rock me amadeus
(Set design for Mozart's The Magic Flute, by Karl Friedrich Schinkel, 1816.)
Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön,
Wie noch kein Auge je gesehn!
Ich fühl es, wie dies Götterbild
Mein Herz mit neuer Regung füllt.
Dies Etwas kann ich zwar nicht nennen,
Doch fühl' ich's hier wie Feuer brennen.
Soll die Empfindung Liebe sein?
Ja, ja die Liebe ist's allein.
O wenn ich sie nur finden könnte!
O wenn sie doch schon vor mir stände!
Ich würde, würde, warm und rein,
Was würde ich?
Ich würde sie voll Entzücken
An diesen heißen Busen drücken,
Und ewig wäre sie dann mein!
Oh, what joy! Even if All Things Considered, Day to Day, Marketplace and every single newscast on Spanish tv repeated the fact, I would have remembered, as indeed I woke up this morning and, save for some confusion as to what exactly that dream was all about, my immediate thought was one of a most hearty
ALLES GUTE ZUM 250te GEBURTSTAG
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Ah, yes, just a mere 250 years ago, little Johannes Chrysostomus [St. John Chrysostom] Wolfgangus [name of maternal grandfather] Theophilus [literally "lover of God" - I'm delighted with the whole Theo + phile bit, for some reason] Mozart {WAM - Oh, for an 'H'!} was born in Salzburg, and before he died he had composed some of the most ridiculously amazing music ever written, to which I have to personally attribute hundreds of hours of entertainment, from childhood to adult sleepmusic, as well as studymusic, as well as I'm-going-to-sit-down-and-paint-now-whatever-shall-I-listen-to-while-I-do-so-? music (the DDR {Deutsche Demokratische Republik, you trogs} recording of Die Zauberflöte (Magic Flute) is singularly responsible for my focusing on everything that I drew during the past Christmas break, so if you received any of my paintings, you can send personal thanks to Mozart for allowing me to focus long enough to complete them.)
The bit quoted above, Dies Bildnis ist bezaubernd schön (roughly: "this portrait is amazingly beautiful"), from Act I of The Magic Flute, is one of my favourite pieces by him; it breaks my heart, quite earnestly, that, at most, two people who read this livejournal understand the German language. When the above text is put to Mozart's music, and delivered with the right elements of longing, the absolutely frigid germanic tongue is transformed into an easy defeater of any Italian or French effort - Tamino (go read the plot, you uncultured Snozzwangers) is overcome with such great emotion, truly asking if the sensations that he is feeling are love, if he can possibly be sure of such a thing, having never felt it before, and (despite the fact that these emotions are stirred pretty much exclusively by a picture and an avid description of the potential object of his affections - practically a pragmatic union, very typical of the XVIII century) he asks himself honestly, tenderly, if it is indeed the emotion that he senses, if the sudden fire in his soul can be anything but love (eventually concluding that it is, and setting the entire plot in motion.)
I would love Mozart for that, alone. But when you add the brilliance of his symphonies, and of his other operas (tongue-in-cheek Cosi fan Tutte and Marriage of Figarro in particular, though the Turkish music in Abduction from the Seraglio are equally fucking amazing), and the mind-numbing genius of the Requiem Mass...is there any doubt, whatsoever, that the man was one of the few veritably indisputable arguments for the inherent glory of mankind? It is with this in mind (even now I can only think of perhaps Leonardo DaVinci as one equally deserving of such elegies) that we (in this case being accurate in pluralizing, as it seems everyone is taking part in this, from the media to individuals) take the opportunity to commemorate a truly brilliant man who, it can with all assurance be said, changed civilization for the better with his person. Prost, Trazom.
Some other notes:
- As previously mentioned, we are currently on hiatus, meaning that this will be read later on, if at all (mind you, besides using livejournal as a forum / vocal-point, I do actually use livejournal as a personal reflection-scribbler so, in denying everyone access to the more recent entries, I see myself in no way hampered from continuing to publish them, even if the audience is limited to the ever-welcoming singular self.) Why am I hiatus? That's a long story. Eventually I'll decide if it's worth telling. But it was time for a break.
- I'll still use it (livejournal), hiatus or not, to congratulate lenin_grad - she just got her citizenship. Ergo, hurrah! I'm not sure if it is a "congratulations" sort of situation, but indeed, again, hurrah!
- I want to see Tristam Shandy, very much. Et Le Jardinier Contant, et Bonsoir et Bon Chance.
- I am in the middle of annotating Elisabeth Badinter's XY: The Masculine Identity for an optional sociology paper that, it seems, I have decided to opt to compose. I'm actually terribly pleased with it; the woman is a fascinating writer, despite it being a translation, and some of the points that she makes I find definitely valid. There is, however, an absolutely brilliant digression into the role of circumcision in masculinity which I am going to append as soon as I can, mainly because it is absolutely ridiculous and I never want to forget it, though I imagine that reflections on Madame (she's a French feminist-sociologist) Badinter's work will make for an entire post of it's own.
- After underlying quotes throughout the book in the dawn hours of yesterday, I spent most of today lackadaisically transferring them from book to computer screen (I've about 12 pages of typed notes now, which is good, because there's still a bit to cover, and then a few other sources to visit); while I did this pretty mindless labour I listened to the radio. Alot. I especially enjoyed the All Things Considered tribute to Mozart, which, besides several stories dedicated to him throughout the show, consisted in using his works as transition music between every single story aired today, instead of the usual eclectic mix of artists and styles, yet still managing to capture the individual mood of each reported piece. It was a nice, subtle touch, which they only pointed out at the very end of the show (though I caught on by the third piece, and it made me smile all the way through.)
- Day to Day, meanwhile, did a piece on hair extensions made from imported Indian hair. While unfascinating, it was hilarious to hear the reporter's absolute disgust with the subject of her piece, emphasized by the way she kept repeating and emphasizing the phrase "someone else's hair" and essentially incorporating it into every possible sentence and question, always with a vocal italization of the words.
- They also did a story on Cafe Gratitude. I only point this out because I first read about the cafe just a few days ago, on a total stranger's livejournal. (Ha. I just tried to re-find it. No luck. Lost to the ages. Tragödie.)
- The last of the Billy Collins postcards have gone out.
- Just found this - the {ohtoowonderful} curtain for the Maurice Sendak production design of The Magic Flute. I was in it, in...1998? Amazing stuff at any rate - imagine the drawings from Where The Wild Things Are, expanded into costume and set design for an entire opera. This screen hung in front of the set, instead of the usual curtain, before the beginning of the performance - that's Mozart's outline in the bungalow.
Fix und fertig.
[Edit: This entry was private until the afternoon of 2 February, 2006, as part of the "short hiatus" of the same year.]