Joseph Boulogne Saint-Georges

Composer Dateline: December 25

Chevalier de Saint-George

Chevalier de Saint-George (Joseph Boulogne), born on December 25, 1745, near Basse Terre, Guadeloue, was a contemporary of Mozart. He was a French composer and violinist, and outside music, Chevalier de Saint-George was also an expert fencer and athlete.


He played in the Concert des Amateurs (under Gossec), and later its musical director and leader. He died on June 10, 1799, in Paris.


Resources:

• Chevalier de Saint-Georges, Afro-French Composer 
• Calliope: Cover is the Work of Two Artists

Note:  AfriClassical.com. Thanks Bill (William J. Zick) for the information.  


(c)  December 2006. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved. 

Mozart Performers - Diva

Mozart Divas of his Day

Mozart collaborated with Lorenzo Da Ponte in three of his greatest operas – Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni and Così fan tutte - and the last one in 1791, Die Zauberflöte, with Emanuel Schikaneder.

Catarina Cavalieri

Catarina Cavalieri (1760-1801) was born in Vienna. She made her debut in 1775 and was one of the finest singers of her day, especially in German opera. She was renowned for her fioratura abilities. Mozart wrote memorable music for Cavalieri. She played the role of Constanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail (1782) and sang Donna Elvira in the premiére of Don Giovanni in 1788.

Adriana Ferraresi del Bene

Adriana Ferraresi del Bene (c. 1760-after 1799) was an Italian soprano. She performed in London and most successfully, in Vienna, in 1788-1791, where she made her reputation singing serious roles in opera buffa. A mistress of Da Ponte, she created Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte (1790) and sang Susanna in the Vienna revival (1789) of Le nozze di Figaro, for which Mozart wrote her two new Arias. She was noted for her remarkable voice range.

Maria Anna Gottlieb

Anna Gottlieb (1774-1856) was born in Vienna, a singer and actress. Gottlieb was barely twelve when she played the role of Barbarina in Le Nozze di Figaro in 1786. She joined Schikaneder's Freihaus-Theater in 1789, and in 1791, became the original Pamina in Die Zauberflöte. Then she had a long and popular career in singspiel and comedies, retiring from the stage in 1828.

Aloysia (née Weber) Lange

Maria Aloysia Weber-Lange (c. 1761-1839) was born in Zell im Wiesenthal in the Black Forest of Germany, a German soprano known for her great expression. She was Mozart's sister-in-law for whom Mozart wrote concert arias. Mozart fell in love with her, but she did not return his affection. Among her other engagements, she became a leading singer of the Italian troupe. She also sang Konstanze in Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail; occasionally, she sang for the Italian opera, notably in 1788, in the role of Donna Anna at the Viennese premiere of Don Giovanni. She died in Salzburg.

Josefa (née Weber) Hofer Mayer

Josefa (née Weber) Hofer Mayer (1758/9- 1819) was the oldest sister of Constanze Weber Mozart, wife of Mozart. A dramatic soprano, Mozart wrote the Queen of the Night role for her in Die Zauberflöte. She married Mozart's friend, violinist Franz de Paula Hofer. After he died, she remarried singer and actor Friedrich Sebastian Mayer, who also interpreted Mozart's music.

Luisa Laschi Mombelli

Luisa Laschi Mombelli (1760s - c.1789) was born in Florence, Italy. She came to Vienna in 1784. She was known to have an extraordinary wide range of roles. From 1784, she created the role of the Countess in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 1786 and sang Zerlina in Vienna's first performance of Don Giovanni, in 1788.

Nancy Storace

Anna Selina Nancy Storace (1765-1817) was born in London, the sister of composer Stephen Storace. She began her operatic career in Italy but moved in 1783 to Vienna, where she married English composer J.A. Fisher. A gifted comic singer, Viennese audiences adored her lighter and simpler repertoire. She played the role of Susanna in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro in 1786. Later she sang in her brother's works in London and toured Europe with the tenor John Braham, with whom she lived until 1816.

Louise Villeneuve

Louise Villeneuve (fl. 1771 - 1799) was the original Dorabella in Così fan tutte in 1790. It appeared that she started as a dancer. She joined the opera company in Vienna in 1789, making her debut as Amore in Martin y Soler's L'arbore di Diana, a role which gained her immediate success. Mozart also supplied arias for her in Cimarosa's I due baroni, (K578) and Martin's Il burbero di buon cuore (K582, K583). She left Vienna at the end of the 1790-1791 season to resume a career in Italy.

