Mozart the idol: Searching for beauty in times of crisis
Mozart's music evokes lightness and beauty. In times of war and destruction, people often invoke the ideals of the classical era. But is this just
Mozart's music evokes lightness and beauty. In times of war and destruction, people often invoke the ideals of the classical era. But is this just an escape from reality? The Mozartfest Würzburg offers different answers. When the world seems to be falling apart, people look for something to hold on to. "Now, more than ever, with the world plagued by crises and at risk of being engulfed by war, there is a growing desire for unity," says Evelyn Meining, artistic director of the Mozartfest Würzburg. Throughout history, the genius and beauty of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music has frequently provided comfort during times of crisis — and it continues to do so today. "As a composer, he is a figurehead, especially when there is a sense of hyper-stimulation and polarization," Meining tells DW. That is why the motto of Germany's largest Mozart festival this year is "Evoked Beauty: Mozart the Idol." Mozart as an idol of modernity The opening concert of the festival, featuring the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, demonstrated just how powerful and moving Mozart's music can be. The Salzburg orchestra performed Mozart's penultimate symphony in G minor. Mozart's Symphony in G minor filled the Kaisersaal in the Würzburg Residence Image: Dita Vollmond The program also included modern works by Maurice Ravel and Sergei Prokofiev, both of whom admired Mozart. Ravel admired Mozart as the "idol of a bygone era." According to Evelyn Meining, "He shared Mozart's view that music must enchant." Ravel's work "Le Tombeau de Couperin" pays homage to the Baroque composer François Couperin.
"It is a musical work of beauty characterized by clarity, elegance and melodic linearity, just like Mozart," explains Meining. Ravel composed the work between 1914 and 1917 during World War I and dedicated it to friends who had fallen in the war. The Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang is a professor at the University of Music Würzburg. Image: Dita Vollmond Sergei Prokofiev, too, admired Mozart's classical symphonies for their elegance. He wrote his Second Violin Concerto in the mid-1930s. Upon returning from exile, he arrived in Russia under Stalin's regime, in which mass arrests and atrocities were being committed against the people. A successful testament to this is his Violin Concerto, which Chinese violinist Tianwa Yang performed as a soloist, captivating the audience from its delicate opening to its stormy finale with the beauty and expressive power of her performance. She was celebrated with frenetic applause. Mozart as a hero of the crisis While Mozart's music is often perceived today as beautiful and light, it is meticulously calculated and often difficult to play. "In his day, Mozart's music repeatedly confounded, even provoked and overwhelmed people," says Evelyn Meining, citing, for example, its increasingly dissonant sounds and musical complexity. Mozart composing, drawn in 1880 by J. Bueche according to 19th-century standards of beauty Image: akg-images/picture alliance After Mozart's death (1791), his wife Constanze elevated him to the status of a genius. "He was hailed as a national spiritual figure, someone on whom people could agree amid a time of national division." At the beginning of the 19th century, Europe was marked by the collapse of the old feudal system following the Napoleonic Wars.
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