billyworld99
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A striking image depicting the fictional meeting of musical prodigies Wolfgang Mozart and Michael Jackson. This photo was taken in 1997 at the Grévin Museum in Paris where Michael's waxed likeness is also on display. It takes my breath away for its implications and imaginings. There exists an uncanny congruence between the two artists, both of whom died in a cloud of suspicion while on the verge of revivals following unwarranted plateaus.
Before pursuing a single detail about their biographical similarities, a strong relationship between these artists can be drawn simply from their names. Mozart's name "Gottlieb" ("Amadeus") means "Beloved of God." The name "Michael" is commonly translated as "Who Is Like God?" which expresses a question or rather an inquisition to inspire humans to seek the identity of God. Indeed, the music created by these two individuals has evoked spirituality amongst listeners to a degree of great significance. It may be a Mozart mass or one of Michael's humanitarian anthems, but one thing is for certain: millions have been inspired and fulfilled spiritually by their music. A quote by Sir Georg Solti is appropriate to mention here: "Mozart makes you believe in God - much more than going to church - because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and then passes after thirty-six years, leaving behind such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces."
Michael was the seventh child in his family, as was Mozart. Lucky number seven! As children, they possessed a musical maturity which granted fluency of expression. Daines Barrington of London's Royal Society wrote a detailed report in 1770 about Mozart's ability to extemporaneously capture emotions such as love in his music, emotions that he could have hardly experienced himself at nine years of age. The same applies to little Michael. Motown's Berry Gordy described him singing "Who's Lovin' You" by Smokey Robinson: "He sang it with the sadness and passion of a man who'd been living the blues and heartbreak his whole life."
In addition to playing the violin and keyboard, Mozart also sang on tour as a prodigy. By contemporaneous accounts, he had a softer, delicate voice, but it was incredibly powerful when necessary. The same can be said of Michael's vocalizations. I stumbled upon this image online and thought it would be interesting to include here. The portrait of Mozart dates from Rome in 1770 and is unauthenticated, but it's still enjoyable to employ imagination alongside the authenticated photo of Michael. It's uncannily significant to note that even the authenticated portraits of Mozart vary as greatly as the photos of Michael Jackson throughout his career.
For all of the doting and fame that ensued, these artists remained sensitive and concerned about being loved. As a child, Mozart was inquisitive and would constantly ask others if they loved him. It seemed to be his utmost concern. Andreas Schachtner, Salzburg court musician and friend, said, "He would often ask me ten times in one day if I loved him, and when I sometimes said no, just for fun, bright tears welled up in his eyes, so tender and kind was his good heart." Michael said in his 1993 interview with Oprah: "I love what I do and I would love people to love what I do and to be loved. I just simply want to be loved wherever I go." And in terms of romantic love, it seems by all accounts that both of these young men were hopeless romantics, articulating that their lives would ultimately be incomplete without love and family.
An excerpt from Henri Gheon's In Search of Mozart captures the essence of a child prodigy's incessant need to feel loved: "We are told that Mozart, dragged all over Europe from the age of six, exhibited like a performing dog before kings, overloaded with flattery, presents and kindness, often asked those who seemed interested in him the naive question, 'Do you love me?' It was his greatest need. Even before his genius had time to mature, he was discarded like a plaything which no longer amused. At each stage in his life he had to be remade. With each proof, a new proof was required."
The fathers of enterprise ruled as strict disciplinarians and held rigorous schedules to cultivate the qualities of genius they discovered from their sons. Both Michael and Mozart were estranged from their paternal patronage at the end of their lives, but despite having experienced complicated father-son relationships, they were both deeply involved in the lives of their own children as exceptional fathers. Michael had two sons and Mozart had two sons (who survived into adulthood). Both artists highly regarded arts/music education for their children and they implanted the foundation themselves. There are numerous accounts, by journalists, friends and family members, describing the loving environment Michael provided. Moments were often musical and his voice could be heard accompanying playtime. "He taught them about art and music," said the Jackson family attorney. "They are bright, they are so intelligent, they’re so talented. They are just wonderful children. They are a reflection of Michael Jackson."
