Episode #192- Who Killed Mozart? (Part I)

Our Fake History

PodcastOne

Education, Talk Radio, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 12 December 2023

⏱️ 75 minutes

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Summary

There are few artists who are praised with the same level of hyperbole as Wolfgang Mozart. The German poet Franz Alexander von Kleist once said “Mozart's music is so beautiful as to entice angels down to earth.” The famous Russian composer Tchaikovsky declared that Mozart was no less than a "musical Christ." With praise that grandiose it can be hard to believe that Mozart was a flesh and blood human being. The stories of Mozart's dazzling genius begin when he was only a small child. He was writing his first compositions at age of five and had written his first symphony by the age of eight. There is no denying Mozart's great talent, but how much stock should we put in the tales of childhood brilliance. Tune-in and find out how royal proposals, an interminable penny whistle solo, and Sebastian's middle name all play a role in the story.

Transcript

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0:00.0	When I was in my early 20s I was visiting my friend in his hometown of Coburg, Ontario. Now for those not familiar with Coburg, it's a mid-sized
0:16.3	Ontario town on the northwestern shore of the lake, easily accessible by Highway 401, almost exactly halfway between Toronto and
0:26.0	Kingston. Now, Coburg's not a big town, but with a population of roughly 20,000 it isn't an especially small town either
0:36.2	it's the kind of place with a cute little main street that manages to support an
0:41.7	independent record store.
0:43.0	It's got a great sandy beach, albeit on the consistently frigid waters of Lake Ontario.
0:49.0	My point is that Coburg is the kind of town where occasionally something interesting
0:56.2	might roll through. And indeed, that weekend that I happened to be in Coburg something interesting did roll through a
1:06.5	musical child prodigy was touring the province with his dad playing mid-sized halls in towns just like Coburg. This
1:17.9	young man was only about 11 years old, maybe he was 12. But he had mastered the blues guitar. He could
1:27.2	rip through the muddy waters, Howlin Wolf, and BB King catalogs. And even better, he could sing. The kid clearly had an ear and had
1:38.9	studied those old records very closely. At the tender age of 11 he learned how to belt it out
1:46.6	just like his musical heroes. Now my friend and I were curious. Both of us were guitar players, both of us were music
1:56.6	obsessives, and both of us were looking for something to do in Coburg that night.
2:01.0	So hey, why not? Let's go check out this hot shot kid and see what he's got.
2:07.0	And sure enough, this kid lived up to his promise. He could shred. He had learned all the techniques needed to squeeze a fairly good
2:16.7	blues sound out of a fender stratocaster. He had also clearly gone to the Buddy Guy School of Blues Man Charm.
2:24.8	The kid knew his scales.
2:26.8	As for the singing, well, it's always a little dicey when any white person decides they're
2:30.8	going to do a howling wolf impression, but I will remind you that
2:34.1	this kid was like 11, and his approach was respectful. It was also impressive to hear such a huge
2:40.9	voice come out of such a small body. A highlight was his take on
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