Word: mozarts
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From his podium at New York City's Lincoln Center last week, Raymond Leppard gave a brisk downbeat and drew forth the majestic D that opens the "Haffner" Symphony. In doing so, he began the gala observance of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 235th birthday. He also began an unprecedented Lincoln Center extravaganza: to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Mozart's death by performing during the next 19 months every note he ever wrote...
This sort of programming was standard in Mozart's day, and Leppard was inaugurating the bicentennial by re-creating a concert that Mozart himself had presented in 1783. "Suffice it to say that the theater could not have been more crowded, and that every box was full," the composer proudly wrote to his father Leopold (which is why we know the details of the program). "But what pleased me most of all was that His Majesty the Emperor was present, and goodness! how delighted he was and how he applauded...
...Mozart bicentennial ranges far beyond Manhattan. On the same day that the "Haffner" was resounding in Lincoln Center, Mozart's "Prague" Symphony poured forth in Prague, and nine other European cities chimed in with concerts of their own. Then all 10 performances were broadcast in sequence over a continentwide network, so that Europeans with grandiose Mozart plans of their own could start their celebrations...
...rest of the world has its claims too, for though Mozart was very much the child of the 18th century enlightenment in Austria, he is probably the most universally beloved of classical composers. So while there will be concerts and exhibits almost beyond counting in such traditional music centers as London and Paris, there will also be Mozart festivals in more unexpected places, ranging from Bartlesville, Okla., to Dunedin, New Zealand. When all the cheering finally dies, this will probably have been the largest and loudest celebration of any artist in human history. Says one New Yorker who prefers Puccini...
Peters also kicks behinds. "Our kids are no different when you instill the work ethic and tell them, 'You've got to move your buns.' " Students will start wearing uniforms in January. They listen to Mozart in music class and begin Latin in the fifth grade. James Coleman, a sociology professor at the University of Chicago, argues that black schools can challenge black youngsters in ways integrated ones cannot. "You can make very strong demands on the kids. They can't blame it on whites," he explains. "In integrated schools, white teachers are often afraid to make strong demands...