Resources:

The Cambridge Mozart Encyclopedia, edited by Cliff Eisen and Simon P. Keefe, Cambridge UP, 2007

The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd Edition, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan, 2000

The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham, 2002

Read more at Suite.IO: Mozart's Divas of His Day

Inspired Poetry for Mozart

Poetry competition for Wolfgang Mozart

Wolfgang and the Snow- A Poem for Mozart

By Liz Ringrose

Here's the winning entry for our unique poetry competition few years back, 4 Feb 2006, given by Kris from one of my Mozart's groups, for a Rare Mozart CD award.

And the winner is,  Liz Ringrose!  What a beautiful and heart-warming tribute to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Wolfgang and the Snow

Carriage wheels turning,
rolling, lulling him into half sleep.
Revolutions, repeating, turning and then
hooves, rhythmic clatters and drum punctuations,
the jolt of the carriage, straining on straps,
a whip crack, and allegro along the straight.

The hour strikes, a fugue of bells and carillon
muted on the wind.  He draws back from slumber
gathering rhythms and beats, shaping and forming.

His sister's whisper:  "Wolferl, it's snowing, look at the snow."

He raises reluctant eyelids, sees the cascade,
holds out his palm to the night.

"Mama, he's catching the snow. Wolferl's gathering flakes."

He sighs.  "Not flakes, Dear Sister. Notes."

My Poetry Entries

Child Mozart's Memory

By Tel Asiado

Was Wolfgang 10 or 11?
Oh, but a boy!

He heard songs,
and copied them out from memory.

I need a memory like that.

(*My first entry) to Kris's Rare Mozart CD Competition.

Enjoying Mozart Concerti over Chores

How wonderful,

if for a time,

I've nothing else to do

but listen to your concerti.

No chores at all,

No laundry,

No dishes to wash.

Wolfie -

Don't ever wonder if

such moments of luxury

would never bore me stiff!

(*My second tribute entry)

Note:   This post was originally posted from Classical Music Lounge, sometime Feb 2006, for Kris's Rare Mozart CD competition. It's revisited for Mozart lovers to remember his birthday this year 2012.

Mozarteum at Salzburg

(This very informative and insightful entry came about as a stimulated response from Agnes Selby to my post  entitled  "International Mozart Foundation" dated 21 Sept 2006.  Mrs. Selby is author of Constanze, Mozart's Beloved.)

Dear Tel,

I am most grateful to you for mentioning the year 1841 in your Classical Music Lounge for this is when the Mozarteum was really founded. It is such a long time ago that it is rarely associated with the present International Mozart Foundation which is a non-profit organisation, just as you said in your article. A non-profit organisation allows financial contributors to deduct their contributions from their taxes. Hence the change to the Mozarteum's structure which existed since 1841.

The original Mozarteum was founded when Salzburg's city fathers began to notice the influx of visitors who came to pay homage to Mozart's widow,  Constanze.

Mozart Foundation and Salzburg Mozarteum

Salzburg: Internationale Stiftung Mozarteum

Austria | Salzburg

The International Mozarteum Foundation is a private non-profit organization that focuses on preserving the heritage of Mozart. The foundation was started in 1880 by citizens of the city of Salzburg and has its roots in the “Dom-Musik-Verein und Mozarteum” of 1841. It was established in Salzburg, in September 21, 1880.

Every year, around the time of Mozart’s birthday on January 27, the International Mozarteum Foundation puts an artistic accent on the European concert scene that can hardly be exceeded: the Mozart Week. Top international orchestras, ensembles, conductors, singers and soloists have been performing here for more than 50 years during the Mozart Week. As a compliment to the Mozart Week, the ISM also organizes the concert cycles “Young Artists”, “Rising Stars” and “Chamber Music in the Viennese Hall” between the end of September and June.

Nadia Boulanger

Classical Music / Great Music Teachers

French Teacher, Conductor, Composer

 
Brief biography of Nadia Boulanger, her life and career. One of the most influential women inall of music history, considered the greatest music teacher of the 20^th century. Many of her students became prominent composers.


Nadia Juliette Boulanger (1887-1979), was one of the most influential figures in music during the twentieth century. A distinguished teacher of prominent composers, she was also a conductor and a composer. Although she initially became known as a composer and conductor of major orchestras, her role as music teacher is what she's most famous for.

