Happy birthday, Mozart
January 27th, 2006 ~ Potpourri for 100, AlexToday is Mozart’s 250th birthday, and it’s being recognized all over the place. Pretty lengthy legacy for a guy who only lived to be 36.
And naturally there are write-ups to be found all over the blogosphere — you can connect to quite a few through this post of Michelle Malkin’s, including a wonderful article by Paul Greenberg of the Jewish World News:
That flute solo may be the signature of Mozart’s art, which is not a matter of quantity but quality. Even when W.A. Mozart wrote for several pianos, or whole orchestras with massed choirs, they become a single instrument in his hands, and in our soaring minds.
The effect is miraculous: We find ourselves at peace — but not at rest. For in Mozart we discover there is nothing static about peace, that peace is being perfectly whole, perfectly alive, at one with the universe. Or as Karl Barth put it, “Mozart’s music is an invitation to the listener to venture just a little out of the sense of his own subjectivity.
Definitely a day for a little night music.
(Here at chez Brooks, we actually do have a bust of Mozart. That’s because this is a place of culture — plus my mom-in-law gave it to us. But around here, the pinnacle of us recognizing his greatness is that he gets to wear both the Crayola baseball cap and my barbershop medals. A bit irreverant, maybe, but if he was half the guy that “Amadeus” made him sound like he was, I’m sure he’d appreciate the bling.)
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January 27th, 2006 at 1:41 pm
Happy Birthday, Mozart.
January 27th, 2006 at 11:01 pm
Does he get to wear both the hat and medals all year long or just on his birthday??
January 28th, 2006 at 8:18 am
The medals are a year-round thing. I mean, after all, he is Mozart, y’know? But alas, I need that hat. At this time of year, I get too much glare in my office to look at the computer screen, so I wear the hat when it gets really bad. I just bestowed it on him yesterday — so that’s what a 250th birthday is worth around here.
He still fares better than the matching bust of Wagner. That gets a really useless medal we got at a dinner show in Las Vegas (why a medal for dinner? It’s Vegas, baby!), and a very British tweed cap that Greg got in Scotland.
And at Christmas, of course, they both get Santa hats. We could leave the marble busts alone, but what fun is that?
January 28th, 2006 at 9:53 pm
I am no expert but I think a viking hat could be rather appropriate for Wagner… :)
It sounds fun that you guys dress em up…
January 29th, 2006 at 4:29 pm
You’re right. One of those pointy ones with the horns would be the most appropriate headgear, but I’m amazed to note that we don’t own one of those. How weird!
Also, I’m embarrassed to admit that Greg clued me in to a stupid mistake — that bust is Beethoven, not Mozart! What a doof I am.