As for Mozart, it was unheard of for an 18th Century father to be so attentive and nurturing. His final letter to his wife in October 1791 concerns his elder son Karl's manners, his studies at the boarding school and their trip to the opera together. Danish actor Joachim Daniel Preisler visited the Mozart family once on a Sunday and wrote about his experience there: "This small man and great master improvised twice on a pianoforte with pedal, and so wonderfully, so wonderfully it staggered belief! He interwove the most difficult passages with the loveliest themes. His wife cut quill pens for the copyist, a pupil composed, and a little boy of four walked about the garden singing recitatives. In short, everything surrounding this splendid man was musical!"
Mozart's father was dishonest about Wolfgang's age to prolong his childhood novelty. Michael's biographer Taraborrelli says that "Motown's public relations team claimed that Jackson was nine years old, two years younger than he was, to make him appear cuter and more accessible." This came at a great price. Their publics readily reminded them that they preferred their former, younger selves, which made growing up markedly painful. Mozart wrote about this from Paris: "...these stupid Frenchmen think I am still seven years old." He was no longer the cherubic prodigy, but a pockmarked young man with disproportionate features, namely a larger nose. Even a newspaper had called him "Great-nosed Mozart."
Also facing an aesthetic transition, Michael dealt with severe acne and resulting taunts about his appearance during adolescence. Like Mozart, his nose was a prime target. He was teased relentlessly as "big nose" and "ugly." In an interview in 2003, Michael talked about how affected he was by a woman who kept asking, "Where's little Michael?" She had scanned the crowd and easily overlooked him. When somebody finally pointed him out, she glared at the teenager's face and said, "Ewww! What happened to YOU?" This clearly had a profound affect. "I could have died right there," he said solemnly in the interview, several decades later.
Michael and Mozart shared a love of dancing and they learned this artform as children. Mozart's first public performance was not as a musician, as you would easily assume, but as a dancer at age five in a Latin play, Sigismundus Rex, the same age Michael began his own career. His love of dance is well documented by contemporaries and by his own admission. In fact, Mozart's friend, Irish tenor Michael Kelly, wrote in his memoirs that "His talent lay in that art (dance) rather than in music." That's quite a statement for history's greatest composer!
Dance only occupied a part of their energetic existence. Such playful dispositions inevitably led to games and pranks, a sense of humor that provided a necessary diversion to musical genius and all that it entailed. It was a ritual for Michael to surprise his crew with water balloons and flying whipped cream pies after wrapping up on the set of a short film. There are countless stories of Michael's antics at Neverland, many of which you can see in videos made public online. Mozart created many jokes in his music and through word play. Schachtner once said: "But before he had begun music, he was so ready for any prank spiced with a little humor that he could quite forget food, drink and all things else." And in this similarity, they shared a deeper level of congruence, which was the loss of a childhood that was sacrificed for musical genius. This inspired the incorporation of child-like innocence, fantasy and nostalgia into the dramatic narrative of their musical contours, almost as a means of auto-biographical catharsis. "Give Mozart a fairytale, and he creates without effort an immortal masterpiece." (Camille Saint-Saëns, Portraits and Souvenirs)
For all of the accolades and superstardom, there was an equitable amount of criticism. Many critics felt that the work of Michael and Mozart was too lavish, grandiose, extreme and novel for audiences. For instance, in January 1787, the Viennese correspondent of the "Magazin der Muzik" reported of Mozart: "He is the best piano player I have ever heard; but it is a pity that in his ingenious and really beautiful compositions he goes too far in his attempt to be new, so that feeling and sentiment are little cared for. His new quartets, dedicated to Haydn, are too strongly spiced - and what palate can stand for that long?" Due to such criticisms, both undoubtedly faced pressure to conform to the musical conventions of their day. Michael conformed to the Motown machine in his earlier years and developed independence along the way while Mozart had to conform on certain commissions. A Leipzig publisher once wrote to Mozart: "Write in a more popular style, or I can neither print nor pay for anything of yours!"
An affinity for opulent fashion was also a shared likeness and it's one of my favorite topics to discuss about these gentlemen. Michael and Mozart both performed for crowned heads and found themselves courting aristocratic circles, respectively. Their sense of fashion was not influenced by this societal notion, but it was rather an outlet of creativity and imagination where they naturally excelled, inventing and re-inventing themselves as spectacles, men of the theatrical realm. Michael liked military details because they "demand attention...have clean lines and they fit almost like dance clothes," explained tailor Michael Bush. Mozart's contemporaries noted that his dress was often garish and this has certainly been said of Michael's stylistic preferences.
