A Story from Classical Times

The next case to solve is to be found inside this dark mysterious timber cabinet found some time ago at a Collectorama Fair here in Nambour ( Australia ).

... although it has lost its handle on life, this black beauty is still up-right, 

strong and proud and ready for a new life ...

... open the case to reveal the chamber within ...

... a screen of fig leaves - maybe covering up something ...

... doors tied shut with a golden thread ...

... a cabinet within a cabinet ...

... three framed images give us a hint of a story forming ...

... the thread is loosened and the fig leaf screen doors creak open ...

... to reveal an ancient-looking book ...

... and here we have a gorgeous book all hand-made by the artist - 

a book on the life and the music of the great WA Mozart ...

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - born 27 January 1756 and lived to 5 December 1791 – born in Salzburg and baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart.

He showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. Already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court but grew restless and travelled in search of a better position. While visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position and chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame but little financial security.

 

During his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his early death at the age of 35. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized.

He composed more than 600 works, many of which are acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is considered among the greatest classical composers of all time, and his influence on Western music is profound. Ludwig van Beethoven composed his early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote: "posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years".
 

Mozart married Constanze Weber on 4 August 1782 in St. Stephen's Cathedral. The couple had six children, of whom only two survived infancy:

    Raimund Leopold (17 June – 19 August 1783)

    Karl Thomas Mozart (21 September 1784 – 31 October 1858)

    Johann Thomas Leopold (18 October – 15 November 1786)

    Theresia Constanzia Adelheid Friedericke Maria Anna (27 Dec 1787 – 29 June 1788)

    Anna Maria (died soon after birth, 16 November 1789)

    Franz Xaver Wolfgang Mozart (26 July 1791 – 29 July 1844)

Miniature portraits of Mozart, his wife Constanze and his father Leopold

Viennese Masonic Lodge emblem

A little known fact is that for the last seven years of his life Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a Mason, and that played an important role in his life and work.

The Freemasons used music in their ceremonies and adopted Rousseau's humanist views on the meaning of music. "The purpose of music in the [Masonic] ceremonies is to spread good thoughts and unity among the members" so that they may be "united in the idea of innocence and joy," wrote L.F. Lenz in a contemporary edition of Masonic songs. Music should "inculcate feelings of humanity, wisdom and patience, virtue and honesty, loyalty to friends, and finally an understanding of freedom."

There is so much more to the life and adventures of WA Mozart - you'll just have to read my little book - his music has bought joy to the hearts of so many people for so many generations, and is as popular today as it was in the Viennese Court in the late 18th century ...

... another case closed and locked ...