Edited by Morris Dean
[The following anecdotes I found in a short search of the World-Wide Web.]
Mozart's young memory:
Part of the service used in the Pope's chapel at Rome is sacredly guarded and kept with great care in the archives of the chapel. Any singer found tampering with this Miserere of Allegri, or giving a note of it to an outsider, would be visited by excommunication. Only three copies of this service have ever been sent out. One was for the Emperor Leopold, another to the King of Portugal, and the third to the celebrated musician, Padre Martini.The self-knowing of the marvel Mozart:
But there was one copy that was made without the Pope's orders, and not by a member of the choir either.
When Mozart was taken to Rome in his youth, by his father, he went to the service at St. Peter's and heard the service in all its impressiveness. Mozart, senior, could hardly arouse the lad from his fascination with the music, when the time came to leave the cathedral.
That night after they had retired and the father slept, the boy stealthily arose and by the bright light of the Italian moon, wrote out the whole of that sacredly guarded Miserere. The Pope's locks, bars, and excommunications gave no safety against a memory like Mozart's. [Web source]
Mozart was once approached by a young man who was interested in Mozart's advice on how to compose a symphony. Since he was still very young, Mozart recommended that he start by composing ballads.
Surprised, the young man responded, "But you wrote symphonies when you were only ten years old."
"But I didn't have to ask how," countered Mozart. [Web source]
| Copyright © 2014 by Morris Dean |
I was involved in a performance of the Allegri many years ago. Sad to say, the Mozart tale was more interesting than the music.
ReplyDeleteIn spirit, the sort of thing my brother and I would have done back at Tulare High.
I love fun little known facts or unknown facts outside of the music circle anyway.
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