Happy 255th Birthday, Mozart!
Remembering Wolfgang Mozart's birthday, 27th January.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart! This child prodigy whose genius is unsurpassed in combining a dazzling musical imagination with a total mastery of such beauty and harmony of expression. I've written numerous articles about him, but for my tribute I always return to the very first piece I wrote some years ago in 2006 - "That's Mozart to Me!" The year 2006 was a significant milestone to Mozartians and admirers, as the musical world celebrated his 25oth birthday anniversary. I believe he was, still is, the most comprehensively gifted musician who ever lived, the first superstar, the first freelancer too.
Mozart Tivia
Classical Music / Composer's Datebook
Trivia on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart and Pets
From 1773 - 1777, the Mozart family kept a female fox terrier and called these four names according to different members
of the family. Wolfgang and his sister Anna Maria "Nannerl" usually called her Bimperl,
Bimpes or Bimbes, while Nannerl and Leopold called her Pimperl. These are all various forms of the same name. (mozartsmusic.blogspot.com - accessed June 2011)
For about three years Wolfgang Mozart kept a pet starling. The starling is remembered for the anecdote of how Mozart came to purchase it, for the funeral commemorations he provided for it, and as an example of the composer's affection in general for birds.
Something special about Wolfgang A. Mozart
Mozart composed masterfully in every musical format. He was one of the few composers in history to compose masterworks in every
conceivable musical genre. Though his output is highly varied, each
piece exudes a bold, self-assured confidence and that is instantly
recognizable. I don't need to illucidate this as my dear readers will find loads of posts about this prodigious maestro here at Inspired Pen Web.
Though there are dubious historical reports that the real Mozart had such an obnoxious laugh,
Tom Hulce, the actor who played the role of Mozart from the film "Amadeus" created the giggle after director Milos Forman asked him to come up with
"something extreme." "I've never been able to make that sound except in
front of a camera," Hulce later said. (www.mentalfloss.com / 13-prodigious-facts-about-amadeus)
Mozart's Compositions or Not
(My resource is generously provided by Vincent de Louise, a Mozartian friend from our various Mozart Interest Groups. / Tel)
Of
the 626 compositions in the Köchel Catalogue, and the 222 in the Kochel
Anhang, about 70 are not by Mozart. Here is a partial of works in the
Köchel catalogue that are not by Mozart. Among the more famous of
these works that were supposed not composed by Mozart:
KV
17 (Mozart’s “second” symphony - his father Leopold Mozart actually wrote it) x
KV 18 (Mozart’s “third” symphony- written by Carl Friedrich Abel), KV
444 (Mozart’s “37th” symphony, which is 90 percent Michael Haydn's), and KV
297b the sublime sinfonia concertante for winds, which is at most
partly by Mozart (cf. the completion by Robert Levin.)
Köchel Catalogue (K1)
First edition:
KV 17 (Leopold)
18 (Abel)
44 (Stadlmayr)
46 (unknown)
52 (Leopold)
55–60 (unknown)
61 (Raupach)
64 (Leopold)
91 (Reutter)
92 (Leopold?)
93 (Reutter)
98 (unknown)
104–105 (M. Haydn)
106 (unknown),
115–116 (Leopold)
122 (Starzer or Deller)
142 (Zach)
149–151 (Leopold)
152 (Myslivecek)
177 (Leopold)
187 (Gluck and Starzer)
197–198 (unknown)
221 (Eberlin)
226 (unknown)
227 (Byrd?)
233–234 (Trnka)
235 (C.P.E.Bach)
268 (Eck?)
289 (possibly Wolfgang Mozart, but doubtful stylistically), 291 (Michael Haydn)
324–325 (unknown)
326 (Eberlin)
327 (Gasparini), 340 (unknown)
342 (Leopold)
350 (Flies)
444 (mostly M. Haydn
510 (unknown)
514 (Süssmayr).
Later Köchel Catalog editions. (K3 and K6)
KV 16a (Mozart or unknown, probably the latter)
16b (Leopold?), (2nd ed.)
25a (Kaspar Beethoven)
43c (Leopold?) ,
74g (Mozart or unknown)
93a (Reutter)
93c (Eberlin), (6th ed.)
142A (Leopold?)
142c (Leopold)
196d (Danzi)
196e (Puschmann?)
196f (Fiala), 206a (Wolfgang? lost) 6th ed.)
269b (M.Haydn?), (2nd ed.)
