Advertisement
Published: December 23rd 2008
Edit Blog Post
One of my first trips to Italy and German was to take me to Saltzberg. I knew that this was Mozart's birthplace and longed to retrace this composor's steps--the most talented musician to ever live in my opinion. Unfortunately, it was the part of the trip that was cut, and my only image of Austria was waking up as my train stopped and seeing snow from the window. I didn't consider myself having travelled to Austria.
On this trip to Vienna, I was very pleased to discover that Mozart also spent a good deal of his life here. It was the last ten years of his life and destined to be some of the most tumultuous. In two days time, I retraced and captured some of this part of his life.
Taking a bit of research with me, I head to the Michaels kirche. This is the church where Mozart's Requium, my favorite piece, was performed--just days after his death. It seems that it was indeed written for himself though he didn't finish it all. He had instructed one of his pupils to do so before his demise on 5 December 1791. The day before I arrived in Vienna
would be exactly 207 years after his death. A Count had been the one to threaten and bribe Mozart into writing this piece. And the Count was the first one credited with the magnificient score. I take in the simple view of the church and image the fiery violins representing hell, the angelic voices rising above, and the challenges between the instruments and the heavy baritone voices in the piece. It's moving to imagine the demonic and angelic music, celebrating the life of this man.
I continue my walk and see the cathedral where he and Constance married. Mozart actually made a lot of money during his day, although he did have very lusch taste and spent even more than he earned. He did save the money to properly marry in the towering Saint Stephen's Dom Cathedral. I imagine a small wedding in one part of the cathedral--proper, but limited. Mozart is happy; Constance is youthful and naive; and the priest is serious. The people are happy to celebrate this even for a favorite celebrity.
A few doors down, I see an apartment where Mozart stayed for 3 weeks when he was considering a transition to Vienna from
Saltzberg. And a few more steps takes me to this old house, the only surviving building where he lived in Vienna. it is a 4-story house where he lived on the second story. I saw where he stepped, practiced, and wrote the Marriage of Figaro. He had a nice view of the street in a medium-sized parlor where music must have been played. The place has almost a magical feel about it, and I know the genius that these walls had heard.
Continuing on this wet, cold day, I go to Schlossbrun, the main castle in Vienna. It was here where Mozart had played at the age of 6 for the most known empress, Marie Theresie. He supposedly jumped into her lap as well! There, he also had a competition with Antonio Salieri, to compare the value of Italian Opera with German song, Salieri winning the day. I attended the Marionette Theater to see a puppet performance of the Magic Flute. The opera was a perfect background to a troup of puppets dancing in front. And the kids, of course, were just as much part of the show, with one boy leaping across several people's laps to get to
his mom during the overture. I think he was afraid of the snake!
The second day of this search brought me to several plaques commemorating buildings where Mozart once lived, but also to a plaque on a modern department store showing where the building was where he died. He was working on the Requiem at the time until he burst into tears. 11 hours later he was dead. I have pictures in my mind of it all--so early to lose this genius.
I continue this journey by travelling on the streetcar to his gravesite. It is quite a distance and I imagine a wagon carrying the body slowly going the entire distance. I walk through St. Marx Graveyard's doors. Tombstones file one after another, wearing down over time. They remind me of crooked teeth, going in every direction. Statues are broken. angels missing limbs. I follow the small sign to a clearing. There, in the middle of a small meadow is a clean, white pillar. The pillar is broken to symbolize this man's life was not complete. A cherub bows his head mournfully. I do the same.
I realize that this is the end of my search
and was the end of Mozart's life. He truly changed the musical world forever and will always be remembered. The most famous of classical pieces in your head are probably by him. And I walk away with more of an appreciation than ever.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.083s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 12; qc: 51; dbt: 0.0415s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb