Mozart: the triumph of genius
Jon Pott, Editor-in-Chief of Eerdmans Publishing, has written a lovely essay about the genius of Mozart:
“No composer on earth has inspired more talk about heaven than Mozart. One of his celebrated 20th-century biographers, Alfred Einstein, managed to call him a mere ‘visitor on earth,’ and even Shaw, not a reverent man, opined that the two priestly arias of Sarastro in The Magic Flute were the only music yet written that would not sound out of place in the mouth of God. Whatever the divinizing excesses of such language, Mozart has probably received more attention from theologians than any other composer save Bach.”
See also Jim West's cheeky response to this post.
Cheeky? Moi? Never!!!!
And of course Barth lived with life long guilt about the fact that he liked Mozart better than Bach.
(comment on JW site)
Jim, Ben isn't being a cultured Aussie! He doesn't mean Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, but DJ Jazzy Jeff Mozart, rap artist and bear swilling record holder.
The late Robert McAfee Brown said he would allow Barth to love Mozart more than Bach without guilt--but maintained that Beethoven had them both beat!
Me? I love Mozart and Bach--and Willie Nelson.
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