271a (Wolfgang or unknown)
293e (Leopold or Wolfgang?)
297b (unknown: perhaps Mozart, or arrangement of Mozart?)
311a (unknown)
387d (F.J. Haydn)
404a (Albrechtsberger)
441a (unknown)
441c (M. Haydn)
485a (Attwood/Mozart) 2nd ed.)
511a (Beethoven? Kozeluch?)
528a (unknown)
535a (unknown)
562b (M. Haydn)
562d (unknown)
584a (Paisiello), (6th ed.)
623a (Wranitsky?)
Mozart's Death
An early rumor addressing the cause of Mozart's death was that he was poisoned by his colleague Antonio Salieri. This rumor, however, was not proven to be true, as the signs of illness Mozart displayed did not indicate poisoning. (Death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart)
Mozart's Contribution to the Musical World
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's own
stylistic development closely paralleled the development of the
classical style as a whole. In addition, he was a versatile composer and
wrote in almost every major genre, including symphony, opera, the solo
concerto, chamber music and the piano sonata.
(c) January 2011. Updated January 27, 2023. Tel. All rights reserved.
Robert Burns
Literature / Writers Datebook: January 25
Scottish Poet, Famous for Auld Lang Syne and A Red, Red Rose
Brief biography and works of Scottish poet and tax collector, Robert Burns, national poet of Scotland.
Robert Burns is best-loved and celebrated as Scotland's national poet. His work, which was often in Scots dialect, rescued Scottish culture from being swamped by the growing influence of English culture. He is best-known for "Auld Lang Syne" and "A Red, Red Rose".
Early Life of Robert Burns
Robert Burns was born on January 25, 1759 at Alloway in Ayrshire, western Scotland. His father was a poor farmer but did his best to give his sons a good education. In due time, Burns and his brother Gilbert set up as farmers but their rented land was poor. The brothers struggled to make a living.
Aside from writing poems, Burns charm set about wooing girls. He fathered several children by different women. He wanted to marry Jean Armour, one of his loves, but her parents disapproved of the relationship.
The Poetry of Burns
As Burns's father was determined to give him an education, he studied Shakespeare, the Bible, Alexander Pope, and French language. Despite being taught the formal English poetry, Burns found that Scottish dialect was the ideal way to express himself and his rebellious attitude to the severe Scottish Church.
Scottish folksinger Karen Matheson sings Robert Burns' "My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose". Youtube, uploaded by DonniesAmerican. Accessed January 25, 2018.
The Poet's Adult Life
When he was 27, Burns had many of his poems published as Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The book was a great success, and he moved to Edinburgh for a year and a half. He also started mixing with high society. The success made Jean's parents relent, and Burns married her in 1788. He returned to farming but later gave it up in favour for a more secure job as an excise officer, a tax collector.
Later Years of Burns
Burns wrote nearly all his long narrative poems between 1784 and 1786. After that he took to writing the songs for which he is chiefly remembered, such as "A Red, Red Rose" and "Auld Lang Syne".
He wrote and edited hundreds of songs for collections before dying of heart disease at an early age. He died on July 21, 1796, at the age of 37. Aside a festival celebration to honour him, Burns's birthday is also celebrated in other countries.
Works by Robert Burns
Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, 1786
The Works of Robert Burns, 1834-1886
Robert Burn's Commonplace Book, 1783-1785, 1938
Image Credit:
Robert Burns. Wikipedia CC / Public Domain
Resources:
Goring, Rosemary, Ed. Larousse Dictionary of
Writers. New York:
Larousse, 1994
McGovern, Una, Ed. Chambers Biographical Dictionary. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers, 2002
Ousby, Ian. The Cambridge Guide to Literature in English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Robert Burns. en.wikipedia.org
(c) September 4, 2011. Updated January 25, 2018. Tel. Inspired Pen Web. All rights reserved.
Jacques Duphly
Classical Composers Datebook: January 12
Jacques Duphly (January 12, 1715 – July 15, 1789), was a French harpsichordist and composer. Born in Rouen, France, he was the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, he studied the harpsichord and organ, and was employed as organist at the cathedral in Evreux.
His teachers were Francois d'Agincourt and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. After his father died in 1742, Duphly moved to Paris, where he became famous as a performer and teacher. Pascal Taskin, a prominent harpsichord maker of the time, considered him to be one of the best teachers in Paris.
