Mozart im Frühling

Is there any greater feeling of pleasure constructed than from one's imaginings of a Rococo spring? This painting by Francois Boucher, The Four Seasons (Spring) from 1755, is one of its most superb renditions. I'm as guilty as any other who is caught in this breadth, its playful, wistful and seemingly ideal existence. Mozart's Haffner Serenade comes vividly to mind as I admire the young couple in view. Afterall, it was written for performance on the eve of a summer wedding in 1776.

When casting oneself into such a perfect state of being, as many do when experiencing art from this period, a recollection of reality is due, a sobriety found in the history itself. One needs the performance aesthetic (bliss) but also informed musicology (reality). If you attend a Mozart opera and knows nothing of his biography aside from the program notes, it's a reinforcement of this idealogical state, especially if the opera is staged as a pastoral playground. You see and hear the 18th Century just as one views the above portrait: prim, proper, perfection. Mozart's life is often painted as picturesque as his own era, but let's brush some black and white on those pretty pastels, shall we? Charles Dickens is appropriate here...

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way.

Mozart's music is so beautiful and generous to our souls that one finds it simply unbelieveable that this man lived anything other than the happiest of days. This is one of the most popular myths in circulation and it has an insatiable appetite! It's not to suggest that he led an afflicted life which diminished the light radiating so brightly from his métier and personality, but it's vital not to ignore historical blemishes as they make our love and understanding for his story even more profound.

Sherry