"Mr. Mozart was an extremely eccentric and absent-minded young man, but not without a certain spirit of pride. He was very popular with the ladies, in spite of his small size; he had a most unusual face, and he could cast a spell on any woman with this eyes..." noted Luigi Bassi, a singer in Mozart's operas. Mozart biographer Piero Melograni also made an excellent point which I think can be attributed to both artists: "It is true that Wolfgang always sought to compensate for his physical limitations by an elegance in dress. The care he took with his clothing and his hair must have helped him deal with the powerful on an equal basis."
The photo below from the LA Times (May 26, 2005) depicts Michael's penchant for 18th Century fashion. He wore many elaborate silk waistcoats and jacquard designs. He even wore pieces of British and Austrian regalia (Mozart was Austrian).
Michael and Mozart reveled in the fact that their music brought joy and happiness to others. Taking on various forms of prejudice, such as racism, classism and elitism, they were all the more happier to deliver progressive sentiment with their artistry. Michael's lyrics and monumental humanitarian efforts speak for themselves. He expressed sincere love and appreciation for his admirers at every turn. And it's impossible to forget the vivacious remark by Mozart about his revolutionary opera "Le Nozze di Figaro" living in the streets of Prague amongst average folks, away from the exclusivity of aristocratic salons. "I looked on with the greatest pleasure while all these people flew about in sheer delight to the music of my Figaro, arranged as quadrilles and waltzes. For here they talk about nothing but Figaro. Nothing is played, sung, or whistled but Figaro. No opera is drawing like Figaro. Nothing, nothing but Figaro. Certainly a great honor for me!"
Indeed, brotherhood was of immense importance to these artists, both personally and professionally. Mozart was a member of the Viennese Masonic lodges "Zur Wohltaetigkeit" ("Beneficence") and "Zur Neugekroenten Hoffnung" ("New Crowned Hope") and also attended meetings at the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht" ("True Concord"). The lodge was full of intellectuals and progressives who wanted equality for all, an end to aristocratic society. Beneficence, New Crowned Hope and True Concord certainly describe Michael's personal philosophy and philanthropic mission as well as the sentiment captured in his songs such as Heal the World and Will You Be There. As Schubert famously exclaimed, "What a picture of a better world you have given us, Mozart!"
Both artists were connected to Africa personally and professionally. Michael used rhythms, dance and incorporated the African language of Swahili as lyrical content. Mozart was influenced by Afro-French composer and violinist Joseph Bologne (Le Chevalier de Saint-George) on an early visit to Paris. Mozart was especially inspired in regards to his writing for violin as Bologne was a virtuoso on this instrument. Bologne's gifts were great, but his advancements were hindered by prejudice. He became known as "Le Mozart Noir" ("The Black Mozart"). In 2005, a film was made about his life entitled, "Le Mozart Noir: Reviving a Legend." Mozart also had an esteemed African colleague in Vienna, but his name unfortunately escapes me. I came to know of him when I saw his portrait hanging in Mozart's apartment museum (Mozarthaus) in Vienna a few years ago. This connection demonstrates that although great musical artists may seem worlds apart across time, geography and genre, they are all bound by the same fibers of genius and humanity.
Despite such lavish success, thoughts of premature death were articulated. "I never lie down at night without reflecting that, young as I am, I may not live to see another day," Mozart wrote at age 31. Towards the end of 1791, Mozart became convinced of his demise, despite his wife Constanze's efforts to redirect him. Something very similar had happened in Michael's case. According to former wife Lisa Marie Presley, Michael told her (while also in his 30s) that he thought he would die early like her father, Elvis Presley. She wrote on her blog after Michael's death: "At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty: 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him.' I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that."
Mozart's father had also articulated concern for his son's early demise. "Your countenance...was so grave that many intelligent persons, seeing your talent so early developed and your face always serious and thoughtful, were concerned for the length of your life," Leopold wrote in a letter to his son.
