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.

Mozart Everywhere

"Oh my God, the dude's everywhere!" This is what my wife said on our first day in Salzburg. She was referring to two things: first, the iconic image of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, which was indeed everywhere, albeit mostly in a dignified form, tall, handsome, commanding. Not exactly how I imagined the hot kid from Salzburg to have been in real life. Second, the Mozartkugeln, which are sold everywhere, in every shop, in every form. With Mozart to promote them, of course. They use his image shamelessly. And, I must confess, we bought the chocolates shamelessly. But anyway, what my wife said deserves to be a new great unknown line and I will not end this blog without a bit of Mozart music. So here's the fourth movement of hos Jupiter Symphony, which I think I never shared until now. Enjoy.

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.

Sharing Mozart and chocolates

I received this bag of Mozartkugelns (or maybe Mozartkugels? I never know for sure) for my birthday. A good idea of my wife. So this is my stock of special Mozart chocolates. Which I decided to share with Wolfie. Well, no, to be frank, Wolfie decided that sharing them with him would be a swell idea. However, there is a condition to it: whenever we eat them, we must listen to Mozart's music. He is getting quite cultured. Anyway, I thought I cannot share this picture without sharing a bit of music to go with it. Here is a lesser known aria of Amadeus, Voi avete un cor fedele, sung by Regula Mühlemann. I hope you enjoy.

Say it with Mozartkugelns

In two days, it is Valentine's Day. I always find it a bit stressful. For my wife, it is kind of easier, because I only need chocolate and I am a happy man. Any will do, pretyt much. This year, I got spoiled: I found Mozartkugels in the local sweet shop that were shaped like hearts. My favourite
chocolates, now perfectly prepared for the special occasion. I had to tell my wife, who bought a box two days ago (yes, I know she bought it, but that's okay, I will only start eating them in two days. Nothing says I love you like these chocolates, or the music of Mozart. It is just so perfect. Oh and to start celebrating the day, here is an aria about love, from The Abduction from the Seraglio. Sung by Malin Hartelius. Unlike others that he composed, this aria does not show a cynical world view of love, but it rather idealises it. So yes, it is fitting.

Mozart's Music and Chocolate

Well, today is a very special day for music lovers. It is the birthday of that boy fron Salzburg, the Christ of Music (as he was called), also known as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His full name is much longer. I will of course celebrate today my favourite composer. I already bought a decent quantity of Mozartkugels. I was tempted to bake a birthday cake, but that might have taken things a bit far. Mut hey, the Mozart chocolates are now available in bars, so that's cool. Of course, I will also listen to Mozart's music (with Wolfie, I hope, the chocolate is like a way to get him in). And share some of that music with you, my dear readers. You may be surprised to see that the piece I have chosen to share today is not from an opera but fromthe Serenade Number 10, aka Gran Partita. If you want to know the reason, watch this. Otherwise, I wanted to find the appropriate music to celebrate the birth of Wolferl. Something both solemn and joyful.

Mozarting to fight melancholy

Well, when Christmas is over and January feels dreary, like it is now, I feel like it's time to bring more Mozart in my life. Okay, okay, I listen to him any time of the year anyway, but I find it a perfect remedy for melancholy. And I am terribly melancholic any time of year. Another way to find melancholy is a good dose of chocolates. And, luckily enough, the local sweet shop sells Mozartkugels. So I buy myself a box and I eat them listening to some of his operas. I call this Mozarting. My last box dated from November, so I need a new one. Mozartkugelns are not cheap, but the shopkeeper always gives me a reduce price on them. But anyway, I cannot write a post about Mozart withoutsharing a bit of his music, so here is an (abriedged) duet from The Magic Flute, sung by Golda Schultz (my favourite soprano at the moment) and Markus Werba, playing Pamina and Papageno, respectively.

A taste for Mozart

Sometimes, you find sources of comfort and reasons to be grateful in the smallest things. A few weeks ago, I saw that I still had some Mozartkugels left in that box. (I had bought that box at reduced price in the local sweet shop, but that it another story for another time). In one bite, with a bit of music (because you can't have one without music), I was in back Salzburg or in Vienna where I first tasted them and everything was right in the world. Now they are all gone, it did not take me long to finish them. All the same, I still have the music of Mozart to enjoy. So I decided to share a bit of Mozart tonight with you. as it cannot be these chocolates. It is a piece of glockenspiel tune from The Magic Flute. Simple, yet a pure delight. You can find it in context on youTube, but here is the tune itself:

Mozart, Wolfie and me (and Mozartkugeln)

I will start this post with a great unknown line that I said today. At work, we have the radio on, but I generally prefer to listen to music on YouTube, it helps me concentrate better than whatever pop song is trendy. As the boss disliked one song playing, she asked for a change of station. One of my colleagues who knows my love of Mozart told me: "Could be worse, could be Mozart". To which I replied: "Don't talk against Mozart, he makes people smarter." He laughed and admitted that it was a good come back line. You see, even if he does not like Mozart, he knows about the Mozart effect and says it worked or might have worked on his own kid.

