Here’s a link to a story in The Economist newspaper about the 250th anniversary of Handel’s death. It seems a little odd to celebrate a composer’s death (as compared to, say, the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth). Handel’s music wasn’t that bad.

On this the 250th aniversary of the birth of the much revered Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I have compiled a (hyperlink annotated) list of The Mozart Facts

• Born January 27, 1756 in Salzburg, Austria
• Died December 5, 1791 at the age of 35
• He was born to Father Leopold and Mother Maria Anna Pertl
• He was baptized at St. Rupert’s Cathedral
• On August 4, 1782 he married Constanze Weber
• He was buried in a peasant’s grave in Vienna at St. Marx Cemetery
• His full legal name was Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart
• Wrote of 626 unique works.
• He composed his first symphony at the age of 8
• Haydn once said Mozart is ‘the greatest composer known to me in person or by name; he has taste and, what is more, the greatest knowledge of composition’
• Mozart had a special relationship with Prague - He premiered the opera Don Giovanni there on October 29, 1787, and supported himself for many years through commissions originating from the city.
• He was a Freemason, and belonged to the same Masonic Lodge as Haydn

More to come

Looks like things are getting ridiculous now in Salzburg as local merchants attempt to capitalize on the $8.8 billion Mozart Marketing Machine. With no descendants to protect the family name, the market follows the path of least resistance - so from Mozart schnapps to Mozart jogging pants there is something for all on streets of Mozart’s city.

Fortunately there is more on offer than Mozart branded bras and golf balls. For example the Cambridge University Press has published a new Mozart Encyclopedia, director Phil Grabsky has released a new documentary, “In Search of Mozart”, and critic Anthony Holden published “THE MAN WHO WROTE MOZART: The Extraordinary Life of Lorenzo Da Ponte”. For more information Hugh Canning from The Sunday Times has a more detailed look at some of this Mozart literature.

[From: Newsweek]

2006 is here, and after a year of anticipation, the celebration of the 250th aniversary of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s (1756-1791) birth is upon us. As stated this is “Post 1″ of what is likely to be many leading up to January 27th (Mozart’s birthday), and likely an entire year of Mozart Mania, all Mozart all the time.

I am not a Mozart fanboy by any stretch, in fact at one time I may have been somewhat dismissive of his music before I gave it fair play. Now that there is so much hype, perhaps more than there has been for any classical composer ever(?), this may be the chance for other dismissive types to get on board. So I can deal with a year of WAM overkill (and because I would be complaining if there was no hype).

Fair warning

It all started in a small, pear-shaped metal box labeled “Beethoven” containing thirteen skull fragments. Two of these fragments underwent forensic testing at the University of Munster, the results of which were compared to the DNA from a lock (the “Guevara” lock) of Beethoven’s Hair to confirm Beethoven as the owner.

The owner of the box - Paul Kaufman - who inherited the remains through a relative, has the fragments on long term loan to the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies. Apparently the Seligmann-Kaufman’s family obtained the skull fragments in 1863 when Beethoven’s remains were exhumed to preserve them in a new casket.

Today researchers at the Argonne National Laboratory, using the fragments described above definitively confirmed the presence of significant levels of lead - more than 100 times higher than nominal levels for Beethoven’s time (Graphs of Results).

“The testing indicated large amounts of lead in the Beethoven bone sample, compared to the control,â€? said Bill Walsh, chief scientist at the Pfeiffer Treatment Center in Warrenville, Ill., and director of the Beethoven Research Project. “There’s no doubt in my mind . . . he was a victim of lead poisoning”

The testing was performed with the Advanced Photon Source X-Ray Scanner at the Argonne Lab using a process known as “X-Ray Fluorescence Intensity”.

Beethoven is well known to have suffered through terrible health problems throughout his life, problems he often wrote about saying in a letter dated 1801:

… but that jealous demon, my bad health, has thrown a wicked hindrance my way: for three years my hearing has been getting ever weaker, and this is supposed to be on account of my abdomen [Unterleib], which, as you know, was already miserable then [der schon damals wie Du weist elend war], but here it has become worse because I was constantly burdened with diarrhea [Durchfall]…¹

While the source of the lead is not known, this discovery now definitively confirms the source of the health problems that plagued Beethoven throughout his life to be lead, and further puts to rest any speculation that he did not contract or suffer from syphilis (due to undetectable mercury levels). It is unlikely that lead was the cause of Beethoven’s deafness.

Note that this theory is not new as similar results were obtained from tests done on two of Beethoven’s hairs in 2000 (CBC News Story) but were not conclusive. During the tests the hairs were destroyed, and the owner was not willing to perform further testing until recently when less invasive tests became available.

[From: The Washington Post]

Interview and video available at PBS

¹www2.sjsu.edu/depts/beethoven/skull/abdominal.html

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote the “Grosse Fuge” in Bâ™­ Opus 134 in 1825-1826 less than two years before his death (March 26, 1827). The work is actually an arrangement of the Große Fuge Op. 133 string quartet finale for piano with four hands.

The manuscript last surfaced in 1890 at auction in Berlin where it is believed to have begun its journey to the United States and subsequently to the basement archives of the Palmer Theological Seminary in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania. It was discovered by librarian Heather Carbo who happened upon the score while rearranging a storage area. It is now believed that a Cincinnati industrialist named William Howard Doane purchased the score at the 1890 auction and passed it on to his daughter Margaret Treat Doane who donated it to the seminary in 1950.

The “Grosse Fuge” manuscript is an 80 page work written in brown ink by Beethoven himself - a rampant writing of notes and scribbles with many phrases scratched out and tempestuous markings that seem to follow the ups-and-downs of the music written around them.

A transcript of an interview with the manuscript’s discoverer is available at www.classicalmusicphiladelphia.com/carbo.htm

There’s a fellow over in Kalamazoo Michigan who has put out a CD consisting of a number of variations of the “Mary Had a Little Lamb”" melody (The Probably Untrue Story - $13 at Sonus Novus). Apparently when played for children, the kids go “giddy” for this CD while gaining an appreciation for Classical Music.

“If kids really like and find that education is entertaining, they will be absorbed by it and they won’t want to put it down.”

The CD is the brainchild of Micah Levy, former director of the Orange County (CA) Chamber Orchestra. He also has a master’s degree in orchestral conducting, and plays the French Horn professionally. He started the project in an attempt to improve his composing skills.

The disc is built around the story of Mary and her little lamb Petunia who is not allowed to accompany Mary to school… Mary gets lost on the way home as Levy explores the familiar melody while dramatizing her long journey home. Anything to get young people into classical.

[From: The Kalamazoo Gazette]

“The art of music here entombed a rich possession, but even fairer hopes.”

On this day in 1828, Franz Schubert (Jan. 31, 1797 - Nov. 19, 1828) succame to what may have been a long battle with syphilis¹ and perhaps the remedy of the day - mercury treatment². Schubert was in his 31st year when he passed, making him the youngest of the great composers of his time.

Although he lived only a mere 31 years Schubert was very prolific. He was a dedicated composer, who clearly preferred spending much of his time writing music, sometimes completing two or more works per day.

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