Michael and Mozart worked tirelessly, often neglecting their own care, as they faced various ailments and rigorous performance schedules over the years. Physical appearance seemed to trumpet the end. Josepha Duschek described her friend Mozart in September 1791 on his visit to Prague, three months before he died: "His face looked like cheese and his eyes were dark and full of melancholy." In the concert film, This Is It, Michael did not look well in some scenes, and some members of his creative team expressed concern about his health in those final weeks.
Doctors did not agree conclusively on Mozart's cause of death and they still don't agree. As recently as August 2009, the investigation into Mozart's cause of death was still making headlines. It was long believed that he died of rheumatic fever, but the latest medical studies show that it was likely from strep throat complications. Due to funeral customs of the day, Mozart was buried in an unmarked communal grave, a location that has never been established. At present, the circumstances surrounding Michael's death are still being debated, and as is the case with Mozart, it seems as though we may never know the entire truth.
In his interview with Good Morning America in August 2008, Michael said he hoped to "be myself" in future works. He was planning a film adaptation and a classical music album amongst other projects. Mozart reflected quite similarly during his final illness: "I must leave my art now that I am no longer a slave to fashion, am no longer tied to speculators; when I could follow the paths along which my spirit leads me, free and independent to write only when I am inspired. I must leave my family, my poor children, just when I would have been in a better position to look after their welfare." Mozart's referring here to financial debt that was to be eradicated by these new commissions and opportunities, just as Michael's This Is It tour was also to remove a significant financial burden. Amongst ideas and plans Mozart had for the future? Just like Michael, tour performances in London.
These are striking parallels, to be sure, but the greatest denominator in terms of their art, in my opinion, is their passion, mastery and innovation of musical drama (another topic deserving of its own attention!). As the greatest of opera composers, Mozart redefined the genre. With his theatrical stage performances and short films, Michael redefined popular music with sentiment, sophistication and intelligent craftsmanship, adding new dimensions of depth and creativity. As Michael once said, "Today's cutting edge is tomorrow's classic."
I think it's appropriate to close with a quote from Wolfgang Hildesheimer, which is applicable to both artists. "The riddle of Mozart is precisely that 'the man' refuses to be a key for solving it. In death, as in life, he conceals himself behind his work
http://www.moderndaymozartian.com/2009/07/michael-and-mozart-equidistant.html
Before pursuing a single detail about their biographical similarities, a strong relationship between these artists can be drawn simply from their names. Mozart's name "Gottlieb" ("Amadeus") means "Beloved of God." The name "Michael" is commonly translated as "Who Is Like God?" which expresses a question or rather an inquisition to inspire humans to seek the identity of God. Indeed, the music created by these two individuals has evoked spirituality amongst listeners to a degree of great significance. It may be a Mozart mass or one of Michael's humanitarian anthems, but one thing is for certain: millions have been inspired and fulfilled spiritually by their music. A quote by Sir Georg Solti is appropriate to mention here: "Mozart makes you believe in God - much more than going to church - because it cannot be by chance that such a phenomenon arrives into this world and then passes after thirty-six years, leaving behind such an unbounded number of unparalleled masterpieces."
Michael was the seventh child in his family, as was Mozart. Lucky number seven! As children, they possessed a musical maturity which granted fluency of expression. Daines Barrington of London's Royal Society wrote a detailed report in 1770 about Mozart's ability to extemporaneously capture emotions such as love in his music, emotions that he could have hardly experienced himself at nine years of age. The same applies to little Michael. Motown's Berry Gordy described him singing "Who's Lovin' You" by Smokey Robinson: "He sang it with the sadness and passion of a man who'd been living the blues and heartbreak his whole life."
In addition to playing the violin and keyboard, Mozart also sang on tour as a prodigy. By contemporaneous accounts, he had a softer, delicate voice, but it was incredibly powerful when necessary. The same can be said of Michael's vocalizations. I stumbled upon this image online and thought it would be interesting to include here. The portrait of Mozart dates from Rome in 1770 and is unauthenticated, but it's still enjoyable to employ imagination alongside the authenticated photo of Michael. It's uncannily significant to note that even the authenticated portraits of Mozart vary as greatly as the photos of Michael Jackson throughout his career.