Jacques Duphly (January 12, 1715 – July 15, 1789), was a French harpsichordist and composer. Born in Rouen, France, he was the son of Jacques-Agathe Duphly and Marie-Louise Boivin. As a boy, he studied the harpsichord and organ, and was employed as organist at the cathedral in Evreux.
His teachers were Francois d'Agincourt and Jean-Jacques Rousseau. After his father died in 1742, Duphly moved to Paris, where he became famous as a performer and teacher. Pascal Taskin, a prominent harpsichord maker of the time, considered him to be one of the best teachers in Paris.
The Vienna Four Composers Among the Top 10
Top 10 Composers: The Vienna Four
After listening to a favourite "Trout" music by Schubert, today I decided to further tidy up one of my older folders of classical music. I found this note from a fellow writer and friend Karen Lotter who passed on this information to me, an article she found from New York Times, some 2 years back. Certainly, nothing much has changed really. It is, and has always been these same "Vienna Four Composers."
Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 1)
Books We Read.
Link to Bibliophilia and Readings (Part 2): Here
Book lover friends, Any interesting books you're reading? From my lists below, can you identify books you have read, books in your shelves, books you're currently reading, books you want to read, or...?
8 February 2024
Postmark Paris: A Little Album of Memories by Leslie Jonath. Unputdownable, charming little book I finished reading in a day. It stays in my bookshelf and I believe it is the first version published by Chronicle Books (1995), as I must have gotten it sometime 1996. I love the book not only because of the wonderful reminiscences and exquisite images, but because I've been an avid stamp collector in my youthful years, plus I got a lovely surprise seeing a Mozart stamp image, the third to the last illustration in her book.
5 February 2024
Joyce Carol Oates' I'll Take You There, a novel about a young woman's "coming of age" and quest for human connection that happened at a fictional university during the turbulent years of the early 60s - antiwar protests, Vietnam War, Civil Rights movement, the "give peace a chance" mantra, etc. The narrator calls herself "Anellia". The novel consists of three parts: (part one) in which Anellia, originating from a poor, migrant and blue collar family from upstate New York, describes her experiences as an outsider in an upper class sisterhood in Syracuse, New York; (part two) her experiences of a lover with a different ethnic
(Afro-American) background; and (part three) finally her coming to terms
with her family background. The brief plot and characters can be found at wiki. Honestly? I sense that the author is writing through deeply personal material in this book... she's holding important clues to the
autobiographical impulses that appear partially to shape
her fiction.
23 January 2024
A book I thought I'd let go but again, decided not to. I'm currently revisiting Bernard Mac Laverty's Grace Notes, shortlisted for the 1997 Booker Prize. I like it then. I like it now. With impressive artistry and astonishing intimacy, Irish writer Mac Laverty brings us into the life of Catherine McKenna - estranged daughter, vexed lover, new mother and a woman composer making her mark in a male-dominated world. It is a story of resilience. Of sacrifice. Of fierce love. Of grace. Catherine McKenna is forced to face the baggage she's carried since childhood in an overly oppressive religious environment as she returns to bury a difficult father in her hometown Northern Ireland. She forges peace with her mother and confronts the ghosts of her constricting past. In Glasgow she gives birth to a child and receives a music career-making commission. Through it all, she strives to maintain her kind of art. It is truly a book that the Virginia Woolf of A Room of One's Own would instantly understand. If you love classical music like I do, grab a copy of this book. You might just be carried away by its melodic sounds, and find love in its purest form.
18 January 2024
I've just finished re-reading The World is Round by Australian writer Louise Mack. Having culled about a dozen books today for donation (my ongoing 'Letting Go' project), I thought this will be my last addition for the day. I found a review to my liking, changed my mind; the book stays in my shelf for now. Reviewer: WHISPERINGGUMS (January 5, 2017). Accessed Jan 18, 2024, 6pm. whisperinggum's copy is the same as mine.
16 January 2024
Here's a Japanese novel I dawned upon my bookshelf. I must have read it moons ago, but it's good to revisit. The Twilight Years by Sawako Ariyoshi, translated by Mildred Tahara. The book looks at the problems of caring for the elderly in a verge of senility surrounding a modern industrial society. It tells the story of the Tachibanas, and ordinary family living in a Tokyo suburb, who after the sudden death of the husband's mother, are faced with the care of his aged father, Shigezo. The task of looking after the old man falls mainly on Akiko, his daughter-in-law, herself a working woman. With quiet desperation, she tries to support his struggle for independent survival, and by the same token, she puts up with her family's everyday life as an ordinary housewife's responses to unbearable pressures. The author "creates a story that has the poignancy and emotional force of subjective personal experience while retaining a universal meaning. (About the author: Ariyoshi Sawako, (20 January 1931 – 30 August 1984) was a Japanese writer, known for such works as The Doctor's Wife and The River Ki.
