Mozart, music and chocolate

Yes, yes, Mozart's birthday was yesterday, I know it came and it's gone. However, as it is still Mozart Week, this household will spend it listening to Wolferl's music and we will stuff ourselves with Mozartkugeln. We made stocks during our time in Austria and we are still getting through them. I tookthis picture in Salzburg, where Mozart as born 270 years ago and one day. They sell the stuff everywhere, in all sorts of varieties. But more on that in another post. I thought it would be fitting to share a bit of Cosi fan tutte. One of my operatic obsessions. It's about love and, yes, sometimes it is also about chocolate.

Happy Birthday Wolferl!

Today is the birthday of of Wolfgang Johannes Chrysostome Amadeus Mozart, aka Trazom when he signed his documents, aka Wolferl as he was called by his family, aka that kid from Salzburg, aka the greatest composer who ever lived. And my favourite. I have been listening to his music all weekend and will obviously listen to his music more today, non stop. To celebrate on this blog, I have decided to share the sextet from Cosi fan tutte. I came to Mozart through his operas, so it makes sense that I use them toc elebrate him. I think this one shows very well Mozart's virtuosity and art. It's dynamic, it's funny, it's joyful, it's gorgeous, so it should put you in a dreary January Monday.

Stocking on Mozartkugeln

As tomorrow is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, I bought some Mozartkugeln from the local sweet shop. Toshare with my family, maybe, perhaps, as long as they listen to Mozart with me. This weekend has been one listening to a lot of Mozart music, I mean more than usual. But I learned some sad news: Salzburg will no longer be producing the famous chocolates since the factory got bankrupted. This is a bloody shame. Fearing of losing the chocolates forever, in a panic, I bought two boxes instead of one yesterday. Anyway, it's not about the chocolates, it's about the music, so I am sharing here a duet from Cosi fan tutte. Because it premiered on this date. Enjoy.

Listening to Cosi fan tutte

 You may remember that I blogged back in 2023 about South African soprano Golda Schultz (my favourite soprano and Mozartian opera singer) making her debut at Royal Opera House in the role of Fiordiligi in  Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. Sadly, I could not attend it in London. However, it is currently playing on BBC Radio 3. I cannot watch it, but I can listen to it. I am listening to it, in fact.I suggest you do the same.

'Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!'

Here's some great musical news, at least for me: South African soprano Golda Schultz (maybe my favourite soprano) is releasing a new album, called Mozart, You Drive Me Crazy!. About Mozart's music from the three operas he composed in collaboration with librettist Lorenzo Da Ponte. Now, there are many like this, but Schultz just gets Mozart, she is one of the most Mozartian opera singers we have now. Plus, she loves the composer so much, she is as much a fan as she is a singer. And it shows when she sings it. This album is a labour of love and I intend to either buy it, or put it on my birthday presents list. But maybe I will not be able to wait until my birthday, even though it is soon. In any case, check this video about it:

Golda Schultz as Fiordiligi

This should be a treat: I learned through social media that South African soprano Golda Schultz (maybe my favourite soprano) will be making her Royal Opera House debut as Fiordiligi in (well of course) Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. Now how cool is that? This is what she had to say about it when she made the announcement: 

"FINALLY this is a debut I never thought would come my way! Royal Opera Covent Garden- I’m on my way! Singing the glorious music of Mozart with a cast of brilliant singers. Grateful doesn’t even begin to describe what I feel.I sang an audition on that stage in December 2010 and I bombed. I cracked on notes, had to restart in front of their executive casting staff- your basic horror audition story for any young artist! But I picked myself up. Went back to the drawing board and promised myself that I would forgive myself my mistakes, forgive myself my anxiety and keep moving forward. I did and now because I took the steps to move through the “failure” I am getting an opportunity to share music I love with another audience. I get to make music with some great friends and hopefully make new ones. So come on London! Can’t wait to be there next June."

I admire her even more that she opened about a past failure and showed her vulnerability so openly. But with vulnerability comes resilience, discipline and an incredible commitment to her art. She proved time and again, in other productions, that she is a natural and accomplished Mozartian singer. So now I will need to find a way to watch this production. Probably not in London itself, but I think I can probably find a cinema that will show the live performance or I will stream it. Either way, I am so glad she is coming here.

Mozart and his birthday

Today is a seminal date for music and music lovers. Because it is of course the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Incidentally my favourite composer. I celebrate listening to his music, I mean more than usual, particularly his operas, because it is how I truly discovered Mozart and this is how his music found a way to my heart. I also read books about him, fiction or biographies, or simply essays. On the reading this list, starting today is Mozart and his Operas by David Cairns, a present from my wife. But there are others I will reread. I might do like last year and spend a lot of time on social media today, exchanging reading suggestions about Amadeus. I would not end my post on Mozart without one aria to share. This year, it is from Cosi fan tutte,sung by Elsa Dreisig. I hope you enjoy.

