Rock Me, Amadeus

Newcastle Herald

Thursday February 23, 2006

Chris Watson

Austria is going all out to

celebrate 250 years of

Mozart with fireworks,

concerts and exhibits.

Until now, visitors to Salzburg and Vienna

have found it hard to avoid the memory of

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. This year, it?s

going to be nearly impossible. Austria is celebrating

the 250th birthday of its beloved composer with

unprecedented fi reworks, concerts and exhibits.

Mozart was born on January 27, 1756, in Salzburg,

and the exhibit ?Viva! Mozart!? opened last month

on that anniversary. Included in the display are original

compositions, including a minuet the prodigy wrote when

he was fi ve years old.

By the age of three, Mozart was already playing the keyboard,

at fi ve he wrote his fi rst composition and when he died at 35 he

left behind a prodigious body of some 630 works including 41 symphonies and 27 piano

concertos.

Even those who profess to be a cultural ignoramus can hum a Mozart tune ? such as

the nursery rhyme Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star (he wrote the music, the words were added

later) ? while many a person unknowingly has a Mozart composition as a ringtone on their

mobile phone.

Babies today are played Mozart?s compositions to stimulate their intellectual development,

and when Voyager 1 took off for the edge of the solar system in 1977, it was carrying a

recording of Mozart?s Magic Flute among other examples of music from earth.

Mozart died in dire fi nancial straits with the Requiem, his fi nal work, left unfi nished.

The celebration this year is the ?materialization of the unbelievable spirit of Mozart,?

according to Erich Marx, director of the Carolino Augusteum Museum, which will host the

show until the end of January, 2007.

Those who want to experience Mozart in all his acoustic glory can look forward to a

concert marathon when the Salzburg Festival presents all 22 of Mozart?s stage pieces from

July 24 until August 31.

There will also be free admission to all of Salzburg?s churches, where Mozart?s complete

church music works will be performed during the year.

Vienna, where Mozart died in 1791, has a central role in the program?s 1000 events.

It?s all about creating a musical and cultural year that will be ?an experience?, instead of

an event, says Peter Marboe, the director of the Vienna Mozart Year.

Two Viennese buildings will be in the spotlight. The Theatre an der Wien, which has long

been used for musicals like Cats, has been readied once again for operas and will be the

city?s central playhouse for 2006.

The Mozarthaus Vienna, on Domgasse 5, will also host new productions once renovations

are completed. Mozart lived there for long stretches, writing Figaro during one stay.

One goal of the festival year is to make Mozart more accessible in general and more

interesting to young people in particular. To that end there will be 350 street concerts

around Vienna, says Marboe, who has a budget of 30 million euro ($A48.3 million) for the

anniversary.

With so much commotion, one has to ask if it will be ?Mozart or nothing?? in Austria.

Tourism spokesperson Leonie Stolz says: ?We will set up alternatives, probably through

deals for families with children?.

More information: www.austria.info and www.mozart2006.net

Rock me,

Amadeus

© 2006 Newcastle Herald

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