Happy Birthday, Gangerl!

Yes, today is the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart. As you might imagine, A.C. Douglas, Terry Teachout and Jessica Duchen all have link-rich posts up marking the day.

Evidently, the Llama-ettes' music teacher has been prepping them for the event because since last night they have all been singing at the top of their lungs what might be called (to borrow from Peter Schickele) "Eine Kleine Nichtmusik".

I have to admit that I am of two or more minds about the whole celebratory business. On the one hand, I of course want to mark the milestone anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest composers. On the other hand, I can't stand the idolization of the man, the transmografication of his life into some kind of semi-mythical romantic tragedy, the worship of every single scrap of music he ever put out and, this being a consumer-driven age, the tons and tons of pure kitsch being flogged. On the third hand, however, I have no sympathy for those critics who, sickened by the excesses of all this (or perhaps just naturally malevolent), react seemingly by trying to tear down Mozart completely. Eh. In the end, what might be best is to simply ignore the hoo-ha and just enjoy the music.

Speaking of which (and speaking of anniversaries), I meant to mention that yesterday was the anniversary of the first performance of Mozart's Cosi fan tutte in Vienna in 1790. This opera is the closest Mozart ever wrote to pure comedy of manners, being a story of love, trickery and seduction among a pair of well-to-do couples in Naples. It has often been dismissed as too artificial, too lightweight, or (to 19th Century German sensibilities) too naughty. I happen to think this criticism is misplaced. I also happen to think it overlooks the opera's chief strength: There are only six characters altogether, three men and three women. Through their various pairings, Mozart produces some of the most beautiful polyphony imaginable- duets, trios, quartets, quintets and sextets.

I used to have a cassette box set of this opera performed by the Drottingholm Court Theatre, a period instrument group conducted by Arnold Ostman, which I thought one of the most delightful recordings I'd ever heard. While Ostman seems rather too dry for both Don Giovanni and Figaro, the size of his orchestra's sound was perfect for the more intimate scale of Cosi. In poking around, I noticed that a DVD is about to be released of an Ostman stage performance from about the same period, although the cast seems to be different from those of the cassette version I had. Needless to say, though, I look forward to seeing this. (In case you're wondering, I have the J.E. Gardiner video. It's a decent performance, although the audience is a bit of a distraction and I think it takes the cast a fair bit of the first act to warm up.)

Speaking of which, I'm going to throw out a bleg: Years ago, say in the late 80's, I saw an absolutely hysterical made-for-tee vee English performance of Cosi. Not only was it incredibly funny, it was also beautifully sung and very professionally produced. I've an idea that it was a U.K. production of some sort, and I almost think that Anthony Rolfe Johnson might have sung Ferrando, but I'm simply not sure. Does this ring a bell with anybody? Anybody? Bueller?

UPDATE: As long as we're on the subject of composers of the Classic period, somebody googled in here looking for "Haydn Birthdate". Checking the results, I came across this biographical page. I only link it because the audio accompanying the text is the first movement of one of Haydn's D Major piano sonatas that I happened to study years ago - and still play on occassion. Given how much Mozart loved and respected Haydn and his music, I'm sure he won't mind the inclusion.

UPDATE DEUX: Heh.

UPDATE TROIS: Dad emails in:

...I have had the radio on all morning celebrating M's birthday and it is amazing how much truly pedestrian music Mozart wrote and not necessarily when he was ten years old. This is not to take away from his genius. All composers wrote mediocre (or worse!) music and everyone recognizes this, except for a group of fanatics who seem to feel M never made a mistake. It does reinforce the concept of your critic who pointed to the Mozart "cult" who worship every note he wrote. Some of this music even I have not heard until today, and for good reason!

I agree. I'm not trying to rain on anybody's parade, but mindless adulation actually does a disservice by detracting from the value of that part of Mozart's work that truly does deserve all the superlatives of which one could think. We don't admire Mozart's masterpieces because they're Mozart's, we admire Mozart because he's the guy who wrote them. Too much of the celebratory hoo-ha I've seen fails to remember this.