265 years of Mozart

Today is the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, my favourite composer. He would have been 265 years old if he was sitll alive, so this means that human civilisation has more or less lived for 265 years with Mozart's music (since he started composing at a very early age). With such considerable body of work, I never know what to share on this blog to celebrate. I thought a lot about it and decided to go for an aria from Cosi fan tutte. I came to love Mozart through his operas and this is because of his operas that he is my favourite composer. Also because it will allow me to share an observation on this aria, Per pieta, here so beautifully interpreted by Swedish soprano Miah Persson. It is a love song, but one that is about contradictory feelings: Fiordiligi has started to fall in love, or at least be infatuated, with another man than her fiancé Guglielmo. In the orchestra, you can hear the horns part quite distinctly. Now in a love song, you would generally not expect to the brass to be so preponderant and to be paired with a soprano. In one of the YouTube comments about this aria, you can read a possible explanation of why Mozart paired French horns and a soprano voice: Fiordiligi is contemplating adultery. She might cuckhold Guglielmo (and spoiler alert: she will later on). In effect, she might give him horns. Later on, when the deed is done, Guglielmo will in fact lament that she has given him horns. So the horns, with their upbeat and pleasant tune striking against the rather sorrowful rest of the partition are basically expressing temptation. A temptation that will eventually overcome her guilt. I read this, listened to the aria again and again, and I was flabbergasted. Now that is just pure Mozart's musical genius.

"All women do it"

No, no, this is not the title of a work of pornographic nature (although let's face it: it could be), it is the title in English of Cosi fan tutte, which premiered 230 years ago today. I have grown quite fond of and fascinated with this opera over the years and thought it needed to be celebrated on Vraie Fiction. So "All women do it" is its title and also the moral of the story. As in "all women are unfaithful, if given the opportunity". Sexist, cynical? Absolutely, yet it is difficult to find flaws in Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto, or Mozart's music. As an external observer, one can easily see how love is fleeting, capricous and fickle. In the end, Cosi is cruel like comedies often are, but in all honesty you cannot fault the argument or the demonstration. Anyway, I have two videos for you, one which gives you a rundown of the plot with commentary, made by the people at Opera Cheats, and one duet from the opera itself, sung beautifully by Anke Vondung and Miah Persson, as Dorabella and Fiordiligi respectively.

Mozartian crimes

Tomorrow is the 230th anniversary of the premiere of Cosi fan tutte. Maybe Mozart's best opera, certainly his most cynical. I will properly celebrate tomorrow of course, and the next day is Mozart's birthday, so another excuse to blog about it and share my love for the music. It may be a coincidence, but I am reading at the moment... Cosi Fan Tutti, by (British) crim writer Michael Dibdin. I found this novel at total random, saww the title and knew I had to have it. So far so good, although I find ti a bit light for my liking. I quite enjoy, if nothing else, the connections with Mozart: like the opera, the novel is set in Naples and the B plot involves a similar scheme of fooling two people into cheating. The difference is that the victims of this scheme are two Neapolitan thugs instead of two ladies, hence the gender switch in the title, tutti instead of tutte.

"Men, Women and Sexual Politics"

This title is not about a philosophical essay, but about Cosi fan tutte by Mozart. I stumbled on YouTube on the overture of last year's production of the opera by the Metropolitan Opera and I really loved it. It is a clever way to get the spectator involved in the story from the overture onwards. More importantly, it sums up perfectly what the opera is all about. Men, women, lust, chocolate (no kidding), poison, lies, etc. And, explaining its essence in one single brilliant line: "A sophisticated analysis of men, women and sexual politics in two acts." This is Cosi fan tutte in a nutshell. Like one of my friends said on Facebook when I shared it: "I wanted to keep watching." Now to try to find the whole thing.

"Love is a thief, a serpent..."

It is Valentine's Day, a day I never liked much: when you are single it is depressing, when you are in a relationship it is stressful. That said, as it is the day of love, let us look at one aspect of it, rather than celebrate it. I usually share one song on Valentine's Day, this year it will be from Cosi fan tutte of Mozart. I developed a fascination for this opera, which is about the fleeting aspect of love, its capricious nature and the duplicity of lovers. Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte had no fear of stepping on uneasy territory and no wonder the opera was taboo for so long. But anyway, here is È amore un landrocello (Love is a thief) sung by Anke Vondung as Dorabella.

