Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

"He composed music at the age of 4! He composed his first symphony at the age of 6" That is how Antonio Salieri describes Mozart in the 1984 period drama film Amadeus. That was Mozart! A child prodigy, who lived young, composed his best music while he was young and died young (At the age of 32). Some believe that it was the Italian composer Antonio Salieri himself who poisoned Mozart out of jealousy. For during his own lifetime Mozart had become a legend. Another composer, Joseph Haydn wrote "posterity will not see such talent again in a hundred years". I think Hayden was slightly off the mark. We have not seen such talent again! Great composers come and great composers go. But there can only be one and only one Mozart!

I was introduced to the world of Western Classical Music through my father. He was introduced into it by my late uncle. Whenever my uncle would come from Africa, he set aside some time listening to Classical music and discussing it with my father. My uncle had attended several orchestras by famous conductors. Once, my father also accompanied my uncle to a concert in Mumbai where the famous Indian conductor Zubin Mehta performed. My uncle repeatedly used to urge me to listen to Western classical music as he said it calms one's mind and is an instant source of relaxation. My uncle was a fan of Johann Sabastian Bach (The elder Bach). My father too even now claims he likes the elder Bach best. The Bach family was full of musicians. There is a famous quote that goes "The Bernoulli family is to Maths as the Bach family is to Music". Bach's name also appears on the famous Pulitzer winning book of Dr.Douglous Hoffstadter "Godel,Escher and Bach". Dr.Hoffstadter claims that consciousness is a self loop that can spontaneously arise in certain structures like Godel's incompleteness theorem, Escher's graphic art or Bach's music. I was at that time very fond of Beethoven's 9th symphony. I think unconsciously I connected with the values of freedom, equality and liberty that Beethoven cherished the most and which inspired his best music. We had a record player at home. One of the best records we had was of the 1970s British pop group ventures,trying their hand at playing what they considered the best classical music pieces. It was a masterpiece in fusion. A pop music band, playing classical music pieces using modern day instruments. My favorite even record was Beethoven's 9th. But I also liked another piece, which was Mozart's Symphony no 40. And on one occasion, when my dad, my uncle and I were sitting at our respective chairs at an acoustically suitable distance from the old record player listening to Mozart's 40, my uncle went on to narrate the greatness of Mozart. It must have made such a great impact on my mind that I picked a record which had his caricature on the cover. I immediately proceeded to make an exact copy of the caricature in my drawing book.

My drawing of Mozart (Misspelled of course :) )

Last week while I was rummaging through some old books (which I meant to throw away to make room for new books in the cupboard), I ran into my school drawing book. And there I found several brave attempts at drawing cartoons, comic book heroes, characters from movies that had made a lot of impact on my mind. In one of the pages in this dusty old book I ran into this drawing of Mozart. While it can be described as a crude drawing at best it still made my day. I was so thrilled. I could not contain my joy. I was smiling for a long time looking at the book. It took me back to a time, when life was so easy. The only thing to worry about was homeworks. One would sit in the class, look out of the window at the clear blue skies and get lost in the clouds, day dreaming. And then the teacher would come and give you a rap on the knuckles to bring you back to earth.  Life was so simple then. If there were no friends to play cricket with, there always was a cat or her kitten to give me company and to play with me. And you know, when I remember all these pleasant memories, what background score is playing in my mind? It's Mozart and there is no doubt about it.

When I listen to Mozart, sometimes these pleasant memories flit past my eyes as I impassively stare at them like an outsider. Mozart's music transforms our surroundings. It takes us to a place that is in the present moment bereft of the painful memories of the past or the worries of the future. I think there is a scientific reason behind this. Mozart himself composed all this music at an age when he was very innocent. Though most of his young life he spent traveling all over Austria accompanied by his father. He would enthrall people with his performance. Though life was this harsh, when he would compose/play music which came naturally to him as a gift from God, he would lose himself from the external world, turn inward and connect to the Universe. The subtle order and rhythm present in the motion of planets, stars, galaxies and sub atomic particles would beckon him to compose his masterpieces. I think that is why at a spiritual level it touches a chord within us. Our being reverberates with the harmony present in his music and would immediately become still. There we silently listen to the symphony that the universe constantly plays through Mozart.