You can never have too much Mozart

Classical-music aficionados - and Mozart lovers in particular - have a lot to be excited about this week as Festival Amadeus gets under way Monday in Whitefish.

Six evenings of entertainment await, including performances by internationally acclaimed guest artists. It won't be all Mozart, but there's ample Amadeus in the mix. If you're a Public Radio "Morning Classics" junkie like me, you can understand the excitement.

I began my appreciation of the famous Austrian musician first as a youngster memorizing simple Mozart tunes for piano recitals and then in high school, tackling more complicated pieces to perform as solos for music festivals.

I was the flute soloist when our accomplished high school band performed a Mozart piece (Concerto in C major if I recall correctly), and I remember practicing my part so much that our band director stuck his head into my practice room one afternoon and said "Enough, already. You know it. You'll do fine."

The performance involved me standing up, slightly away from the band as I played and it ranked right up there with the most nerve-wracking moments of my young life at that point.

It was somewhat serendipitous, then, when I wound up living in Salzburg, Austria - Mozart's birthplace - for a year and a half. You don't live in Salzburg for any length of time without coming completely and utterly under the spell of Mozart's music.

The year was 1976, and while the United States was celebrating its bicentennial, I was cramming in as much Mozart as I could. It wasn't difficult, because on any given evening in Salzburg, there's a Mozart concert going on somewhere.

A year earlier, I visited Mozart's birthplace during my first summer in Salzburg. He was born Jan. 27, 1756, on the third floor of a home in the middle of the Getreidegasse, Salzburg's famous medieval shopping alley. I particularly remember looking at the original clavichord he played and being awe-struck by the history around me.

The most memorable Mozart performance I saw was the famous opera, "Die Zauberfloete" ("The Magic Flute"), at the Salzburg Marionette Theatre. I was enthralled with the characters, especially the colorful Papageno and his plumage. I still have the cassette tape we bought afterwards and I'm surprised it hasn't worn out completely.

Another unforgettable Mozart moment in Salzburg was a Christmas Day chamber music concert that featured Mozart's works.

On Christmas Eve, I and the Austrian folk musician I was dating at the time attended midnight Mass at the Salzburger Dom, the 17th century cathedral where Mozart was baptized. As the heavy church bells tolled that night, I felt like I was in a time warp, where at any minute I might meet Mozart and his entourage as we walked the streets of Salzburg after the church service.

If there is any place where a musician's essence still can be felt, it is Salzburg, a magical place where a nearly 1,000-year-old fortress remains the centerpiece of the city. Mozart's memory lives on in every nook and cranny of the ancient city.

In recent times, the Von Trapp family's music and resulting movie, "The Sound of Music," filmed in Salzburg, have competed for a piece of the city's musical heritage. I myself twirled on the very hillside where Julie Andrews sang "The Hills Are Alive."

While the Von Trapp story is amazing, it is Mozart, Salzburg's native son, who lives on so dearly in that city. They contend, and I agree, that when it comes to classical music, you can never have too much Mozart.

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com