering its stormy history…
… pass through the open door and go to the garden, to the Mozarteum offices to greet two lovely ladies, Mag. Elke Tontsch and Mag. Stephanie Krenner, whom you have met one day before to offer the Mozart discs of baritone Dan Iordachescu to the Mozarteum Foundation, to be part of the great Mozart Audio-Visual Collection …
… before embarking on the special tour guided by Dr. Johanna Senigl: the visit in the Autograph Vault, a place that holds and guards precious pieces of paper bearing the signs of time and the writing of Wolfgang Mozart and his family…
No photos from the Manuscripts Room, only precious memories inside your heart and mind.
The joy of visiting the Mozart Wohnhaus right on this special day ❤ …
Memories of a time when we enjoyed writing letters…
This is how tall you would have seen him if you had passed him by on the street 🙂 ❤
And then the emotion of finding yourself in the Tanzmeistersaal, the place where Wolfgang Mozart made music with his family and his friends…
… the feeling of pure bliss, of overwhelming joy, for sitting down in front of Mozart’s fortepiano, touching its keys, delighting in its sweet, magical sound…
… Happiness is… to touch Mozart’s fortepiano in the Tanzmeistersaal, in Mozart’s Residence in Salzburg, on a 27 January 2016…
And then…
… take a last look around, in the Tanzmeistersaal, where everything is quiet now, before the concert…
… and a last look outside…
… leave the house and look to your right, then to your left, as if you could have a glimpse of what Mozart saw when he left the house…
… then turn around and enter the house again – because it is a good time to visit the Mozart Shop before returning to the hotel, to change into an appropriate dress for the afternoon recital…
… take the road back with a look in the windows of a Music Shop, right after the corner – Mozart and The Mozart Week are everywhere…
(… those outfits are so beautiful! …)
… then cross the Salzach River again, rejoicing in the view of the blue skies and beautiful Salzburg, on a day of 27 January 2016…
… pass by the Mozart Statue, again…
(smiling to a beautiful day of 27 January in just the perfect place to do this 🙂 )
… stop for a few moments at Mozart’s Birthplace at Getreidegasse 9 – Mozart Geburtshaus, or Hagenauerhaus, on a day of 27 January 2016…
… pass by Cafe Tomaselli, Salzburg’s oldest coffee house, and stop for a while just to picture Leopold Mozart and his son Wolfgang coming here to have a coffee and a talk with friends, more than 200 years ago…
… pass by the Dom again, then continue to the hotel, enjoying the indescribable charm of those narrow streets and old buildings in Salzburg’sOld Town, some of them almost 600 years old…
… prepare for the concert, then proceed on the way back to Mozart Residence… with a stop on the bridge for a photo where your face is lighted by the rays of a wonderful 27 January Salzburg sun, and by the joy of being there! ❤ …
… reach the Mozart Wohnhaus again, to attend the Fortepiano recital of Nicolas Altstaedt playing the cello, Andreas Staier and Alexander Melnikov playing Mozart’s Walter-Flügel, in Mozart’s Tanzmeistersaal, in Mozart’s Residence, on a 27 January 2016…
… wait patiently until almost all the people have left… then, overwhelmed by emotion, sit down at Mozart’s fortepiano again… and touch it, and hear its sweet sound, again…
… and because it is a time in your life when the dream is truly becoming the life, you would ask if you can sing, there, in Mozart’s music room, and you hear “permission granted”… and then you start to sing ‘Als Luise‘, a cappella… and hear your mezzo voice filling the Tanzmeistersaal, and you feel overwhelmed by the magnificent resonance, by the vibration, by the feeling and emotion of singing in the same place where Mozart used to make music…
… Happiness is… to hear your own voice singing Mozart’s ‘Als Luise‘ in Mozart’s Tanzmeistersaal, in the Mozart Residence, on a 27 January 2016 …
The Tanzmeistersaal is now quiet, after a beautiful evening of music, on a 27 January 2016 …
… and it’s time to say goodbye to Mozart Wohnhaus …
… The lights of the house will soon go down… so you leave…
… what delight in the charming view over the Salzach River, on the way to the evening’s Festive Cake at Mozart’s Geburtshaus, Mozart’s Birthplace, on a 27 January …
And you find yourself on Getreidegasse, mingling with Mozart admirers, or just passers-by…
And here comes the cake! 🙂 A delicate, exquisite, sweet oeuvre d’art! …
I got the “adé” from “Amadé”! 😉
It is now time to go up to the third floor apartment where Wolfgang Mozart was born, on a 27 January 1756, at 8 in the evening… Mozarts Geburtshaus, Mozart’s Birthplace, on Getreidegasse 9 🙂
At the door, the symbol of Asklepios, on Hagenauerhaus…
These stairs he would climb, these corridors he would walk, every day, when he lived here: from his birth in 1756 to 1773, when the Mozart family moved to the house on Hannibalplatz – now Makartplatz (Mozarts Wohnaus). I don’t know how much of what I am seeing he used to see, too, when he would leave home, or return… how were the walls painted? what ornaments and objects were on the stairs and corridors and doors?… I am not a historian (I would have loved to be!), and some things may be difficult to tell even for a historian… so I am left with only my imagination to fill in the blanks… and with the emotion of climbing these stairs, and walking these corridors …
… Dreaming? or really looking down from the window where Wolfgang Mozart would look at Salzburg himself?…
“… on January 27, at 8 pm, my wife fortunately gave birth to our son. Praise God, at this moment both mother and son are alright. We have named the boy Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgang Gottlieb.”
Leopold Mozart from Salzburg, 9 February 1756
At 8 in the evening, the hour of his birth, a choir of children started to sing below his windows! 🙂
The lights go down in Mozart’s Birthplace, and the door is now closed… The streets are quiet… You can breathe the magic of the Salzburg night…
Old door bells on the outside of the Hagenauerhaus… would the magic work if you pulled a bell?
Cafe Tomaselli, in the evening of a 27 January…
Mozart’s statue and a glimpse of the moon…
… and then, again, the magic of this beautiful city…
Back to the hotel…
Window open to the Salzburg fortress…
In the Old City, the streets are quiet… it is almost midnight, on a day of 27 January 2016…
"There is nothing perfect in this world except Mozart's music" (Thomas Love Peacock)
"Mozart's music is so beautiful as to entice angels down to earth" (Franz Alexander von Kleist)
“It may be that when the angels go about their task praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille they play Mozart” (Karl Barth)
“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 makes you believe in God” (Georg Solti)
Mozart is Music.
“Mozart is happiness before it has gotten defined” (Arthur Miller)
“Mozart exists, and will exist, eternally; divine Mozart – less a name, more a soul descending to us from the heavens…” (Charles Gounod)
Mozart's Children 