Comments on: Celebrating Mozart’s Birthday

By: mbecker908

mbecker908 — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:33:53 +0000

170 CDs. New performances on period instruments. It can be yours for $132 plus shipping. and it gets excellent reviews. I don’t own it yet.

Sorry for the shameless ad.

By: icbm

icbm — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 04:28:37 +0000

Well, I guess I’m in the dark, then. I’ll probably figure it out eventually…

By: Brian Hibbert

Brian Hibbert — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 22:09:23 +0000

pretty busy helping out Rummy these days.

By: icbm

icbm — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:55:50 +0000

matters right now. I’m sure he wouldn’t take offense if you became RS Arts Editor. He could be Senior Arts Editor and chime in whenever he wanted.

With your second paragraph, I couldn’t agree more, and it’s good to read someone else’s words expressing that sentiment!

(Seriously, a weekly post on the arts would be great. Think about it. I’ll write one for you now and then, if that would help, as would several others here, I’m sure.)

By: furious

furious — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 20:47:21 +0000

Casting Genius:

“Pinto” from Animal House as Mozart, and “Principal Rooney” from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off as the Emperor.

…visited Vienna/Budapest/Prague about 10 years ago with my father, and about eight years before that spent a year in Vienna on a university exchange program.

Saw Mozart’s apartment in Vienna. Went to Prague and saw the apartment in Amadeus that stood in for Mozart’s Vienna apartment.

While on the exchange program visited Salzburg and heard a Mozart Mass at the Rupertsdom, then attended die Rosenkavalier and die Zauberflote at Vienna’s Staatsoper — sttanding-room tickets for students then were the equivalent of $US5.00).

One more, and I’ll stop showing off. JP Morgan Library collection toured about seven years ago, and stopped at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco. Among
the documents were a concerto drafted by Mozart’s father when Mozart was still a child, and an opera drafted by Mozart himself. Thinking about a child too young to write but able to compose a concerto in his head brought tears to my eyes then. And still does.

By: robmikpet

robmikpet — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 19:30:56 +0000

Public education taught me that Mozart is just a European white guy and his music was no better than banging on drums or hollow tubes.

By: Jack_Savage

Jack_Savage — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:01:31 +0000

…and saw his violin, harpsichord and a lock of his hair, as well as his traveling writing desk. We were fortunate enough to attend a string quartet concert there which featured Mozart’s works. Vienna is an awesome city and so full of wonderful arts and culture, and Mozart was truly a genius.

By: Jack_Savage

Jack_Savage — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 18:01:31 +0000

By: tankertodd

tankertodd — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:20:15 +0000

Was when he was at that party and he was making fun of that little tune Salieri wrote for him. He made that funny face at the harpsichord and then passed gas. That was great.

Oh wait…that wasn’t what you were looking for.

A great place to hear Mozart is in the Old Quarter of Prague - I didn’t take advantage but the tickets were cheap. I did see Die Zauberfloete in Vienna - it was cheap if you took the steheplazte(?) tickets (standing only).

By: Mike gamecock DeVine

Mike gamecock DeVine — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:13:09 +0000

By: Alberta

Alberta — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:43:56 +0000

I believe thats the quote, at least. Aw, the French.

By: Finrod

Finrod — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:12:43 +0000

Personally, it’s my view that if there is no music older than you that you like, then your musical tastes are way too limited This goes for both Mr. Mozart and Mr. Lehrer.

By: Skanderbeg

Skanderbeg — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:07:43 +0000

Thanks - but there’s at least one person on the Contributors list who is much more qualified….

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. One reason I like to keep track of things like this is as a reminder that we’re working on more than just the day-to-day political wrangling - or at least should be. There’s a whole culture to preserve, protect, appreciate, and defend - from both external threats (like islamo-nihilism) and internal amnesia/ennui….

By: devCharles

devCharles — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:42:03 +0000

totally got me dates when I was in junior orchestra in high school. Cheers to that man.

By: icbm

icbm — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:29:09 +0000

Perhaps you can appoint yourself the Arts Editor and do these at least once a week. It’s a wonderful reprieve from politics.

By: Warner Todd Huston

Warner Todd Huston — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:19:01 +0000

It was great when he was composing, but now he is just decomposing.

Seriously, tho, happy birthday Mozart. You have given the world some great music.

By: bk

bk — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 15:15:46 +0000

She was an all-state HS clarinet player and her favorite piece that she used for college auditions was Mozart’s Concerto for Clarinet (K. 622).