February Bliss and My Love for Mozart

February has arrived. Here in the northern hemisphere February is usually the coldest month of the year. There has been stunning snowfalls. I love watching snow flakes gently fall. February is also a time were I clearly notice the days becoming longer. Today as I went out for a walk I was met by the most invigorating light blue sky. It has been months since I’ve last seen this particular light. It had a special brightness. Like turning up the screen brightness on your mobile device. Raising the blinds after months of living with dimmed light. Energizing.

What a joy.

What did you treat yourself to, as a Christmas gift? A gift from you to you.

I showered myself with gifts and presents. I love doing that. A special one was a new piano. I decided it was time to replace the one I’ve had up til now. My new piano is an electric one. It’s white, as a hommage to John Lennon and Elvis Presley, two artists I deeply cherish. John Lennon wrote Imagine on his white Steinway that he bought Yoko Ono as a birthday gift in 1971. The piano was later purchased by George Michael and he toured the piano around the world as a symbol of peace.

Elvis had a white Knabe baby grand piano. Built in 1912 it was moved to the Memphis Auditorium in the 1930s and played and recorded on by a multitude of music legends, among others Duke Ellington. Presley bought the piano in 1957 and kept it on display in his Music Room at Graceland.

A statement on the piano reads: “It was played constantly by Elvis and many friends for practice sessions, friendly sing alongs and untold numbers of jam sessions by Elvis and visiting celebrities to Graceland and became one of Elvis’s most loved, personal musical instruments.”

My piano is a Yamaha DGX-670, often referred to as a songwriter’s dream. A creative powerhouse. ”The DGX-670 is widely considered to be one of the best arranger keyboards available. This 88-key portable grand version has the flagship voice of the Yamaha CFX concert grand piano.” Here is what it sounds like.

It looks stunning. Sounds stunning. Plays like a charm.

Recently I have been watching documentaries on the lives of a number of classical music composers. Classical music plays an important part in my life. I grew up with classical music. In the 80s my brother was one of the worlds’ leading ballet dancers. He is four years older than me and as a kid I spent a lot of time at the opera, to watch him perform. Back then I played the cello.

The first foreign student to be granted to stay for several years at the Royal Ballet School in London at the age of 15 and hold solo performances for the British Queen, my brother was later the solo dancer of Berlin’s primary opera house Deutsche Oper, and solo dancer at The Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Solo dancer means your the lead star of the company. My brother never chose the profession as a professional dancer. ( No, he’s not gay.) Our parents made him take ballet lessons as a kid and at the age of seven he got accepted into the Stockholm Opera and his career went from there. He stopped dancing in the mid 90s. Nowadays he is a triathlon champion. Still in perfect shape.

There are some great documentaries on composers of classical music out there.

Being psychic I tap into the energy of the ones I focus on. I feel their personality. Being psychic is having expanded consciousness. Expanded awareness. Every human being has the capacity of this expanded consciousness. It is our natural state of being. We humans are much more powerful beings than societal programming makes us believe.

Luckily that is all about to change.

If one feels that one is not psychic it just means the ability is dormant. It can be activated. Meditation is a great tool.

Tapping into the personality of some classical composers, to me, Mozart stands out. He is truly dear to me. When I connect with him I sense what a warm hearted, kind hearted person he was. Very wise. In the most likeable way.

Watching this documentary (in German) left me eager to learn more about the time he lived in. I got a book on Mozart by Italian Author Piero Melograni. Here it is in Swedish. I warmly recommend this book. My heart fills with love as I read how Mozart stood up for justice against people who tried to put him down. At one dinner party a bunch of aristocrat guys started bullying him and mocking him for his, according to them, lesser pedigree. And that he therefore, according to them, was of lesser worth. Mozart, alone against the aristocratic youngsters, remained calm and in a composed and fearless manner explained that they were wrong. And went on to tell them the skills he as a person had achieved could not be taken away from the likes of these bullies and would at all times outshine their kind of behavior.

There were other occasions like this.

During one social gathering Mozart as an employed musician in Salzburg was ordered to wait outside the main room until told to enter and then be seated in a faraway corner, as was the custom.

That was not Mozarts idea of being treated. Since his childhood years performing for the European royalty, he was used to be seated and take his meals with kings, queens and emperors and converse with them as an equal.

Mozart ignored the proceedings. He simply walked into the room, walked straight up to the prince, greeted him, and took a seat right up there in the front and in his usual manner had a pleasant conversation with the prince.

This was unheard of by his employer and afterwards an archbishop banned Mozart from holding concerts. Luckily the ban had to be lifted a few days later, as it upset high society circles in Vienna who demanded to have Mozart back in business.

Mozart did not act stuck up. He just in a mature way claimed his worth.

What a great role model Mozart was in showing that no one outside of ourselves ever decides our worth. That the power to decide our worth is in our hands. Unless we give that power away and let’s someone else determine our worth for us.

Excellent Mozart. A true human rights guy.

Reading the letters Mozart wrote, published in the book, is interesting. I myself have lived in Vienna for three years, between 2002 and 2005, working as a foreign correspondent, and know the Austrian capital city well, which is an extra treat in following Mozart’s different whereabouts. Channeling him he told me, that yes, he was poisoned by those jealous of his light, as he puts it. The Freemasons performed the deed. I tell you, he feels so modern in his very democratic approach. So fearless and loving. Full of energy and fun.

Childlike. Not childish. There’s a huge difference between those two ways of being. His contemporaries describes how Mozart was almost always in a great mood. Although highly productive and efficient he always kept a playful attitude.

Mozart loved animals. While on travels he sent the family dog greetings from cities all over Europe. Later in life, he owned two other dogs, a pet grasshopper, and birds. The story on his pet starling bird is especially endearing. Starlings are known for being good at vocal mimicking and Mozart taught his little feathered friend, that he named Vogelstar, to recite the opening melody of the third movement of his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Mozart had a perfect pitch, that is, the ability to identify a musical note correctly just by hearing it. He lovingly noted that the bird missed to sing one note the correct way. It sang G♯ instead of G.

Another favorite story is when Mozart was in Prague to set up the premiere of his opera Don Giovanni. He and Lorenzo Da Ponte who wrote the libretto stayed in hotels opposite each other. Mozart and Da Ponte worked on the partitur. To proofread each others’ work they folded the sheets of music and text into paper planes and sent them flying at each other across the street, through the open windows.

I still cannot fully grasp the fact that Mozart was only 35 years old as he very unwillingly passed, having by that time composed more than 600 works in virtually every genre of his era.

Here are some pieces by Mozart that I enjoy.
Yuri Simonov, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra performing Mozart’s Turkish March. What a delight watching Mr Simonow conduct.

Here is another gem. Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 482, No. 22: III. Allegro.
Performed by French concert pianist David Fray, Philharmonia Orchestra, conductor Jaap van Zweden.
I’m in awe of the beautiful hand movements of David Fray. He sure makes playing the piano look easy.

Mozart. Thank you for all the brilliance you have brought into this world. Hat’s off.