So I listen to Mozart at work and I listen to Mozart at home. As you know, I also share this with my son. Especially if my wife is out and we have a boys' night in. A couple of months ago, she was out for the evening and we listened to Mozart while I stuffed myself with Mozartkugeln. Wolfie was not bored at all, in fact although I have no idea if he truly enjoyed the music, he seemed fascinated by the chocolates. I thought it was because he had a sweet tooth and already knew the chocolates were sweet... But a friend on Facebook observed that it was most likely the crinkly shiny wrappers. Still, he associates Mozart with fun and shining stuff. He is still a bit young for Mozartkugeln, but I will make him try some one day soon. And until then, dear readers, I share here the Symphony No. 41 in C Major of Wolfgang (not Wolfie), also known as Jupiter.

Commémorer Mozart

Nous sommes aujourd'hui l'anniversaire de la mort de Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. J'ai décidé de commémorer d'avance hier en... mangeant une barre de Mozartkugeln. Ils en vendent à la bonbonnerie locale. J'ai développé un engouement pour ces chocolats à la marzipan et je justifie sa consommation parfois immodérée en écoutant le divin Mozart en même temps. Je commémore aussi bien entendu en écoutant sa musique. Comme Noël s'en vient, j'ai pensé à télécharger ici un air qui serait également circonstantiel. Je l'ai d'ailleurs entendu pour la première fois à un concert de Noël de l'École de musique de Chicoutimi, dans la salle Le Ménestrel. C'est dire à quel point ça m'a marqué. Comme je l'ai blogué en 2011, Mozart étant dans le monde de la musique une figure messianique, c'est presque approprié qu'il soit mort alors que Noël approche. Incidemment, cette interprétation a été faite dans un concert de Noël.

A taste of Mozart

First, a word about the picture: forgive me for the poor quality, it was taken with my mobile phone. Okay so I am blogging a good deal about Mozart these days. But circumstances brought me to blog about it again. I blogged before about Mozartkugeln, the chocolate coated marzipan which I first discovered in Salzburg, the year of Mozart's 200th death anniversary. Well, you can now find them in the local sweet shop, which changed owners at some time early this year. I say this and according to the Wikipedia entry what they sell is an imitation. But I don't know if I ate imitations or the original ones when I was in Austria twenty-two years ago. They don't sell them in boxes, only individually, and they are not exactly cheap, but I can buy a few once in a while, when I am in the mood for the taste of chocolate and marzipan or for a bit of nostalgia: visiting Austria is one of my favorite memories.

I ate them listening to Mozart, which was pure bliss. Probably because of the music more than the chocolate, but it is a lovely mix all the same. I have decided to upload here to accompany to accompany this post another aria from Don Giovanni. This one. Sung by José Van Dam. I did not see Don Giovanni in Austria, but I did hear plenty of arias from it, including Madamina.

A taste of Salzburg

Somebody brought Mozartkugeln at work today. I managed to control myself and had just one. Not that I am that keen on Mozart chocolates, I mean sure it's chocolate so I love it, but it reminds me of my one and only trip to Austria and Salzburg, on the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death (20 years already, I am not getting any younger!). I ate it there for the first time, been eating it very occasionally after. I loved Austria in general and Salzburg in particular, so these chocolates reminded me of the place. And of course, it reminded me of the composer. I don't want to sound like Proust (which I barely read), but in one bite I was sent back to Salzburg, my eyes full of images and my head full of music. Because of a small piece of chocolate with a marzipan center.

And since it made me think of Mozart, this is just a good excuse as any to put a duet here, the Papageno-Papagena one. I worked a bit on some of Papageno arias, but I never got a feel for German as I did with Italian (basically my German is as bad as my Italian is good). But German I feel is the proper thing to listen when one thinks of Salzburg. I think I had a look at this particular duet when I was studying opera. The Magic Flute is maybe one of the most accessible opera one can find. It is certainly popular with kids as I happily discovered myself. But anyone can appreciate its beautiful simplicity.And for some reason I always wanted to sing this duet. Never had the chance.