falco claimed he was also a punker....err.....not sure about that

i am listening to mozart's "requiem mass" as today is the anniversary of the death of wolfgang amadeus mozart. he is -in my mind- one of the most prodigious, brilliant, prolific, genius talents to live. 214 years later, his music fills every corner of the world.

i first heard his music earlier than my memory's reach. when he was a child, he wrote "twinkle..twinkle..little star." it's probably one of the first bits of music sung with most children of the western world. i knew some of his most popular pieces all through my childhood. i didn't want to listen to any of it; but, it is ubiquitous, and i couldn't have prevented learning it if i had wanted to. do you remember the scene in "amadeus" when salieri is trying to play for the priest some recognizable music of his own composing? this scene illustrates my point. in high school, the movie "amadeus" was released, and knowing his work became slightly cool; though, not cool enough to pull me away from the forgettable dreck i was listening to at the time. dreck like falco's "rock me amadeus". although this stuff is crap, i still like to listen to it. i may just refer to that quality as relating to my being properly diverse in my tastes.

it was on my mission that i really began to listen to the works of mozart. we were strictly limited in the music to which we were allowed to listen ,and a 19 year-old can only listen to a finite amount of mormon tabernacle choir before needing to shove a hot poker into his eustachian tubes. i was given a taped copy of the soundtrack to the movie, and i listened to it endlessly. when the funds were available, i would buy a new tape filled with compositions i had not previously known. there was always something familiar in each of his pieces. it was amazing. i came to recognize that there was a huge world of music that i had been ignoring. mozart was my first step.

wolfgang was without peer in the musical world. his problem was that of his being unwilling to play the game. in those days, financial success was dependent on royal favor, and teaching music to the elite. he was unwilling to suffer fools long enough to be paid for his unmatched services. he drove from him those who could have been his greatest champions. to complicate matters, mozart was a horrible spendthrift. when his health began to deteriorate (probably from kidney failure) he was irretrievably in debt....and alone. on 5 december, 1791 he succumbed in the arms of his wife. unable to afford a funeral befitting his talents, he was buried in an unmarked grave just outside vienna, austria. he was younger than i when he died, having not yet reached his 36th birthday.

thank God for giving mozart the talents he exhibited. his music is filled with beauty, and passion, and a depth of feeling missing from most of the works of other composers we laud as brilliant. mozart was truly a musical genius and alone in his ability to create virtual perfection.

here's an interesting post-script :when i was a kid, many adults thought the music i listened to was without merit. not only that, it was rife with corruption-producing qualities. my parents were given the same treatment by their elders when the beatles entered the scene. today, i listen to the teenie-bopper stations and am alarmed at the morally deficient excreta emanating from my speakers (i have previously stated the fact that i am getting old.) in his day, youth of europe were forbidden to listen to some of the works of mozart because they were too provocative and sensual for the day. i find that hilarious. i guess old people always have, and always will be irrational and paranoid.