For all of the doting and fame that ensued, these artists remained sensitive and concerned about being loved. As a child, Mozart was inquisitive and would constantly ask others if they loved him. It seemed to be his utmost concern. Andreas Schachtner, Salzburg court musician and friend, said, "He would often ask me ten times in one day if I loved him, and when I sometimes said no, just for fun, bright tears welled up in his eyes, so tender and kind was his good heart." Michael said in his 1993 interview with Oprah: "I love what I do and I would love people to love what I do and to be loved. I just simply want to be loved wherever I go." And in terms of romantic love, it seems by all accounts that both of these young men were hopeless romantics, articulating that their lives would ultimately be incomplete without love and family.
An excerpt from Henri Gheon's In Search of Mozart captures the essence of a child prodigy's incessant need to feel loved: "We are told that Mozart, dragged all over Europe from the age of six, exhibited like a performing dog before kings, overloaded with flattery, presents and kindness, often asked those who seemed interested in him the naive question, 'Do you love me?' It was his greatest need. Even before his genius had time to mature, he was discarded like a plaything which no longer amused. At each stage in his life he had to be remade. With each proof, a new proof was required."
The fathers of enterprise ruled as strict disciplinarians and held rigorous schedules to cultivate the qualities of genius they discovered from their sons. Both Michael and Mozart were estranged from their paternal patronage at the end of their lives, but despite having experienced complicated father-son relationships, they were both deeply involved in the lives of their own children as exceptional fathers. Michael had two sons and Mozart had two sons (who survived into adulthood). Both artists highly regarded arts/music education for their children and they implanted the foundation themselves. There are numerous accounts, by journalists, friends and family members, describing the loving environment Michael provided. Moments were often musical and his voice could be heard accompanying playtime. "He taught them about art and music," said the Jackson family attorney. "They are bright, they are so intelligent, they’re so talented. They are just wonderful children. They are a reflection of Michael Jackson."
As for Mozart, it was unheard of for an 18th Century father to be so attentive and nurturing. His final letter to his wife in October 1791 concerns his elder son Karl's manners, his studies at the boarding school and their trip to the opera together. Danish actor Joachim Daniel Preisler visited the Mozart family once on a Sunday and wrote about his experience there: "This small man and great master improvised twice on a pianoforte with pedal, and so wonderfully, so wonderfully it staggered belief! He interwove the most difficult passages with the loveliest themes. His wife cut quill pens for the copyist, a pupil composed, and a little boy of four walked about the garden singing recitatives. In short, everything surrounding this splendid man was musical!"
Mozart's father was dishonest about Wolfgang's age to prolong his childhood novelty. Michael's biographer Taraborrelli says that "Motown's public relations team claimed that Jackson was nine years old, two years younger than he was, to make him appear cuter and more accessible." This came at a great price. Their publics readily reminded them that they preferred their former, younger selves, which made growing up markedly painful. Mozart wrote about this from Paris: "...these stupid Frenchmen think I am still seven years old." He was no longer the cherubic prodigy, but a pockmarked young man with disproportionate features, namely a larger nose. Even a newspaper had called him "Great-nosed Mozart."
Also facing an aesthetic transition, Michael dealt with severe acne and resulting taunts about his appearance during adolescence. Like Mozart, his nose was a prime target. He was teased relentlessly as "big nose" and "ugly." In an interview in 2003, Michael talked about how affected he was by a woman who kept asking, "Where's little Michael?" She had scanned the crowd and easily overlooked him. When somebody finally pointed him out, she glared at the teenager's face and said, "Ewww! What happened to YOU?" This clearly had a profound affect. "I could have died right there," he said solemnly in the interview, several decades later.
Michael and Mozart shared a love of dancing and they learned this artform as children. Mozart's first public performance was not as a musician, as you would easily assume, but as a dancer at age five in a Latin play, Sigismundus Rex, the same age Michael began his own career. His love of dance is well documented by contemporaries and by his own admission. In fact, Mozart's friend, Irish tenor Michael Kelly, wrote in his memoirs that "His talent lay in that art (dance) rather than in music." That's quite a statement for history's greatest composer!