She was known for her advocacy of social issues, such as the elderly in
Japanese society, and environmental issues. Several of her novels
describe the relationships between mothers and their daughters. She also
had a fascination with traditional Japanese arts, such as kabuki and bunraku. She also described racial discrimination in the United States, something she experienced firsthand during her time at Sarah Lawrence, and the depopulation of remote Japanese islands during the 1970s economic boom.)
I've loved books all my life but lately, I mainly want to read a book that can refresh me like a bubble-bath after reading it. The clock's ticking fast and there are lots of wonderful books I'd love to read, five of them are beside me now... / Tel. 10 May 2021.
11 November 2023.
As some friends would know, I've been culling books from my 'ruthless' down-sizing. The exercise is sometimes painful especially letting go treasured books. And then again, we've got to face the moment with openness and acceptance of the inevitable 'time to let go'.
Here's one book I've decided to reread, and might not even let go. I've always loved reading historical fiction books. It's The Passion of Artemisia by Susan Vreeland. Artemisia Gentileschi was an artist during the Baroque era. It's a story of suffering, love and the triumph of talent. From her extraordinary creation of original paintings, patronage by the Medici and Galileo's friendship, this brilliant woman lived as she wanted, but paid a high price.
4 September 2021.
Olive Again [Hardcover]:
Olive, Again follows the blunt, contradictory yet deeply lovable Olive Kitteridge as she grows older, navigating the second half of her life as she comes to terms with the changes - sometimes welcome, sometimes not - in her own existence and in those around her. Olive adjusts to her new life with her second husband, challenges her estranged son and his family to accept him, experiences loss and loneliness, witnesses the triumphs and heartbreaks of her friends and neighbours in the small coastal town of Crosby, Maine - and, finally, opens herself to new lessons about life.
1 September 2021.
Oh the days dwindle down, to a precious few... but the days grow short when you reach September. Hello September!
I have few books waiting to be read. With lock down that started last week of June 2021 still going on due to COVID-19, I've slowed down on reading. Rather, I've been busy with other priorities; mainly, another interest, one that has gone through the cracks for a long, long time.
10 May 2021.
My latest read: Virginia Woolf by Hermione Lee. Published by Vintage Books. A Division of Random House, Inc. NY. 1999.
Subscribing to Virginia Woolf's own belief in the fluidity and elusiveness of identity, author Hermione Lee comes at her subject from a multitude of perspectives, producing a richly layered portrait of Adeline Virginia Stephen Woolf, the woman that leaves all of her complexities and contradictions intact.
Quoted:
"One of the most impressive biographies of the decade: moving, eloquent, powerful as both literary and social history."- Financial Times
"A biography wholly worthy of the brilliant woman it chronicles... It rediscovers Virginia Woolf afresh." - The Philadelphia Inquirer
27 January 2021.
I happily picked up some of my ordered books from my local bookstore yesterday. I'm so looking forward - too much reading to do. This is most likely my last entry for sometime...
19 January 2021.
Latest books in my pipeline I'm interested looking into:
- How Proust Can Change Your Life by Alain de Botton
- Marcel Proust's Search for Lost Time: A Reader's Guide to The Remembrance of Things Past by Patrick Alexander. (Am about to start reading it; got the book recently. My no. #1 priority book to-read.)
- The Blue Flower by Penelope Fitzgerald (local bookstore still looking into it)
- The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis (Rowan Coleman)
- What Stars are Made of by Donovan Moore. The life of Cecilia Payne-Gopppishkin. (already ordered; may take a while).
- Clementine by Sonia Purcel. (I'm surprise that before this work by Sonia Purcell, the only other biography of Winston Churchill's wife (influential in her own way despite playing it more traditional but a significant role as a woman's advocate) was written by Mary Churchill Soames, one of Churchill's daughters.)
And then I have several eBooks waiting in the pipeline mainly written by wonderful creative writer friends, including Jo Allen (Jennifer Young), Liz Ringrose, Janet Cameron, Chris Eirschele, Natasha Sheldon, Val Tobin, John Erwin, Carol Rzadkiewicz, and Maria Blanco, to name some. They're my active friends at Facebook.