A duet from Cosi fan tutte

Since I watched Cosi fan tutte in the local park two months ago, I have been rediscovering this opera and decided to find some free time to watch again all three collaborative works between Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Lorenzo da Ponte, back to back. Not sure if I will have time until my own little Wolfie arrives, but at least that gives him the occasion to hear Mozart while he is in the womb, and apparently it's good for him and his intellectual development. Anyway, so I thought I would share a duet from Cosi fan tutte, the duet Il core vi dono, sung between Guglielmo (Luca Pisaroni) and Dorabella (Anke Vondung). As I mentioned in my previous post on the subject, if I had studied opera enough to become a professional opera singer, Guglielmo would have been my role, as I am a baritone. Fittingly enough, Guglielmo is also Guillaume in Italian. It's is absolutely sublime as a duet and like the whole opera a complete deconstruction of what a love duet should be. In fact, it is far more about infatuation than love and as you can read in the subtitles, the lyrics are surprisingly raunchy. But it is beautiful all the same and the rendition here is amazing.

Pimm's and Mozart in the park

One cannot seldom evenings as ideal as the one I've had last Sunday. There was a representation of Cosi fan tutte by Mozart in the town's most important park. Not a live one, it was on a big screen and from recorded stage performance dating back from last year, but all the same. It was Mozart, for free, on a gorgeous evening of June, in a beautiful park. And to top it off, they were serving Pimm's. Not for free, it was two pounds a glass, there was a good deal left near the end of the evening, two pounds a pint and one pound a half. But it was for charity, so there was no reason to feel guilty about a few drinks. I missed the beginning of the opera, otherwise I watched the whole thing. It was a pleasure to rediscover Cosi fan tutte, another great subversive collaborative work between Mozart and librettist Lorenzo da Ponte. It is the anti love story. And it was a rediscovery in more than one way for me: one of the characters has the same name as me, but in Italian: Guglielmo. And he is played by a baritone, which is my voice. If I ever go back on stage and sing Mozart, I want to sing Cosi fan tutte. And to end this post, here is one of Guglielmo's arias, Donne mie la fate a tanti, sung by Luca Pisaroni. Okay, so I don't have his voice, especially not after all these years of not working on it, but I think with enough work I could pull a decent performance.

Mozart (a belated birthday)

Yesterday was Mozart's birthday. I did not have time to ccommemorate it, because I was on the move. I will do it brefly today, with an aria from Cosi fan Tutte. I discovered Mozart through his operas, so it is fitting. It is sung by Danielle de Niese, just because I love her playfulness.

Mozart's Birthday

It is Mozart's Girl who reminded me today on Facebook: today is the 258th birthday of Mozart. 258 years, and still the greatest. So anyway, this year I haven't missed it. But how to celebrate, this is always a bit tricky. As I came to Mozart through  his operas mainly, and since he is as far as I'm concerned the greatest opera composer, bare none, it made sense that I upload an aria from his operas. I know I already chose Una donna a quindici anni from Cosi fan tutte before, but as I talked to my godson about Danielle de Niese, this is the one that came to my mind. Happy birthday maestro. You are the best.

Music in the library (and Mozart)

I stopped at the local library on my way back from work tonight. I was tired, it had started pouring rain and I thought before I get soaked (although I did in the end), I would stop there. I hadn't done so in a long while. It was quite relaxing. There were two middle aged guitarists there, playing some music, sometimes singing (I heard What a Wonderful World). I used to think libraries should be havens of silence. I was adamant about it. As a teenager, I even requested to the librarians of my high school to turn off the radio they used to play every morning. But this evening, I actually enjoyed the music and the string playing. It felt calming and heavenly. I flickered through books on British wildlife, history, what have you, and it felt nice.

It was not opera, but I thought I would upload an trio from Cosi fan tutte here. Something calming for the weekend. Just because. Had it been Mozart, I would have stayed the whole evening there.

The birthday of Mozart

I am lousy with birthday dates, I mean very lousy. So I am happy that Mozart's Girl reminded me on her food blog that today was the birthday of Mozart. I have been listening to his arias all evening. That is the best way to celebrate I think, on a week night when I was not planning anything anyway. I could sing some of them, but that might drive my wife mad.

So I was not expecting to put music on this blog so soon, but the circumstances now force me. The best way to celebrate Mozart is to listen to his music and have people listen to it. As I said before, I came to Mozart through his operas. It is logical that I put an aria here tonight. Which one is the question. I thought my readers might get a bit tired of listening to baritone singing stuff I used to sing or wished I had sung and it makes me green with envy when I listen to them, so I have decided to put an aria sung by Danielle de Niese. Sure, she is not Natalie Dessay who is my favourite soprano now, but I still feel guilty for blogging some mean things about Danielle de Niese a while back. I mean, the girl was in the Met at 19! At that age, I had barely started learning to sing. And I never master it enough, let's be honest. Anyway, she sings Una donna a quindici anni from Cosi fan tutte very nicely there, with just mischievious and bubbly enough to make us forget that we are in a concert. Singing in character, with character. And well, it's Mozart in all its simple beauty.