Dance only occupied a part of their energetic existence. Such playful dispositions inevitably led to games and pranks, a sense of humor that provided a necessary diversion to musical genius and all that it entailed. It was a ritual for Michael to surprise his crew with water balloons and flying whipped cream pies after wrapping up on the set of a short film. There are countless stories of Michael's antics at Neverland, many of which you can see in videos made public online. Mozart created many jokes in his music and through word play. Schachtner once said: "But before he had begun music, he was so ready for any prank spiced with a little humor that he could quite forget food, drink and all things else." And in this similarity, they shared a deeper level of congruence, which was the loss of a childhood that was sacrificed for musical genius. This inspired the incorporation of child-like innocence, fantasy and nostalgia into the dramatic narrative of their musical contours, almost as a means of auto-biographical catharsis. "Give Mozart a fairytale, and he creates without effort an immortal masterpiece." (Camille Saint-Saëns, Portraits and Souvenirs)
For all of the accolades and superstardom, there was an equitable amount of criticism. Many critics felt that the work of Michael and Mozart was too lavish, grandiose, extreme and novel for audiences. For instance, in January 1787, the Viennese correspondent of the "Magazin der Muzik" reported of Mozart: "He is the best piano player I have ever heard; but it is a pity that in his ingenious and really beautiful compositions he goes too far in his attempt to be new, so that feeling and sentiment are little cared for. His new quartets, dedicated to Haydn, are too strongly spiced - and what palate can stand for that long?" Due to such criticisms, both undoubtedly faced pressure to conform to the musical conventions of their day. Michael conformed to the Motown machine in his earlier years and developed independence along the way while Mozart had to conform on certain commissions. A Leipzig publisher once wrote to Mozart: "Write in a more popular style, or I can neither print nor pay for anything of yours!"
An affinity for opulent fashion was also a shared likeness and it's one of my favorite topics to discuss about these gentlemen. Michael and Mozart both performed for crowned heads and found themselves courting aristocratic circles, respectively. Their sense of fashion was not influenced by this societal notion, but it was rather an outlet of creativity and imagination where they naturally excelled, inventing and re-inventing themselves as spectacles, men of the theatrical realm. Michael liked military details because they "demand attention...have clean lines and they fit almost like dance clothes," explained tailor Michael Bush. Mozart's contemporaries noted that his dress was often garish and this has certainly been said of Michael's stylistic preferences.
"Mr. Mozart was an extremely eccentric and absent-minded young man, but not without a certain spirit of pride. He was very popular with the ladies, in spite of his small size; he had a most unusual face, and he could cast a spell on any woman with this eyes..." noted Luigi Bassi, a singer in Mozart's operas. Mozart biographer Piero Melograni also made an excellent point which I think can be attributed to both artists: "It is true that Wolfgang always sought to compensate for his physical limitations by an elegance in dress. The care he took with his clothing and his hair must have helped him deal with the powerful on an equal basis."
The photo below from the LA Times (May 26, 2005) depicts Michael's penchant for 18th Century fashion. He wore many elaborate silk waistcoats and jacquard designs. He even wore pieces of British and Austrian regalia (Mozart was Austrian).
Michael and Mozart reveled in the fact that their music brought joy and happiness to others. Taking on various forms of prejudice, such as racism, classism and elitism, they were all the more happier to deliver progressive sentiment with their artistry. Michael's lyrics and monumental humanitarian efforts speak for themselves. He expressed sincere love and appreciation for his admirers at every turn. And it's impossible to forget the vivacious remark by Mozart about his revolutionary opera "Le Nozze di Figaro" living in the streets of Prague amongst average folks, away from the exclusivity of aristocratic salons. "I looked on with the greatest pleasure while all these people flew about in sheer delight to the music of my Figaro, arranged as quadrilles and waltzes. For here they talk about nothing but Figaro. Nothing is played, sung, or whistled but Figaro. No opera is drawing like Figaro. Nothing, nothing but Figaro. Certainly a great honor for me!"
Indeed, brotherhood was of immense importance to these artists, both personally and professionally. Mozart was a member of the Viennese Masonic lodges "Zur Wohltaetigkeit" ("Beneficence") and "Zur Neugekroenten Hoffnung" ("New Crowned Hope") and also attended meetings at the lodge "Zur wahren Eintracht" ("True Concord"). The lodge was full of intellectuals and progressives who wanted equality for all, an end to aristocratic society. Beneficence, New Crowned Hope and True Concord certainly describe Michael's personal philosophy and philanthropic mission as well as the sentiment captured in his songs such as Heal the World and Will You Be There. As Schubert famously exclaimed, "What a picture of a better world you have given us, Mozart!"
