What do you think of when someone says Mozart?
This has been a hot topic of discussion this week in the Rush Hour office as we prepare for Tuesday's 250th Birthday Celebration.
For me, the mere mention of the word Mozart makes me start humming his "Rondo Alla Turca," the third movement of his Piano Sonata No. 11 in A major, K. 331.
No - stay with me - you've heard it: on hold, in elevators, in "Fame" and "Out of Africa," and, if you were very lucky, at 1999 State Piano Contest in Iowa played by yours truly.
If you'd like to hum it right along with me, I invite you to listen to a snippet here. (Sadly, the only mp3 clip I could find was one from "The Little German Band," which sounds exactly like you think it will.)
So tell me - what do *you* think of when someone says Mozart?
posted by Julie at 6:50 PM
7 Comments:
Are you kidding? That's got to be the perfect example of Rondo Alla Turca. It reminded me that I used to hear it for hours upon hours while I was playing Lemmings on the computer when I was a kid. Remember Lemmings? My favorite was the little guys who whipped out an umbrella as they were falling off the cliff so they'd have a safe landing.
Anyway, maybe I shouldn't say this, but my initial reaction when I hear "Mozart" is to politely smile, nod, and hope that I can get away from the conversation as soon as possible. It's not Mozart's fault. I'm just allergic to anything commercialized, and Mozart's fallen victim to that. The Mozart Effect, Mozart for Babies...it's as though in this world, we can't just like something -- it has to *do* something for us. We listen to Mozart because it makes us smarter, faster, better, stronger! Well, at least smarter... We hop on the bandwagon. "Everyone thinks Mozart is great, so I do, too!"
But that's not why I listen to Mozart, and to be fair, I'm sure a good many people feel the same way. The stigma is there, but once you learn to get over it and give Mozart a chance, it doesn't seem to matter anymore. Even if all the hype is what brought you to Mozart in the first place, once you start listening to him, you begin to tune out the opportunist advertising and it becomes irrelevant anyway. Mozart speaks for himself.
8:13 PM
Mozart always reminds me of a specific character who sat several chairs back in the viola section of my junior high school orchestra. Mark’s favorite way of passing the time during rehearsal was plucking out the opening guitar riff of “Crazy Train” (Ozzy Osbourne, for those of you who haven’t had the, err, pleasure)… over and over… and over. He wasn’t really interested in the music we played in our rehearsals.
And then it happened: our orchestra director announced we would be playing Mozart’s 40th and put on a recording to get us excited. It was love at first listen. Every day for the next cycle of rehearsals, Mark would ask Mrs. Moseley, “When do we get to do Mozart? Can we play Mozart now?” When Mark ended up in my chamber group at the end of the year, Mrs. Moseley picked out a Mozart piece for us to perform, and Mark responded, “Mozart? Yeah, he’s really cool!” What I think is really cool is that Wolfgang was so prolific that there’s bound to be something for everyone amidst the huge body of music he created. He has the incredible ability to draw in anyone and everyone. Even Mark.
12:31 PM
As an undergraduate I was trained as a jazz saxophonist and in modern composition techniques. No offense to Mozart and his ilk, but in Western art music I personally find much more relevance in the late Romanticists and 20th Century composers. So these days, a number of years removed from my undergraduate education, when I think of Mozart I'm reminded of the long hours spent with Dr. Sine in my music history courses, where I spent the majority of her lecture time wondering how old guys in white wigs would ever be useful to my career goals.
These days, of course, I objectively recognize the brilliance of his work, and the rarity of a genius of his stature. And of course, I'll have to take courses in 18th and 19th century music history as part of my graduate program, followed by a comprehensive exam before I'm allowed to continue past my third year. But for now, I'm just enjoying the ride of his 250th birthday, and looking forward to the cake and punch we'll have on Tuesday. Whoops, was I not supposed to mention that?
5:36 PM
When I hear "Mozart" I think of that guy who played "Pinto" in Animal House.
6:19 PM
When I think of Mozart, I think of the smell of chestnut trees in Salzburg in late May, the awesome Bakery in the ground floor of his birth house, the taste of Austrian Spaetlese wine in an outdoor restaurant after playing a concert, followed by, of course a gargantuan "Salzburgerknockerl." (ok... who knows that a Salzburgerknockerl is?)... That's when I "think" of Mozart...when I hear or play Mozart's music...I feel every cell in my body vibrant with a connection to all that is full about being human. No one, in my view, more directly or more poignantly understood and portrayed human psychology in sound. And then, of course....there's all those other wonderful, Mozart-inspired desserts...!
9:54 PM
Let me clarify: the guy who played Pinto in Animal House also played Mozart in Amadeus. Basically everything I know about Mozart comes from that movie.
8:08 AM
When someone says "Mozart," I wonder why he or she is going around speaking in the isolated surnames of the great composers. How should one respond? Perhaps with an assertive "Ravel," or I suppose somewhat more to the point, "Brahms." Regardless of my theoretical interlocutor's reasons for this odd dialect, you cannot argue with his or her superlative taste!
7:59 AM
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