..for people?
April 12, 2012 (Thursday)
Several weeks ago, Dwight and I attended a concert by the Corpus Christi Symphony Orchestra which featured some of Mozart’s music. The program was entitled, “Magnificent Mozart.” A few days ago, I saw again the movie, “Amadeus,” about his life. The title came from part of his name, “Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.” His actual Christian name, given him at his baptism, was much longer. The movie emphasized his genius as a composer, beginning at age 5, when he played his own works for royalty. He had learned to play the harpsichord at age 3. I was deeply saddened, however, when I viewed a dramatization of his burial at age 35 in a common grave in Vienna.
If the movie told his story correctly, he was comfortable with aristocrats and the general populace alike. His illness and death at age 35 makes one wonder what he could have done if he had lived longer. As it was, he left behind more than 600 published works of every kind of music of his day, including 40 symphonies and 22 operas. He was indeed a genius.
Today there is complete recognition of his work and adoration abounds. When I see in my mind’s eye the audiences standing and applauding the work of a man who has been dead two and a quarter centuries, a curious twist in my memory repeats the scene of the anonymous corpse buried with others.
When we see and/or hear the great works of our fellow human beings, it should cause us to breathe a prayer of thanks to our God for this world and the people in it. It’s too late for us to thank Mozart, but there are people in our lives who bring blessings to us in many ways and it’s not too late to thank them for what they do, and to thank the Lord for sending them to us.