French poet, playwright and film director Jean Cocteau said of her: “… It is rare that a young musician intrigues us, or that his work at least partially opens a door, without his disclosing that he is a pupil of Nadia Boulanger.”

Boulanger was born in Paris on September 16, 1887, coming from a musical family, with her father, Ernest Boulanger, like his father before him, taught singing at the Paris Conservatoire. Her mother Raissa, a Russian-born princess, was a pupil of her father. She was her first teacher.

At 5 years old, Boulanger could read music. She enrolled at the conservatory at 10 and completed training at 17, by this time, already winning awards for composing. She won second place in France's prestigious Prix de Rome for her cantata, "La Sirene."

Van Loon Lives book review by Agnes Selby

15 August 2006

I am re-reading one of my favourite books, "Van Loon Lives". I can recommend this book. The author is Hendryk van Loon. I have just ordered a copy for my grandchildren from Amazon.com.

It is in this book, where Mozart is invited to dinner with Hans Christian Anderson by van Loon and his friend, Fritz. The Marriage of Figaro is played in the background and Mozart is most impressed with the clarity of the orchestra and how much instruments have improved in quality. Likewise he also loves the sound of the piano and wonders what marvellous compositions he would have composed if only he would have had such a piano.

We meet interesting persons in this book including Beethoven, the Bachs, Elizabeth I and of course, Napoleon and many others.

(Thanks for this contribution Agnes. Agnes Selby is author of Constanze, Mozart's Beloved.)

Review of Two Figaro Operas

ON DVD FOR YOUR LISTENING (AND VIEWING) PLEASURE:

Review of Two Figaro Operas

by Daisy Brambletoes

Well folks, I finally got a copy of the two Figaro operas, directed by Jean-Piere Ponnelle, which I have wanted for many years.

Ponnelle is a fine director of opera-on-film, and has filmed both of these operas with meticulously accurate Spanish settings, which I personally find very refreshing, as most productions are made to look French or Italian. As we all know, Beaumarchais was French, Rossini and DaPonte were Italians, and Mozart, naturally, was German - but the setting was always southern Spain. So the two films score very big here. Musically, they are also both excellent productions, and a great deal of fun to listen to. But after that, things become lightly awkward.

Despite the fact that Hermann Prey plays Figaro in both films, the rest of the cast is almost entirely different. They also seem to be set at different moments in time than doesn't quite juxtapose correctly.

Rossini's opera is clearly set right at the turn of the century with a few 18th century  vestiges, but a mostly early 19th century atmosphere. Add to that, an amusing portrait of Dr.Bartolo looms in the background, which bears a suspicious resemblance to a famous photo of Salvadore Dali. It is fun to watch and listen to, and the humor is as much in the music itself as anything else - a page Rossini borrowed from Mozart's book, no doubt. But the comedy here is almost on a Chuck Jones level, and at times I also almost felt I was watching Disny's comedy-adventure classic, "Zorro". Many visual references are taken from Goya, as well they should be - particularly Don Basilio, the wicked music teacher, who in this production seems to be some kind of alchemist or dark magician, lifted directly from  one of Goya's canvases. (Ponnelle used a similar approach in his film of "Madame Butterfly", showing Chocho against a painted background of flying black crows, creating the look of classic Noh theater.)

The Mozart film, of course, is Mozart at his almost-best (My favorite Mozart opera is still "Die Zauberflote"). In this film, however, Ponnelle falls back on the old gimmick of allowing music to reflect the thoughts of the characters while they stare at the screen with closed mouths. This may work well for reflective arias like those of the Contessa, but it doesn't always work. Cherubino simply looks speechless and floundering, f'rinstance, and other scenes visually static despite the musical quality. Presumably we are there for Mozart alone, but this is still a movie, and you still want it to look right. Mind, of course, the clever staging of Figaro's angry aria in Act Four was quite interesting as Figaro has a musical conversation with himself, and it reminds me of Smeagol vs Gollum in "Lord of the Rings". All the same, in spite of this minor annoyance, the action flows and sparkles, and it is a very enjoyable production. For once Cherubino looks like a boy, and the characters are all well portrayed.

