Young Mozart Reporters Blog

The third and last part of the project Schwetzingen schreibt Musikgeschichten was constituted by a free concert in the Rokokotheater Schwetzingen – exclusively for pupils! Invited were the elementary school classes comprising about 260 pupils of Schwetzingen, who had participated in the project. Noam Zur, conductor of the Philharmonic Orchestra Heidelberg, began the event by enticing young Mozart, played by pupil Gabriel Venzago, into the hall, where the real Mozart had once been as well, with the help of his music. In the following, an overview over Mozart’s oeuvre was being provided, in alternation with explanatory insertions. It was in that context that the winners of a story-writing contest (see Schwetzinger Kinder komponieren Geschichten) had the opportunity of presenting their works.

Supported by the Institute of Musicology Heidelberg (see link), the radio station SWR2 has initiated a project, which intends to provide an overview over Mozart’s musical work in the form of an online encyclopaedia. In the course of the year 2006,the culture station has attempted to broadcast Mozart’s oeuvre, the base being the SWR2-Köchel, a special online version of the so-called Köchelverzeichnis, where all broadcastable works of Mozart are listed. The result of the project can be seen under www.swr.de/swr2/mozart/werke .

The second part of the project Schwetzingen schreibt Musikgeschichten was constituted by two members of the theatre and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Heidelberg, namely tenor Winfrid Mikus and répétiteur as well as conductor Timothy Schwarz, who payed a visit to the eigth classes of the Hebel-Gymnasium Schwetzingen. With Mozart’s opera Die Entführung aus dem Serail as example, Winfrid Mikus illustrated the process of an opera production. Accompanied by live music, the pupils learned how aria are rehearsed and that, for instance, a male répétiteur has to take on female roles as well.

has appeared in the Ka Gö Verlag, Heidelberg.

This is a poem composed by the pupil Riem:
Fighting Tones
Mozart arrived in Heidelberg yesterday. Nannerl was with him, too. Mozart prepares for his piano performance. He is able to create illusions. Music to entertain people in concert halls.
What should he play? Melodies are fighting inside his head. People are hearing water as an illusion. His music can sound, at the piano.
People of Heidelberg are hearing music as an illusion in the concert.
Mozart without fighting tones has got free thoughts for new tones.

Riem described as follows what it meant to her that her text had been presented before a huge audience, and that she herself had been present as well: „I have read yippee not I myself but my lovely voice it was a pity that it’s over I was very scared and scarcly anyone to talk but it was super good hats off to me dare do something as well. Finally I will do something similar again”.

Based on the project „Schwetzingen schreibt Musikgeschichten“, which was initiated by children’s books author Andrea Liebers, the pupils of Schwetzingen’s schools were encouraged to capture their view on Mozart in stories. After a long process of selection, a jury reduced the 600 works to 16. The publication of a book, supported by the Oberschulamt Karlsruhe as well as by diverse associations and enterprises, comprises a genre spanning collection of fairy tales, detective stories, and even Mozart raps. Accompanied by music, the winners presented their stories on 30 January in the municipal library, and were rewarded afterwards with a Mozart cup, a Mozart chocolate, and an obligatory certificate. Kappenstein, the mayor of Schwetzingen, closed the event performing a Mozart rap.

Basierend auf dem von der Kinderautorin Andrea Liebers initiierten Projekt „Schwetzingen schreibt Musikgeschichten“, waren die Schüler der Schwetzinger Schulen dazu angehalten, ihre Sicht auf Mozart in Geschichten festzuhalten. Nach einem lange währenden Aussiebeprozess wurden die 600 Werke von einer Jury auf 16 reduziert. Die vom Oberschulamt Karlsruhe sowie von diversen Vereinen und Unternehmen unterstütze Buchveröffentlichung umfasst eine genreübergreifende Sammlung von Märchen, über Krimis, bis hin zu Mozart-Raps. Unter musikalischer Begleitung stellten die Sieger ihre Geschichten in der Stadtbibliothek am 30.01. vor, und wurden anschließend mit einer Mozarttasse, einer Mozartpraline, sowie einer obligatorischen Urkunde belohnt. Den Abschluss bildete der Schwetzinger OB Kappenstein, der einen Mozart-Rap vortrug