Both artists were connected to Africa personally and professionally. Michael used rhythms, dance and incorporated the African language of Swahili as lyrical content. Mozart was influenced by Afro-French composer and violinist Joseph Bologne (Le Chevalier de Saint-George) on an early visit to Paris. Mozart was especially inspired in regards to his writing for violin as Bologne was a virtuoso on this instrument. Bologne's gifts were great, but his advancements were hindered by prejudice. He became known as "Le Mozart Noir" ("The Black Mozart"). In 2005, a film was made about his life entitled, "Le Mozart Noir: Reviving a Legend." Mozart also had an esteemed African colleague in Vienna, but his name unfortunately escapes me. I came to know of him when I saw his portrait hanging in Mozart's apartment museum (Mozarthaus) in Vienna a few years ago. This connection demonstrates that although great musical artists may seem worlds apart across time, geography and genre, they are all bound by the same fibers of genius and humanity.
Despite such lavish success, thoughts of premature death were articulated. "I never lie down at night without reflecting that, young as I am, I may not live to see another day," Mozart wrote at age 31. Towards the end of 1791, Mozart became convinced of his demise, despite his wife Constanze's efforts to redirect him. Something very similar had happened in Michael's case. According to former wife Lisa Marie Presley, Michael told her (while also in his 30s) that he thought he would die early like her father, Elvis Presley. She wrote on her blog after Michael's death: "At some point he paused, he stared at me very intensely and he stated with an almost calm certainty: 'I am afraid that I am going to end up like him.' I promptly tried to deter him from the idea, at which point he just shrugged his shoulders and nodded almost matter of fact as if to let me know, he knew what he knew and that was kind of that."
Mozart's father had also articulated concern for his son's early demise. "Your countenance...was so grave that many intelligent persons, seeing your talent so early developed and your face always serious and thoughtful, were concerned for the length of your life," Leopold wrote in a letter to his son.
Michael and Mozart worked tirelessly, often neglecting their own care, as they faced various ailments and rigorous performance schedules over the years. Physical appearance seemed to trumpet the end. Josepha Duschek described her friend Mozart in September 1791 on his visit to Prague, three months before he died: "His face looked like cheese and his eyes were dark and full of melancholy." In the concert film, This Is It, Michael did not look well in some scenes, and some members of his creative team expressed concern about his health in those final weeks.
Doctors did not agree conclusively on Mozart's cause of death and they still don't agree. As recently as August 2009, the investigation into Mozart's cause of death was still making headlines. It was long believed that he died of rheumatic fever, but the latest medical studies show that it was likely from strep throat complications. Due to funeral customs of the day, Mozart was buried in an unmarked communal grave, a location that has never been established. At present, the circumstances surrounding Michael's death are still being debated, and as is the case with Mozart, it seems as though we may never know the entire truth.
In his interview with Good Morning America in August 2008, Michael said he hoped to "be myself" in future works. He was planning a film adaptation and a classical music album amongst other projects. Mozart reflected quite similarly during his final illness: "I must leave my art now that I am no longer a slave to fashion, am no longer tied to speculators; when I could follow the paths along which my spirit leads me, free and independent to write only when I am inspired. I must leave my family, my poor children, just when I would have been in a better position to look after their welfare." Mozart's referring here to financial debt that was to be eradicated by these new commissions and opportunities, just as Michael's This Is It tour was also to remove a significant financial burden. Amongst ideas and plans Mozart had for the future? Just like Michael, tour performances in London.
These are striking parallels, to be sure, but the greatest denominator in terms of their art, in my opinion, is their passion, mastery and innovation of musical drama (another topic deserving of its own attention!). As the greatest of opera composers, Mozart redefined the genre. With his theatrical stage performances and short films, Michael redefined popular music with sentiment, sophistication and intelligent craftsmanship, adding new dimensions of depth and creativity. As Michael once said, "Today's cutting edge is tomorrow's classic."
I think it's appropriate to close with a quote from Wolfgang Hildesheimer, which is applicable to both artists. "The riddle of Mozart is precisely that 'the man' refuses to be a key for solving it. In death, as in life, he conceals himself behind his work
http://www.moderndaymozartian.com/2009/07/michael-and-mozart-equidistant.html
Thanks for posting!