The real problem, however, is one that will forever haunt these two excellent operas. When Beaumarchais wrote the comedies, they flowed together very sensibly and complimented each other. But we've lost something in translation. Mozart's graceful masterpiece involves serious, thought-provoking characters who are funny because Mozart and the circumstances make them so. Rossini, on the other hand, went for laughs and lots of coloratura & patter, and his characters (many of the same ones in Figaro)are cartoon-like people who are difficult to take seriously.

As brilliant as the two operas are individually, they do not stand comfortably together, and even the skills and efforts of Ponnelle to make them do so miss the mark. You can't watch them together and feel as if you are watching a great comedy and its natural sequel. They are just too different in too many ways.

Do I recommend these films? Yes, certainly. But there will always be the caviat that despite characters with the same names, we are looking at two completely different sets of people, as if they live in alternate universes.

Do yourself a favor - buy them or rent them, and watch them - but on two different days.

But they're still fun.

(c) 2006. Tel Asiado. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Mozart in Novels

For Mozart lovers: Novels we reas along the way with a mention of Mozart.

Contributed by Liz Ringrose 

Mozart in "Snow Falling on Cedars


Snow Falling on Cedars is a novel written by David Guterson published by Vintage Books. It's supposed to be inspired by one of my all-time favourite novels, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Thanks Liz.)

"Isn't it great when Mozart pops up in literature and other media? I read Snow Falling on Cedars recently and loved the part where Ishmail Chambers sees a recording of the Jupiter on the record player beside his mother's bed, and he imagines her lying there listening to Mozart."



Mozart in These Foolish things


These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach is published by Random House. Moggach makes us face the realities of aging - sincere, funny and at times terrifying. Still an honest view of old age, what it offers and where it might or leads us.


I also read a humorous book called These Foolish Things by Deborah Moggach. In this novel a seriously overworked Indian doctor has to have his ghastly English father in law (Norman) living with him. The old man is uncouth and vulgar. I love this passage:

"Mozart's Requiem. Only then could he become a husband again - a human being, even. The house was so small, with her father in it. Ravi's body was in a permanent state of tension. Every room he went into, Norman was there. Just at the Lacrimosa he would blunder in, the transistor [radio] on a string around his neck burbling the cricket commentary from Sri Lanka."

(Thanks Liz. The use of Mozart's Requiem to me is relevant. Symbolic. Significant.)

Salzburg Festival DVD

9 September 2009


To those interested...

There is a new DVD out on the history of the Salzburg Festival. It's quite well done and very informative. I watched nearly the whole thing today and thought I would let people know about it.

The Salzburg Festival has hosted every great star of the opera and concert hall, from Toscanini to Anne-Sophie Mutter, from Fischer-Dieskau to Barenboim, from Pollini to Mitsuko Uchida. In this film, the first to tell the story of this remarkable Festival, set in the birthplace of Mozart, director Tony Palmer has been granted unprecedented access to Austria's film archives. Highlights include performances of Jedermann from 1920 to the present day featuring actors such as Maximilian Schell
and Klaus Maria Brandauer; Don Giovanni (with Furtwängler in '54 and a controversial performance directed by Peter Sellars in the 1990s); a wealth of footage of Herbert von Karajan, including performances never-before-seen home movies; and footage of the Nazi hierarchy at the
Festival during the Second World War.

Mozart, Phi, and Brown's Da Vinci Code

Mozart and Brown's Da Vinci Code in Phi

This is a very interesting topic that Terry brought up in a discussion from one of my Mozart groups.

For anyone familiar with Dan Brown's controversial bestseller The Da Vinci Code, we come across a reference in page 134, well, in Terry's copy and in mine. Robert Langdon the professor is talking to his students about PHI, which he calls the Divine Proportion or 1.618. He says it occurs in nature, in art, in architecture, and "appeared in the organizational structure of Mozart's sonatas."

Constanze Mozart and Photo

27 July 2006

This post by Mrs. Selby is a reaction to my earlier post "Photo of Mozart's Widow Found."  Refer to the link of the photo in question. 26 July, 2006 )

Photo Claimed to be that of Constanze Mozart's, Wife of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

By Agnes Selby, Guest Writer

I wish I could agree with the newspapers which seem to have found it newsworthy to publish a photograph of Constanze Mozart. No research into this matter has been done either by the Press nor the authorities in Altotting. (Or Altottingen, which ever you prefer).

The photo surfaced a long time ago but it has been found that the claim that this is Constanze Mozart cannot be supported and it was placed in the files at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. For some reason it has surfaced, again without any substantiation.