This could be my last entry here. Lots of books waiting in the pipeline. I might be "quadruple-booking", that is, reading one main book, whilst three more started...
29 December 2020.
More books to explore. With physical distancing due to Covid-19, there's time to follow-up where these books will lead me... actually, I have few more to add to this list, later...
- The Greater Journey by David McCullough tells the enthralling, inspiring story of the adventurous American artists, writers, doctors, politicians, and others who set off for Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, hungry to learn and to excel in their work.
- The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon is a multi-layered tale about a ten-year-old boy named Daniel Sempere, who picks up a copy of a book by an author who seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. Daniel and his father live above a bookstore, and their lives revolve around the love of books.
- March by Geraldine Brooks. It's the story of the absent father from Louisa May Alcott′s Little Women - and conjures a world of brutality, stubborn courage and transcendent love. An idealistic abolitionist, March has gone as chaplain to serve the Union cause. But the war tests his faith not only in the Union - which is also capable of barbarism and racism - but in himself. Brooks novel is a love story set in a time of catastrophe. As March recovers from a near-fatal illness, he must reassemble and reconnect with his family, who have no idea of what he has endured. He explores the passions between a man and a woman, the tenderness of parent and child, and the life-changing power of an ardently held belief.
- The Woman from Saint Germain by J.R. Lonie. Two strangers go on the run to outwit the Nazis in 1941: She is a celebrated writer stranded in Paris after her French lover is killed fighting the German invasion. He is an enigmatic foreigner with a dangerous secret, fleeing Nazi-controlled Austria. Only the war could bring them together.
19 December 2020.
List of books I've noted in my iPhone that I'm interested looking into:
- The Crystal Cave (Arthurian Saga: Book 1) by Mary Stewart ... the last enchantment, the wicked day, the prince and the pilgrim - covering Arthurian legend.
- Madame Chrysanthème is a novel by Pierre Loti, autobiographical journal of a naval officer who was temporarily married to a Japanese woman while he was stationed in Nagasaki, Japan.
- The Woman on the Stairs by Bernard Schlink. It's not an examination of emotional inheritance as is Homecoming, nor intergenerational guilt like The Reader. Rather, it is the story of one individual's struggle to feel the losses and trauma he has experienced in his life.
- The Daughter of Victory Lights by Kerri Turner. An enthralling story of one woman’s determined grab for freedom after WW2 from a talented new Australian voice. This romance and historical novel is 'Part Cabaret, Part Burlesque...' Kerri Turner's second novel following her impressive debut novel The Last Days of the Romanov Dancers.
- The Light Behind the Window by Lucinda Riley, is a breathtaking and intense story of love, war and, above all, forgiveness.
- Tchaikovsky: The Early Years 1840-1874 by David Brown.
- What on Earth Have I Done?: Stories, Observations, and Affirmations by Robert Fulghum. Somehow, I turn to his books when I need some uplifting, a smile or a chuckle. What on Earth Have I Done? is an armchair tour of everyday life as seen by Robert Fulghum, a man who has two feet planted firmly on the earth, one eye on the heavens and, at times, a tongue planted firmly in his cheek. The answer is neve easy... Fulghum writes to his fellow travelers, with a sometimes light heart, about the deep and vexing mysteries of being alive.
25 November 2020.
Added in my list of books I want to read: The Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke. A bewitching novel about love, second chances and the power of music.
16 October 2020.
What I would want to read: Exile and the Kingdom by Albert Camus, translated from the French by Justin O'Brien. (Resource: Goodreads)
The book comprises of six stories, written at the height of Camus' artistic powers, all depicting people at their decisive, revelatory moments in their lives. The six works featured in this volume are:
"The Adulterous Woman" ("La Femme adultère")
"The Renegade or a Confused Spirit" ("Le Renégat ou un esprit confus")
"The Silent Men" ("Les Muets")
"The Guest" ("L'Hôte")
"Jonas or the Artist at Work" ("Jonas ou l’artiste au travail")
"The Growing Stone" ("La Pierre qui pousse")
11 September 2020.
An interesting link I found today, choc a block with organised information of great books and literary works in chronological order works best books. The website creator/author (BeckChris) collected over 25 lists of the best books and best literature of all time and combined them into one meta-list, sourced listed. Make Lists, Not War: The meta-lists website. Accessed 14 Nov 2020.
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