Magnificent, Magical Mozart

Anyone who thinks that classical music is "dead" need only visit Salzburg on Mozart's birthday. Similarly, anyone who thinks classical music is "boring" need only attend a performance of Mozart's the Magic Flute at Vienna State Opera House. While back in America many of my fellow students consider music like Mozart's to be stuffy and outdated, his compositions are still alive and thriving in Austria. I would argue that Mozart is, in fact, an Austrian rock star, still highly revered 260 years after his birth.

Being in Salzburg on Mozart's birthday was quite the experience. People from all around the world come to celebrate with different events throughout the day. We decided to attend the final event of the day, the cake-cutting ceremony, before making our way to a concert by the Vienna Philharmonic. Imagine, if you will, about a hundred or so people all crowded around one large cake adorned with Mozart's face and various musical decorations while a brass quintet and a children's choir performing out the windows of Mozart's birth home, flooding the streets with music. For music lovers like us, this was a truly magical experience. However, I couldn't help but think that while Mozart may have found grown adults fighting over cake quite humorous, I doubt he would have appreciated the number of people who gave speeches before the cake was actually cut and served. In all my studies of him so far on this trip, he has never struck me as a particularly patient man so this struck me as a bit ironic.

Hearing the Vienna Phil perform a Mozart symphony on his birthday was equally incredible. Their performance of his Haffner Symphony was beautiful. Their technique was flawless and they really knew which little quirks in the music that make Mozart special to bring out. There is really nothing more I can say about the Vienna Phil other than various synonyms for "beautiful" and "perfect" to be quite honest. Earlier that day we also had cake and coffee at a cafe in Salzburg that Mozart used to frequent. It was so weird to sit their and imagine Mozart a few feet away, maybe working on a new composition. It really felt like we were walking in his footsteps that day.

However, none of this can be allowed to overshadow the performance of Mozart's opera the Magic Flute that we saw last evening because it was equally spectacular. While I love Mozart's symphonies, I feel as if one cannot truly understand who he was, both as a composer and a person, until they have sat through a good production of one of his operas. The Magic Flute is incredible because it somehow manages to be both ridiculous and beautiful at the same time. On one end of the spectrum, you have the Queen of the Night singing what I can only assume is one of the most difficult arias out there. The performer we heard at the Vienna State Opera House sang this aria so well, in fact, that our jaws nearly dropped to the floor. However, on the other end of the spectrum, you have Papageno (who I have a secret love for after being serenaded at our Mozart dinner in Salzburg) running around the stage (and through the orchestra pit and audience at times) singing about how lovesick he is while the audience howls in laughter. This is what I love about Mozart's opera. He combines all of these different emotions with the fantastical to create something both entertaining and beautiful. The production we saw did a particularly good job of portraying this. The effects used during the opera were incredible. How often do you attend a performance that includes live birds, giant dancing bears and rhinos, fireworks, and actors flying across the stage. However, the opera did not have to rely on these effects at all because the musicians were absolutely fantastic. Overall, I think it was a performance Mozart himself would have thoroughly enjoyed and it was a pleasure to experience it in a city that he loved.

Adieu,
Megan Cummings