Mozart and the Order of the Golden Spur

MOZART / Order of Golden Spur

"On 26 June 1770, Mozart was awarded the Order of the Golden Spur by pope Pope Clement XIV. By receiving this honor, Mozart was appointed Comes palatinus Lateranus, i.e. Papal Count Palatine who in his home country had the right to use the predicate of nobility and to claim the social status that was connected with knighthood. Being a recipient of the first grade of the Papal Order, Mozart had more right to consider himself a nobleman than his colleague Gluck who had only received the second grade of that order. During his later life, Mozart never claimed his status as nobleman. A trace of his title only appears in his signature which he graced with the syllable "Ca" for the Italian word "Cavaliere"." - from "Wolfgang von Mozart" by Dr. Michael Lorenz.

Excerpts: 
(From Accademia Filarmonica Di Bologna, shared by Gerhard Spitz, Admin of our Facebook group, European Mozart Ways.)

"June 26, 1770. Just 27 hours of travel back to Rome: ′′ We really flew!", Leopold writes. We have often told about Amadeo's travel conditions, but during this relocation an accident occurs and to protect his son during the crash, Leopold injured his foot. It will be the beginning of a long recovery for the travelling musician, a recurring topic (with annexed complaints) in many of the remaining letters of these summer months. But at least now father and son are back in Rome."

"July 5, 1770. Clement XIV awarded Amadeo of the Order of the Golden Speron. Not the first musician to receive it, but definitely the youngest. And at such a solemn moment, Leopold can't help but commenting with his wife: ′′ You can imagine how much I laugh when I hear everyone call him Mr. Cavalier ", besides, the guy is just 14 years old and waving his signature sister : Cavalier de Mozart!"

Order of the Golden Spur

The Order of the Golden Militia / Order of the Golder Spur is a Papal order of knighthood conferred upon those who have rendered distinguished service in propagating the Catholic Faith, or who have contributed to the glory of the Church, either by feat of arms, writings, or other illustrious acts. It is one of the oldest papal orders, and its membership is restricted to one hundred throughout the world.

In 1841 it was absorbed into the Order of Saint Sylvester but Pius X restored it to the status of a separate order and placed it under the patronage of the Blessed Virgin.

Nota Bene from Mozart Friends

Acknowledging with gratitude and delight immediate responses of my invitation from friends and colleagues to visit my first website, Classical Music Lounge. Here are some stimulating comments, in parts:

Prof. Dr. Hans Ueckert:
"Dear Tel,
Looks great, your Classical Music Lounge! Since I'm an absolute "blog innocent" I just played a little around at your website. Most interesting by-product of doing so was that many pages turn out to be in German, particularly help pages and headings of info pages (e.g. at your "View my complete profile" page)..."

(Note: I'll be announcing Hans's project 'due opere buffe', in particular, its advance performance in a separate entry. Everyone's welcome to discuss interesting points of the Mozart project.

Ben Santillan:
"... thanks for sharing your knowledge, tel. where do you get all the time and energy to do everything you're doing. I'd be very interested to know what you learn about mozart's use of PHI...

The best book I've read about the esoteric sciences and secret societies is Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, and he's a real semiotic professor. Semiotics, as you may well know, is the study of signs. There is no such study as symbology, or if there is, it is to semiotics what astrology is to astronomy..."

Maureen Allen (another dear friend, former host of Classical Music at Bella Online):
"Dear Tel, what a great idea! Leave it to you to come up with a way for classical music lovers to share their interest as well as their opinions, etc. After I finish this, I'll go on over and see your new site..."

Daisy Brambletoes: (artist, writer, critic, support, friend ...)
"... Oh, that's really nice, Tel! I like that quite a lot. How do you contribute to it?"

Wim vingerhoed: My roving friend-photographer of Mozart, classical music, and many more ... for all the images and support through the years.

Liz Ringrose: "This is a lovely site. Well done. I keep dipping into it between chunks of re-writing my novel. Did Giacomo Casanova really receive the Golden Spur??? Whatever did he do to promote Catholicism? Fascinating."

Terry McIntee: "Just popped into Classical Music Lounge for a brief visit. What a great idea. It looks fantastic."


(c)  July 2006. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.