Until its destruction during an air raid from 5 to 6 September 1943, the National Theatre was to be found on the Schillerplatz; there, in 1790, Mozart conducted the première of his Figaro. In the observatory, built 1772-74 for the courtly astronomer Pater Christian Mayer, who discovered the fixed stars as well as founded the international meteorology according to the so-called Mannheimer Stunden, a guest book entry by the musician, dating from 1778, can be seen. In the Reiss Museum, which Mozart only experienced as a construction site, nowadays an exposition called “176 Tage W.A. Mozart in Mannheim” (“176 Days W.A. Mozart in Mannheim”) presents basic treatises and portrayals concerned with Mozart. In the Lower Parish Church, built 1706-23 together with the Tower and the Old Town Hall at the market place, Mozart’s mother went to pray frequently. He commented upon his organ performance in the Konkordienkirche, which today is a schoolhouse and an evangelic church, as follows: “I felt it was easy.”. Frequently, those stations are documented by commemorative plaques.

Mozart’s stay in Mannheim is documented at many places: In 1778, in the Schloss, which was built 1720-1760 according to plans by four consecutive architects, he performed before Elector Carl Theodor, who said about the musician: “He plays incomparably.”. In the Schloss Church, where Mozart experienced the Mannheim Orchestra for the first time on 4 November 1777, he played organ “for fun, and thus, everybody was looking around”. The Palais Bretzenheim was built for Carl Theodor’s four children with the dancer Josepha Seyffert-Heydeck, to who Mozart gave piano lessons in 1777, still documented by a portrait of him on the upper storey. In the Jesuits’ Church, built 1731-60 according to plans by Gallo di Bibiena, Mozart played organ a few times.

Auf dem Schillerplatz stand bis zur Zerstörung beim Luftangriff am 5. auf den 6. September 1943 das Nationaltheater, wo Mozart 1790 die Erstaufführung seines Figaro dirigierte. In der Sternwarte, 1772-74 gebaut für den Hofastronomen Pater Christian Mayer, der die Fixsterne entdeckte und die internationale Wetterbeobachtung nach den so genannten Mannheimer Stunden begründete, ist ein Gästebucheintrag des Musikers von 1778 zu sehen. Im Reiss-Museum, das Mozart nur als Baustelle erlebte, findet sich heute unter dem Titel „176 Tage W.A. Mozart in Mannheim“ grundsätzliche Abhandlungen und Darstellungen zu Mozart. In der Unteren Pfarrkirche, gemeinsam mit Turm und Altem Rathaus am Marktplatz 1706-23 erbaut, ging Mozarts Mutter oft zum Gebet. Zum Orgelspiel in der Konkordienkirche, die heute ein Schulhaus und evangelische Kirche ist, sagte Mozart: „Es ist mir auch recht vom herzen gegangen.“. Oft sind diese Stationen mit Gedenktafeln dokumentiert.

Within the context of the project Schwetzingen schreibt Musikgeschichten, it was tried to convey the music of Mozart to pupils. Thus, the woodwind quintet of the Heidelberg Philharmonic Orchestra were the first to be guest at a school, namely at the Hirschacker-Grundschule Schwetzingen. True to style, in wigs and powdered, at first, only four players began with their musical presentation. The fifth presented himself disguised as a gardener, which was supposed to show the children that musicians in the times of Mozart depended on further jobs as well in order to make a living. Repeatedly, the musicians interrupted their presentations in order to show the pupils how their instruments, which comprised a flute, an oboe, a bassoon, a horn and a clarinet, work: Thus, bassoon player Hitomi Wilkening demonstrated the impressive height of her instrument to a pupil.