Photo found: Mozart's Widow Constanze Mozart

26 July 2006

Earlier, a friend Amarnath, from one of my Mozart groups sent this info to me:  "Tel, I saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you should see it. This may be an interesting item for your Classical Music Lounge."

I hastened to BBC News website.

Amarnath thinks that there seems to be some mistake in the narrative about the position of Contanze in the picture. It came to mind immediately the one person I know who would be able and delighted to enlighten me on this, none other than dear friend Agnes Selby, author of Constanze, Mozart's Beloved.

** Photo of Mozart's widow found **
A copy of the only photo of Mozart's widow Constanze Weber is found in a Bavarian town.

Quotes, Anecdotes, and Notes: On Mozart and By Mozart.

Quotes by famous composers about Mozart. There are lots more quotes proliferating around, including those from my Mozart and classical music groups, but these are amongst favourites, and speaking of a favourite book of quotations about this wunderkind, I find Mozartiana by Joseph Solman the best.

To Mozart lovers and enthusiasts, it is always fascinating to know what other composers say about him. Sometimes, one reads or hears about the quotes but is unable to identify the famous composer who said it.  Mozart was Tchaikovsky's hero, who described his attitude to the wunderkind as one of "passionate worship." Here are some of these familiar quotations, reflective of how they relate to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

One of Mozart's most popular works, A Little Night Music (Eine kleine nachmusik), is a serenade of the 18th century which he wrote during a fateful year in his life. This was in 1787 when his father died in Salzburg, but Mozart was in Vienna and was too ill to attend it. This was also the same year that one of Mozart's greatest admirers, the 16-year-old Ludwig van Beethoven visited him, however, there is no evidence on this meeting. 


Quote by Mozart: 

"It is a mistake to think that the practice of my art has became easy to me.
I assure you, dear friend, no one has given so much care to the study of composition as I. There is scarcely a famous master in music whose works I have not frequently and diligently studied ".

(Spoken by Mozart in Prague 1787, to conductor Kucharz, who led rehearsals for Mozart's famous opera DON GIOVANNI. Mozart the Man and the Artist, by Friedrich Kerst, p.17. Honestly, it doesn't sound like Mozart to me. Any comments from a Mozartian is welcome.)

Quotes on Mozart

"The marvelous beauty of his quartets and quintets, and of some of his sonatas, first converted me to this celestial genius, whom whence forth I worshipped." ~ Hector Berlioz, Memoirs

"It is hard to think of another composer who so perfectly marries form and passion." ~ Leonard Bernstein

Classical Music

What do I mean by classical music for this site? It is a broad term. In this website, it has two meanings: first, I refer it to the music of the Classical period, circa 1750-1830, as personified by Franz Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Ludwig van Beethoven, and second, I refer classical to 'art' music, as opposed to popular, jazz or folk music.

As interest dictates, my scope mainly covers the earliest music chants to late Romantic Periods. And who can discount J.S. Bach, Handel, and Vivaldi in Baroque, or the madrigals of the Renaissance?

The Classical period has been called the Golden Age of Music for it was this time that the major forms of classical music were fully developed. These forms are the symphony, concerto, sonata and string quartet.

With classical music, the importance of formal structure in the arts - symmetry and form - was stressed, as against the elaborate ornamentation of the Baroque, giving way to new simplicity and elegance. This does not mean that the emotional content of Baroque was dispensed with, for it was ever present, but was never allowed to block the clarity and formal structure in Classical music.

I'm not after a scholarly pursuit or a dissertation of the life, times and music of a maestro being mentioned or discussed, although it's fine by me too, personally. But I'd like a lighter treatment of entries as we go along.  A stimulating discussion is splendid. Above all, I want my friends and interested visitors to enjoy and have fun.

Viva musica!

Regards, Tel
26 July 2006

Joyous Enthusiasm Continues

Joyous Enthusiasm

  Classical Music Lounge  is an offshoot of my earliest Inspired Pen website that included expression of my diverse interests. The site spotlights classical music, and aims to share insights about classical music in general, composers, their lives and their music. And what is classical music without my lifelong favourite composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart?

Quality music deserves more than just casual listening, it is a language of subtlety. Hearing the flow of a concerto or the intensity of a swelling orchestra can create different moods - serenity, excitement and perhaps cataclysm. Such is the power of music.

With joyous enthusiasm, along with my musings and reflections, I will endeavour to integrate the lives and music of these greatest composers and their gift of music.


Tel / 26 July 2006